Inspiring Inspiration Boards

Many brides are creating inspiration boards to help them pick the perfect wedding colour or theme.

Basically, an inspiration board is a collage of pictures that inspire you. They don't have to be wedding related. There are many different ways you can make an inspiration board - on your computer using photoshop or any design package or you can use the good old fashion method of sticking your pictures onto art boards and keep in your planning file.

Not sure where to start? What inspires you, flowers, scenery, food? What colours do you like? Cut out all pictures or save them on your computer and start arranging them together. Seeing different colours and textures together will let you narrow down the colours and themes you might want to have at your wedding.

The board below appeared on http://ritzybee.typepad.com/ by guest blogger Kathryn of http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/. It is a gorgeous board for a winter wedding. Simple and elegant with different hues of blue.

'Till next time

Been away

I know that I have been away for a while.

I got the horrible winter-cold that had me out of action for a week and then xmas hit. I am sorry but I promise that I am working on a stunning wedding to add to our Real Weddings - so stay tuned.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and that you will have a safe and awesome New Years.

'Till next time

What happens to the dress!

I know trying to think beyond the 'big day' is somewhat of a daunting thought, but have you thought what will happen to your dress?

If you break it down there are basically one of three options:

1 - after the wedding you get the dress dry-cleaned, wrapped up and stored away in a dark closet. But ask yourself this, why are you saving it? Are you that attached to it that the thought of getting rid of it causes you to break out in hives? Or do you think your one-day-grown-up-daughter will want to wear your dress?

2 - you could 'Trash-the-Dress'. It is a craze that seems to be sweeping our friends across the Atlantic. Basically after the wedding you meet up with your photographer again and ... well basically do whatever you want. You don't have the restrictions you normally have on the wedding day. I have seen pictures of brides jumping into lakes, swimming in the ocean. Now while this may give you beautiful and different photos for the album - is it really worth it. A dress that you probably have spent hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds on, a dress you confirmed your love to your partner with, the dress you wore when you began your life as a married couple.

3 - by far this is my best and favoured option. Donate it. A thing I love about the UK is the charity shops. A place you can find great clothes at great prices while supporting an important charity. Well, did you know that Oxfam have a facility where you can donate your wedding dress to help make another bride's wedding a dream. Although most of the dresses have been given by designers and bridal shops, many ex-catwalk and are in mint condition, they also stock a smaller number of dresses that have been generously donated by supporters after their wedding day.

Think about it, think how your dress could be the dream dress for some other bride.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shops/content/bridal.html#faq

'Till next time

My wedding

I thought I would kick off our Real Weddings with some pictures from my wedding.
P.S( To see the pictures bigger just click on them)

I married the love of my life - Warren - in April 2002. We had been dating for 5 years, in fact we married a day before our 5 year anniversary.

We got married in South Africa and back then we didn't have access to the internet as we do now so my inspiration was limited to the few bridal magazines I could pick up. I could buy the imported ones but they were very expensive.

We had a simple wedding and it was a DIY wedding. We created all our wedding stationery - from the invitations to the menu cards to the seating plan. Although simple in the design, it was our design, our labour of love.

Our ceremony was held at the church where my parents were married in South Africa, and where all the children of the family had been baptised. It is a catholic church that is full of carvings and stain glass windows that we did not need to spend much money in decorating it. The only additions we had was the large flower arrangements at the entrance and at the altar and the pew flowers. We were able to transfer the large arrangements to the reception venue.

Our reception was at the country club - I have a picture of one of the tables which show you we had a simple centre piece. It was a mirror plate with a large candle that 5 wicks and was surrounded by flowers. Our cake was made by my aunt and decorated by my grandmother, she made 800 sugar flowers, a fantastic wedding gift.

We had such an awesome party, from when the music started to when we had to finish the dance floor was never empty. We had a fantastic DJ who played all types of music that appealed to everyone. The boys dancing is my hubby and one of the groomsmen - they were dancing to Cotton Eye Joe, a song that has meaning for them. The last picture is the alternative we had to a guest book. We got some lovely paper and centred an engagement photo and got all our guests to sign it. After we got our photos from our photographer we placed a wedding photo in it and to this day it hangs on our wall.

'Till next time

Real Weddings

One of the ways I like to draw inspiration is by looking at Real Weddings. Pictures and ideas done by real brides. This is something I would like to start featuring on Blue Cherry. Below is what I am looking for:

If you’d like to submit a real wedding for consideration, we’d love to hear from you! Please shoot me an email at bluecherryevents@gmail.com and include the following:

1. Your Info – your name, your fiancé’s name and the date and location of your wedding

2. Your pictures - send about 25-50 images that you feel best highlight your big day. Images should be sent EITHER via jpgs or through a link to your online portfolio.

3. Your Description - tell me about your vision, the unique details that you infused, any DIY projects that you did, etc. The more info that we have to get to know you by, the better.

4. Your Vendors - please list all applicable vendors that you would like to see credited.

I would like to feature weddings that are DIY inspired. I would love to see projects that you crafted to add personality and style into your wedding day. Make sure to include step-by-step instructions and a picture of the final product for each DIY project that you would like to feature. We are also looking for budget friendly weddings - If you managed to throw a gorgeous, super chic wedding on a budget, we’d love to see how it all turned out! Fun, budget-friendly tips are a welcome addition to this type of post. Was your wedding traditional or was it modern and fresh? Did you infuse bits of culture into your affair?

'Till next time

Organised chaos...

The reality is that planning a wedding is not some mysterious, difficult task that you need to master, however it can be time consuming. I would say the most important key is to get and stay organised. It’s when you become disorganised – or let others constantly ‘change your mind’ to please them – that things can go wrong, and costs can begin to add up significantly.

Nowadays there are so many tools available for wedding planning help and organisation. Wedding software is the most popular since it is easy to use and keeps all your files organised and in one place. Ease of navigation is also important to quickly access your notes, plus make necessary changes and updates as you finalise your plans.

Printed wedding planners are also very popular. You can find many different styles and formats. You can create your own inexpensive planner using a binder and paper dividers. I found a fantastic website with free wedding templates. There are 57 templates to print out so you can personalise your planner. You can also purchase plastic business card holders to hold swatches of materials, business cards etc.

The templates can be found at: http://www.russellandhazel.com/ideas_weddingtemplates.html

'Till next time

Welcome to my world!

This is really exciting...my very own blog. This is something that I have been wanting to start for quite a while now, but, well let's just say I haven't had the confidence to learn.I want this blog to be all about wedding/events inspiration. I want it to help brides/planners to design their own unique and most important personal event.

Inspiration can come in many different forms, a colour palette, a beautiful venue or something as simple as a pair of shoes or some jewelry...I want this blog to translate your ideas into reality.I spend a lot of time scouring many, many different wedding sites (maybe a bit too much time is spent looking) and I hope to be able to bring some fresh new ideas, inspirations and DIY projects.I especially want to start featuring Real Weddings. I truly believe that there is no better inspiration then seeing an actual wedding. I am looking for weddings that have a personal touch, a story behind why that theme was chosen and a beautiful colour palette. If you would like your wedding featured on Blue Cherry then please email me some pictures, tell me about you and your hubby and some details about the wedding.

My intention is to also build a Blue Cherry Book of professional and recommended vendors.I will always be on the lookout for ways to improve and different topics to start a discussion on - so don't be shy, send me your ideas, problems, questions and weddings to me.

'Till next time...