Heavenly Vintage

Bristol Vintage wishes you a Happy New Year and introduces… Heavenly Vintage.

Heavenly Vintage adapts beautiful vintage gowns to make them perfect for the modern bride.

As well sourcing these vintage delights, owner Helena has been busy working on her own collection of vintage reproduction dresses.

The Heavenly Collection comprises of 10 styles, most of which can be varied (different sleeve lengths or necklines etc). 

At our very own Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair, Helena will be showing a collection of totally original vintage dresses.

She'll have about 65 unique outfits ranging from Edwardian to the 70's, all of which have been cleaned and repaired where necessary and all in fantastic ready-to-wear condition. 

Among the collection will be dresses that show off the elegance of the 30's to the sweet prettiness of the 50's and the boho relaxed look of the 70's.

Find out more on the Heavenly Vintage website and take a look at Helena's new blog. Do make sure you come and meet her on March 16th. It's a real opportunity to see these dresses up close and try them on as Helena's normally based in her West London studio and rarely comes to vintage fairs - we feel very privileged to have her!

Lilygrace Originals

For beautiful, original jewellery with a vintage twist, look no further than Lilygrace Originals.

Owner and designer Hazel Mathiot describes her pieces as handmade wearable art and these 30s and 40s inspired creations are one-off collectible pieces you’ll want to treasure.

  

Inspired by American designer Miriam Haskell, Hazel hand makes each piece with love and care. With her new website up and running, you can take a tour of her current collection which includes a gorgeous range of earrings, pendants, chokers, cuffs and necklaces, each sumptuously made from a beautiful array of corals, glass beads, embroidery, vintage silks, lace, organza, freshwater pearls and rhinestones. 

What’s so lovely about each item is that they come with a little story.  Click on any of her designs and you get a detailed description of how its been made and what precious stones she’s used. Each pair of earrings, each necklace, each choker has a whimsical name and once bought, they’re sent to you packed in a complimentary organza gift bag. 

  

Halfway between fine and costume jewellery, Lilygrace designs are playful, romantic, lustrous, delicate and dainty; think Belle Époque and Showgirl; think roses and teardrop pearls. 

We’re delighted to welcome back Hazel to this year’s Fair. It’s great news for visitors too as you get to chat to her – Hazel specialises in commissions!  She can design a unique piece for you to go with your dress or for the bridesmaids, perhaps in your favourite colours and stones or incorporating a family heirloom.  She’ll also be bringing along some gorgeous handmade items for you to coo over. We’ll see you there!

Shellac Sound

Gramophone DJs?  Yes please!  Matt Jones and Kate Wright are Bristol based gramophone enthusiasts Shellac Sound, playing music from the 1920's, 30's and 40's on original wind-up gramophones.  They’ve played at art galleries, art deco hotels, music concerts, cinemas, birthday parties in church halls and tea parties in the park as well as some fabulous wedding receptions.  Drawing on their large collection of 78rpm records, they play a varied mixture of dance bands, popular vocal, jazz, chanson and latin, but are happy to tailor a set to completely suit your tastes.  

Using two 1930's His Masters Voice 102 gramophones [widely regarded as one of the best sounding portable gramophones] and one horn gramophone, these are surprisingly loud and clear, but can easily be amplified using microphones if necessary.  With a daytime guide rate of is £150 for the first hour and £50 per additional hour, there are additional charges for travelling further afield and for evening events, so best to talk through your event with them in detail.  

They've been gramophoning since 2003 and are passionate about bringing the machines and the music to gatherings and celebrations.  Their website is delightfully retro and you can be inspired by samples of the fantastic music with their ‘listen’ section.  At the fair, Matt will be playing records in between the live music and doing his very best to have a chat with you all whilst changing gramophone needles every three minutes!  Catch him while you can and let yourself be lost in the magic of the music.

Heavenly Vintage Brides

These gorgeous dresses range from the 40's to the 60's but Helena of Heavenly Vintage sells original vintage pieces from the 30s, which she adores, through to the lovely tailoring of the 40s, the fabulous nipped in waists and hourglass shapes of the 50s, long A line lace dresses and cute short shifts of the 60s and even a few lovely 70s boho dresses.  Each decade has so much to offer and is so different to any other and Helena feels one of the very best things about vintage wedding dresses is that there is such a wide choice - so many shapes and styles.

         

Heavenly Vintage’s prices range from about £350 or £400 to around £1350, with a good range in between and all the dresses for sale are in great condition.  So if you’re looking for that perfect vintage wedding dress, take some time to browse their gorgeous, Heavenly collection online. Each dress is carefully chosen and sourced and vintage gowns have been adapted to make them perfect for the modern bride, whilst retaining their unique charms and remember, there’s only ever one of each!  Helena also stocks headdresses made from vintage silk flowers to complement the dresses.



Choosing a Wedding dress requires a personal service, so Heavenly Vintage work on an appointment system where you can discuss your individual requirements.  Each takes 1.5 hours in their West London home, but we’re lucky enough to have Helena at this year’s fair in Bristol.  She’s currently working on a collection of 'vintage-inspired' dresses, spending a lot of time trying to get the detail right with fabrics that look authentic. Unfortunately it won't be ready in time for the fair, but by the end of the Spring she’ll have even more dresses on the website to offer and in a full range of modern sizes.  Helena loved being part of the Bristol Vintage Fair last year and is really looking forward to being there again in February.  We’re thrilled she’s coming down from London and urge you to catch her while you can.