A Very Vintage Wedding

At the beginning of June we were honoured to be invited to Kitten and Richard's wedding. Kitten, a very authentically vintage burlesque dancer is one of my models and her and Richard have become firm friends.
Her wedding was wonderful. I was more excited than her I think, having worked myself up into a bit of a frenzy of excitement by the time I got to the vintage buses that were to take us to the venue.

Myself and Lisa from Candee Photography get our pin up poses on. I'm channeling one of Kitten's iconic poses to mark the occasion... the hand to the shoulder pose. She does it better.

 Mr Wolf and I. You can see the frenzy in this one. Oh yes. And I made them have a sing song on the bus. (by the evening I had completely worn myself out)

Kittens amazing dress and ensemble. She looks a fraction pensive in this shot, but she isn't, it is just that her veil is getting hooked to her eyelashes!

The four lovely bridesmaids. They are all wearing our Mary Dress in the latest colour, which we let Kitten pick. I'll have them up for sale shortly

The actual ceremony was held on a carriage at the Avon Valley Steam Railway. Kitten had masterminded every detail and the decorations were just lovely. Everyone came along in vintage attire - the military chap standing was one of the days photographers

Newly weds, Mr and Mrs von Mew.

The steam train was a wonderful backdrop for group shots. Here's Kitten and her parents. I personally made the Mother of the Bride dress from fabric that Kitten had chosen. I don't get on the machine much for anyone anymore, but this was my contribution to the wedding. It's good to use your craft for special occasions!

The reception was held in a marquee set up on the ground of the station and once in there, we marveled at all the details that Kitten had arranged. She had a few overlapping themes - Sailors and Kittens and Love and Vintage, which all wrapped together became like a wonderland story for me as I skipped about inspecting everything. She really outdid herself, here are some of bits of magic...

A cool photo screen, with Lisa and Jacob. And still more special treats...

I had carried Kitten's stole during the day, and when the blokes took their hats off I was inspired to make a womble with my gloves and a toy train carriage. Thank goodness for iphones and wikipedia as we had to settle the debate of which womble it was. We agreed that it was Tomsk but I still secretly think it is Tobermory.

My 40s shoes had their first outing

The photo screen was popular. Don't they look happy?

The bridesmaid shoes and bag. Kitten really did think of everything, and quite rightly dressed the bridesmaids with slightly different accessories. Unlike today, most bridesmaids would have worn accessories that they had that kind of matched, rather than a full new identical ensemble.

Kate of Donovans Darlings being mischievous

The First Dance came all too soon it seemed, as the whole day had been such a delight. Here you can just see the "Do" on Kitten's right sole. She of course had "I" on the other, though there was some funny jokes about how she had stepped in some do!

If you want to see more pictures by Candee, and more of the story of how she put the wedding together, pop on over to Kitten's lovely blog.

Shona x

Twinwood Tickets Winner!

It is always nice to get to announce a winner... Drum roll please!



The winner is Jude Hoyles!

Jude is 11, and has his own blog. It is great. It is filled with all the fun stuff he likes to get up to, including dressing up like a Viking or a Cowboy. He is also a great creative writer. Go check him out here!

Jude, can you email us at shop@heydayonline.co.uk with your physical address so that I can get Twinwood to send tickets out to you? We won't share your address with anyone, it is just for your tickets.

And Jude, ...are you going to come and dress up like someone from the 40s or 50s? PLEASE! I want to see what you come up with!

Thanks everyone for entering and I'm sorry that the rest of you missed out. If it helps, Twinwood are have mid season prices on their tickets until the end of June.

Shona x

Simply the BEST musical on stage

Firstly, if you haven't entered my competition to win two tickets to Twinwood Festival then do jump and do that now, as the competition closes tonight (Tuesday) at Midnight BST (that is British Standard Time). 

Secondly, a bit of a fabulous musical is on in ole London town....

Last week we ran off to see Top Hat at the Aldwych theatre (and yes, we did pop into One Aldwych bar for pre theatre drinks).  Having seen the film more than just a few times I was a wee bit worried that they would muck about with the story, or the characters and costumes wouldn't be up to my critical eye, or, most likely, the dancing would fall terribly short of "Astaire" standard.

I was so wrong to be worried. It was FANTASTIC. The actors were so well cast and played their roles so well, that it was easy to get caught up in the story line and be delighted every time they appeared. They were all so good I couldn't pick a favourite. Though, it might just have to be Bates (Stephen Boswell), the Valet, who had me laughing in my seat and watching very closely to catch him sneaking around in a new disguise.

Dale Tremont (Summer Strallen) was so drop dead gorgeous I was positively green each time she came on stage and Jerry Travers (Tom Chambers) did a amazing job at taking on Fred's role, and filling those dancing shoes with the same Joie de vivre that Fred did. Horace (Martin Ball), Madge (Vivien Parry) and Alberto (Richardo Afonso) were all brilliant. Am I starting to sound a bit too sugary? Well, I should, because it was truly fantastic and I only wish I had the writing talent to recommend it in a higher regard without sounding sickly sweet.

You know you are watching a complete performer when you see a dancer recover from a near muck-up. Mr Wolf and I have performed enough in our past to realise when something wasn't quite right, and we both independently picked up and error that COULD have been plain awful... but no... we watched with bated breath, as a few improvised slow, smooth turns got the dancer back in the right spot where he picked up the routine up on just the right beat without the slightest dint in his gleaming smile. As dancers, we know how hard that is when you are on stage. LIVE. You hope it will never happen, but it does, and recovering from it is what live performance is all about. Well done, we take our (Top) hats off to you! 

The costumes (by Jon Morrrell) were wonderful, accurate and inspiring, I was gripped trying to see all the details and take in all the colours. I think the seaside scene was the best, though the finale had me and Gal Pal Jenny not daring to blink and nudging each other in the ribs for all the beautiful, floor length gowns.

The set design (by Hildegard Bechtler) took my breath away - So very very clever. I'm one of those people who notice HOW and when pieces are moved about the stage to create a new scene. I need a love seat like the one they had, and a screen like that, ohh... and a bed like that too.


I haven't mentioned choreography, or lighting, or those other magnificent talents that, when done well almost become invisible. They were all brilliant, except for one thing... the coach scene needed some movement in the background. My only disappointment in the whole show was that they appeared to be standing still.


You can tell I did thoroughly enjoy myself so, please, if you get the chance, go and support live theatre and get yourself a ticket if you can. And do buy yourself a souvenir brochure (the larger one has the better pictures) because I have only shown you snippets from mine.

If you are not near London, then I leave you with a U-Tube action packed temptation to drool over.

Shona x

Win Free tickets to Twinwood Festival

We are very very lucky here in the UK. We have dozens and dozens of vintage festivals, (probably 100's, but I'm not about to count) with focus ranging from music, dancing, war-reenactment, steam trains, motor racing, boats, or leaping about with over-sized mustaches (Hello Chaps). I'm not sure any nation could do this vintage-loving thing better, with more enthusiasm, than we can here in the UK where heritage and a touch of eccentricity go hand in hand.

John Miller and his Orchestra entertain

Today though, I need to tell you about The Twinwood Festival because I have 2 free tickets to give away!
The festival is August Bank Holiday weekend 25th -27th and these 2 tickets are for the Monday only.
But wait - what is it all about?

A dance lesson in progress

Well Twinwood is actually an airbase in Clapham, Bedfordshire and it was from here that many stars flew out from on their way to entertain the troops in WWII. It was here at the control tower that Glenn Miller performed his last gig, just before his fateful flight in December 1944. 

Outside dancing makes for happy smiles!

Since they held a small fundraising concert in 2001, Twinwood grew into a festival, slowly but surely, that it is today. We started going in 2006 (I think), and loved every second of it, and still do.  Now, with all these lovely pics sent to me from the Twinwood Events team, you would be forgiven for thinking that you have to be really into the scene to enjoy it. Well, NONSENSE!! There are plenty of non-vintage family groups there with grandma and grandad, a picnic basket and the Sunday papers just chilling out and enjoying music that everyone can sing along to. It really truly is an event for all ages

Lola Lamour stuns John with her fruity delights!

They choose great music, not just of the swing time era, but right through the 50s as well.  Glenn's Nephew, John Miller leads his orchestra on the main stage, alongside Madeline Brown, Lola Lamour, The Jive Aces, and (perfect for Bal dancing) The Kings Cross Hot Club. There are more bands at the Control Tower Stage and  then EVEN MORE acts perform in the smaller, cabaret style venues dotted around - Kitten von Mew, the vintage burlesque dancer, who models a bit for us, being one of them. You can check out the full line up here.

Flyover - always impressive

But wait there is more! You can explore the museum, you can shop to your hearts content (I'll be there) and take some dance lessons, you could gaze at the air display, or take in some historic lectures.

Have I said enough? Well, I think you get the picture that I really truly like this event and recommend you come and take a visit. 

The Jive Aces in the Main Arena

So, without further ado, here's how you can get involved and bag yourself 2 free tickets!

• For one entry, leave me a comment below. 

• For another entry, you can
 retweet our quick competition.

• For a third entry, post about the giveaway on your own blog! 

Please take careful note that each time you enter you must leave a separate comment. Don't leave me one comment saying you've done all three things, as it will only be counted once! 

If you commenting to say you've retweeted or blogged, please post the link.

The competition will close THIS Tuesday 26th June at Midnight BST.

Good Luck!

Shona x
 

Covered in Flowers

Hey there!

Gosh I have so many things to catch you up on. The stories are going to arrive out of order, just because they will come as inspiration leads me.

This is what I wore to Fleur's Birthday party. (Don't worry, I added a safety pin at the bust before leaving the house!!)

I've been very happy with this dress, so you will see it again when I tell you all about that lovely vintage wedding I went to.

This time I teamed it with these home decorated shoes from here. I was thrilled that the daisies stayed on, testament to my hot melt glue gun skills...but gosh the straps cut my ankles. So much so we had to get a taxi for the last 10 min walk home and I still have scars.

The cardy was one knitted for me by Swan Textile Services. You can find them at the War and Peace show which is coming up in July.

I had to do some fix ups on the dress. The pockets were all stretched and it was missing a belt, meaning a bit of trickery was required to sneak enough fabric to make a replacement. I can show you pics if you are interested?

Shona x

A weekend to recover from a weekend

Hello and happy Friday!
I hope you all have nice plans for the weekend, even if that is just a cuppa with a book. Many of us here in the UK will be still recovering from the Jubilee-ing that we did last weekend. What with the extra day off and so many events happening around the country, it was pretty exhausting. I can't imagine how worn out the Queen is, with all that waving

Us at Croyde Bay, Devon, where most of our silly-ness and flag waving occurred

I have various posts to do about the weekend, because not only did we have jubilee festivities, Mr Heyday and I were away for a dancing weekend that involved fancy dress and we also had a lovely vintage wedding to go to. While it will take me a bit to get through the 600 odd photos we took, here is a taster.

Off to a Vintage Wedding on a appropriately aged BUS!

Western themed Dance night, dressed as Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. A friend Steve was Woody too. I'm not sure why I'm the one getting shot. Yes, that's a wig. 

Hi-De-Hi Dance night. I'm a cleaner (named Lotta Scrub) and Hubby is playing Ted in a bad pair of side burns and an even worse moustache.

And a 'Allo 'Allo themed dance night. We did most of the main characters last time, so this time we went as the Swiss contingent. Here's me with Jenny and Susanne. It was a fluke that we were all in green!

I'll have more pics as I get them all sorted.

Have a great weekend

Shona x