We all deserve to own great art.

Monet's Poppy Field

Great art is ……… GREAT.

But there is a problem with a lot of famous artworks in that most of the amazing paintings are locked away in museums, and because of that the only chance you get to see them is to buy a plane ticket, book a hotel, get a taxi to the museum and hope that thousands of other people aren't doing the same thing so that you may get up close, or as close as they'll let you, to see the picture in all it's glory.

Klimt's The Kiss

This isn't something that most of us could do on a regular basis, but modern technology has created a great opportunity for us all to get a good look at these works of art. The rise of the internet allows you up close access to most of the paintings. I know it's not the same as being there and seeing the brush strokes, but every year technology creates innovations that improve our experience of the virtual, so watch this space.

Van Gogh's Irises

What currently technology allows is the recreation of amazing art on products that you can own, and at Hello Brolly we look for the best examples in umbrella form so that you can now walk around with a Monet or Klimt in your hand. How amazing is that!

Monet's Woman with a Parasol

Thanks for reading, and I welcome shares and please leave any comments below,

Karen Lee

July 6th is officially Umbrella Cover Day

Umbrella covers are the little sleeves that come with some umbrellas. Some people like using them, some quickly lose them and some people just chuck them away straight after buying as they think that they involve unnecessary faffing. Covers may be small, but they have inspired their own museum of Umbrella Covers, and a Guinness World Record.

Umbrella Cover Day encourages you to dig out your umbrella covers from the bottom of drawers, the backs of cupboards to celebrate the wonder and beauty in the simplest of things. It's about remembering that there is usually always a story behind the cover; like the umbrella you bought on a holiday when you met the love of your life, or the best ever muddy bog of a Glastonbury, when you listened to your favourite band huddled under your favourite brolly.

Umbrella covers can have other uses too. 

If you are one of those who don't want to use them on your umbrella, they make great make-up brush holders, or if they have a drawstring they can be used as makeshift purses and, as they are usually made from the same waterproof material that the brolly is made from, they are perfect for putting your toothbrushes in when travelling.

Thanks for reading
Karen Lee

Just some of the umbrellas with covers at HelloBrolly.co.uk

A fun idea for your wedding, involving umbrellas.

Sawer - An Indonesian wedding tradition

The western take on the Sawer,
 as seen on the Offbeat Bride website.

This ceremony should take place in front of the 'sawer' or gargoyle. The 'water' flowing from the gargoyle indicates the continuous flow of priceless parental love for their children.

The bride and groom are seated under an umbrella in front of the entrance to the house. There are two singers, a man and a woman, who sing on behalf of the parents. 

The song, called kidung, advises the couple to treat each other well, living in harmony, and serves as a prayer to the Almighty to bless the couple.

Then the Sawer is showered on the couple.

It consists of:

- Turmeric rice - to symbolise prosperity, and yellow stands for everlasting love

- Coins - to remind us to share our wealth with the less fortunate

- Sweets - to represent sweetness and fragrance throughout your marriage. 

It is a fun tradition that people at the ceremony love to take part in, especially the children as they get to run forward to pick up the sweets and money on the floor.

Thanks for reading
Karen Lee

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Into the Woods... a stunning woodland wedding.

Here at Hello Brolly we know lots of amazing people who work within the wedding industry, and late last year we all got together to do a stunning Woodland Wedding themed photo shoot for a magazine. 

Hello Brolly provided umbrellas for the day, and 2 were chosen to go with the theme - a standard Petal Shaped cream brolly, and another that we designed especially for the shoot, embellished with some lace offcuts from one of the dresses that were made by the lovely Charlotte Yates from bespoke bridal wear specialists Legend Bridal.

The amazing photos were taken by the husband & wife photography duo Danny & Lizz from DJ Archer Photography, and the stunning hair and make up on our gorgeous model Lorena Jade was done by Janet & Stef Smith from Aspect Professional Makeup and Beauty Services. 

 The 5 (yes 5!) very yummy cakes were designed and created by the brilliant Vicki Ormerod at The Cake Whisk. I love visiting her house, because she always offers up cakes, cakes and more cakes!

 Jaime & Pete Ball from Jamball create amazing hand crafted felt and button bouquets, corsages & headwear. 

All the beautiful table dressings & the complete outdoor visual look was created by Marie Rooney& Jade Ingham at Country Rose Props & Event Dressing

The woodland design invites and place settings were created by Darren Brown at Darren Brown Graphic Design.

Kilhey Court's hotel and grounds in Wigan hosted our shoot for the day which was organised by the brilliant wedding and event planner Gill Bond from GM Bespoke Events, and the very pretty light festoons were supplied by Megan Hawkins from Typical Type

A quick mention to a couple of other friends who also helped out with the planning, and on the day…. - Laura Newton of Love My Trike, a traditional Ice Cream Tricycle & Prop Hire service

- Joanne Harrison from Travel Counsellors who provides a one stop shop for personalised travel with expertise in weddings and honeymoons.

Thanks to everyone involved this shoot is soon to be featured in a Northern wedding magazine and one of the industry's biggest blogs. It's all a bit hush hush, but I'll let you know which soon.

Rain on your Wedding Day brings good luck!

According to quite a lot of religions and various superstitions, the heavens opening on your big day is a good thing (only as long as you have yourself a good supply of umbrellas, hint, hint.)

These are just a few of the reasons for rain to bring good luck:

No more tears - Rain on your wedding day is thought to represent the last tears that the bride will shed as she now enters a happy blissful life.

Cleansing & renewal - Rain washes away dirt and leaves a fresh, clean scent when the sun returns, so rain on your wedding day signifies the washing away of bad memories, tough times or sadness, giving you both a fresh slate on which you can metaphorically write down your happy future together.

Fertility - Rain is thought to signify that you will have children. This belief came from our agricultural past, because as gardeners know, when the rains arrive the ground becomes fertile, allowing for the new growth of plants and vegetation, and in some hot lands there are insects and small animals that lie dormant underground until the rains appear. These creatures magically appear almost overnight making it seem that the rain has created life.





A lasting marriage - A knot that becomes wet is very hard to untie, therefore when you 'Tie the knot' on a rainy day your marriage is supposedly just as hard to unravel. We can thank Hindu traditions for this belief.

Sneaky Kisses :*

Here at Hello Brolly we love umbrellas, and we lurve kisses so we put together some of our favourite sneaky umbrella kisses for your pleasure, and to maybe give you some fun photo ideas for your wedding, engagement, anniversary or 'just because you can' photos.

Stealing a brief moment together 

Casual romantics

Steamy!

Too cute

A colourful kiss

Wowser! We all want to be kissed like that.

Thses photos were all found on Pinterest.

A quick tip to freshen up your old umbrella.

Is this happening to your old umbrella?

When a brolly is old or well used, the fold lines can lose a bit of their waterproofing and water seeps into the fabric.

Don't worry it doesn't mean your brolly will leak onto your head, it just means that it can look a bit messy, and it will take longer to dry.

This problem is due to the edges being rubbed when you roll it up and put it in the car or into the umbrella stand.

To solve this issue get some hairspray and lightly spray the outside of your umbrella (when dry) to give it's canopy a new water resistant lease of life.

Toodle pip, for now,
Karen Lee