Wish For Rwanda is aiming to raise £1m for the survivors of the genocide

If you’ve been following the blog you’ll know that we’ve teamed up with new charity Wish For Rwanda. Set up earlier this year, the charity is aiming to raise £1million for Rwanda and it’s starting this month.

The first event will be a Christmas-themed fashion show and lunch at The Balmoral Hotel on November 28th. Guests will be welcomed with a champagne reception and models will be showing off this season’s must-haves from John Lewis, Retucco and lingerie boutique Booby Trap. For more information on the fashion show or to buy your ticket, please visit www.wishforrwanda.co.uk.

As well as gearing up for the fashion show, we’ve been getting the word about Jackie and her mission out to the media. Thankfully our hard work has paid off and the Edinburgh Evening News and The Daily Record both carried features on Wish For Rwanda this week.

You can read the Edinburgh Evening News story here and the Daily Record piece is online here.

Hopefully you’ll be sharing a glass of fizz with us on the 28th!

Mette Baillie of Freja

Scotland’s brides, grooms, mums and dads have voted Edinburgh-based Danish designer, Mette Baillie of Freja, Bridal Dress Designer of the Year.

Baillie collected her award at the VOWs, the Scottish wedding industry service awards, this week in Glasgow, in front of the leading lights of the Scottish wedding industry.

The VOW awards celebrate the customers’ favourite for dress, jewellery, photography and flowers among other categories and is particularly special because it is real people, not industry insiders, who determine the nominees and winners.

Over 10,000 nominations were received from brides, grooms, mums and dads. The nominations are rigorously verified, cross-referenced and counted to reveal the winners.

Baillie is a Danish designer living and working in Edinburgh and has been designing wedding gowns for Scottish brides for ten years.

Fascinated by Scotland, the colours and textures of nature, as well as the history of traditional Scottish clothing, patterns, costumes and people, inspire Baillie’s design.

Every wedding gown is unique, designed for just one woman. Each gown is first made in a cotton toile, fitted so Baillie can find the most suitable length, line, cut and placement for details like pockets and fastenings.

Her passion for working with structured bodices of period inspired costumes means that often a historic period will become the inspiration for one of her gowns.

As well as bridal gowns Baillie also designs evening dresses and formal suits for work and holiday wardrobes.

Baillie works in wool, leather, suede, silk and cotton as they are great to wear and very versatile being easy to dress up or down according to the occasion.