Weddings in Perth, WA and Beyond!

Weddings in Perth, WA and Beyond!
Australia's North West from Exmouth to Broome and beyond! The Northern winter or dry season is April-Sept and boasts long days of blue skies and beautiful sunshine, some would say this is the perfect WA weather! However many European visitors will wait for the summer wet season where the temperatures are in the mid-30s and you can experience a balmy combination of heat, humidity and sunshine!
Below the Tropic of Capricorn in the south the weather is far less dramatic that the tropical north, with Perth enjoying more sunny days in a year than any other capitol city in the country! Because of this beautiful weather Western Australia has built up a reputation for fine food and world famous wine regions, and overall needs no explanation as to why it would be the perfect place for you to organise your destination wedding. Whether you are from Western Australia, based interstate or abroad there are so many advantages to getting married in Perth or the surrounding state, the internet is a wonderful place and you can do a little research to find out about Perth and WA to choose the perfect wedding venue and location for your big day!

The Coral Coast
Experience the whitest sand and the bluest ocean that plays host to some of the most breathtaking and exotic marine life in the world! You can find Ningaloo Reef, the world heritage listed site that is awesome for fishing and diving, this coast is also one of the few places that you can swim with a whale shark... be sure to extend your wedding in WA into a honeymoon... what an amazing thing to do after your big day!
With a wide selection of fabulous wedding venues and accommodation options to suit your personalities and number of guests you will be sure to have plenty of choice for your Coral Coast wedding!

North West Australia
Australia's North West is home to the world-famous Kimberley, a true desert wilderness that offers an amazing outback adventure for those 4WD junkies! Be sure to stop off at the Bungle Bungle Range, the Karijiini National Park and Lake Argyle on your tour of this region!
Maybe you will choose The Billi Resort or Cable Beach Club in the north west near the town of Broome. These beautiful venues offer an outstanding ceremony and reception setting for your celebration.

South West Australia
When you hear the name Margaret River the first thing that springs to mind is top-class wineries and the scrumptious local produce! The perfect location for a wedding this wine region boasts spectacular views and idyllic settings for your ceremony and reception venue!
This region is also great for family holidays, with the Southern Forests towering in the Valley of Giants for some tree-top adventures! A great place to spend some time with the family after the excitement of your wedding.

Perth
Perth is the gateway to the west with direct flights to Perth airport making it easily accessible from all around Australia. You can also arrive in the western capital via rail, taking the Indian pacific service that spans the entire country from sea to sea, you can hop on at Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide and the whole journey would take 3 days... might be the way to travel back after your wedding, a short honeymoon journey for the newly-weds!
Alternatively, if you are getting married in the summer months you can get on board a coastal cruise as part of your honeymoon, much of WA including Perth, Broome and Esperance will feature on a world cruise itinerary.

Once you arrive in Perth this relaxed city spends most of its time with sunny blue skies and has so much to offer, with an exciting and young vibe you will be able to find something to suit you and all of your guests and create a truly unique experience for your wedding in Perth, WA.

You can choose from a beach or garden wedding and from an extensive list of venues from the Northbridge Hotel to the Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club . You can also take the trip over to Rottnest Island, an increasingly popular destination for weddings there is a Chapel or Catholic Church as well as a selection of beautiful outdoor locations for your ceremony. The Rottnest Island Lodge and Aristos Waterfront venues can cater for all your reception needs.

Maybe you will venture inland to the Swan Valley where you will encounter the oldest wine region in Western Australia, also a fabulous location for a wedding in WA.
Whichever location you choose for your wedding in the west you can be assured that you and your guests will experience a wealth of fantastic scenery, blue skies and hours of sunshine! This alone can give you inspiration for your wedding stubby holders, you could include a photograph of where you are getting married, your favourite beach location or simply your names and the date to match your wedding colours. Here are some of our location designs and suggestions below:

Engagement Shoot Ideas For Your Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations!

A modern way of gathering some fantastic ideas for your Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations is to have an Engagement Shoot! Not only can this help you get some super images for your stationery and bomboniere gift ideas but will also give you a chance to meet your wedding photographer and make sure that you are going to be able to work together to create some amazing photographs to take home from your big day!

When trying to find out about wedding photography, the best place to start is by taking a look at the photographer's photos and portfolio, this will be a great way to gather some ideas and see what styles you like.
When arranging your engagement photo shoot specifically for your wedding stationery try to think about the impression you would like to make, will you take the fun approach to let people know that you will be having a more casual style wedding, perhaps you will have some outdoor shots to represent the location you may be getting married, such as a garden or beach wedding or you could go for some traditional portraits that can be used for other events and be framed for display or as gifts for family.

The best type of engagement photography is that which captures the personalities of the couple and can come from their own inspirations and ideas, many brides these days are enlisting in the help of pinterest so that they can create pin boards of lovely images that they like or ideas that trigger their senses! The internet is a wonderful place and it is great that you can now ‘pin’ stuff somewhere and have a point of reference to show your photographer the style of wedding pictures that you like.
You might get your creative flare or dress style from a particular era, perhaps you are a fan of retro colours and patterns or maybe you are thinking of a particular movie like lady and the tramp sharing spaghetti or Mr & Mrs Smith black cocktail dress & tuxedo shoot.
We found some great shots that we liked where couples had written their wedding date or save the date on the bottom of their shoes, an awesome and unique idea for your photographs!!

Many couples these days are choosing to send Save the Dates as a notice for guests to mark their calendars before they have even chosen their ceremony or reception venue! Your wording for a save the date can be less formal than that of your wedding invitations, however this can depend on the personalities of the bride and groom of course, you can be as formal or as free as you so desire, it is your wedding day after all...!
The text can be simple with the words Save the Date, the bride and groom names and the date of the planned wedding or you can also add quirky captions or more information, we really like these
- Bride & Groom - Finally tying the knot!
- He stole my heart, so I'm stealing his surname! Make sure you're there to see it!
- Bride & Groom are getting married!!! Not sure where but this is when...
- Mark your calendars, it's happening, formal invite to follow!
- Eat, Drink and Be Married!
There are some really different ideas you can put together yourselves without photography too, you could consider a crossword puzzle or scrabble style element with a twist of vintage! These ideas can be used for your invites, stationery and wedding bomboniere gift ideas!

The Coolaz design team would be only too happy to help you design a unique save the date or wedding invitation magnet along with your gift style stubby holders for all of your guests - you can even double these up as place cards and print an individual guest name on each one!

Happy Planning!

Band Names, Logos and Ideas for Promotional Merchandise!

If you and your mates are starting a band the first thing to consider is the sheer statement that you will make with the name that you choose and how you will be represented by your logo design! Perhaps you have some ideas or are a fan of a particular icon, style or image and can create a name based around that? Maybe there is a certain phrase or meaning of a name that will spark some interest or failing that you can always hop onto a name generator website - I tried this out today and got some pretty Cool-az results for our potential company band ... my top five:
Coolaz Nation And The Fixed Sign
Coolaz Impulse
Coolaz Skank And The Dump
Cranking Coolaz And The Grenades
Coolaz Of Aftermath - for our death metal band :)
For all music artists the name they choose will be very important, not only will this represent who they are and what they're about but it will also be how they are recognised and will form a link to their music and the basis of their celebrity status! This should all be brought to the table when designing a band's logo or merch design, take the Rolling Stones iconic lips and tongue or Jamiroqui's indian buffalo hat silhouette - these designs certainly hold their own in the music industry, no need for text, slogans or even the band's name, whenever you see these logos you know exactly who they belong too.

Then there are those designs that cleverly use the band name as a hook for their entire logo, it is amazing how a single font like Bootle font used in The Beatles logo or Squealer font for ACDC can be so familiar and how the arrow symbol with custom font for The Who go hand in hand, all recognised by music buffs all over the world...!

These logos and symbols will be plastered all over the bands promotional merchandise including rock clothes, printed tees, band shirts, CD covers and gifts like pens, mugs and promotional stubby holders! All great ideas to help raise some extra funds for the band's next gig or to buy the drinks for the after party!

Stubby holders are a true Australian product that most bands and artists will consider purchasing as part of their merchandise for sale to their fans. Generally the bog-standard type of stubby holder can be a little drab and sometimes unexciting as band merchandise, however, when you add a little bit of a Coolaz twist and make the most of the neat tools available you can create the ultimate in merch with a fantastic Coolaz drink holder that will be sure to be high in demand!
With youtube taking the world by storm and the rise in social media you really should make the most of this when designing your merchandise, you can engage your fans by printing QR codes that link direct to your facebook page or online videos posted to youtube or your gig guide printed in an online music mag. You can also make these promotional codes unique, ideal for competitions, exclusive tickets and giveaways or simply for pushing your fans to a particular part of your website, myspace or facebook page!

With full colour digital printing you can give your merchandise a vibrant and modern look, take advantage of the fact that you can include photographs of your band rocking out on stage or crowd surfing! With the protective matt laminate on the surface of the coolers they can be written on with a permanent marker pen making a fantastic signable fan memento! Plus with them coming to you flat they are ideal for transporting when you have limited room on your tour bus.
Perhaps you could even take a leaf out of Eddie Vedder's book and print a different design for each venue you play, like he did with posters for his solo tour around Australia in 2011, a great way to give your fans a truely unique keepsake from your tour or individual gig!
We fully understand the pressures of touring and have developed a fast turnaround service that will help you if you need more band merchandise quickly. So if you sell out fast you can just give us a shout, we'll not only make them super fast for you but will also ship direct to your next venue so that you can pick them up when you arrive!

Email your logo and ideas to coolaz@coolaz.com.au for a quote and more information about Coolaz promotional stubby holders!
Rock on!