Wedding Reflections

One last note about the Royal Wedding and we shall move on.
The group VOCES8 a British Acapella group has recorded a song in honor of William and Catherine. It's worth sharing!





Also, if you are interested, there is a free download of the official wedding program available for a limited time, via the Facebook group: Royal Wedding

We wish William and Catherine many blessing in their new marriage.

link

I Heart Hats and Fascinators {Tutorial}

"A hat is a flag, a shield, a bit of armor, and the badge of femininity. A hat is the difference between wearing clothes and wearing a costume; it's the difference between being dressed and being dressed up; it's the difference between looking adequate and looking your best. A hat is to be stylish in, to glow under, to flirt beneath, to make all others seem jealous over, and to make all men feel masculine about. A piece of magic is a hat." (Martha Sliter)

I have always been intrigued by hats and fascinators. Any type of flower, or jewels for hair. I am sure many of you noticed the amazing pieces adorned on woman's heads during the Royal Wedding. It was actually part of the dress code! Can you imagine getting an invite that comes with a 22 page booklet of do's and don't when dressing for a Royal affair? I wonder how many people will start wearing these little beauties to weddings this year. Maybe they will start making a come back state side.
Here are a few beauties that I noticed during the wedding.

My favs! :) What cute sisters! (Will's cousins from the Spencer side)

Who can forget Princess Beatrice....

or her sister Princess Eugenie?

Like their fascinator style, or hate it,...there is no denying that they made a statement!

Even Duchess Catherine has been known to wear a few stylish fascinators herself.

With all the inspirational creative pieces I had seen at the wedding, I decided to make a few of my own. They are really simple, and you can make them on any budget.

Here is what you need:

1.) A hot glue gun, glue, and hair clips. I found these at my local Joann's. You can also use headbands instead. (I like the clips because of their larger surface area for gluing larger flowers on.



2.) You will also need some ribbon & a role of tulle.



3.) Large flowers and leaves.



4.) Don't forget the feathers! Any size, color or shape will do!



Glue the tulle on the clip and make sure to glue it in a gathered style to add some fullness. Next cover with ribbon and glue down. (I used the tolle as a vail, but you can also use it to add bulk around the flower)



Next step is to layer the feathers on and glue, then glue flower. There is no wrong way to do this. You can also glue beads, jewels, butterflies etc. Whatever you fancy!

Here is the end result to mine!





I tried to take a photo of myself wearing one! :) This is as good as I could get. ::Shrug::



I would love to see how yours turn out! Wouldn't it be fun to get together and wear them? Tea party anyone? Happy crafting!!

photos by: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Tea for Three (or more)

The Royal Wedding has been something I personally have been looking forward to for,...umm a very long time. Although (for years) in my dreams, I was the one walking down the aisle. ::blush:: Surprised I admitted that. Although if you would have walked into my bedroom when I was a teenager, Prince William graced my walls. Forget the movie stars, Royalty is where it's at. Tom wouldn't go for a room filled with posters,..so they all had to stored in my memory box in the attic. But I do have a china cabinet filled with little trinkets and Royal antiques. If you come over to visit, just ask I am always willing to "show and tell." So when the date was set for April 29th, I started counting down the days. I have a couple girl friends who also enjoy Royal watching, so I decided to have a little watch party. What's a Royal party without a tea length dress, scones, tea and fun "fascinators/hats?" (If you are wondering, yes I dressed up!) I wanted to show you a few pictures of my house during the celebrations!













My husband Tom surprised us all when he came down stairs wearing his kilt (that he wore in our wedding). He actually sat and watched the full coverage along with us. (Hope he doesn't find out that I posted this picture) I had to giggle at the fact that he has caught on to my crazy ideas and has decided to "join on in." If you can't beat them, join them eh? Just makes me love him more. He is my Prince Charming.

I plan on posting a tutorial on my "facinators" that I hand made to wear during the party. The end result was so cute.

I found the template for the Royal Bunting here. Can you see the flag with "It should have been me?" ha ha My fav!

The chocolate looking cake is an authentic wedding cake replica. I added proper British ingredients (so glad places in Canada carry British imports) and it was glorious! Prince William chose to have this "no bake" Chocolate Crunch Cake added to the menu, along side the traditional 8 tier wedding cake. It's the British version of a rice crispy treat really. A lot of Royal followers were shocked by this,..but personally, I love it! It shows how modern, and fun that "some" of the Royals can be. He likes what he likes! The recipe: here.

What did you do during the wedding celebrations? I would love to hear about it!

A Fairy Tale Wedding

So yes, the day finally arrived. Yes, I was up at 3:00am watching while DVRing other coverage to watch later. Yes my husband thought I was indeed nutty. Yes, I cried. Yes it was as beautiful as I had imagined it would be. ::Siggggh:: What a fairytale of a wedding. The best word to describe it "breathtaking." Instead of borring all of you with my oppinions on the dress (which was just perfect), the history and the formalities,...I thought I would share some of my favorite photos instead.
(Tomorrow I will show some photos of my little Wedding Watching Party!)

Source: bbc.co.uk via Meagan on Pinterest

photo links: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The Count Down (1 Day)

So it's getting closer......less than 24 hours and Miss Catherine Middleton will be Mrs. Catherine "?" Still not sure what will be her official surname. (How mysterious) But we will soon find out! As I get giddy and decide which of the 4 networks I will watch (No worries, I am DVRing 3 of them) I have found myself laughing at all the fun memorabilia that keeps popping up on the Internet. Some of these I may be crazy enough to buy,..


From the QUIRKY,.....

Cute idea!

Tea anyone?


Love it!!

Such an interesting story behind these tea towels. Read it: here Originally the Royal Palace banned the making and selling of tea towels but reconsidered. Read about it: here.
So bummed that they are sold out.


To WEIRD,........











To down right WRONG,.......






Seriously?

Umm,... yeah, creepy!

Classy ::rolls eyes::





Ok, look closely at this tea cup....notice something? They made a mistake,...it has Prince Harry's picture not William. Ok, ok,...so I broke down a bought this one! It arrived in a package from the UK this past week. I just loved the idea of having something weird/quirky (that is somewhat rare) in my china cabinet to add to my Royal collection. Don't judge! ha ha


I am amazed at all the craziness!! Everyone is just soo excited about this wedding! Love it!!
As Frankie Heck says "This is the super bowl, times a million, plus crowns." (If you haven't seen last week's episode of The Middle, you need to look it up.)

One last thing,...I read THIS article this morning and it literally made me laugh out loud. I will be forwarding this to my husband. I am sure he is ready for Friday to be over and done with.


Until then,...make sure get to bed early, set your alarm,....3am is coming soon!


Links: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

The Count Down (2 Days)

By Meg

With the wedding slowly approaching,...I have been making out my party plans. DVR set (check), alarm to go off at 3am (check), British flag (check), English tea (check), bunting (check), fancy hat (check), tea cups (check), tea dress (check), tissues (check).....

When searching for something to serve with the tea, I found this great little RECIPE that just so happens to be one of Prince Will's favorites! Easy to make, yet sounds delish!
If I was brave, I would even attempt to try Marmite again. (My first experience was a bit ummm interesting) Here is a simple way of eating it on toast.
Who said that English food is boring? What will you be serving on the big day?

The Count Down (3 days)

So we are back! We had an amazing time in Texas. We ventured from Dallas, to Austin to San Antonio. We stopped in some amazing little places and saw some amazing things. Of course I took loads of photos, and will eventually share some of them. (I have many exciting things to share!) But ever since we have arrived back home, I can't stay away from the Royal watching. My husband thought I was a bit nuts when I decided to make a video sharing why I loved the Royal family to enter into a "Fly to London for the Wedding" contest via the TODAY show. He rolls his eyes whenever I want to buy yet another newspaper or magazine article....he even laughed at me when I bought a tea cup (that was flawed and even more collectible than the normal tea cups) from London and how giddy I was to open it up and put it inside my china cabinet to admire. But at the end of the day,..he can appreciate my love for the Royals (I think). I found out last year that somewhere in his family line, he is related to the Spencer family,..which then makes him related to the late Princess Diana! I married him,...so that practically makes me related to the royals right? (In a round about way) So sad that the mailman lost my wedding invite. Tragic, just tragic. :(

I am getting excited about the BIG DAY! The day that Prince William will marry Catherine Middleton. The day when the whole world will be glued to their TV sets to see history in the making. Yes,...I will be up at 3am watching. Who knows, I may even wear a hat!

Cheers to the happy couple!


This photo was taken a few summers ago when Tom and I took a trip (along with some friends) to the UK. Tom and I went for a tour of the church next to Westminster Abbey and met a very lovely man who gave us a private tour of the church, and took us up to a secret "private" balcony to take photos of the Abbey. This is one of my favorite shots! What a beautiful place to get married.