Butterfly Themed Wedding Cake

Butterfly-themed weddings must be amongst the most popular for brides looking for a simple but sweet wedding motif. It's a lovely symbol for your wedding day, as in Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolises love. DIY your butterfly theme with these gorgeous colourful, edible, butterflies from incrEDIBLEtoppers. Add them to a simple white wedding cake, or add one to the napkin or glass of each table place at your wedding reception. For more easy DIY butterfly wedding ideas, don't miss my Pinterest page.

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How To Make a Wedding Flower Crown

One wedding trend that looks set to run and run is the boho look. With Kate Moss setting the tone with her festival themed wedding, and teepee weddings huge for summer 2012, I'm betting 2013 will be the year of the boho bride. For a fun and easy way to create the boho look, dress your bridesmaids in flower crowns. Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, these versatile accessories can look as glamorous, or as country-chic as you like. An added plus is their super easy to DIY - partly thanks to this brilliant tutorial by Brittany Watson Jepsen via Etsy Weddings. Brittany is easily one of my favourite DIY bloggers - she lives in Denmark, and writes a fabulous blog called The House That Lars Built, with tonnes of DIY wedding ideas and inspiration.

{Photo Credit} Photography by Brittany Watson Jepsen and Amanda Thomsen.

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Custom Wedding Favour Bags

Whatever you choose for your wedding favours, I'd be tempted to house them in these cute little muslin bags. Discovered on one of my many wonders around the wedding web world, they're made by the lovely ladies over at The Wedding Chicks, and they come in a dozen pretty designs. Personalise them with your wedding date and your names, and fill them with sweets, a handmade biscuits, or little keepsakes. You could even stuff them with lavender to make DIY scented bags. The numbered bag would make the perfect Save the Date, or send it as an extra detail with your wedding stationery. If you're not keen on the designs - you could always buy your own via Etsy, and personalise with a stamp.

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Cute Homespun Bespoke Bridesmaid Presents

Traditionally the groom gives all the bridesmaids a present on your wedding day, to thank them for helping out. We'd run out of money to be able to give our ladies anything truly valuable, so I wish I'd discovered these pretty homespun necklaces before our wedding day. Each one is hand-embroidered, reflecting the make-do-and-mend mood in weddings this season. You could wrap one around each of their bouquets, and pick a colour that suits their style. Only £25 from Etsy shop The Merriweather Council, who also make darling samplers and signs.

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Real Humanist Rustic Chic Wedding: Kia & Sam - Part 2

Boho brides are going to love all the wedding ideas they'll get from this stunning teepee wedding reception! Kia and Sam's celebrated their big day in Sam's parents' garden, surrounded by beautiful countryside, and tonnes of wedding details. I'm completely in love with their two giant teepee marquees, and the family-style dining tables. With a hog roast and a picnic feel, this lovely informal wedding kept their guests entertained all the way through to breakfast the next morning! Other stealworthy wedding ideas include the colourful handmade and hand-embroidered bunting, the DIY'd log cupcake stand, the fabulous VW van. Kia and Sam's whole family chipped in to help DIY this beautiful wedding. Don't miss Kia's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - she has tonnes of helpful hints for DIY brides-in-the-making. Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden for her stunning pictures - don't miss Part 1!

We celebrated out wedding in June at my husband's parents' farm where he grew up, on the Beds/Bucks border. We had a Humanist ceremony besides an old tree in the meadow and two huge Scandinavian tipis.

We wanted an English country wedding with a Swedish influence {as I’m half Swedish}. It was important for our wedding to feel romantic, easy and fun, with no real formalities, a touch bohemian, rustic and 'us'.

We mostly enjoyed planning out wedding. We loved coming up with ideas – we have to be creative in our jobs every day for other people so it made a nice change to do that for ourselves. It did get to a point where we were so focused on our guests having the perfect day that we’d forgotten about us, but that was just a blip. We got back to the real reason we were getting married and wouldn’t change a thing about the build up or the day itself. All in all it was a lot of fun because we did so much ourselves.

We had tonnes of DIY wedding projects! We created that entire venue from the ground up – apart from the tipis themselves. We bought or made most things with the help of family and friends. 

We didn't have any particular theme for our wedding. In fact we wanted anything but a theme and absolutely no matchy-matchy colours. We just wanted the decoration to reflect our passions and interests with something different everywhere you looked.

We used a lovely local florist in Frosts at Woburn, who was really creative and so passionate about floral design. I wanted something unstructured and wild looking so chose a mix of brightly coloured flowers including snapdragons, sweet peas, sunflowers, dill and corn.

Sam made all the signs and the candelabras for the tree. Our parents made the flower arch and birdseed hearts. My husband’s brother made the cake stand.

We made a cake stand out of tree trunk slices and terracotta plant pots and covered the tiers in individual cupcakes, carrot cakes and plants. We wanted to echo the tree backdrop from the ceremony and the rural setting.

For wedding favours, we had chocolate moustaches and lips on sticks made by a local chocolatier. The inspiration came from my husband’s moustache!

My maid of honour and her mum made the bunting out of specially chosen fabrics and embroidered them with special words. Sam and I folded 500 origami peace cranes to hang on the trees {with the help of the best man and my brother}.  I wrote 'our story' which was printed onto elephant poo (!) paper and turned into paper hearts, which were hung on the backs of chairs.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson of The Image Garden. We chose her because her photography style was exactly what we wanted – creative, observant and natural. She really 'got' the detail we had put into the wedding, and loved the surroundings we had chosen which meant a lot to us. We wanted someone who could just wander round capturing the feel of the day which she did wonderfully.

My advice for upcoming brides is don't forget why you’re doing it. As important the small details may seem to you, all your friends and family really care about is seeing you get married and having a bloody good party afterwards {a friend told me this and it helped loads!}. Speak to friends – they'll keep you sane and keep your feet on the ground. Let go and enjoy every single second – people will look after themselves. We were amongst the last to leave at 5am – we didn't want it to end. It was the best day and night of our lives.

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Real Humanist Rustic Chic Wedding: Kia & Sam

Take two giant teepees, a vintage campervan and countryside-loving couple and you get Kia and Sam's beautiful humanist rustic wedding. It's chock-a-block with wedding details and wedding ideas, and if you're a planning a rustic, boho wedding, you're going to want to copy every one. Just take a look at the DIY blackboard signs, the paper origami decorations {500 peace cranes!} and how every reception chair is decorated with a pretty flower and ribbons. I love the handmade flower arbour altar, and vintage milk-churn vases, and Kia's stunning bright bouquet. In keeping with the boho feel to her wedding, Kia wore flowers in her hair, and sourced her wedding dress from Spain and her accessories from various boutique jewellery makers. Don't miss her answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - she has tonnes of helpful hints for upcoming brides. Huge thanks to Sharron Gibson from The Image Garden for her stunning pictures - more coming soon in Part 2!

We celebrated out wedding in June at my husband's parents' farm where he grew up, on the Beds/Bucks border. We had a Humanist ceremony besides an old tree in the meadow and two huge Scandinavian tipis.

We wanted an English country wedding with a Swedish influence {as I’m half Swedish}. It was important for our wedding to feel romantic, easy and fun, with no real formalities, a touch bohemian, rustic and 'us'.

My wedding dress was made by Yolan Cris, an amazing bohemian Spanish designer. My blue shoes were from Dune and my accessories were all handmade from a mix of designers from Etsy, Asos marketplace and my mum’s collection from the 60s. I just arrived at that look – it felt like me. All I knew was I didn’t want anything too traditional.

My maid of honour had a fantastic red dress made from salvaged vintage fabrics by a designer in Brighton.

Sam's suit was bespoke-made by a tailor in London called Rocacha, as he couldn't find the vintage cut he wanted anywhere! His cufflinks were from Etsy, and his tie was from Sweden.

We used a lovely local florist in Frosts at Woburn, who was really creative and so passionate about floral design. I wanted something unstructured and wild looking so chose a mix of brightly coloured flowers including snapdragons, sweet peas, sunflowers, dill and corn.

Sam and I folded 500 origami peace cranes to hang on the tree {with the help of the best man and my brother}. I wrote 'our story' which was printed onto elephant poo {!} paper and turned into paper hearts, which were hung on the backs of chairs.

Our photographer was Sharron Gibson of The Image Garden. We chose her because her photography style was exactly what we wanted – creative, observant and natural. She really 'got' the detail we had put into the wedding, and loved the surroundings we had chosen which meant a lot to us. We wanted someone who could just wander round capturing the feel of the day which she did wonderfully.

♥ Want more colourful wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about boho wedding ideas? ♥

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More DIY Ikea Wedding Inspiration

So many brides have commented and emailed about my last Ikea wedding inspiration post, that I thought it only fair I found even more fabulous details for you! Inspired by the wedding of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria {back in 2010}, Ikea partnered with stylist Lo Bjurulf and photographer Denise Grünstein to create a stunning wedding theme. This one is called "Paper & Fold" and it fits in perfectly with this season's wedding trend for DIY weddings, origami and natural tones. Fabulous wedding inspiration for brides looking for a modern, fresh look, without blowing the budget.

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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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