we heart a good book suggestion! x

a few weeks ago the lovely Helena of

A Diary of Lovely

blogged about her latest book purchase

DECORATE by Holly Becker & Joanna Copestick

and I couldn't wait to get it!

it's a great book so I thought I'd share a few of my own favourite images:

tolix chairs- my favourite!

I love the blue hydrangeas against the minimal elegance of this room- so chic and achievable.

I actually have this palm leaf Cole & Son wallpaper in the black and gold version in my cloakroom!

Jonathan Adler's home is one of the spaces featured in the book and although his crazy bright home isn't really my taste (I definitely couldn't live in it!) I do like his pottery very much. It's always interesting to see how other creatives live in their home space. I've been eyeing up Adler's character mugs and vases of a while now- they'd go very well in my sitting room.. hint hint James,... x

and I really liked the above quote inside the book cover!

I found Decorate in Anthropologie and Libertys but it's available on Amazon here. (slightly cheaper)

but... I was a bit naughty and ordered a second book:

if it's even possible, I think I love Creative Walls even more than Decorate!

Just absolutely beautiful photographs...

order from Amazon here.

what I liked about both of these books is that actually the styles in there aren't pretentious or overly contrived, just real homes but incredibly stylish from incredibly stylish people!

please order! x

details- inside

details from our wedding- inside...
Food is such a huge part of any celebration so I think it's really important to consider how your wedding breakfast reflects your whole day and your taste (excuse the pun!).

As a couple, James and I eat (and cook) a lot of Indian food so we thought it would be great to serve a thali-style Indian meal in our own unique way. Instead of the traditional steel trays you would usually serve thali from, we chose porcelain deep rimmed plates with guests able to help themselves to a choice of 4 curries placed on the tables.

Orginally we chose to look to true Indian caterers to provide the food but we very fortunately found the fabulous Relish who created the most beautiful meal for us. More to come on food in later postings...

We spent a great deal of time considering what we wanted to serve our guests but it was also really important to create the right atmosphere and follow on our rustic flowers, herbs and props through to the grand hall.

we were so pleased with our tables that we wanted to keep our dining room hidden away from the guests to see their reactions when they sat down to dinner!* every table was slightly different rather than being matchy-matchy, which wouldn't have worked for us.

*fantastic room decor completely down to the hard work and support of my parents and my aunt and uncle! It was all hands on deck the day before!

our guest place 'cards' were little zinc hearts (sourced from Daylesford Organic in Kingham- they were actually tags for cut flowers) tied with rafia to the cutlery.

guests and the wedding party (myself included) were later seen wearing theirs as bracelets or hanging from necklaces. pretty keepsakes from our day!

we created a sweetie table for later in the evening (guests + sugar= lots of dancing energy!) and laid out coffee bags bought from Monmouth Coffee for fill up with treats.

these were the perfect bags to use- lined and with a metal close tab at the top. we also added our wedding logo (used throughout our stationary) to customise.

To carry on our rustic theme, we placed old jars amongst herb planters and put the sweetie bags in a crackeled old bird bath.