DIY DIVA: Pomanders

Really sorry this is a rushed post, i'm very busy today but hope this helps you anyway! Pomanders can be used in weddings in such a variety of ways. They can be hung onto the back of chairs, hung along the ceremony aisle, carried by the bridesmaid, used as a centerpiece, strung from the walls, get creative! But it you want to use them in a way that you need many then they can get expensive which is why i've sourced some of the best DIY tutorials around! Good luck!

Tissue paper is a very good way to create gorgeous pomanders and comes in so many colours it can fit into any colour scheme. This example by Project wedding uses styrofoam balls, tissue paper, scissors, wire and wire cutters to create their pomander by a method using neatly folded tissue paper and this post from Ruffled uses the same method.. This project by Crystal on wedshare also uses tissue paper but a different method however creating equally as gorgeous results!


They might be a big more expensive but this project from 'Creative Jewish Mom' uses artificial flowers to create her pomanders as does this project by Wedding bee. At least this way ensures the flowers look real and it may be easier for those that are not as crafty as they wish to be (that would be me then!)

You will find loads of tutorials on silk and tissue flower pomanders and its always worth researching on youtube as well because they are video tutorials which some people may find more helpful than written ones.


I love when you come across a project that is really thinking outside the box. Like this creation by holiday crafts and creations which uses coffee filters that have been painted to create very pretty pomanders and I love how this project by Karas party ideas used cupcake wrappers to create a totally cute decoration! Fancy pants wedding also has a unique idea to use simple card to create their very cute pomanders. Plus this tutorial by Wedding paper divas uses ribbons in a really creative way!

So have fun crafting! I know i have a few projects lined up for summer myself!

Real life weddings of the week!

Wow i have been totally spoilt this week by the weddings on offer! Originally i was only going to do 1 wedding per week but this week i found 5 that i totally fell in love with so i've decided i'll just post whatever amazing weddings i find every wednesday. So here is some serious wedding porn...hope you're ready!

1. 'Heartfelt vintage wedding'

Such beautiful pictures. You can tell the bride and groom just are so in love it's like no one else is there. I really feel the emotion of the day comes through so strongly in the photographs. I am more than a little blown away by this wedding. There was no accompanying text to this wedding so i don't know any details such as the couples name or the location but for a more extensive gallery find the original gallery here at Once Wed.

2. Esteban and Ariana

Again it's a wedding where the love of the couple really blew everything else out the water. The wedding was in Australia but the South American and Mediterranean heritage of the couple played a big part in how the wedding was styled. It's a gorgeously rustic and beautifully simple wedding which you can all enjoy in full here at Style me Pretty.

3. Kaibins wedding

I just adore the colour scheme of this wedding, the most beautiful pink and the lighting used in the photos make them wedding porn of the best kind. The styling of the wedding just looks really well done and they have used the 'L.o.v.e' plates that i own! You can see the full wedding here at style me pretty.

4. Emily and Jason

Ok i have fallen a little bit in love with this bride! Her write up of the wedding is so funny and endearing you have to go check it out yourself! Rock my wedding wrote the wedding up in 2 parts so find the first part here and the second part here!

5. Leah and Peter

This is a rock and roll wedding with all the best ingredients: sweets, skulls and...pugs! I love their Day of the Dead style wedding and their rockabilly style! See the full wedding here at Rock N Roll Bride.

Inspiration board: British Mod

CLICK TO ENLARGE

So the royal wedding is looming and there are loads of British themed items out there at the moment ready for street parties all over the UK and what better way to take advantage of this than a British Mod themed wedding?

1. Dress from Damn Good Vintage
2. Union Jack bunting from Zig Zag Bunting
3. Red, blue and white cocktail recipes from She Knows food and recipes
4. Court shoes from La Redoute
5. Real life wedding on Boho weddings
6. Real life wedding by Dave and Charlotte photography
7. Real life wedding by Ruffled
8. Union jack bag by Irregular Choice
9. Peggy Moffitt
10. Cakes by Crumbs and Doilies cupcakes
11. Boots by Mikkel Rude 
12. Sorry I cannot remember where i got this image from!
13. Flowers by Ambience Florals
14. Union Jack place card holders by The All In one Wedding Shop
15. Sorry i cannot remember where i got this image from!
16. Union Jack Invitations at SugaLilly
17. Vintage dress by Beta Boutique on Etsy
18. How to do Mod make up at Elle Girl magazine
19. Ben Sherman at Asos
20. Mod Scooter print at Pop Art UK
21. Ben Sherman at Asos
22. Daisy invitations at U Name It designs
23. Dress from The Carnaby Streak
24. Union Jack wooden bunting by Rockett St George
25. Dress by DaDa Dress
26. Twiggy
27. Flowers by Arena Flowers
28. Headwear by Stephanie James Couture
29. Table plan by Dottie Creations
30. Image from The Carnaby Streak

My week in pics!

This week started off with me visiting Monaco for a few days with one of my lovely friends! It happened to be beautiful weather (as you can see) and we spent more than a little time in the cocktail bars! Monte Carlo is a beautiful place and lots to see and really walkable, we walked everywhere and saw everything!

Then i returned home to find its lovely weather in the UK as well! Woo! So even though it was back to work that couldn't deter my good mood! Brought a few bits and bobs for the wedding, under the premise that its good to start collecting the little things as soon as i can and start storing them away. So these are the things i've picked up this week:

• Some vintage pink lace doilies, dozens of them! We are going to put one underneath every place setting and i think its going to look adorable!
• Some cake toppers. Even though i'm not sure if we are even going for cupcakes yet i saw some pastel cupcake flags and they were only a few quid so i just had to pick them up.
• I brought the 'Love' bowls pictured below which we are going to have on the cake table filled with sweets. 

• Its only a small thing but i brought a little paper notepad as one of the ideas we are going to do is ask people for wedding advice as a sort of guest book (alongside a fingerprint tree) and i stumbled across some notepads which have the same illustration on them that we have on our fridge. Our whole fridge is filled with vintage and paperchase postcards and one of the postcards is 2 people with a love heart and the phrase is 'I love you so much i could squish you' so when i found the matching notepad i was super excited.
• I brought some cufflinks for the best man and ushers. I saw them on sale, they are simple cufflinks reading 'best man' and 'ushers' but for £6 i couldn't go wrong!

Wedding advice: How to beat them post wedding day blues

I'm having so much fun planning my wedding and i cannot wait for the day to come but already i'm aware of how much i will miss this when its over. I love being able to spend a day buried in pictures of dresses and articles about DIY projects and any spare time is now spent fawning over some kind of bridal blog. Once the wedding day is over its understandable how some people start to feel down. So here are the top tips for beating the blues:

• Be realistic about what married life is going to be like. Throughout the whole of your engagement you would have been the centre of attention for a lot of your friends and family but its important to realise that once the wedding is over its not going to be like that, it might even only be a matter of time before a friend or family member announces their own engagement.
• Make sure you have some lovely mementos such as a guest book or photo album to look back on and remember your special day. One idea is to have a post wedding hen night. Invite your friends around, open a few bottles of wine, stick on some tiaras and watch back the wedding video.
• Just because you're now married make sure your relationship doesn't completely change. You got married for a reason and you should work just as hard to keep that spark alive now you're married as when you were not.
• Relish the chance to relax after the wedding. Take a weekend trip away, appreciate nights on the sofa with your partner where the conversation is now about the two of you and not your wedding!
• You may feel like you're being silly by feeling like this but the most important thing is not to keep it to yourself because that's when problems start. Express how you feel to your partner or friends. 
• Take up a hobby, an evening class or a home study qualification. Enjoy the free time you now have to spend on other things. Organising a wedding was a process where you learnt a lot about the wedding world but there are always other things to explore and learn about.
• While planning the wedding try and have a day when you're both off work and spend it together, with strictly NO wedding talk. Don't allow your whole lives to revolve around the one day. 
• Plan another short break together later on in the year, organise big get togethers with friends and family. It will give you something else to look forward too. A lot of couples do start their marriage in debt and so may not be able to book a holiday but even choosing a weekend to drive to a park and have a picnic, something outside your normal routine is nice.
• Remember your wedding day was ONE of the best days of your life, not THE best. There will still be so much to look forward to in your married life. Your wedding is only the beginning, not the climax.

Supplier focus: Genuine vintage clothing

Dress By Posh Girl Vintage

There are so many weddings that are themed around bygone eras and its often the case that the bride wears a dress that reflects the clothing of that time. My own wedding is based on the 50s and i will be wearing a typical clinched waist flared skirt creation. But then there is the question, to go genuine vintage or not? Many love the idea that they are getting something a little unique and that they are able to get a better quality fabric for their money.

Posh Girl vintage are maybe one of the most well known vintage dress suppliers on the net. They always have a wide range of beautiful dresses available and are able to provide much detail on each item including era and condition. They are also reasonably priced but watch out, they sell out fast. The best idea is to subscribe to their feed to keep an eye on the new dresses coming in every week. This is an American site and for their American visitors they do have a system where you only have to pay half of the total order with the rest paid within 30 days but there is the option of international checkout as well (check out their FAQ section for details).

Vintagedress.co.uk is a site which shows a few of the dresses that are stocked in their Bristol shop so at the weekends you can go and visit them for an appointment and actually try the dresses on. None of the dresses are available to buy online but there are many beautiful dresses and i think they are well worth the trip to Bristol.

Natasha Bailie is an online vintage shop that, while not having a bridal section, stocks some beautiful prom dresses that could easily be wedding dresses. She even offers to source a dress for you if you email her and the site ships worldwide for free (plus they have plenty of size 10s and 12s unlike most vintage shops).

Dress by Heavenly Vintage Brides
  

Love Miss Daisy is a vintage shop in York that stocks lovely bridal dresses. The dresses are available to be brought online however that means they are non returnable. This option offers free UK delivery plus they ship worldwide! Alternatively you can visit their shop in York where they have a larger range and try on dresses.
 Click to read more!

Etsy shop of the week: Bragging Bags

Bragging bags is such a perfect supplier if you are having a rustic woodland/ vintage/ pastel type wedding (which i am). They note that they do custom orders so you can contact them with requests and they have made loads of sales of Etsy and have 100% positive feedback. They ship everywhere and are really well priced as well. The details are sooo cute, notice in the small white bouquets the little wooden charms at the bottom.

I think i am going to get the above flowers for my wedding. A beautiful bouquet of silk flowers which is what i want and most of the others i have seen online either look awful or are sooo expensive but this looks beautiful and is only $64.99/ £41.38 which is a lot cheaper than others for the same quality. You can also get smaller matching bouquets for the bridesmaids and boutonniere pins as well.

They also have a blog here if you want to check it out!

DIY DIVA: Hen parties

Ok so i've just produced a blog timetable to introduce a bit of structure to my blogging and as its thursday it means a bit of focus on DIY! One of the things i love discovering on the web is when people throw amazing hen nights and bridal showers. Hen nights only ever used to be about L plates and strippers but now for those who arn't interested there are so many more options out there! I'm organsing a friends wedding and even thought its a loooonnngg way away i know when it comes to her hen night that she wont appreciate the typical night as she doesnt drink and prefers daytime activities. I was thinking something that would be lovely would be afternoon tea as i know we both love the cakes!

Invitations

Although you may not want to spend a lot i always think its nice to have official invitations to an event because it makes it appear special. Even if its just creating an invitation on word or powerpoint then it can really make the event come together more. You can then print it out onto pretty paper or card, add a ribbon or sticker or use a rubber stamp.

You can add personality through unique fonts. Dafont and Free fonts both have downloadable fonts which you could use to spruce up your invitations a bit and both for free!

My fun cards offers printable pdfs FOR FREE which you can use for the background for your invitations and they have many e-cards as well if you think that will be an easier and quicker way to contact everyone! Other great places to find similar things are Printable Greetings which have THOUSANDS of choices of all kinds of cards and invitations, Smilebox which lets you use photos to create invites and greetings and even the Office website can provide plenty of templates! Invitation Land have loads of free designs ready to print off and the HP site has dozens of templates for all kinds of thing that can come in handy including invites but also hen party place cards and games!

Plus of course there is always getting yourself down to the local Hobbycraft and running amok among the aisles!
 Continue for more ideas!

Real Life wedding: Jacob and Petrel

Follow this link to find such a cute, light and perfectly pastel wedding that i have fallen in love with and want to share! I am taking some serious inspiration from the pastel themes for my own wedding! Spring has sprung :)

Gemstone trees

I LOVE gemstones. I'm not someone who believes in crystal energy at all but when i was little i was obsessed with collecting tumbler gemstones, i thought they were the prettiest thing i had ever seen and amassed hundreds. Nowadays my gemstone collection has been stored in the loft but it hasnt stopped me from thinking about how beautiful they are. So when thinking about decor for our upcoming wedding i came up with idea of a few gemstone trees! Orginally i had the idea of distributing my gemstone collection, one to each guest as a favour, with our wedding date or initials wrote on the side but at the end of the day what will people do with that? Throw it away, lose it or at the very best put it in a display cabinet. Even though at the moment my stones are in the loft i do believe one day when i have a lovely bowl or something to display them then they will be out once again and i'm too sentimentally attached to them to give them away. So the idea of using them in the decor really appealed to me and i love gemstone trees. Whats more brilliant is the stone that fits best with our colour scheme is Rose Quartz...the stone of love!

Whats more is there are sites showing you how you can make your own here at Learn Fun stuff and Ehow.

Real life wedding: Rebecca and Derek

Ok so im majorly in LOVE with this wedding! The photography (by Rachel Thurston) is just beautiful and the wedding itself looks like the most fun ever! Every single detail is amazing. If only English weather would allow me a wedding like this! I literally cannot stop going through the photos!

Doing it yourself!

DIY is such a big part of most weddings now and many brides start scouting out their friends talents from the minute they're engaged (i know i did). Well this post is about some of the do-it- yourself options out there for you. If you and those you know don't quite have the talent or knowledge to start something from scratch here are some great kits to get you started!

Flowers (fake)

For those who love the idea of a bouquet they can keep forever then a paper bouquet can be perfect. But for those who can't construct one themselves a bouquet can end up costing a couple of hundred quid! Well the Crimsonpoppy have just released this DIY paper kit where you can create 6 poppies in a multitude of colours and all for £13.85/$22.

If a button bouquet is more your style then Greenwichst sell a DIY 40 stem button bouquet set and while your at it you can check out their actual button bouquets which are all half price at the moment!

Plus something i havent seen before, a doily bouquet! MyHaleyGirl provides the materials to make your own right here!

Katesaidyes have several DIY silk flower centerpeice kits from only £20/$32 which could also be used as bouquets. They come in quite neutral shades and look gorgeous.

Glamping

I'm of the opinion i dont really want to go on a proper honeymoon straight after our wedding for 3 reasons really:
1. We cant really afford the honeymoon we want straight after the wedding so it will give us some more time to save.
2. You spend so much time looking forward to and planning your wedding i dont want it to be over too quickly and leaving the honeymoon until later on in the year will mean we still have something to look forward too.
3. There will be a lot to sort out straight after the wedding that i wouldnt think i would be able to relax that well if we went on our honeymoon straight after.

So for that reason we are leaving our main honeymoon for about 6 months but straight after the wedding will be going on a minimoon, to have a few days relaxing just the two of us. For our minimoon we were thinking about going glamping (for those not in the know it means glam camping). Now i am really not a camping kind of gal but these places are nicer than most hotels i've stayed at!

If you fancy a bit of gorgeous vintage caravaning then check out LoveLane Caravans which are so beautiful and cute and based in the lovely Cornwall. A few great sites for glamping places around the UK such as Glamping UK and for really reasonable prices are Canopy and Stars. Goglamping has sites for all over the world, America, Europe etc.

And check out this article by the Guardian on the top 10 sites in the campsites in the Europe.

Wedding progress

The venue is booked! Contracts signed and deposit sent. It seems a really exciting thing especially as the contract has been signed on our anniversary, it was 5 years today we officially started our relationship. We are off to theatre and dinner tonight for this double celebration and i cant wait!

Real Life wedding: Monica and David

Ok so i had to provide a link to an absolutly gorgeous wedding linked from the wedding blog 'Style me pretty'.

Such great co-ordination and detail and the photography captures it all beautifully. WARNING: this wedding will leave you breathless!

DIY Diva

With the current economic climate its not unusual for brides to find ways that they can do things themselves. While i'm a total idiot at anything regarding my crafty talent i am lucky enough to have a mum and nan that are very talented indeed! If there are readers out there that need some DIY inspiration i'm recommending this lovely site Eat Drink Chic. It has loads of inspiration for decor, advice on DIY projects, print outs etc.

Had to mention!

A fab site i've come across is Picnik! Its totally free and you can use it to edit your photos online, remove blemishes, change contrast and colours etc. Its sooo easy to use, very straightforward and if you want you can import your pictures straight onto facebook!

Wedding photographers

I'm trying to plan a wedding on a budget yet i still want it to be spectacular. Through a combination of research and DIY assistance i do believe i can get that result. However one thing that really concerns me is photography. Photography is a huge part of the day however it can be one of the biggests costs as well. I was worried when i couldnt seem to find a photographer for under £1000. Then i found 2 great search engines which can really help you find photographers in your area. One is Wonderland Avenue and the other is Cheap Wedding Photographers.

If you set your budget you may find that you may be able to get the photographer you want if you hire them for a shorter amount of time and only get your discs on cd.

Some of the photographers i'm now considering as a result of looking through the sites are Terry Lee who does packages from £850, Gemma Williams who can be hired from £695, Assassynation who can be hired for 5 hours for £600 or Lumiere Photography who can do a full day for £800 or 5 hours for £600.

However find the best photographer you can for your budget, don't just go for price because if you pay £600 for someone whose photos are the same level of quality as your guests you will still feel ripped off!

Budget candy buffet

The candy buffet is such a common thing to see at a wedding now and even though we are not having it exactly we are having sweet centerpeices. Because of the prevalance at weddings there are loads of suppliers out there who will set up, style and stock your buffets for you however for those on a budget this can prove to be a costly option. While looking around at suppliers the average quote for my centerpeices has been about £25. If we use the example we will be having about 10 tables this is about £250 and i believe we can do it for cheaper. I love the idea of mismatched glassware and will be looking out for vintage style vases and jars at charity shops, vintage fairs and online. If we dont get the things we want by closer the time we can always hire items. A large bon bon dish can be hired for around £5 so we could get the glassware sorted for around £50. To fill these dishes with a selection of pastel sweets including Haribo, millions, flying saucers would easily cost less than £100. Wholesale sweets can be brought from Harrisons Direct. If you really want to go all out and have a true American style candy buffet then American sweets such as Hersheys, Willy Wonka and Jolly Ranchers can be brought at American sweets.co.uk which is an American sweet supplier in the UK.

Pancake day has inspired me

As pancake day was yesterday i have got into a mode where i can only think of sweets and cakes and naughty treats and this of course led me to thinking of...the wedding cake! Well the only thing i know at the moment is i dont want a wedding cake. I want lots! I've already mentioned i love the idea of a french fancy tower because its different, fits with the theme and is cheap! However i also mentioned the fiancee isnt too keen on the idea and would still prefer a cupcake tower.

One of the places we were considering to make our cupcakes was Cupcake cutie based in Buckinghamshire. We are having no children at the wedding so might allow myself to indulge in some alcoholic cupcakes such as pink champagne. They can custom design the cupcakes to match your theme and are very well priced.

Another option is to buy some plain cupcakes which would be cheaper and get my nan to decorate them. She's very crafty and has decorated cakes for family occasions in the past. Using sites like The Cake Decorating Company she could custom design our cupcakes perfectly herself. We're not looking for cupcakes that are overly intricate, just something that matches the theme.

If i can't convince the fiancee into the french fancy tower i might try a macaroon tower. I love macaroons and even though i know they are increasingly common at weddings now i've never seen them at an event myself whereas i have seen dozens of events where cupcakes have been served. They come in a variety of colours and flavours and i can't wait to try some! All the places i can find recommended are in London so i'm thinking i might just take the fiancee to london and have a day of trying french macaroons! I'm sure he will fall in love with that idea! The places we would visit would be La Maison Du Chocolat, Yauatcha, Paul and of course Laduree.

Amber & Jeff's Candy Land Wedding

Amber & Jeff's Candy Land Wedding

Just the most gorgeous wedding! Beautiful colours, i'm super jealous over the candy bouquet and i cant get over the dresses!

Just because...

The grooms suit

I'm pretty excited about the fiancee getting his suit. He never wears one and i think he's going to look very dapper! I love a grey suit, i think it looks young, modern and very sexy! It also goes great with our pastel colour scheme. We think we will end up hiring the suits and buying the ties and cufflinks. Burtons are doing a great sale at the moment on suits and TM Lewin are doing great deals on their ties. The fiancee isnt really that bothered about his suit, as long as he feels comfortable in it he doesnt mind what colour or style he wears. The one thing is he loves his hats, he's hardly ever seen without one. In fact his hair has become a bit of a myth! However his hats of choice are beanies or caps, neither of which i'm letting him get married in! He thinks this is unfair as i get to wear a hairband (as if its the same!) but i have put my foot down, however i said he can wear a top hat and i'll even let him wear a flat cap or trilby but they have to match the colour scheme!

Incorperating contrasting themes

The general theme of our wedding is vintage. Its going to be pretty pastel colours, lace, bows etc. However something i want to incorperate is skulls. I know, it seems random. Ever since i was a little girl i have loved pirates, as a child i was obsessed with how i could become one and i havent really grown out of the obsession as an adult. In our lovely light green lounge we have a white clock in the shape of a skull with crossbones as a pendulum. We have a big display cabinet which has various pirate items in such as paintings, baubles, glasses, hip flasks etc. All my friends and family know about how much i love pirates and have been very eager to find out how i am going to incorperate them in the wedding and i didnt have any idea! Well now i've got thinking and here are a few ideas:

1. Have a pirate theme engagement shoot. Our main reason for an engagement shoot is we are setting up a wedding website and want to have pictures to put on it. The whole wedding website can then follow a pirate theme.

2. To put a little pirate logo in the stationary that still matches the colour scheme. So the skull and crossbones could be in a pastel colour or overlayed with a lace pattern or something along those lines.

3. To have the table names after pirate related items or famous pirates. I could have tables such as Black Bart and Blackbeard.

4. To wear a hairband like this or wear a dainty pirate necklace or bracelet. I have a charm bracelet and i could take off all the charms except the pirate ones. The groom could wear a little pirate badge (i mean brooch but that sounds quite feminine hehe) which would look great against his grey suit.

5. We could have pirate cake toppers. There are loads of great options around thanks to the Mexican day of the dead.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks