September 24, 2010
Lulu Photo Books
Here are the results of my first photo book published by Lulu, my thoughts? It came in a hard cover (but there is a paperback option) the over all look of the book is great! There is a caption option beneath the pictures, I love that you can arrange the pictures whichever way you like BUT some of the pictures looked like they’ve been printed in a colored newspaper or a cheap magazine.
For my second photo book I will give Apple a try to see how that works out, I have a feeling that the Apple book will be printed in better quality than this one, but we’ll see!
Here are some pictures from the book, so you can judge the quality yourself:
Hard cover photo book
Black & White print
Color print
Back of hardcover
Luv,
Sara D.
September 23, 2010
CL Anemone Birthday Cakes
My Favorite Shoe :*
I don’t know if all those who appreciate Christian Louboutin’s work would agree on this, but Anemone is one of his best creations ever, second after that is the Tahiti, so of course every girl would want to celebrate her birthday with that shoe propped on her cake! hehe
On my sister’s birthday last August I decided to order a cake with a Fuchsia Anemone by Christian Louboutin placed on a gold cushion from Opera. I sent them detailed information on how the shoe has to look (I spent an hour in the bakery lifting my shoe to point out the red soles :/) and sent them countless pictures of the shoe…well I’ve kept you waiting long enough, here is the result for the cake that I ordered.
Opera's version of the Anemone shoe
And then my cousin celebrated her birthday this month (Happy Birthday!! :*) and the order was placed in Chocolate Bar, this was their work (mashalla)
Chocolate Bar version of the Anemone shoe
Chocolate Bar Anemone Bday Cake
I love the iridescent/pearl white on the bows, gives off a satin finish and really appreciate their attention to detail, lovely work. So what do you all think of the cakes? Which bakery did a better job at replicating the Christian Louboutin shoe “Anemone”? ;P
Luv,
Sara D.
September 22, 2010
Blossoming Ring Pillows
I know most brides-to-be in Kuwait resort to using fresh flowers to place their engagement rings on their engagement day, but I desperately wanted a ring pillow! The jeweller which we bought the rings from did not have any and offered to call their branch in NY to see if they had any! (it was nice of them to offer, but I could not postpone my engagement any longer since I was traveling after) so my mom ended up making my ring pillow herself! It was lovely, but I couldn’t help but search for lovelier ring pillows online and found tons of blossoming ones. Really, brides have so many options to choose from especially through Etsy. I once wrote about etsy, and their fabulous finds, well here are more great finds from Etsy and other websites too.
Etsy.com
www.myjeanm.com
www.myjeanm.com
I loved the one above so much, I placed an order for it anyway through myjeanm.com (I was already engaged but was thinking of future engagements of close friends and family) but right after placing the order and receiving the confirmation I waited to get a delivery notification. Five days passed since my order, and I did not receive the shipment notification so I contacted them (through LIVEchat) and was informed that the item was out of stock, and they were not sure when they will get it. I was not so thrilled over the fact that I was not informed and they had to wait for me to contact them to let me know that it is not available. They were not sure why no one had contacted me, and because it was not so important, I just canceled the order all together.
I love this one! I love Tiffany blue 
Also available in White
www.myweddingpillow.com
www.myweddingpillow.com
I love the two above especially if you are going for a Japanese theme and maybe serve up the Sushi shaped canapes, from Canapes and have cherry blossoms trees (or something that resembles it), lovely!
www.etsy.com
www.etsy.com
www.etsy.com
Hope you enjoyed these examples!
Luv,
Sara D.
IntelliGender: Good or Bad?
I saw this commercial on T.V for a pregnancy test that tells you whether you are having a boy or a girl as early as 8 weeks into your pregnancy! Even though I am not a mother (nor pregnant :p) I thought it was a fun test if nothing else, to find out what the baby is going to be way before your first ultrasound.
So of course, like everything out there, you have to do a little research about a product and I found out that most people who have used this test had the same result! Which was a BOY! hehe and almost everyone said that the results were wrong, someone even mentioned that their doctor informed her this test gives you a 50% correct answer, so I guess they stick to one answer (BOY) and there is a 50% chance they could be correct 
Well, if you are pregnant and still want to try it out here is their website IntelliGender
Luv,
Sara D.
Note: Notice even in their ad, the result is a boy!! lol
September 18, 2010
Wild Flowers in Your Wedding
I decided to create this blog for several reasons, one of which I felt that we can use a wedding blog in Kuwait, there are so many ideas out there. Some inexpensive and can help the bride save up on some areas of the wedding and spend on other things. Plus I hope that it might encourage brides to basically do their “thing” on their special day, and forget what people around you might say.
Trust me I got so many negative comments from relatives but I ended up doing it my way, and it might seem to them like a total disaster but to me? I had a BLAST! So here is hoping you’d have a blast at your wedding to!
I love the idea of incorporating wild flowers or inexpensive flowers into center pieces or “koshas” especially if the flower means something to the bride. It brings a much-needed personal touch to a ritual that is performed on daily basis, so bringing in a part of you to the event is truly a breath of wildly blooming air!
My personal favorite tree/flower is the Bouganvilla:
Maybe it is because it used to crawl over the fence at our old home where I grew up, or maybe because my eyes got used to seeing the Magenta/Fuchsia flowers hugging the white houses in Spain? Whatever it is, I love this tree. I really wanted to incorporate it into my wedding, but the short amount of time we had meant it was difficult to bring this plant into our wedding. Here are some lovely images I took of this tree during our vacations.
Bougainvillea in Crete, Greece
Bougainvillea in Capri, Italy
Bougainvillea in Capri, Italy
An other flower is Lavender:
Fragrant and looks fresh if placed in a white bucket, think white linens, Laura Ashley. I love how this flower smells, and I cannot help but associating it with freshness and cleanliness for some reason, I got this image off of the internet:
Jasmine, is an other flower that would captivate the guests with its’ scent. Let it cascade over your centerpieces with pearls, image from the internet as well:
Here are other flowers used by November that are inexpensive but look lovely nonetheless:
http://novemberblogs.wordpress.com
http://novemberblogs.wordpress.com
Luv,
Sara D.
September 17, 2010
Photo Books
Lulu.com
Ah the age of digital cameras! It made life easier in so many levels, you don’t have to worry about no film in the camera, no more waiting for the flash signal to come up, and you certainly do not have to worry about taking a bad picture because of a simple button that was added to the camera…the DELETE button! Of course even with all these benefits some people still want to go back to the old fashion way of taking pictures, and I am sure all this reminiscing does not have to do with the quality of the pictures, but mainly because at the end you can just drop off your film to have it developed and voilà! Your entire Summer vacation memories are in your hands!
Sure the digital camera gave us the opportunity to share our holiday pictures on Facebook, Twitter and BBM but there are pictures you simply cannot share. Intimate moments between your loved ones cannot be uploaded and placed in an album on Facebook no matter what your privacy settings are! So where am I going with this? Well, I have been thinking of some of the candid pictures of our wedding as well as honeymoon pictures and I wanted to have them printed until I decided a better way is to publish them on a “photo book”. I used Lulu to design my first photo book and publish it, I basically gathered all the candid shots that did not go into my official wedding album and put it in this book. It is a great way of printing your pictures, not just wedding pictures but every event on your iPhoto can be put into a book. I think it makes it easier to look through these pictures and bring back memories, my husband got me a digital frame but I am loving this old school way of keeping your digital photos.
Quality wise, I am still not sure, as I have just placed my first order but will update you once the book arrives!
Luv,
Sara D.
September 13, 2010
Gaga for McQueen
Clearly this woman knows how to make an entrance, and for those who are wondering “what the hell is she wearing?!” Well it is none other than McQueen’s last creations from his last collection. I think if anyone can pull it off, it has to be Miss.Wacky, Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga @ VMA
For more celebrity gossip visit OMG.
Luv,
Sara D.
Bridal Headbands by JoomiNYC
As a former make up artist, this designer gained recognition through her celebrity clients and not only for her makeup work but also for her hair accessories that she designed herself. Long story short, Joomi launched her accessories line in NYC, her accessories line is usually made out the finest lace, Swarovski crystals and is dainty and whimsical in design.
As I usually march to the beat of my own drum, I walked down the aisle sans veil and wore a Jennifer Behr crystal band instead. These bands are as cute, and for those traditional brides you can attach the band to your veil as some are so thin only the detailing shows.
JoomiNYC is available online @ Trendy Fanatics.
Luv,
Sara D.
Personalized Candy
As I have previously posted here and here I enjoy personalizing pretty much everything, and please lets not delve into my narcissistic psyche :P..so moving along… I pretty much swayed back and forth over these personalized candy to place in bowls on the tables at the wedding. One thing that put me off was that personalized M&M’s is so yesterday and I do not like to label myself as trendy, but seriously it’s been over done I believe.
I still played with the thought of just having the bride and groom’s name and maybe the flower theme of the wedding (instead of their pictures), it looks nice, don’t you think?
I just chose random names for this post
Love Peonies and love the color combo
An other way to personalize candy is through Hershey’s chocolate wrapper.
Bride & Groom's name in front
Wedding date in the back
Personalized Hershey's
I like the original Hershey’s wrapper because at first glance you would think it is the regular bar of chocolate and then the guests will notice that they are personalized with the bride and groom’s names. When you use personalized candy at your wedding, you do run the risk of reaching the borders of a kiddy’s birthday party, but making sure everything else is sophisticated will do.
Luv,
Sara D.
September 12, 2010
Wedding Cakes
Some wedding cakes are so beautiful they set the theme for the entire wedding, I found these 4 cakes to be inspiring and lovely. This cake is a personal favorite, it exudes 1920′s glamour. I love the colors and the dragon flies, I can picture the rest of the wedding inspired by the 1920′s opulence serving macaroons covered with gold leaves and pearls cascading over the center pieces!
An other cake, which is truly artistic is the one below, I love lace and it would be perfect if the bride’s dress was made out of beautiful lace as well.
I love this cake, and I think only a true cake artist can perfect it. The sugar flowers have to look light and lovely to make this cake what it is.
Last but not least, obviously anything with pearls will catch my attention. This is an other cake that ellude to old Hollywood glamour with the pearls and the engagement ring as the cake topper, simply perfect!
For more wedding cake ideas or inspirations for your weddings check out Martha Stewart‘s page
Luv,
Sara D.
