Four Favourites

Adorable fudge cupcakes favours

This week has flown by, which is great because it means we are another week closer to spring. I've been day dreaming about summer BBQs with friends and being able to leave the house with a simple summer dress on. Apart from our friends wedding it has been a pretty quite weekend and with the weather being awfully cold most of it was spent indoors. The next few weeks will be busy with my Mum's birthday and my little god daughters first birthday.

A shot from our last visit to Napier

This beautiful book was sent to me and I'm loving it

New lounge decor

Beaded Bliss

As you know I love anything that is reminiscent of the Art Deco period, that's why this dress caught my eye. Its delicate beading and classic shape made it a must have for me. I felt it was perfect for attending our friends wedding during the weekend. I paired the dress with these shoes to give the it a more modern feel.  Cold wind and rain forced us to take photos inside so the light isn't that great sorry guys!

5 ways to : Save money on your wedding

Weddings are expensive, that's no secret, but there are so may ways you can keep costs down. Brendan and I were married in April this year after starting dating in 2007 and being engaged for just over a year. I had so many grand plans for the big day, like the venue we first looked at that was a third of what our whole day cost just in venue hire!  Safe to say we didn't use that venue. Moral of the story is that grand plans aside you have to be able to afford it and since we payed for the day ourselves, we needed to find a way to still have the perfect day that didn't bankrupt us!

1) Don' be afraid to ask your friends and family for help. You'll be surprised how many are so willing.  I had my friends drying petals for me from the day we got engaged.  My little brother's new girlfriend is a trained florist and was more than happy to put together all the flowers for the day,  my mum spent many nights cutting of paper hearts that lined our aisle, a lovely friend did my hair and make up.You get the idea. Find out what your friends love to do or are good at and use them!

2) Op shopping, Thirft shopping, Flea markets. Whatever you call them they are a brilliant resource. I found so many of the decorative items at our local op shop and collected them over the months. Crystal bud vases, photo frames, jars and bottles. All were so cheap and it was just a matter of buying them as they came up and storing them until the big day.

3) DIY as much as you can. The hessian table runners I was looking at buying were more expensive then the huge roll of hessian and lace I bought to make our own.It took time but saved us so much money. Instead of having flowers down the aisle we spent months cutting out paper hearts and gluing them onto sticks. This was probably my least favourite job of the wedding prep but it was so worth it, the final outcome was striking. If you have the time making your decorations will save you a large amount of money.

4)Decide what is important to you. I fell in love with the first dress I tried on but it was $3500, there was no way that fit into our budget. As I thought about it more I realised that I was going to wear the dress for less than 8 hours but look at the photos for the rest of my life, So I choose a similar dress but much cheaper and used the extra money to hire a brilliant photographer. Now I have the most breathtaking photos to remind me of the day an you can't tell that my dress didn't cost me a small fortune. I knew having a videographer was very important to me so we cut costs on things like the invites and the cake.


5) Favours. To be honest I've never understood these. Guest should want to be part of your special day and if you are paying for dinner and have the bar tab covered then that in itself is a favour. Since a lot of our guests travelled and paid for their own accommodation at the venue I felt that I did need to do something, so I got our wedding photos made into magnets from Magnapix and sent one out with each thank you card.

Here's a selection of the magnets I had printed. Of course I got a set for our fridge

There are many more ways to save on your big day but these are the ways that helped the hubby and I afford the best day of our lives!

Wedding: Inside Glance

Here's a little look at our wedding.

Brendan and I were married 2 months ago after being together for almost 8 years. We wanted a laid back by still glamorous and timeless wedding.

 I have always dreamt of having a fishtail dress and this one with its delicate beading and lace was perfectly vintage for me. It was a dream to wear and paired amazingly with my mums veil

 Brendan knew from the get go he didn't want to be in a full suit, so we settled for a waistcoat with fit our vintage but relaxed theme.

Photos by the lovely Florence. If you are getting married check out her work, she is amazing and so easy to work with.

Our venue Makoura Lodge is set in the middle of farm country and provided some stunning locations for our photos and breathtaking views. The staff here are outstanding and will do everything in their power to make your day run flawlessly.