That crispness in the air is a fabulous sign – Winter is coming!

I know I live on the Sunshine Coast, and most weddings happen in Autumn and Spring, but don’t discount having a winter wedding – they’re my favourite.  No sweaty guests (or celebrants lol), the boys can wear gorgeous woollen suits, brides and their gals don’t need to worry about limp hair and sweating their makeup off.

Then imagine a reception up in the hinterland with a toasty, romantic fire … mmmm!  magic!  One of my fave weddings was a few years ago and the bride wore a beautiful gown and had a detachable ‘faux’ fur shawl – she looked stunning and oh, so classy.

One thing to remember though, is that because sunset is earlier, then the standard 3pm ceremony will usually need to be earlier – say 2pm, so you have lots of light for your photos.  Let me know if you need some advice as to when’s the best time for your ceremony – irrespective of when you’re getting married.

But,  winter is still not an overly popular time and most of the wedding industry takes a bit of a breather before we crank off again in August.  You may even find that some wedding suppliers discount their rates over winter … just sayin!  

like the song goes … it figures it’d rain on your wedding day … trust my luck and all that.  Well, we’ve had lots of rainy weddings on the Sunshine Coast but because most couples are pretty relaxed it’s been no biggie to move their ceremonies indoors.  This is why I love working with laidback people  – we can’t control the weather, so we’ll just work to make everything as fabulous as possible – but indoors    no tears 

And remember, if your photographer is worth their salt they’ll make the dark clouds panoramic and your wedding shots will be a.mazing.  It never ceases to astound me how talented some of my fave photographers are!

Anyway, back to the rain …. did you know that it’s supposed to be good luck if it rains on your wedding day?  Yeah, I agree, I reckon that’s BS  ….  and so did brides from hundreds of years ago … if it looked like rain they’d gather rocks and boil them to hold off the clouds.

So off you go, go grab some rocks ….

Four years ago (almost to the day), I married Sandi and Grant at Clio’s at Rosemount.  One of the joys of what I do is that I often maintain friendships with my couples long after their wedding.  And so it is with Sandi.

This amazing young woman styled her own wedding and designed and sewed her own wedding dress.  She was (and is) simply stunning.  The great thing for everyone else is that Sandi has stretched her creativity and artistry and is now a florist, and owner of Willow Bud.

Sandi’s romantic and vintage style is so refreshing.  My favourite flower is the peony (it’s like a huge rose on steroids) and whenever I see Willow Bud flowers I think of peonies … makes me happy because if you know your flowers, you’ll know peonies are only available for a very short time of the year.

Awesome blooms from Willow Bud

Check out Sandi’s artistry on Facebook :  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Willow-Bud/211285762330731?ref=ts&fref=ts

and her website:  http://www.willowbudweddingflowers.com.au/

and if you LOVE her work (and you will) tell her I sent you 

Phone: 0424 542 162

Email: sandi@willowbudweddingflowers.com.au

How do you know when its time to take the next step … when you’ve broken the barrier?

Here’s a hint:

Breaking the barrier

The perfect couple’s video – enjoy!

This has nothing whatsoever to do with weddings but its a ‘must watch’

a must watch – great for a giggle.

  with all this wedding planning you could probably use a few laughs 

so what does 2013 have in store for me I wonder?

Well, if I have my way I’ll get my next book written, have loads of lovely, fun weddings (my calendar is booking up quickly), keep teaching, and get my new company, Queensland Bridal Awards, up and running (more about that for another post).  I’m a busy person, as in, I like to be busy, it energises me.  So many people ask, how do you fit it all in?  I just, do.  Funnily enough though, the busyness of both weddings and Uni ebb and flow together.  At the moment, both are quite low energy – a few weddings here and there, and not much Uni responsibility. Both will change in February when teaching starts again and weddings pick up.  Then when Uni is frantic with marking etc, my weddings will be full on.  and then June July will slow down again before the chaos of August – November for both Uni and weddings again.

So while I have the opportunity to do nothing, I thought I might give it a go – see if I like it.  Today, I’m going to read and potter.  All day    (ok, so not quite nothing – I’ll be reading texts for Uni – but hey, I don’t have any Madison magazines).  I’ll do some planning for the year … put the house on the market (eeek), check flights and accommodation to Amsterdam (I’m speaking at an International Literature Conference in August) and basically potter around doing small stuff.

I should try to enjoy this lull before my year takes off in February 

A Christmas card from Beck and Ben
From the bottom of our hearts we want to express our gratitude for your guidance, calmness and humour on our wedding day. You helped make it the special and unique – and memorable – day it was and we are so appreciative of your commitment and effort. We have had many positive comments about how interesting and personal our ceremony was and we wouldn’t even have known where to start without your tailored suggestions and good humour.

We have been to someone else’s wedding since our own and smugly reflected our ceremony was much better!  

hehe – LOVE to hear that !

and another one:  you were more help than my moh 

Well the fat man has been and gone and I’ve destroyed a few more liver cells in the process.  My last wedding for 2012 was to be on the 29th but the couple have postponed their party… which made my wedding on 22nd my last for the year – and what a cracker of a wedding it was.  Amy and Scott planned their engagement party at the Maroochy Surf Club and surprised their guests by getting married while they were at it.  It was an absolute cracker of a ceremony with the crowd really getting involved and cheering.  Loads of laughs and jokes being thrown around – I love it when the crowd gets into it!  I worked with Kerrie Stein, Photographer (see my I Love tab for her details) and the Events Co-Ordinator for Maroochy Surf Club, Kerrie was also a great chicky to work with.  I recommend them both 

If you’ve been toying with the idea of a surprise wedding – give me a buzz, I do heaps of them and they’re almost a guarantee for a great night 

This week’s introduction is one of my very favourite people in the wedding industry here on the Sunshine Coast.  Pru Edwards is the pinnacle of professionalism in the make-up industry.  Pru uses only the very best products – her makeup is flawless and you will be guaranteed to look stunning.  An added bonus is that Pru can also give you very sexy Xtreme Lashes – trust me – you will LOVE!!  Ask for a wedding package – make-up and flirty lashes 

As a very busy Celebrant I’m particular about who I recommend to my couples – I won’t recommend people or services that I don’t have first-hand knowledge of.  If I recommend someone who’s dodgy – then I’ll look dodgy too – so I only recommend the very best.  Over the five years I’ve been recommending Pru to my brides, she has been professional, insightful, fun and easy going.  My couples all rave about her (and her work). Pru’s work is outstanding and we’ve worked together on hundreds of weddings on the Sunshine Coast.  Pru teaches make-up and is well-known on the modelling scene too.  Much of the catalogue and magazine work on the Coast is Pru’s handywork.

She creates beauty.

I asked Pru to do my daughter's makeup for her school formal

Check out her webpage: http://www.pruedwards.com.au/ and let her know that I sent you.  You won’t be disappointed!