Heart Struck + Sunday Love Tunes

So, I'm distressed to find out that Playlist.com doesn't embed music players anymore! I'll have to find another site to make the Sunday Love Tunes segment on. For now, if you can visit the love-song playlist by clicking here. I did, however, find a great heart necklace and some awesome cufflinks to share! I think a lot of people forget about anniversaries when they get engaged and get so caught up in planning for the "big day," but you can't forget about the special dates that made the wedding possible. If you're approaching a year anniversary or simply a month anniversary, it may be a nice token just to remind your future spouse that you remember the little things. (photo credit: Mancornas Etsy Shop) (photo credit: Metalicious Etsy Shop)

A Black Veil: Would you?

Sometimes it only takes one thing to get inspired, and for me, this black wedding veil has got me thinking. As autumn approaches, consider a darker slant on your wedding day, maybe a gothic theme, a candlelit ceremony or a crushed berry colour palette. Or why not a jewel-hewed wedding gown? Find more fabulous alternative wedding ideas on my Pinterest board. Beautiful black butterfly veil by Ellen Marie Designs on Etsy Weddings.

♥ Want more gothic wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more black-themed weddings? ♥

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Wonderful Wedding Blog Links

The last three months have been pretty hectic here at the Before the Big Day studio, and for all sorts of reasons, you might have noticed our blog updates haven't been as frequent as we would have liked. It all comes down to one small, but growing reason....{click here for the pic}....I'm expecting a baby in early April. We're absolutely thrilled, but the first three months of pregnancy have completely wiped me out, and all I could do was sleep, feel sick, and sleep a bit more. But now I'm back on track, my energy levels have returned, and all my girlfriends are getting married, so my brain is once again stuffed with fabulous wedding ideas. Here are just a few of my favourite wedding blog spots from across the wonderful wedding world.

♥ Adorable flower girl dress by Juju's Tutus
♥ Mini tassels are the new pompoms in this neon inspired wedding shoot

♥ The easiest wedding DIY idea you'll ever see - too beautiful

♥ Will you change your name? A fab idea for an original solution

♥ I adore these autumnal flowers

♥ A pretty urban wedding in a restaurant

♥ When a prince met a princess bride....

♥ Pretty easy DIY tag idea

♥ Wedding berry inspirational

♥ Only the best wedding cake ideas

♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥

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Doily Lamp DIY

I am so in love with this doily lamp DIY from the Dos Family blog! I really think a vintage wedding reception would look phenomenal with these lampshades. It would mean a little work, but maybe with some practice it wouldn't be too hard to achieve, especially if you're having a backyard wedding! To view the entire tutorial, click the image! p.s. Happy weekend everyone!

(photo credit: Pinterest)

Flower Girl: Your Something Blue

Can your flower girl be your something blue? I think so!

And I adore this mint flower girl dress by Baymut!


(photo credit: Baymut Etsy Shop)

Real Italian Destination Wedding: Suzanne & Lee - Part 2

Brides dreaming of an Italian destination wedding are going to want to copy every detail of this gorgeous big day. Suzanne and Lee started with a heavenly vineyard wedding venue, and added a rustic theme, fabulous flower displays, and jam-jar lanterns, plus tonnes more wedding details. I love Suzanne's glamorous Rita Westenius wedding gown, her family heirloom tiara, and her beautiful bouquet, which included hydgrangea blooms as her 'something blue'. With an enormous, traditionally Italian wedding cake, and local specialities as wedding favours, Suzanne and Lee drew inspiration from their surroundings for their wedding theme, and added their own DIY touches. Read more about Suzanne's projects in her comments below! Huge thanks to Amoretti Weddings, who planned their big day, and Andrea Calvano for his stunning wedding pictures.

We got married in a little medieval village called Citta'Sant'angelo, in the rural province of Abruzzo Italy on 4 June 2012 – the Queen's Diamond Jubilee!

The venue was perfect and hopelessly 100% authentic Italy. An old villa situated in a vineyard perched on top of a cliff with panoramic views of the Adriatic and Apennine mountains; it was spectacular. 

We wanted our decorations to reflect the rustic nature of the surrounding countryside and the faded grandeur of the villa. Because the views and setting were so wonderful, we knew we wanted flowers and decorations that would match it and hold their own amongst the surroundings.

I really enjoyed planning my wedding, but it did take up a lot of time! I am quite glad now that I can go to work and not have to think about favours or lastminute changes to seating plans!

Our wedding stationery was designed by Emiliana and the team at Amoretti Weddings, and they were fantastic. They were not wedding planners per se but more wedding designers! Emiliana was our wedding planner and she also designs amazing, elegant stationary so it was a no-brainer.

Fabrizio Panone of Pescara did out flower arrangements, we were so pleased with them! We chose him because, despite the language barrier, he instantly understood what I was trying to get across with pointing and gesticulating! 

For DIY projects, I created a little package for every guest about the local area and plans for the day and put it in their hotel rooms. As it was a wedding abroad I didn't want anyone to feel lost, and we wanted to ensure our guests savoured the local delicacies and see why we chose the region.

I also made a guest book on blurb.com. I badgered family members to provide me with photographs of all our grandparents on their wedding day, that would intermingle with the guest book pages. I also managed to dig out some photos from 1906, 1928 and 1952 of my family wedding headpiece in use!

We decided to keep the favours simple and 'Italian'. The girls had little packages of sugared almonds – a regional specialty, and the boys had little bottles of {my fave} ratafia, a local Abruzzo cherry liqueur- they went down very well.

We had a traditional Italian creamy wedding cake provided by the venue.

No matter how hard you try, or how detailed you plan your big day, some things will just refuse to go to plan. My advice is to book someone at you wedding who can be your 'troubleshooter / present putter-awayer / MC / guest co-ordinator' and just relax, breathe and enjoy the day.

We asked Andrea Calvano, a local photographer, to take out pics. We chose him because on viewing his portfolio he had a wonderful artistic flare.

♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥

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Handmade Wedding Albums

(photo credit: Cypress Albums website)

I ran across Cypress Albums yesterday and fell in love with the company that creates handmade wedding albums that are awesome. Joe and I have a lot of great photographs from our big day, but we still haven't put them together in an album. I think it's something a lot of couples put off doing, but I'm really considering getting one made from Cypress Albums now that I've discovered them! I love wedding companies that have great stories behind them, and I really think that the story behind Cypress Album is what makes it so special. You can view their story in the video to the right. These wedding albums are also a great gift idea!

Butterfly Themed Wedding Cake

Butterfly-themed weddings must be amongst the most popular for brides looking for a simple but sweet wedding motif. It's a lovely symbol for your wedding day, as in Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolises love. DIY your butterfly theme with these gorgeous colourful, edible, butterflies from incrEDIBLEtoppers. Add them to a simple white wedding cake, or add one to the napkin or glass of each table place at your wedding reception. For more easy DIY butterfly wedding ideas, don't miss my Pinterest page.

♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥

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Hair DIY: A Twist on the Low Bun

I love this hair DIY from The Beauty Department. All it needs is a pretty fascinator like this flower clip, and you've got yourself a lovely and sophisticated wedding hair-do. View the entire DIY by clicking here.

Real Italian Destination Wedding: Suzanne & Lee

If you're worried about the English weather ruining your wedding day, consider a destination wedding. We celebrated our big day in France, and although going abroad is no guarantee for sunshine, it certainly paid off for us. Suzanne and Lee had a similarly wonderful wedding day in June in Italy! Surrounded by stunning Italian countryside, in a tiny medieval village, they created a romantic, rustic themed wedding day with the help of their wedding planners, Amoretti Weddings. With peach, blue and pink as their accent wedding colours, and adorable Italian wedding details {cute Fiats! a massive cake!}, I've fallen head-over-heels for their wedding. Don't miss Suzanne's helpful hints and tips -  Lee's suit, and the bridesmaids' dresses were all bought on the high street, saving money without stinting on style. Huge thanks to local photographer Andrea Calvano for his beautiful pictures, more from the reception coming soon!

We got married in a little medieval village called Citta'Sant'angelo, in the rural province of Abruzzo Italy on 4 June 2012 – the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. We knew we didn’t want a packaged up cardboard cut out affair. We wanted something different, something genuinely Italian, something special that our guests would always remember {and, as Lee would remind me, something on budget!!).

Very early on in our engagement my friend leant me a wedding book which had a photograph of a gorgeous bouquet of light pink, peach, cream and hydrangea blue flowers – it was very 'me' – I fell in love with it there and then! I also found beautiful peach bridemaids dresses so we planned everything around those colours.

My dress was made by the brilliant Rita & Chenca Westenius at Ritva Westenius. The shoes were Freya Rose, and the veil was a simple long piece bought from Ritva Westenius.

We were inspired by the venue and the location for the theme and the fact the wedding was abroad. Our invitations had a vintage aeroplane motif and generally for the wedding we wanted something romantic, rustic and classic - but not too over the top. 

My headpiece was my great great grandma's first worn at her wedding in 1906 and passed down through the family – I was very anxious about taking it all the way over to Italy on the plane!!

My bridesmaids dress were silk maxis from Ted Baker, their necklaces and earrings were beautifully handcrafted by Lou Lou Belle Designs, and I bought them each a little hair comb from Glitzy Secrets.

We searched high and low for outfits for the groom, ushers and fathers as we wanted suits that wouldn't be too confined or too hot on the day. In the end, on a whim we went to Bicester Village and found beautiful fine wool grey/beige suits in Savoy Taylor's Guild.

We got married in a little known part of Italy where hardly anyone speaks English or recognises English tourists. That in itself was the first hurdle, though it was quickly overcome by the rugged beauty of the region and the excitement we felt when we visited and grasped the potential Abruzzo could offer 'wedding tourists'.

Lee and I met in 2006 at work, I was a temp secretary at the time and he was a solicitor! We got engaged in June 2010 at the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building.
 

We asked Andrea Calvano, a local photographer, to take out pics. We chose him because on viewing his portfolio he had a wonderful artistic flare.

♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥

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Sara and Steve's Fall Photos in Vail. Through the Lens Series, Entry 30

The first time I saw the leaves change in Vail was in 2003.  I had no idea it was going to be such a spectacle and I had no idea how to take a decent photo.  I drove out to Bellyache Ridge and took a few photos of the Aspens and showed them to my brother in London a couple of weeks later.  He thought it was a postcard and didn't believe that my cheap little 35mm camera could take that kind of photo.

If you haven't been to Vail or even Colorado while the leaves are changing, then I highly suggest putting it on your list of things to do.  It's a very short window and the whole valley can change overnight (September blizzards are a common occurrence in these parts), so it can be really hard to plan.

This year the leaves changed a little earlier than usual, but they also seem to be holding on a little longer.  Luckily for Sara and Steve, they timed it just perfectly.  Sara wanted some photos of the her and Steve with the leaves in the background.  We started over by the Vail Rugby Field with Golden Peak in the background.  The first few photos show you why it's called Golden Peak!  Then we drove across I-70 and found a perfect meadow, where the lighting was unbelievable.

Here are a few of my favorite pics from their shoot.

This was taken by Golden Peak, looking towards East Vail.

The Meadow on the northern side of I-70.  I'd love to tell you where, but locations are like secret recipes !

To see more, go to Fall Photos in Vail

Blusher Veil

I just saw this blusher veil by Serephine on the front page of Etsy and I had to share it!

It's so romantic and foxy!

Are you into blusher veils? Or do you prefer a longer veil?


(photo credit: Serephine Etsy Shop)

Makeably: Custom Wedding Items

(photo credit: Custom wedding cake toppers)

There's a great new website on the rise: Makeably, a website dedicated to custom items, and I absolutely love it! It's new, so there's only a handful of wedding custom items to choose from now, but those that are already set up, are pretty awesome. I'm especially in love with the custom wedding cake toppers, handmade by Danielle Seung Mee de Luna! I can definitely see this growing into an amazing source for brides that want to have handmade custom items for their big day, so make sure to at least bookmark the website and return to it when you're ready. If you see a project you're interested in now, make sure not to wait till last minute to communicate with the creator and get started on your custom item, since it'll most likely take a little while to coordinate. What do you think of Makeably?

Alternative Wedding Buttonholes

*I just love these!*  I've already featured Kikichoo's badges as an idea for wedding favours, but these cupcake couples are perfect for the wedding party. At £1 each, they're a lot cheaper than floral buttonholes, and come in cute pairs and different colours, so you can match up your bridesmaids and ushers. It's one way to drop hints about who you think should get together on the dancefloor!

♥ Want more modern wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding favour ideas? ♥

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Awesome Maid of Honor Dress

I am absolutely in love with this red dress, perfect for your maid of honor to stand out in! It's the Alicia dress from Suite, designed by Jennifer Diederich, and made out of silk wool. I love the vintage feel of it, and its open back.