Wedding Series #15

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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

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Wedding Series #8

Tags

bride blogger, Bride to be, DIY, DIY Bride, getting hitched, Save The Dates, wedding, Wedding Blog, wedding blogger, wedding invitations, Wedding Invites

It’s with much excitement that I can now officially share the first pics of our invites as they went out on the eve of our 1 year count down last week.

These have been my sole creative output for the last few months and one of the trickiest personal commissions I’ve ever done I think! haha….

We are trilled with them though and feel they perfectly sum up what our day will be. There’s elements of both Maxwell and I in them and also hints and influences of the two venues that make up our special day. From our art deco ceremony choice to our rustic reception venue there’s hints in the artwork and colours chosen.

In a slightly weird move we sent out a save the date and invite/rsvp all in one go. I think I mentioned before that we originally weren’t going to do save the dates as they were just an additional cost but then I designed one, and fell in love so we just thought why the hell not… the first of many incorrect traditions along the way I’m sure!

I really wanted to create a bundle of love and happiness that would be contagious when opened by our nearest and dearest so we knew we wanted to tie the different pieces together like a gift. It obviously worked as a few of the recipients told us they were savouring the task and not opening straight away!

Originally I had thought of using a brown kraft tag to tie the whole lot together as they’re very ‘us’ and something we use all the time but Maxwell brought up the option of a wooden tag, which is very apt with his carpenter professional and I was instantly sold. Unfortunately our monogram was too intricate to etch so instead I created the artwork in a sepia tone and we were thrilled with the result.

Inside the little bundle were 3 x A6 cards; a save the date, an invite and a rsvp.

We kept the information provided to an absolute minimum so that only when people said they could come would they receive all the other goodies and fun facts that we wanted to share, again I know this isn’t how it’s traditionally done, but heck… I think you’re getting the picture that we’re not keen on following the wedding rule books!

The 2 patterns used on the invites are reworked art deco patterns which my sister-in-law-to-be gave me for a previous birthday gift. I reworked the colours so they suited our palette and for the Save the Date I customised this free downloadable template with my own hand drawn florals.

We ordered hand made envelopes through our printers in a forest green, slate grey and tan brown and I hand wrote all the envelopes using posca pens.

So there you have is… A first proper insight into what we truly believe will be our best day ever! I’m not going to lie, there’s quite a bit of pressure when DIYing your own invites, but I’m so glad I did them and we’ve loved peoples responses to them and as we’re getting RSVP’s back through the letter box every other day, the excitement continues…Now to finish off the rest of the information and evening invites! haha

There’s also a bit of a fun story about the delivery of these 36 special envelopes…

We fell in love with the idea of people receiving our invites precisely a year in advance, we hoped there would be an ‘oh my gosh, how exciting, oh my, it’s a year today’ kind of reaction… Obviously we knew this wouldn’t be the case for everyone (what with 5 non Uk recipients) but we hoped that 80% would get this experience.

We made sure those far away were posted 1st class early in the morning hoping Royal Mail would do their upmost to get them there the following day. The rest in a late night spy like mission we decided to hand deliver once people were settled down for the evening. Not wanting to head out too early we departed around 11pm but slightly under anticipated how long this would take…

Spy like, with the engine running, we crept up to peoples front doors, dodging security lights and squeaky letterboxes and cracking up over my utterly impractical spy footwear choice of flip flops made for an amusing evening. I’m not gonna lie, a few hours in, with half the envelopes still undelivered we did wonder if we’d made the right decision, but as the last few were deposited through various letter boxes in Southsea we concluded we definitely did it the best way as we collapsed into bed in the wee hours of the morning of our 4 year anniversary we smiled knowing it had suddenly ‘got real’!

Till next time… x

A Wedding Top Seven: Wedding Dress Seperates

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A Wedding Top Seven, Bridal separates, Bride to be, dress shopping, finding the dress, uk bride to be, Wedding Blog, wedding blogger, wedding dress alternative, Wedding dress shopping, wedding separates

In 2015 when Olivia Palermo decided to wear a top and skirt for her wedding a new bridal trend was officially born… Since then countless bridal separates can be found and whether you love it or hate it you can’t deny it’s definitely an option now.

Though traditionally we presume the bride will wear a dress, there’s no wedding rulebook that says she has to wear one… So in honour of this new bridal trend here are 7 wedding dress separates that I think are pretty gorgeous!

Flora Bride, an Israeli wedding company has several separates in their 2016 collection, this beauty above being one of my favourite!!

This STUNNING image was featured on Nouba and the star of the show is the beautiful bridal get up from Fabled and True a stunning Australian Brand.

This is simple and beautiful from the awesome Grace Loves Lace.

This examples showcases how the styles can also be worn if your wedding falls in the autumn/winter months… plus how comfy does it look? This is from the Kaviar Gauche 2015 collection.

Bridal faves BHLDN have a whole section dedicated to bridal separates and this fun sequinned combo is seriously cute. You can find it here.

My last two offerings are again from Flora Bridal because I mean, wow!!! Seriously beautiful. You can find them both in the 2016 collection.

So there you have it… dress or separates… you decide.

Wedding Series #1

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Blogger, blogging, Bride tips, Bride to be, Just Engaged, Planning a wedding, Proposal, Wedding Blog, wedding blogger, wedding season

So… I have officially been engaged a month now… Wow…if time continues to fly this way we will be getting married in no time at all!!

I thought it would be fun (as I do with most fun things) to blog about my wedding journey… Feeling a bit of a wedding pro (it seems like the last 3 years I have been attending wedding non stop) I thought my unique, and probably topsy turvy approach to wedding planning would be quite fun to share. For example 1 month in and we both have our wedding shoes, an amazing (geeky) scrapbook in the making, a date and very nearly a venue plan…. That’s pretty good right?? Shoes first is a sensible option wouldn’t you agree??! Haha

So here goes… Advice from Ami on how to plan a wedding (and enjoy doing it too)

1, probably the most valuable advice I can share courtesy of my awesome big bro… DONT STRESS AND JUST ENJOY BEING ENAGAGED… YOU HAVE LOADS OF TIME

This is crucial to a healthy and happy wedding planning experience…. A few weeks in I was being to feel (what felt like) hounded from all sides with people asking if we’d set a date, venue suggestions, advice and questions on budgets and money etc… Whilst I knew everyone was just excited and wanted to help I started to feel a little overwhelmed and panicked… Like I needed all the answers straight away. Of course after chatting to my ultra chilled and sensible big bro I calmed down and things all started to feel a little easier… A day with one of my besties chatting ideas and inspirations also helped me get back into feeling excited about the little bits and not stress the big stuff.

I really can’t hammer this in enough…. Enjoy your engagement, call your fiancé fiancé all the time because you can and it will make you feel all happy inside! Celebrate, celebrate and celebrate some more because well you’re engaged and that’s frigging awesome! Celebrate with family meals, with slumber parties with your girls… Celebrate with extra early nights and cheese and cracker nights… Do as many celebratory things as darn possible and ride that celebration out… It feels awesome to have your love toasted and the champagne’s not bad either!

2, SET A DATE

This is me getting practical… Until a date is set you can’t really plan anything… We’ve opted for a midweek date (which we hope will mean things being a little cheaper down the line) but mainly the date was chosen because of its sentimental reasoning. The day is our anniversary and will mark 5 years of being his girl. We always do something special on our anniversary and what better way of celebrating this milestone then by becoming his bride.

3, EMBRACE YOUR INNER BRIDE GEEK

If you’re anything like me, you LOVE a good scrapbook…. For a while now I have been keeping a secret wedding inspiration pinterest board for all the ideas I really really love and wanted to keep a surprise (who am I kidding all my favourite ladies have had a sneaky peak but that’s all part of the fun)

One of the first bridey things I did was go and purchase a big old scrapbook (and complimenting guestbook, hen do book, wedding album… Hey they were on offer) and print off the plentiful selection of inspiration images… I’ve since grouped them into loose categories and printed them off… I told you it was geeky!

Since then I have enjoyed many a chilled happy evening with a guillotine and a roll of double sided tape putting all my ideas into place. Whilst I adore Pinterest I felt I needed things a little more ordered and ‘there’ to look at, scribble notes on and share with Maxwell.

Trust me, this will be a masterpiece and something that I hope will tell the origins of our big day for many a year to come…

This process also helped me narrow down my inspirations so they all fitted and complimented each other… When everything was laid out on the coffee table it’s easier to see that one idea won’t work with the other and without really thinking you’ll be able to start making wedding decisions.

And if you’re feeling mega geeky like me, I can also suggest having a separate book for all things ‘bride’ that way you can share the big book with your fiancé and keep your brides ideas secret!

4, HAVE THAT AWKWARD CHAT ABOUT MONEY AND BUDGET

It’s not nice and it’s a bit tricky but have that chat. Maxwell and I are really keen on buying a house so are being sensible about the cost we’d feel comfortable spending on what is essentially one day. We are fortunate in that we can be creative with all the details that really make a day and have lots of offers of making evenings. Also discuss what you want to do about family contributions and accepting money from family. This was a difficult one as people will want to help but for us it didn’t feel right… We both agreed that we wouldn’t ask for money from anyone… It was our big day and we didn’t feel comfortable with our lovely family giving us big chunks of money. A nice compromise (because people who love you will want to help you out if they can) is to accept gifts… Someone buying your bouquet, someone else getting the toast or for example feels nice and makes those things extra special.

I know this section of the advice is very personal and will vary from couple to couple but I guess the advice is to just do what you feel comfortable with. As soon as Maxwell and I made that decision we felt happier, more in control and also excited… We would be doing this!

5, TREAT YOURSELF AND IF IT FEELS RIGHTS JUST DO IT

I get that by buying our shoes first we may be doing things a little backwards but you know what, I’m excited about my uber bargain vintage shoes from Lithuania.  I’m also thrilled that Maxwell has found a pair of beautiful designer boots that he actually likes (this is my lovely man who lives in converse and work boots) it’s a funny story and they’re both so us it’s just feels right!

I may have also indulged in a stunning one off bouquet weave from an Australian artist whom I adore… This little thing, which may seem indulgent to some, will be my special keepsake from my most happiest of days and will forever hang on my wall as a a reminder of the day I said I do!  If there’s something that you really want, that will make you feel amazing do it…. Buy it, enjoy it, after all it’s your special day.

So there you have it… My first official wedding post… I’ll definitely update you along the way and share ideas and more ami hints…. I am so excited to be in this bride-to-be bubble… Can you tell?

An Italian Love Story Pt 1

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Blogger, celebrate, friends, italian wedding, Lifestyle blog, Lotales, love, married, Southern Italy, Spongano, Summer Wedding, Tenuta Lucagiovanni, wedding, Wedding Blog, wedding blogger, wedding post

So…. after our Rotterdam Wedding adventures (which you can read about here and here) we headed home for approximately 12hrs, then turned around and headed straight off again, this time to the beautiful south of Italy.

Last time we were celebrating Merel and Marcel, this time to celebrate the wedding of Liam and Lacey… (Loving these couples and their matching names!) You could say the new Mr & Mrs Hunter-Felton have a bit of a love affair the region of Italy in which they chose to get married. They took their first joint holiday there and got engaged there, so it was an obvious choice for a beautiful wedding… I’m sure the fact they are massive foodies had something to do with it too!

All in all we had 5 days of Italian sunshine (with the odd downpour thrown in for good measure) We arrived on the Wednesday, checked into our amazing Air B&B, a charming 18th century masseria located in a small village in the heart of Salento which goes by the name of Spongano and explored the local area and the charming local restaurant.

Team Spongano was an almighty collective which in addition to the boy and I included my dear friends Chloe (aka the Magpie Mother) and Steve and their girls Iris and Matilda, the beautiful Kelly and Charlie, and new friends Beth (aka Dotty Dishes), her husband Steve and their friend Alice…. It was a full house, but a fun house!

The wedding took place on the Friday, so that left Thursday to explore Castro and enjoy an evening cocktail party at the soon-to-be-marrieds villa, Sunday was spent enjoying an all day pool party at the grooms brothers Villa and Monday we explored our way back along the coast before finally heading home.

Like with Rotterdam, I’ll split the post in two so not to bombard you with photos (It really is such a pretty place and the food…. So. Much. Food!!)

We’ll start again with the reason behind the trip the grand wedding!

Our bride and groom were married in the Tenuta Lucagiovanni and oh my gosh….. what a sensation wedding venue. In a cue for the loos with the wedding planner, she described it to me as “the Italian equivalent of the Ritz, that people flock from all over Italy to get married there”, and it’s not hard to see why!

We arrived through rows of olives groves and were met with an imposing wall which gave nothing away of the luxury which lied within… we strolled towards the venue and the first space we encountered was the main square, a space with seated areas and a covered veranda. Milling around and meeting other beautifully dressed guests it wasn’t long before we were ushered towards the meadow and to take our seats ready for the ceremony.

Seated outside, the sweet smell of flowers and sounds of the harpist we took our seats and smiled at the groom who waited with an excited/nervous smile on his face!

Lacey arrived and looked every inch the italian bride in her stunning gown from Anya Bridal and huge flowing bouquet beaming from ear to ear!

The ceremony itself was a funny thing…. The typical looking Italian Mayor oversaw the vows and these were then translated to English for us. It seems Italian wedding ceremonies involve a lot of bylaws and bureaucracy…. At some point though, it was all made official and the newly wedded Mr & Mrs Hunter-Felton shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

As they walked back down the aisle as a Mr & Mrs they were showered in rice (an Italian equivalent to confetti) we were then offered a selection of drinks and canapés and presented with a beautiful paper parasol for all the female guests.

Everyone made their way back to the main square where a bar and 2 food tables had sprung up. We enjoyed the antipasti course with an aperol spritz in hand whilst lounging around the square in the beautiful sunshine. The food, as expected was incredible… freshly made mozzarella and breads on one table and a selection of fried and freshly cooked morsels on the other….

A inspiring mix-up to the traditional english way of doing things, was that the speeches took place then too! With all the guests relaxed and drinks in hand, this made the whole formal speech scene so much more relaxed and enjoyable!

After the speeches were made and many laughs were had, we headed parasol in hand to the orange garden to find our seats for dinner. This beautiful square garden was laid out with tables round the outside and a little table for two for the newlyweds (another nice touch I thought, giving the couple some special time alone together to reflect on the day before rejoining their guests) The food continued to be incredible, The pasta course was a local semolina pasta with a tasty tomato sauce, The main course was a choice between local speciality fish (which I opted for) or steak… all was delicious and washed down with many glasses of cool white wine which seemed to be topped up every time an impeccably dressed waiter walked by!

Another lovely touch was the favours for the boys (don’t want them feeing left out) ordered and made especially for the wedding by a local olive oil grove, we tasted ours the other day and its incredible!

As the sun started to set and parasols were put down we left the Orange Garden and headed through the stunning house to secret garden where the bride and groom cut their cake, without a doubt, the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen!!

In addition to cake, there was fresh fruit galore, a selection of other cakes and a gelato bar. Maxwell is still raving about the pistachio icecream!!

Making the most of the generous free bar, a glass of prosecco in hand, the crowds gathered to watch the first dance. From that moment on we barely left the ‘dancefloor’.

It was such a fun wedding, so indulgent and opulent but also so personal and ‘them’. Having the whole day outside was glorious and I smile just thinking of the day, the love, and having a jolly old time with some my closest friends!

I’ll post about the rest of the Italian holiday soon, but till then, arrivederchi.