Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Real Gold Luxe Barn Wedding: Casey & Paul

Imagine a barn wedding, and give it a gold luxe spin, and you've got the look for this beautiful big day, plus a huge wedding trend for the brides of 2013. Casey and Paul chose the fabulous Amy Osaba as their event designer and florist, and she totally rocked their wedding out of the park. There's so many incredible wedding details, you're going to want to save every single picture in your wedding inspiration file. I've split the wedding into two, so be sure to click back tomorrow for the wedding reception details. First we have the amazing whiter-than-white ceremony space. Take a look at Casey's amazing glittery Kate Spade shoes, her charming Southern-belle wedding gown and her incredible giant pink peony bouquet. I love how the hot pinks, oranges and yellows pop against Paul's elegant three-piece suit, and the bridesmaids soft grey dresses. I love the new take on the tissue paper pompoms, remade in fabric, with the off-cuts as confetti. Wow! Stunning wedding pictures published with thanks to Simply Bloom Photography.











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Introducing Jon Rouston Wedding Photography

Have you chosen your wedding photographer yet? As soon as you have picked your wedding date, pick up the phone to book your photographer. The best are always reserved at least a year in advance, and you'll be surprised how popular certain weekends are for weddings! Not booked yet? If you're getting married in the Nottingham area, or anywhere else in the UK, take a look at the fabulous Jon Rouston Photography. His wedding work is the perfect blend of unobtrusive reportage, combined with relaxed contemporary portraits. Jon Rouston's aim is to focus on the real story behind a wedding - the people. From the brides excited then nervous preparations, and the groom's anxious wait at the top of the aisle, to your crazy uncles dominating the dance floor. If you take a look at Jon Rouston's blog, you'll see picture after picture of laughing brides and grooms, a sure sign they're relaxed and happy in front of his camera. Jon's reasonable prices include a disc with all your pictures, and a beautiful album, but book him soon - he's already busy for 2013!








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How To Dress Your Bridesmaids

Matching, colour-toned, or deliberately clashing - have you decided how to dress your bridesmaids at your wedding? I asked all my girls to wear dove grey, in any style they wanted. The only problem is they all had different doves in mind, so the colours didn't really match! If I had my time again, I'd dress them in Maids to Measure bridesmaid dresses in the same fabric and colour, but different styles according to their figures. Another super-stylish look for vintage-loving brides, are floral tea dresses, teamed with Mary-Jane shoes. Here are a few of my favourite bridesmaid looks - take a peek at my Pinterest board for more ideas!


{Photo Credit} Vintage bridesmaids dresses by SohoMode


{Photo Credit} Jessica Monnich Photography via Style Me Pretty


{Photo Credit} Heather Hester Photography via Snippet & Ink


{Photo Credit} Ameris via Green Wedding Shoes


{Photo Credit} Brandon Kidd via Green Wedding Shoes


{Photo Credit} 1. Unknown, 2. Jose Villa


{Photo Credit} Jodi Miller Photography via Ruffled Blog


{Photo Credit} Still Music Photography via 100 Layer Cake

♥ Want more bridesmaid ideas? ♥ Or how about real wedding ideas? ♥
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Monday, July 30, 2012

Blush Pink Themed Wedding Ideas

If you're feeling inspired by the romantic blush wedding shoot I posted yesterday, add these stunning BHLDN accessories and wedding decorations to your big day. I'm loving the Provencal-style fabric lavender bags, the pretty fans, pink bunting, and Love is Sweet banner. Add in a flapper-style veil with tulle side-peony, plus bohemian feathered headdresses for your bridesmaids, and you've got the look.



♥ Want more pink-themed wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about wedding veil ideas? ♥
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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Blush Blossom Wedding Inspiration & A Claire Pettibone Gown

Dreamy blush dresses, vintage less, and delicate cherry blossom. It doesn't get better than Claire Pettibone wedding dresses, and divine pictures by This Modern Romance. I love the decadent mood, the dramatic veils worn high over the forehead, and the heavy peony hair accessories by Erica Elizabeth Designs. The pink parasol is a work of art, buy one from Bella Umbrella in the US, or Brollies Galore here in the UK. It seems next wedding season is all about a narrow silhouette - stunning!






{Wedding Credits}
Wedding Dresses & Bolero: Claire Pettibone
Wedding Umbrella: Bella Umbrella
Hair & Make-up: KC Witcamp
Hair Pieces: Erica Elizabeth Designs
Produced By: Be Inspired PR
Cake: Cupcakes Couture
Flowers: Dolce Designs Studio
Shoes & Jewellery: Ruche Bridal
Rentals: Found Vintage Rentals

♥ Want more blossom-themed wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about spring wedding ideas? ♥
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Real Marquee & Bunting Wedding: Claire & Tim - Part 2

Brides planning a marquee wedding will want to save all the pictures from this fabulous Manchester wedding. It's Part 2 time for Claire and Tim's wedding {Part 1 here}, and you're going to love the reception pictures. With a bunting theme and purple as a theme colour, every wedding detail is perfectly thought out, with tonnes of DIY wedding details. The wedding cake, the cake topper, the wedding stationery - everything was bunting themed, and handmade by friends and family. I love how Tim's dad organised the orchid table displays and the buttonholes - as a member of the British Orchid Society he was best placed to choose the perfect blooms. Remember to draw on the talent of all your friends for your wedding - we had a fantastic DIY session the week before our wedding day, and put together tonnes of the decorations and wedding stationery. Claire did the same thing - don't miss her answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionaire for more helpful wedding tips. Huge thanks to Kayleigh Pope Photography for her beautiful pictures.

I took a long time to decide what marquee theme I wanted – toying between shabby chic, morrocan tent or classy event, but I kept coming back to clean white, with purple {my favourite colour} accents. I also love bunting as it seems so celebratory, so eventually we decided to go with purple ditsy-print and gingham bunting, with white broderie anglaise. This then set the tone for my wedding theme and all the other wedding details - including the wedding invitations and stationery!


I loved every second! My advice for other brides? Don’t stress out and worry about things because everything will be fine - people can't do enough for you on your wedding day! Suddenly the little details don't matter so much anymore - having everyone you love in one room is just amazing!


For our wedding flowers, I knew we wanted orchids on the tables as Tim's dad is in The Orchid Society of Great Britain. He sorted these table flowers out for us, along with the buttonholes for the ushers.


The whole of our wedding seemed like a giant DIY project – from cutting out thousands of triangles for bunting, to digging drainage holes in the field before the marquee was put up! We also handmade our bunting wedding invitations - printing the details onto material. My sister-in-law spent lots of time researching how we could print onto material without ink running, or having to buy industrial fabric.


The best man's mum made our wedding fruit cake as many years ago her mum {our best man's grandma} had promised to make Tim's wedding cake. Sadly she died a year before the wedding so Carolyn made the cake for us instead –upholding her mum's promise. Our very close friend Gill decorated the wedding cake, again with a bunting theme! To make it even more personal, the cake couple were sat on a tortoise – our first pet together!


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Real Marquee & Bunting Wedding: Claire & Tim

Any bride planning her wedding on a realistic budget is going to love this beautiful, detail-filled big day. It's packed with wedding inspiration and ideas, including fantastic high-street finds for bridesmaids, and in-the-know websites for reasonable handmade suits for your groom and ushers. Claire and Tim chose a traditional church and marquee wedding, with a British bunting and purple wedding theme. You'll have to wait for Part 2 tomorrow for the incredible reception details, but first take a look at the stunning portrait pictures - all by Kayleigh Pope Photography. Claire's Mori Lee wedding gown is beautiful and she teamed it with dainty {and reasonable} shoes from M&S. Meanwhile the flower girls' pretty dresses came from Next, and all the wedding party suits were handmade in Thailand for much less than they would have cost in the UK. They were even embroidered on the inside with their names! I love the ushers' floral shirts - I'm a big fan of men making fashion choices at weddings, it gives the groom an opportunity to let his personality shine through. Don't miss Claire's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionaire - there's tonnes of helpful wedding tips there to steal. Huge thanks to Kayleigh Pope Photography for her beautiful pictures.


For our wedding flowers I used a local florist called Magpies in Longton near Preston for my bouquet, and the Mums' 'Thank you' bouquets. Natalie was superb – I emailed her the week before the wedding to add top table flowers to the order, and she produced the most amazing goldfish bowls which matched perfectly with the flowers on the other tables.

I found my wedding dress in a small bridal boutique in Woburn in Buckinghamshire. I wore a Mori Lee wedding gown, and a veil dotted with Swarovski crystals. Many of my accessories were my 'Something Borrowed'. I had two pairs of shoes – my main ones from M&S and some sandals for dancing later. I didn't want to spend lots on shoes when I knew I would never last all day in heels!


I had three bridesmaids all under the age of six. Their dresses and shoes were from Next – I wanted ivory to match my wedding gown. They had purple headbands from Monsoon Occasion.


My husband had his suit tailor made in Thailand, via a website called iTailor. We purchased the man of honour {instead of best man}, and the ushers' suits from there as well, because we wanted them to be able to keep their wedding suits rather than hire.

We celebrated our big day at St Gregorys Chapel in Chorley, and our wedding reception in my parents-in-law's field! We wanted a personal day and it always seemed like the best option. We knew we wanted a big marquee wedding!




The suits were monogrammed on the inside pocket with the date of our wedding and their job {usher / best man / man of honour}.

I chose my gorgeous childhood friend, Kayleigh Pope Photography for our wedding photographer. It was one of the first things I booked - in fact on the day we got engaged I rang and booked her! Kayleigh has such an eye for detail and makes even the most mundane things looks amazing. I would recommend her to anyone without hesitation!

♥ Want more marquee wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about church wedding ideas? ♥
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