Flowers for Flower Girls? Maybe not....

I'd originally planned on having my super cute flower girls carry a pretty ivory rose floral ball (those ones that have a ribbon handle and almost look like a very round floral clutch) down the aisle, but on visiting the Save the Date wedding fair and seeing the lovely button bouquets on offer from Vintage Magnolia, I changed my mind at the last minute. It was a fab decision.

The lovely Lucy at Vintage Magnolia made the gorgeous ivory and gold button bouquets featured in the pictures below. Not only were they beautiful and quirky, but they made a great keepsake for my adorable flower girls and actually ended up costing less then the floral ball thingy's (apologies, not quite sure of the actual terminology...)!

Lucy even thought of the little details and asked me what letters my flower girls names started with so that she could add 'H' and 'A' letter charms to the bouquets, alongside cute little 'made with love' charms and all those pretty little buttons. Needless to say, I'd definitely recommend checking out their wonderful website and thinking outside the box when it comes to some of the smaller details that you might otherwise take for granted....

http://vintagemagnolia.co.uk/index.html

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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It's You I Like - By Fred Rogers

Happy wedding reading Wednesday! This week I thought I'd share the crazy cute 'It's You I Like' by Fred Rogers. It short, sweet, to the point and makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile too :)

It's You I Like - By Fred Rogers

 

It's not the things you wear.
It's not the way you do your hair,
But it's you I like.

The way you are right now
The way down deep inside you
Not the things that hide you
Not your diplomas...
They're just beside you.
But it's you I like.

Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings,
Whether old or new.
I hope that you'll remember
Even when you're feeling blue,
That it's you I like,
It's you yourself, it's you
It's you I like.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea

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Edible lace? Yes please!

Another one of my last minute changes pre-wedding day was my cake. I'd originally chosen a fairly basic Waitrose option as it was something that I thought you either had to pay £500 for, or go quite simple with (like an M&S or Waitrose option). I was wrong, and I have to say, visiting local wedding fairs in the last couple of months before my big day really opened my eyes to the abundance of fabulously talented local suppliers that are available if you just spend the time having a nose around. It's definitely one of my number one learning's from my own wedding day. You get a much more personalised service and in my case, I found that every local supplier I used went above and beyond my requests and added their own little special touches to their favoured crafts.

Jeanine at Strawberry Cupcakes was no exception. She did an amazing job on my deliciously yummy, and very beautiful, edible lace covered cake. I even got to see (and eat!) samples of cakes with varying shades of gold lace so that I could make sure it was just perfect on the day. She doesn't make the cakes until the morning of so they're perfectly fresh, and she has such an obvious passion and excitement for cake decorating that's hard to not get enthused by. In the end, I only ended up paying about £30 more then I would've on my basic, 2 tier, plain ivory Waitrose cake and got a stunning and memorable wedding cake in return. Definitely the right choice to go local and personal!

http://www.strawberrycupcakes.co.uk/

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea

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Officially a Mrs.

The last four months have been a roller coaster/whirlwind of wedding good times. So much so that I've shamefully neglected my cherished little blog. Now that my very own wedding day has come to fruition (best day of my life!!!), I finally have some time to myself again. So, as a Mrs, I get to devote a few hours a week back to Amorra Weddings and along with it, all things bright and beautiful in the world of weddings. Happy times.

As a little taster of what's to come, I thought I'd share a sneaky couple of pics from my very own fantabulous day....

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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The Wedding Event with a Difference

As I sit down in front of my computer this evening, I can't help but think how absolutely lovely a day I've had. It's been brimming with wedding good times and I've been lucky enough to finalise a few more of my big day details thanks to Save the Date Magazine.

This morning I convinced my husband to be (after repeatedly telling him how much I appreciated his support and interest) to come along with me to the Wedding Event with a Difference at the Nottingham Conference Centre. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the plethora of quality East Midlands wedding suppliers. Having been to the country's biggest wedding show at the NEC three times in the last year and half, I've been used to seeing a supplier I love, only to find out that they're based in London, Birmingham or somewhere in between and that they don't service the Nottingham area unless you're prepared to pay a small fortune in transport fee's. It was refreshing and pleasing to see something I liked, and then discover that the supplier was based in the village down the road from me!

The event organisers clearly have a passion for all things beautiful in the world of weddings and from the catwalk shows to the seminars it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. My favourite bits? The brilliant tea towel invites supplied by Ruby and Diva (pictured below - I love these!!), the heritage for hire Royal Mail Post Box from Instant Momento (also pictured below), the informative Seminar on wedding day photography by Rachael Connerton and the general inspiration from all the lovely and talented suppliers. From luggage case table plans to vintage and beautiful center pieces, it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday.

For hire post box. Brilliant idea!

Love these tea towel invites. You can also change the text to 'Got Married' and use them as a favour. I may or may not have a sample on my way to me now...

Thanks for reading,

Chelsea

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My Top 10 Hen Do Games/Activities

Considering the hen do is the one part of my wedding that I'm not actually planning and sorting out (thank you in advance to my lovely bridesmaids who I absolutely know have done a fantabulous job), it's still something that I've put a lot of thought into. Yes, I have probably annoyed aforementioned lovely bridesmaids with my constant requests for do's and don'ts, but as I'm used to being in control, it's sometimes a bit hard to let go.

So, in my hen do brainstorming, I've come up with my top 10 games and activities for a brilliant hen do which I've accumulated through experience, the internet and word of mouth.

1)Mr and Mrs quiz. I've yet to attend a hen do where this didn't go down a storm. For those not familiar with the quiz of all quiz's, I'll give a bit of a summary. It's basically where you ask the groom in advance of the hen do to fill out a bit of a questionnaire on the bride, himself and their relationship. Then during the hen do, you ask the bride the same questions and get her to guess what he would have answered. The funnier the questions the better, and usually the humour comes from the variance in what the bride and the groom have to say more than anything else. A few of my favourites are, 'What is his worst habit?', 'What item do you find hard to share with your future husband?' and 'What celebrity does he fancy?'. I've played various versions of this game, but I think the best was when it was turned into a bit of a drinking game to get the night started. Each guest was given one of the questions to ask , and if the bride got it right, then the guest had to drink, but if the bride got it wrong, she did. Brilliance!

2)Dance Class! One of my favourite hen do's involved a Glee dance class. It was pure genius and got everyone laughing, twirling and singing along to the music together. Being a bit of a Gleek myself, I loved it!

P.S. Hope the lovely ladies above don't mind me posting these pics! They're brilliant!

3)Photo dares. I did this at one of my colleagues hen do's and it was such a great ice-breaker and a hilarious way to get everyone in the hen do mood. Disposable camera's were distributed among the guests along with various tasks and places to get yourselves photographed in during the night. It was things like getting a photo behind the bar, in somebody else's clothes and with celebrity look-alikes (trying to find a David Beckham was not easy...it may have been a bit of a stretch, but in the end that was what made it even funnier). At the end of the night the bridesmaids gathered the camera's and pre-wedding had the photo's developed and a photo album with all the pics made for the bride. So not only was it brilliant fun on the night, but a great memento for the bride to be!

4)Photoshoot fun. I think most brides have various groups of friends coming together for their hen do so I love the idea of doing a hen do photoshoot. It's one of the only times you'll have all your friends together in one place so is the perfect opportunity to capture the moment in film. It's also a fairly inexpensive activity once the cost is distributed amongst everyone so makes for a great way to spend an hour or two and gives everyone a bit of a souvenir of the event.

5)The Theatre. Trying to convince my husband to be to sit through Mama Mia, Dirty Dancing or Legally Blond the Musical, is like trying to get blood from a stone. Where as I don't think I have a single girl friend that wouldn't jump at the idea of seeing Baby carry watermelons or Sophie and Sky sing 'Lay all Your Love on Me'.

6)The Spa. I love the spa and have begged and pleaded for it to be part of the Friday activities at my hen do. I can't imagine anything better then relaxing with some good friends, maybe a bit of champagne, and getting pampered.

7)Cupcakes and Cocktails. It's not something I've done before, but with loads of hen do planners providing cupcakes and cocktails activities, I think it's a fantastic idea. I love cupcakes. I love cocktails. Easy.

8)Scrapbook. We did this for the lovely Vicky's wedding and it was such a sweet and thoughtful gift from everyone who came. At some point or other during the weekend, each guest wrote a message and/or gave a photo to one of the bridesmaids for Vicky. The bridesmaid then made a beautiful scrapbook with all the bride to be's friends and loved ones messages and pictures. Love!

9)Karaoke. Oh yes, the dreaded Karaoke. I happen to love it. Especially after a few long island ice tea's or glasses of vino. When it's just friends it doesn't matter if you try to rap along to eminem or end up singing an uber cheesy lovely song dedicated to your soon to be husband. My only suggestion would be to go to one of the places where you and your party get your very own room. Then not only do you and your friends have complete control over the songlist and microphone, but it makes everyone more at ease.

10)Last but not least, a bit of boogying. I think every hen do should end up with a good bit of dancing the night away. One of the best and well planned bits of the last hen do I went to was reserving an area at the nightclub we went to. I never would have thought it would be so nice to have somewhere to sit a bit and just relax. This is particularly useful if you have a big group. It's not something that I would ever think about when just out with a few friends as you tend to all do the same thing at the same time, but with a big group, some people will be up for dancing hours on end, but others will need a bit of a break. Definitely my number one top tip for a successful night out!

What fun and fantastic things have you done at hen do's? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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Dreaming - By Tina Cerruti

I love a good wedding reading, and in the lead up to my big day, one of the things I've really enjoyed doing is having a good read of different styles of romantic and sometimes funny love poems. Every now and then I stumble on one that instantly brings tears to my eyes and makes me go a bit blubbery. Whether it entails lovely dinosaurs, wet towels or just old fashioned love, I just can't help but post about these little poetic gems when I find them. I think all good words are meant for sharing and hope my readers enjoy them as much as I do.

So that I can continue on with my love of sharing all things bright and beautiful in the world of wedding poems and readings, I've also added a page to my site called 'Collection of Readings' (clickable on the menu bar above) so that all my favourites are in one easy and very readable place. Hope you like!

But onto my latest finding. The last stanza (I think stanza is the word....it's been a long time since Grade 12 English!) whilst somewhat expected, still made me catch my breath a little bit and well up just a bit more. Hope you enjoy Dreaming, by Tina Cerruti as much as I do.

I used to dream of eyes so blue
And loving arms to hold me.
I used to dream of heroic knights
And how gracious they would be.

I used to dream of how I wouldn’t settle
For anything less than best.
I used to dream of how he would majestically
Lay all fears to rest.

I used to dream of fairy tales,
How wondrous would they be
I used to dream of story books
All patterned after me.

I used to dream of a lot of things,
But the moment I met you,
I immediately stopped dreaming,
Because all of my dreams came true.

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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Updo, Down-do or Something in Between?

With just over two months to go until my big day, it dawned on me yesterday that it's probably about time I sorted out how I want to wear my hair on quite possibly the most important day of my life to date. Not being much in the way of a hair expert, it's something that I've been quite blase about (it helps that I have complete and utter confidence in the skill level of my brilliant hairstylists). I tend to wear my hair pulled back most days for work and when I go out it's always quite simply done either down and straight or with a bit of curl. So yes, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not much of an experimenter in the world of hair science!

I've seen virtual hairstylists mentioned on sites before and thought I'd try it out to see if I could get any idea's for updo's, down-do's or something in between. In googling virtual hairstylists I came across the wonderful world of Taaz. It's pure and utter brilliance. After registering with some very basic info you're free to unleash yourself into the fabulous (and sometimes hilarious) world of virtual make overs. Unfortunately for my husband to be, it's also meant that I've spent the last couple of hours giving myself looks ranging from Carrie Underwood to 'Vampire-ess' while he's been busy painting the ceiling in the kitchen...oops!

I've definitely come out the other side a bit more informed as to what suits me in terms of hair styles. Weirdly enough, the way I wear my hair nine days out of ten was probably my least favourite, so it's 100% been a good couple of hours spent. It's given me some idea's of what to show my hair stylist and what I'm looking for in my big day do.

To give you an idea of what it's capable of I've saved down some of my fave's from my last couple of hours of experimenting...enjoy!

 I played around with both the make-up and the hair. My one top tip: When you upload a photo, try to get one where your hair doesn't show, otherwise you can get a bit of overlap like in this example.

 I'm now contemplating getting a fringe...kind of love the below style!

I also learnt that if I have an updo, it definitely needs to have pieces that frame my face and not just be pulled back. 

Love the vintage glamour of the below look. It's not something I would ever think to try on myself but seeing it on here makes me love it a little!

 And last but not least, my Twilight 'Vampire-ess' look. Definitely not wedding appropriate but just so funny I had to share!

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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Save the Date

I love a good wedding show/fayre and got just a little overexcited when I was very kindly invited to the Save the Date event in Nottingham next weekend. After convincing my husband to be that he needed to come along with me (there is a blokes corner after all) I booked myself some tickets and am now looking very forward to a day of happy wedding excitement.

From the fabulously designed website and the list of brilliant suppliers it looks like it's the kind of wedding fayre that's right up my street. With catwalk shows, hair seminars and best of all, DIY workshops (I can guarantee that I will be signing up to learn how to make my very own pretty wooden bunting and flower buttonholes) it should be a fabulous event and I just couldn't help but share it.  

And in case you're not sure about going, according to the Save the Date blog, there are seven very good reasons why you just have to be there:

1)Each ticket purchased is entered into a prize draw to win £1,000 worth of wedding bands courtesy of the fabulous Temprell Jewellers. I can personally confirm that their wedding bands are absolutely amazing. They're a family run business and the quality of their products is second to none.

2)Catwalk shows with a difference!

3)A fabulous speakers corner featuring seminars from wedding experts.

4)A chance to be pampered at the vintage make up stand.

5)Cocktails and music in the Lyrical Lounge.

6)DIY workshops!

7)Last but not least, the opportunity to meet a fantastic range of local, handpicked wedding suppliers.

Check out their website for more info! Tickets are a fantastic price so don't miss out:

http://www.savethedatemagazine.co.uk/

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
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A Bit of Photobooth Fun

I love photobooths. Yes, a simple but very true and thought out statement. I was first introduced to the brilliantness that is for-hire photobooths at the very lovely wedding of Anton and Vicky. I'm not gonna lie, I queued up several times to get some hilarious and memorable photo souvenirs. Whether in a green clown wig, a silly hat, or just as myself, I loved every minute of cheesy posing and face pulling fun. They're a fantastic way to get some 'let your hair down' kind of photo's while still providing endless laughs and entertainment to your guests. My love of all things photobooth grew even more after once again getting some fantastic photo's at a work masquerade ball last Christmas. The booth was one of the stars of the nights and my co-workers and I seemed to queue up numerous times for some fun filled photo's...

If you have the space, and the budget then I would wholeheartedly recommend hiring a photobooth for your big day. Prices range from £500 to £1000 depending on which company you go with. The lovely Anton and Vicky used pictureblast for their wedding and they were absolutely perfect. They have a range of booths from retro to super and have a deal at the moment which gives you the below for £600. It's a fantastic package and well worth the money.

What's Included:

•Set up and take down of booth

•Unlimited visits to the booth (choose between colour or black & white prints per visit by using a touch screen)

•Optional Video Messaging (your guests can leave you short messages from within the booth!)

•Customised labels on prints

•A box full of props * A definite must!

•Guest instant facebook & email IPad

•PictureBlast staff for the duration of the photo booth hire

•All hi resolution images taken in the booth on Disc

•Video messages captured presented on a DVD for you to watch at home

•On-line Image Gallery for you and your guests to view your pictures after the event (password protected)

And if you want to take it that step further, they offer the below package upgrades:

•Full Leather bound album with gift box available in Black or Cream (we supply silver gel pens and adhesive) - £50 *I love this option. I seem to remember writing a few red wine fuelled comments in sparkly glitter gel pens at Anton and Vicky's wedding.

•Double set of prints, one for your guest, one for your guest book (not required with twin strip option) - £50 *I also love this as it almost makes for a favour/souvenier for your guests.

•Key Rings  - We can design a backing and make them up at your event - £100 per 100

•Additional Run Time Hours- £100 per hour

•Idle hours - £25 per hour (if you need the booth set up more than 1 hour ahead of run time)

Last but not least, I couldn't help but share a few of my fave photo's from both events. Enjoy!

Check out the below for more info:

http://www.pictureblast.co.uk/default.aspx

Thanks for reading,

Chelsea

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