It’s a snoozy Sunday and I’m teaching in Sydney this weekend. So I thought it might be fun to break from tradition and throw a bit of a wild card of a post up for you today. I randomly found these these questions online, and I thought I’d answer them. For no other reason than my own amusement really.
Normal schedule will resume tomorrow, I promise, but for all you nosy parkers out there I hope you enjoy this brief interlude.
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.
“older sister Holly and her albino boyfriend sneaking into her” (from Not That Kind Of Girl by Leah Dunham).
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch?
The window.
3. Before you started this survey, what were you doing?
The gorgeous, heavily tattooed Jacinta married Paschal in July in Ireland. “We met through music and going to festivals”, wrote the bride. “This is where the inspiration for the cake topper came from as we were known as ‘two peas in a pod’ because we were so similar. It was more about our mutual love for music at that stage, but soon a fabulous romance blossomed.”
“My wedding dress was always going to be alternative”, she continued, “and I wanted Bonzie at Willow and Wild to make it. After an initial meeting I fell in love with her vision, passion, friendliness and attention to detail. She blew me away and I could feel the love that she had put into my dress at each fitting.”
The wedding was held at Barnabrow Country House in Cork. “It was a dream venue”, Jacinta said, “the perfect romantic setting and not very formal. We only had a guest list of 26 adults and 7 children, so we wanted to keep things casual. It was a magic rural experience. We all sat at one banquet table and the laughter filled the room, it was like a giant family dinner. The food was divine and the wine glasses magically never emptied. Each room had a different décor which added to the magic.”
It’s no secret that I love a colourful wedding and Toni and Christopher’s really fits the bill! They chose Hackney Town Hall and St John at Hackney Church for their July wedding, only it was their reception that was held in the church!
Their day had a retro 1950s theme. “We hired lots of vintage sofas and standard lamps to make a ‘drawing room’ area”, Christopher explained. “We covered each table with bizarre kitschy little ornaments bought from eBay. Our friend created signs out of flexible neon wire and chalk board and we had custom made bunting from Yo Yo Cottage.”
“We wanted our wedding to be exactly like as if you were coming around to our flat for dinner”, he continued. “We wanted our guests to be completely happy and comfortable, and we loaded our wedding with both our personalities. We did away with a lot of traditional stuff – we both walked down the aisle together, we didn’t have a first dance, or cake cutting. It was just all about fun, chatting, music, dancing and eating… and boozing.”
Ever since we launched The Blogcademy workshop, we’ve had people asking – no begging! – us to offer an online version. So many of you are unable to travel to attend an in-person event but that doesn’t mean you didn’t want in on the action.
At first we weren’t sure if it would work – one of the most magical parts of the class is connecting with other business owners and working together over those two days. But two years and over 700 attendees later, we’ve realised that there is so much to still learn from taking the course digitally, and absorbing the info at your own pace.
On Monday 1st December Gala, Shauna and I will be doing a FREE livestream to tell you all the details on The Blogcademy Online. If you have questions, we’ve got answers! We may even have time to answer some more general blogging and business queries too.
The livestream will be taking place on Monday at 10pm UK time (2pm in LA, 5pm in NYC, and 9am Tuesday in Melbourne).
As soon as I saw just one photo of Ina‘s incredible handmade Moomin Valley (!!) wedding dress, I knew this was a wedding that I HAD to feature. There really are no words! The couple were married in Risør, a small town in the south of Norway. The day took place at the groom’s parent’s home, a yellow house on the countryside, with a big garden full of fruit trees.
“We wanted our wedding to be like us; fun, colourful, non formal, friendly and outside the box,” wrote the bride. “We didn’t want to go by the book, and didn’t want the wedding to be ‘just another wedding’. We wanted a summer party with great friends and family, feeling relaxed and happy, and that’s just what we got.”
When organising our Blogcademy party in London this summer, top of my list of things to get right was a killer bar. I mean, it’s not a celebration without cocktails is it?!
When I discovered Pigs Bladder And Petticoat I knew I’d found the babes for us. Rhubarb and Rosemary Fizzes (rosemary-infused vodka, homemade rhubarb syrup and lemon juice, topped with sparkling water and garnished with a sprig of rosemary), and Pear and Cardamon Twists (gin, homemade pear syrup, lemon juice and crushed cardamon, topped with ginger ale) COME TO MAMA!
Lyndsay and Joseph went travelled for four months in India and completely fell in love with the country – the sights, the sounds, and even the smells. When they got engaged they initially decided that they wanted to go back there to get married. Although this couldn’t happen in the end, it did make picking a theme for their UK wedding a lot easier!
Lyndsay explains, “We wanted to get married in India but unfortunately Joseph’s grandma became ill and we realised we would never be able to get her out there. We then decided we would bring India to the Peak District, which is near where we’re from. We wanted to bring everything that we love about India to our wedding, including the relaxed atmosphere, the food and especially the colours.”
They were married at Standlow Farm in. They chose it because they could hire it for the entire venue for the weekend. “We wanted to have all of our guests there for the whole weekend”, she said. “The venue is just holiday cottages with no staff and more importantly no curfew!! We hired a capri marquee for the party.”
“Our ceremony was officiated by our best friend Coops. We went to the registry office with our parents the morning of the wedding and did the legal bit in jeans and T-shirts, then went back and got ready for the real (okay, not legal) wedding to start.”
Last week I was interviewed by Aleisha from The Save The Date Wedding Podcast. It was a super fun interview to do and I laughed a LOT. We discussed my options on twitter (and why I feel it’s on the way out), why I started my blog as a secret, my ex-job as a shopping telly producer, and why I love weddings so damn much!
If you’d like to listen to it, you can do so here (on iTunes) or here.
The festive season is almost upon us, so what could be a better way to celebrate, than to treat yourself (or someone you love) to some sparkly, glitter magic from my collection with Crown and Glory?
Sophie and I have dreamt up a few new additions to the range because no Christmas wedding or party is complete without a serious sparkle injection. These are sure to get you into the holiday spirit!
Party word headbands!
When we launched the Party headbands with the Bridesmaid Collection, we thought we might be losing the plot. In fact, the night before, Sophie actually messaged me saying “What are we doing? Who’s gonna want to wear words on their heads!?”
Well it turns out the answer to that pre-launch wobble is EVERYONE!
You guys loved the word headbands so much so that we’ve decided to add a new colour way – SILVER GLITTER (oh my!) and some new word combinations!
Adding to the original line up of “Woohoo“, “Bride to be” and “Rock n Roll“, you can now also get your mittens on five new word combinations: “Just Married“, “Mrs” (both perfect to rock at your reception don’t you think?), “Bridesmaid” (hello non-crappy hen do attire!), “Awesome” and my personal favourite, “Love“!!
Each word combination is available in either hot pink or silver glitter and cost £20 each. Perfect for hen dos, bridal showers or just to make a statement on your daily commute.
Although Tiffany and Bright had already been together ten years when get got married, they still really wanted to have a wedding to celebrate their love with their friends and family. It took place in August in Essex. The ceremony was held at St Bartholomew’s Church in Wickham Bishops, and their reception a short walk away at Wickham Bishops Village Hall.
“Wickham Bishops Village Hall is no ordinary hall”, wrote the bride. “It was originally built in 1928 (my Grandad reliably informed me it was the place to go disco dancing back in the day) and rebuilt in 2005. It has kept a traditional barn look on the outside and fully modernised on the inside. It’s also surrounded by a green with a huge tree in the centre, which was a great spot for for photos.”
Now this, my friends, is what being a Rock n Roll bride is all about. It’s not about flowers, or favours or a fancy wedding venue. It’s not about what you wear, who your bridesmaids are or what theme you have. Being a Rock n Roll bride is about doing your own thing, marching to your own beat, and saying “I do” in a way that feels right for the two of you. That’s exactly what Rob and Edie did which is why I’m so excited to share their wedding with you today.
Married in Melbourne, their ceremony was held at the Marriage Bureau in South Yarra. After the intimate service, the headed to the Windsor Hotel for dinner with their guests.
“We met while skating at a skate park in Melbourne. I fell off my board and Edie (who was also skating) came over to see if I was OK”, said Rob. “We struck up a friendship by talking about things we had in common, and I asked her out for dinner. We wanted a very small and intimate wedding ceremony. We decided to elope to keep it a small affair with only a handful of people closest to us invited.”
It might not be the most important thing at the wedding, but there’s no reason why you can’t have a bit of fun with your seating chart. These plans are cute, fun and are sure to inspire you to come up with something unique for your own big day.
Claire of Be Eventful and Caro Weiss wanted to do a wedding shoot with a difference. They wanted to really focus on the couple and their love, so they decided to strip things right back. Their models were Jess and Matt.
“The inspiration behind our Walk the City shoot came from a quote I always looked back to when planning my own wedding, ‘We were together. I forget the rest’ by Walt Whitman”, Claire explains. “As a wedding-helper, I’m used to dealing with the stresses of timings, weather, problem solving and last minute panics that surround a wedding day.”
Rachel and Steve didn’t want to spend a huge amount on their day. They had a £10,000 budget but actually managed to come in way under that! Their biggest savings were the bride’s shoes (Primark!), the ‘cake’ (Krispy Creme doughnuts!) and by doing all the décor themselves.
The wedding had a tattoo and taxidermy theme. “We just wanted our wedding to be about us and reflect our styles”, Rachel said. “Steve is a tattoo artist and I love taxidermy. Little things were dotted around the venue like the antlers, taxidermy fluffy duck, a mouse in a jar and more magpie skulls. We also wanted it to be fun so we had moustaches and swallow tattoos for the favours.”
“All of the décor was made by myself excluding the bunting which I borrowed from a friend. I made all the jars for the flowers, the table numbers, the book bunting, welcome sign, let them eat cake sign, card box, paper cones and rose petal confetti, origami paper cranes and table plan.”
Dane and Leslie’s ceremony was held in the kitchen of The North Market in Columbus, Ohio. Sounds like a strange place for a ceremony, but it was affordable to hire and they were able to dress it up with their gorgeous DIY backdrop.
“We are both artists and have very eclectic styles”, began the bride, “so we found things that we liked and put them together. I think our ceremony backdrop really made our wedding. We hand made everything from the Ohio shaped menu cards, escort cards, cake topper, table numbers, signage, programs, save the dates, invitations, ceremony backdrop, and menu cards. We had fun making everything and our guests raved over it, which made it feel different to us. We also wrote our own vows and heading so hearing the vows Dane wrote for me the first time was the best bit of the day for me.”.
It’s that time again. It’s the week before I go away on a big Blogcademy trip and I’m trying desperately to write and pre-schedule three week’s worth of blog content before I hit the road. Something weird has happened to me this time though. Usually, I chain myself (metaphorically speaking!) to my desk, and bash them out easily. It takes a long time, sure, but I’m a nerd and I usually always get them all done with a few days to spare.
Yet this time I seem to have been sabotaging myself. I don’t know if it’s the time of year, and wanting to take things sloooow, but I’ve been procrastinating a bit and I ended up booking a lot of things in that took me away from my desk this week.
On Tuesday I was invited to the Vivienne Westwood 2015 press preview at their Davis Street store in London. I have been a MASSIVE Viv fan for years, and in fact the very first thing I ever bought when I earned some money from this blog was one of her necklaces, so it was pretty incredible to be invited into the inner circle.
If you have deep pockets for your wedding dress then you HAVE to go see them. Good God, they are too damn beautiful in real life (of course my photos do not do them justice!) The Princess dress (above) might have just taken the lead as my favourite wedding dress of all time. Can I please just own it to flounce around the house in?
Before we crack on with the real reason you’re here today (Thursday Treats baby!) I wanted to give you a quick little update to let you know that on Monday I fly out to Australia for the final leg of our 2014 Blogcademy tour.
Do you know we’ve taught close to 700 people at this point?! What the hell right? That is a LOT! We’re also planning something BIG which we’ll be launching in the new year. A lot of people have asked for it, and we’ve definitely listened… that’s all I can say for now!
SO if you need me, I’ll be in a completely different time zone, and in SUMMER! I’m raiding my wardrobe and trying to remember what we wear when it’s not frigid outside.
Laura and Tom were married in Liverpool in September. They wanted a fun-filled wedding that everyone would enjoy. That meant ditching many of the traditions that they didn’t like the idea of, and only keeping the parts that they did!
“When we first sat down to work out what we wanted from our wedding we realised that there were certain aspects of traditional weddings that, as guests, we found boring”, said Laura. “At the end of the day we just wanted to have fun at our wedding! So we skipped out the bits we didn’t like and picked the bits we did. We made a list of all our favourite things in the world and tried to see if we could incorporate them into our day. Most of all we just wanted to make sure that it was relaxed and laid-back, a lot like us.”
Look, it’s no massive secret that I am obsessed with photo booths. It’s a sickness. If I could have one in my house I would (maybe one day!) So when Showtime Photo Booth got in touch to introduce themselves I was more than happy to listen.
The thing I love most about their booths is just how customisable they are. They can create bespoke ‘skins’ to cover the outside to fit your wedding theme. How bad ass is that? They also offer a number of classic skins including this glamorous, retro inspired design.
“Our mission is to capture those special little moments at weddings and events in a very unique, instant and informal manner”, the London based company told me. ” People are never stiff or sombre when you let them loose in a photo booth, and that’s what makes it so brilliant for weddings – people sometimes shy away from the formal wedding photographer, but the booth puts them back in control (and gives them a silly hat and a moustache to wear, if that’s their thing). Our booths are quite high tech and print super sharp pictures incredibly fast, but also look stunning and quite glamorous inside and out, so make a great feature for your event.”
Mia and Dražen were married in Croatia, a country that is used to very traditional weddings. They didn’t want anything traditional for their wedding and so picked a fun red pin up theme.
“In Croatia, weddings usually have a lot of guests and many traditions”, said the bride. “However, we are not fans of the norm, conventions and traditions, so we opted to have a small and intimate wedding with only close friends and family.”
“Also, brides in Croatia usually have traditional wedding dresses – ball gowns or lace siren dresses and they are almost always completely white. The pin-up scene is not really big here but I love the style so the wedding theme was set in a heartbeat. All details of the wedding were red and white, with black elements and a lot of polka dots. We wanted our day to be relaxed and full of laughter and tears of joy.”
It’s mid- November. If you’ve been in business a while, you’ll already know that this is the time of year where everything in the wedding industry slows down to a glacial pace. Brides and grooms tend to put their wedding planning to one side in favour of all things festive. The enquiries dry up, and that metaphorical tumble weed seems to blow past your website more often than you might be used to.
If you’re not expecting it, it can be a little disconcerting, but it’s all very normal and come January you’ll be overrun with enquiries as it’s when everything ramps up again x 1000! Not only are there lots of Christmas engagements, but those couples getting married in 2015 will wake up on January 1st thinking “Oh crap, we’re getting married this year, we better get serious with the wedding planning!”
Rather that sitting around, eagerly waiting for the January rush to hit, this is the perfect time of year for you to get your business is in the best possible shape.
Start a passion project
I recently wrote about the benefits of personal projects, and this time of year is the ideal time to do something about it. Organise a shoot, put on an event, and just have some fun!
Get those accounts in order
Groaaan! Boring, I know, but why not get a head start on next year’s taxes by cracking on with them now?
Give your home or office an (Autumn) clean
Spring cleaning is overrated. I am ALL about the Autumn clean. We’ve been de-cluttering our house massively over the past few weeks and it’s so blissful. Anything that isn’t beautiful or useful is being chucked (goodbye ugly DVDs that we never watch! Hello, white walls and new carpet!)
Out with the old in with the new, that’s what I say. A nice home and work environment makes everything a million times better.
