Wedding Day Hair & Make-up - Brideology

Every bride wants to look & feel like a queen on her wedding day. We look for the perfect dress and put a lot of time, effort & money in to our outfits/accessories for the day. It goes without saying that you also want your hair & make-up to be flawless. 

To be perfectly honest, being so laid back I genuinely didn't even think about my hair & make-up to start with. The usual culprits ran through my mind, the dress, the venue, who will we invite etc. But it wasn't until we went to the wedding fayre and I was passed a business card for hair & makeup that I thought to myself can I really afford to budget bride this?

As you know I am all for a bit of D.I.Y. wedding preparation. I did my flower girls hair & attempted to help my bridesmaids with their hair before being shooed away to put my dress on! 

French Plait with Pearls

Despite being a D.I.Y. bride, I am not a make-up artist or a hairdresser. It is one thing putting my neices hair in to a plait, it is completely different styling my hair & doing my make-up well enough to last all day & look good for photos. Which led me on to my next worry. What if I did it wrong? What if I made my self look too bronzed, or not bronzed enough. I would have to live with my wedding pictures forever thinking "Well done Rachel you messed up your eyeliner". Plus there are plenty of things to D.I.Y. in the run up to the wedding. I deserved to have a bit of a pamper morning on my wedding day and have someone else do my hair & make-up. After thoroughly scaring myself at the idea of rubbish wedding pictures and realising just how lovely it would be to have someone do it all for me, I asked around to see if anyone knew of somewhere that was good at doing hair & make-up and was told to try "Brideology". 

Now before I go on to tell you just how amazing they are (because truly I couldn't have asked for better or friendlier service) I am just going to quickly discuss the pro's and con's of having someone else do your hair & make-up. **Also please keep your eyes out for part two coming soon with ideas for hair styles & make-up.**

PROS

• You don't have to do it!
• A professional will have better tools & make-up. They know what looks good & can usually match products to your skin tone/eye colour better than you will be able to.
• These days a lot of services are available for mobile Make Up Artists and/or hairdressers so you don't have to leave your house. You can get ready at home minimising stress.
• If you have the budget for it, or if your bridesmaids are happy to pay for themselves you can all get pampered together.
• If you know what you want then of course your stylist can create the look you want. If you aren't sure a professional can help you work it out.

CONS

• My one & only con is the cost. If you do your make-up yourself or know someone who can do it for you then it will of course be cheaper. But to be honest I think the cost is worth it. Hopefully you will only get married once so treat yourself! 

Just remember, if you D.I.Y. things for your wedding day, shop around and do your research you can & will save a lot of money. The average wedding costs around £13,000. Mine cost about £7,500. You can easily make this kind of saving and when you do you can reward yourself by letting someone pamper you. For me it meant I liked my pictures & felt good about myself all day. Money well spent!!

BRIDEOLOGY - MY THOUGHTS

I looked them up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brideology/213267495199?fref=ts
I also checked out their webpage: http://www.brideology.co.uk

Brideology are a Swansea based Hair dressing & Make up professional team. They are mobile so can come to your home or go to your venue for the trial and on your wedding day. Their prices can be found on their website (the link is above) but they are extremely friendly & helpful if you want to ring them and ask about their prices and services. 

The first thing I did was check out the pictures/gallery on Facebook & the website. I wanted to see the work they had done for other brides and I was absolutely amazed. All of their clients make-up was flawless, and the hair styles were like something off a red carpet event. I checked out their prices and decided to give them a call. Straight away Andria (Brideology's very lovely & friendly make-up artist) made me want to book. I didn't have a clue about airbrush make up or anything like that and she was very helpful explaining the difference in how it's applied, how long it lasts etc.

Luckily Brideology were available for the date I wanted so I booked and sent my deposit to secure my booking. 

Being the kind of bride I was, I pretty much knew what 'look' I wanted before I even booked. I wanted curled loose hair (but pinned on the sides to keep it out of my face) and gold/natural make-up. Knowing that I wanted my hair down & curled you would think I would realise I needed hair of a certain length, but no, being me I went and cut it all off about 10 months before my wedding "It will grow back" I told everyone. It didn't though!! So as the time for my trial approached I panicked and then jumped on facebook to message Andria for advice on where I could get hair extensions that wouldn't cost me the earth. Andria was so helpful you wouldn't believe. Not only did she tell me where to get the extensions (Sally's in Swansea) but she also told me how much they would cost and advised me to ask the shop assistant to help colour match me. She told me as soon as I left the shop I couldn't go back if the colour was wrong. I'm so glad she gave me this advice as normally I would pick up any old thing and take it back if it wasn't quite right. Armed with £60 I went & picked up my extensions, which the shop assistant helped me pick out. Good job really as my husband picked out four completely different shades of brown & told me all 4 shades were a match!? Men aye?

On the day of my trial I told Brideology exactly what I wanted and I got exactly that!

 Left - Me full of cold no make up and slightly horrified at the idea of a 'before' picture.

Right - Me after Brideolgy curled my hair & extensions, put my extensions in, & applied my airbrush make-up. (Head band/tiara was mine purchased online for £9.00).



After having the airbrush make-up, and my hair done I got very snap happy and was more than happy to let Mum & Brideology take pictures too. Unlike before hand... that was the one & only before picture allowed! 

I hope my phone camera hasn't let down the standard of Brideology's work. It was flawless and better than I could have imagined. Before the trial I was a bit nervous, but within five minutes of their arrival all my nerves had gone. They were so friendly and helpful, we chatted about my hen-do, my mums make-up, my hubby to be and before I knew it my make-up was all done and the trial was over. They explained exactly how they had made the look & wrote everything down so they could re-create it on my wedding day. They asked me more than once if I was satisfied with the look, it was obvious that they genuinely cared if I was happy with their work which just made me love it even more!

On my wedding day, with "Now that's what I call a wedding" playing in the background (courtesy of my big sister) I sat down to have my make-up & hair done again. I wasn't exactly stressed on my wedding day, even if I do say so myself, I think I managed to stay very calm until the time came to get in the car and head to the church. Even so Brideology were once again so friendly that if I had been nervous I think this would have relaxed me. After applying my make-up and fixing my hair they once again checked that I was happy with it, which of course I was!! I looked stunning once I was all done up! ... and modest too (can you look modest?) 

Also, earlier last year, I had won a free make-over for my Mum with Brideology for Mothers Day. Being kind & helpful Brideology let Mum save her make-over until my wedding day. Mum was over the moon with her make-up. It was natural & elegant, exactly as she asked for.

I genuinely can not sing their praises loud enough. My make-up was still on & my hair was still curled at 2am when the bar finally closed. Looking as perfect as when it was first done at 9am but with a slightly drunk bride underneath! In the run up to the wedding every question I had, every message I sent was always answered promptly, professionally and in a friendly manner. I felt comfortable & relaxed around them and felt it was worth every penny when I look at my pictures and see just how glowing and confident I was!

The one thing I would change? I wish my budget could have afforded my bridesmaids hair & make-up too. But with four bridesmaids & a flower girl I just couldn't. All of my girls looked absolutely stunning and helped each other get ready in the morning. But I do wish I could have treated them to a pamper too after experiencing first hand and seeing how much my Mum enjoyed.

My recommendation? If you are a bride getting married in the Swansea/South Wales area I would recommend you contact Brideology. 10/10 for customer service. 10/10 for helpfulness. 10/10 for trial & wedding day hair and make-up. 10/10 for being such lovely friendly people that made me feel relaxed at what could have been a very stressful time.

Final Comments? Don't forget to go to facebook & like Brideology. Also check out their website. Not getting married? That's OK they also help you get ready for any special occasion including school proms! Check out their website to see the full range of services they provide including spray tanning, microloop extensions and more. 

So that was my experience of being a celeb for the day & incase you couldn't tell I loved it! I really do recommend you that you contact Brideology. If you don't live in South Wales then... move? No I'm joking, that could get expensive. But look around & ask your friends, family & other married type people if they can recommend a service to you.

If you enjoy reading my blog please follow this page. There should be a button on the top right saying "Join this Site" click on there to keep up to date with my blog. Also if you want me to answer any of your questions, do a blog on something you are interested in or just want to say hi then you can email me by clicking HERE. Comment below with any queries, comments or thoughts on hair & make-up services you have used. If you used Brideology let me know just how much you loved them too!

As always thanks for reading! xox

Show some appreciation for your other half! (Wedding Gifts)

In the run up to your wedding day it's very easy to get lost in the last minute arrangements and appointments. It's easy to get stressed out, and panic that things won't turn out exactly as you have planned them. It's equally as easy to loose track of the most important part of your wedding - your husband/wife to be. After all your wedding day is about making a life long commitment to each other, acknowledging the love you have for each other and making a union in the eyes of the law and, if you are religious, in the eyes of your God.

I think it is very important to make sure you take some time out for each other in the run up. Go for a meal together, or have a quiet night in watch a DVD and just enjoy each others company. Remember why you are doing this. As lovely as your dress, make-up, flowers, cake, venue and so on may be, they aren't or at least shouldn't be your motivation for the day.

A mixture of forward planning and my husband kept me very grounded and relaxed in the run up to the wedding. I wanted to continue this laid back approach in the last few days when the final touches were being put in to place and it would have been easy to get very stressed. So my husband and I tried to spend as much time together before the wedding as we could. Nights curled up on the sofa watching DVD's, talking about the future and just generally enjoy each others company. Our budget couldn't afford nights out, but we managed a bottle of wine and some quality time. I think it's important to do this as it brings you back to earth & stops you getting too riled up and bridezilla-ish.

What we also did, that a lot of couples do, is bought each other a gift. I didn't know he was buying me anything & he didn't know I was buying him anything but on the day of our wedding we both received a lovely surprise!

My husband bought me a pearl neckace & earrings, which funnily enough I was going to borrow off my Mum so it worked out very nicely! You can just about see them in this lovely picture of me & my hubby. He also wrote a lovely card which just made my morning. Reading the card he wrote for me & receiving such a thoughtful gift meant the world to me. It left me buzzing with excitement all morning and I felt like a Queen wearing my pearls all day.

For my hubby I had a card made for him with pictures of our special place, first date, and other things that meant a lot to us, including the picture of us that we had put on our save the dates. Inside I wrote him a lovely message that was very long, but I knew would be appreciated. For his gift I selcted a pocket watch.

On the back I had it engraved saying "No more waiting, Love Rachel". The reason being that it is common knowledge amongst my family & friends that my hubby fell for me before I knew it, I kept him in the friend zone waiting for a long time and when we eventually got in a relationship he would remind me that he had been waiting a long time for me haha! I'm a lucky girl that he did wait for me, not many men would have the patience he had with me and I felt it appropriate to acknowledge how lucky I was with this little momento.  I also gave him cuff links the same as the rest of the groomsmen and he keeps both momentos in his little man cave - aka our spare room!

If your budget can't afford a big gift then get a card and write a personal message that will mean a lot to them while they are getting ready and the nerves are beginning to kick in. But if you can factor a gift in to your budget, such as cuff links for men, jewellery for women, flowers, or just something personal that your other half would appreciate then do it. When you can't see each other until you get to the aisle it's a big comfort to know your other half is thinking of you and went through the effort of getting something for you. 

Basically this little post is just to remind you that so long as your wedding is legal, and so long as your other half turns up then all the other stuff is just an added bonus. So if you can put the time in to arranging flowers, food, cakes, cars etc then don't forget to put some time and effort in to making sure your other half feels like a King/Queen on their big day. Spend time with them in the run up, because every moment counts.

The Wedding is a bonus, your marriage is what counts.

I hope you enjoyed reading & that you will enjoy picking out something special for your loved one. 

As always thanks for reading xox

Wedding Favours: Part 2 - Ideas for all budgets

For those of you who want to know what I did for my wedding favours go and read Part 1 first, for those of you who didn't go and read part 1, it has a little story about the tradition of how favours came about, so go read that!!

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My favours were perfect for my wedding day & I am very happy with them. But being totally in love with weddings I have since come across a few other ideas I would have loved to use. Please remember when shopping for your favours £4 may not sound like a lot but if you have 100 guests then it just became very expensive & you just lumped yourself with a pretty hefty thank you gift bill. Do not forget your budget! I will include a variety of items for all budgets here so hopefully I will cover something for every one!

1) Personalised Magnets - I love magnets, my fridge is covered in magnets with quotes on them, or from places me and my husband have visited. If relatives go away they often get us a magnet and it always ends up on my fridge! So I think something like this would be really cool and I know I would keep it pride of place on my fridge to remember the wedding I attended. This little gem was discovered on www.etsy.com and is being sold by iLoveTrinkets. For 25 of these heart design wedding favour magnets it is $22.50 which works out at about £15.17. Postage to anywhere outside the US is £8.73 so that's a total of £23.90 which is less than £1 per magnet. Which I think is just fabulous! The shop owner states on the page that these can be made in any colour to suit your theme & obviously are customisable with names/dates. For the same price you can have these as buttons... which I think is what we call badges? Cute, I love these! Also worth mentioning iLoveTrinkets also sells Bridal party badges, customisable keyrings, pocket mirrors and more. The feedback on this shop is 98% which seems like a pretty good sign that these items are good quality & well liked.

2) Notepads - The practical girl in me loves a little notepad I can put in my purse or near the phone to write down important messages or things I shouldn't forget to do. Even better if that notepad was from a wedding and was personalised with the Bride & Grooms own message or their names? Maybe it's just me but the practical gifts seem so cool. This particular notepad is from www.confetti.co.uk which my big sister introduced me to when I was planning my wedding. They have so much information, hints & tips, as well as an awesome shop filled with wedding supplies. This notepad comes in Red, Purple, Saffron Yellow, Tangerine Orange, Watermelon (Pink), Caribbean Blue, Bright Green, Indigo Blue. They are customisable. The minimum you can order is 12 & they must be ordered in multiples of 12. If you order 12 they are £4.29 each, order 24-36 for £2.98 each, order 48-60 for £2.08 each and order 72+ for £1.69 each. Postage & packaging varies on how fast you want your item & how many you order. I do really like these and I like the fact it's cheaper for the higher quantities which may save you a bit of cash if your wedding is on the bigger side. 

3) Personalised Wine Glass - This isn't for the cheap budget although you may be able to shop around, the only way I imagine you could do this very cheaply would be if you could buy glasses from wholesale, or via ebay & engrave them yourself. Although to do this you will need a glass engraver which unless you already have one will cost you. If you have the budget that you can afford the expense of having them engraved or going online to purchase them then I think this is pretty cool. You could put sweets in them as an added extra but the glass would be more than enough as a momento. This glass is from www.fabgifts4u.co.uk. It's £9.99 per glass and they are customisable. Even if you can't afford to do this as a favour for all your guests it's a nice touch for your bridal party/groomsmen to say thanks.

4) Sweets in a unique/cute container. Any sweets or chocolates will do, heart shaped chocolates, sugared almonds, smarties, mini eggs, marshmallows, what ever takes your fancy. Go to a wholesaler, check out you local market & don't forget to check www.ebay.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk for some cheap deals. Be careful you don't get caught out with shipping costs though. Below are five containers for your sweets I think are adorable. The price & the link to where you can get them.

Metal Favour Basket - £1.99 each for 1-9, £1.49 each for 10+ - Confetti.co.uk

Love Heart Filled Sweet Jar (approx 100g of sweets in each) - £2.99 each - Etsy.com from DreamFavours

100% positive feedback on this shop owner. Sells other colour & sweet variations, different favours, gift tags & stationary.

Personalised Heart Shaped Metal Favor Box - £21.29 for a set of 24 - http://www.lightinthebox.com

'Eat, Drink & Be Married" Bags - £10.00 for 12 - www.notonthehighstreet.com 

Laser Cut Rose Style Lantern - £0.50 each - www.favourfairy.co.uk

5) Practical Gifts. There are so many avenues you can go down with favours. One of the ideas I am really loving at the moment is the practical side. There are so many different things you can buy, like the notebook above. Or take a look at these three ideas I though were very cool.

These lips are toothpaste squeezers. You put them on your tube of toothpaste to help squeeze all the excess down the tube. I found these on www.lightinthebox.com. They are usually £8.52 for six, but currently have 60% off so are £3.40 for six. I think this is so different that I just loved it, it's not something people would ordinarily think to buy and everyone wants their wedding to be unique.

These are Heart shaped purse hooks. You place them on the table & hang your handbag/purse from them instead of sticking them on the back of your chair or on the floor. Ok so this is obviously more of a gift of women, but once again quite a novel gift. I found these on www.confetti.co.uk and they are between £3.39 & £2.38 each depending on how many you purchase.

Keyrings are always useful, and everytime someone takes their keys out they will remember your day. What's not to like? I particularly love these as they are butterfly shaped, but look around. Personalise a keyring with the Bride & Grooms name & the date of your wedding. Or maybe a personal message to your guests? These particular keyrings are from www.weddingpartyhost.co.uk and are £1.66 each.

6) Charity Donations - If there was one thing missing from my day it was a contribution to charity. If there is a charity you are particularly fond of, personally connected with then why not go to their website & see if they have an item you can purchase from them (such as a badge or keyring) where your guests will get a small gift & the charity will get your pennies. I won't post any links here as I think charity is a very personal thing & you should pick your own charity that means something to you.

7) Lottery tickets or Scratch cards - Go down the corner shop, or local supermarket & purchase one for everyone. Your guests might not win anything or they may win a few bob & be very happy with you! Either way it's a bit of fun & will cost you about £1 a person. Don't give these to children, if you go with this option buy an alternative for your under 16 year old guests. If you have the budget for it, why not present your tickets/scratch cards in a decorative envelope?

This ivory & gold envelope is from www.thelastdetail.co.uk usually £0.50 each,but they are currently £0.35 each.

8) Bubbles - No matter how young or old you are bubbles are always fun. Why not give your guests bubbles in addition to your favours. The following are all from http://www.thelastdetail.co.uk/product-list/668-bubbles.html

£6.29 for 24

£6.99 for 24

£5.59 for 24

£6.29 for 24

Check out www.confetti.co.uk, www.etsy.com, www.ebay.co.uk, www.amazon.co.uk, or any of the other websites I have mentioned above for other varieties in shape or colour. There are a good variety of bubbles on the market, but whatever you do, don't go to Poundland!! I was seriously disappointed with the £1 for 6 champagne bottles they did. 

There are plenty more ideas out there for you. Soaps, salt & pepper shakers, cuff links & compact mirrors. If you shop around it is likely you will find something that suits your budget, theme and is a gift you would be happy giving to others. I could quite happily sit here and post picture after picture of favours I love because there are so many traditional, unique, practical, edible & just plain cute gifts out there. So shop around and remember Google is your friend!

Follow me if you enjoy my blog. Comment below with any ideas you have seen & loved or any feedback on my blog. Or if you like Click Here to send me an email with any thoughts or questions. Don't forget to let me know if there is something you would like me to discuss on my blog, I would love to hear all your thoughts.

As always thanks for reading xox

Wedding Favours: Part 1 - Our Favours

Wedding Favours are a tradition started by European Aristocrats. Sugar used to be rather expensive, so the rich would put sugar, sugar cubes or other confectionery in side trinket boxes (usually covered in precious stones) and give it to the wedding guests. It was a bit like a peacock flashing it's colourful feathers, only think rich people waving their cash around saying look how rich I am! As sugar got less expensive more people started to take on the tradition of presenting their guests with a small gift to thank them for being a part of their special day - Interesting little background for you there! Hehe!

It can get expensive buying even a little gift for so many people, but if you shop around & get creative you can do this on a budget as I did.

Part one of my exploration in to wedding favours will be me sharing & discussing the wedding favours from my wedding:

As Butterflies were the running theme in my wedding, with red & gold being the main colours, I was very excited to find these little beauty's on my old friend E-bay. Butterfly Favour Boxes - I went with gold as I already had a lot of red decorations on the tables & ribbons on the chairs. I purchased them on E-bay for £2.40 (including p&p) for 10. I purchased 70 in total to make sure I had plenty, that if any were damaged I had replacements etc, and that came to £16.80 in total. The seller I purchased them from doesn't seem to have these in stock any more, but I have checked and these are readily available in other colours if you wanted to purchase them. The come flat but are very easy to assemble.

Inside I had a little scroll & a heart shaped chocolate. Next to my boxes I placed bubbles, because every one loves bubbles, especially me!

The bubble wands were another e-bay purchase. I paid £18 for 70 of them. This may sound a bit steep, but I first purchased little champagne bottles from Poundland & I couldn't open them. When I eventually managed to open one, the bubbles didn't work & the liquid went all gloopy on my hands. The budget bride was caught out going for too cheap an option so second time around I made sure I spent a little more, and it was worth it. Besides it works out at £0.26 per wand which is great!

The heart chocolates were actually a freebie. I used my nectar points to purchase a £20 amazon gift card. (I have linked the websites so you brides to be can go & get yourself a nectar card and check out amazon) It was £5 for 50 chocolates, so I purchased 100. I can't remember exactly how much postage & packaging was, but I think it was around £3 as I had £7 left that I used to purchase other wedding type things. I don't really use my nectar card a lot, but I get points if I provide my gas & electric supplier with readings every month. I made sure I did this every month & before I knew it I had over £30 of nectar points. Normally I would be lazy & forget to provide readings, or let the points sit there, forgetting to use them. But if you have a nectar card or similar points style reward card then use it. It's basically free items for you.

The scrolls were another e-bay gem. Now don't get me wrong, you could easily make these yourself if you bought some paper, ribbons & took the time to type them up, add some pretty pictures etc. But honestly I had already taken on a lot of DIY projects. This would have been one thing too many to add on my list. As mentioned in my 20 things to do once you say yes Blog Post you have to be honest with yourself and know your limits. So I cheated and had someone else make them for me! I purchased them from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/personalised-weding-scrolls-gifts (Hessianback) I don't know if the exact variation I had are still available as they seem to have cute little flowers wrapped around them instead of bows now. Honestly though the flowers are probably better, as the ribbons were a bit fiddly to tie. I paid £5.98 and £1.70 p&p for 60 of these. I have kept one for me & hubby to put in our memento box & honestly I am just over the moon with them. I think they are just such a novel & cute way to say thank you, and for £7.68 you can't really go wrong. So that was my favours.

Stay tuned for Part 2 which I will put up on the weekend for you all. In Part 2 I have decided to compile a few little ideas for you, and being the lovely little helper I am I have taken things ranging in price range to suit all budgets. I may be a bargain bride, but I know not everyone enjoys scrimping & saving as much as I do! I will discuss some ideas I have seen, linking websites you can find these ideas & will discuss ways to save money for those of you on a tighter budget.

As always, thanks for reading! xxx

Have your cake & eat it too - Part 1 My lovely cake

When you think of your wedding day you think of marrying the man or woman of your dreams. You think about who you will have as Bridesmaids and who he will pick as a best man. When planning your day the dresses, suits, flowers, decorations & venues will come to mind pretty easily. But if like me, the first wedding you ever attend is your own, it can be easy to get caught up in those the fantasy/excitement of the day and forget about another important part of your day, a tradition I think we should all follow, after all it involves cake!

Here's another opportunity flex your creativity muscles. If you want to do this on a budget it can be done but it's a bit of a challenge, involves a lot of shopping around unless you are lucky enough to know someone who can do it for you.

 To start with I will share with you a picture of my cake and discuss that. As this is a two part blog, part two will discuss some amazing ideas based on other cakes I saw & loved, hopefully giving you some ideas of what you can achieve and the inspiration to get your ideas flowing. 

Beautiful! This cake actually cost me nothing. I was lucky enough to have a mother who made the fruit cake  tier herself, and who paid a family friend to make the rest. The family friend literally only charged for the ingredients. I believe she purchased butterfly cutters to make icing butterflies but didn't charge us for those as she said she can re-use them. 

I purchased the butterfly/crystal cake topper from e-bay but my Mum reimbursed me for this purchase. The Cake topper was £16.95 via http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/crystal_wedding the item was very good quality for quite a low price, it was dispatched quickly and when it turned up I was so impressed that it looked as good as in the pictures, which we all know doesn't always happen with e-bay. I think the 100% positive feedback score says it all about this seller and it was the perfect topper for my cake.  The larger stocking butterflies, I genuinely can't remember who bought these, where from or for how much. But having looked on e-bay these appear to be readily available for around £2 for 6, and there are colour variations available so shop around.

Inspiration? - I had a fair idea of what I wanted in the sense that I didn't want white. Same as my dress, I knew the icing would have to be cream/ivory. I wanted a three tier cake, and at least one layer had to be a chocolate sponge (my favourite!). I wanted butterflies for decoration & red ribbon to tie it all back in with the colour theme. I knew I didn't want a bride & groom cake topper but a butterfly related cake topper. My mother and I looked at a few cakes in magazines, I visited a few websites and eventually me and Mum came across this cake it in a Marks & Spencer's catalogue & I knew that was what I wanted:

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Romantic-Pearl-Fruit-Wedding-White

At £200 I wasn't about to go & but the Marks version (sorry Marks!) so we discussed ways we could do this ourself, including asking the family friend to help! We decided to put red ribbons to kick some colour back in to it. I asked for bottom tier to be fruit, middle sponge, and top chocolate. I wanted butterflies spiralling the cake to bring back in the butterfly theme and then of course found the cake topper on E-bay. Our family friend did a fantastic job of bringing this to life don't you think?

I am estimating, as my Mum dealt with the finances for the cake, but in total I think my cake cost around £100 (including cake toppers, ribbons etc). I loved it, exactly how I pictured it. The only downside was I didn't want to cut it, it was just too pretty! We asked the Venue to slice our cake & serve it with coffee while our room was rearranged ready for the evening reception. This went down a treat with our guests!

Hope you liked the little insight to my cake, stay tuned for part two 

& 

As always,

Thanks for reading! xxx

Centre pieces continued - keeping it cheap

OK so once you have picked your centrepiece of choice or maybe even before you have finalised your idea, you will be thinking about costs.

Depending on the amount of guests you have coming and therefore how many tables you will have will depend on the amount of centrepieces you will need. I had five tables and a top table. I opted for round tables so I needed one per table, and then the top table was rectangular and we had 3 centrepieces on that. So in total I needed 8. If you have the budget to be able to afford to pay someone to do it for you then why not? It's that little bit less hassle for you nearer the time.

However, I decided that although I probably could have paid someone else to put together a centrepiece for me, I would instead save myself some money and do it myself. E-bay was my friend! I bought 10 goldfish bowls for £29.99, I bought a 4kg bucket of pebbles for £6.99, although if you wanted to be cheaper again you could always go to your nearest beach and collect the pebbles yourself. The Red and Ivory butterfly confetti was £6.00 for three bags which decorated all the tables, top table, cake table & guestbook table. The mirror plates & tealights were thrown in by the hotel for free (don't be afraid to ask for freebies, it will save you a fortune!) and the LED lights were £5.99 for 6. I bought 4 packs to do all my tables. I could have done it cheaper with floating candles, but didn't want to risk it!

So how else can you do it cheaper yourself?

• Pebbles, shells or stones: To save time buy them cheap on ebay or from a gardening supply store. To save money further, go to the beach for the day and collect them youself.
• Confetti: Save time & money purchasing them on ebay or at a craft store. If you are already rather arty, then purchase a paper cutter and some coloured card and then make it yourself.
• Bowls or Vases: Cheaper to buy online or from a wholesalers. But if you don't mind having mismatched vases or bowls then get raiding your cupboards and family/friends cupboards and borrow them instead.
• Instead of paying a company to make sweet trees or buckets, purchase some oasis from a florist or wholesaler, go on ebay, amazon or to a wholesaler for cheaper sweets and then make your own. Chocolate lollies or covered strawberries will be cheaper to make your self. 
• Personalised sweets are very cute, albeit a little over the top. But the price tag that comes with them can be 2 or 3 times that of non personalised items. Save yourself the money, and either make your own personalised labels, or forgo the personalisation.

If you can do it yourself in advance and it will save you money then go for it. Find out in advance from your venue how much they are willing to do for you. If you have to go there the morning of the wedding and do it yourself then you need items you can put together well in advance and give to a trusted person to take down and set up. If they are willing to assemble some of it for you then give them your specific instructions and save money with purchasing as much of the stuff yourself as you can. If it needs a bit more putting together on the day, it won't matter so much as the venue can help. 

TOP TIP: Don't be worried about spending £30 on glass bowls or vases etc if you can't get them off other people. Keep the packaging it comes in and after your big day give it a wash and sell it back on to make back some of your money. Anything you can't sell on, such as confetti, don't spend more than £10 on. You don't want to spend money on things you can't sell on and have no use for yourself.

That's my tips for keeping it cheap - ebay, DIY & getting the facts from your venue. Know where you stand before you purchase anything!

Thanks for reading :) x

10 Ideas for Centrepieces

The Centrepieces are one of the many areas of a wedding where you get to let your creative juices flow and create that perfect final touch to the tables of your Wedding breakfast. You can go as creative or as simple as you like. Here are 20 of my ideas and a picture of my actual tables for you to see what my choice was. Remember this is a chance to tie in your theme but it is also a chance to add a little something extra if you want to stray from your theme... in reality you need to remember it's entirely up to you!

1) Flowers: This is as far as this suggestion will go with me really. I'm not a huge flower person so that was the one thing I knew I didn't want. However if you like flowers this is your chance to get some centrepieces made up with the flowers of your choice... as I said I'm not a flower person so can't claim to be an expert. But ask your local florist or google Flower centre pieces to get the ideas flowing.

2) Candelabras: Simple and Elegant. Variations of Candelabras are endless. From twisted and looped, to straight forward candle holders, from silver to black.

Once you have picked the style of candelabra you can either fill them with candles, obvious but classy. Or flowers! There we go a flower idea for you all! You can decorate them by draping with beads/pearls or tie coloured ribbons to them. If your theme, like mine, is butterflies then you can buy craft butterflies and attach these the the candelabras. Don't be afraid to try out something different.

3) Goldfish Bowls. There are so many variations you can do with this. Water pearls, pebbles, coloured water, floating candles, floating LED lights, Rose petals. You can put them on a mirror (especially effective with candles) or surround the bowl with flowers, fruit, decorative stones. There is no limit to what you can do. Here are a few pictures of Variations I've seen and loved.

 Particularly love this for a wedding abroad/near a beach. Very original. LOVE!

 Lilies are classic and elegant, wrapped in side a goldfish bowl is so simple yet gorgeous! 

 Clear water pearls with flower, very pretty, think coloured pearls and a white flower would work just as well.

Candles and pebbles. Could work with just the candles, or swapping pebbles for water pearls, once again you can find variations within the variations.

4) Sweetie Trees or Bowls - OK so it's not the usual decorative item, and by the end of the night it will probably be all gone! But it's different, something the guests can enjoy after the meal. Once again there are so many variations, firstly you have to pick how you want to present the sweets. In glass jars, bowls, Large martini glasses, oversized teacups or on a sweetie tree. Then you need to decide what sweet you want to use. Here's a few pictures of ideas I have seen and liked.

 Birdcages - this one is filled with marshmallows. Not my favourite choice of container but it sort of works with the marshmallows - different

 Buckets - fill with some oasis top with tissue paper and then push chocolate lollies in to the oasis. This one should be relatively cheap to do your self as well, if you don't have the budget to pay someone to do it for you.

 Candy Canes - would work at a wedding around the Christmas season? Looks to me like a table weight usually used for helium balloons with wire attached to the sweets and pushed in to the weights, could do this with other hard boiled sweets like pear drops maybe? 

 Wine glasses - just fill with you choice of sweet. In this one they have stick of rock pieces with names written on. You can buy sweets like this, you can even get M&M's with your initials on, but personalised sweets will cost more... wine glasses on the other hand will be cheap!

 Martini glass - same as the wine glass really, but I loved the added touches to this with the purple butterflies and petals. 

Sweetie Trees - You can make these your self if you are a little bit crafty, but if not there are plenty of places to buy them online. Ferrero Rocher, marshmallow, Haribo seem to be rather popular ones.

5) Buckets - Apart from filling them with chocolate lollies, there are other ideas I have seen that have made these cute little buckets take centre stage for me as a unique and cheap/easy idea for wedding centrepieces.

Flowers, my not so favourite thing, do look pretty cute in these buckets. Daisies in particular have a very cute look. Once again though, your choices are endless. Here are 3 ideas (4 if you include the chocolate lollies in the previous idea) that I thought were very doable and look great.

 Daisy & Candle combo - the beauty of this is you can change the ribbon and the flowers and still get the same affect and have it tie in with your colour theme.

 Light/Pearls - This bucket has a UV light in it and clear pearls. Change the colour of the pearls or light to mix with your colour theme. 

Another beachy themed centrepiece. It's different and perfect for those beach themed weddings.

6) Teacups! An idea I didn't come across until after my wedding, or I probably would have wanted one of these as my centrepiece. Vintage and unique I am in love with the 3 ideas I have come across, and given more time to explore possibilities I'm sure there are some wonderful things you can do with teacups. Here's my 3:

 Cupcake Teacups - I'm pretty sure these ones are cupcakes in icing made to look like teacups, but I've also seen Cupcakes put inside Teacups. These really rock my world to be honest! I was blown away at how good they look... both to eat and to look at! Only problem I can see with this is finding someone to make them for you if you aren't a baker. Could get expensive.

 Teacup Candle - I love it, and think lit during dinner would provide such a brilliant mood/lighting. Other option if you can't find or make one like this would be to buy tea cups and place a normal candle or tealight inside.

Flowers - I may not be the flower girl, but I have found a few flower ideas for you. Stick come oasis in a teacup and put the flowers in. Faux flowers... also known as silk flowers, may be better as you can make these up in advance, where as with fresh you would be doing them pretty close to the wedding, and you will have plenty to think about that close to the wedding.

7) Confetti, Petals and gems. These aren't really stand alone centrepieces, unless of course you decide thats all you want on your table. However add a sprinkling of these to your centrepieces to really set off the table. I added confetti to mine, and on ebay most shapes & colours can be found. From hearts to butterflies, from doves to Rudolph! Petals & gems you can get most colours on ebay also. If you wanted to make a centre piece purely with Gems, petals or confetti I would suggest purchasing 2 or 3 larger table crystals and surrounding them with either petals, confetti or smaller table gems/crystals. I haven't been able to find a picture of this as most people tend to use these three items in addition to a bigger centrepiece. 

8) Fruit. So many colours to choose from, red and black berries for a warmer wintery feel. Or lemons and oranges for that summery bright feel. Here are three ideas I think may tickle your fancy.

 Citrus fruits in square/rectangular vases. Very summery, fresh & bright.

 Berries and Oranges below a red tea light. Very warming and wintery. 

My favourite of the fruit ideas by far! Strawberries plain or dipped in white, milk and dark chocolate in a white pot/bucket. Looks so good, and will taste fantastic with a few vinos!

9) Mirror - Alone it doesn't look like much, but a mirror plate with some candles on it, reflecting the candle flame is gorgeous. Doesn't have to be with candles, I've seen them under flower arrangements and all sorts. I won't put pictures up for this one, but if you do go for a candle centrepiece I highly recommend the mirror underneath!

10) LED lights. Don't want to risk a fire with those candles? Worried your goldfish bowl will crack with the heat from candles? No problem, replace candles with LED lights. If there is water involved make sure you have waterproof ones. LED lights add an ambience to the room and can be bought in various colours & shapes. Heres 3 different LED lights I found that you could incorporate in to your centrepiece.

 LED Roses - you can buy these on Ebay in different colours, and ones that change colour. If you want them to float they have Roses that light up once in the water and they last between 6 & 12 hours.

 LED Plate - Put a martini glass or gold fish bowl on top of this to light it up.

String LED lights - Come in so many different colours, wrap around fruit, flowers, vases etc

OK Soooo.... Heres the centrepiece I had for my wedding tables: 

 This is daytime so you can see all the condiments, see below for picture minus the condiments

Night time - So what I had was goldfish bowls with pebbles and water, floating LED roses that changed colour on a mirror plate with tealights either side scattered on the table around the mirror plate is Red and Ivory butterfly confetti.

Think this post is long enough, so will do a seperate post on how to do these ideas cheap/by yourself. Hopefully it's inspired you and got those ideas flowing. :)

Thanks for reading!!