Coming Soon to Sash & Bustle!

Hope my fellow Canadians had a yummy and relaxing Thanksgiving. That's right, us Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in early October (2nd Monday to be exact, same day as Columbus Day). Why the early Thanksgiving you ask? Well, it coincides with the end of the harvest season (we are a little bit more north) and the holiday is to give thanks for the bountiful crops. Whereas, according to trusty ol' Wikipedia, the American Thanksgiving was established by the Pilgrims to thank God for surviving their first brutal winter. When I asked the BF if we celebrate both when we're in the same household.....he says he's happy to have two occasions to eat turkey! ;)

I've mentioned Sash & Bustle - Toronto's premiere modern bridal loft - many times before. I love how Cynthia Martyn has introduced Toronto to the same 'alternative' gown designers (e.g. Stephanie James) and accessories designers (e.g. Paloma's Nest) that have won over so many American brides. Well, Cynthia has done it again. She recently announced that Sash & Bustle will be carrying Carol Hannah (yes, from Project Runaway!) wedding gowns and hair adornments from Twigs & Honey. So exciting. Carol Hannah is expected to arrive October 30th. An exact arrival time have yet to be announced for Twigs & Honey so make sure you check the Sash & Bustle blog frequently!

Below are my favourites from each collection.

Honey My Heart Open for Business!

Hope you all had wonderful weekends! The BF went back to LA so I spent most of the weekend being mopey, and doing the summer-fall/winter wardrobe switcheroo. Boo.

As some of you may know, the incredibly talented honey my heart recently opened her Esty store. honey has been wowing her readers with her amazing craftiness since the days of planning her beautiful Santa Barbara wedding. Check out her cute table cards & numbers here.

honey's Esty store contains some fabulous jewelery - perfect for gifts.


I have always adored honey's paper goodies so I'm happy to see that she's also selling her one of a kind cards.


What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Follow honey my heart on twitter and Facebook so you can see the latest projects she's working on!

Good luck honey my heart!

Look What I Made....

As you may know, my friend C. is getting married this Saturday! Her birthday was a few weeks ago and I gifted her this bridal fascinator that I had made.


The flower, pearl sprigs and feathers were purchased from Sussman's Bridal Supplies in Toronto (Queen & Bathurst).

Special thanks to the BF who help me design it ("The feathers should stick out like this") and let me use his head as a 'live' mannequin head.


If C. ends up wearing it for the reception, I'll post pics!

What do you think? Should I quit my day job? ;)

Help! Which one?

Bonjour! I desperately need a new wallet, and I've been shopping for months. Help me decide between the two!

1) Cole Haan Felicity Slim Zip Wallet


2) MICHAEL Michael Kors Continental Wallet

Right now, I'm leaning towards the Cole Haan.

Am I the only one who agonizes over a wallet purchase?

DIY Birthday Gifts

My lovely friend Christine's birthday is this week and a bunch of us decided to celebrate last Friday night. The night started here and ended here. ;)

Both S. and I decided to make Christine's BD gifts (something I've never done).

This is S's creation. Gorgeous, non? The keyholes were purchased from an antique market in Milan. To see some of S's other creations, click here.

This is my creation....a lovely feather hair clip. (I'm just happy you can't see the glue!!). I bought the feathers from Sussman's Bridal Supplies on Queen Street and the gold button from macFAB.

Worried that Christine would pretend to like my clip and then put away it in a drawer, I also bought her Nina Garcia's latest book, The Style Strategy. Have you've read it yet? I just bought myself a copy and awaiting its arrival!

What was your latest DIY project? Did it turn out?

To Christine - Hope you have a fabulous birthday week!

One Funky Bride meets One Funky Photographer

I've been stalking the blog of LA based photographer Caroline Tran a lot lately. Caroline always finds the best locations, the best lighting........... and the funkiest couples always seem to find her. Case in point:

How awesome is this bride's outfit? Love the fascinator.

To see more pictures from this shoot, head over to Caroline Tran's blog.

Get Stranded

When this image pop up in my inbox yesterday, I was mesmerized. So pretty. I've never really paid attention to JCrew jewelery before.

I'm coveting this ring....simple, understated but a bit funky.

Love these earrings but can't covet too much as I'm allergic to anything not gold (aren't I hoity-toity?!). Great for special occasions.

This would make a lovely bridesmaid accessory.

Have you bought JCrew jewelery before?

Bridal Emergency Kit

One of the shower gifts A. received from her bridesmaids was a 'Bridal Emergency Kit.' We found a super cute Roxy makeup case and filled it up with things she may/would need on the big day. I totally forgot to take pics of A's actual kit but here's a similar makeup case from Roxy.

source

Contents:

-sewing kit
-bobby pins
-gum
-mouthwash
-hairspray
-deodorant
-blotting paper
-manicure kit (tweezers, file and clippers)
-eye drops
-Advil^®
-Tylenol^®
-Tums^®
-allergy pills
-Bandaids
-Bandaid^® Blister block (new product...I'm going to have to ask A if it works)
-moist towelettes
-hand cream
-Tide^® Pen
-flip flops
-snacks (chocolate, roasted nuts)
-drinking straws
- a note saying "Just add water!!"

What else would you have included?

Update: Bridechka passed along a great recommendation..."White chalk. It is a must have! If the bride gets a stain on her dress, the stain sticks sometimes make it worse or leave giant wet spots but use a little bit of white chalk on it like white-out and you won't see a thing."

The Professional Bridesmaid Loves.......

I adore non-diamond engagement rings. Not that I don’t love diamonds because I do, but I love coloured stones even more! I also admire those couples who choose to buck tradition and find a ring(s) that truly represent them. I recently stumbled upon Turtle Love Committee (TLC—how apropos!), a Portland, Maine based company that specializes in “truly unique engagement rings and wedding bands that fit your style and won't break the bank.” TLC has an amazing selection of semi-precious stone engagement rings for those of you who don’t necessarily believe that only ‘a diamond is forever’ and the value of an engagement ring should equal two months’ salary. Check it out.

How pretty is the Kennebunk ring? I love its vintage feel.

Clockwise from Top Left: Walden (Amethyst);

Webster (Citrine); Thissel (Apatite);and Kennebunk (Blue Topaz)

Turtle Love Committee also specializes in wedding bands (for the bride and the groom). I love the Millinocket band, so delicate and feminine. Can you believe it’s only US $50?

If you’re looking for a no-nonsense and sturdy ring for your man, look no further....take a look at the ‘Raymond’ band.


Are you smitten yet? Lucky for you, TLC is currently sponsoring TWO giveaways. The first giveaway is being hosted by OneWed’s Savvy Scoop Blog. Tell OneWed “Why Diamonds Are Expensive” and you could win the ring of your choice! So you’re engayged! is hosting the second giveaway, giving away TWO TLC rings! Go on over and enter.
To see more of Turtle Love Committee’s unique ring collection, visit their site and blog. And remember, “it’s (NOT) about the ring.” :)

DIY Hairband

You know I love hair accessories and occasionally dabble in the DIY (remember my DIY fascinator?) so I was super stoked to see this article over at Popsugar's Celeb Style. Check it out!

A Few of My Favourite Things.....

Yesterday was a grey and rainy one in the T.dot, so depressing. (Just to rub salt in the ol' wound, the BF was telling me that it was 100F in La La land, oh the joys of doing LD aka long distance.)

Anyways, as Maria sang in The Sound of Music, I came home from work, kicked off my shoes and 'remembered' my favourite things. One of my newest favourite things is my Felix Rey for Target Gold Canvas Tote.

via Target.com

How cute is she? And she was only US$39.99. I do enjoy the Target designer partnerships!

If you're not familiar with the Felix Rey brand, visit their website to see more of their goodies. Felix Rey was founded in 2001 by Lily Rafii Band and Sulaika Zarrouk. According to the Felix Rey website, Lily and Sulaika named their luxury accessories brand "[a]fter Doctor Felix Rey who tended to Vincent Van Gogh after he cut off a portion of his ear and was admitted to an asylum. The two men befriended each other and Van Gogh painted a portrait of the doctor in lieu of payment for his services. Felix Rey, meaning “Happy King”, is a pseudonym Lily and Sulaika chose to personify their brand ."

Here are some of the handbags (and one super cute headband!) from Felix Rey's latest collection:





Can you tell I love the clutches? Click on the product to view more details.

To see more of the Felix Rey for Target collection, click here.


*All images via Felix Rey

Fascinated by Fascinators!

I blogged last week about my DIY fascinator and said that I would show it to you. Here it is!!

Before I tell you how I 'made' my fascinator, please keep in mind that I am artistically challenged. I can barely draw stick figures, I usually get glue on my hands, and I've been known to accidentally sew seams shut. So trust me when I say that you, undoubtedly, will make a fascinator 100 times better than me! It's just a fact.

Since I'm artistically challenged, I cheated a bit on my DIY fascinator. I went to my local Claire's to see if I could find a hair clip I could work with (i.e. glue tulle and feathers to it). Luckily, I was able to find a black flower clip.

Next step was to turn the flower clip into a fasincator! Here are the materials I used : black tulle, feathers , my trusty glue gun.

Here's a close up of the feathers I used.

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of my DIY process as this was before I had a blog so you will have to use your imagination! (The photos posted here I took last night)

Lucky for artistically challenged me there are a lot of online resources for DIY fascinators. Here are the ones I gleaned from: Simplicity Classroom, Corvus Tristis, and Wedlog. Basically, here is what I did:

Step 1: Arranged tulle (or netting) and the feathers around the hair clip until I was happy with the look. (Looking back, I would have taken a picture of my arrangement at this point so I could achieve the exact same look when it came time to gluing).

* How much tulle/netting and how many feathers is totally up to you. I just eye-balled it.

Step 2: Took the tulle and gathered it in the middle. Played around with the gathers until I was happy.

Step 3: Sew the gathered 'point' (i.e. the bunch up part in the palm of my hand) to keep the arranged tulle in place.

Step 4: The gluing part. Holding the tulle with the sewn 'point' away from me (see below), I glued the the sewn 'point' to the back of the flower clip.

Step 5: Put enough glue on the back of the clip for the flowers, and quickly, before the glue dried, arranged the feathers and secured the ends of the feathers into the glue (this is where the 'pre-photo' would have come in handy).

Step 6: Allow 10-15 mins to dry.


And voilà.........my fascinator! Here's picture of me wearing it for the first time to a wedding. (Ignore the cheesy grin)


Let me know if you have any questions!

For those of you in Toronto, I purchased my tulle from Fabricland and the feathers from Sussman's Bridal Supplies, 420 Queen Street West (just west of Spadina).

Frugal Fridays: DIY Jewelery

Happy Friday! I found this DIY Bridesmaid Jewelery tutorial over at Do It Yourself Weddings, although I think it would look great on anyone for any special occasion. Plus, you can choose which piece you wish to make.




Check out the rest of the Do It Yourself Weddings site when you have a moment, it has a whole whack of DIY ideas!

Frugal Fridays: DIY Wedding Bands

So you've picked out your venue, the photographer, the bridal party, your dress, the flowers. Now it's time to pick the other ring you'll be wearing for a lifetime. Do you want it to match your engagement ring? Do you want you and your fiancé/fiancée to have matching bands? Wait....do you even have budget for the wedding bands?!!?

I can only guess that band shopping is not for the fainthearted. After all, you both have to love the bands and that love could be pricey. This is where The Devil's Workshop steps in. Located on Queen Street West in Toronto, The Devil's Workshop offers jewelery making workshops, including a wedding band workshop. That's right, in one day, 6 hours to be exact, you and your better half can make from scratch your very own wedding bands!!! The workshop costs CDN $275 per couple, materials are additional. Silver starts at approximately $10 while yellow/white gold starts at approximately $150, depending on the size of the ring and the karat of gold chosen. You can also choose to set stones in your bands. Here are some wedding bands made at The Devil's Workshop:

The Devil's Workshop

I have to admit when I stumbled upon The Devil's Workshop, the thought of DIY wedding bands had me perplexed (probably because I'm so not artistic and don't trust myself near heavy machinery). However, on further thought, what a cool way to bond with your fiancé/fiancée, and your wedding bands will have such a great story behind them. What do you think? Would you consider making your own wedding bands?

The Devil's Workshop also offers other jewelery and silversmith workshops including metal printmaking, bead-working and wire-working . The Fused Glass Pendants workshop caught my eye. I might have to convince my friend Sheila to enroll with me. Look at this pretty pendant made at The Devil's Workshop.

source

If you're looking for something creative to do for a bridal shower or a girl's night out, book The Devil's Workshop for a Friday night of jewelery making. You can don the jewelery you made afterward when you paint the town red (or your bridesmaids can wear the bling on your big day)!

For more details on The Devil's Workshop, visit their website and their blog.

Wedding Accessories @ The Purse Blog

One of my favourite blogs is The Purse Blog, which showcases the latest and greatest in designer handbags. (Be forewarned, reading the Purse Blog might induce feelings of euphoria, leading one to take her credit card to the nearest Gucci store whether she has the funds or not!)

Meaghan Mahoney and Vladimir Dusil, the founders of The Purse Blog, recently got married and Meaghan shared with her readers her wedding accessories. So what does a purse maven carry on her arm on her big day? Here's a peek - for more click here.

The Purse Blog

Love Rocks.

Dear BF,

Hint. Hint. Hint.

Love,
ME :)

Love Rocks NY