Supplier Spotlight: indieLoveBooks

Before we head out for the weekend, I just have to share one of my favourite new supplier finds. I say finds, but actually I have watched from this sidelines as this developed from the beginning, since the talented designer behind indieLoveBooks is Ché Dyer, the same talented personage behind the amazing blog and stationery brand, indieberries. I love Ché to bits as you probably know by now, and a while back I asked her to share the story of the super original guest book she made for her own wedding with my readers. The response was amazing – not surprisingly, you all wanted one of Ché’s fun keepsake creations for your own big day. She’s gone on to launch indieLoveBooks, a bespoke site dedicated to the guestbooks, with three different packages available to suit the number of your guests. Knowing Ché’s incredible passion for her work and attention to detail, I know why she already has had so many happy customers, and I asked her to tell us a bit more about indieLoveBooks as well as herself. Welcome back, Ché!Read More

Pastel Travel-themed Netherwood Wedding by Rensche Mari {Leanie & Theuns}

I just love when I get to feature weddings that combine the talents of wedding pros who I have come to know and admire through my years as a blogger – it always gives me such pleasure to see brides put themselves in their hands and come out with beautiful results! Today’s wedding features three of my favourite names – Rensche Mari, one of our most talented photographers; Netherwood, an absolutely gorgeous venue that I have visited in person; and the very lovely Ché of indieberries and indielovebooks. So needless to say, Leanie and Theuns have excellent taste! As always, my favourite part is the details that tell their story, and their travel theme does just that – be sure to read all about Theuns’ totally original mile high proposal!Read More

Guest Post: Guest Books by Indieberries

Are you all sick of hearing from our friend Ché of Indieberries yet? No, of course you’re not. Because she is Awesome.Sauce. We love Ché. And we especially loved all the fab ideas she had for her wedding, from her Save the Dates to her invites to her guest book. And that’s what Ché is sharing with us today, along with a bunch of brilliant advice for how to make your own guest book awesome. UN-fortunately, we don’t get to see Ché’s actual wedding or pro pics of her guest book because… well, something bad happened to the photos. We won’t talk about it. Moving on. But let’s just say that this lady is not only a legend at producing an incredible wedding and choosing a very lovely man to marry, she is also the queen of grace under fire and an awesome example of someone who loves the pretty but knows what marriage is really all about. Maybe one day I’ll ask her to tell you about that. But for today, she’s talking guest books. Thanks Ché!

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After searching for a wedding guestbook and only finding standard run-of-the-mill, not-too-exciting options I decided to crack on and create my own personalised coffee-table keepsake. (Although to be fair, I didn’t search too hard for the aforementioned guestbook because I always knew I wanted to make my own).Read More

Indieberries Invitations Sneak Peek

Today you can catch me guest posting over on Indieberries, one of my favey South African blogs, written by one of my favey South African bloggers. Yay for Che and Warren, who are getting married in just two weeks time! I’m sharing a word of advice and some of my adventures in bridesmaiding (hint: it includes at least one awkward entrance and a wedding cake disaster). And to celebrate, I have a little sneak peek of Che’s gorgeous handmade invitations – each like an individual package of awesomeness. She’ll be giving you the lowdown on these soon, so be sure to keep checking into Indieberries for the final product, and you can also get some seriously fantastic DIY advice from her Save the Dates post on SBB here. But for now, let’s just enjoy a hint of what her guests found in their letterboxes. Can I just say: how much are we looking forward to seeing her wedding??? Read More

Guest Post: Indieberries Save the Dates

Oh we do love a DIY bride. And we especially love her when she’s our friend Che and she just happens to run a supercool South African blog called Indieberries, with cartoons and stuff. See, Che reminds me of my friend Marcelle. In Std 2, she pitched up at our school, and everything she touched turned to perfection. Her handwriting was awesome. She could draw. Her projects looked like professional scrapbooks. When she covered her compass tin with pictures it looked SO COOL (seriously, in the late ’80s that was a thing). She was like Regina George with the cutout t-shirt, but whenever I tried that stuff, it just looked ridiculous. So when Che got engaged, I knew that her guests would be treated to lots of creative, handmade, scrapbooky details that only she could put together, and I bought her wine and made her promise to send them to me. So here they are! Che’s Save the Dates are beyond cute – they’re based around the idea of ‘pencilling the date in’. I especially love that she wanted their guests to have something physical to open and use, like a present. Can you imagine getting one of these? You’d automatically be amping for the wedding, right? Anyway, you can read the thought behind these invites on Che’s awesome blog, or read on below for all the best Indieberries DIY tips. Oh, and pssst, if you’d like to read her and Warren’s story, see their adorable engagement shoot here.

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Indieberries Engagement Shoot

A few years back, my dear friend Lenore sent me a link to a South African blog called indieBerries. Think you’ll like this, she said. And that was how I entered the deliciously barmy world of Che, writer of fun blog posts, drawer of hilarious cartoons, scrapbooker extraordinaire. Che is one of those people you instantly like, even just via the internet – she’s bubbly and warm, creative and ever so slightly mad. She also makes beautiful stationery, which I used as a thin pretext to get in touch years ago (she kindly wrote a guest post for me then). So of course, when she got proposed to in spectacular fashion and started planning a wedding, I declared myself her new bestie. Conveniently, she was going to be in London for a few months, so I’ve since got to spend some time with her and she is exactly as I’d imagined – which means that I dig her a lot in person as well as online. All of these would have been reasons on their own that I’d be excited to feature her engagement shoot with fiance Warren (or ‘The Warr’ as I can only ever think of him after Che dubbed him that on her blog – it’s fine, he calls me SBB), especially when I found out that their photographer was none other than the awesome Anneli Marinovich. But when I discovered that they had the CUTEST concepts for their shoot, I knew it would be one of my favey couple shoots ever. First, Che and Warren brought the ‘love locks’ tradition to London, adding their own little lock of love to Hungerford Bridge and throwing the key into the Thames. Then they headed for the London Eye, and had a quintessentially London picnic, where each gave the other a love letter to read while Anneli snapped away. What I love most is that these concepts weren’t just used as props – they were catalysts for genuinely romantic and emotional moments between these two lovebirds, and the expressions of happiness on their faces just say it all. They both seem to glow in each other’s company – just imagine how amazing their wedding is going to be! Be sure to read on below for details on the shoot, and for the AWESOME story of how they met (make sure you head over to indieBerries for how he proposed too!). Che and The Warr: huge congratulations!Read More

Guest Blogger: IndieBerries

You guys, I am so excited about this guest post! One of my personal daily must-reads is indieBerries – a completely fresh and original (and award-winning!) blog just bursting with fun and creativity, written by the awesome Che.  She documents her life in a series of hilarious cartoons, and she also just happens to be a craft goddess with a penchant for pretty stationery. I’m so  honoured that she’s agreed to guest post for me today. Thank you so much Che! (I’ll give Durbs a big hello from you today!)

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Hi, I’m Che from the blog indieBerries. I’m South African currently teaching English in South Korea and I write a personal/inspirational/design/cartoon-infused blog.

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