All change please

As with alot of my blog posts I do like to tell a little story and for those of you who are unfamiliar (or even familiar) with the London transport system I apologise if this seems like a rant. There is - as always - a link!

As I was on the tube the other day at Hammersmith I noticed an information poster. The first thing I noticed was that it mentioned my birthday - well my birth date to be precise but I still held out hope that Kevin had organised a huge birthday bash for me and was informing the whole of West London about it! But on reading further I noticed something that actually quite surprised me - the Circle Line is going to go Hammersmith now. How could this be? I hadn't seen any major line work so how could the Circle line still be a loop? Was the circle line just not going to go to High Street Kensington anymore? There were so many ponderables!

Then yesterday I received an email from Transport for London (lucky me!) advising on what this extension would mean. First of all the Circle Line was not going to be a complete loop anymore - no longer can you fall asleep on it and travel round the line for hours on end (this may be a good thing!). If you are travelling via High Street Kensington you have to change at Edgware Road and if you want to go to Kings Cross from Paddington best get the Hammersmith and City Line! How is that making it better for us? It all seems a bit unnecessary to me! I mean why change something that has worked for years?

Well the reason is to provide more trains and it is part of a big upgrade programme for some tube lines. But that doesn't mean that change is always welcomed or easy. Sometimes it seems unnecessary to begin with but you have to change to be able to move on. And this is what is happening at Tiararama over the next 12 months.

Exciting developments are afoot at Tiararama but in order to make the best of these we have to change. Some of the changes will be obvious, some more subtle and some will only be seen by us behind the scenes but overall it will mean that Tiararama is stronger and better equipped to deal with the exciting opportunities the future will bring. The only things that won't change will be our ability to design fantastic pieces and provide a first class service to all of our customers.

The most obvious changes will come on our website. Over the coming weeks and months there will be subtle changes happening which will pave the way for more radical and exciting changes. And by the summer our website will be all sparkly and new. We are so excited about the future at Tiararama Towers and I hope that overall you will feel the benefits of all the hard work that is about to be undertaken.

Oh and have a look at English-Wedding.com - it's always lovely to have nice things said about you!

And it would be remiss of me not to leave you with a picture from our new Spring collection. This is a very simple double headband in freshwater pearl and crystal called Melissa. It has lovely texture and warmth and but despite its simplicity it has a lovely subtle pattern which is offset between the two bands to provide another clever layer of detail.

Melissa by Tiararama

So as always....until next time......

Let it Snow.....

Well it's December 1st 2009 and here is the first preview of our 2010 Snow Collection which will be one part of our 2010 Autumn/Winter collection. One of the things I often hear from clients, especially those who are getting married in the Winter months, is that they see lots of "ice" tiaras but not many "snow" tiaras and with vintage style dresses with their beautiful lace and pearl trims being so on trend in 2010, I decided to design a range of pearl tiaras and accessories which follow the Snow theme.

The pieces I am showing you are the core pieces in the collection - the collection itself is still expanding with matching accessories and also I am customising some of my best selling designs to complement. And where the images are just of the products then they have come from my own fair camera and therefore are likely to show the pieces off to their full potential (I apologise in advance).

The three showcase pieces of this collection - The Snow Queen Crown, The Snow Princess Half Crown and The Snow Storm comb - are made up of columns of graduating white Swarovski pearls which are wrapped in silver wire with silver lined seed beads. Much of the inspiration behind this collection came to me in the snows of February 2009. The snow on our pear tree branches looked like spikes of white and crystal which sparkled as the sun caught it and so I decided to incorporate this kind of effect in our 2010 Winter collection. So once I began getting feedback about a lack of pearl based tiaras especially for winter weddings I decided that one of my collections would at least use beautiful Swarovski pearls in white. And rather than using crystal integrally in the design to add that hint of icy sparkle I decided to wrap the structures in the design with wire and instead of using crystal for that bit of sparkle I wanted to use silver lined clear seed beads to add a more subtle hint of sparkle. So what we get are imposing structural designs in soft pearls with interesting texture.

So here you are.....The Snow Collection

The Snow Queen Crown

This crown is incredibly imposing. Columns of graduating pearls are twisted and curled to form a more natural abstract feel to the crown. When I designed the piece I felt that it should look a bit wild but what was an absolute joy was that when I began to create it, every column had its own natural idea of which direction it should be placed. Obviously I moved some of them but where possible I tried to keep the columns as they naturally fell into place. I often feel that so many designs are forced into symmetry and perfect lines but this piece took on a life if its own and was all the more beautiful for it. At approx. 13cm tall at its highest point it certainly isn't for the faint hearted (or the weak necked) but if you are having a winter wonderland wedding this crown will certainly help to make it a memorable experience.

The Snow Princess

One thing Tiararama has never been afraid of doing is trying new styles and designs and this piece is no exception. This piece is literally half a crown - it isn't an asymmetric design in the sense we all know and love. You wear the band like a standard tiara but only half of it is decorated. It looks fabulous with big hair and gives an imposing feel without being as heavy as a design such as The Snow Queen. In some respects you have to be braver to wear this than you do The Snow Queen but if you do wear it, you are guaranteed an elegant finishing touch to your winter wedding ensemble.

The Snow Storm

This comb is incredibly versatile and extremely stunning. It is a fabulous alternative to a tiara. It is also great if you are little indecisive about how you are going to have your hair on the big day because it can be worn in two ways. The first way is horizontally as shown in the image above and below. The asymmetric design creates a stunning and dramatic impact but still retains a sense of elegance.

But if you want a more traditional feel you can wear this piece vertically pushed into a french pleat or other twisted design. The piece follows the shape of the head so the hair style can be as neat or tousled as you like and yet the piece whilst still elegant takes on a more sleek feel.

This piece also seems to have a chameleon like property depending on the gown it is teamed with. The pearls give it that sense of restraint but the design gives it a sense of flair so depending on the look you wish to achieve this piece could be the one for you.

Simply Snow

In all of our collections I am conscious that for many brides getting married might be one of the happiest days of their lives but not all of them want to make a statement so I always design very simple pieces which add a sense of elegance and simplicity. And Simply Snow is just that - simple and elegant. Using different sized pearls to form the base pattern to give a nice texture and then binding in silver and silver lined seed beads gives you that feeling of settled snow with a subtle sparkle of ice. The piece feels quite chunky but it is in face one the thinnest designs we have done along with our Maria design. It will look gorgeous with any hairstyle and would also look great on bridesmaids. There is nothing clever about this design except that it is simple and beautiful.

Fallen Snow

This piece has a similar feel to Simply Snow but it is a little more textured. The wire and seed bead binding is missing from this design because this reminds me of the first time I looked out onto our garden in the snows of February, when it was just getting light and seeing all the normally recognisable shapes in our garden distorting their smooth, pristine white blanket of snow. It was a scene of simple beauty and this design reflects that.

Snow Cuff

You will already have seen several images of our Snow Cuff being worn. Probably the best examples of it are our model shots for The Snow Queen & The Snow Princess (above). Essentially this is the simplest of cuff style bracelets. It has 4 strands of Swarovski white pearls - a classic and simple concept. But there is literally a twist in this tale. This slight twist gives the piece an elegant contemporary feel whilst still retaining that traditional look.

SnowFlake

Again a simple but striking style, this 4 strand pearl necklace is a stunning style on its own - very traditional and elegant but the addition of Swarovski Snowflake pendants gives the piece a sense of fun whilst retaining its elegance and makes it suitable for any winter wedding.

Some of this new collection will be showcased at the National Wedding Show at Olympia in February 2010 and will be available to buy online at our website from that time as well.

Hope these pieces and the stories behind them have inspired and look out for more collection updates and showcases over the next few months. So until next time.....