Guestpost Bon Anniversaire Ketchup!

I just saw a notification from WordPress telling me we registered this blog three years ago. THREE YEARS! Could the Unreal Bride possibly be so many years old?  WOW! This calls for a celebration and a plan. Ironically, I came to write a post about a birthday celebration but not our own! This can only mean one thing- a combined birthday party!!!! Who is going to be our birthday buddy , you ask? Well none other than our favourite bag people (I say that in the nicest way possiple)- Ketchup! You know them well from our blog- we have done some of our favourite shoots with their products, had insane giveaways and have become great friends since then! If you know the Unreal Bride, you know Ketchup!!

Ketchup celebrated their 2nd birthday last month and to celebrate -they took a trip to gorgeous Paris. Anyone who visits Paris is sure to come back oozing with inspiration. So as a way to celebrate their birthday they wrote a guest post for us on Paris annnnd if you read to the bottom of the post, you might find a pleasant surprise waiting for you!

Via etsy

Here’s what the Ketchup girls had to say!

  Paris is always a good idea – Audrey Hepburn

Via

5 things about Paris (pronounced Fr. paˈri), that we L-O-V-E !

Très chic:

Paris is the fashion capital of the world. The french, both men and women, don’t just love fashion, they understand the true essence of fashion and they sure as hell know how to rock some seriously hot haute couture – respect!

C’est si bon:

One simply can not get enough of the breads, the cheeses, the steaks, the wines, the mussels, the brews, the desserts – yes the desserts : when we say french desserts, we mean lots of delicious calories such as macaroons, mille-feuilles, profiteroles, eclairs,tarte tatins and crème brûlées!

Talking of which… we could kill for a fresh french vanilla custard creme brûlée in a super cute cafe in Paris RIGHT NOW!

Bon appetit!

Très magnifique:

French architecture took our breath away .. The gardens, the ever-so-beautiful river Siene, the 18th century buildings, le tour d’eiffel, the champs-elysees, the museums. What’s not to love? Infact we even loved the windows, the open spaces, the boulevards and the sidewalks.

Je ne veux pas travailler:

The weather in Paris all through our birthday month was spectacular, the cool breeze and the slight drizzle along with the smell of freshly heated chestnuts made our walks in the pristine gardens along the river Siene simply surreal.

Le temps de l’amour :

The city of Paris is like a classic timeless black and white romantic movie!

Paris makes one want to fall in love, Paris makes one want to kiss…. and then keep kissing … and at Ketchup we love kissing .

muaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Paris je t’aime!

(All photos have been taken by the Ketchup girls unless otherwise indicated!)

WAIT WAIT WAIT!! We aren’t done here yet!!

How can there be a party without a present? Or rather, TWO presents!! If we don’t love Ketchup already, get ready to love them even more because they just said they wanted to GIVEAWAY TWO bags to celebrate their 2nd birthday! Wait, does that mean on their 5th birthday, we will get ….five bags?! Ok! Let’s not jump the gun shall we. So, where was I? Yes. TWO bags to win.

Yup! They are neon and fantastic. Which one are you going to win?

The steps to enter the giveaway are :

1. We have featured Ketchup on our blog quite a bit now, so what you have to do is go look for these posts (on the blog )and tell us which one of the previous bags showcased was your favourite and why! You can add the link to the blog post or photo in the comment  section down below. Not hard but you got to go and look.

To summarise- go find the other blog posts where Ketchup has been featured, and tell us in the comment section which bag is your favourite and why! (in the comment section down below).  Here, let me give you a head start-CLICK HERE

2. Go to the Ketchup page on facebook here and Like it – also leave a message on their wall saying The Unreal Bride sent you there – in case you already like their page on facebook.

3. Tweet – J’aime the birthday giveaway http://tinyurl.com/m8tn9fu @ketchupbags is having on The Unreal Bride (@kisjayenn).

4. Tell all your friends to come and participate.

5. Extra points if you tell us why you love Paris if you have visited, or what you think you would love about Paris when you visit it one day!

The competition is open till midnight on Wednesday the 14th of August and one lucky winner will be selected on the basis of their answer and will win a Ketchup bag (remember there are TWO of them). Multiple tweets are welcome but will not imcrease your chances of winning!!

Good luck mes amies! 

Good Ideas by Maya

The festive season is in full swing now with Diwali about a week away and the endless number of weddings and other festivals like Dussehra , Karvachauth punctuating the days. This time of year in India is like Christmas in other parts of the world- everything is decked up with lights ,the shops are open till late, and there are endless parties to attend! It’s fun but my favourite part of this time of year aren’t the festivals but the weather! The temperature dips,and we can prepare ourselves for our short (and severe) winter season. Yup, cannot wait to eat those lunches out in the garden while soaking in the sun.

We have a  special Diwali post up today. Maya has been on our blog a long long time ago so we are happy to have her here again. As I had mentioned in this previous post, Maya is über talented and creative. Her photographs are brilliant and I love her Good Ideas!

Here is a short note from Maya-

I love receiving and sending letters  –  the handwriting and the stamps on the envelopes and finding the right smooth, thick, crunchy pen –  all of that good stuff. And I think theres something about old fashioned notecards and stationery that online greetings just can’t replace. And when they’re hand-made, you know theres a little bit of the artist in every card. I love the idea of spending time over every design and every piece i make, as opposed to buying the mass-produced cards available in the shops. I’ve been making stationery and cards for about a year now, and this year I thought I’d do something festive for diwali.
So, this diwali send out these exclusive handmade cards.

Each card is uniquely fashioned with a diya design made with different prints, and a lovely festive border. sold individually and in packs of 2, and 5 with envelopes.

I agree with Maya completely, there is nothing that compares to a hand-written note -online cards just seem so disposable! How do you save a card you get online? Print it? What’s the fun in that!

All photos taken by Maya Singh

If you want to get in touch with Maya to buy her hand made Diwali cards, you can send her an email at mayasingh00@gmail.com or just write to us at theunrealbride@gmail.com and we will put you in touch with her. 

We are super busy and if we don’t get to post before Diwali (though I hope to)- have a happy and safe Diwali. Take it easy on the firecrackers though-think of the poor dogs!xx

Lucky In Love : Ideas For Incorporating Horseshoes Into Your Wedding by Bridal Musings

I realise it has been quite a while since I last posted but we have been nice and busy ! Wedding season is in full swing and we started it off with a really fun bridal session in Delhi , then a Hawaiian photo booth followed by a two day photo booth at one of Chandigarh’s biggest events/fairs-The Vanity Fair. Today I am in Delhi with some time to catch up with my blogging before I cover a wedding tomorrow night. Yes, we are low on sleep and have loads of work but you won’t here us complaining! The weather is getting better and the days to my beach holiday are coming closer-so I am happy!

Today is Tuesday Shoesday and we have a very special post in store! I am delighted to have Elizabeth ,owner of  Bridal Musings -one of my favourite blogs writing for us today. She suggested it might make an interesting Tuesday Shoesday post and I couldn’t agree more.

I’m not going to jabber any more-let Elizabeth do all the talking now!

                                                                          —————————————————————————————————

Hello Unreal Bride readers, it’s a pleasure to be guest posting here today. 

Kismet kindly wrote an awesome post on Indian Wedding traditions and shared some of her gorgeous wedding photography over on my UK wedding blog Bridal Musings so we thought it’d be fun for me to feature an English wedding tradition here on the Unreal Bride.  

The Lucky Horse Shoe

I used to ride horses growing up so I absolutely adore it when brides and grooms involve their horses in their wedding day. But if having a horse at your wedding sounds a bit too much like hard work {which surely it must be!} why not incorporate horse shoes into your wedding. After all, we’ve come a long way from the cheap, plastic horseshoes often seen swinging from puffy sleeved, big haired brides’ bouquets of the 80s.

Image of bride & horse by Jose Villa via Style Me Pretty

Traditionally horse shoes represent good luck, this is believed to stem from Medieval times when blacksmiths were considered to have magical powers {alchemy}. And a ‘lucky in love’ theme is perfect for a rustic, chic wedding. Be it in an intimate, English country barn or on a desert ranch complete with cowboy boots and stetsons. The more worn and rough around the edges the horseshoes are the better for that traditional, rural feel.

Cake Toppers by Bragging Bags 

Garter by Florrie Mitton

Horseshoe Toss by Jason and Anna Photography via Style Me Pretty

Horseshoe Escort Cards via Coren Moore

Horseshoe necklace by Alex Monroe

Couple Holding A Horseshoe by Melissa Dunstan Photography via Bridal Musings

Spread the luck and the love by giving your guests horse shoe favours, use them as unique escort cards or even as entertainment with a horseshoe toss! And how adorable is that wooden pair of horseshoe cake toppers?

But for those of you who are not into the whole rustic/country vibe, why not include a subtle nod to the tradition with a delicate horseshoe necklace or garter? I am coveting that charming, woodland horse shoe necklace by one of my favourite British jewelry designers Alex Monroe.

Any other horse and horseshoe fans out there?

Thanks for having me on your beautiful and inspirational corner of the wedding blogosphere, Kismet. I hope you and all your readers are always ‘lucky in love’.

Elizabeth

Bridal Musings ~ a chic and unique wedding blog

www.bridalmusings.com | Twitter  | Facebook | Pinterest

   

  

 

Photo by The Unreal Bride 

Since we are on the topic of horse-shoes, it is a crazy coincidence that our last bridal session was shot at a stud farm! So, I thought it would be kind of cool to post this photo which could serve a double purpose of a sneak peek from the bridal session ! Also, today is this beautiful bride’s mehendi and we wanted to send her a whole lot of love and happiness on this special day!

Happy Tuesday Shoesday everyone!Did you like our special edition for shoesday?

Don’t forget to check out these lovely blogs for more shoes!

 {Magnolia Rouge}  {Brancoprata} {Postcards & Pretties}{Beyond Beyond} {Niche White} {Marry You Me}

Visiting London today-come say hello!

Am I allowed to have a favourite wedding from the ones I have covered in the past? Or is that not allowed?  I can’t help it though, I had such a blast at this wedding and I had the funnest time photographing the lovely bride and cool groom, even though I got elbowed enough times by the other photographers there! Can’t blame them though- I would be elbowing people too if I felt threatened. 😉 Anyhoo I am glad to see that I am not the only one who loves this wedding and was more than happy to share it over on Elizabeth’s cool blog-Bridal Musings. So hop on over there and see what I have to say about Indian weddings and feel free to add/subtract to what I have said!

A perfect ending to the week, in my opinion!! Have a great (long for some of us) weekend!

 

 

Magnolia Rouge

What am I doing today? Jumping up and down in excitement, that’s what! I am super honoured that my work has been featured on Kate’s blog- Magnolia Rouge today. Thanks Kate for having me on the blog today! I had to ‘steal’ this banner from your site today to post here! Hope you don’t mind 🙂