Beautiful Bird Invitations

Jim and Gemma’s wedding is coming up and I got the invite in the mail a while ago. I previously blogged about their save the date card, but the wedding invitations are just lovely. If you read my blog regularly you will know how much I love a good wedding invitation. I think they can be a great way to let people know the style or theme of the wedding, and just another way to let your personality shine through. You can see their save the date cards here.

These invitations are a fantastic example of this. Jim and Gemma are having there wedding out at Healesville Sanctuary. For those of you who don’t know Healesville Sanctuary is a zoo specialising in native Australian animals, which also has a history of breeding native animals. Jim and Gemma love the outdoors and animals and this is a great way for them to show this to all of the people that they have invited.

 

They have not only found some lovely invitations that reflect the style and theme, but they have put a lot of time into giving their guests all of the information that they may require for the day. They have guests travelling from all corners of the globe to share in their special day and they haven’t forgotten a thing on the information sheet.  They have included a map, information about accommodation, information about a shuttle bus service that they have organised (due to unreliable taxi’s in the area), information about people bringing their kids, down to helpful information about comfortable shoes. They have also given guests information about a dinner the evening before and a brunch the day after for people planning to make a weekend of it all.

You can find out more about Healesville Sanctuary on their website by clicking here.

Wedding Insurance

I have been hearing more and more about Wedding Insurance. One of the couples who’s wedding I am conducting later in the year mentioned it to me when we were talking and it started me thinking.

So I had a bit of a look online and it seems that more and more couples are taking out wedding insurance. It sounds like a good idea if you are having a large or quite expensive wedding. I did start thinking of all the horror stories that I have heard about venues burning down, going broke and all sorts of other reasons that might make couples consider taking out insurance.  My husband and I attended a wedding a few years ago now that was a destination wedding of sorts. The couple had chosen where they wanted to be married and had done lots of hard work planning out their wedding in Mooloolaba. Everyone was booked in, people were traveling from far and wide, including the bride and groom. The majority of the guests were booked to stay within walking distance of the reception venue. A week or so out from the wedding day, the couple had trouble getting onto the reception venue and long story short, the place went out of business and they had to find another venue for their reception. They worked out transport arrangements for people to get to and from the new venue and had a whole lot of work to do in a short amount of time. I remember then thinking how much money they probably lost and wondered where they stood in a situation like that.

Obviously the insurance isn’t going to do all of the hard work for you, but it will help with costs associated with getting a new venue on short notice. From what I can gather they also cover if the wedding date has to be changed due to illness. It doesn’t cover cancelling though, if one of the couple decide that they don’t want to go through with the wedding.

Like any insurance people should check what the policy covers, read the fine print and have all of your questions answered. What are your thoughts on wedding insurance?

Thank you again to Untamed Images Photography for this weeks blog photos. Have a look at their website here and their facebook page by clicking here.

Simply Stunning Wedding Invitations

Courtney and Tim are getting married in November. They are not just having a Wedding but they are having a ‘Wedstival’, a wedding crossed with a festival.  I have been following Courtney’s ideas on Pintrest and am loving talking about wedding things when we catch up. Not only does she have amazing ideas on her Pintrest but she had designed all of the wedding invitations herself.  She did the illustrations for her save the date cards too. From the date cards, I knew that the invitations would be great.

Courtney is really artistic and has had work published in Frankie magazine on a regular basis, and now has her own Etsy store full of her beautiful illustrations.  So when I got to see the invitations I wasn’t disappointed. I love opening an invitation that is an experience, not just beautiful. I hope the photos do them justice.  I look forward to blogging all about their Wedstival and sharing their special day with you.

You can have Courtney make maps for any occasion, or contact her about any illustration work through her Etsy store. Check it out here.

Kate and Paul

I  recently conducted the wedding of Kate and Paul and it was an amazing night!! Kate and Paul are friends with, and were guests at the wedding of Heidi and Alex. They had been talking about getting married and wanted to do things a little differently. They were having their Engagement party and decided that they wanted to surprise their guests by getting married. I was really excited when I got a message from Kate and she explained to me what she had in mind. I thought how wonderful it would be. I was excited to be one of the secret keepers for the event.

Kate and Paul have come a long way from their first face to face meeting where Paul thought it all seemed a bit dodgy and he even wondered if he might be getting jacked with a sock full of batteries. Obviously that wasn’t the case, they both knew that they were quite fond of each other and were keen to impress. On the day of their first proper date, Kate was unable to choose her own attire and requested the help of Heidi. Paul also took the advice of a friend on how to style his hair and what to wear.

From that first meeting they have been almost inseparable. They hated spending time away from each other and they spent many hours in the beginning of their relationship driving between Kilsyth and Fawkner.  They were determined to see one another often. They are happiest in each other’s company wether it is playing board games (monopoly so I’m told), going on late night drives to nowhere in particular (mainly ending up at Kmart) or having a night together at the Pancake Parlour. As long as they are together, it doesn’t really matter.

Kate says she loves the way that Paul has always brought out the best in her. He has accepted all of her quirky ways and never once questioned it. When her fears get out of hand or she over reacts, he knows how to calm her down. Kate also said “The thing I probably love the most about him is how he is so considerate and caring. He does all these little things that show me every day how much he cares and loves me. Like in the mornings before he goes to work, he always gives me a goodbye kiss and makes sure that the puppies don’t steal all the doona, no matter how late for work he sometimes is.” Paul loves how Kate keeps him together and grounded. He loves how she always manages make him laugh and lighten his day when she acts all silly. He loves her caring nature and her ability to figure out any problems he might have. But most of all Paul says “I love the way she puts up with my shenanigans.”

Kate and Paul had their wedding at the iconic Bobby McGee’s, which has such a wonderful old school vibe, with all of the ‘diner’ furniture. It is such a fun venue. They invited about 110 people to what the guests thought was their Engagement Party. They thought that it was a great way to make sure that all the people that they wanted to be at their wedding would be there, without all the fuss that sometimes goes along with planning a wedding. Their Parents knew about the plans, and obviously their wedding party, so it was only the guests that were surprised.

What a wonderful fun time! Paul and Kate were there, not long after the first of the guests began arriving. They were all dressed up, but not in their outfits that they were getting married in. The mingled with the crowd for a while and then they snuck out. They went to get changed into their wedding outfits while I made an announcement to the guests that they were in fact going to be married in about 15 minutes time, (which was meet with loud cheering from the guests). I told the guests if anyone in their family or friends group had not yet arrived that they should call them and tell them that something very special was about to happen.

The wedding was really lovely and suited their style, it was a great venue for them and they really did a great job of keeping it a secret, of course there were a few people there that of course were telling people they ‘picked it’ and they ‘knew that this was going to happen’.
I know I say it all the time but it really is true, I feel so very lucky to be a part of the special day of so many lovely people. I get to meet them, get to know quite a bit about them and then be lucky enough to not only be there on their wedding day but help them exchange their vows on one of the happiest days of their lives. Not too shabby a job at all!!
I did ask Heidi and Alex, who is next on their friends list for a wedding? Or baby naming?

Thanks to Denny at Digiotrix Digital Media for the use of the photos on the blog. Check out their website here or you can find them on facebook by clicking here.

Great wedding photo App

 

I have previously blogged about Social Media and weddings, but at a wedding that I conducted in April (see that Blog here), Chloe and Sean used a fantastic wedding photo sharing app. I had heard about them before but never used one. It was really easy to find, download and sign up. It’s quite user friendly and had a layout that is a little bit like instagram.

They gave their guests a card at the ceremony that had all of the information on it. You could also set it up and send it out with your invitations. It sent me an email after I signed up, suggesting that you put up photos from hens days and other photos of the happy couple. This app is called Wedpics, and is available from the AppStore on your iphone.

I’ve written previously about phone apps and social media use at your wedding, but I think this is a great way to share your images amongst your guests and friends without everyone seeing them, especially people that are not invited to the wedding. Another wedding that I attended used a hashtag on instagram that all of the guests could use so that they could share and collect images.  Have you been to a wedding that had a great app or a way of sharing all of the photos from the big day?