Wedding Series #19

Tags

Bride to be, DIY Bride, uk bride, wedding, wedding post, Wedding prep

Super late again but as it’s my last official pre-wedding post you have to be nice and not mind. We’ve gone from saying months away, to weeks away and today I said 9 days away!!!! 9!!!!!!

I’m not going to lie we’ve both been feeling a little overwhelmed the last week or so (not helped by hormones doing their thing, lack of sleep, work being manic, brain being on overload and an accidental fall down the stairs) and for the first time in our 18months wedding planning journey we’ve both been feeling a little stressed.

The last few days have been better and I’ve nearly finished with work and the big jobs are getting ticked off… We’re getting there. but I’m not going to lie I’m ready for the wedding now, I want to marry my man and relax with my husband!!!

Maxwell has also been working so hard and we’re both so excited to see our day become a reality, all those hours and hours we’ve spent making and crafting and designing… we’ve utterly poured our hearts and souls into making the 27/7/17 a day we will remember, love and cherish always.

We’ve had our ups obviously… so many ups…. but in this last month we’ve had quite a few downs too… We found out our wedding hotel would be wrapped in scaffolding & opaque wrap, my MUA cancelled, My Uncle had a heart attack and he and my Auntie would be unable to come, I slipped and fell down the stairs and landed on a family heirloom of a cakestand… Fun huh?? We’ve had our fair share of mishaps in the last 30 days but it’s brought us closer and we’re coming out the other side.

We’ve come to terms with people not being able to come, we’ve dealt with delays and missing gifts… we’ve reorganised seating plans, sourced new suppliers, put plasters on cut bums and it’s all ok… A heads up that a DIY wedding is a lot of work, but it’s also wholey rewarding… stick with it. Be prepared, make a lot of lists, make sure you’re kind to yourself, get sleep when you can. Make time to kiss and check in with your other half and celebrate everything thing checked off that to-do list, hell, write down jobs you’ve just done just so you can tick them off!!!

So for the last pre wedding post I thought rather then dwell on the negatives we’ve encountered, I am instead going to be my optimistic self and thought I could share with you a few sneak peeks of things we’ve been working on…. I’m a bit too knackered to do a proper full detailed post but not wanting to miss out on my last wedding post as a Miss here’s some teasers for you….

So there you go… DIY confetti, handmade labels, immaculately put together engines, pre-planned table decor, wedding outfits ready to be returned, Wonderful new MUA’s, trinkets, treasures and hand painted signs….

So…. till next month I guess… I’m going to be missing in action for the next few weeks but I will be back, as Mrs Hyde and I promise I’ll share everything then…. xxxx

 

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!!

Hitched Part 2 – Mr & Mrs Reid

Tags

Colour Inspiration, Rosie's, tropical wedding, uk bride, wedding, Wedding Day, wedding decor

As I mentioned before, I offered to set up for my lovely friend Kate & her now hubby Joff’s wedding back in early September.

I wanted to wait a while so the new Mrs Reid could share the pics first…. no one should steal the brides thunder!

But now It’s late October I hope I’m safe to share some of the decor I helped to put out for the big day.

Now I’m taking no real credit for the amazing end results… Kate and Joff had sourced, made or bought all the items which transformed Rosie’s (a traditional french vineyard restaurant) into the tropical wedding haven it became, all I did was send a few pinterest suggestions and arrange everything with my lovely fiancé Maxwell.

Kate and Joff had a clear picture for their big day and this was reflected in everything they brought together which helped make the reception so them. From hiding traditional fireplaces to masking prints and blackboards which weren’t them, the final result looked effortless and absolutely stunning! The handmade lengths of rag bunting, the signs… it’s all the little touches that really made it so special!

On the Friday evening I joined Kate, her mum, Joff and the best man and we made an early start putting up the rag bunting and doing the lights/tablecloths. (a very wise move as we used all 3 hours of time in the morning to do the rest!)

When Saturday morning came around Maxwell and I loaded my car with boxes and boxes of pink and green and rocked up at Rosie’s at 9am on the dot to start doing our work. With the hand dip dyed table cloths already in place the first thing I did was lay out the grey marble paper place mats and place setting/name cards which the couple had screen printed themselves. The little bundle of pink menu, tropical green napkin and tracing paper name was lovely and already gave the tables a fab feel.

After that it was time to start doing the styling and dressing the tables. Kate had put together a box for each table including a mix of candle jars, candle sticks, faux plants and flowers, hand painted table numbers by Joff and tea light holders and mini pineapples.

I knew Kate wasn’t a matchy matchy kinda girl so I just did what I felt worked and was able to creatively put items together which looked good and gave the table more height and colour. The end result was stunning. I checked it looked good from all angles and also added some extra fresh eucalyptus leaves into the mix to get more greenery onto the tables.

After that we set up the drinks table. We fashioned a stand from a yellow wire basket I had at home and laid out cups, straws and a few styling items.

Then it was time for the garden… I cut lengths of ombré dyed fabric to cover the silver tables and dressed the tops with a mix of lanterns, pineapples, flowers and candles. It was lovely as it brought the decor out into the garden and created a little tropical garden paradise!

Apart from a rose gold love balloon and a few black board signs which we did, the next thing on our to-do list was the cake & gift table. Kate and Joff had decorated a woven screen with huge pink flowers and green foliage and in front of that sat the cake table. This would act as a focal point for the room and it looked amazing.

We laid out a huge wooden cake stand which was graced by an amazing grey marble cake from Carl Christian’s Cakes in Southsea and topped with a green posey from Ultraviolet Flowers (who also did the sensational bouquets and flower crown) We placed hexagonal bamboo plates around either side of the cakestand legs. On either side of that I loaded brass plates with huge piles of pink and white sprinkled donuts! AMAZING!

Next to that was the guestbook/gift table. I started by draping a length of daisy adorned fabric which was once destined to be Kate’s veil over the edge of a big woven basket. Also on the table was a lightbox sign (with the best message) a brass pineapple, the guestbook and some flowers and other little bits and bobs.

The end result was a sight for sore eyes… It all looked amazing and I’m happy to share that the amazing newlyweds were over the moon with how it all looked! I’m so thrilled. It was an absolute pleasure to do and I hope photos do it justice!

I have also stolen and shared a couple of pictures of the beautiful Mr & Mrs Reid because well they look so darn gorgeous! If you don’t already you should follow Kate’s awesome blog…. She shared weekly wedding inspiration posts  in the run up to the big day which tell the story of their inspiration and how this tropical theme came to be! Congrats to you both you pair of babes! You can also see Kate’s wedding summary on here blog here.

I should also mention Mr & Mrs Reid utterly spoilt us with the kindest of thank you gifts! I was overwhelmed and she really is such a babe! ❤

Wedding Series #6

Tags

Bride to be, uk bride, wedding, Wedding Blog, Wedding planning, Wedding Series

So another month has passed (though it seems ages ago that I did that post) and we are officially approaching our anniversary next month, which will also excitingly mark the 1 year count down to our big day!!!

If this year is anything to go by next year will absolutely fly by too, even faster I’m willing to bet!

So…. what have we been up to in the last month!?

The invites are 95% there now ready to go out soon. I spent most of last weekend handwriting all our lovely envelopes (we order 100 handmade envelopes in beautiful complimentary colours) and all the elements are slowly coming together… I’ll promise to share them with you in a couple of months once they’ve all gone out and been delivered.

We’ve also made all our button holes which was super fun! We used a mix of dried, faux and paper flowers meaning everyone can keep them forever (which I kinda like the idea of – squirrelled in a keepsake box somewhere or collecting dusk at the back of a draw to be discovered a few years later to bring a smile to that persons face (romantic thinking I know)  I also say ‘we’ as Maxwell wanted to make his own, which I think is really cute… Whilst Maxwell is a typical man and isn’t too interested in all the little details I like that he wants to have a say/hand in certain parts and I welcome his involvement and help (although it is testing my control freak bride-to-be which I’ve totally come to terms with and am working on)

I also started to make teeny tiny little tassels for use somewhere in the wedding… I’ll share at some point the how to’s for both of these & the button holes so don’t panic. They’re super easy to make if not a little fiddly (Maxwell managed 2… fat fingers apparently being a hinderance)

In addition to this we have been busy searching the web for bands and videographers… both of these are things which I really really want, I have been told by many that they regret not having a video done so I don’t want to make that mistake too. We have found a guy we really like but the only problem is that he lives in Guernsey! He’s happy to travel but it obviously adds a few hundred to the cost and our reserved budget is getting close to the mark. If anyone can recommend anyone more local please do shout…. We’ve discovered whilst searching that we don’t like 95% of wedding videos…. they’re all very samey and a bit cliché… What we like about the guy we like is that it doesn’t look like a typical wedding video, more like a old home movie (but better edited)

On the same note we’ve found a band which are brilliant but again not what I was expecting… We had originally imagined a folk/blue grass kinda band which would compliment the feel of the barn wedding and laid back vibe but when I came to think of what was important with a band, it was that everyone was up dancing and having fun, so luckily we stumbled across a Brighton based 5 piece which seem really fun and sound even better.

Maybe the lesson is to not set yourself too many expectations in advance of the plans coming together…? Things will change and evolve and if you havn’t set yourself up for one thing, it wont seem like you’re going off route when you do just that!?

Also… trust your gut… We’ve gone for our first venue choice and ceremony venue without seeing anything else… if it feels right at the time, don’t question yourself, just go for it and it will always feel right!

So there you go…. 6 months of wedding planning in and we’ve got a good few ticks on the to-do list. from venue, to ceremony, bridal party, band, photographer, hotels, videographer, bar pretty much all sorted… now just have to pay for it all and start thinking of the dress!

I’m in London as I type and am thinking of paying a visit to some fabric shops in Soho… start that journey… ekk!!

Till next month x