Donna and Dave's relaxed beachy wedding

Bride and Groom names: Donna and Dave

Did you have a theme? If so what was it?: No theme really - we went for relaxed and beachy, very "us". 

Colours that you used: Blues and neutrals. 

What Venue(s) did you use for the ceremony and reception?: The Pavilion McCrae Beach - we had both the ceremony and the reception at the same venue - very relaxing for guests and meant we could spend more time enjoying ourselves instead of travelling between venues!  
 
Who was your photographer?: Mel (and Jacqui) at Milk Photography. They did such a wonderful job, made us feel very relaxed and comfortable. The photos are incredible!     
 
What invitation design did you have?: Fi from Fi Fy Fo Fum Designs created an custom design for us. They were very simple and beautiful. 

What was your favourite bit of the ceremony?: Dave: Seeing Donna get out of the mustang and walk down the aisle toward me; everyone having a laugh about how we met and what we love about each other. Donna: Seeing Dave waiting for me and sharing our first kiss as husband and wife. 
 
What was your favourite bit of the reception?: The atmosphere of the evening. It was so great to have everyone close to us enjoy the night celebrating. The band, Chris and Sacha from Duo 101, were fantastic and set the tone for the night.   

Who made your cake? Melina from Regnier Cakes - We had butterscotch, marble and mars bar flavours and each were a big hit! 

Top tip for soon to be brides and grooms:  Don't sweat the small stuff. Remember what is important and have fun! 

Suppliers we used: 
Venue - Pavilion McCrae Beach - http://www.pavilionmb.com.au/  
Photographer - Milk Photography - http://www.milkphotography.com.au/ 
Band - Duo 101 - http://duo101.com/
Cake - Regnier Cakes - http://www.regniercakes.com.au/
Dress - Lisa Gowing 
Suit - Roger David
Flowers - Peninsula Flower Studio - http://www.peninsulaflowerdesign.com.au/
Car - Mustang Brides - http://www.mustangbrides.com.au/
Hair and make-up - Meesha at UK Style - http://www.ukstyle.com.au/home.html

DIY Party Backgrounds

For this month's DIY we decided to try a few different party backgrounds for weddings, parties anything! The projects use materials that you'll probably already have at home and don't take much time to put together. We really enjoyed putting these DIYs together and home you do to.

DIY doily and photo bunting

This bunting was super easy to make and requires no sewing.


Materials:
-kitchen string or ribbon
-mini wooden craft pegs
-paper doilies
-old doilies (a family member will have a drawfull they've never used or they can be bought for $1-3 each at charity shops)
-blue tack
-texta



And it's as easy as blue tacking the three equal lengths of string on the wall. I used the grout between the bricks as a guide to keeping it all even and straight.

And then pegging on the doilies and photos.

On the paper doilies I wrote LOVE with a texta. You could write anything... Happy Birthday... Congratulations...




The beautiful black and white photos on the bunting were taken by Karen from Petite Bebe Photography. Check out her amazing maternity, baby and family photography at www.petitebebephotography.com.au  or on Facebook.

 Circle Bunting 

Here is another bunting idea that was also really easy to do. Simple machine sewing is required.

Materials:
-Circle hole punch (I used a 1 1/4 inch punch)
-scrap paper, cardboard, vellum  etc
-sewing machine
-blue tack

 All you have to do is cut out a bunch of circles from your favourite paper scraps and then run them through a sewing machine on a normal straight stitch. I then knotted the cotton and trimmed the edges. Strands of circles can be hung horizontally for a photo background or vertically on a door frame or wall.

You could use any shape, size, colours the options are endless. I can't wait to try other colours and shapes. I'd love to see a triangular/ geometric one!

 Crepe Paper Chandelier

Materials:
-two embroidery hoops (one large and another that fits inside)
-crepe paper
-bobbley wool
-double sided tape
-ribbon (for hanging)

Hang the larger hoop with four equal lengths of ribbon from a central point. Attach the crepe paper strips and wool with double sided tape to the inside of the hoop and wind around the hoop. Hang the smaller hoop from the larger hoop and attach strips to it as well. Trim the edges as desired.



We'd love to see your projects if you try one of our DIYs so please email a photo to us at sarah@fifyfofum.com or leave a comment below and let us know how you went.

x Sarah 

Emily's First Birthday Party Part 2

What a day it was!  We were all exhausted by the end but it was a lot of fun.

Here is what I was able to do from my wish list (see the last blog post).

The ribbon chandelier was great and so easy to do!  I used crepe paper instead of ribbon which made it so much cheaper and I think was a great effect.  I now have it hanging up in Em's room for decoration.  We will have a DIY post on this in a few weeks on the blog.

I got the balloons but didn't have time to do the coloured tails!  I have learnt that there is limited decorating time on the actual day…

The cake looked great.  James did a fabulous job and it tasted good too!

 I also made some little tags the same style as the invitations to label the food so people knew what it was they where eating.  It was also nice as we used James’ grandmas recipe for the scones so it's nice to be able to acknowledge her on the day, even though she is no longer with us.

Instead of lolly bags I gave each of the kids a book.  I thought this may be an issue but it seemed to be fine.  I think the kids had enough sugary treats at the party that they did not mind!

Emily's First Birthday Party Part 1

Today I thought I would write about a little celebration that we are having here.  

It is my little girl Emily’s 1st birthday this weekend!  I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone.

I thought I would share with you the things that we are hoping (if time will let us) do.  There will be a lot of DIY aspects to this party…something my husband and I love to do.

So here it goes..this is the wish list for the weekend.  If it happens or not we will see!  I will do another update next weekend and let you know!

The invitation went out a few weeks ago and I based it on our Watercolour design.  I really wanted colour to be the theme for the day. 

From here I have had these ideas:

 

I am going to order some helium balloons in the same tones as the invitations.  I though I might tie some different tails on them to help decorate the room and the one year olds will love it!

Photo source:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/346495765051193321/

For the cake James will try to make an ombre cake.  Something like this is the plan:

 Photo sources:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/53128470576609203/

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m07rwmVLjY1qfpcnio1_400.jpg

 

I would also love to create a ribbon chandelier.  This one may or may not happen depending on time.  But this is my inspiration!

Photo source:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/194288171397016227/

I am not sure if we will do lolly bags for the kids or not.  I thought we could do flower biscuits instead?  This is one idea that I have seen that I love!

Photo source:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/86412886573301445/

So that is my plan for Saturday.  Wish me luck..I need it!  I will re post some images next week showing you the end result.

Fi x

Carly and Bart's vintage beachside wedding

Bride and grooms names:  Bart Kohler and Carly Laughton

Did you have a theme? If so what was it? We loved the pale pink heart on your invitations, so decided to carry this through as our theme! We also wanted the wedding style to be fairly simple and ‘us’,  with a little bit of vintage. 

Colours that your used? Vintage pinks and ivory 

What Venue(s) did you use for the ceremony and reception?: Ceremony - Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Hampton (where my grandparents were married and where I was Christened). Reception - Sails on the Bay in Elwood (because we met on the beach in front of the reception venue where our triathlon squad trains) 

Who was your photographer?: Kirralee Ashworth - http://kirraleeblog.com 

What invitation design did you have?: The ‘Heart’ style - we loved it! 

What was your favourite bit of the ceremony?:Carly - walking down the aisle and seeing all our family and friends, then Bart with an enormous smile waiting at the end. Also Bart’s face as the doors of the church opened at the end of the ceremony and he saw the guard of honour his Army mates had formed as a surprise!
Bart - The congregation filling the church to watch my beautiful bride beaming down the aisle. 

What was your favourite bit of the reception?:Carly - The Mr Whippy van, the speeches and my mum’s awesome flowers on the tables! Bart - The look on people’s faces as they saw the table settings, which included their names on scrabble boards, the hand made bomboniere and the Mr Whippy tickets! 

Who made your Cake?: Sails on the Bay. And my mum did the flowers on the top of the cake. 

Top tip for soon to be brides and grooms?: Keep it simple. Think of a few extra special things for the reception - our family and friends loved the Mr Whippy van and photo booth, and they created a great atmosphere at the reception. Take time to enjoy the planning and the day - it all goes too quickly! And make sure the bridal cars have a full tank of petrol!

Reception: Sails on the Bay - http://sailsonthebay.com.au

Dress: Brides of Armadale - http://www.bridesofarmadale.com.au

Bridesmaids' dresses: Alannah Hill - http://www.alannahhill.com.au

Flower girls’ dress: Tutu du Monde - http://www.tutudumonde.com

Guys suits: Anthony Thomas Gentlemans’ Outfitters

Bouquets: Mimosa Florist

Reception flowers: Wendy Laughton

Photography: Kirralee Ashworth - http://kirraleeblog.com

Band: The Baker Boys - http://www.bakerboysband.com.au

Ice cream van: Community Scoops - http://www.communityscoops.com

Two DIY Wedding Button Hole Flowers

DIY Wedding Button Hole Flowers

 This paper flower is really cute and only takes minutes to make. They can be made out of any paper scraps and could be made to match your invitations, decorations or even be made from the sheet music of your first bridal dance.

Materials:
-scrap paper
-florist tape and wire or a green pipe cleaner could be used
-buttons
-double sided sticky tape
-scissors

Step 1
Cut a freehand circle out of your chosen paper and then cut it into a spiral. Mine was 6cm in diameter.








Step 2 
Curl the spiral up around the centre and then let it uncurl a bit. Tape the outer end of the spiral to the rest of the flower with sticky tape to stop it uncurling too much

Step 3

Cut out some leaves and stick them on the back of the flower with sticky tape or double sided tape


 





 Step 4
Attach a button with double sided tape or glue. Wrap some florists tape around a doubled over piece of florist wire and stick it to the back of the flower with sticky tape. You could use a green pipe cleaner here if you don't have florists wire and tape.


Make some more in different colours to make a cluster. The flowers can be joined together by wrapping florists tape around the two stems.

Materials:
-two small squares of yellow crepe paper (3cm x3cm)
-pink crepe paper cut into petal shapes (the middles can be dyed red with food dye if you like)
-yellow paper with a fine fridge cut on one side (I used a yellow sticky note)
-florists tape
-florists wire

Step 1
Double over a piece of florist wire and scrunch up a small piece of crepe paper for the center of the flower.








Step 2
Wrap a small square of crepe paper over the crepe paper ball and wire and tightly wrap florists tape around the stem to hold the ball on top of the wire.



 



 Step 3
Wrap the fringed paper around the flower center and then wrap some florists tape around it tightly to hold it all together. Trim the fringes to the desired length.



 



Step 4
Place petals around the center one at a time and attach by tightly wrapping florists tape around them. Slightly overlap each petal and continue adding them until your flower is the desired size and shape. I used 15 petals.







Once you have made one you can make other flowers by changing the paper colours and playing with petal shape and length.

Have fun!!

Tom and Fiona - Winery Wedding

Bride and grooms names: Tom and Fiona

Did you have a theme? If so what was it?: No theme

Colours that you used?: Ivory, black, watermelon, mint
What Venue(s) did you use for the ceremony and reception?: St Patrick's Church, Lilydale and Vue on Halcyon, Yarra Valley Winery, Chirnside Park

Who was your photographer?: Daniel, A Touch of Flash Photography

What invitation design did you have?: Dragonfly in Mint

What was your favourite bit of the ceremony?: Fiona: Saying our vows with all our family and friends present. Tom: Seeing my soon to be wife come down the aisle

What was your favourite bit of the reception?: Fiona and Tom: Hard to pick a favourite: we loved the dance, the speeches, talking with all our family and friends, all of it!

Who made your Cake?: A friend from my work, Melanie Cricco

Top tip for soon to be brides and grooms?: Fiona: Make sure the bus driver picks up the right guests and your guests get on the right bus! Tom: Remember to turn off your own mobile phone during your wedding ceremony.

Suppliers we used:

Reception:http://www.vueonhalcyon.com.au

Dress: http://www.janehill.com.au

Photography: http://www.touchofflash.com.au

DJ at Reception: http://www.mobydisc.com.au

Music at Ceremony: http://www.sweetheartsmusic.com.au

Flowers: Kirsty from I Do Flowers 0411 220 715

Bridesmaids Hair and Make-Up: http://ellenmugavin.com

Groomsmen Suits: http://www.davidmarcs.com.au