Wedding

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A DIY Beach Wedding: Jaq & Patto

April 23, 2012 in Wedding by Kat | 5 comments

Beautiful weddings like Jaq & Patto’s constantly remind me why I got into this wedding blogging game in the first place – to inspire others to create a wedding perfect for them. Sure it’s just a day and it’s just a party, but honestly, there’s just something about seeing events like these that makes my heart sing! Call me soppy, call me overly romantic but awww ain’t love grand?!

The beach wedding was held at a friend’s private residence on Roches Beach, Tasmania. They had only 45 guests and kept the whole affair really personal and intimate. The lucky couple were able to set up a marquee in a paddock on the property and really put their own stamp on the day. Everything was handmade by Jaq & Patto. Every line of bunting and every paper heart. Each table had origami paper and instructions to keep people entertained and the wine was donated from the Winery where Jaq works.

“We found inspiration in so many places,” Jaq wrote, “in Frankie magazine, on Pinterest, and searches for eco weddings on the net. We always wanted it to be a relaxed affair, with just really close friends and family. We both love vintage, retro and eco/ natural ideas so we chose this theme because it is just ‘us’. I also love to be creative and really enjoyed making the decorations and searching for ideas.”

“We wanted to do as much as possible ourselves to personalise it. We chose the marquee and had it at friends property because we wanted to feel relaxed and we wanted everyone else to relax too. We wanted people to have the option of camping, to be able to take our time to set up, and pack down, to hold a ‘hangover cure’ cook-up the next day, to be able to party into the early hours without time restraints. Also having a marquee meant that we could create our own little world inside…it was like a blank canvas so we could make it just how we wanted it to be. We were trying to create a romantic, natural, playful and relaxed vibe when making up the decorations.”

Jaq wore a dress purchased from Claire Louise Bridal in Brisbane with a vintage lace necklace that she found at a local gallery. “I chose the dress because it was simple and elegant but I didn’t want a meringue” Jaq continued. “I couldn’t afford the lace/vintage style that I would have loved and this one was within budget. I hate shopping do didn’t want to shop around too much so when I saw it and tried it on it looked good so I bought it then and there! I think the designer was a bit shocked at my quick decision and it was only about the fourth dress I had tried on.”

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A Picnic Wedding: Alex & Denise

April 23, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 14 comments

The inspiration for Alex & Denise’s Brighton wedding was for it to be “just like a big picnic”. They used local suppliers (including the caterers who used local produce and supplied locally produced champagne) where possible and DIY’ed the rest! “Our inspiration was for it to be like a big picnic – although without having to sit on the floor!” Denise told me. “I found mini picnic baskets that were used as the centrepiece on each table. These were filled with chutney, pickles and breadsticks. We wanted the wedding to be really relaxed – I’ve always disliked formal situations. I also wanted there to be lots of colour. For the meal we had a blanket set up on the floor for any children that got bored of the adults. We also did a play area with a wigwam, dress up box and colouring books. Although on the day they mainly opted for running around the field like lunatics.”

“The second (and very crucial) driving force for the wedding was the belief that it needn’t cost a fortune. Apparently the average wedding costs around £19,000 which to me is just a ridiculous amount of money (and was totally out of the question – we had nowhere near that amount of money to spend). We had less than £5,000 for the wedding and honeymoon but I didn’t want to compromise on the feeling of it being a special day. It was time to stick it to the man and beat the system.”

“There was a lot of DIY with this wedding. I gave myself the challenge of making 100 metres of bunting. I had my own mini production line! I sewed the bunting on to paper ribbon (which was much cheaper than using bias tape). I also made our sweetie favour bags (full of lovely sweets: pink shrimps, parma violets and flying saucers being my favourites). I really liked the look of the old fashioned paper sweetie bags – each table had a different colour (they looked great and they were as cheap as chips – sweet). They also doubled as name places. I tied them up using raffia. The raffia came in handy for lots of things – you can buy a massive bundle from floristry suppliers. This was much cheaper (and was far nicer raffia) than buying it anywhere else. Floristy suppliers were also a great place to go for decorative items (eg baskets, enamel buckets etc).”

“Another friend made great signs for the bar, camping area and toilets. This friend also made our tennis table bat table plan. Alex’s family are big fans of table tennis so it seemed like a good way to go! Each table was named after top table tennis players of the 1990s – I think that might be a wedding table plan first! I also made moustaches on sticks because I think they’re funny.”

Denise wore a wedding dress which she bought from Oxfam Bridal and then has customised and shortened by Erika Langley Bridal Alterations. “Wedding dress shops scare me so I never actually set foot in one,” the bride continued. “I’m not a girly girl and the idea of all the attention on me made me feel a bit ill. I knew I wanted a short dress – I’m only 5ft 1 and thought a meringue would drown me. Also, as we would spend the majority of the day in a field (and possibly a wet, muddy one) I didn’t want to be dragging a dress behind me. Plus, if I did need to don my yellow wellies, I wanted everyone to see them! I scoured the high street but nothing was right. I eventually went to Oxfam Bridal – perfect for me, I love a charity shop! The dresses were mainly quite extravagant but I did stumble across one that was nice and simple. It was also long with a huge train. Nothing that a dress maker couldn’t sort our though. I loved having such a simple dress – I felt really relaxed in it all day! My heels got replaced by some nice flat yellow sandals as soon as I got to the farm. A farm is no place for heels.”

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A Private Residence Wedding: Ruby & Emmanuel

April 20, 2012 in Wedding by Kat | 12 comments

Ruby & Emmanuel’s sweet wedding took place on a private residence in Adelaide. The bride wore a 1930s vintage wedding gown with a vintage headpiece. Even her bridesmaids wore vintage dresses.

The couple locally sourced things where they could including the food their served and the flowers the used to decorate the marquee. The bride’s sister made all their stationery and paper goods. The wedding was a really personal and intimate affair. “Our focus was really just on our family,” the bride explained. “We  handcrafted our wedding with, of course, some true vintage touches.”

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A Royal Blue Austin Wedding: Erica & Rick

April 19, 2012 in Wedding by Kat | 14 comments

I. die.

No seriously. How beautiful is this bride? VERY! Dear Erica you make my job easy.

Erica married Rick last November in Austin, Texas. After an outdoor ceremony at Chapel Dulcinea, the newlyweds headed to the surrounding areas for a portrait session with their wedding photographer Rachel Sumner. “When we started planning our wedding we knew right away we wanted something very small and intimate,” Erica told me. “As soon as my husband scouted the location everything else fell into place. My dressmaker Anslee Connell on Savannahred was so amazing to work with she basically took all the garble out of my head and created my dream dress. She specalises is ‘curvy couture’ and what she created was perfect for me. I’m thinking about dying it hot pink and wearing it for our 1 year anniversary!”

“I think the most interesting thing about our wedding was how we came across our wonderful photographer,” the bride continued. “We had met with some local photographers, but didn’t feel a spark with anyone. Quality photos were number one on our list and so we decided to put an ad out on Craigslist. Rachel our photographer responded and as soon as I saw her photos I fell head over heels. She was our perfect match… but she lived in Seattle. Amazingly she was willing to come out to Austin and shoot our photos and I am so glad we scored her.”

The reception was held at The Treehouse Grill and was a very simple affair. The couple didn’t go mad for wedding details or ‘stuff’, they just focused on having a great meal and party with their loved ones.  ”We didn’t have a ton of elements to our wedding but I knew I wanted glitter shoes and decided to give it a go myself. It was a HUGE mess and the shoes were HORRIBLY uncomfortable (as you will notice in a few in my pics) but they sparkled and that’s all that mattered! Our wedding was Rock and Roll, because it was very small and simple but a great reflection of us as a couple.”

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A Book-Themed Glasgow Wedding: Jane & Mike

April 19, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 14 comments

They met while they were both working for their University newspaper, and although Jane said she only joined for ‘the hot boys’, it would appear her joining was worthwhile! The couple planned their wedding for March 2012 and were married at Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow. Their love of writing inspired their wedding decor, particularly the ammmmazing book vases. I had to know more…

“The DIY book vases (we got the tutorial via Ruffledblog) were definitely more of an ordeal than I’d realised,” explained Jane, “but we used the offcuts to make matching confetti and decorate the table plan which made quite a nice book theme. The slight fail on my part was that the books – bought from charity shops – were a high proportion of Jackie Collins or similar so there was quite a bit of filth in the confetti and some vases had to be strategically placed to avoid family and younger viewers!”

“I think we realised early on that we would both look totally out of place at a more formal, traditional wedding so we wanted to go for something a bit more relaxed – we’re both also quite food-obsessed so we wanted a day with lots of good foods and drinks,” she continued. “Mike and I named the tables after some of our favourite Seinfeld episodes as we bonded early on over a mutual love of watching Seinfeld and eating sandwiches in our pants. My sister and I made the favours (chocolate covered pretzels, mini apple pies and red velvet cookies – which turned out to be brown velvet cookies due to a food colouring fail on my part) as Mike’s family are from America and we wanted to add a little hint of that.”

“Apart from the books, we didn’t really have a theme as such, we just chose things that we liked and I developed a bit of an obsession with patterned tape,” concluded the bride. “Yes that’s right,” chipped in Mike, “”She really did develop an obsession with patterned tape.”

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