Paper Pom Pom Mania

(Pictures from Amelia Lyon)

Isn't it amazing what some simple sheets of paper, a few yards of fabric and a bunch of paper pom-poms can do to liven up your mood?

(Picture from OnceWed.com)

Seriously, paper pom-poms were the best, no-frill, low-cost decorations that anyone could ever come up with!

They look so gorgeous and immediately fill up empty spaces by beautifying with their poofy awesomeness!

(Picture from WedSavvy.com)

So for those who are keen on creating some pom-pom madness for a wedding or even just a fun, girly get-together, THIS IS THE SHIZZ FOR YOU!

Below, I've kindly ripped off a DIY tutorial from Once Wed (which is an awesome website by the way) for all your kindred paper crazy souls.

This is a supply of all the things you would need to proceed on with creating your ultimate pompom-mania scene.

Supplies:

1. cutting mat

2. twine - *only needed if you want to create an entire vine of pom-poms

3. craft paper - *only needed if you want to create an entire vine of pom-poms

4. assorted tissue paper - pick a colour theme, and run wild with your colour variations. Just remember to keep to the same colour family of your chosen theme.

5. scissors

6. floral wire

1. Stack eight 20-by-30-inch sheets of tissue. Make 1 1/2 inch-wide accordion folds, creasing with each fold.

2. Fold an 18-inch piece of floral wire in half, and slip over center of folded tissue; twist. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes. (Round, if you want it nice, soft and fluffy... Pointy, if you want a killer ball of sharp flurry :D )

3. Separate the layers gently (you don't want them pom-poms to be ripped even before they've had the chance to unveil their awesomeness in its full glory). Pull away each layer, starting from center, one at a time.

4. Tie a length of floral wire for hanging, or continue on with the next step if you want to create a vine of pom-poms.

To create the leaves:

1. Cut craft paper into a silhouette of a figure 8.

2. Make a fold in the center where the leaves meet.

3. Using a craft knife or scissors make a small “x” incision into the center of the crease to create a hole to pull the twine through.

4. Next, fold a crease through both leaves to give your shape some character! \m/


Completing your vine - assembling the leaves and pom-poms together:

1. Attach the pom pom to the strand by using the extra wire from the center.

2. Slide the twine through the center hole and tie a small knot underneath the leaves - this helps to hold everything in in place so that the paper won’t slide around on the strand.

3. Keep on adding leaves and alternating colours of pom-poms and VOILA! your journey to pom-pomdom begins!

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Use as many pom poms, leaves, colors, and styles as you like to create the look you’re going for!

Change them up and you'd see what an amazing difference it makes to any space around a venue or even in your own home!

The perfect covering

You know how they say that the most important a bride must wear on her wedding day (apart from her wedding dress, duh) is her veil.

But having spent hours, and not to mention money, in deliberating which veil suits your dress, it's rather silly when you actually realize that the veil will only be used for a few minutes.

Once your groom has lifted the veil, all eyes are on your shining/glowing/pretty face.

Lifting the veil is pretty much like lifting the dustsheet off from a sculpture in an art gallery. Off with the covering to reveal your beaming smile :D

(Picture taken from oncewed.com)

This just brings me to the point that, if you are only gonna be wearing the veil for a few minutes, it wouldn't make much sense to spend tons on one that's intricately customized and is so long that it runs all the way to Timbuktu.

However, if you were to settle for the "free" veils that come together with your wedding gown, most of the time, it would just either fall flat on your face, get caught on your fake lashes/extensions, get caught on your ear-rings.... the list just goes on. I've seen one too many brides fall prey to the "my veil ruined my make-up & holy matrimony" curse.

(Picture of Drew Barrymore)

So the best option is to get a birdcage veil - because it holds itself away from your face and it IS essentially a veil as well. (okay, that was a very "duh" point. but still valid. very.)

So my task is to create my own BIRDCAGE veil - and I've got the best DIY guide to do it.

I've even done up a whole bunch of fabric flowers to add to the gorgeousness of this personalized veil. And, again, I've got the best DIY guide to do it.

(Picture taken from Jen Renee)

I can't wait to finally post up pictures of my completed project!

Akan datang. Coming soon.

Most Epic Wedding Video Ever

From the epic-ness that you would naturally expect from a world-class supermodel CoCo Rocha, who's the face of numerous fashion houses like Chanel and YSL.

She wedded her designer/artist husband, James Conran in the Chateau Challain of Loire valley, France.

Dreamy location + Dreamy dress + Dream Team of designers and stylists = One Epic Wedding Video

Enjoy!

Coco + James // Short film from Americana Cinema on Vimeo.

All decked out!

It is customary for most brides to get awesome dresses (of a certain colour) for their bridesmaids/sisters, well, those with a big budget at least.

Some say the purpose of the bridesmaid's dress is to ensure that the said bridesmaid would not outshine the bride.

Case in point:

(Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic)
(Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses)

Though dramatized in most movies, brides really just want to make sure their friends get to bring home something a little special from the wedding, and at the same time, make sure that the receiving line at their wedding looks extremely coordinated and colour-coded.

And you can definitely do so without compromising your bridemaids' sense of style.

(Picture from 100 Layer Cake)

Then comes to all important question, how in the world do I keep within budget to provide dresses for my bridemaids that are of good quality (i.e. not one of those smocked, satiny prom dress lookalike dresses)?

Well, one way you could do it is to either get a close friend who makes dresses, or you could just do it on your own - even if you are not a dressmaker or a designer. There are tons of free dress or skirt making tutorials online and even more books available your friendly neighbourhood library.

This makes dressmaking super easy and manageable - and not to mention, easy on your pocket! It also adds to much more meaning to the bridesmaids' dresses, knowing that the bride herself, made it personally for each one of them.

(Make You Own Clothes by Marie Clayton)

I just bought a book online that comes with tutorial CD and free patterns as well as step-by-step instructions. Needless to say, I am super pumped and excited to FINALLY be able to start on my Bridesmaids Dress project :)

Updates about the project will come... soon.... as soon as I get my hands on the book and some fabric!

Much To-Do

Picture from WeddingStressRelief

Between the planning for the honeymoon, searching for a decently-priced future home and tying up the loose ends of the wedding... THAT, with work and a social life..resulted in my not having the luxury of time nor the inspiration to blog on a regular basis! *frowns*

Yesterday, however, did come as a bit of a little shocker when the some-what evil wedding day reminder clock indicated that we have just about 6 more months to D-DAY!

So yes, I took a bit of me time and I searched for what could/would inspire me for my 'kooky' wedding and what we could possibly do to make it an especially fun day, not just for our guests but for ourselves as well - cause' God-forbid that we will allow our entire wedding day to just whizz past us!

No sir-y. That ain't gonna happen with the Future Lim Newbies :)

And my latest source of inspiration these past few days have been wedding videos. Nicely done-up wedding videos that either:
1) Conclude the wedding day happenings in a few minutes
2) Can be sent out as fun wedding date reminders or pre-wedding entertainment

Max & Margaux Stop Motion from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

Apart from one hilarious video which I saw at a Chinese friend's wedding, which packaged their wedding morning shenanigans into a Japanese gameshow-styled clip (with mindless japanese commentary to boot!) It was hilarious and it also gave the guests a look into what only a selected number of people could be a part of.

Others that I saw were cute videos that inspired me to create a cutesy wedding video... for whatever the purpose.

Max & Margaux from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

And this last one is just plain cool.

*Crossing my fingers that either one of my bridesmaids or brothers can actually rap.

"Best, Man" from Youtube