Fancy winning a trip to New York?!

I was in the middle of my usual evening browse round the interweb when I decided to check out what Bank had to offer.  I found more than I bargained for as they are currently running a competition to win a trip to New York!! The prize is a trip to New York for 2 people for 3 nights, with flights and a 3 star hotel.  You don't have to buy from them to enter and it only takes a few seconds to fill in the required details. I've got my fingers crossed that I am the lucky one but if one of you win can I be your plus one please?! You can enter here

I also spotted a couple of lovely dresses hidden amongst the stuff I always wonder who buys:

Dress 1

Dress 2

Very nice, I especially love the colour of the first one.  Have you browsed the Bank website recently? If like me you haven't you might be pleasantly surprised!

Fetish Frocks

Okay not really a fetish but I do love leather.  I have been looking for my perfect leather dress for what feels like a lifetime and I am almost there! Almost because it's not real leather but PU but hey I can ignore that fact til I find THE dress.

Dress: Oasis

I went shopping to Birmingham for my birthday on Saturday and was way too excited to find this dress was already in store as this picture taken in the Oasis changing rooms shows.  Oh dear.

I am wearing another recent Oasis purchase in this photo, the Look Dream dress.  This dress is pretty much perfect, a great colour and a flattering cut (sizing comes up a bit big if you're wondering) all for the now bargain price of £25!!  I managed to get the dress for £20 from my local Outfit as it was missing the bow belt, great result for me as IMHO the belt look tacky and totally spoils the dress so I would never have used it. 

What's your must have go to (P)leather item? For me recently it's been this pleather Primark skirt but I am happy to say that this gorgeous leather skirt fits me again, RESULT!!

(photo from 2008, ha!)

Viva la Diva!

I have become a bit obsessed with shoes again recently.  After wearing the same few pairs all the time even though I have way over 100 pairs to choose from they have started to infiltrate my lust list again.  Even though I have quite small feet (size 4.5 to be precise) I struggle with them being quite wide and most flats seem to leave me with sore spots on the widest bit.  I can't normally wear cute little ballerinas because of this and we all know how cute they look with a pretty skater dress.  Hope is on the horizon though with these wide fit shoes from Viva la Diva, aren't they gorgeous?!

 Bow shoes

 Contrast shoes

I love the bow and stud details on the black ones, they are pretty much my ideal ballet flats.  The navy and cream ones will be great for Spring when no doubt nautical colours will be everywhere.  I still struggle to wear black shoes with navy and I can't be the only one!

Viva la Diva also stock loads of shoes for those blessed with regular shaped feet.  Their brand listing is extensive including Kurt Geiger, Schuh and Irregular Choice, worth knowing if you are trying to hunt down that must have sales bargain in your size!  My top three pairs have to be:

 Carvella

 Schuh

Viva la Diva

The first pair are just perfect, purple Mary Jane's will always be a winner in my eyes.  I ADORE the heel detail on the Schuh pair & the nude colour means they will go with everything.  The third pair are the ones most likely to end up at the bottom of my wardrobe, as much as I love the look of sky scraper platforms I just cannot walk in the damn things! Why must something so beautiful be such an object of torture?!  The quilted detail and gold studs of the mid heels fits in perfectly with my style and I know I could wear these 24/7 without a grimace in sight!!

Has anyone ordered from Viva la Diva before?  I want to know what the service is like before I place my order.

*this post is in collaboration with Viva la Diva*

Wednesday Wants

I recently came across Own The Runway and have managed to create a whole wishlist from their stock this week!  Has anyone ordered from them before?  The first dress would be perfect for an upcoming wedding...

 Dress 1

 Dress 2

Dress 3

I love the gold metallic fabric of the second dress, I have the gold velvet Topshop dress & I like to dress it down with a little black jumper and think this would look great worn that way too.  Gives a nice pop of gold fabric without being too OTT for day wear.  I have quite a few dresses similar to the third dress but with a higher neckline.  They always make for such comfy office wear whilst still looking smart. 

Let me know if you have ordered anything from them before, I would love to hear your experiences.



Missguided Love!

All I can say is WOW! Just when I thought I couldn't love the Aldara dress more Missguided only go and release it in the most amazing colours...

I have my eye on the fuschia, cyan blue and lilac... which ones are on your wishlist?

Personally I will be losing the tan belt and wearing them with black tights right now and switching to leggings when it's not so nippy.  For a quick recap as to how the dress looks on a non-model (haha!) see here and here

Wednesday Wants

Following on from my lovely new scarf print dress I have been coveting shirt dresses and have been mostly disappointed by what's currently on offer. That's until I spotted this gorgeous Oasis dress that is now at the top of my wishlist!  I usually avoid yellow and black as that combo makes me feel like I'm in fancy dress as a bumble bee but I think the white stops this from happening... are you in agreement with me?!

Dress: Oasis

I was only complaining in last weeks Wednesday Wants that I can't wait to see some fresh stock and asos came to the rescue! They have had a massive drop of dresses in the last week or so, there are so many really nice ones.  My two favourites (I think!!) are these two:

 Dress: asos

Dress: asos

How amazing is that laser cut detail on the first dress? I love it!  I know I already have the second asos dress in a different colour way but it's still a favourite and purple and black is THE winning combination in my eyes!

Review - Accessories Direct

When Accessories Direct asked me if I would like to review one of their handbags I jumped at the chance, they have so many gorgeous bags to choose from!  I definitely hit gold when they picked out New York handbag by Kate Benjamin for me, have you seen that bow?! 

The bag is made out of a heavy satin and is of great quality.  I love the flash of colour inside and the little gold strap, gold hardware is always a winner in my books.  Most of all I love that bow.  It's just so damn pretty.  I can see this bag getting lots of love from me as it goes with everything and is the perfect size to fit my essentials in (purse, card holder, phone, powder compact, lipstick and camera in case you were wondering!)

The service from Accessories Direct was fab too, standard delivery is free with orders over £30 and the bag only took two working days to arrive.  It was well packaged and wrapped in tissue paper which makes you feel like you're getting a pressie rather than spending some of your own hard earned cash! I'm off to check out the rest of their stock...

*The bag was sent to me to review, the above is my honest opinion*

Scarf Prints And Studs

Boy am I glad it's Friday!  I cannot wait for a lie in tomorrow, it's going to be heaven.  I've been cooing over this dress in Topshop for a few weeks, lovingly stroking the silky fabric whilst ignoring Gray telling me how ugly it is... I gave in last week and took it to the changing rooms and instantly knew it had to be mine!  I love how it feels and the pop of colour to my recently very black wardrobe.  I have teamed it with a slouchy studded jacket that I picked up from Warehouse in the sale and feel nicely smart.  I actually wore this outfit out to a party last Saturday but think it works just as well for work. 

My hair is very long for me at the moment, it's annoying the hell out of me!  It's also all one length as I had to grow down the side bits for my wedding beehive.  I'm getting it cut next week and it cannot come soon enough! I have had a very similar hair cut for the past 15 or so years - it just varied in length and colour - do you stick to a style that you know suits you or are you more adventurous with your hair than me?

Apologies for all the crap you can see down the side of the wardrobe, the spare room still hasn't quite recovered from being turned into a storage unit for the past six months!  I am getting there but still need to find a home in our flat for a few things, how do I even have so much STUFF?!

 

Dress: Topshop

Jacket: Warehouse

Boots: Topshop

These are my absolute favourite boots right now, so comfy and the gold heel makes them stand out.  I have had so many compliments on what other wise would be just another pair of black boots.  I really, really want to get a back up pair but they have sold out online and I haven't been able to find a pair of 5's in any of my local stores so if you spot a pair please let me know and I will love you forever!



Paper cuts

I love paper cuts.

I am obsessed with Rob Ryan (but could never justify the ££ to own an original, sob!)

And I cannot get enough of these beautiful cards by Storey Shop on etsy, these are the ones I bought to use for my wedding but I had already bought several to frame as they are just so damn cool! My personal favourite is the 'You had me at hello' one, check them out and see how many you add to your basket!!

We even made our own paper cut art work to hang in our bedroom which we framed between two sheets of glass.  Sorry for the iPhone photos but it was late & I was being lazy!  Cutting by hand takes a lot of time and patience but it's very worth it:

 

When we were looking at wedding invitations we knew that we wanted them to be a) simple b) involve paper cuts c) be handmade and this is what we came up with:

We didn't cut these by hand though we invested in a paper cutting machine... I know right? A machine that will do it all for you! It wasn't cheap at about £240 but we used it to cut all of our invitations, the paper flowers and the vinyl we used to etch jam jars so we definitely got our moneys worth.  It's really easy to use, you just design your work on their software and then send it to 'print'.  It works just like a printer except a blade replaces the ink cartridge.  We did say that we would make any cards we need in future on it too but that hasn't happened yet, oops! 

Wednesday Wants

I'm getting bored of seeing the same old sales stock in stores now and cannot wait for the influx of new goodies... I already have my eye on this little New Look beauty but it doesn't hit the rails til March

(apologies for the poor quality iPhone photo!)

Thankfully there have been a few gorgeous new arrivals this week to keep me going:

Dress: Miss Selfridge

 Dress: Missguided

Dress: Boohoo

The Missguided one has to be my favourite, only problem is deciding which colours to buy!  I think my favourites are the fuschia and the teal, just think how good they will look with a tan and some gold sandals come spring!!

Check Us Out!!

I am absolutely thrilled to inform you that today our wedding is featured on my absolute favourite wedding blog, the one and only Rock n Roll Bride!! eeeekkkkkk!  I cannot explain how excited this makes me. 

For those of you who don't read wedding blogs (you have no idea what treats you are missing!) Rock n Roll Bride is one of the most popular wedding blogs in the world and was recently awarded a Cosmopolitan Blog Award (Where I got to fan-girled the owner Kat after a few cosmos!) The weddings featured are elective, inspiring and damn right amazing.   I am ecstatic that our wedding has made the cut, one very proud newly wed!

Rock n Roll Bride is also special to me as it's from admiring the many beautiful pictures that grace it's pages that I found our wedding photographer, Sassy.  Sassy (and Frank!) made these beautiful images possible, not only does she know how to take a good photo she knows how to make sure you take a good photo which believe me isn't an easy task where I am concerned.  I am incredibly awkward in front of the camera and find it really hard to relax and generally hate having my photo taken.  We had an engagement shoot with Sassy to help fix some of these issues which I would really recommend to any couple wanting to get the most from their wedding photos.  It also meant that by the time of the wedding it was like having a mate take your photos, we had great fun getting our shots and I think that shows.

Please show us some love and go comment, it really would make my day :)

THE Dress!!

Thought it was about time I shared with you guys the most important dress of my life... my wedding dress!! Those of you who follow me on twitter will have seen a few photos already but it definitely deserves a post of it's own.  I am so happy with the way it turned out.  I went to my dressmaker, Karen at Stella Liliana, with an idea of how I wanted my dress to be, she worked her magic and it turned out to be even more beautiful than I could have ever dreamed.  It really, really is my dream dress.

Just look at the detail on the back, hundreds of hand sewn pearls and crystals

Finished off with a massive bow :)

Of course I wasn't the only one wearing a pretty dress.  As all my bridesmaids are blessed with great legs I decided to mix things up a bit and put them in my favourite short party dress!  I own this Oasis beauty myself and knew it would fit with my dress just perfectly.  I saved a fair bit of money on the dresses as it was a good few seasons old and I managed to get them all from eBay, the cheapest one was only £5 including p&p, what a bargain!  

We also had Gray's beautiful baby niece as a bridesmaid and she wore a very pretty dress from BHS and the cutest little pair of Converse. Isn't she just a picture!

BIG love ♥♥♥

I have some very exciting news to share with you on Monday and I cannot wait!!

(I know that the landscape photos are too big for the page but the next size option is just too small!  I don't know how to make them fit or a certain size so if anyone can help me out & explain it in simple terms I would really appreciate it!!)

Spotlight on... Marisota

Like me you may have thought that you could only get women's plus size clothing from Marisota but that is so not the case.  Marisota offer clothing from a size 12 and also sell a huge selection of shoes and bags.  Sounds like my idea of heaven!  Even better their next day delivery service is only £3.99 and if you're a first time buyer a little prompt when you visit their homepage will offer you a nice 20% discount.  Happy New Year to you too Marisota!

I adore the print and of course the Peter Pan collar on this Rise beauty (did I mention they also stock Rise clothing??)

 Dress: Marisota

Dress: Marisota

This sheer spotty number is so hot right now I think I may have to order myself an early birthday pressie, isn't it gorgeous!

They also stock homeware which I had a quick browse thru and as a result really want this gorgeous set... time to redecorate my bedroom so it will fit?!
 

Bedding



*this post is in collaboration with Marisota*