Guest Post from Esemee Designs

This week Mrs. LG is pleased to introduce Suzanne Marie Edgar.  Here Suzanne tells us a bit about herself and her business....

Esemee Fascinators is a new entrepreneur in Blackpool Lancashire United Kingdom.  I have graced the fashion industry for one year and my designs have caught the eye of photographers at the Dubai & Ascot races. 

Whats new for 2011?  My collection is innovative and quite different to previous collections, with vintage bold coloured fabrics finishing off the decoration to create vintage luxe fascinators, hats and pillbox hats. My hats are a twist on the original designs with new brims and crowns creating a new look to the collection. For the glamour-pusses we have chic, sequinned designs that are a glistening addition to the collection. Available in an array of designs and shapes we feel that this new direction is really going to catch a lot of attention, my theory is brighter colours and more sparkle the better. Our pieces are like pieces of art. 

The most popular fascinator for the bride is the "Katie "collection a stunning 50s pillarbox fascinator which sits slightly over the brow to give that mysterious look and the most popular colour last season was our bright sapphire blue collection which was covered with masses of diamantes on the veil.

Indian Peacock

Mrs LGs nephew is getting married next year and she has her eye on the Indian Peacock, which will no doubt mean a new dress to go with it!

Top Hat

Esemee has worked with famous burlesque artists in America who are Dita Von Teese's friends such as Ava Garter, Sabina Kelley & Angie Pontani where they have modelled my collection exclusively. 

Esemee has designed the poppy hat which was sold for auction and all proceeds went to The British Legion, we also have started making novelty hat such as a hat made from sweets and chocolates.

Esemee also can despatch internationally.

Please visit Suzanne Marie's website www.esemeefascinators.com for more information and to view the collections.  You can also follow her on Twitter @EsemeeDesigns.

There will be an update here in the coming weeks as Suzanne Marie has promised to send us the images of her chocolate and sweet hats when they are ready ..........

Guest Blog Spot on Shaadi Esque

LilGuy has been featured on the beautiful website of Rachyeta Singh, otherwise known as RS weddings or ShaaadiEsque. The website has some great ideas and some really different designs, and is recommended by LilGuy!

Budget Invitations

My main objective is to create special and stunning bespoke wedding stationery. I am aware that this is not necessarily within every couple’s budget. I don’t see why, however, lower budget should mean lower quality. Your celebration means everything to you and you still want the first impression, generally the invitation, to count. I have designed the All In One – it gives yous the quality you deserve in your invitation, information for your guests, plus a perforated, double-sided RSVP card for your guests to complete and pop in the post box back to you. Additionally there is no need for a separate envelope, keeping the cost down! 

Your invitations will be personalised with all the relevant details of the occasion, you chose the colour of the card (currently Candlelight Cream or Marble White) and the colour of the border. Text is charcoal unless we are advised otherwise. The card used is of the same quality and weight that I use for my bespoke work (290gsm), not a flimsy low quality that you may get elsewhere. 

The cost? There is a nominal set up fee of £10.00 – if you find later on that you need more 
invitations then this fee is not payable again 

Each invitation costs £1.75 

25p per invitation to insert your guest names in the invitations 

25p per invitation to add guest name and address on the outside 

45p per invitation to post first class to your guests 

P&P by a recorded delivery service charged at cost if invitations being sent to you 

Guest Post from Tiny Gems

Today I’m very pleased to welcome Sarah Marks, creative force and owner of Tiny-Gems Hand Made Jewellery to the blog.  Mrs Lilguys has asked Sarah a few questions about herself and her business:

 What do you do?

I make handmade jewellery and tiaras and wedding accessories using new and vintage items that I rework ready for them to be reloved by a new generation. I have an office/studio set up in the spare room of my house where I live with my husband also known as Mr. Tiny-Gems (but not to his face) and my dog and my cat

 How did you start your business?

It started as a hobby and a de-stress tool but when I got made redundant I had a now or never moment and decided that if I didn’t give it a shot I would always be wondering what if? So I took the plunge and cannot tell you how pleased I am that I did, don’t get me wrong this year has been a massive learning curve and I’m working twice as hard as I ever did in a full time job. The hours are much longer and you do lack a support structure but when you love what you do it all makes it worthwhile, well I think so anyway.

Where do you get your ideas?

I am a huge lover of old movies and Hollywood Glamour so a lot of my ideas come subconsciously from there. Many a time I can be found staring at a pile of bits and pieces waiting for that eureka moment. Sometimes that has been known to arrive at 3.30am and I just have to go with it lol. I also have a love of nature and I believe a lot of inspiration arrives from that quarter too. But mostly I just buy materials that I like and work with them until I am happy with the result. It’s really hard to make things out of materials that you don’t feel for or have a passion for as you’ll never be happy with the end result. You’ll notice that the majority of my work is on silver toned metal as this is what I prefer, I do try to include gold toned metal to appeal to everyone but as I say it is hard when you prefer silver tones.

What’s the best thing that’s happened for your business?

I recently got re-tweeted by Theo Paphitis on his small business Sunday on Twitter, that was a definite high light along with being number one on the top 100 UK wedding Twitters.

I have recently started making Heirloom bouquets and they are absolutely flying, so far I have only shown them on Twitter and Facebook so they are not even on my website yet (which I am trying to get them on there ASAP). I have had a massive response not only from Brides to Be wanting to have a bespoke heirloom bouquet made for them but also from photographers wanting to use them in photo shoots and people wanting to feature them in their blogs. The response has been amazing and a lot of other things have had to be put on hold to cope with demand I am over the moon. There is nothing better than getting great feedback from people on something that you have worked on and it has been really hard work.

 Have you any news/plans for the business that you’d like to tell people about?

Oh I have so many plans and ideas for the business but am keeping my cards very close to my chest at the moment. Hoping to get some features in magazines this year amongst other things but I don’t want to spoil any surprises. I am always looking for more likers to my face book page www.facebook.com/tinygems and more followers to tweet with on www.twitter.com/hhjtinygems. To think when I first started out and was told I had to get on Twitter I pulled a face and said I didn’t like it. I absolutely love it now and have made so many great friends and contacts there it’s fabulous.

One last picture to share with you is the stunning headband that Sarah has named after Mrs Lilguys!

Thank you for sharing a brief insight into your business Sarah.   Look forward to your surprises this year!

Gift wrapped.... and gorgeous

We have proudly joined the team of suppliers on Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous, a beautiful web site where you can find some wonderful designs and products.
Please take a look around!

Chocolate

Mood Boards can give you inspiration for your wedding or event, or they can help you keep on track with your own ideas.  I will be hijacking Mr LilGuy’s blog on occasion to post my mood boards on for you to browse and hopefully gain inspiration from.  Or why not create one of your own by clipping pictures from magazines and using A3 card if you have specific ideas?  When you’re planning a wedding it is so easy to get distracted by everyone else’s ideas so creating your own board will give you something to glance at to remind yourself of what it is that you as a couple want!

With the recent chilly weather I have been thinking a lot about hot chocolate (probably more so as my diet doesn’t allow for it!), warm and rich.  For my mood board I have used various contrasts with coffee, cream, pink and cinnamon, with of course a bit of sparkle!

Tiara - http://www.tantrumsandtiaras.org/

Cuff - http://www.chezbec.com/

Crockery - http://lovevintagetea.wordpress.com/

Necklace - http://www.tiny-gems.co.uk/

Shoes - http://www.arunaseth.com/

Invitation – http://www.lilguy.co.uk

Cakes – Couture Cakes, contact via Lilguy