More reception wonderland wonderful-ness!

Hi guys,
Whilst mum has been working on creating all of our wonderful flowers (both for the church and the reception)and the confetti cones, I have been busy doing a little crafting of my own. Well, I say crafting, but it's mostly printing, designing, and assembling stuff to be honest. Everything has a wonderlandy theme of course:

Menus
To keep with the vintage/victorian theme (we're doing original Alice in Wonderland as opposed to the Disney film) we scoured car boot sales for different gold frames: each table will have a different one (this is just a selection). I then printed out the menus with the mad hatter logo on the top, and voila!

Table Names
Our tables are named: Alice, Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Chesire Cat, Jabberwocky, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. I tried doing the table name cards with pictures but it looked too twee and cartoony, so instead they are the names surrounded by what I hope looks like a wonderlandy forest, printed in monochrome.

Drink Me Bottles
Our favours on the tables are vintage cups and saucers with a sugared mouse sat on the rim. However I loved the 'drink me' bottles idea, and wanted to do that too! So we bought the bottles, filled them with blueberry vodka, and added the drink me tags. I then put them in this big gorgeous basket, and one will be handed to each guest as they arrive: that way they have to drink the potion to shrink and get through the door (like in the book!)

Love, Tor xx

You're very welcome (bags!)

Hi guys,

See, I promised you lots of posts in quick succession!

The focus of the wedding planning and all the DIY and ideas has been on little touches: making sure people have as nice a time as possible, and the easiest way to do this is to focus on the small details i'm sure other people don't remember: either that, or this is just a sign of how anal I am! What I want though is to give people little 'oh what a nice touch' surprises throughout the whole event, starting before the wedding even begins!

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to do is something I read about in on an American blog that apparently happens a lot in weddings in the States: welcome bags for the guests that are staying in our hotel. So here they are:

I bought the cotton bags online, then using a cardboard stencil that i'd made myself and some red fabric paint I added the heart. I then 'Aliced' it up using a pack of luggage tags and my trusty Alice template. And here's what's inside:

A Norwich postcard (which has a welcome note from us on the back), Norwich map, Norwich events guide (So they can get about and enjoy the rest of their weekend) bottle of water and some mints (always handy) tea bag and chocolate rabbit (Alice themed) and a scented candle in a glass jar. All stuff that will (hopefully) make a couple of nights in a new town even more pleasant!

Love, Tor xx

Church flowers - tick!

Hi guys,
Sorry it's been a long time since my last post! We've been so busy working on the wedding that I just haven't had time to write about it too! But things have been happening at an amazing pace, and I can't believe how much we've done (having said that, I can't believe how much I have left to do either!) But now i've taken a breather and have the time to update about all our exciting progress: prepare for several posts full of pictures!

First up, the incredible silk flowers for the church:

My talented mum made these too, and they match the long and low she made for the top table at the reception perfectly. I love the lanterns with the cascading vines, which we're going to put on tall shepherd crooks at either side of the aisle. I also love the pew ends, which are the perfect mix of blousy and traditional and thoroughly modern. The wreath is going to go on the church door for a classy traditional feel, and we are thinking of having additional lanterns (with candles inside) leading up the church path.

As well as making all the flowers, mum has also made the confetti cones, so that people can throw stuff at us when we leave the church. The actual cones are made of printed pages from the original Alice in Wonderland book: it's attention to detail like this that other people probably won't notice, but I go totally geeky for! I love these!

Love, Tor xx

Top Table Flowers: Done (with added wow!)

Hi guys,
As you may or may not know, I suffer horribly with hayfever. It's a curse, especially when you love fresh flowers as much as I do. But I knew from the start that no matter how much I love flowers, I wasn't going to ruin my day with streaming eyes and a puffy face: whats the point of a wedding you can't enjoy? Which meant no fresh flowers in my immediate vicinity. So the bridesmaids bouquets are real flowers. Mine is brooches. The reception tables will have real flowers. The top table will have....THIS:
Did you all "WOW" as much as I did when I saw these pics? And then double check, because you couldn't quite believe these were silk flowers, not real ones? My super crafty mum made this using a picture I had sent her on a real flower long and low that I loved. Only this one looks better. The colours are perfect, so countryside, but eyecatching and vibrant at the same time. And this one has the added bonus of containing a hidden tea set! Can you see the cups and saucers and teapots peaking out? I'm going to call that a massive Alice in Wonderland win!
Mum also made these teacups full of flowers, which are going to sit on the patio tables on the lawn of the garden. Oh the irony and topsy turviness of having real flowers inside and silk ones outside. I love them!

My mum is a crafting genius, and she also works surprisingly fast: i'm going to have to give her another list of craft project ideas to get working on!

Love, Tor xx

Quick update: Jewels, glorious jewels!

Sorry for the long gap between posts! I know its hard to believe sometimes, but life outside the wedding carries on, and sometimes the real world gets in the way. Having said that, there are now just 3 months and 27 days until the wedding! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by!

I haven't been resting on my laurels.
-Operation bunting is nearly complete: i'm hoping that by this time next week I will be able to show you completed pictures.
-Mum has finished my long and low, my flower girl wand, outdoor table centre pieces, and some awesome topiary trees complete with teapot accessories. She's now working on the confetti cones. Thank god for creative mums!
-65 mini bottles with corks and drink me tags are now sitting in wedding HQ, waiting to be filled with blueberry vodka.
-We've chosen the style and colours for the guys suits. They are all coming to town in a fortnight to get measured up and place the final order.
-We went home to my parents for the weekend and achieved loads. My mum saw me all dressed up in my almost completed outfit (and cried!), I had my hair trial, I procurred more teapots (we only need 4 more) and I got my wedding jewellery from the local antiques village. It matches my brooch bouquet perfectly. Behold the bling:
The pendant is on my mum's gold rope chain (my something borrowed) As you can see, it's blue on one side and peach on the other: both of my accent colours! The earrings are currently clip on, but my very talented sister is going to convert them. And the bracelet? Well i'm a magpie, how could I resist all those shiny colours!?

This weekend I will be attempting to make an oversized 3D papier mache tea cup prop. I have no idea if this will work or not, but I will post pictures either way. Wish me luck!!

Love, Tor xx

DIY: This way, That way, Which way?

Decorating the venue is the main focus of our efforts at the minute: we want the whole venue to have a massive visual impact on our guests, and for the wonderland theme to really shine through straight away. Because prop hire is so expensive, we've been looking at DIY ways we can achieve this, and my mum came up with the genius idea of making the classic Alice in Wonderland this way/that way signs. Using a little paint and a sheet of my beloved MDF, this is what i've come up with so far:

This sheet full of signs will make its way to chez mama and papa, where each will be cut out and secured to a large wooden post. I'm going to put it in the venue atrium, so that it will be one of the first things people see when they arrive!

Other prop ideas i'm working on is a white rabbit cut out (complete with pocket watch) and i'm really love an oversized teacup or teapot, but i'm still working out the best way to achieve it. Progress is good though, and the invites go out next week: exciting!!

Love, Tor x

The final invite: Can I get a whoop whoop?!

Hi guys,
Ok so the heading is a little over-excitable, but I can finally show you how the final invite will look when I send them out, and i'm just so glad to have this project done. It was considerably more time consuming, and more expensive than I originally expected. They're all finished, but I just have half of the envelope lining left to do. I cannot wait to send them out and get people's reactions to them! If they didn't know the theme before they definitely will when these come through the letter box:
I also need to address all the envelopes (including the rsvp ones) buy a multitude of stamps, and fill in the guests names on the response card. This sounds like a small task, but I am guesstimating that means there is still a couple of hours work to do.

Still, fashion week starts tomorrow, and to give myself peace of mind to concerntrate on that properly, i'm calling this job finished! We're planning on sending them out in a fortnight.

Love, Tor xx