Thursday Treats: Christmas Shopping & Colourful Weddings

December 6, 2012 in Thursday Treats | Written by

Photography Credit: Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Vogue, October 2010

Happy Thursday my little muffins! The weekend is nearly upon us as we’re edging closer and closer to the big C… oh yes I am so excited for Christmas already. We haven’t got our tree up yet but – and this is a big but – I have managed to start my Christmas shopping which is always a huge weight off my shoulders. Does anybody else get Christmas shopping anxiety!? I never want to be the one to buy the rubbish gifts! Anyway, I’ve broken the seal this year and – shock horror – I’ve actually been enjoying it. I am on the look out for gift guides for geeky, picky and very specific long haired men though. Gareth is impossible to buy for! Any ideas?

How’s the wedding planning going? Are you taking a bit of a break from it for Christmas or forging full steam ahead? Either way, I’ve seen some seriously pretty around the interwebs this week. It seems there’s been a lot of super saturated and really colourful weddings being blogged, which suits me fine – they’re my faves! I know some of these gems will inspire you too…

Until next week…

Weddings & Weddingy Things

♥ Married on a boat – I love the bride’s sailor outfit!
♥ Colourful Hot Springs wedding
♥ Adorbs & colourful backyard wedding
♥ Wisconsin backyard Wedding
♥ Cute New Year’s Eve wedding ideas

Photography Credit: Ben Q. Photography

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Ethical Wedding at Home: Feng & David

December 6, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Simple weddings are often the best, and for Feng & David, doing something low-key and ethical was important. So they had a super tiny civil ceremony with only their closest friends and family in attendance, and hosted the reception at their own house! Yes, Feng put on an apron and served all the food herself!

“Our wedding budget was £1500, but we went over this with our photographer and our rings”, began the bride. “Our rings were pretty expensive as they were custom made using fair-trade gold, recycled gold & conflict-free gems by Amanda Li Hope. We were married at Oxford Registry Office and our reception was in our tiny house in East Oxford.”

“To decorate the house we scoured the markets, car boot sales and charity shops, and raided my parent’s hoard of strange wooden objects”, Feng continued. “I made paper pompoms out of retro dress making patterns and flowers from David’s ‘Physics World’ Magazines – combining the two things that we both do. One of our best finds was a 50p Readers Digest atlas on which we printed all of our invites & turned into paper flowers. Although David didn’t take part in the DIY, he let me cut up his physics magazines and was a constant source of support and sage advice. He came back one day surprised that I’d painted chevrons all over the dining room wall! I was addicted to reading wedding blogs (especially Rock n Roll Bride) as a source of inspiration.”

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Gothic Woodland Engagement Shoot: Adriana & Ben

December 5, 2012 in Engagement | Written by

I do love winter wedding inspiration, but more than that, I love winter inspiration that’s a little bit more edgy. Gothic even. To me, winter is the perfect opportunity to embrace your dark side.

And for their engagement shoot, Adriana & Ben wanted to to just that as well. ”I wanted to really go all out and embodied the darker side of us for our engagement shoot”, Adriana explained. “We really weren’t trying to be ‘dark’, we were just trying to be true to us.  My fiancé is a musician and I am a event creative director, so I really wanted our passions to be apparent in this shoot.  I wanted to create an enchanting feeling and our own little creative fantasy.”

“I personally put together all the decor and we had to cart it all to the location site.  It took us about a 25 minute walk on a trail into the forest to get to the right location. The location was so enchanting.  While setting up our vignette, I decided to attach rose heads to each of the trees in the background to add a dynamic touch.  Overall, I feel that this shoot really pulls from all of my influences in music, fashion and art such as, Tara McPherson (artist), Alexander McQueen, the Foo Fighters and Shiny Toy Guns.  It also is influenced by our favorite show, Game of Thrones.”

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Retro 1960s Wedding with a Moroccan Vibe: Jo & Aki

December 5, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Jo, a taxidermist, & Aki, a web designer, were married at Byzantium, a quirky bar and restaurant in Bristol. The Moroccan decor added an interesting touch to the celebration. The room was decorated with Moroccan lanterns, pipe cleaner animal and personalised cocktail stirrers. Some friends made them a guest list tree surrounded by candles and glass beads, flowers and fairy lights. Jo made some taxidermy through her company Death & Glory Taxidermy.

“I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of very talented people”, explained the bride. “It’s very easy to get caught up with the idea of doing everything yourself but if you’ve got people around you that can (and want to) help, then let them! In the end our photographer (Noel was already a professional wedding photographer – handy!), invitation designer, guestbook tree makers, band, ‘priest’ and florist were all friends. It made the whole day much more personal and special and really helped us get the most out of our budget.”

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WIN A DIY Wedding Video Package with Storymix Media

December 4, 2012 in Competitions, Sponsored Post | Written by

When Gareth & I were married waaaay back in 2008, having a wedding video was low on our list of priorities. I know – what fools we were! But weddings can be bloomin’ expensive and when it came down to it, we just couldn’t stretch our already exceeded budget any further. However these days, couples on a budget have so many more options and the lovely folks at Storymix Media are leading the way.

Their clever free mobile app (available for iPhone & Android - woohoo!) allows all your guests to film parts of your wedding journey (all the way from the hen do through to the wee hours of the morning after the wedding!) on their phones. Then they can seamlessly upload directly to Storymix Media who will edit together the best bits for you! Now, clearly, a video filmed by your Aunt Fran isn’t going to be comparable to hiring a professional videographer, BUT if you want to capture every Rock n Roll moment through your friend’s eyes or your budget just won’t stretch, then this is a seriously cool option.

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Vintage Coca Cola Wedding: Chelsea & Daniel

December 4, 2012 in Wedding | Written by

I love when I get sent weddings with themes or ideas that I’ve genuinely never seen before, and Chelsea & Daniel’s wedding is way up there in the originality stakes. Their theme was Coca Cola!

They had vintage Coke bottle tops in the buttonholes, Coke bottles on the tables with flowers in and vintage Coke posters around the reception area. For their colour scheme they obviously went for red and white, with the bridesmaids rocking polka dot 1950s inspired dresses and with red and white accents throughout. ”I’ve always loved the vintage look – the 1940s and 50s in particular”, Chelsea explained. “Coke is my favorite beverage, and the advertising they did in that era is so fun so that’s where our inspiration started.”

The wedding was held at the Avoca Museum in Altavista, Virginia, a 19th Century home that has been concerted into a museum. They were married outside, in front of the house, and the reception was set up on the lawn. “My favorite thing about the wedding was taking a moment after the ceremony to be with Daniel, just the two of us”, Chelsea concluded. “I also loved having everyone we love and care for together to watch us get married.”

Gorgeous! Don’t you just love the theme? What has been your starting point for your own wedding inspiration?

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