Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!

A big thank you and huge ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ to everyone who has already voted for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! I'm getting seriously excited about attending the Award Ceremony at The Ritz {oo-eee!}, and it would MAKE MY YEAR if I could win just one of my two nominations. Apparently I'll get an Oscar-like trophy and everything. Goodness knows what I'm going to wear - I'm not quite back to my pre-baby-shape yet, and none of my dresses fit. Voting for me will take you just a minute, and the good karma vibes will float you through to Friday. P.S. This is what I look like when I'm very happy - yup, you could catch goldfish with that mouth!!

{Credit} Chloe from Caught the Light - more from My Wedding

Love Before the Big Day? Please vote for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! And why not sign up to our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.

Best British Bridal Designers - Jenny Packham

All this week, I'm celebrating London Fashion Week by showcasing the best of British Bridal Designers, starting with the fabulous Jenny Packham. Jenny's renowned for her glamorous gowns, much favoured by sophisticated metropolitan brides. I've long loved her intricate beading and sequin designs, and her new Spring 2014 collection is full of exquisite wedding gowns you'll want to add to your wish-list. Feast your eyes on her brilliantly eccentric campaign, and dream! View the full 2014 Bridal Collection.

Love Before the Big Day? Please vote for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! And why not sign up to our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.

A Late Summer Wedding with Cornflower Blue Bridesmaids - The Reception

Cath Kidson and Joules have to be among my favourite UK designers, and I'm thrilled to see prints from their collections in this gorgeous barn wedding. Lorraine chose a mixture of Joules and Alexon dresses for her bridesmaids, and I love the bold mix of print and plain. With DIY table flowers, and a wedding cake handmade by a family friend, there's tonnes of wedding inspiration for a budget bride wanting to create her own details. I love the outside barn venue - its bunting and hydrangea filled jam-jars, plus the 'Borrow a Blanket' basket for chilly guests {buy blankets for a £3 each at Ikea}. Other stealworthy ideas include the blackboard table-plan and menu, the Cath Kidson round table runners and the matching tops to the honey wedding favours. Last but definitely not least, take a look at those pavlova puddings....yummy!! Thank you to Victoria Phipps Photography for capturing every perfect detail - Victoria's one of my favourite wedding photographers!

A Late Summer Wedding with Cornflower Blue Bridesmaids

I've always loved cornflowers - the wild pop of bright blue against a golden field of corn, and their untamed, messy stalks. One day I'd love to see a bride carrying a bouquet of just cornflowers, but in the meantime I'll more than make do with Lorraine and Evan's gorgeous wedding flowers! Astonishingly their bouquets and buttonholes were bought wholesale from Nottingham Flower Market and arranged by a friend {Imogen}, and Evan's sister Lucy. I've never seen such professional DIY bouquets - and I love how they pick up on the bunchy trend I flagged up early this year, where blooms are placed next to each other, rather than carefully placed apart. The 'something blue' theme is carried through to the bridesmaids' gowns and the Evan's tie, and even to the ribbon binding the Orders of Service. I love the baby's breath church flowers {simple and easy to recreate}, Lorraine's stunning Enzoani wedding gown with its elegant train, and More from Lorraine and Evan's Townfield Barn wedding reception later today. Huge thanks to Victoria Phipps Photography for her gorgeous wedding pictures.

Celebrating London Fashion Week - British Bridal Designers

I can always tell when it's London Fashion Week because the streets of Shoreditch around my house are suddenly full of people looking very self-conscious. They might be doing something as boring as taking a call on their mobile or drinking a coffee from Starbucks, but they're doing it as if everyone is looking at them. And they're usually dressed in something slightly silly, but very fashion-forward, with an oddly shaped hem! But it's important to celebrate the bonkers fashion world, because it's thanks to London-based designers that the UK is so famous for its brilliant bridal collections. And that means we don't have to travel abroad to buy the best for our weddings. So all this week, to mark London Fashion Week, I'll be celebrating the best of British Bridal Designers. Keep your eyes peeled for some seriously impressive wedding dress inspiration.

Love Before the Big Day? Please vote for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! And why not sign up to our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.

Introducing Fever Designs for Your Wedding Day

How many bridesmaids is too many? I had five, and I would have had more, but I was anxious about the extra costs of a bigger wedding party. Bridesmaids dresses, shoes, accessories and bouquets all add up, and the more girls you have following you down the aisle, the more expensive it's going to get. I've always recommended looking online for reasonably-priced bridesmaids' dresses, and that's why I'm delighted to introduce Fever Designs, as a great bridesmaid boutique. They have a fantastic range of gowns, in all the season's top colours, and none of them will break the bank. My favourites are the Cecelia and Ivy dresses, both of which come in at under £100. As a bridesmaid-in-waiting, I've got my eye on the Ivy gown in Merlot, as I reckon it'll fit in perfectly with my friend's December wedding colour palette. With a colour-pop bridesmaid dress, you can save money on flowers, and give your bridesmaids bushy bouquets of olive leaves, rosemary or eucalyptus. For more ideas, take a look at my Pinterest pages.

This is a Guest Post for Before the Big Day. I only recommend companies that I would wholeheartedly recommend to my friends. Please support the businesses that support Before the Big Day, so that I can keep on searching out wedding fabulousness on your behalf! For my on my Sponsorship Policy, click here.

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

Love Before the Big Day? Please vote for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! And why not sign up to our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog for inspired brides.

Five Top Tips on Buying Your Designer Wedding Dress for Less

Wedding dresses are crazily expensive - some surveys even suggest they count for 20% of some bride's wedding budgets. I really struggled to find a reasonable wedding gown that felt like 'the one', and in the end, my mum very kindly gave me my Delphine Manivet dress as a wedding present. It was worryingly expensive, and I spent months trying to find it second-hand, but at that time Delphine was a reasonably new designer...now she's stocked in Browns Brides! I managed to recoup some of the money by selling my gown to another bride, who visited me at home to try it on. I felt very sad to let it go, but it halved the overall price, and assuaged my guilt sightly. So in the spirit of saving money, and looking hot for less money, I thought I'd give you these top-tips for getting your wedding dress for less.

{Wedding Photographer Credit} Me on my French wedding day by Jemma Harding Photography}

♥ Find out whether your wedding dress designer does sample sales, and be the first in the door.

♥ Search on eBay. I know there are tonnes of Temperley London and Jenny Packham wedding dresses available, and most brides expect you to want to try before you buy. If your designer is French, search on French eBay {tip: you'll need to use the word 'robe' for dress or 'voile' for veil}. My wedding dress for my London wedding was designed by Australian dressmakers, Rose & Ruby, so I searched on Australian eBay.

♥  Check out wedding blogs that allow brides to list their wedding dresses. Once Wed is a US wedding blog with a great listings section, and Rock My Wedding in the UK also offers second-hand dresses.

♥ Scour the Secondhand Dress websites. My favourites are Sell My Wedding Dress and Preloved, but there are loads - just type "secondhand wedding dress" into Google.

♥ If all else fails, ask for a discount. You'll be surprised how often shops will offer 10%-20% off, and you've got nothing to lose by asking.

P.S. There is another option. Don't go designer! Tonnes of high street stores like Monsoon sell off-the-peg wedding dresses that look just as good as designer gowns. And if you don't tell...neither will I....

P.P.S. I have now sold both my wedding dresses!

Love Before the Big Day? Please vote for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! And why not sign up to our free newsletter, for exclusive content and special offers! Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.