Hansley Beard

Sheffield Town Hall Vintage Photoshoot Part 1: “Something Blue” ~ Willow Ware your Wedding!

A few days ago we were honoured to have our recent Vintage photoshoot featured on the wonderfully inspirational blog Love my Dress. In the next few days I’d like to share with you some of the best photos from the shoot by the amazing Sheffield-based S6 Photography – some that were on Love my Dress and many more new and unseen images!

It all started with the colour blue! I always think that blue is a special colour. In fact so special that I realised that many of the weddings I have organised or styled have had an element of blue in them ~ “Something Old, Something Blue ...”.Before Queen Victoria’s wedding brides traditonally wore blue as a symbol of purity. Blue can light up a room if used correctly and yet retain its classic-ness and Georgian splendour. At Hansley Beard we have A LOT of vintage crockery that we hire out but amongst our favourite is our Blue and White ware – often called Willow.

Blue and white ware has been popular for centuries and pottery companies up and down this great land have produced hundreds of types of designs and vessels – sometimes sticking to the original Willow design and imagery and sometimes creating variations or copying earlier versions. In our Hire collection, we have blue and white ware dinner plates, side plates, cups and saucers, dishes, tureen dishes, turkey plates, milk jugs, sugar bowls, teapots, coffee pots…the list goes on!


For this shoot we wanted to dress a table for an intimate and small wedding breakfast and knew that Sheffield Town Hall had the perfect size committee tables to create this. Knowing they were wishing to promote their extra rooms and facilities for weddings and events and knowing that the venue smacked of vintage class and historical authenticity we asked if they’d be happy to host us.

We decided to mix the blue and white ware with whites, creams, art-deco browns and royal blue glass as well as a dash of purple to bring it all to life!

Place name cards from John Lewis were embellished with old stationery fittings that I’d retrieved when working in an Archive and guest names were typewritten on one of our old vintage typewriters.

My assistant Jodi made two types of napkin holders out of buttons and we asked Bloom Textiles to make us some napkins form old settee back covers.

We added in lots of linens and lace on the tables and touches of silverware and silver cutlery reminded us of our Sheffield roots.


Flowers were supplied by Swallows and Damsons and included hydrangeas, lilac, anemones, tulips, eucalyptus, gypsophilia ...









Thanks to all the wonderful vintage suppliers from Sheffield who contributed to this shoot. We all hope you find some beautiful blue inspiration and do get in touch if you want to willow ware your wedding!

In our next blog we’ll be showcasing our Art-Deco Dessert Bar and Candy Buffet from the shoot ...

Photographer: S6 Photography
Co-ordination, Concept & Styling, Vintage Wedding Design, Vintage Crockery and Prop Hire, Dessert Bar Design and Sweets, Vintage Dresses and Accessories: Jennie Beard from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Venue: Sheffield Town Hall
Models: Katy Bangert, Shannon Alesayi and Cecilia Charlesworth,
Wedding Dresses: Danielle Lara Couture
Hats and Veils: Danielle Lara Couture, Imogen’s Imagination, Hansley Beard
Table Plan and Napkin Holders: Jodi Arthur from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Flowers and Brides Bouquet: Swallows and Damsons    
Cloth Bunting and Napkins: Bloom Textiles
Wedding Cake, Cupcakes, Meringues, Tarts, Macarons and Biscuits: Victoria Made
Mousses and Jellies: Coco Catering
Make-up and Hair: Shannon Leigh
Photoshoot Assistants: Jodi Arthur and Myrtle O’Connor from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design

Posted Sat, 07 May, by Jennie Beard in Candy Buffet, Dessert Bars, Dresses, Photography, Royal Weddings, Suppliers, Themes, Vintage Accessories, Vintage Cake, Vintage Clothing , Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 3 Comments

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~          Pose for the Photobooth

We wanted the Vintage Bridal Soiree to be edgy and current whilst creating some new inspiring trends so we decided to use fresh colours from the 1950s such as aqua, lemon and coral.

We also wanted the Vintage Bridal Soiree to be a fun evening and wanted to include a photobooth concept. As we’d agreed to go with a circus and fairground theme, Laura from Little White Book offered to make a kissing booth for our event, which was absolutely amazing and one of the highlights of the evening!  Guests dressed up in hats, feather boas, scarves, shades and a whole range of other props from our prop collection at Hansley Beard and posed for photographer Helen from PH Weddings. Once again the Chimney House provided the perfect backdrop:

Wearing vintage dresses from our collection to match the colour theme, Katy and Shannon then posed for the camera:

Models: Katy Bangert and Shannon Alesayi

Photobooth Photography: PH Weddings

Kissing Booth: Little White Book
Props Hire: Hansley Beard
Colour Swatches from House Beautiful
Cupcakes by Blush Cupcakes

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Wed, 27 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Aqua, Circus, Coral, Dresses, Fairground, Lemon, Photobooth, Photography, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 29 Comments

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~          The Showcase

On 30th September Sheffield’s first Vintage Bridal Soiree took place! We organised it along with Little White Book, Coco Catering and Swallows and Damsons. We all wanted to arrange a vintage wedding evening that was classy, elegant and fun! We chose the fabulous Chimney House because of its historical past and its beautiful red brick walls. We’d like to share here a selection of some of the wonderful event photos by Serendipity Photography.

More blog posts to follow in the next few days about the event, but for now, here’s what was happening upstairs.

Upstairs some of the most exclusive local Vintage wedding suppliers showed off their beautiful Vintage creations.
Bouquets and accessories made from Vintage jewellery by DC Bouquets:

Vintage style wedding cakes by Love Candy Cakes:


Vintage decor by Little White Book:


Vintage wedding photography by Serendipity Photography:

Vintage stationery designs by Lucy Ledger Designs:

The room was filled with a mixture of original vintage wedding dresses from The Vintage Pad, Little White Book and Hansley Beard, and stunning vintage style modern dresses from Sheffield’s bridal boutique, Choola:

Colourful flower arrangements by Swallows and Damsons also adorned the venue:


Guests were entertained with magic tricks by BZ Magic:

And Caricatures by Rich Smith Illustration:

All to a background of original gramophone music by It’s a Wind Up! Vintage 78 DJs:


... and Jazz with Emily West and Ryan Taylor:

Thanks to all these wonderful suppliers for being involved!
Ticket and raffle proceeds went to Sheffield Children’s Hospital so a big thank you also to all those below who donated raffle prizes:
• Millennium Galleries Cafe
• Cocoa
• Freshmans
• Swallows and Damsons
• Renaissance designer dress agency
• Azaad’s Kashmiri Restaurant
• Imogen’s Imagination
• Vanessa Boddye from Pampered
• Yee Kwan Ice Cream

More stories over the next few days about our Vintage Soiree!

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Wed, 13 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Caricatures, Dresses, Flowers, Photography, Stationery, vintage stationery, Vintage Styling, Vintage Wedding Films, Wedding Fayres and Shows, Vintage Weddings | 0 Comments

Vintage Wedding Photo Collection (1)

With a passion for vintage weddings, I love spotting old photos of people’s weddings when trawling the antique shops and internet. I love looking at the details on the dresses and in their hair and the way they arranged their flower bouquets. But most of all I pause and reflect on who they might be, where did they marry, where had they met, what is their story?

This studio image from 1932 is one of my favourites.

Posted Sat, 16 Jan, by Jennie Beard in Dresses, Flowers, General, Photography, Vintage Clothing , Vintage Weddings | 6 Comments

Vintage Winter Wedding Dress Inspiration

This Simplicity sewing pattern from the early 1970s shows some beautiful wedding dress designs suitable for a winter wedding. Finish off your winter white gown with a furry hood and cuffs (2nd from left) or a beautiful hood of lace (3rd from left).

Posted Mon, 28 Dec, by Jennie Beard in Dresses, Vintage Clothing | 0 Comments

Wedding Fashion online database at the V&A

In the world of weddings, finding the right inspiration is the key to homing in on the details that will make your wedding unique.

If you’re looking for inspiration for your vintage wedding, look no further than the V&A museum’s online database of wedding fashions.

You can search weddings from the Victorian period up to the 21st century. You can also see wedding dresses from the V&A’s own fashion collections.

If you have family wedding photos in your family but have no idea of the date, why not browse the dress database to look for similar period dresses or weddings?

To add to this historical record, you can upload your own wedding photos or your family’s wedding photos, from 1840 to the present. The site currently has no wedding images from 1987, 1988 or 1989, so photos and wedding details from these years are particularly welcome.

Both images used by kind permission of the V&A, London
Top image - 1935 Wedding of Mary Woodworth Bradley and Henry Harrison Blagden
Bottom image - 1920 Wedding of Hazel Mary Cox and Captain Ronald Streeter Lambert

Posted Sat, 31 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Dresses, Flowers, Vintage Accessories, Vintage Clothing , Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 14 Comments