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Growing up, Viviane always loved her parents’ wedding photo, especially the statement headpiece her mum wore on the day. Her parents married in 1981 in their hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Almost 40 years later in Southern California, USA, bride Viviane wore her own version of the headpiece she has admired for years and honoured her love and gratitude for her mum.
When this bespoke headpiece enquiry arrived in Tania’s inbox, she was also honoured to be a part of such a special tribute. Viviane’s mum posted the original headpiece to our studio and Tania worked to recreate it, replicating the shape and style of the original piece, but also modernising the design with her signature floral, crystal and pearl details.
When Viviane and her partner Brian began planning their wedding, she expressed her interest in wearing her mum’s headpiece. Viviane and her mum looked into restoring the original headpiece, however over the years it had yellowed and lost some of the decorative stones. They were told that restoration was risky and possibly impossible.
“My mum discovered Tania Maras who said she could recreate the headpiece. We weren’t sure how it was going to turn out, but we were excited to try out this approach after looking at Tania’s other designs. They were all so pretty and delicate. My mum shipped the original headpiece from California to Australia (for reference), and Tania started on her project!” says Viviane.
Tania recreated the shape using a wire base and layered the design with a variety of clay flowers and pearl and crystal elements. Tania works closely with brides when creating bespoke pieces, sending them mock-ups and ideas, to help achieve their vision and complement their style.
“Everyday we feel honoured to work with so many incredibly kind women who put their trust in us on their wedding day,” says Tania. “Anyone who has organised or is organising a wedding will know that a wedding day is one of the most significant, emotional, daunting and exhilarating days of your life.”
The finished headpiece was even better than Viviane imagined. Both mother and daughter have the same dazzling smiles, bright eyes and dark hair. The striking headpiece design looked just as beautiful on Viviane as it did on her mum.
“The piece was absolutely amazing! I adored it. The headpiece obviously drew inspiration from my mum’s piece, but it was unique in its own way too. It was my favourite part of my bridal look and I wore it all night long. Truly a stunning work of art. I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better,” says Viviane.
The finished headpiece was even better than Viviane imagined. Both mother and daughter have the same dazzling smiles, bright eyes and dark hair. The striking headpiece design looked just as beautiful on Viviane as it did on her mum.
“The piece was absolutely amazing! I adored it. The headpiece obviously drew inspiration from my mum’s piece, but it was unique in its own way too. It was my favourite part of my bridal look and I wore it all night long. Truly a stunning work of art. I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better,” says Viviane.
After trying on about 20 dresses, Viviane chose a Martina Liana dress, featuring a lace bodice and long train. She completed her look with her mum’s original lace veil, natural make-up a and a hairstyle of soft curls.
Viviane and Brian held their ceremony and reception at Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, California. From start to finish, they filled the day with special moments and surprises.
“Our outdoor ceremony featured both a Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Deacon. Brian is Catholic and I am Jewish. We wanted our wedding ceremony to represent both of our belief systems and traditions in an honest and sincere way,” says Viviane.
“One of the fun things we did for the reception was our personalised cake-topper. Brian and I met through beach volleyball, and it is still one of our favourite things to do together. I had our cake-topper created especially for us, featuring a bride and groom holding volleyballs.”
“Our wedding had family and friends travelling from all over the country and the world (Brazil, Argentina, Kuwait, Germany) – so it was incredibly special to have all our loved ones in one place to celebrate with us. We wanted to throw a great party so we hired an amazing 10-piece band for the reception. I found them online and booked them without ever researching any other bands. We danced all night and had the time of our lives!”
The headpiece tribute was meaningful to Viviane for many reasons.
“The most simple meaning was that I grew up admiring that photograph of my mum wearing the headpiece on her wedding day. As far as I am concerned, she has always been the most beautiful bride ever. On a deeper level, the tribute was an acknowledgement to the tremendous example of marriage that my parents have demonstrated over the course of 39 years. And, of course, it was a tribute to our relationship, my admiration of her, and an expression of gratitude for all her love, wisdom, sacrifice, and support.”
The headpiece tribute was meaningful to Viviane for many reasons.
“The most simple meaning was that I grew up admiring that photograph of my mum wearing the headpiece on her wedding day. As far as I am concerned, she has always been the most beautiful bride ever. On a deeper level, the tribute was an acknowledgement to the tremendous example of marriage that my parents have demonstrated over the course of 39 years. And, of course, it was a tribute to our relationship, my admiration of her, and an expression of gratitude for all her love, wisdom, sacrifice, and support.”
“Enjoy your engagement and try not to get too stressed. Brian and I would sometimes joke that as long as we ended the night married, then the wedding was a success. If you have someone in your life who is willing to help with the planning, let them. Don’t feel like you have to do everything yourself. Relish the day – have fun, laugh, dance, and most of all – enjoy each other.”
Sometimes you find the prettiest bridal headpiece but it’s not quite right. It might be the colour, the size, or perhaps the way it’s designed isn’t 100% perfect for the vision you have in your head.
As wedding accessory designers, this is something we can completely understand and empathise with. It’s exactly why we stand by our made to order and bespoke mandates.
We had the loveliest opportunity to work with Canadian bride Samantha to create a two-way bridal headpiece for her end May wedding day. Samantha loved the POETIC bridal headpiece but was looking for a headpiece which she could style in two different ways for her wedding ceremony and reception.
For the ceremony, she was hoping to style it more as a headband at the top of her head. For the reception she was planning to wear it backwards to frame her bridal hairstyle.
We got to work on redesigning her headpiece so it was perfect for her two bridal looks. Wearing the same headpiece or accessory for both the ceremony and reception is a great way to get prolonged wear out of a piece. It also means that you can ensure continuity with details – i.e. you don’t have to change your earrings or other jewellery to match.
The delicate and organic details, as well as its boho chic styling, are just a few of the reasons why Samantha fell in love with the POETIC bridal headpiece the first place. So in redesigning Samantha’s piece, we wanted to ensure we retained the intrinsic nature and beauty of the piece.
To ensure the floral elements remained the perfect focal points of the piece, we repositioned the placement of the clay flowers to the sides for a more evenly distributed look. We also scattered the delicate pearl and crystal elements along the mid section of the headpiece to ensure it could be styled with both looks. It was a balancing act to ensure it didn’t look too bare in the mid section but we also didn’t take attention away from the clay flowers.
For her wedding ceremony, Samantha will be able to style her headpiece along the hair line as a headband by pinning the headpiece into place near the ears.
This beautiful look can still be paired with a wedding veil or pearl drop earrings, or even warn alone for a more simple look.
The headpiece attaches to the hair with little loops and Samantha’s hairstylist can easily position it into place with bobby pins hidden under the hair. By removing the bobby pins and flipping the headpiece to face backwards, Samantha is able to style her reception bridal look within a few minutes.
We love the look of this headpiece facing backwards and it would look gorgeous styled with half up/half down hairstyles or perhaps even all out hairstyles with soft curls.
If you’d love to chat about your own custom wedding accessories, feel free to get in touch by sending us photos of your wedding dress, bridal hairstyle and details of your favourite styles from our collection. We’d love to work with you to create your perfect heirloom pieces!
Bespoke and ready-to-wear bridal accessories and veils. Designed and handcrafted in Canberra, Australia. Our online store is open 24/7 with worldwide delivery available including express options. The Fyshwick showroom is by appointment only. Virtual appointments are available for interstate and international brides.
