Real Asian-Themed Wedding: Shazna & Saad

Indian-style weddings are the best! They're such a riot of colour and shimmer and details, that it's hard for a wedding blogger to know where to start! Shazna and Saad celebrated their wedding in traditional style, complete with a henna ceremony and saris. My favourite stealworthy wedding ideas include the soft baby pink that Shazna chose for her theme colour, her incredible peony bouquet and the glamorous diamond-detail added to the wedding cake. You can never have too much sparkle! Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Alders Photography.

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My Wedding - Two Months To Go {eeek!}

Last weekend we went to Provence for the final time before our wedding. For the whole week ahead, my brain was fizzing with ideas and hopes and fears, and all the decisions we had to make. And now we're back, and it's Wednesday, and my brain is still fizzing, but in a good way! I don't think I've ever made so many expensive decisions in such a short amount of time. The good news is the following.....

{Our Provence Wedding Planner}
Kerry Brackan. We love her. She's amazing and she's saved our lives. If you're planning a wedding in Provence or on the Cote d'Azur, contact her at My Riviera Wedding and beg her to become your planner. She's busy though, so you'll have to get in there soon! Kerry helped us with every single step of the big decisions. She knows how many glasses of wine your guests are likely to drink at your wedding, she knows how much space 13 round tables need, she thinks of things like power sockets, and catering tents and what to do when it rains. Plus a million other things you don't know that you don't know, but you need to know for your wedding. If you know what I mean.....{bit lost now}.

{Our French Wedding Caterer}
We had a proper tasting session at the Head Office of our caterer Marrou in Marseille. It's a family-run business, and the Head Chef cooked us four starters and two main courses so we could choose what we wanted at our wedding. The food was incredible, and absolutely reminded us why we want to get married in France. Plus Marrou will organise all the tables, chairs, cutlery, crockery, etc, etc, all the way to how we want our napkins tied with a sprig of olive leaves. Fantastique - non?

{Our Provence Wedding Venue}
Is gorgeous. We booked it over a year ago, and I'd forgotten what it looked like. The good news is that it's better than I recalled. Our invitations have gone out now, and I'm sure most of our guests have googled our venue, so here's the first sneak-peak pictures. Do get in touch if you'd like the name of the Château.

{Our French Wedding Flowers}

We met Stephane of Stephane Fleuriste in Puyricard for the first time on Saturday, and my thoughts on flowers were pretty jumbled. The problem with writing a wedding blog is you see too many incredible images. Then if you throw in the budget issue, you can find yourself stuck in a bind. Stephane was incredibly patient and enthusiastic, and between us all, we came up with a plan. I'm keeping to all white blooms, and fingers crossed, it should look fab. If you've got an appointment with a florist coming up, I'd recommend collecting lots of pictures together. It makes a huge difference.

Photo Credits: Lavender Table {Laura Novak}, Chateau {Simply Chateau}, Bread & Champagne {Michael & Anna Costa}, White Flowers {Dreamy Whites Blog}

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Real Spring Red-Themed London Wedding: Sara & Rich

Fabulous London bride, Sara, chose brilliant red as her signature colour, and check out her incredible wedding! From her crimson shoes, to her bridesmaids' sexy silk dresses, I'm crazy about every detail. This is another Dartmouth House wedding, and it's fast becoming my favourite venue in London - all the weddings there are so chic. Sara and Rich chose a London theme for their wedding, and as you can see from these pics, they made the City a guest at their wedding. They had a photo shoot on the streets of London, much to the enthusiasm of passing traffic. Other details to copy? Sara's incredible bustled dress, her elegant ribbon-rimmed veil and her gorgeous cascading orchid bouquet. Wow! Loving all the pictures, published with thanks to Justine Ferrari Photography.

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Cute Vintage-Style Wedding Accessories

How much do you love these striped, spotty and heart-printed old-fashioned paper straws? They'll add a cute and quirky look to your weding cocktails. If you're planning a vintage wedding you'll love this cheap and chic way to add that little extra detail. Fresh from Sydney-based shop Emerald & Eva, I'm planning to buy the heart ones for my English Cream Tea-themed London wedding.

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Fun Heart-Themed Wedding Stationery

Add a splash for colour to your wedding stationery and wedding decorations thanks to these gorgeous new products from online stationery shop Papermash. I'm loving their Japanese masking tape, you can use it on all sorts of DIY projects from upgrading white candles, to tying your bridesmaids' bouquets. Meanwhile the heart hole punch has a double use - punching holes and creating confetti - love it!

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Before the Big Day Wedding Theme: Little Red Riding Hood

Now I'm not for a minute suggesting a bride should dress up as Little Red Riding Hood on her big day - but that doesn't make it wrong to use the Brothers Grimm tale as wedding inspiration. Red is a massively popular colour for winter weddings, and there's all the usual connotations of romance, lust and luxury. Use Little Red Riding Hood's picnic basket as inspiration for wedding favours, stamp her image on your place cards, and add cloaks to your bridesmaids' costumes. And if you want to go the whole hog, borrow a Siberian husky dog to act as your ring-bearer!

Photo Credits - Bouquet, Table Setting, Shoes: Nikole Ramsay  Product Credits - Little Red print: Hiden Seek, Child Cape: AS Boutique, Buttons: Fluff Stuffs, Adult Capelet: Enderby

Product Credits - Stamp: Corrabelle, Buttons: Once Upon A Button, Felt Flower: Heavenly Handbag, Felt Heart: Not on the High Street, Little Red model: Humblebea

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Where to Wedding List?

Many moons ago, the wedding list  was designed to populate a couples' new home with the essentials.  Needless to say that has all changed, and now, you should see your list as an opportunity....

It may be that you'd like to add some delicious new decorate items to your home, in which case turn to the new Not on the High Street Wedding List.  They stock the most gorgeous variety of unusual items, including all the basics - plus they offer a fabulous personalised service.  If you pick them to host your list, please do quote my code 000156, as they'll give me a present!

Or it might be that you have a honeymoon to pay for and you're flat broke. In which case, your guests can send you off on the trip of a life-time thanks to companies like Honey Money or Honey Miles who organise a honeypot (cute!) to fund your holiday. Your friends and family can then donate money to pay for various experiences from safaris to scuba diving lessons and spa days.

But what if you're the charitable type? Well look no further than Oxfam Unwrapped, who have turned their Give A Goat programme into a delicious feast of graphic design, including favour cards to inform your guest you've donated a simple gift such as a soap or bucket on their behalf. In turn, instead of buying you a toast-rack, they can donate a chicken (£11) or even a camel (£285) to a needy family, and truly spread the love.

Alternatively, if you would fancy a few pressies, but want to make sure the products are sourced from Fair Trade producers, then list with Fair Gift, who promise a Wedding List with a Heart, plus hundreds of gorgeous products from around the world.

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Real Flamenco Themed Wedding: Barbara & Aaron

When the rain and grey of the UK gets too much, it's time to dream of a destination wedding. Barbara and Aaron celebrated their big day in Orange County, and added a flamenco wedding theme to hark back to their original chance meeting in Spain. I'm loving the rich red of the flowers they chose, and the dramatic black and white lace motif on the table cloths, plus the addition of suitcases and vintage postcards to reflect their travelling past. Huge thanks to photographer Gabriel Ryan and the fabulous e-zine Utterly Engaged for these gorgeous pictures.

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