I haven't forgotten about you!

No, not at all, it is just that there are so much going on at the moment and I'm absolutely not in wedding planning mode. Anyway, a few things have happened since my last note (well.. shame if it hasn't it's sooo long since last time).

I have decided upon a ring =) and the goldsmith have come up with a price that is in our liking! So both a good looking, sparkling little thing and within our budget. It'll look something like this, but with much smaller stones and much more petit.



My engagement ring will be adapted so they will fit together.


We have also been looking and deciding cloths for the man to be. He looks gorgeous! Just look at this





Don't ask me what he is looking for =)


A close up of the details in the waistcoat.



The cravat is made from the same fabric that will be used in my wedding dress. The lilac color is not showing very good on photo :/

Yesterday we created a webpage about our wedding and started with the gift list, but none of this is public yet.

We have also been discussing about the honeymoon. Our first thought was to go on safari, but when we have discussed and looked at proposed routes it doesn't feel 100%. So I proposed that we should go to China instead, much since I liked it very much the first (and only) time I've been there, and my fiancé agreed that it could be nice, so we have been to a travel agency and collected some brochures. We might change our minds again, but at the moment I think both of us are rather excited about it. Doesn't this look inviting?




Hainan, China

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 =)

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 =)

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 =)

Save the date

Now is it time to start thinking of inviting people to the wedding. We have a long list of people we would love to see on our wedding and many of them are busy working hard. So we thought that a save the date card would be good to keep them from booking something else on our big day and some do have a long trip to plan as well.

My fiancé and I have been looking at different styles for invitations and programs. I find it a bit difficult to select colors... the Victorian Lilac, which is in the dress, is a bit hard to match. The color wheel tells me I should go for orange or maybe blue/dusky pink. The dusky pink fits very well together with the lilac in flowers but the orange gives a hint of warmth and sunny. Maybe we can use all three??

The design of the save the date card will be a petal envelope. Something likes this:



Ours will hopefully be lilac with a white or cream inside and then some ornament. We sat down yesterday night and tried to decide which font to use. I think the Bridezilla is starting to show up. It is just a font and I want it to be perfect... *sigh*
I'll create some examples and then we'll have to pick one. I already have the cut file (WPC) for the Bosskut Gazelle ready, so it is just to go. If you are interested in the cut file please leave a comment on this post with your email address.

Weddingflowers part 2

Just though I should show you some of the nice wedding flowers I've been seeing during my inspirational tour on different websites and blogs.

The first one is a simple bouquet with sweet peas, stock and roses. I particularly like the color scheme and the form and ribbons on this one. I think it is my favorite.



This is also a lovely bouquet in the same color scheme as the one above.



Then we have a nice rose bouquet in hot yellow. I love the color but it is a bit too much for my color scheme. I LOVE the grass and the small details such as the pearls and lace or ribbon.




Here are some with trailing designs, but not too much. I like the round form, but my fiancé likes a more trailing form, so maybe something in between in style with these?










The design on this bouquet is a bit different, but I don't like the color on the roses and I think I would like some more flowers in my bouquet.




This one also has a wonderful design




And I also found a table decoration that would fit perfect in front of the bride and groom.




I nearly can't wait until I get to speak with the florist. That’s the problem when you are living away from the area where the wedding shall be. All contact with local suppliers has to be done in such a concentrated form, and maybe not when you are in full mood for planning.
We will try to be able to look at the castle, visit the person who should fix the hair and hopefully the make-up as well, visit florists to choose one and talk about the bouquet design and also make a visit to the church to have a look inside. *phu*
And I have probably already forgotten something.... oh, yes; we need to visit someone who has grooms outfits as well. All this should be squeezed in into a couple of days and hopefully before or just after Christmas!

Wonderful flower inspiration

This is amazing! What wonderful flowers! For those of you, including me, who loves the cottage garden feel of flowers. Cottage roses and peonies are abundant and lots of other flowers.

What am I speaking of?

Have a look at the Flower Magician blog and homepage and see all the wonders for yourself. Lots and lots of wonderful inspiration both of colors and forms.



I wonder if it is possible to get David Austin roses in Sweden in August... Just look at this bouquet. It features the 'Rosalind' rose, which might fit into my color scheme.

Color wheel

I found this helpful little color wheel when I was looking around for inspiration on flowers and wedding colors. This can be used to find matching colors for your wedding.



You can choose colors from the same 'slice' and create a monochromatic scheme.
You can choose colors opposite to your primary color, or you could choose colors on either side of your primary color. These are the most common chocies, of course you can do as you like too =)

This video explains a bit more

Weddingflowers part 1

Today I'll look for inspiration on wedding flowers. I'm a bit lost here, I and my fiancé are not fancying the same things and I have a bit difficulty to put a finger on what I really like. So I'll start here by trying to describe that for you and then maybe it gets easier...

I'm very much a country girl and like to grow my own flowers in my own garden. I would love to be able to grow the flowers that are in my bouquet. Just the feeling of being able to walk outside in the summer and pick my wedding bouquet once again is wonderful. Maybe not as nicely tied as from a Florist but still, it is the same flowers, the same fragrance and the same colors. I actually think this is the most important part of the bouquet!
So where to go from here... Scented flowers, easily grown in our climate and nice colors that enhances the dress. The form of the bouquet is less important for me, but not too big and heavy. I also like ribbons and the natural feeling of the American type of bouquet where the stems of the flowers are wrapped in ribbon.



Flowers that come to my mind for easily growing are roses, stock (Matthiola incana) which scents wonderful, sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) also scenting, Lavendel, Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis), Dahlia, Hydrangea, Scabious and lots of others. For greenery there are ferns, different grasses and berries and leaf from different trees.
This means that we also can grow some of these flowers ourselves for the wedding and we don't have to buy so many... that will at least save some coins.

Regarding color I'm totaly lost. Should I go for lilac and purple and what can I mix them with? Or should I go for white/creme flowers? Or maybe something yellow or orange? What do you think?? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Now I'm off looking for flowers in magazines and the internet (what a great resource!!).

In search of shoes

Argh! I one of them that have a love hate feeling toward shoes. They should look great and they should feel great and that often don't come in the same package so to say.
When it comes to wedding shoes my hopes isn't very high to find anything I like. Either do they have sky high heels or no heels at all. Either are they very pointing in the front or very round, looking kind of childish. Just look at these (pictures borrowed from Dreambride:





So when Annette at Dreambride told me that she had contact with a shoe manufacture that create the shoe just as you want them I became a bit relieved actually. The manufacture's/shoe's name is Melody and the price is very competitive.

So all I had to do now was to decide how the shoe should look. That’s all...
Well, my imagination isn't that creative so what I did was starting to search the internet for a nice-looking shoe.
I found some... what do you think of these?









I also found this one which is the one I'm going to custom order:



I will have the heel about 6 cm high and I'll also have the ankle band a bit wider. Then we comes to colors again! You can have the shoe made to 'custom' color. At least you can choose between a lot of different colors. Of course the lilac color I have in the dress is hard to match and I don't dare to go for any other lilac or purple color since they kind of remove the brightness from the lilac in the dress. I don't want white/ivory shoes since then you can't use them again without everyone thinking about wedding. I hope to be a bit economic here and be able to use the shoe again in other affairs.
I limited the choice to silver, gold and black. The dress is so long so the shoe won't show if I don't pull the dress up. Most important for me is that the shoe, if I choose for example black, don't show in church. I think I have shocked my mother and mother-in-law enough by having color in the dress ;)
Silver and Victorian Lilac have we already discussed in this post. The gold is looking kind of yellowish. I'm not very happy with the color sample giving poor guidance.

I'll go for a safe card and choose black! In this way I have all possibilities to use the shoe again and I might shock anyone when I get in and out of the car or up a stair =)
To make the shoe a bit more sparkling, I'll add silver glitter on the loops just like on these shoes:



What do you think?? I hope they are comfy enough!

Still in the bridal shop

Yes, we are still in the bridal shop trying to decide which color to have on the wedding dress.

My fiancé likes Eggplant best, Annette, the shop owner likes Tealness, and I like Victorian Lilac.

Annette suggested that I would try the one Alfred Angelo dress she had in the shop on and then we could see the colors both on the dress and against my skin and hair. Said and done. We picked the dress and I jumped in. Well, not as much jumping. The dress was size 36 and I'm at least size 40, so we couldn't close the dress in the back, but we hold it up in the front so we could have a look. Thanks Annette for your help!!
So standing there with a big wedding dress in a small area with two helpers and very bright light I was trying to decide which color. Not an easy task, but my fiancé helped a lot. We changed a lot between colors, even the ones we had excluded beforehand and after at least half an hour we had decided.
Do you want to know??

Ok. I'm going to have Victorian Lilac =) It is not too dark, not too light and I like the color. The kind of grayness speaks to me and together with the Ivory in the dress they color doesn't look grey.
But, my fiancé can't have a silver frockcoat as we had talked about. Together with silver the lilac color will just become a grey mess. So I think we opt for black and ivory. The cravat will be in Victorian Lilac. We will buy a piece of cloth from Alfred Angelo and have it specially made for him. I think it will look great!

Here is a fake picture of the dress with the Victorian Lilac color. It isn't good, but it'll give a hint of where we are going.

Front (actually from a very similar dress but not number 1516):


Back:


And here is the color sample close up:



It feels good to have decided color for the dress. We also decided to go for Ivory in the white. I like the really sparkling white of pure white, but in the middle of the summer hopefully with a bright sun it can become too much.

Now I'm off looking for inspiration for the other parts... need shoes, a clutch, flowers, still need to do the invitations so I have to decided colors and style.
Anyone out there who has a clue what color to compliment the Victorian Lilac with? If so, just leave a comment!

Another visit to the bridal shop

Tonight my fiancé and I visited the bridal shop Dreambride again. We should try to decide the color of the dress. Both the white one and the color. So many choices! So hard!
As usual Annette, the owner of the shop, greeted us and we had a look at some shoes and clutches she had picked together for me. The shoes was very simple and looked really nice, but was too big. The clutch was also to big... Who wants to have a long package under her arm? This was nearly 30cm long, way too long for me. All other clutches was... well not in my taste either. So no luck there, I had hoped to find something nice for a bargain.

We moved on to the tiaras. I have decided I want a tiara and no veil. I want something to match the necklace, but it shouldn't be too much. We had a look at the newly income tiaras and sure, they were pretty, but I'm not in the mood to pay about 1000 Swedish crowns (100$) for a tiara. That would certainly break my bank. Lucky I, Annette had some tiaras left from the old shop which is now on sale. I found a gorgeous one. Maybe not the best handcraft, but who cares? I should only have it a couple of hours and if you don't look on the back it looks sparkling and just wonderful.

I'll post a picture here later... and here it is, better late then never.



Now time to move on to the dress =)
I showed the flower girl dress that so reminded about the wedding dress I've been looking at for my fiancé. He had already seen pictures of the real dress on the internet, but as you know, that is not the same as feeling the dress!
I wouldn't dare to buy a wedding dress over the internet without having been to a shop and feel the quality first.
Anyway. He liked the dress just as much as I and Annette showed him the color samples. A lot of colors to choose from! I showed him which colors I had excluded and why. We where choosing between Tealness, Eggplant, Riviera Sky and Victorian Lilac. Riviera Sky was removed almost immediately. It was too light and did nothing to my skin or eyes. Tealness enhances my eyes very well but I'm not overly fond of the color. My fiancé thought Victorian Lilac was too light and too grey. And yes, I must admit, the color is grey looking when compared with the other lilac colors in the color sample.
But, and this is very important! We held the colors up one by one towards an Ivory dress and they change. It is as if you changes the light in the room or removes all other colors. Toward that white they all looked sparkling and lively. But we still couldn't decide. My fiancé likes the Eggplant best; I think it is too dark.

... will continue in next post...