Fun Save the Date Ideas

Save the Date Photo Ideas (from top left): 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6  // 

DIY Save the Date Ideas (from top left): 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 //

Save the Dates on Etsy (from top left): 1// 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 //

We've just set our wedding date for next year (eee!), so naturally I've been having a look around for inspiration for our Save the Date invitations. There are so many great ideas out there, but I thought I'd put together a bit of a round-up of some of my favourites. How cute are those hand illustrated options from talented Etsy sellers? And my personal comedy favourite is the "SAVE" the date, literally... So silly but so good. 

I think we might end up going with a mix of photo/DIY/collagey sort of vibe - but it is so hard to choose! 

Which is your favourite? 

x Rachel 

Wedding Planning - The Big To-Do List

As I mentioned in this post in January - Jake and I got engaged over Christmas! It's been a very exciting time behind the scenes over here, visiting venues, drawing up budgets and pinteresting (obviously)... We're getting excitingly close to booking our venue, so I thought it was high time I wrote the first (of many I'm sure) wedding planning post. 

We're looking at Summer next year, so we have plenty of time - but having designed weddings for other people before and knowing how much work is involved, we knew that we wanted to get organised as soon as possible. To start us off, we made this big planning board to act as our master todo list - it really is the list to end all lists! 

We sat down together and just blurted out every possible thing we thought might come up during the wedding planning, organised them into different categories, and wrote each task on a separate bit of paper (colour coded of course). The board is divided into three sections: the main list, the area of focus, and the "done" area. As you can see, we have barely started! But it's so satisfying to move things over to the completed section. 

What I like best about this method, is that it's a really great way to look at everything all at once in a digestible way. Having each task on a separate bit of paper that you can move around, or take away all together, is so helpful. We can decide what tasks we're focusing on each month, and just concentrate on them rather than being overwhelmed by everything all at once.

Our list is probably a little bit over-kill, and a lot of it will probably be irrelevant as decisions start to be made, but it has been really useful to have everything we're thinking about out in the open and in such a visual way. I'm sure a lot of people think we are total freaks - some of our friends have definitely had a little chuckle/eye roll on seeing this up in our house! But putting on shows/events is what both of us do for a job, so we can't help but geek out a bit... 

Does anyone else plan like this? Any tips from any of you? 

x Rachel 

A Party in a Box

I love the idea of a party in a box. I've seen a couple of great posts on them recently, especially this one by Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky. It was my mum's birthday this week, and as I had to send her present through the post I thought this would be perfect! 

I lined the box with tissue paper and filled it with silly little presents like pens that look like pencils, beads, washi tape and key-rings. Then I added another layer of tissue paper, some mini bunting and a card. It made quite a sweet little parcel. 

As you can probably see, I got most of the gifts (and the box) from Tiger. I am absolutely obsessed with this shop and can never come out empty handed! It's so great for little bits and bobs... 

This is definitely one trend that I will be trying out again! It's fun to put together, and hopefully a lovely surprise when the post arrives :) 

Has anyone else made their own party in a box? 

x Rachel 

I Love My Personal Planner!

A little while ago I won a giveaway on Things You Remember (hooray - thanks Dilan!) and got to design my very own diary from Personal Planner. Now I have always been a loyal Dodo Pad girl, but who says you only need one planner in your life? My Personal Planner arrived a couple of weeks ago and I have been using it as a blog scheduler ever since - I'm loving it! 

Designing the planner online was really easy, and it was fun to be able to choose from lots of options for both the inside and outside! I love that I could upload my own design for the front - definitely the biggest plus. Also, I could choose which month I wanted it to start from, so it doesn't matter what time of year you order - great for me as I took ages to actually get around to order mine!

I chose the largest size (22 x 14cm) and it's perfect for planning out blog posts as there is plenty of room to write down ideas, little doodles and reminders - but it's still small enough to fit in my handbag. It also comes with a little detachable ruler and a plastic wallet to keep things in. Is there anything better than fun stationery?

x Rachel