Guest Book Ideas

Photo by Sabine Scherer via Green Wedding Shoes, here

As well as your photographs and video, guest books can act as fabulous mementos of the day. To sit down with your husband after the big day reading heartfelt wishes from your friends and family can be a great way to relive those moments.

Photo by Brian Cummings via Style Me Pretty, here

A traditional guest book is a simple solution which you can tie into your colour theme to gather all those good wishes but can occasionally get lost doing the rounds so either assign a friend to keep an eye on it or make a feature of it and set up a table where guests can go to sit down and write out messages, the bar area is usually a good spot.

There are number of ways you can play around with the traditional guest book format.

Collect old postcards for your guests to write on and have them post them into a vintage mailbox or collect them in a large vase. You could even provide a vintage typewriter for them to type out their messages.

Or how about a Wishing tree, they make great focal points; provide guests with luggage tags and they can tie on their wishes, you could also add some family photos to the tree.

Photo by Caroline Tran via Ruffled, here

How about a modern alternative where you clip the cards onto a wire frame (ok this is a chandelier which costs about $1200, but think of it as inspiration…)

via Oh So Beautiful Paper

If you are having a pre-wedding or engagement photo shoot it can be nice to incorporate the photos into a guest book. Some photographers like Marianne Taylor, will offer this as a service or use your favourite image mounted into a frame which your guests can then sign (even after 8 years of marriage I still find myself looking at our framed guest wishes and reminiscing about our wedding)

Photo by Marianne Taylor

Photo by Tana Photography via Elizabeth Anne Designs, here

If you are having a photo booth you can put these images straight into a book, this might even be included as part of you package, or how about a Big Brother style video booth guestbook.

Why stick to paper, ask guests to write on pieces of fabric or vintage handkerchiefs which you can then sew together to create a large wall hanging or funky quilt.

Have giant pebbles for guests to write on which you could collect in a lovely bowl to be displayed in your new home together.

If you are having a lot of children you could have a craft table where they paint panels that can be put toether into a large piece of art.

Or how about what they did at this wedding, the couple asked guests to write onto tiles which they planned on turning into a table top…

Photo by Leigh Miller via The Inspired Bride

Who says you need to stick to best wishes, you could ask for advice on a happy marriage, a much-loved memory they have of you (ask them to bring an old photo showing it), a great holiday destination or share a favourite recipe which you could turn into a little book to give as thank you gifts.

What about no words at all-at this wedding they had a fabulous fingerprint tree, where guests stamped their prints onto branches of the tree and then signed their names; available from Etsy seller Lovli Day

Designed by the bride Cassie, Photo by Jonas Peterson via Rock’n’Roll Bride

At this vow renewal there was a time capsule box, do check it out as she explains exactly what that involved; it’s a great idea which not only provided a great keepsake full of memories but really involved and entertained the guests…

Photo by Jenna Cole via Elizabeth Anne Designs

 

So get creative and have some fun with your guest ‘book’, make it something that you’ll want to look at again and again. What are you having for your wedding day?

We Make London Christmas Fair

If you love handmade goods, Etsy and Folksy then you’ll love We Make London, sponsored by The Make Lounge they’re holding a Christmas fair at Chelsea Town Hall, King's Road London this Saturday 5th December, where you can buy directly from the designers.

Check out the blog where they are showcasing the designers at the fair: loads of great ones to choose from, here are a few that could be useful for your wedding.

Stationery designers Atherton Lin

Place cards from Pocket Studio

Gift Boxes and Christmas ornaments by Paper Red Shoes…great for favours

For fabulous headpieces Treasure Me

And hats from Hatastic

I could go on but there are far too many, do check out the blog and pop down to the King’s road if you can.

P.S. Take a look at The Make Lounge website if you’re looking for alternative hen party ideas -from cup cake decorating to making your own bath and body products or if you’re thinking of making your own accessories they have tiara and fascinator workshops too.

Tissue Paper Pompom & Pomander Inspiration

On Monday I looked at how you could make your own tissue paper pomanders for your bridesmaids young or old to hold, here are some photos showing how you can use tissue paper pompoms and pomanders in all sizes and areas of your wedding

Create a backdrop for your ceremony

Photo by Katherine O’Brien Photography via Rock’n’Roll Bride, here

Hang on the end of chairs or pew ends either side of your aisle; you can then easily transfer them to your reception venue.

Photos by Jessica Johnston via Ruffled Blog, here

Decorate the reception space; hang then all round the space to add colour, highlight a feature of the room such as the windows or cluster them together to create a focal point around your head table

I love the ribbons hanging from these and different colours used for a Mexican inspired rehearsal dinner designed by Lisa Vorce of Oh How Charming! a US wedding planner.

Photo by Aaron Delesie, via Style Me Pretty

First photo and above by Q Weddings via Style Me Pretty here & here

They look great combined with Chinese lanterns

Photo by The Nichols via Style Me Pretty, here

They look just as fab, whatever the scale; small ones make fun napkin rings and look like mini-hydrangeas

Photo by Sugar Love Weddings via The Bride's Café, here

I love tissue paper pompoms, they’re fun and whimsical and great for adding splashes of colour. They can easily be made but if you don’t feel up to it check out Etsy as there are a number of tissue paper pompom sellers there.

DIY Tissue Paper Pomanders

At the weekend I was discussing with one of my brides what her younger flower girls could hold rather than flowers and I suggested she used tissue paper pomanders, they’re simple to make and easy for the girls to hold.

Here are the basic instructions for making the flowers/ pompoms (inspired by Martha Stewart’s large hanging pompom instructions, here) which you can either gather together in a ball like I have or for a more sturdy pomander stick into a polystyrene ball as shown here on the Ruffled Blog.

You will need Tissue paper, florist’s wire, scissors and ribbon.
(If attaching to a polystyrene ball you will also need a glue gun)

1. Take a sheet of tissue paper and fold 3 times so you have 8 rectangular pieces to cut out and then stack on top of each other as shown.

2. Concertina fold the paper, roughly 2-3cm wide, to the top. Fold in half to mark the centre point.

3. Wrap a piece of floral wire around the middle. It works better to keep the wire flat rather than scrunching up the paper. Trim the edges to give a rounded petal shape.


4. Then holding from the wire gradually pull out all the folds, pulling alternatively left and right until you have created your flower.



5. Gather you flower heads together to create your pomander and twist your wires together. Take a ribbon and tie to the centre of the pomander to create a handle to hold the pomander by. I’ve used 3 flower heads here for a loose pomander but you could use more to create a fuller more packed pomander.

You don’t have stick to one colour either you could use contrasting colours for individual flowers or layer different shades of the same colour within a single flower as well.

Adorable Finds: Jade & Peacock Blue

Here are the adorable finds for the Jade and Peacock Blue colour inspiration

I love the richness of these colours and I think they work wonderfully for an autumn or winter wedding.

I think the great thing about this colour palette is that you can mix it up for your bridesmaids; let them choose their own styles in a range of shades and have fun accessorising

1 Goddiva 2. Net-a-Porter 3 Monsoon 4 Monsoon 5 Net-a-Porter 6 Coast via House of Fraser

1 Feather Comb from Monsoon 2 Blue and Jade Bangle from Aldo 3 Peacock Burst Ring from Top Shop 4 Peacock Clutch from beegee bags via The Brides Café

Lots of great invitations can be found using the peacock as inspiration, here are a couple I found on Etsy.

Invitations from Etsy shops Izzy & the Bean Design and Peacock Invitations

Peacock place cards from Etsy shops Timeless Paper

A peacock on a cake might be a bit much but I like the use of jade icing detailing on this cake.


Cake Inspiration here, via Elizabeth Anne Designs photo by Laura Peacock (the name is a coincidence I promise.)

Always Andri News:You Magazine Feature

I was featured in You Magazine at the weekend, the article looked at women who have made the most out of being made redundant. You can read the online article here.

Image by Sam Holden

Love Poetry: 'Bright Star' by Keats

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient sleepless eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors;
No yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever or else swoon to death.

Bright Star the film about Keats’ short lived affair with his neighbour Fanny Brawne is released today. Looking for inspiration for your wedding readings- you can also visit the house where he met her and wrote some of his most romantic poems, they even host a monthly poetry reading and appreciation group.

Image found here