don't know which colours to choose for your wedding...head on over to The Perfect Palette

Since I've joined TWIPS, an online community of the tweeting and blogging wedding world, I've discovered lots of lovely inspiration. If you are planning an Autumn wedding, Pantone has just released their Fall 2011 fashion color report. The Perfect Palette blog has compiled some beautiful inspiration boards based on these colours. I'm really loving the Deep Teal, Coffee Liquer, and Nougat inspiration board below.  These colours really go together well in a harmonious way and look sunny and fabulous. Check out all of the colour inspiration on this beautiful blog and start planning your Autumn wedding to be colourful and inspired.

Mamma Mia!!! Singing Waiters from Ireland?

Have you ever gone to a wedding and felt a little bit bored in between all of the eating and talking to people you don't know? Would you love a little bit of entertainment? A show, some theatre, comedic opera singers disguised as chefs? Yes! The Singing Waiters of Singers For Hire will perform at your wedding and you're guests will LOVE you for it!

 I discovered the Singing Chefs when I photographed Lorraine and Paul's wedding in October at Killashee House in Naas. "Marco" and Ria totally charmed everyone with their energetic renditions of "New York New York", "O Sole Mio", and "Funiculi Funicula". And I think even "One Cornetto" if I can remember correctly?

Have a look at their webpage and you will see that:

"He has sung for monarchs and world leaders including Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton, Prince Albert II of Monaco and as a soloist in venues from the Champs Elysées Theatre, Paris and Zurich Opera House to The Warwick Hotel in New York."

 If you are a person who loves your music and wants to give something back to your guests, you shouldn't hesitate to contact the very talented  Singers for Hire. They'll even travel to countries outside Ireland!

Kid Art

Sorry this isn't wedding related, but I had to show a bit of my son's brilliant art work. I only discovered a couple of weeks ago that my 4 year-old can actually draw real, recognisable images. I had no idea he could draw heads and bodies and spaceships and spiderwebs!

This is a little picture he drew of the "Real Mommy" and "The Fake Mommy". It's a dual portrait of me! I'm not quite sure what he's trying to say about me, but it's cute and interesting and so I encourage him to draw more! And don't you love how the "Fake Mommy's" hair looks like it's standing on end with static electricity? 

He very carefully drew the bodies with lots of little scribbly lines. Kind of like a bobbly mohair sweater! And this is kind of strange, but in the above picture, the bits above my eyes are my brain! Cool, huh?

And this is the "Real Mommy". Thank goodness she is the slimmer one! But I also notice she is the one with a tiny head and no brains. Oh well. I guess I can't have it all.

and now for a bit of shoe bling...

 I'm sure everyone knows that women love shoes. My husband is perfectly happy with having one pair of black shoes, a pair of brown, and a pair of runners, but very few women can do this. This is the way of the world I guess.

And probably one of the most important pair of shoes a woman will ever buy is her wedding shoes. A lot of thought goes into the shoes and she will definitely want pictures.

While my previous post was on hair bling, this one is all about shoe bling. Here are a couple pairs from some former weddings that I've photographed. Use the first pair here as inspiration for what you could so with some vintage jewelery. And have fun shoe shopping!

let me brooch the subject of hair bling for all you lovely brides...

Are you a modern bride who also loves a bit of vintage? A great way to go vintage without taking it to extremes is to add a bit of antique hair bling with a brooch. The hair stylist you use should be able to pin it in so that it looks effortlessly elegant like this bride whose wedding I photographed here. She got the brooch online from England, but there are loads of Irish antique shops in Dublin too.

 I'm a big fan of antique brooches and I use them on a chain as a really original necklace. I think a great idea would be to keep an eye on some particular colours on Ebay. Then have your bridesmaids pin them in their hair. For example, if the bridesmaids dresses are lavender, then have a look on Ebay for brooches in complimentary colours like green and plum. Use search terms like rhinestone, enamel, crystal, and rivoli with your vintage brooch search. Some fabulous vintage quality costume jewelery brands are Coro, Kramer, and Lisner.

Irish Art Nouveau from Farrell & Chase, and Biba Bride: A Match Made in Heaven

 If you're looking for the most gorgeous, delicious wedding stationary MADE IN IRELAND (really!), be sure to have a look at Farrell & Chase

These Art Nouveau invitations were created by Pamela for her own upcoming wedding in Rome and are truly a pleasure to look at and I'm sure to touch. Pamela creates her stationary on antique letterpresses from the 19th century. Pamela's invitations have created quite a fervor in the Irish wedding sphere that she has decided to add them to her permanent collection. Oh how I wish I was bride again and knew about these! They are truly stunning.

And across the pond, legendary British brand Biba is introducing a bridal collection in February that's exclusive to House of Fraser. There are 7 dresses inspired by British It Girls like Alexa and Zoe, and a selection of cover-ups such as capes. There are only 100 of each style so expect them to sell out quickly! They will be at selected UK House of Fraser shops including Dundrum, and also online at House of Fraser
Let us know if you manage to score one! I think they might be going on sale on the 14th, but I'm not sure. I do know that if you leave a comment here on the HOF site
they will email you to let you know when they are available :)

Who Says You Can't Hand-tie Your Own Wedding Flower Bouquet?

 I love that weddings have become personalised with a little DIY and can-do attitude. Only a little time ago, most brides would never dream of hand-tying their own bouquets of flowers. But if you can stick with a simple colour scheme and only one type of flower, I think most adventurous brides can create a beautiful bouquet. These pictures are from one of my favourite weddings that I photographed in Dublin. The flowers are simple and elegant; perfect for an artsy bride.