Fine art wedding dresses with a dreamy air of nostalgia – Ailsa Munro’s beautiful 2018 collection

For your wedding to be truly unique I can totally recommend shopping around to find the independent designers and creatives across the UK who – like me – don’t subscribe to mainstream ideas or bland design. I fall in love – over and over again – with the makers we find through the pages of this beautiful wedding blog. I’m a huge Etsy fan, which I think says it all! I love the wedding industry for being a melting pot of creative folks, some of whom are destined to create ever more beautiful things and who I don’t doubt will be household names in years to come. Take Ailsa Munro, for example…

Last year Ailsa’s gorgeous bridalwear collection won her The Wedding Industry Awards best newcomer for the South West. She was featured on our favourite wedding blogs all around the world – and we loved how beautifully soft and flowing every dress or separates combination looked and felt. For 2018 Ailsa has developed a new collection which takes our breath away even more than the last. Her dresses embrace captivatingly soft fabrics with a sense of warmth, movement and natural beauty. I couldn’t resist sharing images of every single gown – some of which you will have seen in our new magazine the English Wedding Bible already. Together with fine art photographer Rachel Rose, Ailsa brought together an editorial photoshoot with the most beautiful touches which really shows how incredible you will look and feel in these unique wedding gowns.

I have totally fallen for the Rose dress, in luxury heavy silk in a gorgeous pantone Crysanthemum shade balanced against deep red wine coloured velvet detailing on the bodice and wine coloured tulle for the underskirt.

Sovay
One of the recurring themes in the first collection was sheer fabrics, so Ailsa wanted to use another, stiffer fabric to re-create the same vibe. The 100% pure silk organza of the Sovay dress was embellished with hand guided embroidered ivy leaves, which are composed densely at the top of the skirt and fall away. The poet sleeves are finished with cuffs that include a beautiful button detail.

The black dress is Wednesday – a triple crepe silk Georgian inspired corset with gathered fine silk skirt.
Here, Ailsa wanted to create a black dress that was historically inspired, so that it could be styled various ways to create different looks. The slight movement away from white in the wedding industry really helps small independent designers to shine.

Anica is made from a short pile silk velvet, which gives it a really beautiful weight and warmth. For this dress Ailsa collaborated with Victoria Fergusson, who designed the hand crafted embellishment on the shoulder of the dress.

Full supplier list

Photographer – http://rachelrosephotography.co.uk

Dresses – www.ailsamunrodressmaker.com

Model- http://www.shinemodelmanagement.com/jemima-w

Flowers- www.clare-elizabeth-kilgour.com

Venue- www.uptonbarn.com

Make up- www.makeupbyione.com

Styling- www.inspire-hire.co.uk

The velvet dress is a collaboration with- www.victoriafergusson.co.uk

Stationery- www.anondesigner.co.uk

Cake- www.sugarmamas.co.uk

Claire Gould

Claire spends her days writing - either in beautiful calligraphy or online. She lives on the edge of the English Lake District only minutes away from the beach, where she loves to escape and unwind. Claire's calligraphy can be found at www.byMoonandTide.com. Claire launched the English Wedding Blog in November 2009 - it's been a top 10 UK wedding blog ever since, with a regional focus we hope you LOVE.