Quick Post

Things I learned from last weekend's weeding:

1. Mother in law does not want to be asked to do things. Especially not last minute. I thought she loved being involved in absolutely everything wedding related, but maybe she's had enough? This is a relief.
2. Father in law delivered a surprisingly lovely speech (in which me and David was mentioned!)
3. Try to avoid dead space between activities. It shouldn't be non-stop, but not half an hour wait either.
4. If there is a long time between the wedding ceremony and reception party, snacks is a must. At this wedding we had a afternoon tea (an idea which was initially disliked by the bride) with scones, clotted cream, jam, bread and cheeses. Life saver!
5. They had a pot-luck buffet for the reception. Which in the end meant I (as a vegetarian) could eat only potato salad, bread and cheese. Thank god for the afternoon tea! So if we have a buffet, make sure there is something for everyone. Consider allergies and lifestyle choices.
6. Dancing was a blast. They had an old style band which did line/square/group dances. I loved it. I have not been certain I wanted dancing at our wedding, but now I think I do.
7. Mixing your own drinks bar was a good idea. They also had hot water and tea/coffee. I did however miss still water as an option.
8. Decorations can make a big difference! They had loads of buntings which you know from past posts that I love. Buntings in my heart.
9. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! There was panic leading up to the wedding because nothing was properly planned. Planing is key. There were no invites. They even forgot to cut the wedding cake which was a three tier affair and probably cost a small fortune. It just stood in a corner, forgotten. They didn't remember to get the guests to sign the "guestbook" until a bunch had already left. Bride/groom/guests running around lost is not good.
10. I didn't like their registrar. I want to try and get someone who feels friendly, humorous and relaxed, but still understands the greatness of the moment.
11. They had a CD player for their ceremony. Live music would have had more impact. But if we chose to have a CD make sure someone's in charge, because there wasn't one at this wedding and the groom had to handle it.
12. I'm still undecided about children at weddings.

Perditas Wedding Shoes

Here's a brilliant tip for you all! The web shop Perditas Wedding Shoes has a lovely selection of shoes for your big day ranging from wellington boots to ugg style boots to sandals. The shop is arranged according to heel size, so you can easily find the kind of shoe you are after. So there is no need to trawl through shoes you couldn't even walk in.

Not only that, but they offer two additional services to make your shoes the perfect fit for you. The Colour Studio will dye your shoes the perfect colour, may it be green, red, blue or gold. They also offer to colour shoes not bought from their web shop and they can turn normal shoes into white bridal bliss for your feet!

The other service is the Design Studio where they will

enhance your shoe with genuine Swarovski Crystals or diamonds. So if your a bling bling kind of girl looking for sparkly heels, this is one way to do it.

I haven't personally tried this store, neither their online shop nor the show room in Stoke on Trent, but I am very impressed with what they seem to offer. Free UK delivery sweetens the deal further. When I get around to buying shoes I'll be sure to pop back for another look at what they have to offer.

Royal Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of the Swedish royal wedding.Their wedding was a huge event in Sweden, with much praise for the princess' choice of wedding dress and prince Daniel's speech to the princess during the reception dinner. They have chosen to celebrate their anniversary in private, but I thought it would be nice to look back at their wedding style. I did dedicate a post to the British royal wedding, so I feel obligated to do the same for the Swedish royalties. Two very different royal couples, two beautiful weddings.

The official wedding photo. I love the simplicity of her bouquet.

She had a very long, seemingly detachable, trail. Unsure if I like it or not.

I love the historic tiara and the veil. She looks very graceful and royal.

You can really feel how happy she was just looking at this photo. Such a beautiful princess.

On the Royal balcony. I like the V-shape on the back of her dress. It suited her very well. I like the top half more than the bottom half of the dress. I think it would have been nicer if it fell in a different way. But the entire outfit is well thought through and utterly lovely.

Photos from: Here, here, here, here, here and here.

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.

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.

My 1st day of Wedding dress shopping

Last Thursday was an amazing day. It was the first time I got to try on wedding dresses and for the first time it all felt real. My mum, sister and my friend had come over from Sweden and came with me to the bridal shops.

Our first stop was Browns Bride on 12 Hinde Street, London. Exquisite store, with amazing bridal wear. We were greeted by the lovely lady who was going to serve me. Unfortunately I can remember her name, but she was the perfect attendant. Made us feel very comfortable and not a hint of pushiness. We were taken to one of several private changing rooms, where I had my own massive mirror and my family could sit comfortably in a designer sofa sipping complementary pink champagne. I was given a glass of champagne as well, but I was scared to death about spilling any of it on any of the dresses, so I didn't end up having more than a mouthful. I tried on somewhere between 5 and 10 dresses. The attendant was happy bringing me any dress I wanted as well as a selection of veils. I tried on an amazing dress by Carolina Herrera for staggering £8000+. It was absolutely gorgeous and probably my second or third favourite. My family however, thought it ate me up, drawing all eyes to the dress and not to me. In the end I absolutely feel in love with a dress by Delphine Manivet for £4300. Well over my budget, but maybe it's possible to find something similar but cheaper? Or even ask someone to make me a copy? I also loved a veil by Tony Federicci for £960 that my attendant match to the dress. I left the store feeling giggly and very bridal.

The next stop was HoF's Bridal Room. Completely different experience. It's one big room with all the dressing rooms next to each other, so there is zero privacy. Two big mirrors, although the lighting above one of them was broken, so all the four brides that were there flocked to the same mirror. The dresses were of a lot poorer quality, but what can you expect for prices ten times less?? They were also a bit worn out and some had makeup stains and were discoloured from hanging in the light for such a long time. I tried on five or six dresses here. Found it hard to find dresses I really liked. In the end I had three dresses I liked by Tom Flowers, Augusta jones and Rosetta Nicoloni, the last one being my favourite. Prices between £1299 and £1849.

Shopping for a wedding dress is a tricky thing. There needs to be a balance between what makes you feel beautiful and exclusive and what price you are willing to pay. I think £1200 for a wedding dress is still pretty steep. My dream budget would be under £500.

After a quick search online, I've found several of HoF's Bridal Room dresses on second hand sale. That is definitely an option. But it's early days. We'll just have to wait and see.

The Landmark Hotel

Last year in September, for David's birthday, me with support from my family gave David vouchers for a luxurious stay at The Landmark Hotel. He chose to use them the weekend before Valentine's Day, as a celebration for both of us. We were looking forward to it so much and couldn't wait to go. We'd booked everything over a month in advance, and the hotel had called us up to confirm. Everything was sorted. Our so we thought. The night before our stay, david decided to call up the hotel just to make sure everything was fine. Thank god he did. They had completely LOST our booking. There was no evidence of anything every being booked. After some trouble, and quite a bit of stressing on my part, David managed to sort it all out. Including the SPA treatment for himself and the dinner for the evening. That's my man!

So we arrived early next day, and stepped into the most amazing hotel reception. Everything was lush and you could tell it was very expensive. Certainly the most expensive hotel I've ever stayed in. We were given our keys and shown to the lifts. David had his SPA treatment first thing, so I went to the hotel room to unpack our bags. We stayed in a superior room and it was just amazing. About 35 square metres of luxury. Hugh closet, giant cupboard with minibar, tv, playstation, safe, drawers etc. Two very large round tables for nightstands, three lounge chairs. Amazing marble bathroom; with his and hers facilities, absolutely hugh bathtub/shower and separate WC. Simply the most amazing thing ever.

While David was at the SPA I had a bath and put on the complementary robes and slippers. Champagne was delivered to our room. When David came back, he changed into his robe and we ordered an "Afternoon Tea" from room service. I've never had room service before! It was amazing. Just the feeling of luxury.

We then went down to the SPA facilities where we had a day-pass and enjoyed the swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sanarium. Facilities was very clean and new although they had run out of bathrobes completely, we had to wait for out slippers, and as we left they had run out of towels as well. All i all though, very nice visit.

In the evening we had a three course dinner in the amazingly beautiful Winter Garden. Probably one of the prettiest restaurants I've ever been to. I had a crab salad with avocado mouse and saffron sauce for a starter which was absolutely gorgeous. Bit disappointed with the main and dessert, but that was because they were not to my exact taste. All the food was beautifully cooked and presented. We had a pianist playing music through out the meal and it was amazing. Very romantic.

The next day we had the breakfast which was, yet again, amazing. Full english + continental. Yum, yum, yum.

I'm very happy with our stay and would definitely want to go again.

While we were having our dinner, a wedding was taking place in the next room. If I had the budget, I would definitely look into having it at the Landmark Hotel.

For pictures of everything described, please visit: The Landmark

The Wedding Show

Last Sunday me and David went to the UK Wedding Show at London Excel. I could write an essay on what we saw and learnt, but to keep it short and accessible I will simply list my best and worst things about the wedding fair.

Best

• The Fashion Show. Amazing dresses on amazing models. I love to watch a show were you can tell that the models are having a good time and these models really did. Dancing, smiling and flirting with the audience. A real joy to watch. The dresses were mostly gorgeous even though there were some really bad ones too. Two in particular with one looking like it was made out of bubble wrap, and the other one covered with hideous flowers. But, like I said, mostly amazing dresses. The groom's wear was also amazing. My favourite clothes came from Couture Bride and Groom and Moss Bros.
• Ivory and Co Tiaras. Amazing selection of utterly gorgeous tiaras and I got all giddy trying them on. It truly made me feel very bridal indeed. I must also give a hugh thank you to the nice retail representative who lent me her hair clip in order to make my hair look more like I've planned it to on my wedding day. I really appreciated it. They also had a 50% sale on. If I had a wedding dress to match my tiara to I would have bought one at once.
• Anthony Formal Wear. Very friendly and helpful representatives. Gorgeous clothes for grooms. David's favourites.
• Ideas. Got some inspiration from table decorations and such. Very helful for future references.

Worst

• Uninterested retailers. At more than one stand we were met by people with no other interest than to make a sale. As soon as several retailers found out our wedding was 1.5 years away they lost all interest in serving us. That doesn't go for all the stands by any means, but it still made us feel unwanted. I understand that they want to push for a sale, but it's borderline rude and gives a very poor image of the company you are representing.
• Bollywood drummers. There was a stand for a group of Bollywood artist you were able to hire for your wedding reception. Throughout our visit, with the exception of the duration of the fashion show, they were drumming and making a lot of noise. Admittedly it's a clever tactic to make people notice you. However, it's very annoying for anyone who is uninterested in Bollywood music. Also there was no need to bang that drum as loudly as they did.
• Nothing to do with wedding stands. There was an energy company occupying one of the stands. WTF? Why? Not okay at a wedding show.

Bridal Magazines Reviewed

Wedding Ideas, Issue 91 February 2011

This was the first wedding magazine I ever bought. I love that its travel size and merely costs £2.99, which for a wedding magazine is a bargain price. It's easy to read, clearly divided into different sections. It covers everything from hairstyles to Real-Life Weddings. I particularly liked the section on themed receptions, where they had put together a collage of different things that would make the themes come to life. Items featured are clearly marked with provider details and, excluding high price objects like dresses, with retail price. I found this magazine very inspiring and will most likely keep buying it for more ideas and inspiration.

Brides, April/March 2011

Marketed as the "UK's no.1 best-selling bridal magazine" I could resist the urge to pick up this during a shopping trip. At £4.99 its fairly pricey for a magazine and unfortunately I can't say it's good value for money. It's extremely heavy. My arms started to hurt before I had even got half way through, so clearly you are meant to read this at a table, not on the sofa like I did. Its also large meaning it folds in on itself in an awkward way if you attempt to hold it up. So unless you read it on a flat surface, you have to support the magazine, straining your arms even more. 90% of the magazine focuses on dresses, the bride's and the bridesmaid's. Mainly designer clothes, so absolutely nothing I can afford. I did like the 12 month planning calendar and the "What's your wedding style" quiz. However I d don't think I'll be buying this magazine again any time soon. It's just not worth the money.

Photos taken from: http://www.weddingideasmag.com/ and http://www.bridesmagazine.co.uk/