Dotty About...Wedding Hair Accessories

For my wedding, being on a budget (like most of us, I am sure!) I decided I wanted my girls to have something gorgeous for their hair (but something that didn't cost me too much) so I made them some hair pieces.

Don't worry, I gave them the option to wear them or not: my sister sadly declined, but my other two lovely bridesmaids met the challenge head on (pardon the pun ;-) )

As well as enabling me to personalise and bring in my colour themes to my bridesmaids outfits, it also gave me great pleasure to be able to give them something so personal.

My friend and I have been discussing what to do for her bridesmaids (of which I am very privileged to be one!) so I have been seeking inspiration from Etsy. So far I am loving:

Vintage Romance

Gorgeous Lacy Headband

Colourful Display

Crochet Love

For more inspiration and ideas visit my Pinterest board

Dotty About...Vintage Table Centres

So I have been talking vintage a lot lately. It is one of my favourite themes though.

The newest vintage trend which I love that appeared at the last wedding we went to, but which I then read about again in Vintage Life Magazine is putting a random collection of vintage items as a table centrepiece. Collections can include anything vintage looking such as books, jugs or teapots of large vintage style blooms, interesting jars, old fashioned telephones, biscuit tins, random bits of lace, oh, and don't forget your grandma's pearls! You get the idea.

If done well, it really sets the tone. If done badly, it can look a bit cluttered. Luckily I have only seen it done well myself!

If you do need some help with your vintage styling, contact the Vintage Patisserie - or at least check out their AMAZING website for some inspiration for your table centres such as:

This example of the table centres on The Wedding Chicks website by Andrea Dozier is another great example of how to style your table centres

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Perfect Days Vintage is a company which actually hires out vintage accessories. And Grandma's Pearls!

Dotty About...Bunting

Around the time of the Royal Wedding, my husband asked me what I thought about the Royal Family and all the wedding shinanagins. I don't really have much of an opinion on that other than if they weren't in situ, I am sure that through the media we would hear more about some other poor sods emulating royalty, far better to appreciate the real thing!

However, it has occurred to me of late that I rather like them for one thing in particular...the sense of British-ness they install in us around any special occasion. It's not like life grinds to a halt per say, it is just that we Brits suddenly seem to appreciate good values - enjoying being part of the community that is Britain.

One of my favourite things that made this sense of community much stronger for me was the amount of bunting that suddenly appeared! I am actually DOTTY ABOUT BUNTING! I love it. I think seeing those little triangles flapping about in a breeze is just heart swelling. It conjures up and symbolises so many things... celebrating, having fun, drinking pimms, chatting and laughter.

God bless the royals for bringing back bunting! And with next year being the Jubilee I am very hopeful to see even more, and may even bring out my own range of Dotty About...Bunting. Watch this (web) space!



1945 Victory celebrations
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1953 Coronation celebration
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Street Party in Leeds celebrating the Royal Wedding (2011)
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Even the PM get's out the bunting in honour of the Royal Wedding of William & Kate!
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Of course, bunting is a cheap but colourful way of jazzing up any occasion, and is an easy DIY project for any bride (or your mum ;-) ) All you need to do is create a triangle template, cut out lots of triangular (or rectangular) flags from your choice of fabrics, then sew the tops of them to some bias binding tape.

If you are looking for bunting and can't possibly think about making you own or wait to see my Dotty About designs, there are specialist bunting companies you can visit:

Country Bunting
The Cotton Bunting Company
Bunting Queen, a personal favourite as they are very active on marketing and you may also hire bunting from them as well as buy it.