Inspiring ideas for centre pieces

Martini Glasses

These Martini Glasses from The Range are extremely popular because you can customise them any way you want to your own style and at £8.99 they are an extremely popular and affordable option. 

Here are some suggestions of how you can utilise them:

Bird Cages

Bird cages are very typical at Shabby Chic or Vintage themed weddings. They are very delicate, charming and lovely.

It is not recommended to keep real birds in them though! ;)

I love these jewelled bird cages from The Range, only £13.49:

Candlebras

These candlebras from The Range are £15.99 and sure to add charm and sophistication to any wedding. I love the white delicate droplet pearls.

Other ideas include:

• Fish bowls with floating candles / petals.
• Wishing trees
• Pretty Vases with flowers
• 
  

What a difference a year makes...

It has been a while since I last made a post to this blog, I have to admit, I have been procrastinating considerably on all things 'Wedding' related but the past few months have been moving in the right direction, we have made considerable progress as I will detail below. I say procrastinating, but there have been a few obstacles that I have had to overcome this year, I don't feel like my heart has been in it because of these factors. I've not only been poorly, I've also had a cancer scare (Cervical cancer). Thankfully after months of tests and an awful colcoscopy exam I was given the all clear late last year. However, on Friday 13th December (of all days) I woke up extremely dizzy but it didn't pass, in fact, it got worse throughout the day. The following morning I went to the emergency doctors and after a few weeks of diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Labrythinitis with severe vertigo. If you have never had it then it is quite a trial to say the least. It is a constant dizzy feeling to the point where it makes you nauseous, a little bit like when you have had too much to drink (the bad part of being drunk) and the doctors say there is not much they can do other than wait for the tablets to take effect. I am now on week seven and there has been little improvement so I am quite frustrated with my body at the moment. What can you do! Life gives you lemons like that sometimes and you just have to make the best of the situations that you are put in. 

Since I last updated (nearly a year ago, wow, time has flown!), we have chosen, booked and fully paid for the venue! We were also able to select a date that we really wanted, we chose Friday 10th October 2014 at 1.30pm. This is our actual anniversary anyway and as by the time we get married we would have been together for seven years, it seemed appropriate to keep it as our special day. 

So early October last year (2013), we went to a little venue called 'Slaters Country Inn' in Staffordshire and it was the first and only venue we saw. As soon as me and my fiance walked in, we decided it was the perfect fit for us and really did not feel the need to look elsewhere.

The venue itself is so intimate, warm and inviting. It is in the countryside overlooking fields with horses and has wooden, rustic beams throughout the main reception area. There is a roaring fire that would be lit for us, as it would be October weather I am anticipating it will be cold! 

We decided that we would have a very small guest list with between 25-30 guests in total for both the evening and the day. I'm quite shy and don't really fancy all eyes on me, I think I initially had in my head about 50 people, but we talked about it and decided that we just wanted the most important people in the world to us there on the day (i.e. immediate family and close friends), so this suits me just fine. It also makes the day feel that much more intimate and having the most important people there to us is the only thing we both wanted (that obviously amounts to 25-30 people in our 'circle of trust!'). 

We have also selected a theme, confirmed the colour scheme and have been so busy making little DIY projects, my head is full to the brim of ideas, the only thing holding me back from doing them all would be if the funds run out (it's a possibility!) but I am going to stay positive about that and try to do everything as cost-effective as possible. I'll show you all the tricks of the trade I have learnt over the past year, ladies. Watch this space as this will probably be spaced across a number of different posts (they will be linked to the bullet points below as soon as I write them, so keep checking back!).

So here is a brief summary of what we have been doing;

• Booked the venue.

• Chosen our Photographer.

• Chosen the Colour Scheme:

Burgundy, pink and ivory

• Made 'Save the Dates'.
• Made some 'prototype invites'.
• Made my own cascading Bridal bouquet from fake flowers (I know, I have changed my entire opinion about artificial flowers, as I prefer to call them now, a lot has happened in a year! They are actually amazing flowers though and look quite effective I think - more on this later, I will even show you how I made it so you can think about doing your own - if I can do it, so can you, I literally knew nothing, zilch, about flower-arranging).

• We have booked a sweet cart for our Wedding!

• Put down a deposit for a videographer.

Dusky Pink Wedding Shoes for Bride or Bridesmaid

I honestly don't know what I am after in terms of my shoes as a bride, nor for my bridesmaids yet, but these certainly put a smile on my face. :) I am loving the colour as well.

Enjoy :D

I know the shoes below aren't dusky pink, I was just testing you! :P just kidding. I just saw them and thought they really were quite lovely... they are the only non-dusky pink ones though, promise! :D see what I mean about how distracted I get!

Source: Unavailable.

Source: CinderellaSmallShoes.Com 

Source: http://weheartit.com/from/howdoilovetheestyle.blogspot.com

Source: http://artbookstea.blogspot.co.uk

Shoes from Milanoo.com

Source: unavailable.

Source: http://www.supersexyhighheels.com

Source: http://www.gogogu.co.uk/2012-pink-chiffon-flowers-wedding-shoes-high-heels

Source: http://www.lulusoso.com/products/Lower-Heel-Shoes.html

Source: perditasweddingshoes.co.uk

Source: Unavailable.

I do love shoes...

A New Year!

After a small hiatus, due to Christmas and having some (expensive) issues with my laptop, I am happy to say I am back to blogging again.

I really wanted to do a Christmas post with wintery, cosy themes before Christmas, but a virus on my laptop decided to put an end to that idea. It seems a bit redundant to do one now, I think once the holiday season is over it loses its appeal for me, and thought perhaps it would for you too, so I may come back to that one at a later date.

Instead I've decided to tell you our Wedding planning news. We may have found our Wedding Photographer! Facebook is absolutely cracking for networking. As a result of it, we met with Langdon Road Photography's; Roy. When me and Mark walked out from our first initial meeting with him and his wife, Nadine, we felt extremely positive about the whole experience. We looked through all of his photographs and thought they were exactly what we want. The pictures are natural, relaxed and very creative, which I love. I'm not a huge fan of thousands of the same pictures (You know the standard Wedding photograph group photos - don't get me wrong, it's always good to have a few, but not every one...). I always found that the more natural they looked, the better they tell the story of how the day went and really captures the atmosphere of the day. 

At some point in the near future I will do a blog post about his work because it really is something special. 

At the end of the month (after payday) we are going to talk to him about our ideas. Even though we are sure, we want to play it safe after our first photographer 'experience'. I know we shouldn't have any concerns, but it really did taint our view and unfortunately we are now quite wary. So we plan to do an engagement shoot with him and if we think he is what we are after when we see our photographs and what he is like to work with, (which as I said, we are 90% sure of already anyway) then we will be booking him! 

We have also set our budget now, which has severely dented my spirits! haha, no just kidding. In all honesty, it is about right. We're working on about £5,000 for the whole thing. Yikes. The dress has already been bought, so that takes off a little stress, but need to pay £125 of the final deposit and account for any alterations. So I think from my estimations we will have a budget of approximately 3,000k for a venue. We have also chosen a date, but I won't be announcing that yet until we have found a venue (because it all depends if we can get our chosen date). We know it is definitely going to be in 2014 though. Anyway, it IS do-able, I am determined to find the best bargains, deals, ideas and inspiration and I will tell you about them as I go along, perhaps they can help you too, and you never know, you might just enjoy reading about the blood, sweat and tears from another bride-to-be :)

Bring it on 2013 and a Happy (and somewhat belated) New Year to everyone!

Vendor Spotlight: Gem Wedding Favours

Considering this company has only been running for 5 months, I'd say they are well on their way to becoming solid competition in the Wedding industry. When you see the work that this lady produces you will understand why. It is my pleasure to introduce this next vendor spotlight;

www.gemweddingfavours.co.uk

Handmade Wedding favours with custom bespoke designs to suit each individual bride's day, right down to your colour scheme.

Gem Wedding Favours incorporates sparkle into your special day, which as you might know I am quite partial to a bit of sparkle! :)

So let's have a look at what Gem Wedding Favours can offer...

If you were having a pink theme, these favour boxes are ridiculously cute (Click on any of the pictures to enlarge):

You could put personalised love hearts sweets with your Wedding date in the love hearts box (pictured above) to make it all the more personal!

I love these wine glass charms (prices start from £1.50 each), again in the pink theme;

(Picture above; Wine glass charm, picture below; decorated trinket box)

 What a lovely keepsake for your guests to take home with them!

If you are having blue as a theme, these are perfect:

Gem Wedding Favours also do a range called Vintage and in all honesty they are all my favourite, they are so lush, you will see what I mean. I would put up all of the pictures in this range but I think you would benefit more from visiting them on the website: www.gemweddingfavours.co.uk

Here are just a handful of my favourites... Let me know what you think in the comments below! :)

These are great too if you are having a garden/spring theme Wedding and I love that they are a bit different;

I really enjoyed writing this blog post and I hope that you enjoy reading it too. If you would like to enquire about any of the products shown or would like to see more please visit the website: www.gemweddingfavours.co.uk or speak to the lady who makes these wonderful creations, Helen White via twitter.

Vendor Spotlight: MM Wedding Events

Based in Essex, London, MM Wedding Events was founded by Sherrie Envill.

I asked Sherrie to provide a bit of background information on how MM Wedding Events got started, I was very touched by what she sent me and I am sure she would not mind if I shared it with you:

From Sherrie:

"It all began:

After my son was born, I was diagnosed with Kidney cancer, I was lucky to have an op to remove the cancer and now I have been all clear for a year. At the same time by partner lost his dad to cancer, so I decided to organise a charity ball and dinner in aid of cancer research.

I organised everything from start to finish and found a real passion for events planning. Due to the illness I did not manage to get back to work full time, so I started this up to generate some extra income and hopefully lay the foundations to turn this into my full time occupation. I am taking a wedding planner course in 3 weeks so I am soon to be qualified, not only help with stationery but with the wedding planning as well."

I've had a look at her stationary and it is really good, I especially love items with the 'personal touch' and she certainly provides that, creating bespoke Wedding stationary to suit your colour scheme, theme and budget.

I'd like to share some of her work with you and please visit her facebook page with even more photographs profiling her portfolio of work to date, she doesn't just cater to Wedding's :)

I love this ivory guestbook and if you have butterflies as a theme, it would be a perfect addition to your day.

I love this, very rock n roll :)

These are really something special aren't they? 

I love the pearls on this guestbook and the dusky pink colour really compliments well with ivory.

I love this colour scheme, very timeless and classy.

Lovely lilac and ivory.

So not only Wedding Stationary, Sherrie's talent extends into events. I can't believe the transformations of these rooms, I would love to be a guest at an event dressed by MM Wedding Events... Have a look and I am sure you will agree with me too...

The room before MM Wedding Events worked their magic:

And after:

Wow wee, what a transformation! I am sure you will agree that Sherrie is one talented lady and I wish her every success with MM Wedding Events. Please contact her directly (details on the first image on this post) if you would like to enquire about her services. Or visit her facebook page for more pictures.