A Spanish Affair

It is wonderful to get so much inspiration from such creative people and the hugely talented Lisa Vorce from Oh so charming wins hands down yet again with this vibrant and passionate theme, completely evocative of Spain, flamenco and tapas.

I was sent this by one of my new clients, they are planning their intimate wedding in Ronda here in the summer and I am expecting this to be a lot of fun with such a huge amount of creativity and a complete love of the Spanish culture combined :) It is times like this we are allowed to step outside the box and create some fabulous and unconventional settings.

Throw in some sangria jugs, tie labels to them, look at the real surroundings of Andalucia and where you are getting married and use this theme to create the perfect Andalucian rustic wedding. Heaven! x

Stylish Beach Wedding in Marbella

What a fabulous surprise, as I sit here listening to the rain outside, I start to receive these fabulous photos from one of our most creative weddings of 2009.

It was a wonderful beach wedding on a very hot August evening here in Marbella and was photographed by Gypsy Westwood from Ibiza, so I could not nag her afterwards as I do with most of the photographers based here in Spain!

Jules, our lovely bride and now a good friend, has emailed me her photos tonight of the wedding with all the fabulous beach details we created, including the fish bowls, which were her idea, as I have a fish phobia!!! I could not even have them in my car when we travelled to the wedding, they had to be in another vehicle!!

The wedding was held in the beautiful La Virginia church, followed by a tapas and cocktail at La Virginia, then all the guests piled down to the beach for the reception.

We used silver starfish for decorations on napkins and table name cards, sea shells scattered on the tables, decorated the beach with a chill out area and lots of lantern bags and candles.

More of this wedding tomorrow as Jules is still sending me over some fabulous images and I have to go to bed! x

Peonies, chandeliers and cookies

Could it get any better but loving these photos of this wedding from Brenda's Wedding Blog of peonies and chandeliers from Ariel , a hugely popular flower last year and again this year and so beautifully wedding :)

Think chandelier shopping is definitely on the cards next month plus cookie bars, so if you are a cookie maker let me know!

Haiti Fundraising Gala Dinner

What a fabulous evening, I was not there as always love to get home to my babies!

I have heard it was a huge success and raised over 14,000 euros, fantastic news.

We were thrilled to be involved after watching all the news from this terrible disaster, it is lovely to think we did something to help out and to be given the opportunity to do so.

Let's hope all these small efforts do make a difference and albeit just our time and effort is worthwhile, a huge thank you to Maurice Boland from TRE and Nick Holland for inviting me to participate and of course my friend Patti who I have to say is probably the best event organiser here on the Costa Del Sol! She is formidable when she gets her teeth into an event!!!

Photos courtesy of Kevin Horn

Table Styling

It is not often I find these fabulous images on the internet and before we dash out to do the Haiti Fundraising event I just had to share these with you. A fabulous use of colour and textures and of course love the snow :)!

I will have to credit this later as have it stored somewhere in the depths of my computer :)

Lemon and Fuchsia Colour Combo for Weddings

I have been so busy recently which is surprising for this time of year but also very exciting.

However today I had a lovely afternoon putting together more quotes and ideas for our 2010 weddings. Having quite a few citrus themed weddings for this year with hot pink, lemon, lime and mango I decided it was time to streamline this colour combo.

Today I was researching a lemon and fuchsia theme with, I think, striking results much more impact that too many colours, which of course we still love but combine these colours with black and the finished look is not only stunning but rather chic. This colour combination also looks very smart with navy, so if you are wondering what colour the bridesmaids or the boys should wear consider this for your scheme.

I do feel with 2010 weddings that brides working within budgets should reconsider the neglected chrysanthemums for their weddings, not only are they available all year, hardy, fabulously showy but also a great flower for tight budgets.

Place a few in a jug, create a ball of them for the top of a tall vase or place one in you hair and a statement has been made.

Such a huge range of colours too, but I can relate to the association with these flowers as for me they are reminiscent of my childhood in the 70's with my revolting yellow and brown chysanth curtains, famous from M&S, I think every person in their 40's will remember them! My sister had the pink and mauve bedroom set which was far nicer than mine!!

Let's hope the chrysanth will drop this image for 2010 and start to become the fashionable affordable flower particuarly as the vintage look rolls forward from the 40's to the 70's.

Valentine's Inspirations

As we approach our new wedding shop launch party on the 10th February, our theme is obviously hearts, all carefully planned!

I love this board from Cornerstone events, so pretty and romantic with lots of hearts of course :) I have some lovely hearts in the shop of which have already sold out but desperately hanging onto them ready for our party decorations!

Fabulous books and notecards

I am very lucky with such a talented family (me not included in this statement!) that my sister that works for Ryland Peters and Small publishers.

They produce such fabulous books, inspirational and hugely stylish. I love them and cannot get enough of their notecards, wedding books, interior styling books and the hugely new popular Hummingbird Bakery Cupcake range.

Cupcake notecards in a tin
We will be stocking selected items in our shop from the delightful notecards, William Yeoward and Jane Packer cards, wedding note cards, and some wonderful wedding styling books, many of which have been bibles to my clients over the past year! Plus I think before I place the order we will certainly be including some of the delicious cupcake accessories.

Wedding notecards

William Yeoward place name tags

I have just visited their blog to see the latest and found this wonderful new book, Perfect English, a brief introduction!