Top ten wedding facebook sites that’ll save you time!

28 May

Facebook and wedding planning go hand in had!

Facebook is great for keeping up to date with old, present and new friends, sharing and even a little … spying?? But did you know how amazing it can be for gathering wedding ideas, finding bridal sales, connecting with other brides, wedding planning info, styling and loads more?

Facebook is chocka-block full of new ideas for your wedding. If you are connected with the right pages, you’ll save time searching around for sales, ideas, tips and info.  You can even ask other brides and experts for advice… the answers will come almost instantly!

So how do you make sure you are connected to the right pages? Start here.

Here are our top ten picks for wedding pages on Facebook.

Our favourite ideas and Inspiration pages

Wedding ideas site

Wedding Concepts is an event design and planning company in South Africa. The weddings they create are out-of-this-world! We always love to take a peak at what they are up to and what stunning new ideas they come up with. This is a great page for masses of inspiration!

Wedding Flower inspiration

Colin Cowie is an international superstar when it comes to wedding design and planning. His facebook is updated regularly with incredible weddings and ideas. Keep an eye on this page for trends and great ideas coming out of the US.

Wedding ideas site

Lover.ly is simply beautiful. The editors at Lover.ly use their resources to choose the best from wedding bloggers and sites around the world and post it on their page. A great way to get heaps of international ideas.

Modern Wedding ideas

Of course Modern Wedding! Our team absolutely love to bring our brides the very best inspiration, ideas, sales and info! We regularly run competitions to give away big ticket wedding items. Our brides are very supportive of each other and always eager to help out with other bride’s questions or concerns.

Wedding ideas

White Room Events is an Aussie page that fills us with joy and is brimming with great stuff. You will find real weddings, styled inspiration shoots, cool products and fab themes. Enjoy!

Floral Inspiration pages

Wedding Flower inspiration

Karen Tran Florals post everything wedding flowers – their weddings and flowers are exquisite. This US site never fails to impress!

Flower inspiration facebook site

Chanele Rose Flowers & Events is a very active page that is full over floral inspiration and a great page to keep up to date with floral trends in Australia.

Fashion inspiration

Wedding Fashion inspiration on facebook

Karen Willis Holmes continually post stunning fashion items. This is an Australian site that is definitely one to watch if you are interested in what’s hot in Aussie wedding fashion.

Pronovias facebook

We love to keep an eye on the Pronovias page for all their fashion creativity and the trends coming out of Europe. They upload their runway shows as well as interviews, new ranges and fashion news updates. A great way to keep in touch with European fashion.

Real wedding inspiration

Real wedding inspiration on facebook

It’s always a great idea to peruse a good photographer’s facebook page and check out the real weddings they have done. Inlighten Photography are always active in updating their site with fresh weddings. They have a stunning style and show beautiful weddings.

These are just a few of our favourites, I really could go on all day if I was to put up everything we watched, but this gives you a good base to start with. Make sure you ‘Like’ those pages that are relevant to you and please share your favourites with us! Leave us a link in the comments section below – so other brides can benefit from your research too!

Happy Monday!

ATTN WEDDING INDUSTRY

Modern Wedding will be hosting a Social Media Workshop for the Wedding Industry. The first will be in Sydney on the 12th June and will cover ‘How to make social media work for your company.’ 

Get all the info on the workshop now.

Kate xx

Become a Modern Wedding member to receive our monthly newsletter that has stacks of inspiration, there are alsio some fabulous free planning tools to help save you time when you are planning your wedding.

 

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5 themes you can create with flowers

25 May

Wedding flowers speak volumes. Decorating with flowers will not only look amazing, it will fill your wedding with fragrant beauty.  Smell is such a strong memory trigger, you won’t be able to stop people thinking about your wedding for years to come.

Here are five themes you can achieve with your wedding flowers.

A Fairytale wedding theme is achieved using light coloured blooms, with some ‘magic’ jewels incorporated. Try to achieve a secret garden look with lush greenery, roses and a touch of sparkle.

Fairytale wedding flowers

Clockwise from top left – Chanele Rose Flowers, Maria’s Fresh Flowers, Flowers by Delwyn, Chanele Rose Flowers, Flower Talk, MD Floral Design, Affair with George

Poppy bright theme – use bright complementary flowers – a mix of colours look wonderful! Ask your florist what flowers mix well. Don’t be afraid of pink, red, orange and purple together – with the right colour intensity, these hue’s are a perfect match.

Bright wedding flowers

Clockwise from top left: Kavelle Flowers, Vesna Grasso Floral Designer, Vesna Grasso Floral Designer, Kavelle Flowers, Kavelle Flowers, The Feather Rose, Tulipanna

Pretty Pastels give a soft a feminine look to your wedding. Couple the flowers with some white linen, a flowing dress, pastel bridesmaid dresses and a dashing groom and your wedding will be fit for a princess.

Pastel wedding Flowers Bouquet

Clockwise from top left: Bailie Photography, Peonies Wedding Floral Designer, Merci Flowers, Maria’s Fresh Flowers, Maria’s Fresh Flowers, Maria’s Fresh Flowers, Flower Talk

A Vintage theme is created using dusty pinks, purple berries, jewels and period accessories. This theme has been a hot wedding theme for a while and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere for a long time. There are some fantastic varieties of roses that scream vintage – just ask your florist and you are well on your way to an old-world wedding.

Vintage wedding flowers

Clockwise from top left: Jemma Keech, Chanele Rose Flowers & Styling, Affair with George, DIY Magazine, Chanele Rose Flowers & Styling, Botania Flower Merchants, Xsight Photography

A glorious Garden wedding theme is easy as pie to create. Once you are in the garden, it’s likely you will already be surrounded by nature, so you just need to enhance and use what is around you. Look at what colours go with the surrounds, if you are working with lush green surrounds, void of flowers then incorporate the type of greenery you have. A relaxed style of bouquet and table centres will go beautifully in a garden setting, in fact as close as you can get to the ‘freshly picked’ look, the better.

Garden wedding Flower

Buttercups Florist & Sandra Henri Photography, Buttercups Florist & Sandra Henri Photography, Heaven Scent Floral Design, Buttercups Florist & Sandra Henri Photography, DIY Magazine, Vienna Woods, Buttercups Florist & Sandra Henri Photography,

Decorating with flowers is so much fun – just make sure you pick flowers that are in season, so your decorations don’t break the bank and will last the whole day… and longer. With so many decorations and table centres it’s a nice idea to give those family members and friends who supported you in the lead up to the wedding an arrangement to take home with them… after they have done their job and made your wedding look sensational of course!

Happy Friday and hope this weekend brings lots of tick-offs to your checklist.

Kate xx

Swing by our Facebook or Twitter to say hi.

For more Flower inspiration – head over to our main website’s Wedding Flower Gallery.

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Beautiful Burgundy

23 May

Since its’ revival on international catwalks, fashionistas and average people alike have embraced the many shades of burgundy presented in our stores. From shirts and dresses, shoes and bags to makeup and even hair – burgundy has an edge about it that we just can’t seem to get enough of. It’s flattering on both fair and dark complexions and the perfect colour for winter.

Be careful not to dismiss this colour as a street fashion trend, destined for Vinnies when the next season rolls in. Shades of burgundy and gold make for a delicate and refined colour palate on your wedding day. Think of rich burgundy lips for the bride wearing white, chiffon bridesmaid dresses and hints of gold on invitations, tables and the cake. Forget about something blue, sneak burgundy shoes underneath your dress for a really striking look as you walk.

This palate is perfect for winter, but we’re all a little scared of actually having a winter wedding. I look back on my own refusal to have a winter wedding and think how silly I was because there are so many pluses. Reception venues will often offer a winter special so you may be able to save money, or have the venue of your dreams if it is too expensive during the peak months. You may like to use the money saved on meals for some beautiful professional styling that would be otherwise unaffordable or splurge on your honeymoon in a warmer part of the world. It also rains much less in winter so you’re more likely to have clear blue skies albeit a lower temperature, but say goodbye to goosebumps with a shrug or shawl, a cute accessory only a winter bride can wear! With warm yellow lights on a cold winter’s night (and a fire place if you’re lucky!) nothing will be more romantic than a beautiful palate of burgundy and gold.

Would you pick burgundy as a colour for your wedding? Are you toying with the idea of a winter wedding? Let us know!

Isabel :)

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Love-birds’ Peacock wedding

21 May

I love to start the week off with a love story, and the way this bride was proposed to was something out of a great romantic movie.

After waiting two hours in line at the base of the Eiffel Tower, Viktoria and a very nervous Tristen made their way up to the top to gaze over the City of Love. Tristen found a quiet corner and asked Viktoria to be his wife. In a haze of excitement the couple enjoyed the rest of their holiday as a loved-up engaged couple.

On returning to Australia they began planning their stunning wedding celebration – each and every detail imbued with the theme of Vintage Love Birds, Peacocks and Feathers.

Wedding - Peacock themeWedding - peacock themeWedding - peacock themeWedding - peacock themeWedding - peacock themeBride arriving at church
Ceremony

Viktoria and Tristen chose to marry in a traditional Catholic ceremony. Viktoria arrived at the church emanating beauty in her stunning and, rather flamboyant, gown.

“As a designer, I spent months working on a design for my dress and handmade the structured one shoulder creation, which was finished off with my Grandmother’s sapphire and crystal vintage brooch. I spent weeks leading into the wedding hand sewing ostrich feathers onto the dress to give the illusion of a peacock tail, which was complemented with my handmade stunning vintage inspired crystal headpiece.”

Bride with white silk flowersWedding ceremony - peacock theme weddingBridesmaids - peacock themeBridal party - bridesmaids in peacockBridal party - bridesmaids in peacockBridal couple - feather theme wedding

Reception

In the lead up to the wedding, Viktoria planned and designed much of the day herself. Her wedding was the perfect excuse to fill the day with exquisite attention to detail and a fine balance of vintage and modern elements.

The magnificent room at the National Portrait Gallery was made even more extravagant by Viktoria’s styling flair. Each table setting featured white ostrich feathers and bird cages. Hand made menu cards were attached to a miniature birdcage bomboniere and the cake topper – a male and female peacock, was a definite crowd pleaser.

wedding reception - featherswedding reception - feathersPeacock wedding cake

Viktoria’s Highlights

“Despite the four seasons in one day, the weather provided a marvelous backdrop for the photographer and videographer, with a stunning rainbow featuring as a highlight. There was no holding back for us ‘love birds’ as we laughed, danced, and ran around in the rain using vintage picture frames and bird cages as props to reflect our personalities. It was the greatest day of our lives.”

Bridal couple - feather theme wedding

Photographer: Creative Image Photography
Videographer: Untitled Films
Bride’s gown: Gown embellishments by Viktoria Novak Design
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Perri Cutten
Ceremony: St Joseph’s Church
Reception venue: National Portrait Gallery
Event stylist / coordinator: Viktoria Novak Design
Florist: Flowers with Love
Cake: Cake of Your Dreams
Stationery: Viktoria Novak Design

Thank you to Viktoria and Tristen for sharing your beautiful day with us all – and congratulations on your marriage!

Happy Monday!

For more Real Weddings check out Modern Wedding Real Weddings.

Kate x

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A Wedding pitch by the water

18 May

Ken and Rachel’s romance started at the cricket, and so it was fitting for the proposal to unfold during a cricket presentation. Rachel recalls the amazing night, “Ken was the MC of the night and at the end they were drawing lucky door prizes and my ticket got called out. I went up expecting a bottle of wine and was presented with a small blue box. I was told it was a last minute addition to the prizes and I should open it so everyone can see what it was. I opened the box to see a ring surrounded by rose petals and looked up to see Ken down on one knee and “Will you marry me?” written across the big screen. I was so surprised and excited I didn’t even respond! After more than 6 years together he still managed to surprise me-and even snuck in our parents so they could be there for it!”

Eighty of their friends and family enjoyed the reception with them and Rachel and Ken had 10 of their closest and dearest in their bridal party. Their wedding was themed around what they both hold dear to their hearts, the cricket and the beach.

Rachel tells us, “The whole day was very relaxing-lots of our friends are mutual so it was a very ‘family’ atmosphere. It was just a party with our closest friends and family.”

BrideBeach wedding ceremonyBeach wedding ceremony

They got married on Shelly Beach. When they first started dating they would often take walks along this particular beach, and spent many days BBQ’ing with friends there too – a fitting place for their ceremony!

Bride with bridesmaids - blue and yellow

Bridal Party - Aqua and Yellow Groomsmen with bride

Rachel says that this series of photos are so suited to them as a couple, “One of our favourite things about the wedding was getting photos at the cricket. As we met playing cricket, we went down to the oval and Ken’s cricket club was playing – they let us have some photos on the pitch.”

Bride and groom - beach weddingBride and groom - beach weddingSand ceremony at Beach wedding

“Both of us are very close with our own and each others’ families. So we had all our brothers and sisters in our bridal party (my brother made a lovely ‘bridesman’!), both my parents walked me down the aisle, and we included a sand ceremony in our ceremony to incorporate our parents into our big day! Our three handsome nephews acted as flower boys and a ring ‘master’ (didn’t want to be a ‘bearer’), with one of them even giving a speech at the reception saying he loved us, he’s two!”

Sand ceremony at Beach weddingLolly bar

Rachel and Ken DIY’ed as many details as they could – they did the centrepieces, bomboniere, place cards, chair decorations at the ceremony and more! Rachel told us “The fact that people commented on the decorations and things we had DIY’ed was great, so much work had gone into it, it was nice to know it was appreciated.”

Bride and Groom - cricket

The couple’s photographer is a family friend, who is breaking into the wedding market. They were thrilled with him and it was extra special having someone they knew do they photos. Their second photographer was a friend who was just starting photography. Wonderful to have talented friends!

The bride tells us one of the most precious parts of their wedding day, “I knew I’d get a bit emotional on the day, but I held it together reasonably well, but when Ken and a few of our friends and bridal party (girls and boys) also got emotional it was really touching to see how much they loved us. The comments and well wishes they gave us were so heartfelt-so many of them had been there for us through our whole relationship and were so close to both of us. We were so happy to be marrying each other after so many years (we did get a lot of ‘about time’ comments), and it was wonderful to have so many people so supportive of us. We couldn’t invite everyone we wanted and it was really lovely to have a lot of those people come to the ceremony because they wanted to be there and be a part of our union.”

Wedding suppliers:

Photographer – Keegan Cronin & Ashleigh Reedy
Bride’s Dress – Sottero & Midgely (for Belles and Beaux)
Bride’s shoes- Pulp
Bride’s Jewellery – family heirlooms, Heritage Jewellers, Diva
Groom’s attire – Gentlemen’s Outfitters
Bridesmaid’s attire – Dress of Your Dreams
Hair stylist – Studio di Capelli
Makeup artist – Jamie Finn (Port Day Spa)
Flowers – Glasshouse Flowers
Ceremony Venue- Shelly Beach, Port Macquarie
Reception Venue- Mercure Centro, Port Macquarie
Cake – Colonial Bakehouse Wauchope
Wedding rings – Michael Hill
Transport- courtesy of groomsman

Thank you so much to Rachel and Ken for sharing their beautiful wedding with us all.

Happy Friday! For more Real Weddings check out Modern Wedding Real Weddings.

Kate xx

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Hot tips & trends in wedding jewellery

17 May

We have received so many questions over the last few weeks from brides wanting to know about the trends in the jewellery business, wedding bands and engagement rings and how to make sure what you have is going to last forever and make you smile every day.

I called upon the amazing Arman’s Fine Jewellery to let us in on their secrets.

Wedding ring trends for 2012

We are currently designing personalised Engagement rings, clients like to see as much of the diamond as possible while still having it securely set. In particular they love to see the culet-the point of the diamond and by doing so it shows more of the diamond rather than it being hidden away by Gold/Platinum.

engagement ring designs

Arman’s Fine Jewellery

Check out this incredible, modern design by Levon and how creatively he designs the ring around the diamond showing off the diamond’s point. Wow!

 

Wedding band for the ladies- Diamonds are the way to go usually or ¾ of the band, it really depends on your taste and what would look right against your Engagement ring.
For the grooms, usually they don’t want a high bling wedding band. We find that a lot of our customers are loving the matt & polished finish combined rather than a highly polished one. Also mixing up the metal eg White & Rose gold in certain sections or patterns –  they also want something different and unique.

What are the pro’s and con’s for handcrafted rings V’s mass produced? 

At Arman’s Fine Jewellery we specialise in handcrafted jewellery pieces which are one off makes. By doing so they are more personalised designs to tailor the client’s needs, as each girl really doesn’t want to have another person have the same Engagement ring or jewellery items.

Engagement ring with pink diamond

Arman’s Fine Jewellery

Mass Produced- The item is a copy of the original handmade jewellery item. This lowers the cost and less time is put into making them, however by doing this, the quality of the piece is not the same. Although, sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the two at first, future problems can occur, for example porosity, where the jewellery has air bubbles. This is why we choose to handcraft each and every piece of our jewellery items.

Top tips for choosing the right engagement ring for your fiancé. 

Make sure that your Engagement ring can have a wedding band that will sit flush against it. For the men out there doing the process by yourselves, when you’re getting closer to the wedding and choosing wedding bands some ladies may wish they had chosen the Engagement ring with you.
If you do decide to choose the Engagement ring for your soon-to-be-fiancé, keep in mind that ladies always want to see the maximum light of the diamond. That’s why you should ask for finer claws/or the setting you want while still having it safe enough to secure the stone.
Make sure that if your surprising her- get some thoughts of what you think she would like or what diamond shape she would prefer.

Diamond Engagement ring

Arman’s Fine Jewellery

What is the best way to clean/polish/care for rings? 

The best way to clean your rings is to bring it back to your jeweller so they can clean it in an Ultrasonic (water bath) which takes out all the dirt for you, usually at no charge. Some jewellers also offer clients a free polishing cloth because it can be difficult to get back so often. When a girl leaves Arman’s Fine Jewellery, eventually she will put moisturiser on her hand and next thing you know the diamond looks dirty. All she has to do is simply give it a good wipe with her free polishing cloth to bring it back to it glamour.

Dress ring - square cut

Arman’s Fine Jewellery

Where/how and with who should couples get their rings insured?

Many jewellers can offer insurance to their clients – Arman’s offer their clients, in some cases free insurance for a year. By doing so it gives the customer relief while purchasing their personalised item. After the first year the Insurance company gets in contact with our customer to see if they would like to continue the program if they choose to. They also offer Australia’s cheapest rate for insuring items and don’t charge excessive amounts. If the item get’s lost or stolen (whatever the situation) you pay no excess fee’s which also gives a lot of relief to our customers.

Arman’s jewellery pieces can be seen on their website but also at their shop: Shop 10, St James Arcade, 80 Castlereagh Street, Sydney.

Thank you to Levon from Arman’s Fine Jewellery for all your advice, tips and insight!

Have a wonderful and successful day of wedding planning!

Kate x

Psst- Leave a comment, stop by Facebook, or tweet us @ModernWeddingOz.

For information on how to choose diamonds – check out our ‘Diamond’s are a girl’s Best Friend’ article.

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Wendy Makin opens new Melbourne Studio today!

16 May

As of 10am this morning, Wendy Makin will be open for business in Melbourne’s Collins Street. Brides on Collins will stock all their Wendy Makin, BellaDonna and Watters collections as well as have an extensive range of 1/2 price samples on sale. Their new store will inititally be located above Hardy Brothers Jewellers on the 2nd Level, 340 Collins Street as a pop up store while the permanent studio on Level 1 is being fitted out.

To contact them you can email on info@bridesoncollins.com.au or call their freecall number 1800 629 054. “This is very exciting for us and we are looking forward to meeting all our beautiful Melbourne brides!” said Wendy. “It’s an absolute dream to finally have a store in Melbourne.”

So Modettes, aren’t their new shoot images just gorgeous?! Will you be dropping in to say “hi” and check out the new Wendy Makin Studio? What’s your favourite Wendy Makin gown? Let us know! Leave a comment, stop by Facebook, or tweet us @ModernWeddingOz.

Enjoy your day!
Rosemary xox

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