Exeter, Devon Wedding Fair

Exeter Wedding Fair was another fair I felt would be beneficial to visit in order to further develop my knowledge of the local bridal industry. Exeter is a large town in South West England and caters for large parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. The show was a similar set up to Lyme Regis however a in slightly more luxurious atmosphere.

Again, I was surprised at the lack of bridal boutiques exhibiting and feel this is something I need to investigate further, perhaps I can ask this question if I am fortunate enough to secure interviews with local bridal boutiques.

Ideas on Paper...

The first and second years have been away this week which has meant no timetabled lessons for the third years. This has given me some valuable time to get on with my project and allow me to get all my ideas on paper. I feel far more on top of things at the moment but as usual there's still plenty to do!

I keep thinking about how I'm going to present my sketch book - there are so many options but I've decided it can wait. I need to get on with the content and think later down the line about how exactly I present my work.

Major Project Continued...

So we're a few weeks into the project now. My initial ideas are definitely developing and I have a more certain idea of what I hope to include in the project and produce. We've had a number of tutorials and lessons recently to talk about our ideas but, at present, I feel I want to do less talking and more doing, I'm feeling like I need to slightly ahead than where I am at the moment.

During our lesson yesterday we had to each present our work placement experience or entrepreneurial unit. I found this a particularly helpful and beneficial exercise as I'm keen to incorporate an aspect of a business plan into my project. Fortunately I watched Tiffany's entrepreneurial presentation, the only other student in my class particularly inspired by bridal fashion. I found it really reassuring and inspiring to hear from someone who shares my passion and has the same aspirations as myself. Within her entrepreneurial project she created a hypothetical bridal boutique and carried out the appropriate market research and costings etc.

First Major Project Review

This was the first time in a while I've sat down to discuss the development of my project with my tutors, in recent weeks I've been working on my initial ideas and research.

I felt the tutors were happy with my ideas and, despite original concerns, once assured I wanted to create a stylish and contemporary bridal brand as opposed to a 'frilly', dated brand were supportive of my plan to create a brand centred around bridal fashion.

Anya mentioned that I will need to be careful how I incorporate a business plan into my project; at the moment I have a desire to create a visually attractive and interesting book to present my business plan however Anya mentioned this is unusual and that business plans are usually formal documents.

Major Project Ideas

My ideas for my major project are coming on well at the moment. I'm beginning to form ideas of the kind of pieces and publications I will produce as an outcome of the project. At the moment I'm hoping to produce a project centred around the opening of a new bridal boutique. I've been thinking of ways to make my bridal boutique different, perhaps with a digital aspect to ensure it is contemporary, hopefully an aspect and concept that could be applied across the entire fashion industry.

I received my placement report mark recently which, unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed with. However I don't wish to dwell on it too much so shall put it behind me and use it to drive my passion and determination to do well in my major project.

As part of my major project and for my own information purposes I've been looking at the head office location of bridal designers. Unfortunately, as I expected, most designers are based in London HOWEVER there are a couple based more locally which shows there are some out there!!