Progress Report : The Blue Room

A couple of months ago I shared this update on our study - and I know its been taking ages (We have been sooo  busy!)  But we are nearly there!!

So far the H2B has installed the coving, prepped all the walls and painted them in navy and taken up the (blue) carpet and put down some wooden flooring and we have bought a new radiator cover.

What do you think? Do you like the way its looking?  Interestingly even though the navy is dark the flooring makes the room look a whole lot bigger!  And I love the navy and white together!

A Chi Chi Affair

We still have a few things to do - I want to cover the seat with fabric, we want to put in an art wall and some kind of lamp as well as a light fitting, and some kind of window covering.  I cant wait to share it with you when its totally finished.

Rachie xo

Wedding Wednesday - Venue Searching in London Part 1

Once we had decided to have our wedding reception in London we started the hunt for our venue. Our first stop was The Zetter. This is somewhere that I frequented when I lived in that part of London with my bestie Rosie (Rosie is always once of my bridesmaids!) and I have always loved it. They do great cocktails! The Zetter is a very cool boutique hotel and we would have hired the acclaimed restaurant Bistro Bruno Loubet for the meal which has got great reviews and would have been such a treat for our guests.

The Zetter

The Zetter

They were very lovely at The Zetter and quite reasonable,  and the restaurant is such a stylish, light and airy space perfect for our summer wedding. However for us it was just a little small for our numbers and I wanted that flexibility to invite who we wanted. However if our numbers were less I would have seriously considered it especially now the very cool Zetter Townhouse has opened across the road.

Next up was Bluebird - the famous restaurant on The Kings Road. I liked the location and the menu and thought it would be a stylish place for a wedding.The events space is large and a nicely set up space and there are lots of flexibility in the menus too.

You and your wedding

However for us it was a little plain and corporate and as they wouldn't close the main restaurant we felt we would feel a little hemmed in and it would be very busy on a Saturday night.  It would be lovely for a meal or party but perhaps not quite "us" for our wedding. Two down, three to go!

Next week I'll be taking you through two other venues we looked at.

Rachie xo

PS: If you haven't voted please please vote for me here to be one of the Rock My Wedding real brides. Would be super grateful!

DIY Papel Picardo Flags

I really love these DIY paper picardo flags as they are such a great alternative to bunting! I think these feel really party-like and modern and of course you can use all sorts of colours and be as creative as you like! Perfect for all sorts of parties, weddings or just your own back yard soiree - they are super simple to make!

Click here to get the full how to over at Green Wedding Shoes.


Posh Paperie via Green Wedding Shoes

Happy Tuesday All

Rachie xo

Picnic Baby Shower

Happy Monday all!

I hope everyone had good weekends - ours was super hot and we managed to have both a BBQ and a picnic! Yum!

This inspired me to post this fabulous picnic baby shower with TONS of inspiration. Seriously there were so many fab pics that I had so much trouble picking the ones I wanted to show so do go over to Celebrations at Home and check out the full post which is truly gorgeous!

The vintage country theme works so well for this shower. I love the gingham table cloth and the darling favours! Its all so well put together! Love the old boxes and the wheel too - they make great props!

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

The jam jar glasses with the straws and those little flags are so cute and really well executed. They go so perfectly with the theme.

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

I would totally love to receive one of those handmade pies in the boxes - gorgeous!

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

Those colourful flowers are a great finsihing touch for the table!

http://www.thepixelstudio.com/

Hope you love this as much as me!

Rachie xo

Watermelon and Lime Ice Lollies

Thank goodness its Friday and here in the UK the weather is finally hotting up for the weekend. My sis is coming over for a BBQ with my darling nephew and we are going to be sunbathing and chilling!

H2B is obsessed with ice lollies at the moment - seriously he has one every night even if the weather is rubbish! They are so full of sugar though that I thought I would have a go at making my own and luckily I came across this fabulous recipe

Watermelon and Lime Lollies!!

Its literally watermelon, cane sugar and limes so it must be (sort of) good for you! No additives or flavourings!
Click over to the lovely Cashmere and Cupcakes blog here for the recipe!

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/

Happy Weekend all! What have you got planned?

Rachie xo

PS: If you haven't voted please please vote for me here to be one of the Rock My Wedding real brides. Would be super grateful!

Please vote for me!

Hi all!!

Hope you are having a good week everyone  - it seems to be flying by!

As most of you know I'm planning my wedding at the moment and a few weeks back I applied to become a Rock My Wedding Real Bride. Rock my Wedding have posted a couple of the parties I styled before here and here so I'm a big fan.

If you win it means you get to write about your wedding planning for the Rock My Wedding blog and share your journey to the altar with lots of like minded ladies :-) Don't worry I'll still be sharing it here too but it does mean I get to write in more depth.

Now I've been lucky enough to be shortlisted in the contemporary cool category so I would be so grateful if you would vote for me to win! Pretty Please!

Here is the mood board that i came up with which lead to me being shortlisted and you can go over and read my post here.

achichiaffair

All you need to do to vote is leave a comment saying VOTE in the comments box! Click here to go to the post

Thank you so much for all your support!

Rachie xo

Wedding Wednesday: Coral

The more wedding planning I do the more I'm finding colours that I like and I can see little themes emerging. In fact when I took stock of some of my planning pics the other day I find I am drawn to one colour most of all. Coral.

Its funny because I haven't always liked coral - in fact i can remember a time when I really didn't like it. I think its to do with the fact I had peach patterned 90's curtains in my bedroom growing up! But over the past season I've bought a few coral dresses for my wardrobe and its such a pretty colour, I also noticed the coral roses that were in my neighbours garden (he has so many amazing roses) and I was really drawn to them.

Here are some of my planning pics.

http://misswallflower.tumblr.com/post/3418294872 via Pinterest

http://savedbythesouthernbelle.tumblr.com/post/3185588293 via Pinterest

wedluxe via pinterest

http://www.w-weddingflowers.com via Pinterest

What do you think about Coral?

Rachie xo

Cookie bag party favours

My good friend Will from Bright Bazaar found this fab tutorial for cookie bag favours and I just had to link to it too as they are just such a lovely idea and the instructions are super simple.

Its from a great blog called High Street Market and Kelly posts loads of great inspiration. Its definitely worth a look so do go over and check it out

These favours would be gorgeous for a baby shower as seen here or for a child's birthday.  Fill with any kind of treats you like! Homemade ones are the best!!

http://highstreetmarket.blogspot.com

http://highstreetmarket.blogspot.com

http://highstreetmarket.blogspot.com

Click here for the full how to and to read more from Kelly. I love the yellow and white colours too!

Rachie xo

Elephant themed Twins Birthday Party

med Today I'm posting a really lovely twins birthday party that was sent to me by Mae at maearmstrongdesigns.com. There is a ton of inspiration here and Mae has done a great write up so over to Mae to tell you all about it.

I was inspired by all the handmade parties I've seen online and wanted to give myself a similar challenge. Planning for this party began five months in advance. I wanted it to be super special for my twin boys and husband. All three of them share the same birthday. How amazing is that!

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

The trick of course was finding the time to finish all the different elements I wanted. Between all of my normal mommy duties, household chores, errands and freelance gigs, I was able to sneak some time to research, learn a few DIY birthday projects, design and create my very own handmade birthday party.

The aqua and blue circus theme was inspired by a paper carousel from Meri Meri given to my boys. I loved the elephant especially, so that became the centerpiece of my design.

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

After creating the party invitation, everything began to fall into place. I sewed a simple elephant themed fabric pennant and a crochet banner. I repurposed my old baby food jars into these pretty little containers for Jelly Beans. I whipped up some homemade caramel popcorn as another party favor, we added a jar full of animal crackers and goldfish to our dessert table. I made birthday wreath, shirts, pj's and bibs for the boys. I also created three giant smash cakes. The party hats were handmade too!

maearmstrongdesigns.com

maearmstrongdesigns.com

As an added touch - my husband hired his co-worker to play 'Happy Birthday' and some other songs on his bagpipes. It was an ode to the boys half-Scottish heritage and filled the neighborhood with some pretty cool tunes.

maearmstrongdesigns.com

Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetest little boys in the whole world and my loving husband. Thank you for putting up with me when I am in my crazy creative moods. I love you and am looking forward for many more years of celebration.

Huge Thanks to the following vendors. Sweet Zugar Cakes for providing the main birthday cake

Katie Cakes for helping me frost and decorate their giant smash cupcakes

Thank you so much Mae for the great writeup! Your party is so gorgeous and the twins are too sweet! Do check out Mae's blog for more inspiration and for custom invitations and personal stationery.

Rachie xo

Fathers Day Printables and Winner

Happy Saturday All!

So I thought I would check in with you guys on a Saturday just to share these absolutely fab free printables for Fathers Day from one of my fave wedding blogs The Pretty Blog!  They are perfect for a last minute card for your daddy!

Click here to get the printables and be dure to look around the rest of the fab site too!

theprettyblog

And the winner of the giveaway winning these fab ramsign signs is Imagine.Create.Play.

Huge congratulations and I hope you like the sign!

Rachie xo

Fabulous Friday Food: Rock Buns

Its Fathers Day this sunday and in honour of my daddy I am posting his favourite recipe - Rock buns.

My mum is a  very keen baker and growing up there was always an assortment of cakes in the cake box, we were spolit for choice. However the cake that used to be featured more than any other (I think because it was my dads fave) is the rock bun and because of this its a bit of a family favourite!  Even when I was at home two weeks ago the old faithful rock buns were in the same cake box. :-)

This recipe is from a lovely blog Afternoon tea total and its a classic recipe.

Ingredients (To make 12 Rock Buns)

• 100g (4oz) butter
• 225g (8oz) plain flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 100g (4oz) demerara sugar
• 100g (4oz) mixed dried fruit
• grated rind of half a lemon (optional)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tsp milk (optional)

Method

Start by greasing 2 baking trays with a little butter.

Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a large bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar and mixed fruit (and the lemon rind if you're using it)

Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in the egg and the milk if you need it. Bind the mixture together using a fork - it should be stiff and crumbly.

Use two forks to shape the mixture into rough heaps on the baking trays. The mixture will be much drier and more crumbly than a normal cake or biscuit mixture but that's as it should be. It will bind together during baking.

Bake in the oven at 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a rack - but not for too long, they're delicious warm

Do you have any family favourite recipes?
 
Rachie xo

Summer Picnics

When summer comes I always want to have a picnic! I love them!  Eating outdoors is just so much fun and its always really relaxing. Sometimes when we lived in the flat we used to pick up some bits and bobs from M&S on the way home from work and eat in the park around the corner - such happy times! And now we are lucky enough to have a garden so I relish  the time we get to sit in it.

I actually have a very cool pink and white outdoor rug that I have had for years that we use in the garden all the time. It always brightens up the space - I'll try and take a pic this weekend and post it!

Anyway how gorgeous is this little picnic set up?

Housetohome.co.uk via Pinterest

And I found some cute picnic sets too.  This melamime green set one is new into Zara Home and its so pretty! I love the pattern


Zara Home

This orange bowl from Habitat is such a great colour!



Habitat


And how gorgeous would this picnic set be to take to the park?  I love the tin it comes in - very sophisticated!



http://www.gardenchic.co.uk/


Have you had any picnics yet this summer? - do share!

Rachie xo

Wedding Wednesday: Finding Our Church.

Well this is the first post of real things we have done for our wedding. Today I'm posting about the church we will be getting married in. Once we had decided to get married in London we needed to find a church to marry us and we were lucky enough to find St Botolphs Church without Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street.

thecity.co.uk

Its a beautiful Church both inside and out and I particular love the fact its nestled between the sky scrapers. In fact London's third tallest building Heron Tower is in progress opposite and will be completed by the time we get married.

Its also very old! According to the website there has been worshiping on the site of the church since 1212 and it survived the great fire of London in 1666. It was then rebuilt and the present building was completed in 1729 to the designs of James Gould.

I actually feel quite honoured to get married in such a historical building.  Imagine all of the people that have been married there before. It has such a sense of history.

Here is a picture of the inside. I'm very taken by the black and white floor and the beautiful ceiling.



wikipedia


So we have visited and met the reverend Dr Alan McCormack who seems to be a very nice man and seemed to genuinely want to marry us. We need to become members of the electoral roll so will be attending services regularly over the next six months. Its nice to think we'll be very familiar with the church when we get married there.

Rachie xo

Sweet and Easy favours

Whilst having a look around the web this week I found some gorgeous, easy and economical favour ideas from Martha Stewart that I really wanted to share with you. You can use them for so many different occasions.

These cherries, as well as adding colour to your table look so sweet in their little bags. They could be placed on each place setting with a name tag or just given at the end of the evening. These would be sweet for a children's party too. And you can fill with any fruit you like!

Even though giving chocolate isn't exactly a new idea - I love the stylish way it's wrapped in white paper and tied with the vanilla bean pod. Grease proof paper tied with a ribbon or string would also look really cute and everyone loves chocolate!!

Finally these fabric bags are so easy to make and could be filled with anything you like. I think homemade biscuits would be especially lovely.  And the bag is reusable so eco friendly too. Do them all in the same fabric for a cohesive look or mix it up for a fun vintage look.

Happy Tuesday!

Rachie xo

PS: If you haven't entered the competition to win one of these great Ramsign signs - its still open. Click here! 

A Modern Wedding

I absolutely adore the contemporary vibe from this wedding I found over on Green Wedding Shoes.  It might be to do with the fact we're planning something similar - but there are just some really different and fabulous ideas here.

The stunning bright flowers with the succulents, peonies, hydrangea and billy buttons are up there with my favourites. I also really like how the yellow and green of the buttonhole contrast with the black of the men's suit and that skinny tie. It totally stands out!

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

But it's the decor that really wowed me here. I love the flowers in the white frames on the wall. I havent seen this done before and its so contemporary. I also really like the living green frames - they make such a statement against the blank canvas white walls.

The grey tablecloth looks so stylish and the bright flowers with the all white vases look so fab against it.  In fact the pink peonies really pop.

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

Finally the way they have presented these cupcakes is totally inspired, the colours are so simple but its like an art installation. The black cupcake cups really standout against the white creating such a dramatic effect.

http://www.chazcruz.com/ via Green wedding shoes

I loved posting this. Hope on over to Green Wedding Shoes to see more pics and vendor details.

Happy Monday

Rachie xo

PS: If you haven't entered the competition to win one of these great Ramsign signs - its still open. Click here!