At last, another royal wedding we can all get excited about! Kate Middleton finally won her prince, when Wills proposed whilst on holiday last month.

The couple were in Kenya when Will popped the question, at the remote Rutundu Log Cabins, 10,500 feet above sea level on the side of Mount Kenya.

The couple are said to be tying the knot during summer 2011 and Westminster Abbey is said to be high up the list of potential wedding venues, despite Diana’s funeral being held there.

Will and Kate, when you’re ready to talk invitations you know where to find us!

Just been updating our testimonial pages with some recent comments from brides and grooms and thought I’d share a few with you here. Thanks everyone for taking the time to write – its great to hear what you think and to know we’re doing a good job.

Just wanted to say a big thank you for the beautiful invitations and orders of service. They were absolutely perfect and we had so many comments from our guests who all thought the invites were just fab! We were both really pleased with them and the service we received, your communication was brilliant and both orders were delivered very promptly. You certainly made that part of our wedding very easy so thanks again!
Sarah Gledhill – Snapshot – September 2010

We have just returned from honeymoon and wanted to say thanks very much for all your help in the run up to our wedding. I would thoroughly recommended your company as both the service and product were really excellent. I was really impressed in particular with the help with the table plan which proved difficult to finalise and the fact that you made sure it got to me in time.
Karen Bennell – White Rose – September 2010

We received the order yesterday and everything looks perfect! Thank you so much for helping me and making a part of my planning processes easy! It all looks beautiful and I can’t wait for our guest to see them!
Brianna Streeter – August 2010

Just a final email to say thanks again for our table plan, thank and place cards. Once again they are perfect. The service you have provided to us from start to finish has been amazing, your patience with corrections, the speed of the turnaround and then the finished product have just blown us away.

Many thanks again and I wish you all the best in the future.
Karen Boyle – Type – August 2010

Thank you so much for the wonderful stationary. It arrived safely and looks fantastic.
Lisa Sansom – Crystal – August 2010

I just wanted to say thank you so much for our wedding stationery. It arrived last Friday and we are thrilled with it – it looks fantastic.
Thank you for all your help.
Katie Holden – Letter – August 2010

Check out Scissor Paper Stone in the press this month!

Our new Henna design features in the Brides ‘Traditional Metalics’ section. Henna is available in a variety of colours and perfect for adding an ethnic feel to your day.

Our Marketing Manager, Emily, gave an interview in Berks & Bucks Your Wedding this month.The images featured are pink peony and petal.

With summer drawing to a close, it’s the start of my favourite season — autumn!
With this comes harvest time and rich yellows, oranges, browns and of course, golds!

Using gold within your wedding palette will create a wonderful warmth to the event and of course, nothing’s as good as gold when it comes to creating a sense of luxury.

To follow the gold theme throughout your invitations, why not choose our Henna design in gold or Print, Crystal, or Cherry for black and gold.

These wedding venue portraits from Letter Fest are fab and a great way to capture and remember your special day.

Letter Fest will create a bespoke illustration of your wedding venue or a special place close to your heart – the pen and ink drawing includes the name of the couple, venue and date if required (or a personal message if you prefer). It is printed in a graphic, contemporary style with strong black lines and offset block colours. Visit www.letterfest.com for more info.

Instead of letting a wedding planner turn your wedding into another sausage factory event, use your imagination to make the event one-of-a-kind and really personalise it to you and your fiance.

Sassy Stationery
Your invitations are the first thing your guests see and should reflect your tastes, helping to set the theme of your wedding right form the start. If you were proposed to on a white sandy beach in the Caribbean, or in Paris, why not use an image reflecting this on your invites. Check out Scissor Paper Stone’s Snapshot range.

Get family and friends involved
The great thing about weddings (other than the obvious!) is that it brings people together. People love to be involved, so if you have a friend or family member that has a skill or talent, utilize it! If you’re aunt does flower arranging, ask her to do the bouquets and arrangements; if your brother’s in a band, ask him to do the music — little touches like this help to personalise your wedding and make the day even more special.

Catering with a twist
Rather than having the standard wedding meal, try to think of something that means something to you. If you have a favourite restaurant, why not ask them to do the food; if you have Czech heritage, duck and dumplings could be the main course!

Dress to impress
Let’s face it, a lot of wedding dresses are pretty run of the mill these days — why not make yours stand out with a personal twist! If green is your favourite colour, why not dress in green? It’s your choice!

Sporty Transport
A limousine is lovely, but why not do something a bit different and depart the church or reception in something that really represents you as a couple. Some fun examples include a double-decker bus; scooter; vintage cab; boat — have fun with it!

Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day, but how you get there can be a challenge.  With that said, I am happy to introduce a great resource to help you prepare for your wedding in a healthy and happy way.  Her name is Sarah Jenks, founder of The Breathtaking Bride and she will be sharing some of her tips with us over the next few weeks.  Sarah’s philosophy is truly a breath of fresh air in this culture of crash dieting.

Today’s tip: Get rid of the deadline
Deadlines create WAY too much stress, and stress creates discomfort in our minds and our bodies.  When we have discomfort, we search for relief and the cheapest and easiest relief is rich, salty, sugary foods.

Lose the deadline and shift your focus on how to feel good everyday.  Not only will you avoid having an absolutely miserable engagement, but you will be creating habits you can carry with you long after the wedding.

• Exercise to relieve stress in the moment

• Eat fruits and veggies to give you sustained energy

• Stop eating when your hunger has subsided (not when you are full) to avoid feeling bloated and nauseous

Our thanks to Sarah for those great tips.  We’ll be posting more advice over the next few weeks. In the meantime check out www.thebreathtakingbride.com

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz were married in a secret wedding earlier this month. The ceremony took place in front of a small group of family members at a friend’s house in the Bahamas. Cruz wore a dress by her longtime friend John Galliano for the intimate vows.

We think the pair would have loved our Shell stationery — it’s just perfect for beach weddings, tropical or otherwise!

If you want to add some fun and games to your wedding, why not have a wedding casino! I went to a wedding recently that had one and it went down a storm. Give monopoly type money out to all your guests saying ‘The Bank of Mr and Mrs Smith’ and away they go! The person with the most dosh at the end of the day, wins a prize.

Traditionally released to bring good luck and prosperity, Chinese lanterns are a peaceful alternative to fireworks and are a great way to add an extra visual effect to your wedding.

I’ve found this great website, which supplies the whole range of Chinese lanterns, from floating sky lanterns that you light with your loved ones, to paper bag lanterns that sit on the floor and look great lining a path or walkway. Check out chineselanterns.com