Posts tagged ‘tips and advice’

Feb 15

Planning Your Wedding With Pinterest

Image: Judy Pak Photography via Style Me Pretty (from the Bridesmaids board on SBB’s Pinterest)

Happy Friday, friends! I’m writing to you from my sick bed, all struck down in the pribe of libe (as they’d say in Friends), so you’ll forgive me if today’s post is a little late! But I wanted to share with all of you (especially those with your newly minted Valentine proposals) how Pinterest can be a great little tool to use in your wedding planning, and give you a little tour of the SBB Pinterest page. Let’s go!

The truth is, you’ve probably already heard of Pinterest. You may have been using it already, to pin food or interiors – hell, you may even have been pinning wedding stuff long before the proposal. In just a couple of years, Pinterest has become part of our daily web lives, and the good news is that it really comes into its own when it comes to weddings. So you’ll definitely want to use it to its full capacity. Read more

Jan 18

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Confessions of a DIY Bride #4: The Dress

Hello lovelies! Sam’s back today with more on her DIY wedding adventure! And this is such a special post – I know I felt a bit choked up at the end!

DIY Bride Disclaimer: My ‘DIY Dress Project’ didn’t stretch to actually making my own dress, or getting a fabulous mom/aunt/granny to create the perfect Couture Gown, but I was lucky enough to be able to re-create a vintage heirloom into my own version of THE dress.

When I started my search for a not-too-extravagant but still pretty awesome, reasonably comfy wedding dress, I hoped the answer would be a vintage one. (I had visions of a puffy 1950s cocktail number). So, I trawled vintage fairs, shops and websites, and saw so many beautiful dresses and even more beautiful accessories, but generally felt a little overwhelmed at my lack of London vintage shopping knowledge and know-how.

Then I travelled to South Africa, and in between the mad rush to choose a venue and find a caterer, my mom, sister and I visited a few wedding boutiques, and I dutifully tried on the dresses. They were nice (some were even very very nice) but… they just weren’t quite right. Eventually, I decided I’d go back to London, find a plain, simple high street dress, and accessorise it with my grandmother’s wedding veil (cathedral length, 1940s Brussels lace). There was just one problem – no one could find it. Anywhere.

It was in the process of searching through yet another trunk, at the back of yet another cupboard, in the last few hours before I flew back to the UK, that I found the rumpled old plastic bag… Filled with an even more rumpled mess of delicately textured, oyster satin and few lonesome diamantes… It wasn’t my grandmother’s veil, but it was her wedding dress. The same one she wore in 1946 when she’d married my grandpa. Read more

Jan 11

Wedding Dates to Avoid {Free Printable}

Hello friends! I have a fun little bonus post for you today. For those of you who have just got engaged, I bet there are lots of spreadsheets being drawn up and calendars being got out of handbags, to find the perfect date for your big day. Lots of things to consider – birthdays, travel plans, public holidays, getting time off work. But there’s one thing you may not have taken into account yet. Rugby. Read more

Jan 4

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Downloadable Worksheet: Venue Planning

Source: Ine & Riaan’s Wedding at Clouds Estate (Photography: Lauren Kriedemann)

Hello friends! Aren’t you glad the first Friday of 2013 is almost done? I know I am, but this weekend I’ll be working away to bring you fantastic content for the coming week, and make some changes and tweaks behind the scenes. We’ll be returning to our normal blog schedule on Monday, so expect the usual set of inspiration boards, real weddings, couple shoots, styled shoots, etc. Can’t wait! First though, I have some practical help for those of you just starting on your planning journey. Read more

Oct 19

southboundbride-bridesmaids-duties-feature

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Guest Post: The Bridesmaid’s Duties

Source: Joy & Dylan’s Simon’s Town Wedding (Photography: Nastassja Harvey)

Good morning, friends! It’s been a long and crazy week for me, including an amazing shoot with such a great team mid-week that I am dying to share with you (in the words of Barney Stinson… wait for it…) so I’m pretty glad it’s Friday. And what a fun Friday we have lined up for you, as it’s our unofficial Bridesmaid Day! We’re kicking things off with some comprehensive, down-to-earth advice from friend of the blog Theresa Lazarevic of Creation Events.. I love that Theresa not only has a great eye for decor that really benefits her brides and grooms, but she’s also a source of wedding wisdom and practical ideas. I like to think I’ve always been quite a switched-on bridesmaid, but I know many friends who have felt a bit lost in knowing their place in the planning and what they can do to help and support. Well, here’s everything they need to know. Be sure to make use of the sharing buttons at the end of the post to share these with your own bridesmaids and MOH! And don’t forget to pop back later for more bridesmaid inspiration from our sponsors. Read more

Aug 24

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Guest Post: How to Choose a Venue

Source: Mehtap & Paul’s Tintswalo Atlantic Wedding (Photography: Zarazoo)

Hey hey, it’s Friday! And it’s the best kind of day for me, as I’ll be heading over to Cambridge as you read this so I can attend my lovely friends Kerenza & Matt’s wedding. Yay! Not only do I love weddings, but Kez and Matt are the loveliest. Anyway, never fear, because not only do I have a lovely bonus inspiration board for you this afternoon, but this morning I’ll be leaving you in the very capable hands of my friend Theresa of Creation Events. Theresa is a full service wedding c0-ordinator based in Cape Town, and as one of our treasured SBB sponsors, I’ve been keeping a close eye on what she’s been doing this season. Recently, Theresa has been sharing her extensive expertise in planning on her own blog in a series of ‘how to’ posts, and I’ve convinced her to share one of them exclusively with you here today. And it couldn’t be a more important one, since the venue is the cornerstone for any design you are going to put together, and probably the first thing you’ll book after saying ‘yes’. Over to you, Theresa! Read more

Jun 1

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Book Extract {The Irreverent A-Z Wedding Guide: South Africa}

SURNAME

Changing your surname is, of course, a decision specific to the individual in question. You may love him with all your heart but becoming Mrs Bottom just isn’t going to happen. Or perhaps you are so excited about becoming Mrs Bottom – because you’re currently Ms Poo – that you’ve already started working on your new signature. The good news is there’s no time limit when changing your name, so if you’re not comfortable doing it just yet you don’t have to.

THE FIVE SURNAME OPTIONS
1. No change. You decide to remain Sandy Poo. No admin.
2. You take your husband’s name. You become Sandy Bottom. You need to change your name with all organisations. They will require photo ID and your marriage certificate to do this.
3. Hyphenate. Now you’re Sandy Poo-Bottom. Again, you need to tell all organisations you belong to, providing your ID and marriage certificate.
4. Adding husband’s name with no hyphen. Sandy Poo Bottom. As above.
5. Create a new name. Your husband agrees that Bottom just isn’t cutting it, for the sake of your unborn children. You create a new name together: Boo, say. In order to do this, you both need to go to a lawyer and have your name changed. Once that is done you need to change your name at all the organisations that you both belong to. Cue IDs, Home Affairs paperwork and marriage certificate. Hey, you’ve just organised a wedding; you can handle admin. Read more

Dec 16

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Entrance Music

I’ve been wanting to talk to you all about entrance music for some time, ever since I spent an evening discussing this with an engaged friend recently. iPhone and earphones were dragged out to prove my point. And now I’m going to prove it to you. Er, I hope.

{Image: Nielen Bottomley from Amy & James’ wedding}

Thing is, weddings are (to some degree) theatre. Not in the sense that they should be fake or melodramatic, but rather that they showcase real emotion in a way that translates to the guests. They’re a way of bringing other people into your relationship to feel what you feel for one another, if just for one day. And as an actor will tell you, a great theatrical production requires one thing: a great entrance. I actually learnt this lesson from my friend Nikki. When she married the lovely Brendon some years ago, they chose Nessun Dorma for her entrance. Nix wanted to walk in at that crucial moment when the music swelled and Pavarotti sang “Vincero! Vincero! Vincero!” And I’ll be honest, I thought it was a little dramatic, especially since it’s a long song and we had a very, very short aisle. Seriously okes, that aisle took five steps to walk up, no matter how much you dragged your feet. But I was her bridesmaid, so it was my job to say “Great idea!” and make it happen. So we worked out the exact moment when the other bridesmaid and I were to walk in so that Nikki got her moment. And it would have been brilliant. The song would have built, quietly, in the little church. Then suddenly, the doors would have flung open to the summer day outside, and we would have walked down the aisle, with Nix following as the music built to a crescendo. Read more

Nov 24

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Saying Thank You

via Pinterest

I was planning to share this little post – something that has been on my mind for a while – tomorrow, but with it being Thanksgiving Thursday in America, I figured today was the best day to talk about those two magic words: thank you. And yes, you should totally thank your guests after your wedding (a whole post on its own), but today I want to talk about thanking the people who help you make your wedding the day of gorgeousness that it is – your service providers. Read more

Sep 23

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Guest Post: Buttonholes and Corsages

Happy Friday, my friends – bet you’re all just as pleased as I am to see the weekend arrive! But first we have some prettiness to share (and pop back in a couple of hours for this week’s Love List too). The lovely Coral and Chantell from Green Goddess Flower Studio in Cape Town are here today to share some advice about buttonholes and corsages – little details which can easily be overlooked by a busy bride but which I know that as a wedding blogger I always notice! It always seems such a shame to be when a bride has an absolutely spectacular and original bouquet, and then the groom and all his boys are sporting a lonely rose or a droopy carnation. Take the opportunity to dandy him up a bit with something a bit special. Over to you, ladies!

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