wedding bells: bits 'n' bobs

So far, I think I can say I've been pretty laid back about the planning of our wedding and have avoided turning into some crazy bridezilla. We've had a fairly long engagment (it will be 18 months all in all) so I've just been plodding along gathering inspiration and sorting out the main priorities with the help of my mother- as the wedding is taking place in the grounds of my parents farm which is about 5 hours drive from London, she has thankfully stepped into the role of head planner as a lot of things need to be sorted out from her end.

However it's recently hit me that we have just 3 months to go before the big day..eeek! Whilst we have the major things under control- dress chosen, marquee, caterer, band and photographer booked, there are still a million other little things that need to be decided on and done. So I've upped the gear a little in this past few weeks and can now tick a few more things off the list. I'm loving the idea pictured above (image from Martha Stewart Weddings) of using an asssortment of vintage tea tins for the flower arrangements. No idea where I'd source enough of them from though, but it's a darling idea.



Getting the invitations finished and sent out is right up at the top of the 'to do list'. Above is how it is currently looking in its near final stages. The fonts still need a bit of tweaking but I'm really happy with the design which my friend Jenny has created, with a bit of input (interfering!) from me.



I've managed to find my wedding shoes (see pic above for a sneak peek of them!) which was actually a lot easier than I thought it might be. I love the thin gold straps and the deep jade suede peep toe- that's my 'something blue' sorted. Best of all they only have a small heel which I should easily be able to cope with on the day, but they still manage not to look frumpy.

As much as I wish I was a high heels kind of girl, I am sadly much more of a flip flop person. I struggle to walk elegantly in any heel more than a few inches high and was suffering nightmares of tripping up and falling flat on my face on the day!



We've also bought Lila's flower girl dress (above), which I absolutely adore. I would seriously wear this! I found it in Monsoon, which sells beautiful clothing and accesories for little girls. I just couldn't resist it. The colour is just perfect for matching with my bridesmaids dresses which are the same pale pink shade with cream polka dots.

happy 1st birthday beautiful angel

On Friday our little Lila bean celebrated her first ever birthday. Firstly, how is it possible that ONE whole year can have passed since I was waddling around like a beached whale waiting to pop, wondering if today was going to be the day she finally decided to grace us with her presence in the big outside world. Secondly, I can't believe I am the mother of a one year old child! When did I stop being the child exactly!! Thirdly, oh my goodness we've all survived the first year and made it out on the other side :)

There have been times when I thought I might not make it, but we stumbled our way through the sleepless nights, the awful bouts of colic when her cries made our hearts bleed, the never-ending nappy changing, one broken leg (hers, sustained when I fell down the stairs while carrying her...oh the guilt), and in return we have been rewarded with the most joyful moments of our lives. She is more than we could ever have imagined or hoped for and we love her to pieces.

We held a little garden party for her and my sister and I (who was over on a visit from Australia) spent the morning baking cupcakes and other goodies. The birthday girl had an absolutely wonderful time and as you can see below she very much enjoyed her first cupcake experience.

Modelling her new sunnies..(ok these only stayed on for about 1 minute but how cute do they look!)

The birthday cake...complete with oversized cupcake candle and sparkly fairy decoration.

The favourite birthday present...

prettiness

This is where I would've liked to have been today, lounging around wearing something similarly gorgeous. Instead I was actually racing between some of London's most hectic department stores merchandising greetings cards, now I am recovering on the sofa with very aching legs!

I'm loving these images by photographer Helena Kouzeleas. The setting is divine (I'm a huge fan of a grand, decadent country house type setting, a favourite topic of conversation between me and my friend Natalie is how we really should have been born in the days of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice!) I wouldn't say no to any of these outfits in my wardrobe either, the little white dress in the last picture is stunning and any type of big pretty flower- in the hair or on the outfit is always a winner.

fit for a princess

I thought I'd share some pictures of Lila's bedroom/nursery- the room in our flat which I have spent the most time and effort decorating. As we're renting and not sure how long we'll be staying in London for we're in a bit of a state of limbo so have largely restrained ourselves from putting our stamp on the rest of the place in a big way. I couldn't help myself with her room though and have been picking up cute and colourful things to go in it since well before her actual arrival!

The white letters above were a gift from my sister who lives in Australia. The little panda money box is from Paperchase. We've started putting all of our loose change into it and when we've filled it we'll periodically change it into notes and put it into Lila's savings account.

The awesome hot air balloon mobile is from Ikea and I made the frieze of little russian dolls by cutting them out of sheets of giftwrap that I picked up at an art shop, and then just fixing them onto the wall.

I found the colourful paper garlands that are hanging across the ceiling reduced to a few pence each in the closing down sale of what was one of my favourite homeware shops- The Pier (which has sadly not survived the rescession..sob). The flowery curtains were made by my crafty mother who is an excellent sewer.

The patchwork bunny in the middle image was handsewn by my sister as a gift to Lila and it's one of my very favourite things in the room. Curt found the little pink dog in some random gift shop...it barks and Lila is delighted by it. The two little wooden doll figurines are from the Momiji range.

The wooden letters spelling out 'love' I found in a wonderful local toy shop which sells beautiful, unusual childrens gifts and the 'cute as a cupcake' fabric sign was picked up from garden centre gift shop near my parents house. The poster is from the best magazine in the entire world-Frankie. It is designed by the wonderful Mandy of Belle and Boo, whose work I'm a huge fan of. The framed picture on the wall is a greetings card which I just put in a frame. Most of the time I wish this was actually my bedroom!

yay!

I have had the exciting honour of receiving my very first blog award from Margarita over at the wonderful blog Ramblings of a Fab Brunette which is definitely well worth a read. Thanks Margarita!

The Rules
1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2 Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

**Apologies for bending the rules a little here but I'm just passing the award to 10 other blogs as I just don't have the time to decide on another 5 right now! There are too many lovely ones out there! Also some of these I have been reading for a couple of months so they're not newly discovered as in I found them today, but I promise they are all super duper and fantastic.**

I am awarding:

Rose Coloured Rain
The Pink Needle
Rummage
Candy Hearts
Here Comes The Sun
A Cheery Disposition
Where The Lovely Things Are
Lola-Elise
For Me, For You
Loveology

Go see their loveliness!

lucy gough

One of the big bonuses of my job (I work for a graphic design company that produces greetings cards, stationary and accessory ranges) is that part of my role is dealing with the freelance illustrators that we commission to design cards for us and whose artwork we licence for use on our products. Because of this I am always scouting for new talent and coming across designers and artists with fantastic and inspirational work.

One of my new favourites whose work I stumbled upon the other day is the artist and illustrator Lucy Gough. Love the simplicity and vulnerability of her images and her use of text with photographs above. Her typography is pretty rad too-below are some of her illustrations. See her website and more of her work here.

hello little leaf wreath

I finished off my first commission last week- a little decorative/commerative head wreath made out of fabric leaves for a baby boy called Luca. I was really pleased with the finished product and had great fun spraying the box lid gold (and also inadvertenly some of the bricks on the outside wall of our apartment building..oops!) and embellishing it with tiny stars in his initial.

My Moo business cards also arrived on my doorstep on Friday which was a very excellent end to the week! Really glad I decided to go for them as their cute smaller size is so dinky and cute. It all just feels so official now. Eeek!

a few things...

...that are making me smile.

Some gorgeous lillies that Curt bought me just because (gotta love it when that happens!)

These vintage tea cups that I found in a charity shop (they are now living on my dressing table and housing my brooches, hair grips- of which I seem to have about a billion strewn all over the house! And a whole world of other pretty little trinkets I have accumulated from various travels and places.

My new gold shoes that I am in so love with!!! These were another charity shop scoop and an absolute bargain. Looking forward to busting these out on the four day trip to Ibiza in June with my girls (an extended hen do but really just an excuse for some sun, beach time, lounging, shopping and strutting our stuff in a few of the carefully selected more classy bars and clubs).

And last but certainly not least, our beautiful baby girl (who alas is not going to be a baby for much longer at all as her first birthday is now just a couple of weeks away!) Her new favourite activity is crawling through to the kitchen at top speed as soon as our backs are turned and then frantically pulling boxes and packets of food out of the cupboards and emptying the contents onto the floor. Oh and then cramming said contents into her mouth if she decides she likes the look of it. High time for the child locks on the doors methinks!

the lost angel

So this weekend was a whirlwind of parties with two of my best girlies celebrating birthdays. They threw a get together in a very awesome new bar/restaurant in South London called 'The Lost Angel'. It's a fabulously quirky place with random musical instruments hanging from the ceiling, an old British phonebox painted white and housing an array of plants nestled against a wall, gorgeous vintage light fittings and quotes about love from famous wordsmiths tiled on the walls.

Above is a photo of me perusing the delectable cocktail menu and below the resturant area. I would definitely recommend anyway living in or visiting London to pay a visit if you're looking for something a bit different. You can see their website here.

Me and my girls (I am second on the left... yes unfortunately the pale one with the shiny forehead!) Note to self- next time try to remember to apply some self-tan and face powder before leaving the house :)

a little treat...

...for anyone who fancies adorning their head with something pretty- I am currently offering free worldwide shipping on all hair accessories in my etsy shop for a limited time only. Yes people, free shipping to where you live! So this is the perfect time to pick something girly and gorgeous in preparation for any upcoming weddings you are attending, or festivals, parties etc. Above is a new little beauty that I will be listing in the shop within the next day or two. Hope you had the loveliest of weekends.

i heart lover

I'm a big fan of the cult Australian fashion label Lover. Their collection for this season is called Sacred Hearts College and it has a preppy, American feel to it with simple, plain coloured seperates and cute cotton dresses.

Lover was concieved back in 2001 and has a long way since its humble origins as a Sydney market stall. It is run by a super cool couple called Susien Chong and Nic Briand and on the Lover website they explain the ethos behind their brand; "We started the label based on what we loved and admired, in turn we've created our own world with a mix and match of our favourite heroes, muses, films and songs".

I'm especially in love with their awesome vintage inspired swimwear...its perfect.

my lovely list

Just a quick one to say that earlier this week I was featured over at the very fabulous blog 'where the lovely things are'- which is exactly that. Definitely worth a visit if you haven't discovered it already. If you want to know more about all the things that I think are lovely then you can check it out here. Thanks Mallory!