Retro Wedding

Picture taken from Weddbook

The 20th century gave us a lot of wonderful things to remember. The hairstyles, the clothing, the music, and much, much more! Because of that, the previous century is a great place to look for inspiration, when choosing a theme for your wedding. In my opinion, a retro wedding not only gives a unique and memorable character to your wedding, but is also a sweet way to give your parents and grandparents an opportunity to relieve the beauties from their younger years.

So, what is a retro wedding style? A retro wedding, is a style which includes various charming little details from the old times. With every decade offering something new and fresh to draw inspiration from, it is hard not to find something you will absolutely love for your wedding theme. You can make a 90's, 60's, or 40's wedding theme, or have a 20th century mash-up wedding!

A great thing about retro weddings, is that you can choose absolutely any color palette you like for your wedding, and still get the retro feeling you are going for! There are no restrictions whatsoever. Anything from pastel and blush colors, to vivid and bright tones can be used for a retro wedding. This also means, that a retro wedding can be a good choice any time of the year. With the adorable retro patterns, you can make your wedding decorations even more fun.

Picture taken from
niepoprawnapannamloda.blogspot.com

One of my favorites, when it comes to retro wedding styles, are the decorations. The best part? You won't have to go far to get them!! Just visit your parents' attic and you will find everything you need, there. Use old suitcases to make a cute sitting plan stand. Look for vintage picture frames to use on the guest tables for the table numbers. Use doilies, books, old soda bottles to create the most amazing centerpieces! The key ingredient is your imagination.

The 20th century was the era the self-powered motor vehicles, or simply cars, begun being used by the public, and what gems did that time produce. The previous century is responsible for so many amazing cars, such as the Classy Bentley, the VW Van, also known as the hippie van, the cute beetle, the romantic decheveux. All of those cars, and so many more, are perfect to arrive to a wedding. And the pictures you will make with them, will be gorgeous!

The best way to give your wedding the retro feeling you are going for, is of course for you, the bride and groom, to travel three to four decades back and borrow the style of the time that you like. The tea length wedding dresses with lace details give a romantic, girlish appearance to every bride. Combined with the chic vintage hairstyles and bright red lips, you will look like you stepped out from a different time. The groom's attire is equally stylish as the bride's. With choices from classic suits, to suspenders, bowties, vests, your future hubby will look stunning for his retro wedding day!

Picture taken from happywedd.com

Planning a retro wedding, is as fun is could possibly be! There is so much interesting information to look for, that you will fall in love with the process. Looking in all those bridal bouquets that were in fashion in every decade, listening to the amazing music those times produces, learning about the drinks, sweets, and fun games of that time, will be more like the best history lesson you ever had, rather than planning a wedding.

Do you wonder, how would a retro wedding style fit in Santorini? I say, wonderfully! With so many wedding venues, built from old factories, a vintage wedding will look swell in Santorini! Interested in having one? Feel free to contact Cardoon Events for more information and ideas!

Thank you very much for reading! I wish you a lovely day!

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10 things you should not do to your wedding planner!

Having a wedding planner for your wedding can reduce the stress levels a lot. This is especially true when it comes to destination weddings. The wedding planner will help you choose the best vendors for you, the venue which will be perfect for you, and help you avoid all those "rookie" mistakes all brides do.

Your wedding planner is a person who knows everything about weddings and will help you and guide you to plan the best wedding you could possibly have. No matter how anxious you might get about your wedding, your wedding planner is there to help you and to reassure you that everything is going to be just like you dreamed about. After all, you are human, and it’s natural for you to worry about one of the most important days of your life.

Even thought wedding planners are quite tolerant people, and most of us don't really mind being bombarded with questions about every little detail of your wedding, still, there are some things that are better to avoid doing to a wedding planner:

1. Hiding information!

Your wedding planner should know everything about your wedding, as this is the main guarantee that you will have a successful wedding. Don't try to arrange different things with your venue or vendors, than what has been already arranged with you planner, as this is a recipe for disaster. Inform your planner about any changes you wish to make or made with your vendors, to avoid misunderstandings on the wedding day.

2. Disregarding your wedding planners expertise!

You want to have your wedding reception outdoors, but your wedding planner is trying in any way possible to convince you to have your reception indoors? Trust your planner's opinion, as he or she probably knows that you will regret your decision for the outdoor dinner, when the time comes. What your wedding planner suggests may not be your dream option, but he or she probably does it to avoid a complete disaster on the wedding day!

3.Not informing your mother or bridesmaids that you have a wedding planner!

It is only natural for your mother, mother-in-law, or maid of honor to want to get involved in the wedding planning. If your wedding planner does not know that though, it can get pretty messy! Inform you mother and bridesmaids that you will be having a wedding planner, and that if they want to have their input at the wedding, they should contact your planner. This way, you wedding planner will make room for that special bridesmaid dance your friends have planned for you, without ruining the whole schedule.

4. Forgetting that your wedding planner is a human!

Yes, your pay good money to your wedding planner, and you expect everything to be top-notch, from the communication between you, to the very wedding day coordination. Still, your wedding planner is a human being, which means that he or she will get tired, sick, go on vacations. Don't get mad if your wedding planner takes longer than usual to reply to you, or some days isn't as excited as most of the time. We all have our bad days, and since wedding planning can get quite stressful, it is normal for your planner to decide to take a day or two off work, to relax a little. Don't get mean when that happens, especially if you want your planner to be in his best form on your wedding day.

5. Not respecting the schedule

Building a perfect schedule for your wedding can be tricky at times. A wedding planner needs to organize the guests' arrivals, the ceremony, the photographer, the entertainers, the food, everything! A planner's job is to keep everyone happy, from the couple, to the guests, to the vendors, and a perfect schedule is the key to that. Deciding to put something extra on the schedule the very last minute, will create a mess, put unnecessary stress on the wedding planner, and as a result end up in a wedding disaster.

6. No surprises!

The only surprises a wedding planners like, are gifts (I personally love chocolate). Don't surprise your wedding planner by adding a sudden 20 minute grandpa speech before dinner, or having 7 surprise guests at the reception. This will mess up pretty much everything, and might have really negative consequences on your wedding. Your wedding planner should know everything concerning your wedding before the wedding day, so keep the surprises for your guests.

7. Not paying in time!

Weddings are costly, we all know that. Still, this is not a reason, not to pay in time your vendors. You may ask how this affects your wedding planner? Directly! Since it is your wedding planner who is making all the arrangements for you, including the payments, it he who will be bothered about the money if you have not made the required payment in time. A wedding planner has enough to think about, to have to chase you with the payments as well.

8. Don't treat your wedding planner as an enemy!

Your wedding planner wants what is best for you. He or she tries to get the best vendors for the best prices, just for you. All the suggestions a wedding planner makes, is for you to have a memorable wedding. Don't treat your wedding planner as an enemy, by not showing trust in his/her suggestions, arguing over everything, and going behind your planner's back. Believe it or not, most of the time your wedding planner knows what is best for you, better than you!  

9. Disrespecting the rules!

Every venue, every vendor, everything has its do's and don’ts. It can be noise policies, food policies, payment policies, children policies, anything! When your wedding planner tells you, that you cannot bring your own food to the venue, don't try to sneak the food in anyway! There is a reason for the policy, and by ignoring it, you not only causing unnecessary trouble to your wedding planner, but might end up ruining the whole wedding.

10. Panicking over nothing.

It is true, almost every wedding will have a detail that won't go as planned. Either the cake topper will break, a guest will run late, a song will not play. It is fine!! This is why you have a wedding planner: to take care of those things and make any mishaps magically disappear! By running behind your planner all the time, and not letting him to do his job, you are just making things worse. Don't panic unless you see your wedding planner panic!. If you wedding planner is calm, it means everything is under control. Relax, and enjoy your wedding day!

Remember, you wedding planner wants a perfect wedding as much as you do, and the calmer the wedding planner is, the higher the chances that nothing will go wrong on your wedding day. Keep calm and trust in your wedding planner!

Thank you very much for reading and I hope I was helpful!

I wish you a lovely day!

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Random Saturday #10: Feeling like a Marshmallow…

Hello my dear Readers,

How are you? How have you been? Is February treating you nice (you can reply in comments… don't be shy ;).

Ah… I feel terrible for not posting anything on Thursday, even though I said in the socials that I would… I really was out of ideas for the blog and was terribly tired to think of anything good. I didn't post anything on Friday either, which I mentioned in the socials as well, because I had the chance to spend some time with my beloved

boyfriend… and frankly, I wanted that more than writing a blog.

I've been tired lately, because I had to find a job until summer season would begin, which I did. I run out of funds to support myself…so now I'm temporary working at a bakery!

No, I don't bake anything. I sell everything! I also make coffee, clean, etc. etc. It is both fun and exhausting!! The plus side is that I lost some weight while working there, something I wanted to do anyway, because I'm too tired and too busy to eat anything, and because I'm standing all day. Also, I finally learned how to make coffee!! Woohoo…

It's a job for a month or two, still I kind of wish for it to end already. I cannot focus on things that I like the most, like promoting Cardoon Events, think about weddings and events, and on horses.

The fact that I don't have enough time to prepare the blog posts makes me nervous. This, combined with my efforts to train a horse I really like, and have some personal life, have sucked all the energy out of me. This is why I feel like a marshmallow… and I don't like marshmallows!

I have some really interesting articles for the future I can't wait to write, and I'm really disappointed that I don't have the time or energy, or both, to sit and work on them down. I want to write about some amazing wedding venues Santorini has, make 4 blog posts dedicated to wedding photography and two good photographers of Santorini, wedding flowers, and so much more!

I also want very much to start my research on weddings in Kefalonia. It is such a beautiful island, more people need to know about it! It has some amazing places for weddings and events, it’s a pity that it is not another cool place for a destination wedding. Kefalonia also has really good prices for weddings, like amazingly good! You could actually have there a wedding for more than a 100 persons for less than 20.000 euro!!!

Have you ever wished for the day to have 48 hours? Or to be able to leave without sleep without going insane? I know I have, and this what I wish for now. Sometimes it feels that the 24 daily hours are not enough to complete all the tasks I have set for the day. This feeling gets even stronger when you are working without any days off, which often happens in Santorini.

But, it is just temporary, and at least I know how to make all kinds of coffee now J Always look at the bright side, right?

Thank you very much for reading and I wish you a great day!

PS: I'm starting a new thing on Random Saturday, which will be the song of the week :) 

Random Saturday #9 || Random Saturday #11

Ideas for Wedding Favors!

cake pops favors
picture from sandyssignatures.blogspot.ca

Wedding favors are not only a great way to thank your guests for attending your wedding, but also a way to make your guests remember your wedding. Although your guests won't think bad of you if you won't have favors for them, they will most certainly appreciate a small gift from you, should you have one.

What can you offer as a favor to your guests? Anything! It can be an edible favor, a drinkable favor, a practical favor, a fun favor, anything that comes to mind. It is nice to have favors, which will match the main wedding theme. For example, if you are having a travel themed wedding, then you could have customized suitcase tags for each guest.

Here are some detailed description on what you could offer them:

Edible Favors:

Everybody loves candy, so having a small bag of candies for your guests, is always a good idea. You could have small candy bars or something more sophisticated, like a personalized cupcake or cake-pop. To make it even more fun, prepare a candy favor station, so that you guests could prepare their own favors.

If you and your guests are not into sweets, then prepare a mix of spices. All of us cook, at some point in our lives, and those spices could be of great inspiration for those moments. This wedding favor is even better if you are having a destination wedding, as it will be a way for your guests to take with them a flavor of the country your are marrying in.

Drinkable Favors:

Small bottles of alcoholic drinks is also one good idea for guests' favors, especially if your friends like to party. Find small bottles of the alcoholic beverages that your friends like, and give everyone their favorite drink. Want to make it even more fun? Prepare mini cocktail kits.

As with the spices, when having a destination wedding, you could have small bottles of the local alcoholic beverage as a favor. When it comes to weddings in Greece, you could have small ouzo bottles.

Hangover Kit Favors:

picture from bridedsupnorth.com

The morning after a wedding party can be rough… you know, hangover and stuff. I always found hangover kits, or emergency kits, as guests' favors a brilliant idea! Have some aspirin, some band-aids, a lip balm, chewing gums, a night mask, and anything else you find useful for a hangover or an emergency. Practical, and with a sense of humor.

Practical Favors:

It is always nice to be practical, even when it comes to gifts. But how to be practical with favors? This is really easy. Just think about what your guests might need for your wedding, that they wouldn't think about brining themselves. For example, if you are having a beach wedding, you could have flip-flops and swimming suites as favors for your guests. Everyone will enjoy the party even more!

Souvenir Favors:

When having a destination wedding, a souvenir will serve as the best memorabilia from your wedding. For your wedding in Santorini, for example, you could have small donkeys or miniature blue dome churches. To make it even more memorable, have them pre-ordered with your wedding date on them.

If you and your significant other like to travel, then you could bring souvenirs from the places that you have been. This will make the wedding favors feel more personal, more you. You will also give your guests a taste of the places you've been.

Handmade Favors:

Homemade Jam for your guests
picture from unitedlove.com

Handmade gifts are always a great idea, so are handmade wedding favors. Handmade crafts take a lot of your time to make, and by having handmade favors on your wedding, will show your guests how much they mean to you. Your guests will appreciate that you took so much time to prepare their favors, and will cherish them forever.  

I can go on and on about what your wedding favors can be. Whatever your choice of favors will be, don't forget to include a detail, which will remind your guests of your wedding. Don't be afraid to use your imagination and think outside the box. Your wedding favors, should be as unique as you are!

As always, thank you very much for reading! I wish you a lovely day and an amazing life!

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