The original blonde bombshell

I couldn’t let the 50^th anniversary of the hugely iconic Marilyn Monroe pass without a quick mention. This legend was the most stunning and photographed lady of her time and I had to take this opportunity to look at her wedding dresses.

Marilyn Monroe married to Joe DiMaggio in January 1954 at San Francisco City Hall. Marilyn opted for a demure pencil skirt and wool sweater with a fur collar, a far cry from her glamorous Hollywood image.

When Marilyn married her second husband, playwright Arthur Miller in October 1956, she wore a simple empire line satin dress with elbow length sleeves and a short veil. This dress could easily suit the modern bride today.

Happy reading – love Mrs Terrence x

Many thanks to

http://readingvintagevogues.blogspot.co.uk and http://www.coralsbridal.com for the images.

Lovely lavender

Well after making a batch of lavender shortbread biscuits yesterday, I got thinking about ‘lavender’ as a theme for a wedding. I’m not sure if I’m channelling the inner granny in me from an early age, but I have a strange love for lavender.

As I searched the web for some lovely ideas to share with all you budding brides, I found some absolute treasures. Lavender doesn’t have to stick with its reputation for being old fashioned – lavender can be used in so many contemporary ways. Check out those ‘bride’ stitched converse for a start, they look wicked!

The lavender bauble that I found puts such a twist on the stereotype. And I know what you might think when you see bauble...but don’t just confine these to Christmas. With a touch of imagination, these would look great as centre pieces or could be used as decorations throughout your venue etc. Baubles don’t just have to hang off Christmas trees!

The lovely ladies at Maidstomeasure.com have these beautiful ‘Bella’ dresses that would make the perfect addition to any lavender themed wedding. They look so flattering and are uber elegant.

Visit krissys-creations.com for your how-to-guide on how to make these lavender macaroons which will add vibrancy and instant colour to your day. My sweet tooth has a big soft spot for macaroons at the moment.

Keeping on the sweet theme, I used a traditional shortbread recipe that I found online for the lavender shortbread and substituted the caster sugar for my home made lavender sugar that I made for our wedding favours (few months on and they’re still looking and tasting good!). And here’s a top tip for you when making your own; when you’ve cut out your shapes, don’t place them too close together as you’ll end up with one massive piece of shortbread. Oops.

Take a look at my guide on how to make lavender sugar which is idea for wedding favours - http://mrs-terrence.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/do-me-favour.html

Here are a few other lovely ideas that you can do with lavender - sprinkle buds on the steps of the venue – as everyone walks over them, it will create a beautiful aroma. Or, you can easily make your own confetti by buying lavender buds and placing them in large baskets for people to grab a handful.

I hope these have given you a few ideas on how to incorporate this versatile flower into your day. Would love to hear from any lovely bride who would like to submit a wedding to the blog!

Love Mrs Terrence x

Many thanks to Maidstomeasure.com, notmassproduced.com, everything-lavender.com, blog.carriedavenport.com, krissys-creations.com and elizabethannedesigns.com for images.

Love, set, match

As Wimbledon season is upon us, I thought that I’d take a look at a few tennis themed wedding ideas. Now, I know that a tennis themed wedding isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but at least it’s different and a few subtle references and a few drapes of yellow here and there will go a long way to making it easy to achieve.

Let’s start with the obvious...tennis balls! Now, there are heaps of really great things that you can do to personalise tennis balls for weddings...save the dates and place settings to name just a few! There are heaps of bespoke printing companies that will print these for you online. If you’re in need of 100-200, the cost will be about £1.35 or so, but you could always write the details yourself if you have the patience and nice handwriting.

Most brides couldn’t pull off a full blown yellow gown, but could add a dash of colour with these yellow Manolo Blahnik Rita Half d’Orsay shoes – loving that leopard print lining!

If you hate your bridesmaids, then put them in garish yellow and they probably won’t turn up to your wedding. If you love your bridesmaids, I would highly recommend these bridesmaids dresses from Maids to Measure. The yellow is a lot softer and more subtle and is more likely to suit the majority of skin tones.

But don’t just think about the use of the colour yellow and green - it might look a bit too OTT after a while. There’s a lot that you can do with vintage wooden tennis rackets to add to the decoration for your wedding. I found these cute tennis rackets that have been converted to mirrors that looks stunning and original, and you could always arrange your wedding jewellery over a racket and ask your photographer to take a few snaps.

Another place to add a delicate addition to the theme is with centre pieces – you don’t need to have giant tennis balls on every table to make a statement. Don’t forget, less is more.

Hope you like these suggestions and would love to hear from anyone who has had/planning a tennis themed wedding who would like to be features on my blog.

Love Mrs Terrence x

Thanks to Luxurate.com, Maidstomeasure.com, womenstennisworld.com, weheartit.com, athome.kimvallee.com, colonialsoldier.com and goodtoknow.co.uk for images.