Most Curious 2017

Tags

am faulkner, blossom & crumb, Bride to be, claire owen cakes, curious fair, flowers & foliage, fox & owl, fox glove studio, freiend of faux, frog floral artistry, ginger and the whisks, halfpenny london, henaina storey, howling moon headwear, isobel bakes, jecques and lilie, leonard garland, leoni blue, london fair, Most Curious, Most Curious Wedding Fair, natalie j weddings, Oh Squirrel, papier, pom pom bossom, portraits, scenes and stories, the portrait machine, The Wild Fox, tily thomas lux, topman, Wedding Blog, Wedding Fair, wedding jam, Wedding planning

Hello Friends, sorry I’ve been a bit quiet this month… March/April has flown by in a blink of an eye and it’s been a busy month for me and Maxwell! I now find myself nearing the end of April and I’m still playing catch up.

I first drafted this post whilst chilling out at my future in-laws for a weekend of R&R in preparation of my birthday week (more on that later) but I’m glad to inform you I have managed to squeeze in a bit of fun amongst the business.

A few months back my gorgeous friend Kelly asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, something I was beyond touched by! Kelly is one of those gals who’s style is very much in tune with mine so I was super excited about her upcoming nuptials. If anyones wedding was going to be a kin to mine, it would be Kelly & Charlie’s….. ekkk!!

Last year Kelly accompanied me, my MOH Onion, Mumma Lo, fellow bestie Becca (which I’m also BM for) and her beautiful Mumma Carolyn as we did our first wedding wedding fair experience together. (you can read about it here) A year later (where did that time go?) and this time it was my job to accompany Kelly as she got inspired for her big day.

Having been two years on the trot it was fascinating to see how things had moved on in a year, and also some favourites return traders… The main thing that struck me this year was that pink is big business for 2017/2018 brides!

There was also an overwhelming feeling of love, which for a wedding fair is pretty fair game!! As soon as we walked into the Truman Brewery we were once again transported into world of alternative wedding wonderment! Again like last year Most Curious was a breath of fresh air and everyone was so blooming lovely (It must be a requirement on the trader booking form or something)

So… enough of the chit chat, let me show you some pics and things that caught my eye… (I’ll share links to companies and suppliers below!)

First up, divine florals and fabrics by Pom Pom Blossom and cakey goodness because lets be honest no one likes a wedding fair without a free cake sample (or 4). These tasty morsels from Claire Owen Cakes set the bar pretty high!! (and you can see what I mean about the pink already can’t you!?!

2017 still remained a beautiful bohemian nod to all things vintage inspired, individual and quirky!! From amazing dresses & accessories from Halfpenny London and Tilly Thomas Lux, to sweet french treats from Jaques & Lilie and gorgeous Animalesque handmade headwear!

Pops of colour and a spot of rock and roll were nestled amongst the bohemian, much to Kelly’s delight. Gorgeous neon blooms by FROG Floral Artistry and cake offerings inspired by musical heroes from Ginger & the Whisks. Even Clara Francis Jewellery was getting in on the act with headbands Ziggy Stardust would’ve been proud to wear!

A big shout out is also deservered to the glamourous ladies of PORTRAITS Hair & Make up stall for being so lovely, giving us product tips and a lesson on how to correctly do a halo braid!

Also the extremely dapper chap from Topman Personal Shopping who was the best dressed man there and gave us free bowties for our boys!

It was then time to grab ourselves a Pink Drink, a Pink Front Row seat and settle down for the very pink catwalk show (should I be concerned there’s no pink in my wedding???)

The end of the catwalk was a flurry of tactile pink florals which mimicked the cascading flowers at the other end! It was enough to make us all feel very girly as we sipped out raspberry filled Pinkster Gin complimentary VIP cocktail!!

The first show was MODERN DISCO and that is was… sequins, faux fur, jumpsuits and you guessed it, lots of pink…

Bar a bit of a wait and an annoyingly placed ladder backstage (I couldn’t be bothered to edit it out… sorry) the first show was great and offered up lots of alternative options for a 2017/2018 bride wanting something a little something different.

After a couple of group shots from the girls it was on to more stalls, more cake and more treats for the eyes…

Scenes and Stories had a lust-worthy stall and even had trails of tassels something I’m currently making for our big day! (great minds think alike eh?!) There’s was a stall of Moroccan inspired styling items for hire and if anyone ever wants to throw me a party feel free to speak to the lovely Jenny!! There was also some more amazing cakes by Lucie Bennett… her samples were insanely good and we totally wanted to be greedy and try one of everything!!!

I also spotted the amazing Leoni Blue Photography who I worked with a million years ago on a Mia Mai shoot! Small world! ❤

We turned the corner and were met with stall upon stall of amazing florists, styling and decor traders… Lula & Rye, The Wild Fox & Friend of Faux. (all the heart eye emoji’s)

Then it was time to grab another FROW crushed velvet blush chaise longue and get ready for the second show of the day, ‘LAID BACK AND ALMOST FAMOUS’… another nod to the late 70s with lots of customised jackets on show…

Sorry… I was quite click happy wasn’t I!? haha! A few more group shots an off we went again…

From there we checked out some more gorgeous florists and a unique idea for updating the light up letters trend…

After that we stepped into a little bohemian haven… 

This stall was stunning and I’m so sad we missed Natalie of Curious Fair as her headdresses, masks and dried florals were simply stunning!!!!!

I want to make some feather crowns for my minis to play dress up in and this 100% confirmed my idea and made me definitely want to do it! Gorgeous!!!!

Something that really struck me this year was the gorgeousness of the stalls displays… this little nook of Make-up in Orangeries, Leonard Garland and The Fire Pit Camp was lust-worthy and so very pretty!

I also had the absolute pleasure of meeting Helaina Storey who I met via the Love My Dress FB group and have followed her journey from wedding planning to beautiful bride and now a successful wedding design business! Being that this is something I am wanting to do once I’m a Mrs it was a pleasure to meet Helaina and chat about her business and how its going!

This year the fair had grown and almost doubled in size… there was a whole other room with an extra 40 odd traders…. By this point we were starting to flag (definfintely should have gone for food and come back) but like the first room this too was jam packed with amazing traders and treats for the eyes and tummies.

This scrumptious cake stall by Isobel Bakes was super cute and I adored her eclectic cake toppers and mix of florals!! beautiful

A few other things which caught my eye (if not my camera) was The Portrait Machine, a super fun alternative to a photobooth. An artist sat in a box who creates personal little illustrations of your guests and after a whirr and and whizz, pops the finished drawing out through a little slot. So funny!!!

Flowers & Foliage was also a unique gift idea for any bride who wants a keepsake. Stunning bespoke botanic artwork can be created depicting the brides bouquet!! so pretty!!

And finally The Mother Shuckers… who Kelly (oyster fan) was pretty happy to see! I stood by and watched her do her thing (oyster hater) And there you have it….

Another cracking experience at Most Curious, I’m hoping by next year I’ll have launched my new business so I have another reason to go again next year! Thank you Most Curious for again setting the alternative bridal fair bar so high and creating an oasis of inspiration in your very own pinktopia!!! Yay!

In no particular order some of the stalls that caught my eye and I’d like to share with you:

Friend of Faux | Claire Owen Cakes | Jacques & Lilie | Animalesque | Frog Floral Artistry | PORTRAITS | Scenes and Stories | Ginger and the Whisks | Topman Personal Shopping | Curious Fair | Leonard Garland | Leoni Blue Photography | Helaina Storey Wedding Design | Isobel Bakes | The Portrait Machine | Flowers & Foliage | Pom Pom Blossom | Fox Glove Studio | Blossom & Crumb | AM Faulkner | Halfpenny London | Tily Thomas Lux | Fox & Owl | Music by Kate and Dave | Eclectic Eccentricity | Calm amongst the Chaos| Howling Moon Headwear | Papier | Oh Squirrel | Natalie J Wedding Photography | Wedding Jam | The Wild Fox | Clara Francis Jewellery

 

 

 

Wedding Series #17

Tags

bride blog, Bride to be, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding planning

I know I know, I am spectacularly late with last months post… In the past month, in addition to our own wedding prep I’ve also managed to squeeze in helping to organise 2 hen dos (not my own) a family do (my own) having a birthday, attending a hen do, Niece’s Birthday, working and trying not to be a lousy friend/fiance.

Sometimes juggling everything that needs juggling can be a bit hard and you find yourself working till 11.30pm each night and blogging before 8am in the morning trying to fit it all in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m blessed to be able to do all that I am doing, I’m just saying that when things are this busy you gotta go a bit easier on yourself and ask for help when needed.

Some sound advice for any bride to be out there! We all lead such frantic lives at the best of time that when you throw 1 (or 3) big other events into the mix you’re going to, at times, feel like not enough butter over too much bread.

Thats being said, take advantage of how your brain seems to be working 110%, use those brainwaves which strike at bizarre times, take those good ideas and put them to good use, use those quiet early mornings, when normally you’d be having a lie in (but you can’t because you brain is going over your to-do list at 30mph) to do something productive. Most importantly take time out every now and again and accept help when it’s offered!!!

With all that out the way, we have been able to do some small bits for the wedding prep this this month (well technically last month, but well you know…)

Let me update you….

Work on the dress is still going really well… Mumma Lo has been amazing, sewing through the nights to hand sew all the trimmed edges of my gown and we now have something that’s really starting to resemble a completed dress! eekkkk…. The first time we pulled all the elements together was pretty exciting! (it’s all getting real now)

Proper construction on the mini’s is all coming together too and I’m not even bragging they are going to be the most adorable group of mini’s ever!!! haha…

Something new that we did last month, which was something we were quite excited about, was doing tin cans, you know, like to hang from the back of the car. We headed to the Mediterranean Supermarket and stocked up on different sized cans. Stripped off the labels and sprayed them all a brassy gold colour. We then handed them out, with instructions to our most creative / artistic friends and family and now eagerly await their return…

  Cute huh?? I can’t wait to see what we get back….

Here are a few of our inspiration pics…

 Another huge thing that I did last month was had my make up trial. I mentioned last month that after a lot of time ummming and ahhing I made the decision to have my make done for me…. some things are best left in the hands of the professionals and in this case my face definitely was! Haha! Friend and MUA Naomi Lake came to join me and Mumma Lo as we spent a fun day playing about with the biggest makeup kit you ever did see!

You can see my wedding inspiration Pinterest board here. I wanted a really fresh, dewy skin, nothing to heavily contoured or chiseled, warm tones on my eyes and a dark berry lip.

A few of my face inspirations first…

 

 

 

And on to my trial… Naomi was fab and let me change my mind and keep playing about till things were right… I also had it done early on in the morning so was able to see how it lasted and get feedback from Maxwell…

There are a few things I might tweak for the actual day i.e., all my inspiration pics and the ones I really liked didn’t have eyeliner, so we thought lets try without, but I didn’t realise how that little thing that I do each morning is part of the thing that makes me feel like me. Without it I didn’t feel quite right. Even Maxwell mentioned it looked a little unfinished… if even the boys think it’s not quite there, then it needs sorting. So on the day the Ami eyeliner will be back in place.

Also I’m still not 100% on my lips… the hunt continues for the perfect long-lasting treatment but I got some fab suggestions from my Facebook Love My Dress Belles group! (what would I do without them!?)

It also got me to thinking about how many brides abandon their usual look, and instead of looking like them (in a wedding dress) just become ‘the bride’. Why, on the most important day of my life would I even think not to do something I do everyday, it’s just silly right?! But again it’s easy to get caught up in what you ‘should’ be doing, what’s bridal etc. I say forget all of that, go with what makes you happy and feel like you. Maxwell’s biggest fear was that I wouldn’t look like me and isn’t that sad, that the guy you’re marrying loves you everyday, make up free and dodgy home attempts so on your wedding day if you suddenly rock up with HD brows and contoured skin he’s going to be like ‘where’s my girl?’

Let that be a lesson to us all… don’t loose ‘you’ in the journey to become a Mrs!

One more thing I want to share this month is that our engagement pics by the lovely Hayley Savage were picked up the the fantastic Doily Days wedding magazine. The lovely Helen asked me if I could share a few of the pics and some musings from a bride to be. So I did just that and it’s so lovely to see them in print!! 

Thank you Helen and if you haven’t seen Doily Days yet, you must!!! It’s an amazing inspirational wedding guide and it’s free!! FREE… that’s gonna speak to all brides I know!!

You can read the latest magazine, which we’re featured in here. 

Thanks again lovely Helen!! It was so lovely seeing our photos and words in print!! 

Anyway, I’ll keep it short this month as I have a million other things to do this month!

Till next time xxx

 

 

Wedding Series #16

Tags

Boho Wedding, Bride to be, Bridesmaids, DIY Wedding, Ginger and Peach, mini maids, Vegan, Wedding Blog, Wedding catering, wedding decor, Wedding planning

Another month, another update from this boho bride-to-be… It’s been an eventful month over here, one that’s tested and tried us but as we bid farewell to February, and say hello to March, I’m happy to report we are all good and we are smiling, which is all that matters right?!

The month took an unexpected turn at beginning when our lovely housemate told us he’d be moving out the following week as he’d found the perfect little studio flat. Obviously this was a bit of a shock, both personally and financially, but we understood why he was moving on and we needed to adjust and figure out what to do. We discussed our options as financially having a housemate was helping us out hugely with saving for the wedding but on the flip side, did we want to bring a stranger into our home and have them put up with all our wedding junk everywhere….? The answer was no… Bringing in someone for just the next 6months seemed pointless and honestly we were ready to just have our own home, so we did just that. We briefly looked into mortgages, but have decided for our sanity, that we would instead stay put for the next 6 months and the readdress the situation once we’re husband and wife.

So yeah… a bit weird and it’s been tough, but it’s also been wonderful….We’ve started being even more frugal with our spending and equally are trying to make even more money any way we can; be it through selling artwork / old clothes / working 24/7 to make up for the £2000 which we’ll be down come July. Obviously this also means that paying out for wedding things has become a bit more tricky but our parents have all been wonderful and are continuing to help us where possible. It really does make you realise how lucky are doesn’t it, when you’re in a tight spot, and people are there checking in and helping where they can.

Everyone knows weddings are expensive, but life in general is too, chatting to friends recently and it seems everyone can relate! It’s definitely one of those years where everyone is getting married and everyone has multiple weddings to attend! Fun yes, but expensive too!

We’re continuing to keep costs inline though by doing as much ourselves as possible. Also, I’m just going to put it out there, having our own home is amazing. I feel like I can truly relax 100% in my own home, which after renting with various people over the last 8 years, is an amazing feeling. We have for the first time got a home just us two and we’re loving it. And I’m excited for the next year or so where hopefully we can really start building our own home together!

In the mean time we have wisely transformed our spare room (how grown up does that sound) into ‘wedding HQ’ and as I write I’m sat in front of the window, light flooding in, surrounded by all our wedding treasures and creations! It’s pretty lovely!

So moving on. What else have we been up to? I mentioned last month that I’d created the biggest to-do list you’d ever seen, we’ll we’re still working through that. I also mentioned and promised to share with you some photos of our evening invites so here goes…

Sorry the pics aren’t as nice as my first lot, I just snapped them quickly for this blog post, but hopefully you can see kind of what we did, we created another roll fold to keep all the bits in the middle but put all the top tips in the inside. I’m really proud of them and think the whole invitation design thing was super fun!! Also feedback was lovely! Yay!

So… what else have been up to? I finished all the napkins finally (am so happy with them) they are also all folded, pressed and I have tied these up with place settings and favours…yay! Maxwell wants me to keep the end result a surprise for our guests, so for now I will just show you a sofa full of pressed napkins in all their prettiness!

We (amazing Mumma and I) have also been continuing work on my dress (whoo hoo) and those of the mini maids! For the last year (at least) I have been collecting a hoard of vintage lace and crochet trims, vintage and second hand garments. The mini’s, all 8 of them are all have mismatched cream/white/ivory dresses with a very vintage / boho look. Mumma and I got out all my treasures and matched things up coming up with a design for each little lady. Mumma has been amazing, washing everything and starting to compile all the dresses, we even did our first fitting on my niece the other day and if that’s anything to go by these little ladies are going to be melting everyones hearts!!!

I’ll wait till next month to give you a sneak peek of the dresses as I’ll also scan in my designs!

One more fun thing we did this month was have a tasting for our vegan friends. The wedding is pretty much all vegetarian but as we have quite a few vegans coming we wanted to make sure that no one felt left out when the food came out, especially in relation to the evening buffet which is basically cheese and crackers! haha! So with that in mind we reached out to our dear friends and raw food specialists Ginger and Peach. Tara, the amazing food guru prepared us 3 nut cheeses to sample and they were amazing…

Tara made us a herbed pine nut and cashew log, an aged macadamia nut cheeze and a cashew cheddar cream cheeze. These were amazing and I’m so excited to be able to offer our vegan friends something so unique! We have also decided to ask Tara to make us one of her stunning raw cakes to liven up our evening cake buffet! Yum! So exciting that things are all coming together and I’m loving that we’re involving one of our fave local business!

The last thing I want to tell you about is make up! I’ve been umming and ahhing for ages about what to do… do I DIY, do I have a professional lesson then still DIY or do I bring in someone who knows what they’re doing? Well a couple of weeks back I was staying with my bestie Becca and she had he make up trail when I was there and I was mega impressed… you know sometimes things just align and work out? Karma I like to think of it as, well I started chatting to a MUA friend who I’ve worked with previously and she mentioned she was coming down and with a rare monday off, our diaries clicked and we’re booking in a trial, which is exciting! With that in mind I’ve been pinning Make up ideas and I’m super excited!

I’ll share some pics next month! ekkkk!!

So, I think I’ve rambled on enough for one post (maybe it’s time to start doing 2 a month?!!)

Till next time… x

Wedding Series #15

Tags

Bride to be, creative, DIY Bride, gifts, Making things, making wedding rings, Wedding Blog, wedding blogger, Wedding prep

Well, we’ve made it; officially the year that I marry my love! How very very exciting!!

Ask any 2017 bride-to-be and she’ll tell you that the moment you cheered ‘Happy New Year’ it suddenly feels like you’ve got soooooooo much to do…. Maybe it’s the fact you can now say “we’re getting married this year” that fuels this urge to get stuff done? But what ever the reason… There’s been a huge sense of urgency over the last month… and what a month it’s been!!

So…. What have we been up to…? Well for one, I created the worlds biggest to-do list (Oh… The joys of having a mainly DIY approach) and we’ve been efficiently working our way through it I’m proud to add!!

The boys suits are all sorted! Hurray!!! Not something I predicted would a bit of a headache but getting the perfect mis-matched look was more challenging then I imagined… I’m happy to report that they are all sorted though, all happy with their outfits and they all look blooming gorgeous! yay!

Maxwell has been super busy getting Kermit (our wedding car) looking gorgeous too. Our basement comically looks like a car garage as various car parts are being lovingly stripped back, primed and painted a beautiful forest green! I love that he’s putting so much effort into making sure our wedding ride is perfect… I know boys can sometimes feel a little left out in the whole wedding prep game, but I really think that Maxwell is really interested in playing his part and making sure his input is apparent and evident too! What a lovely man I’ve bagged myself!

We’ve also sorted our evening invites… I’ll share some pics next month so not to ruin the surprise to any guests that are yet to receive one. Like with our day guests we’ve kept the evening guest list small and intimate… I’m so happy we’ve done this as I know everyone there is a true part of our lives. I’m not sure how many will come (being that it’s in the middle of nowhere on a Thursday night) but these extra people have been a part of Maxwell and my lives and I want them to know that. They shall be heading into the postbox tomorrow morning! eekk!!

I’ve also made a start hemming our napkins (no small task trust me) For the last year I have been collecting a variety of vintage fabric to use. My thought was it would add a bit of individuality to the table but also that I would be able to keep them after to use at home and maybe hire out (more on that later) I’m currently half way through and I’m so happy with how they’re looking!

We’ve also been busy sorting gifts for our nearest and dearest. I’m SO excited with my gift for Maxwell, obviously I won’t say what it is on here (on the off chance he pops by to check what I’ve been saying) but it’s PERFECT!!! The rest of the crew are getting a mix of handmade or vintage items! I also got super prepared as I gift wrapped all the mini maids pressies ready to go! How cute do they look??

Finally, the other big thing we’ve done is we made our wedding rings!!!! ekkkkk!!

I’ve been looking forward to doing this for ages and it didn’t disappoint! We spent the day with the awesome Sarah Macrae. I have known Sarah for about 10 years through my work and she’s an amazing designer jeweller. Sarah invited us to her home studio were we spent the most enjoyable day making each others wedding bands. I was a little unsure what I’d go for because of the size and shape of my engagement ring, but after chatting to my bestie and bride-to-be Miss Hayden she suggested why didn’t I go for another finger. So simple!! haha… It’s so easy to get caught up in what you ‘should’ do… it’s sometimes hard to see another simple option which is right in front of your face! So with this in mind I started thinking about what I wanted…. Maxwell had seen a ring (dirty rose-gold beat-up looking thing with grooves round the edges) which he’d kinda decided he wanted. I didn’t really mind which metal my ring was, as long as it matched Maxwell. So rose gold it was… Having said that I also wanted something that would also talk to my engagement ring, so I decided to buy a vintage marcasite eternity band (found on etsy) to sit alongside my wedding ring.

So, decisions made and gold brought it was time to start making. With my job I kinda know the process and have made rings before but for Max it was a first time experience! Sarah was brilliant, she talked us through each step then left us to get on with it which was super lovely too. We started by making sure the wire strips were the right length, Maxwell went for 6x2mm D shape, mine was 2mm square wire. Once we’d got the length right and ends were filed flat, it was time to start bending it round into a as much of a ring shape as possible… when it wouldn’t go any more we annealed the metal to make it more pliable. Ends now touching it was time to solder the join.

After a spot of lunch (with homemade bread I might add) it was time to get the rings to fit…. this was the most time consuming part, using a mandrel and a rawhide mallet we bashed and bashed until the rings were perfectly round and flat!

Then for Maxwell the time to polish had come… He did such a good job and my ring is seamless and so beautiful. It sits perfectly alongside the marcasite eternity ring, I’m pretty proud of my boy… he did good!

I didn’t have it quite so easy! After getting Maxwell’s ring perfect and smooth it was time to create the grooved effect. I did this by making 2 smaller rings with 1.2mm round wire, filing the edges flat and then soldering them all together.

I think the hardest part was ensuring the inside of Maxwell’s ring was as perfect as he’d made mine, luckily, maxwell didn’t mind it looking a little homemade in the middle so after a hell of a lot of polishing I too was done!

Hooray!!! It was quite emotional at times, Something I hadn’t have anticipated. Making something so special, for the person you love most in the world is a very beautiful thing, continually trying rings on all day is also pretty cute! ha ha

So there you have it, after about 5 hours, a delicious lunch and a wonderful day spent with Sarah in her beautiful home & workshop, we headed off… We’d intentionally booked in the ring making for the 27/1/17 which marked our 6month count down. We ditched the diet for the evening and treated ourselves to dinner at Fez, a beautiful little turkish restaurant down a little side road in Petersfield. We shared a selection of starters and enjoyed a non alcoholic drink each (oh hey Dry January)

So there you have it… if you’re a bride to be, who’s not got their wedding bands yet I would 100% recommend making yours own, and if you’re looking for a jeweller then 100% go speak to Sarah, I can’t recommend her enough!!! We had such fun, and we’re both super proud of what we made. I want to wear mine all the time, but for now, it’s living in my engagement ring box with Maxwells where it’ll live for the next 6 months (only occasionally being taken out and tried on! ha ha)

so, till next time, this Bride-to-be is signing off! x

A Belated New Years Post…

Tags

Bride to be, Happy New Years, life, New Year Resolutions, New years Eve, resolutions, wedding

…Luckily ‘being on time’ wasn’t one of my N.Y.Resolutions!

Happy New Year friends! I hope you all saw in the New Year surrounded by loved ones and with a smile on your face! We sure did!

In the days between Christmas and New Year we chilled, saw friends and family and tried to relax as much as possible… On NYE after a big ol’ lego session with my cousin and his kids, we donned our glad-rags and hopped into the car and up to the big smoke we headed.

We were to see in the New Year with one of my best friends (and fellow bride-to-be) Becca and her handsome hubby-to-be Edward. We arrived and the shenanigans began… First up beer pong! Even though I HATE beer and throw like a girl (apologies to any female discus throwers out there) this was super fun and a great way to meet and befriend fellow guests!

After that it was time for some food. Edward is a bit of a whizz in the kitchen and whipped up a delish supper for us all which went down a treat!

The rest of the evening whizzed by in a blur of champagne, dancing and chatting and playing games. Before we knew it, it was 10 to midnight and we all ventured outside with a posh bottle of fizz in hand. Corks popped, shouted toasts of “we’re getting married this year”, and quite a bit of kissing and 2017 begun in the best possible of ways.

We then began the most amusing backyard firework display…. 8 tipsy adults and £70 of fireworks… what could possibly go wrong! haha Luckily we all escaped without injury and many ohs and ahhs (and ha has) were had!!

We stumbled into bed in the early hours of the morning and I kissed the man who I was to marry this year goodnight.

We woke late and joined our friends for a bit of post-party breakfast then began a very lazy start to the 2017 (sofa, snoozes, pjs, snacks and Harry Potter/disney) When afternoon came around we dragged ourselves off the sofa and Maxwell and I cleaned ourselves up then bid our friends goodbye. We treated ourselves to a drink and some dinner at The Powder Keg (a lovely little find) So there you have it… that’s how we all saw in the new year… how about you??

Now on to the new year…. and my resolutions for 2017:

I don’t know if I mentioned this last year but in 2016 (because of saving for the wedding and to just see if I could) I didn’t buy myself anything (clothes, shoes, accessories etc) bar wedding related items and a coat at the very end of the year, I did just what I set out to do. This proved to me a simple thing, that I didn’t need to buy anything new. Sure, I could probably do with some more tights and socks now but I really didn’t need or want for anything. This way of thinking, I think, will stick with me, and is something I want to continue into 2017. The world of disposable fashion is bigger then ever and if I can do my little bit and not buy into it then that’s got to be a good thing right?! It also means then when I do get something new I will really treasure and appreciate it!

I have also made a promise to be kind to myself and my body. The way I speak about it, think about it and what I feed and do to it! I began last year a slow and steady mini body overhaul/confidence mission and I continue with that in 2017. To be thankful for the gift that my body gives to me, wobbly bits and all. To be proud of it as it is, and if it does “improve” well that’s great too! I also want to continue with filling it with healthy and nourishing food and plenty of water, to not deny myself the things I want and the occasional treat, but equally to not over-indulge or do anything to the excess!! I’m going to also try and cut back on the alcohol and meat, because thats good for you too (plus I fell in love with a vegetarian with only one kidney so it kind of helps)

Next up is a simple one, and ties in nicely with the above. I’m going to try and stop feeling guilty about relaxing! I have a weird habit of chilling out, reading a book or something, and when someone comes in, I stop and try and make it look like I’m busy or something… I think ties in with being self employed and working from home. Whatever the reason I’m going to try and stop. To chill out with a book for an hour or two is ok. It’s my life and as long as I can pay the bills, on my days off, if I feel I need a bit of TLC and want to loose myself in a film or a book I’m going to do just that (and not feel guilty about it)

I also want to try and distance myself from my phone more. After watching this clip (which if you’ve not watched you should) I realised I’m guilty of using my phone too much and scrolling without even thinking about it. So I’ve made a little pact with myself to not be so attached to it; to not check it the moment I wake up, to sometimes just put it away and look out the window and generally just use it less!

Finally to keep working towards my goals and the things that mean most to me… the wedding, my business, our first real home, my relationship, my friendships. I believe you get out of life what you put into it so with this in mind I will approach all these things with passion, enthusiasm and zest!

So there you have it, my resolutions and ambitions for 2017. I know already, regardless of what happens it will always be a special year in my life, the one when I finally become a wife! How very exciting!!

Wedding Series #14

Tags

Bride to be, family, wedding, Wedding Invites, Wedding planing

For once I’m actually drafting this post early, which is a rare rare thing. It’s Christmas Eve Eve and the boy and I are chilling, the Hobbit is on the TV, he’s playing with some lego and I’m sat, feet up on the sofa catching up on my blog.

It’s moments like these that make me realise how lucky I am. To find someone who you can totally be yourself with, is a beautiful thing. I could spend the rest of my life doing nothing with him and be utterly happy!

So, another 27th rolls around and this one, of all the dates we’ve celebrated seems so much more important and poignant! It was pretty much a year ago to the day that my love got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I still smile when I think about that moment and how utterly happy I was. I won’t repeat the whole tale but will direct you back to here if you want to see how he did it or just want to re-read our engagement story! (check out our gorgeous engagement bauble below – I love it!!)

We’ll be celebrating the 27th of December by spending the day with my future family-in-law and the eve with a date night out in Winchester. This monthly date night has really helped us mark the passing of time and ensured that however busy we are, or what ever is going on we always make time for one another. I think it will be a tradition we continue into our married life and something I will recommend to everyone. 12 dates a year doesn’t sound like much does it, but with all the other general shenanigans of life I think it’s important to make time for one another, and if you can do more, just the two of you great, if not, put everything into those monthly dates… Have no distractions, no one else there, just you two.

This month has been an odd one… I have always loved December and Christmas, even more so since Maxwell proposed on Christmas Day so I couldn’t wait for this month and all that it would bring. What I wasn’t expecting was the death of my dearly beloved Granddad. We all knew he was ill, he had been for a while and we all knew this day would come but still, when the time came, it still 100% knocked the wind from my sails and threw me off track. My Granddad always had this amazing positivity and sparkle in his eye and when that went away it felt like I lost some of my sparkle too. Rather then singing along to Christmas songs as I normally would, I found myself getting teary listening to the lyrics instead. I’ve been trying to keep it all together for the last 2 weeks, bottling up all this emotion that on Tuesday when we finally had his funeral I lost it quite a bit.  Doing a reading with my bro and cousin was the hardest part along with laying his buttonhole on the casket which I’d already made for him.

Through all this though Maxwell has been an utter rock. Holding my hand in the early hours of the morning as we sat round his hospice bed, not saying anything when I was snappy and miserable to him, wiping tears from my eyes after the service and making me smile when all I wanted to do was cry. It is these moments, more then anything that mean the most in a relationship. Don’t give me a man who buys expensive gifts, instead give me a man who will kiss my tears away and return a smile to my lips. Whilst I’m devastated that my Granddad won’t be with us on our special day in person, I am even more in love with the man I get to spend the rest of my life with and know Granddad will be there in spirit wishing us well!

The last year of planning our wedding together has been so very fun and I can’t wait for 2017. It’s the year that I will finally be able to call this beautiful man my husband and hopefully we will find our first real home together and all of this feels me with hope and happiness.

I’m sorry if this post seems a little sad but I wanted to be truthful, life has it’s ups and it’s downs and that’s what life is all about. So often with social media we only share a half truth, we only tend to share to good but during times of sadness I thiknk you need to be honest.

On the flip side, and with a more positive look at things let me tell you how plans have been progressing… Obviously we’ve not had much of a chance to do a lot, with Christmas and everything else but we have now sorted all but 1 of the boys outfits and they all look great! (yay) and my beautiful Mumma and I have also started making marvellous progress on my dress. On our last day together we both got very excited as for the first time it really started to resemble a dress!!! ekkkkkk!!!!

Also I discovered these pics during a phone clear out that I had excitedly snapped whilst Maxwell and I were prepping our invite bundles and couldn’t not share them… As January rolls around we will be working on our evening invites, finalising food options and will start pulling together order of services and everything else. I can’t wait for it, and 2017!

Wedding Series #13

Tags

Best Man, Bride to be, DIY Bride, Groomsmen, Sarah Macrae Jewellery, shopping, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding planning, wedding rings, Wedding Stationary

So I decided I should do a couple of posts this month (bonus wedding stuff people… whoop) I couldn’t have possibly written about anything else on the last post as I felt 1) the photos deserved their own platform, and 2) it would have been cruel to bombard you with anything more!

Thank you for the kind words though and all of you who had a little snoop! It makes us very happy! I also received an extra bit of exciting news from the awesome Hayley… An international wedding blog has picked up the photos and is going to feature them in January! Ekk! How exciting!!!!

So anyway…. enough of that…. let me update you on what we’ve been doing this month!

1 – First up, and as promised a month or so back our ‘extra info’ has officially gone out (which was very exciting) It all seems to have gone down well and we received the highest praise when I heard via the wife of wedding guest, friend and professional wedding photographer that he couldn’t think of anything else that he needed to ask us! Whoop! Does that mean we did the wedding invite impossible and cracked the code of the invite/info?? I doubt it, but hey, we gave it a darn good shot! Let me fill you in what we included (warning you may way to get a cup of tea to hand, we may be here a while)

Firstly the important stuff like addresses of venues, directions to get to those venues and advice to use public transport if possible (due to Brighton’s pricey parking costs!) Oh and info/an option to jump on the party bus to/from the reception

Then we did a whole thing on accommodation… suggestions on hotels (both in Brighton and Steyning) and for those that don’t like hotels advice on AirBnB and options of camping at the reception venue for those bohemian types.

We then did a whole double page spread on top tips – phone numbers, suggestions to bring cash, to have a big breakfast, bring flat shoes etc etc etc (who knew there was so much to tell people!?)

Then, let me think…. A gift list thing…. This was a tricky one but in the end we gave 3 suggestions, make us something, buy vintage, or donate to our honeymoon via Patchwork It ( a clever customisable website where you can ask for things (of different money value) rather the just cash contributions – you can check it out here if you’re interested… It’s really rather clever!)

We also did a suggestion on what to wear (For the ladies…but also the boys too) so people could know the colour palette (if they want to blend in – something I like to do for other peoples wedding) and also suggestions on the vibe of the day and level of dressy up-ness… ie, go for it at the bandstand, but feel free to kick off your heels for the reception kind of advice. I’d heard horror stories of people going to weddings and being stuck with stilettos all day, or being cold in the evening due to being outdoorsy so I thought I’d help where possible.

The last thing we shared was a rough itinerary for the day so people had an idea of what the plan was (especially helpful for those with little ones – there are a lot of little people attending)

So there you have it! (I wasn’t kidding when I said there was a lot was I?) the designing of it was really fun and again I wanted to create the magic of a fun little package arriving so had designed a roll-fold package where all the goodies could lie within…. enough talk…. let me share with you some pics…

So there you go… what do you think?

2 – This last month has also been majorly focussed on well dressed boys! We decided to dress all the boys differently rather then attempting to dress them the same; allowing their individual personalities to shine through and hopefully getting something that they’ll wear again out of the experience!

This process hasn’t been as easy as I first imagined… (Now I’m going to share a geeky bride secret here) I even had to make up a photoshop composite of the boys to figure out what they could wear! haha. We’ve gone for lots of autumnal tones; greens, browns, greys, burgundies and creams… so with this mismatched colour scheme in mind the mock up helped me visualise the collective boys get ups.

I dont want to show you exactly what we’ve gone for but instead thought I’d share with you a few inspirations from my secret wedding related pinterest board!

 

Sources: one | two | three | four | five | six

As you can see.. we’re going for lots of tweeds, wool mixes and laid-back vibes. We’re trying on things this afternoon with my dad and the best man so fingers crossed things start coming together soon! eek

Talking of best man’s did I mention that Maxwell asked his nephew Jasper to be bestman? We found this beautiful vintage silk bow tie in a local vintage shop and gifted it to Jasper along with a card… Luckily he said yes!

3 – Lastly we have also started to think about our wedding bands and have booked a date in January (on our 6month count down) with my jeweller friend Sarah Macrae to make them ourselves. Ekkk! Maxwell, not being a jewellery wearing kind of man would like a beat up brass coloured band and to match, I have decided to have the same colour too. Because of the size of my vintage engagement ring, and after chats with bestie and fellow bride-to-be Miss Hayden, I have decided to wear my wedding band on my middle finger and keep the engagement ring on my ring finger where it belongs! To tie the old (engagement) and the new (wedding) rings together I thought I would also see if i could find a vintage marcasite eternity band to wear alongside my wedding ring!

Here are a couple of inspiration pics…

 

 

 Sources: one | two | three

So there you have it…. Another month down. I can’t believe that when I do the next post we’ll have been engaged a whole year!! Where has that time gone???

Till next time…. x

Wedding Series #12

Tags

Bride to be, couple, engagement, engagement shoot, Hayley Savage, love, Pre wedding shoot, southsea, uk bride, wedding, wedding blog series, wedding photography

First things first, apologies for the lateness of this post. I won’t go into it now but it’s been one of those months.

So we find ourselves another month on and another month closer to our ‘I Do’s’. As promised this post is going to be all about our engagement shoot with our wonderful wedding photograper. I mentioned in my last post that Hayley Savage (photographer extraordinaire) offered us a pre wedding shoot and having seen the images we got back, I am so so happy we said yes!

Hayley and I chatted before the shoot and discussed what we were after. We had a secret Pinterest board which you can see here (it’s no longer secret) and I think this was so very helpful as we both went into the photoshoot with a really clear plan in mind.

Prior to the shoot I’d done a little location scouting around Southsea and I’d chosen 3 locations to base our shoot around. The grassy beach lands near Eastney, The Rose Garden & the Hotwalls. We also managed to sneak in a few little extra spots along the way like under the pier and by canoe lake.

We did the shoot on the 23 Nov, a couple of days before our 8 month count down (where we celebrated with Italian food and Fantastic Beasts) and it was a lovely way to celebrate our now monthly date nights.

I can’t express how happy we both are with the photos. Hayley has managed to capture ‘us’, I had the hardest task choosing which ones to share with you all as there are so many lovely ones. I’m not the most confident in front of a camera so to have this many images of myself that I not just like but love is astounding!

I’m stop waffling on now and I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

If you’re looking for a photographer I can’t speak highly enough of Hayley, and if you’re engaged and wondering wether to do a pre wedding shoot or not, do it!! Definitely, 100% do it! Not only do we have these beautiful mementos to treasure forever but it’s made me so much more relaxed about the real deal photos!!

Anyway I hope you like them… Please let me know what you think!! I’ll do another post soon about the invites, suits, rings and other things we’ve been thinking about in the last month! p.s., final warning… there’s a lot of images!!

The Wonderous Wedding Fair

Tags

America's Cup Portsmouth, Bride, Bride to be, Doily Days, girls day out, southsea, The Vintage Parade, The Woderous Wedding fair, Wedding Blode, Wedding Fair, Wedding planning

Every bride-to-be knows that a wedding fair (or 3) is a must during your planning time. Free goodies, inspiration everywhere and a little indulgent bride time with your best girls.

Since we got engaged I have been to 2 wedding fairs (you can read about them here and here) and both have been a little more exciting then your average (re: traditional) wedding fair.

As we don’t fancy ourselves a traditional kinda couple, we don’t want a traditional wedding, so as you can imagine a traditional wedding fair (think butterflies, chair covers and crystals) really isn’t my cup of tea. I have a knack of going off something as soon as it becomes trendy… an frustrating trait for any bride to be I’m sure you’ll agree!

Anyway, today I have been to my third; The Wonderous Wedding Fair organised by Doily Days and The Vintage Parade taking place in my home town of Southsea.

With two of my best girls in tow we headed to The Pryamids and spent a fun few hours on a sunny Sunday indulging in all things bridal.

We got their early, just after 11, and as soon as we entered we spotted the lovely Lily of Lily Lupin Floral Design who was offering chances to design and make your own flower crown! Of course we jumped straight in…

This was so fun… Lily allowed us to design our own crown using the colours and flowers we wanted… Chloe and Anna chose a mix of bright blooms and I selected peach and ivory roses and lemon balm (it also smells amazing!)

With our floral crowns on board and joined by the beautiful Kelly and her mum, we headed off to watch the first Fashion Show of the day. The designs were a mix of local, bespoke and vintage gowns, and whilst none were my cup of tea, it was still fun to watch. The giant WONDER lights at the back of the stage were pretty special too!

After that it was time to check out the stalls….

The first thing that grabbed my eye was the pretty stationary designer Geri Loves Emi. Having just designed our wedding stationary I loved Geri’s whimsical and delicate florals and illustrative style. Her designs were unique and very pretty indeed!

The next stall that caught our eye was the stunning dried floral art made by Katie….

 Unfortunately the close up I took was blurry (I knew I should have taken my big camera) but Katie’s pieces were stunning. You can see more of her work on her website Lotus Floral Art. I was especially drawn to her gorgeous button holes and the rather delicious edible flower and chocolate freebies

With our fresh flower crowns on our heads we felt a little like we were the opposition but being able to treasure your flower crown forever is a lovely idea and they really were works of art!

Round the corner and on to the next row of stalls and our eyes were instantly drawn the the seriously gorgeous display of Jemima Cakes. Not only were the cakes, meringe kisses, favours and other various sweet treats on show utterly gorgeous on the eye, but Harriot was also lovely. I think we all wanted to befriend her (in a totally cringey girl crush way! haha) I always presumed we’d make our cake but seeing Harriot’s masterpieces I must admit I’m a bit tempted now!

Again I wish I’d brought my proper camera as my phone snaps just don’t do it justice! But seriously go check out her fb page and stalk her on Instagram! I promise you won’t be disappointed (warning, while not disappointed, I can’t promise you won’t leave not feeling hungry!)

The next stall that we stopped at was Choc & Truffle… probably because it was covered in chocolate (hey don’t judge) We were treated to some lovely strawberry chocolate and they were delish! Any chocolate lovers out there should definitely check out this local company!

After filling our boots with sweet treats it was time to move on. The next stall that stopped us in our tracks was Paper Bear Lane. A lovely lady who drew gorgeous little book invitations! these were seriously cute and the lady behind the artwork (I didn’t catch your name I’m sorry!) was lovely too!! If you’re after something a little different for your wedding stationary I seriously suggest these guys!!

After here I don’t think we really chatted in depth to many people but there were some stunning florals by Cabbage White Flowers.

And some over lovelys bits along the way….

We kinda rushed the end part as we decided to take part in a ‘Show Girl Do’ bit of fun backstage with the lovely Dawn! With a selection of other apprehensive gals we shyed away to the edges not sure what to expect. After 10 minutes Dawn has us dancing around in faux feather boas, learning silly routines and giving alot of “tits and teeth”. Very funny, flirty and silly! Dawn not only is a 50’s/60’s singer/entertainer, she also does hen dos and on the day dances etc! Check out her website to find out more, she was a hoot!

So there you have it, a really cute day with my girls and a really cute wedding fair especially as I do believe it was the first of it’s kind! Well done Doily Days and The Vintage Parade!

Wedding Series #11

Tags

bride photoshoot, Bride to be, DIY Bride, engagement shoot, Hayley Savage Photography, wedding, Wedding planning

Another month has flown by at lightening speed and we find our selves passing the nine month count down point… ekk! (we celebrated with ice cream’s as all the best grown ups do!)

In the last month we have been finishing up our wedding info bundles to go out to all those that RSVP’d yes…. a 98% success rate I should point out!

This has been incredibly fun and frustrating in equal measures.

The design side of it has been a joy…. the printer they were being printed on; an utter joke… much to the frustrations of me, Maxwell and the men doing the printing…

Who knew printers could be so temperamental…? Apparently a change in the weather, temperature, even time of day could effect the colour quality. Obviously, as a somewhat bride-to-be control freak this was doing my head in, but I’m happy to report we got there in the end and my fiancé and I spent Sunday evening bundling them all up ready for posting out this week!

What’s shocked me about this part of the invitation process is just how much you need to tell people, I can 100% see why so many people do websites these days. These bundles are cram packed full of (and I quote) “exciting, sensible and very handy things to know”.

I’ll post some pics next month once I’ve been sure all our guests have received theirs (and I’ve had a chance to photograph them)

This month has also been about something I hadnt thought I’d have to think about… an engagement shoot!

Our wonderful photographer Hayley Savage (check out her website she’s amazing) got in touch to say she’d like like to do a couple shoot with us. I was of course over the moon, not only because it would give us a trial run and practice at “posing” before the big day, but also because, having never had this done I was excited to get some beautiful shots of the boy and I. I tend to spend most of my time behind a lens, capturing my lover in all his candid glory, but similar shots of me are few and far between. I’m not the most confident in front of a lens, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t want to have beautiful photos of myself to look back on when I’m old and wrinkly! haha

Hayley has been great and is 100% up for my creative input. We’ve got a joint shared pinterest board where we’re sharing ideas and locations. We’re going to do the shoot in Southsea where we live and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve spent the majority of this month ordering and returning ASOS clothes and researching non cringey couple poses. I know with ‘couple shoots’ it’s very much each to their own, but I was still flabbergasted but how many engagement/pre-wedding shoots I hated. They were overly staged or just plain cringey…

That being said I am happy to report that I’ve found some stunning inspiration and Hayley is happy with my suggestions. I’ll share a few of my faves:

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I think if I had to sum up the vibe, it’d be laid back, bohemian, natural, candid and beautiful. I just want it to look like us and show off our love for one another.

I’m equally happy to report that I think I’ve finally sorted what to wear. (a totally trivial and girly thing to obsess over, I know, but hey don’t judge me) For someone who’s not brought a single thing for her wardrobe all year, I thought I deserved the chance to get something special and new. After lots of ideas and about 100 odd dresses brought and returned, I’ve finally narrowed it down to 3 looks.

I wanted something really wow and over the top, that when photographed on the seafront, the wind giving it flight, would pop and look sensational (I’m thinking of the rust coloured dress above) Then I wanted something that was just very me. (but new and therefore better) and with two looks (a dark floral maxi dress and silky wrap skirt – to be teamed with an old grey knotted tee) I think I’ve cracked it.

Boys have it so easy haha

So there you have it… A few of the images I’ve been admiring, and what i’m thinking of wearing. I’ll share my inspiration Pinterest board once we’ve got the shots back. I cant wait to see them and hope we can create something as special and treasured as these… I hope these images will be something that we’ll keep forever and love as much as our wedding photos.

How exciting!! Till next month…