And yesterday, amongst the myriad of phone calls to broadband providers, telephone and other utility companies to ensure we don’t arrive in our new pad today and huddle around a lounge room camp fire, our broadband disappeared – what luck.  It’s funny how priorities come into play when things like that happen and I was more concerned that I wouldn’t be able to show you todays gorgeous Love The Dress shoot than I was about packing the rest of the house.

And although we are still, as I type, running like Tweedledum and Tweedledee around the house packing – some miracle has granted me my broadband back.

So it is with pleasure I introduce you to the beautifully classical Love The Dress shoot by Teri Vincent Photography.

A little about the shoot from Teri:

I was so interested to see what Eastbourne seafront properly looked like at sunrise, as i can only just see it in the distance from my bedroom window usually, so when Kerry approached me to cover her ‘Dress Shoot’ I already had the idea of when and where in my head! The only issue was how early she was willing to start. Luckly for me Kerry was sold on the idea immediately and we planned it for a freezing morning in April. I love to involve and consider light as a major part of all my shoots so we were lucky that the sun did eventually break through the early clouds and bathe the beach in an stunning orange glow. Simply styled with some vintage looking, dusky pink roses and matching balloons, perfect to go with Kerry’s black and ivory colour palette.

For Kerry the ‘Dress Shoot’ has given her dress another outing and made her feel special and weddingy all over again. Next time we’ll get hubby Ian involved, if he’s not too camera shy. There’s just never enough time on a Brides Wedding day to really theme a shoot and take time to celebrate the beauty of the Bride, so why not book a seperate ‘Dress Shoot’, its always great to get dressed up again and feel special and beautiful, although for poor Kerry that was at 4am on a sunday morning, but I always believe the tricky ones are usually the best…!

What I love about this shoot is its simplicity!  Through the use of a stunning but simple location this shoot highlights what is most important, the Bride and her details and is complemented beautifully by the colours of the backdrop.  This is a classical, feminine Love The Dress shoot:  the flowers are beautiful, the dress is stunning and her shrug, oooh, it just looks fabulous!

Have a frabjous Friday today and think of me amongst the myriad of boxes and removal trucks. Wish us luck!!!

Zarn

Red On Blonde are one of my wonderful new sponsors on the unique wedding blog (check out their website via the banner just over there —> on the sidebar).  Toby, the very red half of Red On Blonde and Hannah, who loves all the little details that makes a wedding unique are the awesome duo that are creating a little wedding photography storm and capturing personalities with their dynamic photography style.  Oh, and they love movies and tea!!! So we bonded really quickly

From Red On Blonde:

Vintage tea cups, frilly umbrellas, fancy cakes and a cricket pavillion (with a thatched roof!) – the perfect ingredients for a quintessentially English Love the Dress shoot with Amy & Liam, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Oh, and not forgetting the rain and hailstorms… it just wouldn’t be England without them! Amy & Liam’s wedding was vintage heaven and we chose a cricket tea party setting to bring to life all the little details that made their wedding so unique. Amy’s Grandma sadly passed away just before the wedding but Amy honoured her memory, by giving her beautiful, individual teacups filled with Love Hearts as favours, so we used some of these in the shoot. Amy’s stunning dress has a whimsical, vintage style and we think it looks gorgeous against this Camomile Lawn backdrop. We all had a fab time and we think this shows in the pictures.

Simply gorgeous!

Zarn

Introducing today’s sponsor, John Lewis Wedding Insurance…

If the wedding is the biggest day of your life, besides giving birth to wedding dress train can add a real sense of occasion to a wedding dress. It can, however, increase the risk of damage to your wedding dress as it only takes one careless guest to step on your wedding dress or spill red wine on your train for your wedding dress to be ruined.

Wedding insurance can protect your wedding dress and wedding dress train. If you have to make a claim on your wedding insurance for your wedding dress, your wedding insurance provider may deduct an amount to reflect previous wear and tear of the dress, if it was owned or hired beforehand. You may also find that a claim for theft or attempted theft of your wedding dress may only be valid if there has been visible forced entry and your wedding dress was kept in a locked boot of a motor vehicle, hidden from view at the time. If you are concerned about what might be covered for your wedding dress, you should speak to your wedding insurance provider.

Wedding Insurance and Wedding Dress Trains

Kate Middleton’s wedding dress train was reasonably short at 6ft, especially since Princess Diana’s wedding train was over four times the length at 25 ft. You don’t need to have a train this long to make an impact!

A train of material on your wedding dress could put your dress more at risk of damage, since the dress will become more expensive, more difficult to handle and also at a greater risk of having accidental damage. Some wedding dresses have an internal hook specifically for this reason, so the bride can tuck away her formal wedding gown train once the wedding ceremony is over – this leaves her free to dance the night away and socialise at the reception without fearing for the safety of her dress.

You may consider having a calf length or knee-length dress to avoid the whole problem of trains in the first place. Some wedding dresses may even have detachable trains, so you can make a sweeping impression down the aisle, and then cut loose for the after party!

However you design your wedding dress, and whether or not it has a train, you will want to consider taking out a wedding insurance policy which covers your wedding dress at the correct value. A wedding dress should make you look and feel special, and you will also look and feel relaxed if you know your wedding dress is protected by good wedding insurance too.

About John Lewis Insurance

John Lewis Insurance offers a range of insurance services selected by the John Lewis Partnership. These include car, home, pet, life, travel, event and wedding insurance products.

For more information about John Lewis Wedding Insurance please visit the website here – www.johnlewis-insurance.com/homepage/wedding-insurance.html.

John Lewis Insurance is a trading name of John Lewis plc. John Lewis plc is an appointed representative of AXA Insurance UK plc which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions and eligibility criteria apply. A full copy of the policy wording and the insurance complaints procedure are available on request.

Huge thank you to Chris Seddon Photography for his stunning images.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall…

The drama created by this stunning red coat is so eye catching that it makes the photo jump to life!

This shoot took place in the same forest that they film the tv show ‘Once Upon a Time’. 

“In the heart of the rainforest in Deep Cove British Columbia, we brought our fairy tale inspired wedding to life. Inspired by the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White we used red velvet cupcakes,with lace holders, and candy apples to bring these stories to life. We used gold leaf on the bride`s eyes for a dramatic makeup effect and tied that into the cake pop`s as well”.

This is a stunning example of how you can incorporate ideas from your favourite theme or movies or even fairytales to create your wedding style.  Using those elements that stand out, helps to create the mood and set the scene for your big day.

This is a stunning shoot in a stunning location! But then again, I am biased, I do love Canada!

What do you think about a Snow White wedding or any other fairytale styled wedding theme?  Love them, or hate them?

Zarn

After feeling like a drowned-rat (and almost literally looking like one too) thanks to the non-stop rain on our week away last week, I had to come back with a sunnier disposition and what better way than grabbing a cuppa tea and perusing a stunning Costa Rican beach wedding (oh I wish!!!).  So for all of those who are again, enduring this lovely (not!) rainy day today, I hope this brings in a bit of sunshine!!!

Thanks to the awesome duo that is A Brit & A Blonde this wedding is superbly shown off by their stunning wedding photography.  I’m loving the ‘La Mascarada’ part of this wedding too.

So from a rainy week I bring you a sunny wedding!

Ahhhh what a view…

Love the props!

Wahoo!

From A Brit & A Blonde

Betty and Patrick met at College in the US. Betty was born and raised in sunny Costa Rica and after College the two of them decided they wanted to move to Costa Rica together. Betty’s family owns and operates a farm here and now the two of them work side by side on the family farm.

Patrick was born and raised in Plattsburgh, New York – so his family and friends flew in to celebrate their big day. Tropical Occasions were the event designers and planners and did a beautiful job with the ceremony set up and reception area. We loved the night lighting that they had as well.

Beautiful flower arrangements and moss and driftwood lined the centers of each table. They got married at Hacienda Pinilla in lovely Guanacaste province in Costa Rica. A fun photo booth complete with always fun props was set up for guests to take snaps so that the couple could have a great playful album of everyone. Super sweet jars of honey were the “thank you” gift for each of their guests. And were a major hit!

The couple wanted to offer their guests a truly Costa Rican experience – so they brought in a Mascarada to entertain everyone during cocktails. Essentially La Mascarada is a very old Costa Rican tradition that has recently come back in vogue for weddings and events. It is a parade of giant masked figures. The make are larger than life and are of characters from Costa Rica folklore. La Cimarrona were around to play traditional music to accompany the parade and had everyone up and dancing and having the time of their lives. It was an incredible experience.

Frabjous Creatives:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zarn x

I will let Claire from Rock It Up and Candice Fuller take you on their journey:

Rock It Up Photography: The concept for this shoot was to try and cover three different looks in one afternoon with one model.  The first look we wanted to go for was a modern, traditional bridal make up.  We went to a local country park to do a few photo’s initially where our model Jo got some very funny looks and comments, especially as it was a Sunday and nice weather so there were more people there than you would normally expect.

Candice Fuller: The makeup was a very simple classic bridal look to give radiance and glow without a heavy look, I used a matt foundation to reduce the shine on the skin and I used a bronzer along the contour of the cheeks to define the cheekbone.  I then added a pink blusher on the apples of the cheeks to give that beautiful glow a bride always needs. We captured what we believe to be some serene shots utilising our beautiful countryside.

Rock It Up Photography: We then travelled over to a place called Badby a few miles away to the woods which is infamous for its display of bluebells every year, unfortunately we were a little too early to have the magic of them in the images, but it is definitely another reason to go back there and take some more images!  The wind was chilling and considering our model Jo was only wearing a thin dress for most of the afternoon she did a sterling job!

Rock It Up Photography: Our second look was a bit more of a burlesque bride.  We went for a short, strapless wedding dress, paired up with a black hat and veil.  It seemed as soon as Jo had a cheeky little veil on she got a bit more confident and as gorgeous as she was in the first bridal gown, she seemed to have an extra sparkle in her eye.

Candice Fuller: The make up for this stage of the shoot went a little darker and heavier, I went for more of a smokey look around the eyes using greys, blacks and a gold for the inner corners of the eyes, I removed the pink blusher from the previous shoot and just used a bronzer, this paired with the red lipstick created more of a sexy sultry look and we all agreed this matched the burlesque theme perfectly. It was in this stage of the shoot Jo really using her strength as a dancer to balance on a fallen tree we found and the whole time still maintaining a beautiful pose.

Rock It Up Photography: During this part of the shoot the wind picked up a little and it started spitting with rain so we managed to find shelter in a little man made hut where we wrapped Jo up to get her a bit warmer, and started the third and final transition.  This was the part of the shoot I had been really looking forward to.  Candice had done some fabulous trials for this look which only served to make my excitement greater!  It’s wonderful when you meet another creative person and you are on the same page instantly.  I really feel Candice and I have developed a very special working relationship. (Candice Fuller:me too)

As you can hopefully see from the images the final section of the shoot was very influenced by the amazing Tim Burton! The model Jo took on the character we had created in our minds to perfection.

Candice Fuller: This was also my favourite part of the shoot, we were all eager to get started and at this point the weather had taken a turn for the worse and we were all getting very cold especially poor Jo.  Again with the make up I went darker and created a tear/smudged effect around the eyes.  This was done by using a fine brush with a gel liner then gently smudging it out with my fingertips.  I kept the red lipstick in tact as although we went for a more distressed look I wanted it to still be smooth and clean.

Frabjous Creatives:

Candice Fuller Facebook page  |  Rock It Up Photography – Claire Steels Facebook page

Zarn

Todays beautifully crafted unique wedding cakes are delicious from top to bottom and are made by cake artisans, Queen Of Hearts Couture Cakes. (Oh what a splendid name!!!).

I met these two bright and bubbly girls up at the National Wedding Show in February and not only did their cakes make an enormous impact on me, but so did they!  They are so passionate about their creations, so motivated to keep outperforming their last cake and they are truly just the sweetest girls!  I came away after meeting them with a really good vibe, knowing that Brides who wanted a unique wedding cake were in wonderful hands and they are already proving to be a great success.  So if you’re looking for something different, unique and something that would stand-out on your cake table, then chose a Queen Of Hearts Couture Cake – they’re like eating paintings with a delicious filling.

This is one of my favourites, it looks like a stained glass window!

And this one, a graffiti filled romantic note to each other!  Your guests will adore reading it!

A word from the Queens of cake:

“Last Mothers Day 2011, we thought of giving our 2 very good friends (whom we consider our second mums) something special but not too expensive. So we said, we’ll cook for them.. We were just browsing the internet for recipes..went to youTube and stumbled upon a tutorial on how to make a sunflower cupcake using a ziplock bag improvise. We had a go and thank God it turned out to be a sunflower. Few more clicks then we found a cupcake bouquet. And we said THAT’S IT!

The first ever cupcakes we baked were hard and some were even coming off the wrappers, the icing was horribly sweet..but when we presented them, they just loved it! Our friend Aida was the one who encouraged us to make it into business. It seemed as though she had a vision (haha) that it will be a hit because it is so unique. So every payday, we buy some baking stuffs. It became an addiction to learn how to pipe other flowers and so we never stopped since. As much as we wanted to enroll into a cookery class, we didn’t have time as we both have other day jobs so we are completely self-taught. But this didn’t stop us to pursue our dream. The kind of designs that we do requires a lot of patience and passion..and most of all,LOVE. Hence, the birth of Queen of Hearts.

We just can’t stop. Everyday, we strive to learn new things, new designs, new ideas. And we will go on..and on.. and on! Oh by the way..We must mention (or warn you..).. Our cupcakes contain 100000kCal of love and have been known to induce euphoria”.

If you’re having a wedding (or even a party) with a vintage twist or maybe a wonderland theme then the gorgeous Sarah of Vintage Wonderland, your Queen Of Vintage crockery, can show you how to do it in a spectacular way.  And now that Sarah’s got a frabjous new website, you can spoil yourself by ogling over the beautiful table settings you can choose from.

A message from Sarah:

“I decided I wanted a vintage style afternoon tea party theme for my wedding and so my search for beautiful vintage china and crockery began. I scoured charity shops, auctions, as well as flea markets to add to my vintage collection. All items were lovingly sourced and hand picked because of their classical and elegant appeal.

Vintage Wonderland HQ provides a wide range of beautiful vintage china & crockery to hire alongside a collection of vintage style props including vintage style suitcases, birdcages, candelabras, a vintage typewriter, bicycle and more. Why not have a vintage typewriter as your guest book? Or use our vintage bicycle bursting with flowers in the basket, with a sign on showing guests where to go for your wedding? Do you fancy a touch of vintage glamour? As our collection of vintage crockery and props can really make your event stand out. We offer the finest selection of matched and mismatched china available to hire for small or large celebrations such as weddings, high tea parties, hen parties, birthdays,baby showers, christenings, charity events, photo shoots or any other special event. We can help you recreate the vintage charm of a bygone era with a quintessential English style tea party.

We also offer an event styling service so you can sit back and relax and let us transform your tables with our pretty collections. We are based in Merseyside and serve the surrounding counties and we look forward to helping you make your event extra special.

Come on over and join the Vintage Wonderland Facebook page for extra special things”.

Beautiful birdcages, gorgeous vintage crockery and more and a talent for putting it all together.  Do check out Sarah’s vintage crockery hire website where you can get tips from how to make the perfect cuppa (ahh, my favourite) to how to create your very own Tea Party and if you’re a twitter fan you can catch up with Sarah at vintageland77.

Zarn

Comments from Coz & Chips about the shoot:

For another beautiful example of a Trash The Dress shoot by Dobege Photography check out this stunning Trash The Dress shoot in Blackpool.

This is yet another frabjous example as to why your wedding dress should NOT just sit in a box in the loft!

Zarn

Today’s Alice is elegant, loves reading and adores Chanel.

A little about the shoot from Simply Modern Weddings:

“This fun shoot was inspired and styled with our own fun spin on the Alice in Wonderland story!  As with other adaptations of young Alice’s tale, our Alice is quite the dreamer. However, instead of imagining a world of silly nonsensical, our Alice dreams of her whimsical wedding with the Mad Hatter!

Her story begins as she dozes off while sitting under her favorite tree reading classic love stories. Upon awakening, she finds herself caught in a mad cyclone of playing cards. Amongst the maze of cards, she stumbles upon a delightful “playing card inspired” invitation for her wedding in the queen’s garden, followed by the tea party reception in Tulgey Woods. Although our mischievous Alice is running late to the ceremony, she decides to sneak a peek at her reception instead. Alice’s tea party is way beyond what she envisioned! Nothing too extravagant, just an elegant party for her, the Mad Hatter, Mr. Rabbit, and of course the Queen…personalized with all the details she loves!

The dreamy palette of colors is inspired by some of her favorite things: the sea, blush, champagne, clouds, with pops of berry. The grand floral arrangement imitates the feel of her favorite tree with its mossy trunk and colorful mushroom scattered base. Suspended from the branches of this arrangement are floral filled teacups. A medley of other floral filled teapots, as well as her dearest books are scattered about the table.  The place settings are pieced together using pieces from her great-grandmothers china collection. Since Alice adores all things sweet, a trio of yummy french macaroons are placed for each guest. But Alice’s favorite treat is a delicious cupcake, especially for her and her love to share! As Alice sits and admires her delightful party, she begins to daydream about her next adventure! Wonder where it will take her?”

Frabjous creatives:

Event Coordination and Design: Simply Modern Weddings / Photography: Kim Le Photography / Floral Design: Flowers by Helen / Invitations and Paper Goods: Darla Marie Designs / Floral Belts and Hair Accessories: The Treasured Petal Boutique / Hair and Makeup: All Made Up / French Macrons: Layer Cake Bakery / Cupcakes: Sugar | Tart Desserterie / Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Linens: Wildflower Linens and Fusion Linens / Fashion: Jinny’s Bridaland Forever 21/ Model: Lauren

Zarn