You need to consider style, material, colour and height. You should also have a few back-up pair of shoes in case it rains, the ground is slippy or your feet get sore! So here is some advice on picking your wedding shoes…

Style

When it comes to style, you want to think about comfort. Consider the shoes you normally wear and choose suitable bridal shoes from there. For example if you are not used to wearing heels, you might want to look into wedges to give you some hight but easy to walk in.

Material

You also need to consider the material your shoes should be. You want a complimentary material but not one exactly the same as it will look too much, for example lace shoes with a lace dress might look too much.

Colour

Colour is really important when picking your shoes. We would advise taking a cut-off from your dress when shopping for shoes and finding a complimentary colour. You might even want to be bold and choose a coloured shoe to really make them pop out!

Height

Height is really important in your shoes as they should be comfortable, suit your dress length and compliment the hight of your new husband!

Back-up shoes

Finally we would definately recommend taking a few back-up pairs, just in case it snows, rains, the ground is soggy or your feet hurt at night!

See there is much more to picking your shoes than you thought, but pick the right shoes and they will look amazing!

How are your wedding plans coming along? We want to hear about it all, so let us know!

If you want to plan a wedding that is bang on trend and only uses the best, then look no further than planyourperfectwedding.com. With their comprehensive articles on everything from wedding ideas to planning the perfect honeymoon, they have everything covered.

Fair to say they know their stuff about arranging the perfect day. So, if you get nominated for one of their Perfect Wedding Awards, you know you are on to a good thing.

Their nominations were announced last week, and read as a whos-who of the wedding biz. Let’s have a look at some of the more notable nominees:

Best Bridal Designer

The nominees for Best Bridal Designer will ensure that you have an elegant and flattering gown. We Love Ian Stuart, Stewart Parvin and Sassi Holford.

But to be honest, no matter what designer you pick, if they have been nominated for an award, you know that you’re pretty much onto a winner.

Best Wedding Jewellery

Once you’ve got that perfect dress, you need the perfect sparkle to go with it! We love Glitzy Secrets, who do gorgeous wedding tiaras along with all the other usual bling.

Or if you’re looking for something a bit more understated, then check out Girls Love Pearls, who make lovely pearl pieces, which are a great compliment for an elegant wedding dress.

Best Wedding Venue

Probably one of the most important elements of your special day, the venue sets the tone for the entire event.

Each of the nomininees in this category has something different to offer – we love St Audries Park, which has a gorgeous old castle-esque building. Or, if you are looking for something a bit more modern, Mythe Barn has a really interesting set up featuring wooden beams and large open glass windows.

Best Honeymoon Company

Of course, it’s not just the all-important day that is covered by the awards. After you’ve planned the pefect day, you want to be able to relax, don’t you?

There are some big names competing for your vote in this category, including well known honeymoon providers such as Kuoni, Couples Resorts and Sandals, as well as more general holiday operators like Thomson and Turquoise Holidays.

But to be honest, anyone that is able to jet us off to a white sanded beach is a-okay with us…

Best Wedding Blog

The creme de la creme of weddings online make an appearance here, including Boho Bride, Rock n Roll Bride, London-Bride and Whimsical Wonderland Weddings.

But, off the record, we reckon that the smart money is on Rock my Wedding. With its gorgeous articles, coupled with beautiful photography and MASSIVE loyal following, it’s bound to pull in those crucial votes.

Who do you think will scoop the gongs? Let us know in the comments section below!

Bright Wedding Flowers

This theme consists of picking either one bold colour to use throughout your wedding or choosing a few different bold colours and mixing them up throughout your wedding plans. Two colours use for this more often, is orange and pink which look brilliant together.

Your Outfit

For your outfit there is three ways you could go. You can choose a cute flower dress if you are going with a more plan and simple look, a coloured wedding dress if you want to stand out or a splash of colour.

With your accessories they need to compliment your dress. For example, if you are choosing a more muted dress, why not jazz it up with a bold coloured shoe like these hot pink ones? With jewellery and tiaras, keep it close to your theme but keep it more plain. For example why not choose one of Glitzy Secrets Wedding Side Tiaras because they give you that bit of sparkle, without over-powering the rest of your outfit.

Your Bridesmaid Dress

With your bridesmaid dresses, why not have all of them in different shades of the same colour? Then you can do a few different colours and make each of them stand out. Or if you are having a coloured dress, why not chose vintage style dresses like these to give them a level of colour but not over-power you in your colour.

Your Flowers

For your flowers, especially if you have a plain dress, why not use strong bold colours in your bouquet like this orange, pink and yellow bunch. If you are planning to do this, your best choices of flowers with bright colours are Roses, Tulips, Chrysanthemum, Freesias and Gerberas.

If you are keen to do a Summer Brights themed wedding, then have a look at our Pinterest board for some inspitation!

Do you have a themed wedding? Do you have any advice for brides to be? Let us know…

Image pinned by Mariya Rodriguez

A zombie wedding cake, complete with blood, brains and delicious white frosting of course. Oh… and if this cake isn’t gross enough for you, how’s about this one.

Image pinned by Nikki Hottman

Yep, gross.

Image pinned by Doreen Ng

An alternative to messing around with ribbons and sequins; move over linen, vellum, parchment.. a graphic novel inspired zombie- invitation is the only way to go.

Image pinned via Laura Pierson

The perfect way to make sure you are the most beautiful woman in the room on your wedding day, tear up your bridesmaids dresses and smother them in fake blood… that outta get you noticed. Can’t see my friends going for that though. You would have to have some very good friends.

Image pinned via Hannah Windsor

Zombie brain hemorrhage cocktails anyone? To make your very own, half fill with a shot of peach schnapps and gently pour Baileys over the back of a teaspoon so that it sits on top of the schnapps, top off with half a shot of blue curacao and a splash of grenadine. Voila, brains in a glass- whats not to like?

Image pinned via Hannah Windsor

If the whole themed big day is a little bit too much for you, you could opt for zombie themed wedding photos. This montage sees a couple enjoying a romantic picnic, only to be disrupted by a hungry, roving un-dead. So they knock him out with a shovel. Romantic. And if thats not enough for you, check this out

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleybaccam/20-pictures-of-zombie-brides

Whats the best themed wedding you’ve come across? Don’t forget to let us know in the comments box below! 

Image via tarale

The season for weddings is approaching! Of course, with all the June weddings happening, you might just get the idea that you want to move your own relationship to the next level, and to do that you’re going to figure out a way to propose. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

5. An old classic is to take them back to the place you first met. If you first laid eyes on each other on a dinner date, for instance, get the exact same table as that night. Or how about a picnic in the park where you first ran into each other? Every different place has its own things to plan for.

4. If you’re a karaoke-ing couple, change around the lyrics of one of your own old standards and make it a proposal! And if you’d prefer the moment to be a little bit more private, or if you’re not entirely certain about your ability to carry a tune, there are a number of karaoke venues popping up that offer private booths.

3. Record your proposal as an mp3 and sneak it onto one of their favourite iPod playlists. And if their habits are really predictable, you might even be able to time it for when they’re just home from the commute. Just make sure they aren’t right in the middle of exercising or something similar when they hear it; it’s easy to fall off a treadmill or drop a weight on a toe! Or, you can make a playlist of romantic songs plus the proposal! We’ve put together an example here…

2. If you’re talking about the rest of your life, it should be worth splashing the cash. Take your fianc(e)e on a proper luxury vacation to a place they’ve always wanted to visit. A hotel in Dubai or one of the Caribbean resorts should do the trick, especially since some of them have special wedding offers that go beyond just the wedding ceremony! The Burj al Arab in Dubai, for instance, has an entire package available that’ll move heaven and earth to make sure your proposal will be the most special day of your life. Four piece string ensemble? A gourmet version of their favourite meal? It’s all possible at the Burj Al Arab, check out the video below and visit the Burj Al Arab romance site for more information.

We’ve listed our top places to propose here.

1. Everyone has a romantic film they just can’t get enough of. Rope in some friends and act out a scene from their favourite movie on camera, with a proposal surprise at the end. Then, suggest a movie night! Be sure to have popcorn and a huge fuzzy blanket on hand.

How did you propose or how were you proposed to? Share your stories below! Or if you’re in the mood to shop engagement rings, we have a list of our favourites on Pinterest.

Jubilee Poster via Karen Roe

‘Vintage Tea Party’ is a great theme for a summer wedding as it means you can have a lovely relaxed wedding and potentially you can be outside enjoying the summer sun. But why not make your wedding more relevant by basing your theme on the Queen’s Jubilee year?

Here is our advice on making your Jubilee Tea Party Wedding a reality.

Your Dress

For your dress you need to think along a vintage theme with lace or dresses with a boat neckline. Following Catherine and William’s wedding, lace dresses are very ‘in’ at the moment and there are many gorgeous choices and all price ranges for you.

You also need to consider your accessories when creating your look. Think about some vintage bridal hair accessories, family heirlooms or colour.

Also consider adding some colour to your wedding outfit with some red cute shoes or colourful accessories. Have a look at this post from Brides up North for some ‘royal’ inspiration.

Bridesmaid Dresses

For your bridesmaid dresses there are two main ways you could go; patriotic or vintage floral. For patriotic you could have your bridesmaids in red, blue and white if you want to be quite obvious with the jubilee theme. Or you could choose some pretty vintage floral dresses to keep in with the tea party theme like in these examples on Intimate Weddings and from Rock My Wedding.

Cake

With your cake, either cupcakes or wedding cakes , you can have a bit of fun with the theme and include them in the colour theme. Why not have a cream icing and have blue and red cases or including red flowers on a white cake with a blue ribbon?

Have a look at our Polyvore for some inspiration on how to create your Jubilee wedding:

If you are keen to do a Jubilee Tea Party Wedding, have a look at our Pinterest board for some ideas!

Wedding photography

Quality of Images

Obviously this has got to be the first thing you find out, do you actually like the pictures on their website/ portfolio? If not, why not? Too posed, poor choice of shot? This will help you discover what kind of style you would like for your wedding day.

Price

Prices of photographers vary widely but as a general rule, you get what you pay for. Budget as much as you can for the photographer and then keep some more spare for buying prints etc after the wedding! It is very easy to carried away with the photographer but it is worth it. You also need to find out what packages there are available and what types of albums there are available.

Personality

This may seem judgemental or superficial but ultimately you are going to be spending the entire day with this person, you have got to like them and feel comfortable round them otherwise you are not going to enjoy your day or getting your photographs taken.

Style

What kind of style are you both looking for? Would you rather they were natural and relaxed or would you rather that they were posed and stylised?

Are they insured? Do they have a back-up photographer?

This is such an important factor that often gets forgotten about. You need to ask if the photographer is insured against something awful happening to him/her and you also need to find out if they have an alternative photographer available if your photographer is too sick to attend.

You also need to find out if they are part of the BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography) which invite members to be part of and are checked on their quality of work.

Have they been to your venue before?

Obviously this will not be the case for all photographers but if they have been to your venue before they will already know which pictures to take where.

Ask your venue

If you really get stuck searching for a photographer, ask your venue if they can recommend someone. This way you will know they are reputable and already have a good relationship with the venue.

Do you have any top tips to help select a wedding photographer? Tell us in the comments section below.

Image by Adam Fuller

So the days are getting longer… the weather is getting warmer… surely May is the perfect time to tie the knot, right?

Well, apparently not. I have a couple of friends getting married later in the year, and both turned a paler shade of grey when I mentioned the prospect of getting married in, what was in my opinion, one of the year’s prettiest months.

“But have you not heard the poem?” They gasped.

Clearly, I had not. So they recited it to me:

 ”Married when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind and true.
When February birds do mate, you wed nor dread your fate.
If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know.
Marry in April when you can, joy for Maiden and for Man.
Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day.
Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you will go.
Those who in July do wed, must labor for their daily bread.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see.
Marry in September’s shrine, your living will be rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.”

Could this be true? “Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day”?

Being a fairly cynical person myself, I struggle to believe that the entire fate of one’s married life relies solely on one little ditty. Still, it got me thinking… what other strange wedding superstitions are there? And are they justified?

I decided to dig a little deeper, and look more objectively at some of the more popular wedding traditions. Are they just silly superstitions, or will adhering to them actually bring you lifelong happiness? It’s time to find out…

“Marry in May… rue the day”

Let’s start with the one that started this whole thing off. Apparently, the Ancient Romans believed May was an unlucky month to marry because it was month of the “Feast of the Dead.” However, we now observe the Pagan “Feast” rather than the Roman one, and that falls around late October, around the time we celebrate Halloween.

So is it justified? No. Of course not. If the “Feast” has moved, how come the stigma has remained with the old month? It’s just silly. Besides, May is such a pretty month to tie the knot.

Marry during the week

Okay, so let’s take on another attempt by ancient folklore to choose the date for us. This time, it’s days of the week that are brought under scrutiny. According to English folklore:

“Monday is for health,
Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday best of all.
Thursday brings crosses,
Friday brings losses;
but Saturday, no luck at all.”

So we’re not allowed to marry on a Saturday? Are you serious?

Justified? Again, a big fat no. In our 9-5 lives, Saturday is really one of the only feasible days a couple can get married. In fact, it’s the most popular day of the week to tie the knot. Surely not all of these weddings are doomed to fail? No. Marry on a Saturday if you want.

Decorating the car with tin cans

Okay, this is a bit of a fun one, but did you know it actually serves a mystical purpose? Apparently, the loud noises caused by the cans scare away evil spirits. In addition to the usual decorating of the car, friends of the newlyweds are supposed to play pranks on the happy couple in the hope that any lurking evil spirits will see that they had already been picked on, and leave them alone.

Justified? Probably not… but let’s face it, playing pranks is always fun, and should always be wholeheartedly encouraged.

The weather

According to Hindu tradition, rain on your wedding day is good luck. However, opinion on wedding weather is actually divided. Some say that if it rains on your wedding day, the rain is a symbol of children in the future. The bad luck myth says that rain drops represents the many tears a bride will cry throughout her married life. A tad morbid, don’t you think?

Justified? I think in this case, rain should be considered as bad luck. Not for the future, necessarily, but for the actual day itself. I mean, think about it, the wedding photos will have to be taken inside, the wedding dress might be splashed with dirty water, the venue may look sad… my advice? Sidestep the issue altogether by booking weddings abroad with a company like Kuoni. Then you can guarantee that you will get married in the blistering sunshine. Problem solved!

Hide the dress from the groom

This is probably one of the most popular wedding superstitions. It is considered very bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the ceremony itself.

Justified? If the groom is anything like my boyfriend, then probably. I don’t know about you ladies, but going dress shopping with my man is an absolute nightmare. I find something that I vaguely fancy, and himself always finds something about it he doesn’t like. However, we turn the situation on its head, he always picks out horrible things for me to wear.

If you ask me, this superstition is a very clever way to keep the groom out of the dress selection process. And if that’s the case, then I reckon it’s completely and utterly justified indeed.

Those are some of the common superstitions, but are there any others that you’d like me to cast my objective eye over? Give me a shout in the comments section below!

Royal Wedding via Comrade Foot

We can barely believe it has been a year already since we sat and watched history take place but here we are.

Catherine and William have had a very busy year with many official visits and events including the visit to Canada, meeting the Obamas and attending some glitzy red carpet events. Catherine has been able to hold her own doing many events on her own, showing the world she is able to step up to her new role as a royal ambassador.

Catherine had also become something of a British fashion icon and showing the world that us Brits can be glamorous! She had been showcasing some of the great british designers including her favourite designer Alexander McQueen. So how do you think the Royal couple will celebrate a year together? Well apparently they will be celebrating it in the UK privately with a few friends. How lovely, but what will William get his princess?

I hope he will be do better than some garage flowers and chocolates! So to give the Duke some help on his first anniversary, here are some potential presents he could buy his Duchess.

1. A photo album full of images of the first year as a married couple
2. A copy of some newspapers from their wedding day last year
3. A canvas of some of the pictures of their wedding day
4. Tickets to a music festival, concert or comedian for a bit of fun
5. Some body butter and bath gift set so she can pamper herself after a long day

What do you think Catherine and William will be doing this weekend? How would you spend your anniversary?

Spring Wedding via MoonSoleil

When doing a theme wedding the main elements you need to ensure coincide with the theme are; your dress, your colour scheme, flowers and table decorations. We will take you through all these elements with some ideas of how to do a Spring Pastels wedding:

Colour Scheme

Your colour scheme is key for your wedding as it will tie everything in together For a spring-inspired wedding, the key colours you need to think about are pastels; aqua, baby blue, pink, lemon and peach. the colour scheme can be used through your bridesmaid dresses, sashes on chairs, invitations and flowers If you keep them similar throughout it will look like you have really put a lot of thought into your wedding and will make it look gorgeous!

You can easily pick more than one colour, as long as they are complimentary. Try light blue and ivory, lavender and yellow, light blue and pastel green or chocolate and ivory.

Your Dress

When thinking about your dress you need to consider the time of year you are getting married and then choose your material accordingly. Also be brave and consider adding in some colour, there are some gorgeous dresses which have a hint of colour in them which looks very pretty.

You also need to consider your accessories when picking your dress. For example it might be a good idea to buy a wrap in case it is cold or an umbrella if it is wet. You also need to consider your hair accessories and/or veils. We would recommend a wedding tiaras or some hair flowers so when you are buying your dress, think about your jewellery and how you would like your hair to look.

Flowers

When picking flowers, it is more cost effective to chose flowers which are in season and to mix and match colours. Some spring flowers to consider are Cherry blossom, Daffodil, Lilac, Magnolia, Pansy, Peony, Sweetpea and Violet.

Table Decorations

watering can wedding favours

With regards to table decorations, think garden party. Use light colours, candles and simple decoration. Another lovely idea is for seed packets as wedding favours. They can come in cute watering cans and are to give to your guests to represent your growing relationship… aw…..!

We hope this has helped give you some inspiration into a spring pastels theme but if you need some more, check out this image bundle of gorgeous spring weddings.

Do you have a themed wedding? Do you have any advice for brides to be? Let us know…