Accessorising High Street Dresses - Coast

So, the second of my series of "Blinging up your bargains"....

This week i've found an utterly gorgeous dress from Coast Stores (www.coast-stores.com). Again, a High Street favourite of mine, Coast corsets have been rather a staple in my wardrobe for some time now.

This is their Mimosa Bridal dress, and it is simply beautiful, with the most amazing floral lace, accented with matching lace appliques. Combined with a nipped in waist, and slim silhouette, you really can't go wrong.

I love it when a dress dares to be different, and the way the appliqued flowers extend over the neckline, really appeals.  And of course the shape of the flowers are a perfect match for the Aster headband, complete with its tiny "something blue" crystal.  With such gorgeous detailing on the dress, and hair accessories, I think its best to keep any further jewellery quite simple.  A delicate bangle, such as the Eternity Bridal Bracelet, and perhaps a really simple pair of bridal earrings such as these:

And what about shoes?  Well, after a little bit of help, I have found these beauties Clara by Benjamin Adams - just the right amount of lace, and a gorgeous peep toe.

However, if you fancy something a little bit more on the unusual side,  then these ivory lace over duck egg blue peep toes, by Oscar De La Renta, are simply gorgeous.  I must admit that I am coveting them...in a BIG way....!

Feel free to leave us a comment below, and follow our blog to receive notification of our next post, which will be looking at accessories suitable for another high street wedding dress!

High street wedding dress:  Coast (www.coast-stores.com)

Bridal Shoes:  Benjamin Adams (www.paradoxlondon.com) 

Bridal Jewellery and Headband:  Starstruck Designs (www.starstruck-designs.co.uk)

Accessorising High Street Dresses - Monsoon

Or, as I like to think of it: Blinging up your Bargains!

As more and more high street shops are adding bridal collections to their repertoire, I thought it might be an idea to look at how to accessorise them. So i've spent some time (far too much time actually!) researching, and over the coming weeks will bring you what I consider to be four of the best high street bridal dresses along with some suggestions of jewellery and hair accessories to complement.

The first shop that sprang to mind was Monsoon (www.monsoon.co.uk). I love Monsoon dresses, and have owned a few myself over the years. This is my favourite from their current bridal collection: The Valley Mesh Dress, priced at £225.

I love the vintage feel that this dress has, and the detailing on the shoulders is just gorgeous. Team it with a side headband that has an equally vintage feel to it, such as "Selene" from our Goddess collection, and a pair of bridal earrings that combine sumptious pearls and crystals for a softly sparkling effect.

I haven't included a necklace as i'm not really sure the dress needs one, there is already so much detail around the neckline. However if pushed, I would suggest going with either a pendant or a Y shaped necklace, something that will drop beautifully into that deep V-neckline. The Vintage Glamour bridal necklace below is a good example:

I spent a long time researching shoes for this dress, and actually couldn't find what I was looking for.  I wanted something with heavy pearl and diamante beading to echo that shoulder detail, but nothing seemed quite right.  So in the end i've gone with these gorgeous peep toes, called "Crush" from Pink by Paradox.

Feel free to leave us a comment below, and follow our blog to receive notification of our next post, which will be looking at accessories suitable for another high street wedding dress!

High street wedding dress:  Monsoon (www.monsoon.co.uk)

Bridal Shoes:  Pink by Paradox (www.paradoxlondon.com) 

Bridal Jewellery and Headband:  Starstruck Designs (www.starstruck-designs.co.uk)

Glitter, Grace and Glamour...

....And that's only 3 of the newest necklaces to be added to the Starstruck Collection!

Its been a busy few weeks here, which inevitibly results in the unveiling of new pieces that have been created especially for brides. Its takes me a while to get the photos "just right", and then a bit longer to add everything to the website, but i've finally finished updating the necklaces page with our most recent designs.

Introducing Glitter, and Grace - The perfect balance between sparkle and pearl:





We've seen a lot of sweetheart and 'V' necklines on bridal dresses recently, and have designed three gorgeous Y style necklaces in response. Vintage Glamour and Enchanted combine pearls and diamante, whereas the Wildheart necklace has its fair share of crystals, creating an incredibly sparkly, yet beautifully soft effect.





And then we have these two little beauties - Purity and Clarity. Both are illusion necklaces, so the crystals and pearls look like they are floating. Purity was created for a bride who was looking for the elegance of pearls, whilst still keeping an element of sparkle. Clarity was based on the same design, but this time the wearer was a bridesmaid wearing a gorgeous dusky rose dress.






There are more, but you'll need to check out the website for the rest of our gorgeous new bridal jewellery. And keep an eye on the blog, for updates to our bracelets collection!

Happy Anniversary!

So last week was my Wedding Anniversary! The 6th of April marked the day that my gorgeous husband and I had been married for 9 years. I still can't believe its been that long - 9 years!?! Where the heck does time go? For some reason, this year I really did spend a lot of time thinking back to our wedding day, remembering every aspect of it: getting ready in the morning, the drive in the car with my Dad (He was so nervous the driver had to do his tie up!), arriving at Boringdon Hall and the feeling of being in a dream as I got out of the car! The build up of excitement and nerves as I stood outside the room we were to get married in, and could hear the start of MY entrance music (Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" - lol!)



Then I walked into the room and developed the weirdest tunnel vision. I'd planned to smile graciously at all our guests as I glided down the aisle, and instead, all I could see, all I could focus on was my Husband To Be. It was almost like someone had blurred everything either side of me and there was only him. I think I almost ran down that aisle. To the man that I loved, that I wanted to marry, that I was about to MARRY!!!



It really was the most wonderful day - the weather was gorgeous, really sunny and not a cloud in the sky, although it was really windy, but that just meant some fab photos of me veil streaming out behind me! I've always loved this photo, which was taken by my Sister in Law - it always makes me think of a perfume advert:



It was so lovely to spend a whole day with our friends and family, celebrating our marriage. So much hard work goes into planning a wedding, but I can promise you it is absolutely worth it on the day to see it all come together. Having said that, I must admit that there were several things that went wrong on the day which should have been a disaster, but just weren't! I really couldn't care less that the music in the ceremony was a bit messed up, that the venue forgot to play our chosen CD's during the wedding breakfast, or that the DJ turned out to be a cheese-tastic School Disco kinda chappie who offended my mum almost to the point of tears (!!!). None of it mattered. I was married!! Nothing else seemed very important any more!

And here we are, 9 years later. Lots of wonderful times behind us, and a fair few tough ones as well. With our 2 beautiful children who we both adore, and who drive us up the wall at times!

Purple and Yellow Colour Scheme

Before I start, I have to just share an alternative title to this post. Mr Starstuck seems to think that I used "fancy names" for the colours on my last inspiration post, and wanted to know why I was using "normal ones" this time!! So in an attempt to keep him happy, I did toy with the idea of using the title "Cadbury and Canary"...for about half a second!

Sooo....post number 2 on colour schemes, and this one focuses on purple and yellow. My best friend got married just over a year ago and chose purple as her colour. She incorporated several shades of purple and lilac, which worked beautifully together, but right at the very beginning of her planning she toyed with the idea of using sunflowers with the purple. Ever since then i've had a bit of a "thing" about purple and yellow together, it just seems like such a vibrant, uplifting and fun combination.

So here is my take on the colour scheme - I hope you like!







If you click on any of the images above you will be taken to the website of the company that offers the product shown.

Top row, L-R: Purple glossy wedding cake from WeddingsCakesPictures Blog. Flower girls dress by Dessy. Viva vintage wedding invitation, £4 each by Ananya Cards

Middle row, L-R: Mini Lilly Bridal Headband by Starstruck Designs. Bridesmaid dress in Vintage Ombre by Dessy. Purple peep toe stilettos by Christian Louboutin. (note: i'm not sure if these are still available, but loved them too much not to include them!).

Bottom row, L-R: Purple and yellow bouquet by Posies by Pippa . Purple and yellow wedding invitation by Millie and Me.
Purple and yellow flower hairpins by Starstruck Designs.

I've loved putting this post together, and can't wait to get stuck into the next one! Combinations that have been suggested are black and white, navy and pink, navy, silver and light blue, sage green and dusky pink, hot pink and purple. If you'd like to see anything else, leave me a comment below.

If you are a wedding supplier, and you have any product or venue images that you would like to be included in a future blog post, please leave me a comment or email me details!

Teal and Fuchsia Colour Scheme

I'm often asked to make pieces for brides (usually for their bridesmaids!) in wonderful colours. There are some that get asked for over and over again, and others that are really unusual combinations, but that look absolutely amazing when they are put together with the right shades. However, if there is one thing i've learnt over the years, its that most of the time, its very difficult for brides to visualise how something is going to look, without actually seeing a "draft" first.

So I thought it might be useful to put together some inspiration boards for various colour schemes, just to give an overall idea of how some colours look together. Hopefully I can make this a regular feature of the blog, and to kickstart things, i'm starting with teal and fuchsia. Teal is often a very difficult colour to match, and I often find myself suggesting that brides work with various tones, rather than spending much sweat, blood and tears finding an exact match. Here you can see how several shades of teals and pinks work really well together.







If you click on any of the images above you will be taken to the website of the company that offers the product shown. The crystal bouquet and teal bridal earrings are both available in other colours as well, so do get in touch if you like the style!

So with any luck you'll find this is a regular feature of my blog - and if you have a particular colour scheme that you would like to see featured, please leave us a comment below and we'll hopefully fit you in!

Happy New Year!

Well its an obvious one, but Happy New Year sparkly fans! Hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and New Year - we certainly have in the Starstruck household. Christmas was hectic with both our familes here, and Mr Starstruck and I hosting for the first time ever (scary!), but everything went well. The children loved their pressies, the adults loved the food, and the wine went down a treat too!

So now its back to work, and as I do like to hit the ground running, i've booked a wedding exhibition for this weekend! Oh yes - on Sunday 9th January, we will be exhibiting at the Bentley Hotel in South Hykeham, Lincoln, from 10.30am to 4pm.



I can't remember the last time I did an exhibition so the nerves are starting up a little bit, but with it being this weekend I really don't have time to think about it too much!

I think we'll be advertising some kind of fabby offer on the day, i've not decided what yet....what would you like to see? A substantial discount on your order? A competition where 1 person wins a tiara? I'm going to have to have a good think about this!

Other news is that we have a brand new collection in the making, inspired by a commission that came in just after Christmas. Based on the idea of lace, pearls, buttons and the obligatory sparkle, the collection will contain a range of hair accessories and tiaras.



I've got most of these bits and pieces on the way, with a range of others as well and as soon as they are here i'll be adding new designs as soon as they are ready.

And here is the first piece: A little lace hairclip, with a sprinkling of sparkles.



That's it for now...time to get tea for the kiddies, and then I can sit down and finish adding all the new jewellery to the website. Dullsville evening ahead, but someone's gotta do it!!