Happy Anniversary Brett & Kate

Kate Voegele is one of my favourite artists. I have been a fan since seeing her on One Tree Hill and her rendition of Hallelujah is my favourite version of that beautiful song.

So naturally on this, the first anniversary of her wedding to Lacrosse player Brett Hughes, I’d like to say congratulations on finding your soul mate and I hope you two have many more happy years and adventures together!

On this day last year, Kate’s hubby-to-be tweeted “My best friend and I got some stuff to take care of today!”, to which she responded “let’s do this!!! :)”.

And earlier today she shared this lovely snap of their wedding day last year in New Orleans, with the caption “1 yr ago I married my best friend in my favourite city! Great to be in Nola again! Happy anniversary @Bret_Hughes!”.

But Kate isn’t the only one who brags about her other half. In an interview last January with I AM THAT GIRL, when asked to share about a girl in his life who rocked, Brett said “It would be very easy to say my wife Kate Voegele as she is the girl that rocks me every day with her amazing heart for others. She’s the most humble and honest person I know and the girl that puts up with me day in and day out.” Awwwww!

Here are a couple more pictures of the happy couple’s big day, courtesy of Kate’s website:

All the best, Gaby xXx

Dave and Danielle’s Love Story

“I love how much he makes me laugh, everything we do turns to fun.
 I think that's the glue to our relationship!”

Sandy toes and salty kisses… the perfect way to describe Dave and Danielle’s romantic coastal inspired wedding. For a couple that is well known for laughing their way through everything, there was no better way to celebrate their love than surrounding their family and friends with lots of sun, fun and laughter.

It all started in April 2008 when they met at Virgin Active East Dorset gym, where they were both working as personal trainers. She fell for his sense of humour (and old Army uniform) and he fell for her eyes (and small gym tops).

Fast-forward four years to a relaxing getaway in Newquay, when during a walk along the cliffs at Little Fistral beach, Dave popped the question, “he hadn’t said anything for a while, I asked if he was OK and he got down on one knee! We celebrated with cigars and champagne”, remembers the bride.

Completely inspired by the beach, they planned their perfect wedding, and this past August 31st, they celebrated the most special day of their lives with a ceremony at Kenwyn Church in Truro, followed by a reception at the Glendorgal Hotel in Newquay. Their guests enjoyed the perfect seaside nuptials, complete with a funny photo booth, dance floor flip-flops, fireworks, beach hut favours, and tasty treats in the form of an ice cream trike and a coastal crepe cart.

As if that wasn’t amazing enough, they also had pre and post wedding festivities! The night before their ceremony they hosted a beach BBQ at Lusty Glaze Beach with a marquee and a game of volleyball, and the Saturday after the wedding Dave and Danielle had a party at Keywest Restaurant on Bournemouth Pier, where they put up a slide show of the wedding photos and had many more celebratory drinks with all the friends that couldn’t make it to the Cornish celebration, and not even the groom's football injury, suffered shortly after the wedding, could put a damper on their happiness.

ASK THE BRIDE

Favourite part of the your experience?

The beginning of our journey, when we were looking for places to have the wedding. We decided to get married in our favourite place, which is where I grew up in Cornwall. I loved making lots of weekend trips to visit the venues. Being shown around hotels, marquees and castles with lots of champagne made it all feel very special.

How did you pick your dress?

This was the hardest thing about the whole experience! I can’t remember the amount of times I said “this is the one”, I loved them all! I live in jeans and flip-flops so I decided to go for a dress that would really make me feel like a bride! It was a Justin Alexander style 8637 and I bought it from Pascali Bridal in Parkstone.

Most special part of the day?

Talking to Dave behind the door on the morning, when he touched my fingers I felt butterflies as if it was our first date, all my nervous feelings went away and I just couldn’t wait to see him at the church!

I also loved the fireworks at the end of the day, they were a perfect way to end the wedding and watching them while cuddling my new husband was the best feeling ever.

Favourite funny moment?

Dave’s speech, when he said we had met at Virgin, and it was obviously misheard around the room!

Best souvenir or keepsake?

I love my ‘Wedding by the Sea’ heart, which was a present from Coastal Creatives, where we hired our coastal bits.

I also absolutely love our cake toppers, they will be displayed somewhere in our house. We wanted our cake to reflect us as a couple and tell our story! The bottom tier was us at the gym, which is where we met and something we are both in to, the middle tier was camping with our tent, which we do a lot in Newquay, and the top tier was on the wedding day.

Did the groom help?

Dave had one job, which was to send the menu options to the chef the week before the wedding. The night before the wedding I found out he had missed out 2 tables, so at the beach BBQ I was going around asking guests if they remembered what they had chosen to eat.

What was your first dance?

Amazed by Lonestar, we chose that song after we heard it in a taxi after a night out, we sang it very loudly to the taxi man and decided it would be our first dance! We didn’t rehearse at all before the wedding so on the day we just rocked from side to side and back and forth, luckily the photos don’t reflect that.

“Dave went body boarding the morning of the wedding, when I kissed him in the church all I could taste was beer and sea water! Sandy toes, Salty kisses was definitely true”

Bridal Shopping Tips

My search for the dress spanned for many months, through quite a few stores and a couple countries. This is what I learned along the way… hope it helps!

DO

* Leave enough time to order the dress, some stores don’t sell off the rack and will need to have the dress in your size brought in.

* Listen but ignore: everyone has an opinion of what you should look like and what suits you, but the only one that matters is yours. So listen to their comments but don’t let them influence your choices, or you might second-guess your dress down the line.

* Leave your comfort zone. You may have a set idea of what you want but there is no harm trying on something different and you may end up finding something even better than you imagined.

* If you’re having a destination wedding, make sure you check with the airline if you can take your dress as hand luggage. I made the mistake of not checking and was left with a last minute struggle of deciding if I should risk putting it in checked baggage or trying to squash it into a tiny hand luggage case.

* If the store will allow it, take pictures of you wearing the dress so you can look back at your options when dress shopping elsewhere, you can compare them better that way.

* Set a budget and stick to it. You will try on many stunning dresses and some will be out of your price range, but no matter how beautiful they are you have to try and stay within budget or you will suffer later trying to make ends meet.

* When you find a dress you like, try on a tiara and veil from the same store, it will help you get that bridal feeling and you might get a good price if you buy all three from the same place.

* Follow your instincts. If you can’t stop thinking about a dress days after you left the store chances are that might be ‘the one’.

DON’T

* Don’t buy in the first store, shop around a little and see what is out there, if you like a dress from the first place, you can always go back.

* Don’t always shop with the same person, chances are your mom, sisters, bridesmaids and grannies will all want to share that with you so try to go with a different person to each appointment, that way everybody feels involved.

* Don’t let pushy sales people intimidate you, it doesn’t matter if they say you look like the most beautiful bride in the planet, if you’re not feeling it then you’re not feeling it! Next please!

* Don’t settle for a dress you are not 100% sure about, when you try on the right dress you will know it.

* DO NOT buy your dress from an unknown online retailer, if it’s cheap and it’s advertised as the kind of business where you send them the picture of your favourite designer dress and they make you the exact same one for a fraction of the price, DO NOT fall for it. There are many horror stories about this sort of ‘company’.

All the best, Gaby xXx

The Dress... Part II

The white dress. We’ve all seen it in our minds, closed our eyes and pictures ourselves in that beautiful gown, leaving everyone (especially the groom) in awe of our beauty on one of the most special days of our lives.

Many people think that white is meant to represent purity in the bride but this is actually a myth (according to my research). The white dress was actually the result of a royal wedding, for when the British Monarchs Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (who had a remarkable love story) tied the knot, she chose to wear white and brides around the world started to follow suit, so actually, it was a fashion statement. The white dress then became a way for the bride’s family to show all in attendance that they could afford such luxuries as an extravagant gown for they daughter to wear for one night only.

But enough history, as someone who has done her fair share of dress hunting in an effort to find ‘the one’, I’d like to share my experience (and a few tips) with you. This may sound a little crazy but I actually tried on dresses in four countries! I can see how you would think that could be a little extreme but I just really wanted to find the right one for me, as will you!

I was living in Bolivia when I got engaged so naturally I checkout out a bridal store in Santa Cruz Rosa y Gris Novias to see what they had to offer, unfortunately most of the dresses they had were a few sizes to small, apparently curvy girls don’t get married in Bolivia, and what they did have in my size was just not my style. I then considered having it custom made, as this is the norm in many South American countries, however there just wasn’t enough time as my flight to the UK was fast approaching.

Halfway through my engagement I moved to the UK (where my fiancé lived) and tried on dresses in London during an all day trip with my mom. We hit two stores and tried on many dresses in each one. First we went to All That Glitters in the Wimbledon area, the service there was absolutely fantastic, the lady was so helpful and gave good suggestions as to what I should try.

Then we tried the Romantic Fashion Design Gallery, now called Zomo Couture near Oxford Street. It was a bit more boutique than the previous store and I felt like I should’ve had my hair and makeup done to go there, but the ladies were nice and the dresses were gorgeous! Here I tried on the most fantastic dress (I still have dreams about it), The Ronald Joyce Padova, and if I’d had an unlimited budget I would have bought it on the spot.

So the search continues in Glasgow where I attended The Scottish Wedding Show 2012. It was an interesting experience and there were only two fitting rooms in the whole venue so the queue to try on dresses was a little long. I only tried on one, which was lovely but not right for me. Moving on.

And so I reach the last leg of my wedding dress tour, the USA. I visited my aunt in Kansas City towards the end of 2012 and she took me to two stores, the first was David’s Bridal. They had a lot of dresses but none that really felt like the one.

Finally we reach Amore Bridal. My aunt had been right about this place, it had some absolutely stunning dresses, which made it difficult to decide which to try. One by one I tried them on, and finally I found what I was looking for, even if I hadn’t known it. I had been searching for a lace dress, and the one I chose actually had no lace. I can’t explain it but when I tried it on, it just felt right. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Maune Huerta family for the most amazing wedding gift of all, my beautiful bridal gown (first picture on this post).

I hope you find the most perfect dress for you and that when you find it, it’s more than you ever dreamed of. Good luck.

All the best, Gaby xXx