We’ve spoken about green being one of the biggest colour trends for the year and Wedding Inspirations certainly echoes this with their nature-inspired decor, flower and fashion spreads in varying shades of green. You’ll love the luscious images, the clever ideas and of course, the wonderful inspiration you’ll find in features like this (and everywhere else in the mag).

Here’s a sneak peek from Wedding Inspirations – to subscribe and to find out more about this mag, click here.

The winter issue, priced at R49.95, is available at Pick ‘n Pay stores nationwide. You’ll also find copies at CNA, Exclusive Books, PNA and Dis-Chem, as well as selected SPAR supermarkets and independent retailers. Alternatively subscribe and never miss an issue. Details are at weddinginspirations.co.za.

Ive been seeing fruity and creamy popsicles around the web for a while now and popcorn’s coming out of the woodwork as a cute wedding partner too.

With the development of Zoku popsicle makers, it’s never been easier to make gourmet iced creations.

And popcorn? Well it’s super easy-on-the-pocket, tastes delicious and can be dollied up with delicious flavours – both sweet and savoury.

I love the idea of an vintage-styled popcorn and popsicle stand for guests to tuck into while you’re off having your pix taken.

Pic credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8 ,9 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

They have everything from earthy pieces to bright and beautiful Carnivale-esque items and  of course their brand new range of sparkly wedding and bridal jewellery too

Want to WIN a bridal necklace and bracelet from Joya worth R1035?

Simply leave a comment below and you’re in the draw

The giveaway ends on June 30th

* For an extra entry, tweet or like this post

Aren’t they gorgeous?

I found them on this blog

http://vimeo.com/65763713

With a surname like McCool, Seamus and Skye look set for a good life ahead of them. They were married at Muldersvlei Wine Estate and did ALL the DIY themselves – so impressive. The pix were taken by Dee During. Read about their big day below…

We met at a braai, on national braai day in 2008, my friend asked me to go with her to a braai, I really don’t want to go, but she practically dragged me out of bed. It was pretty much love at first sight as we hit it off instantly.

For our wedding, we wanted something genuine, a fairly relaxed, fun and special day, with strong sentimental elements and a vintage eco-friendly feel.

I wasn’t one of those brides that had secretly been planning my wedding since I was a child…I had no clue what I wanted.

We wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible, aiming for local, organic, recycled, reusable and refurbished materials. We knew we were going DIY (as we always do) so that we could get maximum bang for our bucks, and thankfully we had a fair amount of time, being engaged for 14 months.

We started with picking a venue, which thankfully came with all the basics. Then we spent a lot of time scouring flea markets for decor, fiddling with designs and working steadily through a number of projects. My maid of honour, aunt and I sewed all the bunting (there was MASSES); I made like 50 or so hanging washi-tape jar lanterns. Once the laser cutters finished the one element of the invite we designed, we set about rubber stamping the details onto them, sticking them onto scrapbooking card, tying lace, origami folding the envelopes, hand writing and sealing all of them.

After weeks of doing nothing on weekends but trawling through venues, we became fairly despondent and thought we’d never find the right fit. We visited Muldersvlei by chance, and not knowing anything about it we didn’t let ourselves fall in love straight away…which was hard, as it had the most beautiful oak trees, gardens forever, and all the rustic character and charm we could have wanted, not to mention an enticing menu, flexibility and a fantastic wedding package. As we were doing everything ourselves, the flexibility was really essential.The food was delicious home cooking, with a great deal of attention to detail and focus on local quality produce.

We made our own wedding ceremony – not just our own vows, but the whole ceremony, which all six of our siblings, as well as close friends and all six parents took part in. We designed the groom and best man’s shirts, designed my dress, found a real vintage dress for the maid of honour (which she adjusted), designed and made the boutonnieres and corsages (which were wood) and spent a lot of time at Woolworths sorting out the outfits for all the boys in both families. I made the cake topper myself, all the table numbers and a whole bunch of signs, big and small, for all different things. Pretty much, you name it; we found it, made it or thought of it.

Our ceremony included an adaptation of an ancient Celtic handfasting and was all shades of white or off-white to keep the focus on the surrounding environment

Words of Wisdom

For the perfect wedding, accept that something will always be imperfect. Either have time or money (if you’re lucky, both), I had time and so I made a lot of things myself/with a lot of help. It’s impossible to stay calm & happy the whole time during planning, know when to stop & smell the roses & when to have a wobbly…make sure you plan activities that help you prepare & provide a fun outing.

We saved thousands of Rands by doing it ourselves and it made for an amazing bonding process for us all. Remember to take it all in, or you’ll wake up the next morning and realise it’s over and you don’t remember the details.

]]> http://iwantthatwedding.co.za/2013/05/seamus-skyes-diy-day/feed/ 1 http://iwantthatwedding.co.za/2013/05/trend-spot-tinsel-tassles/ http://iwantthatwedding.co.za/2013/05/trend-spot-tinsel-tassles/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:38 +0000 vicki http://iwantthatwedding.co.za/?p=10697

Welcome to the first of Donna from Lovely Things new regular column where she pinpoints what’s hot on the wedding scene…

There’s no doubt about it, so many more brides are taking a fiesta-like approach to their weddings – adding colour, sparkle and embellishments to help create a carnival-like scene for their guests. The details include the likes of tassles (big news this year) , pinatas, pom poms and yes even tinsel – and oversized balloons are still showing their faces. While colour is king – a dash of metallic is what gives this look the luxe, glam factor and the best news is that it doesn’t matter whether you choose silver or gold – both work beautifully for this look.

Credits in order of appearance: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

One really important thing for me was for our wedding day not to be that traditional wedding afternoon/evening, for all that planning, time and money to be over within a flash. I wanted to be able to spread that special time across a few days at least. With England being its normal pricey self, we didn’t think we could achieve what we wanted to within our budget so we started looking further afield. A private house was going to be the way forward for our perfect place but we wanted to keep it accessible for our guests travel to and for it to have that holiday feeling about it.

We started our search online and found a great looking French chateau just south of the Loire Valley. It looked like a good size for accommodating as many guests as possible and was affordable too. Johnny and I took two trips over to the chateau for planning before the wedding but we knew on our first visit to Chateau St Julien L’ars that it was the perfect place for us and our close family and friends to spend a long wedding weekend in the sunshine!

I found my dress in the first boutique we went to. I knew it was the one for me. I’m pretty obsessed with clothes and fashion and have been since a little girl so although I didn’t have my heart set on a big white dress initially, I knew what I liked, what suited me and reflected me. My dress was by the designer Lusan Mandongus. I loved the way in which the dress looked almost couture-like in the detailing. There were beautiful wide lace straps echoing the lace covering the dress and all over the bottom of the skirt were huge handmade georgette lace rosettes. It was classic in its ivory colour and lace fabric, but it had this really unusual twist in its finishing details. I wore simple pearl earrings necklace and had wedding shoes with a silk rose bud on each foot.

I work in London for Paul Smith and Johnny is a design teacher in a secondary school close to where we live. We met nearly ten years ago when Johnny had first started teaching and I was on my Art Foundation course. Johnny has waited a long time for me to be ready for marriage and I’m so pleased he did

Our vision for the day was just to have a beautiful and very relaxed wedding that brought together family and close friends for a mini weekend in the French sunshine. We wanted to have great food, good music, plenty of wine and lots of contented happy guests.

It was a huge thing to organise but all in all I think we achieved what we set out to do and I know that all the guests had a fantastic weekend away. On our invitations we invited our guests to our ‘French Wedding Adventure’ and it certainly lived up to its name!

The day before the wedding, my mum, sisters and I went on a flower sourcing mission to the local towns market, we came back with some beautiful flowers and along with some amazing hydrangeas that we had permission to use from the 56 acre gardens, my very talented mum, sisters and mother-in-law created our beautiful bouquets, decorated the 6 flights of stair banisters and made the pretty little table centres. We cut expensive corners were we could by using talented family and friends to do things that you would pay professional lots of money to do no better. My bouquet was mainly a mixture of white roses and hydrangeas in colours that ranged from white to very pale pink and green. My bridesmaids, Chloe and Tora, wore dresses we found from a high street store that were strapless dresses in pink and blue floral with the fabric having a lace finish. They went perfectly with my dress and picked up the floral and lace aspects of my dresses design.

The floral décor was perfect for the style of the wedding. Nothing looked too stiff or ordinary; it was all very free and sat perfectly in the setting of the chateau and its gardens. We had a ‘look’ which ran through from my dress to the bridesmaid dresses and flowers and into the ribbons for the napkin rings and pretty white table centres, but apart from that it wasn’t a traditionally matching and themed wedding. All elements were considered and thought about but we didn’t become too rigid in what we wanted.

We decided on a menu that reflected the laid back style of the wedding and didn’t have anything too formal. After the ceremony and instead of traditional canapés we had fresh crepes cooked on the terrace with a choice of sweet fillings. It was a fun little, typically French, thing that Johnny and I had wanted to do since we first booked the chateau 14 months before the day.

Words of Wisdom

Do exactly what you want to do and don’t feel like you should do traditional things.

If you do take on a DIY wedding like Johnny and I did I would advise you to hire in a wedding planner type person to take control on the actual wedding day.

I love Donna’s insight into this beautiful board

I have this fantasy idea of what Provence looks, feels & tastes like. In my dreamy mind these images capture the romance and passion of Provence. A simple life of olive groves, fragrant lavender fields and homebaked rustic bread. The closest I get to Provence is Franschhoek, I love spending time there. I love it so much I got married there!

1. The perfect setting for an outdoor ceremony
2. What’s not to love about a blueberry heart?
3. Bundled freshly baked baquettes, great wedding picnic idea
4. Letterpress menu
5. Lovely lavender bouquet
6. Beautiful wedding stationery
7. Simply elegant floral decor
8. Lavender heart biscuits. A delicious guest favour idea
9. Vintage glass and lavender tablescape

Found via here

Aren’t those cookies cute?

Love the gold cupcake cases

Gold leaf and feathers, hello?!

Now that’s a girlie and thoroughly glam shindig!

To see more inspired wedding invitation and stationery design, visit the Crystal Print website

Top download these printables, click here