The Royal Wedding

Noone can have avoided that the British prince got married to his Kate today and especially not if you, like me, live in London. Me and David chose not to go into central and get squeezed to death by all the thousands of people who lined the streets. But we did watch the whole thing on TV. The entire four hours. So here comes a few thoughts I had about the wedding:

Things I liked

• I loved Kate Middleton's dress by Sarah Burton. Like many has commented, it resembles the dress Grace Kelly wore at her wedding. It's very feminine, understated and fitted her beautifully.
• I also loved the 1936 Cartier 'Halo' tiara that the queen lent to the bride and the hand-embroided veil.
• The bouquet is simple and gorgeous.
• The prince looked good in his uniform.
• The flower girls and page boys were darling.
• Kate's sister and bridesmaid Pippa looked beautiful in a white dress.
• I also liked the trees in the chapel.
• And the trumpets.
• That you could see how much they loved each other and that William was holding back tears at the ceremony.
• The TWO kisses on the balcony. Awwww...
• The military flights flying over the balcony (Only cause they then flew over out garden and we saw them live, thus reminding us that we were not far away from the whole thing).

Things I didn't like

• "You will get married in the fear of god". Jesus Christ (no pun intended), I didn't realise that not only were church weddings full of talk about god (obviously), but that they were absolutely full of preaching about fear, sin and obedience. Isn't this suppose to be a happy and joyful occasion? I am getting happier and happier about our choice to get married in a civil ceremony.
• I wasn't a fan of the song selection in church. Although it was quite funny when they sang 'God save the queen' and the queen just stood there. And were was the wedding march? I like the traditional wedding march...
• The Sand on the roads between the Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Filling in potholes? Not very glamourous.
• Ceremony was a bit long.

Wedding rings

Have been looking at wedding rings this evening. As I have a raised diamond engagement ring (similar to the third picture on the top row) it's a bit tricky. I want something that fits snuggly around my engagement ring and that also compliments it. We went to a jewelry store in Westfield a few days ago to have a quick look at wedding rings, but I got put off by how uninterested and bored the clerk seemed. We'll have to try some other shops. For me it's very important to find a wedding ring I like. I don't care about the price tag, I just want it to feel right.

While in the store David tried on a couple of wedding bands for the first time ever. Bit weird to see him wearing a ring as he never wears any jewelry, but exciting at the same time. When he puts it on for real, we'll be married!

Update

Haven't updated for a while. I'm always thinking of our wedding, but there have been other things taking up my time. Temporary work, easter holidays... you name it. The four day easter break has been wonderful. The weather has been amazing, with summer heat and temperatures reaching an amazing 26. Me and David got to spend some precious time together and I feel like I've fallen in love with him all over again. We both work very long hours we don't get to spend as much time together as we would like, so extra time together is priceless. We took long walks, had picnics in the park and afternoon tea on an outdoor balcony. This week is only a three day working week as we have a royal wedding here in London on Friday. Even more time together. Yay!

We have also had a hard drive failure which means all my wedding pictures and files of inspirations have been lost. Thankfully I have the most important things here in the blog, but it's still a shame.

I will be back with more updates. Just give me some time.

I've entered a competition to win my dream dress

I have entered TLC and Lilly's competition to win £2000 to spend in Lilly's bridal store. If you speak Swedish, you can enter HERE. Fingers crossed.

Justin Alexander

This is an adorable dress by Justin Alexander. I love the floral top, the tulle skirt and the waist band. Its available in the colours Natural/Ivory and Natural/Coffee (which is pictured above). I'm actually really digging the coffee colour on this dress and could see myself wearing it. It feels perfect for a garden wedding as it's tea length and I wouldn't have to worry about dragging a train on the dirty ground. I love the 50's style and think it feels very bridal even though it isn't floor length. With the right jewellery and a gorgeous salon made hair-do this would be a dream. Retails for about £1000.

Review of Wedding TV Shows

There are a lot of Wedding themed shows on TV and I was watching these way

before I started planning my own wedding. S

ome I have watched complete series of, others which I have only caught an episode or two of. I thought I'd list the ones I can remember and give my opinion on each of them. It's just a bit of fun and hopefully you will find a new wedding show to inspire you!

Bridezillas (showing on American *5)

This is by far the worst of the shows. It's clear that the couples featured shouldn't be thinking of getting married. They barely seem to like each other most of the time. The Bridezillas are horrible people who spend the entire hour shouting at their fiancés, bridesmaids and anyone who happens to be around. My prediction is that most of the marriages from this show will end in divorce. My least favourite show by far.

Don't Tell The Bride (Showing on BBC)

From the worst show, to the best. I love this program and have watched multiple series. The couple gets £12,000 and with that money the groom must chose and plan every detail of the wedding. The bride has no knowledge of anything until the wedding day. I love that you get to see the planning process and not just the end result. I love how most grooms exceeds the expectations and deliver amazing weddings. Good production value. Good show.

Four Weddings (Showing on SkyLiving)

The idea of this show is for four brides to attend and critique each others weddings. They then score the dress, venues, food and over all experience. The one who scores the highest wins a honeymoon. At the moment I just find this show offensive. Weddings are individual. What is perfect for one couple might be disaster for another. I'm sure people would find numerous things to dislike about what I have planned for my wedding, but the only people whose opinion really matters are those getting wed.

Vårt bröllop i era händer (Showing on TV3)

I like this show as it is currently the only wedding show on Swedish TV. As we are getting married in Sweden, this is a great source of inspiration. Each couple hands their budget (which they have decided on and saved up themselves) over to a couple of professional wedding planners. The couple's friends and family then plans the entire wedding together with the flamboyant wedding planners, while the bride and groom is kept in the dark. It's interesting to see what you can do with different budgets and the end result is always extravagant.

Nice Day for a Greek Wedding (Showing on Watch)

I have only watched this show once or twice, but as far as I can gather it's about foreign couples flying to greek and planning their weddings there together with wedding planners. A bit slow and dull. Not my favourites show. However, it is nice to see a show about weddings abroad as that is an option that more and more couple decide on. I wouldn't mind a wedding in the sun!

My Big Fat gypsy Wedding (Showing on Channel 4)

This show is all about the gypsy lifestyle. The girls marry very young with the brides in the show being as young as 15 year old. The dresses are extreme in every way; huge, pink, heavy, princess like monstrosities. A lot of the gypsies are very chavy and I know David hates this show, but I find it entertaining. It's just something completely different.

Wedding SOS (Showing on Sky Real Lives)

The couple getting married gets their own fairy godmother who grants them three wishes. When something goes wrong in the planning she'll come along, wave her magic wand and make the problem go away. I have watched this a few times, but finds it quite boring. You never really get to know the couple enough. I don't find it fun to watch.

Bridal Plasty (Showing on SkyLiving)

By far the most extreme show is, as one might guess, from the states. In this show a group of brides compete against each other to win plastic surgery to transform them into the 'ultimate' bride. In all honesty I only caught the very first episode and the finale of this show. Watching this makes me feel a bit like an air-head because I hate everything it stands for. The person you are marrying is the one, above all, who will love you for the one you are. No matter how you look. It's clear these brides needs a huge dose of self-esteem. I would have recommended them to exercise and have therapy rather than go under the knife. All that said, it's because it's so extreme that I watched it in the first place. It's the kind of show I have a love-hate realationship with.

Animal Couples

Have a look at these adorable cake toppers! They can be found at Etsy which is a great site to find quirky and unique things. I'm not sure we will be able to have a cake topper as we are planning a dessert buffet or Sundae Bar. But if we did decide on having one, I'd want a cute animal couple like these above!

Still Perfect

I still can't let go of the dress I found yesterday. It might be a really bad thing, as I don't want to get hung up on something I can't get. But I haven' seen anything like it anywhere else. I have done more research and still can't find any prices. I have found a website that does copies of designer dresses and where a copy of this dress is reasonably priced. But I'm really worried that they would ruin the design as it's so delicate. Even if it's a good price for a wedding dress I'm not in a position where I can spend money on something that might turn out to be an unusable train wreck. I'm not even suppose to have found THE dress yet. Our wedding is too far away for me to buy anything that important. I was only looking for inspiration. Hopefully my love for this dress will dwindle with time, as things usually do. If you, like me at the moment, have absolutely no money to spare, you simply can't get hooked on things. I can't afford to buy anything right now and definitely not a designer wedding dress. But I guess a girl can dream...

Perfection

I have found a dress that I have fallen head over heals from. It's perfection. I don't want to put a picture up incase this is THE dress in which case David can't see it before the wedding. It gives me butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it. Unfortunately I don't think I can get it in UK or in Sweden, so I would have to order it from another country. I can also not find a price for the dress, which probably means it's way over my budget. And I really can't justify buying something costing thousands of pounds. Or more. If possible I wouldn't mind getting it second hand. Or I might even stretch to getting a copy made for me, although I doubt a copy would be as gorgeous. In any case, I'm gonna let slip that it's from a Russian designer called Papilio who makes the most elegant and sophisticated dresses. I'm drooling over his collections. Literally.

Sundae Bar

When we first started talking about our wedding I was dead set on that I wanted to have a cake tower of Marängswiss (vanilla ice cream, banana, meringue, wiped cream and chocolate sauce) instead of the traditional wedding cake. Then I started to worry that the other guests might not like it. And how would everyone be able to get their portions easily? And how were we going to 'cut' it for the traditional first piece? We then talked about a dessert buffet which is a great idea, but requires a lot of work. A Sundae Bar would be the combination of these two ideas.

The idea is simple. It's a station where the wedding guests creates their own Sundaes using the items you provide. Everything from ice cream flavours to toppings, sauces and fruit can be added. the options are really endless. I would buy a bunch of cheap, but nice looking bowls and containers and then decorate them with ribbons and tags. That would make it look much more exclusive then if you just put out the packet of sprinkles or whatnots.

I think it's a cool idea (no pun intended). It's definitely worth keeping in mind for further discussions.

My current thoughts about our Wedding

I can't tell you how much this blog has helped me in getting inspired and plan for my upcoming wedding. By posting ideas and inspiration I'm slowly, but steadily finding out what I really want our wedding to be like. It gives me time to think through alternatives for a few days and get a gut feeling about them. At the moment this is what I want, even though I don't know how it would be arranged logistically:

1. Outdoor ceremony: Preferably by the seafront or in a garden. The guests are seated, not standing up. There are someone singing live.
2. Outdoor reception venue: I want it too feel friendly and the party to be easygoing, but not boring and 'cheap'.
3. Food: Pre-drinks (wedding toast), main buffet (Mediterranean inspired with loads of vegetarian options, fruit, bread and possibly a barbecue for the meat eaters), dessert buffet OR a sundae bar.
4. Dancing: All I want is to do the First Dance. After that I'm not too bothered. So dance floor is not a priority for me at the moment.
5. Decorations: I want buntings, candles, table runners, possibly flowers.

The more I think about it the more I want something that feels personal and friendly and not a set wedding package that every other couple opts for. I want it to be just for us.

The Perfect Bouquet

From: The Flower Magician

Wedding Buntings and Marquees

I absolutely love these bunting decorations! It's exactly how I picture my perfect wedding to be; Happy, pretty, relaxed, colourful, party, summer, outdoors. After seeing these pictures I now want a marquee for my wedding! It's the perfect compromise between my wish of an outdoor wedding and my fear of bad weather. How amazingly gorgeous are these wedding reception venues! And they are practically a blank canvas so you could decorate them to perfection! The nature and seafront is beautiful on the Swedish west coast and would be the perfect backdrop. Aww! I really feel this would be the ultimate thing!