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. 

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.

Real Rural DIY Wedding: Catherine & Matt - Wedding Reception

After the beautiful getting ready pictures, and perfect portrait shots, are you ready for la pièce de résistance? Yup, it's time for the stunning reception details. Catherine and Matt chose their local village hall for their wedding reception, and added unique rustic vintage touches with the help of stylists Add a Little Sparkle. I love the mix of fresh and dried flower arrangements, the bark vases and mini-log place marker stands {made by Catherine's dad}, and the cute animal familiars on each table. Catherine also DIY'd all the favour crackers out of handmade paper, snappers from eBay and flowers grown in her own garden. Even the bird wedding toppers were hand-sewn and embroidered by the bride - you can buy similar from her Etsy shop. Huge thanks to Lily Sawyer Photography for her beautiful pictures - she really captured every wedding detail!

Real Rural DIY Wedding: Catherine & Matt - Portrait Pictures

Dreamy wedding portrait sessions don't get much better than this! Take golden light, a beautiful bride, and a perfect poppy field, and I'm wedding heaven. Matt and Catherine celebrated their wedding near Canterbury, in the Kent countryside, and photographer, Lily Sawyer, took full advantage of the beautiful landscape. En-route to their wedding reception, she stopped with the bride and groom by a field, where they had to climb over barbed wire to get in! Matt came well-prepared with a thick curtain ready to lay on the wires, so Catherine could climb over without ruining her stunning wedding dress. It was worth the effort - just take a look at these gorgeous, golden pictures.

Real Rural DIY Wedding: Catherine and Matt

With more DIY wedding details than you can shake a stick at, this is easily one of my favourite weddings of all time, not least because the bride is a regular reader of Before the Big Day! Lovely Catherine is a textile designer, and you can see her creative talent in every element of her and Matt's beautiful rural wedding. They chose Canterbury in Kent as the location for their big day, and celebrated their wedding ceremony in a village church, surrounded by poppy fields and rolling hills, followed by their wedding reception in the village hall. Catherine designed and handmade many of her wedding details, including the stunning floral bridesmaids' dresses, her hand-printed wedding stationery, and she even altered her second-hand wedding dress - an amazing Enzoani Diana gown she found on eBay! You'll love all the rural vintage touches, enjoy these gorgeous pictures by Lily Sawyer Photography - I'll be posting the poppy field portrait pictures and reception shots later today!

A Vintage-Themed Village Hall Summer Wedding

Struggling to find the perfect venue for your big day? Then you're going to fall head-over-heels for this clever village hall wedding. Lovely couple Kerry and Dave didn't like the interior of the building, so they decorated it with fabric, making it look and feel exactly like an elegant marquee. And what a transformation! No drafts, no need to hire loos, and a brilliant reception venue right next to the church. So clever! Kerry and Dave wanted a relaxed and family orientated big day, so there was no grand design - just plenty of lovely details to inspire you. My favourites? Kerry's elegant half-up hair-style, her sweet-smelling bouquet by  {I spy freesias}, the gorgeous vintage American-style car, and the celebratory strawberry themed afternoon tea. Huge thanks to the lovely Lisa Webb Photography for submitting her beautiful pictures of the wedding - I'm hoping to feature much more of her work!

An Ibiza Seaside Wedding with Blush & Lace Accents

A gleaming white Rolls Royce, a sparkly wedding theme, and a seaside venue on the island of Ibiza - you can tell this wedding is going to be a cracker already! I've fallen for the gorgeous bride, Claire and her stunning 'Amelie' gown by Gemy Maalouf, and you'll love her pretty-in-pink bridesmaids dresses. If you're planning a destination wedding, you'll find every single picture is going to be seriously Pin-worthy. Huge thanks to Ily Grantham for her stunning photographs, and to Claire and Jonny for filling in my questionnaire with so many helpful tips.

A Beachside Wedding in Ibiza with Jimmy Choos & Bouganvillia

This amazing Ibiza wedding will have you dreaming of summer! It's a stunning example of a destination big day. Simple, chic, and perfect. The great thing about getting married abroad is that the venue usually speaks for itself - you don't need stacks of extra wedding decorations. Plus all your friends feel like they're on holiday, so they come ready to party! Enjoy Ily Grantham's beautiful pictures - she really did capture every perfect detail, and don't miss Claire and Jonny's answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire for all their top suppliers!

A Pretty Shabby-Chic Wedding with a Mint-Green Cake!

You'll easily spot my favourite detail in this lovely pastel-themed wedding. It's the mint green wedding cake! I love everything about it - from the ruffled icing {very this season}, to the shabby chic lace bow, and the pretty mini-bunting topper. It's perfect! There's plenty more stealworthy wedding details - you'll want to copy Heather's bridal style, her Pronovias wedding dress, unstructured bouquet and DIY'd limoncello wedding favours. I'm also a big fan of their twine-wrapped jam jar vases. Fabulous pictures by Jack from Firsthand Photography. If you missed Part 1 of this wedding click here!

A Pastel-Themed Stately Home Wedding with a Pronovias Gown

Take one Princess-style gown, sprinkle it with confetti, and add an elegant chignon, and you've got the recipe for a beautiful bride. Everything about this lovely shabby-chic wedding is romantic, from the white vintage car, to the incredible stately home venue, and the mint-green wedding cake. I've fallen head-over-hells for Heather's stunning Pronovias wedding dress - you'll want to add it to your must-try list. And her bridesmaids' strapless Coast dresses were a great buy! Enjoy these Getting Ready and Ceremony pictures by Firsthand Photography - look out for the inspiring Reception shots in Part 2, later today.

We celebrated our wedding at St Edmund's Church at Holme Pierrepont, with our reception next door at Holme Pierrepont Hall.

My Secret Garden Wedding in a Provence Chateau - The Reception

Our wedding reception passed in a flash! I think every bride and groom feels that their big day passes too quickly, partly because you have to step away at one stage for your wedding photographs. We were thrilled with our portraits by Chloé from Caught the Light, and it's definitely worth making time for your photographer. You'll see in this blog post, all the little extras that I added to personalise our big day. We chose a Secret Garden theme, as we hosted our reception in an historic walled garden. Our colour palette was soft grey, pink and sage green, and I chose a key motif, which appeared on all the stationery, place-markers and we gave each guest a vintage key as a wedding favour. I bought grey and white striped straws, and made little drinks flags to go in our signature cocktails. Looking back - I can't believe how many details I managed to squeeze into one day! These are the reception pictures, you can see the ceremony pictures here.

We celebrated our wedding on 28th May 2011 in a tiny French village called Puyricard, just outside Aix-en-Provence. We hired a private house called Château Grimaldi for three days.

The walled gardens inspired me to choose a secret garden theme, with a key motif. Our colour palette was soft grey, dusky pink and sage green.

My Secret Garden Wedding in a Provence Chateau - The Ceremony

As promised, I'm marking our fourth wedding anniversary by republishing our photographs from our French wedding. It's crazy how quickly the time has gone! Although this wasn't our legal wedding, it's the one that felt most real. We invited ninety of our closest friends and family out to Provence for a three day party, and I loved every minute. As a wedding blogger, I spent many days agonising over which theme to choose. In the end our stunning venue, with its walled grounds, led me to pick a Secret Garden theme, and a colour palette of soft grey, dusky pink and sage green. We had a key motif which appeared on all the invitations, place markers, programmes and pashmina favour tags. There were endless wedding details, all captured perfectly by our brilliant wedding photographer Chloé from Caught the Light and my friend Jemma Harding Photography. Four years on, it's true what they say - your pictures are the lasting memories of your wedding day, so it's worth hiring the best.

A English Country Garden Wedding with Pretty Vintage Details - Part 2

A vintage tractor, bridesmaids in wellington boots, and military men in uniform - just a few of my favourite things about this quirky big day. Andy and Catherine planned their spring wedding with only four months to spare, and personalised every detail, thanks to the help of their friends and family. In the build-up to their big day, they held craft evenings to cut and sew the bunting, put covers on homemade jam jar wedding favours, and design the wedding stationery. They even prepared an Easter Egg hunt for their guests. Enjoy these fantastic pictures by Sarah Relf at Lawless Rose Photography, and don't miss my favourite wedding detail - the fabulous cake by Dippy Design.

A English Country Garden Wedding with Pretty Vintage Details

There's something uniquely romantic about a military wedding - they have the weight of history behind them, and everyone loves a man in uniform! Groom Andy is a captain in the army, so when he and Catherine left the church, they walked under a fabulous guard of honour, complete with shiny swords. Stunning! The happy couple planned their wedding in only four and a half months, but didn't scrimp on details - this big day is packed with stunning ideas. I love the English country garden theme, the vintage crockery, the gorgeous bridesmaids in sage green, and the beautiful barn venue. Don't miss the fantastic reception pictures in Part 2 - huge thanks to Sarah Relf at Lawless Rose Photography for capturing every detail.

A Magical Forest Wedding with a Secret Nightclub - Part 2

Welcome to the wedding reception of the year! I've never seen anything as gorgeous as the marquee decorations at Nels and Antony's wedding - giant blossom branches, stunning green drapery and sparkly fairy lights create a magical forest-feel. It's all thanks to the creative energies of wedding planner Kelly Chandler from The Bespoke Wedding Company and event stylists, Crescent Moon. I love how they included the pond from the grounds inside the marquee, and added floating hydrangea blooms for an incredibly romantic effect. Other stealworthy details include the hilarious pork pie wedding cake, and Nels' slate wedding favours cum place markers. Also their secret budget buy - an M&S three-tier traditional cake, decorated with flowers, for a luxe effect! Thank you to both Bibi Basch and Crescent Moon for capturing every detail of this gorgeous wedding.

A Magical Forest Wedding with a Secret Nightclub

Can you imagine only having four months to plan your wedding? That's how long Nels and Antony gave themselves, but thanks to the help of wedding planner extraordinaire, Kelly Chandler from The Bespoke Wedding Company, they created a truly extraordinary day. Their wedding reception marquee is like something from a fairy-tale - huge branches of cherry blossom, and a sparkling pond. But the pièce de resistance came later in the evening, when a curtain was drawn back to reveal an entirely differently themed black and white dance area, and then another reveal moment introduced a hidden 'man snug' filled with Chesterfield sofas and whisky. Amazing! Don't miss the pictures in Part 2, published later today. Other details to steal include Nels' beautiful David Tutera wedding gown, complete with extra sparkles, her pretty pink and teal colour scheme, and Antony's seriously dapper vintage morning suit. Huge thanks to both Bibi Basch and Crescent Moon for permission to publish these stunning photographs, and for capturing every detail!

A Pastels & Vintage Themed Wedding with a Mori Lee Gown - Part 2

It's wedding inspiration time for DIY brides. Gorgeous couple Hannah and Ben roped in the help of all their family and friends to create a stunning, personalised wedding day. By choosing to host their wedding reception in a marquee in the garden of stunning venue Hill Place, they could let their imagination run wild. Hannah chose a country garden wedding theme, and collected vintage floral fabric scraps, which her friend Polly sewed into over 60m of pretty bunting! Friends and family also helped with making their wedding cake, arranging their flowers, designing the table plan and personalising each and every place marker. I love the pretty pastel theme and the way the wedding favours and table names reflect Hannah and Ben's love of music. We named our wedding tables after vegetables - I wish we'd been more creative! Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Greg Thurtle from TP Photography.

My husband Ben and I got married on 30th July 2011 at Hill Place in Swanmore, a beautiful Georgian Country Villa set in 20 acres of beautiful park land.  Our wedding photographer was Greg Thurtle from TP Photography, who was brilliant and captured some amazing candid shots. Looking through the photos, they are all so personal and encapsulate the day perfectly. 

I had five bridesmaids, they wore knee length, chiffon and halter neck dresses in dusky pink and sapphire blue. They were also from Brides of Southampton. I originally said that they could wear anything pink or blue, and took them to the shop to try on whatever they fancied...they all loved the same dress!

A Pastels & Vintage Themed Wedding with a Mori Lee Gown

Take one dramatic wedding venue, add a DIY bride bursting with wedding ideas, and a pretty village church, and you've created wedding blogger's heaven. Hannah and Ben celebrated their big day at the gorgeous Hill Place in Hampshire, and got seriously creative with their wedding day, adding more DIY details than you can shake a stick at! Just wait for the reception details in Part 2, it's a DIY bride's dream. Hannah chose a country garden wedding theme with pretty pastels as her colour palette, which she carried throughout her wedding details, including bridesmaids dresses, bouquet and bunting. Her pretty up-do is stunning, and I love her traditional Princess-cut wedding gown, complete with the train she thought she didn't want! Other fun wedding ideas include the vintage car and camper van, and the sweet-smelling dried lavender decorating the church. Stunning pictures published with thanks to Greg Thurtle from TP Photography. Don't miss the reception details, coming soon later today.

My husband Ben and I got married on 30th July 2011 at Hill Place in Swanmore, a beautiful Georgian Country Villa set in 20 acres of beautiful park land.


We chose the venue because of the location and because it was so beautiful. Ben and I both grew up within a mile of Hill Place and the area has special significance to us both. We met at Swanmore Secondary School when we were 11, and we spent our teenage year s in the area. When we saw Hill Place, we immediately fell in love with it. It was so beautiful and Will and Rebecca Dobson (the owners) were two of the nicest people we have met! They were so laid back and accommodating, we knew that this was the venue for us.

A 1950's Vintage Themed Wedding with a Grace Kelly Inspired Bride - Part 2

With a vintage 1950's theme, and a rustic-glamorous venue, this wedding is something of a humdinger! the bride and groom, Tania and Tegid threw themselves into the planning process, adding tonnes of personalised ideas, and doing a fair few DIY projects along the way. There's lots of money-saving tips in Tania's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, including print-your-own wedding stationery from Zazzle, make your own favours with Jen's Sweet Shop vintage bonbons, and original 1970s figurines of Princess Leia and Han Solo as a cake topper. I'm also a big fan of their heart-shaped blackboards - such a useful photo prop! Loving all their wedding pictures, published with thanks to the talented team of Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography.

We got married in the Midlands on 31st August 2013. The ceremony was held at St John the Baptist's Church in Middleton, followed by our reception at Shustoke Farm Barns in Coleshill.

We saw a lot of lovely old hotels full of character, but for the number of guests we had {approx. 90}, with most of them we would have had to have held our wedding breakfast in a marquee away from the main venue. So when we found Shustoke Farm Barns, a red brick 18th century building which was still being renovated {we saw it pretty much as a building site, without a roof!}, we thought it was perfect. It had all the beautiful traditional rustic charm, but with the added bonus of lots of capacity!

A 1950's Vintage Themed Wedding with a Grace Kelly Inspired Bride

Bride's looking for an idea for a theme for their wedding will love today's Grace Kelly-inspired big day! Bride, Tania is a huge fan of the 50's star, and chose her Justin Alexander wedding dress based on her unique, elegant style. This in turn led to 50's inspired stationery, bridesmaid dresses {by Mori Lee}, traditional bonbon favours, and even the vintage suitcase as a wedding card postbox. I'm head-over-heels for their barn wedding venue, booked on a leap of faith, considering it wasn't even finished when they made the reservation! Add in a stunning bouquet of roses and eucalyptus, groom Tegid, in his morning suit, and two lovely late-1950s Daimlers for wedding transport, and I'm in wedding-heaven! Fabulous photographs published with thanks to Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography - don't miss the reception pictures coming later today!

We got married in the Midlands on 31st August 2013. The ceremony was held at St John the Baptist's Church in Middleton, followed by our reception at Shustoke Farm Barns in Coleshill.

I am a big fan of Grace Kelly! So my dress was very much inspired by her timeless look. We therefore had a hint of a 50s vintage theme throughout the wedding, from the 50s inspired design on the stationery, the style of the bridesmaid dresses, the traditional bonbons for favours, all the way through to our vintage suitcase, which we used as a wedding card postbox.