Attention: SouthBound Brides! It’s that time of year when we recruit a couple of special ladies to share their wedding journey with the world – could it be you?
You’ll need to:
be planning a wedding to take place in South Africa (although you can be from or based anywhere, of course!)
have a wedding date between January-May 2014
be committed to writing ten blog posts to an agreed schedule over the next few months
have agreed with your photographer that your engagement and wedding will be featured FIRST on SouthBound Bride ahead of any other blogs or magazinesRead More
Hello lovelies! Another week, another dose of inspiration here on SBB. This week I’m working out of Abu Dhabi while I visit one of my besties, which is so lovely, and on to South Africa on Thurs! Awesomesauce. Anyway, today we’re bringing together two strong colours that together have a lovely warmth. Poppy red is just brilliant – so bright and cheerful – but a red and white wedding can look a bit dated, depending on how you do it. But add in a punch of Pantone’s African Violet and you have the perfect contemporary combo. I love playing these colours out against a romantic rustic backdrop, as they are here – ideal for an autumn wedding, although they could also work in a modern graphic city wedding. What do you think?
A few weeks back, we heard from planner extraordinaire Theresa of Creation Events with her top tips & duties for groomsmen, following the popular feature we did for bridemaids. So useful to have everything summed up in one place for the boys! So today I thought that I would follow it up with some more groomsman goodness – a best man’s emergency kit (download our bridesmaid’s one here). So here we go – let’s hear it for the boys! *Links in bold denote affiliate links – SBB may receive a commission on any sales made.
Hello lovelies! Hope you’re having a fab afternoon. As you read this, I’ll almost be at the end of my month off, and heading to SA – can’t wait, as always! So, since travel is the order of the day for me, I thought it was time to touch on travel-themed weddings again. The great thing about this theme is that it really doesn’t have to be a single look or style – it can really be incorporated into any wedding style or venue. To prove my point, I’ve put together three lovely palettes using three of my favourite travel-themed invitation suites. The looks are very different, from vintage to contemporary elegance to bright, fun pops of colour. Which is your favourite?
You can say what you will about the stress and strain of planning a wedding, but the truth is that for many brides, it’s such a happy time where they’re not just planning a marriage, but getting the opportunity to do something creative and make something beautiful from scratch. So it’s no wonder that so many fall in love with the wedding industry and go on to get involved professionally. Today’s bride (and her mum) came down with wedding fever that lasted long after the vows. What to do? Well, start a planning business, of course! I think this is so lovely, and wish them every success – you can find them online now at Whispers of May. That is, after you’ve spent some happy minutes looking through Veronique Photography‘s gorgeous captures of the big day, in soft pastels that make my heart sing. And the bride’s SHOES? Oh Badgley, I die.Read More
*UPDATED FOR 2018* It’s funny how fashion totally changes your taste, isn’t it? And then changes it again. Back when I was 12, I was head over heels in love with a dress my mom ended up buying me from Woolies: it was black and electric blue, with a dropped waist, made of shiny watermark taffeta that ruffled when you walked, had an off the shoulder ruffle and a niiiice net rose to finish it off. God, it was hideous. But at the time, which for the record, was the late ’80s, I thought it made me look awesome. Just a few years later, I wouldn’t have been seen dead in it. And the way fashion goes, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day (gulp) I look at something similar and think it looks good again. (Note to future self: NO.) The nice thing is that when trends come round again, they often do it in a gentler, subtler way. And so it is with peplum wedding dresses. I want to hate them, I really do, but then I look at how flattering they are, and what a difference it makes when they’re made with wedding dress materials, like floaty lace or tulle, and how many of the top designers are including peplum dresses in their collections, and I have to admit, I’m a convert. So I thought I would round up some of my favourites! *Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.
I’m not going to lie, this might be one of my most self-indulgent posts ever. Especially since Kate Spade isn’t actually available in South Africa just yet. But what can I say, it’s an excellent excuse to start sucking up to whichever friend/relative/co-worker you know who might be going to Europe or the States before your wedding to get them to bring you a pair, because Kate’s shoes are MADE for weddings. The perfect mix of classic and cute, they all also have that extra little something, which often just happens to be a bit of sparkle, and as you guys know, I am kind of obsessed with a touch of sparkle. It never looks prettier than on a bride’s feet, even when there’s no other glitter in an otherwise traditional palette. So it’s no wonder that so many brides opt for Kate, and that everytime they do, their shoe pics get Pinned a zillion times over. Feel free to do just that with all of these lovelies. ;)
The ‘classic’ Kate Spade wedding shoe is the Charm slingback, which comes in black, gold, silver and a bright multicolour glitter. One day, these shoes WILL BE MINE.
It’s a very special day here on SouthBound Bride when we get to share the wedding of one of our friends, and I feel like that’s what today’s bride has become. Not just to me, but to all of us who have followed along with her story through our Real Life Bride series. Liana’s been our ‘bride abroad’, planning her South African wedding from Europe as so many of you do, gathering inspiration from some of our home country’s top suppliers and dreaming up the perfect mix of rustic and classic wedding loveliness. I’ve been dying to see her beautiful pictures from the fab dna photographers – they were just as heartfelt and lovely as I was expecting, and now I finally get to share them with you! Vair, vair exciting. So here we go! And just in case you missed any of it, you can follow Liana’s complete wedding journey right here.Read More
There’s just something about purple palettes that I love, don’t you think? They really are just so pretty. And today’s is no exception. Lilac, lavender and mint make a great combination on their own, but when you add a bit of grey and a touch of silver sparkle, as well as a little dash of vintage, it’s just made for a wedding day. The cheese cake you may recognise from our roundup last week – I absolutely adore this one – but I also love the jumble of hanging bird cages, the mix and match bridesmaids, and the bride’s hair and gorgeous grey dress. I can just imagine how this would look in real life. The other great thing about this palette is that it’s so versatile – I could imagine this for spring, summer… and with a few tiny tweaks, autumn and winter too. What do you think?
*UPDATED FOR 2020* Today we’re starting a new series, looking at how to buy a wedding dress that suits your body shape. I’m always a bit dubious of body shape stuff (mostly because the things they say for mine are usually nonsense) and I do think that the best thing you can do is to try on lots of dresses and have a chat with the ladies who work at dress shops, because they really know their stuff. But with that said, I think it’s a good idea to have a starting point. You want to look your very best on your wedding day, and the good news is, whatever your shape, there’s a dress (or several) out there that will make you look like a superstar. It’s all about emphasizing your best features and playing a bit of visual trickery to draw the eye towards them. We’re starting today with pear or triangle shape brides – a really common shape, and one which is pretty much made for a wedding dress! And as long as you avoid the wrong type of dress, the answer is no, your bum won’t look big in this. ;)
*Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.
