Adapting A Design And Not Defining Yourself As A "Bridey": Poppy's Story
Today I’m excited to share a behind the scenes story that I’ve been sitting on for a long time, and I hope for my beautiful friend, Poppy, it’s been worth the wait!
Poppy and I connected on Instagram during the pandemic and I loved her energy - she had (and still has!) a whole…”vibe” I guess, which was utterly captivating and made me want to be part of her girl gang! This was a woman who knew herself well and was completely authentic; I was elated when she asked if I’d help her design a hair accessory for her wedding.
Image credit | Ashly Rose
It’s always a bit surreal when you connect with someone face to face after exchanging funny anecdotes and snippets of your life through messages, but when we met over Zoom, it was like chatting to an old friend and the time flew by!
There was something that Poppy said in our meeting that stayed with me - I wish I’d written it down word for word, but we were discussing the influx of “Bridey” merchandise that was blowing up Instagram and Poppy pointed out how women have spent years fighting not to be defined by labels, so she wouldn’t be wearing anything that literally labelled her as a bride. I fell in love with her a little bit more!
Poppy’s vine next to one of her inspiration pieces, the Flora comb
The statement she made was so empowering that, later that week, I redid all the copy on my website so that I wasn’t talking to “brides”, which felt one-dimensional, but to the multi-faceted person behind that label.
The design for Poppy’s hair vine was inspired by two pieces she’d seen in my shop: the Gabrielle vine and the Flora comb.
Poppy’s inspiration pieces were the Gabrielle hair vine and the Flora comb, pictured here. We combined the details to make Poppy’s unique floral vine.
After chatting about how she was going to style her hair, we decided to combine the two, by transforming the design of Gabrielle with a similar colour palette to Flora, which fitted perfectly with the colour scheme for Poppy and Jordan’s wedding and Poppy’s beautiful silvery-coloured dress. As another coincidence, the dress featured in the shoot the Flora comb was made for was the same design as Poppy’s, so I feel it was meant to be.
Rather than just use the rose quartz and pearls that made up the central feature of the Gabrielle vine, we decided to add aquamarine and amethyst gemstones as well, meaning that both Poppy and her mum’s birthstones were incorporated into the design.
It’s these little touches that really make a bespoke piece - they may be subtle to the outside world, but to you, they mean the world.
Poppy wanted to focus more on enjoying herself and dancing with Jordan and their guests and less on having to fiddle around with her hair accessory, so I fitted a hair pin to the centre of the vine to make sure it sat securely in Poppy’s hair so she was free to have the best time celebrating. I’m proud to say that Poppy’s photos look like she partied hard, and not once did her vine slip out of place! 🥳
Poppy and Jordan and Poppy’s hair vine, photographed by Ashly Rose
I cannot express how much I loved working with Poppy. We’ve remained friends ever since, checking in with each other regularly and being a source of support for each other, despite us never having the chance to meet in person. I’m so pleased I was able to make something beautiful for her hair, that fitted seamlessly with the colours and vibe of her day, and that was, quintessentially, her.
Poppy and Jordan | Ashly Rose
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