All good things.......must come to an end!

True words.......as is the case with Zucchini.......yes folks at the end of October this year 2011 when all your weddings have been completed Zucchini will finally close it's doors after 9 years!

A very sad time for Alex and I and a decision that has taken us many, many agonising months to make.  The reasons for doing so........well there are many......when all good things come to an end you try to justify the reasons why?  The main reason is health......in this case mine after I broke my foot last year and had to have an emergency operation this flagged up a number of other health issues that needed addressing and sorting out but they are ongoing.  Nine years is a longtime to be away and I have always called the UK home.......now it's time to go home.........we will be starting a new business and catching up with three cheeky little girls Isabella, Holly and Phoebe our grandchildren and my son Jamie and his wife Liz and all the other family and friends we have missed so much over the years.......can't wait.

For those of you who read this and are gasping in horror we definately won't be going before the end of the season.  Our last wedding is in October and its ONLY after we have completed this will we be closing the doors.  Zucchini Weddings the name is NOT for sale we will be taking the name and website back to the UK.......however the venue and it's fixtures and fittings are FOR SALE if anybody wants a fabulous restaurant with a stunning view!

The new business back in the UK is wedding related after all we must know something about weddings by now........surely?  The name is you guessed it FLORA AND GRACE and will be up and running by early Spring next year!  I shall be posting to later to let you know what Flora and Grace is all about......some of you may have guessed?

Until then lets all enjoy Zucchini's last season..........and go out on a high....yeayyyyy!

Inspired by Nicky!

Another glamorous twist on the vintage era from Nicky......thank you so much Nicky for following in the footsteps of Laura and inspiring us all with your fabulous inspiration board.

Lovely ivory, creams and whites with a hint of taupe - lovin the faux rose - bottom left!  Nicky was very much inspired by Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn in her search for wedding pictures and putting her board together.  I guess if you look at the dress this is where Nicky started with the beautiful diamante bodice and pretty neckline with lots more diamante detail flowing from the waistline and across the front of the dress.  Lovely use of diamante pins in the up-do hair style and finishing off the look with some elegant drop earrings.

Love the couple of bouquets on the board - personally I think the top left hand corner bouquet would compliment Nicky's glamorous look perfectly leaving the diamantes on the stem details.  I wouldn't want to camouflage the intricate dress detail by covering it with flowers so I think keep these very neutral and very simple - let the dress stand out not the flowers!

Hollywood glam with diamantes and beautiful lace on the invitations and the 'order of the day' plan just stunning.  I would love to see menu's matching the lace stationery in each place setting with a lovely large open cream/hint of pink rose even taupe (could be artificial) adorning each napkin.  Another great idea if I was using a table runner on a long or a round table is to use the lovely heavily beaded sparkly lace again in very neutral colours (I have a picture in my collection that I will add at some point to the 'Little Details' gallery) this would catch the candlelight and sparkle......far prettier than table sprinkle!

The use of single flower, in this cases roses in the long table decorations also shouts pure elegance.  I would introduce a little more candleight to this table.....lots of little glass tea light holders intermingled with the flowers just to lift my idea of the beaded lace runner.

Great Nicky I love it and I already have great insight into your ideas for the perfect wedding.  Our pre-wedding meeting will be full if inspiration!

Again......thank you so much for those of you who have emailed your ideas - if you haven't give it a go it's great fun and a very useful tool in your planning.  I look forward to being inspired by you very soon!

Happy Planning!

Coming soon.......

Hopefully get some great pictures of Kurina and Olivers wedding today for the gallery.....watch this space!

I have a feeling PEACH is making a comeback........umm......just a thought for later!

Lazy Sunday Read will feature another very creative inspiration board from Nicky another fabulous Zucchini bride.......come on where is YOURS?

Little things.....

I just love my dolls house......has she gone mad must be all those weddings frazzling her brain????........NO I really have got a beautiful dolls house that I've had for 30 years........fabulous hobby and I just adore the tiny pieces that you can collect.  I came across this amazing wedding dessert table the other day......in miniature 1/12 scale so tiny, tiny.......take a look!

Photo credit PetitPlat

Going green.....going too far but look at the colours!

I came across these fabulous pictures.....what a great idea!  OK you need to be veggie freak but just look at the stunning colours.  Lovely idea as part of a buffet table.....similar to the dessert table.  You could have a lovely veggie starter section......maybe add some meaty dishes in as well.

Beautifully executed I just love the sprout design along the front of the table......fancy having this on your top table????

Picture source Amy Atlas

Have fun with POP....and a silver straw!

When I was organising parties for the rich and famous we would quite often use tiny bottles of Laurent Perrier Champagne sipped through a silver straw as an aperitif.......Divine!

Well what's stopping you......splash out?.....Try Pommery they do fabulous small bottles of Champagne......colour co-ordinated......well almost you can get these lovely bottles in blue, silver, pink and gold.......enough of a colour choice.

Having a hen night why not treat the girls to a pink bottle of POP......they'll love it!

Why not use POP as wedding favours pink for the girls blue for the boys.......alternativley have a bottle in each place setting for the toasts!

If you feeling really flush why not treat your guests to a silver straw......OK....a little OTT......whats wrong with dreaming?  Sorry....Asprey (you still have my loyalty) just couldn't find a picture of an Asprey silver straw......get your act together the competion had a lovely picture!

Thank you Laura......perfectly inspirational!

Thank you so much Laura for sharing your inspiration board with us at Flora and Grace!  In Laura's own words read what she has to say about her board and how she brought it all together and as promised..........how easy it was to produce.

I used Picasa to create the collage. I began with a picture of my wedding dress first and put this in the center. I think this is a good starting point when doing one of these boards, as lets face it, the dress is probably the first thing bought for a wedding!

Next I searched through the endless pictures I have collected while trawling the internet for fabulous wedding pictures of pink and green and anything else that leaps out at me. I love vintage themed weddings and the whole Alice In Wonderland tea party style look. I have been like a little magpie these past few months, cutting and pasting every image I adore!

Some, I look back on and have deleted from my computer, as I've found the look I want to create for the day has slightly changed, however I really think If I hadn't found many of these pictures I probably wouldn't have such a clear idea of the style of wedding I want now. Then It was just a case of positioning my favourite and most special images around my dress.

Easy peasy! The best thing about doing one of these inspiration boards is that you really do get a clear idea of the colours, mood and style of day you are looking to acheive! For anyone who is unsure about colours or other details, this is a great way to see exactly which ones work best together.  You could even create several boards and see which one you like best.

There you have it the perfect snapshot of Laura's ideas for her wedding day!  Fabulous effort Laura and I really think we have proved the point that inspiration boards DO WORK.  If I was viewing Laura's board for the first time as her wedding planner straight away I can see her colour scheme of soft pinks, greens and creams.  I have the dress so that's a huge start, I have vintage bird cage with pearls and vintage style stationery.......what I have infront of me is Laura's vision of her day for waiting for me to just embellish!

Now how easy was that?......Come on download Picasa NOW!  I look forward to receiving your inspiration boards soon.......email your ideas to me kim@zucchiniweddings.com don't forget to tell us about your ideas and how you started putting the board together!

Thanks once again Laura you've been a real inspiration to us all and I look forward to planning your wedding with you!  I will be in touch next week about your flowers!

Inspiration.....where do you start!

I've touched on this subject in posts gone by and thought it was about time we discusssed this in depth.  Where do brides get their inspiration from?  The obvious starting point for all prospective brides has to be wedding magazines and the internet surely?

When I very first started organising weddings at Zucchini  I asked my brides to keep a scrapbook.....the best scrapbook got a prize if they managed to bring it to their pre-wedding meeting!  Thankfully technology has moved on and thank god it has those scrapbooks took up valuable luggage space.  Nevertheless I saw some fabulous specimens and handed out a few bottles of bubbly for their trouble.  My point was to get my brides really thinking about what kind of day they really wanted.

Now the buzz word is inspiration/mood boards......fabulous idea.......but do you know where to start?  Well its easy enough I use Picasa which is a free download from Google that helps you organise, edit and share your photo's.  I love it's simplicity.......their are other downloads available but I've got used to Picasa and it suits me.....I hate anything too complicated.  If you haven't got Picasa give it a go it's free what have you got too lose? 

I would really love to start featuring your insiration boards on my blog.....I think it would be fun and a fab learning curve for those of you who have never tried creating an inspiration board before.  It would be great to discuss a featured board each week....we can use the comments box below the post for questions and answers on each project.....come on lets have some fun!!!!!!!  Just submit your inspiration board to me at mailto:kim@zucchiniweddings.com I will make sure......if we get enough to feature one board a week and I will pen a little write up on your wedding.....so you will need to add some wedding detail to your email.  I already have a board waiting in the wings to be published from a Zucchini bride.....Laura......this is by no means exclusive to just Zucchini brides I would love to hear from you wherever you are and wherever you're getting married.

Just a few pointers to get you started.....the whole idea is to collect pictures of inspirational ideas for your wedding day.  You could start with your dress.... flowers....or maybe just a colour.....do you have a picture of your wedding or ceremony venue.....is there a cake that you've just got too have.....or a bridesmaids dress you can't live without?  Start by building a small picture library on your computer collecting photo's that you like even if they don't seem relevant at the time.......it maybe a pair of shoes.....shoes that you wouldn't dream of wearing on the big day, a veil, a tiara, table centrepieces........come on PLAY.....have fun and eventually you will find you've created your perfect wedding day collage.....and whats more we can feature it on FLORA AND GRACE for all our readers to see!

Laura's inspiration board will be our first and a Sunday feature......so don't forget to stop by tomorrow and catch up with Laura's inspiration board and wedding planning so far!  Come on download Picasa and get started we're all waiting to hear from you.....don't disappoint us!

Happy planning!

Awwww.....its lovely to be appreciated!

Its always brilliant when you get a huge thanks for planning and delivering a wedding......and to be fair we have had some awsome wedding reports, thank...you's and just lovely things written about us over the years.  This thank you came our way a couple of weeks ago from Claire and Darren......thank you guys.....it was a pleasure!

Lovin the lilac wedding!

What an amazing week......three beautiful weddings that all went to plan!  One of my lovely brides contacted me way back last year to book her wedding and commisioned me to make her stationery.......which I was delighted to accept.  Its always great to be involved in the wedding from the start it gives me the chance to really look in detail at the design we are going to follow throughout the wedding.....and this one didn't disappoint.

My bride Kelly loved lilac......then white, add some silver......oh and some sparkle to finish off.  I wasn't entirely convinced about adding silver cardstock to the lilac as well as adding white and sparkle.....but it worked.  I tend to use two different fonts on my stationery but Kelly wanted only one script font.....and what the lady wants the lady gets!!!

When it came to the flowers I was given a budget and pretty much a free hand with flower choices.  Lilac flowers types are fairly limited.......at least they are when you have to consider heat and harsh sunshine.  I chose to use my trusted old faithful the 'Avalanche' rose, a very pretty lilac rose 'Avante Garde', lilac and white freesia's, white llysianthus and a lovely white oriental lily.  In the wedding gazebo decorations I added verbena, stocks and molluscella.......unfortunately the lilac stocks came in quite purple but I went ahead and used them because in the strong sunlight the colours slightly washed out and toned down.

Kelly's table layout was a pretty sweetheart table.....just for the bride and groom and six round tables.  On Kelly's table we had a full length floral table decoration and on the guest tables, floral decorations with candles.  The overall effect was very dreamy and romantic......I loved it and so did Kelly and Michael.

My royal tribute.......to the beautiful couple William and Kate!

Whether you love them or loathe them (I'm in the love camp) you can't help but take your hat off to the gorgeous royal couple William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge..... and not forgetting the palace for pulling off what Hollywood could only dream of!....Awsome, fantastic, beautiful whichever way you wish to describe this unique day it brought a country and the rest of the world together to celebrate!  I am truly proud to be British......and I don't give a damn who thinks otherwise!!!!!!

We hear so much doom and gloom everyday at the moment....from war to universal disasters everywhere. We look in the press and there goes yet another catastrophe or a poor soldier losing his life for his country.  Friday the 29 April 2011 changed that mood and if only for 24 hours we were immersed in a day that my beloved fairytales were made of (I love a fairtale.....you're never too old)!  Great Britain was truly GREAT again and it was sooooo badly needed AND we need more moral boosting days like this again.....how good did you feel on that wonderful day?  I currently don't live in the UK and haven't done so for 9 years......I will be returning in the very near future to the country I NEVER stopped calling home....I can't wait.....being away hasn't been easy and I've always missed home.  If there was to be a downside for me on Friday it was NOT being home to witness this spectacular day.

Luckily for me I have a very thoughtful husband who projected a very large screen onto the restaurant wall so that we could watch the wedding at work.....I had a very large function that evening so time was of the essence!  Even my younger members of staff, who I thought wouldn't be a bit interested were glued to the screen.  As history unfolded you couldn't help but be proud of how wonderful this wedding truly was...the pomp, the ceremony, the Abbey, the architecture, the choir, the bride and the groom the whole event was to be marvelled at from beginning to end.....I was spellbound!

I could go on and on but I'll spare you that however, I will come back at some point to look at the wedding in more detail.....you know the little bits and bobs that we love on this site.......for now I'm going to leave you with some pictures that I thought were fabulous of the day itself and one or two of the oldies.....enjoy!

The grandparents on their special day......As heir to the British throne, the then princess 21, married the 26 year-old naval officer who prior to their wedding denounced his title Prince of Greece and Denmark to become Lord Philip Mounbatten.

It has been said that Catherine looked very much like this princess on her wedding day......Princess Grace of Monaco.  Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly having met only twice before, the oscar winning actress, 26, wed Monaco's Rainier 32, in the extravagent ceremony at the Cathedral of St Nicholas on 19 April 1956.  Her iconic wedding gown, crafted by MGM costume designer Helen Rose was equally fitting for a Hollywood princess featuring 25 metres of silk taffeta, 98 metres of silk tulle and 300 metres of Valenciennes lace.

The loving couple prior to their big day!

Far too dashing for words Princes William and Harry!

The mother in law...looking beautiful we can see where Kate gets her looks from!

The lovely Earl Spencer, Princess Diana's brother!

Mr John and Mr Furnish....well turned out!

Mr Lock Stock himself Guy Ritchie!

The lady in red Miss Josh Stone!

Socialite Tara Palmer Tomkinson

Prince Albert of Monaco with fiance Charlene Wittstock former South African swimmer.

Mr and Mrs Beckham.

Her Majesty!

The star of the show arrives!

Introducing Caroline Elisabeth Middleton.......Our future Queen of England!

Miss Pippa Middleton

Not a bad day on the whole....what do you think Philip?

With this ring.....I thee wed.....how many times have I witnessed these words over the years?

The future King and Queen of England......how her life will change from this minute on?

Glorious day darling!

The honorable salute!

The most eligable batchelor in the world.....Prince Harry......Mum would have been sooooo proud!

My dress is caught!

The line up!

    Kiss number one!

Lets try again.......just in case!

And they lived happily ever after..........awwwwww!

Oh I almost forgot Charlie boy!!

All pictures courtesy of My Wedding Concierge