The Wedding Decorator

Metallic Wedding Cakes by SweetThings ByFi

2012-01-29T10:58:00.000+01:00

We are delighted to welcome SweetThings ByFi to our blog to talk to us about the latest 2012 metallic wedding cake trends.

Just like Wedding Trends, wedding cake designs are constantly changing.

Designs are heavily influenced by the fashion catwalk, wedding blogs and wedding magazines. Throughout 2011 there were many high profiled weddings, including the Royal weddings in the UK and Monaco, Supermodel Kate Moss, Pop singer Lily Allen and let’s not forget Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in the US. As a result, this has seen an increase in ornate piping and sugar flowers being incorporated into cake designs.

For many brides, 2012 is marking the end of the vintage trend and the beginning of glamorous decor with jewels and sparkles being incorporated into the cake designs, this is resulting in the rise of the ‘Couture’ style wedding cake.

This style of cake makes a strong statement by incorporating accents of the bride’s wedding dress, headpiece or jewellery. Our friends in the US have taken this one step further by introducing metallic wedding cakes which is taking the wedding world by storm for 2012.

We are seeing the use of shimmering tones of silver and gold’s combined with warm pastel or vibrant jewel colours.

When working with Reviva weddings, Laura and I often spend countless hours discussing the wedding designs we are working on together, and both of us are hugely excited about this trend and cannot wait for this to take off here in Spain!

Of course, it is imperative to ensure that your wedding cake design flows with the style or theme of your wedding not just the current wedding trends. For example, if you are getting married here in Spain and want a Spanish themed wedding, then perhaps you feel that a sparkling jewelled cake would not be suitable for your wedding. Thats ok! Your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life, so it is vital that your cake design is perfect for your personal taste! Try decorative lacework and textured ruffles with accents of Spanish warm colours or flowers, what is important is that your wedding cake designer designs a cake that is classic and timeless for you.

At Sweet Things, our fashion concious brides are becoming more involved in the design process to create their perfect wedding day, this is resulting in some amazing wedding cake designs which we cannot wait to create!

But for now, here are some of our favourite metallic wedding cakes!

Design Sources from Pinterest and Martha Stewart

Indian Wedding Inspirations in Marbella

2012-01-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

As Indian Weddings take Marbella by storm, we thought we would share some of the inspirations we are creating for our weddings.

The explosion of colours used for Indian weddings are glorious and here we have created a more cohesive look to our weddings by keeping to a heady mix of beautiful colours.

Ivory, gold and red are a hugely popular colour combination, mix this in with a fushsia and yellow and a dash of purple creates a vibrant combination.

We have kept one of our designs to just using a peacock colour theme of purples, turquoises, aquas and golds but throwing in a touch of orange for the reception tables.

There are so many glorious details from floral elephants, embellished gold confetti cones, lots of lots of bling, particuarly this year with the latest rage for metallic wedding cakes and we love the idea of using slightly different textures and fabrics to bring different elements into creating our Indian wedding styles.

A fuchsia, red and yellow Indian Wedding Inspiration

An explosion of Colours

A Peacock Inspiration

Muted Golds, Ivories and Red

Images have been sourced from Karen Wise and Maharani Weddings

We hope you enjoy our inspirations as we publish them and to keep up to date with us, as we move into 2012, join our Facebook page

Romantic Blossom Cupcake Class by Sweet Things by Fi

2012-01-19T23:40:00.000+01:00

We are delighted to introduce our first cupcake decorating class hosted by Sweet Things by Fi at our wedding studio on the 8th February.

If anyone does not know Fi's work or indeed has not eaten one of her cakes they are truly missing something and life is not worth living until you do!

Fi is one of our favourite wedding cake designers, whose creations continue to amaze our clients and us, plus she buys me creme eggs so I am heavily blackmailed!

Fi's first cupcake decorating class will be held at our shop, based in Elviria, on the 8th February from 3pm until 5pm.

The theme of our first cupcake decorating course is Romantic Blossom Cupcakes.

Fi will bring the freshly baked cupcakes and each student will be provided with 6 cupcakes each, 3 chocolate and 3 vanilla along with all the decorating materials to create beautiful cupcakes ready for you to take home.

You will learn the art of creating sugar craft roses, pearl and bows as in our photo above and get to take them home.

Fi's cupcake course is 60 euros per head and this includes tea, coffee and cakes to test along with a lot of fun plus 6 fabulous cupcakes unless we have eaten them first!

This cupcake decorating course is limited to 6 people with a minimum of 4 people so first come first served but there will be more classses to follow.

If you would like to book this class please contact Fi on 697228088 or email her on mail@sweetthingsbyfi.com

To view Fi's website and see her amazing creations visit

http://www.sweetthingsbyfi.com/

Swan Lake Ballet Wedding Inspiration in Marbella

2012-01-16T23:56:00.000+01:00

Apologies for my recent lack of blogging but after the Christmas holidays we have been inundated with wedding enquiries which is hugely exciting but has meant I have spent my evenings on my email and my head in my diary instead of concentrating on my blog and oh how I have missed it!

But having finally managed to get back to some organised normality (and hired two interns) we are sharing more wonderful inspirations and what better way to start than to celebrate the culture of Marbella who recently hosted a Swan Lake production from the Moscow Ballet in the Teatro de Ciudad.

We thought it would be lovely to produce a mood board based on this inspiration for a wedding using obviously feathers :)

This year I have noticed various new trends emerging which we will blog about over the next few weeks and have some fabulous guest bloggers as well sharing their insights with us too so do check back to hear other professionals take on the latest wedding trends.

One is still the very vintage style (sorry Jeremy!) but it is becoming more elegant, we have seen metallic wedding cakes emerging, more glitter, jewels and glam reappearing and just slightly more decadent, crochet I think is finally out!

The rustic, burlap, eco wedding is going to continue to be a big hit this year and we are very excited to be producing some fabulous designs with these design elements.

Another big fashion I have noticed this year is very bright colours creeping into weddings off the catwalks. A dizzying range of colours from the popular cobalt blues of last year's weddings to the almost fluorescent yellows, greens and fuchsias, lots of florals and a more spectacular use of colours steering away from the paler corals, silvers and husky blues that we have seen over the past few years.

Finally roll over Bollywood, we have some amazing creations coming out our studio for our Indian weddings this year!

There is so much more to share with you all as our business is changing quite considerably over the next few months but I will be back!

New Year Inspirations

2012-01-04T23:58:00.000+01:00

I love Christmas and New Year with all the festivities and of course glitter :)

Here now, in Spain, we still have the 3 Kings to celebrate and I do find even after all these years of living here that this does rather drag on the Christmas holidays!

However, bringing my youngest daughter up in a predominently Spanish environment we will be in Marbella tomorrow evening to welcome the 3 Kings and after this I can finally take down the Christmas tree and finish my manic weeks of shopping!

I do love the clean fresh feeling that a New Year brings with all the resolutions, healthy living regimes that are put into action and just the cleansing process whether it be health, living, organising homes it is all about cleaning out the old year and in with the new.

For me personally this has meant a few things to me as 2011 was a year of change.

My business has moved on so much in the past 4 years that I took a good hard look at where I wanted it to go and have made steps in the right direction to expand and change. I did not want to become stale and moving on is always a good thing, sticking with what is safe is not progress.

This is a very exciting time for me and I am thrilled I have a very supportive team backing me all the way that are equally excited and very loyal as they can see the vision I have. More will be announced in February as we finalise business plans and venture onwards.

I have also had personal issues that have had to be addressed, these are not the first but having always had a close family we have had to deal with the big C word again, this time with my beloved father and my technically sister in law. I also lost a very dear friend this year very suddenly so it has been a festive but reflective time for me.

We are not unfamiliar with this as my dearest younger sister was diagnosed 5 years ago at the ripe old age of 39, two weeks before I had Twinks and thankfully has made a fabulous recovery.

Life goes on and is to be thoroughly enjoyed but this year has certainly been a tough one for me dealing with many personal issues.

I am taking the time out now to reflect and get to know our truly amazing couples we have this year, the stories I am hearing as I get to know them are truly inspirational and I cannot wait to create their dream days.

It does rather put into perspective that everyone has tough bits and the celebrations we can create just mean so much to everyone involved and we cannot wait to share our dream days with our clients this year and will do everything possible to make sure they are extra special as always :)

A Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T11:46:00.002+01:00

Images from Pinterest

As the countdown to 2012 begins, we are reflecting on an amazing year.

I personally have watched my hugely talented team grow and we have designed and decorated some amazing weddings this year pushing our creative skills even further.

Our planning services have gone from strength to strength and we have some hugely exciting projects and commissions underway for 2012.

We would like to take this opporunity to wish all our 2011 clients a fabulous New Year and all our 2012 and 2013 couples an exciting New Year as we work with them on their beautiful wedding days.

Our work would not be complete without all the extraordinarily talented suppliers we work with to put together our weddings and events and we would also like to wish all our friends within the wedding industry a Very Happy New Year!

We will be back shortly with many fabulous inspirations, blog posts and of course real weddings as we start the New Year.

A Statement from Reviva Weddings

2011-12-26T23:06:00.006+01:00

It has been bought to our attention that another company, based here on the Costa Del Sol, has been sending out libelous emails to clients about our company.

Reviva Weddings have consulted lawyers who have confirmed that we have a good case to take this company to court based on libelous and malicious information being sent out.

It will be our intention to issue a denuncia against this company in the event that they do not make a public apology shortly.

Should we see that further emails are being sent out, we will then proceed through the courts to sue them.

We will publish their identity and ask for legal costs and damages to be awarded to us.

Snowy Wedding Inspirations!

2011-12-16T10:39:00.000+01:00

Living in Spain is fabulous and we are truly spoilt with our weather, this winter has been incredibly mild, apart from the terrific storm on my birthday!

This morning I gazed out onto a beautiful pink sunrise and relish the fact I can meet my friend today for a lovely lunch sat outside, however, I am insanely jealous that the UK are about to see snow!!

I absolutely adore snow, the light and magical look it brings to everything it falls on.

I think it always instills that sense of peace which is why it is particularly beautiful at Christmas time.

So here is my contribution to all things snowy! A beautiful winter inspiration board created for you and we now have falling snow on our blog as we are getting festive!

The images here are found on Pinterest and you must head over to Green Wedding Shoes to see a delightful snow shoot.

Pink and Gold Christmas Inspiration

2011-12-11T11:14:00.004+01:00

Top Row 1st and 2nd image Better Homes & Gardens, 3rd Image Citrus & Orange, 4th Image Pinterest.
Second row Image 1,2 & 3 Citrus & Orange, 4 & 5 Image Unknown

Pink and Golds are definitely the in Christmas colour this year and are all over blog world.

I love them as these are the colours I have every year and mine are mixed with silvers and lots of crystal too collected over the years. I also use olive green as it is the other colour in my home but this year I am excited about using a touch of purple and deep turquoise too with lots of golds to bring a slightly grander feeling to our Christmas table. I have the crackers already and bought some beautiful olive charger plates and now on a search for a deep magenta velvet ribbon!

I thought with all these fabulous images I have found it would be lovely to create an inspiration board to share with you.

You really must head over to the Citrus and Orange blogspot, it is one of my favourite blogs and I can´t wait to see what Susana will be posting next as she shares her Christmas decoration ideas with us.

We also have some beautiful Christmas trees to share with you this week, sent in by our brides from the past few years and some of our brides for 2012 as we all get festive and share our creative ideas together!

Keeping Safe at Work

2011-12-09T23:21:00.005+01:00

I had an interesting chat tonight with one of my friends, who is also a supplier in the wedding industry. I cannot give too much away, but this chat made me think about creating this blog post to cover what we discussed as I think it is an important subject.

This applies particularly to women who are running businesses and are required to go and meet potential clients in venues such as private villas, etc.

Our work means we are mainly at our desks working away on our computers and we can be at home or in the office safely working alongside our colleagues but we have to venture out to meet clients.

Whether you are a wedding planner, designer, or working within the wedding industry, make up and hair, photographers, etc we are all at some point required to go and meet potential clients perhaps sometimes in private villas, invited to a bar for a coffee or other meeting places.

Do we really know who we are going out to meet?
Are we making sure we are safe whilst conducting our business?

My friend actually contacted me tonight as she remembers me being stalked a couple of years ago now, and needed to ask me questions as she thought the same thing was happening now to her.

Because we run our businesses we have to put our profiles on the internet, our websites, blogs, facebook pages and twitter all of these include our contact details and images of us and our work.

Whilst 99% of the time this is great and we get wonderful business contacts and clients, there is always this 1% of weirdos that decide they want to stalk you for whatever reason.

Don´t get me wrong I have some fabulous stalkers, but I have had some not so fabulous ones as well.

It is important to remember a few basic things to keep safe whilst working.

If you have to meet a client in a remote area, private villa, etc always take someone with you. Work colleague, friend, hubby anyone will do!

Always let people know where you are going, what time and the time you are expected back.

Take as many details as possible before you meet the client, phone numbers, and other numbers in case their phone is not working, etc of friends of theirs. As we create destination weddings we normally ask for details such as passport numbers, etc as well but I can see this might be harder if you are working with clients in the same country to ask for details like this.

Try to find out as much as you can and never go alone, particularly if you are uncertain about a client and cannot get someone to go with you, postpone the meeting, if they are genuine they will of course understand your reasons.

No work is worth sacrificing your own safety.

Spanish Burgundy Wedding Inspiration

2011-12-05T00:07:00.008+01:00

I have been working on some wedding inspirations this weekend for one of our Sotogrande weddings next year. Our brief is burgundy, whites and a touch of silver with a destination wedding theme possibly incorporating maps of Spain and red wines.

The wedding will be held at a stunning monastery in Sotogrande which requires very minimal stylish decorations and for this particular venue a chill out area on the terrace is always lovely for the dancing later.

With the burgundy (red wine) colour mixed with whites, the two colours combined can be quite harsh so we have mixed in a sahara rose and some pale pinks which will soften and lift the colour combination.

Burgundy is a fabulous colour for a Spanish styled wedding, and combined with a dramatic black is truly stunning and brings the drama of Andalucian flamenco to the overall look and style. Not too much black though, we loved Sarah´s wedding this year using a black etching of a flamenco dancer.

Here we have created an inspiration board for one of our clients and used this flamenco graphic that was beautifully reproduced onto a stunning wedding cake by Fi and onto the stationery from Anoulka.

The combination of the deep burgundy with the ivories, very soft pinks and tea colours is a fabulous colour scheme.

To compliment the destination map idea we have suggested to run this through the wedding with the stationery details, perhaps confetti cones made out of maps of Spain, table seating and luggage tags and white suitcases. The design has only just been sent off but of course is still buzzing around in my design brain and yet to cover the red wine element!

This is where I start to wish time away as we create and design some fabulous weddings that I cannot wait to put together!

Back to glitter and Christmas this week, but we do like to share our wedding inspirations and designs with you as we sit here creating for 2012.

We would like to credit Sweet Things By Fi for this stunning flamenco cake and Jeremy Standley for the photography, without these fabulous photos we could not showcase our work as we do. The inspiration board was created by me using photos from pinterest and our own weddings.

More Festive Fun

2011-12-02T00:50:00.004+01:00

December has finally arrived and it does not seem that long ago I was packing away our decorations, but this morning heralded, not only my much needed tea, but the opening of the advent calendar and a very excited Twinkle Toes!

This afternoon our tree was resurrected and is now work in progress for the next few days!

Last year we started a fun Compare your Christmas tree decorating efforts and this year we would like to do the same so send us photos of your trees for us to post and inspire everyone.
You can find us on Facebook

We will be posting on here so email us your photos info@reviva-weddings.com

We will be sharing many festive ideas with you over the next few weeks and would like to wish all our clients, suppliers and readers a truly festive, fun and peaceful December.
Our lovely images are from Pinterest.

Christmas Sparkle!

2011-11-30T10:25:00.004+01:00

Today is our Christmas party!

With some of the Reviva Chicks heading off in the next few weeks to other climates, the season of glitter and fairy lights has started early :)

Secret Santa is ready and we have a few little treats in store for our fab guests!

Officially now we have to sparkle and I thought I would share some sparkly inspirations with you to get into the festive spirit, all these gorgeous photos are from pinterest.

Free Wedding Websites

2011-11-27T10:43:00.007+01:00

In a world of modern technology is setting up a wedding website important?

Well the answer is Yes.

It is an ideal way to communicate with your guests, provide details of the wedding, related activities and up to date news. It also serves as a brilliant planning tool, allowing you to keep on top of your wedding preparations, updating information without having to notify all your guests individually and allows close friends, who perhaps cannot attend your wedding, to be kept in the fold of events.

Our recommendations for the sort of information you should supply on your website are basic info, names, the date and where your wedding is being held with details of the ceremony and reception.

Directions, maps, hotel information and if you are planning a destination wedding, useful things to know, restaurants, what to do, information about the area and perhaps telephone numbers in an emergency.

You can suggest suitable attire, as everyone will want to know what to wear from black tie and sparkle to perhaps laid back, casual beach. It is always nice to include wedding party info, who are your bridesmaids and groomsmen and why.

A convenient link to your wedding registry, gift wish list is useful for your guests to take a look at and of course your story, how you met, engagement, hearing about your romance will give guests an insight and envoke excitement for your big day. Don´t post up 786 photos of your last holiday though!

There are some fantastic free wedding websites out there and with little internet skills you can create your fabulous wedding website in a very short time.

Google offer a whole host of wedding tools, including websites, online planners and useful google docs. Another brilliant website is My Wedding.

Definitely worth heading over to these two websites to start creating your personal wedding website online. After my recent blog posts many of our brides have emailed me with their websites and My Wedding certainly seems to be one of the most popular.

I hope by sharing this advice we have just eliminated one more little stress!

Getting Married in Marbella

2011-11-23T01:48:00.004+01:00

This week we are creating a blog post and guiding you through the legalities of getting married in Marbella and Spain.

We will be helping you with any questions you need to know about getting married in Spain and the paperwork involved. Whether you wish to hold a catholic church ceremony, a registry office in Gibraltar or a blessing here we will be answering your questions here on this blog this week.

Carla, our head of planning and coordination will be here to answer any questions you have so if you would like to submit a question please send an email to info@reviva-weddings.com.

Wedding Venues in Marbella and Sotogrande

2011-11-23T00:43:00.009+01:00

I love this time of year.

November is getting chilly outside and as we wind down from our flurry of weddings it is lovely to look through and study all the photos from 2011 as we create new portfolios and look books for our studio.

It does take time to process the year and reflect on our work in order to refresh ourselves for our new year.

We are now working on our 2012 weddings and have some very sparky, creative brides on board so looking forward to our winter workshops and brain storming with them!

Today I have been organising photos not only for our portfolios in the studio, but also we have been asked to submit some of our favourite weddings to many hi profile wedding portals which is very exciting.

We are currently organising photos and will be in contact with our clients should their wedding be successful in our submissions to gain approval.

Having been browsing today I had to share this fabulous venue with you, we planned and designed a wedding here in September and I am in love with these photos.

For me they epitomize a Mediterranean evening, the lighting is stunning and this wedding was certainly one big party! Set in a monastery in Sotogrande in fabulous grounds this was a truly stunning setting for our client´s wedding.

We have also been out and about as well recently looking at new venues for weddings and as well as this monastery, we now have a fabulous 23 bedroomed converted convent on our books with it´s own chapel which is licensed for weddings.

You can party all night without noise restrictions. It is beautifully presented and restored and has a whole host of interesting areas to move around in, from the chiringuito bar area for the cocktail or perhaps the inner courtyard, to a fantastic setting for the dinner and dancing, a real hideaway set in the heart of Andalucian natural parkland.

These images above were provided to us by Anna Gazda of our stunning wedding in Sotogrande and having been scouring through all our weddings I wanted to share these with you again as I love them!

I might finally add that our day of venue searching ended up with us driving around looking for a zoo, which we found but was shut, apparently this area has a fabulous lake that we seemed to have missed so we will have to head back, the town I found enchanting and has a large hotel there for guests, we ended up on this day literally driving over the polo fields in Sotogrande, so not entirely sure that Carla wants to come out with me again on a venue reccie! She seemed glad to get out the car at the end of our day! :)

Romance and Sparkle at the Marbella Club

2011-11-21T10:38:00.020+01:00

All of us, of course, love romance and sparkle and this beautiful wedding in September was certainly a romantic story.

Karen and Taghi had been together 25 years and finally decided to tie the knot in the hugely romantic and stylish Marbella Club synonomous with romance of the rich and famous in the golden era.

Moira at Perfect Spanish weddings organised this delightful wedding and contacted us to help with the coordination, decoration and flowers and we were thrilled to be involved in the wedding of such a delightful and charming couple.

We created the bridal flowers and decorations based on the bright pinks of bouganvillea here along with the paler pinks to soften the bridal flowers. Karen wanted to keep it toned down for the ceremony but to use the bouganvillea pinks for the reception area to create a wow factor.

The table centrepieces were tall glass flutes filled with orchids and set on mirrors decorated with bouganvillea, crystals and tealights. We dressed the chairs with pink sashes and decorated the fabulous gardens, set right on the beach, with fairy lights, lanterns and candles.

The table seating plan was written on a white shabby chic mirror and the table names were given a flower name as the top table was named after their daughter Lili which we thought was a lovely touch. Mirrors always work well at the Marbella Club as they have them set in the walls within the beautiful Andalucian patio.

We gave the mirror as a gift to Karen and Taghi which we understand now is hanging in their bedroom having managed to get it home with apparently very helpful airline staff!

It was a beautiful day and the weather could not have been more perfect for this stunning day at the Marbella Club. Our thanks to David Toms, the photographer, Moira and Karen & Taghi for allowing us to share this delightful wedding with you.

Comments from Wedding Planners in Marbella

2011-11-20T20:50:00.003+01:00

As expected I have received many responses to my recent blog posts and today was no exception as it is such a contraversial subject.

Lisa from Bella Weddings sent us her comments and felt by blogging about this subject, that we were damaging the reputation of many honest wedding planners that are working hard to bring integrity to the wedding industry here on the Costa Del Sol.

This is not the case at all and there are many fabulous wedding planners here, including Lisa, that offer a fantastic service to her clients.

Lisa also felt that as we were not in her suppliers list that she was insinuated as being one of those planners.

There are so many talented people here all offering a wide range of services for weddings and parties that it would be short sighted to think if a supplier is not on a wedding planner´s preferred list of vendors is purely based on the commission policy.

There are many planners here that use the suppliers they know and trust, will deliver a good service and work within their client´s budgets, a good planner will maximise the wedding budget and select the right supplier and gain as much added value as they can for their clients.

Whilst I have covered this sensitive subject, the commission structure that is in place is a dying breed now thanks to the wedding industry recognising it´s professional obligations to clients and the competitive nature of the business.

Hiring a Wedding Planner in Marbella Part 2

2011-11-19T23:58:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about hiring a wedding planner in Marbella and bought up a very controversial subject covering the whole business of brown envelopes and commissions, referral fees, whatever you would like to describe them as.

I have been trail blazing this subject here in Marbella.

I am not the most popular person here at the moment with some people, but today I received so many messages and emails about this sensitive subject I thought I would do a follow up post with some of the feedback I have had. It has to be honest been very interesting and I was not expecting this sort of response.

One of our 2010 brides sent me this interesting email today which stood out and sums up the sorts of messages I have received today, it is edited of course to avoid naming and shaming. We decorated this wedding but did not plan it and have since become good friends, as I do with many of my brides.

Hi Laura
I read your blog post last night on Wedding Planners in Marbella and was super impressed by your honesty, it took guts to write that blog and well done to you for unveiling what is truly a hideous reality with wedding planners. I was nodding my head in agreement with every word you wrote. This is exactly why I fell out with one planner and the other left me with a bad taste in my mouth......the merry go round of wedding industry commissions and brown envelopes is so incredibly unfair on the person who is keeping everyone in business and that person is the bride, so that is what I call integrity, well done to you.

I do understand the other viewpoints to this subject that have been argued with me and so I will raise them as it is only fair to do so.

If you are new to this business and an established wedding planner is promoting you, then perhaps you need to pay them or reward them with a referral fee, it is another form of advertising and marketing, no different to paying for an advert in a magazine or perhaps paying for an online sponsorship on a blog, internet site, etc.

Perhaps a planner wants to keep their fee down in order to get business, so when the client contacts them initially they seem affordable, but they are making their money through the supplier bookings.

All the above I think are acceptable if the planner is transparent and tells the client this is how they run their business and makes their money, it is then left up to the client if they are happy to proceed with their services.

What I do disagree with is when it is all hidden, when the planner is selecting suppliers for their client based purely on how much money they will make and not because it is the right supplier for that wedding. When they do not disclose to the client that they are taking commissions, I cannot possibly see how this would be conducive to a good client relationship and is not in the clients best interests at all as many good suppliers are completely sidelined in favour of who pays the most.

Do all these planners really think their clients are that stupid?
Do the clients really think they are getting a fabulous wedding planner for 500 euros?
Perhaps it is the two parties combined that prefer to move on with their eyes shut, I am never sure!

There is the other side, as a supplier when you start to realise your business is being controlled by a planner, they start to tell you what they want for their clients and you are also paying them for the privilege? You find yourself eventually just running a bolt on company for them and making their weddings look amazing!

I suppose 4 years down the line, I am lucky, I run a unique business that has been very successful and now do not need to rely on referrals, I am able to stick my neck out and say enough is enough.

I am grateful to all the planners that choose to still continue to recommend us but it does work both ways, we make their weddings go from Ok and average, to looking amazing and this is what sells their company, without the fab flowers, decorations and details and the fantastic photography they would have nothing to show their clients, perhaps they need to start paying us instead!!!!

Tomorrow I promise I will be back with pretty inspirations, I guess after a fairly interesting year I have had to get this off my chest.

My final note with this whole commission thing is that in the very busy month of June when we had over 20 weddings and I was literally working an 18 hour day and sleeping and dreaming weddings and on a hugely excited creative roll, I had one planner who had probably 2 weddings in June, chasing me for 15 euros constantly every day, I was gobsmacked and found it really quite draining and sad, I think it was this that made me throw the towel in and start to think about things, can you blame me!!!

I will continue to wave my magic wand here and spread lots of glitter and fun over our weddings in Marbella.

Hiring A Wedding Planner in Marbella

2011-11-18T22:43:00.006+01:00

Google Weddings in Spain and a whole host of websites will leap out at you.
Some are gruesome, some are OK, some are quite interesting and some are fab and exactly how you see your dream day in Andalucia.

The heart of Spain is a popular destination wedding area and many couples dream of a beautifully hot sunny wedding on the beach or inland in the olive groves of Andalucia.

However, for busy professional people, and perhaps, the not so busy, the thought of spending over 6 weeks, in total, planning your wedding abroad becomes an impossible task so having googled all the possibilities available to you, you finally email a few companies, not the gruesome ones! to see how much damage they will do to your already over stretched wedding budget.

(Note to most of our brides at this point H2B is normally breathing down your neck and this is usually the first potential row on the horizon as you throw your organised wedding planning role in)!

You have contemplated doing it yourself to save on money and have found enough information on the internet to book your dream day, but as the wedding planning progresses you hit a wall, run out of time and the actual thought of your mobile phone lodged firmly down the front of your wedding dress on your actual wedding day is not appealing.

Worse still the thought of your parents manning the phones is just not even thinkable let alone acceptable, if they are anything like mine they can barely text! I am not even going to go down the best mate or sister is great route this is truly not on the cards!

This is normally when the sleepless nights and nightmares start!

You have no idea whether the suppliers you have booked even exist, let alone are reliable, and of course you want to enjoy your day and not be worried and at your wits end by the time you say I do :)

Having had yet another sleepless, harrowing night you have been up early and narrowed down your top 5 websites so you throw caution to the wind and email them, you might have even been super organised and booked the venue so you google that as well to see who has worked there.

Lo and behold you get prices, information and feedback from 3 out of the 5 planners you have contacted, three super speedy and efficient planners have replied within 48 hours, tick a box, good start.

The other two will reply after your wedding whilst you are on honeymoon in the Maldives 4 months later.
We are in Spain after all said and done!

Some seem cheap, great news, some have planning added on as bolt on to their company, better still, kill two birds with one stone, well hopefully not at your wedding!
Others even offer free wedding websites, yipee yet another saving in the wild and rocky world of wedding budgets :) H2B´s are normally impressed with this one!

But what do you really want, are you really interested in a free wedding website?
Let´s face it Google offer a whole host of wedding tools including websites to help you plan your wedding. Try googling free wedding websites and you would be amazed at what pops up, but that is a different blogpost!

So you want a run of the mill wedding, a venue or a church, or both as they are offered, that obviously churns out wedding after wedding or do you want something different, tailor made, created just for you?

I would hazard a guess that the majority of couples would shout yes please it is all about us and our day, it is special but we have a budget and want to use it to the maximum.

The 10K hotel conveyor belt is looking interesting and by now quite appealing, fitting within your budget and includes, if you are lucky, a free taxi to the church but is this really you?

Finally, thank the saving grace of Google, you have found the perfect planner, they have organised lots of weddings and only charge a few hundred euros, result!

Yet, apparently they will spend about 80 man hours running around for you and organising your dream day, they will be there for at least 10 hours on your actual wedding day, will recommend and organise suppliers, pay suppliers and all the things that tick the boxes. Heaven has just landed on your doorstep and you are sold.

But hold on a minute, think about it, are they really going to run around for you and devote their life and time to you for on an average of 90 hours for 800 euros? This is less than 10 euros an hour?

No of course they are not, many planners here in Spain only work with suppliers that will offer them a commission, it is normal apparently and makes good business practise?!

I quote this from a wedding planner here who was surprised when I stated I was not offering or accepting commissions. We have since parted company needless to say as I am not feathering their nest anymore. I also did not want to jump onto yet another conveyor belt wedding scenario belting out wedding after wedding at one particular venue as this is just not our style.

So they have charged you what you think is a fair fee but are you happy in the knowledge that they are probably raking in at least another 1000 euros from all the suppliers they book for your wedding? Normally without your knowledge or disclosing to you what they are being paid from the suppliers.

Do you think this is conducive to a close working relationship? Or are you left wondering how much that wedding cake would have really cost had you booked directly or how much the DJ really charges, how much the caterers, a large budget, hand over to the planner?

Are you confident that your planner is offering you the right choices of suppliers or is merely driven by how much commission they will get and perhaps not suggesting the right person for your wedding as they don´t pay commission?

I know planners that will not recommend photographers because they make such a huge commission from one particular one that is in my opinion rubbish, but this is all the client is offered. To be honest the stories I could tell are horrifying and it abhors me that this goes on in wedding world here.

I have two sides to my business, the design, decoration and floral business is fantastic and offers an amazing range of decorations and flowers and yet many planners will not recommend us because we do not pay commissions to them but why should we.

All it means is we cut the clients budget by 10% so they are not getting their true value spent, we would have to provide something that accommodated the price not what the client was actually paying, this for me is unacceptable.

Sad but true unfortunately and yet we are unique here in what we offer, there is no one else like us that provide such a great service and encompasses so many things from chair covers and sashes, linens, vintage furniture hire, flowers, stationery the list goes on and on.

But many planners will just recommend the florist down the road because they rake in yet another 10% commission from them. Is this right?

Our planning business charges a fee for our professional services, but we do not accept commissions from our suppliers so what does this mean to you?

For me personally it means we can develop a great relationship with you, we are not hiding anything from you. We are passionate about what we do and are strict when it comes to moral business ethics, we do not accept commissions from our suppliers. If we are paid a commission that is unavoidable from a hotel or caterer or gain a discount or get a commission we give it back to our clients.

We will offer you a supplier that fits your needs not based on our personal gain and if we can get something extra for you because of our relationship with that supplier then great.

I do hope next time you google wedding planners in Spain this will make you think before you leap and although some planners might seem slightly more expensive, really think about what you want from them rather than opt for the cheap version with the free website thrown in.

I will of course do a blog post on free wedding websites shortly as well but in the meantime just check out Google Weddings :)

Reviva Weddings one of the World´s Best Wedding Planners and Designers

2011-11-17T23:58:00.005+01:00

What can I say:) I have earnt the title as the Fairy Godmother of Weddings but we are truly honoured today to be now recognised as one of the top Wedding Planners and Designers in the World by Junebug Weddings!

I started Reviva Weddings in 2007 and despite the recession, we have gone from strength to strength, but of course this has not been without my passion and dedication to truly believing that what we create is brilliant, we offer a second to none 5 star wedding planning and design service to our clients and we are fabulous at what we do.

I am lucky, my journey of dragging Spain into the world of stylish weddings has meant that
I have met and developed an amazing team of hugely creative, organised and enthusiastic individuals who all support me 100% and live, eat and dream about weddings.

Without this fabulous bunch of girls I could not offer the services that create our stunning weddings. I have to reel off Loraine our floral designer, Carla my wedding planner extraordinaire and Anoulka, my right hand wedding chick who was Kylie´s dancer and now my assistant and stationery designer. All these women are wonderful and have completely transformed my life as I hope I have done theirs, well I know I keep them busy!

We are all fabulous at what we do and we giggle about the fact that
Reviva Chicks Rock Weddings!

Our design is stylish, up to date, trend setting and creative, our planning services are difficult to beat, we are with our clients every step of the way and our dedication and complete devotion to our clients weddings is hard to match.

Due to our popularity and professional qualities we now move further afield and have organised weddings in Barcelona, Madrid and are now covering Europe and beyond. Our team will move to your location whether it be Italy, France or beyond.

Can you imagine our delight to be now listed on the fabulous Junebug Weddings within their World´s best celebrity wedding planner and designer section, we had to undergo strict tests to be accepted and are delighted to share this wonderful news with you.

We will continue to update you on our progress this winter as we are attending some amazing courses which we will also share with you, developing many contacts, ideas and more wedding decorations, including our new prop hire services.

More Watercolour Inspirations for Weddings

2011-11-14T09:14:00.005+01:00

We thought we would share another of our creative boards this morning, to brighten up a fairly grey day in Marbella!

The two inspirations behind this wedding design are a beautiful watercolour by Charlotte Cox which for me is evocative of Spain, and this gorgeous photo of almond blossoms that fill the countryside here in early Spring. I love this photo, it was taken by Anna Gadza, one of our very talented photographers here we work with.

The colour combination is a sage green, lots of whites and pale dusty pinks, you could even add in a pale teal and greys and perhaps as I am in a glitter mood, a hint of silver.

I have also noticed a big trend back to using gypsophila (baby breath) for wedding flowers, it is pretty I think just on it´s own for bouquets or centrepieces or combine this with white and pale pink peonies for a truly romantic wedding scheme.

All the images in this board were found on Pinterest.

A Romantic Norwegian Wedding in Marbella

2011-11-11T22:12:00.025+01:00

We were delighted earlier this year to be asked to decorate this beautiful, stylish Norwegian wedding at the end of September.

The ceremony was held at the lovely Norwegian Church in Calahonda and a very gastronomic reception was to follow at the El Lago Restaurant in Elviria Hills.

El Lago is a modern style Michelin star restaurant offering a gourmet getaway for foodies and is set in a stunning location on the lake at Greenlife Golf, it was a perfect wedding venue for Inger and Ingvald´s wedding.

The food and scenery were astounding and complimented with a beautifully hot
September day.

We dressed the chairs with white covers and silver satin sashes, created some beautiful white floral arrangements including pedestal arrangements, stunning bridal flowers and pew ends for the church.

Inger was such a lovely person to work with and her attention to detail was amazing, she bought some fabulous flashing rings and sunglasses for her guests that we randomly scattered on the tables.

Simple white floral arrangements adorned the tables and we used various styles of tealights to decorate the large square tables, the railings on the terrace were wrapped with fairy lights and we placed lots of beautiful large white candles around the edges of the terrace.

We did lose one of our large white candles over the edge almost into the lake which caused some panic but our friendly waiter rescued it and all was well!

Anoulka created some very pretty stationery for the table seating plan and the tables names were set in simple white frames. We tied the napkins with silver satin ribbons and a guest name tag to match, the end result was certainly stylish and stunning and we were delighted to have transformed this fantastic restaurant into a gorgeous wedding venue for Inger and Ingvald´s celebration.

Our congratulations to our charming couple and our thanks to Anna Gadza for these beautiful photographs we are sharing with you.

Watercolour Wedding Inspiration

2011-11-10T00:59:00.005+01:00

We have been very busy here at Reviva Weddings and are currently designing some wonderful weddings for next year.

There is nothing more refreshing than working with creative brides and I have one in particular who is completely amazing and is actually making me quite jealous!

She is a breath of fresh air and really thinking outside the box, a challenge that I love.

So we sit here, ponder, drum fingernails on tables, watch sunrises and sunsets, contemplate, study fashions and create styles, designs, and inspirations for our up and coming weddings.

I do love this time of year, we get a chance to put our creative hats back on, drink copious amounts of tea and take stock of what we have achieved and how we can improve our service to our clients, plus of course get hugely creative and plan and scheme for next year!

Currently we are creating wedding designs based on watercolour paintings which I am really enjoying, so thought I would start to share some with you as we dream about spring and summer weddings.

Here we have created a mood board based around a painting by Pol Ledent from Belgium. The colours are fun and vibrant using a purple and yellow colour combo, hugely popular on the colour wheel when you are a design student! This is a modern wedding design, throwing out any convention and could be turned into quite a retro, quirky day if we had a brave bride!

We will be sharing more of our watercolour wedding inspirations with you over the next few weeks until Christmas takes over so keep checking back for some fabulous ideas.

We are also working on some very glittery guest blog posts so do watch this space!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-29T23:47:00.005+02:00

Wishing our followers a Happy Halloween weekend and hope you all have a wonderful ghoulish, spooky time!
We thought we would share some lovely images found on Pinterest with you!

We are featured on Preston Bailey´s brides blog!

2011-10-26T11:31:00.005+02:00

I am a huge fan of Preston Bailey and his extraordinary fairytale events he creates.

Preston Bailey is every event designer´s aspiration, to think outside the box and create sublime decoration experiences using lighting, props and of course gorgeous florals.

Every day I avidly follow the Preston Bailey blog, which recently has become a brilliant tool offering advice, business insights and of course inspirations.

Can you imagine my delight when scanning Facebook last night I realised my blog was featured on his yesterday, I nearly fell off my chair and was almost hyperventilating :)

I just had to share this with you and then will get back to work!

Etsy in Spain perhaps!

2011-10-25T00:00:00.005+02:00

I am very fortunate that, as part of my work, that I am introduced to some hugely talented and creative people. I am always attracted to the people that have that certain style and more importantly are working very hard, are passionate about what they create and are reliable.

Recently a jewellery maker was bought to my attention by Sweet Things by Fi at one of our design meetings in our studio.

Fi had bought some of Sharon´s creations including some gorgeous wine glass charms, bracelets and key rings all made out of beautiful crystal beads. We discussed various ideas of how they could be used for our weddings either as gifts for bridesmaids and favours.

Shortly after this one of my friends was struggling to find a good supplier for a Breast Cancer charity night to provide some pretty gifts for her fundraising.

Having spotted this plea on Facebook, I asked Fi whether Sharon could make up 40 crystal bracelets with 3 days notice and lo and behold a wave of the magic wand produced not just 40 to die for pink and clear crystal bracelets but beautifully presented in pink organza bags and tied with gorgeous tags.

We were delighted, and so was Maryanne, the organiser of this event.

Our thanks to Sharon at Lovelissimo Designs for helping us out at such a short notice and we hope to work with Sharon a lot next year to produce favours, bridesmaids thank you gifts and just general gorgeousness!

Sharon´s new venture can be found on Facebook and her website.

Gorgeous Flamenco Style Wedding at El Oceano, Marbella

2011-10-19T22:56:00.017+02:00

On a gorgeous day in September we were thrilled to be overseeing and decorating the stunning wedding of Sarah and Michael.

A moving church ceremony was held at the Encarnacion Church, just near the Orange Square in Marbella Old Town followed by cocktails in the square and then the wedding party headed to the fabulous Oceano Hotel for a beachside reception.

Sarah is actually a neighbour of mine as her mother lives near me, and I was delighted when they approached me to ask if we could finalise their wedding details and take over their files to look after them on this very special day.

Carla of course immediately took charge and Sarah visited our shop a few times to finalise the flowers and decor details for her flamenco styled wedding.

Loraine created gorgeous bridal bouquets in vanilla roses to compliment the bridesmaids dresses and Anoulka designed flamenco dancer stationery to compliment the stunning cake that Fi created for Sarah and Michael. I have to also admit we are all in love with Sarah´s dress so I will ask her next time I see her where it is from, as I know I will be asked!

A truly fantastic day was had by all and of course it could not be complete without Sarah entertaining her guests with her fantastic singing Wonderwall was sung especially for Michael.

Our thanks to Jeremy Standley for allowing us to share these fabulous photos.

Our congratulations to Sarah and Michael and hopefully see you both soon!

Moroccan Style Pumpkins for Halloween

2011-10-19T00:40:00.002+02:00

As Halloween approaches I thought I would share this photo I found tonight on pinterest of decorated pumpkins Moroccan style, a style that is close to my heart as we use it a lot for our wedding styling.

I am sticking with glittery pumpkins but if any of you are feeling adventurous this idea looks amazing, however, I am sure if I created a pumpkin masterpiece like this I would not want to be turning it into pumpkin soup or pie!

Glitter :)

2011-10-18T00:26:00.004+02:00

I don´t think any girl can have enough glittery things.

For me it brings many lovely memories and I was delighted to find these fabulous glittery photos to share with you in Pinterest.

If you are girly and crafty like me then I hope you enjoy!

I am thinking tonight though with the beautiful sunlight we get here in Spain some glitter would not go amiss in our weddings next year, a bit of twinkle is always pretty and not necessarily reserved for Christmas so my brain is ticking away!

I have also earnt the lovely title of the Fairy Godmother of the Costa Del Sol, so perhaps some waving of the glitter wand might be forthcoming, but for now I will share these gorgeous photos with you and I will get back to my pumpkins, which you never know may even turn into carriages! :)

Glamorous Glittery Pumpkins for Halloween!

2011-10-17T00:00:00.005+02:00

Twig & Thistle

Found on Pinterest

As we approach that spooky time of year I cannot say I am a huge lover of all things spooky and ghoulish but these glittery pumpkins are much more up my street :)

A bit of glitter and glamour goes a long way in our house so this is
our Halloween project next week which I know will appeal hugely to Twinks and I love the fact that we can turn them into candle holders.

Slightly more appealing than screaming witches and ghouls don´t you think!

If any of our clients are planning a dark, spooky ghoulish night do remember we can supply dramatic black satin chair covers, orange sashes, black linens and of course glittery pumpkins!

Design Finds

2011-10-15T23:52:00.007+02:00

I have finally worked out how pinterest works, so now of course another time consuming past time and am in heaven :) I have two likes already and still not entirely sure how this works but only loaded up a few photos tonight!

It has been a strange week for me, my beloved father is in hospital and I have been on a bit of a standby really, just doing hospital visits, worrying about him and my mother and generally trying to be useful but finding it hard to concentrate and not really knowing how to pass the odd few hours.

So, what does a girl do when under this sort of predicament, I have been just clearing clutter that has built up over the summer and filling my mind with ideas for decorating and design, which of course is therapeutic in itself. When I spoke to my sister in London earlier, she was doing exactly the same thing!

I have a certain design style I love but of course I cannot stamp my personal taste onto my weddings or interiors, I have to make sure I translate what the client wants, whether I like it or not!

Some of my posts are not directly wedding related but they are researching design, colour, balance and style, all commodities that are applied to our wedding design.

You would be amazed what images are stored in the back of my head somewhere and are hauled back out when I meet with a client that has their own vision.

I love these images I found this evening on a fabulous design blog.

More inspiration for my decluttering and decoration plans and of course perhaps for a future wedding.

Pimp my Van!

2011-10-15T21:55:00.001+02:00

Sorted :)!

Sharing a Few Inspirations

2011-10-15T00:04:00.014+02:00

Top 2 Images Selina Lake Bottom 2 Images by Rebecca Newport via Lobster & Swan

We have had a fabulous time over the summer creating our beautiful weddings and now it is time for me to recharge, relax and look forward to some down time.

What should be an idyllic life in my little white washed townhouse set in a village in the mountain overlooking Marbella is indeed slightly chaotic, to say the least! I have been told today, on three occasions, that I should write a book, but that will be work in progress!

I have a few blogs I follow, well actually quite a few, but in the summer I don´t get time as we are so busy but now, in the autumn, I recharge the design batteries and love spending time looking at these hugely talented stylists work.

At the moment I am searching for inspiration for decorating a few bedrooms as it is this time of year I start reorganising, clearing clutter and creating lovely spaces.

I have to admit today I have been slightly thrown off my path for personal reasons but I know by absorbing these beautiful images and inspirations that some fabulous bedrooms will be forthcoming and I also noted that all these images have Christmas baubles in them which is perhaps telling me something?!

Perhaps tomorrow I will be digging out my Nigella and Delia cookbooks!

A Destination Wedding in Ronda by Reviva Weddings

2011-10-14T10:58:00.014+02:00

In the middle of September Reviva Weddings headed up into Andalucia, along the winding road to the historic town of Ronda, to oversee a weekend of festivities for one of our lovely couples.

The venue was a beautiful property set in the foothills of Ronda with breathtaking views over the local countryside, despite a long narrow track to the villa it was perfect for a weekend of wedding celebrations.

The weather was fabulous and a beautiful ceremony was followed by a rose cava cocktail in the inner courtyard serenaded with flamenco guitar.

Wedding celebrations continued with dinner and dancing in the marquee overlooking the stunning mountain scenery.

Dressed in a gorgeous Jenny Packham dress, our bride looked stunning and we loved the cake by Sweet Things By Fi created and decorated copying the details of the dress and headpiece the bride wore.

Lemons were piled into glassware with fairy lights to add a bit of twinkle and the marquee was lit up with amber lighting and a few more fairy lights to create a beautiful romantic ambience to the evening.

Our thank to all our suppliers who were brave enough to tackle the track! And to Anna Gadza for sharing these gorgeous photos with us.

Fabulous Florals at Tikitano

2011-10-13T22:29:00.022+02:00

As we reflect on our year we are still receiving some gorgeous photos of our weddings we designed and the wedding of Kirsty and Danny at Tikitano in June brings back so many lovely memories.

Kirsty was a huge flower fan and wanted her wedding completely adorned with flowers, her bouquet was my favourite this year, it was gorgeous.

You cannot go wrong with Tikitano as a beach venue, it is stunning and located right on the beach in a fabulous situation. Scarlett the manager is the hostess with the mostess and manages her weddings there beautifully with complete enthusiasm organising everything from ceremonies to fireworks.

We worked closely with Kirsty in the lead up to her wedding creating all the delightful details that she wanted from white folding chairs for the ceremony dressed with tiny floral buckets to beautifully decorated and decadent silver candelabras.

No detail was left out, all the napkins were finished off with herbs, diamante details, ribbons and hand written name tags, the cake was to die for and we created the table seating plan on a white antique mirror supplied by Kirsty.

It was a beautiful day and perfectly organised by Scarlett including fire jugglers and a late night mini snack bar.

Our congratulations to Kirsty and Danny and to their delightful children, including Maisie who I think was the star of the show and is a budding wedding planner!

Our thanks to Jules at Shoot the Bride for sharing these gorgeous photos with us.

A Sophisticated Wedding at La Cabane, Los Monteros, Marbella

2011-10-11T21:58:00.029+02:00

The stunning setting at La Cabane Beach Club in Los Monteros hotel is one of our favourite venues here in Marbella, it never fails to have that wow factor.

We were delighted when Lauren contacted us to help her plan, design and create her wedding for early September.

Lauren wanted a midsummer garden theme but kept very elegant and fresh, without any rustic influences, she is a huge fan of less is more and wanted everything beautifully dressed from the chairs to the tables.

As Lauren lives here in Marbella, we started at the beginning, creating Save the Dates, followed by mailing out the invitations, designed and crafted by Anoulka.

We kept the wedding design simple and elegant using white and silver styling with a touch of blues, sage greens and a dash of crystal.

The chairs were dressed in our loose style white satin covers finished off with silver satin sashes. We included some beach elements into the day including a charming sand ceremony and the stunning wedding cake with silver shells and starfish designed by Fi.

Lauren´s bridal flowers were kept to whites with a touch of crystal and we used stunning silver candelabras for the tables dressed with blue hydrangeas, white roses and orchids.

Adding in our famous twinkle with pool candles, lanterns and fairy lights, the final effect was stunning and complimented the beach club perfectly.

Our thanks to all our wonderful suppliers that helped us create such a perfect day, including Andreas Holms for these stunning photographs, to Fi, the wonderful cake designer, to Carla for organising such a fabulous wedding and to us for our lovely decorations!

Some lovely emails

2011-10-10T23:29:00.005+02:00

Image courtesy of Jeremy Standley Photography

I often receive some lovely emails about my blog which is always very heartwarming to hear that so many people out there are inspired by my work.

For me of course it is not work, it is a passion.

I have always loved styling and creating settings whether it be my sister´s 21st birthday party (many years ago!) a film launch party, a wedding or indeed a home or a showhome.

I have to admit though the whole romance of weddings took over and I am fortunate enough that this is my business and I enjoy every moment creating, researching and designing weddings.

We are known for particular creative ways in which we style weddings, which has become a bit of a benchmark.

Often I receive comments about weddings we have styled and weddings where we have not been present and always the feedback is that something special was missing as we were not there, which I find very flattering, the fairy godmother was not waving her magic is often quoted!

But nothing stays the same, that would be boring! and we are very excited about some of our new projects we are currently working on for 2012.

Here is a lovely email we received today from across the waters :)

Hello Laura,

I stumbled across your blog in the wee hours this morning.
I am a new wedding planner in Pennsylania (US). I spend a lot of time on the internet looking for the next best thing to write about in my blog.
I just have to tell you that I have never seen more beautiful unique weddings than the ones from your site.
Your weddings are sophisticated, simple, and personal.

Perhaps I like it so much because that is my style.
I think that the cornerstone of a beautiful wedding is picking a venue that has a lot of character. I see that a lot in your weddings. I only wish you were in Italy. I hope to add destination weddings in Italy soon (I spent a lot of time in Italy and hence the name of my business, Brava Weddings).

Thanks so much. I will be reading all your archives and look forward to your next post!

Your newest big fan, Lisa Vernon www.bravaweddings.com

We have helped clients design their weddings in Italy, France and the US, by working with them to organise and create cohesive inspiration boards and pull all their ideas into a manageable decor programme. If you would like wedding styling assistance or indeed wish us to travel to style your wedding day please do get in touch.

We are on Twitter and Facebook if you wish to follow our latest weddings, inspirations and updates.

A Destination Flamenco Styled Wedding in Spain

2011-10-09T23:37:00.011+02:00

Currently we are working on some gorgeous weddings for next year in Marbella, Sevilla, Jerez and Ronda.

We are really enjoying our flamenco styling using ivories, burnt oranges, blues and purples, colours that are featuring a lot in our designs.

We have travelled Andalucia extensively and now work with some fabulous venues that have not been showcased as wedding venues yet in Spain, from 10th century Moorish farmhouses, beautiful private villas and fabulous monasteries.

As we broaden our horizons, we offer something truly Spanish and unique, not only in Andalucia but in Barcelona, Madrid and the Balearic Islands.

Below is a photo of some invitations that Anoulka has just designed for one of our brides next year. Despite many hours of tea dying lace the end result was definitely worthwhile!

These images are copywrited by Anoulka, so whilst we hope this gives you inspiration please do bear in mind that these are not to be copied.

Above are images from a wedding styled by Lisa Vorce in Northern Spain and we love the rustic appeal of this wedding from the lavender to the baby kumquats, along with the terracotta pots which of course is very reminiscent of Spain and also reflects some of the ideas we are using for next year´s weddings with an eco friendly theme.

I am a great avocate of eco friendly wedding decorations and if I can plant it, it is biodegradable or if it has come from sustainable source then for me this is perfect.

We will be promoting this ethic much more for our weddings and making them as eco friendly as possible.

Albeit most of our weddings use up their carbon footprints for probably about 10 years to fly everyone over here the least we can do is make is sustainable when they get here!

A Whitewashed Autumn Wedding

2011-10-05T22:45:00.005+02:00

Image from City Sage

Inspiration Board from Postcards and Pretties

With autumn and winter almost upon us, which is hard to believe in 25 degrees, I love these inspirations for autumn weddings and using the white washed palettes as opposed to the classic orange and red hues that we see so much of this time of year.

There is always something dramatic about an all white wedding and it can be combined with the softer colour palettes such as platinums, pale khakis and wheat colours.

The rustic charm is offset using beautiful white linens and tableware with polished cutlery,
a selection of mismatched glassware and interesting containers filled with simple white flowers.

I have noticed one of our trends for next year is to use many natural products for our tablescapes so we will be sharing our eco friendly finds and ideas with you.

For some fabulous inspirations you must head over to Postcards and Pretties and I will continue to sit here dreaming of cosy throws and hot cups of tea!

Can you overdecorate a wedding?

2011-10-04T01:34:00.006+02:00

Taste and style are commodoties that people desire and certainly when it comes to decorating your wedding day this is important, so are some weddings overdecorated?

We recently had this experience with one of our clients which we would like to share.

Our client had booked her stunning wedding, set in beautiful grounds with a fabulous pool, very Moorish styling, a gorgeous marquee and yet she wanted the marquee dressed with white tissue paper pom poms?

We have seen the craze of tissue pom poms and they are lovely for a baby shower and look fabulous in our local cake shop but for a super stylish wedding, sorry no!

I had to get bossy and take charge at this point and steer our client to much more tasteful styling of her wedding which thank goodness she agreed with instantly which of course is why she hired us.

She ended up with a beautifully styled evening using lots of candles, white chill out areas and it was all very tastefully decorated.

I was so relieved she had accepted my advice as I did have a sleepless night wondering how best to approach this subject!

I am sure our clients were relieved too, as the decorations I suggested were not appropriate to her wedding style were almost another 1000 euros which I immediately wiped off their quote, but I could not bear the thought of cheap wedding decorations in such a stylish setting!

I am not knocking this pom pom craze, last year at one of our weddings we used them but it suited the venue as it was a funky, fun wedding with lots of bright colours so we were able to use them and it worked.

However, we have seen a few weddings posted this year and it looks more like a children´s playground with an In the Night Garden feel to it. I think the pom poms are now on their way out unless they are super stylish silver or gold ones but not the cheap tissue paper ones unless you wish to use them for a baby shower or a cake shop decoration.

Less is more is what I tell all my clients, concentrate on the lovely details, the personal touches, thanking your guests for coming, the stationery, how things are set out on the day from the cocktail sticks to the tablescapes.

Make your wedding personal and stamp your style on it, don´t try to overdress your venue.

Unless you have a super large budget keep it elegant and simple otherwise you will spoil what could be a very beautiful wedding into a cheap decoration showground, if you don´t like it don´t use it.

You should have seen my face earlier this year when I was presented with different bags of foil confetti for each table, I had gold top hats for one table, purple hearts for another, silver stars the list was endless, I nearly died!

Don´t do it unless you really have to! If it is not stylish or tasteful then leave it out.

Creating a wedding here in Spain is all about being outside, Mamma Mia twinkling lights always spring to mind for me and keep it simple and elegant as you are in such beautiful surroudings.

A Stunning Wedding in Sotogrande

2011-10-02T22:09:00.016+02:00

This is one of my favourite weddings this year for a few reasons.
The main one is that Danielle and Ed´s family are wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them, the second is that Danielle works for a large event company in London hence we were under scrutiny! thirdly we had a fabulous venue to work with and I do love a challenge, lastly but not least this was a very emotional wedding.

We came recommended to Danielle´s parents who then made an appointment to come and see us at our studio and hired us on the spot to help them plan and organise their daughter´s wedding.

As Danielle´s parents live here they had already booked the church in Sotogrande and the beautiful venue, a monastery in Sotogrande, but needed someone to take over the organising including liaising with the caterers and suppliers, filling in the gaps, finalising all the other suppliers required, organising the budget sheets, styling and decoration of the wedding and someone to take charge and oversee the wedding planning details and be there on the day.

Battles were fought however as we were working with a venue that tried to insist on using certain suppliers, but we won, drafted in our team and were finally we were set for the big day.

It was fantastic, we organised a hummer to pick Danielle up and deliver her to the beautiful church in Sotogrande. Danielle looked stunning as she arrived at the church in a beautiful Jenny Packham dress that glittered as she moved. We all did that big gosh sigh moment when she stepped out the car and I am still in love with her shoes!

The church was simply decorated with ivy heart pew ends and we created some large floral displays at the altar. We even hung around to redecorate the church for the next wedding as all Danielle´s ivy hearts were then taken down to use as decoration in the marquee.

The reception at the monastery was stunning with a huge marquee and the fantastic 5 star catering by LePanto caterers was remarkable.

The monastery is such a beautiful venue that not much is needed to be honest to give it a wow factor but with all these venues lighting is important.

We organised extra lighting, lots of wow factor candles and large Moroccan style lanterns around the pool, created a fabulous chill out area in the dance area using white chill out furniture with a blue, green and silver theme as decoration.

The marquee area was kept clean and fresh, it was a large wedding party and too much clutter would have been overwhelming, so we kept it simple, decorating the tables with white and green floral arrangements and lots of tealights which we complimented with a fresh lime on each place setting sporting the guest place name on a little white flag stuck into each lime, the smell was glorious as we were setting out the tables!

The highlight for me was Danielle was inheriting the surname of Gay so all the tables were named after gay icons, fabulous!

My other very special moment, for all of us, which deserved a standing applause and many tears in the church, was the fact that Danielle´s lovely father had been ill in hospital and despite the odds made it out in time for the wedding. It was a very magical day for everyone involved.

A fantastically beautiful wedding and here is our testimonial from Danielle and Ed.

Our thanks to Anna Gadza for these wonderful photos and our congratulations to Danielle and Ed and a big thank you for allowing us to organise, style and share such a fantastic day with you both x

A Sevillian Orange Theme for Weddings

2011-10-02T12:02:00.007+02:00

I love Sunday mornings and this morning is no exception as I get some quiet time to spend designing our weddings for next year.

Blues surged in popularity as a wedding colour this year and will be a trend colour again for 2012 along with orange which of course reflects the wonderful Sevillian orange theme for weddings in Spain.

I am currently designing a tablescape for one of our weddings and loved this styled photo shoot I found on Elizabeth Anne Designs.

We are designing a long U shaped table for an early May wedding and tulips are in season here which will keep the floral costs down quite dramatically, which is great as we can use an eclectic mix of glass jars and blue water bottles filled with tulips and white hydrangeas along with all sorts of different height candles and tealights and finish the dressing of this tablescape with small oranges and foliage. We are planning to use succulents as well in small pots to place the guests names in and tie blue napkins with raffia and a button detail :)

I am on a mission now to find orange crates and start washing and collecting jars!

As we create and design our weddings we will share our ideas and inspirations with you and of course we still have many beautiful weddings of our own to post over the coming months.

Destination Wedding in Barcelona by Reviva Weddings

2011-09-29T23:11:00.009+02:00

Earlier this year we were contacted by Sharon and Eoghan to ask for help with planning their wedding in Barcelona. Sharon had become overwhelmed with trying to plan her destination wedding and realised she needed some help in order to get her up to and through her day.

After a few emails we were booked and Carla flew to Barcelona to familiarise herself with Sharon´s wedding including a visit to the venue, introducing herself to the booked suppliers, finalising all the details and make sure no stone was left unturned.

At this time as well Carla took the opportunity to make sure all the suppliers were up to a high standard and found some new ones as well to add to our Barcelona Weddings portfolio.

Carla took over Sharon´s paperwork, budgets, deposits to be paid, etc and
shortly after this Carla was back on a plane, clutching as many decorations as she could from our shop, and settled in ready for the wedding day.

Despite a stressful start to planning her wedding, Sharon was calmed by the fact she had the ever efficient Carla next to her side and a fabulous wedding day was had by all. You must click on the link below to see this wonderful wedding in all it´s glory!

Here is the link to Sharon and Eoghan´s slideshow
www.loughranweddings.com/eoghanandsharon.html

Here is a lovely email received from Sharon and Eoghan shortly after their wedding upon return from their probably well deserved honeymoon!

Dear Carla

Would you believe this is the first evening I have bought my laptop home since the honeymoon as I overdosed on gmail coming up to the wedding so I had enough for at least a few weeks!

I had a fantastic time and would not change a thing, but I can honestly say it was more stressful and so much more work than I ever thought it would be, I don´t know how you do it dealing with stressed out brides everyday?

The fact we had to organise everything vs having a hotel was immense but to be honest I could not imagine a more perfect venue and god must have been smiling on us to have such a perfect day - we really were blessed.

Our guests are still raving about the day, it was fantastic and we both loved it. Having you there was such a relief and to be able to share the pressure with you was what got me through the days beforehand.

You were fantastic Carla, I know I was stressed out of my mind but we really did have a magical day. I will be singing your praises to all who will listen!

I will send on some photos when the official ones are through,
all the best Sharon and Eoghan xxx

Our thanks to Loughran Wedding Photography for the wonderful images and our congratulations to Sharon and Eoghan.

A Fabulous Wintery Wedding Cake Find

2011-09-28T23:33:00.005+02:00

A quick inspiration post as I gather ideas for our patient 2012 brides!
I found this image today of a grey lace crochet cake design by Sweet and Saucy. I love this idea to incorporate with a spanish themed wedding.

I also love the austere colours, grey is my favorite winter colour and combined with the dark wood cake stand is evocative of the dark wood we see here a lot in the traditional spanish bars and homes.

It really works for me and I can imagine designing a complete wedding to match this cake with a winter wonderland theme, using dark woods, crocheted table accessories, pine cones and a bit of sparkle combined with rustic charm, log cabins spring to mind as well and roaring fires! The list is endless as I am always captivated with Winter Wonderland Scenes!

Remember with one inspiration a whole event can be created.
Anyone any good at crochet!

Creative Mental Blocks!

2011-09-28T00:45:00.006+02:00

It is strange being a creative person, well for me, and I am not sure many can relate to this.

We have just finished a very intense September full of beautiful weddings that I thrive on.

I am constantly making lists, both mentally and of course in my pretty notepads albeit I have now become a master of Excel as long as it is colour coded!

By the time we arrive at the wedding day I cannot think about anything else. Call me obsessed but all the details are locked into my brain leaving little time for anything else.

It is now at this time of year, as we slow down and take stock, I feel brain dead and start to panic! All the creativity has gone and I always worry it will never come back but of course it does :) Thank goodness!

In order to get my creativity flowing again I need inspirations and I have to admit over the past few days I have been rather boredly surfing the internet looking at some average OK things but nothing that has made me sit up and go WOW!

Until tonight I fell upon this fabulous Mexican wedding created by Lisa Vorce, who I greatly admire, but I think it was the decorated donkey, along with the fact of course this could be translated into a Spanish theme, that immediately drew my attention to this as what brave person was put forward for this bit of styling!

Isn´t the whole wedding just divine from the bride´s stunning veil to all the gorgeous details.

I have just gone to heaven and back and finally reconnected with my creative brain again :)

With our new in house stationery department supervised by Anoulka with her new die cutting machine, nicknamed Cougar (long story but we are into names!) we are dying to start creating even more fabulous weddings and this will certainly be an inspiration to us.

Pretty Paper Straws for Weddings

2011-09-21T10:02:00.009+02:00

One of my summer obsessions has been paper straws, probably following on from the trend of paper cupcake wrappers, but aren´t they just beautiful and reminiscent of childhood days :)

I love the idea of personalising them for weddings and using them as cocktail stirrers with cute flags attached to them or presented in a vintage jar for guests to help themselves.

There are some lovely striped ones or even more exciting are polka dots! I have just ordered some more for our shop and I am sure Anoulka will hate me when she has cut out hundreds of these for our weddings! But it will be so worth it :)

Stunning September Weddings in Marbella

2011-09-20T23:29:00.005+02:00

I have just realised we are almost at the end of September and I have not created one blog post since August so hugest apologies to all our followers.

Working in the Destination Wedding Industry here in Marbella, we do have incredibly busy months, predominently May, June, July and September. Needless to say September has whizzed past leaving little time for me to indulge in my blogging.

We have been frantically waving our famous magic wands over Andalucia and have some fabulous weddings to share with you over the next few months plus some very exciting news, so do keep an eye out for our announcements coming shortly.

We have been thrilled to again receive many testimonials from our brides and would like to share this one with you received tonight for a wedding we planned, executed and designed at the beginning of September.

I think the importance of this email is that our lovely bride works for one of the largest event companies in London so we were up against a real test of our planning and decoration skills with this fabulous wedding set in a stunning monastery in the hills behind Sotogrande.

Hi Laura and Carla

We really wanted to thank you guys for you amazing hard work and commitment to make the wedding so beautiful and such a success. We absolutely loved every minute of it and are both still on a total high from it all and buzzing.

Every detail was perfect and when we arrived at the both the church and the venue we were really blown away by how fantastic they looked and all those months of work and deliberating had delivered something beyond what we expected.

All our guests remarked on how stunning the venue looked and how fab everything was from the food/drink to the disco and laser lights were, people really felt this was something unique and special and the wedding of all weddings!

Sad that it is all over but we have such fantastic memories and cannot wait to see the photos and videos which we will of course pass onto you.

Thank you for making it such a memorable day.

Very Best Danielle and Ed

Our thanks to Danielle and Ed for choosing us and allowing us to plan, design, decorate and manage this fabulous wedding and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them and their lovely family and wish them a future filled with fun and happy times.

Moroccan Inspired Wedding Decorations

2011-08-31T10:17:00.003+02:00

This morning I fell upon a fabulous blog called Bridal Musings which you must head over to take a look at, gorgeous weddings and inspirations.

Being established in the South of Spain many of our weddings have a slight element of Moroccan styling and we love the ideas on here using my favorite Moroccan colour combos.

For more information on these inspiration boards head over to Bridal Musings, I guarantee you will be there for a while!

A Beautiful Villa Wedding in Marbella

2011-08-30T00:20:00.018+02:00

We are loving these photos of one of our weddings last week in a private villa near San Pedro.

Our thanks to a super speedy Anna, the photographer, for sharing these photos with us so quickly!

Nicola was one of our creative brides that had worked hard to put together so many details before her wedding day and it was all beautifully done, from the table names set in white antique frames for each guest to the gorgeous decorations Nikki had created to decorate the venue and villa. We worked with Nikki to turn the gardens and pool area into a magical, twinkling romantic garden, provided parasols and waved our magic wand to sprinkle petals over the ceremony area :)

Nikki had bought in her own bouquets, aisle dressings and details to complete her perfect day and we were delighted to work with her to fill in the gaps that were completely impossible to fit in her suitcase!

We are thrilled to share these photos with you of one of our villa weddings and thanks to Heather and her team at Fiestasol this was a fantastically run and caterered for day.

Our big thanks of course to Anna for sharing these delightful photos with us.

A Princess and her Castle

2011-08-25T01:39:00.004+02:00

Whilst this is not one of our weddings, this fabulously stunning image was sent to me the other day to cheer me by Jeremy, so just had to share this with you, isn´t it just divinely romantic :)
Jeremy sent it with the title A Princess and her Castle which really just sums this up beautifully. Thank you for cheering me up when I was in Ikea car park! I do think we really do love weddings!

Mediterranean Wedding Colours at Hacienda San Jose in Mijas

2011-08-25T00:22:00.008+02:00

Louise and Adam contacted us last year to help them organise their wedding here in Spain.

After our first meeting with Louise and her parents, we were hired and Louise fell in love with the gorgeous Hacienda San Jose for her wedding venue.

Louise looked stunning and we personally were completely smitten with the lovely little bridesmaids :) They were all beautifully behaved and loved being part of this intimate family wedding. It was a hugely fun and relaxed day for all involved.

I personally love the photo of Louise´s parents, it sums up for me the emotions at weddings which are always lovely and make people connect in a way they would never do at another event.

The colour scheme for this wedding was chosen by Louise with a stunning combination of bright pinks and turquoise and being a very hands on bride, had raided Ikea to create the centrepieces, we are still wondering what she did with all those candles!

Our thanks to Heather and her wonderful team at Fiestasol for the fantastic catering, I have to mention I went to the food tasting and it was divine, and to Jennifer Jane Photography for allowing us to share these images with you.

Here is our lovely testimonial from Louise

Dear Carla and Laura

My apologies for not getting in touch sooner to thank you for making our wedding day so special.

I really appreciate the hard work that goes into organising such an event.

The venue looked stunning and certainly impressed all our guests.

It was an amazing day that I will cherish forever and thanks to you guys for making my dreams come true. Carla having you there on the day was such a relief knowing you had everything under control, you are a true professional.

It has been a real pleasure knowing you and working with you both this past year. Good luck with all your future endeavours, you are both amazing at what you do.

Lou xxx

Gorgeous Ice Blue and Pale Coral Wedding at Finca de la Concepcion, Marbella

2011-08-13T23:07:00.014+02:00

We were delighted when Chris contacted us to help him design and style his wedding to Faye.

Chris is a designer so was very involved in creating just how he saw his wedding day and to make it even more special Chris and Faye were childhood sweethearts, so we were hopelessly in love with this couple as well and very keen to make sure everything of course, as always, was perfectly styled for them to enjoy their day.

Using a vintage ice blue and pale coral combination, we worked with Lynn as well, Faye´s mother, to create all the beautiful, thoughtful details for the wedding day.

Guests place names were set in tiny silver frames doubling up as wedding favours and pale coral gift bags were on every seat to put trinkets, cakes and gifts in, including the very stylish monogrammed napkins and our beautifully decorated fans :)

Loraine designed and created these stunning bridal flowers to match the theme with pearl details and our gorgeous table centrepieces of silver candelabras decorated with fabulous flowers and pearl details completed the look of the day.

We were thrilled at the outcome of this wedding and many of the other suppliers at the wedding still keep telling me it was their favourite of the year as it was so dreamily romantic.

Here is our testimonial from Chris and Faye and also Lynne, Faye´s mother, who we worked very closely with as well leading up to this gorgeous wedding.

Dear Laura

Chris and I wanted to send you and your great team a big thank you before we go off on our honeymoon.

Our wedding day was amazing in every way and every small detail was exactly how both

Chris and I had envisioned (which is amazing considering we are both perfectionists)

This could not have been possible without you, Loraine and Anoulka, who ensured everything was so perfect and beautiful.

It has been such a pleasure to have been able to have worked with you to create our dream day, when I entered the venue it took my breath away, I always dreamed of a beautiful, vintage, romantic wedding day and that is what we got and more.

Right from the beginning Chris and I said we wanted to tell a story and take our guests on a journey, since returning we have had so many messages with comments about how they felt they were truly part of something and I truly feel you helped us creating this beautiful journey.

Thank you and hope we see you next time we are out in Spain-

Chris and Faye xxx

Dear Laura

I just wanted to thank you for making Chris and Faye´s day so amazing! The sheer beauty of everything you created took my breath away, especially the beautiful flowers.

So many people have commented on the decor, saying they have never seen such uniqueness. All the hard work paid off and it has been a real pleasure dealing with you, exchanging emails, ideas and finishing touches.

A big thank you to Anoulka as I know she contributed to a big part of the creativity!

Thank you so much for all that you did to make the day so memorable, it was all that Chris and Faye wanted and more.

Kindest Wishes

Lynn xxx

We would like to thank Jeremy Standley for allowing us to share these beautiful photos of a very romantic day with you.

Reviva Rock!

2011-08-08T23:30:00.018+02:00

What can I say about this wedding, it was beautiful, understated, utterly charming and stylish and for me certainly one of our favorite weddings this year, definitely a Reviva Wedding!

I think these photos certainly portray how beautiful this wedding was and always I am indebited to Jeremy for allowing me to publish these beautiful photographs and share them with you. It was actually quite a story as to how this wedding came into fruition which I would like to share with you.

Natalie´s parents had already booked Los Monteros as a venue for their daughter´s wedding to Scott, but realised that they needed help, they had the venue but nothing else.

They voiced this concern to James at The Arte Cafe in Elviria, so James immediately pointed to me and Anoulka who were sitting across the square enjoying a quiet cocktail after a busy day at a wedding.

Natalie´s parents came to join us and we chatted weddings, showed them our work and portfolios and a long story but having had out chat we were immediately booked to oversee and manage the rest of this fabulous day and put together the jigsaw puzzle for them.

We then quickly rang around and enlisted our A team, who amazingly were all available in the middle of June, and the rest was history.

I have to say this particular wedding for me was what the A team and Reviva are all about.

It was stylish, beautifully put together with some very special personal details. Natalie had a necklace made for her wedding with a gorgeous silver sea shell theme detail so we continued this into the overall wedding design with a very understated look by adding in tiny silver starfish to decorate the wedding fans to incorporating silver seashells into the centrepieces.

We decorated the event with pale pink peonies and lilies set around hurricane lanterns, created the bridal bouquets in pink dreamy peonies with silver details, scattered the tables with tiny silver shells, Anoulka designed wedding stationery using a pale pink and silver theme with small pearl and silver starfish details, the whole look was subtle, dreamy and divine for a beach side setting at the stunning setting of La Cabane Beach Club.

We organised Natalie´s hair and make up with the fabulous Kathryn Parr, Photography of course with Jeremy, the photographer god ;) Rob the DJ and the divine sea shell cake from Sweet Things by Fi.

We were thrilled with the results and Carla´s careful attention to details overseeing this wedding left no stone unturned and I love this photo of Carla, our head of planning, at the end showing her true dedication to the day, a very serene photo of our hugely organised planner!

Here is our testimonial from Natalie and Scott

Thank you Carla and the team at Reviva Weddings, I could not have organised my dream wedding in Spain without you! I only had to travel to Spain once to meet with the suppliers and Carla organised and managed the rest of the process on my behalf. A few emails went back and forth and when I arrived a week before the wedding it was all organised. Carla was with me from start to finish and offered help and advice in all areas. I really do feel we had the best Marbella had to offer, from Jeremy Standley the photographer, to Fiona and the cake, the standard was outstanding.

My wedding day was everything I wanted and went without a hitch, Carla was even there when the last person went home! I want to thank you all for for your hard work and effort to make my wedding day the most special day of my life.

Natalie xxx

Glamour at the Chopard Red Carpet Party in Marbella

2011-08-05T16:02:00.003+02:00

We are always delighted to work with Carlos and Anne from Lipara Productions who create some stunning events here in Marbella and the Chopard Red Carpet Client Party was no exception. Carlos and Anne had been given the task yet again of transforming the Marbella Club Beach Restaurant into a stunning and glamourous venue with a red carpet theme.

This is where we come in with my fabulous team we were on the beach at 8am, after a few coffees!, ready to start the transformation.

I had met with Carlos beforehand to work out what we were going to do and the technical stuff along with Anne who was organising and designing it and so at 8am in the morning we started to completely cover the beach club with red and black fabrics. Anne had one of my suppliers making up table covers, throws and runners and along with these stunning lights and the flooring team in afterwards the transformation was complete. We are thrilled with the results and the glamour and stars shone again in Marbella!

Photos courtesy of Lipara Productions

A Stunning Wedding on Lake Vinuela, Malaga

2011-08-04T22:33:00.008+02:00

I do love our Jewish Weddings, there are so many different parts to the ceremony and they are all very special. I personally find that they are very spiritual and I love being involved and watching the magic unfold as different rituals are performed.

I might be sticking my neck out here but none of the words actually sound like they are spelt which does always make me giggle, chuppah the ceremony canopy is pronounced hooper, but after a few years of designing Jewish weddings and watching these lovely ceremonies we are thrilled when asked to help create, design and plan Jewish weddings.

Candy and Jamie were no exception and we were delighted to decorate this fabulous wedding in the stunning setting of the Hotel Vinuela set on the lakes just behind Malaga. at the beginning of June. With an already built in chuppah of a beautiful gazebo completely covered in foliage, the setting was just perfect with the stunning bright turquoise lake as a backdrop.

We created these gorgeous bridal flowers, decorated the chuppah and the reception with a stunning ivory, silver and incorporated a touch of black tie into the reception area, which lent itself to the style of the venue and the fact it was a black tie affair. Anoulka and I sat and watched this delightful marriage performed under the chuppah and it bought tears to our eyes as Candy and Jamie were just such a beautiful happy couple.

We do also have very fond memories of Candy´s grandmother with her numerous cavas and desperately trying to stay upright for the ceremony :) It was a lovely moment.

Here is our email from Candy and Jamie after their wedding which we were delighted to receive and our thanks to Alex Olsen for allowing us to publish these beautiful photographs of a very special day.

Dear Laura

Jamie and I are now back home and floating down to reality after an amazing wedding day, it was incredible, the best day ever and like a dream.

Thank you for being a part of it and making it extra special for us. The flowers and bouquets in particular were absolutely stunning, we loved them and the table decorations were gorgeous, not to mention the chinese sky lanterns that were a complete surprise to me and really, really magical.

Also thank you for your help in the preparations, I believe at one point you were zipping up my mother´s dress! Thank you so much you were great!! Thank you so much Laura

Candy and Jamie xxx

Old Friends become New Friends Wedding!

2011-07-29T23:38:00.013+02:00

Well what can I say about this beautiful couple, Sue and Gunther, well actually I could say a lot!

Sue loves chocolate and Gunther is a charming and by all accounts a good dancer!

When Sue first emailed me about her wedding here in Spain we had a few rather strange co-oindences, the first one that she lived in Camberley where I grew up and secondly and even more bizzarly was that her H2B, Gunther, had worked with Anoulka, my assistant, as a dancer years ago so along with our joint love of chocolate and cakes the relationship was off to a head start for this beautiful wedding :)

Sue already had most things planned out and was lucky to have her sister living here so life became much easier planning a wedding abroad, but she wanted a very simple and elegant fresh white and green slightly vintage style wedding.

We used dreamy white hydrangeas mixed with fresh green viburnums and the effect was stunning along with Sue´s beautiful birdcages, hearts, napkins rings and candles it really was a beautiful table design and we loved it.

Sue and Gunther got married at the prettiest church, La Virginia, here in Marbella and had their reception at the Hacienda San Jose.

Our thanks to Talia at Thoroughly Gorgeous for these stunning photos of a beautiful couple and our thanks to Sue and Gunther for contacting us and becoming such good friends and of course reaquainting themselves with old friends, we look forward to seeing you both in September for a cocktail and chocolate :) Fi if you want to replicate the cakes for September we would all be highly delighted!

More Delightful Details of our Flamenco Styled Wedding

2011-07-27T10:50:00.010+02:00

Last night we shared this fabulous Flamenco styled wedding with you and here are some more of the wonderful details we created to style this wedding.

The bridal bouquet was actually a last minute order as Anna had wanted a fan but when we arrived with it she changed her mind, we had to be honest expected this so had plan b up our sleeves! Sometimes this does happen if a bride sees something but in reality it does not work. We knew Anna liked stargazer lilies so created a red rose and stargazer bouquet and the bridesmaid was in ivory roses with red alstromeria. Andrew´s buttonhole was a red rose to match Anna´s bouquet.

We created personalised fans decorated with a thin black ribbon and a paper red rose detail, always useful to keep the guests cool at the ceremonies here in Spain and styled the wedding stationery in fan shapes using the black damask detail and red rose theme.

The table seating fan shaped cards were hung in the courtyard and the menu cards were created to match.

The table linens were our black and white damask style linens and worked beautifully with the white chiavari chairs.

The centrepieces were storm lanterns with white candles and red sand and we sprinkled some red rose petals in, the principle table also had a gorgeous floral display surrounding the storm lantern and we finished off the tables using red tealights and spanish ceramic tiles for the table numbers.

We thoroughly enjoyed creating this wedding and are thrilled with the results and would like to congratulate Anna and Andrew on their beautiful wedding day and for allowing us to put our creative hats on!

Our thanks again to Andreas Holm´s for sharing these photographs with us and as I always say without these wonderful suppliers we work with we could never create such fabulous weddings or show them to you :)

Vintage Spanish Style Save the Dates

2011-07-27T10:14:00.003+02:00

We had to just share this fabulous Vintage Spanish Save the Date with you from one of our brides for 2012. Cannot wait to start designing this wedding with Sarah who is obviously a hugely creative bride, so some Spanish inspiration to start off your day!

A Fabulous Flamenco Style Wedding at Hacienda San Jose, Mijas, Spain

2011-07-26T23:50:00.012+02:00

As June hotted up, so did our gorgeous weddings and we had such fun designing this stunning wedding for Anna and Andrew with this amazing dramatic flamenco theme, and you cannot imagine my excitement when Anna first sent me photos of her dress! She did apparently have it made here in Spain.

This was going to have the real Andalucian wow factor and we are thrilled to receive the photos from Andreas Holm.

I will have to get more photos of the details we created for this wedding including the spanish fan table seating plans and menus, the black and white damask table covers along with red rose accents on the tables and this beautiful cake created by Sue at Wedding Cakes in Spain.

Anna´s stunning hair and make up was created by Caroline and Karen our talented beauty duo, with a beautiful ceremony by Lizzie Marriage

Here is the lovely testimonial that Anna and Andrew sent to us all, as they had planned this fantastic wedding from Australia they really did need a team here to support them and help them execute their ideas into a reality.

I would like to thank you all for making Andrew and my wedding such a wonderful occasion. Organising a wedding from the other side of the world can of course be challenging but you all made it run so smoothly and made me feel that any queries I had could be addressed and no request was too small. I cannot speak highly enough for all your hard work and making Andrew and my dream wedding a reality.

We love Spain and wanted our wedding to reflect this and I think we accomplished just that.

Anna and Andrew x

Our thanks again to Andreas Holms for allowing us to share this stunning wedding with you.

Hans Christian Andersen Fairytale Wedding

2011-07-26T01:09:00.005+02:00

I found this wedding tonight on Facebook from Wedluxe Magazine.

A very different style to our previous post but again I have a client in mind who is getting married here in September when I saw this beautiful interpretation of a fairytale wedding and love the elegant airy and light underwater inspired details.

A very soft and sophisticated theme and love the use of the silver twigs and seaweeds plus the pearls and seashells and all the beautiful crystal details.

We recently did a very similar theme at the Los Monteros hotel all based around a beautiful seashell and starfish necklace our bride had especially made, we will be posting this wedding shortly.

I do think different textures on the tables make such a difference to the normal white table linens, white plates, glassware, etc that is usually provided. If a bride can add in a table cover perhaps in silver, tie the napkins with ribbons and a tiny silver starfish or pearl detail and just add some finishing details this just lifts everything and makes such a difference to the overall look of what I consider a finished table.

The only thing I am not sure about here are the crabs, I don´t think I would like to sit with one of these staring at me! Mind you I do suffer from a fish phobia as well as being allergic to tequila! That is it though I am not a complete phobic!

A Vintage Spanish Style Wedding Inspiration

2011-07-26T00:03:00.006+02:00

OK I am on a roll again and this is thanks to one of my brides booked for next August whom, it is emerging, is hugely creative and has got my brain ticking!

Sarah sent me her Save the Dates today and they are to die for :) I won´t publish them until she lets me, but honestly they really are fabulous, with a wonderful vintage spanish theme.

If I said vintage and postcards were out yesterday, Sarah has changed my mind :)!

With this wedding now in my thought process, I have been scouring the internet and have found this fantastic Spanish themed photoshoot on Green Wedding Shoes.

I just love all the details, the only thing I am not sure about is the succulents on the tables, they are different but perhaps not weddingy enough for me, given it is a Cinco de Mayo, Mexican style shoot though I can see the logic and the style behind it, but have fallen head over heels with the Dulce bags (next candy bar in mind now!), the papel picado flags and bunting that we have yet to use at a wedding here surprisingly, along with the Margarita cupcakes (Fi and Mark I hope you are reading this!) Unfortunately for me, I am completely allergic to anything tequila based, something I learnt many years ago twice!

You must head over to Green Wedding Shoes to see the talents behind this fantastic inspiration.

Ice Pops and Cake Shooters!

2011-07-24T23:48:00.005+02:00

Sometimes it is difficult to think outside the box and create new ideas for weddings and parties.

To be perfectly honest I have not had much time over the past few months to do much scanning of latest trends and new, fun novel ideas. Many of the blog posts I have seen are now too samey, albeit pretty just churning over the same fashions over and over again, a big kick is now needed in wedding world to get out of this rut of vintage suitcases, postcards and typewriters!

I personally think Retro is the way forward :)

Having witnessed the seventies revival in fashion with the maxi dresses plus large floppy hats seem to be a big hit this year on the beach as well, let´s bring back the seventies goodies we used to enjoy! I was thinking today that ice pops now would be a big hit at weddings, given we are now spending everyday (sorry!) in plus 30 degrees. Obviously more sophisticated grown up versions could be created and whilst googling this idea I came across this cool idea of Cake Shooters at Sprinkles. What a brilliant idea and the next step up from a cupcake perhaps?!

What do you think? Having googled this idea it appears they are not easy to make and I have seen some disasters, but get this right and it would be really fun for a wedding!

Elegant Ivory and Lilac Wedding at the Stunning Hacienda San Jose In Mijas

2011-07-20T00:47:00.015+02:00

We love this wedding of Lie Chen and Peter from Belgium, oozing with style, charm and lots of emotional moments at one of our most popular venues here, the Hacienda San Jose.

We have since designed another Belgium wedding at the same venue and they certainly know how to party and I am particularly intrigued by the napkin waving?! It certainly looks like fun and how to get a party going and seems to happen with the cutting of the cake.

If you want to see the photo booth photos you must check out this link it is very funny!

Lie Chen and Peter wanted a contemporary stylish wedding design using ivory and lilacs which is normally associated with the shabby chic more loose style so we created their wedding with cool water roses and ivory cala lilies and very simple table arrangements using roses. We used our Bali umbrellas to decorate the ceremony and of course added in the romantic twinkle with our lanterns and candles.

We do feel now though to put out a word of warning if you have children at your wedding, Lie Chen and Peter had a wishing well birdcage with some lovely notes produced by us for their guests to write on, when we got there the next day the lovely little ones had scribbled all over the guest cards so we had to quickly print some more off and bring them with us for the party the next day! These guest cards I hope were finally written on with lovely messages!

Here is our lovely email received from LIe Chen and Peter

We would like to thank all of you for making our wedding day unforgettable, it is almost a month now and time flies but thanks to all of you the memories will last forever.

It really has been a pleasure working with all of you and in case friends get inspired we will definitely recommend you.

To Heather and Yvonne thank you for the great wedding planning and great food!
To Jeremy big sigh we cannot stop looking at the pictures, they say more than words and we have never looked this good!!!
To Laura the decoration was incredibly beautiful and it looks so lovely in the pictures, it was like a fairy tale
To DJ Ian We got so many compliments about the music and the singing everyone was absolutely impressed

To Kathryn You have done an extraordinary job, making my hair and make up so beautiful, as you can see from the photos, Peter was lost for words when we met, sigh :)

To Mark the cupcakes were delicious, lovely and a big hit, we really had to keep the children away!

To Michael thanks for providing us with great food during our stay at the Hacienda and the service and food were impeccable!

You guys make an excellent team, I have heard you calling yourselves the A team and you are absolutely right!

We love our weddings and are thrilled to be receiving the photos and slideshows from our fantastically busy June, we had 5 slideshows sent to us today and I was so busy watching them I burnt my dinner but I cannot be a domestic goddess and a fairy godmother at the same time!

A Reflective Week

2011-07-15T01:07:00.004+02:00

I am fortunate that I spend my days here planning and creating beautiful and enormously happy occasions and we have many gorgeous weddings to share with you over the coming weeks and I am very excited about blogging them along with all the fantastic testimonials we have received.

This week however, I was floored last Sunday by the sudden and very unexpected death of a very good friend, whilst it has not sunk in, it has taken up a lot of my thoughts and yet again made me realise how precious life is and you should spend it with family and friends and show them you care.

It has been a reflective week and I will be back posting and updating our blog plus we are very excited to be working on our new branding and website so I will keep everyone updated but I am also taking out some quieter times at the moment as well.

A huge hug though to all our beautiful brides we have had the past few months and for trusting us to work with them on their special day and to our future brides, I will be back soon with my wand waving and creative head whirring ;)