Image: Memory Box Photography on SBB

HAPPY 2015, FRIENDS! It's that time of year again where we welcome a whole boatload of new people to our wedding planning community, so if that's you, then congratulations, and welcome! I'm super excited about everything that this year has in store. For one thing, we're already working on a gorgeous, fresh new look for the website, which will hopefully be making its debut sometime next month - watch this space! We also have some exciting plans for our directory, and a couple of other surprises on their way, alongside all those wedding details and trends and images that we live for around here. But most of all, we're looking forward to sharing all those heart warming, knee melting, sigh inducing moments of pure happiness and love. Love stories are the heart of what we do here, and we can't wait to share YOURS!

With that in mind, the first order of business is that we'd love it if you'd share your engagement pic with us. Do it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Use the hashtag #southboundbridetobe, and we'll all have a chance to ooh over your bling and aah over your loved-up-ness, and wish you a thousand happy moments in your lives together.

Yay! Now that's done, here's a little bit more about who we are and what we do.

WHAT IS SOUTHBOUND BRIDE?
SBB is one of South Africa's leading online wedding magazines (aka blogs). We're not a wedding co-ordination company, but we are here to bring you all the latest and best wedding dresses, decor, trends, etc. from around the world, as well as showcase the best of local suppliers. We're a local blog in that we only feature South African real weddings, although SBB is read and loved by many international brides as well. Whether you're dreaming of a romantic vineyard, boho beach, gorgeous game lodge, chic city, rustic farm, traditional African wedding, cross-cultural celebration or something completely unique, if it's beautiful and local, you'll find it here. South Africa has developed a reputation for producing some of the most spectacular, original, heartfelt weddings (captured by our very talented local photographers), and we're here to showcase that talent. Where other sites offer a mix of lifestyle and bridal content, we're all wedding, all the time. Whether you're looking for great suppliers recommended by real brides or want to see examples of real weddings at your dream venue, or just want to have a stylish friend to check in with regularly on your way to the altar for ideas and advice, this is the place.

The current SBB team consists of Gaby (founder, editor and general wedding lover) and Candice, who joined us last year. You can read more about us here.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Every weekday on SBB, you can expect some kind of wedding inspiration. We post between one and two articles every day, including:

• Real weddings: Our readers' favourite features! The dropdown real weddings menu allows you to search by location and wedding type, or just browse the full archive. You can also type a term into the search box in the sidebar if you're looking for something specific - with hundreds of spectacular weddings at your fingertips, you're sure to find what you're looking for.
• Star suppliers!: You'll find everything from photographers to photobooths in our suppliers' directory (click on suppliers in the menu bar for more). They're divided into regions for your convenience. The directory is going through a huge expansion at the moment, so if you don't find what you're looking for straight away, do check in again soon! I'd also recommend taking a moment to check out our sponsors via the right sidebar - they're lovely and talented, and they're looking forward to hearing from you all.
• Inspiration boards: Since SBB began, we've become known for our weekly inspiration boards (Mondays are Inspiration Board day!). These are a great way to get ideas for colours, combinations and themes, and you can narrow them down by colour using our sidebar tool (right). See the full archive here.
• Trends & ideas: We love to keep a finger on the pulse of all that is fresh and interesting in wedding world, including weekly roundups on different trends and themes. Think of it as Wednesday Trendsday. It sort of rhymes. Browse the archives here.
• Bridal fashion: In the last couple of years, we've started featuring more and more bridal fashion, both South African and international and from 2015 it's going to be a weekly feature. See all our bridal fashion features here.
• Bridesmaids: We have something very special coming soon for bridesmaid style - watch this space!
• More inspiration: For more ideas, inspiration and love love love, check out our styled shoots, couple shoots, hen parties/bridal showers, practical planning posts, honeymoons and more.

Readers find their way here in lots of different ways:

• Our boards are full of beautiful images both from the blog and from other sources, and an awesome tool for planning your wedding (get our top tips for Pinterest weddings here).
• Facebook is a great way to keep up to date with all our latest posts. Top tip! If you like or comment on posts from time to time, you'll be more likely to see our daily FB posts in your newsfeed.
• Tweet tweet... Twitter is another great way to follow SBB.
• If you're more about pictures than words, you'll find a behind-the-scenes glimpse on our Instagram account.
• If you're worried about work access, the easiest thing is to sign up for daily emails - you'll get all the SBB content straight into your inbox!

WHERE DO I START?
We get it. Planning a wedding can be overwhelming, but we've got you covered! Here's a step by step guide with links to ALL our fab advice posts - be sure to bookmark this as you'll want to come back!

First steps Practical planning
Bridesmaids Grooms & Groomsmen
Fashion & beauty
Flowers
Cakes & Catering
Showers, hens & bachelorettes
Other

We look forward to helping you plan your big day!
Gaby & Candice xox