Wedding hair trial.

I have really quite short hair. It's incredibly fine but I have LOTS of it. It's more the length that would/wll cause me problems, though. At the start of planning the wedding, I knew immediately that I didn't want to fork out £100 (minimum) on a trial and then hair on the day. As our budget is just over £2k, that's too big of a portion to throw away. I knew I wanted height, though.

Here are some styles I looked at:

I emailed a couple of hair dressers with photos of me and my hair and asked if my hair was long enough for a style like these, especially the last one. I was told that my hair probably was long enough and that I'd just need to tease it a lot. Now when I was younger, I was quite madly in love with HUGE, messy crazy hair that required excessive teasing. I tried in vain for years as my hair just does not respond to that well. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of teasing... it can't be that great for your hair, surely? So after searching around for a bit, I came across a product called Hair Boostias. I was a bit dubious at first but I ordered a black set anyway to try them out... what's the worst that can happen, right?

They're basically little bits you stick in your hair and then drape your hair over it for as much or as little volume as you like.

Well, they arrived and I had a little play and I am in LOVE with them. They're so great! They come in a few different sized and for the amount of volume I wanted, the largest size was perfect. I had a little go with it and my hair was just to short to reach over right to the back. My hair grows incredibly irritatingly and the hair on top is a lot shorter than the rest! By the time the wedding rolls round, it'd be long enough to go right down but then I was left with just a little stub of a ponytail behind it that I could do literally nothing with. So my mum picked me up a set of cheap £5 hair extensions that come in 4 different widths wefts. In this trial, I placed the boostias where I wanted it on my head and then placed the smallest weft of hair right in front of that "backwards". So rather than the hair falling down the back of my head, it fell down the front. The boostias itself sits on top of the clips and hides them. Because the boostias is quite far back, I had enough hair at the front of the weft to clip that over and cover it. The extra length in the ponytail from the extensions was the perfect amount for me to create a flat, pinned up back but I'm not sure that's what I want. I'll give it a go another day with the wider width wefts so I have more hair to play with and see what I can do. So here it is! I put this up in about 5 minutes so it could look quite a lot neater but it was just to get the general idea!

I love the plaited headband! I'm really happy with how it turned out and how it looks, I'll just take my time next time to get it neater/sleeker. Although I am kinda digging the slightly disheveled look to it! So yes, this style is a definitely maybe! I'm still on the hunt but I do love this.

Adventures of a bouquet!

Well, I had a little play around tonight.

Oasis bouquet holder thing... Got the wet one. Only one they had! If it proves annoying/impossible, I'll order the dry one.

Lace trim.

Felt flowers.

Pinwheels.

As I said in a previous post, buttons will hopefully be ordered tomorrow. Until they arrive, I have lots more felt flowers to cut!

My bouquet.

My bouquet has been a bit of an ongoing battle so far. But here we are with the reduced budget and plans for a pinwheel bouquet that I'd make myself.

Then I went google image searching during an extreme case of boredom and fell in love with button bouquets all over again. Oh dear! But I think I've come up with a pretty good compromise; a pinwheel and button bouquet. It'll be mostly buttons with a few pinwheels dotted around. Red and blue buttons, some topped with novelty types. It'll be interesting, that's for sure! And I'd also decided to scale it down than what I'd originally wanted.

Anyway, my mum was heading out to Fort Kinnaird and invited me and Colin along. Of course, we couldn't pass hobbycraft without going in.

We came out with an oasis bouquet holder, lace trim, floral wire, some small artificial flowers to provide different texture, card stock and glue. We didn't have to pay a penny; she's far too good to us. Now all that's left is to order some buttons which she's coming round to do tomorrow. I've spent tonight picking out the ones I want.

As for the bridesmaids bouquets, I think I'm going to get them the same bouquet holder but without the lace trim and use florists wire for putting the pom poms on. God knows when we'll get an opening in the budget for that, though!

I'm off to look at more button and pinwheel bouquets and read more tutorials.

Starting up a business.

I've always been very creative. I've been making and creating things for as long as I was physically able to and, since starting the wedding planning, I've realised there's so much I could do with this. As part of a forum of lovely ladies, each creative post made by me was constantly followed up with the advice to get myself out there and make some money from it. I've always been the type to want an etsy shop. I've always been the type who constantly needs to create and do something. But before last night, I was of the impression that literally all that was needed was a few products for inital to start up to show what I can do and a shop name. How wrong was I?! It turns out there is, in fact, a whole legal side to it that needs to be taken care of. Whilst I have every faith in me being able to do, we can't afford to be playing about with what little money we have coming in whilst still planning our wedding. So from here until November, I'm going to research research research, find the best advice I can and get my creative hat on to produce some examples and things like shop names so that I'm literally ready to go as soon as the wedding is over. Excited? Very much so. My plan? Wedding stationery.

I was lying in bed at stupid o'clock this morning unable to sleep and dawdling about the world wide web when I decided to see if I could make a go of something. I'd already pretty much decided that I didn't want to stop at just weddings but wasn't sure if I'd be able to come up with anything else. This is what I produced: A baby shower invite.

I'm actually really proud of it! It's something that I would buy. It's a little different. A little bit quirky, I think. Which is exactly what I want from my business. Anyone could design the super simplistic, modern wedding invitations you see around the place a lot but these are so much better in my opinion. I definitely feel if I carry on like above, I'd be a good rival to a lot of those sellers on etsy! I suppose it helps that I'm in Britain; I haven't come across many more "quirky" stationery suppliers so far. I'm sure they're out there! I just haven't found many. In fact, I can only think of one off of the top of my head and she's very well known in the Rock n Roll Bride blog world. Not that I can remember her name!

Nurseries.

I cannot wait to start a family. As soon as the wedding is done, I'll be at the doctors getting my implant removed and Project Baby starts from there! Anyway, I've been going crazy with all the decorating ideas there are floating about. Here are some of my favourites! They've all been yanked from Pinterest and if there was credit there, there will be credit here. If you see your own photo, please leave me a comment and I'll throw your credit up here :)

This is super cute. Yellow and grey are colours I just LOVE together! I'm also really loving the stripes; it adds a bit of character to the room which is something I think a lot of nurseries really lack.

This is just too awesome. It's so bold and and busy and fun and personality-filled! I love love love the chair and the ladder-type storage space!

Perfect for a little girl! I love the one grey wall and think the accent colours of pink look really, really great. The sofa adds an extra air of comfort too that I love.

This is definitely something I plan to do for future kidlets. Maybe not in the nursery but definitely in toddlers (and older) rooms. Perfect!

I love everything about this room! But my favourite is definitely that striped ceiling against the really bold black wall.

Grey and yellow AND stripes? Amazing!

This is SERIOUSLY cute! I love how everything is so adorably mis-matched. All the patterns and colours.. I especially love the hanging bunting. Such a cute factor.

I'm not so hot on this room as a whole but that stool is precious. It also has 2 elements of our wedding and things we hope to fill our near-future-home with; toadstools and pom poms! I think pom poms are the perfect decoration pieces for any room but especially nurseries.

I just LOVE the colours in this room! It has so many little bits that all work amazingly together. The pom poms and lanterns, the name letters, the little gumball machine on the stand. And that sofa! The colour of the crib is perfect.

I love the simplicity of this one but the mismatched accessories really set it off and give it something really special. I love the curtains so much! And that cot is just too adorable.

Our wedding colours and stripes. I just love stripey ceilings! The green mirror also looks amazing against the blue.

I LOVE this wall so much! But I think I might love the colours even more black and teal are such bold colours on their own but together? Amazing!



The sweetie table.

Got out all the jars and things we've collected for the sweetie table this morning to try out a few wee layout ideas and came across one we both like. When you view the photos, our cupcake tower will be on the blue box at the back :)

The little teapots in the front there will hold things like powdered sugar should our guests wish to dust a little something on their cupcakes.

We still have one jar to the left of the box to fill. It's currently holding some paper stars Colin and I have made. Also have the jug to fill! We're debating over whether to have those edible straws in their or to use it to hold the red and white and blue and white paper straws for the drinks.

We'll have a couple of these, decorated in our colours with a pinwheel where the bow is, on the table to. We're thinking the right hand side as you look at the photo, at the back. They're for cake pops!

These will go on the same side of the table but at the front. They're just polystyrene cones. We'll be using those swizzlers double lollies though and will completely cover the cone with them! There will be 2 of them.

See that blue box at the back of what will be the sweetie table? We're going to make another 2 of those but rectangular, thinner and shorter. They'll be placed either side of the box holding the cakes right at the very back of the table and will hold pink lemonade in bottles like these. We're going to order personalised stickers to place where the ones in the photo are. They'll also be used on sweetie bags.

To the left of the sweetie table as you look at the first photo, we'll be having this! We were debating over whether to have it alcoholic or not but we think we've decided against that. There will be kids at the reception and we want them to be able to buy it too! So we may make a sign to put next to it, recommending the adults pour themselves one then head up to the bar and stir in a shot of vodka!

These cups and sweetie bags will be placed just in front of the machine. Although I've since found cups that are the same as the kind you get from McDonalds but are a pale blue and white stripe! They're more expensive, though so we'll have to check the budget before working those in!

We plan on having all of this on one table with, hopefully, a baby blue table cloth. We're hoping to have as many pinwheels, toadstools and POM POMS(!!) all over the place as possible and have just stumbled across this image which looks to be incredibly easy to make and cheap, too! We have a few months with a little bit of money left over so we should be able to do this quite easily! We're not allowed to hang anything from the walls, though so this will go right at the back of the table and leaning against the wall as a sort of backdrop.

What I've Been Watching: A real mix.

We've just signed up for Love Film and are currently in the trial where we can watch unlimited online and have 1 disc at home. Since this is the first post, I'll do a mini review on the few we've watched online so far and the one disc we've had at home.

Last House on The Left - Uncut (1972) - *****Two teenage girls head to a concert for a birthday celebration that is brutally interrupted when they are kidnapped, raped, and murdered by three sadistic escaped convicts. However, the killers stumble in the home of one of the girls, and the parents take the opportunity to gain violent revenge for their daughter's deaths.

I'd been really looking forward to this. I'd wanted to watch it now for a really long time and was so stoked when I found out that LoveFilm had it!
Now that I've watched it, I'm incredibly disappointed. I know it's an old film and I know the budget was tiny but I still feel that so much more could have been done. It was slow. It was boring. I never even almost jumped once. Being a Craven film, I definitely expected a hell of a lot more but it's not a film I plan on watching again any time soon, if at all. But it is one of those that I'm glad to say I have seen.

Captivity - 2007 - *****

Elisha Cuthbert (THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) is Jennifer, a celebrated runway model who leads a relatively lonely life. One night, after being stood up at a club, she's drugged and wakes up much later in an intricately constructed dungeon. The captor is a mysterious presence who has clearly done this before. As time goes on, the taunting and torture reach nearly unbearable proportions. But before she gives up all hope, Jennifer discovers Gary (Daniel Gillies), another victim, who is determined to break them both out of their horrific prison.

This is a film I've seen before and it was a long time ago so, as my lovely hadn't seen it, we decided to put it on. I enjoyed it just as much the second time round as I did the first. The plot is great, the characters are great and it's really well acted. It's just the right amount of creepy to keep you feeling a little bit anxious and the twist at the end? Worked amazingly. Definitely a film I could watch again and again.

Frozen - 2010 - *****

Frozen stars Shawn Ashmore (the X-Men trilogy), Kevin Zegers (Dawn Of The Dead) and Emma Bell (Death In Love; New York City Serenade) as a trio of twenty-somethings – best friends Joe Lynch (Ashmore) and Dan Walker (Zegers), plus Dan’s girlfriend Parker O’Neil (Bell) – hoping to spend some quality time skiing and snowboarding in the picturesque resort of Mount Holliston. But a typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare when they find themselves unexpectedly stranded on a chairlift shortly after the ski resort closes for the week. Unknowingly left dangling high above the ground and with no apparent safe way down as night begins to set in, with increasing panic they soon realize that the threats of frostbite and hypothermia are the least of their worries.

Forced to take extremely desperate measures in order to survive the bitter cold, overcome unexpected obstacles and attempt to reach safety, the three friends are driven to ask not only if they have the will to survive but also to consider what are the worst ways to die.

I LOVE THIS FILM. From the synopsis, it sounds pretty boring. I mean, how exciting can a movie be when the three sole characters are trapped above the ground in a single chair lift? But it is. It's suspenseful. It gets you to the point where you're trying to guess what happens next and you're on the edge of the seat, hoping they're all going to make it out alive (unlike me completely; I love a good gorey everyone dies film!). With a very dramatic event relatively quickly in the beginning, it really grabs you right from the start and keeps you hooked until the credits roll. My one complaint? I want MORE. It's been nearly 2 weeks and I keep finding myself wanting to watch it again.

Crazy Eights - 2006 - *****

Six friends are brought together at the funeral of a childhood friend. A search through their deceased friend's house reveals a map to a time capsule they buried some 20 years earlier which spurs the friends to find it and dig it up. After uncovering the trunk, the unexpected is found - the rotted remains of a child.

The closer they come to remembering the circumstances of the mysterious child's death, the closer they come to their own reckoning. The memory that will eventually kill them one by one is the same memory they need to discover to stay alive...

Again, this film was great! It's a little slow moving and somewhat confusing right at the very beginning but it's all cleared up really quickly and everything soon becomes apparent. It's creepy as hell and the set/location is fantastic! The acting is great and the characters are really, really well played. Did I say it was creepy as hell? It's creepy as hell! Again, a film I'd watch over and over. My one complaint is the ending but I don't want to say too much! Just that I wish it had carried on that little bit longer as I was still left with questions and scratching my head a little bit.

Outdoor wedding lighting.

How stunning is this? I sometimes wish I could get married every day for a year to utilise all the amazing things I've been coming across!

Photography via Robin Lin Photography. Found via SpearmintWedding.

Film canister wedding invites.

I just stumbled across this post on Recycled Bride and had to share it! Being a photographer, it's right up my street!

Trevor and Larissa of Ambient Studios didn’t want run-of-the-mill paper wedding invitations for their big day. So they incorporated their passion for photography into a fun DIY project that resulted in these fabulously unique invites.

The invitations were printed on small rolls of paper, which were then packed inside of reusable film canisters and wrapped in unbleached paper packaging.

When guests received the invites, they were prompted to pull the roll of paper out to reveal a creative wedding invitation that Trevor and Larissa designed themselves.

Trevor and Larissa are partners in work and in life, and their artistic spirit and mutual love of photography made their vintage photography wedding theme an easy choice.

For more information, head here!

The dress!

My wedding dress has been one hell of a journey.

I've always known from the start that I wanted a tea length dress. It's more me. I'll be more comfortable. Plus, it means I get to have amazing shoes that will actually be seen! I had no idea of what I wanted other than tea length and, after a long day on google, I found Justin Alexander and fell in love. My one single visit to a dress shop was purely because they stocked his collection.

So along my mum and I went. I tried on 3 of his dresses and fell in love. It was the one. Until a few days later. This carried on for about 5 or 6 dresses. I'd fall overwhelmingly in love with one for a few days and then I'd start noticing little bits that I hated. Until I found this one! I can't find a single thing to fault about it!

My mum came over to the house to visit today and she'd always planned to buy my dress. So today, we ordered it along with my veil!

Here she is:

And the veil!

I found the dress on etsy (PixiePocket) and the veil is from folksy. Both complete bargains! The total price for both came in at under £200.

I should hopefully receive my veil within a relatively short amount of time but I've got a wait ahead for my dress... about a 6 to 8 week wait if my calculations are correct! She's got to be made and shipped from New Zealand. I'm kind of amused that my dress shall be better travelled than I am ;)

The first of many!

Hi! I'm Toni :) 23 years old and engaged to my lovely! We live in a lovely little flat in Edinburgh with our staffy x lab pupster, Morrissey.

I created this blog to be my own little haven. I'll talk home life, bringing up pupster, food, wedding planning, baby planning and life in general. Have fun; I know I will  ;)