Destination Wedding in Barcelona by Reviva Weddings

Earlier this year we were contacted by Sharon and Eoghan to ask for help with planning their wedding in Barcelona. Sharon had become overwhelmed with trying to plan her destination wedding and realised she needed some help in order to get her up to and through her day.

After a few emails we were booked and Carla flew to Barcelona to familiarise herself with Sharon´s wedding including a visit to the venue, introducing herself to the booked suppliers, finalising all the details and make sure no stone was left unturned.

At this time as well Carla took the opportunity to make sure all the suppliers were up to a high standard and found some new ones as well to add to our Barcelona Weddings portfolio.

Carla took over Sharon´s paperwork, budgets, deposits to be paid, etc and
shortly after this Carla was back on a plane, clutching as many decorations as she could from our shop, and settled in ready for the wedding day.

Despite a stressful start to planning her wedding, Sharon was calmed by the fact she had the ever efficient Carla next to her side and a fabulous wedding day was had by all. You must click on the link below to see this wonderful wedding in all it´s glory!

Here is the link to Sharon and Eoghan´s slideshow
www.loughranweddings.com/eoghanandsharon.html

Here is a lovely email received from Sharon and Eoghan shortly after their wedding upon return from their probably well deserved honeymoon!

Dear Carla

Would you believe this is the first evening I have bought my laptop home since the honeymoon as I overdosed on gmail coming up to the wedding so I had enough for at least a few weeks!

I had a fantastic time and would not change a thing, but I can honestly say it was more stressful and so much more work than I ever thought it would be, I don´t know how you do it dealing with stressed out brides everyday?

The fact we had to organise everything vs having a hotel was immense but to be honest I could not imagine a more perfect venue and god must have been smiling on us to have such a perfect day - we really were blessed.

Our guests are still raving about the day, it was fantastic and we both loved it. Having you there was such a relief and to be able to share the pressure with you was what got me through the days beforehand.

You were fantastic Carla, I know I was stressed out of my mind but we really did have a magical day. I will be singing your praises to all who will listen!

I will send on some photos when the official ones are through,
all the best Sharon and Eoghan xxx

Our thanks to Loughran Wedding Photography for the wonderful images and our congratulations to Sharon and Eoghan.

A Fabulous Wintery Wedding Cake Find

A quick inspiration post as I gather ideas for our patient 2012 brides!
I found this image today of a grey lace crochet cake design by Sweet and Saucy. I love this idea to incorporate with a spanish themed wedding.

I also love the austere colours, grey is my favorite winter colour and combined with the dark wood cake stand is evocative of the dark wood we see here a lot in the traditional spanish bars and homes.

It really works for me and I can imagine designing a complete wedding to match this cake with a winter wonderland theme, using dark woods, crocheted table accessories, pine cones and a bit of sparkle combined with rustic charm, log cabins spring to mind as well and roaring fires! The list is endless as I am always captivated with Winter Wonderland Scenes!

Remember with one inspiration a whole event can be created.
Anyone any good at crochet!

Creative Mental Blocks!

It is strange being a creative person, well for me, and I am not sure many can relate to this.

We have just finished a very intense September full of beautiful weddings that I thrive on.

I am constantly making lists, both mentally and of course in my pretty notepads albeit I have now become a master of Excel as long as it is colour coded!

By the time we arrive at the wedding day I cannot think about anything else. Call me obsessed but all the details are locked into my brain leaving little time for anything else.

It is now at this time of year, as we slow down and take stock, I feel brain dead and start to panic! All the creativity has gone and I always worry it will never come back but of course it does :) Thank goodness!

In order to get my creativity flowing again I need inspirations and I have to admit over the past few days I have been rather boredly surfing the internet looking at some average OK things but nothing that has made me sit up and go WOW!

Until tonight I fell upon this fabulous Mexican wedding created by Lisa Vorce, who I greatly admire, but I think it was the decorated donkey, along with the fact of course this could be translated into a Spanish theme, that immediately drew my attention to this as what brave person was put forward for this bit of styling!

Isn´t the whole wedding just divine from the bride´s stunning veil to all the gorgeous details.

I have just gone to heaven and back and finally reconnected with my creative brain again :)

With our new in house stationery department supervised by Anoulka with her new die cutting machine, nicknamed Cougar (long story but we are into names!) we are dying to start creating even more fabulous weddings and this will certainly be an inspiration to us.

The Art of Sabrage

Last week I had the double pleasure of enjoying the perfect pairing of champagne and chocolate at my favorite sweets store, La Maison du Chocolat. And at this event, the North American CEO of Christofle, Nicolas Krafft, demonstrated the technique of beheading a bottle of champagne with a gleaming saber.

A few years ago I planned a wedding with a dramatic sabrage demonstration. It's one of the most glamorous wedding moments I've witnessed. What a way to start off your welcome toast. And you can learn it on-line if you're brave enough to do it yourself!

Reprinted from Martha Stewart Wedding's Brides Guide.

Engaging: Amber + Matt

We are so delighted to share these engagement photos taken of our upcoming bride and groom, Amber and Matt! These two make quite a pair and we're excited to get to know them more as the planning unfolds! Just a few things we've already learned....

These jet-setters met at JFK airport as they waited to board a flight to Spain, where they would study abroad. They may be taking another memorable oversees trip for their honeymoon, as they plan on going to Bali. Even though they are so well traveled they are definitely an All American couple....they share a love for country music, specifically Kenny Chesney and wouldn't prefer to live anywhere else than sunny San Diego!

This photo session is especially dear to our hearts as their photographer, Nicole from Clarity by Nicole Photography, was a previous bride of ours! You may remember her to-die-for wedding as the Baseball Wedding.

We are thrilled to be working with such a darling couple on their August 2012 wedding. Congratulations Amber and Matt!

Group Photo Idea

Having a photographic record of everyone who attended your wedding is wonderful, but even the most diligent photographer may not catch an image of every single guest. And of those pictures, not many are likely to end up in your final album (some candids are just not meant to be showcased!).

When my clients are game, I love to capture a group pic, such as the one below (the guests flew in from all over the world!). The resulting photo is the perfect shot with which to end your wedding album, and it can also be converted into a beautiful thank-you note. How do we do it? The photographer and I gather everyone together right after the ceremony when all attendees are already in one spot.

How do you plan on remembering everyone who came to your wedding? (For mine, I kept everyone's RSVP cards and the sweet notes that were included.)

Reprinted from my article for Martha Stewart Weddings Bride's Guide. Photo by Karen Hill.

Pretty Paper Straws for Weddings

One of my summer obsessions has been paper straws, probably following on from the trend of paper cupcake wrappers, but aren´t they just beautiful and reminiscent of childhood days :)

I love the idea of personalising them for weddings and using them as cocktail stirrers with cute flags attached to them or presented in a vintage jar for guests to help themselves.

There are some lovely striped ones or even more exciting are polka dots! I have just ordered some more for our shop and I am sure Anoulka will hate me when she has cut out hundreds of these for our weddings! But it will be so worth it :)

Stunning September Weddings in Marbella

I have just realised we are almost at the end of September and I have not created one blog post since August so hugest apologies to all our followers.

Working in the Destination Wedding Industry here in Marbella, we do have incredibly busy months, predominently May, June, July and September. Needless to say September has whizzed past leaving little time for me to indulge in my blogging.

We have been frantically waving our famous magic wands over Andalucia and have some fabulous weddings to share with you over the next few months plus some very exciting news, so do keep an eye out for our announcements coming shortly.

We have been thrilled to again receive many testimonials from our brides and would like to share this one with you received tonight for a wedding we planned, executed and designed at the beginning of September.

I think the importance of this email is that our lovely bride works for one of the largest event companies in London so we were up against a real test of our planning and decoration skills with this fabulous wedding set in a stunning monastery in the hills behind Sotogrande.

Hi Laura and Carla

We really wanted to thank you guys for you amazing hard work and commitment to make the wedding so beautiful and such a success. We absolutely loved every minute of it and are both still on a total high from it all and buzzing.

Every detail was perfect and when we arrived at the both the church and the venue we were really blown away by how fantastic they looked and all those months of work and deliberating had delivered something beyond what we expected.

All our guests remarked on how stunning the venue looked and how fab everything was from the food/drink to the disco and laser lights were, people really felt this was something unique and special and the wedding of all weddings!

Sad that it is all over but we have such fantastic memories and cannot wait to see the photos and videos which we will of course pass onto you.

Thank you for making it such a memorable day.

Very Best Danielle and Ed

Our thanks to Danielle and Ed for choosing us and allowing us to plan, design, decorate and manage this fabulous wedding and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them and their lovely family and wish them a future filled with fun and happy times.

BEHIND THE SCENES INTERVIEW

This is one of the first in our series of "Behind the Scenes" with our team at SugarLove & White. Designed to share more of our tips & tricks and bring you closer to what makes our world tick. Introducing our choice of Graphic Designer for over 6 years at SugarLove, Ms Jessie James.

Jessie started working for us in production, account management & graphic design in 2005 and has been an invaluable part of SugarLove's branding ever since. Her very successful design firm Follow Studio is testament to her highly individual award winning gift that is now well sought after in many industries. We are fortunate to continue with our collaborative work together and were equally excited to cover her own wedding day to long time love Russell in January this year. These are just 2 of our photographs from the day (and also 2 of her favs)!!

What is your favourite part of the job? Being able to create every day. Even since I was little I have drawn and made things so to be able to do that for a living is really a dream come true for me.

What are you reading at the moment? The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

What was the favourite moment of your wedding? Many of our special memories of our wedding are from before the day, spending time together and with our family making & creating for the day - we designed and made everything from our paper goods to the hand stamped linen bunting, our festoon light canopy and the signature rose sherbert drink. But at the end of the day looking out over this reception and seeing all of our family & friends together having shared the most beautiful day with us was the most special memory of our day - it was everything we could have asked for and it just felt like we were home.

Wedding advice? Your wedding should be about the two of you and your special story. Everyone will have their own idea of what a wedding should be. Listen to your friends & family then decide for yourselves how you would like your day to be. Most of all make sure you have the best time of your life planning your day together and dont get too caught up in the details - let things happen naturally on the day and dont expect everything to go perfectly as planned.

Who inspires you? Personally my family inspires me to keep going and work hard. My dog Richie inspires me to never never give up and my creative friends inspire me to dream big. Creatively the beautiful clients I am honoured to work with are just so inspiring and too many to name. I count myself lucky to be able to work with them every day.

Top three songs on your playlist? Orange Sky (Alexi Murdoch) / Find Your Way (Pablo Blaqk) / Rolling In The Deep (Adele)

Favourite place? Home

Never without? Pencil & Paper

Lastly 3 words that describe you best? Thoughtful, Bowerbird, Maker

Sotheby's Important Jewels

Yesterday I had the distinct privilege of a private tour of the Sotheby's Important Jewels sale by Lisa Hubbard, Chairman of Jewellery for Sotheby's. Wow. What an experience. Over 500 jewels, each with the history of a prior owner. Turn of the century hair sticks, contemporary bangles and diamonds, diamonds, diamonds.
This is an amazing insider place to find that perfect dangle earring for your wedding, or a gorgeous engagement ring. Lisa shared with me that most jewelry sells at auction for about a third to a fifth of retail store value. Diamond prices are more normalized, but I think it's still really romantic to raise a paddle for a coveted bauble.

What's more, the consultants encourage you to try on, to browse, to ask questions and indulge. I tried on everything in sight -- a girl can dream!

My biggest "take away"? Some of these treasures are downright affordable. See for yourself at Sothebys. But the items I tried on, including the catalogue cover piece are quite "one of a kind".

"Tutti Frutti" bracelet, Cartier, circa 1928. Estimated at $200,000-$300,000

Platinum and diamond tassle earrings. I can picture these with a certain Vera Wang bridal gown...

For those of you doing your color, cut and clarity research: This 5.56 center stone is D color, Internally Flawless, Excellent Cut, Polish and Symmetry -- very rare and estimated at $725,000-$825,000. Perfection indeed!

The auction takes place tomorrow, September 20, 10am. Online bidding is an option... See you there!

Destination Surf's Up!

We love seeing guests using their personalized totes, wearing their bespoke baseball caps, and sipping from their bottled water printed with custom labels during destination wedding weekends. These little elements help friends and family feel (and look) like part of "the wedding crowd."

My friend Laura Lobdell has come up with these "Longitude & Gratitude" Surf Bracelets that I would love to receive as a bridal-party member or as a guest of the wedding. They are printed with the coordinates of popular locales such as Montauk, Laguna, and Malibu, but they can also be customized with your wedding's specifics -- or anything else you'd like to say. Pop them into each guest's welcome bag, or use them as a favor or napkin ring at each place setting.

Reprinted from my article on Martha Stewart's Bride's Guide.

Wedding Library + Dessy Group = Perfect Match!

When we think of the most fabulous bridesmaid dresses in every color under the sun, we turn to none other than The Dessy Group. Featuring designers such as Lela Rose, Dessy Collection by Vivian Dessy, After Six, Alfred Sung, and Social Bridesmaids, the Dessy Group has a little something for everyone.

Just take a peek at all these gorgeous frocks:

Lela Rose – whimsical and ever so chic!

Dessy Collection by Vivian Dessy - how about the ol’ bridesmaids style and color mix & match

Social Bridesmaids – Modern and oh so glamorous!

After Six – never too early to think spring! We’re in a garden state of mind!

Alfred Sung – Going mad for these short flirty styles!

The possibilities are endless.

Exclusively just for our lovely brides, we’re offering 25% off all these darling styles and more! Just head over to our online store (www.theweddinglibrarystore.com) and enter promo code WLSUN11 for all the styles and savings!

Brides hurry – offer ends soon!

REAL WEDDING - SALLY & JACK

This post is dedicated to Wedding Style Guide Magazine who featured this wedding for our clients Sally & Jack in one of their recent issues. It was very sad to hear this week that the magazine wont be published anymore. SugarLove were big fans and we will miss seeing some of our sweetest weddings published in their pages. We wish the editorial & design team a successful future and may our paths cross again.

Sally & Jack were married at All Saints Church in Woollahra, a location that was extra special to the groom's family who have now seen three generations married in the church.

Sally wore a stunning Monique Lhuillier gown

Now living in New York the couple chose Fort Denison to showcase the best of Sydney to all their international family & friends.

The rain started after the couple said "I-Do" but quickly passed just before the arrival on the island - perfect timing for the drinks & canapes.

The bridal party travel on a separate boat to Fort Denison. SugarLove photographers Bradley & Lauren working their magic despite the rain drops.

Guests travelled over on board the Radar.

The skies clear just in time for the pre dinner gathering.

Guests spend time enjoying the view before seating for dinner.

The tables were kept simple & elegant with florals by Florid Flowers.

The charm of historic artifacts and vintage lace enhance the heritage factor.

Guests are seated for the marquee dinner under the stars.

Cake Occasions worked with the couple to design the perfect cake.

Wedded bliss....we were thrilled Sally & Jack chose us over all other studios in the area of both Photography & Videography based on their research from home in New York.

Thank you for allowing us to share the visual capture of your day. Wishing you the very best always, Leigh & the SugarLove Team x