PPQ's designer beer glasses

As part of the work we’re doing with my client BitterSweet Partnership (set up by Molson Coors to ignite women’s love for beer and dispel some of the common myths surrounding it) we’ve collaborated with PPQ’s Amy Molyneaux to design a new range of beer glasses.

BitterSweet’s research showed that 31% of women thought beer glassware is ‘ugly and manly’ – so Amy has designed four new glasses to serve beer in to bring a bit more style into the drinking experience. You can view the designs at www.bittersweetpartnership.com/glassware

We’re encouraging people to go to the site to vote for their favourite most popular shape and pattern will be put into production on a trial basis in 2010. As a thank you, everyone who votes will be given the chance to win their own glass and win ASOS vouchers to spend on PPQ clothing. I can’t enter though!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Avoiding potential wedding headaches

Yesterday we picked our wedding rings up from Hatton Garden - hence the photo. They've now been hidden away, as the groom-to-be is more than aware that I'd wear mine around the house, given the chance (the very reason my wedding dress is in the care of my parents).

So there’s six weeks left to go! People keep asking me if I’m stressed or nervous, and have to say I’m not…yet.

However, I’ve just seen the results of a new survey which was conducted by the makers of migraine treatment Imigran Recovery http://www.imigranrecovery.co.uk around common wedding stresses and fears among brides to be.

They found nearly half of brides feared illness, including migraine, insomnia, acne or cold sores had the most chance of ruining their wedding day, ahead of family arguments, their partner not turning up, and stumbling over their vows.

Having suffered from all of those illnesses at some point, I’d have to agree. I’m very lucky that I’m not a frequent migraine sufferer, unlike 15% of adults in the UK, two thirds of which are women. Some tips for frequent sufferers around managing migraine in the run up to your wedding day include:

• Reduce the risk of an attack by trying to stick to your regular sleeping pattern. This will help you relax and recharge your batteries ahead of the big day.
• Control high stress levels by taking time to discover what is worrying you and try to change your behaviour to reduce it.

I’m also very lucky as my parents have been helping out a lot with the wedding, which is taking lots of stress off. Fingers crossed the only thing I’ll have to worry about on the day is not crying through the whole ceremony!

If the shoe fits...

Here's my recent Bridalwave post about my fabulous wedding shoes:

Once my dress was all sorted, my thoughts turned to what I was most excited about: wedding shoes. I knew I wanted ones I could wear again, so that ruled out anything remotely bridal or made of satin.

So, the following Saturday I hot-footed it down to Selfridges shoe department to go shopping! First port of call was Gina, where I found the most amazing pair of sparkly shoes ever, which I instantly fell in love with and didn't want to take off. Thinking I couldn't find a pair I liked more than those, I then looked at Jimmy Choo, and found the less sparkly, but no less amazing classic gold slingbacks.

I was struck with indecision as they were both my dream shoes. How would I chose? In the end, after taking advice from three shop assistants, a random couple and both my parents, I opted for the gold slingbacks as they will look better with my dress. If you can afford them, the Gina shoes would look amazing with a really simple wedding dress. However, as my dad pointed out, I'd always wanted to wear Jimmy Choos when I got married.

So my wedding shoes are now nestled in tissue paper in their lovely pink bag, which has taken up temporary residence on top of our wardrobe until September. I must admit I'm finding it very hard to leave them there, and have tried them on and walked around our flat a few times...to break them in, honestly!

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Where I was today...

(Almost) Finding a Wedding Dress

From Bridalwave, part two to follow shortly...

When the venue was booked, thoughts began to turn to THE DRESS. Initially, I was more excited about the shoes, and I never thought I'd be too bothered about what I wore as long as it was simple and nice. But when it came down to it, of course...I was wrong!

I spent a lovely Saturday with my Mum and Gran trying on dresses in wedding shops in Shropshire. I'd been told by every married friend that the dress you pick is always the one you're least expecting to like, so we had great fun trying on everything from big frilly frothy numbers to sleek satin ones.

We worked out pretty quickly what would suit me - as I'm not very tall, nothing with a big skirt! However, I didn't really love any of them, and my very emotional mum remained dry-eyed all day. As she cried more than I did when I rang to tell her I was engaged, this wasn't a good sign!

Back in London, I decided to bite the bullet and go and try on the very expensive but very lovely wedding dresses from the designer I'd had my eye on for ages.

However, when I phoned the only London stockist to book in an appointment I was told in no uncertain terms that their next weekend appointment was in three months time - if I was lucky. And as they take a minimum of six months to make the dress, I'd be "pushing it" to have one for September.

Planning a wedding in such a short timeframe had seemed easy up until that point. I began to despair - would I ever find the right dress?

An Inviting Question

My post on invites from Bridalwave (P.S - if you have any suggestions about this or anything else, let me know!)

I have to admit that invites are one of several areas in which I seem to be missing the bridal gene. Apparently the average bride spends £700 on wedding stationery, which seems like an awful lot to me - surely that's £700 that could be better spend on Champagne or shoes?

I'm all for sending out nice thank-you cards, but stories I've read about brides who obsessively match the colour of their hand-made invites to their dresses both confuse and scare me in equal measures...

So Alex and I decided to computerise our invites and email rather than post them (and my mum would then make a couple for non-computer literate Grandparents). We figured it was slightly more environmentally friendly, cheaper, and also far less effort, leaving us to spend more of our energy on grappling with the guest list.

However, that's as far as we've got! Has anyone done this before, or is there a company you'd recommend? We'd love to know, as the clock is ticking!

Picking a Venue, Setting the Date

Here's my second post for Bridalwave, on picking the venue:

Since we got engaged, I'd heard horror stories about wedding venues, which apparently get booked up years in advance. The people telling me these stories were the ones who were most shocked when I told them we were planning on getting married in September - "as in THIS September?!"

So we knew we had to start thinking about the venue pretty fast.

We decided on having our wedding in Shropshire, which is where I grew up and where my parents still live. This was mainly because I wanted us to be married in my childhood church, and it seemed easier than having two sets of relatives descend en-masse to London (especially as Alex and I live in a one bedroom flat, so space is at a premium!)

We enlisted the help of our Shropshire-based wedding planners - my Mum and Dad - to scout out all the local venues, and we went down one weekend in late February to view their top three.

In the end we decided on Madeley Court in Telford, which is a restored 16th century country house and hotel, with a really lovely mill building which is where our reception will be held. We picked it because it's practical - easy to get to, lots of rooms for visiting guests to stay in - but mostly because we both just instantly loved it.

Conveniently there was also a free Saturday at the end of September...and so we set the date.