Designing and Inspiration Boards

Design is creating a space, a product or a function with harmony, balance and style.

Whether you are designing your home, a wedding, a work space or a product there are basic principles applied to make it work plus of course an eye for balance and style.

One thing I find always works is to gather various collected elements together to create an inspiration board and tonight I created this with some photos I have pinned on my interiors file on Pinterest.  

Working on a design project is always exciting whether it be a re-decoration of a room or the design of your wedding, party or event.

It is always a good idea to gather the colours, images and swatches together and you will quickly see a cohesive look and colours leaping out at you.

This time of year I am updating my own living spaces and as an interior designer and stylist I apply my own principles to my own home and thought it would be interesting to gather the images I have collected over the past few months, of interior spaces, together on one board.

It appears now I have to go out and buy lots of mint green and soft turquoise paints!

With storms predicted here in southern Spain tomorrow this actually sounds like a good plan.

Soft Pink Inspirations for Weddings

Sharing a soft pink inspiration board with you :)  

Adore the cream puffs tied with a pink satin bow and the wrist corsage for a bridesmaid perhaps.

If you love girly stuff do hop over to ZsaZsa Bellagio, full of fabulous images, inspirations and ideas.

A Charming Grace Kelly Style Wedding in Sotogrande, Spain

We loved planning Chris and Lina´s wedding day and all of it was done via email and phone as Chris and Lina live in Jordan and could only pop over once before their big day to meet us.   

Chris´s parents have a home here and they had booked the Monastery in Sotogrande for the reception as they had seen the venue on our blog, but everything else needed to be arranged and the styling of their day designed.

Both Chris and Lina were very involved in the design and organisation of their special day and we emailed bridesmaids dress colours to select the right shade of pale pink, matched up bouquets, designed the cake table, the pew ends and worked on the whole day via emails and Skype chats.

What I found interesting about Lina was her style was very elegant and simple, a Grace Kelly, but this was not apparent at first. 

Lina knew what she liked but at times it was difficult to convey, finally we narrowed it down to a beautiful pale blush pink bow that finally leapt at me through the images she was sending me so we combined this idea with a white and silver palette, lots of candles and fairy lights and used the satin bow as a simple touch into the gorgeous stationery by Anoulka and wedding cake created by Sweet Things by Fi.  

I have never seen Lina´s shoes until I received these photos and giggle now as they are so perfect, just wish I had seen them before!

So finally the big day arrived and so did the storm clouds, which we often get here at the end of September, and the heavens opened and poured :(  

Onto Plan B and what a plan B it was, as not only did we have to move the entire wedding from the marquee, that was soaked, to the inside of the monastery, but also ended up dealing with emergencies including our pregnant make up artist crashing in the rain.  Luckily she was fine and has since had a gorgeous baby :)

It was at this point I was deep breathing, but Lina was a star voicing concern over the make up girl, but as any bride can imagine she was devastated and the day got worse before it got better, but Lina took everything with such grace and just kept smiling.

Finally the rain eased off as Chris and Lina embarked on their gorgeous ceremony at the Sotogrande church with a wonderful crowd of family and friends followed by a fabulous evening at the Monastery.

We are delighted to share these wonderful memories with you of the delightful Chris and Lina, courtesy of Mireia Cordomi Photography.

5 Minutes with Jeremy Standley Destination Wedding Photographer

We are very fortunate here in Spain to work alongside some fabulous, professional suppliers within the wedding industry and Jeremy Standley is one of our favourite photographers.  

Without Jeremy documenting our weddings time and time again over the past five years with such style, grace and breathtaking images my business would not be what it is today.

In the winter here we are all slightly quieter, meeting new clients, planning gorgeous weddings and generally fluffing up our feathers ready for a new wedding season plus catching up on all those projects we have been meaning to do.  One of mine ´meaning to do projects´ is to interview our favourite suppliers to see what makes them tick and why they ended up in Wedding World, as I like to call it! 

We are delighted, after much nagging, to share a 5 minute interview on Jeremy with you.

When did you start your interest in photography and why?

I have worked in photography since I can remember. My mother is a photographer so I have always been surrounded by the world of photography.  My career started by working in studios in the UK and Sultanate of Oman followed by a long period of time at Princess Cruises as the photo manager and later the fleet digital technology manager and trainer.   Had you asked me seven years ago would I like to be a wedding photographer I would have said “no way” but after shooting my first wedding I was completely hooked.  Now over 300 weddings later I really could not imagine doing anything else :)

Why did you specialise in Destination Weddings?

Accidently really.  Normally I will fly to about 8 to 10 weddings per year and photograph weddings in Barcelona, Mallorca, and other wonderful destinations.   It was never a conscious choice to travel out to photograph weddings but I love the adventure and creative scope new venues and destinations offer and more often that not I will cover a couple of days for the clients which I love and getting to know your clients that little bit better really helps immerse yourself in their story.

How you would you describe your style of Photography?

Creative, a little bit quirky and a storyteller. 

What should couples look for when choosing a wedding photographer?

The right photographer for them. What is right for one couple may not be right for another and whilst brides receive a lot of advice it is important for couples to take a little bit of extra time to pick the photographer that they both love.  

Your wedding day images are a once in a lifetime moment and will become a family heirloom you can show to your children and grandchildren, you can’t redo them. 

Couples know what music they like and they know what food they love, but picking a wedding photographer is a little trickier, but they will know the styles of photography they like and choosing the right photographer means you have great images of every detail of your wedding from the emotions, magical romantic moments, your guests having fun and all the elements that make up a perfect wedding day.

Can you give any tips on how to achieve the best from your wedding photographer on the day?

Communication is key along with balance. All photographers have a personal style and way of working. Make sure everything you want photographed on your special day is discussed beforehand, whether you would love stunning scenic images or all your carefully planned details documented and of course your list of formal pictures of close family and friends.  Your photographer should have a very clear idea on what you expect from your photographs and you should look at lots of their portfolios so you can see the consistency of their work and have a very good idea of what style and standard of images you will receive.

What is your USP?

Mmm a tough one, I think every photographers USP is themselves and the creative way they interpret your wedding day.  Every photographer I know has an individual style that is difficult to copy. Personally I believe in offering clients an exceptional service from the start to the end.

What are your favourite images, we know this is a hard one but do try to share these with us :)


It is always very hard to say which images are favourites as it changes by the second but having been put on the spot I have chosen these four as they all have a quality I love.

I took this shot last year in Gaucin.  Gemma and James wanted something very different and this image was a stand out.  I always try to shoot a few images that have plenty of WOW factor and would look good on a wall. This one is framed in their home on metallic paper and looks amazing!

Granada!  Torrie and Henry are from LA and were the perfect clients just asking me to document the day “As I saw it”.   Wedding images should provide moments that will never be forgotten and whilst this is not a typical image, the moment, the light and the Alhambra in the background makes it one of my favourites.

I love this image taken at an epic Sikh wedding last year in Sitges.  The emotion in this image says it all. 

This image is one of my older ones but still such a favourite.  I could document another 300 weddings and not get another moment like this. No words are required!

We would like to thank Jeremy for sharing his time, advice and these gorgeous images with us and if you would like to contact Jeremy just hop over to his website, we guarantee you will be on there for hours ooohing and aaaahing.  I just hope he has the perfect lens for glittery shots this year!

Pink and Gold Sparkly Party Ideas in Marbella

Sigh, sigh, even deeper sigh :)  

Just had to share this with you as it would be cruel not to and a big thank you to Fi at Sweet Things for ensuring I woke up to this glittery delight yesterday morning!

This feast for my eyes can be found over at 100 Layer Cake.

I absolutely love the fact they are throwing their own party.

As event designers, our lives are spent planning and creating events, parties and weddings, so what a wonderful idea the girls over at 100 Layer Cake and their suppliers had to actually throw their own party!

 We love all the gorgeous details - the combination of girly pinks, golds and glitter that are currently steaming ahead in event and wedding trends and who needs an excuse to celebrate apart from loving glitter and glam!

Valentines Day in Marbella

Love is in the Air this week so sharing a bit of sparkle, hearts and some of our favourite images on Pinterest to get you in the mood to glitter :)

We are wishing all our wonderful couples past, present and future a romantic week, we hope you enjoy each others company, eat lots of chocolate and drink champagne :)!

Spanish Ceramic Tiles for Weddings

OK so no glitter or sparkle but lots of love for Spanish ceramics :)

We have used Spanish tiles for table numbers before in our weddings which we love.

 But this year we are taking it one step further and have sourced a fabulous ceramic tile maker in Seville who is making us some gorgeous handmade Spanish tiles as favours for guests.

We are using them as place names and displayed as table seating plans. 

One of our couples have designed their personal wedding tile based on a Moroccan design which we have sent to our supplier to be copied into an authentic original ceramic tile as favours for their guests. 

This is a fabulous idea for our Destination Weddings as it is easily transported back home and we don´t think these gorgeous tiles will be put in a drawer, we can imagine them being displayed proudly in the kitchen, perhaps as a spoon rest, on the wall as a piece of art or even used as coasters.

We wanted to share our Spanish tile inspiration board with you as I am personally interested in the colours that have become dominant having put these images together which are the terracotta and deep Mediterranean blues.  

These colours, however, are so reminiscent of Eighties interior decoration trends but added as an accent into a palette of whites, ivories, deep magenta pinks and soft greys provide an interesting and exciting colour combination and I can imagine this with lots of vintage ivory lace for a wedding scheme.  It is the unusual colour combinations that shout out style and create very eclectic weddings and this is one of them.

Even combined with a deep olive or a sunflower yellow would work extremely well and these colour schemes are exciting and different, away from the norm which of course is what any designer strives for!

I hope you love our inspirations we share with you and do pop back to see our gorgeous weddings we are designing as they appear on our blog.

50 Shades of Pink Charity Fundraising Night for Positively Pink

Recently we were approached and asked if we would like to decorate and support Costa Women´s 50 Shades of Pink Charity Fundraising Night in aid of Positively Pink.

Positively Pink is a charity based on the Costa Del Sol raising money for the improvement and enhancement of medical treatment and provides a FREE screening programme for British Women living within the Malaga Province.  

Costa Women are a social and business networking community for women living, working and dreaming Spain.  They are amazingly fun and well worth joining if you wish to find out more about likewise fabulous women living and working in Spain.

Well what can I say apart from I was so pleased I said yes!

I have met and networked with an entertaining, lively and fun group of girls, we all worked very hard and had many laughs whilst planning this event and the whole experience has been fantastic.

I was thrilled to be voted the Favourite Sponsor of this event but it was probably only because of me bribing everyone to like me in exchange for chocolate that we won, but who can resist an offer like that?!   Moi competitive? Of course not!

So off we trotted in the morning with our twinkling lights, sparkly paper flowers, gorgeous pink tassel garlands, cake stands, funfetti, pink throws, bows - you name it, we took it and waved our magic wand over this event and we were thrilled with the final result.

We are delighted we can share some of Agata Jensen´s fabulous photos of the evening with you, we love them and are thrilled to have our hard work documented in such gorgeous images :)

It was a hugely successful evening supported by many fantastic sponsors, I was amazed at the generosity and support offered by so many of Marbella´s businesses.

All the guests looked fabulous and dazzled in many shades of pink!

There were lots of lovely surprises too ranging from naked men, a wonderful cocktail competition, fashion shows, cupcakes from Fi (which I managed of course to steal), mini champagnes (which I did not manage to steal!) and some wonderful sponsors selling sparkly things and donating proceeds to Positively Pink.

I managed to bribe Rob, one of our fab wedding DJ´s to come along and get the girls dancing and he even wore pink, brave man indeed!

The PR and marketing team behind this were brilliant, creating websites, organising printed banners, leaflets, cocktail competition cards, Facebook page, in fact the list is endless.

 All the hard work and effort everyone put into making this event a success was phenomenal and all the organisers, sponsors and suppliers can be found on the Costa Women´s 50 Shades of Pink Event Facebook page.

We are thrilled to hear over 1000 euros was raised just in this one evening.

We would like to thank Agata Jensen Photography for allowing us to share their fabulous photos of this event.

We don´t just design and style weddings, we wave our magic wands over parties and events too so if you are hosting a special occasion and would like us to wave our wands do contact us.