Phew, what a wedding season!! So many wonderful, gorgeous brides and weddings, well done 2012! And to top it off, my family and I get to start thinking about next year’s bonanza wedding, as my little bro is getting married in Autumn 2013 (well, spring for him and his fiance as they live in Brisbane..!?!)!
Now, even though I’ve been through the highs and lows of planning a wedding (although I was one of the lucky few whose partner was heavily involved), I am always amazed at how early the planning, booking and decision making begins. The smug sense of ‘having nearly done it all’ once the venue, photographer and caterer have been sorted is quite entertaining to me – ahh, those starting the journey, you’ll see how far from the truth this is 2/3 weeks before your day ;0)!
So, I thought I’d spend a few minutes putting together some of the fantastic suppliers I’ve met and worked with, to help any of you starting out on your wedding day planning.
The large budget items I mentioned earlier, ie the venue, are usually the things that get done first. With good reason! It’s the finishing touches that get left until later, flowers, makeup, mother of the bride outfit (possibly not something at the top of a Bride’s list, but still requires your time and attention), jewelry for example, are those areas you usually come round to decide on later in the process.
Now, I think almost all girls love flowers?? Personally, I love the scent and delicate nature of flowers. However, I’m always disappointed how quickly cut flowers die (and then create that green goo in the vase?!!). Especially disappointing in relation to wedding flowers, which let’s face it, aren’t cheap and are usually left behind at the venue, never to be seen again. If only you could have them as a keepsake, decorating your home for ever more. The solution??? I have it for you…. I have the pleasure of introducing an extremely talented lady, Claire Rowswell and her company Design and Deliver http://www.designdeliver.co.uk/ . She makes the most beautiful “handcrafted flowers – luxurious, unique, bespoke blooms”. As she says, “a love for the sculpted form of flowers and a passion for design, led me to design my own unique handcrafted sculpted flowers”. She provides flowers for all aspects of your wedding day, in the colours you desire to fit with your theme! Awesome!
One of her Brides and their bouquet
Decorating the cake to perfection
The lady herself, hard at work
Moving on to some finishing touches, jewelry. I used this company, and saw that a couple of ‘my’ brides also had pieces from this collection. Gorgeous sparkly items, great prices and so much choice. Well, sounded damn good to me ;0) Check out http://www.glitzysecrets.com/ . Vintage or modern, they have something to suit everyone. As a finishing touch to the finishing touch, each item you purchase comes in the pretty pink and black box, so storage post wedding is sorted!
On to fashion!! Now, we all know how hard it can be to find that perfect outfit, or one particular item, for an event (or even just day to day styling). Check out this super stylish and talented lady, Josie Stevens http://www.notjustadress.com/ . She is the stylist (and all round fun, great person to boot!) to help you, your mum, or mum-in-law to be!! As she points out she’s “worked within the fashion industry for over 10 years across a number of different fields, and because of this consistently found myself being the friend that everyone turned to for fashion do’s and don’ts, or boyfriends and husbands contacted for help with finding the perfect present”.
Finally, makeup ;0) I bet you have no idea who I think should get your attention…… MOI! Check out my site http://hazelburford.com/ to see my full portfolio (follow the link to see more wedding images). Here are a few Brides from this year’s bounty!
Have you found some great suppliers you’d like to recommend?? Let us know :0) Happy planning…
Hazel Burford Makeup Artist 