Yvette by Sabina Motasem Bride

One of my weddings that I have been working on this week is in the style of Art Deco. The theme was inspired by the hotel where my lovely couple became engaged. Burgh Island Hotel is without doubt one of the most luxurious retreats to stay.

It has been completely restored in 2006 to its glorious sophisticated and elegant form. Dinner here is black tie! Decadent, glamourous and super stylish. Just how you should feel when you wear your wedding dress.

I could not believe it when Sabina Ali, the head designer from Sabina Motasem Bride in London sent me her super new collection to look at which fits perfectly with this era.

There are six brand new vintage inspired, elegant wedding dresses alongside two bestsellers – perfect for the style conscious bride and the photo shoot was shot at the gorgeous Eltham Palace.

Sabina found inspiration for the new collection from the style and glamour of iconic performers at the Folies Bergeres in 1900s - 1930s Paris.  The slinky, understated dresses complement the opulent and decadent style that you associate with perfectly and styles brides tend to wear at Eltham Palace for their weddings.

Stephen and Virginia Courtauld, society millionaires who used influential designers of the period to create Eltham Palace as a high status home consisting of a series of elegant rooms, reminiscent of Hollywood-style glamour. The use of geometry and simplicity combined with simple shapes in an understated luxurious fashion, mirrors the style of Sabina Motasem Bride dresses, making Eltham Palace the perfect backdrop for the new collection and a sensational venue to plan a wedding.

Sabina Motasem wedding dresses are understated, great value, simple and elegant. Brides can select alternative details like different necklines, sleeves, colours and accessories.

The Yvette dress, a strapless knee length number with full knee length skirt and can be worn with a 50’s style petticoat, transforming its silhouette from an understated 40’s shape to a dramatic 50’s dress. This dress can be accessorised with matching shrug, beaded belt and French corded lace bodice.

Colette

Colette – a strapless wedding dress in beautiful stretch duchess satin, fishtail skirt and puddle train. The Colette dress can be accessorised with a matching shrug, beaded belt and French corded lace bodice, taking the bride all day through several easily changeable looks.

Cabaret

The hem and train of the Cabaret dress is made entirely of asymmetrical shaped box pleats, each mounted on top of the one below giving a subtle geometrical relief shape.

Josephine

The Josephine dress, a backless cowl draped dress with a puddle train in luxurious crepe silk available in Ivory, Vintage Cream and Soft Pink, oozes old Hollywood-style red carpet glamour and is a demure way to show off a toned back.

Loie

The Loie dress, a stunning geometrical and architecturally pleated empire line bodice in a rich oyster coloured satin crepe with contrasting satin front panels and pleated back detail, is a dress to turn heads. The Loie dress is available in Ivory, Vintage Cream and Soft Pink.

A sample collection is available to view during appointments at the Islington studio, London and is priced between £900 – £1750. Dresses can be altered to fit, made exclusively in the UK and delivered within two months throughout the UK and internationally. Shorter timescales are possible from one week. To book an appointment email mail@motasem.co.uk or go to www.motasem.co.uk for more information.

I just love this collection and it’s very well priced. Makes me want to get married all over again. Who knows? renewing vows is very popular.

Until next time, happy planning.

Today I have to indulge just a little, it’s been over two years since I started The Wedding Genie and I thought I would stop and reflect on what has been for me an outstanding couple of years.

I have been privileged to work with twenty couples at various stages of their weddings. A mix of services from Partial and Full Wedding Planning to On the Day Coordination and everywhere in between.

What a fantastic job where the people you work with are generally always happy and what you do really makes a difference to them.

I certainly have gained some fantastic experience from all types of weddings including a beautifully themed barn wedding, an asian wedding (two in fact in one!), country house weddings that were to die for, spectacular glamourous weddings taking place in two venues!!  One of my lovely brides from one of those days even has her ownWedding blog now. The other was filmed for The Great Cake Bake program on wedding TV. Oh and what about the Italian Wedding! I have done things that would never have occurred to me like giving advice on BBC Radio West Midlands, being filmed by Wedding TV, giving monthly expert wedding advice to Your West Midlands Wedding Magazine. I do love writing for them and for Wedding TV.

Along the way I have built up a team of professionals to die for, a phenomenal Genie Dream Team. All of them going the extra mile and providing a service second to none. I believe your wedding is all about the journey and you should enjoy it with the people you work with.

What’s the point of using a wedding planner if you can’t have fun and have time to enjoy the good stuff. Thanks to everyone I have worked with and their help for making our clients wedding day vision a reality. Busy people in demanding jobs just don’t have the time to research and organise their wedding. It really is great to be able to provide a service for these clients who want to enjoy the planning but all the tasks like finding venues, suppliers and visualising their ideas and inspirations to come to life can be done by me and a fantastic team.

Next year looks like a great year!! The Wedding Genie is doing their first civil partnership and I am just thrilled to bits about that. Two absolutely delightful ladies who are such fun to work with. I can’t give much away about the themes and styles of next years weddings but the blog will showcase them all they unfold.

I am particularly excited about my Bridal Workshops. Lovely couples come along and spend time with me learning the building blocks of wedding planning. They go home brimming with ideas and inspiration. These are going to be held next year in Hagley at Blue Door Bakery Studios. The dates will come out next week.

You can now hire various items such as garden games, an instamatic digital camera for your guest book and glassware from me.  I will come and dress your venue for you, great if you are on a budget. More about that early next year. I will be adding to the website so that you can see what there is available.

My Wedding Planning Genie Wizard is flying off the shelves, am so thrilled about that. Next year I am going to add a Wedding Journal, which you can use as your bible for all things wedding. It’s like having a piece of The Wedding Genie to advise you at home!  All in all exciting times ahead.

I just want to say a “Massive Thank You” to all the lovely couples I have worked with. It has been a pleasure to be part of your special day and to be so involved in your plans and ideas. I can’t wait to get started on the weddings for next year too. I am off now to visit Sarah at Blue Door Bakery so hopefully she will give me cake to celebrate!!

Until next time, happy planning.

A few weeks ago my husband and I needed a little break and a complete rest for a few days, a place where you can totally relax and chill out. I will let you into our little secret of a fabulous retreat which we think of as home away from home. Exmoor House in Wheddon Cross Exmoor is just the most  fantastic place to unwind, enjoy the outdoors or not! and eat the most delicious home made and home-grown produce you will ever taste.

Exmoor House,  provides B&B and evening meal, is ran by a lovely couple called Rosi and Frank. They are an absolute delight and will really look after you. From hot drinks and homemade cakes on your arrival to tasty and well designed three course meals in the evening. It is super reasonable too.

We first went there about three years ago when we were recently engaged and my husband was taking part in a Half Iron Man competition. He booked us here and since then we have been back three or four times to recharge our batteries.

The area is beautiful for walking and cycling.

The house is really comfortable with only 5 rooms. They are all decorated individually full of Rosi’s thoughtful touches. Frank makes the best scones I have ever tasted and even made me some fresh to take home with his homemade jam. Oh did I mention his homemade chutney too. Picture a wet afternoon with us curled up on their sofa’s in a sitting room for guests with no television and no internet. Perfect peace! Eating superb cheese washed down with great red wine. Rosi really is a dab hand at buying in the most fab wine and I can highly recommend all of them!!

Rosi’s home grown herbs! No frozen quick food here!

In the lounge with comfy sofas is a library of books and maps and walks you can look at to plan your time there in Exmoor. You really do feel like very looked after. Rosi even does Reiki which I had a session of at my last visit.

The bedrooms are all very cosy with everything you need.

Exmoor House is recommended by The Guardian, 101 Holidays and Lonely Planet. They even have a Green Tourism Gold Award!!

What is also great if you want to hold your wedding reception somewhere a little more unusual and very homely  please consider this an an option. Frank will make you food to die for and you will have the run of the house. It is also a great place for a house party. I keep thinking how Christmas would be here!! Pure heaven. They can even provide champagne and flowers!!

Well off to ponder when we can go again.

Until next time, happy planning.

I just woke up today and looked at my morning emails and this post, that I get from Claire at English Wedding everyday, popped into my inbox. It the most favourite wedding blog I follow. Yes there are many others you can subscribe too but for me Claire gives the best advice of any wedding blogger I know.

Claire’s blog is truly honest and full of inspiration. It is inspiration from the UK too and from photographers who shoot the most amazing weddings for all different kinds of reasons. Not just for the pretty things but for the people they portray and the love and laughter that a wedding day should be full of.

If you are in a relationship getting married or not! just go and read this post. It embodies what all couples in my opinion should be to each other. Supportive, loving and letting you as a person grow and flourish despite what life brings. A bit soppy you might say but I truly believe that the best marriages are based on these philosophies. I thought this post is what wedding blogs should be about, from the heart advice!!! It is what I would say if only I was as eloquent as Claire.

GO NOW and read this!!! Subscribe to Claire’s blog and you will find yourself waking up every day having a little bit of precious honest goodness to start your day with. Well that and a fabulous inspirational wedding blog full of quality suppliers, and beautiful brides of all different walks of life. It is also very different from any other wedding blog in an excellent way. It will give you a different perspective if you are planning your wedding.

Until next time, happy planning.

I do feel that wedding fairs need to be completely overhauled and offer something new and fresh. Watch this space for our sister company next year offering a fabulous new event in March.

In the meantime I am pleased as punch to introduce Susie and her sister Cathy, who have put together a great list of quality wedding suppliers to produce a Vintage Chic Wedding Fair. They wanted to give something that little bit different to brides and have created a vintage inspired event for Brides looking for something a little less mainstream.

I asked Susie to tell me a little more about the event. What kind of suppliers would be attending and what to expect.

Vintage with a modern twist is how we like to describe our fairs. Our exhibitors are not only passionate  about what they do but inspirational and extremely creative.  Our fairs are also bought to life with music from Simon Partridge a Midlands based Jazz Swing singer and a pop up vintage tea parlour for Brides and guests to relax with a cup of tea and homemade cake. Expect plenty of bunting, authentic vintage bridal gowns, cute cupcakes, award winning photographers along with planners and stylists ready to take away the stress of managing your wedding. Vintage heaven!

A list of all confirmed exhibitors is available online at www.vintagechicweddingfair.co.uk along with a directory of other super vintage inspired wedding suppliers. Here a few images from the last event to wet your appetite.

All the brilliant photographs are from Theresa Furey, go check out her site I was mesmerised with the style and quality.

We have 2 events coming up in this Autumn. 30^th October at The Custard Factory Birmingham and 13^th November at Stancliffe Hall. A luxury wedding venue near Matlock Derbyshire.  Pre registered Brides are free of charge to enter and all other guests just £2.50 payable at the door.

For any questions or queries, please contact info@vintagechicweddingfair.co.uk

It certainly is a great line up, I urge you to go check out Susie and Cathy’s website, their list of suppliers is super impressive. I might even go myself if I get chance. I was completely enthralled just looking at the the websites of all the suppliers.

Until next time, happy planning.

This week I have had so much fun looking for inspiring decor for my brides. I came across this lovely website that really took my fancy. Not only can you treat yourself to goodies without blowing your budget but Vintage Amethyst has the most gorgeous little pieces to make your wedding decor that little bit unique. Here at The Wedding Genie we are always going on about how the little details make your wedding special so here are a few ideas for you to personalise your special day.

I myself bought a little gift from here this week and I have to say Alison who runs the online Gift and Wedding boutique gave me outstanding customer service. If you read my blog regularly you will know that I love to share great suppliers and companies who care for their clients with the same high level of care that we deliver. I wrote to Alison to get to know her a little bit more about how Vintage Amethyst came to be.

Vintage Amethyst first started with me making jewellery. I had wanted to sell my jewellery alongside pretty vintage home-wears & things I had ‘up-cycled’. Vintage Amethyst (this as you can see is where the name comes from!) was born, but the jewellery was so popular that I decided just to concentrate on making & selling pretty gemstone jewellery for a while.

I loved the jewellery making, but in my heart I knew I really wanted to sell pretty home-wares as I love shopping & decorating my own home. I have always loved the vintage, ‘Shabby Chic’ style & have always painted furniture for our home & so I decided to go with my heart & make the leap into home-wares in 2008 & since then Vintage Amethyst has grown so much. Over a period of time I found that a lot of brides-to-be were buying some of the pretty items for their wedding day & so I added a dedicated wedding day collection specifically for brides for their special day & also for pretty wedding gifts ideas. This has been a wonderful success & I love getting orders for peoples wedding day, it feels lovely to be part of someone’s special day even if it’s only a teeny tiny part.

This is a great idea for a unique table plan. Fab for a barn type wedding. Have lovely cards printed to match your stationery with your guests names and tables on. Slide them into the holder and you have a very simple but stylish way of guiding your guests to their tables.

I love running my online boutique, it is so much fun especially for someone like me with a passion for pretty homes. I love sourcing lovely delicious pretty things that I personally would love to buy & last year I added a collection called ‘Just for You’ where you can find wonderfully vintage inspired clutch bags & pretty jewellery. Vintage Amethyst isn’t just a shop to me it’s a whole life-style & I hope everyone loves the Vintage Amethyst collections as much as me.

I love these ideas. How about using these gorgeous wooden hearts as place names and they can double up as favours. For 10 for £16 it’s so affordable. The paper bunting would look lovely draped around the room or even as edging for the top table and again great for the budget at £7.

These hanging hearts would be great decoration for your venue. If you are having a  vintage theme all these little ideas are inexpensive but give you that little bit of the personal touch. These are £4.50 for three.

There are many other lovely touches over at Vintage Amethyst, Bird cages, lovely garlands and then there are the special treats just for you. You also get a great shopping experience with Alison and your goodies arrive beautifully wrapped. Take some time for a coffee and a browse. I do love the fact too that it can all be done from home, or not that I would advocate this but a sneaky five minutes in your lunch break might just sort out all the decor you need to give your wedding that very personal touch.

Until next time, happy planning.

Well today on the blog I have the most amazing company to introduce to you. I was surfing last week keeping up to date with the wedding world and came across Posh Party Bags. What a great idea. The bags look beautiful and are filled with heavenly little details and have a vintage theme which is so popular at the moment. I gave my own bridesmaids a gift bag full of goodies, I wish I had found these then.

Lianne who runs Posh Party Bags has a background in Art Direction. She makes and designs all the bags and favours herself. I love to know that the present I am giving is so well put together with thought and attention to detail. I emailed Lianne and asked her about her ranges.

Currently I have two ranges, with my latest being the ‘Pretty POSH’ range which reallys appeals to the vintage inspired bride.

The Pretty POSH party bags make an ideal gift for bridesmaids or any special ladies on your big day or hen do. The label on the front can carry a personal message, or the recipient’s name, and inside they will be spoiled with pretty, pearly, vintagy loveliness!

Traditional bridesmaid gifts are often items that can be used on the day of the wedding itself, such as a necklace ( I love this idea!) so I have selected a

• Beautiful long pearl and crystal necklace along with
• A sample of Prada Milano perfume
• A flower corsage with crystal detail
• A pot of champagne bubbles
• A vintage box filled with pink bonbons and
• A shabby chic hanging heart

Each bag costs just £20.

What about some tasty chocolate to introduce your party bag?

Our Pretty POSH chocolate bars have been designed to compliment this range.

These beautiful bars can be used on your tables to act as the guest’s name card and favour in one. Alternatively you can have a generic message on all the bars like your new married name and the date. Golden tickets can be inserted into special guests’ bars (or guests chosen at random) to announce they’re going to receive a gift. ie You could put one in all the bridesmaids’ bars to announce they’re going to receive a Pretty POSH party bag! These retail at £4 each.

My second range is what i describe as modern bling. I’m a bit of a magpie when it comes to all things shiny so lots of metallics, jewels and glitter make up this range. Inside the black POSH Party Bag I have chosen a crystal bracelet in an organza bag, a black bamboo hand fan, a sample of Givenchy’s glitter body gel, a black flower corsage with crystal detail, a pot of champagne bubbles, a stylized silver party popper, and some foil wrapped chocolates complete the bag.

My glitter wrapped chocolate bars compliment this range perfectly and the glitter wrappers comes in pretty much every colour you can think of (these can be seen under the POSH extras tab on my website www.poshpartybag.com) so can be tailored to match any colour scheme. These can also include a golden ticket and your guest’s name can be applied in glitter letters.

I’m a complete perfectionist and I like to know that my products reach each couple in perfect condition, so I usually ask for them to collect them from my showroom in Macclesfield, Cheshire rather than trusting a courier! My showroom can be viewed by appointment where I have samples of all my party bags and favours and a few extra finishing touches like table plans that I have designed as a result of previous couples asking me to design them something bespokely. I also have candy buffets set up in my showroom which i personally deliver and set it up at each party, so my clientele are usually based in the North West.

If you really want to add to the style and give your guests a sweet treat instead of favours, why not check out Lianne’s candy buffet, dressed POSH Party Style. I absolutely love the idea of a candy buffet that matches your super stylish theme. It looks so decadent but scrumptious too!

This is available to hire and all the sweets are selected to match the couples colour scheme, Lianne dresses the jars accordingly with matching colour ribbons and pearls. etc. All the labels on the jars can also designed to suit the theme of the day.

Here is a black and white one to match the modern party bags.

All photography is by the lovely Katy Lunsford.

These are such lovely presents and favours, I love the idea of the bridesmaids being able to wear their gifts on the day of the wedding. A little bit of decadence in a bag. I for one am going to think about buying one of these lovely bags for my best friends. Sometimes you just want to say thank you for being there.

Well visit again on Friday and I have more goodies to look at for your wedding day decor and just lovely little treats for yourself when you need a break from all things wedding.

Until then, happy planning.

First of all lets think about innovative place name cards, or use these as seating cards for an alternative to a table plan. I love to have something different and this idea with Lavender from the lovely Martha Stewart is simple and for summer weddings makes a great impact. They smell lovely too. Apart from little bunches of lavender which you can trim from your garden or buy a few little plants from garden centres. You need two strips of paper, one side printed with your guests name and the other with the table number. Arrange them on a table and your guests pick their bunch up and take it to their table. Heavenly and so easy to do!

How about this idea too for a summer beach style wedding.

You’ll need a 1-inch-deep tray, a sheet of 1/4-inch foam board cut to fit into bottom of the tray,(or you can use some oasis)and some sand. Lay the foam board in the tray, and cover with sand. Drizzle sand unevenly, sifting a bit more here and there to form dunes. Print your seating assignments onto colored paper, and cut them into strips; glue strips to the shafts of the umbrellas. Poke the umbrellas through the sand into the foam board at an angle so guests can easily find their names. Read more at Marthastewartweddings.com: Parasol Seating Cards

I really do love Martha Stewart she really is an inspiration.

How about decor now? What about bringing your venue to life with these lovely paper banners. One of my brides used these at a barn wedding last year and they looked just heavenly strung against the beams. You can buy them from here , here or here is how to make them.

If you want to see and read more about this wedding just click here. If you want to send me your inspired decor ideas I would love to see them. I will make this a regular feature now to find you affordable but beautiful little details.

Until next time, happy planning.

Last week I had a lovely morning visiting Elite Tents

I am so pleased because my clients are using my services just when they need them. Individual hours they pay for to help them choose suppliers, I give advice and we brain storm ideas. They don’t have to engage me as a full time planner but they can pick my brain and choose from my supplier list during the ad hoc hours they spend with me. It is such a great way of using my expertise in bite sized chunks.

My clients had the idea of getting married in a Tipi or tent outside. Of course you can’t do this legally, but guess what YOU CAN if you have a registry office wedding first. That way you and your fiance go off and have a quiet ceremony on your own or with close family then arrange a second ceremony, usually quite close together and  have an independent celebrant perform the service that you dreamed off. You can have exactly what you want. More on that in another blog, so back to the wonderful idea of using a Tipi for your wedding breakfast.

Elite Tents contacted me a while ago and I fell in love with their Tipi’s and thought they would be perfect for my clients. They are so gorgeous and can be arranged exactly to suit your need. I asked Jacquie the owner to chat to my clients to see how their plans could work. To our delight Jacquie held an open day a couple of weeks ago. We all went along and saw for ourselves just how beautiful the Tipi was. I was amazed I have to say. It created the perfect atmosphere for the type of wedding day vision my clients have in their mind.

Here you can see two of the tipi’s connected together. Elite Tents have three in total and Jacquie is an absolute whiz at designing the space for the activities you want to happen with this type of wedding. A chill out area for your guests, a space to have your wedding breakfast and space to party. Each wedding can be different and the great thing is you can hire everything from Elite Tents to make life much easier. I was very impressed.

Check out these gorgeous pictures of the layout and the skins you can hire for the tables. I especially love the fire, what a great idea for a chill out area. You can imagine your guests all sat round chatting and enjoying the lovely ambiance. All the furniture you see too can be hired.

You can even have sparkly lights as a great back drop for your entertainment, hire a stage for a small amount and the scene is set. If you want to know more give Jacquie at Elite Tents a ring or check out their website for more pictures and ideas.

If you have lots of ideas running round your head and need someone who knows weddings to bounce them off, book a Genie Hour and really get your wedding planning off to a great start. Just call or email me to make a date. If you have friends who are getting married I have gift vouchers you can purchase which make great engagement presents.

Until next time, happy planning.

Melanie thought it would be a great present to buy her Mum and Dad A Genie for An Evening service. In fact we did it on a Sunday morning when all the family were visiting. The idea was to pull together Wendy and Perry’s vision for their special celebration and help them choose suppliers and outline their day. The vow renewal service was in early March so we only had a few weeks to sort everything out. Fortunately I have some great suppliers I can call on.

The morning I spent with Wendy, Perry and their family was such fun. Browsing through their old photographs from the year they got married and reminiscing about their life over the past 40 years was a true pleasure. Perry is one of life’s gentleman and has a great sense of humour. He and Wendy had a printing business so it was a great idea for them to make all of their stationery and really put themselves into the day. In fact that is how they first met when Perry was working in printing selling his wares. He asked Wendy out for lunch, he was smitten and the rest they say is history.

Wendy gave me a copy of one of her favourite pictures from their original wedding day. Part of my service is to write up a plan of the day’s events which Wendy and Perry could use as roadmap to help them visualise the events of the day. I was able to use the pictures Wendy gave to me to illustrate their day, as well as include ones of each of their family to keep as a memento.

I had a chat on the phone to Wendy before we met so that she could give me an idea of what she was thinking of for her day. I was then able to visit armed with lots of tips, advice and  pictures to illustrate Wendy’s ideas.On Wendy’s original wedding day it had been snowing and was so cold she had to use a fur muffle to keep warm, one of the priorities for their vow renewal was to have flowers as she had none on her original wedding day. Lovely ruby red ones to keep in with the theme of the ruby wedding anniversary. We chose simple but elegant table arrangements that the lovely Anne from Tiara and Flowers provided. You get a choice to keep the table centrepieces by just paying a little extra so you can give them to your guests as presents.

Flowers by Tiaras and Flowers

Other details we thought would work were having a montage of pictures on a table that told the story of Wendy and Perry’s life. It would also be good to use a signing frame with the original wedding picture in it for guests to sign. You can get these from Confetti. Later if they wanted to they can replace the picture from their favourite of the day.

These frames can be purchased from Confetti with different colour frames.

We came up with lovely red cupcakes with hearts and ruby red sprinkles for the reception. Using cupcakes meant that everyone could take one home so Wendy ordered little boxes which the cakes were packed in and handed out to guests as they left. CupCakes and Peonies provided the cakes for us. Perry wanted to arrive in style so we arranged a lovely car and of course Wendy and Perry wanted the ceremony to be photographed. Mark Zaccaria stepped up the mark and captured all the lovely moments of the day.

Cakes by Cupcakes and Peonies

Wendy and Perry were able to have their ceremony in the same church that they married in, St Margarets in Great Barr. The reverend encouraged them to personalise their ceremony so Perry’s nephew performed a reading and Melanie, Perry’s daughter read something special to them as the end of the ceremony. The reverend did a family blessing too which was a lovely idea.

The reception was held at Fairlawns Hotel and Spa in Aldridge,  the weather was surprisingly kind to us and was mild and sunny. Melanie composed a list of tunes on her IPOD for the background music and guest were greeted with a champagne reception following the ceremony. Wendy and Perry’s home made stationery looked great and everyone remarked about the little touches.

How can I write as if I was there? Well I was. The lovely Wendy and Perry phoned me to say that they had enjoyed my service so much they wanted me to share their day with them. It was an absolute pleasure to be part of the proceedings instead of looking over them.

Here are some great moments of the day.

Perry’s Gorgeous granddaughter, Lilly

I would like to say a huge thank you to Wendy and Perry for including me in their very special family day. It certainly was a lovely change to be a guest.

Until next time, happy planning.

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