Showing posts with label Cream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cream. Show all posts

Thursday 8 May 2014

A Castle Wedding with a Simple, Elegant Theme

If you want to feel like a princess on your big day, then you're going to need to hire a castle for your wedding venue. Luckily there are plenty of venues in the UK to tick your castle-box - not least the dramatic Hedingham Castle in Essex hired by gorgeous bride and groom, Liz and Mike. Liz wholeheartedly adopted the regal feel for her wedding style, wearing a beautiful, champagne gown from Allure Bridal, teamed with a divine, sparkly tiara by Andrew Prince. Sparkly emerald cut diamond earrings, plus an art deco design wedding ring completed her elegant look. Mike lived up to his bride's style, with a smart grey morning suit and dove-grey waistcoat. The whole ceremony was beautifully pictured by Kristian Leven, enjoy his shots - many more to come later today, including all the detail photographs from the elegant, ivory and platinum themed reception.


We got married on Friday 5 April, 2013 at Hedingham Castle in Essex. We had our ceremony in the castle itself before going over to the Georgian house and marquee for our reception.
 
The first part of my outfit I bought was my tiara. It was made by Andrew Prince in London who I went to see after seeing some of his pieces in a bridal magazine. His shop was being refurbished when we went, but he set me up with a Snow-White style mirror and a cabinet overflowing with tiaras and jewellery. The young girl in me who had dreamed of being a Disney princess was in her element!

I chose a tiara that had emerald cut accents that coordinated with my engagement ring {an emerald cut diamond solitaire}. It was more expensive than I had budgeted for, but I had to have it. It was as close to a real diamond tiara as you could get {Andrew makes the tiaras for Downton Abbey, that’s how good they are!}, and I couldn't get married in anything else. My mum bought it for me as a birthday present on the condition it became a family heirloom, and is now kept in a safe so that I don't wear it out. The moment my tiara went on was the moment I became a Bride and everything fell in to place for me. All the nerves disappeared and I just felt incredible.




Friday 21 February 2014

An Elegant Wedding with Giant Pink Balloons & Jimmy Choos - The Reception

It's pom pom time! Regular readers will know I've been a fan of DIY tissue pom poms ever since I made them for my own wedding. They were such a success, and so easy to make, that I've been recommending them as the cheap and chic wedding decoration. Fab couple Joe and Mimi chose pastels as their wedding colour palette, and I love their cheerful peach, pink and cerise poms. Throw in a Kate Moss-inspired wedding cake, a brilliant photo booth and hundreds of vases of avalanche roses, and I'm a very happy wedding blogger indeed. Enjoy Chris Giles Photography's brilliant wedding pictures, and Mimi's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire. There's tonnes of great tips and vendors there for you to steal!


Joe and I got married on July 27th 2013. The service was held at St. Margaret's Church, Fernhurst in West Sussex, and then the reception was at The Duke Of Cumberland Arms, a beautiful 15th Century pub. 

I didn't have any bridesmaids - instead my daughter Evie and my niece, Holly were my flower girls. They wore beautiful silk chiffon dresses from I Love Gorgeous, which had a dusky pink satin ribbon tie and hand embroidered roses. 



An Elegant Wedding with Giant Pink Balloons & Jimmy Choos

It's rare for a wedding to include three of my favourite decorations in the world - giant fluffy pompoms, a carnival-style sign, and enormous round balloons! But Joe and Mimi have managed to tick all my wedding boxes, with their beautifully styled, quintessentially English big day. Like all sensible couples, Joe and Mimi drew on the talents of many of their friends and family to save their pennies and create a truly personal wedding. Mimi's mother made her wedding dress, drawing inspiration from Phillippa Lepley's designs, Joe's good friend hosted their wedding at his pub, The Duke Of Cumberland Arms, and Joe {yes THE GROOM} made the wedding cake! He is a professional chef, who specialises in cakes and cake decorating, but still - that's some pretty impressive skills. I've fallen for Mimi's pretty 'just-picked' bouquet, her apricot and pastel pink colour scheme, and her beautifully dressed flower girls and page boys. Stunning pictures published with thanks to Chris Giles Photography.


Joe and I got married on July 27th 2013. The service was held at St. Margaret's Church, Fernhurst in West Sussex, and then the reception was at The Duke Of Cumberland Arms, a beautiful 15th Century pub.


I am extremely lucky to have a mummy who was once a professional seamstress - she had made my two other sisters wedding dresses, and so I challenged her to do mine - a combination of a few Phillippa Lepley designs. 



Thursday 9 January 2014

A Garden Wedding with a Bird Theme & Jenny Packham Dress - The Reception

It's time for the reception pictures from this gorgeous Midsummer's Eve wedding. Sonya and Terry chose 20th June for their big day, and basked in stunning sunshine - lucky things! With a romantic garden theme and a vintage bird motif, there's plenty of stealworthy ideas for you to enjoy. Sonya DIY'd many of her wedding details, including the bird-stamped luggage tags for her wedding wish tree and the rustic hessian napkin wraps {very effective!}. My favourite spots include the bird-named reception tables, birdcage centre pieces, pink striped balloons, rustic pastel iced cakes, and the fabulous giant pink and peach balloons. Huge thanks to Tanya from Eden Photography for capturing every detail!


We celebrated our wedding at Kilternan Church of Ireland in Co. Dublin, and afterwards with a reception in The Village at Lyons in Celbridge, on 20th June 2013. 


We always wanted to have an intimate wedding for family and friends to share with us. We knew that as our wedding day was on Midsummer's Eve, that we wanted a summer garden, romantic theme, and the venue suited this perfectly.




Summer Garden Wedding with a Bird Theme & Jenny Packham Dress

1. A Jenny Packham wedding dress. 2. A romantic garden wedding theme. 3. A bird motif. Three of my favourite things, all featured in one gorgeous wedding! Sonya and Terry celebrated their wedding in Ireland on a beautiful summer's day, at a stunning venue called The Village at Lyons. Sonya really wanted a garden wedding, and drew inspiration from the romantic grounds of The Village at Lyons, including its cascading stream, delicate bridge, and secret stone doorways. Her wedding stationery, decorations and just-picked flower arrangements all mirrored the feel of her wedding venue, with pastel colours of pinks and peach as a palette. There's plenty more details in the reception pictures, coming later this afternoon, but first, drink in Sonya's elegant Jenny Packham wedding gown, and her bargainous eBay wedding shoes, that luckily turned out to exactly match the beading on her dress. Even Sonya's hair-style reflected her romantic wedding theme, with her headpiece specially designed to look ethereal and Elvish, like in Lord of the Rings. Huge thanks to Tanya from Eden Photography for permission to publish Sonya and Terry's fab wedding pictures!



Thursday 5 December 2013

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!


Wednesday 20 November 2013

A Traditional Countryside Wedding with a Fabric Inspired Theme - The Reception

It's taken me far too long to put up the second half of this amazing detail-filled wedding, {I've had horrible flu}, but believe me, it's worth the wait! Bride Amy read Before the Big Day while preparing for her wedding, and took her decor details to the next level. We're talking 250 meters of hand-sewn bunting, homemade fudge wedding favours, and carefully painted dog food tin can vases. The result is a perfectly rustic English country garden theme, with a pretty green and blue colour palette. I love all the Colefax and Fowler fabrics, and the DIY'd table flowers, picked from Blooming Green Flower Farm. Look carefully at every picture for the little extras, including the twine-tied jam jar lanterns, the blackboard paint table names, menu cork stands and burlap table runners. Huge thanks to Amy for submitting her wedding, and filling in the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and to Kate Murrell Weddings for her beautiful wedding pictures. Don't miss the two fantastic wedding videos at the end - one by 


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. 



Tuesday 19 November 2013

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. 



Wednesday 28 August 2013

Real Pearl-Themed Glamorous Barn Wedding: The Reception Details



There's a deliciously warm feeling to this big day. I reckon it's partly down to the lovely cream and gold colour palette, and partly down to the lovely barn reception. I've always loved rustic wedding venues, and barns can be dressed down for a straw bales and bunting-style wedding, or up for a glamorous wedding like this one! Emma and Alistair chose Lains Barn in Oxfordshire for their summer wedding, and used delicate birdcages, vintage pictures frames and orchids in their wedding decorations. You'll want to fill your Pinterest boards with shots of Emma's amazing Justin Alexander wedding gown, her pretty flower girls, their DIY pearl-detail place markers and their hand-stamped sweetie bags. Huge thanks to Kate Gray for her beautiful wedding pictures. I first discovered Kate's creative children's portraits for my baby blog, Before the Baby, so I'm thrilled to now publish her wedding work!


We celebrated our wedding at Lains Barn in Wantage, Oxfordshire on 21st June 2013.


My wedding dress and veil were made by Justin Alexander, my shoes by Karen Millen and my accessories were from Swarovski

Real Pearl-Themed Glamorous Barn Wedding: Emma & Alistair

There's something glamorous about a cream and gold palette at a wedding. Add a Justin Alexander wedding dress, hundreds of orchid blooms and pretty pearl detailing, and you've got a truly stunning big day. Emma and Alistair chose Lains Barn in Oxfordshire as their wedding venue, and I love the warm intimacy of space, and the romantic drapes and fairy lights. My other loves include Alistair's fantastic modern suit and waistcoat combo from Jack Bunneys, Emma's side ponytail hair-style and Kate Gray's, lovely wedding photography! Plus, I'll let you into Emma's money-saving secret - all the orchids were silk flowers from Silk Blooms rather than fresh blooms. No one could tell, and it means her wedding bouquet will last forever! Stay tuned for Emma and Alistair's wedding reception details, you won't want to miss the pretty birdcage details.


My wedding dress and veil were made by Justin Alexander, my shoes by Karen Millen and my accessories were from Swarovski


My decision over my wedding dress and veil were based on wanting something elegant, with great attention to small details, but without being over the top.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Real Glamorous Barn Wedding Video: Hilary & Trevor

How many weddings are you going to this year? I've got two this summer and I'm exceedingly excited about both. One is going to be at Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire, and after watching this emotional wedding video trailer for Hilary and Trevor's wedding, I couldn't be more thrilled. It looks like a truly fabulous wedding venue - a lovely mixture of modern and rustic, with stunning views across the countryside. Hilary and Trevor chose rich purple and soft cream for their wedding colour palette, and I love how it ties together all their wedding details. Hilary's rocking a Great Gatsby 1920's look for her wedding, with Art Deco-style earrings, and a glamorous taffeta wedding gown teamed with a stunning glittery sash - a great way to personalise any wedding dress. Other wedding-details-to-love include the rustic luggage tag place-markers, the pretty mini-bunting cake topper, and the beautiful spring wedding flower arrangements. Huge thans to White Dress Films for their fantastic wedding video trailer. It might be the new baby hormones, but I sobbed all the way through this one!

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Saturday 18 August 2012

Real DIY Bride Wedding: Kate & John - Part 2

Time for a particularly special DIY wedding treat in Part 2 of this Before Big Day inspired wedding! Fabulous couple Kate and John handmade tonnes of their wedding details, and create the most amazing wedding reception ever. Just take a look at the handmade seating plan {DIY blackboard & easel}, puffy pom poms, 'Just Married' bunting, table station, wedding stationery, wedding cake and cake topper! And that's only a few of the incredible DIY details. Kate and John also prepared their own evening buffet, hung up thousands of fairy lights, {bought in the Christmas sales}, and collected dozens of vintage glass jars and milk bottles for the flowers. Kate even handmade all the cake-pop wedding favours - although I'm not sure she'd recommend that to other brides - they're harder to make than they look! Don't miss out on Part 1 - plus all of Kate's fantastic wedding hints to other brides - seriously inspirational stuff.


Having the family connection for our wedding reception was very important to us, so when my Aunt and Uncle offered their garden for our marquee we jumped at the chance! We created all the wedding decorations, with lots of coloured pom poms, plus fairy lights around the edges, and blackboards that we also made ourselves, for the table plan and other messages.



There was no distinct theme, but we wanted it to feel like a large garden party with some vintage elements thrown in, and the colours we ended up using were muted pinks, greys and cream. As a couple, we are more laid-back than formal, and we wanted this to come across in the feel of the day. This was reflected in the food as well – we had roast lamb served as a whole leg to each table, so one guest had to carve and serve. This was a great way to break the ice with people who didn’t know each other, and was also very very tasty! John’s mum made lots of cheesecakes for the dessert as it has been John’s favourite since he was little, which added another personal touch.



John designed our wedding stationery on Photoshop – everything from the Save the Date luggage tags, to the wedding invitations, RSVPs, place names and table numbers. We bought card from eBay, printed them all out at home on our printer, and used alphabet stamps for everyone's names. We were thrilled with the vintage feel to them, as it matched the style of our wedding day. It also saved us a lot of money and made the invitations much more personal, although it did take a while!



Initially we decided to make a donation to Cancer Research UK for our wedding favours, and printed out the small cards, that you download from the website, for each guest. I have lost family members to cancer, so it was important to me to have that detail. I then found out about cake pops on my extensive wedding internet searches, and fell for them. Having seen how much they were per person, I {stupidly} decided they couldn't be that hard, and made 120 of them myself the week before the big day. Luckily they turned out pretty well.


A good friend offered to make the cake for us, and it was amazing. She had only ever made one wedding cake before, and spent so long making it so lovely that I felt quite guilty in the few days before the wedding! The colours tied in with our wedding flowers and bridesmaid dresses. The tiers were decorated to look like presents. 


We couldn’t decide on flavours, and eventually she made different tiers with fruit cake, chocolate fudge cake, red velvet and a layer of lemon sponge as well. The cake topper was inspired by one I had seen on Etsy, but was made my one of my bridesmaids.


I loved planning our wedding. We tried to do as much as we could ourselves, but hired an on-the-day wedding co-ordinator - Andrea Swift at Fabulous Day Events, so she was instrumental in helping everyone set up and letting us both have the morning to relax and get ready. In fact, Andrea even came over on the Friday to help us decorate the marquee – well over and above her remit, and she was invaluable to us in the run up to the day, especially as we live in London. Trying to organise all the different aspects remotely was quite a challenge.



My advice to brides is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to make things look good. If you have time, doing as much as possible in advance helps massively – we bought all our wine, champagne and fairy lights in the Christmas sales and saved a fortune. We made the pom poms up months beforehand in the evenings while watching TV. This takes the pressure off in the run up to the day itself. Lastly, just remembering that everyone who is coming is there to help you celebrate, and the feeling of goodwill you will get from having all your family and friends in one place wishing you well is the best feeling ever!


{Wedding Credits}
Wedding dress: Caroline Castigliano
Veil: Richard Designs
Shoes: Charlize by Benjamin Adams
John's suit, and ushers suits: Debenhams
Bridesmaid Dresses: Von Vonni
Venue: St Margaret's Church in Bodelwyddan & then my Aunt's garden for the reception
Band: Fonix Music
Photographer: James Berry of Mr November Photography
Flowers: Anne Jacques at Lillibet Flowers
On the day co-ordinator: Andrea Swift at Fabulous Day Events
Hair and make up: Laura Mayers from The Bridal Make Up Team
Food: Marc Macauley from MM Catering
Cheese cake (in the evening): Marks and Spencer
Photobooth: Picture Blast
Marquee: Neil from M&B Marquees
Bar: Zac from Parkhouse Bars

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Friday 17 August 2012

Real DIY Bride Wedding: Kate & John

There's something particularly special about a Before the Big Day bride. I met the lovely Kate at a wedding fair over a year ago, and she told me all about reading Before the Big Day and all the incredible DIY details she was planning for her wedding. So it's immensely exciting for me to finally feature Kate and John's beautiful wedding day on the blog! Any brides planning their own DIY wedding will take heart from the huge number of DIY projects - from their wedding stationery and table numbers, right down to the evening buffet, reception decorations, wedding cake, cake pops and children's gift bags - everything was hand crafted. I'm loving Kate's beautiful wedding style - would you believe she found her Caroline Castigliano wedding gown in a sample sale? She teamed it with sparkly Benjamin Adams shoes and a stunning satin-edged Richard Designs veil. Tonnes more wedding details in Part 2, coming soon! Don't miss Kate's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - she's got tonnes of helpful moneysaving tips, including hiring a student florist from Gumtree! Stunning pictures published with thanks to James Berry of Mr November Photography.


We celebrated our wedding on Saturday 16th June. The ceremony was at St Margaret's Church in Bodelwyddan, North Wales, and we hosted the reception in my Aunt and Uncle's garden nearby.


My wedding dress was from Caroline Castigliano, and it made me feel simply fantastic. Put it this way – my 4 year old niece followed me round the whole day as she thought I was Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast! I actually found it in a sample sale in London {having luckily tried it on in the shop a couple of days before!} and it was stunning. The shoes were sparkly Charlize ones from Benjamin Adams, that I couldn’t resist, and the veil was from Richard Designs.


John, his ushers, his dad and my brother all wore suits from Debenhams. John had an ivory waistcoat, tie and rose buttonhole - which all matched the colour of my wedding dress. The others had pink ties and pink rose buttonholes instead.






The church is a well known landmark in North Wales, near where I am from, and is absolutely beautiful.





I had seen bridesmaid dresses I really liked in London - the ones that can be worn in many different ways. I wanted the girls to be able to decide which way they wanted to wear the dress, and also have something they can wear again, so I went with a slate grey colour, which fitted with the colour scheme as well. I then found a similar style from the US from Von Vonni which were much cheaper, so I ordered them on a whim, and they worked really well.


I found my florist on Gumtree! I got a few quotes from professional florists and realised we weren't going to be able to get that much for our budget, so I started shopping around. Anne from Lillibet Flowers is a student florist, who had only done a few weddings at that point, but seemed to understand the look I wanted. We emailed a lot, but didn't actually meet until the morning of the wedding, when she dropped the bouquets off. They were so gorgeous - better than I could have hoped, and lots of guests took away the table flowers the next day.



Our photographer, James Berry of Mr November Photography, is a friend of a friend, who is also just starting out in the wedding business. Despite being London based like us, he kindly travelled up to North Wales for the day, and took some great shots. We much preferred the reportage style of photography, and as he was a music journalist photographer, he was the perfect guy to pick for those un-posed, of the moments shots. We also had a photobooth in the evening, which went down a storm, and the pictures get more and more amusing as the night goes on.


{Wedding Credits}
Wedding dress: Caroline Castigliano
Veil: Richard Designs
Shoes: Charlize by Benjamin Adams
John's suit, and ushers suits: Debenhams
Bridesmaid Dresses: Von Vonni
Venue: St Margaret's Church in Bodelwyddan & then my Aunt's garden for the reception
Band: Fonix Music
Photographer: James Berry of Mr November Photography
Flowers: Anne Jacques at Lillibet Flowers
On the day co-ordinator: Andrea Swift at Fabulous Day Events
Hair and make up: Laura Mayers from The Bridal Make Up Team
Food: Marc Macauley from MM Catering
Cheese cake (in the evening): Marks and Spencer
Photobooth: Picture Blast
Marquee: Neil from M&B Marquees
Bar: Zac from Parkhouse Bars


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Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.
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