The Big Reveal

It's a week today that our super gorgeous summer issue hits the shelves and we just can't keep it to ourselves anymore. Here's your sneak peak at the cover of Wedding Style Guide summer 2011! The gorgeous bouquet of Daisy Chrysanthemum, Gypsophila and Easter Daisy, shot by Justin Marantz of Justin & Mary Photography, is truly summer in a bouquet. Inside you'll find 23 of the best real life weddings as well as our inspirational theming stories to really get your creative juices flowing. Be sure to get your hands on a copy next Wednesday 8th Dec when it hits the shelves. Visit www.styleguide.com.au from the 8th to see more of what's inside! Happy reading!

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Beautiful Pencils

Tell everyone at your wedding they're beautiful with these fantastic pencils. Elegant, white, and complimentary - perfect for wedding favours. Pick up 6 for $10 via Prismera Design.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email and click here for more favour ideas.

Let Her Have Lanvin

If you're looking for a super trendy place to keep all your wedding planning notes then the Lanvin illustrated bridal notebook is perfect. The white, hard-backed notebook features a gorgeous multicoloured proposal illustration on the front, drawn by Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz. The notebook features blank pages, a white elasticated strap to close, a designer signature at the back and it comes in a paper designer bag with face illustration. At the price of £21 it would make the perfect pressie for that just-engaged friend who loves a bit of luxe. Available online at www.net-a-porter.com.

Posted by Emilie Harrison

A Tasty Masterpiece

Choosing the cake for your special day is something to consider carefully. Afterall, when it comes time to be cut it's going to be the centre of attention. It's always a lovely idea to have it designed with your theme in mind, hence why choosing a cake maker is oh so important. We simply LOVE the cake featured as part of our Hello Yellow theming story in the current spring issue #16. Created by the very talented Alisa & Chris of Cake Occasions, the cake is simply a work of art. Below Alisa shares with us her inspiration for the cake.

"When Chris and I received the brief from WSG we were really excited that it had a yellow and white colour palette. It was a great opportunity to use the yellow and white grosgrain ribbon that we had in our studio. Chris and I are slightly obsessed with ribbons, particularly grosgrain, as you can get some great colour and patterns. We also like to adorn our cakes with less traditional toppers and decorations, so Chris made a garland from the yellow and white grosgrain ribbon and made sugar buttons to sit in the middle of the garland and then we tied the whole motif together by placing sugar buttons up the back of the cake. The cake was really simple and elegant and it would lend some colour and brightness to a gorgeous spring or summer wedding".

If you would like to find out more about the amaizing service Cake Occasions can offer you contact them via their website at www.cakeoccasions.com.au.

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Last Chance!

Lovely readers don't forgert our Spring Kailis competition ends this Tuesday 30th November. This means you only have 5 DAYS LEFT to enter for your chance to win one of the four below prizes, valued at over $4,500! To enter simply email competitions@styleguide.com.au and tell us in 25 words or less what you are dreamning of. Don't forget to let us know which prize you'd like - Shimmer, Kailissima, Ethereal or Luminesse. Good luck! For terms & conditions visit www.styleguide.com.au.

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Real Wedding - Ruby & Kori

Ruby & Kori chose the relaxed St Leonards Yacht Club, in St Leonards, Victoria, for their December 2009 wedding. Opting for an outdoor ceremony, it was decorated with hand painted umbrellas and rose petals that tied back to their story book invitations featuring colourful birds and butterflies. Antique lanterns, plush rugs and old fashioned wooden sign posts littered the area to create a welcoming atmosphere. With the reception being held inside the Yacht Club, Ruby & Kori wanted it to be transformed into an ‘Alice in Wonderland Tea Party’. Thanks to planners & stylists A Lavish Affair this became their reality. Hand painted umbrellas hung over rectangular tables featuring duck egg blue and latte striped linen, surrounded by white chairs. Tying in with the theme, each centrepiece was an edible creation ranging from turkish delight and mushroom meringues to tea cup cookies and miniature cupcakes. Completing the look were brightly coloured flowers arranged in various vessels such as tea cups, recycled water bottles and milk jugs. The added surprise for guests was the lounge that was created, scattered with various brightly coloured cushions and accompanied with a gypsy jazz band in which guests could relax the day away.

Reception Venue - St Leonards Yacht Club, Victoria
Brides gown - Ruby revamped her Grandma's wedding dress
Photographer – Trevor Cooke Photography
Florist - Sam Rizzo for Styles Entwined
Wedding Planner/stylist – A Lavish Affair

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Bollywood Hens Night

Hen nights can become slightly samey, so if you're looking for something different to the normal veil and learner-badge affair, I'd recommend Bollywood Hens. Tapping into the huge trend that is Bollywood right now, they organise parties for hens from all walks of life. You can choose between a Bollywood dance class with an experienced choreographer, a cooking class with celebrity chef Manju Malhi, a full Bollywood make-over and catering from Dakasha, or enjoy all of the above!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email .

Real Wedding: Emily & Matthew

If you're stressing out and worrying about organising your wedding, this stunning English affair should put your mind at rest. Fantastic couple Emily and Matthew approached their wedding with one eye on budget and the other on keeping the mood simple but chic. One way to do this is to pick a strong theme and then everything else will fall into place. Emily and Matthew chose a bird motif and carried it through into their stationery, favours and handmade cake-toppers. I'm loving the clock detailing on their Orders of Service, and their cute Nissan Figaro wedding car, plus their carefree attitude. Garden games like giant jenga kept the guests entertained, and no one noticed a few spots of rain. Don't miss Emily's answers to the Before the Big Day Bridal Questionnaire, listed below these gorgeous pictures from talented Alex Dimopoulos at My Love Story. Don't you just love his panoramic images?

The Before the Big Day Bridal Q&A - Emily was kind enough to fill in our questionnaire, aimed at helping other brides with their planning process. Feast your eyes on her answers for helpful hints and tips from someone on the other side of her big day!

Where and when did you get married?
On 1st May at Larmer Tree Gardens near Salisbury.

What was your thinking behind choosing the venue and the decoration of the reception?
We originally wanted a London wedding as we live there, but we couldn't find a suitable venue that could work on our budget and that could hold both the ceremony and reception. We then went to look at the Larmer Tree Gardens , and we didn't bother to look anywhere else as it was perfect! The venue was beautiful already, so we kept our decorations very simple with some potted daisy plants on the tables. Much of the day was outside in the gardens, and the venue provided white marquees and umbrellas, as we did have a bit of rain.

Did you have a theme, colour or motif in mind?
The general colour scheme was yellow and white, and we had a birds theme too, with the cake toppers, table decoration and invitations, wedding favours, plus chocolate mini eggs!

Who made your wedding outfit (dress, veil, shoes and accessories), and how did you come to that decision?
I really never thought I wanted a traditional big dress and had trouble finding something I even wanted to try on. BUT in the end I found a really simple dress made by Maggie Sottero. I wasn't sure about it right up until the wedding as I never wear full length dresses or skirts being 5'2'', but absolutely felt brilliant in it on the day and didn't want to take it off. I kept the shoes and accessories really simple and basic, just a hairclip and bracelet from Accessorise!

What about your husband's outfit? Where was it from?
He kept his outfit simple too, a quality shirt and black suit from Moss Bros and an expensive blue tie. The best man wore the same with a different tie.

And how about your bridesmaids' outfits?
We got these from Monsoon, and kept everything really simple and in keeping with the style of my own dress. The bridesmaids were my two little nieces and they looked really cute and beautiful in anything so we didn't need to spend a lot to make them look great. And they loved dressing up too.

What type of cake did you go for, and how did you come to that decision?
We had a three tier cake, made by my sister-in-law. We had a layer of coffee, of vanilla and of chocolate, all covered in white icing and decorated with simple tiny flowers on the edges. My husband and I made our own cake topper birds, again we kept everything simple and made what we could ourselves to keep costs down and to keep it all personal to us.

Did you have any favours? What were they? Was there any particular reason why you picked them?
A small bag of chocolate mini eggs, to go with the bird theme. We hand-filled these ourselves and handmade a thank you tag to go with them.

Who was your florist, what flowers did you choose, and how did you come to that decision?
My Mum's local florist did me a small bouquet for the day, in yellow and white, and my Mum did all the other daisy plants for the tables. I only chose the bouquet flowers the day before!

Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Alex at My Love Story did our photos, we had seen some of his other work and really wanted to use him for our own wedding.

Did you enjoy planning your wedding?
Yes and no! Of course its incredibly exciting but terribly nerve wracking too, we organised the whole thing in 3 months on top of full time jobs and studying for an MA, and moving house. We had to make decisions quickly, and were very mindful of budget, so its just about weighing up what's most important and not over-thinking the rest. Mind you, the day itself surpassed any expectations that I had and every second of worry is worth it in the end.

What advice do you have for brides planning their big day?
I think every bride is different and has different things which they are expecting. It's easy to try and micromanage everything and to spend a long time trying to get everything perfect. In a way I'm glad that we had only 3 months to stress about it all, and on the day we could enjoy ourselves and spending the day with our loved ones, keeping all the other details simple. After the event the memories you have are of the people that you spent it with, not about the perfect flower arrangements! I was running around in the mud and doing the hokey-cokey with my shoes off in my beautiful dress in the afternoon, I was so elated and having such a good time that a bit of rain really didn't matter a bit.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or click here for more bird-themed weddings

Cake That!

There's something about a gorgeous cake that gets your mouth watering. This magnificent cake, by Cake Conversations, looks simply scrumptious. The fine dot detail, the black and white striped grosgrain ribbon and the small bouquet of green chrysanthemum's finishes it off perfectly. Chosen by couple Amanda & Craig, and featured in our current issue #16, it was a centrepiece of their celebration.

Photographer - The Avenue Photography
Brides dress - Bridal on James
Florist - A Sculpted Leaf
Reception - Picture Point Terraces
Event Coordinator - Events of Noosa
Cake - Cake Conversations
Videographer - Focus Films

Posted by Emilie Harrison

The Wedding Table

I received an invitation to 'The Wedding Table' lunch hosted by Quay and Riedel which unfortunately I couldn't attend. The below photos show a beautiful event showcasing stunning Riedel and Nachtmann glassware and the gorgeous Quay. The abundant flowers were styled by the very talented Saskia Havekes of Grandiflora.

Quay would make a memorable wedding venue with amazing views of the harbour and delicious food from the award winning restaurant.

Posted by Emma Henderson

Printable Stationery

A Printable Press offer a huge range of wedding invitation designs that you can print at home. It's super easy, just pick out the design you like, let them know what wording you want and they email you a pdf for you to print as many times as you like. You can change the colours or even get A Printable Press to custom design your very own invitation.

Here is just a sample of their designs.

Posted by Emma Henderson