Apart from the hibiscus, there’s perhaps no other flower that says beach wedding than gorgeous fragrant frangipanis.  Frangipanis or plumeria as they are also known are blooming everywhere along our beaches at the moment.  One of our iconic beach flowers, they make the perfect beach wedding decoration or flower motif for Australian weddings. 

Image credits: Frangipani wedding cake, photo by Nicole Pearce.  Frangipani bouquet and aisle decoration images from Lindsay Van Roy Photography for Brett and Erin’s wedding.  Frangipani beach aisle by Aloha Island Weddings at Simply Chic Wedding Ideas.  Frangipani link ring by Stasita New Zealand.  All stationery by Alannah Rose at Pink Frosting’s beach wedding shop.  All beach collection wedding accessories and decorations at Pink Frosting’s beach online wedding shop.

Here are our top tips for using frangipanis to theme your Australian beach wedding:

• Bunch them closely.  Frangipanis in tight formation are simply chic.  Look at our gorgeous frangipani bouquet above – chic and gorgeous!
• If you choose yellow frangipanis, your best colour choices for ribbons, accents, glassware, napery and decor is buttercup yellow, ivory, crisp white, black or sand.
• Frangipanis work beautifully with massive blossoms such as fully blown roses, hibiscus or lillies.  We’re not fans of frangipanis and other waxy flowers such as orchids, but they can look lovely together if you use a master florist.
• Generally, frangipanis don’t need foliage to complement them.  Think of the flower in its natural state – the flowers are clustered and the branches are fairly sparse.  Take your cue from the flower in its natural environment and don’t use leaves as part of your table decorations, aisle decorations or bouquets.
• Frangipani leis are so easy to create.  It’s a fun way to spend your night before the wedding with your best girls – simply use fishing line and a large needle to thread frangipani blooms.  A beautiful favour for your guests.
• Incorporate frangipanis into your wedding ceremony with large garlands of frangipani flowers laced together like a long leis.  Such a versatile idea – you can then loosely hang them between your chairs down your aisle or decorate a garden trelise with them behind the bride and groom.  Also, give your flowergirl frangipani flowers to toss when she walks down the aisle.
• Create a heart using frangipani flowers for the bride and groom to stand in when they marry.  This simple but beautiful idea works a treat on the beach or on grass in a garden wedding.
• For table decorations, choose faux frangipani flowers and either scatter your frangipanis loosely around the table, lay one on each table setting for a contemporary chic look, or use miniature beach buckets filled with starfish, sand and frangipanis (see the beautiful beach buckets by Pink Frosting above – we also used Swarovski crystal encrusted starfish to complement the yellow frangipanis).
• You can incorporate frangipanis in your wedding theme in many ways.  Here are some other ideas:
  • Your wedding invitations – frangipanis on the beach or in a heart make a glamorous stationery idea.  Some gorgeous styles from Dream Day Wedding Invitations and Alannah Rose make a real statement;
  • Your wedding accessories – use frangipani flowers in your bridesmaid’s hair and in your groomsmen’s buttonholes;
  • Your parasols – choose a plain wedding parasol and glue on frangipanis around the centre and border to create a unique wedding day accessory for photographs
  • Your  wedding bombonieres and favours – choose a favour with a frangipani motif such as personalised candy jars (yummy filled with yellow jelly beans), flip flop candles with a frangipani toe; or a photo frame with a frangipani flower attached to the swing tag – gorgeous!

Here are some beautiful ways to use frangipanis on your wedding day:

Image: Aloha Weddings

Frangipani Cupcakes by Consumed Cakes

Frangipanis and Lillies Wedding Ceremony Site by Aloha Island Weddings

Frangipani Themed Wedding Tables by Disney Resort

Beach Bucket with Starfish and Frangipanis by Pink Frosting's Wedding Shop

There are so many ways to use these gorgeous flowers in your beach wedding.  I’d love to see your photos if you have some to share!

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Ostrich feathers are one of my favourite wedding decorations.  They look so glamorous and they work beautifully in wedding aisles, table centrepieces, in bridal bouquets and so much more.  They scream glamour and style and they really are very easy to work with.

If you’re wanting to create a glamorous table centrepiece using ostrich feather drabs, it is usually recommend that you use a florists ball floating at the top of the vase which you carefully sit the end of the feather into for support.  In honesty, I usually don’t use these green florists balls because they are difficult to cover up at the top of the vase.  The best way I have found is to fill the vase with a support filler that looks good, such as plain old cellophane scrunched up and then filled with water (this creates an amazing ice-like effect) or with water pearls and secure the feathers as low down as possible in the vase.  If you’re also using flowers, this makes securing the feathers much easier as well as they have something else to rest against.

I’ve tried wiring the feathers for some extra length, but again, I don’t think it’s necessary if you’re filling the vase with cellophane, crystals, sand or another great filler.

Usually, I recommend you use between 3 and 7 ostrich feathers per centrepiece, but it depends on your budget!  If you use too many, your centrepieces can end up looking like palm trees!

I also love ostrich feathers on the back of chairs at outdoor weddings, as pew decorations at a Church ceremony, as an addition to or in place of flowers in a bridal bouquet (as shown below by Karen Tran) or simply laid flat as centrepiece decorations for wedding reception tables.  They are a versatile wedding decoration, that’s for certain, and your guests will love to take one home at the end of the night!

And, as shown on the amazing Hostess Blog, they don’t just work for weddings!  These coloured feathers make a stunning baby shower decoration centrepiece too!

Sign, I love ostrich feathers…. Now available to purchase online at Pink Frosting.

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

A wedding held in the heat of the Australian summer demands vibrant colours, wild decorations and marquees filled with breezy cloth, and the perfect wedding theme for the mid-Summer heat is An Indian Summer. 

Indian styled weddings use an exuberant display of colour, finery and kitsch – think rich fabrics, shamiana (tents) with wild colours, saris used as drapes and table coverings, cushions and bolsters on bright rugs as seating, hanging tea light candles and abundant marigolds which have a special significance in Indian weddings.   Colours are all bright and rich, including turquoise blue, orange, bright pink, plum, red, mustard and gold.  Table centrepieces could include wooden elephants, lanterns, wine goblets, bejewelled miniature jewellery boxes, and shimmering Indian bangles as your napkin rings.

Western traditions such as cakes and favours can be transformed with this theme:  henna patterns on your wedding cake and lucky elephants as your wedding favours.

We adore the bright colours in these Indian Summer inspired wedding invitations, swirling fuchsia paper parasols and paper daisies which add contrast to the marigold strings of flowers we love using with this theme.

Many of these gorgeous Indian Summer wedding theme decorations can be purchased online at Australia’s number one online wedding shop, Pink Frosting.  We adore the gorgeous images to inspire you from An Indian Summer blog. 

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Two beautiful ways to style a garden party, whether it be a shower, wedding, christening, ladies tea party or simply a picnic with friends, are presented in the gorgeous Wedding Style Guide which has just hit the news stands.  I highly recommend you grab a copy of this magazine even if you’re not getting married because their styling ideas for weddings translate to many other occasions.  The eye candy just can’t be beaten.

Fresh Country Garden

Classic white makes a comeback with an eclectic display of flowers and styling. Against the freshness of a country garden, whimsy and romanticism come to the fore.

Something Blue

Pastel hues sing when set against a dark contrasting colour creating a savvy wedding palette. Carefree summer colourways move aside for an autumnal look of moody blues and velvety chocolate-browns–a luxurious combination for a sophisticated look.

As a hydrangea girl, I just love the kissing balls above.  Aren’t they divine?

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Chandeliers for Hire and Purchase

Chandeliers are such a beautiful decorative item for weddings and other special occasions such as corporate balls and charity events.  There is a company based in Sydney called Chandeliers Australia that hires a magnificent range of chandeliers from subtle and elegant to truly OTT Dynasty style crystal lighting.  They freight their chandeliers anywhere in Australia when you are purchasing, and if you are in the Sydney area (yes, this includes Canberra and the South Coast) they will quote on installation and hire for your wedding and special event.

Feathers for Tables, Stationery and Fashion Accessories

Image: A Lavish Affair

The fabulous Narelle at www.feather.com.au is the guru of all things feather in Australia.  Her online store is brimming with every type of feather decoration and accessory you can imagine.  Use feathers as elaborate table centrepieces (we are creating some magnificent feather tables soon that we’ll share online soon).  If you’re a DIY-type bride, she also has great millinary supplies so you can create your very own bridal headpiece that is unique as you are!

Table Centrepieces, Pretty Crystals and Other Table Scatter Ideas

Putting together a beautiful table centerpiece is a hard task.  You have the option of having your florist or venue organise your centerpiece with a vase and flowers, or you could use feathers, decorative branches (available from florists) strung with fairy lights.  And what then?  Here are some of the great ideas we love using:

Water Pearls:  pretty polymer water beads that have a pearl-like effect.  Use them in vases and other vessels to create a pretty centrepiece that won’t break the bank.  In colours for just about every theme including black, white, crystal clear, pink and aqua.

Miniature Birds Nests:  for spring, Easter, love-bird and garden themed weddings, we adore these miniature natural birds nests which can be both a lovely table decoration and a wedding favor for guests.

Crystal Table Scatters:  make your table truly glamorous with these pretty crystal table scatters.  They are sold in sets of six in various sizes, and you scatter them around your table for pretty bling against the candlelight.  You can also use them inside vases to hide ugly stems.  This is a very special effect for vases.

Water Activated Diamond Lights:  these little beauties we use at so many events.  They are an LED light that is activated in water so they light up vases which you can colour with food die for a gorgeous effect.

Christmas Decorations as Wedding Decorations:  My favourite idea is to use Christmas decorations on your wedding tables.  There are some amazing Christmas decorations that you can find out of Christmas season (read: on SALE!) that can be used to create stunning wedding decorations.  These incredible pearl miniature wreaths are the perfect example.  We have used these as aisle decorations as well as on wedding reception tables as a pretty candle wreath.  Breathtaking!

Decorative Lanterns

Another big favourite of mine is the decorative lantern.  Paper lanterns pack a decorating punch for very little spend.  You can find an almost limitless amount of colours and styles.  Some great stores for lanterns online in Australia are Vivid Room, Pink Frosting and Chinatown Communications.

Decorative Candles, Candelabra and Candle Holders

The most popular wedding table decoration is the candle and for good reason.  Candles are a beautiful way to create a warm atmosphere for your wedding without spending too much money.  Even the humble tealight candle with no other decoration can be pretty on a table if clustered closely together.  Imagine hundreds of them twinkling on the bridal table to really set the scene.

You can buy candles at your local $2 shop, Big W, Spotlight and any craft shop.  If you’re after something a bit more luxe, then here are some ideas:

Crystal Tealight Holders:  these pretty crystal tealight holders can be scattered around tables to create a more elaborate effect and can also be used as a lovely favor for guests.

Personalised Luminaries:  make a statement on your tables with a personalised luminaria.  These vellum paper candle covers have been specially designed and printed with the couple’s wedding details.  Gorgeous, aren’t they?

Candle Bags or Luminaries:  We just adore using candle bags or luminaries for every event held at dusk or night.  They frame the driveaway, pathways, stairs and outdoor entertaining area.  They bathe the area in soft light and if you have a decorated candle bag, they can also really enhance your theme.

Votive Holders:  there are so many different styles of votive candle holders on the market.  For pretty ideas, visit Dusk, Pink Frosting, and Candles By Night.

Rose Petals, Dried Petals and Other Floral Accessories

One of my favourite online wedding shops is Simply Rose Petals.  Sarah and her team have the most magnificent range of rose petals in just about any style and colour you desire available all year around.  They have a wonderful reputation for quality and customer service too.

Wedding Parasols as Decorations

Image:  I Do Weddings Whitsundays

You may not have thought of using wedding parasols as a decoration, but they make wonderful aisle decorations, lantern substitutes and hanging decorations from the ceiling of marquees.  The most extensive range of wedding parasols in Australia is available at Pink Frosting’s online wedding parasol shop.

Wedding Place Card Holders and Table Number Holders

Placecard holders and table number holders have become incredibly fun over the past few years.  You have the choice of photo frame holders, traditional wire holders with fun themed bases and personalised and printed versions in a vast array of colours and styles.  These are some that we really love right now:

Shining Sails Sailboat Place Card Holders at Pink Frosting’s online wedding decoration shop.

Small contemporary wire vase placecard holders at the Pink Frosting online wedding decoration shop.

Antique Acrylic Placecard Frames at Pink Frosting’s online wedding decoration shop.

Vases and Other Decorative Vessels

You can readily hire vases from your local event hire business – a google search should bring up everyone close to you.  If you want to buy rather than hire, the best options online are Dusk, Pink Frosting and Home and Beyond.

Personalised Clings, Signs and Wedding Graffiti

Decorating your wedding with a personal message, motif or monogram has never been easier than right now.  There is an extensive range of truly beautiful designs to personalise your directional signage, guest book signing station, dance floors, ceremony site and more.  I just adore the range of Wonderful Wedding Graffiti at Pink Frosting’s online wedding shop.  It is so versatile and a surprise “pop” for your wedding day.

Decorating Your Candy or Lolly Table or Buffet

I did a whole post on decorating your candy and lolly buffet late last year.  This fantastic idea will delight everyone at your wedding.  Simply create a buffet of lollies on a table for guests to serve themselves into beautiful boxes, take away containers or lolly bags (these can be purchased at Pink Frosting’s online wedding favor shop).  For the best lollies online, visit

• My Lollies
• Goody Goody Gumdrops
• My Favourite Lollies
• Wallies Lollies

The Best Beach Wedding Decorations

Shells, starfish and coral make amazing beach wedding decorations.  You can use them on your tables, scattered down your aisle and throughout the venue as hanging decorations (fishing line and starfish make a wonderful combination!).  You can buy shells, starfish and coral online.  Be very careful about purchasing any natural product from overseas as you may not be able to import them into Australia with our strict customs laws.  Here are some great options online in Australia:  Australian Seashells, Pink Frosting’s online beach wedding shop, and Spectrum Shells for more specialty products.

I really hope these links help you plan your wedding decorating.  Let me know if you have any specific needs and I’ll see what I can come up with for you!

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

A colour party is a wonderful theme for just about any event.  From a child’s birthday to an engagement party, a bridal shower to a baby shower, an anniversary celebration to a graduation party, a simple colour theme for your celebration is a great place to start.  With a colour as your theme, it’s easy to achieve party fabulousness!

Firstly, choose the colour for your party palette.  Once you have the colour, you can decorate your party in various shades of that colour and know that the tones will complement one another perfectly.  If you choose blue, you have shades of periwinkle, sea-blue, navy and Tiffany blue to choose from.  All will look amazing together.  For pinks, you have from the softest baby pink through to the hottest fuschia to use.  Mixing the shades together means a much easier time for you – no trying to match rose petals to stationery – and it also is a contemporary and dramatic decorating effect.

Stationery and Favors

Do it yourself with beautiful hand-made pretty in pink invitations.  Origami dresses on hot pink card are the perfect announcement for a bridal shower, baby shower or girl’s party in this theme.  They set the scene, let the guests know just how to dress and give an impression of the type of event your party will be.  Here are some amazing pink coloured hand-made party invitation ideas using the range of designer papers at Pink Frosting’s online stationery store.

For your favors, choose pretty pink personalised candy jars filled with strawberry-flavoured jelly beans, pink silk hand fans with cherry blossom thank you tags, pastel pink cones filled with dried rose petals or candy-pink handbag favour boxes filled with yummy and decadent chocolate buttons.

Decorating Your Party

Take your colour and go wild!  In these amazing shots from Annick Van Wesemael’s beautiful book, Tasty Tables, marshmallows and baby roses are central to creating the pretty in pink theme.  Cones made of pretty pink paper, filled with roses and marshmallows act as whimsical centrepieces.  Bouquets of baby roses secured with flowing satin ribbon dance delicately from their stakes in the soft green grass.  The cake is not what it seems!  Annick has created a fantasy cake made of tightly packed roses and baby’s breath.  Candy tables are filled with the sweetest of pink sweets – from marshmallows to fairy floss.   The ornaments are edible – a beautiful treat reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel without any of the scary moments!

Your best friends are one-coloured linens, crepe paper, candy in the colour of your choice, balloons (giant round balloons are a gorgeous decoration that packs a punch on a budget) and satin ribbon in every shade of your colour imaginable. 

Whatever your colour fantasy, happy celebrating!

Kathryn

Australia Day is only a week away.  Celebrating our national day is always a treat and usually involves a barbecue, sausages, plenty of cold beer and zinc cream, which is fun but not necessarily the prettiest of parties!  So, my mission for today was to create an Australia Day celebration in a contemporary and fabulous way.  The answer was to create an Australia Day outdoor party using tones of lime green, zesty-lemon and cornflower blue, with some traditional nods such as Twisties, ice-cold beer, Australia flags, lamingtons and meat pies (ok, so they were gourmet miniature versions).

The gorgeous lanterns, vases and Australian flags are available at the Pink Frosting online party shop.  I know gerberas are a bit passe, but for a bright bolt of green and gold, I couldn’t go any further!  Look for fun party linen at Spotlight and Lincraft.  I often buy whimsical tea-towels and bolts of fabric to use as tablecloths and placemats for entertaining.  Because they are so cheap, you can use them once and not be concerned about marks and stains.

Whatever you decide to do this Australia Day, make it fabulous.  Celebrate being in this incredible place.

Happy Australia Day!  Happy Celebrating!

Image credits: Frangipani wedding cake, photo by Nicole Pearce.  Frangipani bouquet and aisle decoration images from Lindsay Van Roy Photography for Brett and Erin’s wedding.  Frangipani beach aisle by Aloha Island Weddings at Simply Chic Wedding Ideas.  Frangipani link ring by Stasita New Zealand.  All stationery by Alannah Rose at Pink Frosting.  All beach collection wedding accessories at Pink Frosting’s online wedding shop.

Here are our top tips for using frangipanis to theme your wedding:

• Bunch them closely.  Frangipanis in tight formation are simply chic.
• If you choose yellow frangipanis, your best colour choices for ribbons, accents, glassware, napery and decor is buttercup yellow, ivory, crisp white, black or sand.
• For table decorations, either scatter your frangipanis loosely around the table, lay one on each table setting for a contemporary chic look, or use beach buckets filled with starfish, sand and frangipanis (see the beautiful beach buckets by Pink Frosting above – we also used Swarovski crystal encrusted starfish to complement the yellow frangipanis).
• Frangipanis work beautifully with fluffy blossoms such as fully blown roses.  We’re not fans of frangipanis and other waxy flowers such as orchids, but they can look lovely together if you use a master florist.
• Generally, frangipanis don’t need foliage to complement them.  Think of the flower in its natural state – the flowers are clustered and the branches are fairly sparse.  Take your cue from the flower in its natural environment and don’t use leaves as part of your table decorations, aisle decorations or bouquets.
• Frangipani leis are so easy to create.  It’s a fun way to spend your night before the wedding with your best girls – simply use fishing line and a large needle to thread frangipani blooms.  A beautiful favour for your guests.

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

Here are some of my favourites:

Vitally important in creating a fantasy reception is lighting (candlelight, fairy lights, directional lighting), colour (most of these images use variations of one colour – monochrome is a great place to start when creating a colour theme), flowers (fresh seasonal flowers – either super high or super low on the table), and high quality linen (of course!).

One thing I have learned as a event stylist is that you really can’t not have chair covers – unless the chairs at your venue are really special (which happens so rarely).  If you are spending many thousands of dollars on your reception and flowers, it is a real mistake to forego chair covers to save money.  Your chair covers will make an enormous difference to how elegant and styled your event will feel.

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn

We recently made a hanging carpet of fresh roses which we used as the backdrop to a wedding ceremony. This beautiful carpet of roses in shades of pink were wired through a fine garden mesh which we picked up at a hardware store. To make this work, you’ll need to ask your florist to cut the stems off your roses, essentially leaving only the rose head along with about 1cm of stem to wind the wire around. Take some thin wire and wind it tightly around the rose from just under the head to the bottom of the cut stem. Start weaving the wired flowers about 20cm from the top of the mesh. Secure each bloom at the back of the mesh with a simple loop of the wire, so the flower can’t escape back through the front. You don’t need to worry about being too neat if noone will see the back of the hanging. You should aim to have the heads of each bloom touching slightly on every side at the front of the mesh, so no green mesh can be seen from the front.

Once you’ve finished weaving the flowers through, take a piece of dowel approximately 6cm wider than the width of mesh, wind the mesh over the dowel until the blossoms are at the very top of the hanging. Secure the mesh over the dowel with more wire or staples until the hanging is secure. Remember, flowers en mass are heavy, so you will probably need some help with this part.

To hang your creation, use some beautiful woven rope with tassels on the ends in a colour complementary to your floral carpet. Using the 3cm of dowel you have on either side of the top of the carpet, secure your rope evenly and hang from an appropriate hook. Alternatively, you could use picture hanging wire and hooks which can easily be purchased from a framing shop.

Depending on the size of the carpet you’re wanting to create, this is a job which will take some hours! However, the outcome is stunning and we guarantee it will look divine in wedding photos or as a backdrop to a swanky dinner party.

If fresh flowers aren’t available or your budget and time doesn’t stretch to fresh, you could also use tissue paper flowers to create a similar effect. Martha Stewart has some great step-by-step paper flower ideas over in her craft section.

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn