Black & white mood board

Inspired by one of my brides (whose upcoming wedding is epic let me tell you), this board is all about the black and white lovin' with a slightly dark undertone...

from top left:
Helt Enkelt, notonthehighstreet.com, Lacklusterco on Etsy

Crystal Clear Imagery via Style Me Pretty

BHLDN

What does a wedding planner actually do? Part 7

Goes out and meets suppliers...

After my recent break up of sorts with Twitter I decided to start making contact with people and actually meet up with them instead of just have Twitter conversations with them. And since they're all wedding folk of some kind I thought I might as well do a little blog post on them afterwards.

My first official 'not-just-tweeting-but-meeting' was with Rachel from I Do Films.

  photo by Shell de Mar

We met at the blustery outdoor cafe of the Ritzy cinema in Brixton where we gossiped, (but of course) and shared wedding related tales. Rachel creates super 8 films for weddings and events and explains really well on her website exactly what a super 8 wedding film is for those of you who are unsure, which I have to admit, until relatively recently, I was. Appalling I know.

I love how sociable working as a wedding planner can be. Yes okay you work alone primarily but I've met some lovely people that have definitely become friends since setting up my business. And it's especially useful when you're busy and need a break. You can justify meeting a supplier for coffee as 'work'!

Anyway, here's a snippet of Rachel's latest project using a technique called lens whacking. Shot on DSLR this technique helps give digital images a more retro feel.


Lens whacking test clips experiment at latest wedding from Rachel Knights of I Do Films on Vimeo.

Cool eh? Check out Rachel's site for more.

And be sure to come back soon for my next installment of not just tweeting but meeting!

The only hand cream worth having

This hand cream from L'Occintane is the dog's you-know-whats and is a must for anyone who suffers from dry, sore hands.

It is rich without being greasy and smells AMAZING.

And it's perfect for brides as it comes in a little handbag sized 30ml tube so you can whip it out in time to have super smooth hands for the ring/holding bouquet/general hand close up shot.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream

Original 1950s wedding dresses

Be warned, when you check out this Etsy shop, you are going to want to buy everything in it. Timeless Vixen  is based in Beverly Hills (but ships internationally), and 'offers the best in femme fetale fashion from the 1870s to 1970s'. I'll say.

I discovered these affordable, unique vintage wedding dresses through Katie Antoniou on Twitter, (of London Plinth). Thank you Twitter. Despite my grumblings about you of late, you do sometimes deliver a gem.

I know when I get married, I'm going to want to wear a unique dress. And vintage is a pretty good way to do that.

The 1950s style is grabbing me lately, maybe because it promises to give hips to those not naturally blessed with them so these dresses stood out in particular.

There's some pretty gorgeous 1930s dresses available too for those after something a little more slinky.

1950s vintage lace dress

1950s vintage bow dress

1950s vintage lace and yellow taffeta wedding dress

Timeless Vixen

And with prices starting at $325 they don't even have the hefty price tag you get with some vintage items.

What do you think? It's a good style this 1950s prom dress, flattering for lots of body shapes don't you think?

We Plan, You Play... wedding playlists you need to hear!

A certain Ms London Bride and I have been working on creating wedding playlists for you wedding planning folk recently, and if you haven't seen our blog We Plan, You Play I'd like to draw your attention to it!

Every month we feature 25 songs to help you curate your wedding soundtrack. Although I've got to be honest, it's also an excuse for us to listen to 90s tracks (relive our youth/show our age) and dance around my living room.

From The Everly Brothers to MGMT and Darlene Love to Blackstreet there's enough musical variety to appeal to everyone from granny to your too cool for school cousin.

We set We Plan,You Play because we felt there's an awful lot of advice and inspiration for the style and design side of wedding planning but not so much for the other aspects of planning like the music. But it is as if not more important in some ways for creating atmosphere and ensuring everyone has a jolly good time.

What about you? What were the musical highlights of your big day? And if you're getting married soon or at some point in time what tunes will you be playing to get everybody shaking their thang a la dance floor??

Chalk hearts and paper love

Afternoon my dears, taking a little break for preparing for Saturday's wedding (please no rain) to bring you photos of a mini shoot I did recently.

Gaelle, aka oh la la weddings and I first worked together on a make up shoot and since then we can't stop planning collaborative projects.

This shoot features the lovely Rachel and Damien, a super sweet couple who recently got married in Australia.

We wanted to show how something as simple as coloured bits of paper cut up as confetti can be a fun prop for a love or engagement shoot.

You could even re-use the confetti on your wedding day if you felt like it.

 

How cute are they?!

And it's always interesting as a wedding planner to see how a photographer works. Gaelle is mighty talented and creative and I'm looking forward to working with her lots more!

You can see another shoot I recently styled here.

Pretty in blue

Kind of smitten with these bridesmaids and their sassy little dresses and rainbow shoes. A nice twist on matchy matchy bridesmaid thang and I cannot get enough of that blue.

 Joanna Brown Photography

Nothing beats brights for getting my attention (as my Pinterest board will attest). 

Be sure to check out the entire wedding in all it's quirky English garden glory over at photographer Joanna's blog.

Jonas Peterson... a legend among men...

Happy Monday lovelies!  Have I got some eye candy for you today. If you haven't already heard of him, (and if you haven't, why not), Jonas Peterson is a Swedish photographer currently calling Australia home. 

There's something really fresh and unpretentious about his work. The photos just are, if that in itself doesn't sound phenomenally pretentious. 

I think I want to live in his world a little bit...

What you think my dears? Pretty impressive eh? Don't forget to check out his site for more. And you can see other suppliers I recommend both in the UK and internationally here.

70s inspired shoot

Not so long ago on a blustery Sunday afternoon myself and Jemma from Pearl Pictures, (and her sweet assistant Grace) got together to do a mini love shoot featuring me and my boy.

You don't have to be engaged to have yourself a little love shoot (as I myself am not)! And lots of good photographers now offer themselves and their camera for an afternoon of happy snapping, so it's a perfect idea if you maybe didn't get the wedding pics you wanted. Or perhaps you're already married and fancy some up to date photos taken by a pro.

And you can style them any way you want which is why I've focused on the props in this shoot. I've been having a seventies moment of late so brought along some of my most suitable props for the occasion.

The weather was TERRIBLE. It was so windy I felt like I was about to take off which didn't make it easy to look happy and relaxed. A good lesson though, that you can't control the weather ;)

Think in general I prefer the behind-the-scenes-styling to the in-front-of-lens-posing. Props, as they say, to Jemma for handling such challenging weather and models!

 Pearl Pictures

I do styling for engagement shoots for my couples too and am looking forward in particular to one of my 2012 couples. I think they're going to have some interesting ideas!

What about you? If you were going to do a love/engagement shoot how would you want to style it?

Loft wedding

 Kellie Kano & Elissa Keno via Elizabeth Anne Designs

Exposed brick work, ribbon tree and creamy pastel shades? I am in wedding heaven.

Attempting to avoid social media burnout

This pic has no relevance to this post, except that photography is one of my new hobbies. 

Which I have time for now I'm not on Twitter so much.

I'm starting the week with a personal post. About my relationship with Twitter. There has been quite a bit written lately about social media and Twitter in particular and how as a self employed wedding industry pro it can affect you.

I love Annabel and Lucy's posts on the subject and they both got me thinking and made me realise something I hadn't really noticed before.

I 'check' Twitter far too often. Often when I have nothing to say. It's like a compulsion.

And not only that but it makes me feel something I haven't felt since being a geeky teenager, totally left out. There's something about it that sometimes makes you feel as if everybody is going to one big party you haven't received an invitation too. And the desire to 'check' is even more strong on low days. When you've had a bad day, feel threatened by the competition or just generally feel uninspired by yourself.

You know you've got a problem when you're experiencing something -  a nice meal for instance, or you find a good shop and your first thought is, 'ooh, must tweet this'.

So last week I made a decision to only tweet during office hours. From 9 - 5.30 I can tweet my little heart out but the evenings are for my REAL LIFE! No blogging either. Or Facebook. Or any type of social media. I know this sounds dramatic but I want my life back! And I removed the apps from my phone too. How much mindless 'checking' do I do without even noticing it?! I decided to use the time to 'take up hobbies'. Like photography and learning the guitar. How very twee of me, eh?

One of the reasons I became a wedding planner is because I like people. I like engaging with other human beings face to face. There are loads of local people on Twitter that I follow and am interested in. So I made a decision to contact them directly and arrange to meet up for coffee/wine which I've started to do. It's not as easy as tweeting and you can't do it as often but it's much more fun.

Twitter is vital for promoting yourself in the wedding industry. And I ain't no fool. I'm not going to delete my account or do anything drastic. But I am getting some perspective on it all. There's a big wide world out there to explore after all.

I've got to say once again thank you to Annabel and Lucy and all the other posts I've read on this recently. In a small way, you've helped me change my life for the better. And that, I suppose, is proof of the positive power of social media. So it's not all bad ;)

P.S I should point out how amazingly this new plan has been working out. I'm even sleeping better! So newbie wedding planners, watch yourselves, you don't want to get social media burnout like this planner nearly did.

70s inspired photoshoot preview

Jemma Watts Photography (Pearl Pictures)

Way back in chilly March, I got in touch with my photographer friend Jemma from Pearl Pictures to ask if she wanted to shoot a photo shoot I had an idea for.  We've known each other for quite a while and never yet worked together so I thought it would be be a good opportunity to join forces and have some fun.

Which it was. But windy. Oh so windy. And as any planner or photographer knows, wind can be worse than rain for taking photos. But we got there in the end and even though it felt a bit like an endurance test we're pretty happy with the results!

Super easy D.I.Y postcard garland

D.I.Y wedding styling doesn't have to be exclusively for the mini Martha Stewarts. You don't have to be particularly crafty to create some simple but effective wedding styling ideas.

This vintage style postcard garland is a good example of how you can jazz up any dead space in your wedding venue without a lot of money of effort.

All you need is a selection of postcards and...

 Then you very simply hang up string where you want the garland to go and use the clothes peg to attach the postcards. Easy as pie.

I like these vintage imitation postcards but you could use any cards you like, or even photos. And you don't have to use plain clothes pegs, you could paint them or stamp them or buy some more exciting ones from somewhere like Etsy.

This garland wedding decoration idea would work well in a urban venue. Like a warehouse or space with lots of exposed brick work.

What do you think? A wedding DIY project for even the most craft shy bride.

Maemae Paperie

MaeMae Paperie

This kind of wedding stationery gives me goose bumps. The gold foil, the thick, thick chipboard, the heart with the antlers coming out of it. Oh my.