November 2, 2012
In the most part Italian weddings are undeniably beautiful - the landscape, the buildings and the effortless chic of the people. Huge and family orientated traditional weddings are big business in Italy, with alternative or quirky nuptials being a rarity. So I was thrilled to receive Mariangela & Ignazio's quirky Italian wedding recently - I love to show both sides of the story after all!Read more...
November 1, 2012
Cutest little bat-cat ever. Fact! You haven't been able to move online with bumping into some Halloween inspiration this week which is fine and dandy by me. Skulls! Costumes! Vampires! Zombies! What have been your favourite Halloween finds?Read more...
November 1, 2012
"I know this sounds crazy, but I really feel like The Blogcademy is going to be a massive game-changer for all three of us," Gala said to Shauna & I the morning after the workshop, "and I really hate that phrase..." But you know what, I think the girl might be onto something. A heady mix of nerves, anticipation and excitement seeped through my trip to New York this month. Lisa & I had a few other things planned, but we knew our visit was concluding with the biggie. Organising this event was a labour of love and a project of passion - squillions of emails flew back and forth over the course of just a couple of short months while Gala, Shauna & I planned every last detail whilst thousands of miles apart.Read more...
October 31, 2012
"Woodland party circus!" replied newlywed Kat when I asked her to describe her wedding. "At least that was the three things we kept saying to people when they asked what our wedding was going to be like." Kat & Mat were married at The Hideout, a bar and music venue in Chicago. "We really didn't want to have a traditional banquet wedding, and we both wanted something that was very relaxed", the bride continued. "The ceremony was an important part of the day for us but we also knew the party was equally important! We saw the reception part of the evening an opportunity to really celebrate with all the friends and family who had come from both close (a few blocks away) and far (as far as Australia). We racked our brains and both of us have some great memories of The Hideout. We spend a lot of time going to shows there and we even first met at one, so it seemed like a natural fit. I think the venue was what really made our wedding special and started to really define how we were going to work in the rest of the details."Read more...
October 31, 2012
I have a love/hate relationship with the BBC Three show Don't Tell the Bride. On the one hand, I love a voyeuristic nosey at other people's weddings (hello! Wedding blogger criteria number one) but on the other, the obvious sensationalism of shows like this can often get a bit much. I usually sit watching the show wondering if the groom really plans the whole thing himself and if the real truth of the matter is that the production company tell him exactly what to do so they can have the usual drama that seems to follow the programme around. But mostly I wonder if the brides really have no say on ANYTHING. I mean surely you'd give him a few subtle hints beforehand, right?!Read more...
October 30, 2012
Allison & Scott were married at 4,629 ft, at their favourite place - the top of Max Patch Bald, NC. They hosted their reception in their own home. "The décor of the ceremony was the panoramic view of the Smokey/blue Ridge Mountains and the wild buttercup flowers", they began. "At the reception, drinks were served in mason jars, farm tables were used for dining, and the flowers were roses and hydrangeas mixed with sunflowers in mason jars. Vintage plates and napkins were used and little jars of local Tennessee wildflower honey and dippers were at each table setting as favors. Our home was built in the 1800s and we wrapped the columns in garlands and roses."Read more...
October 30, 2012
"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure" - Oprah Winfrey What a whirlwind! First up thank you so much for allowing me to take a few weeks off the Green Room while I was away. I had good intentions to get some guest posts up, but when it came down to it I just didn't have any in the pipeline that I thought we're strong enough... and so I figured, quality over quantity, and let it go. A moment of honesty - the few weeks running up to me going away were tough. I was seriously lacking inspiration and my blogging mojo was waning. The endless treadmill that can be running a blog full time, with the constant pressure to update daily (or in my case multiple times daily) was starting to loose it's sparkle. Don't get me wrong, I am forever in love with my job, but I was just feeling like the posts I was publishing we're only okaaaay. Like I was just going through the motions and that the standard of what I was writing was slipping. I needed this break. Badly. We all know that those moments where you're sit staring at your computer screen just willing the inspiration to come are the least productive. Then add immense tiredness and a crap load of deadlines to that mix and it's a recipe for disaster.Read more...
October 30, 2012
I love a daring bridal look and so when I saw Karyn & Fernando's wedding I was immediately drawn to one thing - Karyn's amazing headpiece. Go big or go home I say! Being a milliner, the bride designed and made it herself. She also designed her own wedding dress alongside Toronto-based dress designer Thein Le. This was all very significant as it was actually Karyn's hat business that first brought the couple together.Read more...
October 29, 2012
It wasn't love at first sight for Amanda & T'Neil, but their romance is certainly what epic love stories are made of. Now call me an old sop, but what a great movie their story would make! "T'Neil and I met through our parents in our mid teens," began Amanda. "It was one of those friendships you had because your parents 'encouraged' it. The two of us could not have been more different if we tried to be - she was miss pep and I was miss 'leave me the heck alone'. I wanted to set her pom poms on fire and she says she was scared to death I was gonna beat her up or something! Through the first year that we were 'encouraged' to be friends it was a lot of small talk and 'my dad said to ask you if you wanna hang out' invites - movies, the mall, game nights. Then we began to see that we weren't so different after all; we had more in common than we wanted to admit even to ourselves. What was once an 'encouraged' friendship became inside jokes, sleep overs, and overnight texting. We look back now after 7 years of the best friendship and we can't say what was the moment it all changed, but somewhere over the years of helping each other through a move across states, the sickness and death of a parent and divorce of others, heartbreaks, injuries and so much more, we became inseparable. And eventually best friendship turned into a 'once in a lifetime', movie script type of love, with all the tests of A Lot Like Love, hope of A Walk to Remember and love of The Notebook."Read more...
October 29, 2012
"Without wanting to sound too sucky I've read Rock n Roll Bride for years, even before I was engaged", wrote newly-wed Katie, who married Adam in Leicestershire in September. "I loved looking at the photography and the different styles & ideas out there. So as soon as Adam popped the question I had a great starting point!" The entire wedding had a music theme - from the vinyl motifs, the homemade posters, the guitar pick favours and the concert venue table names, "Music was a really big inspiration for us, from the background music to the first dance & church music", the bride continued. "Everything was carefully planned and picked to fit our theme. The vinyl theme continued all the way from the invites to decorations around the venue."Read more...
October 28, 2012
Please excuse me for one second because I'm about to be 100% uncool. But you know what, I really don't care because... I'M IN COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE! Yeah no big deal or anything, it's only one of the biggest magazines in the world.Read more...
October 27, 2012
"Could there be anything more romantic than your soldier coming home from war?" wrote photographers Caroline & Jayden of Woodnote Photography. "And what if it was in the 40s, and you hadn't been able to communicate with him online?" This was the starting point of inspiration for the honeymoon shoot of Ann & Anders which took place in Stockholm, Sweden.Read more...
October 26, 2012
What could be more 'quirky-Brit' than Morris Dancing? For my foreign friends, Morris Dancing is a traditional form of English folk dance dating back to the 15th Century. Dancers adorn their bodies with bells and whistles whilst wielding handkerchiefs, sticks and even swords... It's certainly a niche form of fun, but one that that initially brought Bev & Ed together.Read more...
October 26, 2012
Jo & Rob were married at The Gallivant Hotel, an eclectic, shabby chic coastal hideaway. Once a former retro motel on the edge of Camber, the hotel is located right opposite the sand dunes and beach of Camber Sands - what a perfect and idyllic spot to get married! In fact it was even more perfect for this romantic pair because Rob proposed to Jo whilst flying kites on this very beach! "With its beautiful British beach side charm we knew straight away it was the perfect place for us to get married", began Jo.Read more...
October 25, 2012
Gee wizzola what a fortnight! My jet-lagged brain is currently struggling to catch up with life let alone put any kind of semblance of sense into writing some blog posts, so I apologise in advance if this post is a little...chaotic.Read more...
October 25, 2012
Brought together by a mutual love of the 1960s and mod culture, Nikki & Paul met at a 1960s themed club. "I was inspired by wedding blogs like Rock n Roll Bride that talk about weddings that are slightly left field", began the bride. "I was inspired by weddings with bright colours (we had orange and electric blue with grey) and we wanted to make sure each part of the day was reflective of who we are. We also didn't take anything too seriously - it was meant to be fun!"Read more...
October 24, 2012
Tyler & Kristen were married at Camp Sky Ranch in Boone, NC. The inspiration for their day was a 'bohemian family cookout' with nods to the 'flower power' and 'peace & love' vibes of the 1960s. The barefoot bride wore a simple dress from Rosa Clara with vintage jewellery and a flower garland in her hair.Read more...
October 24, 2012
Back to the future, Indiana Jones, zombies... If you were to ask me to list my all time favourite things they would all be way up there. So when Ellery & Arlyn's geeky gorgeous wedding landed on my lap I was more than a little bit excited to blog it... but also rather gutted that we didn't do our wedding this way! The Canadian couple were married at The Ironworks Studios in Vancouver. "The Ironworks used to be an old iron factory near the train tracks just outside of Gastown," began the bride. "It's now an eclectic venue used mainly for concerts and TV or movie shoots. We went to our friend’s book signing event there a few years ago and when we started talking about venues, the Ironworks was the place we both thought of first."Read more...
October 23, 2012
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's going to be full on winter soon. I personally don't mind when it starts to get all icy and crisp outside - it's the perfect excuse to wear something knitted and cute, order a ridiculous sounding coffee drink (Cream! Caramel! Sugar! Marshmallows!) and snuggle up close with your lover. Perfect. Plus we get to see weddings like Tertius & Melissa's... The wedding took place at Oakfield Farm in South Africa. The ceremony was held in the onsite chapel, and the reception in the homestead. For the decor, the couple went for a dramatic look with deep reds and earthy tones. "I'm not fond of the idea of 'colour schemes', but I love textures so we went for the earthy feel with just a little dash red", explained the bride." We added deep red roses and the bridesmaids wore red jackets. The rest we left up to mother nature!"Read more...
October 22, 2012
I'm currently lying in bed in my East Village apartment (well, I wish it was mine!) with Nubby the day after the first ever Blogcademy. It's 7am and we're both bolt upright excitedly gabbing about the events of the past 48 hours. It was a weekend of magical, unexpected, positivity and excitable exhilaration. Loving, learning and inspiring each other - all in our own imitable fashion. I feel mentally exhausted and my feet hurt like hell but it's oh such a good feeling. Our 30 attendees were just what we hoped & prayed for and more, and I honestly feel we've all made some new BFFs for life.Read more...