NYE Inspiration: Champagne & Sparklers

NYE is nearly here! It's a much anticipated night of the year.. but it's also often dreaded as a night with too many people, too few taxis and too much pressure to have fun (forced fun is never that fun!).

That's why this year, we're avoiding the crowds. Instead, we're staying in with some of our dearest friends and are preparing for a shimmery, sparkly dinner party at home.
We plan to countdown the hours to the new year, whilst reliving the moments and memories from 2011 and enjoying great food, drink and music with our besties.

Here's some of the inspiration for our table decor. We've been guided by the gold of the ever-present NYE elements: champagne and sparklers!

TOP ROW: Countdown Champagne; Gold Garlands; Countdown Clock Decor

MIDDLE ROW: Clock Plates; Gold Dress; Sparklers for Midnight

BOTTOM ROW: Gold Table Runner; Gold Polka Dot Garland; Gold Star Swizzle Sticks

We'll be sure to share some snaps of the final product with you next week /next year!

Weekend Wisdom

We figure there's not many weddings on this weekend, so we thought we'd provide some Christmas advice instead:

Haha! No really, have a great one! xo

A Backyard Christmas

Two days and counting! Christmas is such an exciting time of year, the time of year people love to go over the top (we love over the top) on catering for friends and family and making their houses looks festive for all to enjoy. This year we decided to do a backyard Christmas shoot with Mel Boulden Photography. Using our own families Christmas days as inspiration we have created a beautiful setting that still feels relaxed and down to earth; just like Chrissy day in Australia should be!

There is always the joy of excitement and anticipation in children’s eyes when they are getting organized for Santa’s arrival. Cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeers!

The christmas table is of course the piece de resistance! It's where everyone gathers and the real spirit of a 'Family Christmas' lives. Every year we put a lot of thought into how we decorate the table.. and this year we've been guided by the backyard setting. It's Christmas, but there' no red in sight!


This year we went with a natural colour scheme of Brown, Green and Silver which we thought fit the backyard settting.. and we incorporated natural items like pinecones (which we talked about just the other day), as well as using  garden items to provide everyone with their own little 'christmas tree' place setting.

A table under a tree always provides that much needed shade on an hot Christmas day, not to mention a lovely ambiance. And in our homes there's never enough matching chairs when Nan, Pop and all the Aunties and Uncles are around, so we thought we'd recreate that to show that a table can still look great with mismatched chairs placed around it! 

Get a little creative with your pressies this year, not everything has to be wrapped in the horrid Christmas paper you scored for $2 at the cheap shop. These gifts were wrapped for the same price you would probably need to spend on a couple of tacky rolls of reindeer paper – yet look handmade with love!

Setting up a separate drinks table is a great way to keep the clutter of the dinner table. It also offers the family another part of the yard to gather around and chat.Why not make a signature Christmas drink... you never know you may start a new family tradition! Mulled wine, egg nog, sangria, a special xmas cocktail.. there's so many options!

Thanks Mel for coming along to shoot this one. It was great to meet you and your cute-as-pie kiddies!
We hope that everyone has a beautiful Christmas. xx

Decorating with Pinecones

We had such fun playing with pinecones at our Christmas Shoot, that it got us thinking about other ways that we could use these little things.

Pinecones are not just a Christmas decoration, they're available all year round, are easy to find and are oh-so-versatile. We love making use of the items around us: not only is it fun to craft pretty things out of nothing, but it's also sustainable. And that is becoming more and more important to many brides when considering their wedding plans.

So.. here are some of our favourite ideas for how to use pinecones at any rustic, natural themed event..

Pinecone place-settings or seating cards

Rustic Wedding Chic

Libby James

Pinterest

Pinecones in Bouquets

Grey Likes Weddings

Pinterest

Or as a boutonniere -your groom will be happy with something a little more masculine than a flower. 

Ruffled Blog

Pinecone Centrepieces

100 Layer Cake

Wedding Chicks

Pottery Barn

Pinecone Photo Props - How sweet is this?

Green Wedding Shoes

Pinecone themed invitations. 

We love this stamp. It could be used to spread the pinecone theme from your stationery, through to your favours and your place settings.. and more.  

Yellow Owl Workshop

Painted pinecones

If you're not a rustic-girl, these babies can also be easily painted to suit your colour theme.They add brilliant texture to any arrangement.

Oh Joy

There you have it. Would you have a pinecone themed wedding?

We'll show you what we did with pinecones for Christmas in a couple of days when we see the final edit. 

xo

Sneak Peak: Christmas

On Friday, we embarked on our first styled shoot! We decided to get into the spirit of the season and set-up a Christmas setting, in the style of an Aussie Backyard Soiree.

The lovely Mel Boulden came along to photograph it for us. She was great and we're already looking forward to working with her again on something fun!
Since she has provided us with some sneak preview pics (and since we're a bit excited) we thought we'd share just one here!

Full blog post to follow in a few days. 

SA Wedding Venues: Part One - Adelaide Hills

It is fair to say that Adelaide is a great place to live! Our city is easy and convenient with everything you could possibility need within a 15 minute drive. The other bonus is we are so close to some spectacular wine country; most of them less than an hour drive from the CBD. Over the coming weeks we will be sharing with you some of the more rustic and unusual venues South Australia has to offer, I am sure you will fall in love with these as much as we have. This week we are profiling some of the best from the Adelaide Hills as well as the foothills of the suburbs.

Let’s get started!

Bird In Hand Winery

The Bird in Hand Winery is 35 minutes from the CBD. The scenery is very picturesque with rolling hills and vineyards. The winery can cater for up to 350 guests for a sit down dinner and 600 for cocktail.

Photo from Polkadot Bride

Take a look at their facebook page to see some more photos of previous weddings at this venue! They look so fun and quirky!

Golding Wines

Another winery in the Hills with a beautiful rustic barn is Golding Wines. These guys can cater for up to 150 guests seated and 25o cocktail. The beautiful outdoor area would be perfect for a cocktail wedding followed by plenty of barn dancing later! There is also a large lawn area for ceremonies, yet being only 35 minutes drive from the CBD there is no reason why couples couldn’t get married in town and then have the reception at Goldings afterward. If you’re wedding is in summer they also do sit down dinner outside under the stars. Beautiful!

Photo from Landscape SA

Longview Winery

Longview is slightly harder to get to, but is well worth the effort! This place is booked out all year round for weddings, and when you attend a wedding here you can understand why! The exposed beams in the barn style function room are a dream element to a room for a stylists. There is so much opportunity to really do some amazing things in this venue.

Photo from Glam Adelaide

Woodhouse

Here is one for you that is a little bit different! Owned by the Scouts, here is a rustic school-camp style venue that allows your guests to stay overnight. Yay - what could be more fun than a sleepover wedding!?! The house can be booked out for 48 hours. Imagine a whole weekend wedding shared with your nearest and dearest!

Have a garden wedding in the pretty grounds… or in the on-site CHAPEL (!!!) then either move inside to the ballroom for dinner - or set up a marquee for the reception.

Party the night away and at the end of it all, everyone can just drift on up to bed, the house itself sleeps 60 people!

And on the Sunday morning you can share brekkie and re-live the fun from the night before heading off. I think this would be so much fun! And such a relaxed intimate vibe.

Photo from Woodhouse website

Stonyfell Winery

Even closer to the city, this venue is just on the outskirts of town – it is a beautiful venue if you are wanting to have the whole wedding within the city (only 10 minutes from CBD). The barn style vintage hall is home to a huge open fire place; perfect for a winter wedding! Can you imagine your guests sipping some beautiful red wine while they gather around a roaring fire? You also get fantastic views of the city lights from the front terrace which can be enjoyed all year yet I suspect would be truly beautiful on a warm summer night.

Photo from Weddings SA

With the hills only a 25 minute drive away these venues are ideal for couples still wishing to stay in the city the night of their wedding. Yet when you are already in such a beautiful location, why not enjoy it the night of and the day after your wedding!

Weekend Wedding Wisdom: Rainy Day Weddings

Each weekend we're sharing a fun piece of advice for the weddings to come.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is looking a little shady with cloud and rain on the way. It's not what a bride expects when she plans a December wedding... so we thought this was a timely reminder for Brides to Be.

Don't let the rain 'rain on your parade'!:

Live to Inspire

Then again, maybe rain isn't an imperfection...
We have found some pics of rainy weddings that look like perfection.
These will almost make you want a rainy day wedding.

Pics are by Phillip Wise via Bowties and Bliss

Have a great weekend people!

The "Tutu Cute" Baby Shower

The inspiration for this Baby Shower came when I was making some tulle pompoms one day..(as you do!)
It struck me that they looked like little mini tutus floating in the air.
How cute..?! .... Tutu Cute! ... Baby Girls are Tutu Cute!

Mum-to-be Danni knew she was having a baby girl, so a pink 'tutu' themed event was perfectly girly.
Here are some photos of the end result.

We selected the pretty polka dot fabric for backdrop and table cloth and we handcrafted the pom-poms, singlet letters, labels and set-up all the rest.
We definitely don't profess to be stationers and normally we'd call in the pro's for papergoods, but we don't mind a bit of craft so this time we helped create the little mini tutu invitations too.

This would be a gorgeous theme for a little girl's birthday too - and could be adapted with other colours like a lemon yellow or all white.

Hope you like it!

A&J's Rustic Garden Party

Pod&Pea's first wedding was a special one. Not just because it was the first - but because it happens to be one of our own. As in, it was Jessica's wedding!
Back then, Pod&Pea was to be named.. it was just a dream in our heads. But this was our first opportunity to really do what we love and we thoroughly enjoyed styling every element of this pretty party.

We've already been lucky enough to have this wedding featured on one of our favourite blogs - STYLE ME PRETTY, so head over there to view the full post.

We thought we would also share some of the details here.

Invitations drawn by the talented Andy at Little Bones
If you look closely, the words in the tree say "Adam and Jess sitting in a tree.. first comes love.. then comes marriage"

Home-made directional signs by Pod&Pea.
Cool Kombi Vans can be hired from Kombis 4 U. We LOVE these!
Assorted Jars & Bottes make great rustic decorations.

Crate, Rose Petals & Personalised Bags by Pod&Pea.
Hessian table runners.
Wooden  slabs were used as Table Decoration and Menu Holders.

Mismatched jars and vases, along with wood created a rustic atmosphere.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen were all mismatched (within the orange colour scheme).
Since the venue was previously a jam factory, we customised jam jars to double as place cards and bonbonniere.  

Back OVER HERE, we talked about the importance of asking for help. On this particular day, Jessica was the bride and Jacinta was a guest.. so we did exactly that and called in the help of the girls at Mary&Gabrielle Events & Design to help execute our plans. These lovely ladies followed our instructions and example photos to a tee and really helped ensure everything looked according to our vision.

We hope you've enjoyed your first taste of styling by Pod&Pea. All items you see above are available for hire, so if you like anything then get in touch!
We'll be sharing plenty of stories and photos of more of our events over the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned!

Venue: Glen Ewin Estate. We love this place.
All Photography by James Field. We love him.
Other vendors are credited above/throughout, but let us know if you want more info!

xo

Friday Wisdom Worth Remembering

We've decided that every Friday, we're going to share a piece of wisdom for the upcoming weekend's weddings. Here's the first one for all of the brides out there..

Your wedding is a party that you have spent the last 12 months (or more) organising. In fact, it's a day that you have probably spent a good few years prior to getting engaged thinking about. Details like the style, location, colour palette, who your bridesmaids would be and what your dress might look like all probably ran through your mind at some point in the years leading up to your engagement. Then once engaged, it's full steam ahead; making bookings, buying the dress, ceremony venue, reception venue, photographer,  bridesmaids, groomsmen, their outfits, drinks menu, food menu, ceremony styling, venue styling, cars, guest, seating arrangements, entertainment...whooh have i missed anything? Probably.

It's no wonder so many Brides become stressed in the lead up to their big day! There's so much time and effort put into making the day perfect, as well as years of day dreaming, list keeping and internet surfing. This emotional investment means you want everything to be perfect!

But when it comes down to it, nothing can go so wrong it could ruin this day.
Your day has already gone to plan once you make it through your vows.

Jump forward to, let's say, your first wedding anniversary. A wedding anniversary is remembered and celebrated because it is the day you married the one that you love, not the day that you threw a great party for everyone! (although lets face it,everyone does love a good party)
Do you think your guests noticed any little imperfection? And even if they did, do you think they gave two hoots or can recall what they were now? The answer is probably not, and neither should you!

So our advice: Relax and soak it all in. Take delight in the happiness a party brings, but be content with the one who takes you home.