Bridesmaid pretties

It seems that a common gift for bridesmaids is to give them the jewellery that they will wear on the day. I was hoping to give my bridesmaids something a little quirky that they might hopefully wear again, so I turned to my sister for ideas. She is usually good for items that are interesting and fashionable!

Her suggestion was the mini necklaces by Victoria Mason. These are beautiful charms and I had trouble narrowing it down to three! With a little more help from E I ended up selecting these three treasures.



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Nearly there - wedding dress!

Yesterday my bridesmaids (N, E & M), Mum and I met at the dressmaker's for their first and only fitting and my third fitting.

It was very exciting to see the girls in their dresses and the beautiful colours complementing each other. Gorgeous!

It was then my turn. I was very excited and my dress is looking so good! N hadn't seen me wear it before - only briefly on a shop dummy - whereas the others had been dragged into Hustle with me when I tried it on.

Yay! I am very happy and excited and looking forward to wearing it and I really hope that Chad loves it too.

We will all pick up our dresses next week (complete with zips and hemmed) and then it is just the big day that we have to wait for.

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Groovy groomsmen

The groomsmen made their way up to Perth last week to get fitted up for their outfits. In the end Chad decided that he wanted them to hire their outfit, rather than purchasing shirt and trousers and his mum making waistcoats. I never really thought about how expensive it was until we were there - $131 for a suit, shirt, waistcoat and tie!!

I was not that impressed with the quality of the shirt, a horrible polyester number. To get a nicer cotton shirt with french cuff was an extra $20 so I did not insist but I would hate to have that nasty fabric on my skin.

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Wedding dress detour

My wedding dress was booked in back in February. I knew what I wanted and once I had found it I did not see the benefit in continuing to look and stressing myself out with different choices and ideas. There are too many other things to worry about along the bridal trail!

Linda from Lin Pin called me yesterday to let me know that she had sold Hustle in Fremantle. Thankfully she is continuing with the bridal business! I would have been disappointed, as she was the designer I wanted to speak to about my wedding dress even before I knew she had a bridal range!

Our bridesmaid dresses are also Lin Pin and they are all good to go too. It will mean a change in location for our measurement and fitting sessions but the final product should still be what we hoped for.

The adventure continues!

Image here

One step at a time...

C and I used out time on Sunday in Melbourne to scour the pattern books in Lincraft and purchase this pattern for the waistcoats for his groomsmen. Now we just have to find some nice fabric.

C has decided that he does not wish for him or the groomsmen to wear ties so that removes one item of detail. He's also wavering on whether or not to wear a jacket, although I do not think that they will be necessary.

Any suggestions for good fabric sources in Australia, preferably in Perth, appreciated. The bridesmaids are wearing silk.

Looking for... waistcoats?

I went for a wander at lunchtime today, practicing being a wife by purchasing face wash and deodorant for my beloved. On my way back to the office I thought that I would make some enquiries about waistcoats for our wedding.

First up Ferrari Formalwear. They had they waistcoats on display, and one or two of them seemed okay. On speaking to the friendly salesgirl, I was told that they do not sell the waistcoats, and they will only hire them out with a full suit. Whilst that could still be an option for us, dependent on cost, it is not what we are looking at doing for the moment and she suggested that I try Tony Barlow across the road.

At Tony Barlow they were also very friendly. They do not sell waistcoats at all, and she suggested a couple of men's clothing stores that may stock waistcoats. I then asked about shirts and trousers, and was told that they have a range of shirts in different styles of collars and cuffs so we would have a range of garments for the boys to choose from... at least unless they are over six foot tall and in that case there was only one style of shirt that had extra long arms to cope. Two of C's groomsmen S and CF are around his height, and sleight. D however is six foot six so we may need to look harder to find a shirt his size! Conveniently King Size Menswear is located across the road ...

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Groomsmen style

Now that the bridesmaid dresses are organised we can look at the outfits for C and the groomsmen.

The plan for the boys is for trousers, shirt, waistcoat and tie. They will not have jackets so the waistcoat will be on display!

There are so many options for what we can do with the boys' outfits. I think that C is keen for grey trousers, although I am not sure how that will work with his waistcoat, which will be white with silver.

Ideas for the groomsmen include:

• Blue waistcoats in different shades, ties to match


• Waistcoats in the same shade, ties in different shades of blue


• Charcoal waistcoats, blue ties


• Waistcoats patterned, ties plain


• Both waistcoats and ties plain

Lots of subtle variations. Nothing too over the top! There is also the matter of where we will get them from. C's mother has offered to make them waistcoats, and she measured the boys at our engagement party for reference. I think that would be the nicest option, and hopefully will give us more flexibility with colours.

I went looking for some inspiration online from the local Perth hire places, and could only find a few. None of them were what I was looking for either. They are all a bit washed out; the girls are in dark colours so the boys will need to have strong shades to suit!

The first is the best of the four. I like the stripes, and it would work well with the right shade of blue. Not sure why I picked the second, maybe for the contrast between the patterned waistcoat and darker plain tie. The third is closer to the colour combinations that we would be thinking of, and the fourth reminds me of an old school loungue, or maybe wallpaper...






First three here, fourth here

Bridesmaid dresses - a breeze!

Well, we managed to avoid Uncle Charlie, and we missed the street parade, but E and I did spot the cranes as we approached Fremantle!

My lovely bridesmaids and I met at Hustle to speak to Linda of Lin Pin about dresses for them. I am wearing a Lin Pin wedding dress, and when I was as Hustle organising my dress Linda let me know that she also can make bridesmaid dresses to measure.

It seemed like a very good place to start. I was keen for my bridesmaids to all have a dress that they could wear again, and they all have different bodies so I did not expect the same style to suit each girl.

My preference was also for the dresses to be designed and made locally. By locally I mean preferably in Perth/WA but if they found something that they loved from the rest of Australia I would not lose any sleep over it.

They tried on a few different styles each, and agreement was quickly reached for each girl on the style they liked the most. It was all over in an hour! I really do hope that they like their dresses.

No photos of the dresses - they are being made to measure - but I did get a photo of the colour swatches. Lagoon, Peacock and Petrol! Such interesting sounding shades.

Bridesmaid style

Two more elegant examples of bridesmaids showing off their own style! I especially like the first - the colours complement each other but the girls get to show their individual personalities.





First photo by Emma Hughes via Polkadot Bride, second by Paper+Lace Photography

The groom

I almost forgot, there is another important person in the whole wedding setup - the groom! C and I are wanting to do something fairly simple for him and the groomsmen. Our wedding is in late spring, so a full suit in the Perth sunshine seems overkill (and fingers crossed that it does not rain!).

So, the plan for the men's uniform at this point is for them to all have the same colour trousers and shirts, and to dress it up with a waistcoat and cravat or fat tie. The colours we select will complement the bridesmaids, but not necessarily exactly match their outfits.

I must say that I do prefer a higher neck on the waistcoat. The tie is more of an accessory than a feature. The waistcoat says it all!

Some interesting tips on waistcoats and selection.




Images 1, 2 and 3

Bridesmaid inspiration

This is an advert for JCrew rather than an actual wedding, but I like the simplicity and tie in of the "bridesmaid" dresses. Same colour, three different styles.

Posted by Olivet

Bridesmaid style

This is the concept for bridesmaid dresses that I am hoping to achieve. In this instance the dresses are tied together by the same colour and possibly fabric, and the matching sashes made from Japanese fabric. The dress styles have been selected to suit each bridesmaid, not so much so that they are all the same!

Image via Polkadot Bride

Briesmaid accessories

One idea for a gift for bridesmaids that I quite like is for a clutch purse, coordinated with their outfit. Sydney artist rejenerate offers custom made clutches from a selection of vintage fabrics.

I love these two sets above - the purses match and at the same time each girl can have her own style.

Photos from rejenerate's Etsy store

How to keep your hands occupied...!

I am quite taken with the idea of an alternative to fresh flowers. Fresh flowers are very pretty but they have a limited shelf life and it might be nice to have a memento that you can keep.

My sister suggested sewing pcckets into the bridesmaid dresses if they do not have flowers. I do not think that I would go that far! There has to be something interesting and a bit quirky out there...



Brookelyn Photography via The Brides Cafe


Electic Images Photography via The UnBride


via Polkadot Bride


via Real Wedding Ideas

Clutching at...

As promised, I have moved away from hair accessories! Canadian sisters Fumi and Himi are Davie and Chiyo. They create personalised clutches and you could coordinate your bridal party! Some very pretty purses on offer.

Photos from Davie and Chiyo's Etsy Store

Funky head wear

More gorgeous head pieces, this time from Chicago seller pishposhes - handmade items for fancy ladies!

I will slow down on the head wear, and try and find images of other aspects of the wedding to show!

Images from pishposhes' Etsy store

Pretty Hair Pieces

Off to Canada for these beautiful hair accessories from Love Charlie. Love Charlie's profile describes her as "Mama and Milliner"! Quite a potent combination it would seem.

Also see Love Charlie's web site.

Pretty accessories

Gorgeous accessories from Melbourne seller Paper + Ribbons. These are simple and sweet!

Images from Paper+ Ribbons

Pretty dresses

Beautiful bridesmaid dress ideas from Amanda Archer. I do like the styles, and I think that the strapless dress is very sweet!

A bit of colour contrast in the dresses will make them look less like bridesmaid dresses; I would like my bridesmaids to have dresses that they can wear again without it being obvious that they were worn as bridesmaid dresses!!

Images from Amanda Archer's Etsy shop. Thanks to The Inspired Bride for bringing it to my attention!

Bridesmaids' dresses

It is important to me that my bridesmaids like the dresses that they wear, and also preferably that we choose something that they would wear again. Many of my friends have asked me what colours I have selected for my wedding, and to be honest I do not know! There are so many pretty colour combinations! I would be happy to find a dress (or dresses) that the bridesmaids are happy with and pick the palette from that.

I like the pictures from weddings where the bridesmaid dresses are not always exactly the same. They may be the same style and different colours, or the same colour but different shades. There are quite a few options to choose from, and I am keen to find something that we all like soon! [find some photos]

My favourite colour is blue, and C is happy with blue (as long as it is not baby blue). So there should be a few shades to play with! Pinks and reds also look lovely. So much choice!! Still at the moment we have a bit of time to try and organise things.