Become Hooked on Hitched

I have a new visiual delight in my life.. and it’s called Hitched Magazine!

Just to confirm, I am not engaged nor planning to be any time soon, but this publication using beautiful layout, sassy editorial and gorgeous pics, I can see the art to wedding planning. It has given me a huge amount of inspiration for entertaining and styling.

Hitche d Magazine covers weddings in a non-conventional way. I quote from the editors letter in the first edition “We’ll never offer you sex advice, nor will you ever see a satin chair cover, princess tiara, or spray-tan-laden bride grace these humble pages. Never. Ever.”

Renee Douros is the Editor and Creative Director of Hitched Magazine, I sat down with her to talk inspirations and the drive it took to produce this awesome publication. She proved truly motivating, smart, fun and down to earth.

Enjoy!

BWA. xx

Why have you created Hitched, how is it different from other wedding magazines?
I created Hitched for the wedding-haters. I was so tired of all the ‘fluff’ found in bridal magazines – the glossy covers, meringue dresses, badly designed advertisements, horrendous helmet-shaped bouquets, feathers and marbles in centrepieces – all of it made me cringe. What was irritating me most of all was that these magazines were coming from a blatantly obvious commercial angle. While I acknowledge that everyone needs to make money, I wanted to create a wedding style bible that was driven by aesthetics, not advertising dollars.

Who inspires you day to day?
Strong, stylish, driven women who are working in all facets of business and succeeding

 Being and Editor is no doubt a very busy role, how do balance your personal and work life.
To be honest, I don’t. I’m not really one to take time out and relax. I’ve never been that way. I’m very highly wired. As the Owner, Publisher and Editor of Hitched Magazine I have to be available at all times. I often wake up in the middle of the night and by habit, check my emails – I get carried away replying to our international contacts in other time zones and all of a sudden it’s nearly time to get up!

Have you a great support network that helps?
I have an incredible support network. My team and I have so much fun in the Hitched Magazine studio – it never feels like work! We’re just a bunch of young girls who are dedicated and passionate about what we do.

I also have a very tight-knit family who I lean on enormously; I see my parents and brother nearly every day of the week. My brother even accompanied me on my recent trip to London and New York to make sure that I didn’t get lost (I have a terrible sense of direction), assist on shoots and support me.

What are a few of your favourite wedding styling ideas?
My number one piece of advice is that blooms are everything. If you don’t have a large budget for styling and décor; spend it all on fresh flowers. At the end of the night, wrap up your arrangements in butcher’s paper, secure them with twine and hand them out to guests when they leave as favours.

What are your greatest tips to bride and grooms to stay calm and carry on when planning their big day?
Stay away from Pinterest! I’m usually one to sing it’s praises but when you’re trying to plan a wedding – it turns into the danger zone. Pick a theme that represents who you are as a couple and go with what feels natural. Trying to emulate what others have achieved with their own weddings will only leave you disenchanted.

 What is the biggest wedding disaster you have heard of /experienced?
I’ve heard so many. The worst stories are usually related to the effects of excessive alcohol consumption – leave the binge drinking for another occasion.

 What values do you live by that you think has helped you achieve such great success?
It’s quite a blunt statement that my father drummed into me as a lazy teenager – ‘sleep when you’re dead’ – I remind myself of this constantly.

What can we expect to see in the new issue of Hitched which will be available on 3rd Oct.
Issue three! Where do I start!? The cover for this issue will surprise our readers. We worked with one of my absolute favourite illustrators to produce it and it’s inspired by the children’s nonsense poem ‘The Owl and The Pussy-cat’. You’ll see a fashion editorial shoot that I produced on a recent trip to London, we interview one of the coolest floral stylists in Australia at the moment and we have an awesome fashion piece written by Clare Press. I could go on for days! You’ll have to pick up an issue and see for yourself.

What are a few of your wardrobe essentials?
• Vintage Fur
• Leopard print everything
• A high-quality, well tailored blazer
• A classic gold watch

Have you any big ‘no-no’s’ when dressing to go to a wedding?
No neon and no body-cons ladies! You should be classic and respectful at a wedding … not dressed like you’re going to a nightclub.

Lastly, if you could have breakfast with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
My great-grandmother. She was left a widow in poverty-stricken, war-torn Eastern Europe with four children under the age of ten. They were all separated and dispersed to refugee camps around Serbia. Here, she raised a group of orphans as her own and five years later was reunited with her children while on an air-force carrier plane flying to Australia. An amazing woman, with the strength of an ox – who battled breast cancer to see me born but sadly, missed me by just two months. I like to think I inherited some of her strength of character.

Please, please, please do yourself a favour, get a copy of the newest edition of Hitched Magazine and enjoy the stories, layout, fonts, pics, recipes, inspiration, advice, florals, offers, colours, style, and illustrations as much as I did.

BWA. xx