DIY Pocketfold Invite Update.... Envelopes

Now this part of the invite making has become a mission. Note to blog readers and potential invite makers. Measure your invite and then order your envelopes and make sure there is wriggling room for the invite....

Envelope Sizes - Credit to Data Guide

I originally ordered some Onyx (black) star dream C6 envelopes from one of my favourite eBay craft suppliers called Mr Craft Australia. I've got a lot of star dream paper from him and it's great as he posts everything pretty fast and I get it within a week or two and the paper is great quality. 

Tagged!! A fun little game...

I'm new to this tagging thing and have been tagged by Je'mappelle Sophia. I've read a few of the girls posts on the tagging as well and thought I might as well give it a try ... 

Here are the rules... 

The Rules:

- You must post the rules

- Post eleven fun facts about yourself in the blog post

- Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you tagged

- Tag eleven new people and link them on your post

- Let them know you've tagged them. 

I don't know eleven people on here yet so I'll just tag the people that I think haven't been tagged yet...

 

People who i'm tagging:

Happy ever after bride.com

Lessons in life and love

Almost Mrs Who

The Ugly moments

Centrepieces, flowers and candles - what goes with what....

The Reception decorations are an important part of your wedding as determines the theme and sets the mood of your wedding.  Too many decorations can make it cluttered, too less can make it bare or minimalist. We have opted for a traditional but old classic almost vintage theme with the sandstone and old cars, with a splash of red (as FH puts it for me). So I've tried to carry it through with decoration ideas shown on my inspiration boards as below.

Guest Table Inspiration Board

Cake, cake and more cake - tasting time....

The cake ... a very very important part of your reception. Well for us anyway. We wanted something that tasted nice and looked good, that fitted in with our theme of traditional with black and white, with a splash of red. 

Credit to Bay Area Bride Guide

The Videographer... do you really need one?

This was originally a no we don't need one decision but the more I read about it in blogs, wedding magazines and websites, it became more apparent, that no we didn't need one but it would be nice if we did. 

Stephanie & Jarrod from Matt Porter Videography on Vimeo.

The main reasons being so we could look back on it and show family and friends who are unable to make it to the wedding. And it would also capture the things that we didn't get to see, like when the groom is looking at the bride walking down the aisle, no one gets to see the grooms face when he first sees his bride as they're all looking at the bride. I think that's an awesome moment to capture, and the guests at the reception, the emotions, expressions, private moments, all important images. So I decided that a few overtime shifts at work would cover the price of the videographer. Any ways, what's a few days of no play and more work really in the long run of having something nice to look back on...

Parasols and fans - in case it's hot hot hot.....

Wedding's are a great excuse to bring out all the things that you would usually overlook as not really necessary in normal everyday life.. We visited our wedding ceremony site, the rose garden, a couple of weeks before our wedding date in 2011 to see what the weather would be like and it was hot, hot, hot!

Credit to Bliss Weddings Market.com

So I went on the search for parasols and fans to keep the sun off those guests with fair skin and those that require a breeze to cool down even if its man made.. E bay was my main source of inspiration. I scoured many a shop looking for cheap but really nice parasols and fans.

The MC - did you hire one....

The master of ceremonies can create a magical wedding reception for you when you pick the right one. Most people pick someone who knows the couple really well, others pick someone who can run the reception without a hitch...

Credit to Wedding Aces

We originally were going to pick one of our friends but then decided to start looking for a professional one as we have a 5 and half hour beverage package attached to the reception and we want all of our friends to enjoy it. Whereas if we picked one of our friends to be the MC, they may not enjoy it as much due to having the responsibility to make sure the reception runs smoothly.

DIY Favour Tags - soo so many to choose from....

I thought I'd go all crafty again and create some favour tags. Not actually for favours but to put on the fans, parasols and jandals. Just little things that I'd thought might accentuate the day and that guests can take with them if they want too...  but not favours or bonbonierre I keep telling myself... haha

Favour Tags Ideas mood board

Credits:

Top left: Good things wedding favours; Top middle: Discount Dress; Top right: Wedding Bee 

Left middle: Creative Chatter; Middle middle: Pink Frosting; Right middle: Hey Love Designs; Left bottom: Paper Blog; Middle bottom: The Sweetest Occasion; Right Middle: It's a Bride's Life

Pedestals, Carpets and Chairs -how much is too much...

When we first started looking at decorations for our rose garden venue I had so many ideas of what we could do. But then FH asked a valid question ... are you going overboard? 

Ceremony decoration ideas

Credits: 

Top left: Wedding Planning 101.com; Bottom left: Wedding Ideas Forum ; Top middle: Wedding decorations; Bottom middle: Wedding Decorations; 2nd to right Top: Wedding Decorations; Top Right: Polka Dot Bride; 2nd to Right Bottom: Polka Dot Bride

Wedding planner - to have one or not.....

Reading wedding magazines creates a list of wants, must haves and needs... a wedding planner falls into this list and also if you're someone who can stress a wee bit or a time sparse bride with a busy work and social life sometimes it's a rather helpful option...

Credit to Amazon.com

And we all loved the romantic chick flick which was released in 2001 - The Wedding Planner with J Lo and Matt McConaughey... Sitting in the cinema dreaming that that would be a fantastic job apart from dealing with the bridezilla's.

DIY Pocket Fold Invitations - A work in progress....

Wedding invitations can be a statement or they can be a piece of paper detailing the required information. It depends on how much importance you want to place on your invites. I'm kinda in the middle. I want some nice ones but I don't want over the top, fussy, expensive ones. I want some that I can create at my own leisure in my own home. 

Black, Red and White Wedding Invitation Mood Board

Mood Board Credits:

Left Top: Charlotte Geary Photography; Left Middle: Eastwind Creations; Bottom Middle: Wedding Invitations; Middle Top: Imagine.. Hand made wedding stationary; Middle Middle: Zimbio; Middle Bottom: Wedding Wire;  Right Top: Charlotte Geary Photography; Right Bottom: Wedding Invitation Avenue

Thinking about the Honeymoon - booking flights

The honeymoon... the time you get to unwind and start to really enjoy it just being the two of you...

Credit to The Honeymoon

We thought Europe would be the place for us... beautiful scenery, vineyards, lovely people, so we started researching places to go and decided that France and Italy would be our destinations of choice. With an added start or finish in London and a couple of days to defrost in somewhere warm at the end of it.

DIY Pomander Balls - aisle decorations....

Should I DIY or should I not? This was the big question and the answer was hell yeah!! I love doing creative things but hadn't done anything in a very long time. I think the last time was making my travel scrapbooks and that was a good three or four years ago. When we were thinking about ceremony details, I fell in love with shepherd hooks with pomander balls on them. 

Shepherd Crooks, Pomander Balls, Lanterns and Vases

Image credits: 

Top Left: Pink Frosting; Bottom Left: Wedding Bee; 2nd from left top: Wedding Bee; 2nd from left bottom: Wedding Bee; Middle top: Wedding Bee; Middle bottom: Koyal Wholesale; Top Right: Charlotte Geary Photography; Top Bottom: Gator Bride

Finding a celebrant - how did you pick yours....

Choosing a celebrant is not an easy thing to do by any means.... This person is going to pronounce you husband and wife and start your journey into married life. They are going to help create the wedding ceremony and make sure that it goes to plan. They will assist you if you muck up your vows or forgot the words or are full of nerves. They will at least make you smile in times of stressful planning. They are very very important people!!!

Credit to Robyn Pattison

There are many different types of celebrants out there, and it is rather hard to decide who you would like to conduct your ceremony. Here's a good link with some questions that you should ask yourself and the celebrant when looking for one. We visited a few big expos to look for celebrants and noticed that the expos are jam packed with photographers but hardly any celebrants. I decided to check out some of the smaller expos held in parramatta, sutherland and the stamford plaza near the airport and we found a better selection of celebrants.

Finding the dress - the process and emotions...

I know I said at the beginning of the blog that I wouldn't post anything about the dress, but I decided to write about the experience and the emotions instead. No photos of my actual dress or style will be shown in this post, saving the dress for FH on the big day.

Credit to huffingtonpost.ca

As seen in the photo above, wedding dress shopping is a pretty emotional time. Because I'm from New Zealand and living in Sydney, I don't have a whole entourage of family members over here with me, which in hindsight is probably a really good thing. I took my Maid of Honour (MOH) with me to multiple bridal shops and are really appreciative of her efforts to help me find a wedding dress.

Bouquets and Buttonholes - what to do....

Flowers are one of my pretty things so choosing a bouquet and buttonholes are important. When I was single and renting, I always made it a habit to buy myself some flowers for my room and it would make me smile to see them every time I walked past. I still do this now but my mischievous kitty cat Bella has taken a liking to pulling the heads off them and leaving the petals on the floor for me ... her way of saying I love u.. so have put this on hold till she decides that they are pretty and doesn't delight in ruining them..

I do love you - Credit to Jeff Haller

My favourite flowers are Roses, Tulips and Gerberas. I'm not a lily fan.. they always make my head hurt and start sneezing when I'm around them, so they are a big no no for wedding day flowers. Tulips are gorgeous and I've gained some insider knowledge on them - apparently they are quite unruly and grow towards the sun, so next time you've got some watch what direction they go in. They can actually grow a few cm's out of bouquets during the day, little monsters!! I've always loved the classic red rose... and yes I do love Valentines day... big excuse for a single red rose..and yes I am a sucker for love!!

The Wedding Cars - deciding what we liked...

I've always liked classic cars like jags and bentley's and can remember pressing my face to the window when younger watching the wedding cars go past, and going look, look, LOOK!!!!  I'm not the type of girl who has had her wedding planned since age 5, and it was always if I do ever get married instead of when I get married... I'd love to have those cars... 

Courtesy of Simon Barnes Photography

It's funny too because FH has started pointing out wedding cars when we are driving around Sydney on the weekends. I think it's rather cute and love him dearly for it. It makes me excited to think that that will be us soon when I see them. Anyway back onto the subject of picking out our wedding cars.

The Photographer - how we chose one..

Finding a photographer was not as easy as we thought it would be. We are both keen photographers ourselves so we wanted someone who was fantastic at it. We looked into FIVO Photography who had a gorgeous style and I was trying to line up an appointment but got an email two days before our appointment and was advised that our date had been taken by someone in Melbourne. Gutted... so I kept looking.....

Taken by Michal Kriesch Photography

The Wedding Reception Site

After looking at wedding venues like Le Montage, Curzon Hall, and many others, plus hours spent researching online looking for the perfect venue and package, we settled on Waterfront Restaurant in Circular Quay. 

The Dockside Group Restaurants, Circular Quay

The Wedding Ceremony Site

Courtesy of Events by Nadia

To me garden weddings are romantic and fun as above, my initial idea for our ceremony. We both aren't keen on a church wedding. I only go to church when i really really have to... i.e funerals, or when dragged there by my grandma when I was younger. 

Starting out

I've finally created a blog site for my wedding after being inspired by some fantastic blogs that i've been reading in the last year. 

We got engaged on the 24th December 2010 (christmas eve) on Wreck Beach, Great Ocean Road in Melbourne, much to my delight and surprise. I had no idea that it was coming and it was quite funny, because the night before I wished on a shooting star that one day if I was lucky that I might be able to marry my man. 

My Gorgeous Ring

And guess what! It came true :)