The inspiration behind Betty’s Glamour Box began when I was preparing for my own wedding.

At the time I was a clothing designer working for a small brand in London. I had my ‘ideal’ dress in mind but was struggling to find it! I booked an appointment at my favourite designers boutique in Notting Hill, assuming everything would be way out of budget. To my delight the designer had released an off the peg collection of bridal gowns and I instantly fell in love with ‘the’ dress. 

Whilst I was there, indulging in the array of beautiful fabrics and colours I saw a sketch book the designer had left out for customers to admire. She had designed wedding dresses for many famous people and always included something old, new, borrowed and blue from each bride which would then be hand sewn by her into each dress. I loved this idea, but this service was only available to customers from the bespoke service she offered. I started to think how this could be incorporated into every brides day as it felt so heartwarming. .

Later that year I was bridesmaid to my sister-in-law. She was not superstitious and didn’t want to follow the Old, New, Borrowed, Blue tradition.  However, the night before the wedding she was a little nervous and said how she wished she had thought about this more. As a designer I had collected many trinkets and began to put something together for her, including a sixpence from my wedding. She loved what I’d made her and wore it with pride, treasuring it to this day.

I spent some time developing my idea then gave the first finished pin to my friend Emma for her wedding, She adored it and I began to realise I could have a small business as other people were asking me to make them for friends weddings. I wanted to stay true to the rhyme so I sourced the old, new, blue and original sixpences, I had the idea that the borrowed could be ‘borrowed’ from me, so I don’t include the cost of the pearls in my prices. I have had a few brides send me the pearls back to re-use for other pins. 

I have been making bridal pins since 2009 and have sold them to over 19,000 customers world wide. I love making each and every one and reading customers messages to their loved ones, it’s a heartwarming experience I never want to end.   

Naming and Branding

The name of my company ‘Betty’s Glamour Box’ has its own story too…

Betty was my maternal great aunt. I grew up understanding her fondness of the arts and listening to stories my grandmother shared of her idolised big sister. Betty was part of the local theatre group and would often be involved in productions. My grandmother told me Betty had a big trunk she kept costumes and accessories in and sometimes my grandmother was allowed to play dress up with them!   The stories were always warming and uplifting, filled with goodwill and cheer, community sprit and the love of a close family during war times. 

Around the time I started selling my first few wedding pins, my grandmother was clearing out her loft. We stumbled across some old family photo albums and inside was a photo of Betty. It instantly struck a chord as I remembered the glamorous box my grandmother had fondly described, Bettys was wearing a costume and so the name ‘Betty’s Glamour Box’ was born. I used the image on the front of my boxes for many years, also inspired by the cigarette cards from the 1920’s. My wedding dress designer had also been inspired by 1920’s glamour and everything seemed to sit together and provide me with the inspiration I needed to embark on my new business venture.

I have since moved on from these pretty, but extremley time consuming boxes for a sleek, classic, foil embossed white bridal white gift box.  

Original Bettys box and imaging.