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Happy Friday… and Happy Christmas!  Woo hoo! It’s finally here!  I’ll be back later on today to share my Brides Up North Christmas message (it’s been one helluva year people!), but I’m not leaving you out in the cold after that! 

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We’ll be celebrating Christmas in style here at Brides Up North with a daily post recapping on my personal favourites from a year’s worth of gorgeous celebrations  (The 12 Weddings of Christmas, if you like!) to bring us into the New Year.  I love to take a few moments at this time of year to look back and reflect on the 12 months gone by before moving on.  It’s certainly been an inspirational and pretty one here on these swirly silver pages and I can’t wait to trawl through our archives.  If you need a rest from Aunt Maude, eating to the point of bursting, beeping gadgetry, Deal Or No Deal and incessant carolling… you know where to come. 

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In the meantime, we are looking very much ahead, with a wedding blog fashion exclusive from Brides Up North Featured Supplier LOVE Bridal Boutique, based in Cheshire.  I know that Emma and Jonny have been bursting to share news of their latest designer with you lovelies, so I won’t keep them from it a moment more.

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Today I am happy to introduce the new collection by Spanish designer Raimon Bundo at LOVE Bridal Boutique, the star of this beautiful Christmassy shoot by Jonny Draper Photography, and to chat to Emma, Jonny and Anton Weiss of Raimon Bundo about these utterly stunning wedding gowns: dresses recalling golden days of elegance and unmistakeable quality, with a romantic, bohemian edge.

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Tell us about the new collection by Raimon Bundo? What was the inspiration behind the collection?

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Anton: Designer, Ivonne Ruiz is from Barcelona where the collection is designed and art will always inspire her craft as the city is brimming with it! This year’s collection is inspired by the Impressionist movement whose use of light and colour are reflected in the ethereal fabrics and soft pastel colour palette introduced into the collection. If you watched the Barcelona bridal week catwalk show you would see that Monet – the master of the Impressionists – has pride of place in this year’s collection. Ivonne’s love of art is also closely connected to her love for travel. She spends a lot of time at her place on the Balearic island of Formentera (just close to Ibiza) and the bohemian vibe of this island can especially be observed in the IR by Bundo collection .

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Which fabrics were chosen for the new collection and why?

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Anton: Fabrics chosen for this years collection include layer upon layer of stunning laces such as Chantilly, the softest silk tulle you can imagine and vintage details such as gold crochet. We have also introduced a lovely very lightweight brocade for brides looking for something completely new.

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Who does Raimon Bundo design for and what sizes are available?

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Anton: Raimon Bundo designs for all brides of all sizes and we also offer made to measure. Across each of the four collections there is something for all brides: Raimon Bundo mainline (for classic girls who perhaps want a twist), IR by Bundo (for bohemian, alternative, carefree brides: especially good for destination wedding girls!), Kiss (for younger girls, civil ceremonies, budget conscious brides) and Victor and Lucchino (for avant guarde show stopping brides). The collection closest to Ivonne’s heart is IR by Bundo which you will find well stocked at LOVE Bridal Boutique. 

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 What sets Raimon Bundo apart from other designers?

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Anton: A few things: amazing customer service including express turnaround times of four weeks for late brides often for no extra charge, modification and customisation of styles for no extra charge and a really competitive quality/price ratio. We also pride ourselves on the superior quality of our European only fabrics and also on the fact that EVERY dress is 100% hand-made in Barcelona – a claim not all designers can justify!

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Tell us about working with your brand new stockist LOVE Bridal Boutique?

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Anton: We are delighted to be working with LOVE Bridal Boutique because the lovely Emma and Jonny have years between them in the bridal industry and really know what brides want. They instantly recognized what the brand is about, the value and service that we offer compared to other bridal houses and the beauty and originality of the dresses. They also understand the importance of a beautiful photo shoot which you can see from these images… so we know that the image of the brand and our reputation are in good hands!

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Why are you so excited to stock Raimon Bundo at LOVE?

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Emma: We first encountered Raimon Bundo at the White Gallery back in May and completely fell in love with the gowns, the branding, the service offering – everything about the brand really!  At that point we were close to launching the boutique and had already committed to the designers we were going to stock, so we managed to hold back and see how the boutique would take off before we took on another designer. After only three months of trading we had well exceeded our targets, and I had noticed a small gap in our dress offering, so it didn’t take long before I was poring over the Raimon Bundo website with my dress wish list growing by the minute! Soon enough we arranged to meet up with Anton to view the dresses at our boutique which were sent over especially to us from Barcelona and we agreed on our final dress list there and then. We chose a selection of dresses from both the mainline Raimon Bundo collection and also IR by Bundo. Jonny and I were completely wowed by the gowns and couldn’t wait for them to arrive into the boutique… so much so that our minds were in overdrive for how we could announce the arrival of the collection at LOVE… obviously we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do a photo shoot! Our brand new dress samples arrived with us within just a month and we were ready to go with our shoot. 

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What is the process from finding “the one” to final fitting?

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Emma: When a bride falls for a Raimon Bundo gown they will have their measurements taken and I will chat through sizing options with the bride. There is a fabulous made to measure service available too. Also, as Anton mentioned, if a bride has any special requirements, for example changing a neckline to sweetheart neckline or removing a belt feature, then this can be done at no extra cost. The process still remains as easy as possible and a bride will then come back into the boutique for her first fitting with our seamstress around eight weeks before her wedding day. From here she may have one or two additional fitting appointments. At a fitting appointment she will also be able to choose from a wide array of accessories to compliment her gown from our ‘LOVE Bridal Accessories’ department. 

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What was your inspiration for the shoot and why did you choose the venue & styling?

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Jonny: From the photographer’s perspective, Styal Lodge is one of my absolute favourite wedding venues. It’s a bespoke, hand crafted, family run venue that is built on stunning grounds with a different photographic opportunity every way you turn. I was very mindful of the fact that the shoot would be a winter shoot so weather would more than likely play a (negative!) role on the day, so we planned to shoot everything inside. This led to a minor problem in that the interior of the lodge is very distinctive (one of the reasons I love it!) and we wanted to style this shoot in a way that people looking at it would have to do a double take that it was even at Styal Lodge. More than anything, we wanted to showcase the venue’s versatility and show what can be done when you let a team made up of super creative wedding specialists get together and come up with something a little bit different…

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Who was involved in the shoot and how did it go on the day?

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Jonny: Obviously the venue was the stunning Styal Lodge – our first and only choice for this shoot. I’d spoken to Poppy (wedding and events manager) about various ideas, which parts of the lodge we would use, how we could dress it and she became one of the most important people on the shoot: a huge help during the set up the day before and literally happy to hand over her keys to allow us to start at the crack of dawn on shoot day. 

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One of our absolute favourite florists, Sian from Didsbury Flower Lounge was another key person involved. I had an idea about ‘bringing the outside in’ but I couldn’t quite get my head round exactly what I wanted (in fact, I didn’t necessarily know exactly what I wanted!) – cue a phone call to Sian to explain the idea, a chat about materials and props, a conversation about building sets (!) and a date in the diary to meet nice and early at the lodge the day before the shoot to bring the ideas to life. We decided on two sets, one which had a woodland, wintery, ethereal feel and one that would be slightly more contemporary, lit very differently in order to give it a striking look.

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Another phonecall to Emma from Special Days Events (thanks Poppy at Styal Lodge for thinking of that!) to get hold of ivy, black drapes and various props and we were good to go…

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Shoot day itself and we’d recruited a gorgeous model called Jen Brook, whose work I had admired on Facebook for quite a while. Jen is living proof of social media being a great tool. We have a number of mutual photographer and model friends on Facebook and she added me as a friend a few months ago. As soon as we decided we wanted to use a model for this shoot she was the first person I thought of. All of her previous work had so many different looks to it, that I knew she’d be able to fit into the overall look we were trying to create. She didn’t let us down and she’s a lovely person too – bonus!

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And then to the amazing Gemma Hallowell and the equally amazing Paisley Gamble from Macleod Bradley in West Didsbury – as with Styal Lodge, these two ladies were nailed on from the minute we dreamed up this shoot. Gemma is so attentive, creative and imaginative when it comes to the looks that she creates. Paisley seems to have that knack to always be able to do something that little bit different, that little bit special. They’re both great fun and easy to work with – top girls!

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We were also lucky enough to enjoy the company of the big boss from Macleod Bradley – Helen Bradley – for the shoot. It was great having Helen on board, not only because of all the support she’s given us since we opened the boutique, but she was also a very useful extra pair of hands when it came to tidying up later on!

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All in all, a top team who we were so excited to have involved in the shoot. The images are exactly as Emma and I had imagined them and that is all down to the amazing team there over the course of the shoot.

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How can brides find out more about the new Raimon Bundo collection at LOVE?

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Emma: For more information about the Raimon Bundo collection stocked at LOVE then please contact me on 0161 941 6446 or email hello@lovebridalboutique.co.uk

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Little Black Book

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Gowns: Raimon Bundo

Stockist: LOVE Bridal Boutique

Venue: Styal Lodge

Flowers: Didsbury Flower Lounge 

Make Up: Gemma Hallowell

Hair: Macleod Bradley

Images: Jonny Draper Photography

Props: Special Days Events

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Jonny Draper Photography

LOVE Bridal Boutique is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier

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