Possibly ageing myself with that title. Most of you young-uns will probably have no clue what I’m on about. Search You Tube for Smashie and Nicey.
Anyway, its a lie. I do hardly anything for charity, but that is changing. At the moment I am in the process of training for my first half marathon. 21.0975 kilometres, 13.1094 miles. Can you beleive that, im going to run for 13 miles (with possibly some walking, standing, vomiting and crawling interspersed). But I’m not just doing this to impress the ladies, oh no. I am part of a lovely bunch of folk from Lauderdale who are taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival in aid of Winston’s Wish.
Winston’s Wish are a charity dedicated to helping bereaved children. Every 22 minutes a child in Britain is bereaved of a parent. Have a wee look at the link and read about the work that they do.
So here is the important bit. I want your money. Brides of Britain, how about you get a veil which is a couple of inches shorter, have a few less flowers in you bouquet or perhaps negotiate a slight discount with all your suppliers (including me) and put that saving to helping Winston’s Wish and sad little kids throughout the UK ?
Tell your grooms to have one less pint on the stag do or convince him to live with the tattoo of a willy which his friends do on his back and give the money he would have spent on laser removal to helping children get through the toughest challenge of their young lives.
I have just signed up to nine spin classes in March, 5 of which start at 06.45 in the morning, and what the hell is kettlersize?? The poor folk of Lauder have to witness me parading around the streets in skin tight lycra. The least you lot can do is donate a wee bit.
So here is how, it’s just so simple. Click here to donate. Just think how much better you will feel about getting into serious debt over your wedding and having to sell a kidney to pay off the seat cover lady is is threatening to send the boys round, if you know that you have made a difference to the life of a little boy or girl who mum or dad has died.
OK so guilt trip over, now just get your hands in yer pockets.
Craig xxx
I waited expectantly for the UPS man like a chav’s status dog at a letterbox waiting to savage the hand of a poor unsuspecting postie. He came and left with all extremities intact.
What he left was my first sample album from new album maker Folio Albums. British made, fabulous quality, environmentally friendly and absolutely beautiful.
I am quite worryingly excited about how lovely these are.
Thanks. Craig xx
Sullivan Ballou wrote to his wife Sarah from the battlefield of the American Civil War. The letter was never mailed. It was found amongst his belongings after he was killed in action, one week after writing it.
Sarah read the letter after his death.
I am, over the next few weeks, going to be padding out my own inane and obtuse blogged thoughts with some posts which you will actually find interesting and possibly quite useful. You see I meet a lot of rather clever and talented people doing what I do. Not just the brides and grooms who of course are among the most dazzlingly brilliant people to walk the planet yadda yadda, but also many suppliers. From folk who make invitations to pipers, from firework companies to bridal designers and from florists to wedding planners. These are all people with a wealth of knowledge and an abundance of skill all focused on making your wedding run smoothly, look beautiful, go with a bang, taste amazing and live long in the memory.
I have asked a few friends who’s work I admire to answer a few questions about themselves and their work. I hope you find these interviews interesting and informative.
We start with local artisan florist Lucie.
Introduce yourself Lucie.
Hi, My name is Lucie Murray, I am a freelance florist based in the Scottish Borders Town of Lauder.
Please tell us a little about your background and how you developed your business.
My business is called Silver Fern. The name comes from fond memories of my time in New Zealand when I was still a nurse. Beautiful country with lots of inspiration! Returning to Britain I had my first child and it was then I decided to leave nursing and try working with flowers. It is a passion I have had all my life but had never considered as a career. I trained at the North Tyneside College in Northumberland and gained a distinction in level 2 floristry. I particularly love wedding work and so initially worked solely in this field but since moving to Lauder I have started to expand into general floristry and now offer cut flowers etc… at ‘The Garden Room‘ in Lauder on a Wednesday and Friday.
Do floral fashions change as rapidly as clothing? How do you keep “on trend” or one step ahead?
There are floral trends and they are definitely influenced by clothing and other industries but take a while to filter through. London fashion surprisingly take a few years to become popular up in Scotland. For example the shower and tear drop styles of bouquet are now becoming really quite popular but I remember taking note of a sudden return of them back when I was at college and they are only now starting to be selected by brides north of the Borders more frequently. Colour of course changes more quickly. I think we tend to be more traditional up here, primrose yellows were featuring a lot last year in London but no sign up here yet. The most popular colours remain the pallets of purple and white. I think that demonstrates the strength of mind that Scottish brides have because no doubt they are aware of what is in fashion but are not swayed by it and prefer to have what they personally love, not what fashion dictates.
Tell us about you typical dealings with a couple. Do you meet couples prior to them booking you? Do brides tend to have very fixed ideas about what they want? Do you guide them through the process.
I always offer the bride a free consultation, she will normally bring her mother or a bridesmaid. Sometimes the groom will come too. The consult can take as little as 20 minutes but I have had one which lasted 4 and a half hours! I always ask the bride to bring along any pictures, ideas, materials linked to the wedding theme. Sometimes she will have a very set idea of what she would like me to create with lots of pictures of flower bouquets etc…and other times she might simply have a colour of a bridesmaid dress. I always have lots of images, magazines and fresh flowers to look at and consider so generally we always manage to draw up a plan of her flowers within that first consultation.
Following the consultation I will draw up a flower summary and a price for each design which is then emailed or sent by post to the bride. Alterations can be made right up until the bridal flower order is made which is generally 2 weeks before the wedding.
Is floristry one of those careers which can bring very early mornings and very late nights?
Gosh yes! Unfortunately a great deal of bridal work requires working as near to the day of the wedding as possible to ensure the flowers are as fresh and beautiful as possible. That often sees me working right through the night, last year I had one episode where I got 4 hours sleep in 48 hours!! It was worth it though, it was a fabulous wedding!
As a photographer I see the joy and excitement that beautiful bridal flowers bring to the morning of the wedding. You must enjoy that part of the job?
The hard work is definitely worth it. It really is a terrific feeling creating such an important part of a couples wedding day. It’s such a lovely moment when you hand over a brides bouquet on her special day. I find it a real privilege to be part of it. Being a wedding florist is an amazing job, I love it!
What’s going to be hot in 2012?
There was sunshine, it was lovely.
Saturday had me heading into Leith to meet Lesley and Stewart for their pre wedding shoot. We began with a cup of tea in the pub and a chat about tractors, slow drivers, corner sofas etc before braving the unusually mild Leith weather (global warming) for a stroll around The Shore.
Yes, I know, disgustingly attractive again. I’m sorry what can I do?
It’s never ideal to book your wedding photographer without meeting them first. No matter how much you love their work and how much positive feedback you hear until you meet them there could still be that nagging doubt that they might be an axe wielding maniac. Lynsey and Juan took a chance on me not being psychotic and booked me for their wedding this May. You see they are from The Isle of Man and had to plan everything for their Wedderburn Castle wedding remotely.
I’m glad they did as having finally met them I can confirm that they too appear not to be serial killers. They are actually lawyers, some may say that’s worse, not me.
Anyway, we spent a wee while in Edinburgh yesterday doing their pre-wedding shoot. They claimed to be very uncomfortable in front of the camera, they had no need to be. Judge for yourselves, don’t this sickeningly attractive couple look fantastic?
I used to know a girl called Aurora. She was called Jane but she changed it. It seems she is now hugely successful. Not important but I bet I am the only person reading this who knows an Aurora. Other than my wife (does she read my blog?) or the other folk who shared that Edinburgh flat.
Anyway talking of aurora, how about that Aurora Borealis eh? Of all the aurora the Borealis is easily my favourite. That Aurora Australis can’t hold a candle to it. My affection for AB dragged up Lauder Moor last night with my camera. I had never tried to photograph AB before and holy crap was it cold but I managed to get a few shots of the Aurora in question.
That green bit, that’s her (i think she is a her). The orange is the distant glow of Edinburgh. The wee streaks in the sky are planes. (Boss, De plane! De plane!) A 30 second exposure makes them look like a streak.
Forgive me father for I have sinned. It has been over two weeks since my last blog post.
You see, the thing is I really haven’t had anything interesting to say. But , (can you start a sentence with but?) then I remembered I hadn’t shown you all some of the images from Fiona and Mike or Linda and Danny’s pre wed shoots in Edinburgh before Christmas. So here goes.
Right, OK? Leave me alone now.
But obviously keep on contacting me, reading my blog and booking me.
And I am back at my desk in two thousand and twelve (not using numbers) raring to go.
First post done, there is still a mountain of festive snack food to get through. See ya!!
Regretting calling them ‘The Craigies’ now. It’s what I get called when Jess wants something. What I was called as a bairn. Did you know that Craig is from the Gaelic creag meaning “crag” or “rocks”. That’s quite interesting isn’t it? Might call them ‘The Crags’, more manly. Also my wee boy is called Cairn which you will know is a pile of rocks or stones. When we named him we didn’t realise the connection. Let me just take off my anorak and move on.
The happiest bride of the year. I guess impossible for me to know but there was one bride who just seemed to be laughing and having fun from dawn to dusk (and well beyond). Ladies and gents…
Debbie.
Best Shoes.
No Idea.
Best Cake.
Well Victoria and Gordon had hundreds of them.
But just check this one out from Debbie and Andrews big day.
And also the best topper.
Best portaloo? Another win For Debbie and Borderloo.
Best coffee drinking dog….
All the flowerswere amazing this year, here are some of my faves.
And finally, My favourite 5 wedding shots of the year. 
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