The Alternative Wedding Fair

At the end of October I took my husband and some beautiful dresses along to St Ives in Cambridgeshire for the first Alternative Wedding Fair. I was really excited about this fair because it breaks away from the traditional fairs in the same way that the Vintage wedding fairs do, offering a range of smaller suppliers who are in the industry because they love their work. The difference with the Alternative Wedding fair is that it offered a chance to meet suppliers who are working outside of the traditional mass market weddings but without the 'vintage' label.

St Ives corn exchange is a stunning building in rural Cambridgeshire and brides travelled from all over the country to come and see what was on offer. I was lucky enough to have a few brides who had travelled just to see my dresses, which I always love and it makes every fair so exciting for me. So big thanks to everyone that came along.

One of the best things about wedding fairs is meeting the other exhibitors. Not only do I get to spend hours drooling over their work, it's also a great opportunity to find ways of working together in the future. So after some lovely chats, we now have a venue for our next photo shoot. Emily, from the Kenton Hall Estate in Suffolk, is just starting out in the business and opening her beautiful venue for weddings next year. It looks stunning and I'm really looking forward to working with them!

The other lovely lady I met was Fran from Fancy Freckle. She makes absolutely stunning jewellery and hair fascinators, her work is incredibly detailed and very well made. She's also agreed to take part in the next photo shoot which is quite exciting. She's also fairly new to the industry, so please show your support by checking out her work and following her facebook page. This is one talented lady! 

Another favourite was Ami's Cupcakes... just delicious...

Huge thanks also goes to The Vintage Wandering Company who allowed us to takes some shots of one of the dresses inside their campers. I love VW campers, owning one is a life long dream that I will one day fulfil, I can already imagine turning up to future fairs with my dresses hanging in the back!

Thanks also to Emily from Kempton Hall for modelling in these photos, she loved the Broderie Anglais dress and was desperate to try it on! The dress is June made from Broderie Anglais with a royal blue sash and a multi coloured clue 4 layer petticoat. The matching shoes were a lucky coincidence!

All photos copyright Ricky Banks www.rickybanks.co.uk (available for weddings!)