Hello May Real Wedding Special Launch

You know Hello May THE indie wedding magazine?
They bring out a Real Wedding Special annually, which is like a book just full of amazing, inspiring weddings. To celebrate the occasion and just because the Editor Sophie is all kinds of awesome, they invited a bunch of creative ladies to a leisurely lunch.
(it was the first time since falling pregnant that I had a drink and those Margaritas were rather delicious!)

Forever grateful for Dave, who looked after Faye in the meantime and for being surrounded by so many clever, inspiring successful, funny and beautiful women.

Thank you again for having me! I had the best time celebrating with all of you!

All the beautiful photos are by Lara Hotz Photography

Event - @hellomaymagazine
Photos - @larahotzphotography
Venue & Catering - @threeblueducks
Stationery - @ddletterpress
Styling - @peachey.pie
Flowers - @the_sisters

We received generous goodie bags with gifts by
@thebeachpeople
@damselfly_official
@blackpantry
@blacklistwedding

Thoughts On Wedding Planning for White Magazine

For the latest issue of White Magazine I got asked to share my thoughts on wedding planning, as an insider in the wedding world. It was really fun sitting down, pondering about it all and writing down my thoughts. You can read my final article below: And don't forget to buy the issue with many more amazing articles and beautiful imgages, as always completely honest and inspiring!

How did we handle the flood of over-inspiration that blogs, pinterest & co deliver?

Planning a wedding in the age of Pinterest & CO

Have you set a date yet? What is your dress going to look like? What sort of flowers were you thinking of getting? - Immediately after getting engaged well meaning friends and family bombarded us with questions, even before we had a chance to decide if we wanted a wedding or simply elope. We just wanted to be married and live happily ever after, we hadn't thought about a wedding.It seemed like everyone around us had pretty high expectations of what our wedding day would look like, maybe because we are both working in creative jobs and are surrounded by wonderful vendors all the time. We dived right into the abundance of inspiration, hoping to feel the same excitement about this event than everyone around us. Looking at beautiful blogs, magazines and of course Instagram and Pinterest, there was all this deliciousness from amazing fellow vendors, beautifully photographed.Lost in a picture perfect Pinterest wedding world filled with DIY projects, services and products we felt that most of it was meaningless and irrelevant to us personally. Were we over-inspired? Was all the goodness just too much to take and overwhelming? Ok, back to the drawing board...we took a deep breath, pen and paper and made notes about the things that really mattered to us. We focused on why we wanted a wedding in the first place and who we really wanted to share this special day with. We made a must-have and nice-to-have list to keep us on track and stick to our own ideas. The outcome was a clear feeling and a blurry vision of a small, intimate wedding, with our nearest and dearest including our puppy Dalston, a “on-holiday- feel” with lot's of fun, eating and dancing. We wanted it to be low key and high fun. We strongly felt less is more. No need for a theme or a colour scheme. What we DID need was a place that made us and our guests feel welcome, plenty of food, good music, drinks and some simple off-the-rack outfits. Easier said than done... Many of the “alternative” venues we contacted seemed to be colder than expected and replied with way too many rules, regulations and restrictions than my free spirited self could digest. Our must have list quickly ruled out pretty much any venue within NSW and it seemed like the only option left was camping- no wait, even the campsite did not allow dogs. (Besides that my lovely future mother in law would possibly be mad at me forever if I make her camp on our wedding.) While we really stuck to our guns with the venue and overall feel, we gave in at other points of planning. The “don't-care-ready-to-wear” dress idea turned into a custom design couture gown (whoops...). As my former fashion designer self took over and I rediscovered how much fun the process of creating it from scratch would be, there was no turning back from the quality fabrics and great craftsmanship. Turned out that overall trying to keeping it simple and real is sometimes harder than just going with a more traditional option. Letting the magic of wedding planning take over from time to time actually feels good. Now we can't wait.

... if you are planning a wedding too: Grab yourself an issue of White Magazine!

The Lane Makeup Artist Natural Wedding Makeup

All wedding photos by : A Bear A Dear And A Fox Beauty Photo by Stephanie Alcaino for White Magazine

Yesterday I received an email letting me know that one of the wonderful weddings I created the natural bridal hair & makeup for has been featured over at The Lane. The bride Jenna was one of the most fun ones I have ever worked with and check out all her beyond talented friends creating beautiful details for her wedding. She is also founder of the boutique natural soap business Maple Soaps, which are the most gorgeous handcrafted vegan soaps, which smell delicous and are free of any synthetic fragrance.

I was also interviewed and asked about my tips on how to create my signature natural makeup look, as seen above. I thought I share it here with you, along with with best products to achieve this look:

One of our enduringly favourite looks for bridal beauty is this supernatural face you created…how did you do it? The right prep and base is key for this minimally beautiful look. Spritz you face with a hydrating mist, I currently love Gressa Purifying Mist. Then apply a high quality skin serum oil, for example Gressa Purifying Oil for radiant, well prepped skin. A cream highlighter applied to cheekbones enhances the bone structure. A sheer foundation like Vapour Atmosphere Luminous Foundation or tinted moisturizer buffed into the skin with a soft foundation brush evens out skin without masking it. For extra radiance & colour corrections try using Stratus another great product by luxury organic brand Vapour. Use a high coverage concealer like Au Naturale Creme Concealer only to cover redness or blemishes for an invisible flawless finish. Use a completely translucent powder only through the t-zone to keep excess shine at bay.

And the eyes, they're 'enhanced' but not heavily made up…whats the secret to achieving that? Start with hydrating the eye area. Tata Harper Restorative Eye Crème is a real winner. Evening out the eyelid with a hint of a tinted eye-primer or foundation. Apply a dab of clear gloss as highlight in the inner corners or alternatively a shimmery light eyeshadow like Au Naturale Creme Eye Shadow. A nude eyeliner on the inner rim creates an open eyed fresh look. Enhance your eyelashes by curling them and coating them with a natural effect Mascara like 100% Pure Black Tea Mascara. It's important to make sure you apply the mascara right on the roots of the lashes to give that framing effect and a luscious thick lash line.

What about colour, what should brides keep in mind for a natural look but drawing on hints of colour like this? The only colour I used on this look focusses on the lips and cheeks. This is very soft matte peach tone, which will enhance the skin tone. To create the soft focus hint of colour, I recommend using the same product for lips & cheeks. RMS lip2cheek in demure is a great sublte colour. Dabbing it on with fingers will create that subtle effortless chic. It's best to carry the colour with you for touch-up's of the lips on your wedding day.

And any final, expert tips? Create a beauty ritual that you and your skin love as far out from the wedding as possible. I recommend keeping a routine that works for you and to avoid skincare changes closer to the day. Always choose quality products over quantity. I also believe that the actual beauty ritual is important: Take time to massage your skin daily or fit in the occasional professional spa facial massage, both will increase circulation and nutrition for the skin, delivering that glow from within and relax your facial muscles as well. Get used to keeping an hydrating spray on your desk and a multi tasking skin balm in your handbag to hydrate lips, cuticles and any dry areas in your face. This way your skin will be at it's best in time for your wedding or any occasion you might have coming up.

Bali Makeup Artist, and some engagement shots of us

My work as destination wedding makeup artist took me recently to Bali, I packed Dave into my suitcase and we stayed a for a few days after the wedding. We were in luck when sydney wedding photographer extraordinaire Jo Bartholomew who also flew in from Australia was up to take some shots of us! I love her work. Not only did we have a blast on this shoot, we might have booked them to be our wedding photographers too...

Bali was nothing short of spectacular and I will share our personal travel photos on my personal blog here real soon!