HELP! Love My Dress Soiree Outfit SOS!

There are exactly two weeks to go until the wedding event of the summer, the Love My Dress Summer Soiree. Annabel, writer of wedding blog Love My Dress is throwing a fabulous party, and with so many wonderful people attending it is sure to be a fantastic event!

















































I am so excited to be invited to this event, and cannot wait to meet so many of you, who I have been chatting to for months now!

Now for my dilemma... the dress.

I found the perfect dress.... I purchased it.... It arrived..... I hated it!

The sizing was all wrong and the material felt horrible. Unfortunately as it sometimes the case with vintage items it wasn't returnable and so I've now been left dressless!

The dress code is vintage glamour, and I am on the hunt for a beautiful dress, and after the first dress fiasco I have now been left with the teeniest of budgets.

So, friends, family, colleagues, aquaintances.... do you have a beautiful vintage dress hiding in a cupboard somewhere that you'd like to lend me for the event, just begging for a night out at a glamorous party? Or have you spotted the perfect bargain dress in a vintage shop somewhere? Or maybe you're a designer who would like to showcase one of your designs for the night?

If so please let me know! I'll love you forever :)

Leah x

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

Staying Out for the Summer {friday faves}

It's Fridaaaaay!

Press play on my awesome friday tune before reading on... it's one of my absolute favourite summery tunes - I ♥ Dodgy!



Hope you've had a fandabbydosey week. Mine has actually been pretty awesome!

The best things I've done this week is create brand spanking new logos for The Wedding Reporter and Bonfire Night Bride, which they're both super happy with :) Make sure you check out their sites!

♥ Blog Recap ♥
Here's a recap of what you might have missed on the blog this week...

♥ Copycat? Or inspired cat? Telling the difference between copying & inspiration.
♥ {Design Case Study} The Wedding Reporter logo and website banner! What is says on the tin :)
♥ 10% off Summer Save the Dates! 10% off all save the dates booked before the end of August!
♥ {supplier focus} Interior stylist, Selina Lake! Interior loveliness :)
♥ {twitter post} Wedding Wednesday - Top 4! My favourite wedding tweeps this week
♥ Thank you bloggers!! Golden apple was featured on 4 blogs last weekend!
♥ One Big Family {monday musings} Goings on at Golden Apple this week!

That's it for now, as i'm having a well deserved day off today!

Leah x

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

Copycat? Or inspired cat?

I have something to say!

Its about copying.
A lot of people are complaining about it on twitter, blogs, facebook etc so here is my take on it...

Imagine.

You fall in love with an amazing dress by a couture, high end designer. It's beautiful - exactly what you've been looking for!

BUT there's a catch...

It's £5,000! There's no way you can afford that.






























But then...

you spot it...

... a smiliar dress in a high street shop!

It's only £60, and it's so similar! And what do you do? YOU BUY IT!

You don't stand there and think... this is a copy, so I'm not going to buy it (or maybe you do - if you do then i'm not sure how you ever buy clothes!)

People follow trends and are inspired by other people's work. If a certain style is 'in fashion' and there is a demand for that style then of course other people are going to create similar items that will appeal to their target audience. The wedding industry is no different.

I'm not saying blatant, outright copying is okay, quite the opposite - it's completely wrong and totally unfair, but I don't think there's anything wrong with inspiration, or following trends! There is a difference!

So unless something is a complete carbon copy of something of yours, which is exactly the same then you can't really moan about it.






























I was sitting here earlier reading another post about copying and I thought...

"What if i've created something that's a little bit similar to someone elses without even realising?"

I do have a little search before I make a new design, just to make sure that i'm not treading on anyones toes, but I can't check everywhere. I could receive an email any day now accusing me of stealing an idea, when I actually haven't.

I even worry about using certain fonts in case somebody else has used it, which is ridiculous!

I think we all need to chill out a bit!! What do you think?

Leah x
twitter: @leahgoldenapple

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

{Design Case Study} The Wedding Reporter logo and website banner!

I was so pleased when Emma from The Wedding Reporter emailed me asking for help revamping her logo recently! As you all know, I'm a massive fan of The Wedding Reporter (click here for my supplier feature) and I am also very honoured to be the creator of her printed wedding reports (find out more!)

♥ Before ♥
Whilst the previous logo was effective enough, Emma wanted something a little more special and striking to better reflect the idea behind the wedding reporter. We both agreed that the curly brackets worked really well, and so these definitely had to stay, and be incorporated into the new design.







♥ The Contenders ♥
Here are some of the ideas I came up with...

























♥ The Winner! ♥
And the winner is...




















♥ The Banner ♥
After completing the logo I then created a banner to fit into the wordpress site. Click here to see it in place!









To create the banner I used this gorgeous image of Emma's notebook, taken by the lovely Ali Lovegrove...

































It's been so lovely to help Emma create a new look for The Wedding Reporter, and I'm so happy to say that she is very pleased with the end results! :)

Do you fancy having a new logo designed for your business?
I'm offering a super duper discounted rate throughout the summer!
Click here for more details!

Leah x
twitter: @leahgoldenapple

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

10% off Summer Save the Dates!

Getting married next summer? With around a year to go, why not send out some Save the Dates to give your guests a little taster of things to come!







































Save the date cards are availble in any of the designs on the site, and bespoke cards can be created too!







































Prices start from £1.75 per card, and what's more i'm offering 10% off for all orders made before the end of August!

Click here for more information!

Leah x
twitter: @leahgoldenapple

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

Boring small print!
Deposits must be paid by the end of August to secure the discount. Discount is not applicable with any other offers but is applicable with the bulk order discounts on the site for ordering over 50/100 cards. A bespoke design fee is applicable for bespoke designs.

{supplier focus} Interior stylist, Selina Lake!

I've recently featured an interview with fantastic interior stylist, Selina Lake on the blog that I write for interiors shop, Strawberry House Interiors, and just had to share it with my readers, too! I've known Selina for a few years now, and have always been a big admirer of her work!

Selina is the bestselling author of two wonderful books - Romantic Style and Bazaar Style.
























♥ Who are you?
Selina Lake, Interior/ Lifestyle Stylist & Author

♥ What do you love most about what you do?
I work with amazing inspiring people, I get to travel, visit gorgeous homes and be my creative self!

♥ What inspires you?
Colour / Vintage finds / Blogs / Crafts / Florals / Love / Images

♥ What is your favourite piece of furniture or decorative item, and what’s the story behind it?
My vintage china collection! I love buying second-hand pretty floral patterned plates & Teacups and Saucers. I have loads already but everywhere I go I always end up souring antique, charity or junk shops for more items to add to my collection. I bought some amazing gold pattered ones a few weeks ago while on a work trip in Norway. I'm getting married soon and planning to use some of my found pieces at our Wedding Reception!!



















♥ What trends do you love at the moment? Do you have any tips on how our readers can create this look in their home?
I'm currently working on my 3rd book which is due to be released in Spring 2012, Homespun Style, so i'm loving the whole made by hand trend at the moment. There are so many crafters who sell their handmade homeware goods on Esty, Folksy & DaWanda, Homespun Style is all about decorating and furnishing homes with homemade items, recycled furniture and crafted details. It looks at craft style with a modern twist, I've used bold, cheerful colours and decorative details such as, Embroidered tablecloths, retro kitchenware, chunky knit, trims, ribbons, pom-pom embellishment and plenty of homegrown flowers.

♥ And finally… anything else you’re itching to tell us?
Did I mention, I'm getting married???? I'm very busy at the moment planning and arranging all the details for my Big Day. I've been keeping a Wedding Ideas Moodboard on Pinterest ... click here for the link!

























Thank you Selina! I love your gorgeous wedding moodboard and cannot wait to see your new book!

If you want to know more about Selina you can check out her website or visit her blog for fabulous interior inspiration.

Selina also has a new Etsy Shop, Selina Lake Living, check it out for some gorgeous handmade items, such as these lovely cushions...



















I hope that you've enjoyed and been inspired by this blog post as much as I have!

Leah x
twitter: @leahgoldenapple

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site

{twitter post} Wedding Wednesday - Top 4!

Today's wedding wednesday blog post is going to be a bit shorter (only 4 this week!) and a little less detailed than usual, as I'm a super duper busy bee today! I wanted to make sure that I still sent out some love though, so here it is...

@mrspandp
Alison Tinlin from Plans & Presents, for being wonderful and supportive over the past few weeks, and featuring in me in a very lovely blog post!

@ellestationery
Elle from Elle is for Love, as not only is she one of my most favouritest tweeters (offering me advice on everything from dog training to house renting!) but she also creates really beautiful stationery!

@Cloggins
Emma from The Wedding Reporter, for always managing to make me smile! I just recieved the fantastic news that her amazing business had a little mention in Perfect Wedding magazine this month!

@phoebewedding
Phoebe Miller, from So You're Getting Married - awesome wedding blogger full of fabulous ideas, and an all round lovely lady :)

Follow them on twitter! Or else!

Leah x
twitter: @leahgoldenapple

Golden Apple
Creative design, Stationery & Wedding Invitations Leicester
Click here to visit the site