Real Life Wedding – Helena and Michael

ringsAll you need is love and … a real life wedding.

brideandgroom

Helena and Michael

16 – 3 – 2013

Port Chalmers Town Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand

Wedding Dress: Bought Online – I did have some issues with the dress not being entirely the same as the picture on the internet site, and the flowers, one of the features I especially loved about the dress, needed to be re-made by a seamstress before being refastened to the dress.

helena

Bridesmaid Dresses: EziBuy

Photographer: Robert Jones

Hair: Petrina McFarlane  MakeUp: Lisa Leslie

michael

Grooms Attire: Volcom Stone Suit (Pinstripe)

Shoes: No 1 Shoes

Celebrant: Grace Ockwell

entrance

Flowers: Artificial (Black with a  diamante pin)

Cake: Stir Cupcakes, choc and red vanilla cupcakes

cakes

Catering: Just Essence

Best part of the day: Exchanging the wedding vows. As well as exchanging wedding vows between the two of us, Michael also presented Catie with a special signet ring and made some promises to her, she didn’t know what he had prepared so that made it extra special to both her and I. There wasn’t a dry eye among the guests at that stage of the ceremony. Definitely a special moment among the three of us.

catie

Anything you would do differently: Video the day.

Ideas, Inspiration: Bridal Magazines, Internet, Pinterest.

tablesetting

Colours: Black and White (Michael’s sports team colours)

How did you pick your wedding party: Sisters and close friends.

weddingparty

Best piece of advice: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t try and keep everyone happy, you won’t.  It’s your day so don’t worry who’s toes you might step on

Tips for brides: Do everything, as much as you can online! Bargain hunt (shop around) Enjoy the day, because it’s over in a flash.  Don’t focus all your energy on the wedding day, it’s only one day, the marriage is for the rest of your life.  Get plenty of sleep the night before.

weddingcar

Anything that didn’t go according to plan: the boys got lost on the way to the photo location, and the fridge broke down at the reception.  Was definitely the best day ever.

Starting the journey. From engaged to married.

All you need is love and …to follow a real life wedding planning journey.

I’d like to introduce you all to Sharmain and Jeremy.

Sharmain and Jeremy
Sharmain and Jeremy

 These two love birds just got engaged and their journey from engaged to married is going to be a regular feature, where every month I will check in with them to see how the wedding planning process is going.

So let me tell you a little about these two. Sharmain is 22 and her fiance Jeremy is 31. They have been together for just over 4 years and engaged for 3 weeks.  They met at work where he hit her with a door (I’m assuming accidentally) and the rest they say is history.

Jeremy proposed to Sharmain while they were on holiday in Auckland celebrating their 4 year anniversary.  Sharmain has an absolute love of animals (we’ll probably hear more about that later) so Jeremy decided that proposing to her at the Auckland Zoo would be perfect. He felt that its a place they don’t have a chance to visit everyday (since they live in Dunedin) and somewhere they hope they can one day take their children back to. So after hours of wandering around the zoo,  just before the zoo closed, Jeremy told Sharmain to take one last photo at the tiger enclosure, so she took the photo and then when she turned back around to put the camera away, Jeremy was down on his knee. Pretty romantic move if you ask me.

So first Sharmain cried, as you do, then called her mother, as you do. Then Jeremy called his parents to tell them she was crying, apparently they had already been let in on his secret before they left for the trip.  So after some more texts and phone calls to close friends and family it was announced on social media, and then the whole world knew.

The Ring
The Ring

The ring came from Pascoes the Jewellers, and  Jeremy admits it was fairly easy to do a bit of window shopping and then sneakily purchase the ring due to the two of them not having the same days off work, and unknown to Sharmain she had been inadvertently  giving Jeremy ideas of styles she liked.

They haven’t set a wedding date yet, but are considering early 2018.  Which will give them plenty of time to hopefully have a relaxed wedding planning process. It’s important to Sharmain and Jeremy that they have an enjoyable and memorable day but that is still remains their wedding.

As part of the planning process Sharmain is hoping to get advice from family and friends who have been through the wedding planning process and has signed up to Pinterest ( like every good bride should) and is now a regular purchaser of  bridal magazines.

Each month we’ll check in to see how the process is going, what’s been done, how everyone’s feeling, if there are any issues etc.  I’m looking forward to seeing a real life wedding unfold.  Let the fun begin!

Alternatives to a flower wedding bouquet

All you need is love … and an alternative to a wedding bouquet.

So maybe you’re not a big flower person, maybe you or your groom are allergic to flowers, maybe you want to save some bucks or maybe you want something that is going to last longer than 2 days.  There are tons of alternatives to a traditional wedding bouquet, many that can be adapted to suit your colour scheme and many that may be a better match to your theme/location than a traditional bunch of flowers.

Back in the day brides carried a bouquet of flowers to disguise the poor hygiene habits of old, when normal showering each day was not the done thing.  These days this isn’t really too much of an issue, but it is still a tradition many partake in, the carrying of a bouquet not the not showering!

Here’s a list of alternatives to the wedding bouquet, you can use them as your bridal bouquet or incorporate them into your entire wedding party.

  • Pinwheels – always look cute and fun, and are generally colourful, you can make smaller versions for the groom and his boys.
  • Lollipops – love the look of a bunch of giant lollipops tied with a colourful ribbon, can be tailored to your colour palette.

  • Succulents – group together a variety of succulents.
  • Sprigs of dried herbs and/or dried flowers – imagine the smell of a bunch of lavender or rosemary.
  • Feather flowers – look beautiful with wee diamante included.
  • Stack of favourite books – wrap a stack or even a single favourite book with some beautiful fabric ribbon.

  • Brooches – Brooch bouquets look stunning, you can even ask all your favourite female family members/friends to gift you a brooch that you can use in the bouquet, making it extra special.
  • One giant paper flower –  looks very striking
  • Origami flowers – or any origami shape pulled together into a bouquet would be lovely, especially paper cranes.
  • Giant pom poms – definitely fun, can be matched to your colour scheme, you could either use one giant pom pom or a bunch of them together.
  • Balloons – either fastened into balloon flowers or a bunch of helium balloons held together with a ribbon.
  • Button bouquet – these are becoming very popular and look stunning.

  • Lantern – either by itself or filled with foliage and/or a candle, would look stunning for a night wedding.
  • Fan – can be adorned with a little foliage, or a favourite poem, would be handy on an especially hot day.
  • Seashells – would be a perfect fit for a beach wedding.
  • Parasols – look awesome for all the bridal party.

  • Flower crown – if you’re going for a more boho look this would be ideal, with long wavy natural looking hair.
  • Corsage/flower necklaces – a corsage either worn on the wrist/upper arm or ankle keeps the hands free for all the hand-holding you’ll be doing on your wedding day.

  • Metal wire bouquets – use think stainless steel with beads or diamante for a definite showstopper.
  • Paper butterflies – would not look out of place at a garden wedding.
  • Pinecones/Fruit/Vegies – For something completely different.
  • Paper flower – you could have them made out of pages from your favourite book, or love poems, or maps, if you love to travel.
  • Felt or fabric flowers – can be made to suit your colour scheme and will definitely last.

and the last and definitely my favourite a large dollop of candy floss, imagine the smell as you walk down the aisle.