Dressing the bride - Kandy Shepherd

 My twenty-two-year old daughter looked over my shoulder at my computer screen. “Why are you looking up all these wedding dresses?” she asked. “That’s a long way ahead for me.”

“They’re not for you, darling,” I replied. “They’re for the heroine of my latest book. She’s going to look so beautiful on her wedding day.” (Okay, so maybe I’ve imagined my daughter in some of those dresses too. Sigh…)

I just love planning fictional weddings! I love organizing the dress, the veil, the shoes, the flowers, the bridesmaid dresses, the venue. Ah, the hours of pleasant research (some might say procrastination!) on Pinterest. I have a board just for wedding ideas: Wedding inspiration. So many gorgeous images!

It’s not giving away any spoilers to say there’s a wedding in my November release for Harlequin Romance as there’s a bride on the cover and the title is Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress. Andie, the bride, dresses in a slightly “boho” style—a touch vintage, a touch seventies. The dress on the cover of the book isn’t quite the same but it’s gorgeous too, and so is the veil. I’ve started Pinterest boards for all of my novels and Andie and Dominic have one of their own.

It’s important the dress suits the personality of the bride and the venue. Andie is married to Dominic in a lovely garden. Her friend and business partner in their party planning business Party Queens, Gemma Harper, also gets married on the page. Again, I’m not giving any spoilers as her book is called Crown Prince’s Chosen Bride and is out in March of 2016. I don’t have a cover yet to share with you. But as you can imagine the marriage of a Crown Prince involves more than a touch of formality!

My first wedding cover was my December 2014 A Diamond in Her Stocking. I planned a gorgeous wedding on the beach for Lizzie and Jesse in that one.

A Diamond in Her Stocking is the third book in my trilogy of linked but stand-alone set in the beachside town of Dolphin Bay. Harlequin is having a sale for U.S readers, and all three of the e-books are on sale for a limited time from November 10 for just $1.99 each, starting with The Summer They Never Forgot and The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner (a beach wedding there too!) Look out for them at the usual e-retailers.

Have you ever planned a wedding? Your own or someone else’s? Were there any memorable moments? Disasters? I’d love to hear about it! Make a comment if you'd like to be in the draw for a mass market paperback copy of Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress. Please include your email address.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

A romantic destination – Kandy Shepherd

 A highlight of my visit to England last month was a one-night stay at the beautiful art deco hotel on Burgh Island on the coast of Devon.

The wonderful 1930s hotel on Burgh Island in Devon in the UK

 One of the hotel’s claims to fame is that Agatha Christie was inspired by Burgh Island to write two of her most famous novels—Evil Under the Sun and Then There Were None (originally published with a title considered now to be offensive.)

I thrilled to the idea of visiting this hotel, which is cut off at high tide from the village of Bigbury-on-Sea with no way off the island. It’s where Agatha Christie got the idea of a household of potential murderers cut off from escape and trapped in each other’s presence. The actually hotel and island were the setting of the “Evil Under the Sun” episode of the television series Poirot (Christie’s famous detective). I recognized the setting straight away.

Art Deco splendor 

 Agatha Christie is said to be the best-selling author of all time. What fun it was for me as a writer to stay in the place that so influenced her writing. Our little visit was with both my bridesmaids and their husbands and it was a wonderful (yes, expensive!) treat to celebrate us all being together. Who knows what inspiration the stay will give me for future stories…

The hotel was established in the 1930s with famous celebrities of the time staying there. Apparently they welcomed the privacy and isolation. The rooms are named after famous people who stayed there over the years and are beautifully decorated in the Art Deco style—much of it original. Having a drink in the ancient (1336 AD) Pilchard Inn was also a memorable experience.

Having a drink at the ancient Pilchard Inn was quite an experience

 As you can see from my photos, the weather wasn’t wonderful but we didn’t mind. The rain held off for a walk around the rugged coastline and the rest of the time we spent enjoying the luxury of our surrounding. And the excellent food. The hotel staff were brilliant too. My only regret was that I didn’t get to ride the water tractor, the unique mode of transport that drives through the water with the enormous tires on the sandy bottom of the channel.

This eccentric vehicle is the sea tractor that transports guests to and from the island through the water

 Is it no wonder that Burgh Island came second in the Mills & Boon Romantics awards for most romantic destination?

Is there a romantic destination you’d like to visit—or already have visited? A destination that turned out to be not so romantic after all? I’d love to hear about it. I’ve got an advance copy of my next Harlequin Romance, Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress, to give away. Make a comment if you’d like to be in the draw. Please include your email address.

Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress (yes, it’s a Christmas themed novel!) will be released next month on November 1. It’s an intensely emotional story about a brooding billionaire Scrooge and a vivacious party planner. 

The billionaire's Christmas proposal… 

Billionaire Dominic Hunt's Christmas ball is a chance for hard-working party planner Andie Newman to make her name. She's intent on convincing gorgeous Dominic that decking the halls is the way to transform his brooding reputation, but he has an alternative idea—a festive proposal! 

After Dominic unexpectedly helps Andie with her own emergency, she says yes! The engagement is meant to be just for show, but as Dominic and Andie are surrounded by the magic of Christmas, they find their fake feelings are becoming all too real…

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter