“Teardrop shower jewellery bouquet”
Photography Credit: Emma Case Photography

Before I entered the heady world of the wedding industry I worked for nearly two decades (gulp) as a journalist. I worked as a reporter and then news editor on regional weekly and daily newspapers and also wrote health and beauty features for a glossy magazine – all of which means I have spent a frightening proportion of my life reading press releases.

Press releases are a great way of sending information and news about your company, product or service to journalists and bloggers quickly and easily. While it is no substitute for face-to-face meetings, a well-written press release backed up by strong images is a godsend to busy journalists who don’t have time for countless meetings and networking events and can just cut and paste your copy into a last-minute gap on a page. On the other hand, a poorly-written or presented press release can do more damage than good, leaving the recipient tearing their hair out, reaching for the delete button or, in the very worst cases, blacklisting the sender for being rude and stalker-ish (no really…)

“Brigitte”

Now I’m running my own vintage brooch bouquet and headpiece company, the shoe is on the other foot and I find myself writing and sending press releases to journalists. I now realise more than ever the importance of this medium. To do it well is a time-consuming job – that’s why public relations professionals exist, and why it will be one of the first elements of my business I outsource when the time comes. I truly believe that hiring a good PR is money well-spent, especially if you can find one with good journalist/blogger contacts within your chosen industry.  If you can’t afford to pay for a PR firm there’s still no reason anyone with a computer can’t send a perfectly professional release – and so I’ve put together a few tips below to help get you started.

Of course I’m not pretending to have all the answers – there are many variables which will dictate whether your release, no matter how well-written, is used – these can include whether a competitor launches a bigger, better product at the same time as you, whether you advertise with the outlet or not, or simply whether your product is good enough.

I’m sure there are plenty of Green Room readers who have their own experience of sending, receiving and writing press releases – so please share away in the comments!

“Clara”

What are you selling?

A press release is all about selling your product or service and so you need to identify what you want the recipient to publicise. If you’re a new company it might be as simple as introducing yourself to their readers, if you’re more established you might want to publicise a new collection or product. Either way, you need to identify your unique selling point – what is the special thing that makes your photography business/latest headpiece stand out amongst all the other hundreds of people who are also photographers/ headpiece designers?

Who are you selling to?

Consider who your customers are – and what media they read. Once you know your market – for example budget, vintage, alternative, high end – you can start to identify which blogs/magazines/papers they are likely to read. If you’re selling low-budget products pick outlets that actively promote bargain buys. If you’re all about exclusive high-end products or services aim for titles that focus on luxury products.

READ the blog or magazine you plan to submit your release to to ensure that what you are sending has a chance of being featured – if the person you’re submitting to only ever features styled shoots and real weddings you’re wasting everyone’s time by sending them a release about your new collection of poetry-embossed wedding chair covers.

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This shoot, arranged by wedding photographer Beth of True Love Photo was originally planned to be shot outside. However due to unforeseen rain (boo) the shoot was moved into a studio. However I have to say I love the results (yey!) and the studio backdrops and lighting add a whole new and slightly mystical dimension to the images.

I just know you’re going to love these images, so be sure so check out the ‘Supporting Cast’ list below for all the vendors involved!

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After being really poorly last weekend and spending pretty much all of my birthday and Easter feeling sorry for myself, I was back with a vengeance this week and ready to party! It’s been a busy old week in Rock n Roll Bride-land to say the least! Yesterday I went to see the lovely Elbie to get myself re-pinked before heading to the writers and bloggers party hosted by the fabulous Choccywoccydoodah at their brand new central London store.

I don’t actually have a huge sweet tooth but I do love a good party (and I love love love Choccywoccydoodah and everything they stand for – their cake designs are out of this world!)

Here I am talking to cafe manager and all-round awesome dude Daveed.

All Photography Credit: Tino & Pip Photography

And, here are some of my fave Instagram snaps (yes, still addicted)…

In other news…

Ten years ago today I went on a date with a boy called Gareth and after a few vodka & red bulls I asked him if he’d like to be my boyfriend (awww!)

Five years ago today, that boy got down on one knee while we were having a picnic by the river and asked if I’d marry him.

Four years ago today I walked down the aisle and married that boy. Happy ‘Marriversary’ baby! Someone on twitter pointed out that without all this happening there’d be no Rock n Roll Bride, imagine that!? (shudder…)

I love that we kept our anniversaries on the same date, it means we get to celebrate all our milestones in one each year. I actually can’t believe we’ve been together ten whole years. That makes me feel very old indeed. Even more so when I look at this photo of us from when we first got together. How young!? Wasn’t Gareth the cutest?

As I write this I’m not exactly sure what we have planned, but I do have a yearning to go to Ikea as we’re currently decorating our front room – how very romantic and Rock n Roll!

Oh and because some of you on facebook asked if they could see our wedding photos, here’s a selection of some of our faves…

All Photography Credit: English Rose Weddings (except bouquet shot – David McNeil Photography) More here! Oh how much we’ve changed in four years – look at our hair!

Sometimes I think about our wedding and say “Oh I wish we’d done this”, “we’d sooo do it differently now” or “I’d love to wear this and have my hair like that…” but looking at these photos makes me go all mushy. You know what, yes, our wedding would be very different now. I’d wear a different dress, I’d have pink hair (can you believe I didn’t?!) we’d choose a different photographer, venue and theme… but I still wouldn’t have changed thing about our wedding back then. It was perfect and we were so incredibly happy. It was the most amazing day of our lives but guess what? Our marriage has been even better!

OK enough about us, time for Thursday Treats! Enjoy…

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Kathryn & James’ wedding is one of those beautiful events that just prove to me that the details, the fluff and the stresses of making your wedding ‘cool’ just don’t matter. Simple personal touches, friends, family, laughter and love are what make the world go round – why should it be any different for wedding?

I fell in love with this couple as soon as I saw the first photo in their wedding set. The love that oozes from these two is palpable and I’m seriously honoured and thrilled to share that love with you all today.

The wedding day started with the couple and their family’s having a homemade breakfast together. They were then married at Biota Dining Bowral. “We knew walking into Biota Dining Bowral that we had found the place for us,” Kathryn told me. “Finding the venue for us was actually the hardest job. James didn’t want average food and wine as he is a massive foodie and we wanted the place to look good. After a few weekends of visiting venues, he pulled out a gourmet traveller magazine and said why don’t we contact this place. By that afternoon they had emailed through the most amazing package and we went down the next weekend and were totally in love. It meant we could have the ceremony and reception in the one venue. We could do canapés and drinks straight after and because we did the first-look photos we could eat and drink and socialise with everyone. We had the MOST fantastic 2 course meal and then when the band was up and playing there were roving desserts! Mollie and the Chef James Viles and the staff were seriously incredible.”

Kathryn wore a bridesmaid’s dress by Bari Jay which she found at Jean Fox in Parramatta. “My sister found it in the bridesmaid room on the sale rack! When I tried it on we started crying (could have been from exhaustion because I hadn’t pencilled in a lunch break on the dress shopping day). So, one day shopping and I had the dress! And under budget. I had a couple of reservations as the wedding drew closer that I didn’t have the big gown, but with reassurance from James, my sister and Mum that it suited me and the venue perfectly I put it out of my mind. And I was so happy.”

The venue didn’t need much decorating, but they did do all the flowers themselves. They bought the blooms from Sydney Flower Markets the day before the wedding! “We did a trial run 6 weeks before with a lovely lady that my sister works with,” Kathryn explained. “James and I picked up the flowers and made our way over. It was fun morning with bubbles and stories. It was exciting that for $50 we had 12 ‘trial’ bouquets. From that we decided on a rough idea of what we would like. The day before the wedding, we got up at 4.15am and made our way to the flower markets. It.was.stressful. It was raining and dark. James jumped out of the car to start shopping and I drove around with the crazy fork lift guys zooming around.”

“On Friday when we got to where we were staying one of the groomsmen made us a couple of cocktails and we got to work. It will be one of my best memories of the girls who said they weren’t confident enough to help, proudly making their own bouquets! A girlfriend of one of the groomsmen discovered a new talent and made all the beautiful buttonholes. The rest of the flowers we ‘creatively’ jammed into the different jars I collected. In the end I think we had bought twice as much as we needed. Included was kale (was also used in the menu) lavender, roses, dusty miller, berries, mountain moss and trix.”

Kathryn collected all the jam jars and bottles for the flowers herself. She continues, “We also had tealight candles on the tables. On our present/cake table was a little house we had bought the day before with some candles inside as we had asked people as a gift for money towards our house deposit. James made a thank you sign and also on the table was an Indian saying that James had found while looking for inspiration for our vows. Around the room were other frames with illustrations that James had done to incorporate with our stationery. James’ Dad also knocked up the Rock n Roll sign from old fence palings. I had bought the hearts off eBay and the boys tied them around the tree. Actually that’s where the ceremony was supposed to be held, but due to the rain during the week and that morning we moved it outside. It stopped raining at about 11.30 that morning so it was glorious sunshine by the time the wedding rolled around.”

“We wanted the day to be a representation of us, but taking on board some advice that was given to us, we asked our parents if there was anything in particular they wanted to see”, Kathryn concluded. “We thought of our top 3 ‘wants’ – good food, wine and photos and started planning from there. Whenever we were tempted or worried we hadn’t ‘included’ something we reminded ourselves of those 3 things. The other thing we did was try and keep things simple. I also tried to make my emails and conversations with the suppliers very conversational and not from a crazy stressed out bride which I think helped things go smoothly. A sense of humour can go a long way. Especially, I think, in this wedding business.”

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I have a feeling this is another one of those bridal shoots that you’re going to either love or hate. Me? Well I love it! Pushing the boundaries of bridal fashion and taking influences from things that inspire you outside of the wedding world excites me greatly. It’s shoots like this, set up by millinery & headpiece designer Madeleine of Madeleine Bride, that reinvigorate my love of the alternative and remind me that yes, it’s not for everyone, but oh boy is it exciting to see something different!

“In 2010 I went travelling to the US, Mexico and central America for four months,” Madeleine explained. “The whole trip was centred around being in Mexico for the Day of the Dead celebrations which is something I have wanted to experience for years. I love the concept of the Dia de los Muertos – it’s a celebration of death where people remember their loved ones with happiness, bright colours, lovely food and amazing fancy dress parties. We spent time in cemeteries where all the graves were decorated with pink and orange flowers and even helped a family build a day of the dead alter decorated with sugar skulls and flowers.”

“When I got back to England I decided I just had to do a creative hat project based on this festival. I spent a while working out exactly what I wanted to do and when I was designing my bridal veils and headpieces last year I decided to continue the theme with a bridal day of the dead collection. Usually the festival is very colourful but I thought that it would look really beautiful in white and pale tones of bronze, gold and pale mint. The headpiece designs were inspired by Mexican icon and artist Freda Kahlo with lots of silk and organza flowers and Spanish style lace mantillas.”

“I approached Lydia from Lydia Stamps Photography about the shoot as I knew she was the right photographer for this project. With a background in theatre, she has a great eye for creating strong theatrical images. She was as inspired and excited about the concept as I was. We had a fun evening trying out the make up and decided to pull through the same muted tones, making it quite subtle, but still referencing the Day of the Dead Concept. Together we found an amazing white chalk pit for the location again keeping the muted white tones and we used smoke bombs which combined with the location created an ethereal, ghostly atmosphere.”

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Sometimes I see a wedding and I literally can’t wait to learn more about it and (hopefully if the photographer and couple agree) write it up to share it with you lot too. Luckily for me, in this instance both parties were more than thrilled to share this wedding with us today, particularly because newlyweds Zoe & Richard found wedding photographer Joanna Millington on this very wedding blog. Hurrah!

Their DIY, family-central wedding was held at Christ Church in St Albans. “When we were first engaged I asked Richard if he knew where he wanted to get married,” Zoe explained. “He said he didn’t want to get married anywhere but Christ Church St Albans. It was my childhood church on the estate where I grew up and where Richard and I went to school. We knew it wasn’t exactly the idyllic wedding venue – a flat-roofed, slightly tired and drab looking carpeted church with very green curtains – but it was home. We had our reception in the same place. Luckily they had just built a shiny new hall attached to the old church building, which was very handy. No one (apart from us) had to venture out into the rain!”

The reception hall was decorated with the help of friends and family. They didn’t have a concrete ‘theme’ per-say, they just made the space warm, welcoming and fun! “My Nanny had valiantly made 150 meters of bunting with bits of fabric donated by people from the church, friends and other family members,” continued Zoe. “It was so lovely because people at the wedding said things to us like, ‘that piece there was the material I used to make a dress for my honeymoon’ and ‘that fabric was my old kitchen curtains’, so it was like all of these stories were tied together, and all the people who came together for our wedding, with all of their histories, were connected in some way. It was also very colourful indeed!! We used the left over odds and ends as table cloths.”

“Richard and his Dad had also made the most amazing Alice in Wonderland comic foregrounds. Richard had proposed to me amongst the seagulls on Brighton Beach and right at the beginning of our preparations we’d talked about how amazing it would be to have one of ‘those things you put your face through at the sea side’, but I never imagined we’d actually have them!! Although now what to do with two huge comic foregrounds is another matter…We also had sparklers as we left, which was very entertaining indeed!”

Pretty much everything else was DIY as well including the cake which was made by the bride’s aunt, the fake pom pom flowers which were put together by the bride’s parents and grandparents, and all the entertainment and music that was performed by various talented friends. The catering was also put on by some of the women who worked at the church. “My Mum had found a team of helpers from the church, who selflessly doled out and washed up after us all. We really couldn’t have done it without them, and yet they all thanked us for inviting them. People’s generosity was just astounding. After the service we ate ginger biscuits lovingly made by both of our mothers and drank mulled wine. We were really keen that everyone could come to every part of the day. We didn’t want to send some people away for the reception and then drag them back for the evening, so we decided to have curry from the place across the road. We could literally see their shop from the window in the hall where we ate. They were just so wonderful and insisted that we couldn’t possibly have onion bhajis, because they are just onion! They would make us their speciality, which was very tasty indeed. Richard and I are both vegetarians, so there was no meat, but no one seemed too phased by that! We had asked guests to bring a pudding along, and so we were not short of choice!! In fact we didn’t even get to see half of them! Thank goodness for photos! For drink, my Nanny and Poppa had bought every last Cobra from Tesco when they were on offer, and my Dad got a deal with a mixed load of wine. So we ate, drank, and were very merry indeed!”

The bride wore a short dress which she found at Whistles. “Being a fan of recycling, hand-me-downs, charity shops and vintage shops (when I’m feeling flush) I had been looking for something second hand. I knew I wasn’t a meringue bride, and I had no desire what-so-ever for a strapless floor-length number with diamante tiara and shoes to match. One friend said to me ‘You win either way, if you turn up in something outrageous, everyone will be shocked, if you turn up in something classic, everyone will be shocked.’ I contemplated dressing up as a Power Ranger for the occasion (just think of everyone’s faces!) The dress I ended up in, however, even caught me by surprise.”

“My Grandma wanted to buy my dress for me, and so for a laugh we went to the bridal bit of a large department store, just so we could fake puke all over them. The sales assistant was horrified when I told her I was getting married in only four months time. We quickly left. We ended up buying my dress from Whistles. I saw it one day when I was mooching around waiting for a friend, I was certainly not looking for my wedding dress, and I phoned my Grandma and Mum that night and we arranged to head to Selfridges, where they had the last one in my size, the next day. When my Grandma used the word ‘vivacious’ to describe it, I knew I had to have it. On our wedding day, when I arrived at the front of the church, Richard said to me ‘You did it, you surprised me.’ I think he would have been less shocked by the Power Ranger costume!”

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I always loved sleeve tattoos on women, so when I finally got up the courage to get one done myself I really did my research to get the very best artist I could. Mike, and the London studio he was working in at the time, was recommended to me by a heavily inked friend when I said I was looking for a cartoony, colourful and fun design – nothing to serious, just like me I guess!

After spending 18 hours together I got to know Mike pretty well. I was surprised to find out he was so young but this along made me respect him even more. He is incredibly talented, devoted to his career and seriously inspirational. The perfect candidate for this week’s Inspirations interview if you ask me!

Mike tattooing me. You can see more photos as well as my “yeah right this doesn’t hurt” face, here Photography Credit: Al Overdrive

Hi Mike, can you introduce yourself to my readers?

Hello my name is Michael Harris I am a 25 year old Tattooer, husband-to-be and father to one amazing daughter. I have been tattooing for coming up to 5 years and I work at Churchyard Tattoo Studio in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

How and why did you get into tattooing?

I’ve been very much surrounded heavily by tattooed people since I was young. I was skateboarding at around 13 and going to hardcore punk shows around the same age. Both seem to be full of tattooed people so I was inspired by them for a long time. I’ve also been drawing all my life. Tattooing seems to be the only art form I can relate to.

What is it about tattooing that you love so much?

Just being able to do my own art everyday is amazing. I’m one of the few lucky people that make money from art. I love art in general anyway so there are a lot of reasons I love it.

Is tattooing a difficult industry to get into and do you have any advice for anyone wanting to do the same?

Nowadays it is ridiculously hard to get into. More and more people are tattooing badly from home and more and more people are becoming tattooers. I believe the only real advice I’d have is to hone your drawing skills and be the best at it you can be. If you cant draw really really well then there’s no point trying. Also remember its not about money in this industry!

Who are your biggest inspirations – within the tattooing community as well as outside it?

Tattooers like Tim Hendricks, Kyle Walker and Chad Koeplinger. In terms of other inspiration I’ve always been a massive Francis Bacon fan. Also Picasso and Van Gogh. I get a lot of inspiration from my daughter Evie and my partner. They are the reason I live and I love them so much.

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Secret Hollywood glamour was the inspiration for this shoot, set up to promote the new range of wedding dresses from British designer Alexandra King. “The shoot was originally based on the morning after the Oscars, a hazy, sun kissed feel with the soft prettiness of the dresses against the cold concrete and run down beach,” Alexandra told me. “As if an Oscar/wedding party traveled down to the beach in Lost Boys and here was the morning after. The shoot then developed to two more locations. To shoot the look book, we found a village hall which had the perfect school play feel to it with a velvet curtained stage and lighting that gave the models the appearance of being a puppet show.The abandoned 1960s caravan images gave a trashy contrast against the dresses again and I love the way some of the images have a romantic gypsy feel to them.”

Each dress is made to order and prices start from just £650. For more infomation be sure to check out her website or drop Alexandra a line!

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Don’t worry you don’t literally have to trash your dress (well unless you want to!) to enter this contest with wedding photographer Photographic Blonde! Photographer Emily would like the opportunity to shoot some kick ass Rock n Roll Brides and what could be a better way to do that then to ask you lot if you’d like to model for her? Not only will you have a great day but you’ll have some really fun and unique photographs to keep forever.

“Hey I’m Emily aka Photographic Blonde. I set up my wedding photography business three years ago after working in the photography industry for seven years, and I was adamant that I wanted to offer couple something different for their weddings.”

“I am passionate about the concept behind ‘trash the dress’,” Emily continues. I think it is a crying shame that so many stunning wedding dresses are packed up & pushed to the back of a closet after the big day. My aim is to celebrate the beauty of both the dress & the bride by creating images that capture their style & personality. The word ‘trash’ tends to put some people off the idea so be rest assured that you don’t actually have to ruin your dress to get some great shots! However if you’re willing to dance in a fountain, run through a field of flowers, have a food fight or cover your self in paint then I’ll be by your side all the way & ready to hand you a towel at the end!”

The Prize

Emily would like to offer FIVE lucky Rock n Roll Bride readers a day long (or however long you need to make your vision happen!) trash the dress/rock the frock photo shoot. The prize includes a hair & make up artist to make sure you’re looking your best as well as approximately 30 high resolution, print quality images for you to keep, delivered via online download.

To Enter

For your chance to win one of these five free photo shoots simply email Emily on info@photographicblonde.com with the subject link ‘Trash the Dress’ and include:

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Last week I received the following email from Green Room reader Kristi,

“I would love to see a post about husband & wife teams (or working with your spouse/partner etc) but in a super honest way. I feel like all the husband & wife teams out there only talk about the good and not the real challenges.

I myself have always hated the phrase ‘husband & wife team’ because it makes it sound like we were matching jogging suits and finish each other’s sentences. When that is totally not us. We are more likely to argue about the shot one of us missed or the one of us choosing too many of our own photos etc. Please can you help?!

P.S Viva la Rock n Roll Bride!

Well Kristi that’s what I’m here for – and we all know I’m going to be as super honest as possible! As one half of an accidental husband & wife team (the initial plan for Rock n Roll Bride was never for us to work together) there have been a lot of steep learning curves that we’ve had to navigate along the way. We’ve had to make changes to how we live and work, mostly without any forward planning (I’m sure ‘proper’ business people are shuddering right now) but I do think we have somehow made it work. Like with anything business-related I think it’s very easy to look at other husband & wife combos and think they’ve got it made, when of course, deep down, we all know they’re only sharing the good stuff and keeping the real nitty gritty and blazing rows under wraps. It’s certainly not all high fives and long lunches in our house, but there are a few conscious decisions and changes that we’ve made along the way, all of which have made a huge difference to our work/life balance.

Be honest with each other, don’t be afraid to hurt the other person’s feelings but be respectful

This is a toughy because on one side you love this person more than life itself, but on the other they drive you crazy! And well all know this isn’t limited to the business side of a relationship either… Gareth & I aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination and we of course still have disagreements about the blog. However like in any relatiopnship (intimate or working) one of the fundamentals of making it work is communication, and when you are both lovers and business partners this is even more paramount.

Luckily we’ve always spent a lot of time together (before Rock n Roll Bride I worked night shifts at the shopping channel and Gareth ran his own IT business from home) so it’s never really been strange for us to be in each other’s pockets all hours of the day. However just being together is a very different matter to having to work together, and having to make decisions as one. Of course when it comes to disagreements each of us always thinks we’re the one in the right so how do we get to that happy place of being adult enough to listen to each others view point as well as getting our own ideas across?

I stole this quote from my new favourite book (seriously, have you bought it yet? It’s bloody brilliant!)

“If there is any one secret to success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own” – Henry Ford

Yes you have to be honest, but you also have to be respectful of the other person’s feelings. Instead of trying to push what you want onto the other person, approach the conversation in a way which encourages them to see your point of view as well as mentally preparing yourself to see theirs. It is only when you find this happy medium that you can respectfully make decisions together. For example (and yes this is another example stolen from Carnegie) if you had a child that started smoking, instead of scolding, preaching to them of the heath dangers and telling them to stop doing it because YOU said so, you might instead give reasons to stop that they can relate to i.e. if they continued to smoke they would never make the football team/boys wouldn’t want to kiss them/they would smell. There is no point preaching to someone about the dangers of smoking if they don’t themselves see a reason to change. In a nutshell you can’t force anyone to change their mind if your reasoning for them to do so is because of how it affects you (or the things you value), you would be better to put an opinion across in a way that taps into their sensibilities.

Have difficult discussions

This follows on from my previous point, but you really do have to address those niggling annoyances in order to move on and progress (in an honest, open but respectful way). Full disclosure: I don’t always get this right.

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Yes you did read that correctly – Melissa & Greg got married in a cave (and instantly went into my ‘coolest ever wedding venue’ mental checklist).

“Greg and I picked up the love of spelunking (caving) during our 4 ½ year relationship and wanted to show our families what we found so beautiful about underground,” Melissa explained when I asked them about their unusual choice. “The ceremony felt very romantic; low lighting, candles everywhere, glowing stalactites and the silhouettes of the people who love us the most. My stepfather Mark became ordained and performed our ceremony.”

“It was very special to have him be such a huge part of my wedding since my father refused to attend for his own personal reasons. One of the more emotional moments of the day was when I danced with my stepfather. I hate crying but there was no holding back my ugly crying face! Greg walked me down the aisle, which was a perfect way to begin our marriage. I was much less nervous than I would have been otherwise. We broke a few traditions that I used to think were important, but now I understand exactly what a wedding is all about; it’s about man and wife and everything else is too insignificant to worry about.”

After the ceremony came the reception at Morgan Creek Vineyard in Harpersville,”Our initial inspiration actually came from my lamp from IKEA! It was colorful, but delicate,” the bride continued. “I wanted to recreate the homemade vintage feel. While the stress did get to me at times it was important to me throughout the planning to make everyone comfortable because many weddings that I have gone to were to static and uncomfortable. I wanted my family and friends to relax and unwind. This wedding wasn’t put on by wedding planners who I didn’t know, or cake decorators who I picked from google, my wedding was put together by friends and family which made it more intimate.”

“The music also helped set the mood. I created a playlist on my iPhone around 3am the morning of our wedding. We played ‘Today’ by Joshua Radin, ‘Love Will Take You’ by Angus & Julia Stone, and we walked in to the beautiful soundtrack ‘The Winner Is’ from Little Miss Sunshine.”

For the reception decor, the couple decided to have each ‘centrepiece’ as a collection of differently coloured vases and glasses – a different colour for each table. “I refused to pick a color scheme. Why should I have 2 colors when I love so many colors?! It was a playful, kid friendly, colorful, wedding. My crew and I have hardly any pictures where someone isn’t hamming it up for the camera and my wedding photos reflect that too! A good percentage of out photos someone is making a face, I kind of feel a little bad for our wonderful photographers, but they got some lovely more serious images as well.”

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Whenever I blog a wedding, I always ask the couples about their engagement story. I don’t always include them in the final posts, but it really helps me get to know the couple and what makes them tick – how they got together, how long they were engaged and how they got from ‘will you?’ to ‘I do’. In fact some of my favourite wedding stories have been those with interesting engagement tales. One of my besties, who was married just last month, was only engaged 3 months (in fact her now-husband did a lot of the planning before he even popped the question!) but at the other end of the scale, Emma & Pete were engaged for 3 years before their surprise wedding last year!

As we all know, engagements and wedding planning aren’t always smooth sailing, but sometimes you just need to have a laugh about it. So needless to say I was pretty excited to be contacted by Universal Pictures just last week to tell me all about their latest comedy release, The Five-Year Engagement starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt. I think it’s pretty much standard that you have to go watch wedding related movies throughout your engagement isn’t it?! And with the team behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bridesmaids working on this picture, I just know it’s going to be a hoot! I for one can’t wait to see it!

“The director and writer/star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall joins the producer of Bridesmaids for The Five-Year Engagement.  This irreverent comedy looks at what happens when an engaged couple (Jason Segel and Emily Blunt) keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.”

“Exactly one year after Tom Solomon (Segel) met Violet Barnes (Blunt), he surprised her with a ring.   By all accounts, Tom and Violet are destined for their happily ever after, but career plans and comical problems manage to torpedo every “save the date.”  Five years later, two people who once dreamed of the perfect day just want to get it over with.   Through the humorous trials of discovering who they will become as a couple, Tom and Violet will learn if they have what it takes to survive their five-year engagement.”

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I’ve been thinking it over a lot this past week, and I figure that we know each other pretty well by now. There’ve been ups and downs as far as our wedding journey goes – so far – and you’ve been there through it all. I reckon I’m right in saying that you all know what makes me tick, but I realise that I’ve neglected to tell you about some of those who make me tick. In this instance, I am talking of course about my bridesmaids.

It wouldn’t be right for me to write this in the usual style of a how to, because the decision to pick (or not to pick) your bridesmaids/best man is such a powerful, personal decision that no one can make it but you. There was a time when I thought that not picking certain people would ultimately offend them or others, but in the end I went with my gut and I chose the people who’ve always supported me and my decisions, and will certainly be a huge part of my life forever.

I feel extraordinarily lucky to know these girls, and luckier still to stand beside them through one of the most important journeys of my life. This isn’t just an introduction for you; it is also a tribute to them, and a public thank you note to express how grateful I am that they’re a part of me, a part of my day, and a part of everything I stand for. I love you girls.

Emma

There is so much of who I am that I owe to Emma, and her unrelenting friendship. She’s like listening to Björk, and eating roast dinners, and falling over in the snow. She’s my identical, and she’s everything that I could want in another person. She’s beautiful and terrifying and on more than one occasion, I believe she’s saved my life. I once stayed in Emma’s house for a whole week watching TV documentaries about dragons, and she taught me that it was okay to cry at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Emma is the single other person on the whole planet who loves CocoRosie as much as I do, and if there’s such a thing as a soul mate or an other half, then Emma is it (sorry Lamb).

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This Alice vs evil queen shoot took place on Hampstead Heath in London. The shoot was set up to promote the new collection of wedding dresses by Beyond Burlesque. The collection has a range of both sweet white and ivory gowns as well as more dramatic dark coloured pieces, hence the Alice vs evil queen/good vs evil theme of the shoot.

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Well what else could I be loving this Sunday but Easter!? I don’t like chocolate at all (I know, I’m a freak) but I do love spending the day with my loved ones and taking some much needed time off work. I couldn’t leave you without some Easter inspo pretty though could I!?

Today I wanted to share something a little different, Melanie & Michael’s sweet Easter inspired shoot that was sent over by wedding photographers Jenn & Derrek of Jennifer Sullivan Photography.

If this doesn’t get you in the Easter egg munching, baby bunny petting spirit I don’t know what will.

I hope you all have a fabulous day whatever you’re up to.

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As I’m in the birthday spirit, what could be more celebratory than a big fat pink cake!? And with ombre being a wedding trend I’m still utterly loving, I thought this DIY from blog reader Heidi would be the perfect way to get the party started…

I’m Heidi, and I write the blog LittleMissLove. I work in Digital Marketing, drink too many iced lattes, and am also a pro hula hooper (more on that on the blog soon!) I write about things I love, and I love fashion, film photography, and getting crafty. I post a lot of mini DIY projects – pretty or tasty things you can make on a lazy sunday. It just so happens that my chap Dikki proposed to me over a home-made chilli just before New Years Eve, so since then most of my crafty projects have been some kind of trial run for the Big W. I’ve seen a lot of gorgeous ombre wedding cakes around t’internet recently, so here’s a how to if you want to try it out yourself!

Recently I met with my bridesmaids, to watch the awesome Bridesmaids film, drink cocktails and have a gossip. Of course, I need a cake for every occasion so I made a lemon sponge with blackcurrant jam in the middle. I tried out ombre icing for the first time – a gentle graduation of colour from light to dark. Here’s how!

Supplies Needed:

♥ Cake
♥ White Icing (can be bought ready made or you can home make some butter cream or cream cheese icing)
♥ Food Colouring in your choice of colour (I used red to make a white-pink-red ombre effect)
♥ Palette knife
♥ Spatula
♥ Bowl

Method:

Step One: Firstly, cover the cake in white soft icing, this is called a crumb layer, and it smooths out your palette. I cheated and bought a tub of Betty Crocker ready made frosting, since you can’t buy white butter in the UK (unlike the US) so you can’t make white buttercream at home. If you do want to go fully DIY just make a cream cheese frosting, that way it will stay nice and white (and it’s delicious!)

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Via J Jump Jennifer

Except today when I’ll be extra specially in the party spirit because it actually is my birthday! Woohooo 28 today.

My plans basically revolve around hoping that Gareth has something in the realms of utter spoiling under this sleeve (no pressure G-man…)

I have a feeling 28 is going to be a very exciting year indeed. Be sure to pop by later today for a super cute ombre cake DIY! My birthday gift to you.

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Hi, my name is Amma and I would like to confess that sometimes I have green eyes.  Yes, I know that biological anomaly that I, as a child of African parents could have emerald green peepers – but I’m talking about professional jealously and how you get over it.

As, some of you may or may not know – I still have a day job; as day jobs go mine is not half bad and given the state of female unemployment at present; I certainly know which side my bread is buttered; so I am more than happy to plod along – albeit sometimes sulkily as a 5-9er until I hit my professional tipping point.

Now, without getting into the nitty-gritty of it all – I had some personal stuff going on that really meant that despite streaking the sky like a comet when I first began my foray into business.  I got forced to slow down, in fact not just slow down – I had to hit the brakes and I experienced a mega slide into a career plateau.  Although, work requests and projects were coming in thick and fast, there was no way that I could take it on, and circumstance meant that ‘my stuff’, blogging, and the day became an all encompassing festival of woe.

Of course when you are feeling sorry for yourself – you can guarantee that one old friend who is going to show up to complete the guest list at your pity party is jealousy.  When you are going through crap, nothing warms your soul more than seeing your luminaries doing well.

You all started at the same time and you start saying to yourself when you see a write up, or a feature on a blog ‘That should be me!’, ‘I want to be at home with my cat acting as a foot warmer’, ‘I wish I could go to said party or event at midday, I don’t wanna work!’

Well, sorry kids – the bad news is that you have to build a bridge and get over it!  So, here are my top 5 tips for overcoming your jealousy and the dreaded career plateau.

The grass isn’t always greener, it is frequently covered in pesticides

The security of a day job means that I get a chance to be lazy.  If I waste my time at work; I am wasting my employer’s time. Those 4 hours spent playing bejewelled before getting on with my blog posts is all kinds of awesome!   However, being full time means that you have to be mega disciplined as freelancing means fluctuations in income.

In the space of a month, you might go from being the Louis Vuitton Don – to a Kafkaesque existence where subsist on cold baked beans eaten out of a tin by candlelight to save on the leccy.  In other words, working for yourself means you might on occasion vacillate between the abject joy of achievement (not to mention filthy lucre) and the terror of failure, worrying about where the money is coming from.

You also live in a land where holidays don’t really exist.  Trust me, while it may look glamorous – the hermit who lives in a hole in Blackheath has a more active social life than most freelancers.

Quit the navel gazing and do something

Anytime, I find myself wondering what other people are doing I pinch myself and look at what I’m doing.  ‘What is that Amma? Are you looking at lolcats or playing digital dress up on ASOS?’

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Anna-Marie & Paul had a simple, down-to-earth and beautiful wedding. Barbie pink accents sat perfectly with their eclectic styling ideas and Breakfast at Tiffany inspiration. The reception was held at The Grand Café in Oxford, as the bride explained, “We went for a high tea affair in a beautiful 1920s style café. It is a special place for us as we started our dating years visiting Oxford and The Grand Café. In fact Paul proposed in Oxford too. We were aiming for a relaxed and informal atmosphere. No cutting of the cake, no first dance – just tea, cake and friends. We created a playlist of all our favorite songs and put it on shuffle throughout the night. It isn’t a wedding venue, partly why we picked it, we didn’t want anything typically wedding style. We aren’t crazy party animals so we only hired it for 4 hours, (5pm – 9pm). We wanted maximum impact, and minimal drunk people (the latter bit didn’t work out, It seems people cram more in a short space of time!!) All in all, it was the perfect choice for our wedding reception.”

Anna-Marie asked a friend from art college to make her wedding dress for her. She was inspired by the dress Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “I wanted an exact replica of the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress but in ivory. I also designed a top to go with the dress and decided 3 days before the wedding to cover the collar in pearls…it was stressful but often the best ideas come to me last minute! She did an incredible job, she is a pattern cutter for Coast, so I knew she was good, but I had no idea she was that good until I saw the dress for the first time! She even made me a cute label inside with my college nick name embroidered in ‘Annabell’. It’s finishing touches like this that made it even more special!”

As well as the pink colour scheme, Barbie dolls were featured throughout the wedding, making it a really girly but cute affair. “I collect Barbie dolls, and was determined to feature them in the wedding somehow, so I had the flower girls carry a Barbie doll each and the page boy carried a Thomas the tank engine toy. That way they had something to keep them occupied during the ceremony. I didn’t want all my closest friends walking down the aisle with me, as there were 7 of them! I had a corsage made for each of them to wear on the day and I attached tags to each corsage with a scrabble ring tied to it. Each ring spelt out the word ‘Friends’ and I wrote on each tag the reasons why they were special to me. Even though they were not official bridesmaids (we wanted to keep it informal), funnily enough when I got to the church I asked my sisters and best friend to walk down the aisle before me, it’s funny how tradition creeps up on you, but Im really glad I did, it made it more special.”

The couple added DIY touches where they could including making their own personalised stationery. “I’m a printer and designer by trade, so the stationery had to be amazing!” continued the bride. “The pressure was on! I created a Rob Ryan style laser cut invite, with a really lovely poem about marriage and love intricately cut out to form the shape of a lighthouse (we call our house the lighthouse, it has become our own special theme!) I made a fun spiral bound long thin Order of service, to be different and included a double page spread of pictures of all our friends and family. Printed on all my favourite papers, all 50% recycled stock. Then I made tissue slip cases for the church with the words ‘Tears of Joy…or a runny nose’ printed on each one. Each guest had a packet of tissues and an order of service on their seat.”

“The reception stationery include tea bag tags personalised with each guest name. We made our table plan a compilation of guests faces on a Polaroid picture in random countries around the world as backgrounds and each table was named after a different tea.”

“I created our own logo using the Tiffany’s & Co. logo, but then crossed out with Hughes scribbled above Tiffany’s. I printed it onto large luggage tags with questions on the reverse for each guest to fill out, this was instead of a guest book. We asked guests how and when they first met us, what we should call our next dog and what their advise for our marriage would be. We got some hilarious responses! We then tied each one to the willow tree that we took from the ceremony (saves on cost). We gave each guest a free drink voucher, entitled ‘fancy a drink?’ and placed in a tiny gold envelope on each place setting. I also made round disks with ‘the legend of afternoon tea’ printed on for our tea cup candle wedding favours.”

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Oh sweet lord this is the most exciting thing to happy to me in weeks (OK so slight exaggeration but…) Instagram finally came to Android! (you can download it here) No longer will I be envious of all the cool kids and their beautifully filtered phone photos. I’m rocknrollbride (shocking!) so why not follow me?

In other wonderful news, I had a rather exciting Skype date with Gala & Nubby this week. Watch this space lovers, we’re planning something quite spectacular.

Aaaand in other interwebs news…

♥ Nubby blogged about this last week but just in case you didn’t see it – A short lesson in perspective. Freakin’ amazing article for anyone in a creative industry
♥ DIY party confetti egg!
♥ Success Isn’t What’s in Your Bank Account, But What’s in Your Head – this article by Dawn Porter is joyously honest and utterly spot on
♥ Why Choose a Vintage Wedding Dress?
♥ Love these unique table settings
♥ “I am not sorry!” Fab post from Gala about being strong, standing up for yourself and saying NO!
♥ A walk around Paris
♥ 60s backyard wedding – so so soooo cute
♥ Whimsical Illinois Wedding
♥ Colourblocked wedding inspiration. LOVE!

Photography Credit: Christine Pobke

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