Everyone that read my original “You Rock My World” blog will know what a nightmare I experienced with finding pretty paper for my own Big Day. I am glad to report that since starting Rock My Wedding we have discovered all sorts of stationery loveliness that we will continue to share with you.

This particular paper princess will always have a special place in my heart though, not only did Shari Amos the creator and owner of Bijou Woo design a suite of gorgeousness that was totally “us”, she was also one of the loveliest and sweetest ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting in my wedding industry journey so far.

And she put up with my completely Bridezilla-esque last minute colour tweaks and text changes (!)

It gives me great pleasure to share with you the newest styles from Bijou Woo’s chic, unique and utterly delicious latest collection. Shari has kindly offered to share some of the detail behind her business savvyness and stationery fabulousness………

Over to Madam Amos:

I started Bijou Woo 2 years ago and it is really growing! My sister Kelly is now on board, creating a real family service. Having been in the design industry for ten years, I am still amazed at how excited I get when I see the final results, whether it’s designing wedding invitations, name cards, table plans or silly badges for the best men to wear. Maybe I am just a design geek….

Weddings have become a passion of mine, the diversity and ever changing fashions mean that it’s an area that is constantly evolving. It’s a privilege to be part of such an important event, to be involved right from the beginning and to create designs that mean so much to the couple to be. I love hearing how romances were started, how families get involved with the special day and just how much thought and creativity is part of people’s ceremonies.

Cupcake Cutie

I was inspired by Anne Marie from the Urban Bakery’s delicious creations! It’s brilliant to have such a vibrant and fun design added to the collection.

Blooming Lovely

Just to prove that inspiration really does come from anywhere, this design was inspired by an amazing photo of some fairy lights which were hanging over a mirror at home. The shapes and forms were just stunning.

Seeing Spots

This cute, retro design reflects how weddings are now keeping up with the times, long gone are the invites with bows and dried flowers hooray! Pastel prettiness is where it’s at.

Till Death Do Us Part

Bijou Woo accommodates all tastes and unique styles through their bespoke service. Till Death Do Us Part, was created for a lovely, funky couple who were married recently in Mexico. The bride loved the design so much that she is going to add it to her tattoo collection ….we can’t wait to see where it goes!!

Photography courtesy of Rachel Spivey and cupcakes supplied by The Urban Bakery

A huge Thanks a million to Shari Amos for her piece ( and generally being a huge supporter of RMW)

Big princess paper pretty love

Charlotte xxx

So a while back now, the lovely folks over at Hello!Lucky asked us if we would like to do a competition with them, and of course we were very excited! We were even more excited to receive all the entries from our lovely readers and practically bursting when we picked a winner.

However, all of that doesn’t even come close to the excitement of what happened this week, when our lovely winner Ashley got in touch and showed us what she picked…

Even better, Ashley told us all about what she was going to do with them, and doesn’t it just bring a little ray of sunshine to the gloomy middle of January?

Hi Rebecca and Charlotte!

Ashley x

I had to share this with you all, firstly because the gorgeous cards she chose were just zinging off the page at me shouting, blog me, blog me! And secondly, because we love to hear that our sponsors provide great customer service – because we want to be shouting from the rooftops about companies that get these kind of reviews.

So well done Ashley, and do keep us informed of your wedding plans, I can’t wait to see what you do with them. Oranges and yellows are such fun, fresh, modern wedding colours (in fact that reminds me of a little zingy inspiration board Charlotte did a while back…) and they are going to look A.mazing in Ibiza!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

You may remember our recent posts on the Designer Wedding Show which I attended to feedback all the newest chic and unique finds to all our lovely readers, one of which focused exclusively on the beautiful stationery companies we scouted out there. One such company however deserved a whole post of its very own and our recent real Bride Victoria chose them for her own stationery too. (You can see her old school glamour wedding here and here)

I’m talking about Chartula, the couture stationery company based on Londons Portobello Road, who’s designs are so chic and unique in fact, that they have gathered quite a celebrity following. With expertise in traditional techniques such as engraving, whilst benefiting from founder Charlotte Hewson’s illustrating skills and design heritage, Chartula excel in making modern stationary of the highest quality. Fresh colour ways such as contemporary fuschia pink and dark chocolate, classic sage and ivory or bold violet and pistachio set the designs apart from every other wedding invitation that will be dropping on your door mat next summer.

In recent years Chartula have branched into cutting edge technology to create some of the prettiest invitations around, utilising laser techniques to cut delicate lace-like patterns into striking two tone cards. The results are lavish, romantic and best of all totally and utterly unique. With a White Christmas on my mind, it was the very seasonal and very lovely Snowflake design that caught my eye. On the Chartula blog, Charlotte imagines it paired with ‘flickering candles, ice blue table linen, crystal candelabra and a fabulous mirror table plan.’ Charlotte Hewson we like your style! I can feel an inspiration board coming on…

Best of all, as Chartula is somewhat of an, ahem, pricey option, they have recently brought out a credit crunch busting range called Chartula Create! This fabulous idea allows you to custom create your own colour scheme and laser cut design from a selection, then delivers everything you need to create your invitations. Another excuse for a bottle of vino and a night in with the girls me thinks….

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

So on a little RMW research mission ( we have these often) we discovered the very fabulous PrettyWild Design stationery company. Suzanne Osborne the designer and creator even let us have a sneaky peek at her new collection ( and let me tell you we felt very privileged indeed so we did)

The RMW Team picked some of our absolute favourites from the PrettyWild stationery fabulousness and Suzanne is going to tell us all about her delicious paper treats.

Over to the lovely Madam Osbourne…..

I love designing for weddings and never forget that it is always an honour to be chosen as a supplier for even a small part of a couple’s big day. I take the responsibility to my heart but also like to indulge my playful creative side, given the opportunity, and it is this aspect of my work that has proved increasingly popular as weddings and civil partnerships become more flamboyant or styled to reflect the personalities of the couple.

Candy buffets are very popular at the moment so we have often been approached to make gorgeous vintage style labels and signage for sweetie jars. A more unusual request this summer was for slider quiz cards on each table based on the couple’s movie theme. ”

Gorgeous right?

Modern, quirky and whole lot cool.

Visit www.prettywild.co.uk for a whole lot more cool.

Charlotte xxx

We are thrilled to announce that we have finally chosen the winner (with some help form the lovely folk at Hello!Lucky) of our competition to win 50 personalised notecards. (I’m soooooo jealous!)

Our winner is Ashley, who wrote us this oh-so-clever poem and to be honest we were so impressed we thought she deserved a Christmas treat!

Here is her winning entry…

Hi Charlotte, Contra, and Hello!Lucky

Now with all these potential gifts
What’s a lady to do?
Well this is where I’d need this prize-
They’d be perfect for saying “Thank you!”

Ashley, we will be in touch shortly to fill you in on how to claim your prize! Better get checking the Hello!Lucky site for inspiration!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

Finding chic and unique stationery can be a royal pain in the you-know-what.

You know what you want.
Something representative of your wedding.
Something to really get people excited when they rip open the envelope and see the design inside.
Something ‘you’.

How about it really being you?

Rebekah Daley designs couture stationery by sketching an image of, well anything you like really. Rebekah suggests a cake maybe, if you are a shoe-a-holic your perfect peep toe Louboutins, or her most popular option, a custom designed sketch of the bride and groom.

The service doesn’t just extend to invitation suites but a whole range of gorgeous additional items, such as place cards as varied as the afore-mentioned shoes, to possibly the chicest bag ever made, the Hermes Kelly, or perfect-for-a-vintage-affair tea cups.

And if you don’t know where to start with bespoke or want to try and stick to budget, it needn’t be a compromise, with a range of 12 different gorgeous ‘off the peg’ designs ranging from couples in Vintage or Deco inspired gowns, to the butterfly adorned Papillon and New York inspired Liberty.

Even better, when the day is over, there is still something to be had to chase away the post-wedding blues. (This is one for all you marrieds who still sneak on here for a little guilty wedding pleasure! ) Rebekah cleverly offers a bridal portrait service, producing stunning sketches or canvases of you in your treasured gown.

Why not commission a bridal party portrait to gift to your maids or a one off sketch for your Mum as a stunning keepsake of the day? With tasteful options for displaying your wedding memories hard to come by, this is an option I may just have to pursue myself.

Finally, an original and stylish way to remember the dress of your dreams and the most perfect of days.

Go on, treat yourself!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo