Wishing Everyone A Happy New Year!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our past and future clients and our suppliers a very Happy New Year!

 

We are off to sparkle :)!

Our Best Ever Dressed Groom´s Tips!

 

 

We are currently working on our favourite weddings in 2012 to post, but in the meantime we are heading back to a gorgeous wedding we created in 2011 for Chris and Faye at the Finca de la Concepcion in Marbella.

 

 It seems that Chris is still taking the coveted title of best dressed groom and told me today he will hang onto this well earned title for his twilight years!

 

So many of our clients that read my blog are still asking me where Chris got his super stylish suit from :) 

 

I am sure I am now beginning to annoy Chris by constantly emailing him to ask him, so this time I have decided to publish his style file on our blog in order I never have to bother him again!

 

Chris and Faye have remained friends since their wedding here and we have been delighted to have met them for coffee whilst Faye was pregnant with little Harrison and now joyfully watch updates on Facebook and Instagram of their gorgeous little boy growing up!  We are hoping to meet the latest addition to this wonderful family, in the flesh, very soon :)

 

In the meantime let´s share with you Chris´s Coolest Groom Award Attire!

 

Chris´s lightweight blue/grey suit was off the peg from Reiss

 

Chris´s waistcoat, tie and pocket square were custom made. 

 

I think the dark sunglasses also did the trick to win our coolest groom award!

 

We hope this helps share some of our previous bride and groom tips with you.

 

Our gorgeous images are courtesy of Jeremy Standley Photography.

 

We will be back shortly with a gorgeous New Year´s Eve inspiration and our highlights of 2012 weddings.

Wishing you a Glittery Christmas

 

As the Christmas weekend approaches, we are sharing some last minute glittery images with you.  This approach to design is so up my street and I am horrified I did not find these gorgeous images beforehand!

 

 I am in love with the wonderful eclectic array of colours and styles, and this is so my house, style and colours, olive greens combined with hot pinks, reds and turquoise and cooled down with whites, greys, silvers and golds, I am in heaven and needless to say if there are glittery cushions, completely sold :)

 

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our past clients and friends and our future clients, who we are looking forward to working with in 2013 and 2014, a peaceful and wonderfully sparkly Christmas :)

 

Laura x

A Gorgeous Christmas Wedding Photo Shoot from Ireland

 

Here at Reviva we are getting into a very festive mood and are in love with this gorgeous Christmas photo shoot organised and styled by one of my previous and all time favourite brides :)

 

Claire tied the knot with her gorgeous hubby here in Marbella in 2010 and I was delighted to be hired as her wedding stylist, florist and decorator, we have since become good friends and Claire left Marbella well and truly hooked on wedding world. 

 

 Upon Claire´s return to Ireland, as a happily married woman, she set about spending a year training to become a fully qualified wedding planner setting up her dream business, a fabulous wedding and styling company White Sage Events.

 

With Claire´s attention to details combined with her natural flair for style she really was suited to becoming a wonderful wedding planner and I have enjoyed watching her flourish as she has worked tirelessly to set up her successful business and is now reaping the rewards of working for herself and you can see she is totally devoted to her profession.

 

Do head over to Claire´s website to have a look at her fabulous work.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this Christmassy photo shoot Claire´s company recently put together, it is so festive and beautifully styled, the deep berry Christmas reds combined with the soft greys are a perfect winter wedding palette.  Claire´s attention to detail will ensure you have a wonderful wedding and this photo shoot just reinforces her wonderful sense of style.

 

We absolutely love it and are rather jealous we do not get many winter style weddings as there are so many wonderful decoration opportunities, but here in Spain all our brides wish to get married in the wonderful Mediterranean sunshine and who can blame them as Spain is known for it´s wonderful climate.

 

However with the exciting opening of the Marbella Club´s latest venture in the Sierra Nevada, the El Lodge Ski and Spa we are holding out hope now that we may indeed get some beautiful snowy winter style weddings to design, plan and host :) 

 

Imagine hosting your wedding in a wonderfully festive and snowy ski resort near Granada and bringing your guests down to the coast with a 2 hour drive for a beach party the next day!  How different would this be :)

 

I have done it, skiing all through the day and sitting in Marbella on the beach in my ski wear in the sunshine enjoying a cocktail in the evening, there are not many countries in the world where you can do this!

 

Claire´s wonderful colleagues involved in this photo shoot were

Claire at White Sage Events Shoot Coordination and Styling White Sage Events

Florist Best of Buds

Venue Dromquinna Manor

Photography Lisa O´Dwyer

Wardrobe Styling Lindsay Moynagh

Wardrobe Patrick Casey and Adah Lynch

Hair Accessories Aisling Maher and Rangoli

Make Up Rosa Ospina

Hair Caitriona of Headrush

Stationery Citrus Ink Launching soon!

Cakes and Deserts Cloudberry Bakery

Models Jacqui Murphy and Sarah O´Connor

Alfie the Dog :)!

 

If you do hire Claire for your wedding planning please do make sure you change your entire colour scheme 10 days before your wedding and email your guest list the night before at 1.30am so she can create your table seating plans, table names and guest placecards ;)!

The Small Things in Life

This week has been a challenge I think for ´normal´ people trying to comprehend the horrific massacre of innocent children at Sandy Hook.

 

 

I have spent the last few days in tears as I watch and read the news unfold of this terrible senseless incident.  I go to bed and wake up thinking about how these parents are coping and trying to imagine the unimaginable nightmare they are suffering.  Their lives will never be the same again, if they ever get through this tragedy.

 

I look at my own children, my older girls were the same age as the children gunned down in the Dunblane incident and I remember my girls local school doors being changed as a direct result into hi tech security doors with buzzers to let parents in.

 

 Now as I look at Twinks, my youngest daughter (not her real name), who is six, I cannot even comprehend how someone can so mercilessly shoot a six year old, it makes my bones go cold to the core and shiver with such evilness.

 

I had to do a blog post as this has affected me too much to ignore as this tragedy slowly unfolds in front of our horrified eyes. 

 

If America does not change it´s gun laws now it never will.

 

Let´s hope Obama sees sense and at least tames down the type of guns that are permissable otherwise we will be witnessing this again in a few years time.   All parents too, as much as their love their children, should seek help if they feel a mental illness is apparent which is a tough one but in the light of this latest disaster perhaps mental health issues will also be taken more seriously and reported.

 

Words still fail me, I cannot comprehend the events of the past week but something has to be learnt from this otherwise all these innocent children would have died in vain.  Part of my heart died this weekend just witnessing the awfulness as the news broke.

 

We are about to embark on what should be a lovely festive time with Christmas fast approaching and I have to admit I have been spending a lot more quality time with my little one.

 

I am appreciating what she is and what she brings to my life, albeit I do already as she was a late baby and a beautiful surprise which I think makes it harder as I have felt blessed to have had her in anycase and the past six years have bought me numerous wonderful moments.

 

My thoughts are with the whole community that has been completely devastated within less than an hour.  I am not at all religious but I think with so many more angels in heaven there will be many more prayers said this Christmas for the parents and families directly involved in this atrocity and parents all over the world will be holding their children tighter.

 

Christmas In Malaga

 

 

 

This might sound dreadful but in all the years I have lived here I have never visited Malaga.  Usually I have been flying past the city either on route to the airport or to a wedding and have never been a tourist.

 

  We have hosted many weddings in Malaga at some gorgeous venues, including the Castillo de Santa Catalina, which has involved me whizzing through the very hot city centre in the summer at an alarming speed with ribbons, confetti and flowers streaming behind me :) 

 

We are also very much looking forward to planning and designing a fabulous 2 day wedding in Malaga this coming summer which is very exciting.

 

This week, however, I had the luxury of finally being a tourist embarking on a festive  pre Christmas day out with my good friend Loraine who runs Dream Weddings in Spain and our fabulous tour guide Kris McGuirk who incidently is a wonderful wedding photographer by day!  You can see we mix business with pleasure! 

 

I am fortunate to have met so many amazing people through my business who have since become good friends. 

 

What can I say, what a wonderful city Malaga is and I was completely spoilt with two fantastic hosts prepared to show me the sights, lights and tapas bars in Malaga´s city centre.

 

Loraine and I started off by hitting the Larios Shopping Centre and it was a big highlight to visit Primark, aren´t they fab for cosy socks and pj´s plus kids things!!  I had heard about this store but never visited one so was rather overawed by how busy it was!

 

After clutching a few too many shopping bags, full of cosy socks and glittery pink ugg boots for Twinks, Loraine and I then drove into the main city centre to be greeted by Kris, the hostess with the mostess!   

 

Kris then proceeded to whisk us off to many tapas bars with lots of copas de vino involved and the odd break to do a bit of sightseeing, it was amazing, there was so much to see. 

 

Kris truly won the tour guide award dragging us very reluctantly into gorgeous tapas bars and Moroccan tea shops and then proceeded to show us some fascinating cathedrals, churches, the brotherhoods displaying their Christmas nativity scenes along with the stunning processional floats they use at Easter and of course the Calle Larios for some festive Christmas lights, they were beautiful and the street was lined with entertainers and street vendors just like Barcelona. 

 

The day went far too quickly and we ended up at the top of the Marriot hotel on the roof terrace enjoying a very civilised vodka and tonic whilst admiring the rooftops of Malaga, the port with a cruise ship in and being startled by the occasional random firework being set off!

 

What can I say apart from I had such a wonderful day.  I now realise I need to go back to Malaga many times to see all the sights and more of this city and it´s history and do need of course to visit a few more of the wonderful tapas bars!

 

Tonight though I would like to express my deepest sadness at the horrific tragedy that has unfolded in the US, I have cried at the loss of so many innocent victims, it beggars belief to be honest and we send our thoughts and prayers to everyone who is suffering.

 

 

Overstyling your Wedding

I am not a TV person, unless it is Claridges :) so every night I look through many of my favourite blogs and websites. I suppose it is a step up from my magazine obsession I had 15 years ago but far cheaper!

 

Most of my reading lists are about styling interiors, weddings and fashions in order to find things that interest me and to predict and forecast the latest trends.

 

I have always adored looking at beautiful images of weddings and homes for inspiration to create beautiful spaces. I love studying colours and textures, traditions, history of art, shapes and lighting. 

 

 

One thought tonight though crossed my mind, which is rather strange as I am a stylist and this is my profession and obsession, but can a wedding be overstyled? 

 

I have seen some images recently that have made me think about this question. 

 

The answer is yes weddings can be overstyled if done badly.

 

There are a huge amount of beautiful inspirations out there and many wedding photo shoots, but there is a skill required to put this together, get it wrong and it looks awful, get it right with the perfect balance and you are on course for a heavenly wedding!

 

Do make sure whoever you hire for your wedding or if you are DIYing has the eye for style, colour, taste and balancing when creating your wedding day.  Do say no to obviously homemade accessories, I have seen an expensive wedding ruined this year by ghastly handmade placecards smuggled in!

 

We look at fashion gone wrong everyday, don´t do this for your wedding!

 

I have not posted any photos for this blog post apart from a lovely festive photo as I do not wish anything or anyone to take offence in the wrong context albeit I like posting pretty images :)!

Shades of Grey for Winter

 

Anyone who knows me well knows I love Shades of Grey.

 

Not the book as I have not bothered to read it yet, albeit it is on my desk and Carla has already read this and stolen book number two, Fifty Shades Darker for her holidays!

 

But I love greys combined with silvers, golds or a statement colour.

 

I wear it all the time in the winter and I decorate my house in it as it such a wonderfully quiet, soft statement colour but so rich and luxurious. 

 

Although my house has a lot of grey, dark grey sofas and a grey marble floor, I throw in vibrant olive greens, crisp whites and hot pinks just to make sure we are not cold and sombre ;)! 

 

I do love this colour combination with the brighter colours  mixed in as after all we do live in the Mediterranean :)

 

I have put together this mood board of cosy grey winter images as I have many stored here in my favourite file. 

 

The soft colours of mistletoe, silver shoes (could not resist this one) sequins, another love of mine, cosy knits and general loveliness including an image of a very cuddly rabbit!

 

I so love this rabbit and wish I could have one but sadly allergic to most animals albeit I have two cats and a dog?!

Glamour and Sparkle Wedding Inspiration

Who does not love a bit of glamour and sparkle, thrown in with a few diamonds of course!

 

We are busy here working away on ideas and inspirations for our 2013 weddings and gradually compiling mood and colour boards for our clients.

 

This involves weeks of looking for that one inspiration to set the next train of thought off and scanning hundreds or actually probably thousands of images as we put together designs and ideas.

 

My problem at the moment as we lead into the festive season is I keep being distracted by glitter and diamonds ;)

 

One fabulous blog I have found is Zsa Zsa Bellagio, if you are in need of some stylish inspirations or just wish to spend an hour looking at glamorous images this is the place to head over too.  Be prewarned you could be on this blog for much longer than an hour :)!

Mens Wedding Suit Hire in Marbella

Image courtesy of David Toms 

 

When it comes to men´s wedding or formal event suits there are two options, to buy or to hire.

 

The latter seems impossible when transporting your wedding to another country but as our motto is "anything is possible", we thought we would share some useful information with you about hiring suits, formal wear and dresses in Marbella.

 

Despite the heat here in the summer we are constantly surprised and delighted how many of our handsome grooms and their wedding parties elect to wear formal or smart suits, complete with jackets, waistcoats, ties, cravates. 

 

This male wedding attire worn in Spain involves sinking lots of cold beers whilst lurking in air conned bars, much brow mopping, throwing on the jackets just before the ceremony and whipping them off afterwards and quickly pulling out the cool shades!

 

The predicament of bringing men´s formal wear normally starts with the bride sending us a desperate email secretly telling us the size of her trousseau she is planning to squeeze onto an Easyjet or Ryan flight and is now concerned there is not any room or weight restriction left for a pair of cufflinks let alone a formal suit! 

 

Normally at this stage our brides are concentrating on the ties and pocket chiefs ;)!

 

 

Whilst the majority of our weddings overcome this predicament it is useful to have options, I love this word ;) 

 

So if you wish to hire a suit here in Marbella here are our little black book suppliers.

 

Sastreria Marbella

A formal men´s suit hire here in Marbella with a tailor for fitting.

 

Damaris Novias 952 580 976

The owner of this company, Wendy, is Dutch but speaks perfect English so ask for her, she is lovely and has some beautiful accessories in her shop as well as gorgeous wedding clothing so well worth a visit.

 

I also noticed in the Sur in English this week there is a new business called Yes2Dress, who have recently opened, we have not tried and tested them yet with our clients but they have added a recent Facebook page so it is worth hoping over to have a peek, they also hire wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses.

 

Both Damaris and Yes2Dress are based in Fuengirola, situated between Marbella and Malaga.

 

If you are bringing your wedding dresses or suits with you and need them pressed, steamed and freshened up ready for your big day we always take our clients dresses, shirts and suits to Hot Off The Press, who are based in Calahonda, they always do an amazing job :)

 

Their telephone number is 952 930 392

 

Our super smart Chris!  Incidentally he did not hire his suit but he was one hell of a cool groom :)!

Image courtesy of Jeremy Standley

 

 

We have our little Black Book, compiled by Carla the Wikipedia of Weddings, full of many fab suppliers here serving the wedding and party industry so if you need a dress adjusted at the last minute by an amazing tailoress, need a hair accessory or have forgotten any last minute details we are here to help.

 

Even if we are not brilliantly planning or styling your wedding we are always delighted to share any information with you ;)!

 

If you have a business here offering dress or suit hire, or anything related, please do contact us as you are rare and we do love to know about new suppliers!

Sparkling Christmas Beauty Tips from Nikki

December has finally arrived and we are all set to sparkle and shimmy through Christmas.  With parties and glitter on our minds we are delighted to share some fabulous make up and beauty tips from our make up expert Niki at Marbella MakeUp to ensure we are all glittering for the festive season!

Our gorgeous tips from Niki.

 

Add a hair accessory for instant glamour opt for diamante clips and combs which are easy to grip into the hair.

Apply a touch of glitter or shimmery lipgloss. This can be worn alone or apply over the top of your favourite lipstick.

 

For gorgeous glowing skin this winter apply a highlighter.  I prefer crèmes rather than powders which can appear heavy.  Apply using fingertips to blend gently under the arch of the brow bone and down onto the top of the cheekbones. I love Benefit Highbeam and Moonbeam as well as MAC's strobe cream.

For glitzy nails choose a glitter nail polish, this can be clear and worn alone over a bare nail or on top of your favourite colour.  Choose the latest craze 3D nails! Nazila's nail glitz will embellish your fingertips with beautiful jewels.

Apply a shimmering body lotion or oil for gleaming radiant skin.  I love Nuxeshimmer oil this hydrates skin and leaves a gorgeous golden sheen.

If you are all about the eyes apply a line of glitter gel eyeliner along the lashline or add a touch of glitter on top of your eyeshadow.  If you like to experiment with colour use a shimmering bright eyeshadow or pigment to create dramatic eyes.

 

Accessorise your eye makeup by added a set of sparkly false lashes.  If you are not quite that daring try applying a few individual cluster lashes or a set of corner lashes for a more subtle glamorous effect.  Apply using DUOadhesive available at MAC for long lasting wear.

 

Create a metallic silver smoky eye.  Apply a kohl pencil around the eye smudging and blending well using a small firm brush.  I like to use MAC's 219 brush for this.  Apply a little black or dark grey shadow on top to set the liner and intensify the colour. Next apply silver over the lid up to the socket blending well.

For some more festive inspiration see my glitter and sparkle mood-board on Pinterest and wishing you all a very sparkly Christmas!