I heart Save-the-Dates!

I found the instructions to these on the Eat Drink Chic blog and absolutely loved them. I have to say that theirs were far more perfect than mine (they involved aligning the words on a computer, so that they could all be printed off accurately) but I'll be honest, I'd much rather hand-write!

So hopefully these will be hanging in the homes of our guests for the months to come!

Reclaiming the weekend...and the blog!

OK, so it's clear that so far, I have not been great at writing a blog! I am always thinking 'Ooh! That could be put on my blog!' and then wandering off on a virtual tangent. Before I know it, my last post was 6th August. As a teacher....could do better.

I am much the same in regards to teaching. I often think, 'Right, I am going to have a life this weekend and not do ANY work' but then along come 30 essays by Y11 that have to be marked to be added to the 'I'll-catch-up-at-the-weekend-pile'.

But, as I've had the summer to myself (I know, even worse that I haven't written anythng for ages), I've spent a delightful few weeks doing what I like. And that included a morning spent wandering the shops of Trentham Gardens (if you've never been, go at once!). I picked up a book that looked lovely - I always judge a book by its cover! - and took it home to read with a cup of tea.

It's been a long time since a book inspired me so much. 'The Wonderful Weekend Book' by Elspeth Thompson is full of beautiful ideas for things to do at the weekend; once you've decided to reclaim it, that is. I was so inspired that I decided to e-mail the author to tell her. When I logged on to her website (www.elspeththompson.co.uk) I was so shocked to learn that she had sadly died in March of this year.

It seems that her story was so sad and it made me realise that life really is too short. Too short to ignore writing, too short to worry about what flowers I'm going to have at the wedding, too short to feel guilty about buying not one, but two pairs of the most gorgeous boots at Cheshire Oaks, too short to spend every single weekend working, too short to put off starting a business............I could go on!

So here's to a new start, both in my life and in my blog!

Take your seats!

My very first table plan! Made for my lovely friend Becs, who has a Lake District theme for her wedding. It was quite stressful but I'm really proud of it and unless she was fibbing, Becs was really happy with it. Hurrah!

365 days to go...

One year today, I will be wearing THE dress, will have a sparklesome new ring on my finger, will have a new name and will be married. A teeny bit scary but also fabulous!

How unique is unique?

I'm sure that I'm like many brides in wanting a unique, soecial, personal wedding (for now, I'll ignore the irony of that sentence!). But how original can you be?

I am an official loser and have a scrapbook full of ideas I've collected from magazines. I'm also now addicted to wedding & events blogs and I even have a saved list of links to anything I find that I love (how very Monica Geller of me).

The trouble is, with all these ideas coming from somewhere, am I running the risk of ending up with a similar wedding to all those other people out there looking for inspiration?

I love the Rock 'n Roll Bride blog and the other day, innocently came across this wedding:



The title alone got me interested and although I'm not this shabby-chic in taste, lots of these ideas are my ideas, Goddammit! The use of vintage books, the paper and fabric flowers, the soda bar...

I felt a bit gutted actually. Because I realised that my 'unique' ideas, that are all special in my head, can never really be that if they've been influenced by so many other people.

But then I realised that, for my guests and for me and my H2B, it will be unique and special. So what if someone else had fabulous fabric flowers? So what if I stole an idea from somewhere? We all have to start somewhere and we all add our own stamp onto our days, even if it's just the choice of colour, the scent of a candle or the print of a paper.

And if my wedding can look half as much fun or half as stylish as most of the weddings I see all over the place, then I'm going to be a very lucky girl indeed.

God Bless America!

Some photos of my 30th themed-to-the-hilt party!

My new obsession

Before I start, I know how weird this is...please remember this at the end of my post!

I am currently obsessed with straws. Yes, drinking straws. Now there's a sentence you never thought you'd say! But it's true. And it all started with a post on Project Wedding:
http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-an-old-fashioned-soda-bar

...and I fell in love. With the idea, with the colours, with the potential photo opportunities.

So, here's what I'm envisaging. Galvanised steel buckets full of crushed ice, laid on lawns in the shade of the trees. All the colours of the rainbow, the sound of fizz and bubbles and the clink of glass. Droplets sliding down glass on a hot summer's day. Happy guests and a riot of refreshment.

Which brings me back to reality and the straws. Look how fab these are!



These are from www.pipii.co.uk and I'm obsessed with how they will look in the bottles. I would have to go for grey as that's part of my colour scheme but I just think that they are so cute! Far more exciting than your normal straws - and trust me, I spent a long time searching for fabulous straws on t'internet. These are it!

Themed Airstreams...beautemous!

For the love of God...a-mazing!

My upcoming 30th birthday party

I was inspired by Charlotte of the Rock My Wedding blog, who had a British theme to her 30th. The photos are just fab....

So, I decided on a red, white and blue theme too...but I'm going for the good ol' US of A! I will readily admit to going a little bit crazy on my theme but then that's what I do.

Cue....red and blue sun visors, flags, cheerleader pom poms, M&Ms by the truckload, Oreos, a Cheers bar towel, Coca Cola merchandise, a Miss America tiara, an Elvis poster, Minnie Mouse ears, Alabama Slammers........

I have to say that I'm more bothered about the photo-corner with props (that I shamelessly stole from Charlotte), the debut of my original 1970s, free-standing cocktail bar and my decorations than I am about presents, my birthday, my outfit or anything else! Which tells me that I'm doing the right thing by starting this blog; details are everything!

Faith and hope in charity

I grew up in a lovely, friendly but run-down town. From the perspective of fashion, the shops there are completely low-end. But I love (and I mean love) shopping there every few Saturdays because of the amazing charity shops.

Yes, they smell; yes, they tend to have strange people in them (although that's part of the appeal for me! Some of the conversations!); yes, they are full of junk. But they also contain real treasures.

The things that adorn my home from a dusty old shop include a vintage glass sweet jar, an Art-deco round mirror, vintage blue liqueur glasses, a cream china jug used to water my plants....

....and now an ever-growing collection of vintage, all-white china. I'm collecting cups and saucers to use as table decorations for my wedding. I'll attach a photo of my two favourite finds. They were grimy and hidden away in the bottom of a cardboard box full of mismatched china but I brought them home, washed them til they were sparkling and just look how beautiful....

And they were 50p for the two.

My first moodboard!

Oh for God's sake....

...so no-one may ever read this but I have to try! That's my new mantra. So I'm back with a vengeance...even if it does feel like I'm speaking to myself!

So what have I been doing? Well, decorated my first venue for a wedding...Keele Hall for the lovely Amy. A combination of vintage glass, tulips, fairy-lights, vanilla candles and freesias made a dark stone stairway into a scented, sparkling walk-way.

Now I've been asked to make a table plan for my friend Bec who was officially my first ever client! I made her a mood-board for her wedding and came up with a personalised, hand-made I Do Ideas booklet (I just came up with that name - I must be inspired!). So that's my next project!

I've also been planning my All-American 30th birthday party. I may have gone a little to town with the theme but hey ho!

As for my own wedding...well, that's the plan for my summer holidays (I know, damn all teachers!).

So now let's see if I can keep on blogging..... x

I'm sure it's happened to you....a scent wafts past and instantly throws you back in time to a magical moment, to schooldays, to old friends, to a song...

Part of a wedding (any event, in fact) should be about scent. Smell is the strongest one of our senses and it seems wrong to overlook it.

I'm imagining people entering our venue and being hit by a beautiful, yet not overpowering, scent. I'm not sure what yet but this is a good place to start:

http://www.stevalcandlecompany.co.uk

I've been a fan of their Orange & Cinnamon candles for a couple of years now and they last forever! I have one burning as we speak.....

Shea (AKA Moo, Shea-Moo, Shea Mears, Mrs Moo), our rescue dog. An endless source of amusement and love.

One small step...

My first blog. Suddenly, the thought of writing something is quite scary! And in my head, it was all a lot easier!

So, why am I writing a blog? I suppose to try and get out some of the pent-up creativity that seems to swirl around my head most of the time. I'm a teacher by day and I love being in the classroom but for the last couple of years, I've increasingly found myself being obsessed with interiors magazines (in fact, any magazines! They are my vice!), photography, sparkly bits and beautiful books. And then I got engaged....

....and started going on a popular wedding forum, which to be honest, left me a little cold. Everyone seems to be doing the same things and it was a purely-by-chance post a friend made on Facebook, that led me to rockandrollbride.com which, in turn, led me on to a wonderful world of weddings.

Now I'm no expert on weddings or on art or photography or anything, really. But I absolutely love the details....those touches that people remember about a party, the images that stay with you from a set of beautiful photographs, the warm and fuzzy feeling when you are truly inspired. And I thought to myself, 'Maybe I just need to do something about it'.

So here I am.