Vintage Bridal Dresses for a Vintage Bride? Beyond Retro Wedding Fair.

Thursday morning a message popped into my facebook inbox. It was from the lovely Rose Thorne who runs the amazing Double R Club in Bethnal Green, if you love burlesque and/ or David Lynch then this is the show for you! Award winning and mesmerizing cabaret.

Instead of a message regarding cabaret, or any of the fun sounding things Rose tends to send to me (naked gogo dancing anyone?!) it was instead a post about Beyond Retro's Vintage Wedding Fair happening from the 13th - 16th March (so yes, right now!!!) in the Dalston branch.
It is free entry and takes pride of place just next to the cafe, and we (I broke all rules and took Edd with me) had a great time perusing through piles of netting, veils, and even silk panties!


There were a great deal of dresses which is always great, but the more huge net dresses put onto one railing, the harder it is to look through them! 
There were dresses from the 1930's onwards, with some beautiful 50's prom style dresses thrown in for good measure.

 As always with vintage stores these days, there was a lot of 80's and early 90's numbers thrown in that cause only amusement at poofy sleeves and Princess Diana copies.
I do wish vintage wear was separated by Era so I wasn't wading through 70's polyester and 80's sequins, so this would have been something I'd have changed.


 Not content with only showcasing wedding dresses, there is a table jam packed with fliers, example bouquets, and the now fashionable flower crown in varying states of floweriness and frankly, daftness with some looking like kitsch shower caps. 
There were plenty of veils which I was happy to see, I think it's the only traditional thing I'll be going for on our big day, and some of them were beautiful, but not quite right for my dream dress.


 Even the Lingerie was covered, but we were a little confused by the bridal blindfolds...?!
The area was an array of pastel colours, and even some of the pants had trains, which I imagine only being a pain more than a strange wedding day kink!

Now it was time to try things on. We went to the dressing room over powered by tulle and lace, and one beautiful 30's button satin gown, which had a bit of a surprise when I put it on...!

I guess that it had another bit that must have gone underneath, but it had such a long train too. It was stunning but I could only imagine walking down the aisle with this wearing nothing but a swarvoski merkin underneath and seeing if anyone noticed. 

This was a beautiful 50's gold detail dress, which made me realize that my bust was no match for the previous occupant of the dress, there was somewhat of a gap...!
Some of the dresses I tried were lovely, but just not for me and definitely not in my size. 

In summery it was worth a visit, it's free entry and for us only two stops away.
If you based in London, and stuck for ideas on your big day take the trip, but it would be a long shot to find the dress of your dreams among the selection. 
The prices are very reasonable ranging from under £100 and I didn't see any over £300 but as they were made for someone else, expect to pay out for adjustments or even repairs, net doesn't last forever!

 
We weren't offered any bubbly or chocolate, but however left to our own devices so ignore the last line of the flier that isn't the address!
It's set to hit Stockholm at the end of this month, and may make it's way around other branches.
If you're local, and about to get hitched pop along but I wouldn't recommend travelling to London especially for it as it's more of an hour long activity than finding the dress you've been searching high and low for.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...