Easy Wedding Branding with Monogram Stamps

You can safely assume that most of the guests at your wedding won't notice all the perfect wedding details, you've so carefully curated. The male guests won't even be able to describe the colours of the flowers, let alone the lace you stayed up all night glueing onto jam-jars for the perfect boho vases. But one thing that the guys did notice at my wedding was our vintage key branding. I think it was because it was everywhere! It was all part of my Secret Garden wedding theme, and it tied all the our wedding details together. For a similar effect, brand your wedding with a monogram. Nothing says together more than a design including your initials, and if you order a personalised stamp, you can easily DIY all your details....I'm thinking favours, place-cards, wedding invitations, envelopes, menus, the lot! I love this heart stamp, £10 by Stamp Couture, check out my Pinterest board for tonnes more ideas.

{I want this} Heart Monogram Stamp, £10 by Stamp Couture

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Five Fantastic Wedding Guest Book Ideas

Last week I was sorting out the chaos of books on our coffee table, and I re-discovered our wedding guest book. It's chock-full of hilarious polaroid pictures, and ever-more surreal messages, as the evening went on, and our guests got more tipsy. It's a wonderful trip down memory lane, and we've only been married for two years! The difficulty with guest books is persuading your friends and family to take time out from all the fun they're having, to actually write a message. We've had friends who've bought round their book after their big day, because we failed to write in it on the actual event. One failsafe method is to add a polaroid camera {like we did}. At least then you'll have some sort of photographic record! Or you could try one of these gorgeous creative ideas from my favourite Etsy sellers. They're so pretty, your guests can't fail to want to write in them! P.S. I considered a big wooden sign for our own wedding, but we'd already hired a van to get all our wedding stuff out to France, and I had to stop somewhere!

{I want this!} 3D Heart Wedding Guest Book by Mio Gallery

British Etsy Wedding Seller of the Week #1

Big news! We're starting a new series of features here on Before the Big Day. We're all about original wedding ideas, and we're all about supporting British boutique businesses and individual creativity, and where better to find that than Etsy? If you haven't stumbled upon this amazing website, be warned, once you start clicking, you may never stop. It's addictive - there are so many incredible wedding ideas and products, your brain may well implode from wedding inspiration. To keep things under control, I'm going to drip-feed you the best of British Etsy wedding suppliers, one a week, every Wednesday. First up is La Pomme et La Pipe. Contrary to its French name, it's run by Amanda who lives in Oxford, and it's a fabulous hodgepodge of rustic handmade wedding supplies, paper goods, textiles and unique french-inspired supplies. Here are just a few of my favourites, but be sure to check it out yourself.

{I want this!} 50 Gold Glitter Mini Pegs, £9.81

{I want this!} 50 Burlap Heart Wedding place setting/name tags, £65.41

{I want this!} 50 Rustic Wedding Seed Packet Envelopes, £65.41

{I want this!} Lace Sampler Set, £6.54

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Whimsical Print-Your-Own Vintage Wedding Invitations

Wedding stationery still gets me ridiculously excited, and I love discovering brand new designers. Everything about these invitation suites by Splash of Silver is perfect. It's the combination of two of my favourite wedding motifs {bunting and old-fashioned Mason jars}, added to rustic Kraft paper, with a mix of fun fonts. The best things is they're digital designs, so you can personalise them, buy them, and DIY print them as many times as you want, saving you serious ££. They even include Thank You cards! There are three ways to get them printed - at home, at your local printer, or at an online printer like VistaPrint. There's tonnes of printable wedding invitations on Etsy, and check out my wedding stationery board on Pinterest for more inspiration.

{Where can I buy this?} Bunting Wedding Invitation Suite, £66

{Where can I buy this?} Flowers & Mason Jars Wedding Invitation Suite, £66

{Where can I buy this?} Bunting & Mason Jars Suite, £56

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Wedding Table Settings & Buffet Bags

Striped Paper Bags must be among my favourite things in the whole world. I have a huge selection in my craft cupboard, and you'd be amazed how often they come in useful, from present wrapping to colourful storage. When it comes to weddings, they're the perfect cheap and chic solution to favours, children's activity packs, and now as buffet bags! Aren't they just the cutest way to store your cutlery? I love these designs from Cherished Blessings. Their whole shop is packed full of fabulous wedding inspiration - with ideas you can copy or buy. And now I'm going to need to purchase a whole bunch of chevron bags - they're clearly the new stripes! P.S. For more budget-friendly paper bag ideas, check out my Pinterest board {I told you I was obsessed!}.

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Colourful DIY Printable Drinks Flags

Drinks flags are a hugely popular way to personalise your wedding. Their DIY friendly and add fun flair to your drinks. Make your own out of ribbons like I did for my wedding, or buy these printable flags from He Saw Sparks. I'm loving the 'Happily Ever After' slogan. Just print the flag template on cardstock or photo-paper, and trim. You can attach the flags to straws, toothpicks, stir-sticks, or anything else you have handy!

♥ Want to see DIY bride ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding detail ideas? ♥

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Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cards

Huge excitement! I'm going to be a bridesmaid for the first time since I was eight years old! My lovely school friend is getting married in December, so it's going to be a gorgeous winter wedding, and I'm already bursting with ideas for her big day. It's going to be so exciting helping her get ready on her wedding day, and walking down the aisle. I can't wait to be the useful person armed with safety pins, plasters, pain-killers and champagne! How many bridesmaids are you going to have on your wedding day? I love the idea of asking formally, with a card - or sending one afterwards to make the moment official. Take a look at these gorgeous 'Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cards' by The First Snow. They're hand-painted designs, and you can choose from black, blush and mint dresses. Plus they come with a pretty sticker for the back of the envelope. The First Snow also creates gorgeous wedding invitations and wedding cake toppers, and much, much more!

♥ Want to see bridesmaid ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding stationery? ♥

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Temporary Tattoo Wedding Favours

Two of my friends recently hosted the most amazing wedding ever, with trillions of wedding details, and enough stealworthy ideas to blow your mind. I can't wait to blog it, but in the meantime, I'm feeling super-inspired by one of their fancy dress favour ideas - temporary tattoos. They chose anchors, because they have a special meaning for them {check out me sporting one on my Instagram feed}, but I've fallen for the clean lines of these typography tattoos by Spirit Ink and Pepper Ink. They both have tonnes more designs, and can create custom designs for your wedding. I love the idea of a temporary tattoo save the date!

{Credit} X O Temporary Tattoo, £3.40 by Pepper Ink

{Credit} 2 Ampersand & Temporary Tattoos, £3.40 by Pepper Ink

{Credit} Custom Wedding Temporary Tattoos, approx £34 for 80 by Spirit Ink

More posts like this one:

✽ DIY Signature Wedding Cocktail Bar

✽ DIY Drinks Flags

♥ Want to see wedding favours? ♥ Or how about more Save the Date ideas? ♥

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You & Me Wedding Pencils

It's a bit of a squeeze to put these pencils on a wedding blog, but I loved them so much I couldn't wait to share them with you. Fresh from Brooklyn, literally the coolest place on earth right now, they're created by Knot & Bow. Perfect as a present for your groom on your wedding day, they finish the sentence 'we go together like....' Super sweet pencils designed for the perfect pair!

 ♥ Want to see more wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about real weddings? ♥

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Pimping Your Wedding Invitation Envelope

When no wedding detail is too small, you're going to want....no need these envelope stickers. Designed by Sara at Nice Package Design, they're the perfect finishing touch to your wedding invitations - chic and sweet. What's more, Sara has seals for your thank you cards, and tags your favours, plus a lovely line in giraffes. Find yet more envelope stickers in Once Upon Designs.

 ♥ Want to see more wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about real weddings? ♥

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Creative Wedding Invitation Inspiration

Wedding stationery is one of the most obvious ways to personalise your big day. It'll give your guests a sense of what's to come, and can really set the tone of your wedding theme. Graphic designers are up there with my favourite creative people, and they're constantly coming up with new and clever wedding invitation ideas. Here are a few of my recent favourites - discovered via Storkie and stationery blog Oh So Beautiful Paper.

{Product Credit} DIY'd by bride and groom Christine & Ian

{Product Credit} Kate at Ruby & Willow

{Product Credit} Kate at Ruby & Willow

♥ Want to see DIY wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding stationery ideas? ♥

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One Lump Or Two? DIY Teabag Wedding Favours

As a huge tea-drinker, I can't think of anything better than these cute tea-bag wedding favour ideas. They're the easiest favour in the world to DIY, and you could create an entire set of teas for each of your wedding guests, without breaking the bank. Just buy tea-bags in bulk, and pimp them! There's tonnes of different DIY ideas on Pinterest, including a big selection of free printables to personalise your tea-bag tags. Check out my Wedding DIY board for more ideas.

{Photo Credit} Kate's Creative Space | 2. Fox & Hazel

{Photo Credit} DIY Tutorial via The Pretty Blog

{Photo Credit} DIY Tutorial via Love Mae

More posts like this one:

✽ Rubber Stamp Your Wedding Day

✽ Homemade DIY Spray-Painted Vases

♥ Want to see wedding favour ideas? ♥ Or how about more DIY wedding ideas? ♥

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Pretty Wedding Favour Packaging

When it comes to wedding favours I'm a complete sucker for truly pretty packaging. It almost doesn't matter what's inside the little parcel {although food is always a good thing!}, I can get truly over-excited about the wrapping. So when Pink Lemons got in touch with their latest range of vintage pastel prettiness, I couldn't resist featuring their range right away! Jo and Mai started Pink Lemons after they struggled to find shabby chic pieces for their own weddings. My favourite product is the retro milk cartons - they come with painted mini-pegs, so you can choose the colour that best fits your wedding theme.

** UPDATE: Pink Lemons have kindly offered the 10% off for the first 30 buyers who quote the Promotion Code B4THEBIGDAY - woohoo! **

{Product Credit} Hexagon Flower Favour Boxes, 5 for £6.95 | Retro Paper Straws, 25 for £3.95

{Product Credit} Pretty Chinese Takeaway Boxes, 8 for £11.95 | 2. Rustic Box with Postcard, 10 for £14.95

{Product Credit} Ribbon Print Cookie Bags, 15 for £6.95 | Retro Paper Straws, 25 for £3.95

{Product Credit} Retro Milk Carton Favour Boxes, 8 for £9.95 | 2. Hexagon Flower Favour Boxes, 5 for £6.95

More posts like this one:
✽ Divine Twine for Wedding Stationery & Favours
✽ Cute DIY Heart Favours

♥ Want to see wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about more pastel wedding ideas? ♥

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How To Easy-DIY Your Wedding Stationery

Wedding stationery can easily set you back over £1000, particularly if you go for beautiful letterpress or embossed wedding invitations. Then if you throw in Save the Dates, pretty answering cards, printed instructions, place-makers, menus and the cost of stamps, and you're easily busting your wedding budget on paper! The good news is that DIY-ing your wedding stationery is simple, even if you're creatively challenged like me. I managed to DIY my wedding stationery, and believe me, if I can do it, so can you! If you're not keen on fiddling around on your computer with designs and layouts, how about trying wedding stamps? You can get them specially personalised for you by boutique designers on Etsy, so all you need to do is add ink and paper of your choice. Take a look at some of these fab designs for starters, and click for more wedding stamp ideas. Plus you won't want to miss all of Before the Big Day's DIY ideas.

{Product Credit} Save the Date DIY Stamp by Stamp Couture

{Product Credit} Save the Date DIY Stamp by Stamp Couture

{Product Credit} Lovely favour stamp by Rachel Carl & Company

{Product Credit} Pretty Wedding Logo Stamps by Red Cloud Boutique

{Product Credit} Lovely wedding slogan stamp by The Chatty Press

{Product Credit} Fun wedding favour stamps by Rachel Carl & Company

{Product Credit} Matching Wedding Invitation & Save the Date stamps by Native Bear

{Product Credit} Pretty wedding detail stamps by Paper Sushi

{Product Credit} Wedding Invitations & Save the Date stamps by Modern Art Stamps

♥ Want to see wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding favour ideas? ♥

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Carnival Wedding: DIY Invitation Tickets

Making the Carnival Wedding Tickets was a little bit fiddly, but it's definitely do-able, even if you're not a professional graphic designer. The secret is to be adaptable, and use the computer programmes you understand. For me, that's Picasa, Word and iPhoto. Picasa is a free programme, which you can download from the internet, and it's seriously easy to use. This tutorial will help you adapt any free printable, so it's worth saving!

First of all I downloaded a free printable of a carnival ticket invitation that best resembled the look I wanted. I found this amazing template from The Burk Family Blog via Pinterest {right click, Save As onto your Desktop}. To find your own template, the best search to use is 'free printables' and then any other key word. If you can't find one on Pinterest, then Google Images is a great place to look as well.

Carnival Wedding Theme DIY Invitations

My birthday is fast approaching, and as it's my last one before I become a mother {eek!}, I've decided to go the whole hog, with a Carnival Theme. It's a style I seriously considered for our wedding, so I'm using my 34th as an excuse to use all my carnival wedding inspiration. As ever, my first obsession was styling the invitations - I think it's key to any wedding or party to build anticipation with fabulous stationery, and with the right kit, it's super easy to DIY. Take a look my Circus Bunting invitations below, complete with DIY instructions. And if you're looking for more Carnival Wedding Theme ideas, then definitely check out my Pinterest page.

Making the invitations was a two stage process. First of all I made the bunting cards, and then the carnival tickets to slip inside.

What you need
Hint: I find all my supplies via eBay to get the best prices!
* this Carnival ticket template {published with thanks to The Burk Family Blog}
* white cards 4" x 3"
* striped blue & white paper bags
* washi tape
* star squeeze punch
* A4 red card 220gsm
* white address labels 100mm x 34mm
* plain white sewing cotton
* sharp scissors
* sticky tape
* glue
* a printer with black ink
* a guillotine {or be very good at cutting straight lines}

Before the Big Day Wedding Trends of 2013 - Origami

The first of the HUGE trends for 2013 is wedding origami. It's DIY, cheap and cheerful, and completely personalised, making it the perfect recession-beating wedding detail. And it's easy! With the help of YouTube videos and cheap squares of origami paper, I managed to create a very cute origami heart and origami duck yesterday. Check out my pictures on Pinterest. I'd recommend adding origami details to your wedding invitations and wedding favours, and you could even create an origami swan backdrop for your wedding vows. Plus, did you know that in Japan, a thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding gift by the father of the bride, to wish the happy couple a thousand years of happiness and prosperity? So romantic! Here are just a few wedding origami ideas - for tonnes more take a look at my Pinterest board.

More posts like this one: 
✽ Origami Crane Wedding
✽ DIY Origami Love Notes

♥ Want to see wedding theme ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding advice? ♥

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Divine Twine for Wedding Stationery & Favours

Stationery has always been something of an obsession for me, but it wasn't until I start my wedding blog, that I realised I could get genuinely excited about string. Or twine to be exact. Divine Twine. Much beloved by all the US wedding blogs, it's now available in the UK via Not On the High Street. It comes in every colour, and it's perfect for adding a touch of whimsy to your wedding stationery and favours.

♥ Want to see wedding stationery ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding favour ideas? ♥

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Message in a Bottle Wedding Favours

Build the sense of intrigue surrounding your big day with a secret message in a bottle. Roll up personalised messages to your guests and leave them as favours at each place setting, or use them to send your save the dates. Perfect if you're planning a nautical or vintage wedding. These sets are from Minature Rhino and include stoppered vials, a charm of your choice, paper and a little cloth bag. If you want to do your own DIY project, then check out Coloured Bottles for a lovely selection.

♥ Click for more wedding favour ideas! ♥ And tonnes of vintage weddings! ♥

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Latest Wedding Stationery Favourites

Choosing your wedding stationery is one of the most important steps in your wedding planning. It'll set the tone of your big day, and you should pick a design that suits your wedding style. There's thousands of fabulous designs out there, but if you can't find something you like, then I'd recommend commissioning a bespoke collection. Two brand new stationery designers on the block have recently caught my eye - one from Australia and one from here in the UK. Check out these gorgeous designs from Zed & Bee and Miss Emma Ruth.

{Pictures above: Zed & Bee} I'm particularly loving the femininity of their letterpress collection, and the mysterious dark seal in the picture above. {Pictures below: Miss Emma Ruth} Button badges are a huge wedding trend this season, and I love the romantic whimsy of the star design.

♥ Click for more wedding stationery ideas! ♥ And hundreds of real weddings! ♥

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