Cute Christmassy Winter Wedding Favours

Is anyone else already getting excited about Christmas? Twinkling fairy-lights, warming mulled-wine, snug scarves and rustling presents under the tree? It's no wonder winter weddings are amongst the most magical. Several of my friends have chosen to host their big day in December, and all their weddings felt like we'd stepped straight into Narnia. Add a little bit of fairy-tale to your wedding reception with these adorable gingerbread house coffee biscuits. Delicious favour, and sweet treat in one, they're the perfect after-dinner treat. Cookie Art London make stacks of amazing biscuits - check out their 'Will You Be My Bridesmaid' set, and edible Christmas tree decorations.

Gingerbread House Biscuits, £12 for 16 by Cookie Art London

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Before the Big Day's Christmas Personal Training Gift List

{Posting by Alice Cowen, Before the Big Day's Personal Trainer & Nutritionist} Happy Christmas from your Before the Big Day P.T! Here's my favourite health and fitness Christmas gift ideas for an exercise fan, or someone who needs a little bit of encouragement for 2014 to get into shape ready for their wedding! Remember you have to feel great in your training gear to get the most out of your workout, so start the New Year in style, and get some of these great garments and accessories under your Christmas tree.

{I want these!} Clockwise from Top Left

1. Addidas Women's Essentials Studded Tank, £40 - Designed by Stella McCartney, this top, with its bright, playful studs and a cutout design has a timeless casual style.

2. Bamboo Butterfly Cardigan, £67.50 - This great jacket keeps your warm, while allowing your body to breathe. Pretty, but packed full of useful details, like a mini iPod holder, it's a fantastic all-rounder.

3. Nike Air Max 1 SP 'Liquid Gold', £129 - how cool are these trainers! Go for gold!!!

4. Davina Aerobic Exercise Hula Hoop with HSB® Heartrate Watch & Gym/Shoe Bag, £33.50 - great for home training if you haven't got much space!

5. Speed-Tight Luxstream Run Tights, £88 - Cozy run tights with deep pockets and a wide waistband to prevent muffin top.

6. Nike Fuel Band, £129 - the smart, simple and fun way to get more active - this band tracks the intensity of your workouts and enables sleep tracking with Nike+ Sessions.

7. Sweaty-Betty Skipping Rope, £10 - Skipping is great for on-the-spot cardio.

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Before the Big Day's Sparkling Beauty Christmas Gift List

{Posting by Julia Bowden, Before the Big Day's Beauty Editor} What's one of my favourite things about Christmas? Seeing that stocking packed full to the brim with beauty delights! So I thought I'd share my Beauty Gift List with you, and there's tonnes to get you gooey-eyed. You could even be selfless and use these as present ideas - beauty goodies are always fab stocking fillers! Or simply email your other half this list, in hope of getting everything you always wanted {subtlety gets you nowhere!}. Enjoy those products and have a very happy {and pretty} Christmas! Julia x

{I want this!} Clockwise from Top Left 

1. Melvita Nectar Bright Brightening Cream, £36 – This is a great brightening cream that you use to get a luminous complexion. It has a lovely fresh floral scent, and gives your skin a dewy glow.

2. Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Wardrobe Makeup Set, £65 – Even though I'm a make-up artist, I always struggle to create a sleek handbag set. This solves all the problems, with a compact case containing the perfect products for eyes, cheeks and face.

3. Glossy Box Subscription - I was lucky enough to get given one of these at the Wedding Blog Awards. A great way for beauty enthusiasts to keep up to date with new beauty products. You get a selection of products each month for as little as £10 per month.

4. Monu Micro Exfollient, £15.95 – A great little find I discovered in my Glossy Box at the Wedding Blog Awards - this is a great dual-action microdermabrasion cream. It's not too harsh on the skin and smells dreamy

5. Ren Clearcalm 3 Clarity Restoring Mask, £29.95 - I got to meet with Rui Branco, the Global director of Education and Training for REN last month. He’s the REN Skincare guru and such a lovely man. He gave me lots of advice about my spot prone skin, and this is high on my hit list. It reduces visible blemishes and clears the skin – a great way to kick start a clearer skin regime for the New Year.

6. Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, £28.50 – For hair so dry you don't know what to do with it. Put it on before shampooing for 10 minutes, and it's like having a new head of hair.

7. Neom Organic Treatment Candle in Rose & Neroli, £39.50 – You can't go wrong with this little treat. Great to light in the bath for pure relaxation

8. James Read BB Gradual Face Tan, £22.50 – As it’s winter even more reason to give your face a little sun kissed glow and best of all you can tie it in with your skincare regime. I met with James Last month and not only is he the nicest man on the planet but his products are brilliant. I can’t sing the praises of this tanning range enough. All it’s products smell great, go on easily without streaking and have outstanding results.

9. ProGenius Nude Treatment Oil, £58 - If like me you also have dry patches {as well as spots – lucky me!} don’t despair. To some, it may feel odd putting oil on the skin, but this ProGenius oil nourishes and protects, and sometimes stops the skin from secreting too much sebum thus counteracting the blemishes. With Omega 6, 7 & 9 – it’s a treat for winter-battered skin.

10.  MAC Nocturnals Pigments & Glitter - Black & Gold, £25.50 – Last but not least we all need a bit of Christmas sparkle in our make –up bag. These 5 stackable jars will dazzle everyone for those special occasions and will last you forever.

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Real Misty Winter Wedding with a Gorgeous Short Dress

This incredible winter wedding is proof you can organise a fabulous big day in under a month! Keri and Bill originally planned to marrry in June, but they decided to bring all their family together for the holidays and celebrate both happy occasions. I've fallen for the gorgeous misty moodiness of these lovely pictures by Amy Carroll, and all the charming details. Scroll down for classic winter wedding inspiration, including DIY felt pom-poms and ring-pillow, the owl cake topper, the ruffled cake and the particularly cute 'smitten' mitton-shaped favours. Also loving the silvery and while flower arrangements by Gail VanderLaan and Keri's 50's style mid-length dress, and furry stole. Shorter wedding dresses are so this season!

Happy Christmas from Before the Big Day!

A huge and heartfelt Happy Christmas to all Before the Big Day brides and grooms! This year I'm celebrating Christmas in the English countryside, surrounded by fairy-lights, flickering candles, and a giant Christmas tree. I hope you have a wonderful festive season, and I'll be raising my glass to all the couples who get engaged on Christmas Day.....remember to tell them all about Before the Big Day!

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Real Pretty in Pink Wedding: Zoe & Pete

Winter brides are going to love this beautiful English countryside wedding. Despite getting married super-close to Christmas, Zoe and Pete resisted the temptation to choose red and green as their wedding theme colours. Instead Zoe chose a vintage-pink theme, in keeping with the details on her gorgeous Ian Stewart wedding dress. The Four Seasons in Hook made for a beautiful setting for their wedding ceremony and reception, and I'm loving their portrait pictures in the stunning grounds. Stealworthy wedding ideas include Zoe's wonderful sparkly Benjamin Roberts shoes, the vintage-pink roses, Zoe's elegant chignon and the bridesmaids' pretty wrist corsages. Plus a great idea for a Chrismas wedding - all the tables were named after the 12 Days of Christmas, and once the groom finished his speech he instructed all the guests to sing the song, from start to finish. By the end all the guests were up on their chairs singing and waving their arms. Amazing! Huge thanks to Binky Nixon for her beautiful pictures, this is an exquisitely captured wedding.

My shoes were from Benjamin Roberts, which I bought from a shop owned by one of my bridesmaids - A Bride To Bee in Hampshire. I stuck the I Do sequin stickers on myself. 

I kept seeing this particular dress in all the wedding magazines and the first shop I went into the same dress was there hanging up and I fell in love with it straight away! It was made by Ian Stuart. My veil and accessories were from the same shop as my dress, Bridal Couture.

For our venue, we chose The Four Seasons Hotel in Hook, Hampshire. The venue is in-between Portsmouth and London, and we have friends in both cities, so the location was perfect. My husband had stayed at Four Seasons hotels before and was very impressed their service and accommodation. We wanted quite a vintage theme wedding, and we chose neutral, almost autumnal colours.

I loved planning our wedding! I kind of knew what I wanted and we had just over a year to organise it all, so it wasn't too rushed.  My advice to brides planning their wedding is not to stress and just enjoy it. Write a list of everything you need to do and what you want. Plan in advance and try to book things quite early. Do the big things first, e.g. venue, dress, photographer, entertainment, and then move on to the fun decisions.

My bridesmaids' dresses were from Dessy. I knew I wanted them in long maxi dresses, and a neutral colour, to match the flowers on my dress. I was thrilled that Dessy had a colour that matched exactly!

Our florist was recommended to us by one of my best friends who found them for their wedding. They're called Exclusively Weddings & Events, and they're run by a lovely lady called Linda. She was brilliant and we loved her work. I love roses, so we went for them, and they looked beautiful.

My husband's outfit was from Paul Smith, but he had a good idea of what style suit and shoes he wanted before he went shopping.

Our photographer was Binky Nixon. She was recommended to us by a few good friends who'd booked her for their weddings. She was brilliant - we loved her!

We chose a traditional three-tiered square cake, plain and elegant, decorated with vintage-pink roses.
Debenhams designed our stationery. The invitations were simple cream and chocolate brown, with a ribbon-wrapper fastened with diamanté heart. Plain and elegant. For favours we chose Godiva milk and white chocolate hearts in a box. We wanted something that wasn't going to go to waste and they looked lovely with the table decorations.

♥ Want more pink wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about winter wedding ideas? ♥

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