Gorgeous Wedding Details at the Hacienda San Rafael, Seville

We have been delighted, in the past few weeks, to head up to Seville to one of our favourite venues, the Hacienda San Rafael, to plan and style a few gorgeous weddings at this heavenly hideaway.

Margot and Sergy´s wedding was a wonderful fusion of oriental and Russian influences, including a tea ceremony and we designed and created many fabulous details to bring these elements into the wedding day.

 Creating beautiful hand folded paper origami hearts, paddle fans, paper parasols, pretty confetti cones, our famous blackboard signage, table seating plans hanging from the trees and of course gorgeous florals including different pastel coloured posies for the bridesmaids.

To bring the Spanish influence into the wedding Margot´s friend, Clara, created a design for Spanish ceramic tiles which we had created by a local artist, it was such a pretty idea and they were displayed on the tables along with an ad lib card and set off with the paper origami hearts, a mix that worked beautifully on each place setting.

The planning involved in orchestrating this wonderful weekend by Carla, for Margot and Sergy involved the couple organising a pre wedding trip to a local jamon producer for their guests, where they could see the jamons being made and visit the shop, a pre wedding bridal shower spa party in Seville and organising all the transport and accommodation arrangements for the guests to ensure a smooth running event.

It was an amazing weekend culminating in a fun filled wedding day full of delightful details.  We were thrilled to receive this email from Margot and Sergy so soon after their wonderful time here.

Hi Carla & Laura,

We are finally back in London, and still daydreaming about our wedding just a few days ago.
We would like to thank you both for doing such an amazing job - we really cannot describe the feeling we had during and after the wedding. It really was the best weekend we have ever had in our lives - so much happiness and joy, and just seeing all our friends and family together. We felt truly blessed.

It could not have happened without your professionalism and expertise. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as we did, I am sure there were quite a few stressful moments but everyone was complimenting on how great you were. I hope it was worthwhile for you too picking us as clients!

Thank you once again.

Sergy & Margot

The actual photographs will be posted as soon as we receive them but as we had created so many beautiful details and stationery I organised Marea from Lucky Girl Photography to come with us and take some photographs of our work and you can hop over to Marea´s blog to see more of this stunning venue and her fabulous work :)

The beautiful wedding cake was created by Sweet Things by Fi.

We have also been sent a short video by Ensu which is beautiful, to see the video click on this link.

Sequins for Weddings

Bling is in :)!

 

Images for Inspiration Board from Pinterest

 

I have loved sequins eversince I was a child, my obsession with anything that glitters has become bigger as I got bigger!  Throw in some glitter, better if it is edible, and I am in heaven!

 

We are squeaking with excitement here at Reviva as we have gathered our glittery accessories ready for our 2013 weddings. 

 

We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our new completely fabulous wedding accessories including sequin table linens in golds and silvers :)

 

Gorgeous glitter freestanding Mr and Mrs letters that can be personalised with your new surname and are available in a huge variety of sparkly colours.

 

Glitter banners are also a wonderful way to add some bling to your wedding, perhaps hang one over your cake table.

 

Image from Etsy

 

Image found on Pinterest

 

We are now stocking velvet glitter ribbons in a beautiful range of colours.

 

Image courtesy of Etsy

 

We cannot wait to share some of our sparkly weddings with you in 2013 and if you wish to add some magic twinkle to your wedding here in Spain please do contact us on

info@reviva-weddings.com

 

An Alternative Pretty White Halloween

 

 

 

After the wonderfully staged and ghoulish Strictly came on tonight, there was much excitement eminating from Twinks, not only practising her fantastic and rather worrying Shakira dance moves but also a hugely animated excitement about Halloween.

 

So I finally succumbed to rummaging in my understairs cupboard and digging out our traditional spooky decorations which consist of:

 

 A Whittards ceramic orange pumpkin and a Whittards white ghost tealight holder

My pumpkin fairy lights and our purple and black hanging bat garland

 

All very tasteful of course and just enough to add a bit of spookiness to the house for the Halloween week! 

 

I did see some rather lovely glittery yet spooky door signs in Dunnes this week, but refrained already knowing my bill on kitting Twinks out with a basic winter wardrobe was going to be quite high!

 

Trying to find a real pumpkin here in Spain takes a master class in driving around all the local supermarkets hoping to spot an object that resembles something round and orange.

 

I suppose this will be my mission on Monday, I may strike lucky at Supersol or El Campo, if not I am considering how a carved aubergine will fair?! 

 

It already has a ghost shape so this is my plan b!  In fact I could perhaps start a new trend of aubergine ghosts covered with gold glitter!

 

Tonight I have found some rather lovely white pumpkin images, I am sure they have another name as they are part of the squash family, but living in a country where we cannot easily find an orange pumpkin the chances of being able to find a white one is non existent!

 

But it is always so refreshing to see and share something different.  I found the first photo on pinterest a few weeks ago and love use of the white pumpkin as a ceiling pendant, although what practical use this has I have no idea but design does not have to always be practical!

 

Tonight on one of my current favourite blogs, Heart Handmade UK, they are sharing a gorgeous white pumpkin Halloween post which I could not resist sharing with you.

 

I love the use of the Liberty fabrics and gold teacups with the mint accents, definitely a popular colour combination for 2013 weddings and very fresh and pretty and what a lovely alternative to the orange and blacks that we are being bombarded with albeit I do love it!

 

So here is wishing you all a wonderful and spooky week and a Happy Halloween!

 

Dreamy and Romantic Shades of Purples

Sunday mornings are never complete without some relaxing inspiration hunting and this morning is no exception as I travelled over to Wedding Chicks to find this dreamy, romantic table setting.

Lilac goes hand in hand with romance and is such a pretty, gentle colour. The soft purples, dreamy mauves and crisp whites makes me think of spring and garden weddings.

There are so many gorgeous flowers to use from the fabulous large hydrangea heads to the divine smell of lilac, mixed with cool water roses, fluffy white peonies and freesias, a glorious array of flowers.

I love all the details on this photo shoot from the cake pops to the simple cut glass votives with a cool water rose popped into each one and those deserts look heavenly!

Romantic Sweetheart Tables for Valentines

I love this beautifully romantic sweetheart table set for a Valentines dinner found tonight on the delightful and inspirational Elizabeth Anne Designs.

For me, it is all the gorgeous little details that make this table setting so special, from the flower decoration on the cutlery to the vintage lace design tablecloth (and of course the strawberry tartlet!).

My childhood was spent observing my parents host fabulous dinner parties for their friends and clients and memories of visiting two aunts in particular that used to relish entertaining.

I do remember travelling back to Surrey, from London, always feeling absolutely stuffed with very fond memories of my Aunty Doreen's raspberry mousse :)

On all these occasions, and there were many, lunches at Christmas and Easter as well, my mother and aunts would always have their special table linens, glorious Wedgewood crockery, beautiful silver cutlery, or Denby, in my mother's case as she was not into polishing her silver! It was always an occasion.

The attention to all the details for our occasions was always very apparent in our family.

The Harrods van used to show up delivering the food orders and the kitchen used to be mayhem for about 24 hours. My parents were very hands on though and I do remember my father always taking charge of the starters and my mother never letting him near her dessert creations. Goodness knows who was in charge of the main course, we were always kept at the other side of the house, with my grandfather, watching the Generation game and being fed sandwiches and fruit cake!

Perhaps this is why my little sister is now a food and cookery editor and I make tables look pretty?! Who knows what childhood experiences lead to where :)

I do think for any 'special' occasion, these basic elements can make or break it.

Fine table linens are a must and so often these are overlooked with the classic white table cover...ok smart and classic, but boring, do we ever see these plain white hotel linens on glorious photo shoots or fabulous dinner parties, rarely, and yet we put up with them for our wedding day?

How fabulous to have a white lace table cover over the top or some luxurious colour bought into your wedding or party, perhaps your napkins making a statement.

Why not decorate your napkins, a fresh flower is delightful, or here in this photo shoot, the red flower tied onto the cutlery for me makes this table.

How many weddings have you been too with the preverbial white table cloth and napkins?

They are lovely, but we see these gorgeous tables on some fabulous blogs and they do not have the hotel look, they are creatively dressed with beautiful linens, napkins and details.

Flowers popped into jugs or empty jars are simple but beautiful, that 'just picked out the garden' look which my parents often did and still do now, so do I.

I am always in my garden in the summer collecting bouganvilla, jasmine, and anything else my little girl has decided to pick and popping them into a jar for my terrace table, it is simple but so enjoyable.

Elizabeth, my little girl, has become rather good at raiding people's gardens which is rather worrying, but luckily she has mastered that cat out of Shrek look which normally means we get away with stealing flowers!

Presentation is so important, it can make an occasion a truly special occasion, with a few more details and thought into the table settings and how they look.

If we cannot stretch to crockery or cutlery for most weddings, we can at least stamp our style with the linens and gorgeous table details, your guests will be sitting at them for at least 3 hours so it will not go unnoticed!

I think I should start a let's get tables glam mission!

I have a few weddings this year that are breaking away from convention and ditching the white table linens for much more stylish affairs so very excited about this, I feel like the Ikea advert from a few years back where they are ditching the chintz, bring it back in is what I say, but without the Austrian blinds, were they ever the worst thing invented!?

Valentines Glam and Glitter

I love this gorgeous glittery Valentines shoot by Forget Me Knot Weddings and Sitting in a Tree Events, so girly and fun with lots of glitter, mini meringues and cupcakes, what more could a girl ask for apart from flowers and shoes of course ;)

This setting would be perfect for a bridal shower, birthday party for a girlfriend or just a good excuse for a bit of girly glamour.

A Marshmallow Inspired Wedding

How gorgeous is this divine Marshmallow inspired photo shoot featured on Style me Pretty

created by Jill La Fleur and Simply Bloom.

I do think creating a beautiful table is a bit like applying makeup, you need a good base/foundation before you can add the details.

This photo shoot emphasises this so well, using this gorgeously ruffled table cover complimented with the chocolate napkins is a beautiful base with which to add these glorious details and these beautifully romantic dreamy floral arrangements.

I also love the grouping here of the details on the tables, it is not formally set but random groups of gold votives, the table flowers not centre stage but arranged carefully again in groups on this table.

Lastly but not least, the heavenly scented roses set in the bowls and white china cups filled with marshmallows are the all important and wonderful details I am obsessed with when it comes to really dressing tables and making them not just beautiful but a delightful experience when you are seated at an occasion such as a wedding.

It is evocative of what more to expect when you are presented with such a beautifully dressed table such as this one and one you will not forget.