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

The Queen can teach Justin Beiber and Adam Levine a thing or 2.

In the world of having children when celebrities opt for surrogates or caesarians instead of going the traditional route they call it 'Too posh to push', and in the world of umbrellas I have invented a new title for the ever growing number of celebrities who seem to be unwilling to carry their own umbrella,

'Plenty sold, so I don't hold'.

This phenomenon seems to be occurring more often in the past couple of years, and seems to be an affliction that is spreading amongst celebrities.

Now I understand the need for actors at premieres to have 2 free hands for signing autographs whilst leaving funny messages on fan's answer phones and having photos taken all at the same time, therefore Daniel Radcliffe having this drop dead gorgeous brolly carrier is fine, but..........

and it is a BIG BUT.....

Justin Beiber

Adam Levine  & Behati Prinsloo

there is NO excuse for having your personal lackey follow you 2 steps behind whist toting a large umbrella, just because you feel you are too cool to carry your own.


Yes I am talking to you Justin Beiber, oh and whilst I'm on one could you please pull up your pants!!

And to you Adam Levine, you are old enough to know better, and maybe if you held your own brolly your fiancée could be covered too!

The Queen and her umbrellas

Now some of the most well known people on the planet are in the British Royal Family, and the head of that family is the Queen, who has a pretty large retinue (for celebrities who don't recognise that word, think posse) of ladies-in-waiting and security, but guess what.........she carries her own umbrella!

She is one of the most photographed and richest women in the world, who has impeccable manners and exudes grace and style, yet she doesn't feel the need to be followed about by a minion holding her brolly.

As you can see below the future Kings and Queen of Great Britain continue in this down-to-earth approach and don't seem to have an issue with umbrella holding. So listen up you 'celebrities', if an 87 year old lady who has been in the public eye for her entire life can carry her own umbrella, I'm pretty sure you can too!

Prince Charles, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge & Prince Harry and Prince William & Catherine.

President Barack Obama

German Chancellor Angela Merkel
&Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi

Oh and don't even get me started on politicians......at one with the people they represent, pah!

Toodle pip for now
Karen Lee

 

Reclaim the Fairy Cake!

Over the last 5 years the whole of Great Britain has been inundated with cake makers.
I am very partial to a cake or 4 so don't misunderstand me, I DO NOT have an issue with the cakes themselves. I DO however take issue with what these new batch of bakers are calling their creations .........CUPCAKES!!!!

Photo courtesy of  bakinginspiration.com

For at least the 43 years that I have been on this earth, these mini cakes, covered with icing, buttercream, hundreds & thousands and/or metallic sugar balls, have been a mainstay of every school fête, community events and kiddie parties.

They have been created by mums, grandmas, brownie troops and enthusiastic kids, and have been decorated with whatever could be found in the back of a deep kitchen cupboard, and for all this time, and probably a whole lot of years before I was born, they have been called FAIRY CAKES.

Photo courtesy of georgetowncupcake.com

So why do we now have a country full of 'cupcakes'? The ever pervasive influence from our ex-colony, the good ol' U. S. of A., is the culprit. Someone, and there are a lot of claimants to this particular title, decided that if you took the humble fairy cake, gave it an unusual name such as Red Velvet or Lava Fudge, and then covered the top with various sickly sweet concoctions piled higher than the Eiffel Tower, then you could sell them for an obscene amount of money, to people with more money than sense (I only say this because this trend took flight in Beverley Hills!). 

As mentioned earlier Great Britain is full of bakers of all ages, so when this trend crossed the pond many people saw an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and make a living doing something that they loved, but, and this is my big BUT, they allowed the American name to stay because, to be able to charge the big prices, they couldn't be seen to be related to the humble Fairy Cake.

My biggest objection to the cupcake name is that it's influence doesn't stop just at the fancy shops. Nowadays at the local fairs or the school fêtes the Fairy Cake has been usurped, and a whole generation of children think that the swirly topped, sponge creations, made to fit perfectly into a small hand are called Cupcakes. NO!!!!

Please, I beg of you all, can we keep our British names, don't let foreign invaders take over, and if you are from the land of the free, we like you, we really do, but please can you keep your Americanisms of our great language to yourselves.

To make up for your corruptions of our words, dear Americans it's time we gave you one back, so here it is. You can call an umbrella an umbrella if you wish, but over here it's called a Brolly. Enough said!
Toodle pip
Karen Lee

450 umbrellas & 128 plastic bottles create beautiful art!

In October 2012 I blogged about a project that had Kickstarter funding for the creation of a beautiful dome sculpture 'Harvest Dome 2.0' to be made out of discarded pop bottles and broken umbrellas in New York, well.......

they did it!

The amazing 24 x 18 foot structure was crafted by husband and wife duo Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi who used a total of 450 umbrellas and 128 bottles to assemble the orb.

The project, which asked for $7500, and actually received $7596, aims to raise awareness of the debris that clogs New York’s waterways, threatening fish and other forms of wildlife. The project is the brainchild of husband and wife Alex Levi and Amanda Schachter.

The 24 foot diameter sphere, that is 18 foot tall at it's highest point, has an array of light-emitting-diodes, inserted into each of the bottles and powered by tiny photovoltaic cells to create a glowing effect that looks amazing if you head out after dark.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
All photos courtesy Andreas Symietz.