Boho-Style Wallet Friendly Wedding Dresses from Minna

I need to start this article with something of a disclaimer. Despite all my {strong} feelings against the necessity of spending a fortune on your wedding dress, I ended up buying my gown from Delphine Manivet for over £2k. I loved it, and I felt beyond amazing on my wedding day, but I felt sooooo guilty about the cost. It just seemed such a crazy sum to spend on one dress and one day. To make up for it, I'm always on the hunt for beautiful wedding gowns, and one of my favourite designers is Minna. Her stunning boho gowns feature intricate lace, pretty florals, cute pom-pom edging and even bunting {!}, but most of them come in at under £600. Her headpieces and veils are super-reasonable, and they even stock adorable flower girls dress, like this stunning Alexa dress. When I recommended Minna to my wedding planner, Kerry Bracken of Lavender & Rose Weddings, she bought three - one for each stage of her wedding! Take a look at them in action in my features on her wedding. ** P.S. I just checked out Minna's Facebook page, and discovered details for their up-coming Trunk Sale. Save even more from 11th April until 3rd May! **

Fresh, Fun, DIY Wedding Favours

Is there anything cuter than a mini plant in a little pot? Wedding favour and table decoration in one, they're my favourite wedding detail for spring, and the best thing is, they're super easy to DIY. All you need is a good supply of sweet little terracotta pots {try these}, or old tin cans, for an industrial look, or tea-cups for a vintage style wedding. Then add soil, and a seasonal plant. For spring, a narcissus or hyacinth bulb will add a lovely scent to your wedding reception, for summer you could try herbs like basil and mint, autumn suits impossible-to-kill cacti and succulents, and winter, a little Christmas tree or air plant. More ideas on my Plant Pot Wedding Favours Pinterest page.

{Photo Credit} 1. Dominique Bader - more from this wedding on Love My Dress | 2. Unknown

An Elegant London Wedding with Sparkly Vintage Details - The Reception

Possibly the hardest job for any wedding photographer is to get the perfect portrait shots of the bride and groom. Only a truly talented tog can tread the narrow line between romantic and cutesy, loving and lovey-dovey. These gorgeous shots by Cotton Candy Wedding Photography are a lesson in how to do it well! It helps that the fabulous Lennie and Geraint are comfortable in front of the camera, and clearly super loved up! But aren't they fabulous? I'm also seriously obsessed with Lennie's fantastic wedding reception details. From the hand-painted wedding stationery {by one of her bridesmaids}, to the champagne cork place markers and mercury glass vases, every detail is elegant and perfectly placed. Huge kudos to Lennie for using {handmade!} tumbling white macaroons as decorations for the naked wedding cake - it's the first time I've seen them used as decorations, and it's SO effective. Enjoy the pictures, and don't miss Lennie's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, including her clever idea for a wedding guest book!

We got married on the 2nd November 2013 in our little church, St Mary Magdalen's in Mortlake, followed by our reception in the wonderful Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park, London.

St Mary Magdalen's was a no-brainer it is a beautiful church in our parish. Also we live locally to Richmond Park, and spend a lot of time either wandering through on a wintery Sunday afternoon, or picnicking in the summer, so Pembroke Lodge was ideal. 

An Elegant London Wedding with Sparkly Vintage Details

I've long been a massive fan of winter weddings. They're a brilliant first step to making your wedding stand out from the crowd - after all most couples chose to celebrate their big day in the summer. With a winter wedding, you're more likely to get your guests to accept {no summer holidays}, and you can have so much fun with cosy wedding details - I'm thinking spiced cider and hot chocolate for your drinks reception, gloves and blankets for wedding favours, and a roaring fire in the middle of your reception venue. Lennie and Geraint chose Fireworks Night for their wedding day, and Pembroke Lodge as an inspired wedding venue. The Lodge looks over the the Thames Valley, so they had an amazing view of all the local firework displays - for free! Lennie and Geraint chose a London and Paris theme for their big day, to reflect the cities where they met, and romanced. They added jewel colours for their palette, including bright purple and teal blue - perfect shades to pop on a dull November day. I love Lennie's dramatic United Nude shoe-boots, her berry-filled bouquet, and snug fur coat - the whole wedding party look so glamorous! More gorgeous wedding details to come in the reception photographs - huge thanks to Gem and Phil from Cotton Candy Wedding Photography for these lovely shots!

We got married on the 2nd November 2013 in our little church, St Mary Magdalen's in Mortlake, followed by our reception in the wonderful Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park, London.

After trying on a lot of dresses in a lot of styles the Marylise Sofia dress felt right. It was understated, and made me feel elegant and beautiful, without any lace or sparkles - which is what I thought I would end up with! It also made a bridesmaid cry and my mum speechless which meant it was the one!

Romantic Fluffy Wedding-Day Petticoats

It only took once glance for me to fall in love with these incredible petticoats from Doris Designs. They're just so pfoofy!! Brides looking for a unique look could add them to their wedding gown, or why not enhance the shape of your bridesmaids' dresses with a bit of bounce? You could choose matching or contrasting colours to suit your wedding theme. Doris designs and sells the petticoats for adults and children, and I've completely fallen for the skirts in toddler sizes. SO cute!

Love Before the Big Day? Why not sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin?! 
Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.  

Fun Wedding Lawn Games

It seems impossible to me that anyone got bored during our wedding reception. It all passed in a flash - we walked out of the chapel into a swirl of confetti, dashed around chatting to as many people as we could, had our portrait pictures taken, and then before I knew it, we were sitting down to dinner. Two hours gone in a matter of minutes! However it's quite possible that time might drag slightly for your guests, particularly if they don't all know each other that well. One way to break the ice, is to provide fun wedding lawn games, and to ask your ushers to get the guests involved. This works particularly well with families, as children of nearly all ages can get involved as well. The lawn games also make fantastic photo-props for your wedding photographs. If, like me, you're not completely comfortable in front of the camera, doing something fun and a little silly will make you relax, and appear more natural in your wedding pictures. Take a look at these fabulous photographs for inspiration. P.S. We bought boules from eBay for our French wedding, and the competition got pretty fierce amongst the ushers!

{Photo Credit} Kristyn Hogan via Elizabeth Anne Designs

Introducing Guide To Be - A Brand New Wedding Review Site

Regular readers will know I'm always going on about the importance of personally recommended wedding suppliers, but what if none of your friends have got married yet? Or if you're getting married in a different part of the country? How can you find out whether all those local vendors are really as good as they say they are? Well that's exactly the situation Eve faced when she was living in Sydney, but planning her wedding in Glasgow. It was nearly impossible for her to visit lots of venues, attend caterer tastings and arrange florist consultations, and she really needed the inside scoop on suppliers. Eve was astonished there were no independent sources or dedicated wedding review sites {like Trip Advisor for weddings}, and so after her big day, she teamed up with her sister and launched Guide To Be.

This brilliant BRAND NEW site is all about connecting brides with truly excellent wedding suppliers, and I'm delighted to be part of the very exciting launch! The idea is that newlyweds write reviews of all the suppliers who helped out at their wedding, and then other brides-to-be can make an informed choice. I've already written several of my own reviews, so if you know of excellent wedding photographers, videographers, caterers, florists, dressmakers, etc, etc, head straight over to Guide To Be and get your review up now! Just imagine - your own experience could help that desperate bride struggling to find the perfect wedding band!

Love Before the Big Day? Why not sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin?! 
This is a Sponsored Post for Before the Big Day - The Best UK Wedding Blog.  

A Fun Rustic Wedding with a Divine Claire Pettibone Dress

There's nothing I like more than a backyard marquee wedding, with a relaxed happy bride {in Converse!}, and an OMG Claire Pettibone wedding gown. Add in pretty handmade, shabby-chic details, sage green Dessy bridesmaids dresses, and a traditional ice-cream bicycle seller, and you've got a quintessentially English wedding. All that was missing was the rain! I love Katy's DIY'd wildflower favours, her pretty baby's breath bouquet, and all the hand-decorated jam-jar wedding details. Huge thanks to Hannah from Written With Light Photography for sending over all the pictures - enjoy!

We got married on 21st September 2013 in St Michael's Church, in West Hill in Devon, followed by our wedding reception in Tom's parent's gorgeous garden. I always knew a rural view and beautiful outdoor location was going to be a non-negotiable part of our wedding day, and as we are fortunate enough to have this on Tom's parent's doorstep, hosting our reception in their garden was a bit of a no brainer! 

We couldn't risk it for a biscuit weather-wise, so we hired a traditional canvas marquee. As far as decorations go I wanted to keep things as natural as possible we had a stunning location and didn't plan on distracting from that.