How to repurpose a family vintage wedding veil into something new

5 hours ago

2 min read

This is a common question right now in the bridal world, where everyone is looking to bring individuality and a spot of bespoke sentimentality to their big day. Be it a yellowing veil or a falling apart waxflower crown, there are so many options of what we can do with your heirlooms- so read on for a simple story with plenty of ideas

How to get started

The best way is to do what Laura did. She booked an appointment to see me at my studio with her mum's veil and garter from the late1980s in a brilliant vintage carrier bag! Bar a few little stains here and there, it was pretty much in mint condition. Her lovely mum, seen below on her big day, had sadly passed away a few months earlier - so I felt a big call to this one and for it to be perfect

A 1980s style bride in a dress and veil holding a bouquet of flowers

Laura wanted an oversized bow veil and this one was sitting perfectly as an illusion of the tails of a bow when we played around as you can see.

A woman wearing a toile of a wedding veil

This was a dream of a repurposing project for me so I got started on all the details below-

Sourcing the bow tulle to match the vintage veil
Removing the stains from the original vintage veil
Crafting the bow to the size we agreed and so it would sit ontop of the veil looking seamless
Adding detail which was bespoke to Laura and her mum- butterflies and pink pearls to match her gorgeous dip dye dress and her hair
Adding 2 hand beaded pink hearts with Laura and her hubby to be's initials hand embroidered inside and 2 special dates added beneath- Laura's and her mum and dad's

Its a wonder it wasnt soaked with my tears by the time it all came together

Laura's mums garter just needed a little repurposing special care too- it was a little torn - so we added a cute pink bow tie and I repurposed the charms on it too

A bride with pink hair and a pink dip dye wedding dress trying on her garter

An alternative looking couple getting married with a celebrant

A large ivory bow with pink beading in pink hair

an alternative tattooed couple outside their wedding venue

a mans hand holding an embroidered wedding veil

You can see clearly here from these amazing pictures what a gorgeous addition Laura's repurposed accessories were to her day - thanks to the Pinupbride Photogrpahy for these glorious images

So as a little round up

Check your attics! And your mum's and your granny's
Book a free of charge appointment with me- now taking booking for 2027 weddings but I could squash a last minute December wedding in
End up with a piece of old history turned into new history
Have something literallly no one else will have- what's not to love about that!
Save the planet a little by using vintage veiling and things that already exist