Husby Säteri

We also visited the 'castle' where we will have the reception. Susy showed us around and answered all our questions. Susy liked our choice of colors for the wedding and she had some great suggestions for the flowers and the table setting.
The castle was very nice inside and I hope we will have a wonderful reception here. Some pictures:

From the outside with all snowy glory



And some from the inside



Wall paintings in the entrance hall





We will be able to accommodate all guests in the houses around the castle so they don't come inside before the wedding. We will also have the whole castle to ourselves during the weekend.
Now we have to decide upon a menu for the reception... any suggestions??

Church

While in the area we took the chance to visit the church to see if it was open and we were lucky this time. It had fallen a lot of snow and the short trip by car to the church went through a fairytale landscape. The church was covered in a blanket of snow and looked so serene.



On the inside it was small and cozy, the perfect size for our wedding. Here are some pictures:



We also looked at the place where the wedding photos probably will be taken.


We talked to the photographer the other day and he was really nice and will be able to take the photos I'm wishing. He had a couple of albums with photos he had taken that he showed us and they all looked really nice. He was also open for suggestions and our ideas, just as important since we want to not go too traditional.

Shoes found

Yipee! I have found shoes for my wedding!! If you have followed my blog, you will know about my shoe-problems. Well, they seem to be solved now. As I mentioned in the previous post my fiancé and I was visiting his parents over the Christmas Holidays and we had time to do some shopping. It was really easy, we found them in the first shop we looked at, and they were on show in the shop-window.

Do you want to see some pictures? =) I thought so...





The heel is straight, so I'll be able to bling it... I'll also be able to tye a ribbon around the ankle if I want to.

And here is a close-up picture of the toe:




And here is the shoe together with the lilac color on the dress:



And do you know what is best of all?
They only cost about $30 =)

Ring.. reception.. and flowers!

Yes, a lot has been done in just a couple of days. We are visiting my fiancé's parents and we have visit Husby, the castle where the reception will be, we have also visit the goldsmith and been to the florist.

The florist didn't have time for us =( not to book a time before Christmas either, so we need to find another weekend when they can talk to us. I'm a bit disappointed, I had hoped for a better welcome and more interest from their side, so we might go looking for another florist. We haven't decided yet though...

The welcome at Husby, the castle where we will have the reception, was very warm. I liked our contact very much and she was really helpful. The castle was very beautiful (some pictures will be shown here after Christmas) and we will have the whole place for ourselves the whole weekend. Very nice!
We have some suggestions for the menu from Husby, but we are not satisfied with them so we will sit down and create a menue ourselves which was absolutely ok with them. We also got two bottles of wine to try!

The goldsmith was a really nice girl, she made a couple of drawings of what could be done with the engagement ring that I have (see picture here). We liked one of her designs very much and she will give us a price for it before Christmas. I hope it isn't too much... our budget for the ring isn't that big.... and I liked what she showed us a lot. In the design she didn't create one more ring, but adds on my engagement ring, so I need to give it to her a couple of weeks and can't wear it until the wedding. Hm. I might have to get a new engagement ring ;)

Tomorrow will we go looking for a frockcoat to my fiancé and maybe find shoes to me as well...

No shoes...

Now I don't have any shoes at all. The company did not send any pictures of heels that fitted the description, so I had to return the shoes and get my money back.
So now I have to find a replacement... not an easy task as I've mentioned before. The ones I like are no longer in production and the orange ones I found a while ago can't be found now! Really irritating!

I think I have looked at every bridal shoe shop on the internet and on all dance shoe once as well. I have also looked at places such as ASOS, Debenhams and others.

I have a picture of what I want, so I don't think it should be so hard, but it seems impossible to find anything like it.
These are my criteria:
The shoe should not be white, so Black, orange, purple etc.
The shoe should not have any big flower on the toes
The shoe should have a ankle strap and preferably a covered heel.
The toe should be rounded, covered or open.
If possible the heel should be straight and lower than 4" (10 cm) but higher then 2,5" (6 cm)

My fiancé and I is going to a bigger city tomorrow, and I'll hopefully have some time to look for shoes. We are also going to his parents over Christmas and maybe there will be some time for shopping there as well.

Cake topper

My father called the other day and told me that he had fixed the cake topper. Hm, I wasn't aware that he was responsible for that! =)

Anyway, he has a very good friend, Kjell Engman, who is working at Kosta Boda making all sorts of glass sculptures and other glass pieces. Apparently he has made a bridal couple whom my father thinks should be on the wedding cake.
The couple is pretty nice in black and white glass.



I'm a bit worried though... the glass sculpture is 15 cm high and probably pretty heavy... will the cake cope with that?
Otherwise we will have to stand it on the side of the cake, but on the same table.

What is the difference between a hen’s night and a bridal shower?

The hen’s night (or bachelorette party) is the term most often used in UK and bridal shower is more often used in the US. But it is not only about the terms, the bridal shower and the hen’s night do differ in other ways as well.
The hen’s night is a night out with the girls, sometimes the whole day, with different activities.
In Sweden the hen’s night or Möhippa often include some form of dressing the bride up in funny clothes and doing the bar hopping. Sometimes the activities are on the embarrassing side of fun. The bride is kidnapped and should have no idea about what is going on.
The bridal shower on the other side is more a sophisticated event where the bride’s family and (female)friends gather, eat cake and give gifts to the bride that consist of things she may need in her home or at the wedding day and have a good time. This event is calmer than the hen’s night.

And since I love cake, you can guess which one I prefer! =)

Wedding flowers Part II

Here comes a follow up post on this post.

Astible – This is a perennial and it flowers rather late, some beginning in July and then keeps up the flowering for a long time, at least when the weather is not too hot and dry. They have long spires of flowers in white, pink and red. There are also some reddish purple colors. I already have some in the garden and if they are having a good year I might be able to bring some sprays. This flower is also rather easy to buy at the garden center, but they use to be in flower too early for the wedding.

Love in a mist – Nigella – is an annual flowering with interesting blue, white or pink flowers which leaves even more interesting seedpods that are very decorative. The seedpods often have a crème ground color streaked with green and purple. These are easy going and just to seed and forget.


© MzePhotos.com, Some Rights Reserved

Sunflower – Helianthus – No, not the sunny yellow sunflowers! They are way too yellow and don’t fit the color scheme. I’m thinking of the crème-white sunflowers of ‘Italian white’ or ‘Moonshadow’. These are not so huge either, which makes it easier to incorporate in flower arrangements with more dainty flowers.


Moonshadow


Italian White

Tagetes – No, I’m not thinking of the bright yellows. Tagetes also comes in a creamy white color. This is my least favorite of the flowers I’m considering. But it can be good filler and it will stay fresh the whole day with minimum of water.

Ammi majus – This is probably a weed in some places, but it has beautiful flowers similar to the Swedish ‘Hundkäx’ (Anthriscus sylvestris). The flowers are white and the leaves are freshly green. The flowers are excellent fillers and very dainty. Might not be an excellent combination with the sunflowers though =)

Trachymene caerulea – This annual is very similar to Ammi majus, but in blue, white or pink.

Eschscholzia californica – This Californian poppy is also annual and is a very sweet flower. I love their interesting shape and sunny warm colors. I wish to have my front yard covered in this one day =) I’m not sure if they are a suitable cut flower? Anyone who is familiar with them?
They are at least easy going and I’ll give them a try. They like it on the hot, dry side.



Eryngium – A thistle! Yes, it is a bit prickly but it has a nice steely blue-green flower and stems. Some have a more whitish-green color. The flowers are peculiar and interesting. The plant is perennial or biennial and comes in different heights and shapes of the flower and leaves.


Photo copyright Richard Muller


Photo by Geoff Manley

Still looking for shoes

How hard can it be? I'm still looking for shoes... The company that should create mine hasn’t sent any pictures of the heel yet, so I'm looking for a back-up. But it isn't that easy to find =(

I think I've been through all images on goggle when you search for 'wedding shoes' 'bridal shoes' and 'bröllopskor' but haven't found anything that is as good as the one I had imagined. I have also looked at a lot of 'dancing shoes' liking the Latino Dance shoes. I have found a few I like in this category, but there are two things. First the colors... not much creativity there, most are black, a few white and then some brown-orange they call tan. Other colors like pink and purple do occur, but I don't like them. They have really nice red shoes though, so if you are interested in red shoes, do a search for Latino dance shoes... and be prepared to pay ;)
The price of these shoes is in the higher end... but I have found wedding shoes that are much more expensive... so it's just a question of your budget.
The second thing with the dance shoes is that they have a suede bottom. I'm not sure how happy this will be walking outside. It's a pity trashing the shoes at once. The pro is that these shoes probably are really comfy.

Well... my search continues. Where did you find your shoes? Please give me some ideas!

Toastmaster

Yes, our best friend and her fiancé have promised to be toast madam/master at our wedding! Thanks a lot! =)
They will help us coordinate the toasts during the dinner. They might also help us with the reception program... if we ask them nicely.

Disappointment

I got my shoes... and they are not as I imagined. In an earlier post I mentioned that I had found someone that made shoes from your whishes. I found a picture of a shoe I liked and send it to the contact person. No problems what the reply and I’ve been waiting a couple of weeks. Now I’ve got them and they are not what I wanted =(
The problem is that the heel is not straight. Might seem like a very small thing, but it was the heel that caught my imagination. I contacted the contact person and they want to replace the shoes. I’m a bit skeptical but they will send me pictures of the heels they have to ‘choose’ from. So now am I waiting for pictures…

Chance to win a cake topper

Aren't they cute?



It is Red Light Studio who gives away this nice little couple.

Just for you

who just got engaged ;) Thought that you maybe need some kick-start to your planning?
Here is an inspiration board that fits perfectly to these shoes:



and here is the board

Credits: Jessamyn Harris, Byron Hoffman and Lasting Images, CUSTOM EVENT GROUP, Jessica Claire, Dia Rao, Jose Villa, Jose Villa Photography

Happy planning!

A bird just told me...

...that one of our best friends has engaged! And they are planning to get married next year as well! Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you!

Nine months before the wedding

The time is running. The 14th of November was nine months before the wedding and this is what should have been done by then

Start a wedding folder - Well I have a folder on my computer with lots of wedding inspiration.

Work out the budget - Yep, done. Hope we can keep it =)

Build your wedding party - No, this isn't done yet... I know I won't have any bridesmaids or flower girls. My sister has promised to help me dress and take photos of the details during the dressing. We haven't asked the toastmaster yet... and my fiancé hasn't decided about whether to have a best man or not yet. Shame on us!
But I feel no pressure on this. It'll come with time.

Settle on a head count - Yep, we also have the guest list done.

Hire a planner, if desired - No planners in Sweden... we have to manage ourselves and I think we are doing great.

Book the ceremony site - Done

Book the officiant - Well, in Sweden the church (if marrying in church) fix this for you, or you have a very limit choice. We have wished for my fiancé's confirmation priest. Hopefully will she be available.

Book the reception site - Done

Research photographers, bands, florists and caterers - Photographer is more or less done, or at least will we meet one photographer at Christmas and hopefully I'll like his pictures. I'm a bit nervous about this because we don't have so many photographers to choose from and I want pictures in style with Jessica Claire =) So now you know how good he/she must be!

Insert vendor information into a master contact list - Done

Throw engagement party - Done. We had a small engagement party combined with my birthday party this summer. Here are some pictures from that event.

Help on the big day

Now, when the wedding is official will we start to ask people about some help on the big day.
I'll not have any bridesmaids or flower girl/boy, so that's easy. My fiancé might have a best man, but he is still thinking of it. Anyway we will walk together up the aisle, so no nervous dad to hand me over =)

But, we will still need some help. I'll need someone to help me with the dress and other small things on the wedding day and since I don't have any bridesmaids this will be an unofficial role. I have just asked my sister and am waiting for the reply. She will hopefully also be in charge of my camera and try to photograph all small details and my preparations.

We will also need some help at the reception with speeches and stuff. So we have a name for the toastmaster/madam and just need to ask. We haven't come around to that yet.

I hope my mom and my fiancé's mom will be able to help with the reception area and maybe also the church. There are flowers to arrange and the program and place cards...

My fiancé's mom will also be responsible for the brunch the day after the wedding. At this brunch the presents will be opened and there will be quite a few people present. So some nice food and dessert and a cozy area to be in... Oh, I must remember to find a dress for this happening.

Someone needs to pick up the cake (if it isn't delivered...) and the flowers... and there are probably more things I can't remember now. If you notice something I have forgotten, just leave a comment!

Oh, I nearly forgot! We need to ask my fiancé's cousins if they want to sing in church! They are two songbirds and I really hope they will do it for us.

Last about the save the date

I promise, this will (hopefully) be the last post about the save the date cards. I just want to share with you, the picture of the save the date card when it is not folded.
As I have mentioned before is the envelope cut on the Bosskut Gazelle and the text is printed on our inkjet printer. I have highlighted the flowers with a bit of Stickles glitter glue and we sealed the envelopes with a white wax seal.





The Swedish post office wasn't happy when we wanted them to deliver the envelopes. They were too small! I didn't know there was a limit on how big an envelope had to be to be able to send it...
Anyway, they accepted the cards after some phone calls so now do all our guests have the possibility to save the date for our wedding.
But to avoid any problems with the post office in the future, we will make sure the envelopes are at least 9cm X 12cm big.

My necklace and bracelet have arrived!

Last Friday did my necklace and bracelet finally arrive! I was soo excited when I opened the bubble wrap from PenniBelle. And they are amazing!! They are even better then what I had imaging. =) Thank so very much Lindy, you do a great job.

The lilac crystals are a dark shade of lilac and they will match nicely with the dress. We will get a cloth sample from the dress this week and I'll try to take some pictures of them together.

The weight of the necklace surprised me. It is a bit heavier then I though it should be and it feels very genuine. It fits perfectly around my neck, but I need to have the hair done in a way so the broach isn't covered by my hair. I think I'll bring it to the hairdresser together with the picture of the dress.



I can really recommend PenniBelle for bridal jewelry.

Wedding flowers Part I

I hope to be able to grow some of the wedding flowers myself. We have a rather big yard and one of my spare time interests is gardening. I also hope to get some help from the mother of my fiancé and my mother. The flowers will be used in the reception area and might also be used in the church depending on how well they will grow =)

The flowers that we will grow are

Dahlias – White pom-poms and decorative forms. Here it might be possible to add some orange to spice the color scheme up a bit. These will hopefully be in peak flower in August and they are very easy to grow, just put the tubers in the ground, water and wait.

Sweet peas – In different shades of lilac and also white and maybe pink. I hope these will flower as late as August. I haven’t grown so many sweet peas before, so I don’t remember how long they where going…

Stock – This annual has a lovely fragrance but is a bit hard to please. It doesn’t like hot summers so it might not be possible to keep it blooming until August. I’ll try to germinate them at different times during May and June and seed them at a place which gets a bit shade during the hottest hours.

Zinnias – Also an annual which comes in a sea of different flowers, most of them hot like red and pink, but hopefully will I find a color mix that fits our colors scheme a bit better. The shape of the flower is much like a Dahlia.

Amaranthus – This unusual annual will bring some flow to the flowers. The flowers of the Amaranthus are long tails of burgundy or green.

Gladiolus – This spiky flower is also pretty easy to grow, just put the small ‘bulb’ into the ground and wait. Here will we have loads of lilacs to choose between and of course whites.



To be able to bring all flowers to the wedding in good shape, I’m going to grow them in pots to be able to take the whole pot with me. We will probably leave for the destination a couple of days before the wedding.
More flowers for our wedding will be presented in coming posts.

Wedding ring

Yes, I have started to think about my wedding ring. I was looking through Martha Steward Weddings magazine (the reception issue) yesterday to get some inspiration. There was a lot of advertising for different rings, but they are so big! The stones are huge! And there is also a lot of stones, on the sides and everything.

I know that our budget for the ring is very limited. This is a deliberate choice, since the ring doesn't means so much for me... don't get me wrong, the symbolism of the ring means a lot, but it can be more or less any ring.
I want it to fit our engagement rings though... We both have this engagement ring from Hellkes.



Yes, we both have an engagement ring. I don't think that is very common in the USA but in Sweden it is pretty common.
The engagement ring is in sterling silver and gold and I think a thin wedding ring in gold would complement the engagement ring. I still want a stone though, if budget allows... It doesn't have to be a diamond.
It might also be possible to customize the engagement ring so the stone is 'binding' the two rings together. I think that can be nice. The question is what form I want on the stone... (I'm not talking about the cut) I saw one very nice ring in the magazine. It was the 'Leaf' ring from Jack Kelege. Sorry, I can't find any good image of the ring, but have a look on page 86 in the magazine if you can get hold of it. If it was possible to just take the leaf and place that 'above' both the rings... I think we will have to go to a good goldsmith and see what they say.

Guestlist and children

Most of the Save the date cards went with the post yesterday and today the phone has beeped more often than usual =) Lot of friends are surprised and whishes us good luck and looking forward to the wedding. I hope all of them will come, they have been carefully selected.
Our closest family (who already know our plans) won't have the save the date card until this weekend, when we are meeting them all for a birthday party.

I understand couples that get frustrated when it comes to the guest list. You want to share the wonderful day with everyone you know! But often the budget or the restriction of space for the reception is a problem.
In our case we can't invite more than 70 persons; the reception place won't fit in anymore. I have seen a lot of American weddings where the party has been outside in tents or just under a light canopy. This isn't very common in Sweden. Most weddings receptions are inside even in the summer and even though we thought about having the wedding in our garden, we quickly found out that the garden is way too small for so many people. It is a pity we won't be outside, but I think our 'castle' will be perfect =)

On our guest list are as many as 10 children from ages 0-11. I don't even like children... I hope it works out well. I rather spend my wedding day with my friends and their families then on my own, so all children are welcome. The older children will probably look really cute. Hopefully will we see a couple of princesses and maybe even a prince or two?

Now am I off to look through the wedding magazines I bought yesterday. I was in Stockholm for work and had time to source the bigger range of magazines.

Inspiration board

Look at my inspiration board over at Style Me Pretty

Credits: Fleurdelisascakes, Cecilia Wester, https://anywedding.blogspot.com, Unknown (2), http://www.etsy.com/shop/PenelliBelle?page=1 (2), Alfred Angelo 1516

All done

The save the date cards are now ready to send away. Here is the finished result:

Inside


Back


Front


I think they look really good, and after a couple of tries we got the wax seal to look good as well =)

My wonderful necklace and bracelet

Today I got some pictures from PenelliBelle at Etsy of my necklace and bracelet I have custom ordered. They are gorgeous! Wonderful! Stunning! =)
Thank you sooo very much!
I can really recommend PenelliBelle to anyone looking for stunning jewelry. She is soo sweet and helpful and cares about her customers.

Here are the pictures

The necklace



The bracelet



And both together.


I can't wait until I can have them on and they will be worn often and hopefully become an heirloom in out family.
They will fit perfect into the theme of the wedding.

I promised you...

... some pictures of my tiara. I know, it was a while ago, but I haven't forgotten.



It is not very fancy, but it sparkles and fits really well on my head =)
I think I'll go for something like this when it comes to the hair-do, even though my hair isn't that long.



Oh, way is it such a long time to the wedding??? I want to do it NOW!
Well... maybe not exactly now... it is very grey and it is rain in the air... but sooner. =)

Progress on the 'save the date' cards.

Yes, we are making progress. The design is finished, the mock-up done (and redone a couple of times), the different parts printed and glued together. All that is missing at the moment is a stamp and the wax seal.

We bought heavy lilac papers for the envelope and a crème paper for the paper with the text on. I had the Gazelle to cut out the envelopes and printed the address and the inside text on the printer. I think it turned out really well, but something was missing. It didn't feel anything special...
To add some sparkle and some texture, I added small dots of Stickles to the flowers. This really took the std card from good to great. It is in the details =) Sorry that is doesn't show up on the photos very well.



I'll take some photos of the finished card later tonight. Hopefully sharing the details.

I also want to show you this place card I've made. I got the idea from Etsy and it wasn't that hard to make yourself. If you have Photoshop it is just to find a brush of the motive you want, in this case a butterfly, and then either print them on paper and cut or import the picture to the Gazelle program and cut with the Gazelle.

It looks just like the butterfly is hovering above the glass. I'll use the Gazelle to print the name on the inside/upside of the wings.

The tricky thing is to get the butterfly to stay on the glass =)

Carpe diem or Catch the light

This is not about the wedding, but I just have to share one of my mornings earlier this week. It had been raining during the night, but cleared early in the morning and the temperature dropped to around freezing. The air was very clear and high and it was a wonderful morning. I had the opportunity to go out, playing with the camera for a couple of hours. Many of the photos are a bit burned out, but I like the effect and I really like how the light is caught.

















More days like this please! Just imaging a bride walking through these pictures, the sun turning her hair into gold...

Theme and colors

Now, when we finally have started working on the Save the date cards we also settled for a color combination. Of course the Victorian Lilac is the main color and lilac in different shades will dominate the color scheme.
To add to this we have the ivory color from the wedding dress and probably black from the grooms clothes. To spice all up a little we have also added a thouch of dusky orange-yellow. This will be just a touch so it doesn't become too monotone and boring.
I envision something like this



I have also been thinking of a theme. I don't think we will have a pronounced theme for the wedding, but I want to get a feeling of this:

Pearls, Flowers, Luxury, Heavy fabrics (textures), Candlelight and Fragrance.

I hope we can pull this off without breaking the bank! =)
I'll present these words and colors for our vendors and hopefully they will come up with the best they can within our budget.

I'm planning on sowing and cutting many of the flowers for the ceremony and reception myself, together with my mother and my fiancé's mother. I'll tell in a later post what flowers I plan to grow =)

Seeing each other before the wedding

As I have mentioned in another post, I'm a bit unsure whether we should take the wedding photos before or after the ceremony. My fiancé talked to a photographer the other day about wedding photos and he recommended taking the photos before the wedding. I'm more and more into this thinking and just read this

When a couple gets to meet before the wedding, the groom is able to take his time and really look at his bride. Notice the details of her dress, her hair, the way her makeup is done. It’s a perfect time to talk about what you are about to do, exchange gifts or love notes, cry, laugh and enjoy the fact that you are about to embark upon an interesting journey.

.
There is a long series of blog posts about this topic at the Planning forever events blog. Here is another post in the same series.

More photos from Jessica Claire

I just must show you this photo of a totally stunning wedding. Beautiful couple, wonderful flowers and an amazing light all very beautifully captured by Jessica Claire.



See more photos from the wedding here.

I soo wish my weddingphotos will turn out this nice!