Hansley Beard
Trained by UKAWP

News on the Vintage Front!

As some of you who know me know, I have a bit of a split personality and find myself doing ‘Vintage’ things parallel to everything else I’m doing (non-Vintage!?), although nowadays a lot of it is starting to merge into a bit of modern and a bit of Vintage!

On my other (non-vintage!) blog I’ve been listing the various things I’ve been up to in June and July and a bit of August. So here are a selection of the things I’ve being doing in June and July and a bit of August whilst hanging out in the ‘Vintage world’ part of my head!:

Vintage Crockery Hire:
Enquiries for hiring my vintage crockery and other items has risen recently as more local brides opt for the Vintage look for their weddings. We also hired out all the crockery we had with roses on it for a naming ceremony celebration for baby Rebecca Rose. My vintage crockery collection is ever increasing and I’ve been busy sorting it all in my new studio so that it’s easier to see (and count!) what I have. More developments on this coming soon…

Emma from The Wedding Daze and Helen from Ph Weddings also used some our vintage crockery and glassware for their recent stunning Sex and the City photoshoot:






Food by Coco Catering
Cupcakes by Yummylicious
Menu Card and Place Name by Lucy Ledger Designs
Photographs by Ph Weddings

Chatsworth W.I: 
In June I was invited to give my talk on ‘Weddings through the Ages’ at Chatsworth Women’s Institute. Members brought their own wedding memorabilia and photos and told me details from their own weddings, spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s. We hope to post some of their stories on here soon but for now, here’s a photo of Mary’s wedding day in 1970:

She hired her dress of Nottingham Lace and her veil from Young’s and she still has the drawing of the design in her photograph album:

Last year we gave the talk at Bakewell W.I and next year we’ve been asked to give the talk at Balsow W.I. Thanks to Paul from CVC Event Services for hiring us the very reasonably priced powerpoint projector and screen.

Vintage Wedding Research:
We’ve been doing some research into the dying out concept of ‘keeping a bottom draw’ so do let us know if you have any ‘bottom draw’ stories to tell!

1930s Themed Wedding:
We recently met with a bride and groom who are wanting us to help them decorate their 1930s wedding next year. Very excited about this one! Will keep you posted!

And Finally…

Vintage Wedding Showcase event:
In the last couple of years, I’ve been wanting to organise some sort of Vintage wedding event showcasing what Sheffield has to offer for local Vintage brides. I’ve also been developing my idea to start organising evening bridal soirees, as an alterntative to traditional wedding fayres. So after chatting to fellow business colleagues, Laura from Little White Book Wedding and Event Management, Blanche from Coco Catering and Anna from Swallows and Damsons, we decided to take the plunge together and organise an exclusive vintage bridal soiree this September. We’ve chosen the beautiful Chimney House at Kelham Island for the venue and have lined up lots of great local suppliers. More news and ticket details on this shortly…

Posted Sat, 21 Aug, by Jennie Beard in Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Weddings | 0 Comments

Window Dressing

No sooner had we packed away our vintage boudoir after last weekend’s Wedding Show at Magna, than we were getting it all out again to dress one of the empty shop windows in the city centre Sheffield Showcase project. All the windows have to be ‘themed’ and provide a showcase for local businesses and designers to display their creative talents. Organised by The Source at Meadowhall in association with Sheffield City Council, the project includes working alongside Visual Merchandising students and the two girls from the group who helped me to put the window together were an inspiration to work with.

We decided to make the window look like a lady’s bedroom, featuring a central dressing table, a clothes and dressing area and a living room area. We then created a story around the main female character. “She has just come home from a late night party, wearing her party dress; she throws down her feather boa and handbag on the settee and goes over to her dressing table, which shows evidence of her ‘getting-ready’ routine earlier that evening”.

Richard Smith from Rich Smith Illustration introduced me to the project and his vintage style caricatures feature prominently in this vintage boudoir window (see below).

Styling and display is a huge part of what I love doing. I like starting with a theme or colour scheme, gathering inspirational ideas and researching and sourcing the props and items to build the ‘set’; so creating a window display is not much different to me from decorating a wedding venue or designing a dessert bar. For this project, I already had lots of the right coloured vintage items in my hire collection. Then I found the wonderful chandelier wallpaper from Wallpaper Direct.

As I would when theming a wedding or event, I pulled together the right suppliers and businesses to produce the final look. For this theme, I sourced items and products from ten different local businesses and suppliers, some of whom had also been involved in the Ultimate Brides Wedding Show the weekend before (full list of suppliers below).

The key is knowing how to put together a collection of beautiful things, recognising when it’s working - and when it’s not working! - to create not only the right visual effect but the right experiential effect too. When we were working in the window, a lady saw what we were doing and commented, ‘That takes me back!’ The display seemed to connect with her own past, making her feel warm and nostalgic. ‘You’ve brought some happiness into my day!’ she said, as she walked away to continue her shopping.

If you’re able to go and see it, let me know what you think. It’s on Pinstone St, Sheffield (walk down from the Peace Gardens towards the top of the Moor and the shop is on the right). It’s very pink, and it’s there for 3 more weeks only!

Suppliers:

Window Theming and Design: Hansley Beard
Candy Jar Design: Hansley Beard
Hire of Decorative and Vintage Items: Hansley Beard
Vintage Boudoir Sign: The Happily Ever After Project
Caricatures: Rich Smith Illustration
Vintage Hats: Tricia Cox Millinery
Bridal Lingerie: All She Needs
Jewellery, Cameo Brooches, Soaps & Umbrella: Valentine & Whicker
Vintage Dress, Cape, Jewellery and Handbag: Tasty Vintage, Sheffield Antiques Centre
Central Dressing Table Mirror: Mirror Mad
Perfumes & Beauty Club: Debenhams, Sheffield
Dress on main model: Alice Takes a Trip
Rose Petals: Nature’s Larder

All Photos by CandM-Photography

Posted Thu, 17 Sep, by Jennie Beard in Lingerie, Pink, Shops, Stationery, Themes, Vintage Accessories, Vintage Clothing , Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling, Window Display | 1 Comments

Based in Sheffield, we organise, design and style extraordinary and elegant weddings and events. We are inspired by vintage and love re-creating the styles of the past in the present.



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