Hey Mr. DJ

One of the most important elements of a wedding (or any "party" for that matter) is good music.  I've been to weddings with bad DJs and bad music and there is really nothing worse.  I'm a DJ girl myself, but whether you have a DJ or a band (or an ipod), a good playlist is a must.  If you are in the LA area, I can't recommend my wedding DJ enough.  Shout out to Danny Farrell of NYC DJ's - holla!

You have to trust your DJ enough to allow him or her to do their job.  Don't micro-manage by giving them a complete playlist.  You need to make two lists.  Make a "do not play" list - mine included songs like the "Electric Slide," "YMCA," "The Macarena," etc. and a couple of popular songs at the time that we weren't fans of.  Also make a short "must play" list for all of those songs you love, that are important to you, that you and your friends have a dance routine to, etc.  These should be the songs that your wedding wouldn't be complete without.  My list included "Country Roads," "Like a Prayer," and old school Notorious B.I.G.

A fun way to get your guests in on the action is to allow them to make requests.  We allowed our guests to make requests but gave our DJ guidelines as well, such as no songs from our "do not play" list even if requested and no country music unless it went with the flow (like old school Garth was ok but please no super popular Rascal Flatts!).  The result was a really fun party with everyone dancing and having a good time.

Want to earn bonus points in the DJ request department?  Give your guests DJ request cards at their place settings or with their favors.  The super cute cards below are made available by The Wedding Chicks for free in a variety of colors!  Get the download here.

What songs are on your "Must Play" or "Do Not Play" Lists?

The Smiths

When Alex and I first started dating, I'd go over to his Brooklyn apartment and we'd drink wine and order dinner. (I remember always getting insane butterflies when I walked up the stairs to apartment! He would lean over the banister to say hello, and I would get all heart-pound-y.) Anyway, he'd usually put on music by The Zombies, Love and The Smiths, so I thought he might appreciate these clever limited-edition prints.

(Via Mixed Plate)

BEST wedding video

Oh. Lordy. Max and Margaux's wedding video (by Shark Pig) is the most joyous and beautifully edited wedding video I've ever seen. My heart is all aflutter. Amazing. (Love the dancing feet!)

(Via Once Wed)

Inspired by Iceland

Inspired by Iceland is a new project by the Icelandic government that encourages people to travel to Iceland and not be too scared of volcanos. Don't you love this video that they made? The filming is incredible, and, oh, those glaciers!

(Thanks, Harpa)

Guest Post: Summer Camping Trip

An inspiration board for a summer camping trip. Left to right, top to bottom: 1. Vintage postcard; 2. A Field Guide to Weeds book; 3. address book; 4. botanical chart card; 5. Billykirk overnight bag; 6. Roger Miller album; 7. Cole Haan boots; 8. field sketches by William Berry; 9. striped bathing suit; 10. vintage Minolta camera.

-- By Anna from Rifle Paper Co.

Your Wedding Soundtrack: The First Dance

Music is very important to me and I took the music selection in my own wedding very seriously.  While what music you want to play and dance to is a very personal choice, I have compiled a list of my Top 10 favorite songs for first dances.  My own first dance song is in the list, as well as others we played at our wedding (because they are my favorites).

In choosing your first dance song you should keep a couple of things in mind.  First, you don't want the song to be too long (everyone is staring at you, after all)  or too short (because it is your only 'first dance').  Secondly, you want a song that you love or that represents you as a couple.  Don't pick a cheesy love song unless it is YOUR song.  Pick something you like, regardless of whether other people like it or have even heard of it.  When the time comes, it will be like you are the only two people in the room, so you should be the two people who love the song.  So, here are my Top 10:

Photo by Jennifer Roper

We need to talk about Gaga

So yesterday before school I watched the Lady Gaga and Beyonce music video for 'Telephone'. Today I open up my weekend newspaper, The Guardian and there she is on the front page entitled "Pucker Face- Gaga's Lesbian Row" with anchorage of "A surreal nine-minute video by Lady Gaga and Beyonce, featuring murder and lesbian sex, triggered hot debate and half a million hits online within 12 hours."
And now it has actually had nearly 7 million.

(If you haven't already seen it then click here and let me know your initial reaction in a comment. If you have already seen it then read on and then let me know what you think and whether you love it or hate it)

But here is my reaction to the controversial video.

First of all I was shocked.

There was swearing. Both Beyonce and Lady Gaga said "motherfucker" and "bitch" was heard countless times. There was gyrating in bikinis against cell bars (which reminded me of an even more sexual version of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago)
There was the moment when Lady Gaga flashed and rubbed herself against the bars of her cell.

There was groping. There was lesbian sex. There was murder.
And it was all so un-necessary. It's a great song with two great artists. The part of the video at around 8.10 minutes where both ladies are doing what they do best-which is dancing and singing in case you have forgotten- is great.
Lady Gaga should have realised that what her fans want isn't some high sexualised 9 minute inappropriate video (which simply does not target either artists main fan base demographic of tweens who look up to them both) but a less extreme video- well Gaga could never do "normal"- of them dancing and singing together and showing the world how talented they are.

Then I was disappointed.

I had expected much better things from two of my favourite women in pop music. I couldn't believe that Beyonce, or "Honey B" as she is nicknamed in the video gave the go ahead on this video. The video was so out of character for her. Normally I am used to her singing "Halo" or "If A Were A Boy" and of course my favourite video of all time, the sassy "Single Ladies" as Sasha Fierce. She is so talented she doesn't need to resort to demeaning close ups of her breasts (which I am sure the director Jonas Akerlund loved) and driving around in a "Pussy Wagon."
I used to think of her as so inspiring. She sings songs about being sassy and not taking any shit from men. I have had second thoughts on her old empowering, booty shaking, independent persona Sasha Fierce, which her fans (including me) loved after seeing this video which obviously is just meant to appeal to men.

Finally I was angry.

It was so blatantly sexist.

The guy who Beyonce kills by slipping poison in his food slaps one girls arse and there is so much dancing in underwear and provocative speech and dance moves that it is hard to think of the video as anything other than misogynist.
Male singers don't whip out their bits when they are singing so why does Gaga have to?

It just means that people don't take her seriously.

Which is a shame as she is so talented. She started playing the piano at 4, wrote her first ballad at 13, started performing at 15 and is so unique in the music industry of big-boobed-tight-mini-skirt types that her dose of crazy dancing with a telephone on her head makes her stand out.

But this video makes her stand out in completely the wrong way and I can't help but think that she did it all to simply create column inches and controversy.
You can't shoot groping, sunglasses made out of lit cigarettes, lesbian sex, a "Pussy Wagon", murder and naked writhing without expecting some kind of outrage in people.

Where fashion and music meet- Katy Perry

This is the second in the series of shoots me and my friend did for my media coursework, once again inspired by musicians who many look up to for both their fashion sense and music.

This particular shoot was an interpretation of Katy Perry’s feminine and flirty style and especially her love of florals.

Photography- Me, Beth Ruby Lambert
Modelled and Styled- My beautiful best friend Xanthe May Harrison.

"The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it"-Nowhere Boy

I went on Sunday night as a pre-stressful school week trip to the cinema with a best friend to see Nowhere Boy. It was brilliant; you get sucked right into the story and really see the points of view of all of the characters.

It’s a biopic of John Lennon’s childhood and teenage years of being brought up in Liverpool by his formidable Aunt Mimi, played by the fantastic Kristen Scott Thomas, and then meeting his free spirit mother Julia, played by Anne-Marie Duff, when he was 16. The film is centered about his relationship with these two influencing figures in his life as they both compete for his love.

But a special shout out has to go to Aaron Johnson who plays the young Lennon role of charismatic and troubled bad boy really well (and yes he played Robbie in ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ and my hasn’t he grown since then. Me and Emma couldn’t stop swooning over him in the cinema haha)
Of course a rock n roll film isn’t complete without an amazing soundtrack and the music in this film really transports you back into the 50’s. I am a huge fan of Sam Taylor Wood who is the director of the film. Her exhibition called ‘Suspended’ (it’s worth the Google it if you haven’t heard of it already) really connected with me and is one of the few exhibitions you visit where everything in the room is the same high brilliant standard. She definitely is my favourite modern artist. Incidentally Sam Taylor Wood, aged 42, is also engaged to Aaron Johnson who is 18 years old and is expecting his child. Seeing as he is absolutely gorgeous she is one lucky lady.

Anyway juicy gossip aside here is the trailer:

Beth Ruby xoxo

List Monday- Top 10 Trends of the Decade

Seeing as we are fast approaching 2010 I thought I would sum up the biggest crazes we have seen in the noughties, including the good, the bad and the ugly.

1. Internet and Technology. Where would be be without our Blogger/Google/Facebook/Ipods/Wikipedia/Twitter? It's hard to imagine life without any of them now.

2.The Bob- Made popular this year by Posh Spice putting off her WAGish extensions and now everyone is at it from Katie Holmes to Rihanna. So as far as hair is concerned shorter is definitely better, not to mention chicer.
(Haha I am such a hypocrite I have long hair but don't have the guts to chop it off...)

3. Fake tan- Bleh. Need I say more?

4. 'Thinspiration'- Each decade has a new perception of woman; in the fifties it was the hourglass figure, in the sixties it was waifs like Twiggy, then big hair and hippy flares for healthy looking woman in the seventies, athletic leg warmers and neon for females in the eighties and amazonian glamorous supermodels (including the greats: Linda, Naomi, Christy and Cindy) in the nineties but this decade it will be known for the way-too-thin models. Dare I even say anorexic?
Make no mistake I am a big fan of Kate Moss, Jourdan Dunn, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Karlie Kloss, Alexa Chung, Coco Rocha, Sophie Dahl Daisy Lowe and Chanel Iman (I could go on) but do you not think that it is time for something different?

5.The Rise of the Vampires- Is it any wonder we love vampires? Even just the word "vampire" has associations with lust, passion, blood, gore and now thanks to Stephanie Meyers, Edward Cullen, the ultimate fictional heart throb. Thanks to the books which have sold millions and now have a cult following and the new adult TV series True Blood which just shows that vampires are not just for tweens. So its no surprise that Vampires are here to stay.

6. Chick Lit- Ever since Helen Fielding wrote Bridget Jones, the best selling author has spawned a whole load of copy cats and even started her own genre. Without Chick Lit we wouldn't have Sex and The City, based on the column by Candance Bushnell and a ton of other films and books.

7. Reality TV- Earlier this year Big Brother said that they were stopping the programme after one more series because the viewing figures were plummeting. We have seen it all in that George Orwell 1984 inspired house and they have had every single type of person imaginable in there. We have seen the "dumb blonde bimbo" (see point 8 haha) the angry middle aged woman, the gay dancer, the '"intellectual student" who says he is going into the house "because it is an interesting social experiment." They cannot shock us anymore.

But of course we can't forget Simon Cowell who seems to be single handedly carrying on the Reality TV rein (whilst infiltrating the music charts) with the phenomenal X-Factor (19.1 people watched the final last night!) and of course the series which brought us Susan Boyle, Britain's Got Talent.

8. The WAG and the 'Dumb' Blonde- Thanks to Jessica Simpson, Jordan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie (who interestingly enough tweeted "P.S. I went brunette. I feel smarter already" earlier this week) and films like "Legally Blonde" we have a new stereotype of the girl who wants nothing more than to marry a rich man, own a chihuahua, have big boobs and dress in head to toe pink.

9. Indie Music- The past decade has brought us The Strokes, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines and Deathcab for Cutie to name a few. For me it is definitely the defining music of the era.

10. Big Franchises- Good 'ol J.K.Rowling didn't know what she had started when she released Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. She went from scribbling chapters on the back of napkins at her local cafe in Edinburgh to being worth more money than the Queen. Soon to follow suit and jump on the merchandise bandwagon was Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Batman, A series of Unfortunate Events, Narnia etc etc etc. Nice one Harry, Ron and Hermione.

What do you think are the best and the worst trends of the decade? It doesn't have to be one on my list either, just let me know in a comment, I would love to hear what you think...

Beth xx

I fly like paper, get high like planes

(Photo called "Autumn in Paris" from Garance Doré who I have a major girl crush on. She has to be my favourite French blogger, closely followed by Le Blog De Betty and The Cherry Blossom Girl of course)

Cannot wait for France tomorrow with my BFFL, I am now all packed and ready to go!

Lately I have been très stressed about exams/friends/school so it is very nice to have the chance to get away from it all.

Also Emma has an amazing Canon so hopefully I will be able to nick some good photos to share with you when I get back.

Au revoir mes amis etc etc hope you are having a fantastic week :)

xx
ps) I always seem to get 'Paper Planes' by MIA stuck in my head before I go on holiday...

If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it...

I have whiplash from doing the Beyonce 'Single Ladies' dance too enthusiastically.
I am such an idiot.

Guess what?

I have tickets to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

They are one of my favourite the bands and I have been desperate to see them live for ages.
So now I can't wait for the 3rd of December- haha yes I have a along wait...

And thanks everyone yes I did have a lovely holiday!
I went to the Lake District with my family which is not exactly glamorus but I had a great time walking, rock climbing, kayaking, swimming etc and best of all it didn't rain!

Beth xx

Girl Crush- Lily Allen

My recent girl crush has to be Lily Allen.
Her prom dress, big gold earrings and scruffy trainers combo is no more and she is now seen out and about in all the hottest designers, especially Chanel (she literally has a 2.55 bag in every colour of the rainbow)
She is even the new face of the a/w accessories collection, specially chosen by Karl Lagerfeld. When asked why he chose her he simply said “Shes fun.”

Lily before the Chanel vamp, back when she wore trainers instead of Louboutins:

The Chanel ad campaign photos, just released today:

I also love her because every time I hear her song “Not Fair”about a guy who is rubbish in bed I cannot help but giggle:

Your thoughts on Lily Allen as the new face of Chanel?

"Life is like a piano...What you get out of it depends on how you play it."

I had my grade 5 piano exam today.

I was so nervous and my hands were shaking loads but all in all I think it went ok.

My scales, arpeggios and pieces went very well but my sightreading and aural tests went very badly.
Fingers Crossed I have passed though...

RIP Micheal Jackson aka The King of Pop

Its going alright, More insane by the minute

Gah, I feel ill.
The nose is running, the head is aching and the tissues are out.
But it is my best friend's birthday party later and I am determined to feel better by then.

So I am listening to one of my ultimate feel good songs (but nothing beats James Brown’s “I feel good”) and looking at pretty pictures on my favourite blogs to make me feel better.

Here are some of my favourite images, on newly found and loved website http://www.thestreethearts.com/ a street style website from Oslo by photographers Andreas Schjønhaug and Eirik Slyngstad. I think that it has an edge over the Sartorialist (at http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ ) because it tells you where all the items of clothing are from. Also quite a lot are bought in high street shops which is a nice change as it stops me from lusting over clothes and shoes I know I can't afford, which is a frequent occurrence on Scott's blog.

(Top- Maya, Above- Minni)

(Julianne)

(Sofie)

(Cara)

(Mari)

John Gold "Its Going" always makes me feel a bit better :)

Beth xx

Cannot stop listening to...

'New in Town' by Little Boots (love the album art above)
Its been going around my head all day...

B xx

Whats a girl to choose?

I love music. I love photogrpahy.

But I cannot choose between saving up for an Ipod Touch (my old nano will not hold out much longer) or a Canon SLR camera...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...