Archive for September, 2011

For any bride getting married in 2012 the organisation has already started. The venue has probably been booked, the date is firmly set in the diary and the table plan is already in the back of their mind!

The exciting prospect of dress shopping has begun and all the wedding magazines and wedding blogs are buzzing with what dresses will be hot for next year. But what make-up and hair will complement that special dress in 2012?

Wedding hairstyles in 2012 will be all about the ponytail, and luckily a ponytail is the start of many wedding hairstyles that you can choose from! They are the foundation for buns, chignons, some half-up dos, messy dos, and also the more structured updos, so you have plenty to choose from whilst being right on trend.

The brides wanting a more relaxed look should go for a bouncy pony either high or low on the head with the lengths being curled with a tong. The curls should be left soft so that they swish when you’re walking, dancing or air kissing.

And for the make-up? As always, a bride’s skin should look flawless, fresh and glowing whilst still lasting all day and photographing well. The hottest look at London Fashion Week was neutral eyes with lips that looked ripe for the kissing. Colours varied from subtle to striking pinks, oranges through to tomato reds.

If strong lips aren’t your thing then take inspiration from Valentino with neat eyeliner to define your peepers. To really make your eyes standout use false eyelashes, either strips or individuals, to really make those eyelashes flutter.

The bridesmaids can also be on trend and follow the Jaeger models at London Fashion Week who were sporting a low, polished, side ponytail with the hair concealing the elastic band, finished with gorgeous curls. The runways were buzzing with inspiration for bridesmaid dresses with citrus shades making an impression. If bright dresses aren’t part of your vision then just add a citrus coloured hair clip to your bridesmaid’s hairstyle. You can find some gorgeous ones at Glitz4Girlz.com and Accessorize.

For more inspiration visit www.essexweddingbeauty.co.uk or to discuss your look with a professional Make-up Artist and Hairstylist contact Lisa on 07850 024 603 or lisa@essexweddingbeauty.co.uk.

First and foremost, congratulations! Your overseas wedding should be the best day of your life and no doubt will be. Furthermore, with a little financial planning, we can help to make sure it doesn’t go over budget and turn into a financial catastrophe. Whether you are planning a stunning beach wedding in California or village ceremony in Thailand, financial considerations need to be thought out well in advance. Thankfully, with the help of international money transfer comparison site MyCurrencyTransfer.com, we can assist you in answering some key questions on how to make international payments (the right way) for an overseas wedding.

1. Prepare well in advance

No doubt, you will have a list of suppliers that need to be paid in foreign currency. Make a full and comprehensive list (invitations, venue, catering, hotels etc) so that you have a figure in mind that needs to be transferred overseas. When making an international money transfer, check out comparison sites like MyCurrencyTransfer.com to help you find the best deal. Make contact with foreign exchange specialists who will typically get you a better deal than the high street banks. There is no fee to open an account with these specialists and an account can be opened very simply within 24 hours.

2. Look closely at the exchange rate offered

If you are sending a large amount of money overseas, it is much more important to focus on the exchange rate offered rather than the fixed fee to transfer. Often, when you send over a certain amount (i.e. above £5000) there will be no transfer fees. A foreign exchange specialist is likely to save you between 3-5% of the value of the transfer. On a £100,000 international money transfer this can equate to a £3000 saving. This is money that can be put to better use on other wedding items, or perhaps to pay for that dream sofa you had your eye on.

3. Consider the use of a forward contract

If you have time before you need to pay suppliers, it is still worth establishing contact with foreign exchange companies. They can discuss the use of a forward contract which allows you to fix the exchange rate for up to 12 months in advance. Perhaps if you like the look of today’s Baht or Euro exchange rate (but only need to pay in 3 months), you can look at locking in the exchange rate to minimize the risk of currency fluctuations.

4. Consider how to buy travel money for the actual trip itself

Once you set off for the trip of a lifetime, consider how you will take foreign currency abroad. A good starting point once again is to use specialist travel money comparison sites. You can compare travel money options at MyTravelMoney.co.uk. It is a sister site to MyCurrencyTransfer.com and is a useful tool as it compares live exchange rates taken from all the major suppliers. Whatever you do, don’t buy currency at the airport (i.e. waiting until the last minute) as the exchange rates will be extremely poor. Most travel money suppliers will actually offer you the option of home delivery of currency. Quite simply, you buy online and the currency will be delivered to your door next day via Royal Mail Special delivery. Once again, allow a few days in advance just incase.

Have an amazing trip, enjoy every moment and you will have the best day of your life. We wish you all the best and hope with our little nuggets of financial wisdom, you will have not only a fantastic wedding, but an occasion that sticks to budget and leave you with a few more pounds in your pocket.

Trends in Wedding Dresses

It goes without saying that choosing the perfect wedding dress is one of if not the most important decisions that a woman makes on her wedding day, which according to the old saying, is the happiest day of her life. With so many different things to consider, it can seem like a daunting task, however, it need not be.

The current fashion in wedding dresses is an elegant and flowing look. Gone are the tight, almost corset like dresses of the past decade which seemed to draw their inspiration from the Victorian era. Today, looser dresses perhaps reflect the mood of the times, focusing more on fashion and personal comfort than the nostalgia that dominated our ideas at the start of this century.

The most prevalent styles of dress for the past couple of years have seen a very noticeable shift towards more flowing and looser designs, arguably a more feminine look. This will come as a welcome relief for many, as summers seem to be hotter every year. An elegant free flowing dress lets your skin breathe more easily meaning less chance for you to feel uncomfortable or sweat on the big day. With so many things to worry about when getting married, it’s good that personal comfort is not such a big problem anymore.

Shoulderless Wedding Dress

Another recent trend that we are seeing more and more of is the one shoulder or even shoulderless wedding dress. In a development seemingly inspired by the glamour of the Hollywood red carpet, more and more women are choosing to show a bit of shoulder on their wedding day. Again this seems to be a move away from the more formal and classic look that has dominated wedding fashion for the past decade or so. In spite of, or perhaps even as a reaction to the troubled economy, many women are choosing to go all out for glamour at their wedding, taking their cues from stars of stage and screen.

Of course, wedding dresses are as much an expression of personal taste as a way to follow fashion, so the choice between sexy and traditional still ultimately depends on the personal choice of the bride. If you choose to follow the fashionable route however, it is important to remember that a wedding is still a formal occasion, and there is a danger that by moving too far away from a traditional look that you may end up being too sexy.

Traditional Wedding Dresses

The traditional aim of bridal outfits is to reflect innocence and purity as well as beauty, you may want to maintain an element of the virginal in your outfit. Although the departure from tradition is welcome news for many, don’t try to turn your wedding aisle into a catwalk.

You don’t have to have supermodel good looks or a movie star figure to look glamorous on your wedding day, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, with the right balance of tradition and modernity all women can look fabulous on their wedding day.

For further information, please take a look at our Essex Wedding Dress Suppliers page.

Guest post by www.miamiweddingsandevents.com

When people think of Miami, Florida for their destination wedding, they typically think one thing: a gorgeous beach wedding, with the sun setting behind them. Perhaps they’re barefoot, with the warm sand tickling their toes as they take the hand of their groom. We had a chance to chat with Miami’s best wedding planner, Inspired Events, to find out what makes a beach wedding a success.

This is what their dream team had to say about the Rules for a Perfect Beach Wedding:

1. Have a Plan A, B, and C
Your job is to be beautiful, relaxed, and have the time of your life. Your wedding coordinator’s job, however, is to worry about everything that could possibly happen.

If it rains, your event planner should have a party rental company on standby. A deposit should have been made to reserve a tent large enough to cover your entire wedding party. If it’s windy and loud near the water, she should have already coordinated with a DJ to provide speakers and a microphone, so your guests can hear your vows. Considering all scenarios will assure that there is no last minute stress.

2. Consider Humidity
Let your hair and makeup stylists know that you will be near the ocean, so they can prepare you with waterproof makeup and frizz-fighting hairsprays. Want to make your guests happy? Prepare hospitality baskets to be placed in the bathrooms, with similar products.

3. Consider Comfort
You want your guests to focus on sharing your happiness on your big day. Allowing for semi-formal attire instead of formal goes a long way towards this. Placing a basket with flip flops, paper fans, and water bottles along the aisle will assure that your guests comfortable, and grateful. Particularly if they are from out of state and not used to seaside weather.

4. Consider Photos
Unless you know somebody that owns a private beach (in which case, tell them to call me!), chances are, there will be spectators. A wedding is a beautiful event, and people on vacation are likely to stop and stare at it. This means they may end up forever captured in the background of your wedding shots if you’re not careful. Your wedding coordinator can offer you several options for creating a “wall” with draping or florals, which can frame your event and hide the bikini clad spectators!

5. Relax and Trust in Your Wedding Planner
We worry about these things, so you don’t have to. You can contact us at any time, with anything you may think of. Inspiration and communication are keys to a gorgeous event, and we would love to share yours with you!

Visit our website today at www.miamiweddingsandevents.com to learn more!

It is an art to prepare and deliver a good wedding gift and a good pot of tea! Blooming Flower Tea is just one of the many ways to celebrate a wedding with a gift that can be utilized as a part of your wedding. You can serve the blooming teas at the wedding celebration, and gift them as favours too.

Just take one peek at the flower in the cup and it’s asserting one thousand words of love!

A blooming flower tea is a hand tied ball of tea leaves and flower blossoms. When hot water is poured over the bundle, the leaves expand and unfurl like an expanding flower. Many flower varieties make up the ingredients of the blooming tea.

These might include marigolds and hibiscus, carnations and roses, or exotic flowers like jasmine, lily, Osmanthus and Camelia Sinensis flower (the exact tea flower ).
There’s explanation in Chinese history of the conventional uses of tea in wedding ceremonies.
Blooming Flower Tea should be served or presented in a glass vessel, preferably a glass teapot, so you’ll see the unfurling action and experience the visually surprising time-lapse-like display. Typically, all of the tea balls are made from white tea, or silver needle tea, which does not turn as sour as a fermented tea would. Mostly, these teas have been known for their health benefits. Specifically, the promotion of good skin. And, grouped with Lychee fruit, White tea has been well documented to provide great results against breast cancer. Blooming Flower Tea is also made with Green tea, which is well known for its’ health benefits.

Tea Wedding Favors make the best Wedding Favor and Blooming Teas make a great Wedding Gift! They’re a wonderful drink and a great centerpiece to enjoy on each table for you, your guests, and your Wedding Party.

Tea Wedding Favors

Want to find out more about Tea Wedding Favors go to: www.DiscountTeaFavors.com

Are you planning a Hen or Stag do in Essex ?

Television company TwoFour are currently looking for a fun group of London / Essex based Hens or Stags that are willing to be filmed as they look for fancy dress costumes to wear on a night out.

If you and your group of friends are interested in participating in some filming towards the end of September 2011, then we would love to hear from you!

For more information, please get in touch by sending an e-mail to Anthony.White@Twofour.co.uk asap.

It’s fairly common that couples opt for a child-free wedding reception these days, usually to keep the numbers down, but also to ensure that the parents can relax and enjoy the day themselves, instead of tending to a bored child for a lot of the day.
Most wedding guests accept the “we’re only inviting adults” reasoning, and the majority are quite happy to leave the kids with a child minder for the day whilst they attend the wedding ceremony and reception. Unfortunately there will always be someone who claims they can’t arrange a baby sitter, which leaves you with the awkward decision of either stating that it’s unfortunate but you stand by your “no-kids policy” or you tell them that one child won’t make a difference and let them attend. The kid will probably be bored and nag their parents to take them home anyway. Maybe !!?

So what do you do if your siblings have children ? Perhaps a niece and nephew only rule ? They are of course part of your immediate family, so you’d want them to be there during your special day. Then of course there are bridesmaids, flower girls and page boys, presumably you’ll have children that you would like for these roles.

Whatever you decide to do for your wedding, having bored children nagging their parents, is the last thing they’ll need when trying to enjoy your wedding day, so why not consider some entertainment for the kids.

There are a few options for you, hiring children entertainers is one, you could easily book a professional entertainer for a set time during the day, perhaps for an hour or two. Assuming the wedding venue has an area that the entertainer could take the children, just a corner somewhere, then they are kept occupied and enjoying themselves.

Another thing to consider though is the range of ages between the children you’ve invited to the wedding. If you are looking for a children’s entertainer, then you’ll need to ask them about the services they provide, and whether or not their performance can include children of a variety of ages. Clowns, puppets, face painting and balloon modelling is often fun for little children, but maybe a magician could provide entertainment for all ages,
Have a chat with the children entertainers available in you local area and see what they can offer. Also talk with the wedding venue and ask them what other couples may of done in the past, you’ll want to avoid loud music and screaming children too close to earshot

If you don’t have a large group of children at your wedding, and maybe just a few younger ones, then kids party bags are often enough to occupy them, at least through the meal and speeches which is when you’ll appreciate them being quietest the most.
They’re guaranteed to find the speeches dull, so to avoid any children from falling asleep or nagging their parents, a party bag with some puzzles, small games and a little treat inside is a great option.

Happy Wedding planning !