I was talking to a friend the other day who is at the early stages of planning her wedding, Soma Design is making her dress and that’s all sorted but she’s having real trouble theming the venue etc.. so i said i’d do a bit of research for her to start story boarding and was bowled over by some of the design ideas I came accross. It shows that this special event is really up to your imagination and anything goes so i hope you like some of these ideas, happy styling!

www.marthastewartweddings.com              www.blushingbride.com                              www.marthastewartweddings.com

One of the things I love about my job Designing Wedding Dresses is that I get to know a bit more about my clients over the period of time it takes to make their dress and often we’ll talk about other wedding stuff that’s totally unrelated to the design of their wedding gowns.  A constant topic I hear has been about the details and drama’s involved in putting the wedding day together, from speeches to seating arrangements and ties for the groom.  So I thought that perhaps some of these basic tips might be of help to those starting the process but my best tip of all would be to try to enjoy the process of putting your wedding together as much as possible,  it’s such a special day and a lot of my Brides tell me afterwards that it all tends to go by way to quickly. I’ll elaborate on some of these in further blogs so stay tuned, Happy planning!

10 basic tips for planning your wedding plus stunning inspiration for your wedding day

1.      1. Set the date for your wedding before you actually start looking for locations for the reception. Keep in mind that many sites are booked a year or even two in advance, so you may need to fine tune the date decision dependent on the availability of your desired reception location, or be ready to change to a different reception venue.

2.     2.  Decide whether you will have an indoor or an outdoor  reception. Obviously, if want an outdoor event, you’ll have to consider the possibility of rain ruining your plan, therefore, keep a hidden ace up your sleeve just in case.

3.     3.  Set down your budget. This is the next big thing, since planning your wedding reception will bring forth the biggest expense. When you go to rent the reception hall, you’ll have to give a rounded figure of approximately how many guests  you’re likely to have. Therefore, an important part of any planning of the wedding reception involves pruning down your reception list; this will also bring about an estimation of the costs per head, according to the size of the room and your requirements too.

4.     4.  Decide on the type of reception you’d like to have. Nowadays the two main types of reception are sit-down meal or cocktail party, but other variants such as picnics, a simple cake-cutting, or a beach reception might also appeal. Here are some things to consider in relation to different reception types:

5.      5.  Work out seating. If you’re planning a sit-down dinner, seating can grow to be a bit of headache so it pays to focus on it early enough.

6.      6. Consider whether or not you’ll have a receiving line. On the positive side, this can provide an opportunity to greet all guests and allows everyone to feel they’ve had the chance to congratulate you. On the downside, it can take a lot of time and it can begin to feel tiring for those on it. Some guests may also detest the formality of this and having to wait in line. Having divorced parents can also make this an awkward decision for some.

7.      7. Consider whether you’d like to be announced as you enter the reception. This can be a lot of fun and can be done simply and easily by the DJ or bandleader, saying something like “Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the newlyweds Bob and Billie (or Mr and Mrs)”, and you can then take your places for dinner.

8.      8. Choose the food. There will always be some people with dietary restrictions, so be prepared to provide vegetarian, gluten-free, and other variants as needed. It’s a good idea to have asked guests in advance for advice concerning allergies. A cocktail reception will usually on have nibbles and finger foods but still have both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options available. Decide how many courses you want for a sit-down dinner and be sure to check this against your budget.

9.      9. Decide when to have the toasts and plan to keep them short. While these are both traditional and wonderful, they’re a pain when they’re too long, too maudlin, rude, or just plain dull. Make the toasts during or between dinner courses, with two or three people speaking each time.

           10. Decide when dancing will occur. Nowadays most weddings tend to leave the dancing until all courses are finished rather than having dances between courses. Besides your special song, be sure to have songs people will really want to dance to, not strange songs that only suit the taste of a few.

I recently organized a photo shoot of some new Wedding Dresses with some pretty talented people so I thought I would share my experience of it with you. Firstly I made contact with a fabulous Make Up Artist that I have worked with on a number of shoots in the past, Tamee Rene Brancati http://www.tameerenemakeupartist.com/  Tamee has done some amazing work particularly as a make up artist for brides, she has featured in the new Vogue Brides magazine as well as doing the make up in catalogue shoots for Viktoria Novak who designs the most sublime headpieces http://www.viktorianovak.com.au/ with Tamee’s help a shoot was organized and I got the chance to work on the most stress free shoot ever!  The Photographer was Kylie Lyons of Hand Print Photography http://www.handprint.net.au/ Hair by Susana Calvo of Glam Van http://www.glamvan.com.au/ and the gorgeous Bridgette Abood was our model see (Bridgette Abood model on facebook).

It all started with my Brief which was classic Hollywood glamour inspired by screen sirens from old black and white films.  Everyone was sent images for inspiration and mood and on the day, we talked about how we could achieve giving the classic look a modern twist.  The shoot took place at Kylies studio which is an amazing little church and school room from the 1800’s. The studio had a great feel and lot’s of interesting place to shoot around.  Bridgette looked stunning!! and each dress she put on got us all very exited at the prospect of the images to come, it was one of those moments when, as Tamee put’s it the magic happens! I really feel that Tamee and Susana nailed it with hair and make up for the look, here are some unedited shots, I hope you like them! cheers yan