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.