Gibson Bespoke - Beautiful Boutique Feature

Debbie, owner and creator of Gibson Bespoke, is a women after my own heart – when planning her own wedding her meticulous taste and eye for detail left her disappointed in the range of bridal accessories she found locally, so, taking matters into her own hands she lovingly sourced and collected the best materials, researched the best techniques and painstakingly created her own beautiful, bespoke head piece. Ava, as she named her creation, was a hand beaded, fresh water pearl hat with a birdcage style veil.

Debbie had found her passion and went on to found Gibson Bespoke in 2011 and she launched her first bridal collection in early 2012.

Gibson Bespoke offer some of the most classically glamorous bridal wear around, ever item is painstakingly dreamed up, designed and hand created, the materials used are second to none and any bride who chooses one of their incredible pieces is sure to treasure it forever.

Here is a small selection of the current collections for you to lust after;

Lujon is a luxuriously sheer tulle headpiece, hand embellished with shimmering crystals in an Art Deco sunburst design

So stunning for a 20's inspired wedding, or even party!

 The showstopping Delphine is an array of swarovski crystals in brilliant, pear, navette, oval, emerald and asscher cuts hand embroidered onto the finest ivory illusion tulle. It sits beautifully on the shoulders and low across the decolletage and hand ties at the nape of the neck with a silver lurex ribbon.

Inspired by Old Hollywood Glamour, the Bacall dress is  glamorous and glittering with vintage style champagne gold paillettes sequin fabric. Cap sleeved with a plunge neckline, this mermaid shaped gown hugs in all the right places for a perfect hourglass fit.

 Such a stunning, glitzy dress, how could you not feel like a million dollars when it looks like you're made of a million dollars?!

 Francine is a sweet and feminine 1950's style veil, made of a soft ivory polka dot tulle, topped with a bow and hand embroidered crystals.

Vaudeville is one of Gibson Bespoke's gorgeous vintage treasures - an extremely rare and collectable vintage arctic fox fur collar circa 1920. Full, fluffy and luxurious.  

This Vintage Rose boho crown would be just beautiful at a country themed wedding! Made with the finest silk pink peonies, ivory delphinium, peach/pink cabbage rose and soft lilac hydrangea flowers attached to an ivory French lace ribbon tie.

For something a little different, many a modern bride will be astounded by the elegant look of Jasmine - an Indian inspired three strand silver forehead piece encrusted with crystals.

Or for glamour befitting the most glam of all girls take a look at Monroe - Mink, slate and light grey freshwater pearls shimmer next to sparkling Swarovski crystal diamantes on a mink grey sinamay base. Finished with a mink grey/pewter birdcage veil which can be worn over the eyes or pulled back.

Luxurious and lustrous, this is simply one of a kind. This can be worn as a bridal piece or equally as beautiful worn to the races, dinner or cocktail party!

And now for my favourite of all.. the Petite Ava

This is the little gem that got the whole thing started! (And this is actually Debbie and her hubby on their wedding day!) 

This incredibly beautiful, handmade hat; with fresh water Keshi and Akoya pearls, diamantés, Swarovski, seed pearls and rice pearls with a birdcage visor veil for modern brides. This beautiful piece really is a one off design.

I truely think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! all that detail and love :')

And that's just a small selection of what this great site has to offer! There's loads more lovely jewellery, bridal wear and occasion wear.

All Gibson Bespoke pieces are handmade and bespoke (or vintage), Debbie can accept rush orders if needed, though most items take around 30 working days from sourcing to delivery. All items are come exquisitely gift wrapped and come with their own unique box.

Gibson Bespoke would love to hear any questions and queries and can be contacted via any of the links in this post or at the following;

http://gibsonbespoke.co.uk/

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WillowMoone

http://www.facebook.com/#!/gbespoke

And I can tell you that Debbie really is as helpful and sweet as she sounds, and Pea & Carrot wish her and Gibson Bespoke all the very best for the future!

L x

Food, Food, Food!

This has been a weekend of lots of delicious food,

On Friday we took the day off work to view our reception venue officially and talk about all the details and conditions - and very importantly the menu!

We talked to the in house caterer about their standard function menu and what other options we had, we have decided that we don't really want something very traditional like a Sunday dinner (roast beef or chicken with gravy and potatoes etc.)

It’s a summer wedding so we'd rather have something fresh and tasty, we talked about the possibility of a cold buffet which seems tasty but I’m worried it will be messy and a buffet table means we'd need a certain layout in the room and I’m worried it would be less relaxed. Another possibility is having a traditional 'sit-down' meal but with a less traditional dish. So we have a lot to think about, but plenty of time to think!

That night we had Ross' parents round to our house for dinner - we enjoy cooking and really wanted to impress them so there was A LOT of cooking and cleaning that afternoon! I made chicken parmesan with a ceaser salad (with homemade croutons) and crushed spiced baby boiled potatoes and two desserts.... what? I like desserts!! :P I made bread and butter pudding and individual lemon mousses.

Then on Saturday we went to a great restaurant in Belfast that I hadn't been to before, CoCo, with some of my family. It was AMAZING the food was so chic and interesting and delicious! I had scallops with pomegranate, wood pigeon with apple mash and then Ross and I shared a vanilla and white choc cheesecake with lavender ice-cream and pistachio - every single bite was incredible!

Now it's Sunday and I’m lying here thinking about how easily I abandoned my healthy eating plan for a delicious weekend! Oh well I’ll start again on Monday :)


If you would like to see my recipe for chicken parmesan or a few of my other recipes check out my snapguides!

Bridal 101 #3

#3) Booking a venue

Once you have viewed and picked your venue there comes the daunting step of confirming the booking and paying a deposit! :O

Venue conditions – boring but very important!

Whenever you book a venue they are likely to give you a list of conditions along with a contract, if you are very lucky they will give you this before you confirm your booking – READ THIS CAREFULLY!

I first experienced this when we held our engagement party in a local sports club; clubs especially will have quite specific rules and conditions of use of the venue. I was surprised by some of them really, things I hadn’t really considered like which areas of the venue could and could not be used and what decorations we could and couldn’t use and where. As we are having our wedding reception in a club too there are similarly specific conditions of use.

One condition many venues, including churches and registry offices, have now is about confetti – many places totally disallow it, which I think is quite sad! I remember seeing boxes of paper confetti in our local shop as a little girl and thinking about when I was grown up ad people throwing all those pastel coloured hearts, stars and horseshoes over me.

One of my favourite childhood memories is of my little sister and I taking turns to stand under the big old cherry blossom tree in my granny’s garden, spinning around while the other one shook the tree to make the ‘confetti petals’ fall.

But! Many venues will not allow confetti at all now; some will only allow eco-friendly or natural confetti, which is fine by me! (Guess what I want to have??) Make sure guests are aware of this and do not bring confetti or expect it to be there on the day.

Other common conditions include things like; late licences’, completion of payment, use of areas, decorations, the timing of arrival and departure for all guests, parking etc. Some venues even have rules about the kinds of flowers that can and cannot be used! (Lilies are poisonous to some animals and stain; sap on peonies is harmful etc!)

These may somewhat shatter the pretty little dream you’ve had in your head about how your day will be – don’t let them! Be prepared for rules, don’t expect everything to be just as you imagine, remember what is one of the biggest days of your life is just another working day for the staff at the venue, they need to run as a business and businesses have rules!

My advice on conditions of hire for wedding venues;

·         When possible ask to see the conditions of hire before confirming your booking, if not possible, ask some specific questions regarding your plans; i.e. ‘Do you have regulations on the types of decorations allowed?’

·         Make sure that you keep the conditions in mind when dreaming about your big day to avoid disappointment, one venue I looked at disallowed peonies – my favourite flower! I would have been heartbroken if I’d booked it without knowing.

·         Don’t try to negotiate on conditions, but do politely ask what they advise and what there couples have done – this will give you an idea of flexibility and compromise on conditions. (E.g. lilies can be used sometimes if the stamen is removed.)

·         If there are strict rules on guest conduct etc make sure you politely let your guests know – you don’t want to be spending your day running after guests making sure you don’t get in trouble!

Bridal 101 #2

#2) Finding a venue

We were quite lucky really, as we knew even before we were engaged that we would love to marry in mount Stewart, we’d been on walks around the grounds loads of times over the years and walked up the hill to the Temple of The Winds one day whenever it just happened to be set up for a wedding and just thought it was gorgeous.

 Then Ross took me to Mt Stewart for a picnic for my birthday and we sat under a willow tree by the lake, feeding the ducks, looking out for little fish and dragonflies, and Ross got down on one nervous knee and proposed – Mount Stewart just seemed like such a special place to us and we couldn’t imagine marrying anywhere else!

A week later I requested information through the National trust website on hiring Mount Stewart as a venue, there was a lot of information, which seemed a little overwhelming but was needed!

We arranged to view the Temple and a wonderful girl showed us around, she was so passionate about the place and so friendly and open, it was a great help!

Mount Stewart suits us as a ceremony venue but we need somewhere else as a reception venue, this is where things got a little tricky!

I spent weeks looking online at all the different Hotel packages on offer, and there were some great deals, but as a crafty / DIY kinda girl I really wanted somewhere where I could have a bit more control over decor and how things are done.

A few of my friends were marrying last summer and could give me good advice on the packages they received, the deals some of them got seemed fantastic, but when I looked at the venues I just couldn’t see it being for us! Ross wasn’t as opinionated as me but agreed.

My mum works part time in the yacht club and suggested we take a look there, we met her one day when it was quiet and had a good nosey about... and loved it!

So we’ve just booked that too!

We’ve really been very lucky, we’ve only viewed two venues and loved and booked them both! Although hats not to say I didn’t shop around, I think I currently have 50-60 wedding package brochures downloaded on my laptop or in a pile under my desk!

My advice when looking at potential venues is;

·         Visit places that aren’t necessarily your first choice, it will give you a good idea of what the competition are offering, and something to compare other place to.

·         Ask to view venues while they are set up for a wedding, it can be hard to imagine a big empty space as anything else! Plus it may give you ideas of how you want/ don’t want things set up for your big day!

·         Print out as much info as you can before you view, do your homework and you’ll know the right questions to ask and what to expect.

·         Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – somewhere you’ve been dreaming of might just turn out to be unsuitable, make sure you won’t feel too disappointed if this happens!

·         Take notes, wedding and event co-ordinators show couples around all the time, you may only visit a place once – make sure you get all the info you can and get them to confirm what you write - it will mean you can show prices/ sizes/ offers  they quote if you decide to book!

This all started six months ago nearly and in the very early days of our engagement so a bit overwhelming and it wasn’t a great time to focus and take in a lot of info, now we are planning properly; we have booked Mount Stewart and the Yacht club, but not yet finalised the details, so I’m sure I’ve still a lot to learn!!

Bridal 101 #1

#1) That your wedding ring should be the made metal and carat as your engagement ring

This one the obnoxious jewellery salesman taught me. My engagement ring is 18ct yellow gold, a beautiful solitaire diamond and platinum feet. I didn’t know whether I wanted a yellow gold, white gold, or platinum wedding ring, I wanted to try lots on and see!

When I asked to try a white gold band the salesman stared at me in horror... apparently if your rings are not the same metal and carat, the stronger/ harder metal will wear down the other one over time. It may not seem a problem to you, especially if your rings are quite robust, but if one of the rings is finer and softer it could be worn by the other.

So; best practice is to have your wedding ring match your engagement ring in metal and carat.

My advice when looking at wedding ring is;

·         Shop around – don’t just look at fancy big brand names, look in smaller local stores too, it will give you a better idea of what is available and for what price.

·         Try lots on – rings look very different in a shop window than on your hand! Different metals look different against different skin tones, see what suits you.

·         Have clean hands and nice nails – might sound silly but we tried rings on for the first time on a whim, I had a note written on the back of my hand and chipped, flaky nail varnish... it made me feel a bit trampy!

·         Ask questions and don’t feel stupid not knowing your stuff – why would you know about wedding rings unless you’ve owned or sold them??! Just ask them!

Bridal 101 -Things I didn’t know but do now!

 

 We tried on wedding rings the day we set our date, not really seriously – just looking, and I found the salesman in one shop a bit condescending, he seemed surprised I didn’t know anything about wedding rings... Why would I?? I’m not a jeweller and I’ve not been married yet! Huh! Anyway, this and a few other similar experiences inspired me to compile a little advice log of things I’ve learnt in the process of wedding planning.

Unless you’ve helped a friend plan a wedding or work in the bridal industry, why would you already know these things!

So, as and when I pick up these little snippits of 'Bridal Knowledge' I'll share them and collect them all up in the Bridal 101 page!

Hope you find all this helpful, please share any hints/ tips you might have too!

Check out my wedding dress ideas and advice in the ideas tab!

Welcome to Pea and Carrot Get Married!

 I (Pea) am starting this blog (and entering the world of blogging!) to document and share the exciting and sometimes scary adventure that is planning my wedding with my teenage sweetheart.

We have been together since we were dorky fourteen year olds and celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past September!

Carrot very romantically proposed on my birthday this July while we were having a picnic in one of our very favourite places, Mount Stewart gardens (in County Down, N. Ireland where we live) and we plan to marry there in August 2014.

I'm going to share ideas, tips and advice as I go through the planning process and wholeheartedly welcome any tips and advice you can share with me!

Let’s get this adventure underway!