Supporting Japan Part 2

With the crisis in Japan on all our minds, here's one way you can support their local businesses, and donate money to the Relief Fund. Pick up some of these gorgeous creations from independent craft sellers on Etsy. Don't you love these Japanese cake toppers from Kikuike? I'll be featuring more ideas all day.

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Introducing Fine Art Wedding Photography

Choosing your wedding photographer has become pretty complicated these days. It used to be simple when all you expected were the formal shots. You'd pick a local photographer, who was good a ordering people around, and arranging people according to height, and snap-snap, you'd have your wedding album full of groups of guests. You'll probably still want a few of those formal, group shots, but nowadays wedding photographers have developed, and you'll hear a lot of talk of reportage-style and fine art photography. Reportage is a bit like the pictures taken by the paparazzi. They're unobtrusive shots of the bride and groom enjoying their day, or portraits of people laughing. It's a fun, modern style, that's very much in fashion at the moment. Fine art wedding photography is also growing in popularity. It's a huge trend in the States, and everything big there tends to make it's way to the UK. But what's the difference to reportage? Well with fine art wedding photography every shot is like a painting you'd hang on your wall, where the bride and groom are placed in their environment, or cleverly lit by an errant beam of sunlight. David Charlwood is a UK fine art wedding photographer - take a look at his work below, and you'll see the difference in style.

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Supporting Japan

With the crisis in Japan on all our minds, here's one way you can support their local businesses, and donate money to the Relief Fund. Pick up some of these gorgeous creations from independent craft sellers on Etsy. I'll be featuring more ideas all day.

{Product Credits - 1. Koide Studio, 2. MaaP Studio, 3. Green Optimist}

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Introducing ZankYou Wedding Lists

As if getting married wasn't present enough, some genius person {probably an engaged one}, came up with the idea that wedding guests should give the newlyweds a gift. And as someone who's just started receiving wedding presents, I can tell you, it feels like the most amazing treat. I got a diamond ring, a designer wedding dress, an amazing wedding day, and now I get presents?! We should do this getting married thing more often! Originally wedding presents were designed to furnish a new home with crockery, cutlery and linen, but what if you don't really need anything? Well that's where Zankyou comes along to help you out. This fab website lets you create the wedding list of your dreams, where you can include anything you like, from your honeymoon, all the way to that toaster it turns out you actually do need. Then your guests contribute whatever they want to spend, and all the funds get transfered direct to your bank account. The site also gives you a whole range of useful wedding tools, including a personal wedding website, electronic RSVP for your invitations and a guest list management feature that easily converts into a table planner tool {a life-saver!}.

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Real Breezy Beach Wedding: Ingrid & Pieter

This gorgeous beach wedding is going to make you long for summer days. There's nothing more romantic than walking down an aisle of sand, with the sea-breeze in your hair, and a delicious celebratory wedding BBQ. Pieter and Ingrid chose an intimate wedding, with only their very nearest and dearest, plus plenty of gorgeous personalised details. I'm loving how they wrote their names in pebbles on the sand - definitely something you could replicate with rose petals on a lawn. Other wedding ideas to steal include the streamer confetti, Ingrid's flower crown, the handmade Japanese cranes and the hanging single-bloom bottles. Many of the decorations were DIY, and Ingrid's gorgeous wedding gown was made by none other than her own super mum! Simply stunning photographs published with thanks to We Love Pictures.

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Unusual Wedding Entertainment - Say It With Verse

What are you going to do at your wedding to entertain your guests? We've decided on a string quartet, followed by a DJ, but plenty of people choose to throw in all sorts of wedding entertainment, from magicians to caricaturists. David Walliams even had synchronised swimmers {be warned, they're pricey!}. If you're looking for something more original, why not say it with verse, via Noel Dollimore, The Wedding Sonneteer. You can hire him for your wedding where he works in costume, mingling with your guests, and delighting them with romantic poetry. Such a fantastic idea for a literary-themed wedding, or just as a surprise for your groom!

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Kooky Vintage UK Wedding Stationery

Brides and grooms planning a vintage wedding will want gorgeous stationery to match, so I was thrilled to discover Ally Hay's unique work. Ally is a freelance illustrator and designer, and she specialises in bespoke wedding stationery to suit all budgets. I love her use of old-fashioned seals, parchment paper and collage details. Check out more of her work here.

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WOW! The Bridal Designer Sale

If you're finding that all the wedding dresses you love are too expensive, then you're going to love the London Bridal Designer Sale. With up to 70% off exquisite designer wedding gowns, you'll finally be able to afford leading international designers like Amanda Wakeley, Amy Michelson, Caroline Castigliano, Christina Sposa and many, many more… The sale starts on Saturday 19th March {this weekend!} and runs until Sunday 20th March at London's Marriott Hotel on Grosvenor Square. Tickets to the event are FREE but appointments are booking out fast! To avoid disappointment, book now and select your preferred date and time slot.

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