Weekends




Sometimes life happens.

In the form of homework assignments, family, friends...

and things like The Nest Project, and outfit shoots, and blogging sit on the backburner.

Luckily, at those times, there is Instagram.

Hope you had a lovely weekend
xo
Instagram: amy_fivekinds

Friday Wishes

 

 

My favourite part of the 'weekend' is Friday morning. I don't have class, start the day with a nice slow coffee, and don't get dressed until lunchtime.

If I'm lucky I get some time to fill up on inspiration and get my visual fix for the week. I don't know about you, but I am so chronically visual that just seeing an image with the right quantities or colour can actually make my day. The yellow dress at the top knocks the air out of me!



What's your ideal weekend?



Pic sources:
Yellow Nanette Lepore dress
Esther Boutique pink skirt
ASOS colour block jumper
Skirt

Design-a-wedding: The no-fuss Garden Wedding

 The idea of this wedding design, is that you can have a smaller wedding - say around 30 guests - and host it in your own backyard. Keeping the details simple... without losing any of the beauty.
 I love the idea of this and, in another life, I would do it this way myself.

The colour scheme is flexible, forgiving, and goes perfectly with the greenery you will be surrounded by!

Let's start with the decorations:
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 I would grow the flowers myelf as they don't need to look "perfect" to pull this off - infact any flowers that you, your friends, and your in-laws have in their gardens will do fine. Containers can be collected, thrifted, and found around the house.

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 The absolute beauty of this style of wedding is you can do whatever you want! My wedding was at a stunning garden venue but we weren't allowed any decorations (a litter risk). I would have loved to decorate the trees!


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 Don't get too overwhelmed by decorating tables - cover some simple trestle tables with cloths and let the flowers and candles do the talking.
If you can rustle up a chevron runner... all the better!

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 A few sparklers on each plate setting is all you need for favours. I love this colour of ribbon and simple tag!

When it comes to the ceremony, lay out all the chairs and benches you can get hold of (they don't have to match) and then..
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Heck, you could even ask guests to bring their own pillow! I think that would be kinda fun....or even forget the chairs, and lay out rugs and blankets on the ground. Gypsy style - booyah!


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 I would keep it simple by painting over some thrifted pictures with black paint, then chalking my note on! You could use this for a seating chart (if you really need one) and a welcome sign too.

If you are in the mood, you could prop up your signage on...
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It may seem a little random, but since you're in a backyard, how cool would an old-fashioned bicycle look up against a tree? If you are happy with it, let guests ride around on it for fun - and provide a few other easy garden games like petanque.

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Here comes the bride... with casual bouquets picked that morning. I can just imagine the bridal party being happier and more relaxed in this intimate, friendly setting. 
I would go rather neutral for the bridesmaids dresses, but the colour scheme is so flexible you can do what you like - even skirts and a top.

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Turn on your lanterns or fairy lights over dinner, and light the candles.

At the end of the night, invite your guests to light their sparklers...
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I secretly love a good send-off. Something about having people wave goodbye to you all at once makes you feel really blessed to have them all there with you!

Would you consider a smaller wedding, or having it at your own place?


Pic sources:
Flower containers unknown

Pretty Little Tuesday - fresh flowers

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 I love the look of fresh flowers in a house. These ones are gracing our mantle at the moment and snapped by my new phone. 

{A while ago I started a series called

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 which was intended to be a one-snap beauty injection each week... it has been neglected until now; but if YOU have a stunning picture of something pretty (especially jewellery, perfume vignette, etc, then email me and I may feature it next time}

I'm trying to overcome my plant-killing tendencies. 

Do you decorate with flowers?


Design-a-Wedding - Mint and Peach

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Sometimes my creativity gets too much for me to handle and I need to design SOMETHING fast.
And sometimes I think back to my own wedding 2 months ago and think "it shouldn't have to be that hard"

...because I did some serious designing for my own wedding, which is like a kind of self-induced hell when you are extreeemely fussy and yet happen to live in New Zealand.

You know, that tiny country in the South Pacific surrounded by ocean, bereft of up-to-date wedding supplies? I spent countless hours trying to track down basic things like square kraft envelopes. There were none. 

 But probably the worst part of all was making the decisions... I have to choose ONE look?
*kill me now*

Which is why this idea was born: Design-a-Wedding. I've put together the details, and maybe, just maybe, someone out there will find it useful, follow the steps, and create the wedding!


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1. To set the scene let's start with the tables.
  • You're going for simple dahlias in mini jam jars, laid across the tables higgeldy piggeldy. You don't need a table runner with there babies.
  • For name cards, these wooden name tags cost about the same as paper ones and are going to be remembered. 10 for $6 from here.
  • Make your Favors work 2 ways - you're going to buy this mint fabric from spoonflower and have fabric napkins made. One will be placed on each plate, with the menu card (if you have one) and heart sticker on top for fun. The guests can take these home (do you reeeeally want 100 napkins at your place?)
If you can't visualise how this will work, here's a quick virtual mockup I threw together in photoshop:

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This look is subtle, chic, and timeless - perfect for the no-fuss bride who doesn't want tooo many frills and doilies. It is slightly modern (compared to the extreme vintage look we see a lot these days) but still has a good dose of feminine. Of course, the colour MINT is right on trend too. The flower on the napkin is a nice touch if you can manage it.

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Obviously, you are going to look amazing and your hair and dress is a very personal choice! This peach bouquet is going to set everything off - send your florist the picture and see what they can do. 
I'd suggest a slightly darker tone of the same thing for the bridesmaids - a few deep oranges will really compliment and contrast with their dresses....



...which are a subtle and chic mint green, from Asos. Free shipping internationally - woop!
If you want the same-but-different look, I would recommend showing your bridesmaids the colour you want and then sending them online to purchase one that they think will suit their shape.


I could go into more detail, such as venue decorations, but I think that's enough for now. I do secretly dream of being a wedding designer - especially for New Zealand brides.
(notice I said designer, not planner. Planning... Eugch ;) )

Just a little weekend fun, right?
Have a great one!

Find more Wedding Design ideas Here


P.S - just for the record, incase you couldn't tell after my little rant, my wedding was the best day of my life and those things like envelopes don't seem a big deal anymore!

Image credits:
Table flowers (dahlias) via Style Me Pretty
Bride's bouquet via Wedding Chicks
Men's suits via: unknown
Snippet of invitation by Jacqui Lee

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, #2

She loves me:
1. Good coffee - New Zealand officially has the best coffee in the known world* - I highly recommend every person in the world to come to Wellington and order a flat white! {I'm pretty sure we are ALL coffee snobs here!)

{Incidentally, amazing package is up there on my Love list too}
*I might have just made this up, but I dare you to try it!


2. Hot showers...I can't think of a better way to start each day!

Don't think I will posting an action pic of this one, BUT how awesome is this shower curtain from Urban Outfitters:
{I hope to make something similar}

3. Pretty details around the place - like this pinboard I used for special notes and inspiration:



4. Seeing progress on our house


5. Creative and colourful outfits - for too long I dressed status-quo; now I'm finally understanding which clothes are really ME, and making a conscious decision to dress this way every day. Thank you fashion blogs for the motivation!

6. My mum - only the best you could ask for.

7. Early nights - call me a nana but being in bed early is one of the biggest luxuries I can think of! Say it's 9pm and I'm snuggled up with a hot milo and lots of blogs to read..... amazing.



She Loves Me Not:
1. Stress - this year is going to be a big test of my ability to deal with this one - here's my school work overtaking the "man-cave" ......oops sorry babe.


2. Cold houses - a huge problem in this country and really unpleasant during winter... lucky I am studying architecture ;)


I wrote this post for Michaela's series over at Michaela Noelle Design - her blog is addictive!
What are your loves and love-nots? Who's with me on the early-nana-nights?

Instagram: Amy_FiveKinds



Colourful birthday outfit



Just a little snippet of my birthday-date outfit from last night, which was my real birthday, (even tho I have dragged it out over the last 2 weeks to fit with my study break and Easter.)

We went to a local pan-European restaurant and I had the most amazing angus ribeye that I've ever tried in my life! {And no, I don't know what 'pan-European' means either.}

I tried to snap some outfit shots for you on my new phone as we walked out the door, but wasn't quite feeling the yellow-light shots with lots of shadows......


Dress: Dotti, Boots: ooold, Jacket: Glassons last season

But here are a couple anyway!

In other news, I just got Instagram! I'm extreeemely excited about this and I love putting outfit and social shots on there.

My username is amy_fivekinds.
What's yours??

Can't wait to share!


Aaaand the vote is still going up on the top right - I'd love to hear which type of post pushes your buttons!>>>>>>>>>>

The Nest Project

We often call our little house The Nest because it's so cosy - so it made sense to name our house-redo-ing project The Nest Project.

Here's a first little intro to some of the things we'll be working through a few things over the next few months.
I'll keep you updated as we tackle each one!


Hope you are having a lovely weekend,

OH and you can vote over on the top right, about what you want to see more of on this blog! I would love to see your vote - (fyi the votes are anonymous) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

See you next week,







Images and their sources are on this Pinterest board

Outfit post: Soft white pleats




On the night of my early-birthday party we made an emergency dash to the mall and bought this cream pleated dress in 30 seconds flat. On the night I wore it with a black ruffled waistcoat and socks.
 {Yes socks. Who wears shoes in their own home? ;) }

Luckily I had already eyed it up and knew the potential it had for mix-and-match - like here with a casual grey sweater and boots.

The top half of the dress is lace so it can be dressed up with heels, or down with a jacket... I feel I can make this one very cross-seasonal!  

How do you transition clothes through the seasons?
Anyone found a way to drag their summer dresses into winter?

xo