How we got married for less then $1000

When people talk about weddings and getting married they always come out with insanely high prices. Perhaps they aren't that insane - just the going rate for what a wedding costs. But they don't have to be that way. Granted our wedding was small, we had five guests but it was booked last minute but some of the tips can be passed on regardless of the scale of your big day. Admittedly we saved on our wedding because we wanted to splash out on Chicago, our honeymoon - that's just the way we are and this is just how we did it our way. 

Paperwork; $20/£12

Like everyone we had to have a wedding licence to get married, luckily it only cost $20. [No getting around this].

Stationary; $20/£12

If your crafty you can keep your costs down by making a lot of the stationary items yourself which is what we did with the invites. After finding a love bird stamp on etsy which we could personalise with our initials for $9 it was the perfect for stamping postcards and slotting them into envelopes. [Think save the dates, invites and thanks you].

Our home made invites.

Venue; $300/£185

We got married at the Teacup Wedding venue which is in Ann Arbor, about an hour away from where we live. It was an internet find, one specialising in low budget quick weddings which was ideal for us because of the whole visa issue - not knowing when I was moving and having only 90 days in which to do it. Dates can be booked at the last minute with great prices. The amount of guests affects the price so we opted for the package with six guests - we still could pick the style of the ceremony [religious/humanist]. It suited us just fine because we never wanted that church wedding because we're not religious. [Just think outside the box].

Meal; $200/£125

Having a celebratory meal was always important to me and a more informal way of getting everyone around the table talking for us and our five guests. We opted to go to the lovely Italian restaurant Grazi, also in Ann Arbor - we didn't hold back in splashing out either on $40 glasses of wine and really nice meals. This way we got lovely food and drink and didn't have to bother with hiring venues and so on. Yes we were sitting along the normal guests within the restaurant but it got people coming up and congratulating us - but you could always hire a private room. 

Dresses and suits; $245/£150

I always wanted a dress that I would, or at least could wear again - to me wearing a dress just once is a waste of money. But I could never picture myself in a traditional wedding dress - just not me at all. After not seeing any dress I liked in department stores I ended up buying one from Forever 21 for $30. Yes $30. Granted most brides probably don't buy their dress from a high street store but it suited me to a tee and it's what I felt confident in. Shoes were from Payless for $15 and the jewelry I already had or were gifted to me [more about what I wore can be read here].

My dress

With regards to suits for Joe - we went to the Men's Warehouse - a huge chain in the US which has gorgeous contemporary suits. Making the most of their offers we actually came away with two for $200 mainly because Joe didn't own one already - if he had, it would have been even cheaper. But a suits an investment anyway. 

Rings; $90/£55

Now that might seem very cheap but let me explain. My own ring was a gift from Joe's gran which fitted perfectly and I love knowing it has a history behind it. So that left us only having to buy a ring for Joe which we managed to pick up at a JC Penny's sale. Using a family members discount we got it even cheaper. My parents wedding rings were cheap ones and they've lasted 30 odd years. You don't have to splash out.

Flowers; $35/£25

As soon as you mention flowers when it comes to wedding and the costs will shoot through the skies. A way of keeping it cheaper is to make your own bouquet. Being winter and not having a garden ourselves this was a little limited, but when there's a will there's a way. What's big in the US is using fake flower bouquets - not only are they cheaper, they are crafty and, well mines still alive today and makes a great center piece on our dinning table. Again I was savvy and brought my fake bouquet from Michael's while it was half off in a sale.

 My flowers.

Photography; free
Whatever your budget you want some great photographs to remember the day. In our case I gave my camera to one of our guests [who volunteered I didn't make them] and they snapped away. We don't have hundreds of photographs and we don't have all those posed ones everyone else has, but that's fine by us.

Grand total - $910/£560
So that was our way, granted it still cost us money - but its what we could afford. We didn't have hand outs by family members. We paid for it all ourselves, so we had it our way. Never feel like you have to have a huge wedding if that isn't what you - its your special day and your guests will enjoy it all the same, and if you want to include the honeymoon it would still be less then $2000 all in. I hope anyone can take some tips or ideas off ours.

Would you ever have a super low key wedding? Share your tips in your comments for keeping to a budget!

Inherited vintage rings

When Joe's gran came up from Florida for our wedding, she brought with her some of her rings that Joe's late granddad had given her over the years. She so kindly passed them onto me as part of welcoming me into the family. Since she gave me then they've been kept in my drawers and its only now that I've got them out and worn me. I'm not a huge ring wearer, I don't even wear my engagement ring everyday and I still find it odd showering with my wedding ring on. Now I'm opting to wear my rings a little more. All the rings I own have been passed down to me, the only new one being my engagement ring. They were passed to me to keep them going, so that's what I'm hoping to do and I thought I'd share them with you. I've posted about my engagement and wedding rings before so I'll focus on the new additions. 

Ring 1 - Joe's gran's wedding ring
Ring 2 - Flower ring formally my grans
Ring 3 - Platiumn ring - a gift from Joe's grandad to his gran, now my wedding ring
Ring 4 - My engagment ring
Ring 5 - Pearl set ring another gift from Joe's grandad to his gran

If you remember my wedding ring is actually one of the ring's Joe's late grandfather brought for his gran. It's a gorgeous, yet simple platinum ring. Rather then being flat it rises up with the middle being a good 4-5mm in height if that makes any sense. Its simplicity is what I love about it, it sits so nicely against my engagement ring that although they aren't the same metal or shape and that they were brought decades between each other. From the moment I tried one the ring it fitted perfectly [seriously my fingers small that rings often have to be resized] I knew this was meant to be my wedding ring.

But there's also a second wedding ring to my collection - a 14k gold ring that was Joe's gran's when she married his grandfather. It's just a little too tiny to wear everyday and I've always been a white metal girl hence why I'm not using it as my own but I'm on a mission to wear it more. Its a lovely ring in great condition, even the etching around the edges is still clear.

The pearl ring and the gold wedding ring.

There was also the mother of pearl ring which sits upon a silver metal [metal I'm really not sure which type]. The pearl is a little loose and this ring is the smallest of them all so I can only wear it on my little finger so sadly this is one, unless I get it altered won't see the light of day too much.

Lastly there is my gran's ring of which I truly love the shape. From a thin base the band curves up and thickness into a width wide enough to be the bed for this gem stoned flower. We were going to get it priced [if that is the right wording for it] to see just what those stones may be and to see if they knew of a possible age but I never got around to it before leaving the UK. Again it was one of those rings that just fitted and along with the Singer Sewing Machine and the vintage compacts it was one of the few things my mum passed to me that was my gran's so it has a very special meaning to me. Maybe all these including my wedding and engagement rings will get passed down to our grand children.

Have you inherited any rings? What do you want to pass down to your children and their children?

Our Wedding Sampler

Being partial to a bit of crafting, I thought I would design myself a wedding sampler. Why design my own rather then merely buy a kit? Because the ones I found to buy [somewhat limited] were either super traditional or super cute [IE teddy bears]. Neither are us. Being a fan of blackwork - which is basically working with backstich in creating patterns. So I thought I'd use that as my basis, searching on google images, pinning things as I went and a bit of imagination I managed to create this in just over a month;

Measuring a fair 8 x 13 inches it features wedding chains, roses to represent my Yorkshire roots, love hearts, snow flakes because we got married in December and it snowed on our way to Chicago for our honeymoon and also a quote from Captain Corelli's Mandolin that featured in our wedding ceremony. It was so fun to sew, knowing it was marking such an important mile stone in our relationship and lives.

I framed it myself using special backing board for sewing projects and a frame that was on clearance. Over all the project cost just under $15 which was really good going seeing most shop brought samplers were at least $25. It now proudly hangs upon our wall above the TV - it has the pride of place in the whole apartment!

Have you ever designed any sewing projects? Did you do anything special craft wise to mark your wedding day?  What are you crafting at the moment?

US

"When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident".

Our wedding day and one of our readings from Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Invites to a venue

When you start making your wedding a little crafty and homemade that is when the fun really starts. We wanted to make our wedding personal to us, rather then having the same old invites you can print out and in fact doing it ourselves worked out a cheaper and I think the outcome is more lovely overall. We brought our personalised stamp from Etsy and made our postcard size and style invites on a cold early spring evening in Edinburgh on our holiday last March. It's a stamp we hope to use over and over for thank yous and so on.

Our wedding venue we stumbled across on the internet. When we originally started hunting for a venue it was one of the first we found, we loved it for a while, then dismissed it, then fell back in love with it. It's a simple white ranch house in a little quiet area of Ann Arbor here in Michigan called the Tea Cup Wedding house. When it came to our actual wedding day I was parted from my beloved camera so I couldn't get the chance to take all the photographs that I would have [all the little details of the room and such] so i'm relaying on internet images for those of the house and inside just to give you, the readers a bigger picture of what we had for our special day. We had a really simple contemporary ceremony and our vows reflected us and our relationship amazingly well.

Afterwards we all headed down to downtown Ann Arbor for our wedding meal in a gorgeous Italian restaurant called Grazti. There we had the most yummist of meals, drank a lot of posh expensive wine and generally had a really good time. In reflection it was the most amazing day we could have ever asked for.

All the little wedding things

Until you get married you forget all the added extras that come into call for your outfit. The back history is that I'm on my third dress for the wedding, after falling out with the first and the second not fitting. With the second result I went into panic overdrive and with only a week left before the wedding the hunt was really on. Then I stumbled over this little sheer knee length, sleeved dress from Forever 21. Its a gorgeous rich peachy colour and from the moment I tried it on, I knew it was the one. While it's not a traditional wedding dress as such, colour or design wise it's totally me. Our wedding venue was a little different, our vows were contemporary [they made me cry every time I read them and the selected reading before the day] but this all reflects us, and our wishes for our day. I guess when you pay for it all and organise it yourselves rather then having families involved you get that added extra freedom.

I have been very silent on blogger and twitter for the past week but now we're back from our honeymoon [five nights in Chicago] i'll find the time to bombard you with tales and loads of photographs of our adventures [will be hard narrowing down from the 450+ photos that I took]. 

Flowers

I feel we're being extravagant getting flowers for the wedding, we're having a tiny wedding with around 6-8 guests [depending on who actually shows] and with not having a conventional wedding dress, having flowers seems to me a little odd. But I kind of wanted some. It's also one of the elements we left a little late, having only getting around to getting out to places on Tuesday. But luckily the first place we went too was the place that had the bouquet I had to have. We had old photographs of great aunts upon the Palace Green in Durham after getting married holding huge bouquets with trailing ivy and seeing this one with just that made it feel like they were meant to be mine. Plus ivy itself makes it a bit more seasonal. 

The truth is these flowers are fake. 

I'm not sure how I feel admitting that, but I guess having fake flowers do have some benefits, with going on the honeymoon on Friday we would never get to enjoy having real flowers in the apartment, plus any flowery fragrance may be tempted to add to our sneezes. Plus this way, I at least get to keep them for as long as I ever want too and like they are sitting now, they make a gorgeous center piece for our new kitchen table.

Thursday and a wedding ...

One element that possibly has been lacking on the blog post front is mentions of our wedding. This in part is through Joe having my blog as has home page [so mentioning of clothes and outfits go out the window because it doesn't want to see or know anything about what i'm wearing before Thursday]. Perhaps it reflects us as people - we're rather laid back about our wedding and we've never felt the need to go on and on about our day or us, we've never been ott about your relationship. But its come to the point where it's only days away and most of the details and plans are in order, well most of them so I thought I should start sharing the details with you all.

I thought I would start with our wedding rings. Joe's ring is made from tungsten which we managed to hunt down in JCPennys [American department store] I love it for it's simplicity, it's thickness and it's little edging design.  My ring is platinum and is a gift from Joe's gran to myself. In fact it's a ring Joe's grandad brought for her and it fits perfectly - which is amazing when i have such tiny fingers. Additionally it matches well with my white gold engagement ring. I love knowing my ring has a  history and one that is filled with love. I know both Joe's gran and his grandads memory are really important in his life and i'm glad they have an important part in our wedding even if his grandad can't be there in person to share in our special day.

Our Winter Wedding

Yesterday we recieved our confirmation for booking our wedding venue one of the lines made me totally think of Don't Tell the Bride; "Good communication is key to a successful event. We have found that is the bridge or groom is not included/participating in the planning, he/she may have expectations outside of the understood agreements - which may not be accommodated upon arrival". Kinda hard organising a wedding with a massive ocean in between so I've let Joe sort a lot of our plans, he has my dress [hidden I will add]  sorted the date and booked the venue. With the stress of moving and visas I'm glad I've been able to take a back seat and let my boy ironing out the details.

I'd always imagined having an autumnal wedding and that's what we'd set out to have, then things got pushed back to hoping to be married in November [even posting a blog with the date we wanted to marry] only to have it pushed back again. Now with my visa in my passport we booked our date for the start of December; in just over six weeks. It feels so much more real and secure knowing we've paid and booked our date. I've spent the last couple of days on weheartit.com and pin interest searching for winter wedding inspiration - loving the idea of white simple flowers, with a flicker of greens, browns and pale pinks showing through. I'm not really sure what's next to sort, we still need a licence but we can't get that till I move, then rings, flowers and a suit for my boy! Exciting times!!

LIFE: Crackles

Yesterday we went to the arboretum at Castle Howard which is part of the Kew Garden network, for £5 you get to wander around a vast section of international and British trees set in a gorgeous location of rolling North Yorkshire fields. Visiting became a perfect chance of capturing the oranges, reds and yellows of the autumnal leaves and another excuse to test drive the new camera. What I love most about autumn is the colours and the crackles of walking over fallen leaves and the colours they turn. The more I play and learn about this camera the more I come to love it, there's some things I don't fully understand - especially how it changes the f scale [it does it randomly] but I'm fully at home with using the manual setting; which coming from a point and shoot camera to going fully manual is, in my eyes a big jump.

Tomorrow begins my last week at work, five days and then it's bye bye Boots. I began there as a Christmas temp in 2009 after giving up on a job offer to be a university researcher [why?! - long story] then got pulled into the dispensary. Don't get me wrong it has its really good moments and I've learn loads about medicines  but it's not what I went to university [twice] for. I might miss the people but I won't miss the conversation. So our plans are starting to slowly fall into place. Joe booked our wedding venue yesterday while I was out wandering around so that's all nicely sorted - never pictured having a winter wedding and I hope it's dry and not too cold!

And today I finally booked my plane ticket so there's only 16 days left in the UK. Its starting to get very real and nervy lately and there's still lots to do. Next up is a hotel for the evening seeing it's an early morning flight. So my question to you, for your last night in the UK would you splash out for a cosy nicer bed or slum it to save money? Baring in mind I'll be checking out at like 5.30am.

Part seventeen - papers!

It always seems you have to take what the embassy say with a pinch of salt, from not having to pay before your visa until the day, to in reality having to have your payment receipt to actual be allowed to get in and everything else that occurred last week that nearly sidetracked our plans. When the courier lady declared it would take at least seven to ten working days before i'd receive my papers and passport I was resigned to not getting anything till next week. Then yesterday I got a text from the couriers declaring my visa papers would be delivered tomorrow [as in today]. I was nicely shocked to say the slightest! No doubt I probably annoyed people having to have another day off work but I needed someone to be home to take the parcel, with my ID and sign for it, it's my problem so I couldn't ask my parents to do it really plus with nine working days left at work [well eight now] they'll have to get use to being a man down.

One thing I always hate about waiting in for parcels or delivery people no matter what it might be, is their lax timing for arriving, anywhere between 8am and 6pm - well that's helpful! I was expecting it to be more at the latter end of the scale but surprisingly it was here by 9.30am! Good times. They lady I had part of my interview with at the embassy told me what to do with it once i received it, you have to open it in a certain way so you don't damage or tear the inner envelope. So inside is this hugely A3 paper envelope with huge declarations how I'm not allowed to open it or pack it into my suitcase and how only immigration in Detroit airport can open it when I go through the grueling immigration questioning. Luckily they returned my passport within which they've stuck in a fancy new colourful pages (very much like the design of the American passport) with a new photograph of me, my visa details on it and when I have to get my arse into America by (April 2012). So that's it, I have my papers, I can fly and (hopefully) enter and be with my boy! I should probably be looking at flights but I keep feeling I'm running out of time for when we originally wanted me to fly (November 4th) I still need to sort my banking out and parcel up stuff to send over. Ahhhhh!

They also resent the photocopy of the guidance regarding k-1 visas and how we have to marry within 90 days of me landing - just in case you forgot while doing your application. Luckily the boy's sorting out a lot of the wedding organisation. We have an eye on a date (December 8th); venue; a place for the meal and my dress is hiding in Joe's closet. Exciting!!

Part eleven; stress.

You might have noticed I haven't blogged anything about my visa lark for about a month, well it's time to admit I'd stressed and not coping too well with it all. What topped it off today was the same woman laughing in my face for not having my interview date, it took huge effort to just not burst into tears on the shop floor.

I had a somewhat stupid idea that after having my medical everything would fal into place really quick, that I'd be having my interview around about now and moving in a month or so. Yeah right. It's this utter wall of silence from the embassy that i really can't deal with, you hear nothing, not one little word and you hear of people going through the whole process four times the speed your going through, it's just like how?! What are the secrets? Apart from angry phone calls to the embassy which while i'm tempted apparently is a very costly business [something over a pound a minute]. And everyone moans about how immigration is meant to be easy?

This somewhat delays most probably ruling out the wedding till December if not till next year. So much for the November the 10th and Chicago as the honeymoon. Everything seems to be failing. To say I'm not stressed may be somewhat of an understatement and over coming the urge for tears isn't fun. Especially at work. But that's what you get for trying to sort out a wedding before you have a visa. Now it just feels like they are trying to push us apart, i'm scared i'll never see my boy again.

What makes everything so much harder is how much I miss Joe, i'm sick of pretending to people outside of me and Joe that i'm strong and that not seeing him doesn't bother me, because in reality I hate it. I don't rant and i don't rave about our relationship because i'm not that kind of person. I actually hate it when people go on and on about their private lives, so to to other people i'm very quiet about what's occurring. But this silence is associated with a strength and a toughness that being apart doesn't bother me. I utterly hate being apart. Hate, hate, hate. It's all so incredibly hard not being with him at the moment, I know there's people in far harder and greater, and more distant relationships out there and I sound like i'm whining and moaning. I am grateful and thankful for having such an amazing guy, a guy that actually wants to make this work. It's just hard being without him physically and being able to touch him and see him when I wake up.

Guess need to pull myself together and plaster on a smile yet I know tomorrow at work I'll get the same daily question from the woman who laughed, and I just know she'll laugh at me all over again.

 Picture taken from weheartit.com

Sometimes we're rather radical

I'm starting to think Joe may have caught my lets to things randomly bug. It's the same bug that got me into doing an MA, made me get tattoos, dyed my hair random colours. Ok not really huge things, but ya know. For some reason i'd taken out and dusted off the dress that I'd brought from TMaxx for our wedding, ever since I'd brought it i'd always had a little inch of doubt about it but I thought i'd go with it. Trying it on again and the last little bit of hope I had vanished. Trouble is, with it being V necked in shape, it was rather revealing and went rather low - possibly not the most flattering for a wedding and more then a nightmare when it came to trying to find suitable underwear to wear underneath. Don't get me wrong it is a gorgeous dress, ivory and white in colour with Georgian like ruffles and gathers down the back with a ribbon bow formed into black flowers under the bust. What was even better was that is only cost £30.

The first wedding dress with the black flower detailing.

I don't know how it came about, I normally moan about my dress and then forget about it for another month or two but on Sunday I actually started poking around for dresses just to see what else there was available that was wedding like, not an overly formal dress, but one that was special yet wouldn't break the bank. Joe stumbled upon the Milanoo website just to nosey at other dresses and I happily clicked upon the wedding dresses and I just totally fell in love with the first one on their page. I'm a totally lucky girl because Joe even brought it for me :D

This champagne coloured [you can also get it in pink, grey, pink and ivory], a line, knee length dress is totally my dress. It even comes with the flowers attached. It was partly a guess with the dress size and we opted for the champagne colour. Luckily I'm not one for superstition because Joe's already seen it - well the picture of it at least and it is getting delivered to his flat. Hopefully it looks half decent on - it's a slight risk but sometimes they pay off.

Time to think about weddings?

I still find it odd trying to get my head around the idea that in two months [i really really hope] we'll be married. It's got to the point where you have to see and sort things out beyond the visa interview because if you don't nothing will get done and it'll all just be an insane crazy rush. So i've been trying to get my head into thinking about weddings and how we want it and just the little details. We're never wanted a big wedding which is rather lucky because a fiancee visa doesn't really allow you much planning time [we have to be married within 90 days of me entering the USA] so we've always opted to wanting to be married by the Judge. That suits us just fine.We're eloping as much as we can - our families won't really be there. I know some people don't understand that, maybe it makes us selfish?

Because I've never really imagined myself getting married I'm not too up on what you need to sort and do. Thankfully Joe's work colleagues are helping us out and having a party for us after our honeymoon, as too his Gran is sorting out our rings, so that takes some of the stress out. Ruffledblog.com [which is the source of all the above images] has always been a great inspiration to me, it's full of the quirky little real weddings you can actually see yourself having, rather then all the ones that fill the static wedding magazines.

So what is sorted? Our rings we're hopefully being given to us by Joe's gran [the story behind this is worthy of a post alone], my dress was high street [I just need to remember to pack it], my shoes colour I fancy something colourful but haven't a clue what, Joe's suit colour - we're playing with colour and it definitely won't be black but i don't know how formal it should be. For some reason we were talking about blue flowers for the bouquet and I haven't a clue as to why. Ahhhhhhh ...

And here's me thinking eloping was meant to be the easy option!Yet I still don't know where to start ... all ideas would be totally, totally welcome xx

Part nine; November 10th

I got my police form back on Tuesday for my visa. I'm apparently not a criminal, or at least they have no trace of me ever being one, which is rather reassuring because it would have confused the life out of me if it had come back declaring some criminal involvement. The arrival of the police form allowed me to book the second to last stage of the visa [ordeal] journey - booking that frightful medical. I borrowed works phone line and rang up this morning after repeated attempts at getting through it took a good half hour for it not to be engaged. The lady on the other end of the phone seemed lovely and talked me through what I need to bring and where to go. So on Tuesday 23 [yeap that close] I have a [somewhat dreaded] adventure to London. I'm planning to go down on the Monday and stay over night, perhaps be a bit of a tourist for the day and after the medical if there's any time left. Need a bit of time away from work and this is a perfect excuse. 

So now all the rest of the forms can be sent off, with police forms, finance forms, relationship evidence, birth certificates, passport copies and endless forms stating your an alien with American passport photos attached. To finish it all off you're advised to send it with a cover letter declaring a wedding date. I've always found this odd seeing throughout the whole process your constantly reminded NOT to book travel plans yet alone anything as substantial as a wedding! I can't really remember why we picked that weekend in November, it just seemed to fit right. If everything goes to plan we want to be married on the Thursday and on the way to Chicago for the long weekend on the Friday. 

It might only be three months away but it seems a lifetime.

Bouquet

Watching through sleepy eyes there was a news article on the early morning BBC regarding a lady (in my neck of the woods) working within a co-operative who was aiming to positively challenging the influx of foreign cut flowers on sale within the English market. Currently only 15 per cent of the flowers we buy are grown within the UK, which as a nation of apparent green fingers surprised me somewhat.

I myself, am not green fingered in the slightest, but I do love flowers as you've probably noted from my countless Sunday snapshots of them. And while I might be getting married in America I'm planning on sourcing the flowers for my wedding bouquet with a bit of an English twist if that's at all possible in getting English-like flowers in the suburbs of Detroit. But for now, the TV article inspired me to bring some life into the grey showery day was today. With sweet peas grown on the parents allotments, accompanied by lavender, roses, daisy's and greenery from the back garden, not only does this posy smell divine it's a welcome splash of colour.

When me and Joe manage to get a place with a yard, I want to fill it with traditional flowers to get lost within, flowers to get the insects and the birds flying in. Something to bring colour and fun.

If your interesting in reading more about Gill Hodgson's attempt at increasing the scale of British flowers within the cut flower market you can see the BBC article here and the video here.

Rolls

The first attempt in a very long time - its a work in progress, Honest. Just ignore the back bit and the fact it needs dying again!

I got a bit down lately with my hair - I haven't had it cut in ages and it eats up hair dye like a hungry monster. Because of my job - [dispenser in a pharmacy] in a dull starch white uniform being aside from the norm isn't given air time so I rarely try to do anything "nice" with my hair. Yet I would love to be more vintage - I love the eras, the clothes and the culture - yet I don't partake in it myself. Through growing more into myself and who I am its an avenue I want to venture down a little further. That and getting married - for which I do want a vintage hair style,  the dress is somewhat vintage but quirky in design, I have my eyes on red t-bar heels and there for sure will be red lipstick.

But rolls and my hair don't go well, I think its all the layers, bits fall out, rolls go lopsided or die within an hour. Then my arms start to ache, I get frustrated and then don't try again for months. Waking up on Tuesday morning [my day off] I was determined to give it a proper go - armed with hairspray, bobby pins a bottle full of determination and a flowery bobble it ended rather well - for a first go;

A bit of alreet for a first go?

I'd love to know how to do the more complicated and stylish rolls - but I guess it all takes time and learning but wearing it this way for the past two days seems to have gone down well at work with lots of lovely compliments. Having spied Belinda Hay's Style Me Vintage - Hair on Amazon, it that looks like it might be worth a try - has anyone used it? Or perhaps know any more sources for inspiration and guides for the novice that I am? All the videos i've come across on You Tube make it look so easy and I suck at interpreting it!

Something blue

If you follow the old rhyme a bride on her wedding day should wear something blue, this is alongside the old - our wedding rings from Joe's gran, the something borrowed which because Joe looks at this I can't reveal and the something new - maybe my dress counts[?] to bring her luck. I'm slightly stuck on the something blue - and searching the net doesn't reveal too much inspiration;

A blue tattoo - being a tattooed girl I could see the appeal I just don't have any designs currently that warrant adding blue to them and the more I look at this picture the more fake the tattoo looks.

Brides wedding garter within something blue 1920s inspired from Etsy - not sure why but garters don't appeal to me.

Vintage blue flowered hanky - now this I could do and may have to investigate. So pretty isn't it?

Now i'm a huge fan of wearing coloured shoes for your wedding and i'm planning on wearing red for my own - I pretty much grew up wearing red shoes and they've always been my favourite.

For me I guess adding blue into the jewellery might be one of the easiest ways to go - I haven't really thought about jewellery as of yet but I love this necklace - it's very accesorize-esque.

What would be better then going off to your reception - or even on your honeymoon in a vintage blue car?!

So i'm really not sure and i'm not sure what most people do - I guess what adds to the mixture is that red is probably after cream/white is the main colour - because of my shoes being red and i'll be working around that. So I guess it has to be a blue that goes with the vintage bright red you see on the nails and lips of your starlets. 

What would you do, or what for your own wedding day did you do to celebrate the old something blue?

Pippa

There's something utterly gorgeous about the hair style of Pippa Middleton at her sister's royal wedding last Friday. While merely a "simple" half up and half down style coming to the back from a deep side parting, with loose curls just fluttering down her back, its embellished and entangled with sweet lilly of the valley flowers setting off the brides bouquet and the flowers within the abbey.

Having a thrifty wedding is our plan and I may just have to scorch this idea to memory and recycle it.

But it is gorgeous, don't you think?!

Image taken from here.

Some love birds jumping on the wedding bandwagon

I guess the feeling of love is in the air today and after the gorgeous wedding of William and Kate its rather understandable. The dress, the flowers the atmosphere was stunning. But this whole talk and air of wedding and love makes me want to rush forward and sort out my own wedding. 

When me and Joe was on holiday we spent a night stamping out our wedding invites. We'd had the love bird stamp we brought off etsy personalised with our initials R and J put in the love heart between the love birds. Its only about 2.5cm square in size but its so adorable and cute that is just perfect. On the back is a stamped version of an old postcard. Everyone came out a little bit different, the ink perhaps darker or lighter in some. But that is what makes it perfect. Having that rustic edge.

Now just can't wait for having a date to write upon them and send them all out!