Saturday night/Sunday morning, The BIG wedding in Virginia, and an interesting Annie Sloan Paint workshop by the competition

Good Morning

from

Arundel Eccentrics

Sunday morning.

It always has a different feel about it,

 from every other morning doesn't it?

Even when I've worked my sometimes, fraught nights,

driving home on Sunday morning still feels more relaxed.

We had a great Saturday night.

Dinner chez Nassarian,

with dear friends.

Stella, Allan and Sandy & her son, from the US,

who still have a cottage here in Arundel,

and Nicky another friend, who was over

 from Toulouse to see her son in Brighton,

and generally catch up with Sussex friends.

Nicky bowled into our lives one day,
many years ago,
after seeing a piece of my
Victorian Bamboo
in Homes and Garden Magazine.

She had a fair amount of 19th century bamboo
 and after seeing the photo in the magazine
wanted me to restore all of hers.

We have been firm friends with her and her family, ever since .
Funny how you meet people, isn't it?

They came laden with gifts,

which is always such a treat.

Although the US and French contingent 

had never met before,

it wound up to be an evening full of laughs and hysteria.


Inevitably,
we were on the subject of
our lovely Jay's wedding in Virginia.

 Jay wanted to invite
 people from the UK who figured
strongly in his life as he was growing up.

Stella and Al were such a massive part of it all
even though they live in the US,
 those long summers,
of years ago were filled with our adventures,
when they returned to England.

Eastbourne seafront

 So, anyway, we will all be at the wedding
in our finery.
The event has taken months
 of planning by the
perfectionist
bride and groom.

Both in fashion,
the engagement pictures,
 were like a Vogue shoot,

I can't wait to see what these fabulous photographers do with the wedding shots

and the day promises to be quite amazing.
Here, from the bride herself,
 is a little about the journey.................

WEDDING PLANNING>>>>by Krista

Blog post 1

August 2, 2012

I have always been one those hopeless romantics….

hung up on the Cinderella story and hoping that the glass slipper would someday fit.

 

I had a vision and a dream of what I wanted our wedding to be….

something vintage and unique with a feeling of the early 1900’s.  

Sort of the idea of old world meets modern day…

Being that Jay is from England and I am from Virginia, 

we wanted to incorporate the feeling of both of our upbringings

 and what better place than the historic Rosemont Manor.

I always thought if I could not have the fairy tale wedding 

on the Arundel Castle grounds in England

than what better place than to have it at one of the 

historic plantation homes in Virginia where I grew up.

 There is so much amazing history there and I knew the 

setting would capture the essence of the wedding I had always dreamed of.  

We had our engagement photos done in Winchester, VA 

not too far from where I grew up. 

The photos really captured the overall feeling that

 we wanted in regards to our vintage theme. 

We had a lot of fun planning the shoot with our amazing photographers 

Merrissa Hill (The Portrait Lady of Winchester, VA) and Amanda Hoyle (Amanda Hoyle Photography).

Mandie just featured some of the shots from our e-session on her website

http://amandahoylephotography.com/

(Click on Galleries, Sweet, Sweet Love) Our photos are # 22- 30)

  

I had actually been collecting inspiration pictures for quite some time; 

even before I was engaged (shhh..don’t tell Jay). 

But then again what girl does not dream of this 

day from the moment she is born.

 I surfed the web constantly gazing over all the amazing wedding blogs out there:

Style me pretty, Offbeat bride, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Junebug Weddings, Oncewed, 

the list goes on….

The blogs were so helpful in showing real life weddings

 and ideas on how all the details come together.

Style Me Pretty actually featured my bridesmaid Heather’s wedding (she was married in April of this year in Austin TX) What a dream come true. Style Me Pretty is like the NY Times of wedding blogs.

It is the Hill Country Wedding at Camp Lucy in Austin, TX

http://www.stylemepretty.com/page/50/

  

Here is a link to the entire picture gallery

http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/gallery/8425

Krista as bridesmaid

Jay and I have taken the DIY route for our wedding 

 and had traveled back to Virginia several times throughout

 the process and scouted through 

vintage and antique stores in Virginia 

and selected most of our wedding décor….old glass bottles, antique pewter platters, vintage suitcases, and lots of old bowls to be used for our flower containers….

the list goes on but I am not willing to give too many of the surprise details away….

I became good friends with Pinterest and Etsy..not sure I could have survived the wedding planning process without them….from getting wedding dress ideas to planning and doing photo ideas for engagement shots to decoration ideas, these sites have it all. I used Etsy from step one to probably the very final step because you can purchase everything you need all in one stop shop.

Various signs to be placed at the bar and food tables.

Our table numbers for the guest’s tables at the reception.

Here are some photos taken from the stages of our planning process:

Jay making the sign that was featured in our Save the Date photos.

Nass (bless him) was able to find us the one 

decorative item we thought we would never have!!!

This will placed on our gift table for guests cards.

a Vintage English wall post box

When deciding on my wedding gown, I knew that would take some time….and more time….and more time…I had gone shopping on several occasions and looked at bridal gowns in Virginia, New York and LA but for some reason, nothing seemed to impress me. Something just did not seem to be the right look for me and the feel I wanted for my wedding.  Luckily one of my bridesmaids introduced me to a designer who did custom wedding gowns. We met and I showed him pictures of styles I liked “I like the top of this and the skirt of that” etc….he was able to piece together what I was looking for and sketched out a few ideas.  After our first meeting, he was hired!! It has been an exciting experience working with him and seeing the progress of my dress designs along the way.

(No images attached……now I certainly cannot give too many details away……)

My mom and sister threw us a wedding shower a few weekends ago…..

I must say it was an AMAZING celebration! 

The Décor, food, and ambiance were above and beyond anything we could have ever imagined! 

It really meant a lot to us that they put so much time and effort into making it an unforgettable night. My bridesmaids were a tremendous help as well and 

Jay and were so thankful  that they all put

 in so much work to make everything perfect!!!

So here we are just over a month away….so much planning…so little time.

The Dress

The Guest List

The Invites

The Decorations

The Flowers

The Food

The Details! Details! Details!

After all, like in fashion, this is going to be our

 red carpet moment so everything has to be PERFECT  !!!

Thanks Krista,
it will be wonderful,
I am sure.

Annie Sloan paint courses

I go to a shop in Billingshurst to buy any pots of

Annie Sloan paints I might need.

The shop is called

In Love

(very apt, after our previous piece) LOL

Anyway, its run by Gillie,

friendly and knowledgeable,

and although, I suppose

officially, we are in competition with each other,

regarding running paint workshops,

she is so nice I am going

to give this a plug.

Gillie is organising a one day event as a taster.....

Date - 21st August
Time - 10 to 3.00pm
Venue - Womenshall, Billingshurst

 (almost opposite With Love)
Cost- £35
What you have to bring -

 your piece(s) of furniture
  paint brushes
    sand paper
       cloths for waxing and buffing
What is provided - Full colour range of 

Annie Sloan 

chalk paints (TM) 

and waxes
 Tea and coffee
        10% off anything bought in With Love on the day, 

including Annie Sloan products
     

Help and advice on the use 

of paints and waxes
                                    Inspiration from everyone

 that is there

House and Garden Magazine

Did I mention

 we are 

in House and Garden Magazine

 this month and on the BBC next month?

Ha Ha
Really?
Did I not say?

surely I must have done..........

Have a great day

www.arundeleccentrics.com