Love Celebration: your personal wedding planner

With our wedding date and venue decided upon and secured, wedding planing and fantasising is in full swing!

But I must say, I feel a little like Alice, tumbling down and endless rabbit hole, as I slowly but surely discover how much thought and planning actually goes into a wedding. Not that I'm complaining, quite the contrary, I'm thoroughly enjoying every moment (well except for trying to fit our seemingly never ending growing guest list into the small and intimate idealised number of guests we had hoped for!)

Last week however my job was made incredibly easier when a surprise package was delivered to my door from Charlie Brown who had been away in Joburg for what felt like a never-ending seven days.

The package contained a "Love Celebration" wedding planning file, which offers an a-z on everything you may need advice on regarding the big day and more. It comes in a stunning ring-bound file, and can be purchased in either white or black (although the white is currently out of stock.)

With tons of additional downloadable's like scrap-booking templates, and the fact that its ring-bound so you can add whatever you want to it, I think it makes the perfect wedding planning guide, or an ideal present for any future bride.

You can purchase your own love celebration file by going to http://www.lovecelebration.co.za/

All images were sourced from the love celebration website

Packaging for a bridesmaid's gift

I made sure that the name tag was easy to remove, so that they could use it as a book mark at a later stage.

What you'll need:

• A ruler
• Glue
• A pencil
• Scissors 
• A printer
• Pretty paper
• Letter stickers
• Little diamante
• Ribbon

About 6 weeks ago I made a trip to Joburg to catch up with two of my closest Uni friends. The three of us haven’t all been together in over two years. So there was no doubt it was going to be a really special weekend.

Although it's literally months until our wedding, one of my two friends was vising SA from England, and not knowing when I would get to see her again I felt the time was right to pop the question  to her and my other friend simultaneously as we’ve been some-what of a terrible trio since fourth year.

So I did, on Saturday morning after the 3 of us had woken up and devoured a delicious breakfast that consisted of preserved figs and yummy Woollies croissants, I handed them each a little hand-made paper bag with a small gift inside (I’ve only gotten round to asking two of my bridesmaids so far, so I’m going to have to leave out what the gift is until I’ve asked everyone who needs to be asked.)

Surprised they asked what the gift was for, but I said nothing and waited for them to read the writing on the package.

I will treasure the smiles on their faces and the warmth of that moment for the rest of my life. Making the paper bags took hours, but made the whole thing that much more special.

Thanks so much Lau and Cath for saying yes! I’m so glad I’ll have the two of you (and a few other special girls) by my side on the most important day of my life.

• I fond the butterfly stencil I used for the name tag here.
• The name tag stencil here. (I had to manipulate the length and width a little in word, but it's easy enough to do)
• And I can't remember where I fond the template to make the bag! But I found a similar template that you can use to make your own bag here.

A Sixpence for your Shoe!

I recently got the amazingly exciting news that I have the most incredible privilege of being a bridesmaids for one of my longest and closest friends.

There is nothing quite like the warm and fuzzies one gets when you know you are that important to someone that they want you to be standing there next to them on potentially one of the biggest, if not the biggest days of their lives.

I intend on being the best bridesmaid I can be and thought I'd start by conjuring up a list of things that could make any bride's day that much more special. Starting with a sixpence for her shoe. Apparently there's an extra part to the good ol' tradition something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and it should end with and a sixpence in her shoe!

According to Mon Amour Boutique, "the silver Sixpence was minted for English Kings and Queens, and is said to bring the bride and groom good luck and prosperity to their marriage. Tucked in the brides left wedding shoe for the big day, the coin is meant to be kept as a keepsake and reminder of the day you were wed until it is passed on to your daughter for her wedding day!"

For more info on this lovely little gift go here. A sixpence in her shoe cards come in a variety of colours and can be tailored to suit any bridal parties' colours. Please note all photos are taken from the Mon Amour Botique Etsy page.