Making progress…

I am making a book for our wedding invitation. That’s right! I like to complicate myself with unnecessary extra work or worries but, all in all, I am happy to do so!

I have been struggling coming up with a look and feel. A theme. A front and back cover. I have had trouble tying it all in. Until I created something, which now I love and I can see the vision coming together rather nicely.

I do not want to reveal the front cover (just yet) but I like the simplicity of the back cover so I thought I would share that, at least!

What do you think?

Fun to be had

In French weddings, we don’t have speeches or bridesmaids and groomsmen. It is a different type of weddings altogether.
But what we have however is ‘games’. Generally organised by the friends, the bride and groom (and guests) are entertained by fun games, stories, mini shows and so on.

So when I looked at the La Belle Bride‘s blog the other day and come across this wedding and these tags (below),I though of how great it would be to incorporate some sort of games or activities during the dinner. I have been to a few weddings where you  have questionnaires on the couple, and so on and it is really nice to have something to entertain your guests and have fun. But what about having something that will last the distance. A dare or a task that you get given on the night (as part of your escort card) that you have to do with the bride and groom within their first year as a married couple.

So it gets me thinking and I would love to have your input in these. I already have some ideas, all surrounding the concept of old-school communications, keeping in touch and reminding each other how important we are for each other.

Examples:
– Write a letter to the bride and groom before their first year anniversary
– Take the bride out for a cocktail
– Take the groom to the driving range
– Send a photo to the bride and groom of your favourite place in your home town.

Who wouldn’t be up for the challenge?

Credit: Photography by Katie Day Photo (via La Belle Bride)

Invitations are driving me mad!

I have to admit. I love the idea of designing my own invitation but I am my worst critic as well. I come up with idea, then I think about dropping those ideas because they do not suit. It is driving me mad but at the same time, I think I love the idea that it is driving me mad!

I think something that is really characteristic of Robin and I and our relationship is: indecision! We love so many different things, we feed off vintage and modern. We are into photography, travels, summer bbq, films, creative projects and to nail down ONE concept for our wedding is difficult.

When we both decided to embrace our indecision and the fact we love so many things, we decided to create a book to complement our invitation, along with an old fashion map, a quirky front page for the invitation and just have some fun.

When I saw this invitation, also featured on Green Wedding Shoes, I thought this was very much in the direction we were thinking to go in. Have some fun with our invitation, create a book to add with our invitation, especially for those who want to know more about us, about the day, about the destination and what to do when spending a great weekend up in a beach resort with us, in NZ.

So I cannot wait to share what are working on. It certainly will be a mix-match but it is just so us!

In the meantime, enjoy this great invitation design by the groom himself Mike.

Designed by Mike for Mike and Rachael’s wedding

Dramatic teaser

As part of the Boutique Bride, which I joined back in July this year, I have created this teaser on our first collective photo shoot. The shoot was meant to show off everyone’s talent. I hadn’t been filming for a while and I am rather happy with the result.

This one is part of a two-teaser collection and doesn’t display super8 footage. The second one, that you can view on vimeo directly is also a lot more dramatic and really meant to act as a tease… Would you want to see more?

Let me know!

First time at life drawing

Inspiration comes from a lot of different directions and at work I got to experience life drawing for the first time. I am not a drawer, at all. I can’t draw. And I had never imagined I could do something like this.

So here it is. The first ever life drawing from Steph! And be kind to me, I had no eraser…

A walk in the park

We had our engagement shoot this weekend and although I don’t have the photos from our photographer yet (Jessica Higueras – and yes, she is amazing!), we have a sneak peek image (or two) from the mighty Rolleiflex camera from Robin’s dad – Larry!

As you can appreciate (being a ‘photographer’ myself), I am not the most comfortable in front of the camera but it was a fun experience and we had some many cool ideas with Jessica and I cannot wait to have a few shots to share with you guys.

But for now. I will leave you all with this.

A blank canvas.

Our venue, which we finally put a deposit on a few weeks ago is really a blank canvas: a tropical garden surrounded by cottages and that’s it. Then it is up to us to make it what we want it to be. We’re getting a marquee in the middle of the croquet field, making our own table cloths (a little cheaper but at least different from boring white table cloths) and, all in all creating our own decor and look and feel…

This would not be possible if it wasn’t for arriving at the venue two days before the wedding to slowly do it up and it will be certainly stressful but exciting all at the same time.

I will post an inspiration board about the look and feel in the  next few days and even style up a DIY shoot to illustrate our ideas in the next few weeks but in the meantime, have a look through our amazing venue. We just cannot wait!

Getting it made

The ‘wedding’ celebration that we are having in France in soon approaching – about 86,000min actually! (yes, I even have a countdown for that).
This weekend, I brought to my dressmaker the fabric and material for the making of the dress I will wear at this particular party. You have seen the work in progress as to the invitations for that party before. (yes you have)

I cannot wait to have it and wear it… I think first fitting is due on this weekend and it’s great that I get a chance to get a simple dress made specially for the occasion.
It’s not really wedding-like and the fabric I found, I totally fell in love with (and so did the dressmaker)… Simple and cotton-based but so nice and elegant… So watch this space.

The design of the dress is based around this one here… And yes, it will be awesome.

I will be creating some details for it myself as the dressmaker is just really make the shape for it, not adding the flowers that are on the design. What would you recommend I do to accessorise it to make it a bit more glamorous for the day? I was thinking of a shrug like the Opera shrug (on the photo) or a nice, elegant knit.

The other great thing about this dress is that I can totally dress it up and dress it down. That’s the idea at least… Good option for a day-after dress for the wedding, no?

So exciting!

What a beautiful Sunday

Today was a bright, sunny and super cold day here in Auckland.

I spent the day out on an inspiration shoot – my first ever and I was filming all day on it.  It was a lot of fun working with so many talented professionals and I have to say – big ups to the two models who braved the cold for so long and never ever complained!

Here is a shot of Amazing Auckland at sunset… And if you were hoping to have a sneak peek of the shoot (or of my videos), well sorry. This won’t be released for a while yet. You will just have to wait.

Sneak Peek – Favour Tags

So tomorrow is the event at The Boutique Bride – we’re launching the ‘one-stop-shop’ for brides in Auckland and New Zealand.

I have prepared little favours to showcase bubblerock studios in the goodie bags (beside an amazing package giveaway!) and this is the sticker I have created for the favours. It is only a sneak peek and I will make sure I take photos of the final product to post it here.

And if there is interest, I may put the psds of this sticker available for download.

And I did this all myself so I am rather proud. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!