A Traditional English Countryside Wedding with a Floral Fabric Inspired Theme

This is one of those simply perfect weddings, where you just want to dive in and devour all the details. Lovely Amy read Before the Big Day in the run up to her wedding, and along with her husband Alex, they created the most amazing array of pretty DIY'd decorations. Amy works in interior design, so she was very keen on the visual side of the wedding planning, and started with a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics. In fact the wedding colour palette was entirely themed on a tiny scrap of fabric - a pretty blue and green floral print on a cream background. The crafty projects are never-ending! Along with her mum, Amy made 250 meters of double sided bunting {now available to hire!}, dried all the confetti in their airing cupboard, and picked and arranged all the marquee flowers. Meanwhile Alex's mum made the fudge favours, and not to be outdone, Alex made the chalkboard table-plan. There's so many stealworthy ideas to choose, but my favourites have to be Amy's stunning self-designed wedding gown, her adorable traditional pageboys' outfits {in knickerbockers made by her mum!}, and Amy's family jewellery - some serious rocks!! Huge thanks to Kate Murrell Weddings for her stunning pictures of the day....more to come in Part 2.

We got married on the 27th July at St Michael and All Angels in Withyham, in Sussex, and we hosted our reception in my parent’s garden ten minutes away from the church.

As I work in interior design I was very into the visual side of the wedding planning, and I had a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics! I wanted to go for a very traditional English country wedding look, with bunting, a pole marquee, trestle tables and country garden flowers. 

A Late Summer Wedding with Cornflower Blue Bridesmaids - The Reception

Cath Kidson and Joules have to be among my favourite UK designers, and I'm thrilled to see prints from their collections in this gorgeous barn wedding. Lorraine chose a mixture of Joules and Alexon dresses for her bridesmaids, and I love the bold mix of print and plain. With DIY table flowers, and a wedding cake handmade by a family friend, there's tonnes of wedding inspiration for a budget bride wanting to create her own details. I love the outside barn venue - its bunting and hydrangea filled jam-jars, plus the 'Borrow a Blanket' basket for chilly guests {buy blankets for a £3 each at Ikea}. Other stealworthy ideas include the blackboard table-plan and menu, the Cath Kidson round table runners and the matching tops to the honey wedding favours. Last but definitely not least, take a look at those pavlova puddings....yummy!! Thank you to Victoria Phipps Photography for capturing every perfect detail - Victoria's one of my favourite wedding photographers!

A Late Summer Wedding with Cornflower Blue Bridesmaids

I've always loved cornflowers - the wild pop of bright blue against a golden field of corn, and their untamed, messy stalks. One day I'd love to see a bride carrying a bouquet of just cornflowers, but in the meantime I'll more than make do with Lorraine and Evan's gorgeous wedding flowers! Astonishingly their bouquets and buttonholes were bought wholesale from Nottingham Flower Market and arranged by a friend {Imogen}, and Evan's sister Lucy. I've never seen such professional DIY bouquets - and I love how they pick up on the bunchy trend I flagged up early this year, where blooms are placed next to each other, rather than carefully placed apart. The 'something blue' theme is carried through to the bridesmaids' gowns and the Evan's tie, and even to the ribbon binding the Orders of Service. I love the baby's breath church flowers {simple and easy to recreate}, Lorraine's stunning Enzoani wedding gown with its elegant train, and More from Lorraine and Evan's Townfield Barn wedding reception later today. Huge thanks to Victoria Phipps Photography for her gorgeous wedding pictures.

Real Quirky Comic-Book Themed Wedding: Verity & Russell - The Reception

Regular readers of the blog might have spotted my giant balloon obsession. It all started back when I was planning my own wedding - I saw this picture, and decided I had to have giant white balloons at my big day. Fast forward two years and Before the Big Day bride, Verity, got in touch to tell me about her love of red balloons, and to find out the details of my supplier. Fast forward another year, and here are the amazing pictures of Verity and Russell's big day! They didn't just use balloons in their wedding decoration - they had a veritable plethora of wedding details, all themed around a vintage comic book and board game wedding theme. You'll find buckets of DIY wedding inspiration, from their Monopoly board table plan, the favour boxes wrapped in comic book pages, their mum-made wedding cake and jam-jar Pimm's glasses. I love the Scrabble tile wedding favours, the vintage cameras and the pop of the homemade red bunting against the white of the marquee. Huge thanks to Verity for submitting her wedding, and to her fantastic wedding photographer, Rebecca L Weddings for capturing all the details. Why not submit your wedding?

We got married on 18 May 2013 at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire with a reception in Rosliston Forestry Centre. 



We actually had a rough ride with our reception. We booked a nearby barn but got told with eight months to go that they were no longer doing weddings due to noise and neighbour problems. We were gutted! Thankfully Saffron Caterers put forward Rosliston Forestry Centre as an alternative. It was in the middle of the National Forest, and has accommodation for all our guests, so it was the perfect alternative, and better than our original choice. 

Real Quirky Comic-Book Themed Wedding: Verity & Russell

Brighten up your day with this imaginative, comic-book themed wedding! It's packed full of stealworthy ideas, and I'm thrilled that the lovely Verity drew inspiration from Before the Big Day. We share a love of giant round balloons, along with a good wedding theme. Verity and Russell chose an old-school vibe of comic books and vintage board games to decorate their reception, and I reckon it's the first time I've seen a Monopoly board at a wedding! You'll have to wait for this afternoon's feature to see those details, but first, feast your eyes on Verity's fabulous Sophia Tolli wedding gown, her dramatic bouquet of red gerbera and Russell's fantastic red bow-tie. I also love her little bridemaids' dresses - their luxurious red sashes, and little ribbon wands. Verity has tonnes of great wedding advice on how to keep to your wedding budget - from DIY projects to winning competitions! Enjoy reading her answers to Before the Big Day's Bride's Questionnaire, and why not submit your wedding? Huge thanks to Rebecca L Weddings for her gorgeous pictures of this big day.

We got married on 18 May 2013 at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire with a reception in Rosliston Forestry Centre. I won a competition by Wedding In A TeaCup so our wedding invitations were free. We went for a vintage look and used stamps to create the name tags.

Real Boho Barn Wedding Video: Vicky & Richard

It's been a weekend of strong emotions here at the Before the Big Day studios. First there was the excitement of being featured in Wedding magazine, and then this wedding video trailer by White Dress Films had me in tears! Vicky and Richard celebrated their big day with a traditional church ceremony, followed by a gorgeous reception at South Farm in Cambridgeshire. There's tonnes of gorgeous reception details {pom-poms - yippee!}, but it's the Vicky's wedding outfit that's really got me excited. Her gorgeous fishtail gown has stunning lace straps, and she teamed it with a lovely cosy fur shrug - the perfect accessory for any spring bride. I also love her pageboys' outfits - their cute matching waistcoats and converse trainers. With pretty blue and red flowers arranged in lace jam-jars {the easiest and most effective DIY project ever}, stunning patterned wedding stationery {spot the programme at the start}, and even white peacocks, it's a treat from start to finish. Enjoy it with your morning coffee!

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Real English Countryside Themed Wedding: Deborah & Ned

Take one Monique Lhuillier wedding gown, add an elegant pair of couture shoes by Jimmy Choo and mix it up with a countryside theme wedding, and you've got one very happy wedding blogger. I love Deborah and Ned's English wedding style - their church service and marquee reception, the traditional milk jugs filled with wild flowers, the bunting, Pimms cocktails and summer pudding wedding cake. It's a celebration of everything English, and it's gorgeous! Other great stealworthy ideas include the bridesmaids patterned maxi-dresses, Ned's iris buttonhole and Deborah's small-but-perfectly-formed bouquet. I think small bouquets might be making a comeback after this mega-trend! Huge thanks to Moments Captured for her beautiful pictures!

More posts like this one:

✽ Blooming Groom Inspiration

✽ Floral Patterned Bridesmaids Dresses

♥ Want to see blue themed weddings? ♥ Or how about more church weddings? ♥

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Real Purple-Themed Barn Wedding: Chloe & Gareth

Time for a momentary mega-gush - I l-o-v-e this wedding. I love the blue, I love the bridesmaids, I love the bride's gorgeous Ian Stuart wedding dress, and I love the atmosphere of fun and joy. It look like the type of wedding where you'd have an amazing time, and dance until late into the night. Chloe and Gareth chose blue, pink and purple for their wedding colours, and The Prioy Barn in rural Hertfordshire, where they had a civil ceremony followed by the reception. Chloe had decked out the barn with lots of candles, bright flowers and a yummy cup cake tower - truly personalising the whole affair. There are so many wedding ideas to snaffle, it's hard to count. My favourite is bluey-purple hydrangeas in the bridemaids' pomanders - they have a lovely vintage look about them. Stunning pictures from the very talented Binky Nixon Photography.

♥ Want to see purple-themed weddings? ♥ Or how about more barn wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Desert Wedding: Julie & Patrick

Yum yum yum! This is a mega-wedding for you, fresh from the desert! As a UK wedding blogger, I love looking at weddings from far across the pond. While we have to worry about rain and wind on our wedding days, US brides are often preoccupied with whether it's going to be too hot. Julia and Patrick hosted their wedding in Joshua Tree at the Sacred Sands Bed and Breakfast, in a stunning desert landscape. Many of the designs and wedding theme were created by the couple, with tonnes of wedding ideas to steal. There were also many eco friendly aspects to their wedding – all the succulents on the tables and even the succulent bouquets were re-plantable, all the food was organic vegetarian cuisine from the couple’s own favorite recipes, and even the Sacred Sands is an environmentally-friendly building (built using straw bale walls as insulation). As wedding favors, everyone received a poster with the couple’s wedding logo and theme from Clone Press {love it!}, and Julie’s gorgeous dress was by Jim Hjelm. The reception was held outside under a canopy of stars, and they had bunt cakes and biscottis for dessert. All in all, a perfect evening! Huge thanks to Stephanie and Isaac at Stephanie Williams Photography for their gorgeous pictures, and description of this fab wedding.

More posts like this one: 
✽ Real Quirky Desert Wedding
✽ Real Desert Monochrome Wedding

♥ Want to see eco wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more blue themed weddings? ♥

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