A little note...

Hey everyone,

The past fortnight i havent been posting as often as i would like too or have spent as much time as i would like on the posts and for this i'm saying sorry. At the moment i'm up and down the country (150 miles) about 4 times a week, working part time, my university deadlines are coming up and i'm swept off my feet but bare with me. Come monday i think i will be back on track with the posting (fingers crossed) and i know that means me missing the wedding event of the decade (kate and wills i'm sorry) but i'm sure if you look reallllllly hard you can find a wedding blog that might mention it!

Lots of love and thanks for the patience

Madison

xx

Real life wedding of the week!

My wedding of the week is the wedding of Brittany and Jeffrey. I love the colour scheme of the wedding and the birdcage touches are amazing! Look at the cake topper! Enjoy the full wedding over at Style me pretty.

Inspiration board: Yellow

Click to enlarge

Well the sun has been shining all week so it felt only right that this weeks inspiration board reflected that. Yellow is a colour that can instantly make me smile and feel happy because its so bright and even if your not having a summer wedding can remind you of a beautiful summers day!

1. Real life wedding by Ruffled
2. Cake by Cakegirls
3. Bridesmaid dresses by dress discount
4. Pom Poms by Martha Stewart
5. Centrepiece idea by Ghana Bride
6. Centrepiece idea by Once wed
7. Invites by Kenzie Kate
8. Cake by Maisie Fantaisie
9. Real life wedding by Duet letterpress
10. Dessert table by sweet and saucy shop
11. Fake flowers by flower express
12. Real life wedding by Ruffled

My week in pics!

Annie and me at the zoo

So last week started with the fiancees sister coming to visit us and we took a trip to the zoo before going to an italian for dinner (white chocolate doughnuts for dessert yummy). Then we went down south to go home and we went to visit friends in coventry for the day.

Church ruins in Coventry

We went ice skating and lets say my knees are still bruised. Then me and the boy went to Buckingham and had a walk around the area. its the area we are getting married and it was lovely to see it and how beautiful it was at this time of year.

and i was tempted into having my second cream tea of the week, wedding diet goes right out the window easter time!

On easter sunday i went out for family dinner with my dads side of the family and then we went back to our house for dessert. Its been such a lovely week off work, super sunny! Hope everyone else enjoyed their week.

Madison
xxx

Happy easter weekend

Egg by Hotel Chocolat

Hey everyone,

Im having the weekend off from blogging as i am home enjoying the easter weekend with the family. I will be back monday. Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather and naughty treats.

Madison
xx

Etsy shop of the week: Shimrita

Door knobs

Wine stoppers

If you're like me these would have already got you drooling. Shimrita has their own little cupcake shop ready for you to salivate at full of cupcake related items and they are super realistic! They have lots of jewellery such as necklaces, rings, hair clips as well as magnets and cupcake decorations.

 

The shop has international shipping, 100% positive feedback and each item is handcrafted individually. This must be the cutest sweet shop in the world!

Necklace

DIY DIVA: Attendants gifts

At our wedding me and the fiancee are not having favours, the reason being is we are funding a night out of food, drink and dancing for all our guests, i dont think they need party bags as well! However there are people that would have helped out a lot throughout the wedding that would deserve a special thank you gift. These are usually the bridesmaids, the best man and the ushers. There may also the flower girl or ring bearer. Oh and maybe something for those friends who got up and did a reading at the ceremony...and of course the parents who helped out so much...and nan helped out a lot with the DIY...and the wedding planner really went above and beyond....and suddenly it all adds up! My solution = DIY. I have to apologise because all these projects are for girlies, when it comes to the boys i still have no ideas!


Painted wine/martini/ champagne glasses

I love this idea and its what i'm getting my mum to do for me. There is a really great tutorial here at Frugal bride and you can customise each glass to your bridesmaid, incorporate the wedding theme, there really is no end of possibilities. Plus for that something really special you could make some wine charms as well. 

Real life weddings of the week!

I see so many weddings that i think look gorgeous, fun, pretty, intricate, intimate, emotional or DIY tastic and i do have trouble narrowing them down into this blog post so here is why i've chosen the following 6 weddings this week.

1. because i love pastels and paper lanterns

full wedding at style me pretty.

2.because i appreciate classic style and great photography

Full wedding at Style me pretty. 

Inspiration board: Tulips

Click to enlarge

 i love tulips. They are and have always been my favourite flower. They come in so many beautiful colours and i'm so excited they will be a seasonal flower when i have my spring wedding.It can be hard to find tulip accessories, they arn't the most popular of wedding flowers but they really are gorgeous. Tulips signify everlasting love so what could be more perfect for your wedding?

1. Fake flowers from silk wedding designs
2. Place card holders from American Bridal
3. Cake design by Ron Bon Israel
4. Tulip paper flower garden DIY tutorial
5. Design idea by Delish
6. Place cards by the card gallery
7. Invitation by colours by design
8. Design idea by good housekeeping
9. Tulip garland by Devra Party
10. Invitation by in the treehouse
11. Flowers by oxfordshire company
12. Invitations by my personal artist
13. Wooden tulip decor by Wholesale Mart
14. Inspiration by the sweet occasion
15. Cake by my wedding cake
16. Hanging tulip bouquet idea by brides.com
17. Fake flowers by Sarahs flowers
18. Centerpiece idea by chiana wedding flowers

My week in pics!

Work has been uber stressful over the past week, a refurbishment is meaning raised tempers in an already taxing situation. What sometimes amazes me is although everyone is in the same boat some people want to take out the anger at their colleagues, oh that will help! Thankfully i've off now until next week so lets hope that means avoiding all the drama!

on a plus side its been beautiful weather and i had my last lecture of university until september although i still have assignments to be done (or avoided). On wednesday my friend came round for an assignment day, we really did focus hard for all of an hour before we decided to do some battling out on singstar instead. I am absolutely tone deaf but i love belting out a song like i'm some motown diva!

This weekend the boys little sister came to visit. I took her for afternoon tea yesterday (wedding diet day off obviously!) and then we went and sat in the park and read magazines in the sunshine and today we are off to the zoo :D. So i'm signing off for the day and if there are no posts tomorrow, you know where to find me....in the monkey enclosure.

Wedding porn central!!!

I have a few super treats for you today! I have been itching to get the time to share these with you and todays the day. These shoots make me a bit giddy with happiness so lets get to the first one!

• Caleb and Bethany

So the story behind this shoot is that the couple won the photoshoot then Caleb emailed to ask if he could propose during the shoot! Eeeeeeeeeee!!! He did this by a note which he passed to her.  Oh how i dream of a proposal in a field with my man in a bow tie and me with butterflies in my hair, could life get any more perfect i ask you?! So go straight over to once wed and check the whole shoot out.

The right dress for the right shape

I'm 5'2", hourglass and my ideal dress is the typical 50s style knee length dress. I know this would suit my figure but my first thought was what if my height means i'm lost underneath a mountain of tulle and lace? However seeing other brides wearing this type of dress has reassured me greatly! Sometimes when i'm surfing wedding blogs i see an absolutely stunning dress but although i love it i never consider it for my own wedding and this is because i know it wouldnt suit me. So what kind of dresses should you wear to suit your shape? Its important that you are honest with yourself in considering what your best and worse features are. My waist is small but my thighs are wobblers, my chest is big but i'm not toned and i dont like my arms.

1. The A- Line

This is great for those brides with small waists and those who are pear shaped, wanting to hide broad hips or large thighs.

Supplier focus: The alternative gift list

I'm sure me and the boy are typical of most couples in that we have lived together now for 3 years and have most of the things we need. Yeah sure we have a few things that probably needs replacing or stocking up (i'm very clumsy with glasses) but is that really justification for asking for those things for our wedding? Why not ask for something you feel you really need or in our case want?  There has been huge industry growth in the last few years regarding 'alternative' gift lists and i'm hugely thankful for that! So here are a few ideas for your own gift list!

1. Honeyfunds

This is what me and the boy are going for. We love travelling and want to go to America for a multicentre holiday but we are not going to have the money at all after the wedding so why not ask for help with a honeyfund! Some of the best places i found to help us with this is buy our honeymoon which for a one off fee (£55)  you can get your own customisable webpage, 70 registry cards to send to guests and accept payments directly from guests and in any currency. Honeyfund is a free registry where you get your own customisable page, email announcements which you could choose to print off yourself and direct gift payments. There are upgrade options which would include the ability to upload pictures and make your pages ad free. There is also travellers joy which charges 7.5% of the gift value and you can get your own page and send out email announcements.

2. Charities

There may be a charity close to your heart that you feel you should remember on your wedding day and there are now many ways to do this. The alternative gift list shows several charities to give too including Barnardos, Marie Curie cancer care and Samaritans. 100% of the donation goes to the charity, the website uses the gift aid option to help them fund their hosting. Whats more is you dont just have to support one charity in your list, you can choose to support several.

Etsy shop of the week: The gilded bee

I want to be a crafty bride, my total lack of talent in this area has so far prevented me but some of the things at the gilded bee are inspiring me to try again with its craft supplies. its so purty!!!! I feel i dont need many words for this post, the prettiness speaks for itself but let me tell you they are really well priced, ship everywhere for reasonable rates and have 100% feedback. So what else do you need to know?!?! Head over to the gilded bee now!

DIY DIVA: 5 of my fave downloads

Everyone loves something for nothing because lets face it, its a rare thing! The great thing is if you do a bit of searching there are some lovely kind people out there willing to give you things for free! Here are some of my favourite things to download on the web :D

1. Save the date card

  

How gorgeous is this save the date card? Its really unique as well. It involves having 1 half of the heart with the wedding details on and 1 half of the heart with a personal story about the couple which the recipient can read after undoing the heart. Such a creative idea! Get the instructions and PDF over at diywedding.

2. Bridesmaids survival kit

This is something i am definitely going to do at my own wedding. To be passed out to the bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding it contains their 'survival kit'. This may include tissue, lip balm, nail varnish, mints etc. You can get the templates and instructions over at 100 layer cake. 

3. Typewriter banner

As someone who is using typewriter font on their invites and throughout their stationary i think this is just great. While you can use it as a banner i was thinking of using them as cupcake toppers or table names. You can get these typewriter pattern PDFs over at the Martha Stewart site.

4.Donut bags

Those over at Hello Lucky have these perfect templates for a fairground themed wedding. God even the word donut gets me daydreaming (having some serious craving for them and diet is saying no). They look so cute and are really worth the download!

5. Stripe invitations

Ok so if this isnt a deal then i dont know what is! This comes in 4 colours, blue, green, yellow and grapefruit. Included is the invitation, table numbers, insert card and place cards/ favour tags. You can find this all at J. Bartyn.

Real life weddings of the week!

Every week i'm getting more and more spoilt by the delights of the internet and more and more indecisive. This week i have managed to narrow down my favourite weddings to 9! But they are so fab i dont think anyone will complain!

1. Rory and Nicole

This is an amazing destination wedding in Mexico and the photos are just so gorgeous. I mean just look at that image of everyone sitting on the beach and tell me it doesnt look utterly idyllic! I love the grooms sand coloured suit and the bride look stunning. You can find the full wedding at Style me pretty.

2. Rhiannon and Andy

 
This bride is fab, the wedding was a total DIY job but it looks so professionally done! I think the bride looks really gorgeous and i'm loving the floral sash. There are just so many yummy details in this wedding i really struggled to choose my fave 3 pics so head straight over to the knotty bride and check out the rest of the wedding!

Inspiration board: Lace

Click to enlarge

My names Madison....and i'm addicted to lace. Its so pretty and i'm not even the girliest girl but lace gets me squealing! I hope that i can have a lacy wedding dress and we are having doilies as part of the wedding decor as well. So for all you lace lovers out there here is some lace inspiration to get you squealing too!

1. Dress by Claire Pettibone
2. Cake by The Cake parlour
3. 'Coco' Hair piece by Tessa Kim @ Etsy
4. Lace napkin ring clip art by Martha Stewart weddings
5. Table decoration by Sweet Occasions
6. Decor idea via Elizabeth Anne Designs
7. Lace chocker by Decarabia
8. Dress by Claire Pettibone
9. Cake by The Cake parlour
10. Invites by Le Petit party
11. Decor idea via Elizabeth Anne Designs
12. Shoes by High society Bride
13. Umbrella by Brollies Galore
14. Dress by Asos
15. Cake by Maisie Fantaisie
16. Dress by Augusta Jones

My week in pics!

Wow its been a great (and very busy) week for me. Aside from work and uni i went and saw Jessie J at the manchester academy.

 

She was absolutely incredible! For any international readers who dont know who Jessie J is then check this out. It was such a great night and made even more great by the cocktails consumed beforehand!

So i powered through the rest of the week until friday when i got to go home for a long weekend. I havent been back in over a month so its always lovely to have a visit. On the friday night me and a friend (soon to be bridesmaid) has a walk around the local lake and went for dinner and drinks which was enjoyed outside thanks to the glorious sunshine we had this weekend. 

Mum and Dad having drinks in Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Then on saturday me and my parents went to london as it was my present to my mum for mothers day (which was last week in the UK) and my dad tagged along. We went to see a show called 'Woman in Black' which i'd seen before but its super scary and still had me jumping out my seat the second time around. As it was such beautiful weather we had a few drinks in Covent Garden before going to dinner at 'Cafe Rouge' and then on sunday we had a few family members around and i spent the evening at the fiancees house with his family.

Me and my dad

Wedding wise nothing really to report. The diet is going great and i'm well on target to reach my ideal weight by the wedding. I went to a vintage fair on saturday morning with my mum and saw some really great things for inspiration although i had to practically drag my mum away, she wanted to buy every single thing in sight! When we were looking around in London she kept finding little shops and would bring things to me 'If you was having a butterfly themed wedding...' and i would have to stop her 'Yes but i'm not!'. Mothers!

Hope your week was lovely peeps!