A Truly Magical Day - Becoming Mrs Maloney

Mr & Mrs Maloney

Friday 1st August 2014 was the best day of my life. It was the day I married my best friend, my soul mate and the love of my life.

We got engaged three years ago, in August 2011, but didn't book the church or reception venue until September 2012. The planning process didn't properly start until January 2014 and I was very indecisive on exactly what I wanted the day to look like. Wedding magazines and Pinterest became my best friends as I spent hours flicking through the glossy pages and pinning wedding dresses and cakes to my virtual pin boards. Planning a wedding is very stressful, tiring and time consuming but I loved every minute of it. I wish I started earlier but looking back on the day, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

There were too many pictures that I wanted to share with you so I made collages from my favourites so the post wasn't too long! I hope you enjoy looking at our special day and if you have any questions just ask.

Rachel x

The church // Inside the beautiful church // The rings // Walking down the aisle

Exchanging vows // Exchanging rings // Family & friends

The kiss // Signing the register // Kissing my husband

Walking up the aisle as Mr & Mrs // Confetti 

Mr & Mrs Maloney // Me and my beautiful dress

Arriving at our reception venue // Our beautiful venue // In the back of the car // The room

Cake stand flower arrangement // Place setting // Chair bows

Our delicious wedding cake // The table plan

Mr & Mrs Maloney // Husband & Wife

Mr & Mrs // My beautiful flowers // Our rings // Cutting the cake

The Wedding Series - Save The Date Ideas

Image from Google, edited by me

Save The Dates are by no means an essential, however, we are getting married in August which is a popular month for holidays. Therefore I want to give all our guests one years notice so they are free to attend our wedding. These days, there are a variety of Save The Date options; magnets, tea towels, postcards and regular cards to name a few. I think we have decided on a flat card style and we want handmade ones as the choices you can buy in packs from shops are just not special enough. A few weeks ago, I contacted a few handmade stationery suppliers and asked for samples to consider for our wedding.

WARNING: This post is picture heavy!

Love Story Stationery

Love Story Stationery create bespoke invitations and other wedding stationery. Rachel very kindly sent me a few different styles that had been created for other couples. She also included a few other ideas for invitations, menus, etc, which was very kind of her. Delivery was super fast and I received these within days of contacting her. Customer service was extremely good and Rachel was very friendly. Prices for Save The Dates from Love Story are approximately £2 each, which is average for a handmade invitation. I have to comment on the quality of card used, it's fantastic. Great quality used and the invites look expensive.

I Do Designs

Out of all the Save The Dates I received, I have to admit that I Do Designs sent me my favourites. Customer service from Louise was excellent. She asked me about our colour scheme and if we wanted any embellishments before creating bespoke invites just for us. We haven't decided on our colour scheme just yet so I said neutral/pale pink and I absolutely love all of these designs. The above designs range from £1.85-£2.20. My favourites are the first, second and third design. I'm struggling to choose just one! Again the card quality is fantastic, which makes the cards look like they're worth a lot more.

AJZ Craftz

Angela from AJZ Crafts provided excellent customer service. On her website, she has a variety of questions for you to answer. She uses your answers to make up several designs personal to you and your requirements. Then I received an email with photographs of a number of different designs and Angela asked which was my favourite. Once I had chosen my favourite, she made a hard copy and sent it to me. This doesn't have to be the final copy. She can work with you to change anything or add anything you require. The above Save The Dates are priced at 80p, which is a fantastic price for a handmade card. 

Indigo Flash Bespoke Stationary

Indigo Flash make bespoke stationery. I specified that I like vintage style with ribbons and pearls and as we don't have a colour scheme, I stuck with neutral/dusky pink. Sarah sent me five different designs as ideas and specified that we would take bits of the ones we like and create bespoke cards just for us. The price range of the cards pictured above, range from 85p to £1.50, which is very reasonable. They also print guest names and addresses on the envelopes, which is included in the price. My favourite has to be the one with the lace detail! Also, I love that ribbon! It makes a perfect keepsake and would be fabulous for wedding favours too! 

I think my next post will be inspiration to help me (and you) find the perfect dress as that is the next step in my wedding planning journey.

I hope you are enjoying these posts and if you are planning a wedding, I hope they are helping you. If you have already planned a wedding, please share your tips below for me and others to read. Thank you.

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick

The Wedding Series - My Journey To Becoming A Mrs

Image from Google, edited by me

I have been thinking about starting a wedding series on my blog for a while now. Just to document our journey of planning a wedding and then sharing the actual wedding itself. I thought it would be lovely to have something to look back on in years to come while also helping other brides to be when planning their dream wedding.

Our history...

We met over five years ago through mutual friends and a love of pizza! On June 28th, we will have been together five years but we got engaged in August 2011. We decided on a long engagement as we wanted to live together and we needed to save up for a deposit first. Since November 2012, we have been living together in our own little house which we love and it has meant that we can finally start planning our wedding. So far we have decided on a date - Friday 1st August 2014, booked the church and booked the wedding reception venue. Now with just over a year to go, the fun starts! My plan is to share with you ideas, inspiration and document our success in wedding planning. 

Tips! 

My first tip is to visit wedding fairs, we've been to a fair few! They provide you with excellent inspiration, allow you to chat to local businesses and most host a fashion show with wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses and mother of the bride outfits. Some you have to pay an entrance fee too but there are many which are free and they are just as good. I have built up quite a collection of flyers for possible options. These are great to add to your scrapbook (see below).

Buy lots wedding magazines (sometimes you can pick up free ones at wedding fairs) and create a scrapbook of anything you like. I'm going to try and organise mine into sections so I have a section on hair, cakes, flowers etc. I also have a secret section in the back for wedding dresses I like so the fiance doesn't find them so easily! I plan on taking this along with me to share with the professionals so they can get a feel of what we're into and what we like. 

Pinterest is also a great tool. If you are unaware of how it works, it's like an online scrapbook, a virtual pin board where you pin anything of interest to you. I have a general 'Wedding' board, a 'Wedding Hair' board and a 'Wedding Flowers' board so far. You can view other bride to be boards and repin anything of inspiration to you. 

I hope you enjoy reading about our wedding journey regardless of whether you are getting married or not. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you! My next post will be about Save The Dates as that is where we are up to. Hopefully, it should be up this week. 

Rachel x

Lost In Lipstick