Wedding Shoes

Women's Shoes

 

 Women’s shoes are essential wardrobe staples. They don’t just make or break an outfit, but they accentuate and enhance it. From heels and boots, to clogs or platforms, women’s shoes add a touch of style to any ensemble. They can alter the entire look of your attire, and they make even the drabbest clothing look fashionable and fresh. Want to add some sleek, suave style to your business casual everyday wear? Then slip into a sophisticated pair of peep-toe pumps or classic high heels. Need something casual to tone down a formal blouse? Try a comfortable yet stylish pair of clogs. Maybe you need something tough and chic, yet practical for hopping around town. Choose an elegant riding boot and pair it with some leggings. 

If you want a little boost, opt for a funky platform style, or lay low with a feminine ballerina flat. You can choose from a huge selection of women’s shoes, including sandals, casuals, booties, boots, and clogs. There are also tons of wedges, espadrilles, or peep toes. Many styles combine similar elements, such as platform styles with wedge heels, which provide you with a look that mixes some fun fusion and a little edge. To choose the best women’s shoes for your needs, evaluate your current wardrobe and choose some of the most versatile styles you can find. By stocking up on a variety of diverse styles, you will have a solid foundation to play with when mixing and matching outfits. To update your shoe selection, check out the latest trends and go for some of the bravest styles out there. Trendy women’s shoes are a blast to experiment with, and you can always try wearing them with something new each season. Whatever your style, women’s shoes will complement it.

 

Planning your wedding

Planning your wedding with the Wyndham Hotel Group

Six great locations for a destination wedding

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – (July 16, 2015) The destination wedding trend has shown no signs of slowing as couples continue to move away from tradition and towards unique celebrations in exotic locations.

Whether planning an intimate ceremony or a grand affair, the Asia Pacific region is brimming with spectacular wedding locations catering to every taste and budget.

Here are six of the best for couples looking to get hitched on location:

 

1.       Margaret River

The Margaret River wine region provides a breathtaking setting for a dream destination wedding. With stunning wineries, pristine beaches, verdant forests and superb local produce, the region has everything needed to create a truly memorable event.

While there are numerous venue options in the region, the idyllic beachfront location of Wyndham Resort & Spa Dunsborough makes it hard to beat. It boasts stunning grounds, direct beach access, beautiful gardens, a wedding chapel and reception venue options including first-floor function rooms with magnificent ocean views of Geographe Bay. The facilities cater for up to 220 guests for a modern and stylish cocktail party or can hold up to 130 guests for a sit-down dinner.

2.       Sunshine Coast

 

With laidback towns, beautiful beaches and a sub-tropical climate year-round, the Sunshine Coast will leave couples and their guests feeling relaxed and refreshed. 

 

One of the few venues on the Sunshine Coast that provides absolute beachfront weddings, Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre Marcoola Beach offers several stunning ceremony options including the beach, sand dunes, poolside and garden lawn. Located on an idyllic stretch of uncrowded golden sand, the resort provides a one-stop-wedding shop with catering, accommodation and onsite event staff all available to take the stress out of organising a wedding.

 3.       Brisbane

The urban wedding trend is on the rise in Australia’s capital cities and bustling Brisbane - named Australia’s hippest city by Lonely Planet in 2014 – offers the betrothed everything they could want and more! From hip hotels to a thriving arts scene, the city is a playground for creative couples looking for something a bit different.

Brides and grooms looking to inject some urban flavour into their special day will love TRYP Fortitude Valley Hotel, Brisbane. The country’s first street-art hotel features contemporary design and striking street art by world-acclaimed artists Magee, Numskull, Rone and Beastman coupled with exceptional finishes including 150-year-old renewed timber flooring. Already creating a buzz amongst couples looking for a unique backdrop to their big day, this hotel is still one of the city’s best kept secrets.

 

4.       Port Douglas

For a truly tropical wedding, Port Douglas offers couples a seductive setting, balmy climate and spectacular natural attractions. It is the only place in the world where two World Heritage listed attractions exist - the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest of Daintree and Cape Tribulation.  A feast for the senses, this tantalising tropical destination makes for an exotic wedding escape.

Nestled within a pocket of Melaleuca rainforest just a short walk to world-renowned Four Mile Beach, Ramada Resort Port Douglas is a favourite for destination weddings. With warm, attentive staff and venue options including the Treehouse Meeting Room set amidst the rainforest canopy and the Jacana Deck overlooking lily ponds, it is perfect for everything from intimate elopements to grand wedding receptions for up to 120 guests.

5. Wanaka, New Zealand

 

Wanaka on New Zealand’s South Island is the perfect wilderness escape, offering excellent opportunities for stunning wedding snapshots against the backdrop of the Southern Alps and Lake Wanaka. Come winter, the mountains are decorated with a layer of sparkling white snow and in summer they shine under the golden sunlight. 

Located near awe-inspiring natural wonders including Mount Aspiring National Park, Rob Roy Glacier and the Clutha River, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Wanaka offers the perfect base in which to unwind and entertain family and friends before and after the big day. Enjoy stylish accommodation, a heated pool with water slide, hot tub and sauna a stone’s throw from the region’s best attractions.

6. Phuket, Thailand

  

With stunning white-sand beaches, sparkling blue seas and warm Thai hospitality, Phuket is the perfect place for a beautiful wedding combined with an exotic, tropical escape.

Set on a lush hilltop with views of Patong Bay and the Andaman Sea, Wyndham Sea Pearl Resort Phuket’s landscaped grounds can be transformed to create a spectacular event against the stunning mountainous backdrop. Choose from a traditional Western wedding or incorporate a touch of the Thai culture to create a truly unique day. All rooms at this stunning resort come complete with balconies and private outdoor Jacuzzis providing the ultimate relaxing escape for wedding guests and the happy couple.

Wyndham Wedding Promotion

Wyndham Hotel Group is offering a special for couples looking to get hitched at four of its resorts. The bride and groom will receive complimentary wedding night accommodation if they book their reception and bridal party accommodation at the resort. The offer also includes a free bottle of sparkling wine on arrival and is valid until 30 June 2016. All bookings need to be made direct by calling the resort and quoting Wyndham Wedding Promo.

Participating resorts: Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre Marcoola Beach, Ramada Resort Port Douglas and Wyndham Resort & Spa Dunsborough.

DIY

The Do-It-Yourself crafting trend started long before brides completely embraced it -- but with the help of  Wedding Style Guide  more brides and grooms are finding ways to take over parts of the wedding that would have previously been farmed out to vendors. This puts a personal stamp of so many elements of the wedding and really helps reflect the couples' taste and style.

While sometimes your DIY project might actually cost you more to complete on your own than to order pre-assembled, the satisfaction gained by many of my wedding clients (especially the crafters in the bunch), far outweighs the cost of materials -- and in some cases shipping to your wedding destination -- than the actual dollar amount.

Fortunately, there are several DIY wedding projects that can be cost-effective and fun, although they're all a little bit time-consuming. But that's exactly what the motivated bride and groom want -- something that costs them more time than money.

1. Invitations - It is EASY to design and make high-quality wedding invitations yourself. There are six zillion ideas online and you can take what you like from each of them, make your shopping list and head to the craft store. You may need to actually seek out an actual art supply store for some of the quality paper and ink you need to make them look professionally done, but that's a small price to pay if you can find everything you want and get started quickly and easily. There are no limits on space or rules about color and you're not stuck with an option in a stationary store or online invitation site. You can be as creative -- or elegantly simple -- as you wish.

2. Placecards - Whether you're just having placecards, or doing escort cards too, handmade displays can be absolutely lovely. For my own wedding, we created beach-themed placecards and nestled them in a bed of sand, supported by pretty colored natural sea glass. Brides and groom on our island love to do message in a bottle placecards that we bury in sand on a turquoise tablecloth so it looks like they're sitting on a beach. We've even put up little umbrellas around them! Whatever your wedding theme, you can be as creative as you like. If your guests have pre-ordered their entrees, you can indicate their dinner selection on the card in a variety of fun ways from unusual stamps to a color pattern.

3. Welcome bags and the goodies inside them - Every out-of-town wedding guest should be greeted with a fabulous welcome bag. Whether you buy something commercially available and fill it with creative things, or buy blank canvass bags and decorate them yourself, it's a much appreciated gift when it's also filled with useful information and yummy treats. You can even print out personalized labels to apply to water bottles or wine bottles you're including in the bag. This is the place for welcome edibles -- just keep in mind where you're getting married. Chocolate, chapstick, candles and lot of other things that don't begin with the letter "C" will melt if not kept in temperature controlled environments. If you're getting married someplace warm, choose sweets that won't melt, like cookies or gummy worms or something else fun. 

4. Wedding party gifts - It takes more than just a casual crafter to make genuine gifts that will serve to thank the men and women who stand up for you on your wedding day, but I've seen some amazing stuff. Personalized hats and other outerwear embroidered by the bride herself. Grill brands mounted on special wood-burned holders constructed by the room. Handmade jewelry (not what you expect them to wear in your wedding -- something they can wear anytime) can be a huge hit now that Swarovski and real pearls are readily accessible to the at-home crafter. One of my brides actually took a class on making gold pendants -- and she made one for me too! Beautiful 18 karat gold orchid pendants that will forever remind us all of her wedding and be truly appreciated. 

5. Non-traditional bouquets - In the past two years, DIY brides have embraced making their own bouquets. For some, it's a budget matter. For others, Pinterest strikes again! Button bouquets, broach bouquets, sea shells and everything else the glitters, sparkles or pops can be pulled together in a pretty arrangement that looks amazing with certain wedding gowns. Just remember, you can't throw that at anyone unless you're trying to knock them out. Ask your florist to create a small tossing bouquet for you.

6. Special Signage - Instead of having your flower girls carry traditional baskets, you can create fun signage with a crazy huge variety of different sayings from "Here Comes the Bride" to "Guess What Happens Next?" to precede you down the ceremony aisle. For beach weddings, signs that say "barefoot only beyond this point!" can be fun for guests and pop in pictures on the catwalk to the beach.

7. Décor - How much décor you do yourself is going to be relative to where you're getting married. For example, in your hometown you can make the centerpieces and other such décor ahead of time (as long as you're not doing flowers) and your planner can put it out on the big day. If you're having a destination wedding, you have to consider the cost of shipping 100 miniature neon pots (a recent example from one of our weddings) and how many will actually make it to your wedding in once piece. A few creative couples over the years have done lightweight origami projects that could be hung from trees. We've seen hand-made, color-coordinated dream catchers floating in the trees above the ceremony too. But it's not cost effective to ship hand-punched tin lanterns to use as luminaries, for example. That stuff should only be made for at-home weddings.

8. Favors - We've had clients who represented their home states with little bottles of maple syrup from a family farm, and we have a bride right now who is doing little jars of honey from her family's bee colony. When I got married, I hand-painted Christmas ornaments for each and every guest -- a multi-month project that revealed I got better with practice (the first 10 were reserved for my own tree) -- and packaged them up in sweet boxes tied with wedding themed ribbons. One early set of clients set out to make 1,000 paper cranes (in following a Chinese tradition) and although they definitely didn't hit the quantity mark, they had plenty. I still have two hanging on hooks in my guest room (thanks Jen and Mike Phelan). But also don't forget that wedding cookies and cake pops can hit the spot as your guests depart after a long night of dancing!

9. Photo Albums - There is no reason to pay a photographer an exorbitant fee to create formal albums for you anymore. Almost all photography packages offer an option where you can get all your picture files on CD and then create to your heart's delight. I know one bride who printed out all the high-quality pictures she wanted on the system at Walgreen's and created beautiful albums from supplies she had collected for her stamping hobby. Nothing has to be traditional about it -- you can create an album for each bridesmaid that's personalized to reflect your shared relationship. Or you can simply create something online and order as many as you like. The options are limitless 

Don't be intimidated by DIY projects, but also be realistic about what you can accomplish and how effectively you can deliver it to our destination. There's nothing worse than having a bride spend weeks creating individual picture frame placecards only to have them arrive in crumbles because she didn't package them properly or the box was mistreated en route. It usually too late for replacements to be constructed in the same loving manner as the originals.

Have fun crafting! 

Stationery

DIY WEDDING INVITATIONS, SAVE THE DATE CARDS AND MORE

When you order your wedding invitations from Wedding Style Guide Magazine, you can add special little extras to your personalised stationery.  Everything can match from start to finish.  It's the perfect way to enjoy the style, fun and flair of a DIY wedding stationery project without any of the hassle!

Looking for stylish new ways to include unique accents on your invites? At Wedding Style Guide our elegant options for DIY wedding invitations make it easier than ever to add your own creative touches to your entire stationery suite. So if you wish to capture a handmade aesthetic but would rather not spend too much time assembling your cards or even hassle with all the mess and cleanup that goes along with it, then you will love these subtle additions which will make your invites look absolutely stunning. Plus, whether you want to wrap your cards up in a posh pocket fold envelope or embellish them with ravishing ribbons, making DIY wedding invitations is a great way to work your personal style into your stationery.

Measuring and cutting your own materials can be tedious and even stressful work, especially if your wedding is right around the corner. And with so many tasks to tend to before the big day, the last thing you'll need is the pressure of having to create and send scratch-made cards within six to eight weeks of your ceremony. So instead of submitting yourself to the agony of doing everything entirely on your own, our DIY wedding invitations are a much easier and less time-consuming alternative to making homemade invites.

Just pick any one of our stylish additions in order to spruce up your cards in a wonderfully original way. You can give your DIY wedding invitations extra thickness and a more sophisticated look by including a layer of paper to the back. This will add a beautiful thin border to your card and will also increase the density. Or you can use pretty personalized labels to seal the flap of your pocket-fold envelopes so that everything will be tucked away neatly in one pretty package.

So if you're worried about having a bland card that looks like everyone else's, just know that making DIY wedding invitations is the best way to ensure that the stationery for your special day is truly