Archives

Here at Mamfii we pride ourselves on our exceptional service from the moment you walk through the door for your first appointment to the day when you collect your gown, perfectly fitted and freshly pressed. Now we go one step further and offer a unique service to brides – Primp the Bride.

Donna Winrow, a long serving member of the team at Mamfii can come to you on the morning of your wedding and dress you and your attendants. Many brides worry about getting into their gowns, particularly if they involve lace-up corsets or fiddly buttons, and Donna can completely take this stress away. You can focus on your hair, make-up, and that all important glass of bubbly, whilst Donna makes sure all the elements of your outfit are ready and laid out. She will then effortlessly slip you into your gown, skillfully do up the buttons or lacing, and even secure your tiara and veil in place.

She is also be on hand to dress your attendants and make sure items such as bouquets and corsages are distributed to the correct members of the bridal party.

With many years experience not only in bridal, but menswear too, if you prefer, she can go to dress your groom and his ushers. You can then be safe in the knowledge that cravats are tied properly, buttonholes are secured and they are all dressed and ready to get to the ceremony on time!

Prices start from just £65 plus travel expenses. You can contact Donna directly on 07824 832640 to check her availability and talk through the options; this has already proved to be a hugely popular service, so make sure you book her up well in advance!

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Emma a.k.a The Wedding Reporter came to visit Mamfii for the day. Emma is a super talented writer, and provides a very unique service for brides. Emma will attend your wedding, discreetly observe everything that happens throughout the day, and then write the most fabulous report about it for you to keep as a lasting memory of the day. She has the ability to transport you back to your wedding day every time you read her words, and is the loveliest person to have around too! We would thoroughly recommend her services – have a look at her website and read some of the reports she has written already – we guarantee you’ll be smitten and will want to book her up for your wedding on the spot!

Here’s what Emma wrote about her Mamfii experience:

“As you kick off your shoes and feel the deep cream carpet billow around your stockinged feet, you begin to feel like you’ve stepped into your best friend’s boudoir. Wandering past rail upon rail of fabulous frocks you’ll feel like a kid in a candy store as chiffon, silk, satin, tulle and lace all make a bid for your attention. Mamfii provides the space, clarity and advice required to make the best sartorial decision of your life.

Within the beautiful surroundings of a gorgeous converted barn oozing with opulence, Sam and her team welcome girls to the boutique as though taking a younger sister under their wing. The cream and dusky pink décor complimenting contemporary and insatiably glamorous furnishings provide the perfect backdrop in which to try on some of the finest dresses you’re ever likely to wear.

Whether friends and family are nestled together on a chaise longue or reclining in sumptuous armchairs, Mamfii provides the perfect oasis of calm and femininity in which to discover what kind of bride you are.

Nestled on the outskirts of Guildford, Mamfii Bridal offers a plethora of gowns, footwear and accessories for excitable wide-eyed brides. It’s one of the only places in the world where you can be as girly as you like and where reassurance is borne out of expertise rather than sugar-coated platitudes.

With all the wisdom of one who has kitted out thousands of brides for their big day, Sam sits on the floor in front of a captivated audience, chatting casually in order to extract vital information from the bride that will give clues as to the type of dress she wants. Although the girl in question might be saying, “I just don’t know”, Sam will be computing key facts about the wedding and about the bride’s style on that particular afternoon that will help inform the decision.

Without giving any of this away beyond an excited smile, Sam trots off to allow the girls and their mothers a moment of exhilarated chatter before returning with a selection of three or four gowns to be tried on. As the bride-to-be disappears behind the damask curtain of the changing room, her entourage wait nervously and excitedly for the big reveal.

The curtain comes back, the bride is transformed and the tears and grins start to fill the room in equal measure. Whilst she twirls in the centre of the room and uncertainly checks the oversized mirror to make sure that it really is her, Sam hangs back to allow her bride the full glory of the moment.

She has watched this scene unfold countless times, but every time she pulls back that curtain Sam is noting the reaction of the girl in the dress and the girls who know her best. She allows the chatter to bubble up into clouds of giggles and gushing sighs before lending a calm voice to the discussion. It is not her place to have an opinion, merely to offer the advice that will help this particular client find the dress that they might not even know they had wanted.

Whether explaining how the real gown will look when fitted to specific measurements or counselling wavering brides through their myriad of thoughts, Sam remains on hand to guide, advise and reassure. Throughout the process, Sam becomes a stylist, couturier, counsellor, mother, friend, critic but above all, unendingly patient.

Sometimes brides can’t get over the fact that they love the kind of dress that they swore they never would. Sometimes it’s hard to get used to seeing yourself looking like a princess. Sometimes the melee of voices trying to help the decision actually hinder it. Sometimes trying to find the perfect gown for the perfect day is just too big a job for one soul to be tortured with.

The Mamfii team has dealt with all of these issues and more, so you can trust them when they talk rationally and logically to you about not only the dress but also how you’re feeling. It’s ok to be both giddy with excitement and paralysed with confusion.

Sam adds a veil, takes away a belt, shuffles around the carpet on her knees pinning the hem of the gown and works quickly but unassumingly to transform the dress into the vision in the bride’s eye. If it’s still not the right one, she ushers the bride back behind the curtain to try on a few more.

When the bride emerges with a beaming smile and every fibre of her radiates happiness, it’s safe to say that the quest is complete. Whilst she twirls around the room, the team from Mamfii fetch a little glass of something bubbly for everyone involved to celebrate the occasion of finding The One.

With a few key measurements and vital details taken down, the glowing bride slips out of her dress and back into her every day clothes. It is with much hugging and thanking that each client and their entourage leave Mamfii, counting down the days until they can come back for their first fitting in such serene surroundings.”

Beautiful isn’t it?! Thank you so much Emma for coming to spend the day with us, and for writing this lovely account.

Well the date has been set! Having chopped and changed our minds from December this year to April next year, back to December we have agreed and decided upon the 13th April 2013. Darren had originally had his heart set on a winter wedding, and to be honest I didn’t mind either way, but after various conversations with family and a few friends – worries of snow, timescales, expensive time of year to mention a few; winter was scrapped and springtime it is!

We knew from the beginning that we want to be married at my family church in Witley. It’s a beautiful church, where both my sister and I were christened and it’s situated opposite my old and rather beautiful infant school. For me, I can’t imagine getting married anywhere else.

The venue is also booked – looks like I’m finally getting a little organised! We really wanted somewhere that we could put our own stamp on it and also a venue that would allow for us to bring in our own caterers. I spent a day with my mum going to various places – hotel, stately home, beautiful house with grounds for a marquee, and I have to say that the marquee option was the favourite. The setting was beautiful and being a marquee meant that we would have pretty much a blank canvas to work with. We were also able to use our own caterers here without any problems or £1,000 surcharge! However, on reflection, weighing up pro’s and con’s we decided against all of these options and instead keeping it all in the village, our reception is going to be held at The Chichester Hall – also in Witley and just a 2 minute walk from the church.

As village halls go, it’s quite lovely looking from the outside, and I have grand plans and ideas for the inside to be transformed to look far from village hallesque and much more rustic romance! We’re off to see my lovely friend Fiona next week to talk catering and menu’s – very exciting but hoping she has heaps of ideas as we haven’t a clue. Will update you all with talk of things yummy shortly!

xx

One of our lovely brides wrote to us recently having had her final fitting, and we’re delighted to share her words:

“Ok so here I was climbing Kilimanjaro through pain, sweat and tears and out of the blue my partner of 4 years Jay proposed, my first thought was OMG this is finally happening to me, I could hardly believe it, my second was uh oh look at my nails!

After climbing down from the mounting buzzing with excitement I was still floating on cloud nine that I was going to marry the man of my dreams and he had chosen me.

So my thoughts then starting thinking dresses, flowers and everything girly and pretty

I took my mum and a friend to a few high street wedding dress shops and starting trying some dresses that I thought were my dream, sadly this was not the case as being a size 8 meant all the dresses in the shops were too big and so all I could do was stand in the shop in a gaping dress wondering what it would look like if it fitted, not really what I had in mind. Plus there was always so many other people in the shop that it felt so overwhelming.

This went on for a few weeks and I explained to my fiancé that I was finding it so hard to find “the dress” as nothing looked right!

Finally I spoke to a work colleague who recently got married and she recommended Mamfii to me, ok I  thought, let’s give this a whirl.

Well I arrived at Mamfii and knew instantly I had struck gold, I was greeted outside by the owner Sam and we clicked straight away, We went into the beautiful Barn where the most adorable dresses, jewels and shoes were waiting for me

Sam sat me down and we discussed what sort of thing I had in mind that I would have on the wish list, where the wedding will be and the sort of day I had planned and then she brought out 4 dresses for me to try.

I have to say I could have bought them all, these dresses were just to try but they were not tatty like in other shops, they were beautiful and with Sam’s magic she was able to clamp the dresses so well to me that I could see exactly what they would look like in my size.

Now my problem was not finding a dress but that I could only have one!

I chose that day the dress I will be wearing this Feb 2012 and I am so excited to wear it I can hardly breathe.

It is hard to put into words but I will miss going to Mamfii for fittings as Sam and the team are so lovely and the experience has been so amazing, if you’re reading this and have not yet been to see Sam and the team your amazing experience is yet to start and I am so excited of what lies ahead for you.

Enjoy
x

Today sees the first installment of our resident bride-to-be, Ali, who is going to be documenting her wedding planning and sharing her journey from her engagement to the big day here on the blog. So, over to Ali:

Having been a bridesmaid 10 times – yes that’s right 10 times, I can at last shout from the rooftops – “It’s my turn!”

At 6.30am on Christmas Day I was sent on a treasure hunt around our flat, following clues that all related to Darren and I – places we had been on holiday, my love of marmite and Darren’s love of Aeroplanes!

The clues led to a present, and ok I admit I was a little disappointed that said present wasn’t ring box shaped, however, as I opened the present to reveal chocolates that spelt out ‘MARRY ME’ my heart jumped to my throat and as Darren got down on one knee the tears were flowing!

Now where to start? I think most people assumed that having been on bridesmaid duty 10 times and working at Mamfii, I’d know exactly what sort of wedding I wanted, have the dress picked out, bridesmaids and colour themes decided etc – wrong!

If I’m honest, it’s still sinking in that I am actually going to be Mrs Smith, and as exciting as that is, it also feels quite overwhelming! I’m so very fortunate to work where I do with, Sam and Kim, the real wedding experts; I know I’ll be able to get great advice whenever I need.

With so many decisions to be made, I need to perhaps at least start trying to organise myself – at least set a date?!

 Watch this space to follow mine and Darren’s planning progress over the exciting coming months!

So, as Mamfii moves into its tenth year, I thought it was a good time to start blogging!  As anyone who knows me will tell you, I far prefer pen and paper to all this techno malarkey, but then will also tell you that when it comes to Mamfii, I will do whatever it takes!

Now, what to write about – I could tell you about me…but a piece on a thirty year old cat owner, who likes chocolate and scrabble isn’t exactly going to keep anyone enthralled!  I could write about the two family weddings I had last year – my mum’s – simple ceremony, lovely reception in their house (decoration and styling by my sister and I), and my sister’s – gorgeous ceremony, amazing reception (EVERYTHING done by my sister and I!), but again, not that interesting unless you were there, in which case, bloomin’ marvellous!

So then I figured that if you’re reading this then you’re engaged – congratulations!  And you’re probably a little bewildered by what appears to be an endless list of tasks, but fantastically excited at the same time!  For everything on that list apart from the wedding dress, all you need is The Pink Pumpkin.  For the dress, we can help!  So here are a few pointers to get you started.

Make an appointment to come in and see us.  By having an appointment it means that you have the time and space to relax and enjoy choosing your gown.  It also means that you have one of us to select and advise you on styles – the dresses look nothing like they do on the hanger, so be prepared to be surprised!

Photography by Segerius Bruce

Bring someone with you who you trust, who will tell you honestly what works best for you, and who will ultimately want you to wear the dress that is perfect for you.  Absolutely everyone will want to come dress shopping with you, but the more opinions you have, the more confusing and upsetting it will be!  Ultimately, it’s only you that needs to love the dress because you’re the one wearing it!

Don’t try hundreds of dresses on.  Once you have decided your shape, it’s really variations on a theme when it comes to detail, and the more you try, the more of a hazy blur they will become!

Most importantly, enjoy it!  Being engaged is a really special time, and choosing your dress should be really special too.  One of the Mamfii team celebrated a festive engagement.  Our lovely Ali was proposed to on Christmas Day (and said yes!) so is going through all the same emotions as you other brides, so we’re going to get her to share her engagement journey with you…part one coming up next week!