My Style Diary - Sunday Strolls and Lunch at JoJo's

Ah Sunday... how I love you...

Work has been particularly busy lately, so my Sundays have been extra precious. It's funny though because even though it's my one day of the week where I actually have the opportunity to sleep in, I seem to always wake up around 5am (which is earlier than my alarm goes off on a week day!)  I'm not complaining at all - I've said it many times here before, I love mornings - waking up to that soft morning light and birds chirping away (and the knowledge that I don't actually have to get up if i don't want to) is pretty lovely.

One advantage is that I get a chance to do a little early morning blogging :)

So today I thought I'd share these photos from a few Sundays ago. I'd had a particularly stressful week so Tom suggested we do one of my favourite things - go for a long walk and out for lunch.

JoJo's is a restaurant my family used to go to when I was little. It's right on the river and we used to go for breakfast every now and then on weekends. I remember my Dad would always be partiucularly enthusiastic about these family breakfast outings :) There's a jetty that you walk along to get to the restaurant and occasionally you'd see dolphins swimming by... such good memories there :)

Tom and I are usually breakfast/brunch people and JoJo's doesn't open until 12 so we hadn't been together before. This day  though we figured we'd change up our usual ritual of Sunday morning breakfast and go for lunch instead. 

It was just such a lovely relaxing afternoon - good food, a beautiful view, time with my fave person... the perfect way to de-stress :)

This Sunday we're actually having engagement photos taken so I'm pretty excited about that. I have my wedding hair and makeup trial booked today as well so that should be a bit of fun! I can't believe it's been 11 months that we've been engaged (we're a little slow at getting our engagement photos taken) and actually less than 12 months now til our wedding! Time has just been flying away so quickly lately...

I hope you have an absolutely beautiful day Sunday.

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Tea Party at Lucy's

Cardigan - Pull & Bear

Sandals - from Paris

Bag - Jigsaw

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 

My Style Diary - A Sunday Afternoon Walk

With the weekend weather in Perth still being decidedly wintery, I've been living in cozy jumpers and jeans, and brightening things up to make them a little more spring appropriate with a colourful/patterned scarf. I'm craving weather that's warm enough for me to crack out my beautiful summer dresses (my favourite thing to wear) but at least I've been able to inject a little splash of spring into my outfits with this floral scarf! 

On the plus side - the cooler weather is perfect for going out and enjoying a relaxing stroll around the neighbourhood. I love this time of year (even if it has been a little too chilly and rainy for my liking) because there are so many beautiful flowers about and just so much colour everywhere! From the gorgeous yellow roses in the photo above, to the stunning purple of the wisteria cascading over fences (take a look at my  instagram for that), to the beautiful pinks and whites of the everlastings, there's just so much beauty to be seen everywhere!

Walks are also one of my favourite ways to spend time with Tom - no distractions from technology (except to occasionally snap a few photos or catch a pokemon), just time for a good long chat!

Yup - a nice long walk is definitely one of my favourite ways to spend a few hours on the weekend. 

What's your favourite sunday afternoon tradition?

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Jumper - Country Road

Jeans - 7 For All Mankind

Shoes - Roxy

Scarf - H&M (I think... I've had it for a long time!)

Necklace - Mimco

PS - The blog's had a little makeover which I'm pretty excited about. What do you think of it? I love how it looks so much sleeker (and just way prettier!) I'm feeling much more inspired now, so hopefully there will be lots more posts coming soon! hehe :p

My Style Diary - Beautiful Blossoms and a Pale Pink Hat

Hello Hello :)

I'm currently sitting on the couch watching Gilmore Girls (my fave show ever), and feeling pretty content with things at the moment, so I figured now would be a good time to share these photos of the beautiful Plum Blossom tree that's right outside our apartment. Just look at those beautiful pink blossoms - seeing them every morning has definitely been brightening up my day. 

We're well into September now, but today was the first day that we've finally started to get some warmer weather and that it's really started to feel like Spring. That feeling of warmth in the air and the promise of warmer days to come makes me feel so much more optimistic about everything! ...My mood is ridiculously weather dependant - I'm lucky I live somewhere that is fairly sunny all year round!

These photos were taken last weekend when it was still pretty chilly though. I haven't featured this jumper in a blog post yet but it has been one of my favourites that I've just been living in all winter. I love the light grey knit fabric and that little crossover detail at the front that just adds a bit of interests (you know I'm all about the little details). I've also been really enjoying wearing this muted pink/blush coloured hat which I picked up on sale in Topshop while on my girls trip to Sydney earlier in the year. I always love seeing people in hats but rarely wear them myself, so I'm happy to say this has ended up being a good purchase for me! The colour adds a nice feminine touch and it goes well with the greys/whites/blacks that make up most of my winter capsule wardrobe. I really need to swap out my clothes and transition to my Spring Capsule soon, but until today things have still been pretty chilly so I just haven't  gotten around to it yet!

Anyway, I think I'll continue watching Gilmore Girls now. I'm starting from season one in preparation for the new reunion season coming out in November. Anyone else excited about that? I can't wait!

Hope you're having a lovely night!

Lauren

xxx

Top - Dotti

Jeans - Country Road

Necklace - Mimco

Hat - Topshop

Bag - Jigsaw

Shoes - Country Road