70th Birthday

In October I decorated for a 70th birthday. A challenge I was determined to meet. The theme was rural/rustic. So plenty of wildflowers, leaves, wheat and windmills all top of a beautiful venue - The Peel Thunder Football Club.

A big thank you to my Mum, my partner Jeremy and my nephew Kyle who were all a huge help in helping me pull this off.

Thank you to Corrie & Rae Davison for giving me this opportunity to put my love for event organising and anything crafty to the test. You were such wonderful people to work with and I'm glad the night was everything you'd hoped for. :) xx

The kitchen full of gorgeous wildflowers ready to be made into centrepieces!

These king proteas were MASSIVE!! But absolutely stunning!!

One of the finished products.

The table all set with matching menu and place cards that carried on the theme originally set by the invites.

Windmills, vine, wildflowers, trees....as rural as it gets :)

The bar table small centrepieces. Waratahs and real wheat stalks.

Cake and present table vase. Full of honky nuts.

Table setting on hessian and two urn arrangements similar to the centrepieces.

Centre pieces

This is a centre piece I designed for a 70th birthday. Wildflowers is the theme.

As for the centre pieces for my wedding......they're still in the creative pipeline somewhere. :)

What's your thoughts on centre pieces? What's your favourite themes?

Alana

Birdhouse

I just made the cutest little birdhouse! Maybe it might make an appearance at our wedding...who knows!

However I finally got to spend a day in my office sorting out all the nice papers I have accumulated over the last year, while deciding on the colours and stationery for the wedding. Now I have a wonderful stock of samples for others to choose from when getting their stationery made.

The count down is also on for the 70th birthday I'm decorating for and I am about to make a start on the invites for that event. They have chosen a rural theme, so lots of native flowers, windmills and eucalypt branches.
Stay tuned for the final product of the invite...

Tips for this week -
Get to know your friends and family - when planning an event, whether it be a wedding or party, ask around among your friends and family to see what their talents and interests are. This could end up saving you $$$$$$$. Photography, crafty, sewing..... you name it, they just may be able to help you out. And most people will be more than happy to help you out with a special event.

Your day your way - When it comes to your wedding - while opinions and 'help' from others is sometimes useful, other times it can make you question the choices you have made and make things more diffcult then they need to be. Remind yourself that it is your day and its about you and your partner committing to the spending the rest of your lives together, so what others think sometimes isn't important. You'll never please everyone no matter how hard you try. If it's going to make your special day all the more 'special' for you, then have that bonboneirre or flower or colour of your choice. By then end of the day, those that opposed your idea, will have forgotten all about it anyhow.

If you want some wonderful ideas to help with the finishing touches to your big day then check out the new edition of Cosmo Bride.

Alana

The Count Down Continues...

9 months to go and counting....

The Bridesmaids have their dresses in their possession! The three of us trek to Perth on a Sunday with the vision that it's possibly going to be a long day trying on so many dresses we'll forget where we saw the one we liked before that other one we saw in that other shop and after that day was over we'd have to line up another meeting to continue our mission.....how wrong we were!!

The first attempt at dress shopping consisted of only myself and the Matron of Honour. We decide this fateful Saturday morning we would try this little bridal boutique nearby where I live. NEVER AGAIN!!! Not recommended!! They were so rude to us I wouldn't give them 10c let alone a what could have potentially been a few thousand if i hadv'e chosen to purchase my dress there as well. Unhelpful, rude, in  a hurry for their 'date' and couldn't have cared less about how much money they had the potential of making.
So we got off to a little bit of a rough start on our dress shopping venture. Never fear Sunday arrived and we were determined to not let that episode deter us from finding a dress for the girls that made them look smoking HOT!! :)
Off to the city on the train we go, a little excited to have some girly time and finally discuss some wedding plans.
We meet up with Donna and decide ok it makes sense to maybe try Myers never know they might surprise us. Donna declares she's in need of a visit to the lady's room, so Evelyn and I start looking through what we first thought could be potential candidates for the MOG & MOB dresses. Then we spy a dress. 'Go on Ev try it on! May as well that's what we came for after all.' By the time Evelyn has this dress on Donna's rejoined us and my first look at Ev in the dress....... 'That's it, that's the one! Not trying anymore, don't need to, we've found it!'
We spend the next half an hour discussing if we had in fact really truly ruly found the bridesmaids dress...like seriously could it in fact be that easy or are we just kidding ourselves and should we keep looking coz lets face it there might be something else better out there. After the lovely shop assistant has offered to run across to David Jones to get another of the dress in Donna's size and Donna try's it on only to recomfirm our first thought 'yes we have found the dress!!'
What sold me was the fact it was gorgeous on both of them (even with Donna's gorgeous little baby bump), they looked comfortable, they would both definitely wear the dress again and did they look smokin hot.....HELL YES!! Mission accomplished. Only problem now....we have all this spare time still what shall we do.....lunch with the girls and time for a sneak peak in some other shops. we even had time to locate their earrings.
Dress shopping really doesn't have to be hard and it is made so much easier when you get a good helpful assistant that has the time to give you even when the shop is busy.

So a few weeks later, now my confidence with dress shopping it thinking itself as awesome, I take the next step and venture back to the city with Jeremy's Mum. We have a lovely brunch, and even found some time for coffee. She found three possible suspects for dresses....among some bloody aweful ones!!! Of which I told her quickly to get them off!! :) So she's got a better idea of what she's after and the colours that suit her. Can't wait to see what she eventually decides on.

Accommodation for the wedding has all been figured out. who's sleeping in who's house out at Fairbridge and I have to say I'm excited and nervous now because the wedding is coming around so quickly, it still feels like yesterday when we visited Fairbridge and booked the date. All the major plans are now in place and it all seems even more real now the girls have their dresses!

As for my dress.....I'm going to go against the rule book and buy it online. Even if I do have to pay someone to alter it when it gets here, it still beats the price of buying from the only retailer in WA who stocks it. I will keep you updated as to whether it turns into one of those horror stories or is a success...hopefully the latter.

Invitations - well don't ask me, you saw how long it took me to decide on the Save The Dates. I'll have to get back to you on this one.

Table Centrepieces - I have made a start on these...the base is complete, what goes on the top....I'll have to get back to you on that one too :)


In more exciting news...my friend Karly is now only two months and a half months away from her big day and she is looking so relaxed about it! Hope I'm like that when I get to that point. And she is looking super HOT! I'm so proud of her for all the weight over the last couple of years she has lost, she really has done a super job and should be proud of herself too. She is going to look amazing on her big day...CAN'T WAIT!! :) :)

In the meantime between dresses and looking at the empty centrepiece, I have been busy making invites for a destination wedding of my sister's boss. Now that they are all on their way to their new homes, I can reveal the design. For once I actually like one of my designs without doubting it. Maybe finally my 'don't overthink it' approach is paying off!

Teal Card with embossed white motif, white ribbon, beads threaded on silver string and diamonte embellishment.

Wedding Decorations

Country Wedding

These pictures are taken at my cousins wedding. These were the decorations I worked with her on. The whole event had a red & white theme, which went beautifully in the old town hall of Newdegate WA. 

Each centrepiece had a photo from their engagement photoshoot I took for them.

Scented candles, personalised stubby holders and gold ring napkin holders with bows.

Cake boxes.

The Cake!

Decorations along the stage

The completed centrepiece with helium ballons.

Invites

Looking for an invite for that special occasion? I just might have what you're looking for. Many more designs to come. For weddings, birthdays, corporate events...whatever the occasion let me help. Any designs can be made in any colour/s of your choice and modified to suit your requirements.

Purple shimmer folded card (invite details on the inside), silver embossed strip, white organza and silver ribbon.

Folded card (invite details inside card) Stripe silver foil background, black ribbon, glitter number, black feather, silver leaves.

Chocolate shimmer backgroun, pearl shimmer print, vellum patterened strip with chocolate satin ribbon.

Gold shimmer base card, swirl embelishment, with space for a photo.

Chocolate tag, vellum print, tassle, chocolate brads.

Feel free to contact me if you have any queries.

Xmas Decorations

These are some of the Xmas decorations I made for our family Xmas 2011.

Glasses ready for Xmas celebrating...check!

Gift boxes that had a hand painted bauble with their name on it, tag with their name and a verse. Red rose wrapped in a black napkin.

The Xmas table...pre lunch time destroy.

Glass vases painted gold with red flowers and glittery leaves, finished off the table nicely.

Pure silver family heirloom candle holder.

What a day it was! Most of my family and Jeremy's came together for a fantastic fun filled day for our first xmas in our new house. Loved every minute of spending precious time with special people. Looking forward to all the memories to come in the years ahead :)

Wedding Mojo

Well my wedding mojo has been lost. But never fear I have year to go at least. However a new challenge has come my way. A rural themed 70th birthday. Grain filled vases, native flowers, artificial trees....the list is endless and I can't wait to put all my ideas into practice.
Are you looking for something different for your next event and over the 'dress-up' themes. Why not try an Australiana theme, crystals and feathers, chinese theme....there's so many to choose from.

On our wedding front.....the base for our centrepieces sits in my office....it oozes potential. I have around 27 ideas for it, now the decisions begin yet again. This is the fun part, right?
The dress....well that's already been chosen...months ago in fact. The most important part is the dress, thats the thing everyone waits in antcipation to see, got that picked out no problems. But do you think I can choose the centrepieces.........oh no!! Like I said, we have a year...lucky!! :)

Invites

 Here are some of my other invite designs. Plenty more to come...so stay tuned. If you have any special requests then be sure to let me know and I'll be more than happy to assist.


This is perfect for an invite folder. This is a 100gsm paper with a raised embossed pattern.



This is a three layered invite, perfect for any type of event. The vellum print is on two layers of shimmer card, with raised foil balloons to decorate.

Shimmer beige card base with a shimmer patterened paper. Beaded wire for tassle to hang elegantly from. Print is on vellum. Small square silver and diamonte brads.

Foil flocked strip down the side. Base is aheavy gold card, which is also the same gold as what is used for the invite box below. Print is on vellum. Gorgeous heart brad to finsih this design off.

Pearl shimmer card for the print and combined base. Flocked felt shimmer paper for the bottom and top trims. Red silk ribbon. A silver and pearl brad with pearl either side.



Gold card hand made invite box. Fits DL size invites.



Til next time....

Save The Dates Have Left The Building

Well our Save The Dates have now officially left the building with the last few stray ones on their way to their new homes. We spent most of the Easter weekend cutting sticking and glittering all the cards. It really was a team effort but we had fun catching up with those who helped as we worked. I really liked the final design we chose and can't wait to start playing with all the fancy papers for our wedding invites. I have to say I'm so glad that the stress of the invite list is over and we can now enjoy choosing all the nice things for our big day. The day I went to print them it was just my luck the printer was going to test my patience....technology...gotta love it!! Once the printer and I negotiated our partnership, we went to hit the print button, the lovely girls at work then started with the 'this is it...there's no turning back once we got to print...you're screwed!' (says two ladies who have been married for 20 odd years, so of course I had to listen for a second....they speak from experience after all :)

Our Save The Dates - pre printing and front being added. If you want some cheap already folded shimmer cards in some nice colours with matching envelopes...head to Kmart. $2 per pack of 10 for this size (well they were when I got these...tell them they're ripping you off if they charge you more :) Already folded = less work. $2 for 10 = cheaper than buying card and cutting it yourself. 

Envelopes, stamps...ready set go...

Taa Dah!!! The finished product :)

All ready for Mr Postman. The hardest thing after figuring out who to invite is rounding up everyones addresses. Since technology has ruled the world for so long gone are the days of sending letters. So just to be on the safe side I made groovy little reply sender labels for the back of the envelopes to ensure they could come back to us if need be. 

I went to hand a few out to the girls at work when one noticed I had the spelling of a partners name wrong....of all the things I could do is spell someones partners name wrong....on a same the date card!!!! Not a birthday invite...no that would be something I could maybe get away with but a Save The Date Card!!! Of course I then had to go back and ask the printer to be nice just once more. :)

*************

Since the last post a lot has happened and arrived. We were just discussing where on earth we are going to store all the goodies for the big day in the meantime. I really don't want to leave everything til the last minute so I've started buying things as I see them come on special...saving time and money later on.
My Brown Paper Packaging order arrived and I used the little heart shapes and white paper string on our Save The Dates and can't wait to play with all the rest. I even snuck in some black grosgrain ribbon for my card making that was super cheap! ...... don't tell Jez ;)

This is the box of goodies from Brown Paper Packaging. You can see at the bottom right is the cardboard coloured invite folders...which i can't wait to get creative with. To the left in the plastic is the oil of plastic square boxes ready to be un-flat-packed and filled with something awesome for the wedding table for all our special guests. And the bulk order of cream shimmer paper.....let the creative juices flow!!!!!

I leave you with some hints for your big day:
* Don't be afraid to ask your event co-ordinator at your function venue about anything to do with the venue. After all they've done plenty of weddings before yours and know what works and doesn't. And yes they've put up with stressed out brides before as well. I have an awesome co-ordinator who has put my mind at ease over a few things, especially when we thought we wouldn't fit everyone in. They really do make your job a whole lot easier and you should take the time to make sure you have great communication early on.

* Google is your friend..... it's amazing what you can find when all you type in is a few words....then taa dah up pops a cheaper option. Ebay isn't always the cheapest place to shop. I found the coffee cups for our guests to use in their rooms cheaper at Officeworks than what Ebay and several other online places had to offer. Bargain hunting is your friend too :)

* Delegate and then ....let go of that job...it's no longer yours!! Trust the person you have enlisted to the job, that they will come through for you. Everyone knows it's your special day and will do their best to get their job done for you.
I have chosen our cake design and since my Mum is a good cake decorator, I have left it with her. Even though she usually does icing decorating if she isn't comfortable in doing the chocolate design we have chosen then she knows someone who can do it for her....but I'm leaving it in her capable hands and I know on the day there will be a cake and everyone will love it even if it's nothing like what we chose...it won't matter once the day comes coz I would've married my best friend and the cake will be just a dessert that will get cut and eaten, but I'll still have my best friend for the rest of my life and I'll still love my Mum just the same no matter what the cake looks like.

Stay tuned for the next update on the Bridal Fair.....when boys got their clothes off and the first dressing trial happened.

Till then happy planning.... :)

Wedding Plans Move Along

Our wedding plans are now in full swing. With a little over a year to go we have now booked a function centre for our whole wedding including everyone's accommodation. Fairbridge Village near Pinjarra, WA. Ceremony will be in the chapel. A historical chapel with lots of character. We have hired one of the halls for the reception and the alfresco area off the side of it for pre-dinner drinks. We're going with the rustic theme to compliment the character of Fairbridge.
Google 'rustic Wedding Theme'.....lots of fantastic ideas, if you want to steer away from the modern look of weddings.
Also I found a great site for cheap bits and pieces http://www.brownpaperpackaging.com.au/ Fantastic prices on tags, bombonierre boxes, galaxy paper...all sorts of little things. It took me a whole day to decide on colours and which little tags i wanted...oh the decisions!! :-) Finally after many moments of changing my mind I put in our first order for wedding goodies and can't wait to get the parcel!! Have ordered some paper for our wedding invites. However am yet to decide upon a design for our Save The Dates.
It really is so much easier deciding upon designs for other people than for your own. Last week i finished Save The Dates for a friend in who is getting married in my home town of Newdegate, WA next year.
The trick to keeping costs down really is to shop around and keep looking until you've found a price that you're happy with. You don't have to pay alot to get smart looking results. And it does pay to become a member of some of the big department stores...like spotlight! I originally purchased some paper to complete my friends Save The Dates. I made her a selection of designs to choose from and once she made her choice I went on a mad hunt on the internet to find the paper for cheaper. Without much success I went back to Spotlight and because i was a VIP member (which everyone can become by filling out a simple form) I got 30% off the paper and other bits I needed. They have great specials all the time and you can also order from them online. So I managed to get enough of the paper to make her invites just incase she chose to stick with the same colouring (which she has). 30% off when you're buying so much of something adds up real quick!

This is the design for the Save The Dates.

Next weekend a group of girls are off to the Perth Bridal Fair. Can't wait! I'm sure we'll come back all inspired. I get to share the day with another of my friends who is getting married in October. Lots of weddings and excitement going on!!

Til next post :-)

A