Struggling to find the perfect venue for your big day? Then you're going to fall head-over-heels for this clever village hall wedding. Lovely couple Kerry and Dave didn't like the interior of the building, so they decorated it with fabric, making it look and feel exactly like an elegant marquee. And what a transformation! No drafts, no need to hire loos, and a brilliant reception venue right next to the church. So clever! Kerry and Dave wanted a relaxed and family orientated big day, so there was no grand design - just plenty of lovely details to inspire you. My favourites? Kerry's elegant half-up hair-style, her sweet-smelling bouquet by {I spy freesias}, the gorgeous vintage American-style car, and the celebratory strawberry themed afternoon tea. Huge thanks to the lovely Lisa Webb Photography for submitting her beautiful pictures of the wedding - I'm hoping to feature much more of her work!
Showing posts with label Tea-Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tea-Party. Show all posts
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Monday, 29 June 2015
A Quirky DIY Wedding with a Groom in a Top Hat
DIY weddings are always pretty special, because of all the personal touches. This wonderful Alice in Wonderland themed wedding definitely falls into that category - it's chock-full of brilliant handmade details! Bride Sophie made her own wedding cake and marshmallow favours, her friend made the cute toppers, her sister and mother made all the wedding decorations, including incredible vintage china cake stands, and the groom and his ushers were in charge of all the music, and the brightly coloured 'Drink Me' favours. Even the flowers were provided by a friend of the family. Feast your eyes on these amazing pictures by Sarah Jane Ethan Photography, and be sure to check our the Ceremony and Getting Ready pictures too.
We celebrated our wedding at Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham. We both fell in love with the Medieval Hall and Georgian Tea Room.
We chose to host an Alice in Wonderland wedding, and the variety of secret gardens fitted our theme perfectly. Crook Hall was the first and only venue we visited.
We celebrated our wedding at Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham. We both fell in love with the Medieval Hall and Georgian Tea Room.
We chose to host an Alice in Wonderland wedding, and the variety of secret gardens fitted our theme perfectly. Crook Hall was the first and only venue we visited.
Labels:
Alice in Wonderland
,
Barn Wedding
,
Civil Ceremony
,
Pink
,
Real Weddings
,
Tea-Party
Sunday, 28 June 2015
An Alice in Wonderland Wedding with Dozens of DIY Ideas
Oooo, I do love a good theme! And there's nothing like a groom in a fancy red top hat and bow-tie! Rick and Sophie chose a brilliant Alice in Wonderland theme for their big day, and they really went to town with the DIY wedding details. I am so impressed with the creativity of Sophie's mother and sister - between them they created all the wedding decorations, from cake stands made from old cups and saucers, the hand-painted Alice-style signs, the giant playing card bunting, the embroidered hanging clocks, and even a personalised hand-stitched guest book based on the gates of the venue. You're going to want to Pin every picture! Huge thanks to Sarah Jane Ethan Photography for her beautiful pictures of the day - don't miss the Mad Hatter's Tea Party Reception.
Labels:
Alice in Wonderland
,
Barn Wedding
,
Civil Ceremony
,
Pink
,
Real Weddings
,
Tea-Party
Thursday, 9 January 2014
A Garden Wedding with a Bird Theme & Jenny Packham Dress - The Reception
It's time for the reception pictures from this gorgeous Midsummer's Eve wedding. Sonya and Terry chose 20th June for their big day, and basked in stunning sunshine - lucky things! With a romantic garden theme and a vintage bird motif, there's plenty of stealworthy ideas for you to enjoy. Sonya DIY'd many of her wedding details, including the bird-stamped luggage tags for her wedding wish tree and the rustic hessian napkin wraps {very effective!}. My favourite spots include the bird-named reception tables, birdcage centre pieces, pink striped balloons, rustic pastel iced cakes, and the fabulous giant pink and peach balloons. Huge thanks to Tanya from Eden Photography for capturing every detail!
We celebrated our wedding at Kilternan Church of Ireland in Co. Dublin, and afterwards with a reception in The Village at Lyons in Celbridge, on 20th June 2013.
We always wanted to have an intimate wedding for family and friends to share with us. We knew that as our wedding day was on Midsummer's Eve, that we wanted a summer garden, romantic theme, and the venue suited this perfectly.
We celebrated our wedding at Kilternan Church of Ireland in Co. Dublin, and afterwards with a reception in The Village at Lyons in Celbridge, on 20th June 2013.
We always wanted to have an intimate wedding for family and friends to share with us. We knew that as our wedding day was on Midsummer's Eve, that we wanted a summer garden, romantic theme, and the venue suited this perfectly.
Labels:
Bird
,
Burlap
,
Cream
,
Eden Photography
,
Garden
,
Ireland
,
Jenny Packham
,
Pastel
,
Real Wedding
,
Romance
,
Rustic
,
Summer
,
Tea-Party
,
Vintage
,
Zara
Summer Garden Wedding with a Bird Theme & Jenny Packham Dress
1. A Jenny Packham wedding dress. 2. A romantic garden wedding theme. 3. A bird motif. Three of my favourite things, all featured in one gorgeous wedding! Sonya and Terry celebrated their wedding in Ireland on a beautiful summer's day, at a stunning venue called The Village at Lyons. Sonya really wanted a garden wedding, and drew inspiration from the romantic grounds of The Village at Lyons, including its cascading stream, delicate bridge, and secret stone doorways. Her wedding stationery, decorations and just-picked flower arrangements all mirrored the feel of her wedding venue, with pastel colours of pinks and peach as a palette. There's plenty more details in the reception pictures, coming later this afternoon, but first, drink in Sonya's elegant Jenny Packham wedding gown, and her bargainous eBay wedding shoes, that luckily turned out to exactly match the beading on her dress. Even Sonya's hair-style reflected her romantic wedding theme, with her headpiece specially designed to look ethereal and Elvish, like in Lord of the Rings. Huge thanks to Tanya from Eden Photography for permission to publish Sonya and Terry's fab wedding pictures!
Labels:
Bird
,
Burlap
,
Cream
,
Eden Photography
,
Garden
,
Ireland
,
Jenny Packham
,
Pastel
,
Real Wedding
,
Romance
,
Rustic
,
Summer
,
Tea-Party
,
Vintage
,
Zara
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Vintage Tearoom Engagement Shoot
Engagement shoots very rarely make their way onto Before the Big Day - unless there's a serious theme, or some very clever portrait ideas, I don't think they're very interesting for anyone but the friends and family of the happy couple. But for I had to make an exception for this fun shoot by Victoria Mitchell Photography. It took place in the cutest little vintage cafe in Southall, and it involved cake, books and tea, three of my favourite things in the whole world. Enjoy the pics - great inspiration for your own engagement shoot, no?
Labels:
About Me
,
Engagement Shoot
,
Pretty
,
Tea-Party
,
Victoria Mitchell Photography
,
Vintage
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Vintage Tea-Party Wedding Shoot
One wedding trend that's refusing to go out of fashion is the vintage tea-party. If you combine cake and pretty, your guests are always going to be happy, and the icing on the cake {sorry!} is that tea-parties are much more budget-friendly than a sit-down dinner. Order sandwiches from Marks & Spencer, ask your bridesmaids to get baking, buy your teabags in bulk, and you're well on the way to wedding success. For sheer prettiness, you can't do better than vintage china - collect your own from car boot sales and charity shops, or try a supplier like A Cup of Vintage - who'll also cater your wedding tea-party if you want! For more wedding inspiration, take a look at this gorgeous shoot by Eddie Judd with Jay Archer Floral Design and A Cup of Vintage at Fetcham Park. I love how they've used the vintage cups as vases for single rose blooms - place setting and pretty in one! Don't miss the pictures from my own tea-party wedding.
More posts like this one:
More posts like this one:
♥ Want to see pastel themed weddings? ♥ Or how about more vintage weddings? ♥
If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter.
Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.
Labels:
Pastel
,
Peach
,
Tea-Party
,
Vintage
,
Wedding Shoot
Monday, 24 June 2013
Handprinted Vintage Tea-Party Wedding Bunting
As a huge fan of wedding bunting, I'm always on the look-out for a new style, so imagine how thrilled I was to stumble upon Ilene's stunning Etsy shop, Corydora's. Based in Bath, Ilene prints all of her bunting by hand using individual lino blocks, and I love the rustic effect. The flags remind me of sails on a ship, and would be the perfect addition to any vintage tea-party themed wedding. The bunting also comes printed with shells for a nautical big day, hearts, and tulips for a garden party, plus Ilene's happy to take custom orders!
**Update! The lovely Ilene spotted by post, and as a little pre-wedding gift is offering a special 10% off coupon for Before the Big Day readers. The coupon code is BBD10 and when it is entered at check out Etsy will deduct 10% from any purchase in my shop over $25.00**
**Update! The lovely Ilene spotted by post, and as a little pre-wedding gift is offering a special 10% off coupon for Before the Big Day readers. The coupon code is BBD10 and when it is entered at check out Etsy will deduct 10% from any purchase in my shop over $25.00**
♥ Want to see more wedding decoration ideas? ♥ Or how about tea-party weddings? ♥
If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter.
Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Real Alice in Wonderland Themed Wedding: Cheryl & Jack
Weddings with a fabulous theme make me happy! And there's nothing I like more than an Alice in Wonderland tea-party - there's just so many fabulous details to choose from. Lewis Carroll was a genius! So when Louise and Sam from Pavone Photography got in touch with Cheryl and Jack's amazing monochrome Alice in Wonderland themed wedding, I jumped at the chance to feature it on Before the Big Day. Many months later, and here, finally, it is! Don't miss all the DIY wedding details - Cheryl and Jack came up with everything, including their brilliant themed portrait pictures, complete with Alice in Wonderland props. It's such a clever idea to come up with a few props for your portrait pictures, particularly if you're slightly nervous in front of the camera. Other wedding details to steal include Cheryl's gorgeous second-hand wedding gown {which she personalised herself}, the flower girl's alternative bouquet {a clock!}, and the hilarious fancy dress kit for classic guest entertainment. Huge thanks to Pavone Photography for their stunning shots!
We got married on 2nd July at Little Hallingbury Mill in Essex, surrounded by our family and close friends. Our theme was vintage Alice in Wonderland with a black and white stripped twist.
The venue was a quirky old mill surrounded by fields and just seemed to scream 'Tea-Party'!
I bought my wedding dress second-hand, and customised it by adding as much black as possible. My shoes were an old pair from my wardrobe which again I customised in black.
My dress was so beautiful {and totally over the top}, that I didn't want to distract too much attention from it. So I didn't wear a veil and chose understated accessories, which were of course, black and white.
My husband’s outfit was a plain black suit, with an all-important waistcoat. He wore my great-grandfather’s pocket watch to add a hint of ‘Mad Hatterness’ to the day.
My bouquet was a single large black rose head which matched the black roses in my hair and on my shoes.
Apart from this, we didn’t have anything other flowers as instead chose to decorate the venue with playing cards, spoons, teapots, teacups, clocks, books, white rabbits and any other Alice in Wonderland item you can conjure up!
My flower girl was mostly in white, but instead of carrying flowers she held a black old-fashioned alarm clock, set to the time we got married.
We tied black and white stripped ribbon to it in keeping with the theme. It added a fantastic element of ‘Don't be late, don't be late for an important date!’
Jack and I me on a night bus in 2007! Jack was my knight in shining armour, as he made sure I got home safely. We got engaged on Christmas Day in 2010 in front of our twinkling Christmas Tree.
We chose Pavone Photography {Louise and Sam} as our wedding photographers. We felt they were the only people who had the talent to do our unique wedding day justice, and we were so right!
Our entire wedding was a DIY project – nothing was pre bought, and we put all the ideas together ourselves. I really enjoyed planning every part. My advice to other brides would be, leave yourself plenty of time. Make as much as you can to give you a truly original wedding. Go wild – you will only do it once! Enjoy every last second.
We made our own wedding invitations. They were made to look like 4 large playing cards held together by black and white ribbon, and a small silver key. All the phrases on the invitation, directions and RSVP were taken from the original Alice in Wonderland Film - e.g. ‘Help us Paint the Roses Red’.
We slotted a playing card into the corks of each of the bottle favours, and they doubled up as place markers too.
My sister-in-law handmade our wedding cake! It was three layers, and covered in black and white Alice in Wonderland decorations, like clocks, teaspoons, books, teapots and teacups. It was amazing!
We got married on 2nd July at Little Hallingbury Mill in Essex, surrounded by our family and close friends. Our theme was vintage Alice in Wonderland with a black and white stripped twist.
The venue was a quirky old mill surrounded by fields and just seemed to scream 'Tea-Party'!
I bought my wedding dress second-hand, and customised it by adding as much black as possible. My shoes were an old pair from my wardrobe which again I customised in black.
My dress was so beautiful {and totally over the top}, that I didn't want to distract too much attention from it. So I didn't wear a veil and chose understated accessories, which were of course, black and white.
My husband’s outfit was a plain black suit, with an all-important waistcoat. He wore my great-grandfather’s pocket watch to add a hint of ‘Mad Hatterness’ to the day.
My bouquet was a single large black rose head which matched the black roses in my hair and on my shoes.
Apart from this, we didn’t have anything other flowers as instead chose to decorate the venue with playing cards, spoons, teapots, teacups, clocks, books, white rabbits and any other Alice in Wonderland item you can conjure up!
We tied black and white stripped ribbon to it in keeping with the theme. It added a fantastic element of ‘Don't be late, don't be late for an important date!’
Jack and I me on a night bus in 2007! Jack was my knight in shining armour, as he made sure I got home safely. We got engaged on Christmas Day in 2010 in front of our twinkling Christmas Tree.
We chose Pavone Photography {Louise and Sam} as our wedding photographers. We felt they were the only people who had the talent to do our unique wedding day justice, and we were so right!
Our entire wedding was a DIY project – nothing was pre bought, and we put all the ideas together ourselves. I really enjoyed planning every part. My advice to other brides would be, leave yourself plenty of time. Make as much as you can to give you a truly original wedding. Go wild – you will only do it once! Enjoy every last second.
We made our own wedding invitations. They were made to look like 4 large playing cards held together by black and white ribbon, and a small silver key. All the phrases on the invitation, directions and RSVP were taken from the original Alice in Wonderland Film - e.g. ‘Help us Paint the Roses Red’.
For our wedding favours, we bought miniature 2cm high glass bottles with a cork cap, filled with red wine, and labelled with a 'Drink me' tag.
We slotted a playing card into the corks of each of the bottle favours, and they doubled up as place markers too.
My sister-in-law handmade our wedding cake! It was three layers, and covered in black and white Alice in Wonderland decorations, like clocks, teaspoons, books, teapots and teacups. It was amazing!
♥ Want to see wedding detail ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding favour ideas? ♥
If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter.
Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.
Labels:
Alice in Wonderland
,
Black
,
Civil Ceremony
,
Monochrome
,
Pavone Photography
,
Real Weddings
,
Summer
,
Tea-Party
,
White
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Real Marquee Tea-Party Wedding: Holly & Jason - Reception Details
You're going to love the quirky, vintage wedding details from the reception pictures of this homespun wedding. With tonnes of DIY projects, and a colour theme based around vintage china, it's super-inspirational. With the help of Rosebud Vintage, who catered and styled Holly and Jason's wedding day, they created a detail-filled day, with tonnes of original touches. I love how they used vintage music-scores in their table stationery, and heart doilies for writing messages to their guests. Jason's mum hand-knitted a bride and groom for every female guest - a true labour of love, and their table plan was a grand, gold-rimmed mirror. Other stealworthy ideas include the luggage tag place-markers, the vintage china and old-embroidered table cloths, and the fun fancy-dress wedding favours. Huge thanks to Dominic Whiten Photography for his brilliant wedding photographs!
We chose Dominic Whiten as our wedding photographer. He’s amazing and we've had so many comments from guests about a) his presence being unnoticed, not bossy or demanding and generally being a great guy, and b) his amazing photos!
When we were choosing our wedding photographer, we had an instant rapport with Dominic and his easy-going attitude, so we didn't bother meeting any others! We found him by looking at some of his work online. We knew we wanted something creative and arty, that would capture the day, and this is exactly what we got.
For our wedding theme, we wanted something really different and relaxed, so we set out with a mixture of ideas based on a vintage, quirky, fairytale, Alice in Wonderland type of wedding and came up with ours, which I suppose we’d now describe as a quirky, whimsical, country garden, afternoon tea wedding!
We wanted it to be really visual, so we didn’t stick to one colour scheme. Instead we ensured we had a mixture of all colours, and brought in Rosebud Vintage to do our catering and wedding styling, which worked out better than we had ever dreamed.
For our wedding cake, we had 75 cup cakes on tiers, with a round cake on the top tier. My amazing cake-maker friends, Lindsay and Jenni made it for us. We wanted it to fit in with our vintage fairytale theme, so we chose yellow buttercream with more than 1200 cut-out flowers and buttons covering the cakes.
The colour theme was blues, pinks, whites and yellows - our colour inspiration came from a 1920's vintage china plate!
We had lots of DIY wedding projects. I handmade our wedding invitations, even though it took months! I used a heart-shaped stamp and a butterfly-shaped stamp, and designed the invitations using colourful card and vintage music sheets. Each one was individual, and we hope to make a collage/canvas out of them all, as a special reminder of what was the beginning of our dream day and hopefully a colourful addition of art to our house!
We loved planning our wedding, and it was only stressful on a couple of occasions throughout the whole 10 months, and that was generally when Jason and I could not decide on the smallest of details! We loved visiting suppliers, getting inspiration from blogs, magazines, web sites and wedding fairs and also shopping weekly for all our vintage accessories from boot fairs and charity shops!
Our wedding favours were our pièce de résistance! The girls all had knitted bride and groom dolls that stood about 8 inches high, and were so detailed the hair alone on each groom doll took 2 hours to thread through!! We chose these as wedding favours because Jason's mum is a fantastic knitter and literally knits for England! She spent 5 months making these for us and everyone was delighted!
My advice to brides is enjoy every minute of the planning and don’t get too stressed! Easier said than done, but always remember that your guests have been chosen by you to share this special day and to celebrate your love.
So if a table doesn’t have an accessory or the flowers aren’t quite as nice as you can afford, or any other detail is not quite right or going well, it is not be the end of the world and the chances are no one will even notice as they’ll be swept up in the ambience of the day!
We chose Dominic Whiten as our wedding photographer. He’s amazing and we've had so many comments from guests about a) his presence being unnoticed, not bossy or demanding and generally being a great guy, and b) his amazing photos!
When we were choosing our wedding photographer, we had an instant rapport with Dominic and his easy-going attitude, so we didn't bother meeting any others! We found him by looking at some of his work online. We knew we wanted something creative and arty, that would capture the day, and this is exactly what we got.
For our wedding theme, we wanted something really different and relaxed, so we set out with a mixture of ideas based on a vintage, quirky, fairytale, Alice in Wonderland type of wedding and came up with ours, which I suppose we’d now describe as a quirky, whimsical, country garden, afternoon tea wedding!
We wanted it to be really visual, so we didn’t stick to one colour scheme. Instead we ensured we had a mixture of all colours, and brought in Rosebud Vintage to do our catering and wedding styling, which worked out better than we had ever dreamed.
For our wedding cake, we had 75 cup cakes on tiers, with a round cake on the top tier. My amazing cake-maker friends, Lindsay and Jenni made it for us. We wanted it to fit in with our vintage fairytale theme, so we chose yellow buttercream with more than 1200 cut-out flowers and buttons covering the cakes.
The colour theme was blues, pinks, whites and yellows - our colour inspiration came from a 1920's vintage china plate!
We had lots of DIY wedding projects. I handmade our wedding invitations, even though it took months! I used a heart-shaped stamp and a butterfly-shaped stamp, and designed the invitations using colourful card and vintage music sheets. Each one was individual, and we hope to make a collage/canvas out of them all, as a special reminder of what was the beginning of our dream day and hopefully a colourful addition of art to our house!
We loved planning our wedding, and it was only stressful on a couple of occasions throughout the whole 10 months, and that was generally when Jason and I could not decide on the smallest of details! We loved visiting suppliers, getting inspiration from blogs, magazines, web sites and wedding fairs and also shopping weekly for all our vintage accessories from boot fairs and charity shops!
Our wedding favours were our pièce de résistance! The girls all had knitted bride and groom dolls that stood about 8 inches high, and were so detailed the hair alone on each groom doll took 2 hours to thread through!! We chose these as wedding favours because Jason's mum is a fantastic knitter and literally knits for England! She spent 5 months making these for us and everyone was delighted!
My advice to brides is enjoy every minute of the planning and don’t get too stressed! Easier said than done, but always remember that your guests have been chosen by you to share this special day and to celebrate your love.
So if a table doesn’t have an accessory or the flowers aren’t quite as nice as you can afford, or any other detail is not quite right or going well, it is not be the end of the world and the chances are no one will even notice as they’ll be swept up in the ambience of the day!
♥ Want to see outdoor wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more colourful wedding ideas? ♥
If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter.
Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.
Labels:
Civil Ceremony
,
Colourful
,
Dominic Whiten Photography
,
Marquee
,
Outdoor
,
Pastel
,
Real Weddings
,
Summer
,
Tea-Party
,
Vintage
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)