Trends & Ideas - SouthBound Bride

SouthBound’s Best 2013: Bouquets

17 December, 2013 by gaby

Hello friends! Today marks the start of our Christmas and New Year schedule – while I’ll be taking a little well-deserved break with my family, we’ll be looking back at all the highlights of a beautiful year here on SBB. For the rest of this week, I’ll be breaking down our top bouquets, bride and bridesmaid looks, groom style, cakes, reception and ceremony details, and after that we’re showcasing the Top 10 weddings for 2013, based on views, comments, Facebook likes, Pinterest pins, and so on. Whether you’ve seen them before or have only just started the planning journey, it’s a snapshot of 2013’s bridal style as well as a look at trends that have only just started developing. Be sure to click through to see the full weddings for more! Today we’re starting off with bouquets – one of my bestest things. We had some absolutely BEAUTIFUL flowers on the blog this year, and I can safely call it the Year of the Protea – be they blushing bride, king, pincushion or even carved! So you’ll see plenty of our national bloom in this roundup, as well as some other gorgeous and inspiring pieces. Congrats to all the talented floral designers who pulled these off – we have such a talented bunch of people in this industry!

Ten Christmas Decor Items You Can Use At Your Wedding

16 December, 2013 by gaby

Hello lovelies! Tomorrow we officially kick off our end of year blog schedule, but for this morning we’re going all Christmassy in honour of the fact that I’ll be tree trimming all day. I know that budget is a constraint for so many brides, and I can’t help but think about weddings when I see some of the decorations that are available these days – they’re definitely not of the cheese-tastic Santa’s grotto variety! With most of them being on sale at huge discounts from Boxing Day onwards, I got to thinking about how this was a good time for 2014 brides to stock up on some of their decor items in a brilliant stroke of forward planning. Some of these are more obvious, some require some creative thinking, but all of them will enhance your wedding, which doesn’t necessarily need to have a winter or a Christmas theme. Here are my Top 10 finds to look out for.

#1: CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Lightbulb Wedding Decor

4 December, 2013 by gaby

It’s Wednesday Trendsday, and today we’re looking at a little decor trend that I am absolutely smitten with. I first fell in love with the look earlier this year when we featured Chris and Rich’s gorgeous wedding, with big, round custom-shipped Edison bulbs hanging at intervals along the tables – they were gorgeous touches of stylish retro during the day and at night helped to create an intimate, magical atmosphere. Love.Read More

Lovely Long Veils

27 November, 2013 by gaby

*UPDATED FOR 2020* Get ready for some beautiful inspiration friends, because today we’re talking veils. And not just veils. These are veils and a half: cathedral (or at least chapel) length, full-scale veily gorgeousness. There’s no messing around with these veils. They mean business. But let’s rewind a sec, because while long veils certainly aren’t a new thing, they’re definitely a trend. Back when I started this blog a few years ago, you couldn’t find a long veil for love nor money. It was all about the birdcage then. And then it was about flowers and braids and floral crowns. But slowly, I started to see these beautiful veils creeping into my peripheral vision. And each time they did, I would do a double take. Veils started making a comeback, especially dramatic full-length ones. Then Kate Moss did it, and it was officially a Thing. And here we are. And I have to tell you ladies, I LOVE this look. I mean, I still like other veil types, but this is hands down my current fave. Whether plain or patterned, cathedral length veils make a style statement, and the good news is (as you’ll see from my roundup of lovely below) that they go with a huge variety of dress types and wedding styles. So go on. Go long. You know you want to.

*Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.

Trend Alert: Candles

20 November, 2013 by gaby

As the year starts drawing to an end, we wedding bloggers begin to think about the trends that have made an impact in 2013, as well as those that are top of our crush lists for 2014. There’s one I have been watching for a while, and I have to say, I am loving what stylists have been doing with it, and it’s candles. I know, right? Who knew they even went out of fashion? But when we’re talking candles here, we’re talking tall and taper candles, multiple candles (the way that flowers were done a couple of years ago), coloured candles, and even candles on wedding cakes, birthday style. LOVE. So I thought it was about time I brought this look to the blog. Here are some of my favourites from t’internets.Read More

Table Garlands

30 October, 2013 by gaby

It’s an exciting day at SBB HQ, and I have some lovely news to share with you this afternoon. When I do, you’ll see why I have garlands and continuous floral runner arrangements on the brain! This is one trend that I have absolutely loved seeing in 2013, and I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of it next season. Garlands are such a pleasing visual element to add to your decor – they look so lush and plentiful, and they really make long tables pop. Of course, a magic carpet of blooms is stunning, but you can also make this work with greenery, succulents, or even (as you’ll see below), photos! You can work with a single colour, a mix, or an ombre effect (love!), and incorporate tall candles or little votives along the way. The garlands can go straight or have a little twist to them, and they can come off the ends of your table or just work along its length. This probably isn’t a trend for budget brides, in that a floral garland tends to use a lot of blooms multiplied by all your tables, but if you’re madly in love with the idea and watching the pennies, why not just have a garland for the head table? Or, as one couple did in the pics below, for a central table that works as a real showstopper and centrepoint visually? That way, you’ll get some of the effect, without all of the expense.Read More

Ten Tables: Rustic {Part 2}

23 October, 2013 by gaby

Welcome back to Part 2 of our rustic tables feature, lovelies! I had such a brilliant response to this new series last week from both readers and other bloggers, so we’ll definitely be continuing with it! Do you have any specific table styles to request? Let me know in the comments! Of course, rustic is a big favourite – it works in quite a few contexts and as you saw last week, can go from real down-home farm styling to elegant and a bit glam, depending on how you combine different elements. This time I’ve lined up the second half of my top ten favourite rustic tablescapes, and again broken them down into their elements to help you with your own wedding design. If you missed Part 1, you can catch it here.

Table #6: Sweet & Low Country

FLOWERS: Mixed white blooms

DIY Wedding Postmark

18 October, 2013 by gaby

A few weeks ago, I highlighted some gorgeous travel-themed invitation suites, and today I thought I would follow that up with a little DIY that might help brides and grooms who want to create a similar look but maybe aren’t Photoshop whizzes. I feel you guys, because when I started this blog three years ago, sshhh! but I only knew how to use Paint. Seeryus. Those of you who have been with me for a while will know how tragic that first banner was. Anyway, the point is, sometimes we all need a bit of step-by-step guidance. One element I really liked in a number of the suites that were featured was the inclusion of customised postmarks, with the bride and groom’s names and wedding date and location. Whether you incorporate it into an invitation design, or have it turned into an actual rubber stamp (love that idea!) this Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create one these sweet little jetset wedding details for yourselves.Read More

Victorian Splendour

16 October, 2013 by gaby

*UPDATED FOR 2018* If you thought that the wedding we shared yesterday was the end of the sigh-worthy lace dresses we’d be enjoying this week, then good news – it was just the start. :) When I ran the SouthBound Bride Reader Survey recently, one of the questions I asked was what readers would like to see more of, and I had a special request for Victorian lace wedding dresses. We’ve already looked at beautiful lace portrait backs, but it got me thinking about the trend that goes hand in hand with that one – high lace necks and lace sleeves, which are a gorgeously elegant modern interpretation of vintage style. In fact, sleeves are still trending in general (total win for autumn and winter brides!), and of course if you love this style but don’t want it for the whole event you can always wear a lace overlay for the ceremony. It’s a modest look, but one that is so deliciously feminine that you can see why brides keep going back to it – this is only the latest of several Victorian revivals in bridal fashion, after all! *Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.

Ten Tables: Rustic {Part 1}

15 October, 2013 by gaby

We’re doing something new this afternoon, and it is all about tablescapes. As much as I love designing the overall look and feel of a wedding via inspiration board, one of the key questions whenever I’ve helped a friend plan her wedding has been “okay, but what exactly do we put on the tables?” You can see fantastic details and ideas in styled shoots and real weddings, but one of the things that I know brides always want to see in the pictures is how it all looks together, how you combine things, what that combination looks like. This new series sets out to help – not just by inspiring you with some of the most beautiful tables I have found, but in breaking these tablescapes down into their elements so you can start getting an idea of what those elements are and how they work together. Take one of these designs as it is and treat the breakdown as a shopping list, mix and match different bits of a few tables, or adapt to make them your own. You’ll be surprised as you go how many inexpensive elements you can include, or DIYs that can be done (I’ve given advice on both wherever possible). We’re kicking things off with the first five of my ten favourite rustic tables for all you brides dreaming of a farm or a barn or a forest wedding.

UPDATE: You can find Part 2 here.

Table #1: Country Colourful

FLOWERS: Chrysanthemums, dahlias, delphiniums, roses