Wedding inspiration _ Castello Scaligero di Malcesine

 So after looking for a dream location for our wedding all around the world, we finally found this amazing place! It's the Scaligero Castle of Malcesine, on Lake Garda. It combines the cinderella dream of getting married in a castle as well as having the gorgeous view of the lake. (I've always wanted to get married close to water). Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) is a gorgeous lake in general. It's surrounded by 2000m high mountains that look breathtaking. The colour of the water is clear blue which is unusual for lakes in general which tend to have a more brownish colour. The temperatures are lovely in wintertime and many people come to do different water sports such as windsurfing, sailing. The cities around the lake are quite small and very turistic. The clustered harbour villages are bustling and have a lot of good restaurants and shops. There are also quite a lot of beaches to go swimming. If you don't have a car you can get inbetween the main cities by ferryboat. It is rather slow, but it is an enjoyable trip. From the most northern point to the most southernly it takes almost 2,5 hours. Trips inbetween Malcesine and Limone only take 15min and it is a good chance to see 2 villages at once. The cabin cars will take you to the top of Mount Baldo (1700m) from Malcesine and give you a spectacular view of the lake.

Also while near Lago di Garda, why not visit the gorgeous city of Verona? See a show at the ancient roman arena. Also Venice is not too far away and is probably the most unique city in the world with it's roads of water!

The Scaligero Castle of Malcesine and the beautiful city of Malcesine right on the lake Garda. A dream location for a wedding!

The lake and the castle when you arrive from the north. Isn't it stunning?

These are the first set of steps leading up to the garden beneath the terrace.

Stunning view from the castles terrace where the outdoor wedding would take place.

The seating for the guests. During the ceremony they are covered with white pillows.

Can it get any better than this? No I don't think so! What a gorgeous outdoor dream wedding!

The gorgeous terrace of the castle overlooking lake Garda.

Lovely view of the old city center of Malcesine and the lake in the background.

The covered area where the bride and groom will sign the registry and be wed!

These are the stairs leading up to the castles terrace where the outdoor weddings take place. The steps are all rounded cobble stones and rather difficult to walk on. Good to keep in mind when chosing shoes and for guests that might have difficulties climbing the stairs.

Some of the gardens inside the castle.

This is the room where one gets married in case its bad weather *crossing our fingers it won't be*. The room is quite nice with large windows overlooking the lake. They have seats for 50 and standing for an extra 30.

There are many great spots to take the wedding photos. For example this one: a gap between the castle walls overlooking Lake Garda and the mountains in the background. Quite spectacular!

Wedding inspiration _ hair

 Hair. Up-do, down-do, romantic, straight, locks, flowers, tiara... where does one start?
I know I'm having a bare-back dress, so in order to show that off I have decided to have an up-do, or at least semi up-do. I am a sucker for curley hair and think it looks great as a wedding hair do. I also like the idea of having flowers in my hair, or little diamond pins.
Here are some of the styles that I have fallen for. All the up-dos are pretty simular, so I'm guessing it will be something like that on the day!

This is one of the ones I like the most. I like the fact that its asymetrical! It's casual but elegant. Will my hair be able to become this curley though? I'm guessing that the locks wouldn't stay this tight but who knows.

Ok, so I have to face facts... I don't have beautiful hair like this. Mine is much thinner, no curley locks. But it is a nice do, isn't it?

Now this girl has more simular hair to what I naturally have, so I think I could obtain this look. Since my hair is straight usually the first part of the hair (which is more difficult to curl) will remain straight and the part at the back could be more curley. It becomes more elegant like this, which I still have to decide if its something that I want or not!

Too simple?

Here we have my favorite girl again, with a simular hair style compared to the first photo.

Here's Jessica Alba with a bohemian up-do. Although it is quite laid back as is her make-up, the golden earrings make it look elegant anyway. I don't have my ears pierced so it wouldn't work for me.

I like the fact of having a flower (either one big one like in this photo, or more small ones). Also the piece of veil is quite nice!

I think this flower arraingement looks very nice! I wouldn't mind having something like this. I'm not sure if I like the big bun thing on the top of her head though. What do you think?

This is a very classical hair-do. But I have to admit that when it comes to the wedding, I'm quite an old-fashioned girl!

Here's a long hair do with flowers in it. A very romantic look.

Tiara? I quite like this small type of tiara that doesn't really look like a crown. I am a princess, but maybe a full on crown would be too much :-p

Wedding inspiration _ bridesmaids dresses

I have been looking a lot at bridesmaids dresses (as well as everything else for the wedding). My conclusion is that the bridesmaids are going to be able to chose their dresses themselves. I don't want them to be matching, but to have the same colour theme. They don't need to be in the same material, length or style. Some of the colours I like the most for the bridesmaids dresses (and for the wedding colour theme) are: grey, apricot, champagne, and blue/grey. I keep changing my mind on the  combination. A few weeks ago I was sure that I wanted grey dresses with warm yellow flowers. Now I am more thinking of blue/grey dresses with champagne details (ribbons around the waist, bows, hair..).
What do you think?
Also I like shorter dresses for the girls. Not long ballgowns. Also remember that the average temperature in the Verona region in August is 25C (considering even nighttime temperature). Average high is 32 (max high 36). Average low is 20C. Since I want my girls looking fresh, I think shorter dresses is the best summer option!

This is a colour I quite like. I think it's quite elegant and modern at the same time. I don't want all the dresses to be the same and I think the width of these skirts looks slightly goofy, but otherwise quite nice.

So I know my bridesmaids aren't as "hippy" as in this photo, but I do think it catches something that I like. Both the colour range and sweetness.

I like both the colour and length of these dresses.

Champagne dresses... are they too formal?

I think this caramel, chocolate, champagne colour range is nice.. Maybe with shorter dresses it wouldn't feel so formal.

I love how these girls don't have matching dresses. They're all following a colour theme, but all the dress types are different. Materials, lengths, and styles. But they still work really nicely together. The champagne colour is a classic and looks very nice. The flowers are a bit too classic for my taste, but this is still one of my favorite inspirational photos.

Grey and apricot works well together, although the yellow flowers look better with the grey dresses. Perhaps they should've considered two different bouquetts? The brides bouquett is very nice with the added apricot coloured flowers. I love the yellow ball shaped flowers.

Grey and white bridesmaids dresses really give a lot of attention to the bride. I don't think the dark green bouquett works very well, but otherwise I think it looks nice.

This family have  matching clothes and don't they look lovely? I especially like the babys pokerdot dress!

This couple must be popular (or have desision problems) 9 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen.The shiney grey and black looks good together and really gives the bride attention.

The girls are working the dark grey and warm yellow combination. I like how some of the girls also have yellow shoes and two of them have apricot coloured shoes which also fits very well together with grey.

The grey bridesmaids dresses give a lovely background for the white wedding dress. The yellow flowers go perfectly with grey and get much more attention than what they normally would.

Wedding inspiration _ flowers

 For my wedding bouquett I want to use native Australian flowers. Being half australian I want to bring that into the wedding somehow. Australia has some very unique and absolutely gorgeous flowers and I think they will look stunning in a wedding bouquett! I want quite a wild looking group of flowers. Not many of the same kind, different colours, and having a very pale green leaf surrounding them. In general I love olive leaves but even eucalyptus leaves have a very nice colour. There is one kind that has small round leaves that I think will look great (I just have to try and remember what they're called).

I'm not sure if all of these flowers are native Australian or if they originally come from South Africa. But don't they look great? What stunning flowers!

Here's a way to integrate the "yellow and grey" theme even in the flowers.

I love this fun bouquett with yellow ball flowers (forgive my lack of knowledge of the actual names... if anyone knows the real names I'd love to know!).

Look at the great colours in this bouquett! This is so stunning. And I would love to have flowers like this especially if I use colours such as grey, champagne, grey/blue at the wedding. In that case these flowers would really get a lot of attention and brighten up the room!

Many girls I've shown my flowers to prefer this kind of bouquett. Probably because it's more traditional and "girly". I do like the fact that the flowers are champagne coloured as well as the playful seed balls. Also the dark maroon coloured flowers give a good contrast.

I like the dark center in these flowers.

Alium is one of my favorite flowers in general. They are too big to integrate in the bridal bouquett, but perhaps I can use them as table centerpieces. I will only use them if I also deside to have a "blue/grey" colour theme.

I love this colourful wild bouquett! Isn't it gorgeous? Such unique flowers with such vibrant colours and shapes.

This bouquett is too classic for my style, but I do like the twigs and the hay around the sides. I definitely won't be using roses for mine, but I do like the colour of these roses.