Wear your wedding dress again charity party

It's not every day that you get the chance to wear your wedding dress again! Well I got just the opportunity to wear mine  - 20 years after my big day - when I joined make up maestro and colleague Emma Brooks, fellow wedding hair stylist Lynette Chasmer and marketer Sara Carter for a charity fundraiser in aid of Help for Heroes on Sunday.   The ‘Wear Your Wedding Dress Again’ charity event was being held at Prested Hall and arranged by the wonderful Abi and Rob and their teams from Abigail's Collection & The Groom's Room. Before the party started, Emma and I visited Abi to transport her look back to her own big day in 2005. To recreate Abi’s wedding hair I first added a few hair extensions, then dressed it up into a high sophisticated style which was sleek at the front but with lots of fullness and curls at the back, completing her look I attached her beautiful crystal head piece. It was Emma’s turn next, as she provided a glowing radiance to Abi's wonderful skin, used natural shimmery eye shadow colours to make the most of Abi's eyes plus a flutter of lashes with a beautiful fine delicate flick of liner to compliment the look. A pop of colour on the lips finalised Abi’s wedding look. Next it was time to give Sara her ‘Hollywood Glamour’ hair makeover. Sara was one of my very recent brides and wanted me to exactly recreate the look I gave her for her wedding day in August. I tonged Sara’s bob length hair, added curled extensions and pinned it up to give her a Hollywood starlet look. A beautiful diamond and pearl hair pin added further vintage class to her glossy dark locks. Emma’s look for Sara involved a full on red Hollywood glam lip using the must have shade M.A.C Ruby Woo, matte eye shadow with flicked out wings and eyelashes to create a dramatic film star appearance.     Lynette got married in 1992 so her hair was loosely tousled with curling tongs and a little backcombing for root lift decorated with a rose flower set to the side. Her make-up was updated to 2013 but all in all she looked very Scott and Charlene circa neighbours 1992!       Emma got married 13 years ago, so I recreated her look but added a modern twist using big rollers and extensions. I curled her hair and pinned it up to create an exquisite wedding hair style.  After adding height to the front, I finished by adding a birdcage veil and side tiara to top it off. She looked stunning.    Next it was my turn; after doing my own hair and adding my original wedding hair corsage, Emma waved her magic airbase make up wand and gave me a lovely dewy look for the evening. Wow, did it take me back to the 1990s! With our wedding dresses on, which spanned the past three decades, we were ready to party the night away.   On entry to the sparkly lit up entrance of Prested Hall, we were dazzled by the bulbs of the paparazzi and walked the Red Carpet. I felt like a star of a premiere! The attentive staff ushered us into the main hall where over 90 other brides in their wedding finery were sipping champagne and nibbling the beautiful canapés. I was absolutely agog at seeing so many beautiful brides and the array of their dresses that rocked from 1960’s vintage right up to 2013. Everyone had taken so much care over their bridal look and it was great to see many of the brides we have worked with over the years. Photo courtesy of Simon Brazier of EPS Photography.         As the fun began and drinks were flowing we were reminded of the real reason for the charity ball – to raise money for Help for Heroes by their regional fundraiser. Rapturous applause greeted Abi and Rob who officially welcomed everybody. Then it was onto the evening’s entertainment which started with the dulcet tones of Sarah Grace. Moving on, we brides rocked to the beats of disco greats that set the pace of the evening by the guys from Dreamwaves Events. Trickster Magicians Toby and Alan entertained us with their slight of hand. Then there was a fantastic Photo booth, and something I had never seen before, a Flick Book Photo Booth run by photography specialists and wedding supplier finalists Aurora Pearl. This was so much fun and something I will be telling my future bridal hair clients about. Vanilla and Ivory provided gorgeously themed and delicious cupcakes. The guys and girls at EPS Photography and PictureBoxPortraits were on hand all evening to take pictures of all the stunning brides. Finally, the wonderful harmonies of the band Next of Kin who were featured on this year’s X factor set the tears and laughter flowing with a few romantic hits of the past while every bride’s favourite photos of their special day flashed up on the screen. It was a great touch! With the addition of a luxury raffle and the lovely butlers in the buff collecting for the charity, the event raised nearly £2,800 for Help For Heroes. What a result!  Everyone had a great time and we can’t wait for next year Abi and Rob! You did a great job.