Brillant Jewels

Gillian Million designs and creates bridal jewellery and started her business back in 2002. Brides can have bespoke jewellery made and meet Gillian in person in her studio in Teddington and be involved in designing all the pieces. Or there is now an online shop for those further away.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces:

US Inspiration - Beach Wedding

I came across this beach wedding organised by Bliss Event Group on Pensacola Beach on Bliss's blog. The photos were taken by photography couple Meg and Charles of Meg Baisden Photography.

I love the colours of the bridesmaids dresses and their orchid flower bouquets. The evening reception looks pretty impressive too!

Here are some pics:

US Inspiration - Tea Party Style Wedding

I came across a beautiful wedding shot by Jeff and Erin Youngren, a husband and wife team based in San Diego, CA of Drew & Christine's wedding. The wedding was themed on an afternoon garden tea party and the details are stunning - fresh & stylish. I really like the vibrant pink & green used. Often couples tend to go for subtler shades of green so its great to see a shade so bright.

Hope it brightens the afternoon for those of you looking out at the heavy rain!

Here are some pics:

Even the couple's dog was colour coordinated.

All photos from The Youngrens

Real Weddings - Moor Park Golf Club

In September 07, we met a couple and started to help them plan their wedding in August 08 at a central London venue. This included sourcing the venue, caterers, wedding cake, florist and company to supply the mandap as well as entertainers. In April 08, our clients were due to have their engagement and then have a large Hindu ceremony and reception in August.

Unfortunately, this all had to be changed very quickly. We had under two weeks to change all the arrangements so that in April they had their engagement, Hindu ceremony, civil ceremony and wedding reception all in one day.

All our suppliers were brillant in working with us to quickly organise things.

The event was held at Moor Park Golf Park with Asian catering provided by the venue. The guests arrived in the Main Hall of the golf park which is a beautiful space with murals on the walls. The guests were then seated in the Thornhill Room for the civil ceremony.

Following the ceremony, guests had drinks whilst the bride and groom went to change for the Hindu ceremony. The Hindu ceremony was held in the beautiful Orangery with large windows looking out onto front lawn. The ceremony was lively with the drummers and dancers leading the way for the bride and groom. Following the ceremony, the guests returned to the Main hall for a drinks reception, cake cutting and then sat down for a meal catered by the venue.

Here are a few photos:

Supplier List
Venue & Catering: Moor Park Golf Club

Photography was by Eastern Elegance. All photos above by Eastern Elegance

The mandap was supplied by Jay & I Services
The wedding cake was supplied by Cakes 4 Fun

Bride's hair and make up by Ketna

Inspiration - Wedding Jewellery & Unusual Gift Ideas

I recently came across a new website in the weekend papers called Plümo. Plümo is an online boutique that features a mix of easy-to-wear clothes, unusual hand crafted gifts from all over the world, luxurious home accessories as well as a selection of designer jewellery.

They have some lovely things that would be perfect for brides to wear on their wedding day or as wedding presents.

Here are some of my favourite items:

This cuff made from a mix of fashion pearls, crystals and silver coloured beads would be perfect bridal accessory:

This set of four rings that can be worn together and make a lovely present:

These scented envelopes filled with lavendar or rose buds would be perfect for decorating the place settings:

These beautiful vintage cake stands would make a great wedding gift:

These pink lace dollies could be used to decorate a sweet buffet or cake selection for the wedding reception:

American Inspiration

I was looking at a couple of US wedding planning sites and came across this feature in Bride and Bloom magazine designed by Liene Stevens of Blue Orchid Weddings. I love the colours used - the vibrant green and yellow would be perfect for a spring wedding.

I love the accordian style yellow and green invitations designed by Kelly Ashworth.

Instead of favours, Liene used bottles of lemonade with small tags showing that a donation had been made to the Pink Initiative. The bottles were grouped together in small bowls.

Multicultural Weddings 5 - Entertainment

When organising a multicultural wedding, one thing we often suggest is having some entertainers at the event to break up the day a little and keep guests entertained whilst the bride and groom are having photos taken. The entertainers are also great for all age ranges and will keep young and old entertained. We always encourage our clients to consider their guests enjoyment when planning their wedding as multicultural weddings can often start early in the day and go on till well past midnight.

Here are a few suggestions of usual or different types of entertainers:

Human statues are great for creating a Wow factor as guests enter the reception area

Magicians can move around your guests and entertain small groups in one go

Silhouette Artists can move around small groups and do a silhouette of one or two people.

Caricaturists can move around small groups. They can often do a picture of the bride and groom prior to the wedding day which can be displayed on a frame next to the guest book or used in a frame photo for guests to sign.

All photos from www.contrabandevents.com