Heather Waraksa

Heather Waraksa is one of my very favourite wedding photographers. Her images are utterly delicious, whether in black and white or colour and how I wish she wasn't based an ocean away. Actually, if we're wishing for things I wish The Boy and I lived in New York. That would work too....

All images by Heather Waraksa and via her gorgeous blog.

Ooh la la....

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I can't say that I find most 'wedding' underwear particularly inspiring. Like 'wedding' shoes, white polyester satin seems to be the fabric of choice and as long as the item is made out of said fabric, actual design appears to be somewhat dispensable.



Not these fabulous undies though. By Kiki de Montparnasse they are sheer Ooh la la....



Amour Babydoll top and bloomers





And in black, which is oh so cute.





Amour Caftan de Nuit. I'm in love. With a little vest underneath I would wear this day and night.





Pin up Bra and Lace Beaded Blind Fold. A little kinky, a lot pretty!



And possibly the strangest thing I've ever seen in a bridal lingerie section and certainly the most original use of 10 feet and $4200 worth of pearls ..... wedding restraints.



Found via Bridalwave.

Encircling gardens....

Gorgeous Encircling Gardens necklace from Twigs and Honey, who are known for their beautiful floral hair accessories.

Image from etsy.

Love for Marchesa....

I love this dress. Love love love it.

Image by Karen Mordechai. Dress by Marchesa.

The unmentionable invites, part 1

With a little (a lot of) help from The Boy, we finished our RSVP cards - deceptively simple looking postcards with an image of the fabric we used on the back of the invites on the front and the old 'delete as appropriate, we will /won't attend' on the back.

A small victory in the War of the Invitations.



Discoveries made -

printing companies are rubbish and capable of sending you two batches of something printed from the exact same image, in completely different colours.

Postcards from said printing company are too shiny to print on. No matter which of the 732 settings on your own very expensive printer you try.

I can't measure. And I can't cut in straight lines. I approximate measurements and straight lines. Which doesn't work.

I don't like glue. It's sticky, it gets everywhere and getting it everywhere increases the likelihood of getting horrible sticky smudges all over your impeccable rsvp cards.

The Boy can measure and can cut in straight lines and I should have asked him to do so before I started yelling at inanimate objects, stamping my feet up in down and threatening to cancel the wedding.

Oh well, live and learn.

La Sylphide

A frilly little cape by Holly Stalder at Etsy. I wouldn't wear something quite so frilly myself, but it would look fantastic on the right vintage styled starlet, with 1920s hair and flaming red lips....

via etsy wedding.

Party bags....

"Once upon a time...there was a girl who searchedfor that elusive specialness,a little piece of loveliness,that she could adore and treasure,a gorgeous uniqueness,a frivolous stylishness,an enchanting and delectable delightfulness!
Join the quest for fabulousness...."


And fabulous is quite the word. Dazed Dorothy was yet another delightful find at the Glasgow Craft Mafia. Starting at £30 these bags are just, well, fabulous!

There aren't words to describe how delicious they are in the flesh - buttery soft leather and suede, detailing so intricate and fascinating that one could get lost for hours just taking in all of the buttons and beads. So tactile, so luxurious, so heavenly....





They would make gorgeous gifts for bridemaids or accessories for the more colourful bride...





Every Dazed Dorothy bag is unique by its very nature, with an incredible assortment of beads, pearls and buttons, including one-off vintage finds from London and Paris markets...

Corrine also does bespoke designs and I think a bridal clutch in ivory with pearls and beads would be gorgeous. She also suggests incorporating your own buttons and trimmings into a unique design just for you which I think is a beautiful idea.


When I was wee I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparent's house. In one of the kitchen cupboards was a big old tea tin full of buttons. I used to sit with it on the kitchen floor, emptying them out, arranging them by size, by colour, by fabric. One day, should I ever manage to persuade my Gran to pass them on to me, this would be a perfect way to celebrate how much they mean to me.


All images courtesy of Dazed Dorothy.

Courage my Love....

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"There is no use trying" said Alice, "One can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice" said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!" ~Lewis Carrol~
(this is one of my favourite quotes, it never fails to make me smile!)


So is the introduction to etsy seller, Courage my love. A beautiful name for a shop selling beautiful images....

Title: Tempest in a Teacup





Title: The agony of love





Title: Beauty Waving

I especially love Beauty Waving, it reminds me of my beach. The beach behind my house on the island I grew up on and which I miss terribly.
All images by Courage my Love and for sale on etsy.

Grrrrrrrrr....

WARNING:
bridal rant and ill-concealed use of words inappropriate to pretty planning blogs ahead.
Not for the easily offended.

As the oh so eloquent Nomi of East Side Bride put it, F* this.

Wedding planning is really p*ssing me off at the moment.

My Mum has just been over and after looking at our invitations has proclaimed that none of the 'aged' guests will be able to read them. Holding them at arm's length and peering over her glasses she managed to guess what most of the words were. She is 40-something and her definition of 'aged' rules out about 50% of our guests.

These invitations have been driving me completely nuts and the urge to throw them out the window is becoming overwhelming. We live four floors up, they would be so pretty fluttering across the street and off to the park.

Making them has been a pain in the taffeta ass and taught me that there's a reason people pay other people to do it for them. And I'm not finished, the damn things are never ending. The fact that about half of our guests RSVPed to the save the date cards and are going to be really confused to receive a second invitation is bad. The fact that they have been about twice as complicated to make and three times as time-consuming than I guessed is frustrating. The fact that they have cost about the same as it would have done to buy them is infuriating. But the fact that no one will be able to read them just about pushes me over the edge.

F* it. F* watercolour paper that isn't thick enough. F* printers that send you postcards that are the wrong colour and F* fonts that are too F*ing small to read.

Image by Kamp Photography and via East Side Bride, whose original post on the subject of wedding frustration was spot on.

Polka dots.....

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I just got the most gorgeous mention on one of the sweetest wedding blogs around - Polka Dot Bride. Oh my, it was so gorgeous that I may have blushed a little!

Polka Dot Bride is an Australian wedding blog and I do love a bit of diversity in the wedding world! Pop on over for some gorgeous inspiration and yes, a few polka dots....

(Dress Maya by Michelle Roth, via Polka Dot Bride.)

Love in the mist....

I am in love with these gorgeous hand made dresses by Joan Shum. Vintage fabulous....

Bella Tea







Love in the Mist

(I would have it just for the name.)






White Dalia

Joan sells her dresses on etsy . Where all the stylish girls go.....

Dazzled

Today, in the hope of finding something just right, we went to Dazzle, a contemporary jewellery and metal smithing exhibition that has come to town for a few weeks. There was nothing that got us any further in our quest for The Ring, but there were some gorgeous bits and pieces. I especially love Ruth Tomlinsons's porcelain and gold jewellery, so unusual and delicate....

Ruth Tomlinson

Porcelain, gold and silver jewellery.

Miranda Meilleur



Silver Bowl on Steel Saucer



Natalie Jane Harris


Stack of three faceted rhodolite
garnet and silver rings.



Oh so pretty.



(images from Dazzle)

I Got A Story to Tell...

I Got A Story To Tell (Part 1)
60" x 60"

Two years ago I walked off the street into the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland. I saw this painting and I have dreamt of it ever since. Amanda William's exhibit days. paint. years made my heart race, made my soul yearn. Layers of colour, layers of strength and exuberance protecting and revealing small fragments of words and ideas. Enormous canvases, covering whole walls, tiny blocks of wood so small that they felt my breath on them as I pulled in close to read the words, to savour the colours, all with a power and a strength that was tangible.

Oh how I want it. One day, one day I will buy one of her paintings and I will treasure it.

A super sweet wedding...

This is one of my favourite weddings. From the bride with her birdcage veil to the handmade tissue pompoms it's just so adorable.

I love DIY weddings and this is so relaxed, so fun, so young. Exactly what we hope our wedding will be.

Most of the pictures I picked from Academy Bedlam's Knot page are portraits, which I think is a good sign! When it's the pictures of the people rather than the centrepieces that make you wish you were at a wedding you know they've done something right...

All images from here

Sundance...

I'm really not into the old 'pile as many diamonds as I can onto my left hand' approach to engagement and wedding rings. Aside from the dubious ethics involved in buying diamonds, it's just a bit, well, boring.

Any of these rings from Sundance Catalog would make gorgeous alternatives for couples looking for something more unusual....

Around The Pearl





Wafer Thin




Storm at Sea




Take Wing




Ocean




Good Things




Unpredictable




Courage and Hope
(because I love the name!)

Trying to find a wedding ring is driving me mad. First I fell for a gorgeous ribbon of a ring, a band that twisted twice round the finger before joining up again. I liked the symbolism - a continuous band symbolising the unending commitment, but with a twist in the middle. but the woman who made them was seriously unfriendly by email and I can't bring myself to give my money to people whose customer service sucks.


Then I decided that I wanted a plain white band, but super thin. But it turns out that unless you hammer them, à la Wafer Thin (above) they bend. I don't like hammered metal and I don't want my wedding ring to bend.


So I'm stuck. Going quickly mad in a world of sparkly stones and precious metals.....

petticoats....

Images by Aaron Delesie and via enjoy {the blog}