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

Friday 9 November 2012

Real Shabby-Chic Wedding: Bethany & Ethan

Backyard weddings are always among the most intimate of real weddings, and this one is no different. Bethany and Ethan decided they wanted an Anthropologie style wedding, filled with personal touches and hundreds of details. Bethany’s mom hand sewn all the gorgeous quilts that were a main part of the homespun decor. Handmade vintage ribbons and banners were strewn about the house saying things like “celebrate” and “eat drink and be married!” Bethany’s wedding dress was custom made on Etsy, and all the flowers and vintage decor display was designed by the talented Annette Gomez. I love all the wedding details, including the vintage typewriter for guests' messages to the bride and groom. Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to This Modern Romance.


♥ Want more shabby chic weddings? ♥ Or how about more outdoor wedding ideas? ♥
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Thursday 1 November 2012

DIY Wedding Ribbon Ideas

On a recent trip to Newcastle to visit my Dad, he took me to possibly the best shop in the world. It's called RE and it's a wonderful world of wedding inspiration. I'll be featuring many of their gorgeous products over the next few weeks, but let's start with these heavenly ribbons. Add them to your wedding invitations, favours, vases and wrap them round your wedding bouquets and buttonholes. They're a fantastic way to brand your big day. Don't worry if you can't get to the north-east, they deliver.


♥ Want more wedding decoration ideas? ♥ Or how about wedding reception ideas? ♥
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Thursday 25 October 2012

Vintage Make-Do-&-Mend Style Wedding Garlands

Add a touch of vintage chic to your wedding with these crocheted flower garlands. Make it bespoke by picking the colours, and Emma Lamb will handmake them for you from Scottish wool. Unlike paper garlands, they'll last forever. The only difficulty is choosing the colours, with several beautifully named shades to choose from, like buttermilk, mustard, moss green, damson, mocha, russet and fuschia.


♥ Want more vintage wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding decoration ideas? ♥
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Tuesday 23 October 2012

DIY Stitch Your Wedding Stationery

Sewing and stationery go hand-in-hand with these gorgeous DIY greetings cards. Create your own mini-heirloom by stitching a personal message and sending it to a friend. The brainchild of graphic designer Laura Trimmell, she promises they're super-easy to sew - just like connect the dots. Each 'Curious Doodles' pack includes five cards and matching envelopes, so you can share the love far and wide.

♥ Want more wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about more DIY wedding ideas? ♥
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Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Marie Antoinette Wedding & Hen Party Inspiration Shoot

This glamorous Marie Antoinette style wedding inspiration shoot is right up my street! Organised by the lovely Gemma Longworth of Buttons & Roses Events & The Button Boutique to promote their event styling business, it makes me want to host an up-market hen party for all my girlfriends. Combining pink champagne, cupcakes and a fascinator craft workshop, it's the perfect bonding opportunity. I adore the vintage china by Victoria Rose Vintage Crockery Hire, and the glamorous pearl strewn flower arrangements would work perfectly at a wedding. If you're a real fan of DIY, you could even theme your wedding around crafting. Take a look the jars filled with cotton reels - they'd look fabulous as table displays at your wedding reception. If you'd like a similar look for your wedding day or hen party, do take a look at the Buttons & Roses Events website. Gorgeous pictures by Lucy Greenhill Photography.


















Credits
Organised & Styled by Gemma Longworth: Buttons & Roses Events & The Button Boutique
Photography: Lucy Greenhill Photography
Location: Liverpool Town Hall
Fascinator Craft Workshop by The Button Boutique
Hair & Make Up: So Coco Rouge
Clothing: Raiders Vintage and The Button Boutique
Hair Accessories: The Button Boutique
Vintage Crockery, Props & Cakes: Victoria Rose Vintage Crockery Hire
Labels and Stationery: Button & Roses
Flowers: Blue Orchid
Nails: Glitz and Glam
Jewellery: Olivia Divine Jewellery
Models: Rebecca LangtreeKit WilliamsBethany CammackEsther FoxNikki Rose

♥ Want more elegant wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more hen party ideas? ♥
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Thursday 27 September 2012

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.


♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥
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Thursday 30 August 2012

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.

♥ Want more DIY wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about bridesmaid ideas? ♥
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Tuesday 28 August 2012

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.



♥ Want more bright-themed weddings? ♥ Or how about vineyard wedding ideas? ♥
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Thursday 23 August 2012

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.


♥ Want more bridesmaid ideas? ♥ Or how about DIY wedding ideas? ♥
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Tuesday 21 August 2012

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.


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