How those 20st wedding gowns have made Gypsy dressmaker her fortune

By Polly Dunbar

Thelma Madine and Paddy Doherty

Weighing 20 stone or more and covered in mechanical butterflies and flashing hearts, the wedding dresses featured in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings  cost as much as £50,000 and can leave their wearers with scars they regard as a badge of honour.
Dressmaker Thelma Madine, 59, is behind the outlandish creations and has become such a star she has her own spin-off show in the pipeline.
Dubbed the Elizabeth Emanuel of the gypsy world, she is the only designer for traveller brides who want to make a show-stopping entrance.
There is little doubt Thelma is now making a fortune. She began dressmaking 16 years ago after a divorce.
She sold christening outfits at a Liverpool market while claiming benefits and was jailed after being convicted of false accounting in 2001.
The judge accused her of using the money to fund her ‘lavish lifestyle, expensive flat and BMW car’.
‘I did four months but it was the making of me,’ she has insisted. ‘I’m not proud of what I did but I learned when I was inside not to judge. That’s why I’m supportive of travellers.’
After her release, her work became popular with traveller families and eventually she was asked to make a wedding dress with a 200ft train.
Her business took off and she opened her Liverpool shop, Nico’s, now the favoured destination for young gypsy brides-to-be.
‘They all want something better than anyone else’s dress,’ says Thelma.

Wedded to fantasy: Thelma Madine puts the finishing touches to bride Bridget's lavish dress
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Big and bold: The girls take great pride in their lavish wedding dresses

Among her most famous creations have been a 20st dress covered in fairy lights worn by Sam Norton, one of the brides featured in the first series of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, and another for tiny Carly O’Brien, weighing 25st and consisting of 30,000 Swarovski crystals, 400ft of silk and 5,250ft of tulle. Ten guests had to push her up the aisle.  
Most of the weight of the dresses is borne by the girls’ hips, which are scarred as a result of the boning cutting into their flesh.
Most brides wrap themselves in bandages to make the dresses less painful to wear, but the series has spawned the catchphrase ‘The more bleeds, the better the dress’.

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