The Grape Vine Events

WE ARE NOW ON ETSY!

2013-08-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

We are please to announce the opening of our new shop on Etsy! We sell Downloadable Printable PDF's, that you can access straight away. We currently have Barnyard Animals and Alice in Wonderland Party Printable's available, with many more items waiting to be added!

Etsy provides a market place for crafters, artists and collectors to sell their handmade creations, vintage goods and craft supplies. Etsy is a trusted and vibrant community of 15 million buyer's and creative businesses.

Instant downloadable PDFs are a very convenient and cost effective, and what's more... there is no waiting on the Postman or shipping costs! You can also pay for your items via PayPal, so you know your details are protected.

Check out our brand new shop today, and you could be downloading your own party within a matter of minutes!

http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheGrapeVineEvents

Check out some of our items we have available:

Vintage Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party Invite

£3.99

Alice in Wonderland Masks

£2.50

Barnyard Animal Birthday Party Invitation

£3.99

Cow Print Cupcake Wrappers

£1.50

10 MONEY SAVING TIPS FOR YOUR WEDDING

2013-07-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

After the excitement of getting engaged, couples are eager to sit down and start planning their wedding. Though, it soon dawns on many engaged couples that getting married doesn’t come cheap! With the average wedding in the UK now costing around £17,000, it is little wonder that many couple are opting to elope and tie the knot overseas or put off getting married altogether. Or worse – having to compromise on your dream day, due to lack of available funds.

However with a bit of research, patience and a little creativity, you can still create the perfect wedding day and one you can look back on in many years to come with fond memories.

We have come up with a list of 10 examples of how to make your budget stretch even further. By following these tried and tested money saving tips, you can save yourself a small fortune and still have a spectacular day.

1. CHOOSE A DATE OUT OF SEASON

Everyone wants to get married at the height of summer when the weather is warmest. Yet this is also the most popular time of year to get married, therefore the most expensive. Consider getting married out of season (Peak wedding season May to early September) as less couples do this, the costs are also considerably cheaper. Most hotels have a summer and a winter price list and there is quite a big different in price. If you must get married in peak season, think about getting married on a weekday or even a Friday or Sunday. As most brides opt for a Saturday wedding you will find this day will always be the most expensive. Generally hotels and wedding venues are a lot quieter during the winter months (excluding Christmas, New Year, Valentines) so your money will stretch a lot further, potentially saving you thousands. Whereas in the winter, most of the more upmarket hotels more affordable than they were in the summer months. And if you are lucky some will even throw in a few extra’s for you!

2. BUFFET OR HORS D'OEUVRE INSTEAD OF SITDOWN MEAL

Most people want a sit down, 3 course meal at their wedding. But unfortunately this can really push the price up. By having a buffet option, this will work out a lot more cost effective. Many wedding venue’s have caught onto this trend and offer many buffet options ready for couples to choose for their big day. Prices generally start quite low, each costing slightly more, for a simple buffet, with each option slightly more than the last with a few extra's added on, which does become more expensive, the more options you have. Though it would still be cheaper than a sit down meal. There are also hot fork menu's as well wuth are become popular and are still very formal.

However a buffet does have some benefits. Generally, even for fussy eaters, they are bound to find something they like. And for your really hungry guests, they can even go back and get seconds! Also don’t be afraid to ask your venue to serve your wedding cake as your dessert. This will also save you money.

3. D.I.Y DECORATIONS

If you are creative and love to make things, then why not make your own decorations? There are many quick and easy decorations you can make, and many venue’s today will let you in to dress the room the night before, so you don't have to worry about this on the day of the wedding, so you can get your beauty sleep!

However, this does depend on how creative you are. You do not want to take on a project that is far too ambitious, where you have over reached yourself, and you find that you have spent time and money on materials only to find what you have made looks doesn’t look anything like how it is supposed to or that you have ran out of time and haven’t made enough.

Though if you are not creative, please avoid making your own decorations and leave it to the professionals. If you are on a tight budget. Be honest with them and ask an event decorator what can they do for you with your budget. Yes we all want to save a few pounds, but it could end up looking like a dog’s dinner, or something a child has made, which is not good enough for your wedding, and cost you more money in the long run.

4. SWEET TABLE FOR EVENING GUESTS

Who doesn’t like sweets and chocolate? Have you ever been to a wedding where half the buffet food is thrown away at the end of the night? What a waste! Many people eat before they go out and by the time guests arrive at your reception, all they really want is something to pick at, not second and third helpings of the buffet.

A sweet table is a great addition to any wedding. They are fun and really get your guests talking. You can even have your names and date of your wedding printed on the candy bags, which is a nice memento for guests to take home.

5. BAND, DJ OR IPOD?

In reality, if we could afford to do so, many of us would hire a band. Though having a DJ is a good, affordable option. However, if neither option is within your budget, have you thought about loading music onto an iPod? Not only are you able to load on thousands of songs from every genre, but this is a great way to make sure everyone is catered for! When you send out your invitations, ask your guests to tell you their top 3 songs to get them up and dancing and you can make sure they are loaded on the iPod. You might want to ask one person to look after it throughout the night, so that someone is there to play your first dance song, or to press pause if you want to say a few "thank you’s" later on.’ Then all you need to do is stick it on shuffle and you can dance the night away. Oh and not to mention its free!

6. MAKE YOUR OWN STATIONARY

There are lots of places nowadays where you can pick up your own DIY wedding invitation kits. This saves you money by buying the printed material, but you assemble them yourselves. Lots of Brides are now having “craft evenings” with their bridesmaid’s family members. However if you’re not too bad on the old computer, have a go at making your own. You can add embellishment later on such as lace and pearls, ect.

7. “WE CAN’T AFFORD A HONEYMOON!”

We think it is so important to try and squeeze in at least a few days together after the wedding, where it is just the 2 of you. Shop around and see what the last minute deals are a few days or weeks before the wedding. However another great idea would be to ask your guests to contribute. Rather than registering for more stuff you don’t really want such as silver dinnerware, (let’s face it, are you really going to use this?) ask your guests to give something towards the best possible start to your new life together - your honeymoon! Just think, if you have 100 guests attend your wedding, and every guest contributed around £10 - £20, this will give you £500 - £1,000. Not bad, hey? Put this in the form of a light hearted poem in your invitations, to inform your guests.

8. THE VENUE

Avoid city center venues as this will always add on a few thousand pounds, purely due to the location. However, equally getting married in a stunning country manor or castle with rolling hills in the background can be equally as pricy. Look into hotels outside of the city center, as they are not right in the think of it all. Generally their prices are much lower due to the location. Also having your ceremony and reception at the same venue can save you a small fortune, as this means everything is under one roof and you will not need to hire wedding cars, or have to decorate a whole new venue. Also try your local church hall or Masonic hall, especially if they are newly built or renovated as these will save you a fortune.

9. CAKE

Many brides want a big show stopping cake with 4 or 5 tiers, a different flavour for each layer, complete with intricate detail and pattern. Yet the bigger and more extravagant the cake, the more expensive they become. It is not uncommon for cakes to go over £1000! However, if you go to a top baker in your area, you have to expect to pay these prices. Try using a cake maker who runs a smaller business. You will usually find, if you do your homework, that they have just as much experience and look and taste just as good and have had many happy clients.
If your budget really is on the small side then a cheeky option is to have a styrofoam cake. This looks exactly like a normal wedding cake, it is covered in icing and your guests will never know the difference. Have some slabs of cake, which the hotel can cut up for your guests, and they will be none the wiser.

10. CAR

Do any of your friends have a fancy car that they wouldn’t mind you borrowing for the day? You can now get wedding car ribbon from many craft stores. Once the car has been cleaned and the ribbon tied to the car, you will be surprised by how much this can look like a wedding car.

80s THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY

2013-06-30T14:27:00.002-07:00

We all loved the 80s didn't we? A decade full of fashion faux pas, bright colours and great music from the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi and U2. With all these ingredients, it makes for a fantastic party theme.

We recently hired to do an 80s themed party, yet on a small budget. But we love a challenge! The whole party went down a storm and we still get thank you's and nice comments now from the birthday girl and guests. So we wanted to share our idea's with you so you can create your own 80s party, one that your guests will love that doesn't cost a fortune:

- When planning your 80s party, think the brighter and bolder, the better! We used bright colours in pink, blue and
yellow, as well as black and white to really bring the theme to life!
- Cover the walls with iconic posters from the 80s of famous films like ghost busters, dirty dancing or classic
albums from that era from Duren Duran, U2, Iron Maiden, Madonna, ect.
- Think of typical 80s party food such as party rings, cheese and pineapple on sticks.
- With your decorations use iconic 80s symbols such as rubix cubes, Pac Man, cassette tapes, large mobile
phones
- Play music from this era. You will have a great selection to choose from
- Invite your guests to come dresses in fashion from the 80s. Think big hair, mullets, rara skirts, ect

SWEET TABLE AND FOOD
This went down a storm! All the sweets we had on the table were from the 80s and really brought back lots of happy memories from childhood for the guests. Sweet tables are also great for people getting to know each other when mingling at the table. There were several times where guests would get to know each other by swapping stories from what there favourite sweets were, ect.

There was also sweets on the table, many people hadn't had since childhood, which really put a smile on their faces. (Not to mention also the 80s music we placed on and off throughout the night) Some of the sweets we had were Refreshers, Drumstick Lollies, Dip Dabs, Flying Saucers, Basset Liquorice All Sort, ect. There are many more you could use, so don't be afraid to add them if they were your favourites.
We placed sweets in a mixture of vintage jars, all in different shaped and sizes. There was also biscuits, cupcakes and in the largest jar in the center of the table was everyone's favourite: the 10p mix!

You can also do the same theme with 80s themed party food. Fill your buffet table with Party Rings, Monster Much, Space Invaders, Cadbury's chocolate fingers, jelly and ice cream, mini sausages rolls, cubed cheese and pineapple on a stick, ect. Enjoy!

CAKE AND CUPCAKE STAND
The cupcake tower was very easy to create. After buying a simple cake from a local super market, we then jazzed it up with a cassette tape runner to place around the cake. Also, we attached iconic 80s symbols on top of the cake to make it look more fun, such as rubix cubes, records, and Pac Man style characters, placing them in a different heights to that they can all be seen from the back.

The cupcake wrappers were all made up from records, PAC man characters and typical 80s type designs. Once they were applied to the cupcakes, each with a different design, they looked fantastic and really complimented the cake.

The stand we bought for around £2.00 which was a bargain! All in all the cupcakes and cake stand looked fantastic and really complemented the sweet and buffet table.

OTHER DECORATIONS
On the tables we had stand up jukeboxes and boom boxes, as well inflatable microphones and electric guitars, which everyone had a lot of fun with... especially on the dance floor! Around the walls we stuck pictures designed by ourselves of rubix cubes, records, boom boxes and cassette tapes, which had the names of well known tracks from the 80s placed around the room. As guests went around looking at the songs on the cassettes they were would start to laugh and reminisce. which got everyone talking.

We also ordered some great decorations online from a party store called Party Packs. (http://www.partypacks.co.uk/) They have a great range of 80s style decorations which would compliment any 80s party theme, which also includes a very good dressing up range, tablewear, backdrops and decorations for the walls, tables and ceilings.

MUSIC
There are so many classics from the 80s that come to mind such as:

- Frankie goes to Hollywood - Relax
- Bad/Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
- You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead or Alive
- Push It - Salt & Pepa
- Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
- Like a Virgin - Madonna
- Atmosphere - Joy Division
- Walk This Way - Run DMC & Aerosmith

The list is endless!!!

80s music is happy, and easy on the ears and doesn't really cause any offence so there is bound to be something from that era that everyone would like. Although some would love nothing more than playing 80s music all night, some of your guest may get a little bored and might want a bit of variety. Though it is your party you can play want to like, but from experience a great party is one where everyone has had a a great time, not just the person who's birthday it is.
Have you had an 80s party before? Have you been inspired by our post? We would love to hear your thoughts below.

BLACK, WHITE AND PINK THEME

2013-05-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not like to throw themed parties, colour themes can work equally as well. Using 2-3 colour's that contrast well together can look just as good. We are going to show you a party we did recently for a sweet 16th birthday partyu in a black, white and pink theme. This also works really well at weddings or female birthday parties. Depending on how adventurous you are, you can also use patterns as well, to really enhance the theme, and give it a sophisticated look.

BUDGET

We wanted the venue to look sophisticated yet fun as the event was for a sweet 16th birthday party. We had to work to a small budget and an even smaller time scale - around 2 weeks! Our budget we were given was £200.00. We want to show you how you to can make your money stretch further, and create a stunning party that you would be proud of and impress your guests.

Our budget:

Cake £65.00

Decorations £50.00

Invitations £25.00

Sweets, Cupcakes, Biscuits £60.00

TOTAL = £200.00

SWEET TABLE

The chevron pattern is really popular at the moment so we used this pattern to create a background for the sweet labels. These are very easy to make:

- Once you have designed them on your computer, cut them out.

- Using a hole puncher, punch 2 holes at the top of the label.

- Tie the ribbon around the jars and thread it through the hole front ways, so that the excess thread drapes

down at the back of the tag. Make sure you don't put it too short, as it looks very effective draped down

the back of the label.

All the sweet jars were filled with pink, black or white sweets such as humbugs, flumps and shrimps.

SIGNS AND LABELS

We wanted to use the chevron pattern that is very popular at the moment. For the sweet jars, we made all the labels using the same pattern and text and were then tied around the necks of the jars.

We made a larger sign for the candy bar using the same theme and text.

For a fun twist to the party, we had a bar set up making Mocktails. They are similar to the alcoholic versions, though without the alcohol. During the party, the guests got behind the bar and mixed there own non-alcoholic drinks in a cocktail shaker, which they found to be lots of fun!

CAKE

The fantastic cake, made by Cake HQ, was created in the parties themed colours, with a ruffled bottom tier, black and diamante ribbon, which looked (and tasted) fantastic!

We saved money on having the birthday girls Step Mum make these delicious cookies and cupcakes, rather than hiring a baker, as the budget wouldn't stretch that far. She got a simple biscuit recipe on line, covered them in icing, then piped around the edges. All the cookies and cupcakes were covered in either white, pink or black icing. We also wrapped the cupcakes with elegant looking swirly designed wrappers in black and

white, which we picked up from a pound shop, and looked great!

BUNTING

We made our own bunting using some of the same patterns. This was displayed over the buffet table

WALL STICKERS

Around the walls we placed stickers of chandeliers, birdcages, and elegant looking chairs to make the room look sophisticated. As the walls were white, these made a great impact and looked beautiful. These stickers do not damage the walls and leave no marks, Once you are done with them, after the party, simply throw them away.

POM POMS

We made several pom poms and hung them from the ceilings in the theme colours.
Follow this link to see how they were made:

http://thegrapevineevents.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/how-to-make-tissue-paper-pom-poms.html

FOOD

Much of the food purchased was in pink, black/brown and white/pale colours in keeping with the theme. Just like the cookies, the food was displayed on black, pink or white trays, with patterned paper underneath, which looked very sophisticated.

ROOM SHOTS

THE BAR

THE SWEET TABLE

HOW TO MAKE TISSUE PAPER POM POMS

2013-04-22T13:34:00.001-07:00

Pom poms are a cheap and very attractive looking decoration that can be used for many different events such as weddings, birthdays, christenings, baby showers, high school proms - the list goes on! They are versatile, cost effective and easy to make. You can make them in any colour, big or small, they will look great once they are hung up.

However if you were to buy your own from one of the many party websites, the average price is around £6.00 for 2 pom poms. If you need to buy quite a few, this could make a big dint in your wallet, especially if you have a large venue to fill. If you have a smaller budget, but want decorations that look great, why not have a go at making your own. Many craft stores sell packs of 10 sheets of tissue paper for around 80-90p, resulting in each pom pom costing less than £1.00.

HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

- 8 sheets of tissue paper (per pom pom)
- Scissors
- Thread OR string
- Stapler

Make sure you have a flat surface to start off with. To make your pom pom's, have your 8 sheets of paper measuring approximately 50cm high x 75cm in width. The packs of tissue paper you can buy at craft stores will roughly measure this once chopped in half. That way you now have 20 sheets (making at least 2 pom poms) of tissue paper and your paper is now the right size.

Fold over front to back so it looks like a fan. Make each fold around 1.5 inch/3-4cm in width, until you fold right to the end.

Once you have finished folding the tissue paper, tie together in the middle with your thread or string. This is to keep the tissue paper from opening up. Make sure the thread is quite long as you will also use this later on to hang them up.

At both ends of the pom pom, cut the top off to give it a round effect at both ends...

...to look like this!

Pull the ends at the bottom of the folded tissue together and staple in the middle. Don't staple the pom pom at the ends as this will make it more difficult to separate the paper.

Do the same on other side and staple again in the middle. You are now going to pull upward the first 4 sheets of tissue paper.

With the pom pom lying flat on the surface, start to gently pull upwards into the middle. The first sheet should be almost touching in the middle.

With the second sheet, don't pull it up as much. Do the same with the third and fourth sheet, pulling it up slightly less each time.

Once you have done these 4 layers, turn it over, and repeat, by pulling up the 4 layers again, a little less each time and voila - your pom poms are ready to be hung up! Your first 1-2 attempts may not be the best, but after doing a couple you will definitely get the hang of it, as they are surprisingly easy to make!

We thought we would have a go recently for a sweet 16th we did, and they looked amazing in pink, black and white.

They really made the candy bar look great and everybody loved them!

Check back soon for our next post on how we created this sophisticated pink, black and white themed sweet 16th birthday party on a shoe string budget!

MAD HATTER/ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY

2013-03-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

We recently had the pleasure of putting together an Alice in Wonderland 7th birthday party. We love this theme, like so many people, as you really can be so creative! There are many idea’s for an Alice theme that sometimes its hard to know where to start. We first started planning this party around 6-7 weeks beforehand. The birthday girls Mum wanted a vintage look, but still appeal to the kids at the party. We thought the best way to do this was to include the original pictures from Lewis Carol’s book. We decided to use them on some decorations, and the invites to really set the tone for the party. And of course we wanted to use the party girls two favourite colours: pink and purple!

So join us down the rabbit hole and see how we put our Alice party together...

THE INVITATIONS

The old fashioned style text put together in a jumbled up fashion, but still easily readable. I got a few people to read it through first to make sure it flows easily.

The vintage pictures from the book work so well with the miss matched text

We wanted the invites to be fun and vintage to appeal to the children. (You may need a few Illustrator skills for this one!) In the text for the invites we used classic lines such as, “We’re late! We’re late! For a very important date!” and “Off with your head!” all to add a bit of fun yet in keeping with the theme. You might what to use these in your Alice invites, as they are easily identifiable lines that all the kids know.
The pictures we used we’re of Alice defying the Queen at Croquet, the White Rabbit image at court and Alice at the Mad Hatters Tea Party. Though there are many others you could use instead such as Alice with the Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum or Alice eating the cake, saying 'Eat Me' or the bottle she finds saying, 'Drink Me'.

Our invites were rolled up like a scroll and tags were tied round them saying ‘Read Me.’ The kids at school loved them! Apparently they were running around the school playground and opening the scrolls to all their friends and reading them out!

PLANNING PROCESS

Early on we knew this was only going to be a small gathering of kids as the space we were working with was rather small. We wanted to go with a Mad Hatter themed party with a bit of a girly twist.
The idea was to transform their dining room into a forest-like setting, just like in the story and try and include various different elements from the story, such as the flamingo’s from the croquet, Mad Hatters Tea Party, and the playing cards.
We ordered many decorations from a party supplies store, and for a more unique look we also made some as well.
We started making the decorations around a month before the party to make sure they looked right, and to test them out. Then we left them for a few days to make sure they held together. After all you don't want your decorations you spend lots of time on to have them fall apart at the party.

HOW TO MAKE SOME ALICE DECORATIONS.

All the decorations we have made are easy to put together, and very budget friendly.We decided early on to make some hanging decorations.

How to make some Alice in Wonderland vintage masks:

After designing your masks using Illustrator, print them off and cut them out carefully.

Using a long barbeque skewer place it on the back on the mask to the side

Using some sticky tape, stick the skewer to the mask, and you are ready to go and be your favourite Alice In Wonderland Charactor!

Scroll down to see the finished product on the day!

How to make hanging Alice decorations:

These can easily be hung from the wall or ceiling from self adhesive hooks which you can buy from pound stores, Wilkinsons, ect. We used easily identifiable objects from the story such as clocks, club suits and keys. (You may need your skills here in Adobe Illustrator again!)

After designing your object on the computer, for example a clock, copy and paste, then place it next to the clock so they are slightly overlapping. When you cut them out, you don't want them to be falling apart. The reason for this is that one clock is for the front, and one is for the back.

Printed the clocks out, carefully cut around them.

Glue the back then fold them together so they line up and are now double sided.

Using a hole puncher, punch a hole at the top and bottom of clock, then thread a long piece of string through the hole, tying a knot at the back so that the clock doesn’t slide down the string.

Repeat until you have around 3-4 objects on each piece of string. They also work well if the string is cut to different lengths, so that when they are tied up they all hang at different heights.

How to make Alice inspired Loot Bags:

We also make some vintage looking Loot Bags to take home, and they were so easy to make, and budget friendly. We purchased our bags from a budget store for 79p - bargain!

Firstly, design a nice label around 12cm wide and 10 cm in height. On our labels we had 'Take Me' at the top to carry on the Alice theme. Also we used the Alice picture where she discovers the bottle that says "Drink Me" on it.

Print them off and cut them out

If you have any pattern cutters they look great around the edge. You might want to practice first before trying this on your final printouts.

Make sure your brown paper bags are lay flat on a table or hard surface, then glue the label to the bag

Voila! You have yourselves some vintage loot bags!

Scroll down to see the finished product.

THE DAY OF THE PARTY

We got their nice and early to start setting up our Wonderland. The last thing you want is to leave yourselves short of time and be rushing at the last minute. We started with the large objects first, such as putting up the backdrop, laying the table cloths on tables and then applying the shirts around to make it look a little more sophisticated. Then we added the fake grass to the breakfast far which became our loot bag display/food and cake area.

Our Mad Hatter Tea Party Set up, using lots of pink and purple, just like the birthday girl requested.

We also made some drink labels to tie around empty glass bottles we saved. If you want to do the same for your party, start saving them at least 1-2 months before hand.

A spot of croquet anyone?

Our hanging decorations

FOOD

They had cupcakes instead of a cake. The plan was to not have the cupcakes match, with different coloured wrappers with hearts all over them, we also used abstract looking cake wrappers, 'Eat Me' food mpicks we made, floral cake toppers all iced in pink, blue, white, gray icing and some even had with sugar roses and Queen crowns. The top tire of the cup cake stand had happy birthday candles and a number 7 on top.

Even the sandwiches got a makeover!

Our Loot bags

We even had a bunny come to the party with his giant clock

We designed some Alice in Wonderland playing cards that we stuck to the alcove that separated the kitchen and dinning room

Room Shot

Which way????

The Birthday Girl!

Girls just wonna have fun! The girls at the party playing with the masks

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY AFTERWARDS:

“Thanks for making Elena’s and the other kids day so memorable and for sharing it with us”

Did you like what you see? We hope you enjoyed reading about our Alice party. Let us know if you use any of our idea's at your party. We hope this has inspired you to make your party fantastic!
Please share your comments below!

WEDDING FAVOUR TRENDS FOR 2013

2013-02-24T08:18:00.002-08:00

Wedding favours are the small gifts you give to your guests as a small thank you for coming to celebrate your special day, and as something to remember your wedding by. They can come is all different shapes and sizes, theme's and colours. We have put together a wedding favour trends guide for 2013, to help brides with choosing their favours.

Also. don't forget that they can double up as place cards as well. Printing off 100-200 of these isn't cheap, which could save you money in the long run.

Prices for favours can also be very cost effective. Here are a few examples.

TRADITIONAL

The most traditional wedding favour would have to be sugared almonds is a 1980's style netted bag. Although, you do still see some at weddings today, nowadays, they are much more sophisticated and stylish. You might just see the net-style bag is used, like this one (above) filled very yummy macaroons, which can be dyed any colour to match your colour scheme or theme.

CAKE POPS

Cake pops can be absolutely any design, colour or theme you like. They are incredibly versatile, fun and won't break the bank. Especially if you know someone who is good at baking. Tie a little tag around them in the style of your wedding theme, and/or wrap them in cellophane like the photo above and they can look quite sophisticated.

QUIRKY

Candles are a widely popular wedding favour, though not very original. However these are a twist on the norm, as the one's here in the photo are actually chalk board style candles. Very cute and would look great at a vintage or black and white themed wedding. Plus you can write individual names on them or a personal message to your guest.

THEMED

There are many themes out there, that you can pick for your wedding. But a beach theme is always quite a popular one. However there are many other themes out there that are commonly used, therefore making favours readily available to buy in bulk, such as butterflies, vintage tea party theme, love birds and birdcage theme, fairy tale or black and white. Whatever your theme I am sure you will find wedding favours to match.

DIY WEDDING FAVOURS

A big trend of the moment. If you are going down the DIY route, then start them early, at least 3-6 months before hand, that way you will know if they look OK, or you might need a rethink. Starting early gives you that flexibility you won't have if you leave it to the last minute.
Also don't be afraid to ask the groom, family members or bridesmaids to help a hand. After all, they will want the day to look as fantastic as you, so I'm sure they will be happy to help.

HOMEMADE FAVOURS

Baked goods at weddings always go down well. Though this is definitely not a good idea to start learning to bake just before the wedding. Leave it to the experts, or an experienced family member or friend.

SUCCULENTS

This super plant, which can even grow in the harsh heat and dry weather conditions, are actually becoming quite popular wedding favours! We have noticed over the past year or so, with brides becoming more daring with their flower choices in their bouquets, so it was only a matter of time, before they made there way onto our reception dinner tables. They are incredibly cute, and some companies out there are now cottoning on to this current trend and are even offering brides for opportunity to purchase succulents in bulk for favours.

ECO FRIENDLY

Eco Friendly is huge this year, as more brides are realizing the importance of going green. Using recycled items, packets of seeds and mini plants are a great way to have a green wedding and show you care about the environment. Plus giving your guests some seeds is a great idea, as every time they see there new plant, they will be reminded of your special day.

CHOCOLATE FAVORS

Chocolate... we all love it! You can make it personal by having bars name with personalized wrappers, which your guests will love. Or in shapes like the cake shape above, which looks great. Its always a cheap and safe option, and comes in several different flavours. But when was it not OK to give away chocolate as a favour? I don't think you will get any complaints!

CHILDREN'S FAVOURITES

We can't forget and the children! More than anything, at a wedding children need to be entertained. Especially for 5 minutes at the reception when everyone is sat down and its speech time. Rather ran your children crying or getting restless half way through, it might be a good idea to give them a goody pack as a favour to keep them quiet! Though sweets and bubbles are always a cost effective and fun option too.

SPOTLIGHT ON… BERKETEX BRIDES, MANCHESTER ARNDALE

2012-02-29T14:15:00.003-08:00

When it comes to looking for the perfect wedding dress you need to start looking as early as your finance getting down on one knee. You need at the latest a year before your big day, but 6-8 months before if possible. Why, so far in advance you ask? This is a big decision! You need to consider the style you want, where you are getting married, whether it is a grand hall or beach wedding, your style of dress matters. Also, the store you buy your dress from needs to send it away to be made specifically to your measurements, and have a final fitting when then have your final fitting when the dress is back in store.

I often get asked which are the best bridal stores in Manchester. There are so that it is hard to know who to trust or where to start. Ask around your friends. Have they had a good or bad experience when they bought their dream dress? Can they recommend a store for you? Also, check out the internet for reviews. If there are a lot of bad comments from unhappy customers, it is best to stay away from that one!

This year I will be renewing my vows so I wanted to also take this opportunity to check out some of the stores around Manchester for their customer service, dress selection and overall experience. That way I can pass this info into brides.

One of the bridal stores I recently visited was Berketex Brides in Manchester Arndale with a friend of mine. The staff are well presented and friendly, and the lady who helped me was very professional and friendly and put me at ease as I always get a little nervous trying on wedding dresses. She shown me a huge range of absolutely stunning dresses! There were many different dresses which were different than the same styles I always see in magazines, these were something a bit different as they don’t use the same designers as other stores such as Maggie Sottero, Mori Lee, Sophia Tolli or Ian Stuart. A lot of the designers are Italian and are exclusive to Berketex Brides.

We were taken around the whole store and shown many different styles from ball gowns, princess to simple empire or mermaids to the big show stopping dress. My head was spinning in delight I didn’t know where to begin.

I was given 5 disks which I could go round and pick 5 dresses to try on. At first I thought this was going to be an impossible task, as they had far too many beautiful dresses to choose, but I managed to choose the ones I really wanted. A tip I would give all brides to be is to wear skin coloured underwear on the day and a strapless bar if you want to try on any strapless dresses. Where do I begin in describing the dresses I tried on. They were all truly beautiful, well made and great quality. I was looking for an A-Line or Ball gown dress with lots of beaded detail and possibly satin fabrics, and easy to walk in, so I wasn’t asking for much!

The good thing was whilst I was there I didn’t feel rushed like I was taking up too much of their time, or pressured into buying a dress that day. They simply wrote down the details of the one dress I completely fell in love with the price, extras and alterations package. The dresses here are not cheap, but they are one in a million and let’s face it, it’s your wedding dresses you want to feel special. So if you buy your dress from here you will be glad you did.

The bottom line is I would definitely recommend you visit this bridal store.

Keep a look out in the near future for when we turn the Spotlight on more Bridal store’s in Manchester.

WEDDING TIMELINE

2012-01-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

Planning a wedding will undoubtedly be one of the most stressful times in your life. The list of things to do is endless and often you just don’t know where to start! Working full time whilst balancing busy social lives, plus having to plan a wedding is hard work. You may find that all of your evenings and weekends are taken up with planning the wedding, when you suddenly start to feel overwhelmed!

Well, it’s time to stop panicking and take control! Yes, there is a lot of work to do, but you will not be able to plan everything at once. Therefore, I have created a timeline which includes every last, little item that you need to consider to help you from start to finish and even after the wedding.

So take a deep breath and breath… follow my plan and start to gain control again over your wedding plans.

12 – 18 MONTHS BEFORE

Announce your engagement to family and close friends
Decide on a wedding date
Go shopping for engagement rings with your fiancé
Start a wedding file
Ask around your married friends for referrals of vendors who they have had good experiences with
Decide on the style, formal or informal
Choose the theme
Set your wedding budget and stick to it!
Discuss expenses and who is going to pay for what?
Put an announcement in the local paper
Hire a wedding planner
Select a ceremony location
Select a reception location
Start shopping for your wedding gown
Select a cake designer
Throw your engagement party

8 – 10 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING

Select your wedding party
Decide on guest list. Consult with both families
Collect names, addresses and email addresses for invites
Start interviewing wedding officiants
Hire a caterer if the catering is not supplied by the venue
Hire a photographer
Hire a videographer
Hire a band or DJ
Decide on bridesmaid dresses
Sign up for a gift registry
Book the cars for your bridal party
Hire a chair cover and decoration company
Send out save the date cards
Set up a wedding website to keep friends up to date with the wedding plans
Take out wedding insurance if required
Book your florist
Order your wedding gown

6 MONTHS BEFORE

Finalize the guest list
Shop for your wedding stationary
Arrange for accommodation for out of town guests
Select you wedding cake
Begin preparations for you honeymoon
Start diet and exercise regime now! No, can’t crash dieting for you.
Book honeymoon suit for your first night
Renew passports
Choose your wedding invitations
Decide on your table decorations, flowers, martini glasses, birdcages, etc,

3 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING

Send out your invitations
Arrange for rental of items such as: chocolate fountains, silverware or china
Finalize menu plans with your caterer/venue
Arrange wedding transportation
Shop for bridal party gifts
Shop for your wedding bands
Discuss with photographer style of wedding and important shots
Discuss with videographer to discuss style
Select grooms suits and accessories
Shop from wedding bands
Choose your wedding favours

2 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING

Choose your wedding music
Find a location for your rehearsal dinner
Confirm order with formal wear shop
Schedule for alterations
Schedule fittings for your bridesmaids and flower girls
Confirm your order with your florist
Start writing your vows

1 MONTH BEFORE THE WEDDING

Design your wedding programs
Apply for the marriage license
Have a final gown fitting
Choose all your wedding accessories
Have a hair and makeup practice run
Discuss and finalize details with all of your wedding suppliers
Have your hen and stag party

2 WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING

Call any guests
Give the caterer a finalize head count
Pick up your marriage license
Give your DJ or band a list of songs
Confirm rehearsal plans
Obtain any legal information about changing for name, for drivers license, bank accounts, passport
Complete floor and seating plans
Confirm all rental and floral delivery dates and times
Check parking arrangements

1 WEEK BEFORE THE WEDDING

Make any last minutes seating arrangements/adjustments
Organize your wedding attire make sure everything fits perfectly
Confirm honeymoon reservations
Confirm reservations for out of town guests
Pack for your honeymoon
Have a spray tan
Pick up passports
Gather all necessary documents for travel
Confirm rehearsal plans with attendants
Confirm reservations for the rehearsal dinner
Pick up formalwear make sure everyone tries everything on, to make sure it fits
Have a relaxing massage
Arrange for your cake to be delivered

1 DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING

Go through your list of things to do and make sure they are all covered
Pack your wedding day emergency kit
Get a manicure and pedicure
Give rings to best man
Get an early night you’ve done all the planning you can, it’s too late to change anything now so do not stress

THE DAY OF THE WEDDING

Eat something you don’t want to be fainting whilst walking up the aisle
Get your hair and makeup done wear a button-up shirt to keep everything perfect
Have someone check the reception site as early as possible to fix any possible problems
Dress for the wedding
Have photos taken with the family
Most importantly have fun if everything doesn’t go exactly to plan, don’t worry and enjoy the day. Your guests probably won’t even notice

AFTER THE HONEYMOON

Have your gown preserved
Write thank-you notes
Change your name
Arrange to have your flowers freeze dried or pressed

I hope you find this timeline helpful. Each month set yourself tasks just like I have here, then break them down into monthly categories, so that you can focus on one task at a time so planning your wedding can become more manageable. Happy planning!

I’M ENGAGED! HELP… I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START!

2012-01-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

THE PROPOSAL

Getting engaged is such a magical and exciting time in anyone’s life, having finally found that special someone to spend the rest of your life with to share those special moments in your life and who will love you unconditionally forever. What a beautiful feeling. When your partner got down on one knee and professed how much they loved you, must have been a moment to cherish; one which you will look back on for the rest of your life. Whether the proposal was performed in front of family and friends, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, on a beautiful sunny afternoon overlooking the lake, it will be a day both of you will never forget.

Then you have the excitement of telling family and friends… then let the celebrations begin! You show off the ring to everyone and tell the story of how your partner proposed to anyone who will listen.

REALIZATION

Then reality sinks in! You have an entire wedding to plan, and that in itself is an enormous task. At first it was fun flipping through the bridal magazines which you bought for yourself, but now you look through them feeling anxious with all the planning you have in front of you. It seems like the to do list is growing by the minute with choosing venue’s, deciding on a theme, how many guests to invite? What is the cake going to look like? What flowers should you choose? Should we have a band or a DJ? The list goes on and on and before you know it you are starting to freak out, and dreading the thought of planning your dream wedding.

So before you run to the hills, here are some helpful tips:

BUDGET AND GUEST LISTS:

There are several factors you need to consider when planning your wedding. The first thing you need to do to draw up your guests list is, because in many cases this can determine how large your budget needs to be or for how many people it needs to cover. The average wedding now costs around £15,500. What you need to determine is what you can afford to spend. Do you have any savings? If not, then you may need to look at other ways of financing your big day.

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FINANCE YOUR WEDDING?

In the olden days, as soon as the happy couple announced their engagement Mum and Dad would dig out their cheque book and pay for the whole wedding. The celebration would be held at a grand location with a large guest list and would typically cost a small fortune. Usually the parents of the engaged couple would have started saving from when they were children. But those days are gone, leaving the financing of your dream day to largely fall on you.

There are several options you need to consider, such as:

Do either of your parents have a special wedding fund? If so, now would be the time for you and your fiancé to sit down with them and talk about the financials. It may be that as it is their money, they may already have some idea’s in mind for what type of celebration they want to throw. You might want an intimate wedding with family and close friends, but your parents may want to throw you a lavish wedding for 300 people. After all they are paying for it, so you may need to be prepared for this. Though, if you are ok with this then if I were you I would happily thank them and go with the flow. Any idea’s, theme’s or colour scheme’s you have in mind, sit down with mum or mother-in-law-to-be and let her know what is important to you. Even though they are paying for it, it is your wedding too.

However for their children’s weddings, parents do like to contribute, so if they do not have some kind of wedding fund set up for you, ask them if they are willing to contribute something such as paying for the reception or the wedding dress or the grooms suit.

Do you have any savings? If not, then maybe consider setting the wedding at least 18 months to 2 years away. This way, if are disciplined and save as much as you can every month, forgoing on those nights out and lunches with friends, in the end, having your beautiful wedding will be well worth it.

Also, if there is any overtime at your work place, then take it. Weddings are expensive and any extra money will be well worth the extra hours. However, savings will definitely help you to plan your dream wedding, and make life easier it is unlikely you will be able to save 10,000 or 20,000 in 1-2 years for you big day.

Nowadays mainly the cost of the wedding does fall heavily on the bride and grooms shoulders so you have to look at borrowing the money, such as through a bank loan, or credit cards.

With a bank loan you will pay interest which will be added on top of the amount you borrow. The longer the term of the loan, the more interest you will pay. However the quicker you pay the loan back, the less interest you pay.

Credit cards can charge a very high interest rate. However there are cards out there that offer 0% on purchases. If you shop around you could find yourself a great deal. For example 0% of purchases for 18 months. If you took out a card with a large limit, this could fund your wedding and as long as you pay off the credit card before the 0% period ends, you will not pay any interest, otherwise once the offer ends, you may have to pay a high amount of interest each month.

SPEND YOUR WEDDING FUNDS WISELY

Once you have the funds available to pay for your dream day and after determining the guest list, you then need to decide on list of “must haves.” These are items or elements of your wedding which are the most important to you and the groom. For instance, the brides top 3 “must haves” could be her wedding dress, the reception venue and the photography. The grooms must haves may be his stag do, the cake and the wedding cars. Therefore, you will have to allocate the budget to accommodate these items.

Remember to be realistic if you are on a budget. Don’t spend more that you can afford or you will put yourselves into debt and subsequently be paying off your wedding for many years.

CREATE A WEDDING TIME LINE AND STICK TO IT!

Now it’s time to get to work. You need to gather idea’s for you big day. Do you want a formal or informal celebration? Are you going to invite everyone you have ever known, or will it be small and intimate? What colour scheme or theme will you opt for? Who will the bridesmaids and groomsman be? Do you want a winter themed wedding or a colourful summer wedding?

There is so much to think about! It is enough for anyone to become panicky and start to regret getting engaged; therefore you need a timeline to stick to. One of the first things you need to look at is choosing a wedding venue as depending on the time of year, the most popular venue’s will book up at least a year in advance, and so do good photographers and catering companies.

Check back soon for my next blog - The Wedding Timeline.

THE BABY SHOWER BOOM IN THE UK

2012-01-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

Baby showers in the US have been around for decades. We see them all the time in many American made films or soaps and are always attended by the mother, close female relatives and friends of the mum-to-be. However, after many years it seems as though us English have caught onto the trend and they are now taking off over here. Baby showers are a lovely idea. Throwing a small party for the expectant mother, usually attended by mainly female guests, to celebrate the up and coming birth of her baby is a great way to celebrate, and also to let Mum know that she has so much support behind her.

Possible shower room idea

WHEN AND WHERE?

The best time to throw a baby shower is in the last two months to 6 weeks of the mother’s pregnancy, however be sure not to have the shower too close, just in case she goes into early labor. This gives Mum and Dad a little bit of time to still purchase any items they haven’t received yet at the party.

You also need to consider your budget when planning where the shower should be held, therefore you need to know numbers. If your budget is small try asking around family and friends of expectant mum-to-be and see if any would offer their home for the party. If not, there are church halls, function rooms and halls for a very reasonable price. Or for those with a larger budget you could hold it in a restaurant, bar, county club, spa or hotel.

Cupcakes by Cake HQ
www.cakehq.co.uk

WHO ORGANIZES A BABY SHOWER?

A close family friend or family member should do the organizing, as it would be unfair for the pregnant mother to be put under pressure if she is not feeling up to it and then have to clean up after everyone afterwards would not be enjoyable for her.

If she likes surprises, maybe you could throw her a surprise baby shower. That way, everything is already set up and organized before she arrives and the expectant mum doesn’t have to worry about a thing. Though make sure you invite the right people. Also surprise showers are seen as a nice gesture for expectant mothers on their second (or more!) pregnancy.

However, if no one can help to organize the party due to other commitments, you should consider hiring a professional event planner. We have the knowledge, experience and creativity to make your baby shower a great success leaving mum, family and friends to enjoy the party.

Centerpiece idea's for your shower

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU SPEND?

This all depends on who many people you are inviting or the size of your budget. The best method of keeping costs low is to ask guests to contribute. There are several items that you need to consider when organizing the shower such as:

· Decorations

· Cutlery such as paper plates, plastic knives, forks and paper napkins

· Cake

· Invitations

· Venue Search

· Gifts

Favors for guests - Baby sock roses

BABY SHOWER GAMES

We all want to have a little fun, and what better way to make Mum to be smile than with a few games? Such as:

Pin The Nappy On The Baby – Just like ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ using a photo of a baby instead.

Measure Mums Tum – Measure Mum to be’s tummy all the way around. The winner is the guest who guesses the closest.

Guess The Sex Of The Baby – A great opportunity to reveal the sex of your baby at the shower by writing down on a piece of paper whether it is a boy or a girl and revealing the sex (if you want to) to the winner, or winners!

Guest The Baby Pictures – Have everyone who attends the shower bring a baby photo of themselves. The guests have to try and figure out who is who. One game that is sure to get everyone laughing.

Putting On The Nappy Game – Have guests bring a doll from home and time each other to see who can put a nappy on the doll in the quickest time.

Baby Shower balloons great for any shower

THEMES

There are several theme’s you can choose, from traditional to the more modern, here are just a few:

· It’s a boy/girl with everything decorated blue for a boy and pink for a gir

· Pastel colours such as yellow, pink, green, lilac and baby blue. These are very natural and would work well as any shower.

· Baby animals such as childlike pictures of lions, bears, pigs, cows, etc

· Base the theme on your childhood favourite books such as The Hungry Caterpiller,

· Mad Hatters Tea Party shower is a more adult theme, as you can hold an afternoon tea party and get everyone to dress up in silly hats for fun to take Mum’s mind off the birth

Baby Shower garland

WHAT GIFTS SHOULD YOU BUY?

The general rule is that you buy gifts that will make life a little easier for mum to be or the expectant parents. Most guests tent to buy baby clothes, bottle, toys, nappies, bibs, etc as this will help greatly when the baby is born.

However, if money is tight, why not ask guests to bring along items that they no longer require if their children have grown up or out of baby items such as cloths, toys, prams, cots, etc.

Or how about a baby shower Gift Registry? All you have to do is pick the gifts you want and your guests can buy it for you. Simple!

MAD HATTER/ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEME IDEA'S

2012-01-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland was one of my absolute favourite films growing up. I was amazed by the weird and wonderful world down the rabbit hole such as the talking flowers and the cards painting the roses red. More recently there was the more adult vision of the film released in 2009 with Johnny Depp, which seems to have made the film very popular again, resulting in many Alice inspired party and wedding theme’s for adults and children.

MANY DIFFERENT THEMES

Whether you want an unusual wedding or party theme, intimate tea party with some friends, or simply a big Alice in Wonderland fan, the possibilities are endless. As there are so many different and memorable elements to the story, you could choose to combine them all and have a crazy looking party, which your guests will never forget. Or simply draw on one or maybe just a few elements if you do not want anything too full on.

For Example:

· Mad Hatters Tea Party Theme

· Croquet with the Queen Theme

If you choose the Mad Hatters Tea Party theme for example, you can decorate the tables with mismatching teacups and saucers, teapots, cake stands and plates of various styles, mismatching table cloths and chairs in different colours. The food would have an afternoon tea feel with finger sandwiches, mini cakes, cup cakes, scones, jam and cream. Ask your Grandma or older relatives if you could borrow some of their tea sets, cups and saucers, as they are the type to have something you can use which has been shoved to the back of the cupboard or gathering dust, but would look very elegant and vintage on your table display.

Croquet with the Queen would have an outdoor feel, Topiary three’s with red roses attached standing plastic flamingos (www.partypacks.co.uk £1.56 each, buy more than 10 price drops to £1.40), large cards on display, balloons shaped as club, diamond, spade and jack (www.partypacks.co.uk £4.14 each, buy more than 10 price drops to £3.72), and heart shaped table runners (www.partypacks.co.uk £2.94 each, buy more than 10 price drops to £2.64), to represent the queen of hearts, with a red and black theme.

Or by sticking to one theme you can create something equally as Alice, such as a fancy dress party where everyone dresses up as characters from the film. Check out these great masks,

ALICE IN WONDERLAND MASKS

(www.etsy.co.uk) Then you only need to add a few decorations to your venue, as everyone will be dressed up already which will add to the atmosphere. Then there are the crazy looking woods with talking flowers, the Cheshire cat and the smoking Caterpillar,

TOADSTOOLS PICKED UP FROM THE MANCHESTER CHRISTMAS MARKETS

ect, you could have lots of tree’s and greenery, and many flowers and toadstools on display, and oversized butterflies. Or having eat me, read me and drink me on various food and drinking bottles, or a Queen of Hearts and card theme, drawing on the different suits such as jack, shade, queen and king.

Quite simply in the world of Alice in Wonderland, the more weird and wonderful the better, and I say anything goes!

IDEA’S FOR YOUR BASH!

For those with a bigger budget and more space, the possibilities are endless. If you are having a large event, each table could be named after a certain part of the story such as ‘The Cheshire Cat Table’ or the ‘Queen of Hearts Table’ and the top table or guest of honor table could named as ‘The Mad Hatters Table.’ There are many ways to have a wow factor do, such as hiring Alice in Wonderland props, (www.eventprophire.com) to really wow your guests.

You can really go to town with a larger budget, and even dedicate each corner of the room in a different part of the film, therefore your guests will be constantly entertained.
However for a very large event and budget, to make sure your event goes off without a hitch, you will need to hire an event planner.

ALICE BUNTING I MADE MYSELF

If you are on a small budget don’t despair! There are so many cheaper alternatives to make your event look fantastic.
Follow this link for tutorials on how to create some Alice decorations:

http://thegrapevineevents.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/vintage-alice-in-wonderland-birthday.html

For cost effective decorations make your own bunting like I have. It is so easy! Firstly I scanned in photos from the original Alice in Wonderland book by Lewis Carroll, created a bunting shaped template and cropped the image in Photoshop. Then I printed the bunting, cut them out and hung them over some string. They look very effective. If you have a colour theme in mind, simply print the bunting templates onto coloured paper.

Also using the Alice photo’s from the book, print off your favourite images, and place them in different shaped and size frames and place them on tables. Check out charity shops for vintage crockery, teapots, teacups, and saucers for budget tea sets, for any items you can use (or raid Grandma’s cupboards) for your vintage tea party, wedding or event. These can be displayed as centerpieces on the tables, maybe using some of the teapots to display table numbers.

DECORATIONS

MAD HATTERS HAT

To tie the theme together, there are several elements you can include from the story. Such as:

Large playing cards
Topiary tree’s, artificial or real, such as cone, conifer, topiary ball or spiral shaped trees.
‘This Way’ or ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ signs at the entrance of the venue,
Red carpet at the entrance as well lining it with the trees.
The Mad Hatters Hat or top hats (http://www.hatsandcaps.co.uk)
A black and white dance floor. There are many places in and around Manchester were can hire a black and white checkered dance floor (http://event1.rtrk.co.uk).
If you are on a budget, you can buy a large black and white chess board can possibly double up as a dance floor. Or you can buy the large chess piece from £250.00
Plastic flamingos.
Rose petals or red roses
Bottles placed on the tables with tags around the neck of the bottle saying, ‘Drink Me’.
If you have printed material on the tables for guests to read, whether it’s a corporate function, or a program of the evening events, with ‘Read Me’ printed on the front of the booklet written in old fashioned letters, and printed on brown card, tied with string. Old fashioned labels can be bought from (www.etsy.co.uk)

LARGE PLAYING CARDS

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST ALICE INSPIRED POST, WHICH INCLUDES HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECORATIONS! fOLLOW THE LINK BELOW...

http://thegrapevineevents.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/vintage-alice-in-wonderland-birthday.html

GETTING WEDDING FIT

2012-01-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

How many many of us each year in January vow to lose weight? Yet within a few days, we all crumble at the first sight of a chocolate bar. This could be from a lack of motivation or from not having a strong support system, or having a clearly defined goal. Well, for those of us, who are getting married this year (or like myself, renewing my vows to my amazing husband!), it is time to get serious. With a new year comes a new start, and a new found motivation – hopefully.

If you are serious about shifting those love handles, you need to face this head on. Write your goals down. This shows you are serious and committed. However, for you it might not be about losing weight, but simply want to tone up. Record your weight or measurements or both to track your progress, this way you will know that your hard work is paying off, even though you might not necessarily see the results straight away. Carry a photo around in your hand bag of a picture of your dream wedding dress, and how amazing you would will feel wearing that designer dress, and looking back on your photos in years to come at how stunning you look, and feeling proud looking at the beautiful women in the photo’s staring back at you.

Now I am not a doctor, fitness instructor/coach, or a nutritionist, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out how to lose weight, does it? It’s simple, just move a little more and eat a little less. Of course we need to eat the right foods though, after all we don’t want to be fainting as we’re walking up the aisle! We should all take a vow now to lose weight the healthy way, and not the easy (but potential dangerous) way. Pills and silly faddy diets are for the weak, or those looking for a quick fix such as meal replacements, the cabbage soup diet, Atkins. Yuk! No thanks! I’ll do it the healthy way, thanks! You might stick to them for a few days or weeks, and eventually will fall off the wagon and gain all of your weight back and more, leaving you equally frustrated and even further behind you goal.

MOVE YOUR BODY

If you hate exercise, my theory is that you haven’t tried every exercise or program out there to hate all forms of exercise. Start off by trying something new, and if you don’t like that, then move on to something else. For example, try a Pilates class, if that’s not for you, maybe try spinning, or even a dancing class. From experience, I swear by Zumba. It doesn’t matter what level you are at, just follow your instructors moves. The great thing about attending a Zumba class is how much fun they are and the great atmosphere. There are many classes around Manchester which are at many different levels. However check out this list, I am sure will find something that is for you:

Aerobics

Aqua Aerobics

Badminton

Basketball

Body Conditioning

Boxing

Climbing

Cycling

Cricket

Disco Dancing

Football

Hockey

Horse Riding

Ice Skating

Jogging

Kick Boxing

Line Dancing

Netball

Pilates

Power Walking

Rollerblading

Running

Salsa

Skiing

Skipping

Spinning

Squash

Step

Swimming

Tennis

Walking

Weight Training

Yoga

Zumba

DON’T LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE!

Get started today! Having an impending wedding looming is just the pressure you might need to spur you on. This in one of those many tasks you may have on your ever expanding to do list that needs to be started as early as possible. So start today!

THE BENEFITS

The many benefits of losing weight and getting healthy is that with all of the extra tasks you have to manage and the extra stress, exercising can give you extra energy and not to mention the extra health benefits and help to combat stress. No matter how stressful planning a wedding might be, running on the treadmill or attending a Zumba class for an hour, can help you to de stress you and leave you feeling more calmer and in control.

JANUARY SALES

It is not always about discounted designer clothes, shoes, bags or DVDs, the wedding industry offers many discounts as well, such as getting married in winter months (check out my blog entry ‘Winter Weddings’ for more information on saving money by getting married in the cooler months). However, in January you can find many weight loss related products for sale. I have already seen a few Groupon/Living Social, ect deals offering several classes or gym visits at higher end gyms for a fraction of the price, or other types of deals offering cut price membership deals already, and it’s just turned 2012.

INCLUDE FITNESS IN YOUR WEDDING BUDGET

Depending on how large your wedding budget is, you should plan to allocate some of your budget to help you achieve your new fit and toned body. This could include gym memberships, training sessions or home gym equipment. At the very least book a onetime consultation with a personal trainer to help kick start your work out regime and weight loss.

If you can afford a personal trainer, you can’t go wrong. Especially if you meet with them weekly, more than likely you should start seeing results a lot quicker than if you were to go at it alone.

REWARDING YOUR HARD WORK

We all know what the ultimate reward is – fitting into your beautiful wedding gown – but in order to stay motivated and stay on track, we need to reward ourselves and our hard work along the way. Every time you drop a dress size, but yourself a new outfit, or something you have really wanted. This will inspire you to work hard. Do not by your reward until you have achieved your small goal first or it defeats the object. Unless it is a dress a size smaller.

Though remember, it is not just about getting fit for your wedding, it is about getting fit for life!

CHRISTMAS TABLE DECORATIONS

2011-12-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more exciting and more fun than Christmas Day with the family and loved ones, is there? Let’s be honest, we all love it. The decorations, the food, giving presents or getting together with the family, one thing that I love the most, being an event planner is the decorating part! Over the holidays I have found many bargains which made our Christmas table decorations look great.

Me setting up the room

One of my most favourite parts of Christmas in Manchester, is the Manchester Christmas Markets. I adore them. The food stands are unbelievable, such as the pancake stands made in seconds in front of your eyes, with lashings of honey, whip cream, chocolate sauce; or the German sausages, or the mulled wine, you really can’t beat it!

But the best part of all is the Christmas decorations on offer here, all hand made from different parts of Europe, from hanging decorations for your door, tree or fireplace or gifts and special sweet treats to give as presents, or stunning table decorations. If you want something really unique then at the Albert Square section sells beautiful handmade centerpieces of wicker baskets filled with plants, and Christmas decorations of red, gold and green looking very festive, with plenty of designs to choose from. We picked one up for a fiver! And it went down a treat, with everyone commenting on how beautiful it was.

Centerpiece from the Manchester Christmas Markets

There are several other stands as well selling reindeer's and penguins made out of wicker and twine which would compliment any Christmas setting or table centerpiece. However, when I saw these, I pictured them in the front garden, covered in snow, which put me off getting any this year due to the fact that there was no chance of a white Christmas. L

So when it comes to your table centerpieces, there are plenty of ways to make your table look beautiful without it costing the earth.

Firstly you need to start looking for decorations around early to mid November, as once you get to mid December all the good decorations are gone. Think of what colour scheme or theme you want to go for then your theme will fall into place. Common Christmas themes could be traditional Christmas such as gold, red and green colour's with Christmas crackers and matching colour decorations, or winter wonderland using different cool shades of blues, whites and creams, with white tree’s as centerpieces, branches in vases attached with lights, or a white theme so many possibilities, you don’t always have to go for traditional!

Cottage tealights

I searched many shops, especially during times when the shops were less quiet so I could search the shelves properly to concentrate properly on my theme.

We chose a traditional theme using red and gold as our main colours. The main centerpiece was from the Manchester Christmas Markets which looked beautiful on top of a gold table runner and red table cloth. We even splashed out on some gold plates, and

little trinkets on the table such as snow globes, mini topiary tree’s, red ceramic tealight holders, shaped like a cottage which in low lighting looked stunning; and were bought for £2.00 each in the sale.

Though the best time to get your decorations is Christmas Eve or the few days after Christmas, that way for Christmas 2012 you will have great decorations done and dusted, that cost you next to nothing. On Boxing day I picked up lots of decorations for next year, some stunning little pieces which would brighten up any table and only cost me as little as 45p for some! I spend less that 6.00 on expensive decorations which would have cost in excess of more than 100.00 a few weeks earlier, so hit the shops after Christmas, and stock up for next year. You would be amazed at the bargains you can find, I know I was!

WINTER WEDDINGS

2011-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

We all dream from an early age about getting married in a beautiful venue, all of your friends and family looking on, stunning decorations and amazing food. Although, besides the obvious factor's with chillier weather and dark nights, it may not be your obvious first choice. However there are benefits to getting married in winter that may make you rethink getting married in the obvious choices in summer and spring, where it is more expensive. Such as:

Wedding cake by JIM SMEAL

Venue hire in winter is much cheaper than in the warmer months
Availability is better, as less people get married in the colder months
Budget friendly
Discounts from suppliers such as honeymoons, accommodations, etc,

Winter is also a very romantic time of year to get married. Picture snow covered grounds for your wedding photo's, roaring log fires, mulled wine and romantic candlelight. Also the bride can wear a cosy fur shrug around her shoulders for the ultimate winter look, and long white gloves to keep your hands warm for the ultimate winter look.

THEME'S AND DECORATIONS Also when it comes to decorations, there are several themes you can choose from.

By Preston Bailey

CHRISTMAS THEME - Using reds, greens and golds. The tables can be adorned with red or green table clothes, scented candles such as mulled wine, spices, foliage such as red berries and holly, and Christmas figurines.

WINTER WONDERLAND - Here you can use a colour pallet of blues, whites and silver. Table centerpieces of tall white tree's hanging small trinkets off the branches. Use blue lighting, white linens such as chair covers and table clothes, and splashes of colour of sliver and blue's for accessories such as chair cover sashes, table runners and napkins.
ALL WHITES - A simple theme using whites, ivory, pale grays, off whites and creams. Use centerpieces of a mixture of white and cream flowers mixed with foliage, in tall vases. White candles, snowflakes and crystal table scatters to add to centerpieces and mirrors also work well.

VENUE
Now lets not forget about the venue either. Remember that gorgeous wedding venue that you would love to get married in, but is way out of your price range? Why not see how much cheaper it is in the winter months. You may find it is now within your budget. As many venue's around Manchester and surrounding area's are eager to be hired out as they tend to be quieter at this time of year, they are eager to have your business. They may even add in some extra's such as chair covers, drinks packages or extending the hours you can hire the venue.

So don't be put off by the cold for getting married in the winter, there are several perks such as snow covered scenery for your photographers, big discounts at the top venue's, and many suppliers offering discounts.

So whatever time of year you decide to get married, I am sure it will be beautiful. Though if you do have a tight budget and are looking for a beautiful and romantic atmosphere, think of getting married in the winter!

VENUE'S FOR HIRE IN MANCHESTER

2011-11-30T15:03:00.001-08:00

Manchester is a party city. We love nothing more than a good knee’s up. There are events going on in this massive city every single day. Whatever your event I am sure there is a venue out there to suit your event, budget and to match your guest list. I will show venue’s from all around Manchester and surrounding areas.

BUDGET

AMBLEHURST HOTEL,
44 Washway Road, Sale, Manchester, Cheshire, M33 7QZ
amblehurst@aol.com
reception@theamblehurst.com
0161 973 8800
www.theamblehurst.com

FLIXTON HOUSE
Flixton Road,
Flixton,
Manchester,
M41 5GJ
flixtonhousebookings@hotmail.com
0161 912 3001
0161 748 9283
www.trafford.gov.uk/communityandliving/functionroomhire/

URMSTON MASONIC HALL

15 Westbourne Road,
Urmston,
Manchester,
M41 0XQ
0161 278 9776
www.urmstonmasonichall.co.uk

FLIXTON GOLF CLUB

Church Road,
Flixton,
Manchester,
M41 6EP

www.flixtongolfclub.co.uk/
flixtongolfclub@mail.com

0161 748 2116

MID RANGE

CORTHORNE HOTEL, SALFORD QUAYS

Clippers Quay
Salford Quays

Manchester
M50 3SN

0161 877 8110

reservations.manchester@millenniumhotels.co.uk

WORSLEY COURT HOUSE

The Court House
Barton Road
Worsley
Salford
M28 2PB

builehill.banqueting@salford.gov.uk

0161 737 6277

MANCHESTER CONFERENCE CENTER

Weston Building,

Sackville Street

Manchester

M1 3BB

conference@days-mcc.co.uk

www.manchesterconferencecentre.co.uk

0161 955 8000

HARD ROCK CAFE

The Printworks,

Corporation street.

Manchester, M4 2B

0161 831 6700

www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/cafe.aspx?LocationID=55&MIBEnumID=3

EXTRAVEGANT

THE MIDLAND HOTEL

16 Peter Street,

Manchester

M60 2DS

0161 236 3333

www.qhotels.co.uk/hotels/the-midland-manchester.aspx

THE MONASRERY

Gorton Lane,

Manchester,

M12 5WF

0161 233 3211

www.themonastery.co.uk

THE PALACE HOTEL
Oxford Street,
Manchester,
M60 7HA
0161 208 1111
www.palace-hotel-manchester.co.uk/

STOCK RESTURANT
The Stock Exchange
4 Norfolk Street
Manchester
M2 1DW
0161 839 6644
info@stockresturant.co.uk
www.stockresturant.co.uk

WEDDING DRESS STYLE GUIDE AND WHAT'S IN STORE FOR 2012

2011-11-27T02:38:00.001-08:00

The wedding dress… all us women ever dream about when we were little girls is getting married in a Cinderella style dress, to our prince charming, with a ball gown style dress, covered in jewels, and intricate details, and possibly with the white gloves. However, in reality, not everyone nowadays wants the big ball gown dress, it all depends on your body shape, the style you are after, and what you feel comfortable with. For instance, if you don’t like your tummy you wouldn’t want to choose a dress that is tight around this area would you? So follow my style guide and happy shopping.

Back in October, I attended the Manchester Wedding Show, where I got to see the wedding dress fashions of 2012. Dress shops from all over Manchester from such as The Confetti Box in Eccles, Fairytale Brides of Sale, strutted their latest collects from the likes of Maggie Sottorio, and Alfred Angelo to name but a few. The following images were just some of the gorgeous dresses shown. As you can see there are many different styles to suit all body types, and I am sure you will find a style that suits you best.

MERMAID

This style suits the hour glass figure, as the dress hugs the body tightly and flairs out at the knee or mid thigh like a trumpet or mermaid’s tails, hence the name, mermaid. This is a great style for those who want to show off their sexy curves, or who have an evenly proportioned figure. Think Marilyn Monroe or Hollywood glamour.

However if your curves are more around your bottom area, have an apple shaped figure, or straight, boyish figure, then it is best to avoid this style otherwise this will draw attention emphasis problem areas.

COLUMN

The fabric of this style of dress tends to be lightweight and easy to wear. Usually there is a fitted bodice with a long straight skirt. It hugs the body and is very flattering on tall or petite women.

This style doesn’t work so well for women who have fuller hips, as the dress would emphasize this. Also the fabric is quite figure hugging; therefore if you don’t have a slim line figure, this will show off all of your lumps and bumps.

A LINE

This is the most popular dress as it suits most body types. The bodice it fitted, and the skirt is shaped like an ‘A’, hence the name ‘A Line’. This is great for those women who want to hide their hips. However if you have narrow hips this will give you some shape.

However it’s best to avoid this style if you have a smaller chest as this dress will emphasize this. This can be fixed though with padding.

EMPIRE

There were no Empire Line Dresses on this particular catwalk this year, though if that is the dress you would like to wear on your big day, wear whatever makes you comfortable. This was the style I wore on my big day. The hemline is right under the bust, and floats straight down straight to the floor.

For those looking to hide their hips, take it from experience this is a great dress to wear. It can also make petite brides look taller!

If you have a large chest and want to avoid attention, it is best to avoid this style.

BALLGOWN

Otherwise known as the Princess o Ballerina dress. If you want the ultimate wow factor dress, with the big, full skirt, and too look like a princess, then this is the one for you.

This is a great way to balance those figures who are a little un balanced. For instance, if you have a larger chest, but small hips, this dress, just like the A Line, will balance you out.

However it is best to avoid this style if you are smaller chested as it will emphasize this and make them look smaller, have large hips as this will draw attention to them, or are petite as you may get lost in the dress.

BALLGOWN WITH SWEETHEART NECKLINE

· Spaghetti Straps – Minimizes large shoulders and shows off pretty necklines. Great to show off well toned arms

· Strapless – Very in the moment. If you plan on wearing beautiful jewelry this is a great opportunity to show it off. If you are larger in the best, this option may not give you the best support

· Short Sleeves – Great if you want to cover your shoulders. Great to show off toned arms

· Long or short sleeves – You can wear these as part of the dress or worn as a jacket. Usually worm to conceal arms, if this is an area you want to avoid, or to draw attention away from your hips

· Halter neck – Great for well toned arms and shoulders, If you are petite this style will make you look taller. Great support for those with a larger chest. If you have larger hips, this style will emphasize this

· V Neck – Great if you want to show a little cleavage and for showing off jewelry

· Bateau – If you have a sexy collarbone, this style will show this off

· Sweetheart – Very romantic neckline, as it looks like the top of a heart, also great it you are larger chested and want to show off some cleavage

MOTHER OF THE BRIDE

We can’t forget your gorgeous mother of the bride now, can we. The catwalk show certainly didn’t disappoint this year, with some stunning creations. I know it, is your big day, but you want your mum to look amazing and feel gorgeous as well. After all, she deserves a little pampering, and to look amazing in all of your photographs, doesn’t she.

GROOM

I have to admit, groom wear doesn’t really excite me so such. It does seem like the norm, that the man must wear a morning suit. This is completely untrue, if your man would like to wear a stylish suit, let him, be different and stand out from the crowd! And if you want to vary the colours a little, such as grey, or brown, navy blue, go for it! Also do not have to wear a white dress. Nowadays you can wear whatever you like!

So just remember this is just a guide. It is yours and your partners big day so wear what makes you feel comfortable. On my big day, I wore a cocktail, empire line dress, where as when I renew my vows next year, I will be wearing a white dress, but which style at the moment… I have no idea.

HOW TO PLAN A WEDDING IN 7 WEEKS!

2011-11-16T12:58:00.001-08:00

It is not an ideal situation, but you can plan a wedding in 7 weeks. Like with any wedding, you must have a plan of action. Otherwise it’s a recipe for disaster. The earlier you start planning your wedding the better, however we do sometimes get caught up in the romance and want to get married sooner rather than later. That is what my husband and I did. I enjoyed not having all the stress and the long build up to our big day, and our day turned out great.

Back in the summer, a friend of mine told me of her flatmate that was getting married. The problem was, she was getting married in 7 weeks! And she had nothing arranged, but the church and the reception venue. Luckily a family member of hers agreed to do the catering, so we almost had a reception planned… well not quite. Now it was time to concentrate on the smaller things.

I decided to offer my services as it would be great experience to help out at such short notice. Another challenge was the budget. The whole wedding had to be done for under £3000! This is not an easy task. After talking with the bride, there was very little that had been done. She had found a place to do her invitations in her theme colour’s of red and gold, and they looked really lovely. So I set about looking for suppliers for her and every few days I would e-mail her with the cheapest but best value suppliers I could find.

A friend of the couple agreed to DJ at the reception, and also the photography was done by a friend of theirs, who stayed for the whole day, and offered his services at a heavily discounted price.

About a month before the big day, the bride was still without a dress! This was a huge worry for me, as you can’t get married if you do not have a dress! So one weekend she went into a store which I suggested she tried in the centre of Manchester. If you walked past it, it really is one of those places which doesn’t look all that nice, and I can understand why people would think that. But when you walk inside, and walk to the back of the store, you will see where they keep all the nice dresses. I don’t know why you wouldn’t show off your nicest dresses as the front, though? In the end she picked a dress from here and she looked beautiful.

As the bride and groom were both French, their family and friends were flying over, so accomadation needed to be arranged. However, the only downside is that, they were not willing to negotiate the room rates any lower unless we could book a block of 10 rooms. So a tip for the future, if you do have a lot of family and friends coming up for the wedding, if you need more than 10 rooms, more than likely they will organize a discount. However, if you go through an event planner you might get an even bigger discount.

On the day of the wedding, the bride had her hair done by her make-up artist, but she hated it! This is a very risky mistake. You should always practice with your hair and make-up stylist first before the big day, as if you don’t like it, then you are not going to feel or look your best on the day, and that is not how you want to feel on your wedding day, is it? To make matters worse the make-up artist arrived late and as a result mean the bride got ready late. So they arrived at the registry office late and missed their slot, which was at 1:30pm. They were devastated, and were very upset. Though luckily, they were able to get married but they had to wait around for 3 hours, until 4:30pm to get married.

The reception was held at the Christ family church in Hulme, Manchester. The church itself is small but has a modern interior with wooden flooring and white walls. There was also a dressing room area, and a smaller room, which if you were to get married there also, you could use this room for your ceremony. The room was done up to look really beautiful. To keep within budget, white spandex chair covers were used and I have to admit they looked lovely. They had burgundy bows tied on the side, which looked very stylish. I wasn’t too keen about the spandex covers at first, but after seeing pictures of them and especially if you are on a budget, throw on a sash, and they are actually really pretty, not to mention cost effective. Also the rectangular tables were covered with matching white table cloths and burgundy table runners, and jewels and silk petals scattered across the table. The centerpieces consisted of tall thin vases with white roses, foliage and a red ribbon tied around the top.

At the back of the room the wall was covered starlight backdrop cloth, and the top table had beautiful gold and burgundy swagging. As the room was in an ‘L’ shape, the smaller are of the room was set up as the catering area. Later on, the bride went to get changed into her evening dress and made a grand entrance with her 6 or 7 bridesmaids, who all adorned different floor length dresses.

Regardless of how close your wedding day is, you can still have an amazing and personal celebration. The only downside is that certain venue’s and suppliers may not be available. Remember you will have plenty and family and friends who will be willing to lend a hand.Start delegating tasks for them to do and make it and family affair! If your aunt is great at making cakes, I am sure she would over to bake your wedding cake. Is your sibling or friend a graphic designer? Get them to design the stationary and seating plan.

If you set yourself a timeline and stick to it you will be on track to have a great wedding or celebration. If you are getting married and need help with planning your big day, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Check out our prices and see how we can help you.

THE GRAPE VINE EVENTS DOES HALLOWEEN, 29th October 2011

2011-10-31T03:43:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! We had an amazing time setting up for the Halloween party. Though one thing I can safely say is that you cannot start shopping early enough! We started about 2 and a half weeks ago, when the shelves were full, and you could take your pick, and there was hardly anyone interested in Halloween at that time as like most people, they thought it was too early. But if you want a fab looking event, being organized is key to a successful party. So my tip for your future events, it get your decorations early! That way, down the track, as the day gets nearer, if you may need extra spiders, or pumpkins, you won’t be caught short when all the shelves are bare, or just left with the tacky, cheap looking decorations, that you don’t want!

So to set up, we arrived at the house around 11am in the morning armed with bags of pumpkin lanterns, lots of fake spiders, insects, cobwebs, candles, skeletons, skull heads, you name it we had it!

The first thing we had to do was to clear out all of the ornaments and picture frames from the fireplace, shelve and window displays so we had a blank canvas to work with. The family were kind enough to go out and do their food shopping whist we setting up, and left us too it.

Over the door frame we hung up a large sign with the words, ‘KEEP OUT’ across the top. Hanging from the sign were long black streamers to cover the door way. On the floor we lay, what were supposed to be plastic table cloths, but they were so enormous that we decided to lay them on the floor, as they had blood splatters all over them which every effective.

Though after we thought we had finished setting up, we looked across the room, and realized that we didn’t have enough decorations. So we had to make a mad dash out to the shops and get as much as we could. The shops very were busy with everyone buying the last of their Halloween décor and costume accessories, but luckily Halloween was still a few days off, so not everything was completely sold out!

So back at the house, the family came home from shopping and absolutely loved what we had done, but we but we still had more to do and so we got to work adding to the rest of our decorations. About an hour later their toddler woke up from his afternoon nap, so we had to decorate around him, which was a bit of an unplanned challenge, however he seemed to really enjoy the living and dining room being turned into a haunted house.

On one of the main walls we had paint and wallpaper friendly stickers of a witch on a broom and a haunted house with bats flying around it. (When you peel them off, they leave absolutely no marks!) On the shelf underneath we hung cobwebs to make it look more eerie. On top of the cobwebs we placed lots of old looking bones and skulls. Also clustered together we had lots of candles that were used to light up the room, complete with pumpkin lanterns which made all the decorations look especially spooky. One of the doors had a large sticker on it that had ‘keep out’ written in blood. Yeah we were really going for an unwelcoming look!

Around where the bay windows held one of the food displays stations. Here we did actually use one of the blood splattered table cloths for its actual purpose! We had food trays in the shape a haunted house, Halloween colours. In the compartments we placed eye ball and pumpkin shaped chocolates with mini Halloween character shaped chocolates all foil wrapped. They looked great! Cake HQ also helped us set up, and she made plenty of amazing Halloween cake pops, cupcakes, and cookies, which all tasted divine. We placed candelabra’s either side of the food, so give it all a spooky feel.

On the wall opposite in the middle of the wall housed the fireplace, which we used as a focal point. Draped over the top we had lots of hanging cobwebs, with spiders, and bugs attached, and either side stood two tombstones with glowing red eyes in the dark, which looked great. Inside the fireplace we placed pumpkin shaped lights amongst the candles. And lay around the bottom were objects such as bats and fake body parts, which all looked very disgusting.

As the family had been avoiding the living room, for the past few hours, when we invited them to come in and see what we had done to their living space, they were over the moon. The kids especially loved the cobwebs and glowing tombstones and everyone adored the Halloween shaped cakes!

All the guests at the party loved the set up, and we can’t wait to do it again next year!

If you have a party coming up, why not get in touch today at:

thegrapevineevents@gmail.com

And see what we can do for you.

Halloween is coming..eck!!

2011-10-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Halloween is definitely one of the most funnies times of the year! You get to dress up, scare your friends and eat lots of candy and chocolate. Most of us will be attending many events in and around the neighborhood, or at a friend’s houses, where for one night only, you can decorate your venue to look as disgusting as possible, and also serving horrible looking food – just as long as it tastes nice! So whatever you get up to this Halloween, let your hair down and have a great night! Happy Halloween!

WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS YEAR?

This year The Grape Vine Events will be planning a family Halloween party, which we are particularly excited about! Mainly as we get to decorate another person’s house, trash it, and make it look as disgusting and scary as we like! The family want a party suitable for adults and children, with games such as apple bobbing and jack-o-lanterns carving, and of course there will be a prize for the best costume!

HISTORY

Although Halloween is a great, fun holiday, many of us do not know why we actually celebrate Halloween. However this holiday dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Around 2000 years ago during the time of The Celtics, (from Ireland, UK and Northern France) the New Year was celebrated on November 1^st. They believed this day symbolized the end of summer and the start of the dark, cold winters, which back then was associated with higher mortality rates. During the festival, people would light bon fires and wear costumes to ward off evil spirits.

The Roman Empire ruled most of Celtic Territory by around 43 AD. One of the festivals they celebrated at this time of year was to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is an apple, where it is believed that this is where the tradition of ‘bobbing for apples’ comes from, which is still played at Halloween parties today.

Around the eighth century, Pope Gregory III declared November 1^st All Saints Day, a day to honor the saints and martyrs. The night before was named All Hallows’ Eve, which over time evolved to what we now know as Halloween.

On the night before the New Year, it was believed that the boundary between the living world and the dead becomes blurred, where ghosts could return to earth to cause trouble and damage crops. The Celts also thought that whilst the spirits were here, Druids (Celtic priests) could make predictions about the future. People would generally find these predictions a great deal of comfort during the cold, dark winter months.

By 1000 AD the church made 2^nd November All Souls’ Day to honor the dead. The day was celebrated with big bonfires, parades and wearing fancy dress costumes such as the devil, saints and angles. This would probably explain why today we dress up in scary ghoulish outfits.

Today’s Halloween celebrations are much more fun! It has now evolved into a secular holiday and more child-friendly holiday, where families’ friends and communities get together to throw spooky parties, play games and children go trick-or-treating.

WHAT TO WEAR?

The aim is to look as scary, ghoulish, deathly, or downright disgusting as possible. It is also a goodtime to trash the popular looking dress up characters, such as cheerleader to a dead cheerleader, or bride, or a dead bride covered in blood, ECT. Here are some examples:

Vampire

Witch

The Devil

Evil Bride

A Ghost

Skeleton

Werewolf

Frankenstein

The Grim Reaper

A Zombie

Scarecrow

A Mummy

A Dead Nurse

Or popular horror film characters such as:

Freddy Kruger

Jason from Friday 13th

‘IT’ the Clown

Jack from The Nightmare before Christmas

Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Uncle fester from the Addams Family

The Scream Mask Character

HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS

To make sure you throw a great Halloween party that’s one to remember, you will need to have great decorations! You want your guests to be wowed yet scared at the same time, as they arrive at your home.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some ideas in how to decorate your home.

Place pumpkins with candles or torches inside them so that in the dark, they glow and look spooky!

If you have any tree’s in you’re front or back garden – even better – place scary looking lanterns, or hanging skeletons, or ghouls from the tree’s.

Like size cut outs of skeletons, or ghosts hanging the ceiling also look particularly effective

Rubber or plastic spiders, bugs, snacks, skulls

Scene setters – great to stick on the wall! These can come in different types of scene’s for Halloween such as: Ghosts, rows of skeletons, haunted house scene, pumpkin fields, zombie scene’s

Hanging garlands such as rows of pumpkins or skulls, or just simply saying ‘Happy Halloween’

Hanging cobweb curtains

Window stickers such as blood stickers

Glow in the dark stickers, or hanging decorations such as skeletons, spiders, zombies

Food displayed in large eye ball bowls, skeleton heads or in purple, orange and black

Also stick to Halloween colours such as black, orange, green and purple!

So whatever you get up to this Halloween, I hope you have a great night and make sure this is one to remember!

See you next week, where we will be blogging about our Halloween antics!

A Vintage Theme

2011-10-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

Vintage is a beautiful theme for many different types of parties. True it is not everyone’s personal taste, but you cannot open a wedding magazine theme days with seeing pages dedicated to vintage dresses, centerpieces, favours, ect. Any budget can create a stunning wedding. Try using old photo’s of family members weddings in vintage frames, old jewelry boxes, your grandmothers old broaches or jewelry.

You can associate vintage from the era of the roaring 20s with the Art Deco style, right up until World War II, usually with a colour palette of neutral tones, grays, creams and off whites, with lots of lace and pearls. You can carry on the theme right through to the invites, decor, cake, music, and dress attire.

Using patterned glass trays, or vintage trays like these ones about are great ways of displaying your food at parties. You may have seen glass displays like these all over your grannies house, who would have thought how great they would look in a setting like this?

Vintage floral displays styles have a hand picked look about them. And for an extra vintage twist here, flowers are displyed in glass jars. They look great! It is also a great touch in the tables by having buttons scattered across the table.

The building below is a great example of Art Deco. I building like this would be a great place to have your party or possibly wedding. Most of these great buildings have their original features which would make for great photo opportunities. This would carry on the theme very well, and couple with the right decorations, would look like an amazing party.

Last year I had the pleasure of working on the set up of a vintage wedding. There was a lot of hard work involved in putting this wedding together, but it has been by far my favourite I event I have worked on! On each table stood tall glass vases, each displaying different flower designs such as different coloured roses with lots of foliage, or large candles in a jar with pearls and candles sitting in the middle. All centerpieces had 2 mirrors underneath them with lots of different shapes handles. Some of the table had handbags, all hand made by Rosa, or jewelry boxes with feathers and pearls in them.

To compliment the theme was white table cloths, gold table runners, and the chairs were covered with satin gold chair covers and white lace tie backs, which made the whole room look like a million dollars!!

Each table had something different about it. No two were the same, which is what the bride wanted. It was a large task. One that I didn’t know how we would have finished it on time.

The venue is very close to the centre of Sydney in a place called Pyrmont, and from the balcony area you can get a shot of the Harbour Bridge.

We were so tired at the end of the day, and we finished a couple of hours before the guests arrived. Apparently they went back a couple of hours later to light all the candles, and it looked even more spectacular! They waited until the bride got their so they could see the look on her face, and her face was a picture. Which was nice. The only downside to this wedding, I heard the next day, that Rosa and her sister went back the next day to clean up, and collect the vases, handmade bag, ect, but the guests seemed to have helped themselves to well… pretty much everything! They all wanted a momentum of the day. I’m sure this style would be very much in demand in the future. I just hope she got all her bags back!

Do I Need An Event/Wedding Planner?

2011-10-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

A lot of people believe that it is only the rich and famous use wedding or event planners. And they not! They have the money to burn to throw fabulous parties, and if we had their money, I am sure we all would, right? But trends are now starting to change. We don’t live in a world any more where Dad goes out to work to support the family, whist Mum stays at home and tends to the children and the house hold. Mums are now working as well. The tending to the household is now shared between Mum and Dad during the evenings and weekends. So what do they do when it is time to plan a big party for the child’s sweet 16^th or wedding? They work full time; where are they going to fit into their busy life styles planning a wedding or party.

Well let’s face it. We like to pretend we are superman, or wonder women, and for most of the time we are. But we all just don’t have all that free time to put the effort in to truly make an event an amazing success. We are a stubborn nation, and asking for help is not very… British is it? But hiring an expert, will allow you to enjoy your event, and make sure the party goes off without a hitch.

But before you consider hiring an event planner, you will have lots of questions to ask. Don’t be afraid to ask me! Here are the most common questions or statements, to help you put your mind at ease:

1. "I can do everything myself, as my friends and family are going to help.”

Brilliant! That is exactly what I wanted to here. It’s amazing that your family and friends are willing to help out. However, if you have too many family members in loved, you may find that this will become ‘their’ wedding. I have had brides complaint to me in the past where, there family members were trying to force their idea’s upon the bride, which were not the brides tastes, and in turn family members would often squabble with each other over everything. However, hiring a wedding planner, doesn’t mean that your family can’t help out. Just the opposite in fact! The wedding planner is there to direct the whole process. For example, they might gather the family together for a meeting, and then assign tasks to each family member and help everyone in that designated area by putting them in touch with suppliers or helping to brainstorm ideas. So instead of taking this special event away from the family, the event planner would simply be there to help.

1 2. “I don’t want to make a decision yet as it’s too soon to start planning the event/wedding.”

I can see why anybody would think that, after all the event is over a year away. However, did you know that most large events or weddings take around 12 – 18 months to plan for? Therefore it is essential to get started with planning the event/wedding as soon as possible. Also a lot of reputable suppliers will be fully booked if you leave the planning to the last minute. You want to be at an advantage, to start booking early so that the best people are available for the event. After all, you want everything to go off without a hitch, so early planning is essential.

3. "We are just having a small event; there isn’t a need to hire an event planner.”

Even though you are only having a small party, there is still a lot of preparations to do. All a small event means is less people, it doesn’t always mean less tasks. You still have to let everyone know about the party, via phone or sending out invites, ect. Then there’s the theme for, the decorations, catering, entertainment, such as hiring a DJ, or putting music onto an ipod, shopping for an outfit. Then on the day of the event, the venue (even if it’s your backyard, living room) has to be decorated, making sure all breakables are moved out of the way, setting the food out, setting u a table for the food. Also if it’s a children’s party, what type of games will they be playing? Then afterwards, let’s not forget the clean-up. You also want to make sure all your guests get home ok. So after putting all this into consideration, every party has a lot that goes into it.

Remember as well, it is a small party therefore the price tag for these types of parties is usually a considerably lower budget than planning a soiree for 200 in an elegant ballroom.

4. “You don’t have enough experience to plan my wedding.”

I myself am new to the industry, therefore my prices in the beginning will reflect this. The benefit for people looking at hiring an event planner is that you get to have your event planned at a much cheaper cost, and I get the experience. However no event planner will have no experience, so to put your mind at rest, ask to see their portfolios. I will happily show you mine. In fact you can see it right now. Search my blog for photo’s from some of the events I have done, or check out my Facebook page ‘The Grape Vine Events’ now.

When you sit down and talk with event planner about your idea’s, do you get a good feeling from them? Do you feel like they are listening to you and helping you to make your ideas come to life? Do they put you at ease and make you feel as though you can trust them? If in doubt, you can always ask to speak to some of my happy clients.

1 5. “I can’t afford to hire an event planner!”

A lot of people say this to me, and to be honest, when you think of celebrity weddings that are in magazines and on TV, we know they were all planned to perfection by a wedding planner! But lets be realistic here. We are not in Hollywood. Most of us work 9-5 jobs and don’t earn 6 figure sums. As an event planner, I can negotiate the best possible prices for you, so that you save money. On average, with many vendors who I am in contact with reduce their prices for me by around 10-15%. Therefore that is my fee already paid for. On top of this, it could also work out cheaper for the bride still. However I am also the best person to ask, for ways to look at budget friendly options so that you stay within that all important budget.

6. “Will your quote change, throughout the process?”

A very important question to ask your event planner. If they cannot give you a definite answer, then walk away now! I will sit down with the client and get a feel for the event, then come up with a tailor made quote. However a bespoke quote, could possible change. For example, if you decide to have a wedding reception, in your friends back garden for 40 people, then within 2 months the guest list has swelled to a whopping 300 and you would now like to hold the reception in a swanky city centre hotel, their original budget you would have set would now need to be completely reworked, and so would the quote as now the work load would have increased significantly. If this is a concern for you, I do have packages available to choose from that are a fixed price that will not change throughout the whole event.

A Wedding With A Tropical twist!

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You never really know how much actually goes into a wedding, unless you are part of the planning process. There is so much involved that goes on behind the scene's which you will never know about. After the wedding day, would of cast a tough to the hotel staff cleaning up after your reception, or returning all the gifts to the brides and grooms home? Well up until planning my wedding, or being involved behind the scenes, neither did I!

My wedding was planned over the course of 12 weeks. However a wedding The Grape Vine Events were recently involved with last month, was put together in a crazy 7 weeks! (photo's pending) Yes that's right, I said 7 weeks. Now I know in the event planning world that anything is possible. So if you are planning a wedding or event so close together, just to let you know, it can be done!

One of the first weddings I helped out with in Sydney was in around April 2010. The guests list was for around 350 people. To set up the wedding we had to get there early in the morning. A lot of the things that we would need to dress the venue had been delivered the night before and put into a storage room. However some of the staff members had been going in and out of the storage room all night and due to carelessness had broken some of the vases. There was the exact amount of vases in the storage room, and there was no replacements. Luckily, Rosa drove back and pick up some more from home, so crises over! However it did put a huge dint in our set up time. The theme for this wedding was white and coral. This was a beautiful combination, which looked really great with the birds of paradise colours that work well together.

At the entrance, there was this beautiful display of the table greeting guests as they arrived, which really sets the tone for the tropical look of the reception. The baskets are for guests to place money in as gifts for the bride and groom.

The reception room looks absolutely stunning! The white against coral works very well together. It feels as though it is the height of summer, even though it was Autumn and starting to get cold, you would never think so being in this room.

As you can see the table displays look fantastic! Tall gases wills with clear pebbles, water, a tall palm tree style leaf in the background and 2 birds if flight in front. So simple, yet look how fantastic, not to mention cost effective they are! I think any bride woud be very happy to have these flowers as their centrepieces.

I thought you might want to see the club done up in a different way. Its the same club again, but with different decor. It looks completely different, and both brides have completely different taste, but both times, I helped out here, the rooms have been set up by Rosa and her team beautifully. Here the theme is black and green. Obviously they are not your typical 'wedding colours' but the whole room looked great.

How It all began - wedding on a budget

2011-10-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

I often get asked why I first became interested in event and wedding planning. Well is goes back to when my fiance proposed to me in early 2010. At the time we were living in Sydney, Australia. I was so excited, I instantly got to work on planning our wedding. As usual when you are getting married, it is an extremely exciting time. All you can think about is what type of dress you are going to have, the theme, the cake, the photography, the wedding cars... the list is endless!

But we were faced with a huge set back. In March of that year, I had a 'No Further Stay' placed on my visa therefore, I only had 3 more months with my fiance, before I had to return to England. Even though I was heartbroken at the time, to take my mind off having to be separated from my finance I decided to get to work planning the wedding. My new visa meant that I was not allowed to work, so during the day would be spent planning our wedding, which was now set for just under 12 weeks away, and money was very tight!

However, it seemed friends and family were all there to help, and we had to make the best with what we had. So we got married at the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages in the center of Sydney. The room itself is really nice. It has a church feel to it, as the seats are set out like church pews in a dark wood colour, the walls are a romantic red.

NSW REGISTRY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES. I LOVELY VENUE,
GREAT IF YOU ARE ON A BUDGET

We had our reception in our back yard, as it was a huge space, with a great covered area for parties, and it was completely covered on the off chance it rained. However we were all convinced it would rain, due to the horrific weather the week leading up to the wedding. On the day of our wedding, a monsoon was supposed to hit, but we woke up on the day, and for the first time in nearly 2 weeks, the weather was beautiful! Just sunshine and bright blue skies... We were so lucky, and it stayed like that for the whole day.

LEFT: MY BEAUTIFUL DRESS, RIGHT: CLOSE UP

My dress was beautiful. As there way no way I could afford to buy myself a wedding dress, I decided to wear a dress which I owned and absolutely loved! This dress became the theme for the wedding, using black, orange and yellow as the theme colours. The garden was decorated in the evening with black, yellow and orange balloons, streamers and fairy lights.

OUR INVITATIONS OUR FRONT AND BACK

So as you can see I followed the theme on here with the invitations, which I designed myself. I simply took the pattern from the dress and used that as the invitation designs. We did have a few issue's with getting them printed out on time. My husbands cousin is a printer so he printed the invitations for us free of charge. However, the first designs were far too dark as the fade in the background did have black in it just like the dress. So when the stationery were printed it was far too dark. So they had to be sent back and adjusted, which wasted a lot of time considering the time frame was already incredibly tight, and by now the wedding was only a month away. But the end result worked out great.

MINI CHOCOLATE CUP CAKES MADE BY MY SISTERS-IN-LAW.
THEY WERE THE YUMMY!

For our 'cake' we had cup cakes. Due to being on an extremely tight budget I was very happy and touched when my Sister-in-Law offered as a wedding gift to bake us cup cakes for the wedding. In keeping with the theme, she placed daffodils around the edges of the floral patterned cake stand. They were yummy! Literally after the speeches, I turned around and they were gone!

MY LOVELY FLOWERS

My beautiful flowers were free of charge and were done by a lady by the name of Rosa, who lives in the western suburbs of Sydney. She runs an amazing floral business from home, as well as chair covers. I had the pleasure of helping her out whilst I was in Australia to set up a handful of weddings, and loved seeing the events come together. Due to me helping out, she didn't charge me. The flowers were a surprise as I told her what I like, and she came up with this stunning creation! Yellow roses with a few orchids, and large Autumn coloured leaves, around the edge. The yellow/autumn colours fitted in well with the theme.

THE CARS!

Lastly, a friend drove us to our wedding and tied ribbon to the front of her car. I didn't know she was going to do this and I loved it!

To all future brides and grooms out there let me give you one bit of advice. When your wedding day arrives, after months of planning, researching, tears of frustration and stressful moments that you lost sleep over such as worrying if you have the right colour napkins, and that you are worried it might rain, that relatives who don't want to sit together, or if your wedding band doesn't show, the only thing that matters on the day is that you are marring the person you love, and that is the most important element of your wedding day.

We spent so little money on our day, and I was so sad to go to bed that night - at 3am! We didn't want to go to bed! - I just didn't want the day to be over. I loved every minute of it. The only down side was that none of my family were there to celebrate with us. Therefore we have decided to have an English blessing next year. Just a small celebration with close family and friends. This time around I will be wearing a white dress, hiring a venue and going on a honeymoon after the wedding.
We can't wait, and I will keep you post about it!

Welcome to The Grape Vine Blog!

2011-10-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

Welcome to my blog! The Grape Vine Events are a wedding and events company based in Manchester. I love everything related to events such as weddings, charity fundraisers, corporate events, parties - well pretty much any type of event. We have lots of exciting events coming up from an Alice in Wonderland themed bash, plus lots of weddings with my different themes and more!

Events planning is a huge passion of mine. It is a great opportunity for me to get creative and to show off my artistic talents, whilst helping clients to have a successful and fun event. I love the whole process from start to finish from deciding on a theme, to picking the decor and of course the actual event itself.

However, over the past few years many of my people have told me that they find planning an event to be stressful, time consuming and a huge inconvenience for them. This is where I come in. Today with out busy schedule's many of us don't have the time or the know how to plan an event, and some can find this a daunting task.

I will work with you to create an event that not only will you enjoy, but one which you will remember for years to come. Don't let budget restraints restrict you of having the event which you deserve, email me today at:

thegrapevineevents@gmail.com

and together we can create a truly amazing event. I look forward to hearing from you.

THE GRAPE VINE EVENTS