With the Royal Wedding but 1 day away its fair to say that the nation's interest in Will and Kate's Big Day has reached fever pitch. With endless speculation on the design details (I cant wait to see her dress eek!) the wedding industry is waiting with bated breath to see just how the most anticipated wedding in recent times turns out.
I was lucky enough to catch them in between their hectic schedule to talk Tiaras, Tantrums and the Royal Wedding...
Who is the Debra Mai Team? The Debra Mai team consists of a group of people who are passionate about weddings, and skilled in so many different ways, from floral designers to logistics experts. We offer a full wedding and event planning service as well as a unique wedding design and styling service. Everything is designed to ensure that every aspect of the wedding process delivers on a bride's high expectations and with impeccable service, quality and finish.
So what sets apart a wedding styled and planned by Debra Mai Weddings? The couple. Ultimately they set the tone for everything we do here at Debra Mai and its all about them not fads and themes. Personalising the wedding to a couple is big on our agenda and most of the time the bride has the most input to the wedding plans but we are equally attune about getting some input from the groom and what he'd like to infuse too - then ensuring it all comes together seamlessly. This way the wedding is a reflection of their style and personalities so what they like to eat, where they like to shop, travel destinations are important questions we ask early on. It can be as simple as what we did for a recent couple which was to print behind each guest's menu setting “fun facts” about the couple. “Did you know the bride does this at 4am in the morning”, “Did you know the groom was recently at...”. Guests loved and stole ideas from that wedding after.
How does the Royal wedding affect the wedding industry? The Royal Wedding has had a tremendous impact on the wedding industry as a whole. Instead of “what’s on trend”, bride’s and most suppliers that have anything to do with weddings on a regular basis now want to hear about the latest news from Clarence House! It will go down in history as one of the most memorable wedding of this century and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was still inspiring wedding designs for years to come.
With talks of Kate Middleton planning to go DIY for her wedding makeup, has any one of your brides ever tried doing her own wedding make-up?
Fortunately not! Many people are great at doing their own make-up on a day to day basis, but it’s completely different when the cameras are on you. High definition cameras aren’t so forgiving, so we always encourage our bride’s to go pro when it comes to hiring a make-up artist. We did have a bride do her own hair styling once, but she was a professional hair stylist and the end result was utterly fabulous.
I've had the pleasure to work with your team on a number of occasions and always wanted to know, what do you guys carry in that little black bag?!
Thats our wedding emergency kit. Its a small case where we take along basic essentials and not so obvious tools to help rescue dramas that may happen on the day. So anything from split bridesmaid dresses to aisle walk music suddenly not working, we've got a remedy to fix it. We did have one situation a few years back that would have been a little tricky to fix on the day. A very well know London patisserie supplier (whom I shan't name!) thought they had delivered a wedding cake a few days before the wedding already. Thanks to our regular supplier checks in the weeks and even days leading up, this disastrous error was spotted and quickly rectified ensuring we definitely had cake to be cut!
What trends do you predict for the coming year?
With the news that Kate will be wearing the Queen’s tiara, I think popularity of tiaras may boom again, with brides wanting replicas of the headpiece. Bridal gowns will also take a lot of inspiration from her style, perhaps vintage refined elegance with sleeves or a somewhat moulded silhouette. When it comes to decorative details...gold! Nothing screams royalty like trimmings of gold from floral containers to cutlery and table settings. Invariably, I think anything Kate has at her wedding will set a trend in all aspects of the wedding industry and not just for weddings in London or the UK but all over the world.
For more wedding design candy, visit this London Wedding Planner at: www.debramaiweddings.com
This Summer I had the privilege of being asked to beautify the already beautiful Sarah-Jane Goodman at her summer wedding to the love of her life Jason Baker. I jumped at the chance as Sarah-Jane had a little something to do with why Im a makeup artist in the first place. Many moons ago Sarah-Jane worked at MAC Cosmetics, and me being bright eyed and bushy tailed would have given a limb and then some to get into the company. SJ being the wonderful creature that she is went over and beyond the call of duty to get me the info needed to nail an interview with MAC including printing out valuable inside information and giving me her MAC Bible Handbook! It was my absolute pleasure to return the favour and make her over for her wedding compliments of the chef. When she casually mentioned that it will be taking place in the rolling Tuscan Hills of Florence I actually nearly wet myself! The theme was Vintage Hollywood glamour so we went with Fifties flicked liner and matte red lips which complimented her Pronovias dress perfectly.
Here are some of the pics I took on my phone as my camera went walkies, and let me tell you it was THE most spectacular wedding I had ever been too. 80 odd close friends and family celebrating in the boiling hot sun. The ceremony was under a canopy of Olive trees whilst listening to acapella version of Adele's Feel My Love then onto the drinks reception where we had ridiculously scrummy Rossinis and Bellinis whilst munching on lovely meats and cheeses from the surrounding region. We were then ushered through to a sight that took my breath away. Dinner was at sunset on a cobbled terrace overlooking the sweeping hills of Florence with twinkly lights as far as the eyes can see. A lively Jazz band accompanied dinner making everyone clap and sing along through dinner. Then came the first dance which had us all balling our eyes out as SJ danced with her dad to Butterfly Kisses. A firework display had us in
awe, which lead perfectly onto the boogying under the night sky. If it sounds perfect.... let me tell you it was! Congrats SJ and Jason ;-)))))
