The Wreck My Dress Experience – Manchester
I’ve just got back from the press day at Wreck My Dress in Worsley. Oh my goodness, the place was gorgeous! And the photos and films they produce are incredible.
Real once-in-a-lifetime-experience stuff: make-up artists that work with the stars, photographers that shoot for Vogue and film producers that have worked on hundreds of music videos.
La di dah, my head was in a world of splendour.
And then I walked in the door, dreaming of the lives the other half live, and was greeted by a pile of puppy pooh and an ironing pile as large as me.
SPLAT
That was the sound of me coming back down to earth with an almighty bang.
Well, to hell with the ironing – today I too am too pretty to work. Well, iron.
Yeah, yeah Heather. Shut up already and show us pictures of prettiness.
Wreck My Dress is an experience like no other. They create photos or films based on your ideas and treat you like a film star for the day. Their staff are used to working with the stars from the lovely make-up artist Cassie who worked with Lady Gaga for 18 months to the film crew and photographers. They even have stunt men who have appeared as stunt doubles for the likes of Brad Pitt if you want to create an action movie with you as the star!
The location in Worsley is gorgeous. I often forget how many posh areas there are to Manchester.
Wreck My Dress Headquarters, Manchester
The house and grounds are a filming location for soaps, advertisements, films, you name it. And part of the Wreck My Dress experience is to be pampered here!
Look at that staircase! And those candle holders!
This room was beautiful, there was so much light from those large windows.
The kitchen was to die for. Sleek and beautiful. like no kitchen have ever, or am likely to ever own.
The staircase again. Just because.
And the gorgeousness wasn’t limited to the inside. The outside was full of beautiful places too.
I would die for one of these in my garden. Admittedly it would always be full of child or dog and constantly getting rained but still…
This lovely steps and bridge which I failed to capture very well led over a pretty little stream.
to this beautiful swinging bench sat in a field of tall flowers.
I wonder if they would let me move in…?
A gazebo thingy (it’s probably not technically called that) with some of that gorgeous garden furniture you always dream of owning.
And a hot tub!
There were also a few edgier locations like this graffiti wall
And the trampoline under the apple blossom tree.
Plus they have a swimming pool! Which, you get to leap into in your dress after the shoot! I’ve always wanted to do that.
Alltogther now, ahhhhhhhh
Can you imagine jumping in there in your dress?
I’ll bet it’s heated and everything.
They also have a make-up suite and dressing room plus a studio if you didn’t fancy any of the gorgeous locations inside or outside the house.
The very glam makeup/hair salon
I will admit I was tempted to just do a runner with this dress.
And the studio
Where we got to watch a photoshoot in progress. They were shooting her against the green background as they were going to make a playing card – the Queen of Hearts – out of her image with nice smiley Queen on one side and angry, make-up melting, throwing things queen on the other.
It was all very professional with someone in charge of clothes and props
another lady doing the make-up
and a hair stylist on hand to quaff and tease between shots.
And the photographer gave her good direction, where to put her hands, how to hold her fan etc.
So enough about the location already, what did the pictures and films look like?
Several of their images were on display inside and as stunning as they were on their own, each photo also came with a story.
A reason behind why the girl wanted the shoot.
One was a breast cancer survivor wanting an image of her as a survivor. One was a lady who wanted a picture of herself as she saw herself in her minds eye.
Another was a lady who didn’t like her wedding photographs and wanted something she could be proud of and, on the opposite side of the scale, one was a lady who found out her husband had been cheating on her throughout their 13 year marriage and wanted to bury her past.
Literally – the image was of her burying her wedding dress.
The lady on the left had her image altered to show her as she sees herself in her minds eye: taller and slimmer.
I loved the children’s party photos – what a great way to celebrate a birthday!
The lady on the right was the one who wanted a shoot of her burying herself wedding dress. It was a very powerful photo.
Beautiful wedding dress shots with a difference
I would love to have this done and then keep the dress with all the paint on, maybe display it somewhere – is that too narcissistic?
Here are a couple of the films we watched too. In the first film they sent a ladies wedding dress up into space. No CGI, they actually sent it 16 and a bit miles up in the air and let it fall back down.
And the second video is my favourite – yes, it made my cry in a room full of strangers – A Decent Proposal.
As you can imagine, having this location, that make-up artist and those photographers etc. isn’t cheap. The starting price for a photoshoot is £1295 and films are upwards of £2000.
However, they do stress that it’s not just a day out; the experience starts from when you book with mood boards, story ideas, costume, hair and make-up ideas, right up until you get your wonderful picture that you can hang up in your house. The day itself is 6 hours starting with champagne breakfast and ending, if you want, with jumping into that fabulous pool in your frock.
In fact the only thing I didn’t like about visiting Wreck My Dress was that no-one leapt to their feet when I entered and demanded to give me a free photoshoot for the day. Sigh. So, where I’m going to find £1295?
For more information visit wreckmydress.co.uk
Looks they’ll love
Guest post.
Buying nice clothes for your kids can be tricky. It’s not enough for you to like them, they’re the one wearing them and they have to be happy and comfortable. Especially if you’re invested in a quality garment, like children’s cashmere, you need them to want to wear it and not to trash it. The answer is to invest in looks you know they’ll love as much as you, so here are some good ways to make sure what you buy gets a lot of wear.
Go colourful
Kids love colour. That might sound obvious, but it’s easy to forget if you prefer more sombre tones for your own wardrobe. That doesn’t mean it needs to be loud, quality clothes designers know how to get the balance just right, vibrant without being too much.
Kids love comfort
Most kids love soft fabrics, and with many specialists in girls and boys cashmere clothing, it’s easy to find really nice quality cashmere in a wide range of colours and designs that give that unmistakable soft feel. Perfect for growing skin, cashmere ages beautifully so should give you lots of wear.
Shop for versatility
Don’t buy something that only goes with one look. Choosing items that can combine in all kinds of ways is a great way to ensure they don’t get bored with one outfit, and get more mileage out of higher spend items. Better to have a few really nice things they’re always happy in than piles of stuff they only half like.
Get the right size
Kids grow fast, so it’s tempting to buy baggy to get more months out of an item. But that just means it looks too big in the beginning, and floppy and shapeless by the time they’re bigger. When you’re buying boy’s shirts or girls cashmere clothing like dresses a good fit is always better.
Casual doesn’t mean scruffy
A really nice hoody in a good fabric can look great, especially on toddlers, not scruffy at all, and kids love them. Avoid cheap fabrics and overly designed fronts for more classic designs for the best of both worlds.
Learn from your mistakes
Every now and then you will get it wrong. But when you get it right remember what you did for next time. Whether it’s buying something new, or just recreating the look that you chose for them, after a while you’ll have the perfect thing for every occasion.
The world’s first luxury children’s cashmere brand, Cashmirino, have created this beautiful lookbook to showcase their latest Spring/Summer 2013 collection.
The Fabulous Foodies Festival at Tatton Park
I can’t believe I’ve never been to Tatton Park before. It is stunning. Visually amazing. The road from the main entrance down to the car park is lined with huge beech trees and open fields filled with deer and sheep roll out on either side of you.
I was blown away by its prettiness.
But as I was driving I couldn’t take any pictures of that, so you’ll just have to go and see for yourself. Ha.
The Foodies Festival however I could and did take tonnes of pictures of.
We’d sold it to the kids as a chance for them to go and try lots of different types of food from around the world. The Girl was quite excited by this. The Boy, not so much. He’d be happy to eat chips smothered in ketchup for every meal for the rest of his life.
We arrived early and got a nice little glass of champaign from the VIP tent to start the day off along with vouchers to eat at any of the 4 tents next to the VIP tent.
As soon as we got there the boy started complaining of being hungry. That’s great I thought, We are at a food festival and have tickets for food from the Moroccan restaurant, a lamb restaurant, an Indian and a sea food restaurant.
But no.
“I don’t want any of the world food, mummy,” he declared, the sulky lip out already. “I want some food from the country where I speak the language.”
Ahh my funny little Anglophile, how quickly things have changed. I remember a day not so long ago where he didn’t want to east “funny English food” but would only eat things he thought were Finnish.
So we got them both a portion of chips to line the stomach and started to explore. Incidentally - best chips ever. Wish I’d thought to check the name of the place selling them.
There was so much there that it was very tempting to try everything. Dan did make a sterling effort but even he was defeated.
There were delicious chorizo and mozarella kebabs to start.
Yes, yes that is a sword in my belt. What of it?
Followed by a lovely Moroccan couscous dish. The falafel was out of this world and after some coaxing to get the Girl to try it, she ate my entire half.
Then we had cake. Lots and lots of cake.
There was salmon.
A giant water buffalo burger.
A sadly very average and under seasoned lamb dish.
And so many other things to try. Honestly, I think you could have got just about anything. Seriously.
We only did one of the classes – there were so many to choose from. From chocolate workshops and wine tasting classes to watching top chefs create amazing meals. Having young kids with us we went for the kids cooking theatre which was ace. It was all based around learning about taste and doing experiments with food.
They painted their tongues with blue food dye to see their taste buds and learnt about the 5 senses and how they work. Then they got to make tomato soup – which was delicious – and a bread bomb, which was basically exploding flour.
All in all, a grand day out for all the family.
I’d love to go again next year. Only this time without the kids and with a designated driver – there were lots of yummy looking alcoholic beverages to try and it would have been nice to be able to sit still for 5 minutes without being subjected to a barrage of questions about what we were doing next and when we were going home and could we go to the toilet again please, mummy.
When you have nothing
When a whole community loses everything, where do you start with rebuilding not just homes but lives? For some kids, just having a small piece of normality back can mean the world, the difference between thinking they have lost everything they ever knew to feeling like they still fit somewhere; still have things to look forward to.
Which is why I think Honda is ace for doing this.
They gave $50,000 to help start the rebuild of the Staten Island Little League after hurricane Sandy demolished the whole of Staten Island.
Well done Honda, well done.
How well does your other half know you?
This is a sponsored post with the chance to win a lovely two night stay in a Jacuzzi suite for two people at The Riverside Hotel in Evesham. It includes a candlelit dinner, a bottle of wine and breakfast. Read on on for more info.
It’s a funny thing, memory. Two people can be in the same place together having the same experience and yet it’s not quite the same to both parties. When you look back at it later different things about the experience will stick in each of your minds.
Now apply that over an entire relationship or friendship.
Which were the bits that stuck in their mind and which do they not remember?
Just how well does your partner or friend know you and how many of the same things about your relationship do they remember?
Well now you can find out thanks to Osborne Solicitors. But you can’t hold me responsible if it turns out they got your eye colour wrong or can’t remember what you were wearing on your first date.
Just saying.
Oh and you can also play the game on Facebook.
The chance to win the two night stay at The Riverside Hotel is open to bloggers only. In order to be entered into the prize draw you simply need to blog about this app. Contact georgia.penny@biteus.net for more information.
I'm Heather, an ex expat, now back in blighty and living in Lancashire. Which is just like Lapland... only less snowy and stuff.
