There are lots of things to help boost your confidence on your wedding day, and many brides will embark on new health and beauty regimes in the run up to their wedding. Cosmetic treatments such as body wraps and teeth whitening are becoming increasingly popular, but one thing that most people will agree is a confidence booster is a natural healthy tan. Self tanning products available for both home and salon use have become more sophisticated over the last few years to keep pace with consumer expectations, recognising that they can have the benefit of a healthy glow without the damaging effects of over exposure to the sun.

The UK Wedding Shows spoke to David Mitchell from Pacifique Sunless Tanning, an expert in the field who will be attending the show at the Ricoh Arena on 16^th and 16^th January. David says “I have been involved in the industry for seven years and our products have been developed to enable everyone to have the benefit of a healthy glow, even those who suffer from dry skin conditions. Our products are of an exceptionally high standard, with the right balance of ingredients to nourish the skin and give a great natural looking tan. My daughter Kirstie is qualified in the beauty industry and understands the particular issues that surround dry skin conditions, having suffered from this problem herself. Kirstie and I strongly believe that everyone should be able to have a good experience and we created Pacifique with this in mind. The ingredients are specifically sourced and our products are manufactured with no compromise on quality using 100% natural active ingredients and no alcohols, parabens or other harmful agents. We have sourced the most cost effective containers and packaging enabling us to offer a premium product at an affordable cost for both home and professional use. Pacifique will be exhibiting at Ricoh with our range of preparation, self tanning and after care products and we are pleased to be able to offer visitors the chance to try Pacifique Professional tanning solutions on the day, by booking a consultation and spray tan at the event itself for a nominal cost compared to salon prices. We will have a portable booth on the stand with professional therapists on hand to apply the products and visitors wishing to take up this opportunity will need to be wearing suitable underwear or swimwear for the session, which uses the same professional salon product that we will also be retailing for home use. We look forward to helping lots of brides and their guests feel pampered with our luxurious spray tan”

Contact Kirstie by telephone on 01543 421 832 www.pacifique.co.uk

Green is the new white – the 21^st century bride is committed to modern values as well as trends and the best place to start is her own high street…

Network Wedding offer a free online service that encourages brides to make the local high street the first place to look as she plans her big day. A series of 30+ online wedding guides puts her in touch with wedding suppliers right on her doorstep.

Supporting the best local companies is good for the local culture and economy and kind to the environment – we are familiar with the concept of ‘food miles’ and can now reduce the ‘wedding miles’ notched up by making a few careful decisions. Travelling fewer miles to the dress shop and jeweller on your high street and booking a DJ and magician in town means fewer CO2 emissions.

Local companies are often more accountable – the best have worked hard to establish their reputation and hope to receive more local recommendations from you. Many are used to working together so the photographer and videographer work round each other rather than tripping each other up and the florist and venue stylist frequently work together! The sugar flowers on the cake, the stationery, dress fabrics and more are best appreciated by meeting your designer in their studio and striking up a good rapport with them. Local food producers and breweries are also thriving as we choose companies closer to home for the catering, cakes and wine list.

Visit the Coventry guide using the link then from there visit the best wedding services on 30+ UK high streets. Put your feet up and log on! www.coventrywedding.co.uk

As a Wedding Planner and owner of Aimee Dunne – Weddings and Events I often hear people say how glamorous my job must be and how much they’d love to be a Wedding Planner. The glamour associated with the title ‘Wedding Planner’ probably started and finished with J-Lo in the wonderfully titled film ‘The Wedding Planner’!

We work incredibly hard (and I’m not just saying that!). It’s our job to be organised, timely, professional, creative, as well as a negotiator and friendly face (or ear ) to many! A jack of all trades. I’d love to say we all do nothing but visit fabulous venues and sip champagne all the time but sadly that’s not so.

That said, it would be an understatement to say I love my job; I simply adore my job. I love the craziness and the stress. It’s my job to take any stress away from the happy couple and the enjoyment of seeing everything come together after all the planning and ideas, and creating a couples dream day, is simply priceless. I love all the tasks involved in planning, possibly because ‘organised’ is my middle name; and I love being creative and dreaming up something wonderful that will set the guests of with lots of ‘oohs and ahhs’. Could there be a better job than making people happy; well if there is I certainly can’t think of one.

So, if you want to take all the stresses and strains out of your big day, and make it a day to remember, come and visit us at the London Excel Show in February! We offer a range of services from Wedding Day Management to Full Wedding Planning, and we’re members of the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners (UKAWP). Most importantly we tailor our services to suit you, as every client is very much unique.

Aimee can be contacted by email [email protected] and by telephone on 0208 650 6541

ThisBus is a small and friendly company, providing Routemaster Bus hire for London and the Home counties.

We take great pride in offering a personalised service to all our wedding couples – our dedicated teams of drivers and conductors like to make sure that each trip is one to remember. Our older guests always enjoy the nostalgia of a ‘proper’ London bus and our younger guests just like the thrill of having their ‘own’ bus for the day.

Quotes from some of our previous valued clients include

“Please pass on my thanks to your crew for their help and time on Saturday. The bus was excellently turned out and they provided us with a great tour. The atmosphere of the wedding was not broken as people found their way from the ceremony to the reception. The party just kept on going!
The tour was especially enjoyed by many of the guests who had not been to London before, including some guests from Germany and Ireland.
Having the bus helped make my daughter’s wedding day into ‘just the day I was dreaming of’ to use her words, and CUV 261C featured in several of the photos of the day. ”

Do please contact Penny or Jerry in our bookings office for more details – we’d love to be part of your special day.

www.thisbus.com

[email protected]

0845 465 2394

The great British weather gives new meaning to the phrase ‘white wedding’ as snow and ice still disrupt large areas of the UK. For those couples who have chosen a winter date for their wedding, the snow could just be the icing on the cake for them. There are some unusual choices for couples in winter that would just not work in the more popular summer wedding season. Fur capes, cloaks, sleighs and icy themes all look stunning for a winter wedding. Ice sculptures outside the venue can set the tone and they will last much longer in the colder months. Wedding guests could look forward to snowflake shaped favours which could then be used as a christmas decoration and a reminder of the wedding each year on their tree. Food at receptions could include hot chestnuts, marshmallows and hot chocolate and who could resist a gingerbread house wedding cake or a tower of iced Lebkuchen cookies. Winter flowers for bridal bouquets may be limited, but with a bit of imagination there can be striking berry and poinsettia arrangements, silver grey foliage, and crystal bouquets to provide fantastic alternatives to the traditional floral options. Winter landscapes can provide stunning photo opportunities as long as the bride and groom have their thermals on and a flask of something reviving close to hand between shots. Perhaps if the harsh weather becomes a regular feature more couples will be getting married against a backdrop that resembles the cinematic scenes of Doctor Zhivago. Fur hat anyone?

Buckingham Palace have confirmed that Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne has just become engaged to Mike Tindall. The couple who have been together for seven years are expected to marry some time in 2011, although it will be a more low key affair than her cousin Williams’ wedding to Kate Middleton in April. Both Zara and her fiance are sporting champions in the equestrian and rugby fields and bookmakers are speculating on the odds of the ceremony taking place at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, where Zara’s brother Peter wed in 2008. The couple have largely conducted their relationship out of the spotlight after meeting in Sydney at the World Cup in 2003 and announced their engagement in typically understated style at their home in Gloucestershire.

Our friends at Staggered are the go-to blokes for all sorts of manly advice and this is their latest offering…..There seems to be a general feeling that the Father of the Bride is often the forgotten man of the wedding planning process. The feeling is that you’re probably experienced enough to cope with the nerves and tough enough to cope with the emotions. But that’s why we often end up feeling sorry for the FOTB (you’ve even got the worst wedding acronym for crying out loud) and decided to round-up some essential advice for all the dads out there prior to the big day.

Deal With The Nerves Before They Ruin It

It’s perfectly natural and acceptable for you to feel nervous. Nerves about the ceremony and speeches are in the top three subjects that fill the Staggered inbox. Fortunately, both can be cured with some simple preparation. Write and practice your speech at least a month in advance of the big day and do everything you can to make it to the church rehearsal as this will give you an idea of where to stand when.

Speeches Are Easy When You Prepare

You can find way more information on Staggered about wedding speeches but this is it in a nutshell. Between 5 and 8 minutes, less is more, stand straight, don’t mumble and speak from the heart. Always write your speech in full (never “wing it”), because even if you don’t use it you’ve always got it in case you need it. Give a copy to your daughter for the wedding memory box. The Father of the Bride welcomes the guests, sets the tempo, welcomes his new family members and talks about his daughter without embarrassing her!

It Will Be Emotional – Get Ready

Blokes and emotions are never a good mix, for the simple reason that we’re often a bit slower at dealing with them and how they affect us. Take some time before the wedding to talk to your daughter about the wedding and what she means to you. Too many men think they’ll come out with the perfect speech in the car on the way to the church and end up feeling that they never quite explained how they feel – or worse: end up at the church a sobbing mess!

How To Deal With The Money

The good news is that this generation are getting married later, the bad news being that they’re living with their parents longer. As a result more of them are paying for their own wedding. If you’re still footing the bill and you find that the wedding is placing too much of a burden on your finances then make it clear that costs need to be cut. Everyone wants a perfect wedding, but no one wants that to come at the expense of a stressed dad. Also there are thousands of resources out there on how to get a champagne wedding on beer prices, use them!

Plan Your Advice

As with the emotions, this is another topic that should be tackled in advance of the big day. It’s tradition that you pass on some advice – whether that’s in your speech or just in passing. This is a big thing both for the bride and the groom and many people remember for their whole lives what was said to them at this point. So make it wise, make it original and make it something personal. Think about your marriage: what have you learned? What can you say that will improve these young people’s chance of happiness? But remember, no pressure…

www.iamstaggered.com is the UK’s leading men’s wedding website.