One Fine Day wedding fair - 10 Sydney tickets to win

I know I've mentioned before that I love weddings - especially the fringed-boho'd-ballooned-streamer'd-flower-crowned type. If you or a loved one is loved up and planning a wedding, make sure you head to Sun Studios in Alexandria, NSW this weekend for the loveliest of wedding fairs - One Fine Day. It's an intimate and chic event with super-creative wedding experts showcasing their services for design-savvy couples. It's so much more than a traditional bridal expo. Expect amazing inspiration, acoustic music, glasses of bubbly, food tastings, fashion runway shows and utter gorgeousness.

When: Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September 2013, 10am - 4pm
Where: Sun Studios, 42 Maddox Street, Alexandria, 2015, NSW
Tickets: Buy your tickets HERE.

Thanks to my friends at One Fine Day, I have ten free tickets to give away over on Facebook. All you need to do is like the Bondville Facebook page and comment on the One Fine Day post over there for a chance to win. Entries close midday Friday 13th September 2013 and I will email the winners in the afternoon; your tickets will be waiting for you at the door. Head over to Facebook now...

Images: One Fine Day

Dollcake Australian boho flower girl dresses

If you have a little Australian flower girl that loves lace and ruffles, and will have a starring role in a wedding or other special occasion, be prepared to be bowled over by the boho chic style of Melbourne girls' clothing label Dollcake - perfect for flower girl dresses:

Write To Me nostalgic stationery

Melbourne sisters Anna and Nicoletta from stationery brand Write To Me are all about the handwritten letter; and I am too. Do you remember how exciting it was to get an email (you've got mail!) and now that we are overwhelmed with electronic mail, it's such a rush to receive something handwritten in the mail. (We have just to convince Australia Post to re-think postage prices). Let's have a look at some of Write To Me's beautifully illustrated and beautifully styled stationery...

Each product is designed, hand printed and crafted in their Melbourne studio on recycled kraft paper. The range includes cards, tags, wrapping paper, letter-writing sets, postcards, journals, notebooks, party invitations, announcements, treat bags and thank you cards as well as a collection of seasonal products and simply lovely wedding stationery. Oh and a whole new slew of products including a pregnancy journal, pantry labels, book labels and love lunch notes. It's all very nostalgic and I love it all.

I'm especially taken with the bicycle wrapping paper and the robot party pack. You could even let the kids go to town personalising it with their glitter glue stick and colouring in pencils.

You can find Write To Me in the online store and at stockists across Australia.

Images: Write To Me

Delish Ice popsicles

Peach Iced Tea, Coconut, Pineapple and Lime, Lemon and Mint - these and more glorious flavours in an icy popsicle come to you from Perth company Delish Ice. What a fabulous party idea!

Don't they look divine? These popsicle would be perfect for an kind of party, and how amazing for a wedding. In fact, Delish Ice owners also hire out a fun range of vintage and kitsch partyware including some kooky pink flamingos and a gorgeous mini caravan called "Iceblock" for serving the popsicles and other treats. Too much fun.

Images: Delish Ice

miki.o stationery and paper goods

Bianca van Meeuwen is a multi-talented lady whose textile design I have written about here on Bondville. Now Melbourne-based Bianca is bringing us her stationery and paper goods design with miki.o stationery, wall art prints, and printable wedding stationery.

There is so much to love about Bianca's collection. The Fruit and Veggie calendar is totally inspired and something I have been searching for, for a long time. The print outlines monthly seasonal produce in Australia - something I'd love for our kitchen. And I need that menu planner big-time. The wedding stationery designs are fresh and printing yourself is so economical - a great wedding budget-slasher.

You can find miki.o stationery and paper goods in the online store and printable wedding stationery in the etsy store.

Images: miki. o

Happy Chocolate Father's Day

Happy Father's Day. And happy World Chocolate Day! Yes, you can combine the two with lots of chocolate for Dad. Perfect.

I thought you'd like this pic. This is a special shout-out to my Dad too - this is one of my Dad's chocolate fountains at my sister's post-wedding brunch last weekend. It was glorious. Dad runs a great chocolate fountain fondue business in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, providing professional chocolate fountains and warm, melted Belgian Callebaut chocolate for weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, engagements, trade shows, business meetings and all sorts of events.

Dark chocolate is the most popular, but there is also milk chocolate and white chocolate to choose from (and pink or coloured if you wish!). Our girls have been so lucky to have chocolate fountains at their birthday parties and the kids and adults alike have all loved it. We like to dip strawberries and marshmallows on skewers, and ginger and pineapple are pretty fabulous too.

Enjoy your chocolatey Father's Day!

Steph
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Image: Steph Bond Hutkin

Roses = Love

Well, my sister's wedding was wonderful. It rained, it blew a gale - it was a damp miserable day on the Sunshine Coast. But my sister was radiant and glamorous and the wedding was beautiful.

The Bride's bouquet, two Bridesmaid bouquets and 11 flower arrangements were a huge success(what was I worried about!). Mum did a beautiful job on 7 boutonnière (button holes). The flowergirls were so beautifully behaved (I take no credit for that!). And the guest book tree was perfect. I have lots of amazing photos to share with you soon, and some lovely wedding ideas.

In the meantime, the happy couple are off to Fiji and I wish them all the best, much love, happiness and good health together.

Steph
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Image: Steph Bond Hutkin

Time For A Wedding

Yesterday we visited a rose farm! Then we proceeded to fill the back of Pops' van with 350 roses, all for my sister's wedding on Saturday, here on the Sunshine Coast.

It was fun to visit the farm and meet the rose farmers in person. I keep sneaking into my room to see all the roses sitting in buckets, waiting. Such a glorious sight!

The aspiring florist in me is a little giddy. Today I get to try my hand at bouquet-making. We had a practice during the week, so I'm feeling mildly confident. I think.

See you after the big event!

Steph
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Brand New Tutu du Monde August 2011 - world exclusive

GUESS WHAT!!! The ever-so-clever Andrea Rembeck from Tutu du Monde has shared with us her new collection of heavenly party frocks and tutus for little girls. First look here!

This new collection from Tutu du Monde continues the theme of beautiful vintage-style pieces to make girls feel like princesses. As well as the ever-gorgeous tutus with stretch jersey singlet tops, there are sweet capelets, cloches, bows and bazillions of sequins.

These dresses and outfits even look great as time goes by. Yes they are special occasion dresses - flower girls, parties, birthdays - but wear well for everyday too. Our purple tutu has been dragged through the proverbial mud for over a year and still looks fantastic - a little boho chic now. (throw away those itchy polyester Sleeping Beauty things!)

You can find Tutu du Monde in the online store as well as stockists in Australia, the US, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Read more about Tutu du Monde here on Bondville. And head over to Bondville Kids for more great Australian-designed clothes for kids.

Images: Tutu du Monde

Paper Runway magazine

Have you discovered the delightful Paper Runway magazine yet? Produced right here in Australia, this lovely quarterly publication dedicated to all things paper - paper goods, paper craft and paper love. Available in print and online (read here), the magazine is chock-full of gorgeousness. What about this tagline - where passion meets paper. Can you stand it?

The second issue has just been released and is dedicated to weddings. Titled "Ever After", this special edition is online-only and happens to feature a little article by moi! Click through to pages 98-99 to read all about "10 Must-Haves For The Perfect Wedding Day". I was a little cheeky - you know these kind of articles can be dull. Let me know if you get a chance to check it out.

Images: Paper Runway

William and Kate's Flower Girls - the Australian designs they could have worn

Image: (c) PA Wire

Image: Hugo Burnand/Clarence House

Oh the royal wedding. I adored everything about it. Catherine Middleton blew me away with her grace, composure and that dress!

Now, Will and Kate's flower girls were cute, no denying. They wore custom white satin gazar dresses with pale gold sashes, designed by Nicki MacFarlane. I even heard that their names were embroidered in the hems (what a lovely idea!).

But I wonder if the look may have been more modern if they had gone with an Australian-designed flower girl dress? Here are my picks:

Tea Princess Special Occasion Collection - a sweeter, softer option than stiff satin.

Sophie's Lane - Liberty prints (of course) in a soft grey and ivory.

Tutu Du Monde - adorable on the big girls and the little girls, and definitely wearable again.

Let me know if you have another favourite Australian-designed flower girl dress that I can add to this list ...

Steph

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Tutu du Monde 2011 Collection

It's no secret that I am a *huge* fan of Andrea Rembeck's divine label for little girls, Tutu Du Monde. My big girl lives in her Tutu Du Monde dresses and they also come out for every dress-up event.

I stopped by to say Hi to Andrea at Kids In Style last month and was able to see her gorgeous new collection up-close. Stunning! These are dresses just begging to be worn by flowergirls, birthday girls and any ballerina-in-the-making. Here are the latest photos from the new Tutu Du Monde lookbook for your viewing pleasure.

You can find Tutu Du Monde in the online store as well as at boutiques across Australia, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Read more about Sydney-based Tutu Du Monde here on Bondville. And head over to Bondville Kids for more drool-worthy clothes for kids designed right here in Australia.

Images: Tutu Du Monde