Wednesday 27 June 2012

An 80's kinda love...



It was my Mom and Dad's 32nd wedding anniversary last week. 32 years! Wowzer. It got me thinking about 80's wedding fashion (and 80's fashion in general). So I thought I'd take this chance to explore some wicked and awesome 80's shoulder pads and power suits! 


I posted last week about selling my wedding dress and how I pranced about in my Moms dress. You can see that post here. And below is my beloved Ma on her actual big day and my Dad with a very tame afro. For a white guy he had a serious fro back in the day!


On a personal note, I feel very lucky to have my parents still together. I went through school with lots of my friends parents splitting up but my folks just seem to have that 'thing'. They are a true inspiration to me and amazing role models when it comes to what a marriage is. My mom told me recently how they had 'fallen out' because my Dad drives too fast. The next day was said anniversary and she proudly sent me a photo of a bunch of flowers he'd had delivered to her. I asked her "So you're friends again now?"...her reply was simple..."We're always friends. Sometimes he just gets it wrong".


Enjoy and I'd love for you to share any secret 80's fashion loves of yours or any photos of your dresses from the 80's.







Is it me or are they too adorable...pose much anyone?






A copy of Brides magazine from the 80's. It's hard to make out but it would appear
that as well as the content, the price hasn't changed too greatly either.
P.s. this woman has THE most hair






Who's going to be rocking a hat at their wedding this year?? I think it's a pretty cool
alternative to the veil.





Not a dress kinda girl? Ever thought about a serious power suit for your wedding day instead?? I LOVE this suit - imagine it teamed with some super platforms and a cute veil.





O yes...the wedding of the 80's (sorry Di)

The ever gorgeous Scott and Charlene tied the know is 1987. I love the skirt on her dress and good lord - the gypsophila in her fringe is to die for! I want to see a wedding where the bride does this! Pleeeeeeeease.


Photography: Brides magazine: http://me-tv.co/blog. Hat shots: http://dorianneveils.com / http://www.harvestpromotions.com. The power suit: http://www.vintage-clothing.net.au/white_80s_powersuit. Scoot and Charlene: http://borninthewrongdecade-niamhy.blogspot.co.uk





Tuesday 19 June 2012

To sell or not to sell...



...and sell I did.

Last night in fact. And to a gorgeous girl who is getting married in Barbados.

There is a lot of divided opinion on wether or not you ‘should’ sell you dress.


Here is my take...

Reasons to keep your dress:

• You can play dress up with your daughter one day (tres fun - I can confirm this for a FACT)
• If you’re religious and intend to have children Christened it is traditional to turn the wedding 
  gown into a Christening dress
• Sentimental value
• To wear when you’re 50 and wonder why you can no longer fit into it

Reasons to sell your dress:
• Recoup some money from your day
• So that the dress doesn’t go to waste. It’s beautiful, it deserves a long life, not a life in a box
• To make a bride on a lesser budget very very happy
•To free up space in your house
• To carry on the memory making I’ll explain what i mean by this


So, there is a similar number of pros and cons in my opinion.  But for me, the pros won.

I took my dress to a bride-to-be last night. She’d tried it in a shop and loved it but simply couldn’t afford it. And what do you know, my dress fitted her like a glove and was the perfect length. Her dream wedding dress at less than half the price, she was over the moon!!

There are lots of second hand wedding sites you can sell your dress on but I chose to use Preloved. It is a free advertising site. It has taken a few months (not that I was in any rush) but its finally gone.

And with it went any hopes of one day doing a mother-daughter dress-up.  

Here's me prancing around with my mom's wedding dress. The blue dress was a bridesmaid dress from her wedding (amaze or what - I considered this as my actual wedding dress for a time).  




It would have been nice to one day do this with my daughter (if I ever have one), but is ten minutes of albeit lovely mucking about really worth holding on to a dress for twenty-odd years?  For me, no.  

I've decided to continue to make happy memories with the money from my dress, by spending it on activity that me and my ‘rents can do together.

So, have you sold your dress? Are you considering selling or would you never sell?


Becky



Tuesday 12 June 2012

Beautiful Birds’ first industry event

It’s not everyday I get an email "From:Sara Doron" inviting me to Under the Vintage Veil’s 1st birthday party.  But as it happens, the 17th May wasn’t everyday.


I spent a while questioning: Is it too early in my venture for me to be attending something like this? Do I have enough to say to people? Will I stick out like a sore thumb?! Will anyone like me??

Then I had a word with myself.   

So, hotel and train tickets booked and I was out the door on the morning of the 10th June, looking forward to putting names to faces and mixing with the folk that I admire.

Despite the previous words I’d had with myself, I did start the night by bricking myself and being unsure how to approach people.  But I was soon confidently passing from one end of the room to the other saying hellos and exchanging cards as I went. 
Turns out networking = fun.

(The fact I ended up slightly more drunk than I planned, and spent a fair bit of time on the dancefloor, probably has some bearing on my overall experience. If that’s networking then I think I might be an expert!)  

Sara did a fab job of hosting. A perfect catwalk show displaying some gorgeous dresses by Froufrou Bridal Boutique, Charlotte Bridal and Belle & Bunty made me want to go and try more wedding dresses - surely I can renew my vows in one of them right?


There was an amazing cake and candy bar provided by Cake Maison. I had a few too many bonbons - I forgot I would be needing to talk to people!


The host’s mum provided some much needed TLC for aching feet and shoulders and Hairport were Bouffing up the crowd. Everyone looked seriously amazing. If only I had longer hair I would’ve been straight up there to get my doo did.


Loved the photobooth provided by Retro Me. People were in there happy as larry with people they’d only met that night (including me and one of the models. Her name was Abby Munro. Lovely girl - see her site here) - and what a wonderful memory to take away - printed silliness.


I so enjoyed my night. I got to meet a LOT of interesting people and was thrilled when so many people wanted to take my business card and was surprised when so many commented on how much they liked them (it was a very smiley night).


So, my advice would be this. When you’ve made a decision that you want to do something (i.e. in my case; become a fabric florist working mainly in the wedding sector) and you get the opportunity to attend any form of industry event (that will have relevant people to you and like minded people) absolutely GO. You never know what you might miss and what you might gain.


Were you there? I'd love to hear about your experience of the night and about handling industry events in general so feel free to leave a comment.


Love

A relatively new, but very happy to have ticked her first industry event off her list

Becky
x

I tried to grab some photos but my little iphone didn’t seem to like the smoke machine much but here are a few that came out ok.













Sunday 10 June 2012

Welcome to Beautiful Bird Creations - The Blog



So here it is...Beautiful Bird's first blog post. It feels exciting, nerve-racking, daunting and like it could be a whole load of fun at the same time - not forgetting hard work. Luckily for me I have enrolled myself on the Midlands School of Rock hosted by RockNRoll Bride, so I will be a pro in no time right?

First I should start by saying “Hi!” and “It’s very nice to meet you”. That you are taking the time to read my ramblings means a lot.

I want to cover off a couple of things. I don't claim to be a blogger. I don't think myself a particularly good writer even. So, you might ask, why the hell are you actually writing a blog? The blog is here to hopefully provide some inspiration and to discuss what this wonderful wedding industry is all about, from a ‘beginners’ point of view. I am excited to write more, it’s something I don’t do enough.

You can find out more about Beautiful Bird on the ‘About’ page so I won’t relay it all on this post again but I will say this...I am crazy passionate about weddings, especially peculiar ones and that is what I, through Beautiful Bird, aim to offer my brides and grooms.

A bride of mine who is getting married in September sent me this the other day:

“Thank u for adding an extra special thing to my day”

A very simple, straightforward statement but one that made me smile. If I can add one special thing to anyones day it is so worth it.

So, a short but sweet first post.

I am off to Under The Vintage Veil’s first birthday as we speak so I will be sure to post back on how amazing it was!

Speak soon and thanks for reading - totally looking forward to blogging more.

A very appreciative

Becky
x