Post Wedding Series #1

Tags

Bride to be, DIY Bride, DIY Wedding, Handmade favours, Making things, Name cards, Oyster shell candles, Oyster Shell Place names, The Oyster Shed, Wedding Blog, wedding decor, Wedding tutorial

The funny thing about planning a wedding and being a blogger is you want to share everything and talk about your DIYing and all the amazing things you’ve made, designed or created, but as a bride, you want to keep all these ideas private so they’re a surprise for your guests.

Because of this I have decided to schedule a load of Post Wedding blog posts which share all the things I have been doing for my (and friends) weddings.

I’m actually writing this post in September 2016 but will schedule it for late June 2017 a few days after the wedding.

Hold on you might be thinking…. You’re not getting married till next month and you’re correct! This first post is for bestfriend B, the new Mrs Baker.  I will be sharing the favours which we made for their wedding which was on 10 June.

Being a bridesmaid is a wonderful thing and I loved helping B make these beautiful favours and place names. I first wrote about this here, but what I didn’t mention in the post was that The Oyster Shed was actually the reception venue for the new Mr & Mrs Baker.

Because of this, and actually it was my mum’s suggestions, we made candles from oyster shells for the favours and used the unsuitable ones as place names (and idea I spotted on Pinterest)

The Oyster Shed kindly kept a load of oyster shells for B to use for this little DIY project… We hysterically carried them home in a big black sack in a slightly drunken state on a balmy night in August last year and chuckled how Becca was like a tipsy oyster santa…. Something we found highly amusing at the time!

Now… Let’s talk how we did it… Candles first.

I should mention first that the Oyster Shed, in addition to collecting the shells, also cleaned and baked them in the oven to remove the little connective thing that attaches the shell to the oyster. This meant when we collected the shells they were ready to go and nice and clean.

If you’re thinking about trying to make some I’d recommend doing the same… No one likes a stinky fishy candle!

Once you have your nice clean shells lay them down and sort out which ones lay flat with a good depth (ie none that have a really low side)

Once you’ve sorted the usable shells from the non usable ones it’s time to get your candle making game going…

Now being an artist I own a batik pot which we used for the activity, If you don’t have one though I recommend visiting this site. It’s where I bought the scents, wicks and bases from. They have everything you’d need and were fast with their delivery too!

We used paraffin wax which despite the name, actually contains no paraffin. It’s made from a bi-product of the oil refining industry – a bi-product that would otherwise be thrown away, which is good but also because I read that paraffin wax is excellent a taking scents and is the ideal choice for most candle making purposes, especially for beginners. yay!

So a big old bag of paraffin wax nuggets came with me to london. I also ordered 10m of wick and some bases…. again all from this site.

I cleaned the batik pot and added the fresh wax and once it had melted added some concentrated scents, Bec wanted clean fresh smells so I bought ‘fresh laundry’ and ‘cut grass’… which were both light and not to stuff/heavy.

At the point Becca and Edwards house smelt amazing.

we popped the bases into the flattest part of the shell and pressed down lightly so the metal moulded to the bottom of the shell. We then threaded the wick through and trimmed with a cm or 2 to spare.

We constructed a tiny ladle from a tea spoon and slowly and carefully poured the hot wax in around the wick which was held upright for a few seconds until the wax began to cool and set a bit. For the first few I’d suggest working together as one can hold the wick upright whist the other is spooning the wax in! Teamwork! We still had to trim the wicks down when this photo was take but you get the general idea!

Once done and set they looked beautiful and I know the guests are going to love them! Such a lovely memento of a special day.

Not wanting to be wasteful and because we knew they’d look beautiful, I used all the empty non flat shells for the place names. I got this pen and just wrote the names on in a delicate script. I think they look great don’t you?

So there you go… My first post wedding post in this new series! (It’s exciting I get to continue the wedding talk after the big day(s) Hooray!

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Wedding Series #18

Tags

Bride to be, DIY Wedding, wedding, Wedding prep

You’ll have to forgive me for the lateness of this post but on the 27th of last month I was other wise engaged…. on my hen do!!!! Whoooop!!!! More on that later though…It’s also been a busy few weeks leading up to my best friends wedding yesterday (again more on that later)

I can’t believe that this is my second to last pre wedding series ever… how bizarre… where has that time gone?!?!

So…. what have we been up to in the last month? There’s been a lot more crafting and as we’ve entered June a big ol’ firework has been lit under the both our butts and there’s a sudden sense of urgency as our countdown has gone from ‘months away…’ to ‘weeks away…’ ahhhhh

We’ve been busy ensuring the little guests are throughly entertained throughout the day so have been collecting games and making dressing up items for them to enjoy.

We’re gonna make sure there’s a couple of footballs and a frisbee for the sporty ones and Mumma Lo is on the case making butterfly wings! (lets be honest which little girl doesn’t like dressing up) and with that in mind I’ve also made some cute little Native Indian-esq feather headdresses and some twirly whirly ribbon wands! (The photos are going to look adorable)

I also saw a cute idea on Pinterest of giving the littles disposable cameras so with that in mind I set a list of photo challenges and boxed them all up… I can’t wait to see what images they come up with… hopefully there’s some good ones in there amongst the photos of feet and blurry selfies! haha

Another little project I’ve been loving is collecting lots of old photos from our parents and grandparents from their wedding day… We’re going to have a little area in Miss Piggy for our guestbook and put them up in there, with some of our fave photos and some of my favourite love quotes, but for now they’re sat on my mantlepiece & looking gorgeous…

I’m also beyond excited that we have finally booked a few days away for our minimoon. I really wanted to disappear away for a few days after the big day and let everything sink in, away from chores, work, people, distractions etc. We’ve been a fan of Canopy & Stars for some time and we lucked out again with our minimoon.

We’re escaping to France for 5 nights and I cant imagine anything more beautiful & tranquil looking then this gorgeous place….

So in addition to that Maxwell is also plowing on with Kermit, our wedding car. Maxwell’s friend Pieter was over from Rotterdam last week and was able to help Maxwell start putting him back together again… How odd it’ll be to have our dining room back!! (it has resembled a car garage for months now) haha

Next week is my family do, which I’m beyond excited about! We’re off to Limewood for afternoon tea, which’ll be blooming lovely and I’ve given in to the fact that for the next 6 weeks (ahhhhhh) the house will be over taken with wedding stuff…. we have bridesmaid dresses hanging from the doors, petals drying in front of all the windows, boxes of decor being washed, dried and re packed…. it’s all starting to feel very real and quite exciting and having just attended another spectacular wedding the bar has been set even higher and I can’t blooming wait to wallow in my own bubble of ‘wedding’…. I’ll be back soon for our 1 month count down…… WHAT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!/ ❤

 

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

A Wedding Top Seven: DIY Save The Dates

Tags

bride blogger, DIY Bride, DIY Wedding, Engaged, Save The Dates, uk blog scene, Uk Blogger, Wedding Blog, wedding save the dates

Our Save the Dates are hopefully going out next month and I’m happy to share the fact that I used a free downloadable design from the web which I customised for our design. Inspired by that I thought it would be fun to share with you seven Save The Dates which you can use/download/customise at home if you too like the idea of DIYing it! here goes…

From Amy’s Avenue Uk Etsy Store

Bells and Whistles Design for The Pretty Blog

The Lovely Dept for The Pretty Blog

Charmaine Spangenberg For The Pretty Blog

Best Day Ever

All Free Download . com

Greetings Island 

So there you go… I hope that’s helped you if you’re thinking about creating your own Save the Dates cards. This is just a tiny selection of what’s out there…

Wedding Series #5

Tags

Bride, bride blog, Bride to be, budget wedding, DIY Wedding, Uk Blogger, Unique Wedding, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding guest list, wedding seating plan

Seriously…. where is this year going?!

We are fast approaching our anniversary which also happens to be the one year count down to the big day! eek!!

Plans are going well and I’ve spent another month, making, designing, researching and acquiring.

Our basement is fast filling up with boxes of glorious vintage and thrifted glasses, decorations, vases and decanters (all carefully counted, photographed and packed away of course)

God bless our housemate who has come to expect unusual wedding related shenanigans going on all over the house… from the lounge that resembles a hybrid florist/invitation design studio to the basement which is looking more and more like a make shift mechanic’s garage (Maxwell is taking-to-bits and fixing-up our future wedding car obviously)

Last week I brought a beautiful (but HUGE) wicker peacock chair for the wedding which, whilst beautiful, is currently sat in the middle of the lounge! haha… Fret not we will soon be moving the ever growing collection to my nan’s garage (mumma lo… consider this an official (as requested) public nag)

The one problem with doing a DIY wedding is well, you gotta do it all yourself! haha… Don’t get me wrong I am loving days spent trawling charity shops, flea markets and bootsales. We are maintaining our mantra of no stress and little and often and I’m happy to say we are already there with certain items, like wine glasses etc.

I’m excited for when the hoard is complete and I can get to doing table scape trials.

I’ve had an awesome (and very intelligent – even if I do say so myself) idea that once we have everything ready I will ask Maxwell to knock me up a bit of wood the same size of the tables and I will decide on every table layout; which vases and candlesticks and glasses to include. These can then be photographed and packed away meaning when it comes to setting up I have a geekily organised box with all favours, glassware and decorations included for each table… amazing huh. My inner organised bridezilla is proudly peacocking around the room!

Of course this idea (and the nearly completed invites) have also meant that we have finalised our guest-list.

This was a big thing for me. When Maxwell and I first got engaged and I drafted a guest list it was huge… and I mean huge. Over time and with capacity limitations put on us by the venues this list has decreased and shrunk to where it is now. Guest lists and the drama over who to invite can be a huge headache for any bride and groom but Maxwell and I have come up with a few simple and transparent rules which have helped us reach the final list. One of my awesome besties also had a brilliant bit of advice for choosing guests: ‘the birthday card rule’ those you send and receive birthday cards warrant an invite, those you don’t, well don’t.

Maxwell has also suggested that if he feels he can’t have more then a ‘Hi, How you doing?, What have you been up to’ generic conversation with people then he doesn’t really want them there at the wedding, not because he doesn’t like them or there’s anything wrong but he only really wants people he really knows there and people who he can really be himself with.

My method was about quality time. I have friends who will call me up and invite me round for a hot squash or a stroll along the beach and we will do things together just us two. I also have friends, that I see in a group scenario or they’re technically friends of friends, and whilst they’re lovely and when we’re together we all have a fab time, actually we’ve never just hung out, just us two. To me, that’s another level of friendship and that’s ok… I spent ages feeling bad about this but actually we all have friends of varying levels and that’s perfectly normal. Your wedding day is just that. Your Day. You should only have the people who you cannot imagine not being there on Your Day… and everyone will understand this and respect your wishes, and as a wise old owl told, if they don’t, well then you made the right decision about not inviting them.

Through my internet based research I have uncovered a few advice articles on guest lists and they helped me clarify my choices so if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by guest selection have a look, they may help you too! here’s one I really related to:

Style Me Pretty’s guide of who not to invite to your wedding

So with Guest list sorted it means I’ve been able to really start finalising our invites… We’re doing things a bit differently (shock horror) Max and I decided that we wanted to get our invites out early, to be precise a year in advance. Because our wedding is mid week and not local (insider gossip) we want to ensure that everyone we want has enough time and notice to book time off work. We didn’t want to do a save the date as it’s an extra round of posting and being that we’re trying to do this on a sensible budget and every little cost adds up, but well… I kinda designed one and I love it so it’s going out with our invites haha.

We also decided to only send the (as we’ve called it) ‘extra info, juicy details an top tips’ to those that rsvp ‘yes’, again meaning that we’re saving printing extra materials up and also add’s a little excitement and intrigue to those who want to come. We will hand deliver most of these as an when we see the invited guests and share in their excitement and happiness over a few months, all well in advance of the 6 month deadline!

I also have enjoyed an interesting few days thinking about seating plans (if everyone says yes of course) who to put with who and who will get along, this has been fun and tricky in equal measures) we have some big personalities and some shyer types attending and I wanted to ensure that everyone would be seated with likeminded peeps… fingers crossed i’ve nailed it! haha… Maxwell seems to approve and well I guess if it all goes tits up our informal dining will allow anyone to jump ship if they feel the need! haha

So there you have it… Another month for this little bride to be…. I’ll be back next month with more updates and progress on how we’re doing, and more top seven’s and inspirations in between! Till next time xx

A Wedding Top Seven: Highstreet Dresses

Tags

A Wedding Top Seven, bridal dresses, Bride to be, DIY Wedding, High street wedding dresses, highstreet brides, uk wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding dresses, wedding on a budget

I haven’t done a Wedding Top Seven post in a while and as I’ve started the process of thinking about THE dress (2 episodes of ‘say yes to the dress today also probably helped) I thought it would be fun to share with you some dresses I’ve spotted along my travels that have caught my eye! The interesting thing about these dresses is they’re all high-street dresses and all cost under £300… yep £300.

Now let’s face it, put it out there, tell the truth… wedding’s are EXPENSIVE! Like really expensive… so if you’re looking to not spend a house deposit on your special day why not consider our great British high-street.

Here are seven dresses I’m loving (and where to find them) which won’t break the bank!

This Jetset Diaries Hammock Dress is probably my favourite (look at those sleeves) and it can be yours for just £198 from ASOS

Next is this stunning long dress dress from Highstreet favourite H&M with a pricetag of just £49.99!

This Debut cream Vivienne lace and beaded dress is so classic and beautiful It can be yours from Debenhams, on sale for £200.

Another dress I am lusting over is this Jarlo Maxi Dress With Details, again from ASOS for £120.

 

 

 

My next offering is this pretty Ben De Lisi Countess dress which you can purchase from Debenham’s for just £200 (it’s currently on sale too!)
How stunning is this ‘Frame & Partners’ lace dress. Another brilliant dress from ASOS for £185.

How fun Self Portrait Ivy Lace trim Midi dress with Lace up Back? So SO cute…. find it on ASOS for £300.

So there you go… I hope you’ve enjoyed…. I may end up doing more dress top sevens…. let me know if you have a genre in mind and I’ll see what I can find… till next time! x

Wedding Series #4

Tags

Bridemaids, Craft Blog, craft project, DIY Wedding, Dreamcatchers, Flowergirls, hand made gifts, Lotales, wedding, Wedding Blog

So here we are… 4 months in and its been a fun, creative and organised month for this little bride-to-be… I have been busy crafting, creating and making spreadsheets! (Every good bride needs a spreadsheet to two)

Plus I have discovered another thing I LOVE about being engaged…sharing details and talking weddings with other brides to be!!! I don’t know what it is about talking to another bride that slightly trumps non engaged folk… maybe it’s because you’re excitement is contagious, maybe it’s because there’s no fear you’re going to bore them to death, or quite simply that it’s reassuring to compare stories and check you’re doing everything ok! I’m lucky in that one of my best friends got engaged days after we did, as is getting married a month before, so whilst our weddings may be worlds apart (I am so excited about her big day) our timetimes compliment each other which is rather handy! Also my lovely friend and work buddy also got engaged over the Christmas/New Year break but has booked September (this year) for their big day… She is whizzing through their to-do list and it’s so exciting catching up and hearing her ideas. She also happens to be a fellow creative and super talented babe so I can whole heartedly recommend checking out her awesome blog and enjoy her weekly wedding series!

So, back to the matter in hand and this post’s purpose… Inspired by my bridesmaid cards, I have been doing some more work on our invitations (I obviously can’t share anything till I’ve sent them out) but it’s so much fun!! haha… I really am loving designing these and think I’ll be pretty sad when it’s all done. One thing that’s struck me is how much information there is to include with a wedding invite! We’re going to be sending our proper little bundles when the time comes! Super happy, lovely, fun filled bundles of love and joy and all the good stuff!

But anyway, enough of that… I will want to say more if I keep talking and I’ll save that for another post….

I mentioned in #3 that I was going to make an alternative for my mini maids to carry down the aisle and the crafter in me has had a busy few days making some very special gifts…

I decided quite early on that I didn’t want all my minis to be in the same dress, to to all look like little clones of each other, they’re all such individual characters that I want their little personalities to shine though… all the mischievous, sassy, headstrong, twirling qualities that make these little ladies who they are… but I still felt they needed something to unite them all and carry in that bridesmaidy way.

Whilst mini posies and flower wands are cute they don’t really suit the vibe Maxwell and I are wanting for our wedding so I have taken a bit of bohemian inspiration and decided that they would all carry dream catchers instead. I adore a dream catcher and of course this could also be a gift from me to them that hopefully they’ll treasure forever… if they don’t end up being used as frisbees, which let’s be honest is a possibility!

I didn’t just want to buy them as that didn’t feel special enough, isn’t really how we do things AND I wanted to create something a little prettier so… for my #4 Wedding offering I thought I’d share with you all my step-by-step guide to making my flower girl bohemian flower dream catchers…. (catchy title I think you’ll agree)

Here goes….

First up you’re going to want to be all prepared and get all your bits together! You’re going to need: Ribbon (I used velvet), wool/string or similar, flowers (faux, paper etc), beads, scissors, wooden rings (can I recommend embroidery hoops), double sided tape, pliers and feathers (not shown).

Your first job is to apply some double sided tape to the outside of the wooden hoop, don’t go all the way round, I worked in about 10cm lengths at a time. Peel off the paper backing and you’re ready to start binding (ps, don’t worry of your tape is a bit wider then the wood)

You’re then going to start binding the hoop using your ribbon of choice, keep the ribbon taut and overlap slightly each time. Pass the ball/spool of ribbon through the middle of the hoop each time. (you will notice that it get twisted so every now and again just let it un twist!)

Keep going all the way round till you reach the starting point. Go as close as you can without over lapping!

You’re then going to want to cut off about this much… roughly… better to be over generous then be left short.

Make a loop for a handle and then securely knot at the base.

Apply some more double sided tape to the left over bit, peel off the backing paper, tightly wrap round and trim off the excess.

Now it’s time to create the middle of your Dreamcatcher!

Choose your string/wool and tie it securely onto the hoop.

You then need to start making loops around the edge of the hoop… its a bit tricky to explain so I’ve taken alot of pics. You basically want to loop it back on itself to keep it in place. Use 2 (as shown or 3, which I found worked better) fingers as a guide to keep your loops evenly spaced…

Keep going all the way round… when you catch up with the starting point go the the middle of the hoop to make your next ‘knot’. By the way, I am definitely not a professional and I’m sure there are much better ‘how to’s’ out there to explain this part of the process!

Again just keep following this process working in a clockwise motion… This one is all a bit uneven but trust me it looked ok in the end!

I found as I got nearer the middle my fingers became too big and a pair of long nosed or snipe pliers became very handy! You’re gonna want to / have to stop when you’ve got a small circle left in the middle.

Conveniently this hole is the perfect place to top a lovely bead! Once you’ve gotten into the swing of things you can include smaller beads actually in the web too which looks pretty good if I do say so!

Next you’re going to want to grab a selection of flowers. I used faux and mainly paper ones as I thought they were nicest… If possible you want to find ones with wired stems, if you can’t find those, you can DIY this stage by wrapping wire round the stem yourself. Think of where you’d like you flowers and you can start applying them…

Starting one flower at a time you’re going to want to use the wire to secure the flower in place… Pliers very handy I should add…

I can also recommend adding lots of texture and different lengths so it looks more natural!

And voila all done… cute huh?

Next you’re going to want to grab so feathers… This handy pack was perfect for what I wanted!

The final stage is to add the tassels/feather bottoms… so cut a length of the same wool you used in the middle and loop it round the edge. Do some on the side, some on the bottom your choice of where and how many!

Then on one of your strands thread a bead and apply a short length of double sided tape. I trapped the end of the feather in the tape and encased it by rolling up the double sided tape between my thumb and forefinger.

You can then slide the bead down over the top of the tape/feather end and secure in place! (ps, you’re gonna want a bead with a generous hole!)

Then it’s time to let your creative juices flow and keep adding, I didn’t do mine all symmetrical and even but if your OCD tendencies are a bit stronger then mine knock yourself out and make them even!

Once you’ve finished all your tassels, well you’e finished!!

How cute do they look? I’m super happy with them, I also chose a mix of emerald, cream and grey ribbons, and have made sure they’re all different as the little ladies who will be carrying them!

So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed this little offering and I’ll be back soon with more wedding updates and what I’ve been up to! x

NB: Oh… I forgot to say, Bar the beads (which I saved from an old bead curtain) you can get all the other bits from Hobbycraft & The Range

 

Wedding Series #3

Tags

Blogger, Bride to be, Bridemaid, creative, designer, DIY Wedding, Engaged, Hitched, Uk Blog, visual, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding diaries, Wedding planning, Will you be My Bridesmaid

I know I know I’m late with my third wedding post… I had fully intended to be good and stick to a regular posts but life has a funny habit of getting in the way doesn’t it?!

I do have an excuse though I promise… I have been patiently waiting to hear back from 8 special little ladies… And little ladies can’t be rushed don’t ya know. You may have guessed from this previous post that my thoughts were on my aisle companions and whilst I had fully intended to do this as one big post I thought I’d stop keeping you waiting and do it in two parts.

So… how do you go about deciding on your bridesmaids and flower girls…. It can be a bit of a minefield can’t it!? I have spoken to various friends about this over the last couple of years and it seems one of those things that you can so easily offend people with. I have the best bunch of girls anyone could wish for and whilst I’d love for them all to be my maids, financially and realistically it wouldn’t work so I have long said that I’d stick to just one, my oldest friend Onion (technically Katie FYI), Luckily I know that all my other girls get this and wont feel any less part of the wedding. All have offered their skills in planning and making and help if we need it (that’s when you know you’ve got a good bunch of girls)

So whilst I’ve been reserved on the big girls, I may had got a little carried away when it comes to the little ones…. you can’t blame me… Images like this…

(source) and this… (source) have swayed me into asking a whole gaggle (I’m still working on their collective term) of little ladies to by my wedding day gals.

In the running we have 8….yep 8 little munchkins, all in mismatched dresses with wild flowers in their hair! (Already I cannot wait to see the photos)

So before I could ask them I have to design a card, and before I could design a card I had to create a monogram. This might feel like an odd thing but I always pictured having something, a logo for want of a better word, which could be used throughout our stationary to tell a story of our day… Luckily for us, drawing is my thing and I spent a pleasant evening coming up with the design below… Its tells a story and hints at parts of our day, rustic wild flowers to represent our reception venue. Art Deco patterns for our ceremony venue and some elephants for well…. (that’s a secret) plus the important addition of our initials and our date.

After that it was time to add some colour and some words and I was ready for printing…

Do you like?? We printed them on pure white textured card and they looked swell! (even if I do say so myself) I wrote to all the girls asking and explaining why I’d like them to be my bridesmaid and also asking them to ‘write me back’….

This is a little selfish (my youngest is only 1) but help from mum/dad was encouraged and I’m so glad I did as I have had some beautiful and comical replies which I’ll treasure forever… I’ll wait to share them till I have received all the responses but so far things are looking good with lots of yes’s and excited little ladies….

Here’s a couple of snaps I took whilst writing them…

It was such a fun thing to do, and got me all excited about designing all the rest of our stationary… I’ll make sure I post again soon with their responses and also something a little special I’m making for them all (an alternative to a flower bouquet in case your interested!)

Till next time xx

 

Wedding Series #2

Tags

an engagement, an engagement story, DIY Wedding, engagement, Planning a wedding, uk wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding planning

So… another month of being engaged, another month of wedding related shenanigans…. I’m not gonna lie, I am 100% still utterly in love with the whole being engaged thing, not to mention (if even possible) even more in love with that handsome fiancé of mine…

We’ve had such a fun month my lover and I… I’m over the moon to say we have booked and confirmed our wedding and reception wedding venues (yay).

Initially we fell in love with the worlds most perfect sounding venue – The Wild Garden (swoon) at The Hyde Estate (my soon to be surname) How frigging perfect….? I wanted a giant tipi in the great outdoors, very boho beautiful… Unfortunately for us the price tag attached to said dream wedding made it utterly unachievable for us and our very modest wedding budget…

Fret not though… a believer in karma…and as a direct bi-product of looking at The Hyde Estate, we have since found the most perfect venue to say our ‘I Do’s’… I honestly cannot wait and can’t imagine any other alternative now… I’m going to keep it a bit of a secret… at least until we’ve sent out our invites… but trust me, its beautiful.

As for the reception venue… It couldn’t have been more perfect for us…. Any wedding venue that quotes “if diamontes in your roses and chair covers are your thing… thank you very much but no thank you…” on their website are all right by me! Think rustic, charming, beautiful, laid back and just 100% perfect. 

So 2 months in, a few crucial details confirmed, I thought it would be fun to share another 5 pointers/suggestions/things we’ve ticked off and decisions we’ve made along the way…

1, Don’t pop your ‘engagement’ bubble… Continue to wallow in your loved up happiness… Our engagement cards are still up as is our congratulatory fridge message from our housemate. I think it’s important and good for both of you… Luckily for us, we also got to celebrate Valentines together for the first time as more then just boyfriend and girlfriend which was pretty special and have drawn out the celebrations further! Blooming lovely!!

2, Indulge in a few bride(y) things… A weekend visit to one of my fave girls (and fellow recently engaged babe) meant I got to indulge in my first ever bride magazine… It felt odd, like I’d joined some kind of elite club… As I flicked through the pages I truly felt like a bride-to-be taking notes and getting ideas. If you’ve not already I really recommend you go out and treat yourself to a plush glossy wedding filled magazine (you can thank me later).

Another typical bride(y) thing we’ve done is booked (the mumma, bridesmaid & I) our first ever wedding fair. A bit scared of the whole traditional wedding ones we’ve opted for A Most Curious Wedding Fair which promises to deliver the very latest fashions, designs, exciting and directional products and services, with the foresight to be changeable, en vogue and never tired or standing still. Sounds good huh?!?! (expect a follow up post on this)

3, Make some big decisions…. having sorted our venues is a huge weight off our mind… Even planning this far in advance we noticed places were getting booked up quickly… Our reception wedding venue only books about 10 weddings a year so I’m thrilled we’ve got in there! We also scoped out the place we want to spend our wedding night the other week… I noticed they were having a wedding showcase so we took a little road trip and got to check out a couple of the special rooms. We fell in love with a beautiful room with a stunning view with a big old bath tub right behind the bed! Perfect!

Trust me, these are the big choices but once they’re made, they’re done, you can sit back and know the hard bit is done and the rest is just the details…. We were lucky that we loved and secured the first two places we saw… I know that’s not always the case but remain positive and enjoy the experience of hunting whether its a long or short journey…. This is somewhere which will become a huge part of your love story and you’ll know when you find the right place trust me.

4, Continue to get things if it feels right…. Since my last post I have brought my wedding earrings and my chief bridesmaid dress. My Bouquet Weave also arrived and I absolutely adore it. I’m so glad I made that purchase and followed my heart not my head. The earrings were found on Etsy (all the way from America) and are a stunning 1940’s collarbone grazing pair of beauts which I’ve safely stashed away in a drawer and have only taken them out twice to admire (ha ha). I stumbled across the most stunning bridesmaid dress for Onion (aka my longest best friend Kate) from ASOS… It’s not at all what I imagined, apart from the colour, which is perfect, but it’s going to suit her so perfectly and has that laid back bohemian vibe that I wanted… I cant wait for her to try it on – she’s going to look stunning. It’s not what you’d call traditionally bridemaidy but that’s probably why I like it…. and this just demonstrates my point that if it feels right just get it… don’t try and do what you think you should or what is the norm… do what is right for you!

On this same point we are regularly checking out charity shops to source table decorations and dinner time essentials…. I like the fact we’re getting bits as and when… i’m doing the sensible thing of unpacking, showing off, photographing and then packing away. We hope that by doing it this way it will never become a boring chore but a fun thing we can do together…  (we are also gaining the most sensational collection of thrift store goodies!)

5, Finally get used to sending out emails asking for quotes… especially if you’re DIYing it like us. Don’t be afraid to ask about costs up front… we have been contacting all sorts of companies; facilities, transport, film and photographers etc but it’s all good (I recommend getting organised – create a folder in your email inbox and a file on your computer and get yourself a notebook because you’re going to want to keep things all together!) We have now booked our photographer, who is the sensational Hayley Savage. I’m so happy Hayley will be capturing our big day. She has shot lots of friends weddings and is more like a friend so I know we will feel relaxed in front of her and she will blend in to the day and capture all the little details that I want to remember forever.

So there you go… another few tips and updates from moi and maxwell on our engagement journey….I cant wait to see what we’ll have done by next month!