North East Bridal Boutique Simply Wed Bridal Limited has real Poppy Appeal!
When Julie Pendleton sang at Durham Cathedral’s festival of Remembrance on November 13th 2021 she didn’t just wear 1 poppy, she wore 1609. Julie performed in a striking floor length poppy dress supplied by Simply Wed Bridal Limited, a bridal boutique in the heart of Monkseaton and one of The Wedding Guide UKs amazing Listed Suppliers.
The dress consisted of a full-length wedding gown completely covered in red cotton and felt poppies. Carefully crafted by the owner, Helen Danbury-Trott’s mother-in-law Patricia and niece, Bethany, it was a source of entertainment for the ladies over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic lock down.
The dress was originally designed to display in the bridal shop window. Helen’s aim was to run a competition to help raise funds for the Royal British Legion and honour the fallen on Remembrance Day.
Helen obtained poppies and a collection tin and customers and passers-by were encouraged to make a small donation, choose a poppy, and hazard a guess at the number of poppies attached to the dress. The guess closest to the true amount was rewarded with a bottle of Moet & Chandon Champagne. 
The dress was placed in the window one Friday afternoon and displayed on social media. Within hours the poppy dress and shop window had gone viral on Facebook with over 6,000 likes and hundreds of comments and shares.
Julie phoned the bridal boutique after seeing the post and explained about her performance at the cathedral. Helen offered the dress for her performance and Julie popped into the shop the following Tuesday where alterations were made and she was stunned at how beautiful and amazing, she felt in it.
The fundraising event at Durham Cathedral was in support of the Soldiers Charity and included a solo and duet performance by Julie along with a muster parade and a minutes silence with thousands of poppy petals dropped from the cathedral tower.
Helen was offered tickets to attend and couldn’t have been prouder. Such an amazing collaboration of talents for two fantastic charities.
The proud winner of the Champagne was Leoni Cavener who guessed 1660, just 51 off the 1609 hand-stitched poppies that covered the dress. Both the Royal British Legion and the Soldiers Charity were delighted with the bridal boutiques support.
Click to see more about bridal boutique Simply Wed Bridal Limited
