Congratulations!!!!!

My big sister Victoria got engaged last week!!!!! She's very excited about it. I'm really looking forward to planning our weddings together. Her current idea is an Alice in Wonderland theme which I think is amazing and so her!!!!!

Morrocan Theme....

Loving the idea of a moroccan themed wedding with lots of bright, vibrant colours and lanterns and candles. The bride could accessorize the dress with lots of jewels and the bridesmaids could wear different coloured dresses with gold touches. Pattern and colour rule with this theme, the more they clash the better.

The decorations would be bright and extravagant.

The bridesmaids would wear bright colours, possibly both different.

The stationary would be bold and colourful with lots of pretty clashing patterns.

Favours could be almost anything but I particularly like:

The cake would be decorated with vibrant coloured icing and/or flowers.

We could go all out and hire a morrocan drum player too.....

Floral Stationary

At the moment I'm thinking about my stationery. If I go for a summer/spring wedding at Exbury gardens, I'm thinking a classy, floral theme could be the way to go.

I love Sweet Cherry Meadow (http://www.sweetcherrymeadow.co.uk/) provide a great range of wedding stationary.Their products are not mass produced, meaning each set is completely bespoke to your own needs. I love these two floral invites:

Scissor Paper Stone have more striking designs.( http://www.scissorpaperstone.com/site/) My favourites are:

Of course as a crafter I'm thinking about making my own stationery, but I like the printed look. So I'm thinking about investing in a Letterpress machine to do my own. You can buy loads of different lettering and images to suit any theme and it looks really professional.

Here are some examples made using the letterpress machine:

Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway

Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway (http://www.exbury.co.uk/website/weddings.aspx) is a magical place in the New Forest National Park, the gardens are beautiful with lots of little corners to take some amazing photos (whicis very important to me). But the thing that has drawn me to this venue is the Wedding Belle. The Wedding Belle is a  20 minute tour of the Gardens by Steam. It takes you to some special gardens that can only be accessed by rail including Northern Lake & the Domesday Yew, the American Gardens, and the Rock Garden. The train can play the music of your choice on the jorney, and can be decorated with flowers and ribbons to make it extra special. The front of the train has the bride and groom's personal headerboard, for the ultimate unique photo. The rooms are all beautiful and the menus sound delicious. I would  have a civil ceremony in The five arrows gallery which is a beautiful building built in the 1930's (almost the 1920's for my theme???) and then the reception in either the Engine Shed, Mr Eddy's Tearooms or The Tennis Court Tea Gardens. The train ride comes included with the Engine Shed but is only £4pp from the Tea Gardens/Tearooms. The Engine Shed is a genuine working site which is such a unique and beautiful space, whilst the Tea Gardens is an outside area (only for a summer wedding) that's adjacent to the Sundial Garden, an exotic oasis within the woodland gardens, and the Tearooms are in a beautiful country themed space with with rustic beams and stone-clad flooring. (The tearooms could be the perfect venue to accomadate my afternoon tea idea.) It's not the cheapest venue but it is one of the most beautiful and unique. The areas I've chosen to consider cater for weddings of 30-100 people. But for a larger wedding there are many other options. Click here for a map.
 

Woodlands Lodge, New Forest.

I'm loving the idea of getting married in the New Forest with a woodland theme. There are some beautiful wedding venues down there which would be perfect for us. The Woodlands Lodge is one of these. It caters for smaller weddings, has some beautiful views and most importantly the rooms are stunning. They offer some pretty good packages too which can include meal, drinks, accomadation and room hire. I locve the Wedgewood room, or the Garden room most. Both open out onto a patio area with the forest a stones throw away. Here are some pictures of the venue. Also see http://www.woodlands-lodge.co.uk/Weddings/ for more pictures of the rooms and wedding package details. Click here for a map.

Flowers with feathers.

Whether I go for the peacock theme or something totally different, I really like the idea of using feathers with the flowers. I think feathers just add a classy touch and they come in so many different colours, sizes and styles that they can be made to suit any theme, or colour scheme.I'm lucky enough to have an expert crafter/ flower arranger as a mum so she'll be doing most if not all of my flowers for me. But if not try etsy (http://www.etsy.co.uk/) or folksy (http://www.folksy.co.uk/) for artificial flowers or take sketches, pictures and colour swatches with you when you go to the florist. Here are a few of my favourites:

The Bouquet:

I love this bouquet!!!! Lilies are one of my favourite flowers and the colours of the peacock fethers are so regal and elegant.

This coffee and cream inspired bouquet would be fabulous with my 1920's theme.

I don't really like long trailing bouquets but this one just jumped out at me. The colours are very pretty and the red could inspire a wonderful winter wedding.

The Buttonholes:

This is a very Christmassy buttonhole with the colour and the holly leaves, perfect for a winter wedding.

I thought this was very classy with the use of the pearls, and the mixture of feathers adds an interesting touch.

The Corsages:

A few flyaway feathers can look as effective as alot if used cleverly. I love the mini red roses hiding behind the main flower too.

I particularly like the left one. the white flowers are very elegant when teamed with black feathers and ribbon.

The Bridesmaids:

The bridesmaids flowers will probably be a smaller version of the brides, but these peaches and cream flowers were so pretty and would match most colour dresses.

This is my favourite!!!! The red flower on the peacock flowers is so bold, yet still elegant and pretty. I love it!!!!!

The Tables:

All white feathers in tall glass vases gives a classy 1920s feeling.

These colours would be perfect for a morrocan themed wedding as they are very bright and vibrant.

SHOES!!!

I really want to go all out with my wedding shoes. I know I can't pick them until I've found the dress, but here are some stunning options for me (and the girls). The big questions are: Flat or high? White or coloured? Plain or embellished?