Tuesday 22 May 2012

Before the Big Day Shoot with Caught the Light

Continuing the balloon theme for today, the moment has finally arrived for me to show off the pictures from the fun shoot I had with Caught the Light a few weeks ago. I needed some fun publicity shots to encourage more media types to use me as a wedding expert, and the lovely Chloé from Caught the Light took our wedding photographs, so it made sense for me to call her again! We had the most fabulous time running around Notting Hill Gate, dodging rain showers, standing on roundabouts, eating Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes, and trying to avoid a very keen amateur photographer. It was SUCH fun, and as you can see from the pics, a very large bunch of balloons played quite a large part! Here are just a few of the fabulous pictures Chloé took, more coming soon on my Facebook page. P.S. Wouldn't the balloons make the best photo-prop for an engagement shoot?


Vendor Credits
Photographer: Caught the Light
Stylist: Me! {Georgia from Before the Big Day}
Balloons: One Stop Party Shop
Hair: One Drayson Mews in Kensington {Tel: 020 7376 2418}
Eyelashes: Lash Lab
Sequin shrug: Jenny Packham
Boots: Russell & Bromley
T-Shirt: Topshop
Earrings: Anthroplogie

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When Wedding Balloons Get Special

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have spotted my slight, okay extreme obsession with balloons at weddings. I've even created an entire Pinterest board to their fabulousness. So you can only imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon these incredible balloons by Bonbon Balloons who are based in North London. Talk about taking the idea of a balloon and running with it! Most of all I'm loving the balloon ribbons or decorative strings - I reckon you could take some pretty bog-standard wedding helium balloons and make them special without too much DIY effort. Or you could just buy them from Bonbon and send them as gifts, or as the ultimate wedding invitations!


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Monday 21 May 2012

Real Vintage Autumn Wedding: Kyle & Jonny Part 2

Autumn wedding fabulousness Part 2. There was too much gorgeousness in Kyle and Jonny's beautiful wedding, I've had to split it into two! Here are all the pretty ceremony and reception wedding details. I'm loving the outdoor ceremony setting by the sea, and cute gazebo alter area and its extravagant floral arch. Other stealworthy wedding details include the warm chocolate-brown bridesmaids' dresses and table cloths {who says they have to be white!}, plus the super-cool recycled, vintage bottle candles from Glassed Over. More fabulous wedding details as you scroll through the pictures. Huge thanks to the lovely Casey from Figlewicz Photography for these beautiful photographs.

Stunning copper roses, birch twigs and zinnias make up the striking floral arch.

Completely in love with the ushers in traditional Scottish dress, complete with sporrans!

Love this picture! Always make time for a group shot if you can. One way is to do a first-look shoot ahead of walking down the aisle, although most British brides prefer to save that moment to the ceremony.


Loving the warm autumn colour palette. The woody elements play on Kyle and Jonny's married surname.


Stunning table flowers by Rolling Hills Flower Mart. There's a real mix of exotic and classic flowers here, plus berries and autumn leaves.

If you look closely, there's even a cute little wood block in the centre to give height to the centre candle.


Loving the wrap of the family tartan around the bottles in the pictures below. It's the same as on the ushers' kilts!

Such a beautiful wedding cake. Have you spotted how the florist has used autumn fruits as embellishments? A seriously easy and effective DIY wedding idea!

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Real Vintage Autumn Wedding: Kyle & Jonny

Autumn brides listen up! You're going to love the wedding inspiration you'll get from this gorgeous seaside wedding. Fabulous couple, Kyle and Jonny celebrated their big day at Erhart’s By The Sea in Fort MacArthur in Calig. I'm loving all their wedding details from the autumnal colour palette, Kyle's beautiful strapless La Soie wedding gown, her cute lacy garter {definitely a US tradition we should export to the UK}, and most of all Jonny's kilt!! Huge kudos to Kyle and Jonny for putting their bridesmaids and ushers in coordinated outfits - we do like a well-turned out wedding party and it makes for the best pictures! More wedding details in Part 2, published this lunchtime. Huge thanks to the talented Figlewicz Photography for these beautiful pictures.





Love the colours in this bouquet. Berries are always a beautiful addition to autumn wedding bouquets.





The kilt and sporran! Always a great idea to reflect your heritage on your wedding day.





This is Jonny's dad's Classic Woody!


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Sunday 20 May 2012

Simple Shabby-Chic Wedding DIY Idea

If you've been reading this wedding blog for a while, you might have spotted I've got a bit of a thing about paper doilies. So imagine my excitement when an email from Papermash appeared in my inbox, with an update on their new stock, and there, in technicolour glory were these amazing patterned doilies. I'm loving the floral wonders for a shabby-chic wedding, and the heavenly polka-dot hearts for a light-hearted modern wedding. Which would you choose? Striped paper straws and blossom paper cups also available from Papermash. For more DIY wedding doily ideas check out my Pinterest boards for tonnes of wedding inspiration.



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Saturday 19 May 2012

Possibly The Best Save the Date Ever?

This Save the Date is the reason why I love the web. It's such an enormous swimming pool of creativity and inspiration. Isn't this just the coolest idea? The bride and groom got engaged in Paris - a location they subtly acknowledged in a nod to Albert Lamorisse's short film The Red Balloon when designing their save the date announcement. Designed by L'Office Optimiste, and first seen on For Print Only, I'm in love! If you want to recreate this invitation, check out Balloon Print, who will put your image on a 100 balloons for only £5.




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Friday 18 May 2012

Here Comes the Bride Wedding Signs

One of the wedding details I left till last was my Here Comes The Bride sign. I'd spotted them on Etsy, and I figured I could easily DIY one myself, but I left it a bit late. If you look at the second set of pictures, you can see my nephew holding my DIY sign, prettily stuck together with black tape! The idea for my wedding was that he'd walk down the aisle ahead of me holding the flag, but he fell asleep before the ceremony and failed at his task. So when you pick your pageboys, make sure they're older than two, and have a good snooze before the wedding ceremony! If you're not so keen on designing your own flag, my favourites are from The Ritzy Rose and Larkspur & Linen. Along with Here Comes The Bride you could also have practical instructions like Cake Cutting or First Dance or even Please Take Your Seats. What would you choose? I'd love Happily Ever After.


{Product Credit} The Ritzy Rose


{Product Credit} The Ritzy Rose & my nephew at my wedding by Caught the Light

{Product Credit} The Ritzy RoseLarkspur & Linen


{Product Credit} The Ritzy Rose 

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Real Pretty in Pink Wedding: Zoe & Pete

Winter brides are going to love this beautiful English countryside wedding. Despite getting married super-close to Christmas, Zoe and Pete resisted the temptation to choose red and green as their wedding theme colours. Instead Zoe chose a vintage-pink theme, in keeping with the details on her gorgeous Ian Stewart wedding dress. The Four Seasons in Hook made for a beautiful setting for their wedding ceremony and reception, and I'm loving their portrait pictures in the stunning grounds. Stealworthy wedding ideas include Zoe's wonderful sparkly Benjamin Roberts shoes, the vintage-pink roses, Zoe's elegant chignon and the bridesmaids' pretty wrist corsages. Plus a great idea for a Chrismas wedding - all the tables were named after the 12 Days of Christmas, and once the groom finished his speech he instructed all the guests to sing the song, from start to finish. By the end all the guests were up on their chairs singing and waving their arms. Amazing! Huge thanks to Binky Nixon for her beautiful pictures, this is an exquisitely captured wedding.


My shoes were from Benjamin Roberts, which I bought from a shop owned by one of my bridesmaids - A Bride To Bee in Hampshire. I stuck the I Do sequin stickers on myself. 



I kept seeing this particular dress in all the wedding magazines and the first shop I went into the same dress was there hanging up and I fell in love with it straight away! It was made by Ian Stuart. My veil and accessories were from the same shop as my dress, Bridal Couture.

For our venue, we chose The Four Seasons Hotel in Hook, Hampshire. The venue is in-between Portsmouth and London, and we have friends in both cities, so the location was perfect. My husband had stayed at Four Seasons hotels before and was very impressed their service and accommodation. We wanted quite a vintage theme wedding, and we chose neutral, almost autumnal colours.




I loved planning our wedding! I kind of knew what I wanted and we had just over a year to organise it all, so it wasn't too rushed.  My advice to brides planning their wedding is not to stress and just enjoy it. Write a list of everything you need to do and what you want. Plan in advance and try to book things quite early. Do the big things first, e.g. venue, dress, photographer, entertainment, and then move on to the fun decisions.



My bridesmaids' dresses were from Dessy. I knew I wanted them in long maxi dresses, and a neutral colour, to match the flowers on my dress. I was thrilled that Dessy had a colour that matched exactly!

Our florist was recommended to us by one of my best friends who found them for their wedding. They're called Exclusively Weddings & Events, and they're run by a lovely lady called Linda. She was brilliant and we loved her work. I love roses, so we went for them, and they looked beautiful.

My husband's outfit was from Paul Smith, but he had a good idea of what style suit and shoes he wanted before he went shopping.




Our photographer was Binky Nixon. She was recommended to us by a few good friends who'd booked her for their weddings. She was brilliant - we loved her!



We chose a traditional three-tiered square cake, plain and elegant, decorated with vintage-pink roses.
Debenhams designed our stationery. The invitations were simple cream and chocolate brown, with a ribbon-wrapper fastened with diamanté heart. Plain and elegant. For favours we chose Godiva milk and white chocolate hearts in a box. We wanted something that wasn't going to go to waste and they looked lovely with the table decorations.


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