Author: gaby

Make a Statement

by gaby

Images: Wedding Concepts/Annemari Ruthven on SBB (left); Elizabeth Messina/Stylish Silhouette/Canvas and Canopy Events via Green Wedding Shoes (centre); Kyle Hale via Green Wedding Shoes (right)

Ten years ago, if I’d been writing this blog (if blogs even existed then, which they probably didn’t), I’d no doubt have been telling you ladies to style your (strapless, obvs) wedding dress with a simple pearl necklace or a diamond solitaire. Nothing too flashy, mind. And don’t get me wrong – diamonds and pearls are ALWAYS a good idea. But if it was me styling my wedding dress, I have to admit that I’d probably be looking in the direction of a trend that has grown and grown among brides – the statement necklace. A few years back, my dear friend Kath rocked this herself, wearing the most gorgeous chunky creation made from various brooches and heirlooms – it looked amazing. And since then, I’ve seen brides in any number of bold and lovely pieces. Every time I do, it gives me a little fashion thrill. Of course, I’m a fan of statement jewellery in general, and this trend isn’t for every bride, but if you’re willing to take a risk, you can turn even a plain gown into a bit of a showstopper. In fact, a plain gown is often a better bet for a bit of styling – you definitely need to have a bit of balance. The other piece of advice is to make sure that whatever you’re doing with your hair allows the necklace to be shown off properly – up is better but long hair down can work, though it’s definitely something to check when you do your hair trial. You can go for bling, layers of pearls – even colour. Here are my most inspiring web finds.Read More

Real Wedding at Roodezand {Cara & Pieter}

by gaby

Hello lovelies, from sunny Abu Dhabi! My plan not to have any interruption in service went a bit wrong yesterday when this wedding missed its schedule, but hey ho, here it is now, and come back this afternoon for another of our trend roundups (don’t worry, I’ll be checking in electronically to make sure my server hasn’t gone wrong). I’ve been having a fabulous time here so far, spending time with my friends and their baby, and checking out the UAE. It’s so new here, it feels slightly weird, but the lifestyle is awesome and I am so loving getting a bit of sun! Last night I even got a bit of exercise, with a run around the Formula 1 circuit! ANYWAY, back to the wedding in hand, which comes from Cape photographer Maryke Harper. I just love the fresh winter style of this wedding – it has a lovely curated feel, like a sweet little shop that you might stumble across one afternoon and lose yourself in for a couple of hours. (And even better, Cara and her mom have made use of everything they bought in their homes – such a great budget tip!) There’s exuberant use of herbs, which must have smelled amazing, and just the right amount of a nod to vintage without going overboard. So pretty! I also love the handmade/craft details, like stitched table numbers and even a bit of string art! A soft palette of green, grey and taupe sits just right. I know you’re going to love this one, so here we go!Read More

The Bouquet {Sponsor Showcase}

by gaby

Time for some inspiration from SBB’s photographer friends! I have to admit, I am a huge sucker for the subject of this month’s pics: bouquets. I know not everyone loves flowers as much as I do, but for me (having been a bridesmaid three times now), the moment the bouquets are delivered is one of the most exciting of the day. I absolutely LOVE how not only has floristry really become such an art but how for wedding photographers they’re no longer just a thing the bride holds, but the opportunity for both breathtaking still lifes, and a way of showing the personality of the bride or wedding. So when I sent out the call for this month’s showcase, I asked SBB’s wonderful photographers not to necessarily choose the most stunning bouquet, but the pic that best represented their style. And wow. Every single one of these images (which actually do show beautiful flowers, by the by) had me floored. So have a look through and be inspired in more ways than one – and remember to show our sponsors some love by heading over from their links to check out more of their lovely work!

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Inspiration Board: Emerald Aisle

by gaby

Happy Monday lovelies! As you read this, I’ll be arriving in sunny Abu Dhabi – how exciting! It’s been ages since I travelled anywhere (or saw the sun!) and I can’t wait. So forgive me if I’m not on email/Facebook much this week – although the blog will continue as usual, starting with this lovely inspiration board for a lovely reader who has chosen emerald and grey as her wedding colours. I’m so excited to see you guys embracing the colour of the year! I’ve been seeing everything from emerald and aqua to emerald and gold all over the place this fortnight, but not so many grey pairings. Since I didn’t know anything else about the wedding design, I thought it would be good to show how you don’t always need to use blocks of what is in fact a very strong colour in order to use it. For this palette, you’ll find emerald in some of the stationery, in the frame of a window used for table names, and in the groomsmen’s ties, but all the rest of the emerald comes from more organic sources like glass and foliage. A touch of rosemary on a pretty grey napkin, a bit of greenery at the back of a chair, a beautiful bouquet. Everything else is white and grey, and I think it looks so elegant, don’t you? If you’d like to make a statement, I love the idea of the bride putting on a second, emerald dress later at the reception, but actually I think this is quite a simple look to get right. Although my love for calligraphy is clearly going strong! Hope you like it friends! Will any of you be using 2013’s colour of the year in your palette? (If you’d like more emerald ideas, click here.)

Colours: Emerald & grey

Top row (l-r): Bride and groom {Jose Villa}; bouquet {}; table setting {Isabelle Selby Photography/Exquisite Affairs Productions}; table names on window frame; bride and bridesmaid {Ali Harper Photography/Consultants Unlimited}
Row 2: Place setting with rosemary {Lyndsey Hamilton/Elisabeth Millay}; calligraphy menu; drinks table {Robert and Kathleen Photographers}; green bottles; wedding dress {Kurt Boomer}
Row 3: Chair decoration {Isabelle Selby Photography/Exquisite Affairs Productions}; rosemary name tags {Lyndsey Hamilton/Elisabeth Millay}; green ties {source unknown}; chair with decoration {Samm Blake}; emerald evening gown; place setting {Lyndsey Hamilton/Elisabeth Millay}.

 

South African Wedding Style #5: Handmade with an Mzansi Twist

by gaby

Earlier today, we spent some time with our DIY bride, Sam, chatting about her gorgeous restored vintage dress, but I’m not done with Sam’s lovely wedding today! In fact, it’s the feature wedding for the last in the five iconic South African wedding styles I chose from last year – in this case, sort of handmade retro, but with a proper South African twist. I don’t know if being based in London makes you even more enthusiastic about anything South African (I feel like it has for me!) but I loved that as part of their gorgeous wedding, Sam and Stew included lots of proudly Saffa touches (as well as lots of British ones, to represent their time in the UK). In truth, it’s something you could incorporate in a number of wedding styles, but I think it works particularly well with the laid back, handmade, and very personal style of Sam and Stew’s wedding – it’s a great reflection of our generally chilled-out national nature, and the melting pot of cultures that somehow has become our own.

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Confessions of a DIY Bride #4: The Dress

by gaby

Hello lovelies! Sam’s back today with more on her DIY wedding adventure! And this is such a special post – I know I felt a bit choked up at the end!

DIY Bride Disclaimer: My ‘DIY Dress Project’ didn’t stretch to actually making my own dress, or getting a fabulous mom/aunt/granny to create the perfect Couture Gown, but I was lucky enough to be able to re-create a vintage heirloom into my own version of THE dress.

When I started my search for a not-too-extravagant but still pretty awesome, reasonably comfy wedding dress, I hoped the answer would be a vintage one. (I had visions of a puffy 1950s cocktail number). So, I trawled vintage fairs, shops and websites, and saw so many beautiful dresses and even more beautiful accessories, but generally felt a little overwhelmed at my lack of London vintage shopping knowledge and know-how.

Then I travelled to South Africa, and in between the mad rush to choose a venue and find a caterer, my mom, sister and I visited a few wedding boutiques, and I dutifully tried on the dresses. They were nice (some were even very very nice) but… they just weren’t quite right. Eventually, I decided I’d go back to London, find a plain, simple high street dress, and accessorise it with my grandmother’s wedding veil (cathedral length, 1940s Brussels lace). There was just one problem – no one could find it. Anywhere.

It was in the process of searching through yet another trunk, at the back of yet another cupboard, in the last few hours before I flew back to the UK, that I found the rumpled old plastic bag… Filled with an even more rumpled mess of delicately textured, oyster satin and few lonesome diamantes… It wasn’t my grandmother’s veil, but it was her wedding dress. The same one she wore in 1946 when she’d married my grandpa.Read More

Real Wedding at Webersburg {Leandrie & Raubie}

by gaby

Hello dear friends – sorry you missed out on your real wedding fix yesterday! I have a little holiday planned for next week, so I’m on double duty making sure everything’s ready to keep things pretty around here. Anyway, today’s wedding from Cheryl McEwan – as full of little details as it is – is definitely one to keep you entertained. Leandrie and Raubie were married at the magnificent Webersburg, with pops of green against a neutral palette, and lots of fun touches. My favourite is definitely the milkshakes with stripy green straws – adorableness! I also really love that Cheryl’s made sure not just to photograph these details as they stood on the day, but to get the bridal party interacting with them – it’s a nice editorial way of bringing those little touches to the forefront and making sure your pictures tell the story not only of your day, but of all the effort you put into the details, which I know is important to a lot of you! So here we go… enjoy!Read More

Winter Gold {Plus DIY details + special offer}

by gaby

You guys, I am doing such a happy dance as I post this feature today! It has been a long while coming, and I am thrilled to finally be able to share it with you. See, this isn’t just a beautiful shoot that someone sent me, I was actually there for this one. I saw it put together from scratch. I even helped make it happen a little. Not that it’s my shoot – ‘assisted’ is the key term here. All of this shimmery, wintery loveliness comes straight from the imagination of styling queen Louise Beukes of b.loved (how pretty must it be inside her mind?) as well as the lens of Liesl Cheney. It’s all about making your guests feel cozy while at the same time sweeping them up Narnia-style into a world of snowflakes and pinecones and sophisticated elegance. And now’s a good time for me to say how proud I am of everything Louise has achieved. A couple of years ago, she approached me as a SouthBound Bride herself, and told me she wanted to start a blog. I thought it was a great idea. Then she told me she wanted to be a stylist, and I thought that was an even better one. The result is not only daily eye candy on her fabulous blog, but a portfolio that is just busting at the seams with loveliness. This was one of her first shoots, so you can see she hit the ground running. Oh, and the reason we didn’t show it to you earlier? Only because it was too busy being featured in UK magazine You & Your Wedding.Read More

Lace Wedding Cakes

by gaby

This post was going to be about a whole other cake trend, but when I asked myself what sort of cake I could see SouthBound brides really going for in the next year, one answer immediately sprang to mind: lace. I mean, we love lace, right? It’s a beautiful texture to add to a cake without having to go too bold – in fact it’s the perfect way to amp up a classic white cake. Not that you can’t do something more colourful, as you’ll see below – the base cake or the lace itself can be any number of colours. I think my absolute favourite look for lace wedding cakes is the blush/nude cake with a white lace overlay, since it reminds me of the illusion/portrait back trend we’re seeing in dresses so much at the moment – so gorgeous! I’ve gathered up my top 20 wedding cakes with lace details – which is your favourite?

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Sareh Nouri Spring 2013 Collection

by gaby

Time for some more dress dreaminess (yes, I know, we have been a lot about the dresses recently, but I know that it’s the first thing most brides start dreaming about!). A few years back, if you’d asked me what I thought an ideal wedding dress should look like, I would have told you as plain and simple and flattering as possible, but I think I may have caught some kind of fashion bug. Now I am all, the frothier and more romantic, the more I love it. (Lucky I have no plans to marry, or some poor man would be forking out for a Vera Wang.) So you’ll forgive me for going just a little bit melty when Sareh Nouri, a New York-based designer, sent over her Spring 2013 collection. It is GORGEOUS. I’m especially in love with the peachy blush Sophie, which might be my new favourite coloured dress. Or the sparkle-tastic Ressan. Or elegant Audrey. Heck, I love ’em all, especially when the Sareh Nouri team took them out into the countryside with an incredible, ethereal photoshoot with Emme Wynn (who might also be my newest photography crush). The perfect amount of loveliness to light up your Tuesday afternoon!Read More