Award winning? Of course they are!

Things are so busy at Wedding Affair Mansions lately I'm a bit behind on the blogs. Shameful really, but when you see what's happening in our world, you'll understand why!

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you some fantastic news about two amazing photographers that we have the pleasure to work with. We are always quite vocal about the fact that we work with the best and this just proves it.

At the recent British Institute of Professional Wedding Photographers Yorkshire Region Awards 2011, both Steve Ramsden and Annemarie King emerged as winners. No surprise to us of course, but we are absolutely delighted for them both.

Steve is the well deserved winner of Classic Wedding Photographer of The Year 2011 with this stunning photograph....

The winning image was photographed at a winter wedding at Swinton Park, Masham, on the 3^rd December 2010. More photographs from the wedding can be seen here:http://www.steveramsdenstudio.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/01/20/winter-wedding-photography-swinton-park-masham-north-yorkshire/

Steve was also the proud runner up of Contemporary Wedding Photographer of The Year 2011 and Classic Wedding Photographer of The Year 2011 x2. He also achieved Overall Social Photographer of The Year 2011.

BIPP Yorkshire Region Contemporary Wedding Photo of The Year 2011 Runner Up

BIPP Yorkshire Classic Wedding Photo of The Year 2011 Runner Up

BIPP Yorkshire Classic Wedding Photo of The Year 2011 Runner Up

Not to be outdone, the gorgeous Annemarie King also carried off the award for Yorkshire Contemporary Wedding Photographer of The Year 2011 with the following stunning photograph:

Yorkshire Contemporary Wedding Photographer of The Year 2011

She also achieved merits for a number of other beautiful pictures, shown here:

Well done to both Steve and Annemarie. Fantastic achievements by such talented people. We're proud to be associated with you!

Thank you to Chris Milner Photography for the pictures of Annemarie, Steve (and us!) at The Wedding Affair Network at Goldsborough Hall in April 2011.

Trend Alert: Metallics!

One of the biggest trends arriving in the wedding industry? Metallics! Especially for fall, metallics will be a great trend to incorporate into your wedding.

Use a metallic as an accent color, or make your color pallet all metallics. Either way, your wedding will be a winner with this trend!

Green Bay Botanical Gardens

If you are looking for the perfect place for your garden wedding, look no further than the Green Bay Botanical Garden. With 3 different outdoor areas to choose from, you will find a dream location for your ceremony. The gardens can fit up to 150 people, and wedding rentals include an indoor area for the bridal party to get ready.

For more information visit: www.gbbg.org

Love this idea? Get more ideas and assistance by "liking" Power Wedding Planning on facebook!

www.powerweddingplanning.com

Decor idea: Diamond Wrap!

If you're looking for a way to up the luxury feel of your wedding, the key might be to add some bling! Diamond wrap is a great way to incorporate more sparkle to any area of your decor. It is sold by the roll and is flexible to wrap around objects. Check out these three ideas, and visit www.diamondpartyconfetti.com to purchase diamond wrap!

Love this idea? Get more by visiting www.powerweddingplanning.com and by "liking" Power Wedding Planning on facebook!

'A diamond is just a chunk of coal made good under pressure' .....

We were recently contacted by a lovely lady, Andrea, from Burnley in Lancashire, who emailed late one evening asking for our help. Her son's wedding was rapidly approaching and she had an idea for a bespoke necklace using a rather unusual material which held significant sentimental value - no pressure there then! 

We knew just the person to take on this challenge - if anyone could do it, it would be Iain Henderson of Iain Henderson Designs - a fantastic bespoke jeweller www.iainhenderson.co.uk

Photo courtesy of Jim Poyner Photography www.jimpoyner.co.uk

So we emailed Iain that night with our SOS followed by a quick email to Andrea to let her know that we were on the case. Her lovely response made us even more determined to get this sorted:-

'Thank you for your reply especially so late in the day... I was both surprised and impressed to get such a positive response'.... Andrea

Not surprisingly, Iain and his team took on the challenge and boy did they succeed! They've written the following blog to tell the story and they've done it so well it's better to share their own words! So here goes......
 

‘A diamond is just a chunk of coal made good under pressure’- Henry Kissinger

When our partners at The Wedding Affair got in touch with us to see if we could make a piece of bespoke jewellery for a customer in under a fortnight, we said of course. Brilliant, they said, but there is a slight catch. We waited with anticipation only to be told the customer would like her necklace creating using a rather sentimental piece of coal. Used to working with precious gems like diamonds and sapphires, the team at IHD couldn’t resist the challenge of working with such an unusual material. And with Henry Kissinger’s quote ‘a diamond is just a chunk of coal made good under pressure’ ringing in our ears – we were confident we could create something special.

So why coal? And why the quick turnaround? Our customer had envisioned a special piece of jewellery steeped in sentimentality and designed specifically to be worn at the wedding of her son. Having been let down by the first jeweller she had challenged, she was left with less than a fortnight to turn her idea into a reality. Andrea had taken a piece of coal to her own wedding as a good luck talisman and wanted to keep the good luck flowing by taking the same piece of coal to the weddings of her children but didn’t want to keep it wrapped up in her handbag. She imagined a necklace created with three pieces of the coal to signify her wedding, her son’s and eventually her daughter’s.

Coal is often given to the bride and groom on their wedding day as a way of offering the newlyweds a warm home literally and symbolically. Traditionally, chimney sweeps were also present at weddings to bring the bride and groom good fortune after they were declared lucky by King George II after a sweep saved him from near certain tragedy by stopping a bolting horse some two hundred years ago. And the significance of coal goes much deeper than superstition for Andrea who comes from a family which has many connections to the railway industry. Indeed, her son’s wedding venue was the National Railway Museum in York and with many steam engine drivers in attendance; her necklace was bound to become a real focal point for conversation and reminiscing. With such wedding myths firmly maintained and the sentimentality from Andrea’s own special day, using coal for wedding jewellery actually makes perfect sense!

Working with coal was an interesting experience. Cutting the coal to the required shape was the first difficulty as it splintered and shattered using our traditional jewellery making tools. Determined not to be defeated, we got a builder friend over with a diamond stone cutting blade to angle grind the pieces we required. The coal was then carefully shaped so that it would fit snugly into the pre-created silver setting. The sides of the setting were designed to be higher than those usually used to protect the fragility of the coal. Fixing the coal into the setting was the next difficulty – applying heat was definitely out as we didn’t want to set fire to the stone and any pressure used would make the coal fracture – so we utilised industrial strength glue to carefully bond stone to setting. Following Andrea’s instructions we left the larger central piece natural and polished the two smaller, outer pieces giving an exceptional finish, guaranteed to be a talking point on the top table at the wedding breakfast.

Andrea collected her bespoke coal necklace from us the day before her son's wedding in York and was simply delighted with IHD's creation saying 'you've saved the sentimental value for posterity'.

So here's the fabulous necklace that they created - all we can say is wow! 

Well done to Iain and his team for creating something so special for Andrea. We have to confess that we've got a bit of a rosy glow at matchmaking this amazing collaboration....

01274 551224        info@iainhenderson.co.uk

www.iainhenderson.co.uk

The Wedding Affair requests the pleasure of your company at an

Charity Catwalk Show

at

Grays Court, York
Chapter House Street, Off Ogleforth
York YO1 7JH

on

Saturday 21st May 2011

6.45pm to 9.30pm

'LIFE IS THE OCCASION’ has burst back onto the world’s fashion stage for Spring/Summer 2011 and once again, L.K. Bennett has taken the inspiration from you, their customers.

Helen from Grays Court was chosen as an Ambassador for L.K. Bennett as part of a nationwide casting to front this season’s collection, as she juggles the requirements of a demanding lifestyle yet wants to look and feel the very best she can every day.

 After all, life is the occasion and for every occasion there’s L.K. Bennett.

Do join us on Saturday 21st May for a fantastic evening at Grays Court in York raising much needed money for the deserving Charity, York Special Care Baby Unit at York Hospital.  All proceeds will be going to the Charity hopefully buying them relief, care and treatment of premature and sick new born babies by providing and assisting in the provision of specialised medical or surgical equipment and improved amenities and facilities including education and vocational training.

Itinerary for the Evening...

     6.45pm        Drinks reception with canapés

     7.00pm        Introduction from SCBU

     7.15pm        Collections from:-

                        L.K. Bennett

                        Suzanne Gill Millinery

                        Azendi Jewellery

                        Plush Bridal Boutique

     8.15pm        Raffle Draw

     8.30pm        MissDeal Fun Casino & Shopping Experience

     9.30pm        Carriages

We will have live entertainment, Miss Deal fun casino, hair and make-up demonstrations, image consultant advice, various shopping experiences and a fantastic prize draw raffle... which is only £5 per strip!

Gift bags will be given to all those who attend, enclosing details of those involved, discount vouchers and some luxury goodies to take home...

We'd love to see you there, come and have some fun, bring your friends, daughter, mother and business colleagues, the more the merrier.  Only 100 tickets available... going fast!

To book your exclusive tickets at £25.00 per person go to:-

Book Tickets Now

Proceeds go to the York Special Care Baby Unit

The Wedding Affair would like to thank so many people for helping us raise money for the York Special Care Baby Unit, especially for their time, products and services, they deserve a very big round of applause and of course your support:-

Grays Court
LK Bennett York
Suzanne Gill Millinery
UK Entertainment
Greg Scott of Minster FM
Azendi Jewellery
Plush Bridal Boutique
Fusion Hair Design & Choreography
Estee Lauder
Beauty Call
Miss Deal Fun Casino
Get Your Frocks Off
Swing Daniels

We would also like to extend a very big thank you to all our Raffle Prize Draw donations, more to come:-

Champagne and flowers from The Wedding Affair

Afternoon Tea for 4 at Grays Court

Dinner for 2 at Grays Court

Azendi Jewellery

LK Bennett Jewellery

Suzanne Gill Bespoke Hat
Estee Lauder Make-up

Tea for two at Goldsborough Hall, near Harrogate

Preserve Hamper from Grace

Piece of bespoke handmade jewellery from Samantha Agnew

A Happy Hopperz from Cheeky Monkeys Party Hire

A pair of Mistress Knickers (colour and embroidery to be the choice of the winner) from Mistress Collection

Free Makeover courtesy of Beauty Call

Afternoon tea for two – Yorkshire Teas

Cupcakes – Curiositea

Vintage Tea Cup Candles – Sue Audsley, Classic Crockery

Cake – Cakes for all Occasions

To book your exclusive tickets at £25.00 per person go to:-

Book Tickets Now

Don't forget to book your exclusive tickets at £25.00 per person go to:-

Book Tickets Now

Sharing the Papakata love.....

We're not ashamed to say it - we love Papakata. If you haven't seen them yet, then where have you been?

Papakata describe them as beautiful tents for amazing events and we couldn't agree more. If you're looking for something a bit different to a traditional marquee then Papakata is for you. These teepee style tents pioneered by the Sami people of Lapland are utterly gorgeous and we're more than a little bit in love with them!

Lisa and I had the pleasure of visiting Amanda, Richard and the rest of the team at their recent Spring Open Weekend. The weather was glorious and the event was packed with lots of brides and grooms who had flocked to the Escrick Park Estate over the duration of the weekend so that they could see the teepees in situ.

Visiting an Open Weekend is the perfect opportunity to meet the Papakata team and chat about design options for your big day, some of which are on display. The opportunities are limitless and you can really let your imagination run wild. If you would like details of the fantastic suppliers who provided styling and catering for this event then please contact Papakata directly. As always, they will be more than happy to help!

We'd like to thank Amanda, Richard, Sally and Emily, and the rest of the team for being so welcoming despite being so busy! A big thank you also to Tom Ullrich of Fossca Photography www.fossca.co.uk for allowing us to kindly use these photographs.

Check out their website and see more pictures at www.papakata.co.uk

Keep your eyes open for the next Papakata Open Weekend and make sure you pop across to say hello and experience some Papakata loving! You won't be disappointed!