Take Your Time Choosing Your Gown

Buying your wedding dress can be a very confusing process. My advice would be to follow some very basic steps when you start in the hunt for the perfect gown. The Internet is amazing as its free and can help at the start of the process. At the very beginning its best to do your homework to familiarise yourself with the various current designers and all different shapes and styles. Once you become accustomed with the different styles out there you can start to decide on the dress you would like.

Firstly its a good idea to consider the kind of wedding you are planning- this will also help decide on the style of dress. Picture yourself on your wedding day- what are you wearing? What silhouette is your gown? With so many choices for the dress, it can be overwhelming to look through hundreds or even thousands of them. Some brides have said that after looking through racks and racks of dresses, they all begin to look the same. So before you even set out to try them on, envision your wedding day and how your dress looks, and jot down a list of things that describe the dress of your dreams. You don't have to know all the wedding dress terms. Just write down a description of the gown you're imagining. Example list: "princessy, satin, some shade of white but not pure white, spaghetti straps."

With this in mind the hunt can begin.

It will probably be one of the most expensive dresses you will buy so make sure it's what you want. Also don't be in a rush! It can be very exciting trying on dresses and easy to get swept along especially when friends or family are there. I often think it a great idea to try on as many gowns as 

possible but just take one guest to help you choose.

This is why we believe having a bespoke dress made especially for you is the way to go. For a similar price to the dresses you find on the high street (far less than people usually imagine) you are able to have a gown that is exactly as you like; with sleeves, the perfect length, the right colour etc and to fit you like a glove. You avoid alteration costs and waiting months for your dress to be ordered in- you get the final say!

We love making brides the dresses of their dreams and hope that this has inspired some of you to do a bit of research and come and visit Chaos! 

Jemma's Big Day!

Jemma and Tony got married last September and we were so thrilled to have had the pleasure to make her wedding dress for her and be able to see all the photos of the lovely day. 

'Tony and I met back in November 2004. My friend had got me a job alongside her at TK Maxx, by sweet talking the manager (Tony) and telling him I would be very interested in him!

Valentine's Day 2005 and we went on our first date; a romantic evening planned with a table at my favourite restaurant and a beautiful suite booked at a hotel- I was instantly hooked.'

'The first couple of years of our relationship was hard, we both had lots of hurdles. My mum had a serious car accident and was in a coma for a long while followed by months in hospital. That's when I knew Tony was the one. He was there at the hospital and was so supportive.'

'December 2007 we had our eldest daughter. She was perfect and he was an amazing Dad. The proposal on the other hand was a tad unromantic! Tony turned to me on evening and said "when you get engaged do you have to get married straight away or can you wait a while?" After I explained that some people are engaged for a while, giving them chance to save, he followed his blunt question with "oh, well go pick a ring out tomorrow if you want!" Not really swept off my feel but after a child and 3 years together we knew we loved each other.'

'We remained engaged through 5 years and 2 more children , occasionally discussing getting married but it was in October 2013 that we started serious planning. I already knew I wanted the ceremony in Ringwood Parish Church so we decided to just find a reception venue and work around that. We viewed just two venues and we were instantly sold by the second. 

Bartley Lodge in the New Forest- It was beautiful.'

I had no set theme in mind and to be honest I was vague about a lot of my choices. I just figured that if I liked it then it was in!  Tony had little input in the planning if I'm honest. He was the bank! I did run 90% of my choices past him but I did leave him with three things to organise. The car, the DJ and the suites. As we got closer to the big day I realised this wasn't being done the way I would have done it. Needless to say I went out and booked the car, suits and DJ myself!

'I made a lot of the decorations and stationary myself. Invites, orders of service, seating plane, place names. I put together all the favours. Created the centre pieces and decorated the church. It was time consuming but I loved it and wouldn't have done it any other way.'

'The process of having my dress made was fab. I did go in with a couple of photos and after trying on many dresses I knew what I didn't want. I think I was a bit vague and a tad wishy washy with what I did want but Frances and the girls were great. They helped show me what would and would not look perfect and were fab with their ideas. I loved picking out the material and going in and seeing my dress look different at every stage.'

Jemma wore a duchess satin gown with embellished lace overlay and tulle skirt by 

Calm Amongst the Chaos. 

We thought that Jemma's day looked wonderful and we are so pleased for her and Tony. Wishing them all the best for married life! 

Frances and the chaotic team

x

Congratulations!

During September and October we ran a free competition to win a bespoke wedding gown. On November 1st we randomly selected the winning ticket and the lucky winner (pictured below) was Diane Friery. To say she was surprised and thrilled when we phoned was an understatement! Diane came into the studio recently and things are now underway in terms of ideas and initial sketches.

Keep checking back to see Diane's journey progress and how she finds the whole experience of having her dress made to measure at Chaos.

Frances and the chaotic team x

Dinx wear!

Welcome our new range here at Chaos- Dinx! A capsule collection of vibrant, edgy occasion wear perfect for mother of the bride, groom or wedding guest. Comprising of gorgeous digital prints, luxury fabrics and flattering shapes and styles we feel this collection is suited to many. 

Collection and colour options will be on our website 

www.calmamongstthechaos.co.uk soon. 

In the meantime here are some gorgeous photos of the collection modeled by the lovely Emma and Georgia. 

Dinosaurs and Butterflies!

Hannah and Tom married on the first of August in Wimbourne Minster and the Chaos team were lucky enough to have been invited to witness such a lovely ceremony. With a theme of Butterflies and Dinosaurs we knew that this wedding was going to be a special one and we are thrilled to be sharing it with you. 

'We met each other three years ago, internet dating! I was fairly new to the scene but Tom had been on quite a few dates! We met for a drink and I think that we both new that this could be something special.'

'We got engaged a few days after my birthday last year, 4^th August. We had decided to go for a walk on the beach but after a busy day, I suggested that we just went home. Tom was absolutely insistent that we went to the beach (which did give me a clue!) and so went down to Shore Road in Poole. This was where we had had our 3^rd date two years earlier. After a while of walking, Tom got down on one knee and asked me to be ‘His Mrs Easthope!’….with a Haribo ring…and of course I said ‘Yes!’

There were some people celebrating a birthday on the promenade and they ran down with some champagne for us…just perfect!''After lots of very excited phone conversations, we pretty much began immediately. We were both so excited! That evening we sat down and began writing our guest list (which was very long to begin with!). It all felt very daunting. For years I had been going to weddings and thinking about what mine might be like. I thought that I knew what I wanted but all of a sudden I had to begin making decisions and I then didn't actually know where to start – it was a very strange feeling.'

'Many people questioned our theme throughout our engagement and it became quite a talking point. Some people thought I was crazy and others thought it was great….Dinosaurs and Butterflies! Thomas has always had a fascination with dinosaurs and I had always wanted to be an archaeologist when I was younger so it seemed to fit! Butterflies….because it couldn't be just dinosaurs (and we both love butterflies)!!!

This ended up being the driving force of all our decisions. It helped having a theme for decision making and also helped us make it unique. Alongside this, we kept to quite a vintage theme and had afternoon tea with vintage china along with lots of bunting adorning anywhere we could think to hang it!

Our colour scheme was decided after meeting with Frances for the first time as I fell in love with the Libby dresses that I thought would be perfect for my bridesmaids and the fabric came in a gorgeous navy blue. Once I had spoken to Tom about it, we decided on navy blue with pink accents and began to move forward from there!'

'This was quite an easy choice for us as I knew straight away that I wanted to get married at Wimborne Minster. I had spent a lot of my childhood going to church there and it held many happy memories for me.'

'For our reception we were very lucky because my parents live in a National Trust mill – White Mill, Sturminster Marshall. The National Trust were really helpful and said that they would allow us to close the mill for the weekend so that the reception could be held there. This was wonderful as it had been where I had grown up and is such a beautiful setting by the River Stour.'

''We pretty much did everything ourselves. We originally decided to do this because we thought it would be cheaper (how wrong we were!) but also because our theme was so unique. Tom is a brilliant artist which helped and so he designed a logo/ motif that ended up being used for lots of our stationary and things like our cake topper.'

 Once Tom had designed the logo and we had both worked on the overall design, one of our friends laser cut our invitations and orders of service. Then began the big task of printing out the insides and putting it all together – cue mothers, fathers, friends, lots of glue and ribbon!'

 ''We also did things like buy cardboard letters H&T and paint them in pink and blue with stripes and spots, Tom made our cake topper out of foil and fimo and we put together big noticeboards of pictures throughout our lives. One of my bridesmaids made us lots of lovely things to go in the marquee like bunting that said Mr and Mrs Easthope and did up an old suitcase for our cards to go in. All of these little touches are what I think made our day special for us.'

 'We were very lucky to have so much help from our friends and family and friends of our parents. There was a group of wonderful ladies in my parents’ village who were a brilliant support and all brought with them different expertise. Two of them made the button holes for the men and page boy, two of them put together the flowers for the marquee and others helped with decoration and making the marquee so special.'

'It was all I thought it would be and more! It was a very surreal experience because, after all the months of planning, there is nothing else you can do! I remember standing at the top of the aisle thinking I really hope that I haven’t forgotten anything!'

'So many parts of the day were wonderful! Walking down the aisle was amazing! It was something that I was really worried about but I loved it. When I arrived at the back of the church I could see everyone waiting. Some of the children from my school had come to see us get married and they were sitting near the back. They heard me arrive and all turned around which did make me feel quite emotional.'

'Having my Dad there meant a lot too as he had been very poorly in the years leading up to the wedding and it wasn't until the morning of the wedding that we knew whether he was going to be there or not. Because of Parkinson’s disease and a respiratory condition, he had lots his ability to walk but, with amazing determination, the help of a wonderful physiotherapist and lots of practice walks down the aisle, he made it to the church and all the way down the aisle!'

My words of wisdom are:        

'Make sure you begin planning and making things early if you are planning on 

doing things yourself. I read this in lots of magazines but still didn't leave quite enough

 time to do things stress free…we were still making the Orders of Service the afternoon before the wedding!' 

' Make sure that you communicate exactly what you want with your suppliers. They will probably be very experienced in doing weddings but they won’t know exactly how you pictured your day. It’s much better to have that conversation well in advance rather than when you are feeling more stressed nearer the time. 

'Make sure you take a quiet moment together on the wedding day, away from everyone else, as the day goes so quickly and it will be over before you know it. We also decided to walk around each table, together, after the main part of the afternoon tea (before the cakes came out) and spoke to everyone. Spending time together and time with each of our guests was very important to us.'

'Having my dress made by Frances and her team really was one of the best experiences and made our day even more special for me. I was really nervous to find a dress that was going to make me feel amazing but that was going to be comfortable also. From start to finish, the process was so brilliant and I would recommend it to everyone!' I initially went into Chaos after seeing the blackboard sign outside and thought I’d pop in for a look. After speaking with Frances about my experiences of wedding dress shopping so far (not good) and ideas that she had for me, I knew that making the decision to have my dress made by Chaos was going to be an easy one.'

'Receiving the designs was so exciting and seeing my dress taking shape was just brilliant. The design changed quite a few times along the way because of new ideas both Frances and I had but this made it all the more wonderful. In the end, I couldn't have been happier. I was so comfortable and felt amazing. I am now very sad that I don’t get to wear it again!'

Hannah wore a dupion corseted gown with embellished lace overlay, cap sleeves and matching veil. 

Suppliers:

Sorrels Professional Caterers (excellent food and very helpful)

Collins Marquees

Carnival Flowers, Wimborne

Old Crocks Vintage Hire

Chill, The Party Band (they were absolutely brilliant)

Murakami Photography

Rob Beale Ltd (toilet company)

Deborah Wakley (wonderful hairdresser!)

We are delighted for Hannah and Tom and wish them all the best for the future- we think their Dinosaur and Butterfly theme was amazing and one of the most brilliantly unusual weddings we've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.

Frances and the Chaotic team.

x

Simple and Sophisticated

Jamie and Lucia married in September this year and the day was perfectly planned with minimalist touches. 

'We met at work and we got engaged in 2013, just before we found out we were expecting a baby!'

'We had to plan it all remotely as we are living in Amsterdam and wanted to get married in the UK. Since it was quite a small celebration, it took us just 3/4 months to get it all sorted.'

'We didn't have a particular style, we just knew we wanted it to be small and intimate- we love the New Forest and were lucky enough to find a small hotel which was perfect for the occasion.'

'We shared out the different jobs when it came to planning and we did a lot of the styling ourselves. A lot of searching online for ideas and a few personal touches.'

'We had a fantastic day and we were so glad to have our family there to share it with us and the best part of our day was after the ceremony when we could relax and begin the celebrations.'

 

I loved the process of having my dress made by Chaos-it is lovely to know that you're going to have a dress that is exactly what you want and that no one else has. I sent Frances a few pictures/ideas and felt really happy when I got the sketches back, they were exactly what I had pictured in my mind. I loved my dress!

Lucia's gown was a silk crepe shift dress with a Chantilly lace overlay and embellished belt detail. 

Lucia was our first Bride based in the Netherlands so it was a bit of challenge coming back and forth for fittings but we managed it! We are so glad she ended up with a simple dress that she felt great in and wish her and Jamie and their new baby all the best.

Frances and the Chaotic team.

x

The Wedding with the Big Red Dress!

Sarah and Ben married on the 2nd of August this year in an extravagant, red themed rockabilly style wedding with all the trimmings and more! 

When Sarah came to visit Chaos' studio we were over the moon to find out she wanted a Red Wedding Dress! We love people who have exciting, original ideas- making something different from the norm is right up our street. So we went ahead with this brilliantly individual project and throughout the process we loved to hear about Sarah's other great ideas for her big day. 

"We met and went out when we were at secondary school. Our first date was on the beach. Ben then got in touch again through Facebook (over 20 years later)… and the rest is history!"

"We got engaged in February 2013. Ben woke up one morning and said ‘I dreamt we got married last night! It was great, shall we do it?"

"I’d seen a long red corduroy skirt in a knitting pattern book many years ago and I knew that that was the silhouette I wanted for my wedding dress, I also loved that it was red.  I never wanted a big white wedding." 

"I’d seen a long red corduroy skirt in a knitting pattern book many years ago and I knew that was the silhouette I wanted for my wedding dress, I also loved that it was red. I never wanted a big white wedding."

"I always said that if I got married I would run away and get married in Vegas; I’d be dressed as Marilyn Monroe and my husband would have to dress as Elvis. We’d have a drive through wedding in a pink Cadillac. After visiting Las Vegas, even though I have a penchant for the kitsch and tacky side of life Vegas was a step too far for me. We had a rockabilly 50’s style theme. It is an era I love and women were very feminine back then. I am not a ‘pretty girl’ and like bright vivid colours and this was reflected in the bold flower arrangements and my bouquet."

"I love living in Frome and wanted to get married in the town that we live in. Rook Lane Arts Center is an old chapel (and arts center now). It has the most beautiful stained glass windows and when we went to see it we both felt it was perfect. Ben told me when we got home that he could see us standing in their with his son Charlie and our son Elijah aka ‘Elvis’."

"We chose the big things together like the venue. Ben and I knew we wanted our celebrations after the wedding to be held in a barn and to have a hog roast and a great band. I spent a lot of time with my mum planning the other details. Mum was amazing when it came to organizing catering and sourcing different a lot of the things we needed. Dad found the barn and the band."

"We styled the whole event ourselves, from making the invitations, table decorations and favors, to setting out and decorating the barn. Almost everything was homemade. I spent a lot of time on the inter-net gathering ideas to begin with. I put them all together in a book and began to put a picture together of how we would like our wedding to be, from the pink flamingos, bright sunflowers and giant red bows to the bridesmaid dresses and beyond. A work friend of mine made our cake and a family friend did an out of this world job of our flower arrangements for the barn and Rook Lane. We bought a lot of the bits and pieces e.g. the two adult bridesmaid dresses, men’s ties and bracers and the bridesmaid buckets from e-bay. We provided our own cars and I made all the small bridesmaid dresses and all the bridesmaid’s fascinators."

"It was as I thought it would be, but I hadn't realised it would fly by so quickly.  It was very hard to talk to all our guests and take it all in."

"Best part... I can honestly say all of it.The funniest moment probably had to be when our niece, who was also one of the bridesmaids, came back into the barn after raiding the fancy dress box for the photo booth just before the speeches. She was dressed in a pink cowboy hat, comedy glasses, nose and mustache and of course a feather bower. She jumped up on stage and flashed the enormous pair of multi-colored snakeskin underpants she had also found amongst the fancy dress costumes. When she lifted up the eight layers of her meringue bridesmaid dress, there was a fleeting moment of horror followed by 100 people erupting in hysterical laughter at the boldness of this comical little lady. It was totally priceless. It was also great watching the men in the wedding party getting together and flexing their bracers… We've got some great photos of them all together."

"My words of wisdom are- assign jobs to others; people love being involved in your big day and it takes some of the stress off of you. Take a moment during the day to look around yourself and take it all in… it’s over in the blink of an eye. And with that in mind you really need a great photographer, the day goes so fast you need something to look back on and remember all the little things. Oh, oh and finally, get a guest book. It’s great to sit down after the wedding is all over and read the lovely, funny and moving messages people have written for you both."

"I loved having my dress made by Chaos, I really looked forward to my fittings. The ladies were friendly, helpful and accommodating. Seeing how my dress was progressing each time was really exciting.  It was an enormous part of the wedding planning. I was a little saddened when I left the last fitting that it was all done and I needn't go back again, but very excited that the next time I would see my dress it would be totally complete and I would be wearing it. The result was that I spent my wedding day wearing a dress that made me feel like a million dollars."

"A lot of the suppliers we used are fairly local to Frome or we made things ourselves."

                 

For my bouquet, men’s buttonholes and ladies corsages we used Mells Walled Garden. They grow all the flowers on site and it is opposite the Mells Tithe barn where we had our celebration.

Frome Valley Catering did our catering. The food was amazing; we had afternoon tea with a hog roast in the evening.  The staff, how it was organised and laid out, everything about it in fact was great.  They even arranged the chairs, cutlery and crockery.

The Talbot Inn supplied our bar. The pub is on the opposite side of the road, so seemed the logical choice.  The staff were really helpful and friendly and the beer and cider are locally sourced.

Our band was Lady Winwoods Maggot. A loud punk rock, hoedown, jump around type of band.  They were great!  They’re local to New Milton.

The dress agency that was supposed to supply the men’s suits let us down the day before, whilst we were decorating and organizing.  Luckily my brother stepped in and spent 8 hours driving around getting mid grey suits in the right sizes for all of the wedding party… but I am reliably assured that all weddings have some sort of last minute made panic.

We absolutely loved making Sarah's amazing gown- red and fuchsia dupion with a high neck, fifties figure hugging silhouette and statement bow on the back.  
We wish her and Ben all the best for the future and hope that their wedding inspires others to be a bit more out there and individual-it looks great!
Frances and the chaotic team x