Vintage wedding gowns

I'm adoring some of the gowns available at Timeless Vintage Vixen on etsy. The one above is my absolute, absolute favourite. That chiffon around the neckline turns into these great sweeping drapes at the back that imply 'train' without actually dragging on the ground. Tres cool. Unfortunately, it's miles too huge for me, to the point where I'm not sure it could be taken in without reconstructing the whole dress.

I also think there's a sweet charm about this dress, and I don't normally go for flapper-style dresses. I think it's bold metallic floral.

Another lead?

Chatting to the Best (wo)Man and her Man last night at a party. About wedding stuff, in part ("I don't want to wear a suit anymore," "Okay, don't. Wear what you want," "But you have to tell me what to wear!" "But I don't really care very much," "Should I wear the same dress as the bridesmaid?" "NO! That would be awful!"* "Can I wear an inversion of the bridesmaid's dress then?" "Um... what? Okay. Sure. Whatever.")

Anyway, just as we left, I had a sudden brainwave. Best (wo)Man and her Man both have fine arts degrees.
"Best (wo)Man, you don't own a gocco press, do you?"
"A what?"
"For silkscreening."
"I can silkscreen, but I don't have the stuff to do it."
"Okay. But ohmygod - you could design the invites, right?!"
"Nuh. But Man can. It's like, what he does. He's done invites before."
"Man? You can do invites? Without big floofy roses on them? Because if I see another invite with nineteenth century floral illustrations I'm going to throw up.** What I'm really into is good typography. Can you do good typography?"
*Man smiles*
"Yes. That is my thing. I love typography. I could totally do your invites."
Thus followed a discussion of whether the typewriter font was 'over' (all agreed yes) and the merits of turning our own handwriting into a font.

Now just hope Best (wo)Man and Man stay together for another year or so, when we'll actually need the invites.

* I have nothing against matchy-matchy bridal party in general, except that the bridesmaid is very girly, very buxom, very feminine. The Best (wo)Man is not so girly, unco, and built like a teenage boy. There is no dress on the planet that will suit them both.
** Again, just a personal preference. I have nothing serious against floral invites.

Reception Venues with Decent Chairs and Wooden Floors

While I've heard many a person claim that they will not have their reception at a venue where the chairs need covering, my needs are more pedestrian (in the walking-on-the-ground sense). I completely and utterly refuse to celebrate my wedding at a place with carpet on the floor. Hate the stuff. Tiles are also out. It's just an easy way to quickly vet venues - if the place has carpet or tiles, it just isn't going to have the feel I want. While floorboards are the ideal, the venue we're ultimately going with is part floorboards, part concrete, part pavers (yes, inside). I don't mean to be mysterious, but I'll reveal our too-awesome venue when we actually make a deposit on it.

In the meantime, here is another non-80s, be-boarded place to party: Maria's on the Terrace. The food is pretty simple, and I can't vouch for it, but I can point out that the place is in Freo and owned by Italians. And I can't think of an Italian place in Freo where I haven't had a good - albeit not nouvelle cuisine - meal.

The place looks awesome, and they do some nice packages that mean you don't need to worry your pretty head about centrepieces and linen. It's on the first floor of a place on South Terrace, so your guests can hang out on the balcony and watch the crowd at Gino's and the Saturday night boglappers (I say this with all affection for Freo and my own wasted youth). An excellent choice if your guests are likely to party on once the official festivities are over.

I've found the perfect florist

Pity I'm not living in Scotland.


Snapdragon seems to specialise in growing the things that aren't terribly popular or common in bouquets (wedding or otherwise). I love how the bouquet above is such a wild mix of colour and texture. And I love the inclusion of mint. I think it's pretty clear I'm keen on herbs in my floral arrangements.


This one has herbs in it too - rosemary. And eucalypt leaves, which would be perfect for an Australian wedding. And I like the size and shape of the arrangement generally. It looks nice and manageable. It could work with flannel flowers instead of the narcissusesesesses (oo, that word is hard to spell) maybe... but where will the big, blowzy roccoco tulips that I'm currently adoring fit in?

If I were in the Scottish Perth, rather than the Antipodean one, Snapdragon would most certainly be my florist of choice. As it is, I'll just have to continue to slavishly follow her blog, and use it as inspiration.

Tsunami Sushi

Images from Tsunami Sushi

One of the nicest looking restaurant venues I've found in Perth is Tsunami Sushi. No dated '80s interiors - it's all sleek and magical. Their food is pretty awesome too (expert tip: squid ink risotto makes your lips black. Use napkin often). The wedding packages are kind of French-Japanese fusion (as is much of their menu), so it shouldn't be too weird for Aunt Beryl and her strictly anglo taste buds. An ex-wedding photographer acquaintance rated it as one of the best metro reception locations she'd been to.

They're in Mosman Park, in a small strip of shops, so plenty of free parking about and not too far for your guests to travel from a ceremony in Freo or King's Park.

I heart kraft paper

From Twig&Fig, via RitzyBee

These invites were apparently inspired by the film Juno. While I query letting a comedy about teen pregnancy dictate your wedding styling, I adore the results. Like, loads. I'm all about the kraft paper and hand-lettering right now.

I haven't really noticed an Australian letterpresses doing much in the way of really interesting typography - they seem to concentrate mostly on graphic elements. I wonder if this is a customer-driven thing, or a personal thing?

I want this wedding

It's not actually a real wedding, it's a photo shoot. Boo.

Sans the cigarettes, and the kids (cute, but I don't know any kids).

I've always detested wedding photos of the groomsmen all wearing (invariably) wraparound mirrored sunnies, but this 'groom' (and his 'bride') are rockin' their shades. I've also been dying to get BCB some totally awesome pointy boots, mostly because his friend has some and they look rad, and so do Nick Cave's (the Nick Cave exhibition on at the WA Museum right now has fostered a bit of extra lust for the handlebar 'tache and the pointy boots).

From Cory Kennedy, via East Side Bride.