Love and Literature

A wedding should reflect the tastes and passion of the bride and groom. For some, that means reflecting their love for literature in a subtle but clever way, without necessarily making it a themed wedding (think: Great Gatsby, Alice In Wonderland, Gone With the Wind, etc.) As big readers ourselves, we've thought long and hard about different ways to incorporate works of literature at your wedding. Here are some suggestions:

Before Kindle came around, borrowing library books was a pretty common activity. Bring back the borrowed book love with library card style invitations. We love how you can create a "title" for your wedding and make it look authentic with yellowed paper and crooked typeface. 

If you're having a small wedding, create your old "vintage book" as a wedding program! This will create a unique keepsake and add a lot of charm to your wedding, but it will definitely be a significant project!

The most common way to incorporate literature in your wedding is through your wedding vows / reading. Choose a passage that particularly inspires you or makes you and your loved one laugh. You can go for something sweet and simple, such as e.e. cumming's i carry your heart, romantic and traditional such as Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, or light and quirky such as Ron Weasley's ball of light speech from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Keeping with the library theme, have guests find their seats by sifting through a card catalogue! This a fun throwback to grade school, when we spent hours learning the Dewey Decimal System. It's fun, quirky, and cost efficient, but your younger guests might not quite get it.

We really love the idea of naming your tables after famous writers or novels. Have fun with it by placing your work friends at Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, your girlfriends at Jane Austen's Emma, and your creepy uncle at Vladmir Nabokov's Lolita.

Or, if you want to stick with numbers, do it in a way that is true to your theme. We like these because they serve double duty! Vintage books function as both a centerpiece and way to display the table numbers in a way that is charming and unique.

You can also carve out old books to create unique centerpieces or decor at your wedding. While we're a little reluctant to demolish old books this way, perhaps you could find books that are otherwise damaged and use them.  Either way, it creates a very rustic and creative centerpiece.

Instead of using satin ribbon to add some flair to your wedding cakes, wrap it in some (sanitized) newspaper or vintage print. We also like how the cake toppers are similarly wrapped in print to create a coherent look. Just be sure to use romantic text... no old pages of Play Boy for you!



And they lived happily ever after!



XOXO,



Jen & Saira

Dorothy Perkins Floradita : Florals for everyone!

Hi guys,
Yesterday I popped down to the Dorothy Perkins showroom for a little peek of their new summer collection: Floradita. As you can no doubt guess from the name, this is a beautiful collection of dresses covered in fantastic floral prints, and inspired by big blousey summer blooms:


This dress was my absolute favourite (by a long way!) I loved the beautiful tea stained colour of the fabric (which makes it look genuinely vintage) the lace overlay, and the delicate floral pattern. I imagine this dress would look incredible with curves, and it really wouldn't take any work to wear: just add heels or sandals and go!


As soon as I saw the Floradita range I immediately thought of summer weddings and garden parties (has anyone ever been to a garden party?? There are so many dresses aimed for them, but I don't know anyone that holds them!) These dresses are just begging to be dressed up with heels and clutch bags and yards of jewellery. But the beauty of them is I think they'll also look great dressed down for a trip to the park or lunch in the sunshine.

This collection of pretty floaty flowery frocks had my name written all over it: Obviously i'd have to toughen it up with leather accessories and tougher shoes, but I can see myself wearing every single on of the dresses I saw. It's just a shame we now have to wait until the beginning of June before we can hit the shops and buy them all!

Love, Tor xx

Boux Avenue: Great lingerie, Amazing party!

Hi guys,
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to go to the launch of Theo Paphitis' (yes, he of The Dragon's Den fame) new lingerie brand: Boux Avenue. The Boux Avenue website launched today, and the company are also launching several stand alone stores across the country: the one in Glasgow opened today, and the company are opening several more stores in the coming weeks.

Aside from the fact that the lingerie was gorgeous (and fits all the way from an A-G cup, so it a range that almost everyone can wear!) I also have to say, this was honestly one of the best events I have ever been to!




The event started with champagne and a cream tea whilst looking at the lingerie from the garden party collection: lots of girly feminine blush pinks. Whilst we were nibbling (read: scoffing) cakes, a silhouette artist cut out our silhouettes! Then we moved on to the next room (Boux Avenue had hired the whole of Sketch, which is a beautiful venue with some of my favourite toilets in London) where there was more beautiful lingerie clad models, fortune tellers and magicians, and yummy cocktails. There was also the bloggers favourite: a photobooth!

The main event was spectacular: ballet dancers, tap dancers, jazz dancers and a trapeze artist had us standing in awe at the talents, as well as there ability to perform wearing such skimpy outfits (all of which, Theo told us, are available to buy at Boux Avenue) We had such a wonderful evening, and I left feeling so inspired I heading straight onto their website at 12.30 this afternoon (which is when it launched)

As an aside: look! It's me with Nick Knowles! I look super excited because he's something of a childhood crush of mine!

Thanks to both Jenny of The Style PA, and Reena at Fashion Daydreams, both for being awesomely good fun to hang out with, and for the pictures above: my camera ran out of battery, just as the fun was starting!

Love, Tor xxx