Something old, something new, something borrowed, something green

Our wedding budget doesn't stretch that far, but I've always liked the idea of doing something green for our guests. Of course, being a destination wedding, our guest list's carbon footprint is a pretty big issue to me.
We can't afford to pay to offset the footprint, but we can get stuck in and get our hands dirty.
With the help of a carbon footprint calculator, I've worked out that our guests will create over 100 tonnes of CO2. That equals approximately 144 trees. Lucky we've got 10 months to go huh??
We've signed up to treesforcities.org, a really cool tree-planting organisation here in London. We'll be heading down south to plant some trees next weekend, rain, hail or shine. (And with the weather like it is at the moment, I'm thinking it might be a leeeetle cold!)
Wish us luck!

Chop chop.

Sadly, a destination wedding means we can't invite the entire world to our wedding. Actually, I'm lying. I'm not sad about it at all. The less the merrier in my opinion...I'm looking forward to having wedding photos in which I know every single guest extremely well. I mean, if we invited people because we felt 'we had to', the whole event would turn into a bad repeat of Survivor. I'm already having nightmares about having to vote my Dad off the island when he and my Mum meet up again after 15 years and 20,000 miles apart.
That's why New York magazine's guest list picking tool really appeals!

(Blatantly stolen off earthfriendlywedding.blogspot.com)




ALWAYS
1. Anyone who hung around the hospital the day you were born.

2. Friends of the family referred to as “Uncle [name]” or “Aunt [name]”.

3. BFFs, “bros,” and spouses thereof.

4.Irritating stepmothers.

DEFINITELY, IF IT’S POSSIBLE
5. Camp bunkmates who didn’t make the bridesmaid cut.

6. Co-workers and friends who are entertaining drunks.

7. Charismatic teachers/professors who went the extra mile to inspire you in high school/college.

8. Friends’ significant others who are known for getting the party started.

9. Vince Vaughn.

10. Co-workers and friends who are promiscuous drunks.

11. Co-workers and friends who are scandalous drunks.

ONLY IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT
12. Co-workers who are politically expedient.

13. Former co-workers.

14. Nonthreatening exes.

ONLY IF IT WOULD BE A PAIN NOT TO
15. Friends from high school with whom you can only talk about how fat everyone else from high school got after graduation.

16. Friends from college with whom you can only talk about how drunk everyone else in college got before graduation.

17. Your boss.

18. Your parents’ former spouses.

19. Friends’ significant others who are known for getting arrested.

20. Children under 16 to whom you are not biologically related.

NEVER
21. Torch-carrying exes.

22. The guy whom you used to refer to as “Uncle [name]” until you found out he’s your actual father and your family has been lying to you about it for 25 years.

23. Grifters.

24. Loan sharks.

25. Charismatic teachers/professors who went the extra mile to inspire you in high school/college because they’re sexual predators.

26. Bounty hunters.

I'm head over heels...

Or should I say skull over heels? The fabulous folks at Choccywoccydoodah have just told me I've won their Halloween Competition. You had to come up with a suitable Halloween spell and the prize was one of their amazing chocolate skulls.

Here's my entry (I was told the evil cackle clinched it!!!)

Bubble, bubble, molten truffle....
Add ganache, now make it double...
Scottie's tails and orchids too,
A marbled slab, a high heeled shoe,
Add gooey mallows then pour in brandy
(a chocolate willy will make it dandy)
My cauldron's bounty now is ready...
the smell, the taste, so rich and heady.
A spell for lovers? Or one to scare?
You'll never know...
'Coz I won't share!!!!!

Mwahahahahahahahahah!!!! (evil cackle)

And the inspiration continues...

Just when I thought Snippet and Ink couldn't get any better...it did.
A board that serves as my very own inspiration. That wonderful woman took my vision...and visualized it perfectly.
Doesn't it look pretty!!!

Daily inspiration.

Although my mac skills suck, I've always loved the old traditional cut and paste. Yep, from covering my school books with cute baby pictures at age 14 (thank goodness that maternal instinct is now cowering under a rock somewhere) to my latest obsession with tearing apart bridal mags. Well, every mag except Martha. She's sacred.
That's why I've become addicted to Snippet & Ink. A daily blog featuring wedding theme inspiration boards. It's a concept the Destination Wedding knotties introduced me to, but this blogger has it down to a fine art. Give this woman anything, from colour schemes to fruit to children's books (The Little Prince perhaps?) and she'll turn it into a gorgeous board of images that inspire and enchant any bride to be.

Get inspired at http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/

I'm choc full of love...

with Choccywoccydoohah. For the name alone, how could I not be? Choccywoccydoodah is an incredible store based in both Brighton in London. I'd never dream of handing my wedding cake baking off to anyone else...unless it was these guys.
I mean anyone who can create cakes covered in chocolate cows, lettuces or flamingoes deserves repect. And their chocolate skulls are just cool with a capital C. They even have a team of chocolate florists, whose sole job is to create flora out of the good stuff.
I fell in love with their tropical cake (covered in wild exotic chocolate flowers and parrots) about a year ago. The chances of me ever getting it to last all the way to Fiji (and for more than 5 seconds once it hits those temperatures) are about zero to none. But hey, a girl can dream.

Check them out at www.choccywoccydoohdah.com, just be careful not to drool on your keyboard.

A picture may paint a thousand words...

..but words are still more my thing. I love Shakespeare, sending postcards plus of course I write for a living (even if most ads these days only consist of a headline, it's still a lovingly crafted headline!)

So when I came across the idea of a ketubah for the first time, it really appealed. Nobody in my life is Jewish, so I had no idea what one was wasn't until I came across pictures of them in a US wedding magazine.
For the similarly uninitiated, a ketubah record the details of a wedding (like the date and names of bride and groom) and outlines the groom’s obligations - financial and conjugal - to his bride. Traditionally, the ketubah doesn't have to be signed by the couple, just by two witnesses.
What struck me is how beautiful these sacred documents are. Stunning works of art that serve as a gorgeous way to remember your special day.

So despite the fact that Barry and I having a Christian ceremony, I'd like to adapt the ketubah idea into part of our day. With an intimate destination wedding of 60 guests, I'd like to have our vows written in calligraphy and then ask everyone present to sign as witness to what we've pledged.

There's an amazing calligrapher in my hometown of Auckland. Her name is Alison Furminger and her work is modern yet classically elegant. Just perfect for the occasion. I've posted an example of her work above. Also check her out at www.alisonfurminger.com

I sent her an email tonight- here's hoping it fits into our budget, because I think it's a sweet idea that would make a perfect momento of our day.

PS: Here's some Kiwi trivia for you. The artwork of Alison's that I've posted is actually a Christmas Card. "Te Harinui" is an old New Zealand hymn recalling the events of the first Christian service in New Zealand conducted by the Reverend Samuel Marsden at Oihi, Bay of Islands on Christmas Day 1814. Te Harinui is translated "Glad Tidings of Great Joy.

Oh, and those red flowers are called Pohutukawas. They only come out round December, so we like to call them 'New Zealand's Christmas Tree'. Don't say I never teach you anything!

Hello world....

Well it had to happen. Personally, I blame the Knot. For anyone out there in cyberland scratching their heads right now, let me explain...
The Knot is a fabulous website for wedding obsessed women. Obviously, it helps if you're actually getting married before you become a 'knottie' because otherwise, you'd seem a little creepy and weird. Not only does the Knot offer advice on everything from cakes to in-laws, but it also introduced me to the joy of message boards.

Yep, I'm officially a computer geek. Not only do I regularly 'hang out' on the Destination Wedding board, I've also learnt the craft of 'making a bio' (go HTML!) and I've discovered the fabulous joy of blogs.

You've probably gathered that I'm far from an early adopter. Yeah, if all my friends jumped off a bridge, I'd most likely be next. So now that most of my knottie friends are brilliant bloggers...I thought why not join them?

And here it is. The Sweetest Thing.
A diatribe on anything sweet to me.

That means chocolate, and lots of it.
That means baking- anything sugary.
The trials and tribulations of planning the sweetest day of my life (Fiji, October 2008) and the quest for the perfect wedding cupcake (of course I'm baking it myself).

Plus anything fun, creative, gym related, kiwi or travel obsessed.

Speaking of cupcakes, I'm hungry....