Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Eleanor commissioned a beautiful dress in palest blue embroidered silk dupion. Eleanor's dress was created using a mixture of historical sources as inspiration, Tudor, 18th century and Victorian corsetry came together to create a dress that flattered her petite but curvy figure.

Eleanor's dress has a fitted and boned bodice with a wide off the shoulder neckline. The skirt is sewn to the bodice in hundreds of cartridge pleats (see below for detail pics). Worn over a hoop the skirt is a full bell shape with divided front which reveals the plain silk of the underskirt, edged with a wide box-pleated frill.

Similar styles from £1500
With hand dyed fabrics and detailing as shown £2960

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

The wide neckline showed off Eleanor's beautiful shoulders and enough bust to be flattering but not too revealing. The full skirt further emphasised her tiny waist, nipped in with a corset worn under the dress.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Eleanor's groom had his Victorian inspired coat and waistcoat made to order
Click here to see more pictures of Martin's outfit.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Design sketch

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Lifting her skirts reveals the hoop worn beneath.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young

Eleanor also had her baby bridesmaid and pageboy's dress and waistcoat made to order. Click here to see more pictures of Abigail and Barnaby's outfits. Click here

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young

The back of the skirt swept out into a full length train.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young

The train hooked up for dancing using three sets of ties underneath.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Eleanor is actually my sister and here we are getting her ready on the morning of the wedding, that's me behind her with the concentrated expression!

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Detail of the box pleated underskirt frill. The top edge was folded and sewn back on itself to create an origami flower effect.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

When I asked Eleanor how she would like the back of her dress to close, the usual options being zip, lace up or buttons she really didn't want any of them. So as I knew I'd be there on the day we decided to sew her in for a perfect seamless finish. Not an easy job to do but it meant there was nothing to spoil the line of the bodice at the back. The poor groom had to be given a quick-unpick and instructions on how to get his new wife out of her dress on the wedding night!

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Here I am again fluffing out the net layers of the under-bustle. My lovely hat was made by Miriam Robertson and my dress was made from vintage printed silk in a 1970's maxi dress style.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Eleanor's dress was supported by lots of underpinnings to create its distinctive shape.

These comprised a properly boned corset, a hoop skirt, a 'bumroll' and a net bustle as well as layers of netting integral to the main dress. Click here to see more pictures of the separate underpinnings.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Fittings pictures for the corset

Click here to see more pictures of the corset and underpinnings.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Historical inspiration

Eleanor's dress was not an historically accurate representation of any particular period in history but was designed to look 'historical' in the sense that it did not conform to the common bridal trends of 2010. We took inspiration from Elizabethan, 18th century and Victorian fashions to create a unique dress that flattered Eleanor's figure and style perfectly.

The basic corset and wide neckline are early Victorian shapes (1830's). The way the bodice is cut with panels that taper from shoulder to pointed front waist are also inspired by period design.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Historical inspiration

The skirt pleats into the bodice in 'cartridge pleats' from the sides round to the back. These are an Elizabethan technique, although cartridge pleating can be found used in other fashion periods too, people all throughout history have been inspired by the fashions of the past. From the sides round to the front the skirt is pleated in softer large pleats like the skirt in the picture above.

The way the skirt hooks up for dancing was designed to look a bit like the 'polonaise' style skirts of the 18th century shown here (centre).

The longer bodice line (the seam is just below Eleanor's waistline not on it) comes from a later Victorian period.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Historical inspiration

These real period garments show elements for inspiration for Eleanor's dress. These are left (1830's) neckline and pointed waist, centre (1840's) swept-back bell shaped skirt and right (1790's) polonaise skirt with wide pleated frill.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Fittings pictures from the 3rd fitting

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Fittings picture from the 3rd fitting

Close up of the cartridge pleating, still only pinned to the bodice.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Fittings picture from the final fitting

Front, side and back with the train hooked up for dancing

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young

Eleanor's fabric was hand dyed to order as we just couldn't find what she wanted in the right colour. Here is the embroidered silk dupion in the original ivory colour before being dyed.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young

The silk in the dye bath. The main fabric was made of silk while the embroidery was an acetate fibre and they each took up the dye slightly differently, so the dyed fabric ended up with slightly deeper embroidery on the palest blue ground.

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Wedding dress for Eleanor Parks Young
Official Wedding pictures by Sebastian Lomas

Eleanor wore an antique lace stole with her dress, purchased from a online specialist.

Bridesmaids dresses for Eleanor Parks Young

Eleanor also commissioned her five grown-up bridesmaids dresses, each made in a pretty spring colour. Click here to see more pictures of the bridesmaids.