The Beauty of The Dance

Let’s talk a moment about life. I love to use analogies. To me life is like a dance.

There is a popular show on TV called “Dancing With the Stars”. You may have seen it. You may be one of the fans that watch it every week. When you simply watch the dancing you’re really not aware of all the hard work that goes into it. Done right the dance flows and looks easy.

You may look at someone else’s life and say the same. “Well, that’s easy for them to do, but, I could never do that, be that, act like that, etc.”

Everyone has their own way of dancing, their own style. We all have our own way of living, our own steps we take to accomplish a task.

To get back to life being like a dance – it never just goes in a straight line. At the very least it goes in a circle taking in the whole room. A dance never is completely still. There is always movement and the movement varies from a small step or a flutter of a hand, to a twirl, or a spin, or a dip.

Like life, dancing goes backward and forward, side to side. Sometimes you get your feet stepped on but you don’t punch the other person out because they stepped on your toes. You move away and keep dancing.

You may even fall down on the dance floor. What then? Do you lie there and moan making a fuss or do you get up again, dust yourself off and keep dancing?

I remember when I was taking Salsa lessons. The advanced members of the class were invited to be filmed while dancing in a beautiful lobby of a huge theater. Of course I went. I loved dancing plus the opportunity to dance in this particular building added to the excitement of being filmed.

There was a little flaw in my thinking. I was expecting a dance floor. Have you ever tried to slide or spin on a carpet? It doesn’t happen. Obviously, I must have had a huge scowl on my face showing all the complaints running around in my head. How could anyone dance under these conditions? What idiot put this mess together? Who on earth _________? Fill in the blank.

After one or two “not fun” dances no one wanted to dance with me. Hmmm, I wonder why? Things were not going my way and I was miffed to say the least.

Ever have a day like that? Of course. We all do. I did say life was like a dance.

Life is all about what you make of it. When the dance of life sweeps you off your feet, get up, dust your self off, find the beat, and start dancing again. if you just sit there on the dance floor you may get trampled by the dancers and then you’ll wonder what happened. Life happened while you weren’t looking.

Dance. However you dance will be beautiful because it’s your dance.

All for a good cause.....

We're always happy to support charities wherever we can, and therefore giving a shout out via the blog about a charity event being organised by one of our suppliers has been an easy decision to make.

On the 6th May 2011, Michelle of Miss Deal Fun Casino is organising a Monte Carlo Charity Night, presented by Minster FM's very own David Green. The event is being held to raise funds and awareness for children with Leukaemia. Originally, Michelle set off on her fundraising mission on behalf of a very special little boy who lived locally and who wanted to fulfill his need for speed by being a passenger in a super car. We're delighted to say that Michelle achieved this aim, and the boy and his family experienced a day at Elvington race track being very well looked after by the Track Days Team. Well done to all concerned.

Although this young boy's dream has been realised, Michelle is still looking to raise funds for other children who are suffering from leukaemia and the Monte Carlo Charity Night looks set to be a fantastic way of achieve this. There are a host of prizes to be won at the event, including a day at the races or a Texas Hold 'Em table (courtesy of Ripon Races and Miss Deal Fun Casino respectively). A silent auction will also be held on the night and the top prize is a ride in the helicopter used in the 007 film, Goldfinger, courtesy of Hields Aviation.

Also on the night, there will be a Monte Carlo style racetrack - buy a model car with a number on the bottom and everyone will win something when you match the number to a prize.

Would you like to join Miss Deal's Monte-Carlos winners at Caesars Restaurant? Tickets are priced at £25 for a three course meal and fun casino etc. £5 of the ticket price goes directly to the charity fund. Please contact Michelle from Miss Deal Fun Casino Hire for more information and availability or if you would like to donate a raffle/fundraising prize. She can be reached on 01757 241813 or 07915 263967 or via email: missdealcasinonights@yahoo.co.uk

Michelle has asked us to include her personal thanks to Selby Chambers and Minster FM for all their support.

We think that Michelle is doing a fantastic job and urge everyone to do anything they can to support her. Contact her directly if you feel you can help in any way or if you would like to buy tickets to the Monte Carlo night. We're sure it will be a fantastic event!

Arriving in style.....

Everyone wants their wedding to be different and memorable and one way to do that is to arrive in style. There are so many options for your wedding transport and at The Wedding Affair at Newburgh Priory on Sunday, 27th March, we will be showcasing three of the best....

Firstly, for something a little more traditional - how about selecting from one of Yorkshire's finest post war classic car collections? The beautiful 1939 Rolls Royce Wraith pictured above is courtesy of Superior Motor Cars, located near Pocklington. They really do have amazing cars to choose from and we know that their service is second to none which is why we have recommended them time and time again. Check out the full collection at www.superiormotorcars.co.uk

How about arriving in a beautiful carriage pulled by two stunning white shire horses? If you like this idea then check out Ebor Carriages, based just outside York. Brigadier and Boson are father and son horses who originally worked at the Sam Smith's Tadcaster Brewery and so have been a commercial pair for quite some time. The boys both have a fantastic temperament and personality and are extremely well behaved when it comes to the noisy, busy roads they need to travel on. (They will also love you even more if you bring them rosy apple sweets - they seem to be a favourite!) Contact Annabelle or Cara via www.eborcarriages.co.uk to check dates or make an appointment.

Last but most definitely not least, we have Helijet Aviation (www.helijet.co.uk) who will be bringing two helicopters to The Wedding Affair at Newburgh Priory - if you really are wanting something to wow your guests and which is a little bit different, then think of arriving in a helicopter - very James Bond and we can guarantee your groom (and all the guests) will be suitably impressed! We'll have some fantastic photographs taken on Sunday so they will follow next week but why not come and see the real thing? You won't be disappointed.

Join us at The Wedding Affair at Newburgh Priory on Sunday, 27th March between 12.00pm and 4.00pm - to pre-register your entry into five competitions go to Competitions - pre-registration and attendance on the day is necessary. Terms and conditions apply.

Above photographs courtesy of Jim Poyner Photography (Superior Motor Cars), Ebor Carriages and Helijet Aviation.

Spreading the word.....

We've got a wedding fair at the fabulous Newburgh Priory this Sunday - as you probably already know! And if you do know then it is going to be due to the extensive marketing and advertising campaign that we carry out before each event. We spend a significant amount of time and money ensuring that all those lovely brides and grooms know what is happening in The Wedding Affair world - double and single page spreads in glossy magazines, beautiful colour invitations sent by post to 1000 brides before each fair, banners, website listings and numerous social media updates. And this list is most definitely not exhaustive as every possible and practicable avenue is explored!

As Lisa was doing another facebook update today, she made a very interesting comment - 'If each of the suppliers at this fair had three of their brides visit the event, then that would be 120 brides.' Seems simple enough doesn't it? Don't get me wrong - it is our responsibility to do all we can to make the event a successful one - after all - that is what you are paying us for. And we do know that the suppliers we work with are very proactive and forward thinking, but how many actually send the invitation to all their brides and grooms? Even if you have already had a booking everyone will benefit from increased exposure and your bride will also think you are marvellous for introducing her to so many other fantastic, high quality suppliers - all in one place!

So when you book into a Wedding Affair event, please just take the time to send the invitation to all your brides, prospective or booked, if you are not already doing so. And if you are - then thank you. Not only does it help to make our events more successful, but it also helps to make happy brides!

Finally - if you are one of our suppliers and you have some news, please do keep us informed of what's happening in your world as we love to share it with the brides and grooms!

Feeling peachy.....

It was quite a while ago that Lisa and I were talking about colour schemes and trends and my my comments were 'Peach is making a comeback, you mark my words'. She looked at me as though I was a little strange (it won't be the first or the last time!) probably due to the fact that she already knew that the official Pantone colour for 2011 is Honeysuckle.... but I was right!

Peach flowers do bring back memories of eighties weddings and arrangements can look wonderfully modern yet feminine if mixed with the right flowers - think David Austin Roses (pictured left), with peach tulips, monochrome anemones, and cream stocks as recommended by David Austin in the latest issue of Wedding Flowers Magazine (April 2011). For your table arrangements use pretty duck egg blue containers or gorgeous vintage mirrored vases and your reception will have the wow factor.

Or why not just have beautiful peach hued 'Juliet' roses - they look absolutely stunning all by themselves with only minimum amounts of foliage, allowing the flowers to take centre stage. An example is this bouquet (right) created by Claire Cowling for David Austin.

We are sure that whatever you choose, it will be absolutely gorgeous - and if it's peach you will be bang on trend!

Photographs courtesy of the David Austin Roses website www.davidaustinroses.com

First Past The Post....

We have already had the pleasure of working with the extremely talented Suzanne Gill of Suzanne Gill Millinery, and we are very excited to be working with her again for the charity fashion show in aid of York Special Care Baby Unit (more to follow on that at a later date!)

News has just filtered through to us that one of Suzanne's beautiful creations has just been voted as 'Best Hat' at the Cheltenham Festival Ladies Day. We're not in the least bit surprised - the hat, fashioned entirely from pheasant feathers, was described as eye-catching and divine by the judging panel. We completely agree of course and we are sure you will too!

Suzanne made this hat entirely by hand and is available to design hats and headwear for all special occasions. Check out her website for pictures of her other stunning creations www.suzannegillmillinery.co.uk


Photo courtesy of Leon Neal, AFP Getty Images

Goldsborough Hall - Fit for a Princess!

We had the pleasure of visiting Goldsborough Hall again tonight to attend their Wedding Open Evening. We've been vocal for quite some time now about our love of this place - we're sure that there will be a restraining order if we are not careful! It's one of the most stunning venues in Yorkshire at which to get married and we are very excited at holding the first Wedding Affair at Goldsborough Hall here on Sunday, 12th June between 12.00pm and 4.00pm. We will have over 30 fantastic exhibitors of the highest quality, along with live entertainment and luxury gift bags for the first 100 brides.

But back to tonight. Clare and Mark Oglesby kindly opened up their home for brides to visit giving them the opportunity to not only see the venue dressed for a wedding, but also the chance to meet some of the suppliers they love to work with. Not surprisingly, there were some familiar faces there for us too - lovely to see Hayley from The Harrogate Wedding Lounge, Lucy from Lucy MacNicoll Flowers and Chris from The Event Music Company - we work with these guys regularly and cannot recommend them enough. It was also a pleasure to meet Wendy from It's A Cover Up.

Hayley pulled out all the stops and put on a fashion show with some of the most gorgeous dresses. You would think that after spending time at the BBEH on Sunday we would be all 'wedding dressed' out, but clearly not.

If you didn't get the chance to pop along tonight, then please do come and see us on the 12th June - we'd love to say hello. If you can't wait that long, then give the lovely staff at Goldsborough Hall a call and arrange to go and visit - we guarantee that you will fall in love with this venue too.

Fact or Fiction

The superstition that the bridegroom must not see his bride before the wedding stems from the days when marriages were arranged and the groom might never have seen the bride. There was the chance that if he saw her, he might bolt. Other sources say that to see the bride in her dress is peering into the future, which can bring bad luck.

BBEH - Dresses, Designers and Style!

Today saw us visiting the British Bridal Exhibition in Harrogate (BBEH) - to be honest, we can think of worse ways to spend a Sunday! For the next three days, from the 13th to the 15th March 2011, Harrogate becomes the heart of the bridalwear industry with approximately 250 designers and manufacturers all waiting to showcase their wares.

What's not to love about having a day to spend looking at gorgeous dresses and accessories we hear you ask? Well, it's a hard job but somebody has to do it! There seems to be a slight resurgence of caped sleeves (thank you!!) including the very beautiful 'Garbo' by Charlotte Balbier, as shown on the left. This dress is just stunning, although we couldn't find a design that we didn't like in the collection - Charlotte has always been one of our favourite designers and this just goes to show why.

Another personal favourite from the exhibition was the 'Marilyn', again by Charlotte Balbier (pictured right). The love of short dresses looks set to continue, and when coupled with lace and bows, as in this dress, then it is are a sure fire winner. Flirty, fun and yet still timelessly elegant, we love it!

We have had a few brief meetings with some of the top designers today, and will have some very exciting developments to announce in the near future. We'll bring you a bit more of the BBEH over the next day or two but until then we hope you enjoyed this little snippet of Charlotte Balbier gorgeousness!

Rule Britannia Part 2 - Shoot the shoot!

Whenever we talk to people about what we do, there's always an automatic response of 'Ooh you must love your job - it must be so much fun!' Well here's time for the truth... it really is! We are incredibly lucky to do something that we love day after day as no two days are ever the same, and whilst we admit that we have the odd day of grumbles and moans, it's usually because there isn't enough chocolate in the office or nobody is owning up to stealing the last ginger nut!

If you have seen our previous Rule Britannia blog post you will know all about our day on location at Newburgh Priory, one of the fabulous venues we work with. With the Royal Wedding firmly at the forefront of our thoughts we arranged for some of our favourite suppliers to get together and bring our ideas to life - but we decided to do things a little differently this time. Whilst the fabulous Jim Poyner worked his magic (www.jimpoyner.co.uk) the equally fantastic Joe Dodsworth www.joedodsworth.co.uk ran a 'shoot the shoot'. We thought it would be great for you to see what happens on the other side of the lens for a change!


As a result, we now have some amazing photographs which ultimately show what a great time we all had on the day and we thought you might like to see some so that you can share the experience. It also gives us an opportunity to shout out some Wedding Affair love to those people involved, so here goes!


Wedding Affair hugs to Mandy from Plush Bridal Boutique www.plushweddingboutique.com for bringing gorgeous gorgeous dresses and sharp suits for the men. Also to Alison from Beauty Call www.beautycall.co.uk - stunning hair and make-up for our lovely models (yes - including the men!). Love to the fabulous Jane from HF Couture - divine sparkly jewellery that we all wanted to wear and were a little bit jealous that we didn't get to do more than try on! www.hfcouture.co.uk Thanks to Chris and Nicki from Superior Motor Cars www.superiormotorcars.co.uk for not only bringing us fantastic cars, but for keeping us entertained throughout. Wedding Affair waves also go out to our models who not only looked amazing, but kept smiling throughout! Helen Jackson (Miss York 2008), Henry Richardson, and Sean and Kim from The Model Experience www.themodelexperience.co.uk We couldn't have done it without you guys!

Thanks to Newburgh Priory, of course... your hospitality is greatly appreciated. We thought we heard the words 'Don't come back here again!' as the gates slammed shut behind us, but we must have imagined it! Surely...?

Final Wedding Affair love goes to Jim Poyner and Joe Dodsworth for being photographers extraordinaire! Not only did you guys give us some amazing photographs, you gave us so many laughs throughout the day. Thank you.

All photographs used in this blog are courtesy of Joe Dodsworth, with the exception of the picture of Joe - which funnily enough was courtesy of Jim Poyner! If you would like to see the rest of Joe's shots, follow this link: www.joedodsworth.co.uk/newburghpriory.

Thought For The Day

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,

A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.

The Three Great Love Enders

You find someone. You fall in love. The world is beautiful. And then one day you wake up to find yourself in bed with the evil twin. What happened? How did this relationship get so difficult?

There are 3 main reasons that love is squeezed to death and relationships end.

1. Neediness
2. Expectations
3. Jealousy

Let’s take the first one, neediness. The thought of neediness can drive you to cling, grab, demand and attempt to possess. Doesn’t sound like true love to me. Sounds like a prison.

Love is not a trade-off as in “you do this for me and I’ll do this for you”. Love is giving freely without requirements, stipulations or restrictions. Love is not a make-over as in needing your mate to look a certain way, be a particular weight, act in a prescribed manner, or have long or short hair. What attracted you in the first place? Build on that.

What you think you need from your mate is exactly what you need to give to your mate. And when you give, give freely. If there are strings attached you’re not giving you’re bargaining or conniving or worse – manipulating.

Needs lead right into expectations, the second love ender. Any kind of an expectation sets you up for a disappointment. Even if you get what you expected you wonder and worry if it will last, if it’s real or will it be this good the next time which expands into the next expectation. And the noose gets tighter.

Let me clear something up here. You can have a preference. You can have an intention. You can establish a goal. You can strive as hard as you want to reach it. The key is to accept the outcome; even if the outcome is not what you expected. Go on from there. Accept instead of expect.

Love is holding someone in an open palm. Jealousy is a death grip. Jealousy arises when you don’t trust someone; when you have expectations that are not being fulfilled; when you need them to give you all of their attention. Do you see how this all goes around in a vicious circle?

Being jealous of someone and trying to keep them in a loving relationship is like coating a football with a thick layer of grease. The more you grab, the faster it will slip away.

What you want from someone, from a relationship is exactly what you have to give, what you have to invest in the relationship. Yes, consider it an investment because you’ll get out of it exactly what you are putting into it.

If you want to be trusted you have to trust. If you want freedom you have to give freedom. If you want understanding you have to be understanding. And if you want acceptance you have to accept yourself. Let me say that again. If you want acceptance you have to accept yourself.

Love starts with you. Love yourself for who you are right now, bulges, bumps and warts. Start right now to appreciate the miracle that you are. Forgive yourself for all of your learning experiences for that is what mistakes really are – learning experiences.

When you can accept yourself as you are you’ll find the freedom to be the person you want to be. When you have the freedom to be who you truly are you will easily allow that freedom to extend into all of your relationships.

Let me know how you’re doing. I’d like to hear from you.

Thought For The Day

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.  - Frank Tibolt

The Wedding Affair 'Rule Britannia'

So - the first real Wedding Affair blog. It feels quite monumental really and almost as if nothing I write will be worthy! Anyway, this will be the first of many posts where we share insights into our fabulous world of weddings.

I thought i'd start by showing you the results of a recent photoshoot held at Newburgh Priory, near York. Royal Wedding fever has been gripping the country since the date was announced and here at Wedding Affair Mansions it's no different. When we needed some photographs of a venue for promotional purposes we decided to push the boat out and have a Rule Britannia themed shoot, giving us the opportunity to showcase some of the fantastic suppliers we work with, whilst still indulging in our passion for all things Royal right now!

We turned up en masse at the very stunning Newburgh Priory and were blessed with beautiful sunshine and blue skies (despite it raining the days before and after the shoot). Photographers Jim Poyner and Joe Dodsworth were on hand to shoot anything that moved and boy, did they do this in style. What do you think? It's an impressive roll call of lovely suppliers involved on the day so here goes - Plush Bridal Boutique (beautiful dresses of course and suits!), Beauty Call Hair and Make-Up (making everyone look more gorgeous than they already were), HF Couture (lovely, pretty, sparkly jewellery), Ragdoll of Pudsey (wow MOTB wear), Homebaked Heaven (the most delicious Rule Britannia cupcakes), Superior Motor Cars (fab cars that we love!) and Alison Massingham Flowers (gorgeous bouquets).

Thank you also to Helen Jackson (Miss York 2008), Henry Richardson and Sean and Kim from The Model Experience for looking fabulous and helping to bring our ideas to life.

It is impossible to finish, of course, without sending Newburgh Priory a huge amount of Wedding Affair love for allowing us to run riot at this amazing venue. (They also let us borrow Widget, the rather handsome black labrador who was a bit of a superstar whenever a camera was pointed in his direction!).

I hope you've enjoyed this snippet of life at The Wedding Affair. Thank you to everyone who made this day possible for us - it was a huge amount of fun and Lisa, Chris and I can't wait to do it again. We'll let you know the details of our next photoshoot very soon but in the meantime, why don't you visit our website - www.theweddingaffair.co.uk where you can see more photo's from the day as well as bucketloads of useful information, tips and ideas! Oh, and I think I may just have been bitten by the blogging bug now - so watch out for more coming very soon.

Photo's used here are courtesy of Jim Poyner Photography.