flowers

As ever, these beautiful photos are copyright to Filip Welna.

We did something a little unusual when it came to wedding flowers, and it worked out so well for us that I thought I'd share it. When we met with the florist, I had a few black and white printouts of the kind of bouquet shape I liked. I liked things with lots of texture and variation. But I didn't know what flowers I wanted. I felt like Willetton Wedding Flowers really got the feel I was going for anyway, so we booked them.

Later, I sent them a fabric swatch and some paint chips of the kinds of colours I liked, and I sent them a long, long list of Flowers I Like and Flowers I Don't Like. I sent these massive long lists because I figured it would give them more to choose from depending on what was in season. And beyond that, the bouquets were up to the florist.


To my surprise, they used nearly every flower on my 'like' list. I had kangaroo paw, geraldton wax and succulents. Roses, orchids and anthirriums. Rosemary, ferns and ranunculas. Dusty miller and cherry blossoms. Every time I looked at my bouquet I found something new. They were the most beautiful bouquets ever. And no two buttonholes/ corsages were the same.I strongly recommend giving your florist some creative freedom.

The only thing I would do differently, if I were to do it again, would be more aware of the cheap white plastic holders that are used on cascading bouquets. Had I been aware that they were going to use one, I would have hit up etsy for a vintage silver bouquet holder (such things exist), or provided some really nice velvet ribbon to hot-glue around the handle. Just a thought. If cascading is what you're thinking.

Oh, and another tip? If you use succulents in your bouquet, you can plant them afterwards and they'll grow! Pretty cool huh?

Gimme some hair

All images copyright Filip Welna.

To follow on from the makeup person I used, I thought I'd mention my hairdresser in case anyone was interested. I left hair until far too close, and all the mobile hairdressers I could find (that I liked) were booked out. In desperation I called Peggy Sue's. Not only did she agree to do it, she didn't freak out at the sentence "By the way, the Best Woman has an undercut." Now, mobile wedding hair is not her usual thing, so I don't want to promise that she'll do yours or anything. But she did mine, and the Maid of Honour's and the Best (wo)Man's and I was pretty stoked.

Also, she texted me the morning of the wedding to ask if there was any last-minute errands she could run for me (how nice is that?), and was an all-round fun person to have with us on the day.


This isn't the best photo of the Best (wo)Man's hair, but the only I could find that didn't show her face. BwM has, as mentioned above, a pretty severe undercut. On the left side of her face is a beautiful 1940s victory roll, and all her hair was swept round to trail down on the right-hand side, showing off the undercut at the back on the left. It was gorgeous.

For the Maid of Honour I gave Bee this picture for inspiration. Bee likes nothing more than big hair. Oh, so big.


This doesn't even begin to show it. Well, kind of. Look at where her shoulders are, and where her hair ends. Her hair was as tall as her face was long. It was Elvira-esque. It was a beehive. It cracked me up every time I looked at it. People came up to me after the wedding and said "You look great and all, but her hair - my god! That's a feat of architecture!" Was it exactly what she or I would have chosen? No, but I didn't ask for a redo because it was wild and silly and it looked amazing. Once in a lifetime hair.

Mine? She just made mine as big as was humanly possible, given I have thin, fine limp hair. She did a great job. C'mon, you've seen it in the other photos.

Makeup

Image copyright to Filip Welna. Do not use or copy.

I had a commenter ask who did my makeup, and, embarrassingly, it took me a really long time to remember! I think after the wedding was over I did my best to block everything out. I mean, it was fun and all, but it was nice not to have to think about it anymore.

Anyway, I remembered (whew!) It was Nicole Forde. I chose her because she did my friend's wedding, and all the girls had the most amazing, giant doe-eyes.

The other thing I loved was that when I rang her and said I didn't want to wear foundation, and would that be okay, she was completely fine with that. Even told me that she thought most people didn't really need foundation. I just hate the sensation of something coating my skin, so I was happy to have finishing powder, but didn't want a base. By the time Nicole was done with me, you couldn't even tell.

just a little note...

All photos copyright and by Filip Welna, our fab photographer

I'm looking to sell my wedding gown. I love it to pieces, but don't have the space to keep it. Knowing that Priscilla of Boston dresses are rare as hen's teeth in Australia, I'm hoping to find someone else who loves it and will give it a second outing. You can find it listed here or here, or leave me a message on this post with an e-mail address at which I can reach you. I'm open to offers, willing to post anywhere (not just within Australia), and more than happy to answer any questions! Perth people are also welcome to see it in person, of course.

The boning creates some killer curves, if I say so myself. This is me giggling madly while my poor bridesmaid tried to do up the top hook and eye.

the wedding singer

I was so excited I just had to share. BCB and I felt so, so fortunate that an old friend of his (who I actually thought he was dating when we first met!) agreed to be our all-round wedding singer. To boot, she was an absolute champ who submitted to playing covers,* along with some freestylin' ukele work. Her new single was launched today. Enjoy it, and enjoy the divine Ms Abbe May!

* Barry Louis Polisar's All I Want Is You; Nick Cave's Into My Arms, and The Darkness' I Believe In A Thing Called Love.

paper good(s).

A lovely commenter pointed out that I hadn't shown off my invites yet, which was a kuh-raaaazy oversight on my part. I think that I took some snaps, decided they were pretty terrible quality, and never got round to blogging them. But I should. So y'all can come crash the reception, non? (um, no. Please).

The invites were by HeatherJeany on etsy, based on one of her other designs (with the colours changed and a bee motif removed). They don't look so great through the plastic wrapper they're in. You can't tell that the brown-ish text is actually metallic copper (yay!) I would totally and utterly recommend Heather if you're looking for invites. Her work is reasonably priced, she is very organised and professional and her invitation design skills are just awesome.


The hand-screenprinting comes out flat, maybe a little raised where the ink is thick. There is the odd tiny imperfection which I like. Reminds you that they're handmade. As well as invites and rsvps, we got her to do thankyou cards and order of service booklet covers for us.

The 'bells' references on the rsvp ('borrowed' from this wedding here) was well worth it. We have had one guest terribly confused and concluding it means 'bring a partner' (wha? Ah well!) Someone that couldn't attend explained that 'they're allergic to bells - what are the odds?' Another guest is 'with bells' while her partner ticked 'undecided' and added 'apprehensive about bells since that incident in 2007.' And our darling MC indicated that he would be there with bells on 'and only bells on.'

$8k wedding: Food

The trickiest part of the $8k budget is definitely feeding everyone. With $4000 (according to my budget breakdown) that comes to $40 per head, including drinks. One certainly can cater one's own wedding, but I know it would do my head in. Plus it feels like cheating given that I'm trying to prove how far the money can stretch.
So I pretty much just googled caterers in WA for a bit and found that, for my town hall wedding, one can get a catered spit-roast with two kinds of meat and loads of different salad and veges for $18 per person. This was certainly down at the cheaper end of the range of prices I found, but there were a few caterers playing with this number, and it certainly wasn't the lowest price I found. Sure, it isn't the most glam option, but it's good hearty food that will fill everyone up, and it certainly has a homey, retro feel.

For the backyard wedding? What's more casual and Italian (and delicious) than woodfired pizza?


Cicciobella are a Perth-based mobile pizza oven company that offer three courses (calzone, all you can eat pizza, and dessert pizza) for a smidge over $20 per person. Brilliant!

Either options leaves you with $10 - 20 per person for drinks (depending on how much wiggle room you want to leave for contingencies). Counting one bottle of wine per person (go see the Dan Murphy's drinks calculator for a better estimate), and assuming you buy at LiquorLand or Vintage Cellars and get 30% off by buying by the dozen, you will be serving up some not shabby drinks!

Tip: Got rellies flying in from overseas for the wedding? Ask them to bring in their duty-free allowance in vodka and make up a big fruit punch for your town hall wedding, or mix it up with some red wine for sangria for your backyard (Spanish-)Italian do.