Invitations

I love these wedding invitations I spotted on polkadot bride, an Australian wedding blog. They are amazing!!

They made a mini book to send out to all their guests as their wedding invitations. I think this might be beyond our budget, but I would love to do a mini-version. 

Maybe only one card, with a little slip inside to hold other information, like a list of accommodation, hairdressers, maps and rsvp's, in all different colours and styles.  On the webside they have a free download of the scrabble letters used in these invitations. I like them, they look a bit different, and add a fun element to the invites.

Awear shoes

A wear have launched their new shoe collection on line today. They have some beautiful pairs! I love the blue flats above. They look really comfy, and fairly stylish too!!


To be honest, I was expecting a bit more. The promo shots featured some fab shoes that aren't on the website. Hopefully there is more to come!!!

vintage cars

I'm so in love with vintage cars today. Yesterday we went to the threashing/music festival in Blennerville. It was great. Plenty of stalls, music, food and craic. There was a dog show that I really liked, but the vintage cars won my heart! Unfortunately they were all private cars, so we can't hire them for the wedding. It didn't stop me wishing.......

Bedroom in a box?????

My Sister sent me this link on Facebook, the amazing bedroom in a box from yanko design. It's mad but kind of wonderful!! The idea behind it is to reduce unnecessary styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic packaging. While its not the most beautiful furniture in the world, I like the concept behind it. And its pretty inspiring to watch the box unfold!!

My sis

e ordering an entire bedroom from ACME in another misguided attempt to lure the Roadrunner into a trap.

Designer: Marcel Krings & Sebastian Muhlhauser [ Via: TreeHugger ]

Funny, but true.....

Space saving shoe storage

I have been concentrating on our bedroom design in the cottage lately. We have moved walls in the house, making the bathroom smaller, in order to fit in two double and one single built-in wardrobe. Neill was delighted we'd have so much storage, I was horrified I'd have so little wardrobe space!!! He mustn't have looked into my three double presses lately!!! I think he thinks I'm going to throw some clothes out!!! Wishful thinking on his part.....

So it got me thinking where would I put everything????

Actually it got me thinking where would I put my shoes????

I hate throwing them into the end of  a wardrobe, or under a bed. Plus I hate them out around the floor as they look untidy. At the moment I keep my shoes on a shelf, on display in my bedroom. Its ideal they are off the floor, tidy and easy to locate. But in the cottage there is a window on two walls, the top of the bed is against the third wall and wardrobe's against the fourth. No space for any substantial shelving area.

So I've done some trawling through google images and think I've found the solution.

Autumn Style crush

Do Rachel Bilson ever look bad??? I am awed by her style, always a little kooky, always right on the button. I'm swooning to her fashion almightiness today.......

Loving embellishments...

The wedding dress I tried on in Seroca is still on my mind. I actually had a dream about it last night. It was one of those strangely normal dreams, that when you wake up in the morning, your not sure if it was a dream, or if it really happened, because why would you dream about something so normal???? In the dream I found a photo of my dress on the internet, and showed it to some of my friends who loved it.
 So I did another hunt through the net today, but with no success. Still no picture to be found. But I am starting to think, if I'm still thinking about the dress this much, maybe its the one??? That got me thinking, how would I customize it, to make it my own??
It has a lovely belt, with some flowers and diamonté. I really love waisted dresses, they are so flattering for me, show off the waist, and disguise the hips....I had a trawl through the internet and found these embellished belts, that might also suit the dress.

Something like Chelsea Clinton

or Amy Huberman 

These are from Little white dresser shop on Etsy

The welly wearer.....

me at our house

My Mom sent me this photo today, it made me laugh. Its taken around the back of our cottage, when it had just been dug up by the digger. Note the trendy attire..... ha ha


And here is the plans I drew for our garden plan. Professional or what...

My Favourite places

Today the sun is out, and I kinda feeling a bit nostalgic for summer already. Maybe its because we didn't go anywhere on a plane this year, I feeling like I definitely didn't get enough sunshine. Even though it has been a lovely warm summer, sometimes you just need more!!!! So I had a look through my old holiday snaps, and today am going to do my top 5 favourite places........outside of Ireland. 


I'll start with Number 5.    Edinburgh, Scotland

I spent a summer living in Edinburgh while in college, working in the Einburgh Dungeon's. Was such a great summer, I have great memories of the city. Its an old city, with loads of history and hauntings, with a young modern artistic spirit. I need to go back.....

Number 4 is Tuscany Italy.

tuscany sunflowers

The food, the people, the art, the scenery, the history... The whole place is just amazing. We were there last summer. We toured around Tuscany to take in as much as we could. We spent a day on an organic farm, where everything

My Current Net-a-Porter Wish-List

If only I could afford even one of these items!! I can dream though...








The first is this Rick Owens Asymmetric Shearling Coat. 2,490euro. Currently sold out.

This Alexander McQueen, Wool and silk blend, Intarsia dress. 875euro

Eco-friendly Weddings

I read an interesting fact last night. An average Irish wedding will burn approximately 14.5 tonnes of CO2. Thats scary considering to the average ammount of CO2 a typical family will burn. in a whole year, is 12 tonnes. Plus this same wedding could be responsible for accumulating up to 600 tonnes of waste in one day!!!

I'm not sure the hippy inside me can live with the guilt of our wedding causing so much damage so I've explored some ways to help reduce this, without losing anything from the day itself. (I got this photo from thehaystackneedleonline.com, definitely worth a look for some inspiration )

Firstly, The venue. We are lucky that our chosen venue Ballyseede Castle supports local food growers, and servers organic food where possible.Plus it is located fairly close to the church, reducing travel times on the day of the wedding.

The second thing I have considered is the flowers. I am going to buy local, in season. Hopefully we'll try get flowers that are grown in Ireland. I have looked up whats in season in June and I have loads' of choice! Lillies, roses and sweet-peas are all good options, but I think I've fallen in love with these simple tulip bouquets.

Invites are the next most obvious choice. There are plenty of options to buy recycled paper invites. And I'm thinking, I won't include RSVP cards, but instead give a phone number and e-mail address for people to use, rather than waste unnecessary paper. Plus it might be easier for our guests too!

If I was to be very eco-consisious I would consider buying a second-hand or vintage wedding dress but I'm

dance floor monograms

I can't decide if their tacky, or if I love them. 
I found these ones on www.weddingaccessories.net but have seen them on Ebay, and loads of other sites. They are different, and will certainly be a bit of a conversation starter later in the night. Rather than dancing around their handbags, the ladies will be dancing around our names......

Rock the boat???

I was at a wedding at the weekend. First thing I have to say was the band were fantastic!! The Comic Book Hero's The lead singer was out on the dance floor getting various members of the crowd to sing along on the mic, while the guitarist did a solo standing on a table in the middle of the room!! Not a typical Irish wedding band! They really rocked the place!!
But the DJ must have been caught in time limbo....

Here is the question, do people really enjoy "rock the boat".......


Am I just a boring old stick in the mud that I don't enjoy sitting on the dance floor in all my finery, legs spread for a complete stranger to sit between them, waving our hands in the air like lunatics!!

Dress shopping and Diggers

I had a very exciting day yesterday.
I was dress shopping for the wedding in  Aphrodite Bridal Newcastlewest and Serocca Bridal Murroe ( which is very close to our little cottage ). 
I didn't have much luck in Newcastlewest. They have beautiful dresses at fantastic prices, but like Finesse Bridal in Listowel they were just too heavy and detailed for me. I like simple but stylish, light and comfortable dresses. Apparently I'm not the typical bride!!!


I did have more luck in Serocca. I tried on a dress that I really liked. Its only in 3 week's, so I don't have a photo.It has one shoulder, its very structured with pleats folded into the shoulder falling to the waist, and a mirror image of these pleat's from the waist to the hip. It has an a-line skirt with a long triangular train. And a belted waist detail with flowers and diamonté. It was stunning on, but I am concerned that one-shoulder dresses might looked dated next year??  I've posted a topic on weddings on line so hopefully I get some good advice from other brides!!

The other part of my day that was really exciting was the digger came to our house to clear all the over-growth around the house, make a new driveway, and level the ground behind the house. I was so impressed when I arrived. Its like a whole now house!! Its much more spacious around the house, and the drive way makes a huge difference. We won't have to park out-side the neighbour's house anymore!! Woo-hoo!!!

Sugar overload!!

Anyone know the antidote to sugar, I'm feeling slightly sick from too much "picking the bowl" while baking a red velvet cake for my Aunt's Birthday. The cake is beautiful I have to say!! I used Rachel Allens cake recipie, but changed to icing to regular cream cheese icing with grated white chocolate on top!! Devil food ha ha....

Red Velvet Cake

Serves 6 

Ingredients

150g (5oz) butter, softened
300g (11oz) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, separated
250g (9oz) plain flour
25g (1oz) cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
2 level tbsp good quality cocoa powder
250ml (9fl oz) buttermilk
Red food colouring (use 2 tbsp liquid colour or ½ tsp thick red food paste) Pinch of salt
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
You will need two 23cm (9in) diameter sandwich tins, each about 5cm (2in) deep

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4. Butter and flour the sides of the cake tins and line the bases with parchment paper.

Showing our county colour's at the wedding

After Tipperary's fantastic win Sunday we are thinking of ways to incorporate our GAA colours into the wedding party (without looking tacky). Being from Kerry, I was expecting to have the Sam Muagire at the wedding, but seeing as that wasn't to be.... * sob sob *....... there is a chance we might have a visit from the lovely Liam McCarty!!

Love this photo by Pauline Dennigan,  http://www.denniganphotography.ie/
a Tralee photographer. Just put the girl in a wedding dress, and give the boy an umbrella of his own county colours, and think you'd get a fab photo!!


Another idea is to tie ribbon's, of the appropriate colour, onto the cars of your guests outside the church. To cause a bit of controversy, you could mix up the colours a bit!

This lady makes custom made wedding ribbon's that could be used.

Wedgewood Harlequin collection

I'm after falling head over heels in love with the wedgewood polka dot harlequin collection. Probably the most impratical tea set I could buy!! I must have inherited my mother's love of "good china" wear. But it really is so cute!!

A few photo's from my garden

  These apples were just delicious!!

The weather was just beautiful on Saturday here in Kerry. So I took a few photo's of the garden while everything is still growing!! So many bee's and buterflys around it felt more like July, than the start of September.

Its going to be many years before the garden of the cottage in Tipperary will look this good!!

Well done Tipp!!

Wedding shoes???

I just found this seller on ETSY www.etsy.com/listing/52986675/the-studdetts

Just thought her shoes would be really cool wedding shoes. She is an artist who paints cartoons on the sole of high heels and can customise the shoes for you. How cool would it be kneeling at the alter with mad wedding related cartoons painted on your shoes!!

Our Future House

The Renovations have started on out little cottage. There is so much work to do, its daunting, and all I want to do is get cracking on the interior design, and forget about where the plumbing and electrics are going to go!! But it has to be done.....

Recentely both chimney's have been knocked, and the concret floor hammered out. The floor has now been insulated, foundations have been laid for the interior walls, and we have picked out white pvc french windows, and a black cottage door.

All the wedding plans have been put on a back burner for the moment, but I just checked my ticker today. Only 9 months and 2 days to go!!! Ahhh....