Showing posts with label DIY Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY Wedding. Show all posts

Monday 12 June 2017

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!




Wednesday 6 May 2015

My Secret London Wedding Anniversary - Part 2

So here we go ladies, Part 2 of my vintage tea-party themed wedding. After our quicky wedding ceremony in Hackney Town Hall {our local}, we headed to Victoria Park for our pictures, where {joy of joys} we found the best photo-prop ever. An ice-cream van! I'd really recommend trying to organise a few photo props - it makes for much more natural portraits, particularly if you're feeling a bit stressed on your wedding day. After our pictures we headed home for our vintage tea party reception. We decorated our Shoreditch flat with handmade white pompoms, white bunting bought from eBay, and a dozens of roses bought from Columbia Road Flower Market on the cheap! Stunning photographs published with thanks to Caught the Light, and I've filled in my own Before the Big Day Bridal Questionnaire, so check out my answers below for all my suppliers and wedding DIY projects.


Tuesday 5 May 2015

My Secret London Wedding - Our 4th Anniversary

Four years ago today, we celebrated our secret wedding in London. Why secret? Well our 'real' wedding was in Provence, but legally we had to get married in the UK first. At first we thought we'd just sneak off on a Tuesday afternoon and get married privately with just two witnesses. But then our parents wanted in. And then we realised that the grandparents weren't going to make it out to France, so they snaffled invitations. And then, being a wedding blogger, I got all excited about a vintage tea-party wedding theme, and Chloe from Caught the Light offered to do our pictures. So before we knew it, we were planning two weddings. That's two ceremonies, two themes, two dresses {lucky me!}, and double the details! Take a look, and see what you think!


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!



Friday 2 January 2015

Amazing Boho DIY Vintage Wedding Part 2

It's Part 2 time for this incredible DIY-fest of a wedding. There is so much wedding inspiration in this fabulous big day, that I've had to split it in two for risk of blowing your minds! If you've missed Part 1, check it out here. From the wedding stationery to the wedding cakes {yes that's cakes plural}, no details was too small to DIY. I'm loving the recurring owl motif, the hankies '4 tears of joy' the incredible Wedding Land hand-drawn map, the burlap runners, the sweetie favour bar and the vintage camera on each table {to reflect Marissa's love of photography}. I don't think I've ever seen such a personalised wedding, and you can tell it must have been one amazing loved-up party! Huge thanks to the team at W Scott Chester Photography for their incredible pictures, and a heartfelt congratulations to Marissa and Caleb! P.S. If you want to see more pictures from this lovely wedding {plus extra wedding inspiration ideas}, do check out Before the Big Day's Facebook page.





Thursday 1 January 2015

Amazing Boho DIY Vintage Wedding

If you're a boho bride, a vintage bride, or an obsessed-with-details DIY bride, this wedding is going to knock your socks off! It's an enchanting festival-style affair, with magical wedding details, and a big dollop of homespun fabulousness. I've taken the divide and conquer approach, so instead of flooding your eyeballs with too much wedding inspiration in one go, I'll be publishing the next half of the wedding at lunchtime, so you can enjoy it with your sandwiches. But there's tonnes to feast on in this batch of pictures, so let's get started. Marissa and Caleb celebrated their wedding on a Wednesday since they wanted to say 'I do' on their five year dating anniversary {love this idea!}. They DIY'd tonnes of their wedding details, including the incredible wood ceremony entrance, with its vintage screen doors AND the lovely altar area, with its Anthropologie-style letters and owls. I'm loving Caleb's laid-back style, Marissa's cute DIY broach bouquet {buy a similar one from Etsy}, her handmade floral bunting, her bridesmaids' colour-pop pink dresses plus yellow bouquets, and the personalised fingerprint tree guestbook at the entrance. If you want to create a similar wedding style, but don't have time to do all the wedding details yourself, then I must recommend Etsy weddings, for beautiful homespun products. Huge thanks to the wonderful team at W Scott Chester Photography for capturing every golden moment in such style.





Saturday 12 July 2014

An Outdoor DIY Wedding with a Cream Tea Reception

Any bride looking to keep her wedding within a sensible budget is going to L-O-V-E this inspirational big day. Kelly and Gavin flashed their cash where it mattered - i.e. venue and wedding photographer, but kept everything else wallet friendly, by searching for bargains and DIY-ing many of their wedding details. You'll love their handmade stationery, bunting, decorations and hand-picked wedding flowers. And I'm slightly obsessed with their chocolate wedding cake, with its personalised bunting. More fabulous details on how Kelly and Gavin saved money on their wedding outfits in Part 1 - in the meantime, enjoy these stunning shots by Linus Moran Photography.


My husband got down on one knee in Venice to pop the question. Two years to the day, we tied the knot at Kingston Maurward stately home, in Dorset, on March the 16th 2014.



After seeing several different venues Kingston Maurward ticked all the boxes, with the chance of an outdoor wedding I've always dreamed of having. Both being artistic, we enjoyed making as many things as possible. 




Friday 11 July 2014

An Outdoor DIY Wedding with a Cream Tea Reception

Back in my teenage years, we used to go to these amazing parties at Kingston Maurward in Dorset. I have fond memories of the incredible stately rooms, and stunning grounds, including a tranquil lake and arboretum. So it was a wonderful blast from the past to receive Linus Moran's stunning photographs of Kelly and Gavin's wedding. The happy couple chose Kingston Maurward as their wedding venue, and despite getting married in March, managed to have an amazing outdoor ceremony, in the bright spring sunshine. Just goes to show you should always think positive about the weather! Kelly and Gavin love a bargain, and were keen to DIY as many of their wedding details as possible. You'll love their wedding flowers, sweet trees, table stationery, and all their pretty decoration details, including pompoms and bunting. What's more, Kelly's Benjamin Roberts wedding gown only cost £250. Find out more in her answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and enjoy Linus Moran's fantastic wedding photographs....more to come from their reception later today.


My husband got down on one knee in Venice to pop the question. Two years to the day, we tied the knot at Kingston Maurward stately home, in Dorset, on March the 16th 2014.


My wedding dress was from Preloved, a Benjamin Roberts wedding dress that should have been £1700, selling for £250. I fell in love with it, and it fitted like a glove. I love a bargain!




Monday 17 March 2014

A Rustic Garden Wedding with a Festival Feel & Tonnes of DIY Details

Everything about this wedding is enchanting - it's like something from a traditional Welsh faery story! Loveday and Nathan celebrated their big day with a church service, followed by their wedding reception in Loveday's parent's garden. From the handmade yurts {created by the bride's brother!}, to the traditional wedding cake, pretty floral favours and jam jar vases, everything was DIY'd by Loveday and Nathan's friends and family. It just goes to show what an amazing effect you can create yourself! The wedding had a festival vibe, with a warming fire-pit, boho decorations {by Verdigris Venue Dressing}, deckchairs, and floral arches. I'm also super-impressed that Loveday bought her wedding dress from a charity shop, and had it re-modelled with the help of a local dressmaker. No detail was too small - she even changed the buttons to pastel pretties, to fit in with their colour scheme. Enjoy these lovely pictures by Adam Cove, and Loveday's inspirational answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire!


We celebrated our wedding on Saturday 31st August 2013 in the chapel of St David at the University of Wales in Lampeter, where Nathan and I first met as students.Our reception was lovingly created at my parent's home, on a hill above the town. My brother, Morgan, made us two beautiful yurts, and all our friends and family worked hard helping to get the place ready, from mowing the lawns and tending the flower garden. We even spent our wedding night in another little yurt, tucked away amongst some willows near the stream. 


I wanted a simple quite classic wedding dress, but with a personal touch. After a lot of looking I finally bought my dress second hand from a charity shop in Cardiff. It was then re-modelled by a local dress maker called Rhiannon J Limited. We worked together on the design and I was able to add unique buttons and decorations. It was a simple silk gown with a modest puddle train, individual colourful buttons down the back, ruching across the waste and a small flower decoration on the left hip. Rhiannon also made my veil for me.





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. 



Monday 25 November 2013

A London Library Wedding with Irish Tartan & Indian Extras

There's nothing I like more than a bride who knows exactly what she wants for her wedding day, and when she can't find it, makes it herself! Lovely Sally handmade all her wedding stationery - including her invitations and table plan, and her pretty seed wedding favours. Then, when she couldn't find bridesmaids dresses in her chosen shade of green, she called on her mum to sew them out of fabric originally designed for suit linings. The end result is a gorgeous, relaxed big day with tonnes of truly personalised wedding details. I love how groom Michael reflected his Irish heritage with his fabulous traditional kilt, and the sunny pop of the gerbera buttonholes. Sally bought her wedding dress from BHS online, and isn't it stunning! Just goes to show you don't have to have a designer gown to look gorgeous on your big day. Another stealworthy idea is Michael and Sally's choice of a fabulous Indian buffet for their wedding reception. If your favourite food is Asian or Mexican, why not choose it for your wedding menu? Huge thanks to Corrado Chiozzi for his fantastic wedding pictures, more of his work coming soon on Before the Big Day!


We celebrated our wedding at Charlton House in London. I knew I wanted our wedding to be fairly simple, my husband wanted it to be somewhere fairly formal, and I wanted fairy lights! Also we both love reading, and so hosting our reception in a library suited us perfectly.


We didn't have a theme as such. We wanted green for the bridesmaid dresses, yellow for the flowers and Indian fabrics and food to feature!



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. 



Friday 25 October 2013

A Secret Garden Wedding with a Woodland & Travel Theme - The Reception

This is one of those amazing weddings where the bride thought of every single detail, and DIY'd a fair few {like most} of them. A regular reader of Before the Big Day, Kelly came up with several fabulous themes, and combined them all with panache! Travel plus secret woodland and a colourful palette equals wedding heaven. And the ideas to steal - there's too many. Just take a look at the amazing handmade hot air balloon table names, the stunning paper cut-style seating plan, and the pinecone place markers. Kelly was up till late the night before her wedding, decorating her tepee venues with six friends - so if you're considering to DIY your decor, remember to arrange a helping hand {or 10}. I love how she placed a sprig of rosemary at each seat, and the hand-stamped balloons on the stationery are the cutest. Instead of a cake, Kelly and Pete chose a massive array of sweetie treats....my type of wedding! Enjoy Kelly's hints and tips in her answers to the Before the Big Day Brides' Questionnaire - there's tonnes of advice for budding brides. Huge thanks to Richard Galloway for his stunning wedding photographs.

We got married in the beautiful Secret Garden at Wasing Park in Berkshire. It was a bright and sunny May Day. I liked the idea of a secret garden full of surprise and intrigue, and Wasing Park was the perfect venue. We kept areas hidden so as to surprise our guests with each stage of the wedding.


Our photographer was Richard Galloway. He is an old friend and a professional wedding photographer. We felt we couldn't have made a better decision, as he knew us, and knew that we were planning something fun and curious. 



A Secret Garden Wedding with a Woodland & Travel Theme

Regular readers of this wedding blog will knew there's nothing I like more than a Real Bride Submission. The lovely Kelly read Before the Big Day while planning her wedding, and I'm thrilled to feature all her incredible wedding ideas. Like me, she hosted her wedding in a secret garden, and chose a mixture of themes for her decorations and props, and a colourful palette. There's so many exciting stealworthy ideas in the reception pictures {hot air balloons, pinecone place markers and Tizer bottles!!}, but first feast your eyes on Kelly and Pete's stunning wedding ceremony. I love the hay-bales and natural wedding arch, Kelly's colourful bridesmaids and the festival-style silk banners - plus giant balloons {yippee!}. Kelly has the most incredible wedding dress story - be sure to read her answers to the Before the Big Day Brides' Questionnaire, and enjoy Richard Galloway's stunning wedding photographs.


We got married in the beautiful Secret Garden at Wasing Park in Berkshire. It was a bright and sunny May Day. I liked the idea of a secret garden full of surprise and intrigue, and Wasing Park was the perfect venue. We kept areas hidden so as to surprise our guests with each stage of the wedding.


We had a combination of decorations and themes - a travel theme, a secret woodland theme, and a night theme of fire. We also wanted plenty of colour to give the feel of a fiesta, but a country garden version.

The story of my wedding dress is amazing but true. My first love and now very dear and fabulous friend is now head of menswear design at fashion house Bottega Veneta based out of Milan. He knew as my mummy was no longer with us, that I would want some support with this very important task. I was so grateful for his expertise, time and guidance - he turned a situation that could have been quite sad and difficult, into a very special experience, and for this I will forever be in his debt.


Tuesday 15 October 2013

A Pretty-as-a-Picture, Pastel-Themed, Vintage Wedding

As promised, it's time for the reception details from the heavenly summer wedding. With delicious vintage props and stunning DIY burlap details, it's a wedding blogger's delight! Kelly and Ren organised their own big day, and decided to rip up tradition, by opting out of having ushers and bridesmaids or speeches and cake, and instead chose to have a drinks and canapé reception before the ceremony, lawn games afterwards, and a cheese board selection in the evening. They even walked down the aisle together, along with their daughter, as a wonderful statement of family. Fabulous inspiration for any bride wanting a non-conventional wedding. More wedding ideas to snaffle include the lovely fingerprint guest book and Kelly's handmade burlap jamjar glasses with pretty pastel straws {LOVE striped straws}. Huge thanks to The Cole Portfolio for their fantastic photographs of the day - and enjoy Kelly's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire!

We got married at the beautiful Hill Place in Swanmore, Hampshire. I helped style a photo shoot at Hill Place in 2010, and fell in love with the homeliness and character of the elegant Georgian house, as well as the beautiful grounds. 


Hill Place has its own unique style, and we knew that it would fit perfectly with our vision of our day. To compliment the property, we opted for pastel tones and vintage props.



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...