Planning my Disney outfits #1

We're off to Florida in just under ten weeks and I've been busy planning every possible aspect of our trip. At the risk of sounding a little TOO organised, I've been planning since approximately August last year.

One of the holiday planning tasks I really enjoy, particularly for our holidays to Walt Disney World, is deciding which outfits to take for the two weeks. I love making sure I'm colour coordinated, from my clothes to my shoes to my bags. As a happy coincidence, since becoming slightly obsessed with Mickey ears over the last couple of years, I've now got even more things to coordinate!

The idea for my first outfit started when I impulsively bought this beautiful Beauty and the Beast themed Danielle Nicole bag from the Disney Store (now available on ASOS here). I'd wanted this bag for years and couldn't resist it when it suddenly became available on the UK's Disney Store website.

Although I was a little worried that the bag would be too small, I found that I could easily fit my phone and purse into it which is all I need for park days and evenings. So step one of the outfit was complete! 

As I love both Beauty and the Beast and floral patterns, I thought I'd hunt for a few more themed items to go with this bag. I had my eye on a floral playsuit from New Look, but it was constantly out of stock in my size. However, when I was browsing the sales just after Christmas, my size popped up and the item was drastically reduced. I made sure I put it straight in my basket as it was the ideal match for my new bag. 

I had the perfect playsuit and the perfect bag, so I obviously needed some ears to finish off the ensemble. I love Luby and Lola's Mickey ears and had spotted a beautiful red rose pair on their website, so I eagerly waited for their Etsy shop to re-open and placed my order for this beautiful pair. 

A photograph could never capture the beauty of these ears! I love the deep red colour of the satin bow, and the black background is slightly glitzy which adds that extra bit of Disney sparkle. 

Lastly, I realised I didn't own any red flip flops even though my collection seemed to feature every other colour under the sun. I bought a red pair from New Look which, again, happened to be reduced. I think you'll all agree that they finish the outfit off beautifully! 

I never feel as if my outfit coordination is completely 100% on point (ugh, can't believe I just used that phrase), but on this occasion I think it's perfect! I can't wait to wear this outfit in May, and I'm looking forward to pairing this bag and the ears with a few other outfits too. 

I don't think any of my other outfits will live up to this one, but I might still blog about another couple of holiday clothing ensembles in the next few months. Watch this space! 

Favourite wedding suppliers #3 - Flowers with a Twist

This is the third blog post in my 'favourite wedding suppliers' series (you can read the first two posts here and here). I'm really enjoying writing these posts as it's a lovely way of reliving the memories from the big day as well as a great opportunity to give something back to my fantastic suppliers.

I started thinking about my wedding flowers very early on in the planning process. I knew from the beginning that I wanted a very simple round bouquet with neutral colours. The cascading bouquets look really beautiful on other (taller) brides but I decided I was too short to get away with one of those... it would have hidden most of my dress! I set up meetings with three florists in early January to discuss my wedding flowers, and this is when I met the lovely Suzi from Flowers with a Twist.

I knew I wanted to go with Flowers with a Twist as soon as I'd sat down with Suzi for five minutes. She was so knowledgeable about what type and size of bouquet I should go for, as well as which flowers would complement my colour scheme. Turquoise was a slightly awkward colour scheme when it came to planning the flowers, seeing as there are no turquoise flowers in existence! I also learnt that there are several different types of roses... that was definitely new to me.

Although I was set on having ivory roses for all the bouquets and buttonholes by this point as I didn't want to add too many colours to the wedding colour pallet, Suzi suggested that I should differentiate my bouquet from the bridesmaids' bouquets by adding a few subtle touches. After seeing a few examples of what I could add to my own bouquet, I decided to go for ivory roses with little turquoise diamantés in my bouquet and smaller ivory rose bouquets for the bridesmaids. I also ordered ivory rose buttonholes for the groom, best man, groomsmen, and immediate family. Suzi suggested that I ordered a fabric buttonhole for my little three year old nephew to make sure it stayed pristine all day, and that I should get magnetic buttonholes for the ladies so that the pin didn't mark their dresses. I would never have thought of either of those factors!

As you can see, the flowers looked really beautiful on the day. They turned up in immaculate condition on the morning of the wedding, 45 minutes ahead of schedule. I definitely wasn't going to have any complaints about items turning up early! The buttonholes were all clearly marked for each person and presented carefully on different pieces of card, not just all together in a box as I'd expected. The ivory roses looked so stunning next to our colour scheme and were a lovely contrast with the bridesmaids' dresses, and the buttonholes were the perfect match for the men's suits. The roses were all so perfectly intricate and I fell in love with them straight away. 

Suzi at Flowers with a Twist was helpful and attentive right from the beginning of the process and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this company to anyone looking for striking wedding flowers and sound advice on the subject. The whole process was very organised (just as I like it if you hadn't already guessed by now), and the final price was extremely reasonable and very competitive. The flowers were all delivered to my front door without a hitch and they stayed fresh all day. Perfect. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I didn't follow the tradition of throwing my beautiful bouquet... I was too selfish and wanted to keep it all to myself! 

Idyllic Images #33

More lovely photos from my parents' garden! 

Idyllic Images #31

Beautiful flowers from my parents' garden