Now that I’ve been married for over three months, I thought I would impart to you some sage advice about weddings. I know some of you are getting hitched soonish, or want to get hitched or are just thinking about it for the future. What makes me qualified to give out advice, well I’ve been married three times. For those of you who don’t know, I was married before many years ago and I had two wedding ceremonies with James in September last year. Yes technically that’s 3 weddings and 2 different men but I think you know what I mean!
Food
When it comes to choosing the food make sure it’s something you would eat normally. It’s all well and good having duck confit with cranberry cous cous and rocket but you will be hungry and so will your guests. The last thing you want to see is people pushing food around their plates and hearing them mumble about being hungry later on. I’ve been to several weddings over the years and everyone always looks uptight with formal sit down food, we had a BBQ and it went down a treat. If your invitations have extended to your guests children, any kind of finger food is a good idea.
Guests
This is always a bone of contention with any family no matter how well you all get along. There will be members of your clan who would rather eat broken glass than speak to each other – so what do you do? Well it’s your wedding and you should invite who you want. If Uncle Billy Bob doesn’t get along with your cousin Charlene then tough, he’ll get over it or he just won’t attend and that’s his problem not yours. This is the part of the wedding where the focus manages to turn away from the bride and groom and onto other people’s issues. If it gets to that stage, remember to re-focus and think about what the day is for – you and your partner!
Wedding dress/Flowers/Table Decorations
These are the things that start hemorrhaging money from your purse at an alarming rate. As beauty bloggers/addicts we all know that the more expensive something is doesn’t mean it’s better. So try applying this when you are looking for your dress, flowers, shoes, and all the other little bits and bobs. When planning my American wedding, I think my mom got sucked into listening to a lot of wedding planners who came out with loads of crazy ideas. My reaction was this – ‘Is having (insert frippery here) at the wedding going to enhance it or make it better’. If the answer is no you don’t need it. Celebrities or people who think they are celebrities have the money to spend waste, you don’t.
Honeymoon
This should be the most important part of your planning! As much as I loved having my two weddings and seeing everyone have a good time, the best part was flying off to Aruba for a week with James. It was just me, him and a few flamingoes walking along the beach and it was pure bliss. I would suggest you try to have the best honeymoon you can afford, and if you are struggling see if you can cut back on some wedding costs to get the honeymoon you want. If deleting Uncle Billy Bob and cousin Charlene from the wedding list means you can go to go Fiji, then do it!
Any other advice out there for brides to be?
Scrubs and coffee – two of my favourite things and when combined together I’m deliriously happy. My first experience with a coffee body scrub was from Bath & Body Works and when they decided (without consulting me first) to discontinue it I was very annoyed. My lovely mom even rounded up about 30 tubs of the stuff in the sale but they have long since finished. So having moved on from the ‘Kona Coffee Scrub Incident’ as I like to call it, I’ve happened upon two others that have brought me much joy.
First up we’ve got Kit + Sensory Lab Coffee Body Scrub. I was kindly sent this by Madam M of the The Beauty Dispensary for an international beauty exchange. I’ve had my eye on this limited edition Australian scrub for a long time and I’ve been wondering how the heck I was going to get a hold of it so I was thrilled when Madam M offered her help!
I was surprised when I cracked it open as I expected a brown ‘coffee’ coloured sugar scrub but found a thick white salt scrub instead. This smells just like a pot of freshly brewed coffee – like the kind you get at American diners. The scrub is extremely thick and doesn’t contain any obvious oils so will appeal to those who like scrubs that rinse off but leave your skin soft with no residue. To use it, I palm some of it in my hand and apply to wet skin to get my much desired friction. It makes that beautiful crunching sound as it glides across the body and doesn’t foam so it can be the last thing that you do in the shower. This also makes the least amount of mess that I’ve ever had with a scrub so you don’t have to worry about tub grub. I love using this on my arms, elbows, neck and chest and I believe you can still purchase this from Kit and retails for $AUS 32.95.
Next up is the Cocoa Kona Coffee Body Scrub from 100% Pure. Now this is an entirely different animal to the Kit scrub; it’s runnier, nearly black in colour, and more grainy. This scrub is also 100% natural and suitable for Vegans.
The scent of the 100% Pure has a darker, rich aroma due to the cocoa/coffee combo. I should warn you now, this will make a huge mess in the shower. It will look like you’ve had a passionate love affair with an espresso machine so this isn’t for you if you hate messy scrubs. That aside, this takes away all the flakes, lump and bumps you have, and leaves you smelling like a Mocha from Costa. I use this on dry skin to minimise the mess and maximise the friction. It works best for me on the lower part of my body like my tum, bum, and legs. This is available from 100% Pure and retails for £16.50.
So tell me what other coffee body scrubs should be on Skin Scrubs radar!
We aren’t venturing out this evening as it’s James’ birthday and we celebrated last night with our lovely neighbours. Being born on 31 December guarantees two things; not many people will be around to celebrate a birthday and everywhere you go with be expensive. We may visit our neighbour again this evening as he’s dog sitting the cutest Jack Russell Terrier puppy ever! I was having a play earlier with my vast collection of nail polish so if I was going out I’d be wearing one of these…
Barry M Bright Purple (two coats) and Kiko 278
Sonia Kashuk Smoke and Mirrors (1 coat) and Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters
Sinful Colors Mint Apple (1 coat) and Nail Junkie
Barry M Lemon Ice Cream (3 coats) and Sinful Colors All About You
I think my fav is the Sinful Colors turquoise green combo probably because it matches my blog colours. Which is your fave and what will you be wearing tonite?
I wonder if I should puppy proof my nails…
