Friday 23 December 2011

Merry Christmas From Knots & Kisses!

Hello all! I just wanted to wish all my readers a Fantastic Christmas! I'm just about finished on orders for the year but will be back in the office and blogging from the 28th December ... in the meantime Merry Christmas!!!



Wednesday 21 December 2011

Gorgeous Wedding Dress Collection From Biba!

I've been meaning to share these gorgeous wedding dresses with you for a while as I am a huge fan of Biba and was ecstatic when they launched their collections at House of Fraser! www.houseoffraser.co.uk
When I found out they were also doing a gorgeous but still perfectly affordable bridal range I was over the moon!
For those of you that don't know Biba was and is THE iconic brand of the sixties and seventies! Their designs by legendary designer Barbara Hulaniki have always been gorgeous, stylish and full of amazing shapes and prints. Unfortunately original designer Barbara is no longer involved with Biba but I personally think the Biba style remains strong ... and the bridal range for House of Fraser is no different!

My personal favourite is the long sleeved dress with the iconic Biba bell sleeves below ...


All the dresses above are under £800 and are available in House of Fraser's bridal section online.

Monday 19 December 2011

A Beautiful Bonfire Bride And Her Wedding Stationery!

Under a week till Christmas! I'm getting incredibly excited here at Knots & Kisses and got the celebrations started by having a few friends round for a little festive party on Saturday .. there was lots of Mulled Wine!

I'm also incredibly excited this morning as I'm able to share with you some of the wedding photos of one of the lovely Bride's I've worked with this year. Laura contacted me back in January about ordering my new English Eccentrics wedding stationery and I've since spent a lot of lovely hours this year working on her stationery and some items to go with it at her reception at the fantastic Danby Castle in Yorkshire.
I've absolutely loved working with Laura (and also her Mum on some surprise items!) and I'm sure you'll agree her and her new husband Tom make a lovely couple!
Below are a few photos of their day along with some detailed shots of some of the reception stationery I created for them and a few words from Laura as to what their day was all about ....



"Our wedding was on Saturday 5th November 2011 at the stunning Danby Castle in North Yorkshire. I know everybody says it about their wedding day but it really was amazing! It was touching, sentimental, fun and filled with love. Our colour scheme was plum and gold which was perfect for the time of year and quite simply, plum is my favourite colour! We never set out to have a 'theme' as such but as our planning evolved it came to light that our theme was 'us.' We tried to get as much detail about 'us' as possible - the music we love (I walked down the aisle to Lover of the Light by Mumford and Sons), our favourite films (whilst waiting our guests listened to the themes of Home Alone, Forest Gump, Muppets Christmas Carol, Shakespeare in Love to name just a few and we had a Blues Brothers band!) and our lives together (my mum had made photo collages of Tom and I throughout the years and we named our tables after places in New York with it being a city that we adore).


We spent months looking for invitations and stationery that reflected the day that we were planning and then we found the beautiful English Eccentrics range by Knots and Kisses. I clicked on a link that somebody had posted on Twitter which took me to the Knots and Kisses website. It was the day before the English Eccentrics range was due to be launched and from first look I knew these were the invitations that were perfect for our big day. The fun carnival style font, plum ribbon and tweed with a tiny hint of diamante summed up our rustic wedding completely and they went down a storm with our guests!

Nikki's professionalism and friendliness was astounding. She happily made us matching table names, sweetie buffet labels, fancy dress corner sign, confetti cones and table plan to match our invitations along with a beautiful bespoke guest book as a touching souvenir from our wedding day.


Thank you so much for your contribution to our wedding day Nikki, without your gorgeous creations we wouldn't have been able to achieve as many of those special touches!"

Thanks so much for the lovely comments Laura! If you'd like to see more photos of her fantastic day they can be found over on the Brides Up North blog ... http://bridesupnorth.com/2011/12/08/bonfire-night-bride-a-real-wedding-laura-tom/

Photography credit : Nick White


Friday 16 December 2011

Greetings Cards & Hag Dos !

I've got a great post today from Chilli Sauce all about alternatives to the traditional Hen & Stag ... but first just a quick reminder that from today my new Greetings Card range is available to buy from my Facebook Card Shop. You can also still buy one off individual Christmas Cards (rather than packs) but please note I can't guarantee delivery for Christmas after this weekend.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/knotsandkissesstationery?sk=app_135607783795

Anyway back to today's post! I'll hand you over to Rebecca from Chilli Sauce
http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/  to explain more .....

The Hag Do

Traditionally as part of the pre wedding celebrations both the bride and groom organise separate events to celebrate their ‘last night’ of freedom as it were, enjoying the company of same sex friends and family, before embarking on their married life together.


I’d like to introduce you to the ‘Hag Do’. This hybrid of both the Hen and Stag night envelopes the all the great things about pre-wedding celebrations and combines them in to one.

Reasons to have a Hag Do:

Time

The lead up to the wedding is busy enough, without the organisation of two other parties with two sets of friends. So, the hag do is perfect for getting everybody together in one place, with all the same elements you would chose for your night out.


Money

If like most couples you are paying for your wedding, you will be budgeting on everything before and even after the wedding. For this reason the Hag do is perfect, one venue cost rather than two, one hotel cost (because you can share).


Romance

Your all loved up and about to spend the rest of your lives together, what could be better than celebrating that together, along with all your friends and family. Plus, I like to think that by this stage, your guy would hate to spend a night away from you. Awh.


Flexibility

Depending on your tastes as a couple you really can do whatever you like, from a weekend away in clubs and pubs, to an adventure day out, to a sit down dinner and drinks. The choice really is yours.


But remember . . .

To compromise, if you do decide to unite in your Stag and Hen party plans, make sure it’s something you both want to do, and agree suits you both.

http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/hen-nights/  http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/stag-weekends/

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Introducing My New Greetings Card Range!

Rather excited this morning! As many of you may know a couple of months ago I opened a new card shop on facebook https://www.facebook.com/knotsandkissesstationery#!/knotsandkissesstationery?sk=app_135607783795 to sell packs of specially designed Christmas cards. This has gone really well and so from Friday I will also be selling a new range of Greetings Cards!
The designs are ones I've been working on for a while now and can all have the message on the front personalised to suit your needs. The designs I've shown here have a Happy Birthday message but they could just as easily be Thank You or Get Well Soon Cards .. whatever you require.

Here are the first 4 designs, including a specially designed Valentines Day Card ...





Hope you like them! If you would like to purchase any of the range before Friday please contact me via email at info@knotsandkisses.co.uk

Monday 12 December 2011

Duck Egg Blue & Peach Wedding Styling & Stationery

Amongst other things, this weekend I was working on adapting my Rose Cottage range of wedding stationery into a lavender colour scheme for a bride who contacted me ... you can see the original colour way of this range on my website http://www.knotsandkisses.co.uk/
Hopefully I can share the design with you soon once the couple themselves have seen and hopefully ordered .. but it got me to thinking as to what other colourschemes I could adapt the Rose Cottage range for.

One of my favourite colour combinations at the moment is Duck Egg & Peach ... so I had a play around and came up with this version of my Rose Cottage range ... which of course would still be wrapped in its brown paper band and string.


If you would like me to adapt the Rose Cottage range for your wedding please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Here are some of the styling ideas I've found for this Blue & Peach Wedding theme ...



Friday 9 December 2011

Gorgeous Vintage Jewellery & Accessories For Your Wedding!

Today I'm delighted to share another fabulous small business who could make all the difference on your wedding day. It is called 'Port Out Starboard Home' and they produce gorgeous bridal accessories and jewellery from Vintage pieces. We all know how I love a bit of vintage jewellery so I asked Jill to tell us more ....

Port Out Starboard Home

Unique, Bespoke, Bridal hair accessories from vintage components

We are Jill and Georgie: a mother and daughter team who appreciate importance of having everything just right for weddings and special occasions and all of the finest quality. We have wide experience and expertise in making jewellery, product design and dress making.


We are passionate about beautiful, handcrafted jewellery and particularly enjoy using recycled and vintage items in our hair accessories. We love vintage jewellery, the rhinestone, paste and pearl pieces have an amazing lustre, sparkle and luxurious feel. Our glamorous hair accessories incorporate vintage items such as brooches earrings and necklaces and are carefully made to be timeless and classic heirlooms of the future. Our extensive collection includes one off creations for brides, bridesmaids and flower girls. We also have a collection suitable for special occasions, which would be ideal for mothers of the bride or female guests requiring something special and different. We offer a bespoke service and are delighted to design and make to order, perhaps using a sentimental family piece.


Our inspiration comes from the vintage pieces we find in England, France, Germany and Austria, where we have family connections and from studying historical hair accessories, jewellery and fashion. We are always searching for special pieces we feel will make a beautiful and unique headband or comb. We often incorporate raw silk, brocade, satin, vintage lace and feathers in our designs.


We were inspired to launch Port Out Starboard Home (P-O-S-H) after Georgie’s wedding. We had an idea of the special hair accessories we wanted for that occasion, but found that the choice was very limited or very expensive. Being on a very tight budget, Georgie decided to design and make her own headband from items in granny’s jewellery box.


The headband was a huge success and the business idea was born. We started in a very small way as we both had full time jobs, but when Jill took early retirement in July 2011, it seemed an ideal opportunity to launch our business. P-O-S-H has blossomed from there and we have been busy making special items for weddings, balls, proms and other special occasions since our official launch in September 2011.


People often ask how we got our name! We thought long and hard about our name and wanted something unique to convey times gone by when well-to-do people would dress beautifully in hats and gloves and spend their time cruising on luxury liners and visiting ports of the world. We believe our unique and glamorous accessories are perfectly suited to this wonderful lifestyle and era.


We were reminded of P-O-S-H (Port Out Starboard Home) which was coined in the days before Air-conditioning. On the outward voyage to India, the cabins on the Port side got the early morning sun and had the rest of the day to cool off. Conversely, the Starboard cabins were intensely hot in the afternoon and like ovens at bed time. On the homeward journey the situation was reversed and it was the unfortunate passengers on the Port side who roasted. VIPs travelling were given preference of the cooler side of the ship in each direction and were given cabins which were Port –Out-Starboard-Home. Their tickets and baggage were marked POSH! We felt this name conveyed the First Class VIP image we would like to portray with our collections, and so that is how we came up with our name!


As you would expect from a responsible company, we take care to ensure we minimise the impact on the environment .We use recycled jewellery and metals in our products wherever possible and are proud that all of our packaging and stationery is recycled paper and card.

Please visit our website to view the range of hair accessories available. If you would like to chat about any of the collection or discuss your ideas for a unique hair accessory please contact us by telephone or email to arrange a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.

Jill and Georgie

Contact details:-

T: 07703544345
E: Info@portoutstarboardhome.co.uk
W: http://www.portoutstarboardhome.co.uk
FB: http://on.fb.me/uTli09

Photos by Martin Wise Studio Wise Photography - http://www.studiowise.co.uk

Thursday 8 December 2011

Christmas Festivities At Knots & Kisses Wedding Stationery

Hope you're all having a lovely week. I'm manic busy making lots of couples wedding stationery but have still found time, thank goodness to get fully into the festive spirit by decorating my flat ready for Christmas.
This year I'm going for a Vintage Scandanavian feel with lots of gingham and embroidery, and will be piling my table high with gingerbread men for my Christmas Party next week.
Thought I'd share with you this years tree and my decorated dresser.
Would love to know what you're doing for Christmas.



Wednesday 7 December 2011

The Thorny Subject Of Budgets & How Much We Really Spend On Our Weddings!

Today I'm posting another discussion topic ... the last one went down really well and provoked quite a lot of debate so I thought I'd try another. Hopefully these discussion points will help Brides, and others in the wedding industry, with areas that they feel stumped with.

So ... Budgets for your wedding! Its a thorny subject.
Since working in the Wedding Industry it amazes me how little this is really talked about. Brides especially never seem to want to let on what they ACTUALLY spend just in case they come across as too cheapskate or, especially in these financial times, as too extravagant.
Yes, there are the 'helpful' little guides at the back of Wedding Magazines which breakdown your wedding budget for you, and yes, Blogs & brides will often be heard saying "Oh we managed to do everything on such a small budget" ... but what does this actually mean!?

"Small" for one couple could quite easily mean just a couple of £1000 under the national average of around £20,000, whereas for another couple it could mean well under the £5000 mark.
My sister's 'traditional' church  & hotel wedding for example cost about £8000, and that was with me doing all the stationery and reception decor at cost, and the venue being half price because my Mum works there!

And as for the handy little guides at the back of Wedding Magazines ... I think its fantastic that someone is trying to give brides a little advice on the average spend and breakdown for a wedding, but looking at these costings most of these prices seem a) a little outdated and b) based on a very 'old style' traditional wedding .. which a lot of people just aren't looking for anymore.

I'm personally of the view that you should base your budget on how much you can realistically afford to spend ... no day is worth starting your married life in unaffordable debt! ... and then breaking it down into what really matters to you as a couple.
If you love music, but really don't see the point of paying for 3 bridesmaids, and their dresses & matching flowers, then don't ... spend the extra money on an amazing band to entertain your guests!

Anyway I've waffled on for too long! What do you think? Would love to hear your comments below ....

Nikki x

Monday 5 December 2011

Classic Black & Ivory Wedding Styling with Vintage Cameo Stationery

Another start to a new week! This weekend, as well as getting my flat all festive ... more on that later ... I've been making some of my Vintage Cameo range for one of my lovely clients.
The Vintage Cameo range is a classic glamourous range of stationery with details in lace and pearls and would be perfect if you are looking to add that touch of elegance and old Hollywood Glamour to your wedding!


Here are some new styling ideas to go with the Vintage Cameo range ... I think the best is to keep the colours simple and add elements of antique jewellery and headwear and lace details.

credits:

Friday 2 December 2011

Introducing Take a Vow - Wedding Planning

On today's Supplier Spotlight I'm delighted to introduce to you the lovely Emily Orchard from 'Take a Vow' who contacted me through the lovely medium of twitter about her business which she started in September.
She has a really refreshing attitude to wedding planning and wants to make her services accessible to everyone ... which I personally think is what Wedding Planning is all about and not some uber controlling, highly expensive person .. which is the impression that a lot of people have. You can find more about Emily on her website http://www.takeavow.co.uk/

I'll hand over to Emily to explain a bit more about what she does ....



Let me start with a little about me. I graduated with a first class honours degree in Event Management this year and wanted to make sure I used my degree to make a difference in doing something I was truly passionate about. I love events because I enjoy being creative and working with people at such an exciting time in their lives makes every day really rewarding. I love to organise and plan and I thrive on new challenges so I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do!


My aim for Take A Vow is for it to be accessible to anyone planning any kind of wedding. Through my flexible attitude and affordable pricing I hope I can change some perceptions of wedding planners being expensive and controlling. That said, I never refer to myself as a planner, always a coordinator. My skills lie in managing people's plans and using my experience and knowledge to guide them through their planning and help them execute their arrangements. This means that with me, my couples can have their day exactly how they wish without the stress of last minute supplier confirmations, collecting cakes and flowers or setting up the venue for example.


As I said, I pride myself on being very flexible and am continuously researching great suppliers (you can find a list of some of my favourites on my website) and learning about trends, new ideas and the options available, so that I can give my couples the very best of my knowledge. I work closely with each couple to learn about them and find out exactly what they need doing and make sure it gets done! In this way, no two weddings are the same! From being the point of contact for suppliers, setting up the venue, helping the photographer to clearing glasses and checking their bags in at their wedding night hotel, I consider it my responsibility to ensure the couple doesn't have to worry about anything except enjoying every moment of their day and am happy to take on any task- provided it's not illegal or immoral!!

I have some really exciting plans for Take A Vow in the future and hope to continue growing the business. I have recently started a collection of wedding decoration items available to hire, including bell jars, signs and vintage crockery that you can find on my website and I love to write my blog too. The blog provides a great way to keep in touch with my clients, readers & suppliers as well as keeping me actively researching and learning about anything new in the wedding world!


Take A Vow is based in Buckinghamshire but I have already worked in Chelsea and one of my weddings next year is in Scotland so I'm happy to work all over! I offer a free 1 hour consultation to anyone who is interested in booking me which allows us to get to know each other and me to assess their needs and recommend the best service I can give them. My services are listed online but again I can be flexible within these so that couples are getting the service the really need rather than just a package.

The first Take A Vow wedding I coordinated was for a lovely couple, Jo & Tom, held in Chelsea on the 19th November 2011. They came to me as they were having issues with their reception venue who weren't being very helpful and the timings of the day were such that the ceremony was taking place at the time they first had access to the reception venue so someone would have missed out if they had to get a member of the wedding party to decorate and set up the venue. They also wanted some advice as to how they could decorate the venue to make it feel more like their wedding day. I helped them out with some styling ideas and was there on the day to collect the cake, check in their bags at their wedding night hotel, decorate the reception venue and assist the photographer amongst other things. This is what they had to say the day after the wedding...


"Dear Emily :) Just wanted to say again how very, very grateful we were for all your help & support. You did such a beautiful job & the day was a delight because of you"