I am back ♥

Oh Hey! Long time no blog! What a few weeks it has been. Ed and I went to Cyprus for our holiday last week, I am missing it already! It was so lovely and hot, and all the guests we talked to seemed to be going to a wedding over there, or booking a wedding. We were thinking after all this talk, are we doing the right thing staying in the UK to tie the knot? After a 5 hour non - stop pool chat along with a few other hotel guests, and much thinking, I honestly think we are doing right by what we are doing. I know that all our guests can come, well more so than if it was in Cyprus, I can tailor the room to exactly how I want it, and if it rains then we will just have to have some romantic rainy pictures. 

Here we are over there. It's all about the giraffe sunnies!

If you have read the previous posts, you may know that I ordered my little sisters bridesmaid dress. Well it came, and my Mom took that big tacky bow off straight away and it made the world of difference. Where the bright pink ribbon is, I think we are going to cover it with a slightly duskier/lighter pink just to tone it down a little. I'm also going to try and get an underskirt to flare it out a little. It's a really cute dress though, different with a vintage feel which is what I really like on it. 

Here she is with it on, it's just the right size to grow into over the next 19 months for her, and she is holding one of the little posies I have been making. It's not quite finished, but we just took the photo so we could get the full effect.

I spotted another wedding dress on the land of Ebay yesterday, which is a gorgeous lace and taffeta dress. I really love it, it's so elegant but still holds that vintage touch with the shoulders. I have broad shoulders so I thought this would work well to tone them down but others have the opinion that it may accentuate them, any ideas?

I do still love the dress I have put on here as 'the one', I just love how classy this is. 

The lace up back detail is stunning, and this looks so nice with a long veil. I also have a tattoo on my right shoulder, so this would also tone that down a little if I was going to cover it. That's another post in itself that I'll talk about at a later date. 

I hope everyone is well, next post coming very soon! Ooo and P.S. I gained 4lb on holiday, I went to weight watchers yesterday. I think it may have been more than that though because we moved house on Saturday and I must of dropped a couple then! I am really disheartened actually, because the people that joined around the same time as me who I was running alongside with weight loss, are now a few lbs ahead of me. I really need to try and get it off!

Tilly xXx

Making a little Posie Bouquet ♥

After yesterday's post, I was itching to get started on having a go at making a bouquet. I just really wanted to see what it would look like. I hadn't really got suitable brooches to put in it, so I just thought I'd see how it would turn out anyhow. My Mom and I popped down to Hobbycraft (a big craft store in the UK), and we found lots of goodies that could be turned into some pretty creations.

My Mom kindly treated me to all the bits and bobs to have a go with. I have been looking at real floral bouquets this morning, and they appear to be typically £50.00 or more! Daylight robbery yet again. I just can't justify it just to chuck them away. We got enough supplies to make two little Bridesmaid posies, and that came to just under £30.00 for two! I think they will be a nice keepsake for the girls if they wanted to keep them.

So to make them, we got: 

4 Bunches of artificial vintage coloured roses

3 Bunches of diamanté roses / sprigs

Floristry Tape and Floristry wire

Tools needed were scissors, and round nosed pliers if you are going to use brooches. Also, weight watchers chocolate brownie pudding top left - not optional =D

I began to assemble the flowers randomly so there were different colours mixed up. I then loosely wrapped one of the stem wires around all of the stems to keep them in place. It takes a bit of pushing and pulling to get them at the same level but it's worth it! 

I then added some diamanté roses and sprigs to complete it, just wrapping their wires around the base stems of the flowers. To secure, I just wrapped the floristry tape all around the stems to neaten it up. I have ribbon to wrap around the stem base, but it kept on gathering up as I wrapped it around. I'm now thinking of wrapping them in the thick brown vintage looking string - you know the stuff? And then adding the ribbon as a bow at the top. I'll show you once I have got the string.

This is a photo of it in daylight. I think it has turned out quite pretty, and I'm now thinking I may actually use this. I haven't fully assembled the other one, and that is one flower less than this so I might pop a brooch in it. I'm going to go back to Hobbycraft when I return off my holidays and grab the rest of these flowers, because I think I better get them before the Christmas stock starts invading. It will be great to have these done in advance, definitely one less thing to worry about. I've also got to figure out how to do the buttonholes, as they will have to match. I think Hobbycraft will have nothing left by the time I'm finished!

So there we go, a little bouquet for a fraction of the price, and something to keep forever. We're doin' the DIY!

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear! 

Tilly xXx

The Brooch Bouquet ♥

Because our wedding shall be taking place approximately 150 miles from our home, the flowers are the one thing I tend to worry about. As I previously worked in a hotel, seeing sometimes four weddings in a week, the couples were local and they came in early in the morning with the beautiful bouquets and buttonholes. By the time they came to check in at about 3 or 4pm before the meal, the flowers had all wilted, gained the brown edging on the petals, and well just fell to bits really. Also, they are extremely expensive and what for? To chuck away the next day, brill.

Image Sourced from Google Images

So they never look so great by the end of the day and personally, I don't particularly have the money to waste on something to chuck in the bin. Someone I used to know said that she had made her bouquets herself with artificial flowers, but I must admit I turned my nose up at it. Now however, seeing these brooch bouquets and now that I'm in the position of buying them, I'm actually thinking it might be a pretty good idea.

I have a couple of brooches already that my great Nan gave me, and there's plenty of charity shops around that I could grab some from. 

Image sourced from Google Images 

Looking around at certain websites that actually sell these brooch bouquets, they are literally around the £300 mark and above and beyond. Daylight robbery! There's no way I'd spend that, and after all this IS a DIY wedding. So I watched a couple of tutorials on Youtube, and it looks pretty easy to be honest. I think I'm going to give it a go to see if I can actually do it, and make a couple of home decorations as we move into our new house next month. I can really see how much it might cost then, and if I do have the patience. 

Image sourced from Pinterest

They look so gorgeously vintage, and they are so different. I could do mini versions for the bridesmaids too. It may save the worry of the flowers keeping nice, I can make them well in advance, it could become an heirloom to my kids so I could keep it, and there's no wilting around here! I could spray a bit of perfume on it too, just for effect ;p 

I'm going to have a little wonder around HobbyCraft this evening just to see what's about. Although it is still early with 20 months to go until the wedding, Christmas is going to come faster than we think, and then it will be January with only 15 months to go. I think it may flash before my eyes, so I just want to be prepared!

Have you had a brooch bouquet? Or do you prefer real flowers?

Tilly xXx