Hendricks - Our New Years Chocolate Puppy

I can't believe that it has almost been 3 weeks that our little family member flew over from Melbourne. Hendricks is already 3 kilos heavier and has a fascination with bubble baths and his own tail.  Welcome to the family Mr Hendricks Stuart, please stop growing so fast.

My 2 boys Brian & Hendricks

And yes we did name him after our love of gin.

E N G A G E M E N T P A R T Y - Bubbles all round

So as some of you may know I recently got E N G A G E D to my partner in crime Brian aka B-Unit. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world and have been celebrating non stop with all of our friends family and loved ones. As the engagement happened in the gorgeous Edinburgh Scotland when we were back there on our Christmas holidays, it gave us a great excuse to have a party with our Australian family when we arrived back in Perth. So the booze was ordered, beers were chilled, caterers organised, invites sent and decorations made.

Here is a little snap shot of our day and links to suppliers, providers and caterers that made the occasion such a success. Enjoy :)

Happiness  (Photo by J.Shepherd)

Details:

25th January 2015

4:00pm - 10:00pm

My Parents House & Garden, Subiaco

Food & Drink Served

Invite Only

Invitations

If you are on a budget then DIY is a great option which allows to you have complete control over every aspect and enables those necessary last minute changes. For me I took this opportunity to really test out how it would be like doing invitations for the big day (eek!). I am glad I did this as there are definitely some things that every bride to be should know before sending out invites.

Now if you go onto Pinterest and search wedding invites it can be quite overwhelming, but it is a must! Who new there were so many ways to invite people to a party? Figure out what you like, what you don't like, but most importantly make it personal to you as a couple? Our inspiration was simple Edinburgh, a city that now has a special place in out hearts and a memory we will always cherish. So this is what we came up with:

Our invitations :)

Things I will note for the final wedding invitations and save the dates:

• Have them ready in advance, they took longer to put together then I initially thought.
• Use a professional printer, the quality is superior and really shows. The majority of printing companies will also help with cutting or any design ideas that you may have. BONUS!
• Get photoshop. Although I am happy with the out come I know I could of been a lot more creative if I had Adobe installed, but the time frame & budget was just to tight at the time.
• Get more than 2 people to check the final proof. I am saddened to say that unfortunately our invites had an address error despite two proofs (no one noticed but I had to contact everyone before the event to confirm the location).

Caterers

Now I can't take any of the credit for this as my lovely Mum organised the gorgeous catering, but I wanted to thank and highlight two fantastic companies (mother and daughter) who supplied the most incredible food at our celebration. Everything was demolished and everybody was raving about it. I highly recommend On Tray Catering and Banana Rawpublic if you want yummy food, fantastic personal service which is tailor made to your special occasion.

On Tray Catering

Yummy Yummy Yummy are the three words that I would use to describe their food. It was incredible and the service was faultless. What made them special apart from the mouth watering food was they tailored it to our needs, helping us with dietary requirements and offering so many choices that you could ensure that everyone was happy. My favourites from the day were the dukkah crusted prawns and the feta stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto. See our specially tailored menu & photos below.

On Tray Catering Perth WA

Menu from our Engagement Party by On Tray Catering

Banana Rawpublic
Firstly follow this incredible duo (Courtney & Todd) on Instagram  to get an idea of just how amazing their Raw food is and then secondly take my word for just how amazing they are. We ordered mini lemon cheesecakes and they were insane. I have never seen raw food that looked or tasted as good as these. Everyone had 2 they were that good and no one could not believe how fantastic they tasted. Half of them refused to believe that they were vegan and raw. I will defiantly be using them again at any opportunity and so should you.

Banana Rawpublic - Amazing! Follow these guys on Instagram. I highly recommend their services for any of your upcoming events YUM YUM

 Booze Bubbles and Beers

With mum taking the catering Brian and I set about doing the alcohol :) lets be honest it is the most important job for a party. But like everyone else trying to throw a party it is so difficult trying to calculate how much alcohol (wine, beer and bubbles) to buy everyone. So we have all heard of these formulas or online calculators that tell you how much to buy. But to be honest with a guest list of 35 people Brian and I were pretty confident that we could organise this without some online wizard. We did try a calculator and it suggested ordering a ridiculous quantity. You know your friends better and you know what your friends like. Trust your gut. We knew that our friends inhale bubbles  (Redbank Emily Brut) and like pale ale as well as larger so we ordered that as well as some red and white wine (Vasse Felix). Anything that we were left with was a bonus :) Dan Murphy's were our supplier with their online ordering system and brilliant delivery service it was done within 15 mins. Brilliant.

 

 

Favours

Important fact about an Engagement Party or even your Wedding for that matter, favours are important! They send your guests home with a little something to remind them of the night, and they also act as a way of telling them how much you appreciate them being there to celebrate your special moment. Pinterest was my friend for this and I instantly fell in love with the below idea! Also super cheap and relatively easy to do :)

Note: There are so many options out there for favours varying in prices suit ideas that suit your party, guests and budget.

Jam Jars filled with homemade popcorn - He Popped the Question

You need the following:

• Jam Jars with lids (enough for one per couple)
• Popcorn maker
• Labels and decorations as appropriate
• Recipe used : 'Rosemary, Garlic & Parmesan Popcorn'

He Popped the Question - Rosemary, Garlic and Parmesan Popcorn

Brian and I had a fantastic day, our tender states the next day showed how good of a time we had. We want to thank all our loved ones who came and thank all the caterers and suppliers that made our day special. Thank you.

See more photos from our party below. If you celebrated your engagement, please share how you made your day special, I would love to see and share ideas on this, whether is caterers locations, etc. Either drop me an email or comment on this post below :)

Hamish my brother with the Dukkah Prawns Yummy Photo by J.Shepherd

Me enjoying the party - Photo by J.Shepherd

Homemade bunting 



Me and my amazing father xx

Our new courtyard - Bring on the BBQs and beers

Upon receiving an extravagant pressie from M & D for our Christmas, Brian and I wanted to create a cool and clean entertaining space. So BBQ shopping we went. Now I shall be honest I know nothing about BBQs, a 4 burner a 2 burner the list goes on, and so Brian undoubtedly took charge. It turns out we came home with more than just a BBQ, we came home with a face-lift for our entire courtyard. All we are missing is a couple of funky citronella candles, twinkling fairy lights and some bold lanterns.

Red and Lime Stripped Deck Chairs - BBQ Galore
Beef Master BBQ - BBQ Galore

So this got me thinking…..What other fun things can I add to the space to make it welcoming and quirky? Bring on Pinterest pinning and Polyvore Pasting. If you have any recommendations for additions let me know. The more out there and creative the better. Here are my favourite so far.

      1) Set of 2 Classic White Hurricane Outdoor Lanterns -$99.95 Earth Homewares 2) Small Vintage Copper Cup Hanging Planter $68.91  Etsy 3) Large Hanging Planter/Basket with hand spun copper/ brass bowl & antique chain $187.95 Etsy.com   

ART & SOLE - A Review by Dressing Down Under

ART & SOLE

Jane Gershon Weitzman

05.12.2014

 

 

 

A review by Dressing Down Under:

Like most women when I think of Stuart Weitzman I think shoes, detailed, jewelled, special statements that make every woman wearing them feel like a real woman and every female who saw them being worn hate the owner out of pure jealousy. Being a shoe obsessor myself I could not pass down the opportunity to gawk at the wonderful creations displayed by collaborating artists and imagine them on my feet. “Stuart Weitzman understands that a great shoe is about more than form or function; it is about making a woman feel beautiful.” (GRI, 2014, http://www.griretail.com/brands/stuart-weitzman/ )

When the book arrived I was delighted, they don’t make books like this anymore, and when I say ‘book’ I mean a proper book, a hardback novel with vibrant colours, and gold edged thick pages. It is the kind of volume you dreamt about having in your extravagant imaginary library when you grew up.  Everyone wanted a library right? There was something about having a room dedicated to dusty, oversized novels that just screamed excessive success.  With vibrant red, gold and embellished shoes Art & Sole is every girls dream to read with a cup of tea snuggled up on the sofa.

Art & Sole written by Jane Gershon Weitzman, Stuart Weitzman’s wife, contains a selection of stunning and unique shoes that in her mind “represent the best of more than a thousand that have appeared in Stuart Weitzman stores over the years.” (Jane Gershon Weitzman, 2014). Opening with a short and punctual introduction you are given a personal insight into the world of Weitzman, the inside story to the creation of one of the most iconic shoe designers in the world.

Containing 150 fantasy shoes excellently photographed by Lucas Zarebinski, Art & Sole beautifully captures the best of collaborating artists who were commissioned for Stuart Weitzman’s Madison Avenue retail store, and displays in spectacular detail the wonder of each unique piece. Every page and every single photograph beautifully exhibits the individual shoes as unique works of art. With over 30 diverse artists, the range of materials used is vast and highly unusual within the footwear industry.  Made from silk, acrylic film, ceramic, frosting, Swarovski crystals, corrugated cardboard, steel, resin and even paper, you start to believe that there is nothing that cannot be used to make a killer pair of heels and probably nothing left, that hasn’t been used in a pair Stuart Weitzman shoes.

My favourite shoes from the collection are Tiny Trellis (pg. 39) by Anthony Rosiello, Bedazzled (pg. 151-151) by Kathy Wegman and Jewels at Work (pg. 186-187 image below) by Sharon Von Senden.

Jewels at Work, Sharon Von Senden

 

Art & Sole is a beautiful book and I would recommend it be the perfect gift for any self-confessed shoe fanatic, fashionista and art enthusiasts.  Buy this for your shopping buddy, your mother, your sister or even men buy this and slip it into your girlfriends stocking this Christmas. It is a guaranteed hit and something that will keep us women quiet, well maybe only for 5 minutes but that is why they invented chocolate no?



Stuart Weitzman - Art & Sole A Timeless Holiday Gift Pr

PRESS RELEASE BY PAULA ROSADO PR
Press Contact: Paulo Rosado
paula@paularosadopr.com
P: 212.594.2552

S T U A R T

W E I T Z M A N

ART & SOLE

A Timeless Holiday Gift

For Shoe and Art Aficionados Everywhere

By Jane Gershon Weitzman

NEW YORK, NEW YORK,  September 2014 - The perfect book for shoe lovers, fashionistas, art aficionados, and a timeless holiday treasure, Jane Gershon Weitzman's ART & SOLE features shoes made from highly unique materials - feathers, paper, ceramic, metal, resin, playing cards, corrugated cardboard, Swarovski crystals, even fresh flowers and frosting - with remarkable intricate construction. ART & SOLE showcases approximately 150 shoes of the more than 1,000 Jane Weitzman discovered and commissioned for the windows of the first Stuart Weitzman retail shop on Madison Avenue in the mid 1990s. Using the best of this collection, many of the shoes are in printed form for the first time.

With an introduction by Jane Weitzman, the shoes are featured along with brief, identifying captions, in an impeccably designed, graphically compelling, package making a timeless holiday gift for anyone on your list. Author Jane Weitzman is continuing her cross-country tour where she has had speaking engagements at over 40 locations nationwide including The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and the Mint Museum in North Carolina. Throughout her tour she has been speaking book fairs and for charities such as the Philadelphia Aids Fund, and local Breast Cancer events as well as many others.

A vibrant red cloth case with an elaborate crystal shoe embossed in detail on the front cover, gilded edging and a satin ribbon marker make this book an irresistible treasure and great conversation starter for the shoe lover, art enthusiast, or interior designer worldwide.

About the Author:

Jane Gershon Weitzman was the Executive Vice President of Stuart Weitzman and the first Vice President of Stuart Weitzman Retail. She spearheaded philanthropy for the company by generating funds to support breast and ovarian cancer research and awareness. Her efforts were brought to life through innovative charity events on the brand's website, such as the Stuart Weitzman Celebrity Breast Cancer Shoe Auction, and is retail stores. She serves on the Trust Board of the Boston Children's Hospital.

IMAGES FEATURED INSIDE ART & SOLE

AUTOMATA VI (Pg 129)

TIN CAN ALLEY (Pg 32-33)

CORRUGATED CURVES VI (Pg 107)

Boohoo you are amazing as always

After the announcement and press release of the Exclusive Australian Boohoo Collection, I proceeded to have a look through their current offering. 4 hours later on their website and I have convinced myself that I have to have all three of these amazing pieces in my collection.

Go to boohoo.com now and get lost like I did, trust me it is well worth it :)

Exclusive Australian Boohoo Collection

boohoo introduce ‘The Edit’

A new SS14 collection built around the 8 key wardrobe essentials every girl should own

This Spring Summer sees leading UK based fashion retailer boohoo introduce ‘The Edit’. 

The new season collection delivers the latest SS14 trends with something for every occasion from the upcoming festival season to Christmas holiday, but this season all of the trends have been built around a 8 piece capsular wardrobe. 

'We travel to Australia regularly and noticed that the ever fashion conscious Australian girl often built her outfit around a classic wardrobe essential, such as the denim cut off or classic white shirt.  Building on this idea we decided to build our new season trends around these key items.’               Carol Kane, CEO at boohoo

The Edit is made up of the classic white shirt, the boyfriend jean, the Breton top, denim cut off, classic white blazer, the skinny jean with ripped knees, the lace white dress and denim shirt.

Inspired by the casual elements of Australian fashion, California Road Trip is a relaxed trend with simple silhouettes and a cool toned colour palette. Key pieces include the white maxi dress and the tasselled top, with denim playing a big part of the collection.

Teamed with the basics, Liquid Metal is a structured trend of elegant co-ordinates and dresses with a metallic focused endgame.  Key details of the range are sequin embellishment and a colour palette of gold and silver with complimenting accessories such as the body chain and metallic gladiators.

Bold tones and tribal prints are the main focus of Indian Jungle, a textured trend with a heavy emphasis on detailing. Beading, feathers and jewelled accents are set on running shorts and longline kimonos, with key accessories including printed headbands and gold accents.

A little bit about boohoo  

·         From Manchester’s best kept fashion secret to one of 
the fastest growing international etailers, boohoo.com 
has quickly evolved into a global fashion leader of its generation. 



·         Combining cutting-edge design with an affordable price 
tag, boohoo has been pushing boundaries for the past eight 
years to bring you all the latest looks for less.


·         With up 
to 100 pieces hitting site every day and a new collection
each week, we never stop - it’s 24/7 fashion at its best.

(See the following post for Dressing Down Unders Favourite pieces from the collection.)