Launch, relaunch, rebrand and start anew

We are pleased and excited to announce that our 2011 Collections are launching on October 14th 2010.

And there is more good news!

Not only have we been designing an exciting range of new pieces for the collections but the last few months have seen us working hard behind the scenes to ensure that we can build on the success we have already achieved. We've been working on everything from how our business is run, how we deal with all our clients and a range of extra touches that mean we can offer a more refined and exclusive design experience for our Couture Service clients and a larger, more varied set of Collections for our "off the peg" clients and stockists. But at the heart of all this work remains our commitment to providing an exceptional personalised service to all our clients and we believe that these changes will allow us to continue to do this in a more efficient way with our ever expanding client base.

And not only will our new 2011 Collections be launched on October 14th but we will be launching them on our relaunched website together with our rebranded Couture Service. We are so excited about our new developments and we cannot wait to show off all our hard work and hopefully share the fruits our hard work with you as part of your wedding preparations.

And we will also be starting a brand new blog which will be full of useful articles and all the news at Tiararama Towers.

So in a way this is the last post from our blog as we know it but in the run up to our relaunch you can catch up with our news either on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Or if you want to find out more information about these changes just drop me a line.

So until the new blog......

Lovely little post from House of Istria

Today on Twitter I received a lovely little message from House of Istria:

"I may have just done a little blog post on you! :)"

And sure enough upon clicking the link provided I was taken to this

It's always nice to read something about how other people see the work and effort we put into our designs and I would like to say thank you so much for the little mention and I look forward to seeing their new collection so that I can reciprocate and blog about them too.

Quick Update: Press Coverage

Whilst our new website is being worked on we have added a press coverage page to this blog so that you can see where Tiararama has been featured.

You can access this page by clicking on the Press Coverage tab at the top of the side bar on the right hand side or you can click here

Please feel free to have a look and I am really looking forward to when I can show you the new Press Coverage page on our new website.

I can be whatever you want me to be!

Over the coming months my blog entries will be quite short and sweet. There are so many exciting things going on at Tiararama Towers at the moment that sometimes it seems there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. But that doesn't mean I don't have time to tell you about something quite interesting that I have noticed in recent weeks.

Headchains are proving to be very popular at the moment - whether in their simplest or most elaborate form. We have 10 designs in our new collections and they are simply the most wonderfully versatile hair accessory solution. They are an excellent alternative to tiaras, headbands and combs. Headchains have adorned heads throughout fashion history and of course suit a plethera of gown and hair styles. The ones we took with us to the National Wedding Show in February caused quite a stir as people loved the tactility and versatility of them.

You can have them as long or as short as you like (longest so far has been 15 feet!), they can be as simple as a single strand of beads arranged in an elegant pattern or they can be more asymmetric with flowers and more intricate designs attached. They can be vintage inspired or based on contemporary details, plaited into hair, swagged, worn like a double or triple hair band. You can even wear more than one and layer textures and detail. The options are endless......basically they can be whatever you want them to be!

And of course they can easily be converted into fabulous necklaces, bracelets and other jewellery after the wedding so not only are they versatile but fabulous value for money too!

Obviously our new chain styles are being kept under wraps for now until our big collection launch but this image is of a very simple version which was worn at a photoshoot last year.

I am so excited about using headchains with some of our couture customers as well. They will be completely different styles but they will all look fabulous.

So until next time......

Versatile style

I love versatile designs and one of the things I try to do when designing combs and hair accessories is make them look good from all angles to increase the wearer's ability to achieve an individual look. And one of my most successful pieces in achieving this is our bold, graduating pearl comb Snow Storm.

Here you can see a number of images of the piece showing how versatile it can be






But for another image of the piece please click here for a chance to see it being worn on the catwalk at The National Wedding Show at Olympia back in February. I am absolutely delighted to see this image being used and I'm very pleased with how the stylist came up with yet another way of wearing the piece. It really does look stunning!

So until next time.....

Pleased to meet you

Simple is best - these 3 pieces proved the most popular at the show.

This weekend saw us exhibiting at our first National Wedding Show at London Olympia. It was a great weekend where I got to meet lots of lovely brides to be at different stages in their planning journey. I really enjoyed being able to impart some of my knowledge and advice to them and introducing them to new ideas. And I am really excited by the upcoming appointments that have been booked and enquiries which have started to come in on the back of meeting brides at this show.

It was also amazing to see our hair accessories being used to accessorise the entire Sottero & Midgley scene on the catwalk show. It really brought a lump to the throat as they came down the catwalk looking fabulous with the beautiful gowns chosen. I am waiting on the official catwalk images to arrive and look forward to being able to share those with you.

Apart from the pieces above which proved a hit with the majority of brides who wanted something simple and elegant the following designs and ideas also went down well.

All of our floral based designs were really popular and we had comments ranging from simple, elegant, different, classy, pretty and classic about them. This is great because a range of designs using these flowers will be launched in the next few weeks.

We always pride ourselves in our ability to come up with hair accessory solutions for alot of our brides and recently our headchains have proved to be a really big hit. And at the show this interest continued with them winning over even the most diehard "I don't want a hair accessory" brides. The advantage of these pieces is that they can be as long as you like, as decorative as you like and they can be woven into the hair, worn as a headband (without any sore bands digging in), wrapped around buns...the options are endless. And the best bit is that after the wedding we can convert these long strands into necklaces and bracelets for you. Not only fantastically pretty and versatile but fantastic value for money.

But apart from meeting so many lovely people at the show we also ran a little competition to win an exclusively designed tiara or hair accessory worth up to £250. And I have the very great pleasure of announcing the winner to be:

Rebecca Snook

We have contacted Rebecca and look forward to designing and creating the perfect tiara or accessories for her.

There are some very exciting things going on at Tiararama over the nex few months so watch this space!

Until next time.....

To see some of the gowns that our hair accessories were teamed with on the catwalk show visit Sottero and Midgley for some exquisite designs.

8 is the magic number

Will this piece feature?

Well Tiararama Towers erupted this afternoon in a melange of emotions ranging from sheer excitement and pride to kick in the stomach panic. You see we received an email requesting 8 of our pieces to be submitted for the catwalk at the National Wedding Show, London Olympia (Friday 19th to Sunday 21st February 2010).

Obviously we are incredibly honoured and excited by this but the reality of the hole 8 pieces will leave in our exhibit has really hit home.....hence the panic!

But like every challenge we face we are proud of being able to say that we will meet it and for this fabulous opportunity I will gladly forgo sleep!

So I suppose you want to know which pieces have been selected.....well for once I have to keep this under wraps simply because some are part of our new collections which won't be seen until the show itself and some are one offs. I guess I will just have to say that if you want to see them then you will have to come to the show and see them in action. For times of the catwalk shows see here .

Once the show is over I will post pictures of the pieces used and if you did get to see them in action on the catwalk then I would love to know what you thought about them.

So until next time.....

Making an exhibition of ourselves

It's February 2010 - a month which seemed years away in June 2009 when I signed up to exhibit at the National Wedding Show at London Olympia.

But here we are and all the hard work we have been putting in to show our services off over the last few months is all coming together.

So if you find yourselves in London between Friday 19th February and Sunday 21st February and you want to come and see us, we will be exhibiting on stand C31. We will be there to show you some examples of our unique styling and ideas and to introduce our Couture Service to you. I will be available personally on all three days to discuss ideas with you and tell you about how Tiararama can design and create the perfect tiara and bridal accessories for you.

BREAKING NEWS:For another reason to come and see us read our new blog entry 8 is the magic number

All of the products we will be showing will be available to buy or order on the day either as you see them or they can be customised to meet your requirements. Or you can simply book an appointment or email consultation (for those of you who cannot come and visit us personally) to discuss your own exclusive and unique tiara or hair accessory designs which not only meet your requirements but are guaranteed to suit you as a person and reflect your personality.

And there will also be some added bonuses. First of all if you book an appointment/email consultation over the 3 days you will receive 10% off any order you place following our discussions.

And we also have a very exciting prize draw. You will also have the opportunity to win your very own £250 tiara or hair accessory which I will design exclusively for you. All you have to do is fill out your details on a postcard and I will be drawing out the lucky winner on Tuesday February 23rd. The lucky winner will be announced on this blog on Tuesday February 23rd 2010 and they will be notified by telephone or email either on that day or on Wednesday February 24th 2010.

We are really excited about this event and I look forward to welcoming all of our visitors over these three days.



For more information on the National Wedding Show at Olympia (or the NEC) or to purchase tickets please visit the official website here

Happy New Year

OK so where did 2009 go? Actually at Tiararama Towers we are quite glad to see the back of 2009. Not because it was a bad year - in fact quite the opposite - but because all our hard work in 2009 has laid the foundations for what will be a fantastic 2010 for us.

And no I am not just being optimistic - I firmly believe that this year will be a great success. We're currently working hard in the background on new collections and on updating our website as well as still designing fantastic pieces for our customers. Oh and we're busy preparing for the National Wedding Show at Olympia in February. It's just so exciting here that it's hard to contain all the excitement!

So before we launch headlong into the New Year I thought it would be nice if I did a review of 2009 so that you can see some of the exciting things we did last year that we will be building on in 2010 (I must warn you - you may require several cups of coffee and packet of Jaffa Cakes to get through this!).

That was the year that was.....2009

January
January saw the birth of one of our most popular designs of last year - Danielle. It was designed for a bride with a pale gold gown which had a heavily textured bodice and so I used a blend of golden toned crystals, crystal and crystal ab, pale gold freshwater pearls, cream pearls and diamante to create a lovely textured effect within a simple wide headband style. The beauty of this design is its simplicity and its ability to be customised to suit the bride's requirements. And because of its success in 2009 we will be introducing it in various forms into our 2010 collections.
So here is Danielle and one of many customised versions of the design


February
The snow arrived in February and our new garden provided some wonderful snow covered inspiration for one of our 2010 winter collections - the aptly named Snow collection which is full of beautifully structured and textured pieces made from pearl. The only additional adornments are wire wrapping and silver lined seed beads which represent ice crystals in the snow. It wasn't just the snow that inspired me to design this collection. In the past I have had comments from customers that they have found it hard to find dramatic all pearl hair accessories for winter weddings and the snow on the branches of our trees and the undulating snow blanket that covered the garden spurred me on to begin designing this collection.

Here are some of the main pieces in the collection


March
March saw the birth of a concept design called Raquel (why Racquel?....who can forget Racquel and Curly) which has also led to a number of similar spin off designs. This particular design was created using strands of silver interspersed with sterling silver beads, Swarovski helix crystals and freshwater pearls combinations and then twisted to give a random, free flowing feel but within a structured shape. This technique will be used again in some of our new 2010 collections.
Here is the original Racquel design


April
For me April represents the start of my busy summer season. And April 2009 was no exception. As well as my commissioned designs, 4 designs seemed to dominate our customisations in this month.

So in ascending order we have
4.Our Donna comb
,
3.Our Danielle headband- see images in January,
2.Our Sarah tiara

1.And finally our perfectly simple and elegant Maria headband

But our favourite commission of the month was this lovely diamante and crystal tiara which was designed with the theme of a wild flower garden in mind to reflect the rustic nature of my client's wedding. Incredibly striking yet delicate!


May
May was incredibly busy for us. Not only was the summer season in full swing but I was also preparing for my first photoshoot of the year. One of the things that has frustrated me in the past has been that due to the dramatic nature of many of my designs it is very difficult to get across the full impact of the design. And I knew that in order to start showing off what Tiararama is all about, I needed to get my designs on heads. So together with Vikki the designer at Liliia and Sarah at Assassynation we headed into the Cotswolds for a photoshoot on a gloriously sunny day.

Some of my favourite images from this shoot are:


June
By June we were right in the middle of our busiest time but one of the best things about the majority of my work being commissions is that I get to work in fabulous and unusual materials and fantastic colours. And each year one colour seems to dominate and in 2009 the colour of choice seemed to be black. And June saw the start of many black (Swarovski jet) based commissions. Here is the first

This stunning piece uses beautiful Swarovski jet diamante with black diamond and crystal cluster accents on black wire. It is an incredibly striking design made all the more special by wonderful Swarovski magic.

July
July is usually the month for existing customers to add to their orders with jewellery and bridesmaid accessories and 2009 was no exception. I like July because there is usually a lull in commission designing (I love it but I do need to let the grey cells recuperate sometimes!)so as well as creating customer pieces I can concentrate on concept pieces which will in some way or another form the basis of the following year's collection.

July was quite interesting for me because I was invited to submit pieces for a photoshoot at Chiswick House - my lovely Jadis design

and the incredibly stunning Philomena.

Philomena is the biggest design I have ever designed not in terms of height but in sheer weight and intricacy. Essentially it is a wire structure made out of abstract twists of wire which are then draped with crystal and freshwater pearl so that you can still see the wire structure in the background but it all melds (now is that a word or is something we have to blame Star Trek for?)into one. This is then bound in thinner wire. It is a lovely warm and sparkling piece that has a deceptively light quality to it. The number of times it has been picked up by unsuspecting customers who think it will be quite light only to nearly drop it because it is much heavier than it looks! Maybe I should put a warning sign on it!

Alas Philomena's size and intricate textures are incredibly hard to photograph but here are a couple of images which I hope will go some way to showing her off. This really is a case of the pictures doing no justice whatsoever


August
Is that light I can see at the end of the tunnel? This is the question that I always ask in August. The summer season is nearly over and although I am busy all year the intensity of work begins to ease slightly. This August was a little different because not only did I get a lot of last minute orders but I was also working on pieces for a family wedding. It is bad enough when you work with clients to ensure that you meet and exceed their expectations but family - enough to give you a nervous breakdown!

August also saw the return of an old design friend - my simple Lillia design which had a resurgence in customisation requests this month. The beauty was that I was allowed to update the design using seed beads and metallic mesh ribbon in one case which maked revisiting the design much more exciting. Here is the pin combination created for a client using these materials consisting of a Grande Lillia and 2 simple Lillias.


September
The family wedding was upon us in September and whilst our normal work continued in the background this was what was occupying most of my time in the first week of September.

Gemma's gown was designed by my Mum and was a rich creamy champagne colour. The overall look was that of contemporary vintage and I needed to design a hair accessory to incorporate this theme. Knowing that she wanted a flower with a few trailing sections and that she was not going to wear a veil and was wearing her hair in french pleat led me to one conclusion - a hair vine which incorporated the floral theme and the delicate trailing sections. She also wanted a simple pearl bracelet and studs and a 3 strand pearl collarette. Whilst looking through my portfolio she immediately fell in love with my Lillia flower and we worked on combining different textures to give the piece more depth. But the hardest part of this piece was the colour matching. Although the gown and bolero were this rich creamy champagne colour, gold wire didn't suit it all. So I needed to use warm creamy freshwater pearls with hints of gold provided by pale gold metallic mesh ribbon and Swarovski crystal golden shadow beads on silver to achieve the right blend of colour. So here are a couple of images from the wedding of the hair accessory.

It is always amazing to see your work in real life but it is also great to see it on the television and September saw some of our pieces on Celebrity Four Weddings. We designed the headchain and bracelet for Terry Coldwell's (of East 17 fame) bride to be, Faye. The gorgeous Swarovski helix crystal headchain looked beautiful and suited her so well. Was really pleased with the results.

September also saw us travel to France on holiday (yes we did manage to escape for a few days) and it was here in the Loire Valley that I gained some wonderful inspiration for a new beaded collection which will be available in the summer of 2010.



October
October saw me exploring new techniques for my work. 2010 I feel will be the year simple but intricate designs. There will always be those who want the dramatic and the large sparkly tiara but the move towards simplicity began in 2009 and will continue throughout 2010. One of the new techniques that started exploring in October in more detail was beaded work (see September for where the inspiration came from) and my first dip into this medium came with this design
.
Using a mix of silver lined seed beads and Swarovski crystal sewn onto fine fabric this piece has a lovely texture and subtle sparkle and gives an elegant finish. Although it is laborious to make the results are worth it.

October also saw my second photoshoot of the year which featured my Snow Collection. Many of these images can be seen in our new and exciting advertising and the images from that shoot can be found here here

November
November traditionally sees the rise of the last minute Christmas/New Year bride and although we had a few of those our main focus was on sorting images from our last photoshoot, advertising (our latest ads can be viewed here and preparation for the National Wedding Show in February. Stock was ordered, logistics have been planned, purchases made and designing and creating in earnest began. And this process is continuing as we speak! It is a long process but very worth it!
And our popular customisation of the month was Marcia with her simple freshwater pearl and crystal decoration.


December
It was an unusual December for me this year. As well as all the preparation for Christmas and New Year (and the obligatory stinking cold and virus of some description) there was also show preparation going on. But one of my final commission pieces of the year will be seen on your television screens on the Four Weddings show sometime in 2010 (if you have Living TV that is! We don't and no longer have the ancient video recorder so can't even watch it on tape if someone recorded it for me!). This is the second piece of ours to be worn by a participant on this show. The first, a simple strand of Swarovski helix crystals, was worn by Faye who married East 17's Terry Coldwell last July and was seen in the celebrity special.

The piece in question is an asymmetric tiara created in sterling silver and using freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystal, silver shade, black diamond and jet crystals. The use of layers of curled wire are finished with a pearl or crystal bead in various shapes and the colour graduates up through from jet to crystal from the base to the centre of the piece. This stunning rosette is then encircled with wire finished with cube shaped crystal bead and placed on an encrusted band. An unusual piece but one which although it has dramatic colours and shapes is still quite subtle and elegant in many respects. Unfortunately like so many pieces of this kind it is very hard to photograph so please forgive my amateurish attempts but they give you an idea at least


Are you still with me? If you are you deserve a medal but I hope you can see that 2009 was a year of foundation building for us and on that foundation we are moving forward to a very exciting and hopefully successful 2010.

I look forward to being able to share more news from Tiararama Towers over 2010 and hope that you all have a very prosperous and healthy year.

So until next time.....