{Guest Blogger} This Red Lipstick

The guest blog post for today is something completely amazeballllls! And let me tell you - I do not use this word lightly. The blog post today comes from Jerusha - the uber talented blogger behind This Red Lipstick. This Red Lipstick has been featured in Fairlady's Bloggirl Guide - (and look at that pretty face!)

{I'm not sure if you can read this text above but i also love the idea of mis-matched tea-cups}

There are a few reasons why you should be following This Red Lipstick - 

1. Jerusha is super crafty - on a self-proclaimed "homesick" day - she ended up crafting the most gorgeous mosaic of Joburg skyline -

Ok, I'm no expert - but HOT DAMN - you should be selling these.

really.

She also transformed her tired old coffee table into something super awesome - 

You can read her DIY post here.

2. She writes awesome (and hilarious) little poems and limericks.
3. And occasionally she draws epic cartoons about her life too.

Today as a special indieBerries submission - she has drawn me my very own cartoon! I'm so excited to share it with you - 

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Hey, Che! Remember that time you won ALL THE AWARDS and became...

And then we did the country’s (world’s? Yes, let’s go with WORLD’S) very first cartoon-to-cartoon interview?

Here’s wishing you and Warren a lifetime of love, happiness and a bazillion IndieBabies.

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Thank you SO much Jerusha for your awesome cartoon and kind wishes.

I'm going to donate one of our bazillion indieBabies to you!

You're welcome.


PS - Since sending me this cartoon - Jerusha has herself gotten engaged! woohoo for love!!! Head over to her blog to read her engagement story and give her some big congratulations!
You can also wish her a huge congrats on twitter @jerusha_s

{Guest Post} Happiness is...

When I was searching for our own wedding design inspiration - I used all the usual sources - pinterest, awesome wedding blogs and wedding magazines (coming out my ears). On top of that I searched around the internet and stalked some of my favourite bloggers, photographers and designers. And by stalked, I mean - stalked. a lot of stalking. In my travels around all the usual local blogs I love I came across one of the most gorgeous invites created by Fathima - the designer behind Happiness is...

I literally begged Fathima to let me share her gorgeous invite design during my Guest Blogger Series and she very kindly sent over some of her awesome design work for me to share with you! I'm so excited for you to see it because it is really so beautiful. I absolutely love her whimsical style and I often pop over to her blog to see all her gorgeous illustrations. I love the way she mixes pen and water-colour  - so pretty! Sigh. You can like the Happiness Is... Facebook Page - to keep up to date with all her awesome designs and pretty illustrations.

So enough with me yakking - Here's Fathima's beautiful design work - it speaks for itself.

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Hi everyone! Fathima here from Happiness is... It's so awesome to be able to guest post on a blog that I admire, so thanks for allowing me on here, Ché! In keeping with the wedding theme, I'm just going to share some wedding invitation designs I've done and some other love-related bits and pieces...


This was a wedding invitation created for my cousin and her now husband. He's from France, she's from here... how romantic, right?(This is in fact the wedding invite that I saw ages ago on Happiness is... and begged her to let me share it - i love it! Especially the map and little boat lines - so cute!)

 

Above: My friend Sam got married last year and I did her save-the-date, wrap-around strips for the cutlery at the table and this poster (below) that she got all her guests to sign. What a great idea!

Above: These were part of a free printable download I posted on my blog for Valentine's Day.

(You definitely need to be following this gal - 

so that you can cash in on these awesome free printables! So cute!)

Below: Some Love-y stationery and other bits - 

{ha ha. Well done Warren. Well. Done.}

These two are so adorable!

Fathima actually runs a Society 6 Store - where you can purchase some of her posters and design work - Visit the store HERE and take a look at all the prints she is offering. I love the spook asem poster!

 

And lastly, check out this most awesome site (snap shots below) created as an invitation and to tell the story of how Russ Maschmeyer and Jessica Hische met and ended up getting married. It's done so fantastically well, and all the artwork was created by their friends. (For those of you who don't know - Jessica Hische is an awesome typographer - I've had a girl crush on her for like, ever.)

I wish Ché all the best for the last of the wedding prep, and the most blissful, happy, relaxed break after the stress of the wedding :)

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Thank you so much Fathima for letting me share all your awesome design work!

You can follow Fathima on twitter here and le Facebook Page here.

and visit Happiness Is... blog for your daily dose of beautiful.

xo

{Guest Blogger} Midlands Musings

I'm so excited to share today's guest blogger with you! 

You know when you meet someone and before you've even shared more than two sentences - you can already tell that you're gonna get along like a hay bale in a firestorm - just because of the awesome vibes they exude? That is today's guest blogger.

Not only is she extremely witty and well read, with an excellent sense of humour - but she is always ready to lend an ear, a hand or a piece of great advice. Generally, she is one of "those people" who is always awesome to have around.

Introducing Keri Bainborough of Midlands Musings - 

 

isn't she gorgeous?!

Keri and her {new} husband Andy were married on the 16th of February 2013 at Providence in the Natal Midlands. Being a local Midlands girl (and with her wedding date being so close to ours), her and I have spent a large part of the wedding-planning process discussing the finer wedding details like RSVP etiquette, wedding vendors who are completely devoid of normal social functioning, obnoxious back-fat and other such wedding-related things.

As a new bride - Keri is offering her very sound tips and advice for THE BIG DAY.
For those of you who are getting married (like moi!) pay close attention - there are some goodies in here!

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For my lovely friend Che (who is super hot, very talented and the funniest person I know) (ahem. Keri put that in, not me :P ) and all other brides-to-be:

Having recently got married myself (oh you know, about 2 weeks, 3 days and 2 hours ago... but hey, who’s counting), I feel it is vital I share some tips and advice with you before I completely forget all the little things and my wedding day becomes a distant haze of mist, kisses and dirty dresses...

1. Get a good friend (not a bridesmaid) to take photographs using YOUR camera.  Unless your dress has pockets (some really do, check out this beauty here), you are not going to be able to carry your trusty picture-taker around.  Not to mention that you will be too busy air-kissing and catching up with peeps to even think about taking photographs.  You will be so grateful if you give a friend the responsibility of taking shots of your cake, dress, food, table decor, the first kiss, garter throwing and other general drunken fun.  Because when you wake up the next morning, all full of excited exhaustion, you will want to have lots of photographs to help you relive THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE.  You do not want to be waiting around all week for all your hung over guests to put up their blurry offerings just so you can remember what your cake looked like.  Trust me on this one.
2. Nothing can really go wrong.  All your guests are there because they love you and because they are scoring free food and booze, and maybe the opportunity to come right with a hot bridesmaid/groomsman.  They are as happy as Larry.  They are not going to notice if your groom forgot to thank Aunt Mildred for making the doilies in his speech.  They are also not going to notice if there is one less candle holder on their table than there should be, or if the roses are a touch too pink.  They are there to have a jol, to see you looking all glam in your dress and to spend time with YOU.  Do not forget this.  Seriously.  HAVE FUN.
   
3. You WILL freak out when you put your dress on.  Yes, you will look gorgeous, and yes, your bridesmaids and your mother will all mock-faint at how beautiful the dress is, but you will have a freak out.  Probably because you will a) realise you have to carry this heavy thing around on your body all night, and we all know how detrimental that is for good break dancing moves, and b) it will hit you that you are about to get married, you are finally a bride, and the day that you have been planning for your whole life is now here and will be over in a couple of hours and then what the hell are you going to do with all your spare time and ohmygod I’m going to be a married woman not a wanton little singleton anymore!!!  Don’t worry.  It’ll pass.  As soon as you see your groom’s handsome face, all fears will be forgotten and you will feel like a princess again. 
   
4. Group photographs after the wedding ceremony are a nightmare.  Try to get as many done with your bridesmaids before you leave for the chapel, so that you need just a few with the bridal party afterwards - especially if the groomsmen are all still hung-over from the night before and trying to sneak ciggies all through the photo shoot.  Ahem.  I will not even mention family group photographs here.  I would advise that you just don’t do them if you can get away with it.  They are PAINFUL. 
   
5. Don’t stress about not spending time with every single guest or catching up on each friend’s love life/career/new puppy.  They understand that you are the celebrity of the evening and that you have 100 other people to say hello too.  Catch ups are what other friends’ weddings are for.  Yours is for floating around happily, sprinkling your magic bridal-fairy wand of love onto all the cynics who keep saying that they are never going to get married. Yeah, right.
   
6. Stay hydrated.  Every time you try and make you way to the bar for some form of liquid, a second-cousin removed WILL track you down.  I swear.  Assign one of your bridesmaids the task of making sure that you have a glass of whatever-suits-your-fancy in your hand at all times.  I do recommend water, purely for the thirst though – everyone else will make sure you get enough booze through shooters – stick to water for long drinks.
   
7. Don’t try to follow everything that Pinterest and the Bridal magazines say you must do or have on your wedding.  Your bridesmaids might not have needle kits hiding in their bouquets, but you can bet your newly-married ass your great-aunt will have one in her handbag.   I promise: your evening will not be ruined if you haven’t prepared for everything that might go wrong.  Focus on the positive instead.  Someone in the wedding party will have your back, don’t you worry.
   
8. Although it is important to spend time with your groom, you do not need to be stuck to each other side’s the entire night.  Dance alone with your friends, have a DMC with your drunk little brother and a sneaky cigarette outside with your American pal whom you haven’t seen in years.  You and your new husband will have each other all to yourselves when you get to the hotel room afterwards, not to mention for the rest of your lives.
   
9.  Having said that, also do remember what it’s really all about:  YOU AND YOUR MAN.  Don’t get so concerned with your appearance, or your bridesmaids, or your divorced parents’ feelings, or the itinerary that you forget to look into his eyes, kiss him hard and remember why you fell in love with him in the first place.  It is these memories which will hold you in good stead for your future lives together.
   
10. Get a friend to take photographs with your camera. Seriously. Very important.

 

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Thank you for making me so excited for our big day Keri! I can't wait to celebrate with you! (And I nominate you as un-official-bridesmaid-in-the-know-to-make-sure-my-glass-is-always-half-full!)

You can head over to Midlands Musings to get another good dose of Keri's hilarious writing and keep up with all her latest blog posts and all the happenings by following Keri on twitter

Also - you must go like the Midlands Musings Facebook Page, because it's awesome. 

And because I said so - 

and you always have to do what the bride says.

always.


PS - Keri has also posted a few snaps from my Kitchen Tea and Hens Night which went down on Saturday - it was INCREDIBLE and I can't wait to post about it - but for now - check out Keri's snaps from the awesome day!

{guest post} A Nerdy Interlude

This blog post today is here to give you a much needed break from all the "wedding-ness" that is going on at indieBerries at this current time. A fab blog reader Divya has sent me this self confessed "rather nerdy" poem. I'll be the first to admit that I love a good nerdism. In fact, The Warr has even bought me some of those nerdish looking glasses because he's grow to love a good nerd (me) as much as I do. 

I'm also a huge fan of "poems" in general. And I often whack up a little rhyme-fest for friends birthdays or special occasions. This nerdy poem is about Marie Curie and all her lovers. lol. Have a read - you may even learn something...

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Marie Curie and her many lovers

Of all the ladies of the night

There was but one of noble plight

A woman of radiating fame

Yes Marie Curie was her name

But what of her lovers, pray do tell

Her zeal for science flowed to scientists as well

Her first love, Zorawski, was a young mathematician

But his family, alas, stuck strong to tradition

Her background was poor, what could she do

She left for Paris, a new world and crew

Next on the list, an equating force

Drawn together by magnetism, an unknown source

Pierre Curie was the man she would marry

And together they did a Nobel Prize carry

His death was sudden, but she did not care

For next was a lover, a steamy affair

Paul Langerin was married, and her student, you know

What a lady of science, how far she did go

And what of the others, any other valentine

Mendelev, Rutherford or perhaps Einstein

No one can be sure, for when Marie Curie did expire

Her heart, set in radium, kept her secrets of desire

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haha - Isn't it awesome?!

Yes. Yes it is.

Thank you so much Divya - please write many more poems like this for when you start your own blog!

For now you can follow Divya on twitter @Diwi_Babu

and on instagram @diwibabu

{Guest blogger} My Word Pie

When I received today's guest blog post - I knew I liked it before I'd even read it. With a title like Eat Breakfast in your Wedding Gown - (and with being the cereal junkie that I am), what is not to love? Then I realised that this guest blogger is also an ex-Rhodent! Now, there is just something about Rhodes Students that immediately just connects us, which makes me SO excited to share this guest post with you all today!

Introducing: Marita MacDonald - the talented writer behind My Word Pie. Marita owns a brand engagement agency in Liverpool, UK - where she lives with her husband and their three-month old baby Gus. You can read more from her crazy/fun life on her blog - her conversation vignettes are hilarious!

Today Marita is sharing her 15 point guide to making the absolute most out of your wedding day. I would like you all to pay very close attention to Point # 12... (and you can see some of my comments in red)

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Eat breakfast in your wedding gown:  a guide to thrive on your wedding day

I’m no expert as I (thankfully) have only had one wedding – but here are some things that I learnt from my experiences as a bride.

1. Take a calculated risk

Like you, I got married in South Africa but planned the entire wedding from the UK via email and phone. I rocked up at our wedding venue (the White House) in Plettenberg Bay just four days before the wedding. It turned out okay!

2. Get expert help
The best thing I could have done (apart from marrying my brilliant husband) was to get a wedding planner. She advised me on everything from flowers to the taxi service our guests could use. During the reception when I broke a glass, Jayne was there as it hit the ground, swept it up and give me a new one *ta da*. Her sturdy elbow was there as I was about to topple off the chair after the garter was thrown into the crowd and everyone was looking away. 

3. Put your foot down

Don’t be afraid to ask for things to be a certain way on your day. Don’t worry about coming across all Bridezilla…people will generally accommodate you seeing as it is a once-in-a- lifetime kind of situation. Looking back I wish I had stood my ground on a few tiny things that niggled me, but was too timid. Be bold!

4. Don’t take yourself too seriously. 
We commissioned a proudly South African bead craft cake topper, street-side style. It wasn’t quite what I had in mind but there was no time to fix it. So we laughed. Everyone laughed. I love the beaded MacDonalds :)

(personally i think these are pretty awesome. viva la Africa-style!)

 5. Plan to make memories.
Through every grueling interval training class I did three times a week for months in the run-up to our wedding, what got me through the pain was the vision of myself walking down the aisle in my gorgeous dress to the tune of ‘She’ by Elvis Costello played by a live saxophone. It remains one of my favourite memories from the day.
6. Do it your way
When it came to organising boutonnieres, the mere thought of a carnation wrapped up with baby’s breath in that green tape made me gag. We had a beach theme so I bought brooch pins and stuck them onto seashells. The groom, parents, and groomsmen each had a unique handmade brooch – it worked a treat.

 7. Let others do the worrying
The day before our wedding, we realised with horror that we would not be able to have the romantic beach wedding ceremony and say our vows under the driftwood and seashell canopy like we had carefully planned. The weather had turned on us. It was a metaphor for marriage: weather the storms by being open to change. I decided to let it go and leave it up to other people to sort out (this is very unlike me – I’m such a control freak). Instead I went for a massage. Thanks to my genius wedding planner, organisational legend of a maid of honour and quick-thinking husband, a beautiful tent was erected in the courtyard right next to our reception venue. It was a delightful surprise to arrive at the ceremony to see how everyone had made it come together so wonderfully. We made such sweet lemonade! (Ah! I love that!)

8. Take time out
The best advice I ever got was to take 10 minutes during your wedding day to have a chat and a glass of champagne with your husband away from everyone else. Try to squeeze this in after or during your photo session. It’s lovely just to touch base because the day has many distractions – take a deep breath and smile at each other and drink it all in…
9. Remember your family and your heritage
On the back of our order of service we printed our family tree. It was wonderful to have a visual representation of two lineages coming together. I loved paying tribute to our ancestors in this way and it made for an interesting topic of conversation among the guests. (such a lovely idea!)
 10. Be funny
We let our hair down at the photoshoot after the serious ceremony. It was so much fun! Also, I didn’t get a fancy wedding car to take me to the venue. I figured that nobody would see me arrive anyway and couldn’t justify the expense. So I got a sliver combi taxi for me and my four bridesmaids, maid of honour and mother-in-law. As we piled into the taxi and I put on my seatbelt (I got to sit in the front of course!) I told the driver to please take me to the airport. (hahahaha!)
11. Trust the tradition
As chaotic as things may seem, they will all come together. People will want to help you and will go out of their way to be nice to you. Everyone will tell you that you look amazingly-beautiful-stunningly-gorgeous…take the compliments!
12. Get a little bit crazy
We had an after party. We had planned to have it on the beach with drums and 40 sky lanterns. It bloody rained. So in true Rhodes style we took it back to our guest house, drummed and drank Patron and Pongrácz (yes in that order). (Rhodes wedding - FTW!*) We also brought back what remained of our amazing wedding cake (which was a cupcake tower). It was at about 2:30am when somebody (we all know who it was!) threw the first cupcake. Within 15 minutes the tiled floor was covered in the most slippery buttery layer. Everyone did at least one face plant on that sugary ice-rink. Blue. Icing. Everywhere. In clothes, in hair, on face. Those who took part still fondly remember this part of our wedding. The clean-up operation was epic.

(i'd have to say that your miserable weather 

makes these pics look so awesome and dramatic! 

Ain't nobody else got dramatic-beachy pics like that!)

13. Dress for success

My wedding gown was the most expense dress I’ve ever bought (and possibly ever will). I wanted to get the most wear out of it. So it survived the after party and there I was at 10 the next morning, at the breakfast table eating a muffin, still wearing it. (i will TOTALLY be doing this: Smashing a giant breakfast burger in. my. face. in le wedding dress. And, FYI Warren, I will probably wear my wedding dress every day of my honeymoon too.) When I finally slipped out of it, every rib in my ribcage popped out of the whale-boned bodice with relief...
14. Shun convention
Between the two of us my husband and I have four left feet. After one awkward dance lesson we made the executive decision not to attempt a YouTube-worthy dance-off but rather have a first dance shuffle to Jason Mraz ‘I’m Yours’. With no pressure to rehearse steps, we could just relax and be in the moment. 
15. Don’t compare
You will go to other weddings after yours. Never compare your wedding to them. No matter how tempting. Even if that happy couple manage to pull of the perfect beach wedding that you planned to have but couldn’t because of the weather. When your wedding is over, embrace it with all its tiny flaws, venue changes and imperfections – it’s yours for keeps. 

My final word of advice is not to wrap your satin wedding shoes in a Checkers packet at the bottom of your suitcase while you’re on honeymoon. They will go MOULDY and have PERMANENT black spots. 

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Thank you so much for the awesome tips Marita - I can only HOPE to be as calm as you the day before the wedding!

You can read more great stories on Marita's blog and you can follow her on twitter here.


* I'd just like to say... I am an old Rhodes student, Warren is an old Rhodes student...

Our entire 8-person bridal party as well as half the wedding guests are all old Rhodes students....

I'm packing a shower cap.

{guest post} Anarchy in the Sandbox

My Facebook homepage has recently been advertising all kinds of ENGAGEMENT RINGS! WEDDING BANDS! GETTING MARRIED? WEDDING DJ! BRIDAL BOUQUETS! WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER! GIFT REGISTRY - SIGN UP HERE! etc.

It has been amusing to see that Facebook has so aptly assimilated to my current life phase - but I am very (very) curious as to the line of Facebook advertising that comes next.... NO, FACEBOOK! NO BABIES. NO!!  While I am sure that sometime in the future The Warr and I will produce a wild-pack of our own little indieBabies - the time is definitely not anywhere now. (Uh, South American travels, hello.)


With that in mind, today's guest blogger is American Mommy-Blogger Maria - who is sharing her story of why they decided to wait to have children. Maria runs the blog Anarchy in the Sandbox (lol) which is where she shares her success and style of attachment-parenting to her daughter Quinn (what a gorgeous name!)

(above: Maria and her husband Chris)

Although I'm no mommy (yet - thank goodness), I would assume that it is very reassuring to have honest, not always "peaches-and-cream" accounts of parenting that you can really relate to. Anarchy in the Sandbox provides a very fresh and frank account of parenting. Here is Maria's story with my comments in red - 

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Why We Waited to Have Kids (and You Should, Too)

When you've been dating for a while, the question everyone wants to ask you is "When are you two getting married?" When you've been married for a while, the question becomes "When are you two going to have kids?"

Maybe it's a little more sly than that. Maybe your mother starts hinting about how she'd love to be a grandmother "one day" -- but then follows that up with something along the lines of "while I can still enjoy it." (I'm pretty sure even Facebook will get all up in your grill about it)

For my husband and I, it was 5 years before we answered the first question and 4 more years before we answered the second (with another 2 before we were successful in our attempts). We waited a little longer than a lot of couples typically do to get married and then to have kids, but it turned out to be the right decision, and we'd recommend that other couples did the same. Here's why:

We're Stronger as a Couple

Just living together is a huge adjustment. You have to get over the fact that he doesn't put the toilet seat down after he uses it. You will also have to get over the fact that he doesn't put his socks in the hamper or clear his plate after dinner, or that he puts trash on the floor instead of in the can. Maybe he has to get used to the fact that you buy shoes like it's your job or that your want the towels to be JUST. SO. Or maybe those were just our problems. (I think the shoe-thing is an every-girl problem).

Gender stereotypes aside, it takes a while to adjust to one another. No matter how great a couple you are - how perfectly matched, how wonderfully compatible - you are going to have to give some time to work out the kinks and to learn one another. You have to do this at every stage of your relationship, from dating to living together to getting married. Give it some time after you get married to enjoy being married and to adjust to this new stage of your relationship.

We Know Ourselves Better

It didn't help that my husband and I started dating when we were 21. It took us more than awhile to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives, let alone with one another. We went through college and graduate school and first jobs and all kinds of other just-figuring-our-shit-out types of problems along the way.

Five years didn't seem like too long until we got married - it seemed like just enough time. Four more years didn't seem like too long to wait to start trying to have kids - it seemed like just enough time. When we finally started to try, we really knew who we were as people. We had figured out what we wanted in our lives and in each other, and that made us ready to be the best parents we could be.

There are a lot of other reasons to wait.

The older you get, the more patient you are - which you'll need boatloads of when you're dealing with a toddler. The older you get, the more experiences you have - which means that you won't be looking back on what you "missed out" on with regret. The older you get, the more of your friends have kids. This actually matters. When you have a lot of friends who have kids, you have a support system. You have people who you can vent to when you feel like locking yourself inside a closet while your kid screams like a Comanche while finger-painting the wall. You have people you can call on to watch your kid for a few hours so you can do things like go to a movie. Or get a shower. Or have sex.

The older you get, the more financially secure you are - at least in theory. I don't think there's ever a time that everything will be just "right" financially to have a kid, but at least we weren't scraping together pennies anymore and had steady health insurance. Plus, we had enough perspective to understand that money comes and money goes - it's the people in your life who matter.

Really, no one can tell you when is the right time to have kids. You might wait 10 months, or you might wait 10 years. What's right is what's right for you. In our case, it was right to wait, and there are a lot of reasons why it's right for many couples.

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Thank you Maria - for the very awesome advice... hopefully there won't be any indieBabies any time soon! You can read more about Maria's style of parenting on her blog Anarchy in the Sandbox

{Guest Post} Mel's Corner

Apart from freeing up some of my time in the pre-wedding-melt-down (did I say melt-down? I meant joy, pre-wedding-joy), my other reason for opening up indieBerries for guest contributors, was to hopefully find a whole new bunch of awesome blogs to read. And I certainly have found some amazing new up-and-coming blogs to follow!

When I started reading the submission for today's guest post I actually got a little lump in my throat - at the thought that someone who I have never met, can be so excited for me and my engagement and has honestly pin-pointed our vibe so well. It honestly is through readers like this that keeps me blogging. Thank you all!

Introducing - 

Mel's Corner

Mel is a self-confessed sushi-addict and really is in love with the boy next door. Haha. Her blog is filled with snippets from her daily life including her kitchen-master-pieces -

How cute are those froggie cupcakes!? If I didn't have a wedding dress to get into I'd smash that whole plate! And those macarons! They look so delicious and dainty! Let me tell you - I am no chef - but I do know that she's got some skill, this one!


Mel also shares some of her DIYs - I absolutely LOVE these friendship bracelets and when the wedding is over I'm going to have so much free time on my hands that I will probably want to make a bajillion. I have bookmarked Mel's tutorial for when that time comes. It will probably start on honeymoon - so I will bring along some threads for Warr to work on. (It's always nice when someone tests out an existing online tutorial and gives you their feedback on what worked and what didn't - which is exactly what Mel has done in her blogpost). You can find her square bracelet tutorial (right) if you click here.

Anyway enough from me - here is Mel and her very kind words and wedding-well-wishes. 

My comments are in red.

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Well I've been following the world of indieBerries for some time now. I read all the adventures about teaching in Korea, the weird people who sit next to her on flights (I have the same kind of weirdos magnet...haha) and all the personalised gifts/cards/invites she has ever made. OK confession time I have used a few of those ideas for friends and family but they're just so thoughtful.

So when I heard (or more read) that indieBerries was engaged I was so happy for her (more like overjoyed). (haha yay!!) You would have thought it was one of my best friends who had gotten engaged. (We can totally be BFFs!!) I have been eagerly following all of the wedding and not so wedding related posts. I can't wait for the photos and post-wedding posts, because all your posts make me feel like I was there experiencing the moment with you. (I can't wait to share them with everyone!) So without further ado let me give an idea of what I think your special day will be like. Although I'm pretty sure it will be way more awesome than these photos could possibly describe.

On your special day I know there will be creatively crafted and very personalised seating charts and arrangements. Which you would have spent hours (days) (months) making yourself no doubt. (Warren helped. No he didn't)

I just know your table arrangements will be beautiful with that feel of classically simple.
(wait and seeeeeee....... ;) )

Now I have no I idea what style you may have chosen for your wedding dress, but I have no doubt in my mind that it will be elegant and represent who you are one hundred percent. I cannot elaborate toooo much on this because The Warr reads this blog - but.... yes, yes and yes!

Oh and then because that man of yours just loves his sunglasses (OK more like obsessed with them) there will be at least one or two ways in which he will find a way to have them in a photo or two...lol.

Haha - this Mel chick - she knows.

Above all else I know your special day and marriage will be filled with a lot of love and special moments.

YAY!

I of course could not leave you without giving some sound advice on marriage...

1. Always fight naked, because how can you take someone seriously when they're standing naked in front of you...lol. hahaha I will pass this info on to The Warr. 
2. Che, give that man a broom...haha, seriously though he can clean 
3. Marriage doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

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Thank you so much Mel for your (very accurate) predictions for our BIG DAY and for your gorgeous collages.
I'm so grateful  for such awesome readers like you and I can see from this post that you totally "get me" ;)

Take a trip over to Mel's Corner to see more of her awesome DIYs, kitchen adventures, beauty tricks and fashion loves.
You can also follow her on twitter @mels_corner

{Guest Bloggers} SouthBound Bride

Today's Guest Blogger is a real treat for anyone in the midst of planning/organising or "bridesmaiding" a wedding - Gaby of SouthBound Bride (SBB) is here to share her number one tip for how-to-remain-calm on The Big Day. I first met Gaby (in the flesh) midway through last year and we hit it off like a house on fire. It was probably the enthusiastic wedding chatter or the two bottles of red wine that did the trick - but either way, I can personally say that Gaby is one of the loveliest gals on the internet. Even The Warr who has never met Gaby has realised that we are kindred spirits and whenever I have gone off to meet Gaby he remarks, "Oh, are you off to meet your new BFF SBB?" He's so funny with his double acronyms.



SouthBound Bride - has been a real inspiration during my wedding planning phase - and I really love the inspiration boards that you can request from Gaby -  gratis! They are so gorgeous - like one of her more recent boards - Coral and Chalk (above) - doesn't that name enough just sound so delicious! Gaby also curates awesome weekly round-ups and shares her favourite wedding-finds from around the web - so you can always be sure to find something on SBB to get your creative-juices flowing.

What I love about Gabys wedding blog is that unlike many wedding blogs - each of her posts feature "the voice of Gaby". In amidst all the gorgeous wedding inspiration you get a glimpse of Gaby's personal taste, style and (often hilarious) wedding-related stories. Hop over to SBB to see just what I mean.

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Hello lovely Indieberries readers, it’s Gaby of SouthBound Bride, Che’s favourite wedding blogger* (Gaby totally just put that in herself - but, I do whole-heartedly agree!). When I offered to write a little guest post while she’s on the wedding crazy train, I asked her what she’d like me to write about. “How to keep calm on the big day,” she said. And so here I am, to tell you all just that.

Thing is, for all my years of wedding blogging and advanced (self-awarded) degree in flower and veil terminology, I’ve never been a bride, so to answer this question I thought I would fall back on my experiences as a bridesmaid. And what I can tell Che, and all of you brides (and bridesmaids) to be is that something will probably go horribly wrong. Fact.

The first wedding I bridesmaided for was relatively disaster free (although we almost forgot the groom’s ring and had to turn back for it). The second was for my school friend a gorgeous girl with a flare for the dramatic. She wanted to make a grand first impression, and picked Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma as the perfect tune. You know the one – starts off soft, builds to “vincero, vincero, viiiiiinceeeeeeeroooooooo” (If you don't speak Gaby you can listen to the song here). Problem was, her chapel was tiny, so the plan was that the church doors would stay closed for the first part of the song while atmosphere and anticipation would build, then the bridesmaids would come in just before the chorus and the bride would follow for her triumphant (operatic) entrance. We had it timed within milliseconds. Problem was, nobody told the man who was opening the door. He flung it open at the first strains of the choir. So there my fellow bridesmaid and I stood, all eyes on us from inside the little church. For five full minutes. We couldn’t move, because that would ruin the bride’s big moment. (The bride who, by the way, was standing off to one side

doubled over with laughter.) AWKWARD.

The last time I was a bridesmaid, I thought I had just about every eventuality covered (and by then, I was running SouthBound Bride, so I had the benefit of hundreds of real brides’ hindsight advice). After the ceremony, I headed off with the rest of the wedding party for photos, confident that the guests would enjoy their cocktail hour sipping lemonade through stripey straws, eating canapés, and admiring the bride’s unusual choice of wedding cake – a tower of donuts. The donuts were supposed to each sit on a delicate paper doily, having been placed stylishly on a lovely platter and encircled with flowers and berries. Tres Martha. What we didn’t know was that the co-ordinator (and I use the term loosely) had simply piled them up on a plate. Yep, you can see this coming. By the time we got

back from the photoshoot… the guests had eaten the ‘cake’.

The thing is, that while neither of these specially planned details went to plan, they’ve become some of the funniest memories from those happy days. We’ll still be laughing at them on ten-year anniversaries, and twenty, and beyond. So my keep calm tip is this: Something is probably going to go wrong. But when it does, go with it. It’s all part of your story, and while every love story is perfect, they’re not

built on perfection.

And if you’re still worried, arm your bridesmaids with an emergency kit. 

You can download mine here.

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Thanks so much Gaby! I am preparing myself for the rings to be dropped, my bridesmaids to be drunk, a tropical torrential downpour with no umbrellas, the minister to forget the date, my dress to rip and my photographers hair to catch on fire. And surely if I prepare for all that - then there's much else that can go wrong. Right?

Right.