Wedding Inks & Couple Tattoos

Since our wedding last May (2015) my husband has brought up the idea of couple tattoos, he seems pretty keen on the idea.

Having had two tattoos already I know the time and thought that should go into permanently marking your body for life, and I am so far not convinced matching or couple tattoos is the way forward!

Maybe he'll find the right design one day and I'll change my mind, but right now it just seems to be tempting fate.

Here are a few designs that I have seen and like, just not for myself right now.  If you are going to get a couple / wedding tattoo inking, make sure to really think about it... don't rush into anything.  It's expensive and painful to remove!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/juliegerstein/wedding-ring-tattoo-ideas#.ooK9AVOxN

http://www.inkedweddings.com/couple-tattoos-50-awesome-ideas-youll-want-to-ink/

Alternative Wedding Headpiece!

Aren't these just fantastic, I love them all... sadly it wouldn't have worked with our wedding style and I haven't found an every day look I can wear it with yet, but I AM TRYING!

Plus for crystal headdress / tiara they aren't hugely expensive... I don't think?  Find them here at IndigoBlack

Wedding Home Movie!

Our only wedding video was to film the Saturday antics at our #Hopfest15 wedding weekender with a Go Pro strapped to a bottle or two... or 4!

Click here to watch and enjoy.

We Did It....our wedding, our way!

We are back from our lovely honeymoon in Bali... so here is the who/ where / when / what and how we did our wedding weekend.  Hosted Thursday to Sunday May 7 - 10th 2015.  We arrange our whole wedding from scratch and without any help, and I am happy to say it was perfect for us and our guests.

Thursday was spent preparing; getting the car packed with all our DIY items (most of the wedding), driving up to the 20 person cottage in Derby we had hired for the weekend.  Setting up, talking to suppliers, then drinks and dinner with the bridal party (2 x bridesmaids & 1 x bestman).

Friday morning the guys were in one half of the cottage and the girls in another (so the bride didn't see the groom until the ceremony).  The guys had to collect the last few bits for the weekender and head of to set up the ceremony venue.  Whilst the girl celebrated a bridesmaids birthday, had a relaxing champagne breakfast and then dressed for the ceremony.  We did our make up ourselves but we hired the lovely Stephanie Layton to do our hair, and she was brilliant.  We had no trail and she nailed what we had in mind just from pics!

Father of the bride arrived mid morning, collecting the bridal party and arriving on time at the ceremony venue where we met my niece the flower girl and her father (my brother).  A few last minute details with the registrar then off down the aisle we went.

Friday afternoon on arriving at the top of the alter my soon to be husband was bright pink with nerves, stumbled on his first words and struggled to get my ring on :-)  As Mr & Mrs we celebrated with champagne and canapes in the venue bar whilst the official family photos were taken!  Then it was back to our cottage with all the family for food, drink, speeches and games!

Saturday morning was spent having a family breakfast cleaning up from the night before and saying goodbye / setting up the cottage field for our mini wedding festival... this took most of the day and we only finished in time for our guest to arrive at 3 pm ish.

We then enjoy plenty of drink, food, speeches, photos, games and the best of all a bouncy castle.  The evening was finished with a sparkler photo shoot and more drinks around the fire pit. Thankfully the English weather held out for us and we had a wonderful day.

What we did and how we did it!

• Hired Sycamore Farm Barns in Wirksworth, Derby from Thurs - Mon (sleeps 20 guests)
• Hired Cathedral Quarter Hotel in Derby City for our ceremony (3 pm Fri 8th)
• Booked the Derby City registrar to officiate our ceremony (giving notice at Wandsworth Council)
• Photographer Ben Pollard was good enough to do us a deal on a two day package (2 - 5 Fri 8th & 2 - 11 Sat 9th)
• 50 person marquee hired from Tops Marquee UK Ltd (great guys, also provided us with posh loos, tables, chairs & lighting - and can provide many other wedding/party supplies)
• PA hired from JNS Hire 
• We hired a 72 pint keg from Derby Brewing for local ale
• Hog roast by The Lazy Pig Co. we bought enough to feed 75, plus 5 veggie options
• Hay bales we hired from a local farmer suggested by the barn owners (20 for £50) - these were used for set up' and seating around the fire pit.
• We had bought several garden games, croquet, a Nerf, football but we also hired an adult bouncy castle from  Inflatamania (this brought about a lot of fun).

Wedding video you say?  Here's ours... Go Pro bottle cam!

Everything else we did ourselves... catering / drinks and decorations

• I bought 300 feet of bunting from eBay which was used to decorate the barns kitchen, the marquee and outside the cottage gates for guests to find us
• We bought 4 bundles of baby's breath flowers from Smith & Green at the London Covent Garden Flower market, then used it to make the bouquets, buttonholes, ceremony flowers, table flowers and flowers for my hair (£60)
• We bought two types of table clothes for the marquee tables, used jars from home with candles, photo booth glasses etc. and the flowers to decorate 
• Next to the cards basket we had a guest book (i'd received as a secret Santa), plus two Polaroid cameras and plenty of film
• We also had a fun zone; this included face paint / glow sticks / stick on gems / temporary tattoos / dressing up items / disposable cameras / sparklers / party poppers 
• One of our lovely friends also bought 4 bottles of random booze aka taboo and strapped a go pro to it :-))
• Along with the hog roast we provided a salad/nibbles table that contained everything from fresh salad and quiche to crisps and cheese.  We also had a dessert table that had every type of cake, chocolate cake to home made pavlova.  I also created a candy bar which guests where taking home with them!
• We wanted to keep the wedding as cheap for our guests as we could, so we provided a completely free bar.  We bought everything you could image and not surprisingly most of it was drunk!
• The H2B spent a whole weekend creating music playlists for the wedding, both ceremony and reception... my girlfriends ending up replacing his music at the reception within 30 mins ;-)
• Bridesmaid gifts we bought from Oliver Bonas

Other things we did to keep costs low for guests was to host the wedding half way between both sides (London & Manchester), provided free accommodation for 20 family members and 20 friends, an option for camping.  We provided all food & drinks and put on breakfast the next day.  We also didn't set a dress code, we just suggested to come comfortable, but that wellies should be considered.

I had two outfits for the weekend, a lovely vintage beaded gown for the ceremony from House of Vintage and a white playsuit for the reception from Mango, I reused nude shoes I already own for the ceremony and blinged my wellies to say Bride for the reception.  The groom worn a similar outfit both days, shirt, waistcoat, bow tie and trousers.

Before the wedding I had my eyebrows shaped, cluster lashes added and a spray tan, the most girly I have ever been!  I bought a gel nail varnish and did my nails at home myself.

My bridesmaids gave me a lovely gift on the morning of the wedding, my something old, something new, something borrow and something blue which was then tidied to my bouquet.

Other details:

Insurance - Debenhams

Wedding bands - F.Hinds

Save the dates - Vista print

Invites - First Colour printers 

Car hire - Avis

Home made confetti 

Ceremony - 24 guests

Reception - 50 guests

Find more details here from my previous post £11k wedding, and we did manage that!!

Wedding Beauty

Five days out from the wedding and I have so far had my eyebrows shaped (£17, pricey but they did a really good job and showed my how to fill the lighter spots) at Blink, Selfridges and eyelash extensions (cluster 2 weeks lashes £60 - this is about the average price in London) also from Blink.

Next up is a light express spray tan (£29) from Mee Beauty and then my nails.  My nails are in a pretty good condition and shape, so I've bought a gel NailsInc polish that should last a little longer and will do them myself the night before the wedding!

The night before the wedding will be spent painting nails, veeting all unnecessary body hair and wearing a face mask! :-)

I am Getting Married

.. in one week! It is really only starting to hit me now that I will be getting married in a week tomorrow, Friday 8th May 2015.  WIFE.  Wow, sh*t is getting real.

Our DIY Wedding... for under £11k

So we are really pushing to keep our wedding under £11k, this doesn't include the engagement ring, hen/stag dos and the honeymoon.

We also really wanted to minimize cost for our guests, because at our age when everyone is getting married it can become costly!

OUR COST SAVING TIPS:

Homemade 'save the dates' - we bought cheap children's chalk board to write  the details, which will be reused at the wedding, then had our STDs printed at Vista Print who provide free envelopes (see below).

Invites - our friend designed them from picture's/ideas we provided and then our local printers (First Colour London) printed them, who also provided free envelopes.  We created a wedding website to minimize the invite size, adding all the accommodation / travel details to the site www.hopfest15.blogspot.com #HopFest15

Accommodation - we've booked a cottage for the weekend and our top 20 guests will stay for free.

Guests - we've have a total of 76 over the 2 day celebration.  Keeping the numbers small reduces the price... we've been good at saying no to plus ones and unwanted 'extended' family.  Stay strong, its your wedding.

Food - we are doing some of the catering ourselves via M&S / Sainsbury's

DIY Candy Bar - We bought plastic retro sweet jars from Amazon (10 for £10), and then bulk sweets from Makro UK (a huge order for only £55, incl. delivery)

Wedding shoes - using ones I already owned.

Outfits - Vintage dress from House of Vintage Brides and my second outfit was a sale item from Mango.

Flowers - I'll be bulk buying these for bouquets and decoration from the London Chelsea Flower market and doing it myself (max spend £50 for 100 steams of baby's breath).

Wedding Rings - we bought ours from F.Hinds as we wanted plain traditional rings, and this was a way to save a lot.

Decorations - I've bough over 300ft of bunting on eBay for £50, plus ribbons and candles.  We've also collected glass jars and baskets.  I am currently making paper chains from coloured printer paper.  I have also tied ribbons on all the glass jars for a rustic look.

Loki is unimpressed I wont let her help!

Entertainment - we've created a playlist, and hired a PA system (no DJ), plus festival feel entertainment (face painting / temp tattoos / glow sticks / sparklers / garden games / face in the hole) etc. and a bouncy castle!

Photograph - this is where we spent more than budgeted, as we have hired a photog for 2 days plus a Polaroid camera, disposable camera and borrow a friends GoPro.

Confetti - I am making my own by drying rose petals.  We regularly have roses in the house and this is a really easy cheap personal touch.

Vouchers - we received loads of vouchers for Christmas, and I have found a few online, saving us £250

Our biggest spends were venue hire (incl cottage for 4 nights) and photographer at £5700k.

Great places to find a cheap alternative:
Amazon
eBay
Ikea
Marks & Spencers
Tesco
Twitter
Any high street pound shop

Wedding Stress...

Yes wedding are exciting, but the planning is not always fun... even with an endless budget there are little things to worry about.

I am finding it particularity difficult planning a wedding in the style I didn't really want to keep my H2B and the families happy, especially when it feels like a fight just to get his in put.

What to do?  Leave it and let him organise and accept it probably wont be how you imagined... or just do it all yourself and slightly resent him.

GET THE LOOK: Wedding Festival Theme

This theme is inspired by many modern weddings, and is what we'll be having for our 'big day' next May !

Wedding Festivals are a great way to make the most of your celebration, in a relaxed fun setting.  Must haves:  marquee/ti-pi / food vans / bar / music / hay bales / games / lights & vintage dresses

We are adding fancy dress, face painting etc. for the bestial vibe.

#hopfest15

My pinterest board

Useful link: Festival Bride

www.rocknrollbride.com

thesimplifiers.com

isabelsmithweddings.co.uk

marrymeink.co.uk

Wedding Website... I do?

So HopFest2015 is now in full swing planning mode...it has come up in conversation and just in general research, should be have a wedding website or not?

I was think I could just link it to my blog, through blogger and it might be a good place for people to find info?! But is it impersonal and does anyone actually look at it?

To blog or not to blog...that is the question.

http://glosite.com/

http://uw.theknot.com/admin/choosedesign/

http://www.mywedding.com/free-wedding-websites

A Northern Wedding

We were in Manchester this Friday (25.07) for a family wedding on my boyfriends side.  A big Northern traditional family wedding.

What a lovely day it was indeed, fantastic weather and no rain!

The colour scheme pinks and whites (both light and dark).  The brides dress was lovely, very traditional, as was the theme, but I think she could have found a style slight more suitable for her figure!

They started with a Catholic wedding (which I think these days are a little to long), followed by a fabulous reception at Gorton Monastery!  We all arrived by vintage bus put of by the bride and groom.

We were welcomed with a glass of champagne in the garden, then canapes - to be honest there was more than one glass per person (which I love).  Then we found our tables (all named after places they had visited). The favors: a donation to four charities close to their heart, and we each received a pin representing one!

Red, and white wine were on the table and an extra glass of bubbles for the speeches!  The sit down meal: Duck pate, pan fried chicken leg with chorizo risotto and to finish either chocolate mousse or creme brulee.

The groom and best man speeches were emotion and about friends and family, no need to make a joke at the grooms expense.  The father of the groom choose not to make a speech??

After this it was a blur for a while... the bar was free :-)))  *big plus points*

Then the newly weds took to the floor for their first dance followed by us drunken ladies kicking our heels off and making some shapes to the 80s disco!!

The evening reception was great as well.  They had an evening buffet, BBQ style, mini burgers, kebabs etc.  A pick n mix station and make your own Mr Whipy ice cream. BEST THING EVER.

After that the night drinks, smokes and chatter, thank god for free bars.  A great day and night was had by all.

Cluck cluck... its a Hen Party!

Several girls in the office are engaged and one is now only 6 weeks away from the big day!!  We are a close little office, so we've decided on a work hen do.

www.beautyrepublicasalon.co.uk

8 girls, high tea, hair and nails.  What could be worse?

We'll be trying to maintain an air of class with this outing... high tea and prosecco, with a blow dry and nail paint at UR Cheeky.  Our favorite place to go for a cheap nail paint.

www.frostsgardencentres.co.uk

We've also bought the bride the obligatory 'Bride to Be' sash and badges for the hen party :-))

Flower Wall

So Kim and Kanye got married, and yes it was lovely, but a bit OTT for me... I did really love their flower wall though!  Such a great idea and lovely back drop, could be rather pricey though.

Kim & Kanye West Wedding: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/27593224

Lady Gaga  www.directlyrics.com

www.abeautifulmess.com

partnouveau.com

www.melbournecentral.com.au

Dior

Single Pink Rose

When my mum and dad got married in 1984 they were young and in love... but limited on cash.

Their wedding was for 50 close friends and family at our local Abbey.  My dad wore his soldiers uniform, Mum and my Nan (her mum) made the wedding dress, which was very on trend at the time and she carried a single pink porcelain rose!

After the wedding my nan kept the rose on a shelf at the top of her stairs... it was only recently several years after my nan passed away and I am thinking about my future wedding that I remembered the rose.  All those years as a child climbing the stairs, seeing the rose but not realising what it stood for!

Even now 12 years after my parents split up that rose has meaning, and I really wanted to use it on my big day.  Sadly 30 years after their big day the rose is no longer :-(

Wedding Bird Cages

One of the gals in the office asked me about these the other day, and to be honest it was the first I had heard of it... now I am seeing them everywhere - in the magazines, on-line and even Amazon emailed me about them!

Pick yours up at Amazon, Not on the High Street, eBay, Confetti and Wedding Mall

www.brides.com

bridalbox.org 

jesykaditri.com 

bridalcookie.com

www.pocketfulofdreams.co.uk 

Get married at Thornbury Castle this Oct for £3000

This beautiful Tudor castle on the edge of Gloucester has an amazing wedding offer for Sun - Thurs weddings this October up to 20 guests for only £3000!  Find all the details below.

http://www.thornburycastle.co.uk/

On selected dates in 2014.
Wedding Ceremony to take place in the Library or Lounge area of the hotel, Flowers for the registrar table, Wedding Breakfast (3 Course) for 20 x people with Coffee, Reception welcome drink after the ceremony – Either glass of house wine or soft drinks, Canapés to be served with reception drinks, Glass of Red or White House wine to be served during dinner, Toast Drink with the speeches – a glass of Prosecco per person, Accommodation in classic 5 x bedchambers for the evening of your wedding on a Bed & Breakfast basis.

Mr & Mrs Bertozzi - 2008 Italian Wedding

As I previously tweeted my lovely boss @m_bertozzi (www.mbertozzi.com) and his wife were featured in @Cosmobride in 2008 - here are the details.