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.

An Easy Wedding Decoration DIY

You don't have to be a graffiti artist to fall in love with spray paint. Any crafter worth her salt knows it's the easiest tool for fast, effective results. You can easily turn the mundane into something incredible. My friends recently celebrated their wedding at an incredible venue in East London. They needed to personalise the reception space, but didn't have much of a budget. For under a £100 they bought dozens of white paper lanterns, and saved jam-jars. A simple spray of neon spray paint, and a bag of Ikea tea-lights, and they had a brilliant, original wedding decorations {like these}. My colour of choice is gold - particularly for autumn and winter weddings. Just take a look at these fantastic DIY ideas - find more on my Pinterest page.

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

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Glittery Glamorous Bridal Accessories

One of my girlfriends got married last weekend and wore the most incredible Cinderella shoes ever! They were Jimmy Choo's, and cost a crazy amount of money, but they've inspired me to go looking for glittery treats for your big day. So whether you're going for a Grecian look, an Art Deco style, or want to be a bling-y bride, you shall go to the ball!

{I want this!} Clockwise from top left 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

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Wedding Trends of 2015 - Classy Chevrons

Polka-dots, stripes, and tartan, they've all had their day. This wedding season is all about chevrons. The humble zig-zag is finally making its mark. Whether you chose a sequinned table cloth, a patterned paper straw, or a sexy envelope liner, add the classy chevron to your big day. Here's a selection of my favourite looks - find more on my Pinterest Board.

A Pretty Pastel Blue Winter Wedding with a Tea-Party Theme

After years of not receiving many winter weddings, my inbox is suddenly full of lovely photographs! The latest bride to choose January for her big day is Natalie, and I've fallen for her stunning ice blue and gold colour palette. Natalie's Cotton and Crumbs cake was the first thing she ordered, and the inspiration for the rest of her wedding. I love its tea-cup topper, and ornate lace icing, but there's plenty of other wedding details for you - from the gorgeous Coast bridesmaid maxi-dresses, Natalie's stunning Charlie Brear gown and Glenn's specially tailored suit. Enjoy! Many thanks to the lovely Kayleigh Pope for sending over these lovely wedding pictures.

Going for Gold Wedding Shoes

*Full disclosure* - this is a completely biased blog post. I still hold a candle for my gold Halston Heritage wedding day heels {bought for a steal on The Outnet}. So I've gone searching for similar shoes on your behalf, and found a delicious selection on Shopbop. I've even included glamorous flats for comfortable late-night dancing! What do you think? Do you fancy going for gold on your wedding day?

{I want this!} 1. Diane von Furstenberg Viola Too Sandals, £238.70 | 2. Schutz Dunna Sandals, £122.76 | 
3. Badgley Mischka Melany II Wedge Sandals, £146.63 | 4. Badgley Mischka Mayee Flat Thong Sandals, £67.52 | 5. Badgley Mischka Glenna Espadrille Wedges, £146.63 | 6. Badgley Mischka Melinda II Flat Sandals, £112.53 | 
7. Schutz Drauzia Woven Sandals, £136.40 

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A Fun-Loving Luxury Castle Wedding Shoot

So sorry for not blogging yesterday - it was my husband's birthday, and the day ran away with me! But to make up for it, I've got a brilliant fun-loving wedding shoot by a group of super-creative wedding professionals in Ireland. Shot in the idyllic Clontarf Castle, it's full of 2014 wedding trends, and super-luxe wedding details. I love the glittery ombre cake, sequinned cupcake toppers {the sequin trend is HUGE this year} and succulent bouquet. The 'bride' looks gorgeous in her three Sarah Foy wedding gowns {my favourite is the first off-the-shoulder look}, with Bridget Bardott-inspired hair styles. If you can't decide whether you want an up, or down-do for your wedding day, why not have both? Ask your hair stylist to create a pretty chignon for the ceremony, and to tell your bridesmaids which clips to remove for a more relaxed reception look. Stunning pictures by Paul Kelly - don't miss the other credits at the bottom of the feature!

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.

Real Cornish Coastal Wedding: Julie & Ben - Part 2

Time for the beautiful reception pictures from this lovely Cornish coastal wedding. Julie and Ben created many of the wedding details themselves, as {like most of us}, they had to keep to a tight wedding budget. Julie DIY'd her wedding stationery, table plan, and her wedding favours, adding the personal touch that makes a wedding stand out from the crowd. I love the hedgerow themed wedding flowers, the simply billowing marquee, and the traditional English deckchairs. Don't miss Julie's fantastic advice for future brides, or Part 1 of this gorgeous wedding! Huge thanks to Alan Law Photography for these beautiful wedding pictures.

We tied the knot on the 30th of June 2012 at an amazing venue in Cornwall called Fentafriddle. We picked this date as it was my Dad’s birthday {who sadly passed away}, and we thought this would be a great way to keep celebrating the date.

We didn’t have a wedding colour theme as such. The bridesmaid dresses were gold and cream, and our bouquets were based around the hedgerow. Daisies featured throughout. We both just wanted it to feel natural and bright.

Choosing our wedding venue wasn’t about location, as we looked all around the UK. Our most important request was that it had to be relaxed and child friendly, and we wanted our close friends and family to be able to stay with us before and after the big day. Wedding days can pass so fast and you just want to cherish the moment for as long as you can. 

When we saw Fentafriddle we both immediately knew it was the venue for us. The view over the sea just takes your breath away.

Because the landscape of the venue was so stunning we hardly had to do any decorating. Flowers required were minimal and I wanted to make the table plan and centre pieces myself for that personal touch.

Each table was named after a place that meant a lot to us, so we had Canterbury as we both attended university there, Kentish Town which is where we first lived together, and the head table was of course Trebarwith Strand where Fentafriddle sits proudly. and will always be in our hearts.

A local florist in Delabole called Bruallen did our wedding flowers. The ladies there are just amazing. Neither of us knew anything about flowers and they immediately understood our requirements. All I knew was that I wanted an antique rose to feature in my bouquet and I wanted the flowers on the table to be loose, natural and bright. Our wedding flowers were just lovely and most of them came from various local Cornish farmers that very morning.

At first we weren’t going to have a wedding cake and planned just going to have a desert that could be cut in front of our guests. Our caterer came up with the idea of a giant pavlova with fresh berries, and not only did it look stunning, but the flavours were immense. 

I really do recommend our caterer. The quality of the food was superb and she was so laid back about the day which rubbed off on us, and the people she employed on the day were great fun. Her name was Fee Turner. But in the end close friends of ours had a cake made for us as a gift, and it was beautiful and was cream and gold. So you could call us greedy as we ended up having two cakes!

Our wedding favours were stones inscribed with paraphrases from the readings included in the ceremony. Quite often we’ll go around someone’s house and the stone will be used as a doorstop or sitting on the side and it always makes me smile. We also placed a small card at each table-place, including a poem by Dr Seus and a brief thank you on the back. The main reason for both was to add a personal touch, but I won't lie, keeping costs down was also a factor. 

In the beginning I really enjoyed planning our wedding. But nearer the time I did start to feel the pressure, and even though I don't regret it now, I did start to regret having to do some of my DIY projects - the table plan and favours!

My advice to brides would be....let others help when they ask, don’t panic if things go wrong on the day. Our generator packed up at around 11pm and when I walked back in the marquee on the verge of feeling emotional and stressed all I could see were lighters in the air and my guests singing Wonderwall {by Oasis}. This turned out to be an amazing way to end the evening. You just have to not let anything ruin your day, and remember it’s probably only a problem to you, and not to your guests.

If you're having a marquee always request to see your order up and in working order long before your wedding. We were unfortunately disappointed with the quality of ours as it wasn't what we had ordered. But again only Ben and I noticed, guests were none the wiser. Don’t place too much emphasis on your wedding shoes if you're wearing a long wedding dress. No-one really notices details like this! Enjoy your day, as it’s one of the only times in your life you are surrounded by everyone you love! I don’t think I stopped smiling from the beginning to the end. 

Our wedding photographer was Alan Law. Both his profile and gallery attracted me to his work as we wanted someone that would be able to take natural photos, which is exactly what he did for us on the day. He also stayed late past the first dance, and fair play to him, as the drink had been flowing all day and at points the dance floor was quite intense. The result was we loved our pictures and we couldn’t have asked for anything more!

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Real Cornish Coastal Wedding: Julie & Ben

Even though it's freezing outside, this gorgeous Cornish coastal wedding is bound to warm you up, and get you inspired for your summer weddings. Julie and Ben celebrated their big day seconds from the sea, and a stunning {if windswept beach}. They didn't plan a particular wedding theme, but let their natural, bright wedding venue do the talking. I love Julie's elegant Lusan Mandongus wedding gown, with its sexy scooped back, and her simple up-do, while the flowers girls were super-cute in Monsoon. Julie's stunning bouquet included blooms collected from local Cornish farmers the morning of her wedding, and her florist found inspiration from the hedgerows - LOVE! Huge thanks to Alan Law Photography for these beautiful wedding pictures. We've got lots more reception shots to publish tomorrow - don't miss them!

My wedding dress was brought from a wonderful shop in St Albans called Satin Bow Bridal. The dress is a Lusan Mandongus gown called Gem and I just loved the low cut back. But it was tricky to find suitable underwear!

Both my hair accessory and my back drop necklace {perfect with my wedding gown} were from Chez Bec. My shoes were from Girls of Elegance and were called ‘Gwen’. But to be honest far too much effort went into picking the shoes, as no-one saw them and they got completely trashed from the soft ground.

We tied the knot on the 30th of June 2012 at an amazing venue in Cornwall called Fentafriddle. We picked this date as it was my Dad’s birthday {who sadly passed away}, and we thought this would be a great way to keep celebrating the date.

Choosing our wedding venue wasn’t about location, as we looked all around the UK. Our most important request was that it had to be relaxed and child friendly, and we wanted our close friends and family to be able to stay with us before and after the big day. Wedding days can pass so fast and you just want to cherish the moment for as long as you can. When we saw Fentafriddle we both immediately knew it was the venue for us. The view over the sea just takes your breath away.

Both of the adult bridesmaids' dresses were from House of Fraser, made by Anoushka G {both bought on sale}. The little flower girl dresses were from Monsoon. The top of the dress was gold crochet and they both looked adorable.

Poor Ben was left with the last of the budget so instead of buying a wedding suit or hiring one out we thought he should buy a suit that he could continue to use at work. It was a Charles Tyrwhitt suit and the colour was dark chocolate.

We met in Ibiza seven years ago at the Hed Kandi closing party {the same night Ben fell down some stairs, and only realised in the morning he had a broken leg!}. Unfortunately I only found out he was interested in me via my friend at the airport on the way home, and I was disappointed she hadn’t told me earlier! The same friend later went to a house party back in the UK and Ben just so happened to be there, and he asked her to pass his number onto me. I wanted very much to find out more about him, got in contact and the rest is of course history!

Ben proposed on New Year’s Eve 2010, right before we were going to enter into the Hogmanay Street party in Edinburgh. He got down on one knee and I presumed he was tying his laces so I walked a little further on. When I heard him call my name I couldn’t believe what was happening, and I think in shock I kept saying ‘really?’ for a good few minutes. Once I pulled myself together I gave him a big hug and said ‘of course I will’. At the time we didn’t have enough money for an engagement ring so he brought me a fabulous keepsake ring broken into three which is meant to represent the past, present and future.

Our wedding photographer was Alan Law. Both his profile and gallery attracted me to his work as we wanted someone that would be able to take natural photos, which is exactly what he did for us on the day. He also stayed late past the first dance, and fair play to him, as the drink had been flowing all day and at points the dance floor was quite intense. The result was we loved our pictures and we couldn’t have asked for anything more!

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♥ Want to see seaside weddings ideas? ♥ Or how about more summer wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Rustic Vintage Wedding: Camille & Chris - Part 2

It's time for the wedding reception pictures from this amazing detail-filled rustic, country wedding! With elegant parasols, handmade wedding favours, pretty doily decorations, and vintage fabulousness, you're going to want to copy every wedding detail for your own big day. Camille and Chris celebrated their destination wedding in Quebec in Canada, so all their DIY details were planned at a distance - no small feat! I love how they used luggage tags and a French Bistro style mirror as their table plan, and the pretty lace curtain makes the perfect backdrop for a photo booth. Other pretty reception decorations include the vintage lace table runners, the matching doily table numbers and the simple baby's breath and hydrangea wedding flowers. Love! Take a look at Camille's answers to the Before the Big Day's Bride's Questionnaire, for all her DIY projects and advice. Don't miss Part 1 of this gorgeous wedding here....coming soon Part 3, going live later today. Beautiful pictures published with thanks to the hugely talented Jonny and Morgane from M&J Photography.

We got married on July 7, 2012 in Mille-Isles in the province of Quebec, Canada, at the Fiddler Lake Resort. We visited several venues looking for a country-ish place where we would be celebrating our wedding outdoors, with the sun and mild temperatures of summer. 

We opted for the Fiddler Lake Resort because all our guests would be able to enjoy great authentic country cottages for a weekend {and week for those coming from overseas}. Also the Resort gave us 'carte blanche' for our wedding preparation, including no time limit for the party!

All of our decor was pretty much a DIY décor. We had a lot of fun looking for vintage, simple yet chic details and giving a second life to some furniture and pieces we found. Our theme was vintage-country and we asked our guests feel free to dress comfortably and to add a touch of vintage in their look! 

Our wedding color scheme built over time, as we were finding decor pieces bit by bit. Overall, we wanted to have white or cream flowers, beige table clothes and touches of cream lace here and there, as well a natural wood.



For our wedding favours, we made little candy bags out of brown paper bags, decorated with white doilies, and placed at each seat. We had the candies brought from France, the kind we know kids and adults are addicted to!

 We also had a lot of DIY projects but the funniest was making our lips and moustache favours for our guests! My handy husband mastered his scissors like no one, so we were done quickly! 

Our stationery kind of inspired our wedding décor. We chose them early in our planning, and bought them online at Minted. The process was so easy, I'd recommend it to any couple! We loved the lips and moustache vintage design, customized the text, and got our cards in no time.



We had tonnes of DIY projects, and worked as a team for months. I would buy used pieces in flea markets and Chris would help me give them a second life. We looked both for ideas online and shopped together - we loved it planning our wedding, and we'd do it again! Inspecting venues, talking budget, looking for suppliers, finding unique pieces everywhere and anywhere, making it our own, negotiating rates, thinking the entire day through and wanting the best to enjoy our time with friends and family - it was a fantastic experience!

We picked flowers at the last minute from a local florist. We ordered them by phone a week before the wedding! Arranging the flowers was another one of our DIY projects: we ordered a bunch of white hydrangeas in bulk, and placed in mason jars, along with some gypsophile or baby's breath.

We chose M&J Photography for our wedding photographers. We flew them all the way from France because they capture moments in a way that is so natural, without posing too much and from two different angles. Each one of them also accompanied my husband and me while we were getting ready, to be pictured separately. 

Jonny and Morgane are so easy to work with, and use everything they can to make the shots interesting and reminding us of the venue we chose. They just blended in with our guests so naturally that we did not feel that we had "paparazzi" at our wedding, something that often annoying for guests who want to approach the bride and groom!



My advice? Find compromises with your future husband by listening to each other's wish list and making priorities out of it. We both ended up getting the most important things we wanted! Don't take any suppliers for granted: our DJ abandoned the ship a week before the wedding and even the most professional suppliers need some directions and a good brief on how you want things to run before the event. If it is a destination wedding, guests should take care of their own accommodations and travel details, as the couple can quickly become travel agency and tourist bureau! 

♥ Want to see DIY wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about rustic weddings? ♥

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