Introducing Mahlatini Luxury Safari Holidays & Honeymoons

What type of honeymoon are you dreaming about? Believe me, you'll want to go somewhere super special, with a good dose of relaxation at the beginning. We actually delayed our honeymoon till today {yippee, leaving on a jet plane!}, but I actually wish we'd honeymooned straight away. You need a treat, otherwise you can feel a bit flat after your wedding day ends. There's tonnes of holiday companies offering honymoons of every hue, but one of my favourites is Mahlatini. They're specialists in luxury African travel, and every one of their honeymoons look incredible. From Botswana to Zambia and plenty of countries from the middle of the alphabet {including the Maldives and Mauritius}, they'll recommend the very best hotels and lodges, in the very best locations. They're honeymoon specialists, and even offer a HoneyMoney service, where your guests can contribute to your honeymoon instead of buying you presents. What will you choose? Safari or resort, or both? Take a look at their dream-inducing website here Mahlatini.

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Three Ways to Decorate Your Wedding Cheaply

Wedding decorations can really blow your budget, particularly if you're decorating an empty space. Make an impact with these three cheap and cheerful wedding decorations. I've always been a huge fan of DIY pom poms, but if you're not a DIY-bride, then you can pick up these fantastic lacy rosettes, pinwheels and poms via Paper Polaroid. My favs are the rosettes!

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Our Wedlock Wedding Tradition

My favourite moment of our wedding actually happened the next day. We stole away near the end of our evening drinks, and locked a padlock onto a metal arch in the garden, that was covered with jasmine. There's a Chinese or Russian wedding tradition that suggests that if a couple attach a lock to a gate and throw away the key, then they'll be together forever. We decided to make this tradition our own, but I decided to keep the key safe and sound in my jewellery box. One day we'll go back, and check that it's still there!

{Photo Credits} 1. Before the Big Day, 2. & 3. Jemma Harding Photography, Dress: Temperley London

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Glittery Wedding Earrings with a Laugh

At first sight, these are the chandelier earrings you've been looking for to add a glitter of glamour to your wedding day. And then you realise that not only will they look fabulous hanging from your lobes {love that word}, but they'll also make everyone laugh. A must-buy for your wedding day from Crumpet Clothing.

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Friday Feeling Wedding Blog Web Links

Autumn is well and truly here, and it's blown any hopes of an Indian summer right out of the window. Instead, I'm embracing everything that's wonderful about the changing seasons, from cosy cashmere socks to conker collecting. Meanwhile all my favourite wedding photographers finally have time to send me their gorgeous real weddings from this summer, so expect a lovely glut of wedding inspiration on the blog over the next few weeks. It's also Wedding Fair season, so make sure you don't miss a single one by clicking on the link. I'll be preparing myself for the wedding fair marathon with my new brogues {sensible flat shoes} and plenty of sugar {mainly Haribo, I'm addicted}. In the meantime, enjoy these truly inspiring wedding web blog links....

♥ {Picture Credit} Autumn wedding pictured by Karen Wise Photography

♥ Loving the use of Scrabble letters in this gorgeous wedding from US wedding blog Green Wedding Shoes

♥ 75 ways to make your wedding unique

♥ Loving a groom in braces for a beach wedding

♥ Great wedding budget checklist

♥ More braces and a fantastic picnic-themed wedding

♥ Unusual, gorgeous wedding rings

♥ An autumn wedding you WILL adore!

♥ My Pinterest DIY wedding projects

♥ Incredible London wedding with tonnes of pom poms!

This week I had my eyelashes done again by the lovely Kym at Lash Lab. She's offering 10% off for Before the Big Day readers. Click for more fabulous offers.

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Real DIY Bride Wedding: Jane & Joe

Sometimes when we describe a wedding as a DIY wedding, we mean that the bride and her family arranged the flowers, or printed the stationery, or a few of the extra details. Gorgeous bride Jane is a true DIY bride, in that she did everything herself. She designed the centerpieces, she made her crazy amazing bejewelled Billie Holiday hair flowers, and she even MADE HER WEDDING DRESS. Incredible! She didn't stop there - the flower girl dresses, the bow ties and the bridesmaids dresses - all DIY'd by this hands-on bride. For yet more wedding inspiration, look no further than the fabulous table decorations {always love mason jars}, the sweet peach colour theme, Jane's peony bouquet, and all the handsome men in uniform. Love it - all of it! Huge thanks to Punam Bean for her beautiful photographs.

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Wonderful Bright Wedding Stationery

For me it's always a toss-up between keeping the invitations to your big day simple and elegant, and going for something really creative. If you're leaning towards something bright, and you're a fan of typography, then check out these gorgeous carnival-style invitations from boutique stationers April Ink. I'm a huge fan, what about you?

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Real Italian Wedding: laria & Egidio

Italian weddings are the best! The food is always fabulous, the guests warm and friendly, and they have a few of their own traditional touches. The gorgeous Iaria celebrated her marriage to Egidio in her home village of Episcopia. As traditon dictates, ahead of the ceremony, the groom and all his family arrived at the bride's house to give her flowers {beautiful hydrangeas} and to accompany her to the village church. Then after the ceremony the entire wedding party paraded through the streets, and the whole village came out to wish them well. I'm loving Ilaria's wedding transport - her cute vintage Fiat, with special wedding seat covers stitched by her mother Maria, and the massive round cake - another Italian tradition. Serious kudos has to go to the happy couple for choosing an incredible venue for their reception. Just check out those views! Beautiful pictures published with thanks to Justine Ferrari Photography.

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