Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts

Saturday 29 July 2017

An Autumn Wedding with a Vintage Art Deco Theme

Brides planning an autumn wedding are going to feel super-inspired by this glorious big day set in London town. Tom and Cecily embraced the fading light by creating a cosy romantic feel to their wedding reception, which they hosted in a traditional English pub surrounded by twinkling lights and flickering candles. Their choice of an Art Deco theme is inspired - the gold and black is elegant and easy to DIY. I love how they created their tablescapes themselves, with a little bit of help from their talented family. There's nothing you can't do with a can of spray paint! Huge thanks to wedding photographer Lily Sawyer for capturing every perfect detail.


We had a unique situation where we had weddings in both the US and the UK! Our UK celebration in October took place in East London at St Paul's Shadwell. We followed up with a reception at the nearby Dickens Inn.


We really liked the history behind the Dickens Inn and the rustic yet modern interior. The location on the docks and next to Tower Bridge made for iconic photos. 



Wednesday 12 July 2017

An Art-Deco London Wedding with Black & Gold DIY Details

London's been my home for nearly twenty years now {apart from a brief sojourn in Dubai}, so I've got something of a soft spot for a wedding hosted here. Tom and Cecily celebrated their marriage with two ceremonies - one in the US, and the second at St Paul's Shadwell followed by a cream tea and dinner at the Dickens Inn. As an American, you can understand Cecily's love for historic London, and it's something we should all embrace. Her photography Lily Sawyer took advantage of all the capital's stunning landmarks for their wedding pictures - don't miss them in Part 2 of this wedding, which I'll publish later this afternoon. Enjoy these shots - there's plenty of lovely details, including Tom's traditional three-piece suit, Cecily's fragrant white-on-white bouquet, her 1920's-stylepretty pearl accessories and elegant chignon.



Friday 25 September 2015

DIY Autumn Leaf Wedding Confetti

This is such a genius idea, I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before! I love everything autumn, and there's nothing I like more than going out for a long walk, and picking up lots of natural momentoes - think polished conkers, spiky horse chestnut cases, and mottled leaves. So this quick and easy wedding crafting project ticks all my boxes.


All you need is a huge pile of pretty autumn leaves, a heart punch {buy them here}, kitchen towel, and a couple of hefty books. Punch out pretty hearts and press them between kitchen towel, and tada! You've got perfect autumn confetti. Use it to decorate your wedding reception tables, or put it in cones for your friends to throw at you as you come out the church. Tutorial here.


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Tuesday 8 September 2015

An Easy Wedding Decoration DIY

You don't have to be a graffiti artist to fall in love with spray paint. Any crafter worth her salt knows it's the easiest tool for fast, effective results. You can easily turn the mundane into something incredible. My friends recently celebrated their wedding at an incredible venue in East London. They needed to personalise the reception space, but didn't have much of a budget. For under a £100 they bought dozens of white paper lanterns, and saved jam-jars. A simple spray of neon spray paint, and a bag of Ikea tea-lights, and they had a brilliant, original wedding decorations {like these}. My colour of choice is gold - particularly for autumn and winter weddings. Just take a look at these fantastic DIY ideas - find more on my Pinterest page.





Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

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Wednesday 29 April 2015

A 'Blooming' New Forest Autumn Wedding with DIY Details - Part 2

Take one wedding florist, add a graphic designer husband-to-be, and a group of insanely talented guests, and you have a wedding-made-in-heaven. Jen and Lee celebrated their big day in the autumn, and completely mixed up their wedding schedule, to make sure they didn't lose the light for their pictures. This inspired decision meant the party started straight away, and the lovely Ben Goode got to take these stunning portrait pictures in a gorgeous golden light. It's definitely an idea to steal if you're planning an autumn or winter wedding. As long as you don't mind seeing each other before the ceremony, then it's a winner! There's so many other brilliant details, you'll want to save every shot - from their giant, fairground-style, illuminated initials, to the CD favours made to look like mini-vinyls, and the chocolate brownie pyramid wedding cake. And did I mention Jen is a florist? Wedding flowers to die for! If you missed Part 1, don't!


Tuesday 28 April 2015

A 'Blooming' New Forest Autumn Wedding with DIY Details

I absolutely L-O-V-E it when a Before the Big Day bride gets in touch with me and asks if I'd like to feature her wedding. It's like being included on the guest list! Lovely Jennifer read this blog in the build up to her wedding day, and sent over the beautiful pictures by Ben Goode. I'm in love with every one, and completely obsessed with all the perfectly DIY'd details. Jen is a florist, so obviously the flowers were sorted, her husband Lee is a graphic designer and hand-made all of the fabulous stationery, a friend made the wedding cake, another friend DJ'd, and Jen's mum is a writer, and crafted a very funny reading for the ceremony out of all their guests' tips. Put together this saved them some pennies, but also made the day so much more personal. There's so much stealworthy wedding inspiration, I'm finding it hard to know where to start.....maybe with Jen's stunning high-street wedding dress, but don't miss the fun vintage VW camper-van, the locally-bought bridesmaid gowns, the flowery cocktails, and most of all the incredible wedding flowers - all designed by Jen herself. Such a dreamy wedding - more to come in Part 2 later today!



Wednesday 14 May 2014

Real Elegant French Chateau Wedding

Totally obsessed with this immensely classy wedding in the Loire Valley in France.The location is just divine, and shows you how hugely atmospheric the right venue can be, and how much it can add to your big day. When the gardens are this exquisite, you'll hardly need to add any flowers, saving your pennies for the honeymoon, or a gorgeous Croque en Bouche profiterole cake like the one picture below. The pictures for this wedding come thanks to Punam Bean, who truly captured the happiness of Cailen and Sean's big day. Just look at the smiles! Sean's dress is pure fairy-tale and I love the little lavender bouquets and boys' buttonholes. As for the last picture, who doesn't want their day to end with sparkle?

Thursday 27 February 2014

A Fun Rustic Wedding with a Divine Claire Pettibone Dress

There's nothing I like more than a backyard marquee wedding, with a relaxed happy bride {in Converse!}, and an OMG Claire Pettibone wedding gown. Add in pretty handmade, shabby-chic details, sage green Dessy bridesmaids dresses, and a traditional ice-cream bicycle seller, and you've got a quintessentially English wedding. All that was missing was the rain! I love Katy's DIY'd wildflower favours, her pretty baby's breath bouquet, and all the hand-decorated jam-jar wedding details. Huge thanks to Hannah from Written With Light Photography for sending over all the pictures - enjoy!


We got married on 21st September 2013 in St Michael's Church, in West Hill in Devon, followed by our wedding reception in Tom's parent's gorgeous garden. I always knew a rural view and beautiful outdoor location was going to be a non-negotiable part of our wedding day, and as we are fortunate enough to have this on Tom's parent's doorstep, hosting our reception in their garden was a bit of a no brainer! 


We couldn't risk it for a biscuit weather-wise, so we hired a traditional canvas marquee. As far as decorations go I wanted to keep things as natural as possible we had a stunning location and didn't plan on distracting from that.



Wednesday 19 February 2014

A Rustic French Wedding with a Flower Market Theme - The Reception

It's been a long wait, but here, at last, are the incroyable pictures from Kerry and Greg's amazing South of France wedding. As I've mentioned before, Kerry runs her own wedding planning company called Lavender & Rose Weddings, so my expectations were running high - but her wedding reception details have completely blown my mind! I love to see a wedding with tonnes and tonnes of flowers, and there's so many arrangements here, it looks like Kerry and her fiance Greg opened a flower shop for the day! Then there's the clever photo booth backdrop, created with real flowers to look like wallpaper, and the stunning ribbon banner decorations, and I've not even got started on the champagne cocktail bar with six different kinds of syrups to flavour the champagne {lavender, poppy, peach, raspberry, blackberry & blackcurrent}, as well as crystallised flower petals {rose, lavender and mimosa} to pop in the glasses. Every single wedding detail is intrinsically perfect, and brilliantly orchestrated, and yet the day itself was casual, fun and light-hearted - exactly what you want from a perfectly-planned wedding. Have a good read of Kerry's answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire - particularly if you're planning a wedding in the South of France, and Alban Pichon's beautiful wedding pictures. Don't miss Part 1 and Part 2 of this gorgeous wedding.


We celebrated our wedding on 13 September 2012, with two ceremonies - a civil ceremony in the town hall {the only legally recognised type of ceremony in France}, followed by a symbolic outdoor ceremony at the a Provencal villa called Bastide St Mathieu, in Grasse.


I wanted an outdoor celebration mixing French {Gregory is French} and British traditions. I really wanted our guests to feel relaxed and comfortable, so made sure not to include anything formal or formulaic. Theme-wise I wanted it to be a beautiful explosion of colour, life and flowers - a real feast for the eyes. Grasse is famous for being the perfume capital of the world, and I was keen to reflect that in our wedding details.



Tuesday 18 February 2014

A Rustic French Wedding with a Flower Market Theme - The Second Ceremony

I can't tell you how excited I am to bring you the second part of this incredible wedding. The lovely Kerry Bracken runs her own wedding planning company called Lavender & Rose Weddings in the South of France, so her big day was always going to be pretty special, but in truth, it's slightly blown my mind! Kerry hosted her wedding in Grasse, famous for its history of making perfumes, so she chose a French flower market theme, featuring tonnes {and tonnes} of flowers, plus plenty of vintage perfume bottles. You wait till you see the abundance of flowers and vegetables, and the incredible ceremony venue - set in a French olive grove - it's amazing! I love so many of Kerry's wedding details, it's hard to pick, but I'd start with her pretty flower-accessorised up-do, her Dad's cool floral shirt, her bridesmaids' flower crowns, and the lovely vintage bench that Kerry and her groom, Gregory, sat on during their ceremony. Enjoy these stunning photographs by Alban Pichon, and be sure to click back later today for the fabulous reception details. Don't miss Part 1 and Part 3 of this gorgeous wedding.


We celebrated our wedding on 13 September 2012, with two ceremonies - a civil ceremony in the town hall {the only legally recognised type of ceremony in France}, followed by a symbolic outdoor ceremony at the a Provencal villa called Bastide St Mathieu, in Grasse.


I live in Cannes in the South of France and most of my husband’s family do as well. My English and Irish family love the South of France and I knew they would jump at the chance of coming to a wedding in France. The South of France is just the most perfect location for a wedding with fantastic food, stunning scenery and beautiful weather. The French Riviera being THE place for parties and luxury entertaining has some of the finest wedding vendors in France.



Monday 17 February 2014

A Rustic French Wedding with a Flower Market Theme & Three Wedding Dresses

I've been waiting and wanting to publish this incredible wedding for MONTHS!! I know when a wedding planner gets married, that it's going to be a pretty special affair - but when that wedding planner happens to have been MY wedding planner, my excitement level goes through the roof! Kerry Bracken started her fabulous business, Lavender & Rose Weddings in the South of France, just before I got married. I was one of her first clients, and it was clear from the start that she was going to be hugely successful. Creative and efficient, Kerry is the best in the industry, and I can't recommend her enough. As soon as I heard she'd got engaged, I shot over an email asking to feature her wedding on Before the Big Day, because I knew it would be incredible. In fact, it's so good, that I've had to divide it into not two, but three separate features - not least because Kerry wore three different wedding gowns. I'll let Kerry's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire speak for themselves, but suffice to say, my favourite details are Kerry's stylish birdcage veil, her brilliant coral nails {every detail matters!}, the cute 2CV wedding transport {so French, so vintage, so perfect!}, and Greg's super-smart outfit from The Kooples. Big love also to Alban Pichon for his AH-mazing wedding photographs. Don't miss Part 2 and Part 3 of this amazing wedding.


We celebrated our wedding on 13 September 2012, with two ceremonies - a civil ceremony in the town hall {the only legally recognised type of ceremony in France}, followed by a symbolic outdoor ceremony at the a Provencal villa called Bastide St Mathieu, in Grasse.


I had three wedding dresses - all from Minna. My first gown is called Nadine, and it's a cream, vintage-inspired, short lace dress with pink floral belt detail, short sleeved cream vintage inspired fitted lace dress with pink floral belt detail. I wanted a short dress to contrast with my official wedding dress, and also something I might wear again.



Monday 6 January 2014

A Mint Themed Country Pub Wedding with Rustic DIY Details - The Reception

Barn wedding venues are pretty much the most popular in the UK. They're such versatile spaces with all the benefits of a marquee, without the potential for cold ankles! Laura and Ben chose the gorgeous Olde Bell for their wedding venue. It's a hotel with a barn attached, and it's actually where my husband and I spent our mini-honeymoon after our official London wedding ceremony. The gardens are stunning, as you can see from Laura and Ben's stunning wedding photographs by Kate Gray Photography. I absolutely love all of Laura's clever wedding details. Make sure you read her answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire - she saved lots of money by using great local vendors, and DIY-ing much of her reception stationery, using hessian, an old London map, and vintage-style luggage labels. My favourite details? The personalised rustic signs, Laura's simple Grecian-style hair band, the wedding favours reflecting their heritage, and the incredible wedding cake, complete with totally original flavours! Don't miss Part 1 here.

We got married at The Olde Bell, Hurley on Saturday 21st September 2013. We looked at seven local venues on Christmas Eve 2012, and this one just felt right.


The Olde Bell had a country feeling that Ben & I grew up with, and we instantly knew we could easily achieve the soft, romantic wedding atmosphere we were hoping for. The grand hotels we looked at just seemed a bit formal for us, and we didn't like the thought of knowing that people other than our guests would be in the venue on the day.



A Mint Themed Country Pub Wedding with Rustic DIY Details

It's been way too long since I featured a gorgeous real wedding, and it's definitely time to introduce all you newly engaged brides-to-be to the wonders of stealworthy ideas. These are the snippets, goodies and wedding details that you can only get from the fabulous pooled creativity of real brides. Stunning couple Laura and Ben are a great example. With their rustic barn wedding, pretty mint and vintage theme, and eye for a bargain, their wedding is chock-full of wedding inspiration. Laura loves a good DIY project, and packed loads into her wedding to give it that personal touch so key to making your wedding stand out from all the others you'll go to this summer! You'll love her handmade table names, printed 'Wed-Libs', and rustic wedding signs. For favours, Laura chose to reflect her and Ben's heritage, with palm leaf fans sent over from the Philippines {Laura's mother is Filipina}, and miniature bottles of Ouzo for the boys {Ben's mother is Greek Cypriot}. I love Laura's elegant wedding style; the lace overlay of her fitted wedding gown, and her simple up-do and cathedral-length veil, decorated by her mum with diamante. Enjoy these brilliant pictures by Kate Gray Photography of the wedding ceremony, and stay tuned for all the reception shots, later this afternoon.


We got married at The Olde Bell, Hurley on Saturday 21st September 2013. We looked at seven local venues on Christmas Eve 2012, and this one just felt right.



I was spoilt as my hair and make-up was done by the ridiculously talented Lauren Appleby who again happens to be one of my best friends and one of my bridesmaids. Lauren is trained in everything from stage hair and make-up, to wigs and special effects make-up for TV and film, and even body paint! Having someone I know so well to help me get ready was what dreams are made of. Thank you so much for making me look so beautiful ☺!



Tuesday 31 December 2013

Real Secret Elopement Wedding: Crystal & Matt

Crystal and Matt eloped and got celebrated their big day in a secret ceremony without any other guests. Now how's that for an inspiration for couples struggling to edit their guest lists! They chose the most incredibly romantic location I've ever seen, unfortunately for us Brits, is all the way over in Atlanta Georgia. But we can still fall in love with idea of getting married near a tumble-down mansion, there must be hundreds in the UK - why not check out the National Trust for ideas. Other totally stealworthy ideas include Crystal's gorgeous simple strapless dress, the cute bright yellow of Matt's buttonhole, and the stunning sewn vow cards, created by Ashley of Dolci Odille. Best of all, I love the pics, and they're thanks to the massively talented team at Simply Bloom.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Blackberry Autumn Wedding Theme

One of my best girlfriends is going to be getting married in December, but for family reasons, she had to bring forward the official ceremony to the autumn. Everything happened quite quickly, and she ended up organising her mini-wedding in just a week! {So it is possible!}. I was super-keen to get her just as excited about her autumn wedding as her winter big day, so I went into overdrive with my theme ideas, and created tonnes of Pinterest boards. One of my favourite ideas was a Blackberry Themed Wedding. I found bucket-loads of pretty inspiration....take a look at a few of my favourite ideas below.

Wedding Theme Ideas
✿ Eat: Add blackberries to your wedding cake and fill pick-your-own-style punnets with berries to each table for guests to nibble on between courses. Serve blackberry crumble for pudding.
✿ Drink: Blackberry mojitos are yummy, or just add a few blackberries to bob around in each champagne glass
✿ Dress: Add rich purple ribbon sashes for your bridesmaids dresses, and wrapped around your bouquet
✿ Decorate: If you can catch blackberries before they ripen, they look beautiful added to bouquets, buttonholes and table decorations. Make blackberry jam for wedding favours.



Monday 13 May 2013

Real Midsummer Night's Dream Marrakech Wedding: Tami & Alan

Exotic and luxurious, this Moroccan destination wedding ticks every big day box! Tami and Alan chose a Midsummer Night's Dream theme for their wedding in the Marrakech oasis of Palmeraie. With the help of their wedding planners, Boutique Souk, they created a magical garden reception in a palm grove, lit by vintage French chandeliers - wow! Tami wore a stunning Temperley London wedding dress, overlaid with lace and sparkling embroidery, and teamed with gladiator-style heels by Camilla Skovgaard. I love the boho style of her veil and headdress, worn across her forehead in a Grecian-style. Alan also upped the glamour-stakes with his white tie suit from Start {just around the corner from where I live in Shoreditch!} and cummerband. Huge thanks to Andreas Holm for his stunning photographs - Morocco is the perfect setting for some seriously gorgeous wedding portraits!



We celebrated our wedding on 28th September in the Catholic Church in Marrakech in Morocco, followed by a private garden wedding reception in the Palmeraie area of Marrakech.



My wedding dress was from Temperley London, and my shoes were from Camilla Skovgaard. My bridesmaids also wore emerald green Temperley gowns, and Alan wore a suit from tailor in Shoreditch in London called Start.





My bouquet was made out of peach and cream atlas roses, and Boutique Souk arranged for the table flowers to match my bouquet. Their in-house florist also organised a dozen olive trees to decorate the church.







Our wedding ceremony was celebrated at the Catholic Church of Marrakech. Our wedding planners, Boutique Souk sourced twelve olive trees, with similar size and dimension, to decorate the church!



Our wedding photographer was Andreas Holm - he came recommended by our wedding planners Boutique Souk.











I had my heart set on a Midsummer Night's Dream styled wedding and chose magical Marrakech for its lush garden settings, and warm climate so the reception could take place under the stars. We chose an exotic palm and olive grove setting with a Moroccan tented after-party for the reception.










In keeping with our theme, our wedding reception took place in the middle of an exotic garden. Our wedding planners, Boutique Souk, created a special dining room with purpose-built frames over each table, so we could suspend a vintage French chandelier. 



It took a while to build and install the dining frames, and even longer to source the chandeliers from antique markets, as we wanted them all to be approximately the same size and style – but the effect was magical, and very glamorous.





Our wedding favours were Moroccan-style flip-flops for ladies, personalised cigars for the boys and personalised M&M's for everyone!





Our wedding cake had three luxury layers – red fruits, chocolate and vanilla. It was decorated with the same fresh roses as I had in my bouquet, in between the layers. We also had a desert buffet for our guests!








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