BBQ, booze & bollywood...Kezrob's fab hen weekend!

Let me introduce Kezrob to you all...

I met Kez through my other half, he went to school with her very-soon-to-be-husband (2 weeks tomorrow...*squuueal*) so I've known her for nearly three years, but feels so much longer - in a very good way!! I was honoured to be invited along to her hen weekend last Friday/Saturday/Sunday and what a fab weekend it was!

I'd been looking forward to it for so long (work hasn't been great for a long time and I was in need of a break for my own sanity!) so I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations...how wrong was I?!

I was picked up from work on the Friday afternoon and three of us made our way to a beautiful huge house in Symonds Yat West. The views were out of this world, the sun was shining and it was hot...I'd have been happy to just sit there and do nothing for the next two days! Unfortunately the Asda delivery just didn't turn up on the friday evening...I know the bridesmaids who had put so much hard work into organising it were disappointed but they needn't have been it just meant we all dug into our extra supplies we'd bought and shared them out and got to know each other a bit better over a drink or two...ok five or six!

I went to bed feeling rather tipsy, thanks to Imo and her rather potent vodka, gin & lemonade cocktails, but excited about the day ahead of which Kez knew nothing about!

We woke to more sunshine on the Saturday morning and a trip to the local Kingstone Brewery we were apparently the first hen party they'd had visit! The beer was yummy (purchased a bottle for my h2b who was home finishing his dissertation) the sun was shining and the food laid on for us at lunchtime was amazing...fresh greek salads, homemade pittas, houmous, freshly bbq'd chicken kebabs and the bestest, bestest potato wedges I have had in my life...fact!

This was followed by a lazy afternoon sitting in the sunshine putting the world to rights over a cider slushy (yes that's right...cider on draught like a slush puppy...fabulous!) before returning to Holly Tree House for a yummy BBQ laid on by Kez's fabulous bridesmaids.

Sunday was perhaps my most favourite day of the weekend...a Bollywood dance lesson! I absolutely love dancing and being part of a group learning a dance so I was in my element! We'd all dressed up in sari's and fancy dress for the occasion too. We're all now frantically trying to rehearse so it's perfect for Kez's big day when we 'perform' at the reception!

It was a truly fantastic weekend, if my hen weekend is half as good as this I will be a very happy hen! Over to you Kez & Imo...no pressure! ; )

Jai-ho! xx

Silver Daisy's amazing bouquets!

I mentioned before in one of my previous posts the amazing service I'd received from smaller businesses when I first started planning our wedding. Ever since my stunningly beautiful bouquet arrived I've been meaning to feature the wonderful Gillian at Silver Daisy

I came across Silver Daisy in the very first wedding magazine I bought and immediately fell in love with the bouquet in the advert and the idea of being able to keep it forever.

I'm not sure why but I talked myself out of it for a while - what will everyone think if I have 'pretend' flowers? So, I got a few quotes from florists who, quite frankly, wanted to charge the earth for flowers that would simply die in a day or two. I didn't ask for anything fussy just a simple hand-tied posy of ivory roses for me and three ivory rose wrist corsages for my bridesmaids - the cheapest quote for my bouquet alone came back at £95! And although I was happy to pay this if this was the going rate I didn't love it as much as I loved Gillian's creations.

In January of this year I visited the Silver Daisy website again and finally decided that I was going to have to have one of these bouquets, no matter what! Nothing else was going to come close...however, Gillian had only gone and made it more difficult to decide by adding more gorgeous designs...dilemma!!
I decided to be practical about it, I didn't want anything too wide so I narrowed it down to my two favourites and emailed Gillian regarding their sizes. She couldn't have been more helpful and I decided on the 'Lilac & Lavender Daisy & Roses Bouquet' in black. Yes black, my bridesmaids are wearing black and have ivory flowers so I wanted to have the opposite to tie it all together.

And I'm so glad I did! It's quite simply STUNNING! Would you like to see a photo?...

Ok, I know this is teasing but I had to show you how beautifully packaged your bouquet arrives...I was squealing with excitement to open my box and find a hat box in my actual wedding colours and that was before I opened it and saw what was inside...

This is my ACTUAL bouquet and isn't it beautiful? I absolutely LOVE it and have to keep getting it out of it's box to have a peak...well December's a loooong time away!! And look at this...

Each bouquet comes with a blue crystal heart attached so you'll always have your 'something blue'!

After deciding on 'pretend' flowers for me I then decided that this would be a great idea for the bridesmaids too. I wanted them to wear wrist corsages so that they hadn't got to worry about carrying something all the time and it left them with two hands to sort my dress, veil etc when I get out the car at church. Real flowers can easily get damaged, squashed, knocked etc so I contacted Gillian again who was only too pleased to help. I ordered three of her ivory rose wrist corsages which she very kindly personalised for me with a black crystal bracelet and black swarovski crystals & ribbons...

Aren't they beautiful? I'm so pleased with them all and can't wait to show them off on the day.

If like me, you're looking for a bouquet to keep then I can highly recommend Gillian at Silver Daisy. She does all sorts from crystal bouquets to mini top hats, tiaras and corsages. The prices are extremely reasonable for the amount of work that goes into each beautifully created piece, they range from £10 for a single crystal flower up to £250 for a large drop bouquet but most of them come in at less than £100 and you've got them forever.

I asked Gillian if I could feature her on my blog, she very kindly said I could and sent me a few words, here's what she has to say...

"I started Silver-Daisy after my own wedding.   I was really disappointed with the lack of service some companies gave me once they had my money.   I combined my love of art and flowers together and the result was Silver-Daisy.   I wanted to create a customer experience that stood out from the competition and also provide unique products that were a bit different.

I love the reaction of my clients when they receive their finished order; it makes it worth all the hard work.  I hope to grow Silver-Daisy in the future without losing that personal touch, all too often companies forget that customer recommendation is the best advertisement you can get.

My aspirations for Silver-Daisy for the future are to continue to expand the range into some bridal outlets and then eventually to run my own shop."

To have a look at more of Gillian's wonderful creations visit her gallery and to see what bride to be's (including me!) have to say have a peak at the testimonials page.

I really can't thank Gillian enough for such beautiful flowers for our big day! Thank you! xx 

Hen Weekend Handover! : s

As you've probably gathered from my blog so far, I'm a bit of a control freak - well, I don't know if control freak are the right words?! I just hate things being up in the air and not sorted - I like to be organised!

So, I set about organising my own hen weekend. Yes, I know, it's not my job to do that but I wanted to know it was sorted and happening. Umm, maybe control freak are the right words lol!

I did a lot of research into ideas etc and I set about planning it. I got so far as booking the hotel and our Glee dancing lesson before finally accepting that I do actually have enough to do, plan & sort with our wedding day I don't actually need any more stress/worry. And I was worrying, I was worrying that what I'd chosen wouldn't please everyone else and no one would be having a good time.

I'm so lucky in that through my H2B I've met and become part of an amazing group of friends, there's ten of us, five couples, and it feels like I've known them and been part of it for ever. So I was thrilled when two of the girlies, Kez & Imo offered to take on the planning & organising of my weekend!

I have now officially handed it all over to them and am actually REALLY looking forward to it! All I know is that we're going here...

 and we're having a dance lesson in the theme of...

I know nothing else and I'm excited...so excited, that everything else is going to be a surprise. I didn't think I'd like this feeling but I actually LOVE it!

As long as there are no willies, L plates or veils I'll be a very happy hen! Thank you girlies! Love you both lots xx

Mr & Mrs Crofts' Candy Store...

Now all the 'big stuff' is sorted we've been busy thinking, designing and then creating all the little bits to add the final details to our big day.

Our latest creation is the sweet shop sign for Mr & Mrs Crofts' Candy Store! And I LOVE it! It's not very often that I actually love something I've created...I'm my own worst critic and H2B is always telling me I'm far too hard on myself! Not this time though and I'm very proud to show you this along with a bit of a tutorial so you can make one too!

To make it I used...

• A1 frame
• acrylic paints in turquoise, cerise, purple, orange & lime
• silver glitter card
• silver paper
• card in turquoise, cerise, purple, orange & lime
• pencil
• ruler
• silver permanent marker
• scissors

I started off by removing the board from the frame and marking out the stripes in random widths...

 Once this was all done (be patient - it does take a while but well worth it to get everything lined up correctly) I began to paint the stripes in our chosen colours in a completely random pattern. Our theme for the day is black, white & silver stars but for the evening we want a real party feel...

 Once I'd finished painting all the stripes I wasn't happy with the not so straight edges (yep I realise it's really hard to paint freehand straight edges but it wasn't the look I wanted - H2B said it made it look more authentic...I wasn't convinced!) So, I bought a broad silver permanent marker pen and using a ruler ruled off each stripe (top tip - make sure you wipe the ruler on a tissue in between each line otherwise it will mark your work) so it looked like this...

 I then set about sticking the letters to the big blue stripe across the middle...

 I made the letters by choosing a font I liked on the computer and then printing them off in the relevant sizes. I then traced them off onto silver glitter card and cut them all out by hand..long process but worth it! I then mounted these onto card in the co-ordinating colours and cut round them again. I finally mounted these again onto silver paper and cut round those to give the finished look.

And there you have it...our very own sweet shop sign!

What do you think?

Ooh and as I promised in an earlier post...

 The finished table plan!! I quite like this too! ; ) xx

Eight months to go...

The clue's in the title! ; ) Eight months today I shall be waking up a Miss and going to bed a Mrs! Excited doesn't even begin to cover how I feel!! xx