Category Archives: Guest Posts

SWAMPS’ POSTS: Sagas Of A Tattooed Bride – June

Today on Swamps’ posts..

STATIONERY TIME!

I’m excited for today’s post – I love me some paper goods. I’ll hand straight over to her now!

Why hello guys. I hope you are enjoying the start of our lovely British summertime. If some of you have been as lucky as me and Matt Bee you will have had some of the most beaut weather over the last couple of weeks. I’m L.O.V.I.N.G it! We have also decided to buy a bigger house so we are all full of excitement. We are also obviously slightly mentally insane as I do believe planning a wedding and moving house are (apparently) two of the most stressful things you do in your life time, and we will be doing both in the next 3 and a half months.

Yes, Gasp, its 3 and a half months until the wedding. 14 weeks. 102 days, 18 hours and 10 minutes to be precise. T’s and C’s clause: This only applies whilst I’m writing this, and by the time you read this we may even be down to double figures. Eeeeeek!

So May has brought some military style wedding planning. We went to our penultimate meeting with our wedding co-ordinator. As I said when I very first started writing my blog for you lovely lot I feel excited but I also feel incredibly nervous. This is only getting worse the closer we get. In the car on the way I literally forgot how to breathe which ended up with my hyperventilating. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a paper bag in sight so I just had to ride it out! I genuinely think I’m going to have to go and see my doctor and get him to prescribe me something that will make me feel all floaty and fluffy for the big day, otherwise I might never make it down the isle. That would be seriously mean on Matt Bee. Failing that, one of my bridesmaids normally has a handbag full of what she calls ‘painkillers’. I however, do not believe they’re ‘painkillers’ for a moment and have seen how majorly chilled out she is when she takes them, so ill have what ever she’s having!

The meeting consisted of some seriously precise planning. I now know which order my bridesmaids will enter the building in. It’s just a shame that I don’t really care! I struggle to see the relevance of why this is remotely important but I guess ‘normal’ brides may be bothered by it. I’m too busy worrying about remembering to breathe so I don’t embarrassingly pass out in front of all of my friends and fam.

So, let’s get down to business. I have been waiting for this months post for aggggeeeeeeeees. As you all know Matt Bee is a super talented artist. He is an illustrator if we are being technical and a bloomin’ good one too. This leaves us in a very fortunate position from a wedding stationary point of view. We started with our save the dates. I swear ‘Save the Dates’ never existed before the last couple of years. They seem to have become super trendy. From a planning point of view they do come in handy though.  It buys you loads more time in which to actually pull your finger out and get your real invites out. People won’t book holidays and the likes so you can be more certain you lucky ‘chosen ones’ will be able to attend.

We decided quite early on that we wanted our theme to have a natural feel. Being the chilled out wedding planners that we are we decided not to really have colour scheme. Controversial I know. With this in mind we decided that we would bind the lack of theme together with things like brown paper and natural coloured string to give it some sort of connection throughout the day. 

To be honest I never even spoke to Matt Bee about what I had in mind. It was kind of his ‘baby’ so I just gave him the driving seat and sat back and watched loads of ‘Made in Chelsea’, also controversial I know ha! I am just obsessed with awkward silences and ultimate poshness. This means I fully can’t take any credit what so ever for his amazing handy work. He came up with this for our save the date..

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SWAMPS’ POSTS: Sagas Of A Tattooed Bride – April

april meOh isn’t Swamps gorgeous? I’m dying to see her all in her dress – Not so long now! I’ll hand straight over to her today where it’s all about..

Decorations & Decor

Hello you bunch of lovelies. I hope you have all had a super lovely Easter and the Easter Bunny brought you LOADS of chocolaty goodness. I, however, am now ALL SYSTEMS GO on the wedding bod’ and therefore the most exciting thing I shall be eating will be a banana for energy before ‘pumping some iron’ down the gymio! Yawnnnn! I also hope that your fellow fiancés have not played any horrible April fools jokes on you that is making you reconsider marrying them. This may seem a little extreme I appreciate, however, the year Matt pretended my car had been stolen was not AT ALL funny. Frankly he is lucky to not have been charged with wasting police time when I very nearly called 999!!! Naughty boy.

So I am sure all of you fellow brides will be able to relate to me when I say there is a definite wedding lull after the initial excitement of getting engaged and starting your preparations. You start looking for venues and you think “oh em gee, I’m going to be sooooo busy!” purely based on how stressful people say the experience is.  Then this is followed by giving your notice of marriage, which I feel I shouldn’t brush over too lightly. We had heard that it was a rather nerve racking ordeal. My understanding was that the only two circumstances where we would have a problem would be if Matt was in fact a sibling of mine, which would be the only time I would condone the phrase “the awkward moment when…” or if either of us were already married, which I was fairly certain we weren’t  You’ll be glad to hear this was confirmed at the meeting along with us not marrying to gain British citizenship…Phew!! Matt spent the half an hour before our appointment quizzing up on me and everything relating to me. This extended to what my favourite food was. Alas, they weren’t looking for that kind of detail. We did have a small discrepancy on what each others job titles were, but the nice lady decided to give us the benefit of the doubt. Who REALLY knows what their partner actually does, pfft! (Most people do I know haha). Apologies, I digress, where was I… Oh yes, being totally bored of having nothing wedding related to plan. So in the quieter weeks where I had nothing to do I spend this time cramming my head full of lots of wedding inspiration. This is what I will grace Rachael’s lovely blog with this week. 

Once I had chosen my dress my next source of wedding excitement was my accessories to the day. I am hoping that my accessories issue will compliment Rebekah’s ‘Accessories Ahoy!’ post and help you pull a few more ideas to the table for your own super lovely wedding’s. I too share her love of all things moustache. It’s a rather unexplainable and irrational adoration, but I know that we are not alone. Matt Bee has had THE most magnificent moustache when I met him.

2013-04-11_0001He has continued to surprise me with his fine array of facial hair throughout our relationship. He’s like a facial hair chameleon, never a dull day without a whisker related surprise!  Continue reading

ACCESSORIES AHOY! Creative Clutches

You’re all used to Rebekah now guest posting for Marry Me Ink.. Let’s delve straight in and she what she has in store for us this time..

I hope you are enjoying the Accessories Ahoy posts. If there is anything you would like to see, please leave a comment.

Today is all about clutch bags. I find that no matter what size of bag I have I will fill it (usually with things I don’t need). When I got married I decided against a bag. Big mistake. After ten minutes in the sun my make up was melting off onto my wedding dress. If you do want a bag, don’t feel trapped into a silk ivory number unless its your bag (sorry). I decided to post about the amazing Kate Spade and share her creative clutches.

Kate worked as senior fashion editor of accessories when she decided to take the leap and start her own line. In 1993 she began with handbags and now it has grown into a global brand with jewellery, clothing and other lifestyle items.

My favourite part of Kate Spade New York is the clutch bags. They are unique and she has so many styles to choose from. Here are my favourites that would add some unique flavour to any wedding or night out. It would sure make the never ending search for my keys more interesting.

kate-spade-radio-samira

First up is the Radio Samira Clutch. This retro radio feel would look great for you vintage vixens. Continue reading

Engagement Photography – 10 ‘Must Do’s’ for looking your best!

Happy Monday morning! Today I get to introduce you to another lovely lady – Jaye of Tux & Tales Photography. It’s that time of year where you might be thinking of having an engagement shoot before your big wedding day, Jaye is here to talk about 10 things you must do when dressing for your engagement shoot.

Engagement photo sessions are an excellent way to get an opportunity to work with your photographer before the big day . They will make you feel more comfortable on the wedding day as well as give you some excellent photos that tell the story of your pre-marriage selves.

1 Tux and Tales_125As a wedding photographer, my clients often ask me for a little advice about what they should and should not wear to their engagement session. Many people have never had to specifically ‘dress for the camera’ – so it is natural to need a little extra guidance. 

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Do…
1) Wear something you feel yourself in. Nothing makes you feel more uncomfortable in front of the camera than feeling like you are stuck wearing your big sister’s outfit!

2)I know this can seem really basic – but make sure to look over your clothes and make sure there are no small stains or holes. It is so common that I come across a torn pocket, etc only after the photo session has happened!  A little dark spot on a sleeve that we barely even notice in person can look really distracting in a photograph. Continue reading