*!Free Giveaway!* Antiqued Heart Necklace

A break from wedding posts today to tell you about this fantastic giveaway at Inis, the new blog of my favourite shop. Inis is a lovely boutique in my hometown of Hawick and they also have an online shop which delivers internationally.

To celebrate the launch of their blog they are giving away this beautiful antiqued heart necklace. Go to the Inis blog for all of the details and to enter the giveaway. Good luck! x

Wedding Report Part II - The Dress

As I'm sure is true for most brides, the most exciting part of the wedding preparations for me was choosing the dress. I loved going dress shopping with my mum and sharing those precious moments together, just the two of us. I tried on a lot of dresses in various bridal shops but they were all quite similar, strapless with full skirts and a lot of beading. They were all beautiful but I knew that I wanted something a little bit different. I eventually found 'The One' in a shop called Pan Pan in Edinburgh. It was a Jenny Packham dress called Petra and I fell in love with it immediately. From that moment I couldn't wait to wear it on my wedding day. I chose a hair comb also by Jenny Packham and a beaded veil completed the look.

Photo by McBeth Photography

Remember that parasol I posted about here?

I can't describe how much I loved wearing that dress. It felt so beautiful and elegant and I loved the way it floated around as I danced at our reception. The great thing is that I get to wear it again when we have Part II of our wedding back in Italy in a couple of weeks time. Lucky me! :)

Photo by McBeth Photography

Wedding Report Part I - La Serenata

It's more than 2 weeks since our beautiful wedding day and it's time I wrote a few posts about the celebrations while everything is still fresh in my memory. It's amazing how quickly things start to go a bit foggy.

After a months build up including dress fittings, hair appointments, a wedding shower, hen party, stag party and family and friends arriving from around the world, the main celebrations started on the night before the wedding with 'La Serenata.' This is an Italian tradition where the groom goes to the bride's house and serenades her from below her window. All of our Italian guests, friends, family and neighbours came to watch and Matteo's family cooked up a feast. The garden was decorated with candles in jars hanging from the trees and it was magical to look down on from my bedroom window. Matteo sang several songs in Italian, including my favourite La Donna Canone and a Scottish song, Caledonia all accompanied by his friend Lucio on the keyboard or my mum on the guitar. It was a wonderfully romantic start to our perfect wedding weekend.

We're married.........

.....and it was perfect!

Beautiful photo from our talented photographer Craig McBeth

Final Count Down!

Only four days to go until I marry my Italian! It's been really hectic the past few weeks and I haven't been able to keep up to date with my blog. I just wanted to pop in to thank everyone for their kind comments about my wedding invitations and for all of your best wishes. I'll be back in a few weeks with all of the details from the big day.......