To start things off here is a little project from the wedding that we've already covered on the blog - paddle fans. With an outdoor ceremony in the hot sun, fans were just the thing. Designed as a 'passport to a relaxed wedding' to tie in with our travel theme with colours and details that were used in the invitations. To see how to make your own paddle fans click here.

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments and well wishes. The wedding went perfectly. Beautiful location and great weather. I thought I'd start by sharing a little mood board of our inspiration for the big day. I think a great place to start planning a wedding is colour - so I began with my favourite colours purple and turquoise. From there we thought about things that are relevant to us as a couple. We both share a love of photography and we spent many years traveling the world together so we decided to reflect this on the day with a travel photography theme. I'm usually very good about posting pic credits but with this being my own wedding I didn't collect them, so apologies.

You might have noticed by now that we are big fans of etsy on 'i do' it yourself. I first discovered the site early last year looking for online outlets to sell some photography. We're all better at some crafts than others, so when you cant, or when you just don't have enough time to DIY, a great option is to support handmade. As you read through our the blog you'll often come across our suggestions for beautiful handmade gowns or stunning accessories that can be purchase on sites such as etsy or made it. I bought these beautiful hair pins for my own wedding from Canberra based seller Percy Handmade who has a fantastic selection of bridal accessories.

So I thought I'd start this month by sharing my own wedding invitation. I can't tell you how difficult it was to make a decision on this, so many possibilities especially as a wedding invitation designer! Our wedding is loosely themed around vintage travel photography to reflect our love of photos the fact we spent many years traveling the world together. I chose three simple square inserts, a formal invite, a map and a 'to do on the day list' in pale aqua and purple. They are held together in a petal envelope printed with a vintage map design. (I chose this because of the way the folds of the petal envelope remind me of a camera shutter) The invitation is finished off with little paper travel tags addressed to each guest and tied up with string.

Well as I mentioned yesterday, Im getting married this month. So as you can imagine things have been pretty crazy around the 'i do' it yourself office juggling the website, wedding stationery orders and my own DIY. But I guess thats just what ever DIY bride goes through, working and DIYing. :)