How To Make A Flower Crown

Today I'm sharing with you how to make a flower crown! Perfect for a wedding, fancy dress or just as a beautiful headpiece to jazz up an outfit.

I originally planned to wear this crown for my wedding, however as this was my first go, it turned out a little bigger than I'd intended (I got a tad carried away adding more and more flowers!) so I'm probably going to make one that's a little more delicate for the big day. 

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty happy with how this flower crown turned out, so I figured I'd share with you how I created it!

I've made a video (see below) to go along with this post too if you'd prefer to watch rather than read :)

What you'll need:

1)  Florist Wire 

2)  Florist Tape (I used a mixture of the paper and parafilm kind)

3) Flowers (artificial or real) 

4) Greenery of some kind 

5) Wire Cutters

Step 1

Start off by creating a circle with the wire that fits nicely on your head. I was using quite fine wire so I twisted a few pieces together to give it a little added thickness and strength. I then used floral tape to wrap all around the wire so I had a neat base to work with.

Step 2

Position the greenery and start wiring it piece by piece onto the crown, overlapping as you go so that the base of the crown is fully covered.

Step 3 

It's time to start wiring the flowers. I've seen tutorials that say you're supposed to stab the wire through the top of the flower stem and then wrap it around the stem, however as my flowers were artificial, I had difficulty stabbing it through (and a few of the flowers, didn't even have much of a stem to wrap around), so instead I just looped the wire through the little hole at the top and then twisted it down so I had something to work with when attaching the flowers to the crown. It's difficult to explain so if you're confused you can check out the video and you'll be able to see this step more clearly.

I then used the florist tape to wrap and cover the wire

(I didn't want to be stabbed in the head with wire while I was wearing my crown so I may have gone a tad overboard with the tape!)

Step 4

Now comes the most fun part of positioning your flowers and wiring them to the crown.

For me there was definitely a bit of trial and error in this process!

Make sure to keep placing the crown on your head and checking in the mirror as you go, because the crown looks really different once you have it on your head!

This is particularly important if you're using bigger flowers as you want to make sure you're orientating them the correct way. It's also a good way to check that the wires are reasonably well hidden.

Because I wanted the flowers to be on the back of the crown, I just make sure to take lots of photos with the self timer on my camera as I went along to make sure it was coming together the way I wanted!

... and there you have it! :)

I hope it was helpful and I would love to see your creations if you give it a go!

Happy flower crown making!

Lauren

xxx

Wedding Planning Inspiration

Hello!

I don't know where the time has gone but somehow Tom and I have been engaged for 10 months now! We still have another year to go until our wedding but I'm starting to realise that when people tell you "the time will fly by", they're definitely right! While I do have a few of the bigger things sorted for the wedding (venue, photographer, videographer, and my dress!) I figured I should probably get started thinking about some of the other little details.

The thing is - I'm super excited about the wedding and pretty good at gathering inspiration, it's just the actual planning and decision making part that can get a little tricky! With the rabbit hole that is Pinterest, a myriad of wedding magazines to choose from and an endless number of photos to scroll through on Instagram, it can all get a little overwhelming at times!

I figured today I'd share with you some of my favourite sources of inspiration in the hopes that it might help you (if you happen to be getting married) as well as myself to focus on some of the "best bits" and not get so overwhelmed by the massive amounts of inspiration out there!

Here we go!

The Magazine

By far the best magazine I've come across is Hello May. When we first got engaged I bought a few different magazines, but Hello May has been the one I've found the most helpful and inspiring. It's different to the other glossy mags - featuring more "Real Weddings", less adds (instead they're more like "introductions" to cool vendors), slightly quirkier more unique ideas, and somehow it just has more heart to it. I love reading about the wedding from the couples perspective, how they went about the planning process and their favourite part of the day.

I particularly loved reading this quote by a groom talking about what marriage means to him -

"Marriage means: sharing my food with another human, sitting in the car for five minutes deciding what cafe to go to, going on midnight coconut ice cream road trips, play wrestling until one of us gets hurt, putting on our trackies and watching a kids movie, another coffee date, evening beach swims, cleaning the sink after washing up, learning to appreciate life's beauties, more coffee dates, and being able to wake up every day next to the most caring, beautiful person I have ever met. Did I mention coffee dates?"

I just thought that was so incredibly sweet, and it's nice to see little reminders of what it's all really about - appreciating the amazing person you're marrying!

The Podcast

I'm an avid podcast listener, so of course I had to find a podcast about wedding planning! Aleisha from the Bridechilla Podcast is an Aussie comedian living in London, and as she describes it, her podcast is all about "wedding planning without the bullshit!"

She's been podcasting for about two years now so her back catalogues is pretty huge (I'm still working my way through the older episodes), and she just gives really great advice from deciding on your guest list, to budgeting tips, fun ideas on how to make your wedding more "you", interviews with industry experts, as well as helping to solve any wedding planning problems during her Q&A Thursday episodes. She's hilarious and her podcast reminds you to get excited, have fun, enjoy the planning and not take things too seriously! 

The Blogs

There are just so many wedding blogs out there offering awesome advice and inspiration that I couldn't possibly choose just one favourite. A lot of these are ones I've found through Instagram or through listening to The Bridechilla Podcast and have really enjoyed the brief time I've spend reading them, but that I'd love to delve a bit deeper into when I get a chance. I think there's a lot of fab ideas to be gleaned from these blogs, but I just haven't had the time to really sit down and take it all in! This list is also a little reminder to me to check these out again when I get a chance!

Bridal Musings - A beautiful site that covers everything you need to know about wedding planning

Magnolia Rouge - The photos are just incredible!

Secret Wedding Blog - This is one I heard about from The Bridechilla Podcast. The editor Raj features "mainly multicultural weddings, fusion weddings and interfaith weddings" which are a little different to what you usually see on other wedding blogs. I love it!

Style Me Pretty - do I need to say anything more? :p

The Youtube Channels

Watching youtube videos is one of my favourite ways to just switch off from real life and chill out a bit. I don't know what it is, but listening to someone chat about makeup/fashion (my usual favourites) and in this case wedding planning can be really relaxing. (It also makes doing the ironing way more interesting!)

These girls have shared their wedding planning on youtube and it's fun to follow along with someone who's going through a similar process to what I am now. 

Becca Kay, Hayley Paige, Alexandra Garza, Cider With Rosie, Bride De Force, Alexandra Beuter, Katie and Baby

I also love Forestry Films. They're wedding videographers and their videos are so beautiful and heartwarming. Here's my favourite one.

So there's a few of my favourite places to look for wedding inspiration (otherwise known as ways to procrastinate the actual planning of the day)!
If you have any wedding planning tips and tricks or suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Have a beautiful Sunday!

Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx 

A Very Special Day on Cradle Mountain - Our Engagement Story

Heya! :)

I'm finally sharing these photos from December, our second last day in Tassie - the day that we spent about seven hours hiking around Cradle Mountain, and the day Tom proposed!!

Even though Tom and I had talked about getting engaged for a while (we'd been together for 6 years at that point), I honestly didn't think it was going to happen on this particular trip, so when Tom proposed at the (almost) top of Cradle Mountain, I was so surprised!

It was actually a spontaneous proposal, Tom hadn't been planning on doing it that day, so it was a bit of a surprise for him too! hehe ;)

Tom told me afterwards that he'd been trying for a while to think of the best way to propose - something that wasn't too corny or overdone, but that would be really special, and while we were walking along this plateau boardwalk area, amongst the beautiful mountain scenery with no-one else around, the perfect moment just sort of presented itself! We were sitting down on a step having a rest,  I got up to continue on when Tom said "Just wait a moment ... I guess this is as good a time as any... I could plan and plan, but I don't know when we're going to have a setting as amazing as this... so..." 

After that point, I actually can't remember anything else he said, as I was completely surprised. I just teared up and kept saying "Really?! Are you serious?!"  over and over while giving him a big hug and eventually saying "Yes of course!". My response was kinda ridiculous, but I'd been thinking about this moment for a while, and my brain just wasn't processing the fact that it was actually really happening! 

(Thank god no-one else was around to see it though! It would have been very embarrassing!)

So after that, we actually had another four hours to walk back, and the route we took ended up being way more difficult than the way we'd come! There were points where we were scrambling over rocks and thinking ... "we better not fall because there's no-one around and no phone reception!" It was a great walk though, and it gave us a little time to let it sink in - we were super excited and happy, but we didn't really feel any different!

I'd actually been a little grumpy before, after 3 hours walking in the sun and having a little stumble, but after the proposal I couldn't have been happier! My mum joked that Tom knew he needed to cheer me up so that's why he proposed at that moment! When we told Tom's parents, his mum was like "Well you're lucky she said yes - that could have been a very awkward walk back if she'd said no!" ;)

It was such a special and perfect moment and Tom really did a great job at surprising me (and himself too actually!) When we got back to Perth we went and looked at rings together and ended up having a beautiful ring custom made. I honestly couldn't be happier and I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world. It sound's so cheesy but it's true!

I know this is a very personal thing to be sharing, but I've said it many times before, this blog is like a diary and I love looking back at it, so of course I wanted to document this very special moment here. 

 I'm looking forward to blogging more about our wedding planning so hopefully you'll enjoy seeing  few wedding related posts!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

We're Engaged!

Hello hello :)

I have some very exciting - although rather belated - news to share...

Back in December, on our second last day in Tasmania, Tom and I got engaged!!! 

(I kept that pretty quiet didn't I?) 

I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to share this news here on the blog, but we've actually only just put it up on facebook, so I guess we're just a little slow with the social media announcements!

We are so excited and happy to be getting married and these past few months have been so blissful (and flown by so quickly!)

I'll definitely share a little more of our engagement story soon (the proposal happened up on Cradle Mountain!) and hopefully a little bit of the wedding planning too -  I want to record this very special and exciting time in our lives!

I hope you're having a great Friday night :)

Tom and I are down in Margaret River for the weekend and I'm curled up on the sofa next to a crackling fire, which is basically the coziest, most relaxing thing I can imagine so I'm pretty happy right now.

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx