Every Rose has its Thorn (apart from fabric and edible ones)

I love Roses!!!!

Once again, another thing i have tattooed on me, this time a 3/4 sleeve of them up and down my left arm.

I just love their elegant, romantic look, and the such fibrant blocked colours they come in...

So off course i want to incorporate this into my wedding

I already had them at my engagement party, in terms of decoration on the cake. My best friend, Natalie Overhead, is a fantastic cake maker, and she loves decorating them, so much, shes made it her job. Check out her very own blog at

http://nattiscupcakes.blogspot.com

On top of our cake, i wanted their to sit a Birdcage that me and Luke bought while shopping in Norwich. (raven theme again) I just gave it to Nat and she made these lovely roses out of fondant icing and placed them inside the cage...

then sprinkled lots of edible glitter over them, they really were outstanding and sparkled.

What i loved the most about this was that i could keep it forever, as it only just gets harder and doesn't go mouldy or anything. A really nice keepsake from our engagement party.

Anyway, it now resides in my bedroom hanging from the ceiling in a corner with a shelf below it, with some of my keep sakes, like three dried roses from the first bunch of flowers Luke ever bought me.

And the roses inside it just make it that bit more prettier.

.......................................................................................................................................

I don't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money on flowers for the wedding, just to have them die and be thrown away, not when there is so much other important stuff to put money into. So i have decided to use fake flowers for the decorations (not the silly, cheesy fake silk/plastic ones you get from these budget stores) I am talking about beautiful hand made (by me) fabric flowers, stitched and sewed by my own to hands.

I have yet to try this out and make one...

but i have always been handy with a needle and thread and have been doing my research online and tutorials and picture etc.

Anyway...i hope to start practicing this in the next few days, i have yet to purchase some material, but i am hopeful, and once again if its something that works really well, its elements of our wedding we can keep forever, and share out to family members as little keep sakes too.

So watch this space for upcoming pictures...

Party Time

Let Them Eat Cake

Do you remember me telling you about the ravens...

Well here's how i used them in our engagement party.

Invitations

It was a great excuse to get stuck into some creative drawing. I knew i wanted to incorporate Ravens into the design, and the colours red, blue and white (a common site on logos around london). I work ALOT with tracing paper, have done for years, i love pencil drawing onto it, it makes such a smooth service, which in turn makes the drawings alot smoother, especially shading...blah...blah...blah

Anyway, i got the inspiration of the bottom motif from a book i have, titled 'Late Nineteenth Century Art' (a fantastic vintage book shop find).

I love filligree, so much so, i have it tattooed up half my bottom left leg. So i created the design so fit across the bottom of the invitation.

I then drew on the ravens, my favourite bit about the

invitations and gave it a black lined border just to finish it off. Then printed out loads of these designs on tracing paper.

The bottom part i created a striped pattern using my themed colours and placed the wording onto the background and printed loads of them off, then attached the illustration to the wording and i then had my invitation.

Engagement Part 4 (last one i promise)

Mistletoe and Wine

And thus, commences my second proposal...

Christmas Day 2010, Luke stayed at mine christmas eve night, so we could wake up together on christmas morning, and spend the whole day in each others company. It was our first christmas together and the lead up, i was the most excited about this christmas then any other before that, just because i was spending it with Luke.

And it just so happens that today was the day Luke would ask me to marry him...

Christmas morning we woke up, said Merry Christmas and gave each other our christmas stockings in bed to open together, just us two, no family around. We opened each others, just silly fun little presents to have a laugh with. They were all opened, then Luke asked me to close my eyes and hold my hand out.

I felt a small box placed on my hand, then opened my eyes and i knew instantly what it was, my engagement ring. He said how happy i made him, and how his never felt like this before, and wanted to know if i would be his wife.

YES!!!

(One of the christmas cards i drew and copied to send out as a couple to friends, from me and Luke)

Engagement Part 3

Engagement ring time...

I had always said I was never interested in choosing my own engagement ring, i knew no matter what if i was going to agree to marry a man, then I'm sure the ring he would choose would be perfect.

Well, in Luke's family it is tradition to go and choose the ring together. So off we went to hunt around loads of jewellery shops to find

'the ring'

Lucky for us, it was the first ring we saw and that we both pointed out straight away, and to top it off, when i asked to look at, it fit my finger perfectly. I knew then that this was my ring, and nothing else would compare. And to top it off, it was a (white gold) diamond and sapphire ring (royal alert) however the sapphire is a much darker one, almost black, my favourite colour.

So Luke bought it there and then, we went home, had Sunday roast with my family, Luke showed my dad the ring, and asked if it was OK to ask me to marry him. Me and my Mum were in fits of giggles the whole way through and Luke looked like he was about to be sick from nerves. A story to tell the kids...

Then he shut the box and said i had to wait until he proposes properly before i see it again...a stab through the heart...

it was torture...

Engagement Part 2

In the evening we decided to go on

The London Eye

I always wanted to go on it in the dark to look out over all the pretty lights sparkling away, and it didn't disappoint...

It was romantic and just so relaxing after a days worth of walking around London Town. I sat there looking out over this incredible city (eating my pack of M'n'M's which Mum bought me for my birthday) sat next to Luke, when all of a sudden...

dun dun dun...

He opened his mouth and uttered the words

'you know what this makes me want to say, will you marry me?'

My stomach flipped and i said...

'Shut Up' (i handled and embraced it with such coolness, not)

Anyway... this proposal was a spur of the moment on Luke's part, he had no plan, he just said it felt right and he asked me. Off course once i pulled myself together i said yes, so because he had no ring and felt he didn't do it right, he said he was going to do it again, at a later date with a ring and everything. i just had to wait.

So, we agreed to be engaged to be engaged (i had to promise that when he asked me properly i would say yes).

Engagement Part 1

So here goes, where shall i begin. I suppose the beginning is a better place then any. A.K.A

The Engagement

I was a rather lucky girl and had two seperate engagements. Two? i hear you ask, let me explain...

It all begins on a rather lovely sunny winters morning, the 16 November to be exact, how i remember this, because it was my 23rd birthday. Me and Luke had been together for 5 months and 16 days, and all i wanted for my birthday was a day up london with the man i love.

Being a royal fanatic I was most excited about going to see the crown jewels at The Tower of London (a place i had never been before).

<--- ( Me! )

I was so excited about this trip, Luke had told me about all the history behind it, and especially the Ravens.

The Ravens was what i was most excited about, i loved the story behind it about how if they flew off London would fall.

(remember the Ravens because they play a part in mine and Luke's engagement party)

Anyway... we spent the morning looking around the tower at all the different exhibitions, the stunning grounds and the views over London, with off course many photos being taken.