Nie Nie Dialogues

Hi Everyone,

Just a very quick one for now (yes, I know I've not yet put up the promised inspiration board... it'll happen over the weekend all going to plan). For anyone who hasn't already checked it out, Nie Nie Dialogues is one of the most beautiful blogs going - Stephanie (Nie) and her husband Christian, have four gorgeous kids and her blog is pretty much about their lives - it's beautiful and heatwarming and full of a LOT of love; these are the people you seriously want to know in real life.

Stephanie and her husband were just involved in a private plane crash. They're in hospital with serious injuries that are going to take a lot of time and money to heal. So, some wonderful bloggers have gotten together and set up a silent auction. All proceeds are going to the family to pay for the formidable medical and child care costs.

Design Mom has set up the silent auction, and her blog has a blog entry today that lists some of the amazing items that are up for auction.

What blows me away is that every single item (and believe, there are some impressive ones) has been donated by people who may not even know Nie and Christian but just want to do something to help.

Thoughts and prayers going out to the Nielsons.

Thanks!

And also, a big thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Creative Montage competition - I came 2nd!! I've won a $15 discount off a monogram by Aimee, which I am very excited about. Feeling a little buoyed up with inspiration board confidence, so am going to start working on a fun, summery wedding inspired by this gorgeous bouquet from Blush, a florists run by the talented Kelly Amundsen, based in Auckland.

A bit of 1930s vintage glam for Tuesday

Check out this gorgeous inspiration board submitted by the lovely Amber. Inspired by her ultimate glamour girl, Jean Harlow, Amber has concocted an opulent, seductive, and super-glam wedding for our perusal. Very nice!

A blatant plug!

A plea to all to help me win a beautiful Twigs and Honey hairpiece from Aimee at Creative Montage.

Although the other entrants have submitted amazing boards, I have worked really hard on mine too! {honestly!} so please, please, if you like what you see, go to the Creative Montage blog and vote for this board: Its board number 11


and if you’re feeling generous, please pass this message on to all and sundry… the more voting love the better!

off to enjoy my long weekend in Madrid, more inspiration to come next week.

J xx

Yum.

Please bear with me while I take a moment to drool over these creations from Urban Gourmet. Based in Auckland, this food company will cater (although "cater" seems like too ordinary a word for this lot, conjuring up images of ladies in school canteens whipping up pineapple and cheese sammies) at a venue of your choice in the Auckland region. Shame that Blenheim isn't in the Auckland region; how wonderful would it be to have this for cocktail hour? They'll also help to select appropriate venues for your function from their comprehensive list of contacts (which includes the Auckland Museum; one of The premier wedding venues in the city. sigh).

Pretty dresses in Auckland

Jane Yeh is a very successful bridal gown designer, based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her dresses are contemporary yet classic - and if you take a look through the gallery, you'll see that she's also pretty darn adept at listening to what her brides want. She also has a range of accessories on the site, including some beautiful shrugs - perfect for the winter theme featured on Snippet and Ink today!

Very inviting

I would love to receive one of these in the post... This morning, via Weddings, I found out that a new online magazine has been launched, called Engaged. I know most wedding magazine have a related website, but most of them are fairly limited and mainly aimed at teasing you until you buy their actual publication. Not so with Engaged - this is a 130-odd page magazine with everything you would usually find in an old fashioned mag, included competitions, and the inevitable advertisements. Having browsed through in my lunch hour, I was immediately smitten with one vendor in particular; Kate Holland. Every invitation in the Signature Collection is stunning, and the body of work in the Custom Collection gallery is beyond impressive. As well as designing and supplying beautiful invitations, Kate will also provide place names, menus, seating plans, RSVP's... the list goes on! Fully flexible, there is also a wee section called "Envelopments" which has a comprehensive range of envelope styles - even if you opt for one of the signature styles, it can still be unique with a tri-envelope and/or belly band! Check them out, there's a set (or 5!) for every taste. Also, in a final push for Engaged - if you register to receive the monthly newsletter, you're automatically entered in all of this months' competitions! Next issue with be online on 1st October 2008.

and here it is!

Inspired by the Louis Vuitton pouchette...

Bridesmaid dress by Amsale; Cake via Project Wedding; Tablesetting by Colin Cowie via Wedding Chicks; Calla Lillies courtesy of the The Knot; Bridal Gown by Melissa Sweet; Invitations via Project Wedding; Flowers courtesy of Bride and Bloom; Veil from The Knot; Louis Vuitton pouchette.

A bit of Louis for the weekend

In honour of my lovely friend Amber's new blog, I've decided to create an inspiration board based on what I understand to be one of her most favourite possesions; her Louis Vuitton monogram canvas clutch. Hopefully the finished product will be here by the end of the day...watch this space... (very sorry if this isn't the exact bag, A, but it was as close as I could find on the site!!)

Good enough to eat (off)

Deviating from the wedding (and New Zealand based {sorry!}) inspiration for a post to introduce my new favourite store - Anthropologie. I'm sure I'm the last to know about this company but my jaw dropped when I saw their site and now I have to share. Not only providing the world with the coolest clothing range, they'll make your house look awesome too!! bathmats, shower curtains, pot holders, paperweights; it's all ultra-trendy and I want all of it! Here are a few of my favourites...

Hip Hip Hooray! the first reader inspiration board!

Today I had the enormous pleasure of receiving the first reader contributed/created inspiration board from Mel (she of the Alfred Angelo and Jim Hjelm inspiration boards of last week...). This one is again based on the Jim Hjelm dress, but also includes a picture of the stunning and much-coveted Clearwater Resort where the reception is going to take place. I love how soft and romantic this all looks, but also how the venue, bouquet, and second (white) cake photos add a modern element to it. Can't wait to feature this wedding after the special day!

mmmm yummy!

A big thanks to Aly for introducing me to today's guest, Cupcake Parlour. I know some people might see the cupcake tower in lieu of a wedding cake idea as a touch passe, but I think these still look lovely, and even if it's "been done before" it still looks stunning (and tastes it too!) I especially like the idea of having a tower of cupcakes but with a traditional cake as the top layer for cutting. Based in Christchurch, the parlour will deliver anywhere in New Zealand. Even if you don't go with them for a wedding, why not get some delivered to your door just for the sake of it?!

Something from Bonny Scotland

I was up in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival on the weekend, and came across a wee market. One stall that drew my attention featured the work of Aldona Juska - a Yorkshire lass of Lithuanian descent who is now based in Edinburgh. Aldona works with metals to create jewellery, sculpture and table art which is a little different from your standard bird bath or candelabra.

The piece that I liked the best at the market is a photo holder that could double as a place card holder for a reception dinner and a favour for guests.
There is also this low candelabra which i thought would look stunning as a centrepiece.

As well as some really unique jewellery, Aldona creates sculptures which would be equally at home in the garden or the living room. Wouldn't they make lovely gifts?

Shiny things

It seems like Etsy is taking over the world, and rightfully so. It is my fondest wish to one day furnish a home solely via Etsy artists - everything is so unique and you know that every item has been made with care and love. On a wedding-related note, if you're after a special one-of-a-kind bridesmaid gift, or even bridal jewellery and accessories, Etsy is a treasure trove of ideas.

Using their Geolocater tool, I've been hunting down my favourite jewellery designers based in New Zealand, and one that jumped out at me is Shelly Cartmell, whose Etsy page can also be found here. How perfect would these be as bridesmaid gifts and/or jewellery for the bridal party to wear at a chic, modern wedding?!

Sweet and Modern

Another dress that my friend Mel really loves is by one of my favourite designers from Friday; Jim Hjelm. I worked it in with a favoured wedding dress from Maggie Sottero and mixed it with a pale pink, which Mel thought might go nicely with the blue of the dress. Tommorrow I'm going to try to work in the best elements of the two boards I've tried so far...so watch this space!

Dresses

Before I go much further, I have to write about two of my current favourite bridesmaid dress designers, Jenny Yoo and Jim Hjelm. If there are two more comprehensive and gob-smackingly stunning bridesmaid dress collections out there I've yet to see them. If there is any disappointment surrounding them at all, it's only that they're not yet available in New Zealand. A girl can dream though.

What maid wouldn't feel a million dollars in one of these? fairly unlikely to be worn again, but so glam for the day! I think these dresses from Jim Hjelm's "Occasions" collection would look the part for a formal, ballroom soiree.

If you're after something a little more casual, but equally fabulous, Jim's "Just Tea's" range are made of the same beautiful fabrics, with the same range of colours, as the Occasions range, but with a wearability that would make more than one maid swoon.

Jenny Yoo's bridesmaid collection is already very well known, but I have to take a moment to wax lyrical about it. These dresses are classics. The range of fabrics and colours are almost without rival and I think almost every bridesmaid could find a dress to flatter somewhere in Jenny's site. I love the idea of letting maids choose any style as long as they go with one particular colour/fabric. I think that would result in a really modern, yet classic, bridal party who more than anything would be happy to have a dress that suits them!! I could go on all day, but here are a few of my favourite styles...

First effort at a Board

My friend Mel can't decide on her wedding colours but really likes a teal dress by Alfred Angelo. I have always wanted to have a go at this inspiration board lark, so here is my first effort.

From top left: Dress by Alfred Angelo; Clearwater Resort; Reception idea from The Knot; Ring cushion by Rainsend on Etsy; Shoes from The Knot.
I still have a lot to learn - for instance the teals don't match at all, and I'm not sure the idea flows properly, but it was fun!

Charm itself

Drylands is the venue for our reception, but we haven’t yet decided on the venue for the actual ceremony itself. I am not such a fan of big churches. There’s something about walking down a long aisle in a big church that makes me a bit nervous. Instead, when trawling the net for inspiration, I am drawn to small, intimate churches with a really rustic, old fashioned feel. There is one venue in Marlborough that I have absolutely fallen in love with; Old Saint Mary's Convent. Originally a convent located in the town centre, several years ago the whole building was re-located to the countryside and renovated into a boutique hotel. They have kept the original chapel and have landscape the whole area to within an inch of its life (just to trap people like myself into accepting nothing less; I know their crafty plan). Honestly, this place just fits the wedding in my head so well. It is also now located just over the road from my great-grandparent’s original farm, which would provide some beautiful and meaningful wedding pictures. The blue of the buildings against a perfect summer sky? Bliss.

Say Cheese!

The other thing Dave and I both feel strongly about is that at the end of the day, our wedding is going to be over within 24 hours. It’s the marriage, memories, and photos, which are going to stand the test of time. So, an amazing photographer is our other must-have. A few years ago my big sister got married to her lovely Sean. It was actually the happiest day of my life, and I really wouldn’t be surprised if our wedding ended up being a carbon-copy of theirs! Jacqui Leslie, the photographer, was with us the whole day and fitted in so well with everything. I was absolutely blown away by the photos they ended up with – Jacqui made us all so comfortable and you can really see it in the photos. She is so artistic and intuitive, we just have to have her document our special day. Jacqui is another vendor who already has bookings into 2010, but I have a feeling I’m not going to regret booking her so far out!

To get the ball rolling...

The Big Day is a mere 26 months away!! I know that it is a long way off yet, but I also know that two years is going to go by very quickly (and, frankly, nothing is going to stop me planning our big day now that the ring is on my finger!). A close friend, and fellow bride-to-be, Mel, is now in the 18 months before her Big Day, and it’s amazing how quickly it’s all happening.
I seem to change my mind every five minutes on the colour scheme, and whether I am pro- or anti-favours, but we have at least got a couple of things in the pipeline.

Aside from the actual vow-exchange/getting-married part of it, I am most into the reception. I love food, and I love my family and friends more than anything – so the idea of throwing the biggest party of our lives at which we get to feed our family and friends is kind of exhilarating! Am gobsmacked, though, at how far in advance places book out – the venue we love best already has bookings into 2010!! so we have jumped on the bandwagon and booked as well.

We are getting married in my home town of Blenheim, New Zealand. The “Sunshine capital of New Zealand” (though Nelson wouldn’t agree – we have a bit of a Shelbyville/Springfield thing going) Blenheim is most well-known for being in Marlborough, one of New Zealand’s wine regions. So we’re kind of spoilt for choice for chic, well-designed, wineries stocking gorgeous food and amazing wines. A few months ago my parents and the in-laws went out for a luncheon at Drylands Estate, a beautiful winery restaurant owned by the amazingly talented Dietmar Schnarre. Dietmar is also the proprietor of Bellafico which serves The most divine desserts in Blenheim, if not all of New Zealand. Seating 130 people, and with a dance floor all ready to go, Drylands is perfect. Not being a huge fan of the buffet line, but not wanting to restrict choice either, their plated buffet is perfect for us.