A fan of anything that will add a bit of spark to your wedding, I have written about Chinese Flying Lanterns before here on the wedding blog and now there is another supplier offering these in Ireland.  Skycandle Ireland just launched last week and are offering all customers 10% off, simply type in ‘launch’ in the promotion box at the checkout.

Skycandles are also known as Chinese lanterns, and they are set alight and they float off into the sky creating a really beautiful display that would be ideal for a wedding.  Skycandles are 100% biodegradable, so no need to worry that you are harming the environment!

Many couples often look for some entertainment during the wedding day to add splash of drama and wow factor to the proceedings.  A popular choice is a ‘release’ of some description whether it is butterflies, balloons, doves, or fireworks and these are all popular crowd pleasers.  Skycandles are an alternative choice and offer something that bit different, they also represent luck and good fortune. They are made from biodegradable paper so tick all the right boxes for an eco friendly display.  Different to the other “release” options, skycandles are a great way to get the guests involved.

The flame lit underneath provides the uplift using the same principle as a hot air balloon to float the lanterns into the sky on a calm dark evening for a dramatic display.  The Lanterns can be used both day and night You can ask your guests to write their own good luck messages on the lanterns which can be read by the bride and groom wishing them luck in their future life together.

There are many packages available, ranging from a 5 pack for €20 to a pack of 200 for €340.  Check out www.skycandle.ie for more info.

Last Sunday I was invited down to Adare Manor to their wedding fair to check out the property and see what the renowed 5 star property has to offer potential brides.

Let me tell you…ALOT!  It was incredible to see a black carriage being pulled by 2 large black horses with the white feather plumes coming out of the top of their heads!  The Manor itself is really spectacular, and the banqueting hall in particular would be amazing for a wedding ceremony.  For parties up to 90 people they can set the room up with a long extended banquet table - spectacular!

They had invited Wedding Planner to the Stars Tatiana Byron to speak to the brides and grooms to be, about Wedding Trends for 2010.  Diligent as I am, I scribbled notes for you guys so here we go!

A key piece of advice from Tatiana - Approach any decision for your wedding day with one thought in your mind: “How is this going to affect my wedding guests?”  If you always consider your guests then you can’t go too far wrong with your decisions.

Top 10 Trends for 2010

#1 Personalization is key

Suggestions:

• Custom designed monograms for the couple.  This can be used throughout throughout the wedding day from lights on the dance floor, the aisle runner, invitations, cake toppers, menus….the list goes on!
• Custom Wedding Songs.  You tell the story and a musician creates a song, you can use for your first dance, for your wedding “music video” etc.
• Get a characaturist to do a picture of you the couple which can be used on invitations, to display at the wedding etc.  Black Eye Peas singer Fergie did this for her wedding!

#2 Wedding Colours

Suggestions:

• Trend at the moment is anything but traditional, Vibrant colours such as oranges, yellows, hot pinks, greens etc.
• Use colours as a common thread in your wedding - flowers, linens, invitations, table cloths etc.

#3 Themed Weddings

Suggestions:

• French Opulence is popular for 2010.  Think Chateau Versailles.
• Word of caution.  If you are going for a themed wedding, you have to embrace the theme throughout to be true to it and to create the atmosphere you are looking for.  This will inevitably drive up the overall cost of your wedding.

#4 Eco Friendly Chic

“Green Factor” Suggestions:

• Food and Flowers - grown within 100 mile radius, organic farming
• Invitations - sustainable materials eg bamboo, plantable seeds, recycled paper etc.  Katherine Heigl had an Eco Friendly Wedding.
• Favours - homemade organic cookies, organic caramel apples, potted tulips, bamboo coaster & plants…these are a symbol of good luck!

#5 Signature Cocktails

Suggestons:

• Serve your favourite cocktail & name it aafter the happy couple á la “Brangelina”
• Cocktail menus can feature your monogram
• Cocktails can be matched to your colour scheme, eg coloured liquers, sugar crystals on glass etc.

#6 Dessert

Suggestions:

• Cupcake displays very trendy in last year or so
• Dessert Spreads and Candy “Bars”
  • Gourmet chocolates
  • Colourful and towerinig desserts
  • Lollipop gardens
  • mini cupcake towers v popular
• Use your monogram on your cake
• Personalised M&Ms with your initials (only costs about €150)

#7 Entertainment

Suggestions:

• Non Traditional Performances
  • Electric Concert Violinists
  • Cirque style performers
  • Stilt walkers escorting guests
• Trend at the moment for “music videos” in weddings which is basically a 1.5 minute video/photo montage of the couple which can be put to music and shown at the wedding

#8 Bridal Fashion

Trends:

• Bridal Fashion follows runways of Paris and Milan
• Brides showing more skin
• Mini dresses
• Multiple gowns for the evening
• Convertable dresses
• Old Hollywood Glamour, think Grace Kelly
• Romantic/Princess like gowns
• Sheer fabrics & lace
• Mismatched Bridal gowns
• one gown, multiple looks
• Alyssa Milano’s bridesmaids all looked different
• Shop: Sydney, New York OR London; 2Birds Bridesmaid make 1bridesmaids dress for weddings which can be worn in 15 different styles!  Something to suit all shapes and sizes and is sure to please your bridesmaids.

#9 Beauty & Accessories

Trends:

• Hair down with simple headpiece á la Fergie
• Birdcage Veils v popular
• Statement Jewellry - beaded necklaces
• Natural Make up
• Loose cascading curls
• Antique brooches used in hair

#10 New Things!

• Wedding Websites so couples can share their planning process and journey with their family and friends eg. mywedding.com, projectwedding.com
  • Can share updates on hotels, recreation activities, restaurants etc.
  • Involve your guests in your wedding planning process
  • If you are having a “destination wedding” then a wedding website is almost obligatory to keep people informed of the plan for the few days you are expecting them to travel for.
• Blogging about your experience is also a growing trend amongst brides-to-be.
  • Build a Bridal Community
• Honour your heritage.
  • If you have traditions in your family, your wedding is a lovely time to integrate them into your new family!
  • Think about food inspired by your heritage, music etc etc.
• Celebrities are a great source of inspiration.
• Ultimately your wedding is about YOU!
• Follow trends but always add the personal touch.

These Top 10 Tips come from UK based online florists - http://flowersguide.co.uk

Flowers take centre stage and play an integral part of your wedding day. They make up your bouquet and that of the bridesmaids, they are scattered by the flower girls, worn as button holes by the grooms men and guests, form centrepiece decorations at the church and venue, can be thrown as confetti and used to create a sense of continuity and style between outfits, event and theme.  Getting your flowers right and getting them within budget will provide you with a great sense of relief.  The task may seem momentous and indeed it is!  However, you may find that these top ten tips on selecting wedding flowers help!

Photo Courtesy of www.bunches.co.uk

• Tip One – Plan in advance. It is never too soon to start looking for a wedding florist, so once you have set the date for the big day, get those Yellow Pages out!  A wedding florist will have to do much of the work on the morning of your wedding, so may only be able to fit in one or two weddings per weekend – book early to avoid disappointment.

• Tip Two - Shop around. To ensure you get the best deal, both financially and in terms of the best florist you can possible have – shop around. Get quotes from various florists and do not be afraid to ask to see pictures. A professional wedding florist should be more than happy for you to pop in when they are doing someone else`s wedding so you can view their work. As you no doubt will tell everyone and anyone you are getting married, take heed of word of mouth recommendations! A great wedding florist is certainly something to cherish, so if your friends can recommend one – all the better!

• Tip Three – Stay within budget! Selecting wedding flowers may come down to cost at the end of the day, but this does not mean you will have to compromise on what you want.  Get a great florist who can work with you and find the perfect arrangements for you.  Be open at the beginning about your budget – remember wedding flowers can cost anything from three hundred to five hundred pounds (and a great deal more or less!).  Remember – if budget is an issue avoid holidays, especially ones which revolve around flowers, such as Valentines day and Mothers Day! Florists will be busier and charge more during these periods!

• Tip Four – Consider the season when choosing the colour. Not all flowers will be in season at the time of your wedding, so consider this when choosing the colour of flower for your wedding theme.  Knowing your colour before you go to the florist will be a great help!

• Tip Five – Remember time is money! Choosing an intricate bouquet will push the cost of your bouquet up.  Also, bouquets can be heavy!  Choose flowers that are in season to cut costs. Lastly, consider a single flower for a dramatic look!

• Tip Six and Tip Seven – Consider combinations and multiple uses! Flowers from the venue (i.e. the church) can be used as flowers for the table settings!  Multiple use can cut costs and provide continuity.

• Tip Eight – Co-ordination is everything! When it comes to the bridesmaids and grooms men`s button holes, flowers are the ideal way to co-ordinate your wedding day.  Remember, wedding photos will be taken of the whole group, so make sure everyone looks good together.

• Tip Nine – When it comes to Confetti, natural is best! Freeze dried petals have recently become the hottest property when it comes to choosing confetti.  Better for the environment, natural flower petal confetti is an ideal way to add glamour and sophistication to your wedding whilst being in touch with nature.  Available in an array of different flower petals (and therefore in a vast array of colours) petal confetti adds a modern twist to an old tradition.

• Tip Ten – Consider buying your wedding flowers online for convenience and budget. You may find that by purchasing your wedding flowers online you save money and find the whole process less stressful.  Remember, if your flowers are delivered in water to ensure you dry the stems before holding up in front of your dress!

1. iDIY - Design Goodies for “I Do”-It-Yourself Weddings
2. The UnBride - Unconventional & Unforgetable
3. Didn’t Get the Wedding Gene - personal account of an Irish gals wedding planning
4. Temple of Groom - One for the Boys!  An LA Groom who is very much part of his wedding planning
5. Etsy Wedding - Offbeat finds for the Ecclectic Bride (From Etsy, online shop for all things handmade)
6. Wedding Nouveau - A Style Guide for Intercultural Brides
7. Brenda’s Wedding Blog - Daily Inspriration for the One-Of-A-Kind Bride and Groom
8. BrideChic - an online resource for Bridal Fashion - DRESSES, DRESSES, DRESSES!
9. StyleMePretty - “Obsessions for Brides” - the photography in this blog is FABULOUS!
10. Beaut.ie - Irelands #1 Beauty Blog - Now while not 100% weddingy, I think all brides-to-be need to be in the know re: beauty products and regimes!

One of my very dear friends recently travelled to Portugal for the wedding of her manager.  It was an unusual wedding in that, the newlywed couple are both American, but the bride has lived and worked in Ireland for the past number of years but is now planning to relocate back to America after the wedding.  Everybody had to travel to the wedding, from Ireland and the US and there was 37 of them together for a full week.

One of the most touching parts of the whole ceremony was that the bride made personalised wedding favours for all of the guests.  Not any normal wedding favour, each guest had a Corona bottle waiting for them when they sat down for dinner, inside of which was a scroll with a personalised letter written to each and every one of them.  I read my friends letter, and it brought a tear to my eye - not only was this a gorgeous gesture for all of the guests, for the Irish in the crowd, it was a goodbye note too.

I am always hammering on about making your day special and that its the unusual little touches that will stand out in peoples memory.  I am sure that anyone who attended that wedding will cherish that letter forever.

Maybe not practical for a large Irish extravaganza but for a smaller, more intimate wedding I think it would be a beautiful thing to do.  The bride typed up each letter on sandy coloured paper (for a homemade alternative, you could dye white paper with a wet teabag) and burned around the edges so it had an old-map effect.  She then rolled up each scroll and placed inside the Corona bottle which had a sand & shells in the bottom of the bottle to weight it.

Recently came across a new irish website selling gifts and gadgets and their Flying Chinese Lanterns caught my eye, perfect for an outdoor/marquee wedding and what a great way to get your guests involved and send up a wish for your future wedded happiness!

The Chinese Lanterns will fly for up to 20 minutes and can rise over a mile in the sky – where they will still be visible all around.  Traditionally used in Chinese and Thai celebrations, these are a beautiful and fascinating way to light up the sky - and (my favourite part) It was believed that wishes written on lanterns would rise up to the heavens and come true. :)

A quieter, gentler alternative to fireworks, flying lanterns are the safe, simple and perfect way to create an amazing visual display in the sky, a really memorable addition to any wedding.  See below for a video of them being launched at a wedding.

If you want Flying Chinese Lanterns for your own wedding, check out GStore.ie - they will ship them anywhere in Ireland and go from €25.00 for a pack of 10 to €300.00 for 130 lanterns.

As an avid Electric-Picnic-goer I love the festival vibe and a definite highlight is hanging out in the marquees and wonderfully decorated tents in the rolling fields of Stradbally.  I’ve been overheard manys the time saying that EP is like a playground for adults!  The Bollywood Bar at the picnic is a top spot to chill out on an oversized flourescent pillow on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Well, if you feel like ditching the stiff sit-down dinner option for your wedding, and go completely OUT THERE, then fret not, you can re-create your own Electric Picnic stylee wedding funtion!  Bohemia Tent Company supplies fabulous marquees, Indian tents and Mongolian Yurts for events in Ireland.

Not only can you hire a special tent or marquee for your own garden or land, they also supply marquees for events at Hotels, stately homes and country houses that actually compliment the beautiful surroundings and add to the aesthetic of the event.

Although they are primarily located in the UK they also have a base in Slane, county Meath and storage in Carlow in Ireland, so they are able to and do cover the whole country without bringing stock from the UK.

Sounds super, right?  But most of us out there wouldn’t have a clue what it would cost to host such a wedding.

• The smallest Yurt will cost you a mere €850 and can seat up to 30 people
• The Indian Marquee will cost you less than €1,500 and has a capacity of 70 seated and 120 standing.
• The Grand Pavillion, the creme de la creme of outdoor venue options will set you back about €11,000 including flooring and lighting.  This will hold 230 people fully seated and up to 450 standing.

They’ve done celebrity weddings such as Jasmine Guinness to the full backstage VIP and artist areas at Electric Picnic as well as smaller more intimate events and weddings.  For the camping enthusiasts out there, they also offer bridal yurts and Tipis with a bedroom interior in remote locations!

New for this year are two canvas pole marquees recreated in minute detail.  These can be lined, with a choice of elegant yet historic linings, varying from Damasque wallpaper prints, chinoiserie styles and 18th century Indian patterns as well as more traditional cream coloured linings.  Swit swoo!

They can accomodate all budgets and have a range of more contemporary easy-up tension marquees that are pretty unbeatable on price; so as I was reliably informed by Charles, the company director - they try to offer an across the board service.

Bohemia are often the first port of call for clients, and they have an arrangement with many venues around the country where they can put together a package that incorporates all of the elements including the grounds.

You can download their entire brochure (do, its beautiful!) here

Last night was the first episode in the new season of Brides Of Franc and Franc aka Peter Kelly ventured West to the Aran Islands to organise a wedding in the community centre Halla Ronán in 3 short months.  The couple Máirtín Eoin Coyne and Aoife Flaherty had very little done before Franc came on hand so the challenge was immense.

One of the most difficult aspects of the job was not transforming the halla, as could be seen from previous shows, Franc can transform ANY venue; it was the logistical problem of having to ship everything to the island by ferry.  As Franc himself noted, it was a very expensive option as things had to be rented for a week, not a day as would usually be the case.

The brief was organic and eco-friendly, but when it came down to it the couple did want a bit of glamour and from the tails of Máirtín Eoin’s suit and Aoife’s beautiful vintage-style lace dress there certainly was the wow-factor that I think they wanted all along.

It was impossible not to be impressed with the massive feat of logistics and planning that Franc and his team put into the wedding.  I’m sure the half-hour program only gave us a glimpse of what actually went into it all.  It was so lovely to see a young couple so very much in love and Máirtín Eoin came across as a complete gent, so softly spoken.  Aoife was very much the relaxed bride and put so much trust in Franc and really went with the flow, even getting hair extensions - something she had never had before!

It was all so worth it in the end, with the most beautiful wedding on their beloved Inis Mór, where they grew up together.  I think even Franc himself was overwhelmed by the love in the room on the night.

A great watch - definitely a lovely couple to start the season with.  No bridezilla’s here!  What did you think - anyone else watch the show last night??

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t care about the environment these days, but few of us consider the environmental impact of our weddings. And let’s be honest - if we do, a lot of us think “It’s one day, stuff it” and move on. But it’s increasingly common for couples to want their wedding day to reflect their values, including their environmental ethics, and that’s where things can get tricky.

Wedding dresses fly all over the world to make their way up the aisle, and even the materials that go into them can be a concern for some brides - unethically traded fabrics, chemical dyes, and even silk itself can give the eco-concious bride pause.

A whole crop of enterprising wedding vendors have sprung up to meet the needs of this emerging bridal market. One of these is designer Deborah Lindquist, who has crafted a collection of stunning, unusual and environmentally friendly couture wedding gowns.

Her designs are created using a combination of “recycled cashmere, repurposed kimonos and saris, vintage silk scarves, and sustainable materials such as hemp, organic cotton and organic wool.”

As with the vintage lace in this dress, Deborah re-purposes a lot of existing materials for her designs. Obviously, this has a tiny production footprint and has become very, very trendy; you can use your mother’s wedding dress, a thrifted gown or virtually any other fabric in a process know as “upcycling” - a nod to upcycling’s environmentally friendly cousin, recycling.