Posts Tagged ‘WEdding advice’

IMOHO

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

I think I’ll start a series on this. I’m not terribly controversial but I do have opinions {sure don’t we all}. You can choose do listen to them or not but if I do express an opinion it comes from experience.

This one is on your wedding gown and there are a few things I’d like to throw out there about the gown.

1} Yes your gown is beautiful. You shopped til you nearly dropped to find “the one”. Make sure it fits. Especially if it is strapless. You don’t want to be hiking it up All. Day. Long. That isn’t flattering, neither is your bits nearly falling out. your gown should fit so well that you don’t have to mess or fiddle with it.

Kate never had to fiddle with her gown

2} When you are having it fitted, be sure to bring the correct underwear and SHOES. The other thing that is just awful to see is a gown that is too long. I’d rather see a gown just slightly too short {with some fabulous shoes underneath it} than a bride pulling it up, lifting the skirt and just looking like she simply can’t handle wearing it. Standing up straight helps a lot with this too.

3} Practice walking in it! With your shoes! A gown is not the type of outfit you wear on a regular basis so practice at home going up the stairs gracefully, sitting down, standing up, bending and talking, even dancing. Get used to wearing it and get comfortable in it.

4} and this may be the most controversial, it will drag on the ground. It will. If it has a train of any kind it’s going to drag on the ground {unless you are Kate and you have Pippa to carry it}. That means the underneath will get dirty. Try to get through the ceremony and photos first before taking unnecessary risks with it but you bought it to wear so don’t panic if the underneath gets a bit dirty. Again, hiking up your skirt and holding the train up all day is a fruitless effort and just looks silly and uncomfortable. Learn to bustle it and you will be fine for the night.

So that’s my 2 cents. Look good in your gown and wear it well!!

Annie

Live, Love Laugh and Dream

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A Wedding Brand

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Branding is a popular word right now when it come to business. When ‘branding,  is used in a business context it’s all about your logo, the essence of your business and what it is about and how people precieve the business.

Brides, stick with me here. I am going somewhere with this. Think of Vera Wang, Martha Stewart, Preston Bailey. Please tell me you know who they are?!? Well if you don’t know who they are they are wedding industry icons. The creaters and infulencers of style. They each are their own brand.

You too can be your own brand for your wedding. It’s more than just a wedding monogram {or wedding logo} which I do love and is a great start, it’s really the expression of the two of you and how that expression is percieved. The feeling you want your guests to have from the moment they open up their Save the Date until they head home blissfully after your wedding is finished. It’s the contunuity of that idea and feeling in the look and atmosphere of your wedding.

I ask couples questions like how they met, how he {or she} proposed, what you like to do as a couple, what describes them as a couple, and more. In fact, I used to use metaphors {like “if your relationship was a car, what kind of car would you be?”} which got strange looks so I’ve kind of stopped doing that and get straight to the point. {- but think about it. What kind of car would you be?}

Then don’t just incorporate those details into your wedding, put small touches of them everywhere! It’s not just the design and style. It’s the location, the lighting, the linens, the flowers, the menu, the music.

You want to make your wedding so memorable and full of your brand that your guests will associate an image, feeling, scent, texture to you imediately.

for great examples of this, I imediately flash back to Trishia & Justin’s Summer Camp Wedding that I showed last July and was photographed by Jodi Miller Photography.

They got it so right. I bet when their guests even smell pine scented anything they think of that wedding!

Another I always think of is Minhee and Truman’s school wedding as featured on Martha Stewart’s Weddings. This couple met in elementary school and everything in their wedding was so well through through and in an old school theme.

The invitations were report cards, photos were school picture day style, you can see here the escort card display and table scape. They just had everything right.

Of course lots more examples can be found on wedding blogs everywhere but remember it’s not just the decorating or even the styling. It’s the feeling too! Carry that all the way through to the end. Polished, stylish and you! no matter how formal or relaxed your brand.

Annie

Live, Love, Laugh and Dream!

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The Fabric of Your Life

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

You would often find me trawling through fabric stores for the perfect print or color or texture fabric to make table runners, backdrops, wrap around candles or cans or jars or just anything! And when doing that in Ireland I have to compromise most of the time. It may not be the exact color, the perfect weight or pattern but mixie matchie is in right? {thank god!} But it’s still frustrating.

I had no solution until now. Print your own fabric on Spoonflower. Yes! create your own pattern What ever you want in what ever color you need! Are you with me here?? Do you see how revolutionary this could be??

Your fabric design can be a digital photograph, a scanned piece of artwork or drawing or a graphic design created in Illustrator or Photoshop as long as it is in digital form you can upload it and create your pattern. Then you can choose what type of fabric to have it printed on. Choose from silks, a variety of cottons, knit, heavier uphulstry fabric and more.

You can also shop for quirky fabrics that have already been created by many creative people and are ready to go. Each Designer has a shop so if you like their style you know where to find more. And the fabrics are divided into catagories {yes, vintage is one} and then color.

Here are some fun ones

1800’s Alice in Wonderland by Ophelia

Retro Television or

and Cassette Tape by Dorolimited

A library backdrop for your photobooth by Doodle and Hob

more traditional by Allroundnovice

a little whimsical by HeatherDutton

One more because I gotta stop. {but I could go on and on!}

how great would this be behind a desserts display! By SammyK

So fabulous. The name again folks is Spoonflower and I suggest you get your creative going and get over there. Seriously what ever your theme, what ever your style if you can’t find the perfect patterned fabric here for whatever you want, you can still make one! Abosolutely love this!

Annie

Live, Love, Laugh and Dream!

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