LACE VEILS

Originating in ancient Rome, veils were worn as a sign of purity, modesty and wealth. The tradition of wearing ivory lace wedding veils was popularised by Queen Victoria. Combining Spitalfields silk for her dress and Devon made Honiton lace, she started the tradition of ivory as the wedding dress colour. Although we think of reusing materials as a modern concept to be more eco minded, Queen Victoria treasured her bridal lace and wore it for numerous important occasions. In the ultimate act of reusing, she lent the lace to her daughter Beatrice for her own wedding.

A traditional simple or lace dress. The key thing is to ensure there is balance between the veil and the dress in the amount and style of lace.

Lace is hand cut and appliqued onto tulle. What's different about our lace veils is that we hand cut away all the rough tulle from the lace, meaning it doesn’t snag on your dress, gives the perfect finish and looks as beautiful in your photos up close as from a distance. All our lace is stitched with clear thread, giving the invisible flawless finish.

Within our Bespoke process, any style of lace veil can be created. This could be an 8 metre long Royal Cathedral veil with a lace border, a design with scattered motifs or a regal veil created entirely from lace itself. Within the design, multiple laces can be combined to create the perfect aesthetic to balance with your dress. Within our Collection, there’s a wide range of styles, including edged, mantilla and floral.

For inspo see our Instagram.

Yes! The key thing with a lace veil and blusher is to ensure it balances with your dress. If you have a heavily detailed dress, the lace can be cut narrower on your blusher or faded out completely to ensure it doesn’t compete. With full lace blushers, we recommend an overall length of 75cm or longer so that the lace sits at waist height, creating a beautiful silhouette. As every veil - whether it’s Bespoke or from our Collection - is cut to order, it can be created with or without a blusher.

Originating as a lace shawl worn over the head popularised in Spain and Latin America, a mantilla veil has developed into a style of veil which is lace edged and has a single tier. Unlike a traditional veil, when it’s attached to the comb it doesn't have gathers of tulle and is instead stitched flat. A true mantilla wedding veil will have lace continuing evenly across the comb, however within modern weddings this style colloquially includes designs where the veil doesn’t have a gather but the lace stops either side of the comb. If a veil has a blusher, this style is known as a drop veil, which simply means the veil is stitched flat onto the comb and doesn’t have a gather of tulle. Mantilla veils can be created in silk.

If there isn’t a design within the Collection which perfectly matches your dress and vision, the best option is to go for a Bespoke veil. With a Bespoke veil there are 2,000+ options of laces, in a wide range of styles, shades and motifs. The important thing is to ensure the motifs are complementary and sympathetic to your dress design. An example of this would be if your dress consists of florals with rounded petals, it’s important to not only choose a floral lace rather than structured, but to ensure the petals are similar - rather than angular and star shaped. If there isn’t a lace which perfectly fits your vision, there’s the option to fully embroider your veil. During this process we create the individual motifs, which creates an almost identical look to the lace on your dress.

Our lace veils are designed and handcrafted at our studio in Oxfordshire, UK.

Our Bespoke lace veils start from £1,500 / $2,000, while our Collection lace veils range from £460 to £1,865 / $600 to $2,425. You can either order Collection pieces directly from the website, or get in touch to discuss Semi-Bespoke customisations.

If you’d like to try lace veils on in person, you can do so either at our studio in Oxfordshire or at The Wedding Club showrooms in London and Birmingham.

Studio appointments are held by Sophie in her thatched cottage based in Bloxham, Oxfordshire.

The Wedding Club appointments, which are held in Knightsbridge, London and Harvey Nichols, Birmingham, can be booked by calling the TWC team on +44 12 1440 8276 or emailing info@thewedding-club.co.uk.