Dora Bramden Blog

Hen's High Tea and Wedding Update

6/24/2019

Last weekend was my hens high tea. As you can see in the picture it was a gorgeous venue and the food was delicious. I even got to have a gluten free version of this three tier platter.

High Gate is one of those places I drive past and wish I had a reason to get a group of friends together for a high tea afternoon. So when my Best Woman (Matron of honour) asked what I'd like to do for my hens, it was at the top of my list.

There was eighteen of us sitting down the long table in the Victorian style dining room that was full of pretty collected china and knickknacks. The buzz of conversation was lively.

After scoffing down my scrumptious high tea, I enjoyed working my way down each side of the table and chatting to all the guests. I was so touched that everyone there had come to celebrate the occasion with me.

Although it's not fully licenced it is BYO so I took some bottles of Minchenbury Pink sparkling with me. The women serving us were very freindly and kept our glasses topped up and later our cups were refilled with tea or coffee. Follow this link to their photogallery page so see pictures of the gorgeous dinning room and the women who run it.

My sister brought with her a Well Wishes Box and passed cards around the table. Everyone wrote something supportive and heartwarming making it a very special memento of the day.

I've been busy getting items on my wedding-to-do-list ticked off. Last week I needed to get the seating plan completed and emailed off. Anyone who's organised a wedding knows how tricky this not so small exercise can be. I hope Sam and I have got it right, however everyone will have somewhere to sit and eat their meal.

I've made up the Bonbonniere, which is organza bags filled with a few pink chocolates hearts, and I've been gluing sparkles onto Kmart milk bottles for the flowers. There will be three on each table set around a central candle holder and interspersed with three tea light candles. I may yet tie a navy organza ribbon around the neck of each one. My friend and I ordered the flowers last week, in keeping with my navy and pink color scheme. There will be pink spray roses included in each vase.

I've had my final fitting and picked up my wedding dress. I've done a hair and makeup trial run. The shoes are bought and the cake is ordered along with the cars and a singer and DJ. The order of service has been finalized but there's still a list of things to do and I'm waking in the middle of the night thinking about all that still has to be done. It is fun though and I'm looking forward to the big day which is only a fortnight away.

That's all I have time for this week's post but I hope to upload a blog next week before the big event. I'll be taking that week off. On the Thursday before the wedding I'll be on Romancing The Genres with a post to be announced.Here's a link to last months post, where I go into the details of our music, just in case you haven't had your fill of info about my wedding.
Thanks for stopping by to what I'm up to.

Dora writes heat-melting, passionate romance.

DIY Wedding Guest Book -Shabby Chic

6/8/2019

If you'd like to know how I made this shabby chic guest book for our wedding, keep reading.

I wanted to make a personalized guest book for our wedding. As I enjoy crafting and have lots of supplies on hand I decided to see what notebooks I could find that I could cover and embellish.

I found an artists sketch pad with unlined quality paper that would be perfect for our guests to sign.

I chose a very pretty gift bag that I’d saved from my birthday for the foundation. The heavy weight paper made it perfect for covering the front and back covers of the book.

I had some fabric roses on hand. To make them suitable for attaching to the front of the book. I took them off their plastic stems which let the layers of petals separate so I sewed them together with a needle and thread.

I pushed the needle up through the hole in the middle of the petals and then pulled the thread through I then stitched either side of the hole several times to secure the flower.

I did a white rose this way also. In their centres I glued some sparkle embellisments. I also added bought flower emberlishments. Which you can see in the in the picture below behine the butterfly

I had a gold butterfly in my stash and I backed it with the butterfly shaped, paper gift tab, but I had to trim the gold butterfly down to fit. I did this by separating the wings and cutting off some at the base where it joins the body, then I glued them onto the paper butterfly and then glued the body back into the center.

Using a scrap-booking reel of roll on glue, I attached the covers of the book. The front and back leaves first.

Then I glued the pink pearlised A4 paper over the spine, making sure to lap over the top of the front and back cover paper. To go one step more I threaded a pink organza ribbon through the spine and tied it in a bow.

I arranged the flowers and butterfly on the front cover but decided it needed more. I found some lace that I’d bought awhile ago and attached that to the top using the roll on glue. I added half a small gold doily so that it peaked out from the lace for added dimension.

To give added interest and make it look more like a garden scene I purchased some fabric carnation like flowers. I arranged all the flowers on top of the lace. To the center of the roses I added some bling and last of all I placed the butterfly on top.

I used roll on glue to attach all of the embellishments however I will be adding some drops of hot glue behind each flower and the butterfly before the wedding to make sure they are secure while many people are writing their messages to us.

Adding the ivory lace gives this very pretty pink book provides a touch of bridal elegance. The overall cost to me was less than $20 and I love it. I adore the fluffy flowers and the glamorous gold butterfly. The gift bag was so beautiful and now I'll be able to enjoy it every time I read the messages from the guests at our wedding.

Dora writes heart-melting, passionate romance.