My Wedding - Save the Dates

This is where I tell you all about planning my own wedding. After all, if I'm publishing all these Real Weddings, it's only fair I share my trials and tribulations. Read the rest of my wedding diary here.

My plan for our Save the Dates was a disaster. If you check out my last posting, you'll see that I'd decided to use wooden cards (see below) with the symbol of a key stamped on one side, and the Save the Date message stamped on the other. Unfortunately it really didn't look good. The font of the message stamp is light and feminine, and the key stamp is really heavy and clunky, and they clashed horribly. It wouldn't have been that much of a disaster, but in my enthusiasm, I'd already stamped all the wooden cards with the key, meaning I couldn't use them any more. If you're planning your own DIY invitations, I'd definitely recommend creating one template, to check out the finished effect, before you go stamping crazy.

Several weeks then passed where I tried to figure out what to do, and meanwhile the clock was ticking, because we were going away for August, and I wanted to get the Save the Dates out before we left. In the end, I decided to save the wooden cards for the reception, and use white luggage tags instead. By now, I'd left it too late to buy the perfect sized tags from Etsy, so I had to buy regular ones and chop the ends off them. As you can see, my scissor-skills leave something to be desired, so the edge wasn't entirely straight, but hopefully my guest won't notice!

Our flight left on Tuesday evening, and I decided to buy the luggage tags and start stamping on Tuesday morning! So it was a bit of a lastminute affair, but The Boy chipped in, and within a couple of hours, we'd managed to stamp and put together 100 or so Save the Dates, and carefully put them in the envelopes. We took them with us to the airport, with the plan of posting them just before we got on the flight. I'd decided on gold 1st class stamps for the look, but because of the pegs, they were too fat for a standard stamp, and needed more postage. So we ended up sticking on over 200 stamps with only half an hour to go before our flight took off. Tense wasn't the word!

The whole experience was good fun, but I'm not sure I'll DIY our actual wedding invitations. Despite all the impressive efforts of other DIY brides, I'm thinking they must have more raw talent than me, and I'd really like our invitations to look more professional. Although I will go on with my DIY attempts in the hope that I get a bit better! By the way - I'm always hugely inspired by the blog I Do It Yourself - definitely worth a look!

Real Wedding: Victoria & Will

As autumn approaches, I'm already missing summer weddings, and this one makes me feel all the more wistful for the sunshine. A gorgeous English countryside affair, it's packed full of sweet details and inspirational ideas. Victoria and Will celebrated their big day with an intimate humanist ceremony in a tiny little village called Little Bardfield deep in the Essex countryside. Will's childhood home made for a magical setting, and the different marquees dotted around the grounds ingeniously divided the outside space into different areas according to the different stages of the day. The happy couple decided on a topsy turvy wedding day schedule, with the Pimms reception first, followed by their ceremony. This ingenious idea {one I might just steal} resulted in a truly special day that really reflected their fun personalities. Other stealworthy ideas include the quirky old-skool hat-themed seating plan, flower decorated cake, lavender bag favours, and the traditional English flowers arranged by Amelia Cornish. Fantastic photographs published with thanks to the Marianne Taylor.

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Real Wedding: Heather & James

A brand new morning, and a brand new photographer for Before the Big Day! Meet Amelia Lyon and drool over her amazing pictures of her cousin Heather's wedding to her high school sweetheart James. We're talking serious details, folks - so keep your inspiration notebook close. This was a truly family affair, with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents chipping in with a helping hand, including the catering! My favourite details are almost too many to count. Let's start with the fantastic bold colour palette of aqua and orange, and move on to the heavenly parasols, handmade paper garlands and personalised soda labels. I'm also seriously loving Heather's pretty waist corsage and James' funky tie. Most of all, I love what they did with the venue. Is there anything more romantic than a roof of sparkling lights? Gorgeous photos published with thanks to Amelia Lyon Photography.

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We ♥ Sample Sales

♥ Fashionista favourite Temperley are hosting a huge sample sale this week. They'll be offering up to 80% off ready-to-wear, bridal and accessories at the 20th Century Theatre on Westbourne Grove in London. Form an orderly line from 8am-7pm on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th September, 9am-6.30pm.

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Wedding Dress Hunt - Rachel Gilbert

Eight months and 13 days. That's how long I've got until my own wedding day. So it's probably time I started looking for a wedding dress. I have to admit what while I'm excited about the stationery and decor of our big day, the dress-thang doesn't really get me going. I think it's fear of the unknown, and a determination to not spend more than one thousand pounds - I mean, is that even possible?? Plus, I'm yet to find a single dress designer in the UK that presses my buttons. I'm guessing if I feel this way, then there must be other ladies out there with the same conundrum, so I'm going to go in search of the best frocks, for you and for me. My first discovery is Australian designer Rachel Gilbert. She's long been a favourite of mine, and {fab news!} Net-a-Porter have just started stocking her dresses. Check the pics out below, and tell me what you think, plus, if you've got any designers to recommend, please do leave a comment!

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Real Wedding: Ginny & Devin

If you're planning a vintage wedding, you're going to L-O-V-E the inspirational details in this gorgeous event. Ginny was the bride, and she went table-decor crazy, using an eclectic mix of personal touches. Each tabletop was decorated with different bright blooms, vases, tin cans, glass jars, papers, and even paint brushes still holding onto their perfectly artsy paint stains. My favourite detail has to be the polaroid photo wall, but I'm loving the fancy-dress moustaches and floral table cloths. One of the most important things on Ginny and Devin’s wedding day was their son, Liam, who chose to wear a super-cool superhero outfit. His friends followed suit, and just check out how cool they all look in the pictures! All these fabulous photographs published with thanks to the talented team at Simply Bloom.

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New Season Shopping #3

In celebration of the new season of autumn shopping, all this week, I'll be gathering a selection of the best online stores, so you can be the first to snaffle their stock!

Not On The High Street - Now I'm sure you've all heard of this fantastic boutique, that does exactly what says on the tin! It's packed with original items you can't find on the high street, and they're constantly adding more gorgeous products. This season is no different - check out their new products below - and don't miss their wedding list service. My fav? The personalised labels on the champagne - a brilliant idea to make your big day that little bit more special.

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New Season Shopping #2

In celebration of the new season of autumn shopping, all this week, I'll be gathering a selection of the best online stores, so you can be the first to snaffle their stock!

Papermash - If you're a regular reader of Before the Big Day, you might have spotted that I'm a bit of a stationery obsessive. It's just not paper, it's everything from sticky tape to notebooks and special hole punches. Smashing site Papermash takes stationery to a whole new level! The shop includes a collection of vintage and retro items, plus tape from as far afield as Japan and special DIY tutorials. Check out the items below - they're perfect for the creative brides among you.

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