So as you all know, April is our month for intimate weddings, and one of the things we love about a small guest list is that you can allocate a bit more of your budget to extravagant details. Hands up, I’m a bit of a stationery fiend, and there’s also nothing I love more than sending and receiving little parcels, so when I see creative, elaborate invitations (especially those that require more than the usual envelope to send) I get really excited (yep, I’m dorky like that). The thing is, I know that those sorts of invitations don’t scale up well to 120 guests on a normal budget. So as I say, this is one of those details that’s absolutely perfect for a small, intimate, beautifully styled affair. Here are 10 of my all-time favourite wedding invitation packages, made by some of the most talented and creative designers in the industry!
Tag: Trends & Ideas
Bridesmaids in Flower Crowns
Can you believe it was only a few years ago that flower crowns were a bit of a rarity in weddings? Now they’re as much of an option for most brides as any veil. But why should the bride get to have all the fun? Flower crowns for bridesmaids are a growing trend, and boy are they pretty. Whether you go for a subtle spray or a statement ring of roses, it can turn a simple bridesmaid look into something really special. So as usual, I’ve rounded up some of my absolute favourite examples from around the wedding web.Read More
Boho Aisle Style
One wedding detail that often gets overlooked in styling articles is the ceremony – but as we all know, that’s the most important part of your day! And while the most important part OF that most important part is obviously the words you’ll say and the way you’ll feel and the people who’ll be there, it doesn’t hurt to pay a little attention to planning a beautiful ceremony area that befits your wedding style and where you can create the perfect backdrop to the most romantic moment of your lives. As it happens, boho brides and grooms have been doing ceremony styling particularly well, so I just had to round up 20 of my absolute favourite boho ceremony areas to inspire you this afternoon!Read More
20 Boho Wedding Details
Confession: I feel kind of weird writing a post about the elements that will help you put together a bohemian style. Because, after all, the whole point of bohemianism is that anything goes, right? For a truly boho bride, you’re going to really make it up as you go along and just include the things that you love, that are in season, and that are at hand. And that’s awesome. In my view, wedding design should always be about what you love rather than conforming to what you think is expected of you. But let’s be honest, boho has become a ‘look’, and if that’s a look you’re trying to achieve, it’s my job to help you do that. And there are certain ingredients that immediately scream boho – a flower crown, a fishtail braid, perhaps a ’70s style crochet lace dress, a ceremony out in the open, a festival style reception. I still love all of those things (especially the flower crowns), but for today’s roundup, I wanted to focus on the less obvious details that you could include in your wedding styling that would still help to create a boho vibe. There are some seriously cool little ideas here, so dive in, and see what takes your fancy!Read More
Heart Shape Wedding Details
As you know, it’s Valentine’s Week, and that means all things heart-shaped and lovey dovey. Now, let’s be honest, hearts CAN be super cutesy and cheesy as a wedding detail. But used in the right way, this ancient symbol gets a new lease on life, especially when used sparingly. I love every one of the elegant details below, and so many are a fresh take on this seen-before theme. Which is your favourite?Read More
Enamelware Wedding Details
Afternoon, brideys! You know how I’m always on the lookout for details that add a uniquely South African twist to your big day, so while today’s roundup isn’t a trend as such, it’s definitely a fun local-is-lekker addition to your decor and one that I’m seeing quite a few South African brides incorporate beautifully. Enamel tin mugs are a relatively inexpensive piece of tableware we’re all familiar with, but did you know you can pretty them up to make a fab wedding detail? Whether it’s as an escort card or favour (with or without the addition of a candle or a little plant inside), an addition to your table decor (at each place setting or as a centrepiece, especially if you include the enamelware kettles and pots in your scheme), or just a sweet way of serving drinks during cocktail hour or a late night coffee or hot chocolate bar, they’re sure to make your guests smile. My favourite place to buy the mugs for your wedding is The Perfect Day, who can custom engrave them with your design and sell at a bulk price for 48 mugs, making them perfect for favours. Here are some of my favourite ideas for using them.Read More
20 Ways to Incorporate Lavender Into Your Wedding
With summer fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about summer blooms, and one of my absolute favourites is lavender. This pretty, fragrant (and yay, relatively inexpensive) bloom is a regular feature in wedding design, and it never fails to hit the pretty buttons for me! So today I thought I would round up 20 gorgeous lavender wedding ideas – pick your favourites and adapt or reproduce to add some lavender loveliness to your own big day.Read More
Pink Wedding Bouquets
We’re continuing our week of Think Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but after rounding up some beeyooodeefool blush dresses yesterday, this afternoon we are all about the flowers. Don’t get me wrong – I love bouquets in a variety of colours, and pink actually goes brilliantly with most of them, but I’ve loved looking for these pink-shades-only bunches. From huge, luscious peonies to smaller, more delicate blooms, each one has something special that makes me go ‘ooh’. And don’t forget to pop back tomorrow and Friday afternoons, when we’ll have even more inspiration of the blush variety.Read More
15 Free Script Fonts For Your Wedding
You’ve probably picked up by now that I (like most other wedding bloggers) am a HUGE fan of calligraphy, especially the modern hand lettering that has taken wedding design by storm the last couple of years. I especially love that calligraphy isn’t just for envelopes and place cards anymore – with lasercut and other processes, it’s become a decor feature too. Now, let’s be clear – if you want breathtakingly beautiful hand lettering, there is no substitute for the talented calligraphers who make this their business. The fees may seem hefty, but it’s labour and time intensive work, and I totally support these small business owners. However, the fact is that many couples just don’t have the budget for this lust-have, even if they want to. And in South Africa, there’s also only a very small number of people offering the kind of work you’ve seen on American wedding blogs. So what’s the solution? Well, as I say, it’s not quite the same, but a very pretty second best is to choose and use one of the gorgeous script fonts that are available online. There are a few premium fonts that lead the way in this area, but if you’re not willing or able to fork out for these, the good news is that you’re not stuck with whatever crappy script fonts you can find in MS Word these days. There are some absolutely lovely calligraphy fonts out there available absolutely free for personal use, and I’ve rounded up 15 of my favourites! If you’d like to download one of them, just follow the links below and hey presto – you’ll have a shiny new font to brand your wedding with.Read More
Sparkler Send-Offs
Sometimes I just like to post pretty pictures of things I like, and I REALLY like sparkler send-offs. Maybe it’s because they look so magical and Hollywood ending-ey, or maybe it’s just because sparklers were the only fireworks that didn’t scare the living crabcakes out of me when I was a child (I HATED Guy Fawkes, still kind of do). Whatever, sparkler exits are awesome. It seems to be more of a thing among our friends in the US (and of course some venues won’t allow them for fire insurance reasons), but if you can do a sparkler exit, not only is it a great way to end the evening, it’s also a hell of a photo. Of course, your photographer may have gone home by then, so this is the one time I’m going to say be sure you have a friend who loves photography at the ready, because done right it really is too good a shot to miss. Safety obviously is also a concern – make sure you have a couple of sensible (and sober) friends or family members on fire marshall duty, fire extinguishers at the ready, and metal sand buckets for disposal of the hot sparklers afterwards. To make sure this works, you’ll also need more than the standard little sparklers – large ones are available online, and have about a four minute burn time. Which also means there’s no need to run down the line (often making it a better photo). Needs a little pre-planning, but as you’ll see in the pics on this post, totally worth it.Read More