From L-R The ceremony venue, the bridal party was transported in classic Chevrolets, a sign at the reception talks of love, the seating chart was tied with gold ribbon, Abbey’s reception venue was set in a gorgeous country garden with a tin roof, the room for the partying! Tables were laid with green table clothes and hessian and guests sat surrounded by beautiful brick work and hanging art, guests were directed to their tables which had orange watering cans with a herb stake poking out, the three tiered cake was made by a family friend, tables were adorned with bunches of flowers, guests received chocolate chip biscuits with a ladybug peg for favours, the exposed brick of the venue.

Abbey was kind enough to share a few little details of her wedding with us- I love her country theme with the bright colour touch. Abbey tried hard to make her wedding personal to her and her fiance and I think it was very reflective of them! I wish Abbey and her fiance a wonderful start to their married life together!

Congratulations Abbey on your beautiful wedding and becoming a married woman!

Hopefully Abbey will let me share some goodies with you all soon

Glamour This! wrote about a fantastic new guide for brides from theknot. Of course I love anything that makes planning a wedding easier so i had to check it out.

The Knot’s ultimate Wedding Flower Guide is the must use tool for any bride who has no idea about flowers! The guide lets you search flowers by arrangement (bouquets, centrepieces etc), colour (from pink to white) and bloom. Perfect! If you love the look of flowers but have limited knowledge each flower comes with its own page telling you of the flowers origin, it’s season (remember the seasons listed will be northern hemisphere), scent, meaning, price guide & colour.

I love sweet peas and the knot tells me the meaning of the flower is ‘everlasting pleasures’

I of course, had to test this nifty tool out. A search for pink flowers displayed beautiful styles like these.

(all images courtesy of theknot.com)

For brides unsure of flowers, or for the bride wanting to educate herself on varieties and meanings The Knot’s Ultimate Wedding Flower Guide is the place to go!

Such an apt reading to have as part of your wedding ceremony. It was originally written for the 1950 movie ‘Broken Arrow’. Whatever the history, I find the words beautiful.

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place
To enter into the days of your togetherness
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

I’ve long been a fan of Kate Spade and I was excited to hear she’s now available on our doorstep! Kate started designing handbags in 1993 and later launched her homewares collection. Now her range features everything from baby wear to sunglasses to paper and beauty items.

I’ve especially been a fan of the Kate Spade line of crockery. The ranges are designed in a way that will allow you to take pieces from different collections and have it still look like it was ‘meant to be’ while creating an eclectic and personal look. Definitely great ideas for a wedding!

Kate Spade ‘Oleander Avenue’ Plates in Turquoise and Pink  Accents with Kate Spade ‘Pompano Point’ collection. From Dilliards.com 

Kate Spade is available at David Jones city stores in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney & Melbourne and the Gallery Store at the Queensland Art Gallery in South Brisbane, QLD.

I visited a nursery last week and came across this glorious looking plant . Further inspection revealed it was called ‘Summer Sun’ and is an Australian native. The technical term for it is ‘lot laureolum x strobilinum’ and it also comes in a yellow leaf/red centre variety,

Australia is so lucky to have such glorious flowers and they’re perfect for a wedding bouquet. The rich reds of a flower like the waratah and the striking yellows of wattle.

Bouquet of natives from Flowers For Everyone, Princess Mary of Denmark chose Australian Eucalyptus in her bouquet for her marriage to Prince Frederik as homage to her Australian heritage (Photo from smh.com.au), wrapped in paperbark, an arrangement of proteas, gum nuts, dryandra & green berry by The Flower Man, native arrangement featuring orange banksias from Enchanted Rose, native in bloom by Rosa Flora Flowers & a golden toned bouquet from McGrath Hill Florist

A wedding based around beautiful Australian blooms can lead to many possibilities- rust toned bridesmaids gowns with a bride in dull gold, a table of favourite desserts like lamingtons, pavlova and more. An outdoor marquee with a bonfire. The scent of eucalyptus & gumnuts scattered across tables.

Well there’s exactly a week until Abbey’s wedding. i can’t quite believe its come up so fast. i still find things in my travels I want to drop Abbey in an email and realise she’s probably sorted that bit out by now!

In August 2006 on a bended knee, Abbey’s fiance proposed to her on the grounds of where their new house was to be built.

Now over a year later, with a new house and an exciting new adventure to be undertaken, in just over a week two very special people will tie the knot.

Abbey’s wedding planning experience has been pretty typical of many I’ve witnessed since I got into weddings. A rollercoaster ride of emotions with many smiles and tears along the way.

What started as a spring country wedding idea grew and morphed into all kinds of directions. But I think it’s safe to say it reflects Abbey and her fiance and the people they are today. An element of orange (or tangerine as Abbey likes to call it!) was added into the mix which has added a vibrancy to her original palette of brown and green. Watering cans, herbs and ladybugs have all become special touches that tie into the beautiful homestead and country church.

Hopefully Abbey will allow me to share photos of her special day next week. But until then I want to wish Abbey and her fiance a very big GOOD LUCK and CONGRATULATIONS on their special day. I hope it brings them both a lot of joy and a great start to their life together.

Something I love about summer weddings is the creative ways you can escape the heat and sunshine.

A Bit Shady has gorgeous parasols in all designs and colours perfect for your wedding day. A beautifully crafter parasol can look gorgeous in photos and can add an extra touch of glamour.

Fans, umbrellas and parasols are all available in gorgeous colours like the above antique white to a sassy cherry red from A Bit Shady’s online store. The store features specialty ranges including the Wedding range, the Monk range, the Contessa range and more! Prices for fans start $10 at while umbrellas & parasols start at $22

Firstly I’m thrilled to the reaction to our Blog Action Day Post. it’s blown me away!

Secondly, after weeks of impatiently visiting my newsagent after reading Abby Jean’s post on how the new Martha Stewart Weddings ‘may just be the best yet’. I made the trek out to Borders and managed 9while muffling my squeals of glee) to find it and also snaffle a copy of the new InStyle Weddings. I’m sure this will lead to much inspiration you’ll see here on the blog in coming posts.

You may have noticed the beauty that is Etsy. An online art & craft market of sorts you can find anything from notebooks to bags to hairclips and soap. It’s really quite addictive and I love browsing and supporting new craftsers

I found a blog completely devoted to Etsy Wedding Finds. A must read for any Etsy addict and for lovers of crafts! Check out Etsy Wedding for goodies tailored just for weddings!

Faye & Greer- a favourite blog of mine, are bidding farewell to their readers. I love Faye & Greer- a mum and daughter team they’ve provided me with great inspiration and I’ll be sad to see them go. Pop over and hava look at their entries.

 Meanwhile another blog author- Lara at Ready 2 Spark ignited (hah) a challenge, which fits in perfectly with Blog Action Day and the environmental theme the blog world has going

What are you doing to introduce environmental sustainability into your daily life?

Here in the house of Ms Polka, with water restrictions in place already we do a few things.

1. We save extra water by putting a bucket under the tap in the kitchen sink (we use a surprising amount of water washign veggies etc) and showering with a bucket. These help water our garden.

2. We turn off monitors and appliances on standby at the powerpoint- Mr Polka’s pet peeve was that we never did this. it is a pain remembering to turn it on and off but it’s easy in the end!

3. We use our trusty ‘green’ bags when grocery shopping. If I get plastic bags these are used as bin liners.

I’ve chosen not to tag anyone, mainly because it’s already infiltrated my blogroll- but I will tag you!

What do you do to help the environment?

The National Breast Cancer Foundation together with their gold partner Telfast has sought the help of many of Australia’s best designers this month to create bridal gowns for their ‘Brides For Breast Cancer’ auction. Designers such as Luci Di Bella, Steven Kahlil, Charlie Brown & Amanda Garrett all created bridal gowns for the cause which reflected their personal design styles. All gowns have been donated to raise money through an online auction.

Luci Di Bella, Steven Kahlil & Amanda Garrett’s gorgeous gowns

The gowns are on display at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne this month and will be auctioned off between Thursday the 18th of October and Sunday the 28th of October. Bid now for your chance to own a designer gown and support Breast Cancer