Belle Amour - Advice & planning

‘Advice & planning’ posts

Crap carpets

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

If there’s one thing I cannot stand it’s crap carpets. And a lot of wedding venues seem to love crap carpets. No matter how beautiful the wedding venue, if it has a crap carpet I would have to write it off instantly. I believe, unless you style your wedding to fit with the dodgy decor it’s just going to ruin all the effort you poured into the vision for your dream day.

Case in point…

Awesome images courtesy of:

And another…

You could spend hours putting together a beautifully styled wedding and then the carpet goes and ruins it all!

Apparently there is a reason for the awful carpets with the loud patterns. It makes it easier to hide stains. I don’t think they’re talking about stains from wounds inflicted by upset brides, when they realise their wedding photos are going to look considerably less pretty, because of the crap carpet. I’m guessing they’re talking about red wine spillages and the like. Understandably it costs a lot to change a carpet. So just do away with them all together I say! What’s wrong with wood? Wood is beautiful and complements any colour choice…

Wood image via: Archi Expo

Of course if you’ve completely fallen in love with the venue then the carpet could possibly be overlooked (perhaps have your wedding at night when it’s darker?), or covered. In my case it would have to be covered although I’d make this a deal-breaker. I’d want the venue to pay for covering the crap carpet or I’d be looking elsewhere…

Wooden floors, grass or sand. That’s what I’d want :)

Debs

P.S. Anybody else that would say no to a venue just because of the carpet? Hoping it’s not just me ;)

Tags: carpet, decor, flooring, styling, theme, ugly carpet, Venue, wooden
Posted in Advice & planning | 12 Comments »

Glamping for the girls

Monday, January 16th, 2012

I love camping. Even in a tiny tent in the pouring rain I still think there’s something magical about it… cooking outside on an open fire, snuggling up as the rain lashes the side of the tent and the fact you only have to pop your head out of the door to see the night sky filled with stars? Perfection :)

My friend Verity, who got engaged on Christmas day (woop!), is also a camping fan and would love to go for her hen do. But she has a few friends that don’t share her love of camping and, of course, wants to make sure they have a good time too. The answer? Glamping!

To tell you more about the kind of camping that any girl would love here’s Rebecca of Chillisauce Events, a company that specialises in the organisation of hen and stag parties. I absolutely love her picks!

Get glamping

Girls, let’s get glamping! Camping has been around forever and usually not been very appealing, but with some feminine touches (improvements), glamping was born. Check out the top destinations for glamping adventures and get set for the best girls weekend away EVER…

Like most brides to be you want to plan a day that is special, memorable and unique to you, and your hen party is no different. A great Hen party consists of your best female friends and family members, time away from your guy and a fun-filled itinerary, with enough laughs and stories to last a lifetime. Here are some great glamping locations, perfect for a Hen weekend away.

Wild Northumbrian Tipis & Yurts, Northumberland

Camp out in these luxury Tipis and Yurts located in the Northumbrian National Park for a weekend of star gazing and bush work activities, to name but a few. Tipis sleeping up to 8 people or Yurts sleeping up to 6 come complete with double beds, soft furnishings and sheep skin rugs to provide you with all the comforts you could need. The outdoor decking areas are great for BBQs and drinks in the evening or cook using the wood burning stove. Shared facilities comprise of an under floor heated shower with hot water and a drying area. What more could a girl ask for? You can be cosy inside and out, enjoying the hammocks and picnic benches, or candles and shelter inside all weather huts.

Glamping Tip: You will need to take your own sleeping bags or duvets along with you. Take advantage of the local activities and events with ancient pottery making and wool workshops for a rural experience, with all the luxuries of home.

For more info: Wild Northumbrian Tipis & Yurts, Northumberland

Wild Luxury at Thornham Bay, Norfolk

Get away to the Norfolk coast and camp in style at this safari-style glamping site. Secluded in the farmland of Thornham but close enough to local pubs and a farm shop, you won’t be short of things to do here. Each lodge sleeps up to five adults and is fully equipped with a kitchen, partitioned bedroom, wood cooker stove, hot running shower water and a flushing loo. There are two tents in total, giving you flexibility on the size of your hen party; big or small this place can accommodate you. This picturesque site is complete with an outdoor deck area and fire pit outdoors for entertaining especially great if you visit in the summer months. Enjoy fresh produce from the local farm shop and star gaze on the nearby Norfolk beach for the perfect girly getaway. What is great about this site is that they can provide you with meals to just heat up; great to save time preparing meals for the hens or you can raid their site pantry for a few ingredients and cook up a storm yourselves.

Glamping Tip: Plan activities and games to take with you, that can be enjoyed over a bottle of wine on your safari style deck.

For more info: Wild Luxury at Thornham Bay

The Dandelion Hideaway, Leicestershire

Now this really is glamping luxury, you won’t even know you’re camping. These luxurious canvas cottages located at the edge of Chamwood Forest in Leicestershire are the ideal place for the vintage inspired bride to be. These tents are suitably named canvas cottages, and they are just that. Each tent sleeps up to six, with period features like a traditional range cooker and butler’s sink, as well as a vintage en-suite bathroom with roll top shower. Close to the small market town of Bosworth, you can happily spend your days exploring the town or wandering the rolling hills of the surrounding area. The canvas cottages are located for complete privacy allowing you to enjoy your hen weekend antics without disturbing anyone else or being disturbed yourselves. Take advantage of Osbaston House farm and learn how to milk goats and play farmer for the day at the century old working farm.

Glamping Tip: Step back in time and enjoy the selection of old fashioned games like dominoes and snakes and ladders, available in each tent.

For more info: The Dandelion Hideaway

Glamping Holiday, Surrey

Escape to the country with Glamping Holidayand enjoy a stay in their wonderfully decorated canvas bell tents. Each tent is delicately adorned with shabby chic elements from rugs and pillows to lanterns and wooden chests. In true glamping style the tents facilitate contemporary camping with bedding, towels and cooking equipment. However, if you don’t feel like cooking, meals are available, feeding up to four people. The site is set in the enchanting grounds of Springbok Estate, so you can take in the fresh air and really unwind. The site aims to support the community by sourcing food for the site from local shops. So not only can you enjoy your weekend of bliss, but you will be doing your bit for the surrounding area.

Glamping Tip: Take advantage of the delicious welcome breakfast pack, complete with all the basics you will need like eggs, bread and milk and of course marshmallows. Yum.

For more info: Glamping Holiday

How perfect is that last image? I’m pinning it now :)

Chillisauce Events don’t deal with glamping holidays themselves so if you’d like to find out more about glamping locations get yourself to Go Glamping. For many other ideas of what to do for your hen party head over to Chillisauce, there are so many ideas and locations covered you’re bound to find something you like :)

Debs

 Vendor Details:
 Chillisauce Events
 Chillisauce Events Hen Party Ideas
 Phone: 0207 299 1831

Tags: camping, girl's night, glamping, hen do, hen night, hen party, holiday, honeymoon, planning, wedding
Posted in Advice & planning | 5 Comments »

Piles of presents?

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

The gift list is often one of much debate in wedding world. Is it bad to ask for gifts? But if you don’t ask do you risk getting lots of items you don’t want when people feel obliged to give anyway? Can you ask for money and, if so, how can you possibly phrase that politely? Is there perhaps an alternative that you haven’t even thought of?

Personally, I think the thought of asking for gifts would make me feel a bit cheeky. Although it has pretty much become a given that guests at weddings buy gifts I do still believe it would be nicer if this wasn’t the case. That brides and grooms were genuinely touched and surprised to get a gift lovingly hand-picked for them rather than wait for guests to buy all the items on a list they’ve compiled.

On the other hand, the majority of guests do want to buy gifts and perhaps you’re making it easier on them by giving them a list to pick from!

The choice to include a gift list with the invites, or instead to leave a message with the parents for those that insist on buying a gift, is a personal one but either way I thought I’d try and come up with 10 ideas for the list, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious…

1. Homeware store

One of the most common routes to go down is setting up a gift list with a shop such as John Lewis or Debenhams. This is great for the few couples that haven’t lived together for that long (or at all!) prior to their marriage and still need the essential homewares these types of shops offer. As you have a gift list to fill, however, you could well end up putting those unnecesary, use-once-and-then-put-in-a-dark-cupboard-never-to-see-the-light-of-day-again type objects on just for the sake of filling it up. I’d have to have a good think about whether I really needed all those homewares before going down this route! If you decide you want such items but would rather pick from different stores then services such as Presentwise and The Gift List Company allow you to do this.

2. Honeymoon

If your house has everything it needs and you’d rather treat yourself to a luxury holiday then asking guests to contribute to the honeymoon would mean your first trip as a newly married couple could be an amazing one! Companies such as Turquoise allow guests to either contribute cash to your honeymoon or select from experiences pre-determined by the couple, such as a massage or quad-biking!

3. Money

Perhaps the hardest to ask for! Most tend to go with a cheeky poem such as this:
Because at first we lived in sin
We’ve got the sheets and a rubbish bin
A gift from you would be swell
But we’d prefer a donation to our Wishing Well!
If this still makes you feel uncomfortable I’d leave this one to the parents to deal with! If there is no mention of a gift list most guests will ask them and they could just casually suggest the money option.

4. Art

Companies such as Scotland Art and Artery Gallery offer gift lists that allow guests to contribute to a piece of artwork of your choice. I rather like this idea as it is just one item so no chance of it cluttering up the house! Pick a statement painting and it can have pride of place in your home as a reminder of your special day and all the loved ones you shared it with.

5. Charity

Another great idea and one I wrote about in this post on Oxfam Unwrapped. If you really don’t want for anything but want your guests to feel satisfied that they gave you a gift then this is the way to do it. Lots of charities, such as Cancer Research and the NSPCC offer options to set up an online page where guests can contribute. Alternatively, pick any charity of your choice and put a note with your invites stating that contributions are welcome for you to pass on to your chosen charity. The chance to help others long after your special day is definitely a great idea for your wedding gifts.

6. Interior design

If you want to create the perfect home for your newly married life but need some help, then companies such as Beyond Weddings are perfect. Set up by Chelsea Bidwill there are 3 services all involving a visit from Chelsea to give her an idea of your home and what design elements will enhance it. Lists can feature decorative items to buy or interior work such as reupholstering chairs, fitting a carpet or renovating the bathroom. You could ask for money and put it towards something like this but this way you get an interior specialist’s help and I think many guests like to know what they’ve bought you. Alternatively if you’re happy designing your house yourself and would just like help with the DIY costs, vouchers for a hardware store such as B&Q would come in handy.

7. Gardening

If your house is just the way you want it but the garden’s looking a bit shabby then get a garden makeover for your gift! The Wedding Garden Company offer lists that allow you to choose garden items yourself or alternatively they can visit you to discuss a few ideas or even a full garden redesign. And if you can’t decide between homewares, interior design or sprucing up your garden then a company such as Bottom Drawer is for you as they allow you to put anything on your list!

8. Wine

For wine drinkers why not have enough to fill a cellar waiting for you on return from your honeymoon? Those at The Wine Wedding List can help you compile ideas for wines from all over the world and at different price levels to suit different guests’ budgets. A nice touch is that every bottle bought is hand labelled with the guest’s name that bought it for you so you can drunkenly thank them after you’ve enjoyed it!

9. Books

The last two are my favourite ideas as, to me, they are what gifts should be about: they allow the guest the freedom to choose themselves and a chance for them to be creative, a great combo! I absolutely love books. So much so that one day I dream of a library in my house like the one in Disney’s Beauty & the Beast with the ladder to access all the many books! This list is simple, ask the guest to buy you their favourite book, fiction or non-fiction. This way you’ll end up with a really unusual and interesting collection of books that will remind you of your guests and most likely offer up reading oppportunities you’d never have explored otherwise. You could take this one step further by including with your invites a sticker for them to include in the front of their book allowing them to add their name and a message for you.

10. Romance

The most creative option! Ask guests to contribute to your romance. Leaving it quite open means they can have fun deciding in what way they want to do that. Whether they choose tickets for the theatre, a voucher for a meal out, a set of gorgeous candles for the home or a book of love poems you’ll hopefully get a whole bunch of weird and wonderful gifts out of this one!

Gift

Awesome image courtesy of Jen Chan

If anybody can think of alternatives to the usual gift lists then please let me know. I’d love to hear your ideas!

Debs

Tags: gift list, wedding wish list
Posted in Advice & planning | No Comments »

A soggy laptop and finding a theme

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

So yesterday I woke in the early hours of the morning, reached for my phone to see what time it was, and in the dark in my half-asleep state knocked over a full cup of water onto my unclosed laptop. Currently it’s drying out in a plastic bag with some rice whilst I’m hoping I won’t have to fork out for a new one. Either way blogging is a little on the difficult side so I hope you don’t mind me reposting a few past posts for the next few days! And yes I have learnt my lesson regarding computers and water :(

Will you marry me? I imagine after hearing those words (providing they came from someone I actually wanted to marry of course) I’ll cry, grin massively, hug tightly, and kiss heavily, question-asker and then my brain would be filled with ideas of wedding venues and wedding colours and what kind of dress should I wear!

When (or if, but I prefer when) it happens I’m going to try and not start planning the wedding that very night. It would be nice to just enjoy the moment. But, of course, at some point there will be a wedding to plan. At some point all the newly-engaged have a wedding to plan. Even if you enlist the help of a wedding planner it is likely you will want input into your important day and so today’s post is going to try and tackle that crucial issue… the wedding theme (for want of a better word).

Colourful

Colour is one of the easier themes to pull off. Just pick your wedding colours and match your details to it! You don’t need to stick to just one colour there are many colours that go beautifully together. You can have any combinations you like such as lemon and grey (a particular favourite of mine), red and aqua, orange and purple, navy and yellow, black and hot pink (see Monday’s wedding for inspiration with this one)…

Victor-Sizemore

Awesome image courtesy of Victor Sizemore

If you’re stuck for colour inspiration head to your local hardware store and visit the paint chip section, pick loads of paint chips that you like, take them home and play match up. You could end up finding a beautiful colour combo that you’ve never even seen before.

To add a bit of interest to a colour theme you can also use different shades of a colour. When you’ve selected your colours you can use paint chips again to give to your bridesmaids. These cards feature a range of shades of a colour and by allowing the bridesmaid to choose her own dress in one of these shades you will achieve several things: added interest with a range of shades & styles of bridesmaid dresses, happy bridesmaids being in a dress they feel comfortable in and will most likely wear again, uber-modern wedding by not sticking to the one-maid-in-same-dress rule!

Austin-Gros

Awesome images courtesy of Austin Gros

Vintage pretty

Vintage is big! There are numerous companies out there to help you with a vintage big day if that’s what you decide on. First up would be to decide what type of vintage wedding is for you; deciding on a particular era will make planning your day much easier. You could go for a 1920s wedding with a drop-waisted dress, vintage mismatched china (hired, borrowed, or found in flea markets) with a gramophone in the corner playing jazz classics. Or maybe a fifties wedding wearing a tea-length dress and coloured petticoat, turning up in a Cadillac and feasting on diner grub is the wedding for you?

Ben-Blood

Awesome image courtesy of Ben Blood

Location, location, location

Where your wedding is taking place can influence your wedding decor. If you decide that your venue is beside the seaside then a beach-themed wedding would be perfect; sea shells and buckets filled with flowers for table centres, perhaps a stick of rock as a wedding favour. A wedding in a barn will work nicely with a rustic theme; you could serve up sweet and savoury pies rather than a fancy wedding cake, have burlap table runners and guests sitting on hay stacks! Likewise, a stately home venue would work well with a vintage or traditional theme: floral candelabras, crisp table linens and an intricately iced cake.

Mathieu-Photography

Awesome images courtesy of Mathieu Photography

Seasonal start

The season you are marrying in can be a good place to start with your theme. Different seasons lend themselves to different colours; spring and summer weddings suit bright, fresh hues whilst autumn fits more rustic hues with oranges, reds and browns coming to mind. Winter weddings work really well with Christmas colours such as red or gold or going for something completely white with a bit of sparkle thrown in. The season can stretch to more than just the colours of your wedding though. Spring and summer weddings, for example, work well with an English tea party as the reception; you could serve up Pimms & scones! An autumn wedding would be gorgeous in a barn with cosy candle light and spiced hot cider. A winter wedding could have mulled wine, gingerbread favours and a Christmas tree in the corner!

Corbin-Gurkin

Awesome image courtesy of Corbin Gurkin

Personalised

A theme I’m a particular fan of is a personalised one. Think about you and your partner, what you like, perhaps even what brought you together as a couple. A love of music would be fantastically expressed with vinyl wedding stationery, album covers as table numbers and a mix CD for wedding favours. You could theme it around a particular country where you holidayed or you could base it around your first date: even serve up the meal you ate that night. Photographs can feature heavily in a personalised wedding; string up photos of your romance around the venue, have a big portrait of the two of you printed with a border big enough for guests to sign in, you can even use different photos as table numbers. A theme that is personalised will be exciting for your guests as they’ll get a real insight into your relationship on a day that is, quite rightly, all about you!

Sarah-Yates

Awesome images courtesy of Sarah Yates

Research but relax

When you’ve picked a theme a little research will help massively. Perhaps research is a bad word reminding you of seeking out info for essays at school but his is fun research, for pretty things, so enjoy it! There are tons of wedding blogs out there that, most likely, will be featuring a wedding in the theme of your choice. Whilst you could just go ahead and design your entire wedding around one it’s nicer to simply take inspiration, change a few things and make it your own. You don’t just need to see existing weddings though. Why not put your theme into Google images (I know there are other search engines but I’m a Google girl!) and see what it comes up with, it could offer up something unusual that you’d never thought of that would work really well. If you’re going for an era-based wedding the internet will be home to countless articles on the era of your choice that you can use to incorporate ideas into your big day.

Research

Awesome images courtesy of a Google image search for ‘red aqua wedding inspiration’

Sans theme

Of course, you don’t even have to have a theme at all! Themes are great to help you easily tie a look together but I’ve seen some great weddings that didn’t have any theme in particular; the bride and groom had just picked what they liked and it still works as it’s what the bride and groom liked which, at the end of the day, is the most important thing to accomplish with a wedding.

Similarly, there are no rules. If you want a 1920s wedding with a 1950s styled dress or an entirely yellow and blue wedding with a stand-out pink cake then do it!

As long as you and your partner are happy that’s all that matters. You could theme your wedding around dinosaurs or hamburgers if you like. True, the mother-in-law may frown upon dinosaurs or hamburgers but it does not matter. All that matters is that whatever you decide, theme or no theme, it is the wedding of your dreams.

Debs

P.S. Out of interest, after writing that last paragraph, I decided to Google ‘dinosaur wedding’ and found this! How awesome is that cake?!

Posted in Advice & planning | 1 Comment »