Arriving in Style - Picking Wedding Cars

I know zero about cars, nada, zilch. But when it came to picking wedding cars I knew one thing - they had to be classic. I'm not a big fan of modern wedding cars, they just aren't my style but they look great with a more modern wedding theme.

I researched a few local car companies online and spoke to a couple of them about the cars they had and their prices etc. but whenever I spoke to David from Klass Cars it was such a refreshing change from the usual sales pitches the other companies had given me.

David, unlike a lot of the others, didn't expect me to know everything about the cars, about how many would fit in each, how long journeys would really take and the transport plan for the day.

 David patiently let me explain my wedding party to him, where we would all be setting off from and to and ask him lots of questions about what would happen with the cars on the day, he then very kindly explained the plan to me and answered all the questions.

 He told me 'I'm the expert, I've done this before, you haven't, I wouldn't expect you to know all this'  - whether you are currently planning your wedding or are already married, I'm sure you'll already know that a lot of wedding suppliers do not realise this simple fact!

After checking out the different cars on the Klass Cars website, we decided on the 1964 Princess (yes this was due partly to it's name) for the Bridal car and the black & ivory Daimler for the Grooms car.

David organised for the Daimler to first take Ross and the boys to Mount Stewart and then come to my house to collect the bridesmaids and my mum, my dad and I travelled in the Princess to the ceremony. After the ceremony, the bridesmaids and groomsmen travelled to the reception in the Daimler and Ross and I took the Princess.

 

I would highly recommend Klass Cars to anyone looking for a car for a wedding or event, nothing beats arriving in style.

Thank you once again David and Klass Cars!

Photography - Jake Samuels

Location - Mount Stewart House, Garden and Temple of the Winds

Classic Cars -  Ivory 1964 Princess (interier shown) and Daimler, Klass Cars NI

Dress - Watters Devenport from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

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

Wedding ring shopping

This Saturday afternoon we are going wedding ring shopping again, more seriously this time.

I saw a couple of really nice rings in the well known shop in Belfast where my engagement ring is from and made some enquiries. I got the specifications of the rings along with a quote so we are going to go and look at them on Sat.

While we’re there I’m going to ask the jewellers a few questions about looking for wedding bands, so please if you have anything you'd like me to ask just let me know, post a comment here and i'll see what I can find out!

Happy Humpday! L x

Valentines Weekend

So this Valentines day was our 11th together. ELEVENTH!

But it was actually the first time we hadn't spent the whole day together (yes, even when we should have been in school!) But we were both off at the weekend so we celebrated more then - lots of yummy food and watching movies in front of the fire :)

I baked this cake to bring into work,

and this smaller one ust for Ross, they were chocolate with a cream cheese frosting and I hand cut the hearts from red icing.

And I put this banana in his lunch

have you ever done this to a banana? You ust score into its skin slightly with a blunt pin or pen and whatever you write will turn brown during the day without effecting the banana inside! I've been doing this to all his bananas for a couple of weeks now, it's funny :)

I also made Ross these key charms out of Shrinkles (remember those?! - so fun!)

And Ross bought me these gorgeous tulips and made me this beautiful card :)

We had our traditional steak dinner on Valentines night then made pizza's for dinner on Saturday night and an Indian on Sunday, can you tell we love food??

Hope you all had a great Valentines and weekend too! Lx

Damask Roses and Bumble Bees

My Granny's Wedding Dress

When I describe my granny Muriel's wedding dress it sounds so romantic, like a made up story of my perfect dress, possibly because my granny has been a major influence in my life, her stories are my memories and many of her tastes are mine too.

Muriel Brown married John (Jack) Ellis on 16th March 1957, when she was 20, he was 27, he gave her mother the money to take Muriel to buy whatever wedding dress she wanted.

 My granny says 'there were several high fashion shops in Belfast in those days.' the one she chose was Renee Meneely's on Donegall Square.





The dress

 The dress she chose was ivory brocade with a pattern of damask roses with little bumble bees perched on the petals.



 





 It was a sleeveless, ankle length gown with a matching high collared jacket.

She wore flowers in her hair and
carried carnations decorated with a golden horse shoe for luck.

 





Muriel and her sisters Betty, Joan and Hazel.






The bridesmaids, my great aunties, wore pale mediterranean blue with anemone flowers in their hair.

The ceremony took place at the Belmont Presbetarian Church and was follwed by a small reception at Cranthorpe House which is now the Park Avenue Hotel, which we considered for our reception as it has some fantastic packages, however something a wee bit closer to home suited us better.



The very happy couple received telegrams from friends and family across the globe addressed to them with their new, shared surname.

 Including this funny one from Jacks brother in law in Canada.

 

 

What a beautiful romantic day!

 

 

 

Hopefully ours will be just as lovely :)