roses.

I thought, just as a quick (quick? ha, its taken me 24 hours to do this post. damn you Andy Murray for distracting me) follow up to the previous post, I'd show the roses I've found in the most beautiful colours which seem to look like a perfect match for the bridesmaids dresses. Now I should say that I feel like a fraud having a post with the word 'matching' in it when accordionsandlace has recently posted this, but in my defence, I know my wedding will not look like 'one of those', I want it to reflect us, but I do so love it when I find a colour match! And a plum coloured rose? I didn't know they existed!

The Avalanche rose:

photo: gill rickson on flickr

The 'Big Purple':

picture: real flower company

The 'Cool Water':

picture: flowersnthings on flickr

And the aforementioned gypsophilia:

picture:tamaki on flickr

and just so you can get an idea of the dress:

The fuschia/plum/cerise colour is less red than it appears there, and more how I describe it. They hve a big blowsy floral print on them. Also in a purely selfish way, I don't want to show the whole dress on here until they're out of the shops. sorry...

gypsophilia

I was in church this morning, and unfortunately as my mind does sometimes when in church, my thoughts turn to the wedding. I sound incredibly self centred. I promise I'm not really. Anyway, I was thinking about the decorations, flowers and such. I was fairly against flowers hanging off every pew right from the start, it seems like an enormous waste of flowers, and money.

photo by me

I was thinking about doing a better, more finished version of these for the pew ends instead. I've fairly obviously, just tied this on to my rocking chair and not hemmed the end or anything, but its not too bad? I threaded wire through one side of the lace so that it holds in position, but the wire needs to be a teeny tiny bit stronger I think. The ribbon holding it on needs to be wider too, so that it covers the whole of the knot, and then hopefully the tails hang down too? What do you think? (by the way, there are umbrella holders on the end of every pew, so I can tie onto those) I was also thinking about some little wicker hearts I've seen, maybe they could hang off the ribbon, or is that overkill?(it probably is, I tend to go that way...)



I was also thinking about the funny ledges the church has in front of its windows. They've put them there to make window ledges, and quite deep ones at that. I've seen them with floral arrangements on before, so I know they dont mind having them put there. My mind started wandering, as it does, and it reminded me of this:

picture: the brides cafe
(sorry I can't be more exact, I saved the direct link to the photo, not the wedding it came from)

and this:

photo: sedona bride via zoe lingard

It was Zoe Lingards post about gypsophilia that made me think about it seriously, until then to me it was just the filler flower that came with supermarket bouquets. Then I started thinking about how lacy and light it was, and best of all cheap! I don't want it everywhere, While I think these weddings are lovely, mine is not to be outdoors and in the middle of summer. (Rather it will be very indoors in October in Cumbria - not a time for too much floatyness) But I think maybe it would look ok in vases or jars on the windows in the church? like this, but gypsophilia rather than alchemilla - which incidentally is really good alternative if you're doing a modern green colour scheme that seems to be everywhere now...

photo by me

plus its cheap. I really dont have a problem with flowers, just so you know, I love them. they make me smile and spend money i dont have. I also think churches look amazing decorated with floral arrangments, I'm just really not prepared to spend a ton of money on things that only get seen for an hour.

Finally, to tie it all in, I love this bouquet ( I also love the dress, buts thats a whole other post right there), I love the big headed roses, the tight posy, with uneven edges, and i love love love the border of gyposphilia, if thats what it is. Its certainly what I choose to see, and the inspiration I'm taking from it.

photo: lusan mandongus advert, from a uk bridal magazine

Phew, that was a long post, does it make any sense?

beautiful dresses.

Now i'm not wearing a tea length dress for my wedding, but if I were, it would have been this one. its just too too beautiful.

stephanie allin

I stared at this photo for ever when it was in the dreaded wedding folder, I just loved the whole thing. But I can't give up on a full length dress. maybe oscar has the answer?

dress can be found in this collection at oscar de la renta

apologies if the image is rubbish, I've had to scan it in from an advert in my folder, which means its from some UK bridal magazine. I'm awful at this lark. But I do love the dress. Unfortunately, I think either would come under the heading of 'living beyond my means', and anyway, I've already discovered that lace doesn't suit me. But I'm good at dreaming.

moon dreams

Ok, so peapods just totally made me want to go to Belgium for the honeymoon, or anytime, but the honeymoon seems like the next time we may go abroad...

sweet peas and other stories.

I looked out of the kitchen window this morning to see this, my first sweet pea of the summer. Theyre a trailing variety (so far not really living up to their name, but I still have hope...) and I love the colour!

pincushion by feltmates

I should not be allowed on etsy. how cute is this pincushion? feltmates does tape measures held in cute felted animals too. they are just adorable. I really need to get back on my loom. Its also seriously tempting to try and do a whole christmas from etsy.

I also found some lovely tan leather mary janes in M&S yesterday. can't afford them, but i sooooooo want them. I never wear heels (I'm size 8 wide fit, finding anything to fit is a nightmare. I'm also 5'11", I don't need heels) but these were comfy and yummy. Oh I want them. I also found a really nice pearl strand bracelet in there that really wasn't expensive, I'm thinking I might get it as a bridesmaids present. I'd put photos here, but I can't get them from the M&S website, for fairly obvious reasons I suppose.

On a slightly more weddingy note, the lace envelopes I posted about yesterday from etsy, she'd posted how to make them on her blog, so I might just cheat. I feel a bit mean, but then maybe she shouldn't link to her blog on her etsy page? turns out, (probably obviously to all you savvy ladies) that they're just folded doilies. appropriately heart shaped doilies seem to make the nicest shaped envelopes, but for some reason no-where in carlisle seems to sell the damn things. I've also found a vogue pattern that looks like it makes some nice clutch bags, which i thought I might try as a present for the bridesmaids (again - aren't they lucky things?), so I'll order that when I get some money.

pattern: here

a few of my favourite things...

Yes, thats right, I love the sound of music. and etsy. a lot. heres what I'm dreaming of at the moment.

tags from: timetoremember phone from: domestikate

rubber stamp by: emililies envelope and card set: pookybutt

earrings by: sudlow bag by: davieandchiyo

obviously the phone and the tags have not much at all to do with the wedding, but theres no harm in shopping for myself sometimes is there?

hydrangea update #1

A really rather boring post on how my hydrangeas are doing. I'm posting these purely because I can't get James to care about them in the slightest. Two of the bushes though, have about 30 heads each coming out on them. I'm sure none of you are bothered either, I'm just quite excited. Not only about how pretty they'll look when they're out, but about how much I can do with them afterwards. I have no life beyond this wedding, it would seem.

lovely paper goodies.

I've been trawling etsy (its badly addictive), and I found these lovely invites:

credit: LaurenLoweDesign

credit: onereverie

credit: powerandlight

credit: goldenrectanglepress

credit: pinklilypress

I could go on. and on. I love stationery. and paper, and pictures. mmmmm.

free weddings

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/8106531.stm

my Vicar might be the best! now how to convince him we're skint...;)

etsy buys...

Last night I made my first etsy purchase. I found 12 yards of a lovely cream lace which I want to decorate the aisle in the church. ( I don't see the point in having flowers down the aisle, seems an enormous expense for 40 minutes of the day, and I'll have my back to them the whole time.) I also bought some lovely vinage looking card that has been scallop cut along one side with one of those fiskars cutters. I know I could have done it myself but it was so cheap that I couldn't have bought the cutter alone for that price. I've got one that cuts corners in a lacy fashion that I want to use on the invitations but this card was just so pretty. I'll put pictures up when they arrive.

I think I might use the cards for people to leave comments on to make a guest book out of later on. I love the idea of guest books, and photo booths, and all those ideas which mean you get a lovely memory book after the wedding, I'm a very sentimental person, I just worry that our families won't get a guest book idea at the wedding. Photo booths and polaroid set ups work really well at weddings where a large proportion of the guests are young. A large proportion of our guests, however are family. Older family. On both sides we have quite a large generation gap between us and our parents, and I can't think of any teenage guests coming. there aren't even many in their 20's, until the evening when hopefully some of my college friends will be invited. So no, photo booths are out. a biiiiiiig waste of money. But I'm thinking about disposable cameras, maybe just two or three dotted around in the evening with boxes of these cards and pens around the room too? Guest books are quite an old tradition really aren't they? I hope so...

DIY#1

last night I made this, my first DIY project, just a rough mock up of what I would like the rings to be held in (i think I might be mad.) it took the best part of an hour, but it only cost 32p cos I alreay had the book. it would need to be quite a bit deeper though so would take longer to make. I'll have to do some more practising. The photos verge on shocking, please excuse them!

I also had to make it from a very old maths textbook, it was the only hardback book lying around that I could cut up, so that explains all the equations. The pages are pva'd together to make a solid block of book, but because you have to hold it open, the pages didn't glue quite straight, as you can see from the pictures. still, in principle its there, I'm going to hunt out some more hardbacks from charity shops to try it with. In case you're wondering, the ring on the left is my engagement ring, and the gold band is my grannys wedding ring that hopefully I'm gong to have remade into my own wedding ring :D am I mad? I think so...

foodie love

I found this photo again on snippet and ink, I just love it.

photo:ann wade parrish via snippet and ink

suited and booted.

I like a 3-piece for a wedding, its just that extra bit, but I'm not sure about all the faff of a cravat. why? I'm going to try and plant this seed of an idea in the fellas head. pictures like these just make me sure that hiring a plain 3 piece suit for the men, and maybe giving them ties as presents would be so much better:

picture: martha stewart weddings via rockandrollbride

picture by eyespy photography via snippetandink

Maybe ties like these from etsy? They can be done with a custom label on the back too :)

credits: rabbitstop on etsy

And while we're on grooms, and groomsmen, how nice would these be as a present? They're made from typewriter keys, and I think I'm right in saying you can get any initials done if you ask.

made by 19moons at etsy

parasols

I loved these as soon as I saw them in Tea and Whimsys engagement shoot:

photos by David McNeil

Isn't the whole thing lovely? all the photos are here in her blog, and the umbrella is heart shaped!! eeeep :) its so cute, I want one! Stupidly, getting married in October in Cumbria, I'd thought about keeping warm (bolero jacket), but not about keeping dry?!

then my lovely bridesmaid found these on ebay:

I'm thinking maybe one for each of the bridesmaids, and a heart shaped one for me? they are lacy, after all, so how can i refuse?!

(thank you Rosalie for the inspiration, I hope you dont mind, your shoot was beautiful!!)

Lace, and other stories.

I've only been blogging for a couple of days, but I havn't mentioned lace once, which is kind of stupid since its in my name. Originally, when I first became a fiance ( I hate that word) and I was in my wedding magazine phase, I went straight for a colour, and a theme. both things that the WIC (megs very eloquent post explains this far better than I could) would have you believe are your starting point, axis in a wedding, and everything that is important in the day. My colours, i've already talked about, and still love. I had to set these, because otherwise I would hav kept adding and adding and adding. I have no regrets on that front.

For my theme, I headed for lace. There were personal reasons for this, I'll get onto that at the end. It was mainly at first down to beautiful pronovias dresses, one of which Peonies rocked so so beautifully at her own wedding:

photos by elemental weddings, and edited by Peonies herself.



cakes like these:

White on Blue cake

English daisy lace cake


Eyelet cake
(all cakes from Makis Cakes)

and everything else in between. I loved those cakes by the way. (My mums,only comment on them, incidentally was that I could have them as long as there was no bow on the top, because it reminded her of a girl she went to school with, who always wore a bow in her hair. wierd)

But when it came to the day that I put dresses on, the lace just wasn't right. nor embroidery. or sparkles. (which is just as well because I hate sparkles.) the dresses that suit are the simplest or simple dresses. so no lace on the dress. Once one thing dropped from my lacy list, other things kept going, so now its not so much a theme, as elements. I like that though, because J and i aren't just about lace, in fact he's not at all about lace at all really, so I shouldn't try to crowbar it in everywhere. I just want a handmade feel to the whole day, because that is what we love. Little imperfections, and natural materials.

I do know though, that I want to use these:

My great Granny made them, and my Auntie gave me them when my mum told her about wanting to use lace. thy aren't very big, But I would like a fabric flower in my hair (maybe attached to something like a mini veil), and I thought one of these could be at the centre. it would also be my something old then, and I love that it becomes a sort of heirloom.

So handmade it is. I guess thats my theme, if you can call it that. he's marrying me despite my imperfections, so maybe the day doesnt have to be perfect either.

Hydrangea love.

credit: taken by pingu1963, on flikr.
I love love love hydrangeas. I love them dried, fresh, red, blue, white, anything. I just adore them. I've been thinking of ways to bring them into the wedding for ages. I dont think they'll work in the bouquet - although i'd love them to - but I was thinking of having pairs of dried stems hanging off the pew ends, (although I have other ideas on these now too - i'm so indecisive) and I have this major plan to make little wreaths from them by cutting up the heads into smaller bunches, if you see what I mean, and pushing them into oasis. I was thinking that the wreaths could each sit round a sort of glass hurricane lamp on the tables. I dont want big arrangements, the place where we're having the reception won't cope with really large ones, and as its October time hopefully she'll have the candles lit in the dining room, and these would compliment it. not sure yet, I have to wait for my hydrangeas to flower so that I can practice. in the mean time...I'll just dream of this mood board from Snippet and Ink and keep counting the heads growing on my plants.

tree parties.

now the hen-do is something I'm quite scared about. I'm not a big drinker, my friends are scattered all over the country (as are the bridesmaids), and dancing is like a phobia to me. (I'm not a complete sad-arse, J and I just both like the quiet life.) But this lady is seriously lucky. I mean SERIOUSLY. tree houses?! 'A', I hope you dont mind me linking you when we've never spoken, its just insane jealousy! have fun :)

Its just a day.

I started thinking about this wedding the way I suppose a lot of people do, I was very excited (obviously), enjoyed telling people, and getting cards in return, and then I started buying wedding magazines.
HA.
I've cured this addiction now, but it was strong for a while. I love magazines, I buy home magazines all the time to rip up and put into a scrapbook I keep about decorating. (I'm a tiny bit anal). I did the same with the wedding magazines, I keep a binder folder for the wedding, all that stuff. Actually the binder folder now lives in a box with all the bits and bobs I've started buying, all the catalogues for hiring suits you get given that are too big for said folder. to be fair, some of it did help, it was lovely too see all the pictures of other peoples weddings, all the gorgeous, ridiculous dresses, and the out of this world locations. but then one day I went to buy some more magazines, and nothing in them interested me. I got a bit sick of the picture perfect days in the bluebells and unlimited budgets.
What these magazines dont tell you, and what all these lovely bloggers DO say, is that its JUST A DAY. Yes, it probably will be the best day of your lives, but thats because you're going to stand up in front of everyone you love, and say that you're going to be with this one person for the rest of your life. It should be about celebrating you, your partner, and your love for each other. It was this blog in particular that I spent a weekend reading, and that I love for making me think. I'm trying to let go of worry, and just enjoy everything.

I'm sure worry will come, in fact its a certainty, but ITS JUST A DAY.

foxgloves

on an unrelated note, I forget how pretty Carlisle can be when the sun shows its face.

its not always like this, this morning it rained so hard that my clothes were wetter than if they'd been in the washer, and the hailstones ripped the leaves on my pepper plants.

material matters.

so these are the materials I bought today. they're just to experiment with, but i'm trying not to get too caught up in making everything match perfectly, so I thought it best to get different tones, other wise I would have been there for a week. The big roses aren't something that I'd normally go for, but the colour is spot on, and the bridesmaids dresses have large blowsy roses on, not dissimilar to this print. (yes I went for patterned dresses, and they're high street - shock horror - the price of bridesmaids dresses shocked me)

pretty wee pumps

I'm coveting these shoes for under my dress :D

ruffle ballet pumps by Anusha at notonthehighstreet

I think they're just adorable, but I'm not quites sure if they're the right colour. I wanted plum shoes under mine to match the bridesmaids dresses. I love that they're flat (I'm 6 foot so don't wear heels, like ever.) but they do come in a gorgeous heel, for those of you who do. I love love love them.

fabric allsorts

I've been looking at fabrics today, spent a happy while in a quilting shop in town. I love all the little prints :) I've been finding different ways of incorporating them into the day, not trying to crowbar them in, just because I keep thinking of things I could do with them. mainly these are favour related, like these jam pots which I think are just the cutest idea. I've been thinking about either making plum jam (see the colour reference?!) with my mums plums come autumn, or cumberland sauce - that sweet sticky marmalade that gets serves with pate and deep fried brie. If I'm going to do favours (which I'd like to if i can, I like giving presents and my wedding will be near ish christmas) I'd like to give something that can be used, or rather, eaten.

I'm also going experiment with wrapping my invites in some of the cloth., It would mean, (if it works, and thats a big if!) that I could do flat pieces of card as the invitiations, with travel/gift list info on the back or another piece of card, and parcel them all up inside the fabric and ribbon. if it works, i'll post some photos!

16 months....

I suppose i should say where I'm up to so far. most of those checklist things you find in bridal magazines start at a year, and I've still got 16 months, so for once in my life I'm vaguely ahead of schedule, but still.

Church, check. in fact my vicars words were 'my diary doesnt go that far, so yeah, you're fine'. Great.

Organist, check. my cousin is amazing :) and I dont have to pay the churches organist fee, cos they don't have one!

Reception, sort of check. in that i'm in their diary as a reservation, I'm just scared to ring and confirm cos the lady is a bit formidable.

Bridesmaids (3) check.

Bridesmaids dresses, check. (got them on my amazing staff discount at work, more on them another time)

Best man, and Ushers, check.

photographer, check. (ed - photographer might be changing so i've taken away the link)

i have ideas on most other things, and a year to tell you all about them!



I'm loving this. I'm not a big party thrower, in fact i dont think I've ever thrown a party, I'm also a big worrier, but this is great. I love christmas, decorating, every year I have a different theme for wrapping my presents, nice ribbons and such, this is like being allowed to have christmas all year round! I've spent the last 3-4 months reading blogs like snippet&ink and zoe lingard, and I love planning all the little details of the day. We're getting married in october next year, on my Grandpas birthday. our thinking, at first, was that its not worth aiming for a pretty summer day up here, oop norf, you're just as likely to get a lovely frosty bright day in febuary and october as you are rain in July. Plus we love strong autumnal colours, and wanted them in our wedding, we were thinking plums, rusty reds, gold and olive, (thats slowly been refined to plum with maybe hints of olive/ivory) and those colours - fingers crossed - will be in the trees then too. Plus its not so busy then, and then we were looking at saturdays in october next year, and the 16th was there. :)

So now im a blogger.

I've never been good at diaries. I wrote awful things in them as far as I can remember. but I made this for something specific - I'm planning a wedding. I thought this could be a record, and that it would solve the problem of having no printer with which to print all these lovely online images I keep seeing. (minor problem in that as yet I don't know how to link/post photos-but all will become clear in the fullness of time ) Also, it may save my bridesmaid from one or two of the daily txts/emails that she gets about my friggin wedding, and therefore also her sanity. so, sorry, you may lose yours instead.

Just as a background, I trained in textiles, weaving to be exact. I love patterns, repeats, colour and texture. I love vintage, and also modern. Bold colours, and subtle also. I love clothes, but can't tailor. I live with my other half, and our cats in the north of England, Border country. Where we dont have all those lovely London suppliers that wedding websites tell you about, so I'm trying to find ways round all of this so we still have the wedding we want, where we want it.