Shabby-Chic Jane Austen Themed Wedding Shoot - Part 2

Time for Part 2 of this incredible Jane Austen-themed wedding shoot. You've got to love English literature as the perfect wedding inspiration, particularly if you're planning a marquee or country-house wedding. With endless wedding ideas, you're going to want to copy every one of these pictures to your wedding Pinterest board. My favourite spots? I'm loving the blackberries in the bridal bouquet, the indoor as outdoor chandelier in the garden, the decadent picnic set-up, and all the vintage details, including the cake stand, apple crates and quilt. Dress your bridesmaids and pageboys in antique clothing, and add a traditional feel to your wedding day. Huge thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography for these beautiful pictures. Don't miss the list of all the other talented vendors who made this Wedding Shoot possible - after the pics. If you didn't catch Part 1, don't miss it - click here.

Shabby-Chic Jane Austen Themed Wedding Shoot

Romantic brides who love their literature are going to adore this beautiful Jane Austin wedding shoot organised by Melissa Love Design and Orchestrated, and photographed by Dominic Whiten Photography. Theming your wedding around your favourite book is such a brilliant idea, although you've got to hope your husband isn't a fan of Lord of the Rings, or you could find your ushers dressed as orcs! My wedding was loosely styled around The Secret Garden, which meant lots of vintage keys and a wedding reception in a walled garden. This Jane Austin theme sees tonnes of pretty nods to literature and books, with a traditional English tea and picnic, plus croquet on the lawn. Stealworthy wedding ideas include the adorable striped wedding stationery, the antique silver napkin rings {start collecting now at car boot sales and off eBay}, using fruit as table decorations, and traditional English blooms like roses and lavender. I also love the flower crown worn by the 'bride'. Buckets more wedding inspiration on its way in Part 2, published first thing tomorrow!

Real Luxury Wedding with a Couture Gown & Grey Accents

So there are weddings, and then there are w-e-d-d-i-n-g-s. You may not have the budget for the latter, but it's definitely worth a quick squiz at the pictures for ideas. After all there's nothing stopping you DIYing your details to keep costs down. Fannie and Leonard have to be the most elegant couple in the world, I totally adore their choices of silvery grey and sagey green {quick note for own wedding}, and Fannie's Monaco Couture gown is dreamy. Other stealworthy ideas include the ushers' matching neon sunglasses, the romantic vintage font on the stationery and the bridesmaids' mismatching bouquets. Just goes to show that if you keep the colour palette simple, you can play with variety on which flowers you use. Last but not least, check out the ice-cream sundae bar with pick-your-own topping....now we're talking! Gorgeous photographs as ever from the hugely talented team over at Stephanie Williams Photography.

A Pastels & Vintage Themed Wedding with a Mori Lee Gown - Part 2

It's wedding inspiration time for DIY brides. Gorgeous couple Hannah and Ben roped in the help of all their family and friends to create a stunning, personalised wedding day. By choosing to host their wedding reception in a marquee in the garden of stunning venue Hill Place, they could let their imagination run wild. Hannah chose a country garden wedding theme, and collected vintage floral fabric scraps, which her friend Polly sewed into over 60m of pretty bunting! Friends and family also helped with making their wedding cake, arranging their flowers, designing the table plan and personalising each and every place marker. I love the pretty pastel theme and the way the wedding favours and table names reflect Hannah and Ben's love of music. We named our wedding tables after vegetables - I wish we'd been more creative! Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Greg Thurtle from TP Photography.

My husband Ben and I got married on 30th July 2011 at Hill Place in Swanmore, a beautiful Georgian Country Villa set in 20 acres of beautiful park land.  Our wedding photographer was Greg Thurtle from TP Photography, who was brilliant and captured some amazing candid shots. Looking through the photos, they are all so personal and encapsulate the day perfectly. 

I had five bridesmaids, they wore knee length, chiffon and halter neck dresses in dusky pink and sapphire blue. They were also from Brides of Southampton. I originally said that they could wear anything pink or blue, and took them to the shop to try on whatever they fancied...they all loved the same dress!

A Pastels & Vintage Themed Wedding with a Mori Lee Gown

Take one dramatic wedding venue, add a DIY bride bursting with wedding ideas, and a pretty village church, and you've created wedding blogger's heaven. Hannah and Ben celebrated their big day at the gorgeous Hill Place in Hampshire, and got seriously creative with their wedding day, adding more DIY details than you can shake a stick at! Just wait for the reception details in Part 2, it's a DIY bride's dream. Hannah chose a country garden wedding theme with pretty pastels as her colour palette, which she carried throughout her wedding details, including bridesmaids dresses, bouquet and bunting. Her pretty up-do is stunning, and I love her traditional Princess-cut wedding gown, complete with the train she thought she didn't want! Other fun wedding ideas include the vintage car and camper van, and the sweet-smelling dried lavender decorating the church. Stunning pictures published with thanks to Greg Thurtle from TP Photography. Don't miss the reception details, coming soon later today.

My husband Ben and I got married on 30th July 2011 at Hill Place in Swanmore, a beautiful Georgian Country Villa set in 20 acres of beautiful park land.


We chose the venue because of the location and because it was so beautiful. Ben and I both grew up within a mile of Hill Place and the area has special significance to us both. We met at Swanmore Secondary School when we were 11, and we spent our teenage year s in the area. When we saw Hill Place, we immediately fell in love with it. It was so beautiful and Will and Rebecca Dobson (the owners) were two of the nicest people we have met! They were so laid back and accommodating, we knew that this was the venue for us.

A Detail-Filled Londonl Little Venice Wedding: Part 3

It's time lovely ladies, it's time for the wedding details! I meant to post this last night be jetlag got the better of me. However it means I've been particularly {if accidentally} good at suspense-building. There are so many wedding details pictured in these fabulous Caught the Light wedding pictures, you're going to be slightly blown away. It's a DIY bride's fantasy wedding! Take a look at all the paper decorations, from the handmade origami swan chandeliers, to the striped straw flags and boat place markers. I'm loving the colourful bright theme, the wonderful array of different flower blooms in little vases and the wire table numbers. With blue-striped napkins, a Catch of the Day basket for wedding wishes, a net capturing Lynda and Blair's friends' pictures, and little messages in bottles as favours, every wedding detail is in keeping with the nautical theme. I think I'm in love! Huge thanks to Chloé Browne from Caught the Light for her fabulous pictures. Don't miss the fabulousness that was Part 2, and Part 1!

A Detail-Filled London Little Venice Wedding: Part 2

When it comes to wedding transport, it doesn't get much more original than a traditional London barge! But when gorgeous couple Lynda and Blair celebrated their wedding in Maida Vale, it made perfect sense to use the canals around Little Venice to transport their guests from the ceremony venue to the wedding reception at the waterside restaurant, The Summerhouse. I'm loving how Lynda decorated the barge with pompoms {tutorial here}, bunting and paper-hearts. All these wedding decorations are super-easy to DIY - why not get a group of your girlfriends together for a big crafting night before your big day? With personalised button badges and fans as favours, and nautical red and white ribbon decorating the vases, Lynda and Blair's wedding planner, Rebecca at Harlequin & Romance thought of every wedding detail! Huge thanks to Chloé Browne from Caught the Light for her fabulous pictures. Click back later today for the wedding detail-fest that is Part 3, and click here for Part 1!

A Detail-Filled London Little Venice Wedding: Part 1

London brides are going to love this inspirational Little Venice wedding. There are so many wedding details, I've had to split it into three posts - it's a Before the Big Day record! Gorgeous couple Lynda and Blair chose to get married in a local registry office, before taking a barge down the canal {how cool is that!}, to The Summerhouse in Maida Vale for their wedding reception. It's the first time I've seen a barge used as wedding transport, and I love the idea! Lynda carried the watery theme throughout her wedding day, with tonnes of cute nautical wedding details - pictures coming soon in Part 2 and 3 later today. In these shots I'm mostly loving Lynda's elegant Jenny Packham wedding dress, her gorgeous chignon with glittery jewel hair-piece, and her yellow arum lilies bouquet. Blair looks equally dapper in his red tie and matching auburn arum lily buttonhole. Don't miss Lynda's bridesmaids' pretty dresses - the subtle button details are another nod to the nautical theme. Huge thanks to Chloé Browne from Caught the Light for her fabulous pictures - Chloé was my wedding photographer as well, so she's my favourite! Click back later today for more!

Real Luxury Lace-Themed Wedding: Jennifer & Kirt

Exquisite summer wedding alert! I've got a complete humdinger for your delectation. It's another Jose Villa wedding, and they're always exquisitely pictured, and chock-a-block with stealworthy ideas. From the elegant candy-striped stationery, to the vintage car and cute dog pageboy, I'm wanting to copy every detail. Recreate the tablescape with a selection of different-sized vases, scraps of lace wrapped round linen napkins, and a sage green table cloth. Add in some antique silver borrowed from a local shop, and you'll be well on the way to extreme elegance.

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.

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.

Enchanting South African Garden Wedding with DIY Details

Celebrating your wedding in your parents' garden has got to be one of the best ways to say I do. Personal, meaningful and a lot less pricey than a hired venue, you can start your preparations months before your big day. And when your parents' garden happens to be a gorgeous jungly South African affair, like Louis and Nadine's, then you'd be crazy to do it anywhere else! I'm loving all their sweet wedding details, including the simple gingham ribbon decorations and napkins, the ceramic hanging altar-area, and the speech bubble table plans. We need more speech bubbles at weddings! Also loving the tulip garden decorations, streamer confetti and cool safari-style tent marquee. Most of all I love how happy Louis and Nadine look to be a Mr and Mrs. Fabulous photographs published with thanks to the hugely talented We Love Pictures - our favourite South African photographers.

A Pretty Pastel Wedding with a Vera Wang Gown

A wedding in paradise is a pretty good start to married life! This heavenly Hawaiian wedding has made me wish for warmer climes and a beachside big day. I'm loving the breezy blue-grey bridesmaid dresses {by Jenny Yoo}, bride Tracy's stunning ruffled Vera Wang gown and the fabulous outdoor ceremony. Add the white peony bouquets, and orchids in Tracy's hair, and this wedding ticks every one of my boxes. Fabulous pictures published with thanks to the lovely Jen Huang Photography.

A Tiny Irish Wedding in South Africa with a Bride in Boots

There's a photography team in South Africa who I've admired from afar for several years. They're called We Love Pictures, and they're husband and wife, Travis and Maike. Every wedding they photograph is stunning, and none more so than this tiny wedding of only six guests! Michael and Lynne chose a wonderful restaurant called Le Petit Dauphine in Franschhoek in South Africa for their big day. I've been there - and the food is amazing! So if you're struggling with your guest list, and worrying about your wedding budget, take inspiration from this wonderful, unpretentious wedding day.

A 1950's Vintage Themed Wedding with a Grace Kelly Inspired Bride - Part 2

With a vintage 1950's theme, and a rustic-glamorous venue, this wedding is something of a humdinger! the bride and groom, Tania and Tegid threw themselves into the planning process, adding tonnes of personalised ideas, and doing a fair few DIY projects along the way. There's lots of money-saving tips in Tania's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, including print-your-own wedding stationery from Zazzle, make your own favours with Jen's Sweet Shop vintage bonbons, and original 1970s figurines of Princess Leia and Han Solo as a cake topper. I'm also a big fan of their heart-shaped blackboards - such a useful photo prop! Loving all their wedding pictures, published with thanks to the talented team of Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography.

We got married in the Midlands on 31st August 2013. The ceremony was held at St John the Baptist's Church in Middleton, followed by our reception at Shustoke Farm Barns in Coleshill.

We saw a lot of lovely old hotels full of character, but for the number of guests we had {approx. 90}, with most of them we would have had to have held our wedding breakfast in a marquee away from the main venue. So when we found Shustoke Farm Barns, a red brick 18th century building which was still being renovated {we saw it pretty much as a building site, without a roof!}, we thought it was perfect. It had all the beautiful traditional rustic charm, but with the added bonus of lots of capacity!

A 1950's Vintage Themed Wedding with a Grace Kelly Inspired Bride

Bride's looking for an idea for a theme for their wedding will love today's Grace Kelly-inspired big day! Bride, Tania is a huge fan of the 50's star, and chose her Justin Alexander wedding dress based on her unique, elegant style. This in turn led to 50's inspired stationery, bridesmaid dresses {by Mori Lee}, traditional bonbon favours, and even the vintage suitcase as a wedding card postbox. I'm head-over-heels for their barn wedding venue, booked on a leap of faith, considering it wasn't even finished when they made the reservation! Add in a stunning bouquet of roses and eucalyptus, groom Tegid, in his morning suit, and two lovely late-1950s Daimlers for wedding transport, and I'm in wedding-heaven! Fabulous photographs published with thanks to Ben and Hannah of HBA Photography - don't miss the reception pictures coming later today!

We got married in the Midlands on 31st August 2013. The ceremony was held at St John the Baptist's Church in Middleton, followed by our reception at Shustoke Farm Barns in Coleshill.

I am a big fan of Grace Kelly! So my dress was very much inspired by her timeless look. We therefore had a hint of a 50s vintage theme throughout the wedding, from the 50s inspired design on the stationery, the style of the bridesmaid dresses, the traditional bonbons for favours, all the way through to our vintage suitcase, which we used as a wedding card postbox.

Real Rustic Beach-side Wedding

I've fallen in love big-time with this wedding. There are just so many stealworthy ideas, and every time I look at the pics, I spot more and more. I've only just noticed that they used a slice of log as a cake stand - super rustic but super stylish! It's all down to the happy couple, Betty and Kent. Betty is an interior designer, and you can really see her talent reflected in these gorgeous pictures by Punam Bean. Lace is a dominant theme, starting with Betty's dress, and continuing to the bridesmaids' parasols and the delicately decorated water bottles. Also loving the bright pop bottles and pashmina library, plus Betty's fab red shoes - yum!

Chic Separates for Summer Wedding Page Boys

Are you having pageboys at your wedding? I was supposed to have my nephew, but it didn't quite work out. The plan was for him to walk down the aisle ahead of me, with a sign saying 'Here Comes the Bride', but unfortunately he fell asleep just before his big moment! To be fair, he was only one, and now I've got my own little son, I realise how impossible they are to manage. I also had no idea what I wanted my nephew to wear. In the end, my mum picked him up this outfit from M&S, and he looked super cute. {See pictures of my wedding}.  If you fancied going for something a little more bespoke, on of my real brides discovered Little Linens, and I've since become a huge fan of their chic separates. They're great for flowers girls and bridesmaids dresses as well {although for me Monsoon has cornered that market}, but their real strength is their pageboy range. Take a look! Now all you've got to do is keep them clean until the group photographs.....

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Destination Mexican Wedding Featuring a Donkey & Tequilla

The perfect wedding is an alchemy of romance, design and organisation, plus a supercalifragilistic-expialidocious photographer. In this case Stephanie Williams from This Modern Romance, seriously rocked the wedding photographs, taking pics of every little, exquisite detail. The bride and groom behind this romance are Erica and Abrahm, who celebrated their big day on Valentine's Day in the gorgeous mountain town of San Miguel De Allende in Mexico, at an historic colonial villa called Casa Chorro. The wedding theme of orange and grey, succulents, wood and French linen worked perfectly with the venue, and I've fallen for Erica's lace Monique Lhuillier dress, bespoke-dyed Kate Spade shoes and succulent bouquet. Their wedding coordinator, Guadalupe Alvarez from Penzi Weddings, did an amazing job of coordinating the three days of celebration. Not only did she provide the flowers, decor, and Benito the tequila donkey, but her team built the whole raised reception dance floor on the villa grounds in less than two days! Amazing!