Here’s a couple of designs from their gay wedding cards range …

Mr & Mr Bow Ties

Two Gents

Two Misters in a Pod

DoodleMoose Designs are based in Kildare, specialising in wedding stationery and bespoke eye-catching design pieces at reasonable prices.

And here are some for the ladies …

Mrs & Mrs Cake

Two Pink Birds

Mrs & Mrs Rainbow

The cards are available to buy directly online from Doodlemoose Design for €4 each.

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

As custom stationery designers, the gorgeous girls Jane and Ailbhe from Pretty as a Picture work very closely with wedding couples to create bespoke designs and illustrations for their letterpress wedding stationery.

Ailbhe has kindly shared her expertise and advice with us here on how how to create your own wedding inspiration board.

What is a wedding inspiration board?

An inspiration board is a combination of inspirational images that acts as a visual tool to help someone get an overall feel or vision of a look they are trying to achieve. It can be a combination of words, images, colours, photographs, torn out magazine pages, scraps of fabric and even patterns! All your images together can evoke a specific style or feeling.  As a designer and a bride to be I thought I would share my views on inspiration boards and how helpful they really are. Without one you might waste time with each supplier along the way and your wedding can end up looking disjointed. I will have two! The first one (below) is based on the colours I have picked that will be reflected in the bridesmaids’ dresses, flowers, cake etc. The second one is more theme based (which I am keeping a secret!) – this is to inspire me during the design of the invitations, the table settings and possible the décor. Most people will just have one and it can be a combination of theme and colours.

via Pretty as a Picture

Why is an inspiration board helpful?

Planning a wedding is never easy and as an artist or designer may get a ‘creative block’ staring at a blank canvas, so too can a bride on where to start her planning.  The theme you pick for your wedding will set the tone for the day and the inspiration board you’ve created can help to keep you on track. When you are dealing with other people, such as suppliers, it is especially helpful in portraying your ideas and the overall look you are trying to achieve. You may not have a clue on what colours you want to pick but already you may have noticed the images you’ve collected are of shabby chic interiors and soft pastels cupcakes so already a mood has been created. Just grab images that catch your eye!

Mine started from a beautiful bracelet I had sitting on my table – I immediately loved the muted shades of coral and turquoise with gold and from that I based my whole wedding palette. You might find that you initially base your inspiration board on a theme more so than colours, that’s ok too. Whether it’s a carnival, garden tea party or winter wonderland, colours  (from 2 or 3 to rainbow!) will start to emerge from what seems like a chaotic collage of images. It can help you decide on items from your bridesmaid dresses, the type of bouquet you want, your wedding cake to helping decide on the type of stationery you pick.

garden green, pale rosy pink palette via Snippet and Ink

Get Inspired!

Your imagination is the limit in coming up with your inspiration board. Don’t think of just wedding websites or what you think other people will like. They could be a favourite red carpet dress you saw, or an amazing pair of shoes.

Some things to consider could be:

• A favourite item of clothing

• Somewhere you visited together – engagement spot / favourite holiday?

• Maybe you or your fiancé have a hobby like sailing or biking?

• Maybe you can bring different cultural elements into the day

• Do you have a much-loved set of china teacups with pretty patterns?

• What mood are you trying to evoke?  Romantic or edgy, vintage or modern. Sometimes the location or venue can influence your theme!

old world meets romance novel inspiration via Style Me Pretty

How to create one

Here are a few online resources to help you create your mood board

• Pinterest | • Tumblr | • Fffound • Polyvore| • Wedding blogs | • Google images

About Pretty As a Picture

Pretty as a Picture is an award winning stationery and gift boutique based in Ireland, who offer a complete custom design service for letterpress wedding invitations and personalised stationery.

Ailbhe and Jane can help to add a unique touch to your wedding with their unique range of letterpress invitations, wedding logos, thumbprint guest trees, wedding dress portraits, beautiful wedding dress storage boxes and more…

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

wooden-vintage-signs.com

You made it through the planning process, had the happiest day of your life, you’re officially wed… so why the long face?

Don’t worry, it’s totally normal. It’s called “post wedding blues” and it happens to a lot of brides… and some grooms!

Chances are for the last year or more you ate, slept and breathed your wedding plans. You’ve put other parts of your life on hold to agonise over colour schemes, seating charts, DIY projects and wedding budgets… but what happens when all that is over with? The whole process is exciting, intoxicating, exhilarating… it’s like an addiction! Some brides like the organisation of it all, others like the artsy creativity. All we know is, once you’ve walked down that aisle, cut the cake and danced til you dropped, there are no more planning “fixes” – you’re going cold turkey.

Many newlyweds come back from their honeymoons with two words facing them:

What now?

It’s crazy, right? You think you’d enjoy being able to go shopping without thinking “OMG those tea lights would be PERFECT for the cake table!” or to watch television without ALSO flipping through wedding magazines and researching online.

There are two things going on here. One, you’ve spent so much time and energy planning your big day that when it’s over, all you can see is a big, gaping void. And two, you’re transitioning into a new phase of your life, and reality is kicking in.

So how can you combat all this?

Well, the first thing you need to remember is that this is all completely normal. You’re not alone, and you’re not a terrible person for feeling down after your wedding. Remember, marriage is a big step in your life. Although most people will say that not much changed after they got married, it’s still a big symbolic change.

Sprinkles of Love

You’re moving from one stage of your life to another, and it’s normal to feel a bit down or sad about that. Try to view your wedding as an exciting new beginning, rather than the peak event. Share your feelings with your husband, and have some quiet moments together where you can re-live your big day and discuss your hopes and dreams for the future. Maybe plan a weekend away after your honeymoon so that you have something to look forward to later on.

If you feel like there’s a void in front of you, it could be that you miss being excited about something… so why not organise a few events that you can look forward to? Maybe have your bridesmaids over to watch your wedding video, or have a New Year’s Eve party. Plan weekly or fortnightly date nights with your spouse, so that you have something lovely to look forward to all week.

Or maybe you miss being busy and always on the go. In that case, why not take up a new hobby? Or give your house a spring clean. You could take a night course, join a gym, learn to knit… the options are limitless! And don’t forget about all the thank you cards you still have to write! That’ll definitely keep you occupied for a while.

Most of all, don’t forget your friends and family. Chances are, this amazing group of people listened to your 24/7 wedding talk throughout the planning process… wouldn’t it be wonderful to catch up on non-wedding related things? Sometimes when one friend marries, the other single friends may worry they won’t see their friend as much. That only happens if you let it happen, so be sure to make time for the OTHER special people in your life – not just your new husband (although you love him to bits)!

For all the newlyweds out there… did you experience any post-wedding blues? Do you have any tips and tricks for managing the blues?

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

Michelle uses an unobtrusive style of photography and most of the time couples and guests are unaware that their photograph is being taken. “I keep the posed photographs to a minimum as I believe that wedding photography is not about ‘staged’ poses but rather about candid moments in time”.

Michelle is very passionate about what she does and this shows in her work. “I love weddings – they are filled with special moments just waiting to be captured. I am constantly trying to create something beautiful and this alone guarantees that I aim to produce the best possible results, as not only do I want to exceed the couples expectations, but also my own”.

Michelle is a member of the IPPA (Irish Professional Photographers Association).

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

Our vendor spotlight section usually focuses on one person, but we couldn’t talk about Dublin bridal shop White Orchid Bridal Boutique without mentioning the two lovely ladies behind it all: Alex Reilly and Anne Kinsella.

Tell us a little bit about you both

We’re Alex Reilly and Anne Kinsella, and we’re the proud owners of White Orchid Bridal Boutique, which we opened in 2008. Friends first, we shared the happy experience of getting married within the same year, in fact within weeks of each other. Having planned our weddings together we then began the task of planning a business together. We had both worn very unusual wedding dresses on our wedding days, and both had similar experiences – we had found it exceptionally hard to find unique wedding gowns. We decided to pool our expertise in bridal fashion, styling, media, business and enterprise together to create White Orchid Bridal Boutique.

Tell us about White Orchid Bridal

In creating White Orchid Bridal we wanted to offer a haven to style conscious brides, a place where they could discover innovative gowns that offered them something unique but were also stunningly beautiful. We wanted brides to no longer feel that they only had a limited selection in bridal wear or that they had to compromise on their personal style just because they were getting married. Our pledge was and has remained: to bring fashion foreword designer bridal gowns to stylish Irish brides, in a range of budgets and to suit all ceremony styles. We are also firmly committed to always offering our brides the utmost in customer service from their first visit to their last fit.

In recognition on our continued style and service to our brides we have proudly been awarded Bridal Shop of the year 2 years in a row.

What inspires you?

We are very much inspired by vintage style, Old Hollywood glamour, and couture design. However most of inspiration comes from the brides themselves – we are lead by our brides’ requests and inspired by their individual sense of style – the outfits that they wear visiting the boutique! We are also massively inspired by the brides’ weddings – the styling of their whole outfit from their hair and make-up to how they have put their bridal look together and the theme of the wedding event itself.

Are there any new Irish bridal designers we should watch out for?

We love Aisling Nelson who owns Rangoli Jewellery. She creates bespoke bridal hair accessories. So many of our brides choose her unique pieces to compliment our dresses, they are so beautiful and are like works of art. We also love Carol Shaw who designs the most stunningly delicate bridal jewellery; they are pieces that you can wear again and again – always reminding you of the happy memories of your big day.

What new trends are there for 2012 and 2013?

Lace lovers rejoice – as lace is back in a big way, thanks partly to the Royal wedding – what is amazing about lace though is there are hundreds of varieties – which creates so many different looks and styles from demure to very sexy. Lace doesn’t just mean traditional – it’s versatile and can be surprisingly edgy.

Curves want to be hugged – in the past curvy girls felt they only had 1 option in a dress – Aline – well not anymore. Designer are finally designing with the fabulously curvy bride in mind and offering her gowns that are more figure enhancing and fitted. So don’t be afraid to show off your curves.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

Where do we start? The fabulous dresses, being surrounded by designer gowns all day, going on wonderful buying trips and seeing stunning bridal collections before anyone else does. We also sometimes try on the dresses … for research purposes only obviously!

However the best part of our job has to be the relationship that you build with our brides. From the moment a bride walks through the door we are privileged to be part of their journey. We listen to their bridal gown dreams (dreams some have had since they were little girls). As we dress them, they tell us about their soul mate, the romantic proposal, their dreams of their big day and their future with their husband. We get to share in the girlie laughs with their bridesmaids and the tears when a proud mother sees her daughter in ‘the one’. It’s a very personal experience that lasts for many months and friendships are built up. We treat every wedding as if it is our own so we are very proud and emotional when a bride collects her beautiful wedding gown.

How do you choose what dresses to stock?

We follow the lead of our brides, we listen to what they want – we follow fashion forecasts, catwalk and fashion week trends – watching up and coming designers. A trend at the moment is gowns that look more ‘red carpet glamour’ than traditional bridal, so we keep a close eye on what the celebrities are wearing to the Oscars etc. We visit several large retail bridal fairs.

What’s the most unusual request you’ve ever had?

We recently had a bride who asked if her mum could try on a dress for fun. She explained that her mum had married in a little white dress suit and never got the change to wear the ‘big white dress’ – of course we were delighted to indulge her and there were tears in everyone’s eyes as she tried on a very vintage-esq lace gown. The bride’s mum told us that we had made her day!

What’s your working week like?

Our working week is full of variety. Each day and bride is different from the last. During the week we take consultations with brides and bridesmaids – these appointments are full of excitement of the search for ‘the one’. We also have weekly bridal alterations where we catch up with our brides who are excitingly trying on their own dress and putting the finishing touches to their big day.

We then spend the rest of our time maintaining our gowns, researching designers, keeping in touch with our brides through our website, twitter and facebook page.

What made you want to work in the wedding industry?

We both always dreamed of working in the bridal industry, it’s an exciting and romantic place to work. Who wouldn’t want to work with bridal gowns?

Have you seen many changes since you started your business?

Yes, the economic situation in Ireland has caused one positive outcome, many businesses are following our lead and offering their brides better value, and service – and rightly so.

And finally…

What is the best piece of advice you would give to couples planning their wedding?

Well, to the brides we say shop early, as it can take a while to find ‘the one’. Although it is great fun bringing the gang shopping, it can also be confusing to listen to all the different opinions on each gown. Take their advice but listen to your heart – this is your day and your gown. Enjoy every minute, this is a very magical moment in your life.  Finally – make sure you visit White Orchid Bridal!

Where can we find you?

White Orchid Bridal,
75 North Street,
2nd Floor (above Gerard Ryan Financial Services)
Swords,
Co Dublin.

www.whiteorchid.ie

info@whiteorchid.ie

01 8971494

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mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

Born through a love of all things creative, DoodleMoose Designs strives to create innovative, beautiful, eye-catching designs. We want to help create the perfect invitation for your special day, so allow us to offer you something a little different than the standard with a reasonable price.

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

I’m at the point in my life where a lot of my friends have wither been married in the last couple of years or are getting married in the next year or so. Every time I get a new wedding invitation, I think “what will I get them as a wedding gift?” Over the years, whenever my mother was hosting something in our family home, the good china set would come out, and every time she would say “we got this from so and so for our wedding” and I always wondered how she remembered who gave them what! Until I got married.

These days most couples want cash or vouchers as wedding gifts, but after the money is gone and vouchers have been spent, what’s left? Don’t get me wrong, we were extremely grateful for the generosity shown to us when we got married, but I love when I’m pottering around the house, and see something that we got as a wedding present, and it always reminds of the person who gave it to us.

I have to say, I find it extremely difficult to think of wedding presents for couples. While working on this backyard wedding inspiration post shot by Lisa O’Dwyer Photography, I stumbled across these gorgeous LOVE letters from Little White Dog.

I fell in love with this Irish business, run by the lovely Susie, and her faithful dog Milo (hence the name!). How cute is Milo?

If you’re looking for a personal, meaningful engagement, wedding or anniversary gift then this could be for you! Suzie’s work is truly a piece of art! From book ends, to personalised messages in a bottle, each gift for each person can be as unique as they are.

These framed letters are my personal favourite. The three letters can be customised with maps, music, comics or other papers that represent something special to a couple. Why not get their initials showing maps of their home places with an ‘&’ representing a place or an interest that they both share?

Or how about these bookends?

You can catch Suzie and Milo at her studio (by appointment) or by emailing suzie@littlewhitedog.ie or visit her online shop to see more of her works of art!

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

Key Features

• Complimentary exclusive use for weddings of over 60 guests
• Accommodation onsite for up to 120 guests
• Up to 170 guests with no minimum numbers
• Hotel facilities with a private house feel
• No music restrictions
• Civil ceremonies onsite in the Victorian Chapel
• A variety of packages from €59 per person
• Dedicated and professional wedding co-ordinator
• Personalised service –  your day your way
• 2 ¼ hours from Dublin, 2 hours from Belfast & Galway

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community

Black is such an elegant colour and who doesn’t look good in a black dress, but most brides would only consider black for a late autumn or winter wedding. If you’re set on black for your spring or summer wedding, how about teaming it up with another strong colour, and go for a hot pink and damask wedding theme?

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community