Monday, 30 January 2012

Wonderful Wood Wedding Stationery

When it comes to wedding planning and wedding invitations, I'm a huge fan of surprising your wedding guests by using fun and unusual materials. The best wedding ideas are all about originality because that's what will keep your wedding unique! A big trend for 2012 is have your wedding stationery printed on wood. It's all part of weddings getting greener and more eco-friendly, and as our mood turns towards natural products, it's surprising how many woody invitations you can find! Take a look at the pretty stationery products below - don't you know, paper is soooo passé!


{Product Credit} Perch Papiers



{Product Credit}  Palomas Nest


{Product Credit} Baumbirdy

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Saturday, 28 January 2012

Before the Big Day Wedding Theme: Fancy Dress

Photographs can often become formulaic, especially wedding shots, so how about setting up a photobooth where guests can take pictures of themselves? Lots of American photographers are offering it as part of their packages, and I think it's time it came to the UK. One way of making the shots stand out is to offer your guests a fancy dress box. Then just sit back, and watch the hilarious shots roll in! My suggestions for super-cool props? Feather boas, vintage gold frames, wacky glasses and a couple of mini blackboards for messages. As ever, check out the offers on these items below....

Product Credits {top L to R} 1 & 2, MeriMask, 3. I Made You A Beard, 4. Something's Hiding Here, 5. Cox & Cox, {mid L to R} 1.Cox & Cox, 2. Leather Art Works {bottom L to R} 1. Glitz Concepts, 2. Jokers Masquerade, 3. Future Girl, 4.1 Handmade By Heather

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Thursday, 26 January 2012

Relaxing Hen-Weekend Ideas

What's your favourite treat to yourself? I'm a huge fan of massages - they're ridiculously luxurious, and they're the only thing that calm me down when I'm super-stressed. My wonderful husband gave me a massage just before my wedding day, and it completely changed my perspective from freaked, to cucumber-cool. A spa day would make for a brilliant hen party. According to their budget, your bridesmaids could choose whether they wanted manicures or pedicures or a facial, and to keep costs down even further, you could try to find a deal on Groupon UK. Invitations to the hen party could include bath hats or toe-separators, and everyone could get a bottle of nail varnish as a leaving present.


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Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Wedding Favours - Wrap With Love

One of my favouite activities is wedding window-shopping at Etsy - I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with a spare minute to fill! On my metaphorical stroll earlier today, I discovered LillaLotta, the sweetest little store of handmade cotton tapes. It's run by Anna Barrow, who lives in a sleepy little village in the South of France, with her large noisy family of five little children. Along with her standard selection below, Anna also offers bespoke tapes, decorated with the wording and images of your choice. Just imainge - there are so many ways you could use the tape on your big day, from tying your bouquets and buttonholes, decorating table vases and, of course, adding to personalised wedding favours.


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Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Real Elegant Winter White Wedding: Karianne & Philip

Just imagine if you only had a two months to plan your wedding. If it was me, it would be serious panic stations, but luckily, the lovely Karianne and Philip harnessed the expert wedding planning skills of Aimee Dunne, who whipped them up the perfect wedding in only eight weeks. Their winter wedding in the New Forest included tonnes of lovely wedding details, including lots of luxurious white flowers {by Corbins Florist}, flickering candles and marshmallows. Inspired by a Bruce Oldfield wedding dress, Karianne found a seamstress to make her something similar, and paired it with a mid-length veil and an incredible bouquet. Aimee organised for the church to be filled with candles, and a gorgeous ivory aisle runner by Dream Occasions, which created an intimate warmth to the ceremony. I'm loving the Philip's dapper white scarf, the individual roses at each guest's seat, the pashmina favours, and the marshmallows for toasting over blazing outdoor fire-pits {my favourite winter wedding idea ever!}. Gorgeous photographs published with thanks to Andy Catterall.




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Sunday, 22 January 2012

Wonderful Weekend Wedding {WWW} Blog Links

Do you get homesick? It's a strange feeling to have as an adult, but I'm away, living in Brussels this month, so I've been getting real pangs. I've been put up in a lovely flat in a great area {v near trendy Place du Chatelain}, but it's just not home. So this weekend has been a real treat, because I've come back! It's created a combination of feelings; the fun of seeing the flat through new eyes, and the familiarity of slipping back into my old patterns. Plus, London feels brand new again, I'm rediscovering it like a tourist, because The Boy and I are so keen to pack more into our weekend. We went to the National Portrait Gallery, and out to a show in the Roundhouse, called La Soirée. I'd highly recommend both. La Soirée would make a fantastic hen night, and you could even theme your wedding around a glamorous circus theme! For more incredible wedding inspiration, check out the best of the wedding blog links below, and don't miss Before the Big Day's wedding theme ideas.


{Photo Credit} Amy Carroll Photography

♥ Exquisite pastel garden wedding {via wedding blog 100 Layer Cake}

♥ Loving the idea of a rainbow procession of wedding cars, as spotted by my wedding planner Kerry Bracken on her blog

♥ Simple is always beautiful, and I love a pear on a plate {via wedding blog Once Wed}

♥ I love hand-drawn wedding invitations - they are SO this season {via my favourite wedding photographer's blog @ Caught the Light}

♥ Pumpkins and straw at a wedding! It shouldn't work, but it so does {via wedding blog Green Wedding Shoes}

♥ A great guide to pink wedding flowers

50 ways to trim your wedding budget {via the master of all things wedding, Martha Stewart}

Gold wedding inspiration

♥ Have you seen my wedding inspiration boards on Pinterest?

♥ Don't forget you can still win tickets to the National Wedding Show thanks to Before the Big Day!

♥ And if you're still looking for The One {aka your wedding dress}, don't miss the Wedding Dress Sales

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Saturday, 21 January 2012

Real Sunshine Garden Wedding - Hong & Chris

This is what wedding dreams are made of......a gorgeous garden wedding with a sunshine yellow theme, and tonnes of wedding details. Hong and Chris created the most incredible wedding, with a rustic chic theme you are going to adore. It's chock-full of stealworthy wedding ideas - for starters I'm loving the mini-treasure chest ring-box, the bespoke fingerprint heart wedding stationery and the exquisite flowers - all organised by Jess Flood Events. I'm a big fan of family dining - it's much less formal, and a huge trend for 2012 weddings. And how about the bride's beautiful gown, and cute birdcage veil? So elegant and feminine. Fantastic pictures published with thanks to Jessamyn Harris. She always captures a wedding perfectly.


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Friday, 20 January 2012

VERY Exciting Before the Big Day News!

Drum roll please! If you follow Before the Big Day on Twitter and Facebook you may have picked up on the hints of some exciting news for my boutique wedding blog. Well the moment has come for the official announcement. The wonderful wedding people over at The In Wedding Show have invited me to be their in-house wedding blogger! Yes indeed people, I will not only be blogging all the fabulous happenings at the show, I will have my own special area, where I'll be inviting you to come and visit me and my crack-team of wedding geniuses {should that be genii?}. We're brimming over with all our helpful hints, tips and ideas for this season's top trends in everything wedding, and we can't wait to share them with you! Wedding flowers, wedding dresses, wedding favours, wedding decorations, wedding venues, wedding themes, wedding colours, {you get the picture}, we have it all! I'll soon have much more information about how to win tickets to the Inspiration Sessions I'll be hosting, but right now I'm so excited I might have to have a bit of a lie-down. In the meantime, make sure you buy tickets for The In Wedding Show on Sunday 22nd April at Alexandra Palace in London. They're only £4 and every bride who pre-buys gets a free goodie bag - now that's what I call a good deal!!


{Photo Credit} Fun photo booth props by Sarah Q Happy Booths

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Thursday, 19 January 2012

Cute Felt Heart Wedding Favours

This winter wedding season is all about fabulous felt! It's being used in all the best wedding details, from favours to decorations. It's one of the easiest materials for crafting, as your stitches either disappear in the fabric, or work as a detail in the design. It's also super-cheap, a key asset for the DIY bride. Check out a tutorial on how to create your own hearts here or here, and buy your felt from eBay. I've fallen in love with these gorgeous felt and wool hearts by Sweet PB, so if you're not in the mood for wedding DIY, you can always get creative with your credit card! I'd use them as table decorations that would double as favours, or you could create giant hearts for your flower girls to carry instead of bouquets.


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Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Real Luxe New York City Wedding: Tricia & Raheem

Is it just me, or is everything bigger and better in the US of A? As we all shiver in the wintry weather, I thought we should celebrate the brilliant winter wedding location of New York City. Stunning couple Tricia and Raheem tied the knot in super-style with hot pink as their signature colour, which they totally worked at their reception. Check out pink lighting - sooo flattering, and the amazing table flower displays mixed with the the fat golden candles. A big mention has to go out for the elegant-but-sexy bridesmaids' dresses, Tricia was kind to her girlfriends, and I can totally see them wearing those dresses again! Thank you to Punam Bean for her fantastic shots - what do you think of the pink?


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Monday, 16 January 2012

Real Fairytale Dress Wedding: Sophie & Chris

In many ways, I wish I'd chosen a romantic fairytale wedding dress. There's something truly bridal about wearing a gown that's completely out of the ordinary. Something sweeping and feminine, just like the exquisite gown in this Real Wedding. The lovely Sophie chose a gorgeous, feathery wedding gown with a ruffled full skirt, and I'm head-over-heels in love! Throw in the luxurious rose bouquet, and I'm in bridal-heaven. I'm also loving all the wonderful wedding details, from the wooden LOVE letters, to the mini-vases of sweet-scented freesias and carnations on the tables, and the candy-striped wedding cake. Sophie and Chris celebrated their big day with a church ceremony, followed by their reception at the very stylish Havana Spoon in Hove. Restaurants are a great place to host your wedding reception, as you can guarantee the food will be good, and a reasonably-priced set menu will keep your costs down. A big welcome and huge thanks to Katariina from Light Trick Photography, for her fantastic photographs.

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