Katie Vale Design

Last Wednesday I brought you the fantastic London wedding from FitzGerald Photographic and when Clare contacted me she also told me that Katie of Katie Vale Designs had deigned and made the brides headwear.  So as I love to feature designer makers I contacted Katie to share her design process when working with the bride, Carolyn.  I will now let Katie explain -

Carolyn was first introduced to me in July after I'd made a fascinator for her friend, Mel.

Mel's Fascinator

When we first met Carolyn knew that she wanted a design that wasn't "too weddingy" and that echoed the 40's theme that she had running throughout her day.

I took along several designs that I had for her to try on, and straight away we were able to dismiss the more abstract designs as they wouldn't have suited the style at all. However the design that she kept coming back to was the Bow Fascinator, and a variation of that design that another client Maria had.

Bow Fascinator

Maria Fascinator

We both liked the traditional round base, with pretty design and veiling........and that's the full brief Carolyn gave me, and left me with it.

I was extremely grateful that she gave me full artistic license to create something for her. Some brides want full control viewing multiple sketches and images along the way; but Carolyn trusted me and I trusted myself that I'd make something right for her.

And so I played around with a few ideas until I finally created her design of a white satin round base, with a large satin flower on it with wire tendrils protruding from the flower echoing the crystals that encrusted the centre. This was then finished off with veiling to create a pretty bird cage veil.

I knew Carolyn wanted something subtle and unobtrussive, that she could wear the whole day. So there were no big feathers or dramatic quils; but it could easily have been worn by a bride in this era.

Ironically I'd not been able to see the detail on her dress very well, but the same crystlas were encrusted on her dress that I had used on her fascinator. It was meant to be!

We took a while fitting the veil, ensuring that it covered her face a small amount, but not to irrate her. And I showed her how she'd be able to pin it back in the evening too.

I'd made Carolyn's fascinator first, as she was still unsure what she wanted her bridesmaids to wear. But once she saw her design she fell in love with it and I made the bridesmaids echoing her design. The only difference, other than the colour, is that their veiling didn't cover their face, it was simply decoration around the flower. And the youngest bridesmaid who was only 11 years old, had a satin flower put straight on an alice band, rather than base.

They looked gorgeous on the day and really suited the dresses they wore. I knew she was happy as she emailed me this after the wedding:

Hi Katie,

Thanks SOOOOO much again for the amazing head pieces for our wedding. I was so amazed at how beautiful they all turned out considering the vague brief I gave you. They were all so stunning and so many people commented on how gorgeous they were.

I absolutely LOVED it! Thank you so much. You're a very talented lady!

C xx


Thank you Katie, it must be a designers dream to be given a design brief without too many limits.  and they certainly all did look fabulous.

{Katie Vale Designs}