A real treat for 2012 brides on English Wedding today!

I don’t squeal. I’m calm, col­lected and sim­ply love being a wed­ding blog­ger. No hys­ter­ics. So when top UK wed­ding dress designer Char­lotte Bal­bier her­self emailed me I didn’t squeal*. At all.

*I jumped four foot in the air and did a quick lap of the ceil­ing in my excitement.

Last month Char­lotte Bal­bier did a sneaky peek pre­view day for her bou­tique own­ers of the new 2012 ‘Candy Kisses’ col­lec­tion at www.greatjohnstreet.co.uk. The event was to give the bou­tiques a pre­view into the new 2012 col­lec­tion and also to have a time to meet fel­low bou­tique own­ers, relax, chat, net­work and be spoilt with cham­pagne, yummy canapés and after­noon tea.

Who’d have liked to be a fly on the wall for the event, hey ladies? Tell you what, who’d like to play along RIGHT NOW and pre­tend we have front row seats for the exclu­sive wed­ding indus­try only event? Hmm?**

**I’m on the edge of my seat, hand in the air shout­ing ‘Meeeeeeeeee!’

Join me. Grab a canape and some pink fizz, and get a first look at Char­lotte Balbier’s 2012 Candy Kisses col­lec­tion. It’s so excit­ing… Char­lotte and her team saw it first, then the bou­tique own­ers… and now we get a peek for our­selves. Yay!***

***Just fell right off the edge of my seat. So exciting.

 

 

Char­lotte Bal­bier Candy Kisses 2012 Col­lec­tion Launch

Set the scene — a bunch of gor­geous VIP guests, some of the lead­ing UK bridal bou­tique own­ers from around the coun­try meet for a very exclu­sive event in a pres­ti­gious Man­ches­ter venue. It’s the 11th of July 2011 and we’re at Great John Street Hotel, Man­ches­ter. On the roof terrace!

It’s a stun­ning day with beau­ti­ful sun­shine which adds a party air to the event. The guests are beau­ti­fully dressed — today’s Dress Code: a touch of pink for the ladies and casual lounge suits for the gents.

I love see­ing the behind-the-scenes pics of every­one get­ting ready. It looks like happy chaos with hair and make up under­way and the cam­eras run­ning to record all of the excitement.

Char­lotte Bal­bier is involved in all the prepa­ra­tions for the event and has all the mod­els’ atten­tion. She looks amaz­ing in that dress!

Top UK bridal designer Char­lotte Bal­bier looks stun­ning in a full length hot pink Alice Tem­per­ley gown as we join her to see 31 new wed­ding gowns mod­elled on the cat­walk by 6 pro­fes­sional models.

Char­lotte Bal­bier (right) and Nicola Ward (left)

Amanda Wyatt (Charlotte’s Mum), Char­lotte Bal­bier & Alan Wyatt (Charlotte’s Grand­pops!) – 3 gen­er­a­tions from the Bridal Indus­try work­ing side-by-side

The food is as exclu­sive and appetis­ing as you’d expect: Canapés includ­ing Cor­nish crab and sweet­corn frit­ters, seared sir­loin & mini York­shire pud­dings & king prawn & coconut curry. Then after­noon Tea, includ­ing fin­ger sand­wiches, choco­late brown­ies and scones with all the works!!

We’re politely sip­ping deli­cious pink fizz: Pink non-alcoholic fruit punch & Per­rier Jouet Pink Champagne!

Nicola is on hand with the sun cream…always prepared!!!

The moment we’re all wait­ing for arrives. With cat­walk music includ­ing “Gotta Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn, “Love Me Do” by The Bea­t­les, and “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones. For the Finale, “Marry You” by Bruno Mars sets the per­fect tone.

Wel­come to the 2012 ‘Candy Kisses’ bridal collection!

The mod­els make an entrance in some of Charlotte’s most thrilling wed­ding gowns for 2012. There’s instant impact: the ele­gant shapes of the dresses, the sump­tu­ous fab­rics and deli­cious flat­ter­ing shapes are to die for. Have you ever seen pro­fes­sional mod­els look­ing so happy? No, of course not!

The White Closet in West Dids­bury, owner Nikki Graeme said: “We were blown away by the Candy Kisses 2012 col­lec­tion; Char­lotte Bal­bier has once again deliv­ered and show­cased a col­lec­tion which had The White Closet ladies very excited! We adored the fab­rics and laces she has used with her sig­na­ture fem­i­nine charm that we all know and love — we’ve already ear­marked our bestsellers!

“The day itself was so well organ­ised and we felt truly spoilt with out-of-this-world lovely canapés, vin­tage after­noon tea and pink punch all enjoyed on a roof ter­race in the glo­ri­ous sun­shine of one of Manchester’s most stun­ning hotels — it was the per­fect way to spend an after­noon.” www.thewhitecloset.co.uk

Above: ‘Dora’ gown from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier. I love the shoul­der strap with del­i­cate flow­ers: pretty ger­bera bou­quet to go with this one, do you think? Swooooon…

Above: ‘Thelma’ gown from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier. A beau­ti­fully sophis­ti­cated wed­ding dress with the most ele­gant detail­ing to the very edge of the hem as it moves along the catwalk.

The Wed­ding Com­pany in Ply­mouth, owner Kelly Palmer said: “The Wed­ding Com­pany are delighted to be stock­ing a very large selec­tion of the amaz­ing Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier, there really is a dream dress for every­one! They are sim­ply stun­ning gowns and our brides will love them. The launch on the 11th of July at Great John Street was a fan­tas­tic expe­ri­ence for us and the cat­walk really showed the dresses off in all their splen­dour! We were really glad we made the effort to fly up from Ply­mouth! PS. The goody bags were fab! So glad to be a Char­lotte Bal­bier stock­ist!” www.the-wedding-company.co.uk

 

Above: ‘Tutti Frutti’ gown from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier. My per­sonal favourite — a shorter wed­ding dress, cute as candy (see?!) with flat­ter­ing shoul­der detail­ing and a plung­ing neck­line… so many gor­geous details and a con­tem­po­rary dress for the mod­ern bride.

Above: ‘Laven­der’ gown from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Balbier.

Above: ‘Har­riet’ gown (back view) from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier. How stun­ning.… the spaghetti strap over one shoul­der, the sexy and fem­i­nine waist detail­ing at the back of the dress. Pippa Mid­dle­ton eat your heart out! This is a stunner.

 

Above and imme­di­ately below: ‘Can­dykisses’ gown in rose pink, from the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion by Char­lotte Bal­bier. A lus­cious, play­ful and opu­lent wed­ding gown for any bride who really wants to revel in her day — the sheer lux­ury of this dress is a dream. I adore this pretty, uber fem­i­nine and excit­ing wed­ding gown.

The model is lov­ing this one as well, you can just tell! Who can blame her! It’s going down a real treat with the bridal shop design­ers as well — a dress guar­an­teed to be the cen­tre of atten­tion at any 2012 wed­ding if you ask me!

What had this lady out of her seat and on her feet??!!!…

Above: ‘Ava’ wed­ding gown by Char­lotte Bal­bier. Charlotte’s own inter­pre­ta­tion of the dress we all loved so much in 2011 — the per­fect cre­ation for a princess bride. Feel very very spe­cial in this ele­gant and classy wed­ding dress: with lux­u­ri­ous lace and flat­ter­ing detail from the nar­row sash waist and full skirt… if you loved the royal wed­ding you will adore this Char­lotte Bal­bier gown.

Above: ‘Dolly’ from the 2012 Candy Kisses col­lec­tion. Another excit­ing and play­ful wed­ding dress design by Char­lotte, the ruf­fles of this dress are so much fun — the ele­gant fig­ure hug­ging shape of the wed­ding gown is pure sophis­ti­ca­tion. A dress for the young at heart, a dress to fall in love with and a dress you’ll have the time of your life wearing!

Bliss Bridal Bou­tique in Dorset, owner Michelle Williams said: “I was delighted to receive the invi­ta­tion to an exclu­sive pre­view of the Char­lotte Bal­bier 2012 Bridal Col­lec­tion on July 11th. The excite­ment was immense as I knew Char­lotte would, once again, cre­ate a beau­ti­ful col­lec­tion of bridal gowns.

“It was a lav­ish cel­e­bra­tion of her most recent ‘Candy Kisses’ col­lec­tion; a sump­tu­ous col­lec­tion of vin­tage inspired dresses using the most finest fab­rics from silks to beau­ti­ful laces touched with del­i­cate crys­tals and bead­ing. I was over­awed at the cat­walk show which took place on the roof ter­race at the chic bou­tique hotel ‘St Johns Street’ in Man­ches­ter. The back­drop was sim­ply per­fect, the sun was shin­ing, and fruity cock­tails were in hand and gor­geous cup­cakes ready to be eaten!

As the mod­els sashayed down the cat­walk the fem­i­nine cuts of the dresses looked fab­u­lous, styles that will accen­tu­ate curves and flat­ter all fig­ures. As I sat there I could visu­alise every dress from this col­lec­tion in my bou­tique as I know my brides will absolutely adore them. Well done Char­lotte for cre­at­ing such a stun­ning col­lec­tion of dresses.” www.blissbridalandoccasionwear.co.uk

The Grand Finale – Gowns from left to right – ‘Layla’, ‘Pearl’, ‘Polly’, Char­lotte Bal­bier, ‘Pearl’, ‘Ellie’, ‘Bonbon’

The White Dress Bou­tique in Leam­ing­ton Spa, owner Cather­ine Fitzger­ald said: “Thank you so much from the team at The White Dress Bou­tique for the most fab­u­lous day view­ing the new Can­dykisses col­lec­tion — it really is as sweet as it sounds! The amaz­ing fab­rics we expect and love from Char­lotte Bal­bier with that clas­sic vin­tage twist. After the amaz­ing suc­cess we have had with the Eng­lish Tea Party col­lec­tion, we can not wait for Candy Kisses to arrive!

Charlotte’s designs have quickly become favourites with our brides and we are both extremely excited and very proud to house such spe­cial gowns.”

Emily Bridal­wear in Sheffield, owner Emily Pavitt said: “With such a fab­u­lous col­lec­tion these dresses are sure to appeal to any bride. With Char­lotte Bal­bier impec­ca­ble design and fit go hand in hand. But I have to admit that the Candy Kisses col­lec­tion is bet­ter than I could have imag­ined. Truly stun­ning dresses, fab shapes and very flat­ter­ing fin­ishes. I can­not wait to get them in the shop for my brides to see how per­fect they are.” www.emilybridalwear.co.uk

Above: wed­ding gowns from front to back – ‘Clemen­tine’, ‘Bon­bon’, ‘Martha’ & ‘Penny’

Char­lotte Bal­bier told Eng­lish Wed­ding, “Every year I strive to develop a col­lec­tion that is fresh, cre­ative and cur­rent for the bride of today, as well as com­bin­ing charm, clas­si­cal ele­gance and of course a sprin­kling of Char­lotte Bal­bier sig­na­ture vin­tage lace that I have become so well known for.

“I would be lying if I said each year I am not ner­vous when launch­ing a new col­lec­tion and ‘Candy Kisses’ was no excep­tion! Not only did the col­lec­tion take months of prepa­ra­tion but so did the pre­view day in July. Months of care­ful thought and plan­ning to ensure the 11th July was a day I could cel­e­brate, not only the launch of ‘Candy Kisses’ but also a cel­e­bra­tion of the part­ner­ships I have devel­oped with my the bou­tiques over the years.”

There’s more!

If you love Char­lotte Bal­bier vin­tage inspired wed­ding dresses and the intri­cate detail­ing of these stun­ning gowns you absolutely have to see the Mini movie made by Tom @ Silk Wed­dings (www.silkweddingvideos.co.uk) — fea­tured on the Eng­lish Wed­ding face­book page as a quick pre­view on Wednes­day night. Watch the movie here now! https://www.facebook.com/EnglishWedding/posts/240067079367324

My huge thanks to Char­lotte for let­ting us all share this gor­geous behind-the-scenes exclu­sive today. What a treat! My friend and eter­nally gen­er­ous and inspir­ing Man­ches­ter wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Jonny Draper is respon­si­ble for the fab pho­tos of the event — www.jonnydraper.co.uk — and you can see him in action on the mini movie too.