What does ‘community’ mean? Does it mean some bike riding socialist’s idea of utopia? ‘Care in the community,’ ‘Community Centre;’ don’t a million phrases using the word have unglamorous, civic and medical connotations?
What does traceability mean? Knowing the first name of the Sunday roast centrepiece?
What do ethical products look like? A bit homespun? A little rough round the edges?
What does a feminist look like? Certainly not like a bride surely?
Is art a proper job? Is sewing? Surely they are hobbies?
Mentoring, advocacy and giving a hand up; worthy objectives but do they have a place in the real world?
What does luxury retail look like? The opposite of the above? Surely…
My idea for the annual Miss Bush Suzanne Neville celebration took a different angle in my head this year.
My defence of the wedding ‘industry,’ which in truth is simply a community of overlapping artists, designers and practitioners in the centre of a vague Venn Diagram, has been constant this year.
My decision to write about the gender pay gap in the context of the skilled workers in the production of wedding dresses was hugely well received.
Bringing new team members into the Miss Bush family who find we practise what we preach has been eye opening.
My seemingly endless struggle to secure our incredible space for the future, which as I write is tantalisingly close to the finish line, has been exhausting. Can someone find me the silver blanket and a physio on speed dial for the weekend?
My themes of ethical luxury, wedding community, local sourcing, traceability and peer support may not have been obvious to my guests at the Suzanne Neville day. In fact I think I attempted to talk through the goody bag on Insta live, only to have it deleted by a prudent Leah, as I attempted it after a few lime and sodas.
There is shared story behind each and every one of my amazing collaborators from the Suzanne Neville day. Amazing women who have supported Miss Bush as artists and clients and many who have helped us break through the starchy, traditional relationship between supplier and bride.
I take the UK’s most well-known bridal designer, Suzanne Neville, and have her work 12 hours on her heels not just as a high profile sales person but to celebrate that there is a real indefatigable expert committed to making the best dress of my clients’ life.
Emily, one of the partners of Two Many Cook’s, caterers for the evening, had her Suzanne Neville dress from Miss Bush, Lucy from Albury Vineyard is a former Miss Bush bride as is Lizzie from Dolly Dew Drops whose cool logo biscuits were sweet treats for our VIP brides. The Elie Saab perfume, the L’Occitane goodies, all partnerships with brands discussed over a wedding dress appointment . Carolanne, our long times make up collaborator and painter of my face on many occasions is advocating clean make up so we transformed the Mezzanine into a beauty balcony sponsored by Glow Organic.
Even Ella, the calligrapher, arrived through an earnest and polite email wondering if she might collaborate with Miss Bush. With a few days’ notice Leah, Miss Bush’s digital manager and talented artist, had re-run her prints of her Chapel illustration to be customised with ‘live’ inscriptions on the night.
I could take you to the atelier, the kitchen, the garden, the vineyard – to the very grape – that our collaborators work in and their products come from.
It is vitally important to me that the Miss Bush space, the Miss Bush ‘community’ is one of shared values where the frill and the frivolous , the fun and finery is not out of step with feminism and inclusivity.
Is this a sustainable idea? I have held back on celebrating the Miss Bush brand’s 30th birthday until I finished pushing the commercial property boulder up the hill. Thirty years developing notions of female first, family friendly working environments may seem like the batty concept in luxury retail. However I am imagining the next decade and how that will look.
I have chosen the lead photo to illustrate that glamour and childcare are just a few inches apart in The Chapel and that Miss Bush supports the whole woman not just the ‘bride.’
Emma x
COLLABORATORS
Photography: Sophie Duckworth Photography | Video: Ash Videography | Make Up: Carolanne Armstrong | Hair: Sharon Roberts Hair | Ethical Beauty: Glow Organic | Flowers: Bloomingayles | Wine Tasting: Albury Vineyard | Catering: Two Many Cooks | Calligraphy: ERA Calligraphy | Illustration: Spicer Pow | Tea and Coffee: Nest Home & Cafe | Biscuits: Dolly Dew Drops Cake Art | Glassware: Couvert Hire | Shoes: Emmy London | DJ: Sarah Scully | Goody bag sponsors: L’occitane
FULL GALLERY
