Introducing Guide To Be - A Brand New Wedding Review Site

As a complete devotee of travel review site TripAdvisor, I was thrilled to hear about the launch of a brilliant new wedding review site. Guide To Be is fresh out the box, exciting new venture designed to help you find the very best vendors for your wedding day. Designed to be written by brides for brides, it's the brainchild of the lovely Eve, who set it up after she struggled to find good recommendations for her own wedding. Can you believe it's the first user review site for UK wedding suppliers? It's exactly what we need! To encourage brides to get involved and write reviews, Guide to Be are offering a brilliant competition to win a 5 star break at Turnberry Resort & Spa.

All you have to do is write two reviews or more, to be in with a chance of enjoying a luxury weekend, including two nights accommodation, a three course meal and a bottle of champers at one of the UK's most romantic 5 star resorts. It's the perfect prize for a mini-moon, pre-wedding R&R or even a baby moon! I've written a few reviews already - take a look at my personal recommendations, including this one {below} for my wedding photographer Caught the Light!

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Bunting & Bathing Huts Wedding Stationery

If you love the traditional British world of bunting, bathing huts and camper vans, you're going to love the wedding stationery shop I've just discovered on Etsy. Something New Stationery is the brainchild of Jenni Bryan, and she's clearly taken inspiration from the British seaside. Just take a look at her lovely designs below! Her shop also stocks a huge range of colourful baking twine, at a reasonable price of £5 per spool. What's not to love?

Holiday Beach Huts Wedding Seating Plan, £45

Blackboard {Chalkboard} Signs For Your Wedding

Way back when, before I even got engaged{!), I fell in love with the humble blackboard {or chalkboard} as the perfect wedding decoration detail. I liked their versatility, their DIY fabulousness, and the fact I could use them to communicate with my guests before I'd even walked down the aisle. They're also a ideal for brides on a budget, saving you money on individual menus and expensive printed table plans. Plus, you can reuse them in a flash - just wipe off one message, and write another! I bought my blackboards super-cheaply on eBay, and my lovely friends Tom and Susie carefully chalked on our cocktail menu, and guest book instructions. Check out the pictures below for more wedding inspiration!

Real White Elegant Wedding: Lauren and Joe

This is one of those divine weddings that make you want to jump right into it, and party with the bride and groom! Lauren and Joe chose to have their elegant white wedding in Napa, and the sun shone brightly over the palm trees all day. From Laura's gorgeous wedding gown, to the bridesmaids' dusky pink dresses, the flower girl's adorable crown and the page boy's bow-tie, the entire wedding party looked fabulous. I'm also loving the mixture of white table flowers in mismatched vases. I chose exactly the same style for my own wedding - by using cheaper blooms, you get a great effect for half the budget. I'm also enchanted by the romantic maharajah-style marquee with scalloped edges - hire one for your wedding from the Raj Tent Club. The wedding was planned by  Rosemary Events - gorgeous pictures published with thanks to the hugely talented Jose Villa.

Hand-drawn Whimsical Wedding Invitations

It only took one look for me to fall in love with these gorgeous hand-drawn and hand-painted wedding invitations. Designed by illustrator Victoria Whincup, their whimsical charm perfectly suits a British summer wedding. Each picture is unique, although you can choose to personalise the designs in her Etsy online shop. For me they perfectly capture the homespun wedding trend that's so huge this year.

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Real Elegant White French Wedding with Vintage Details

Every now and then I come across a wedding where I wish I'd been a guest! Loan and Andrew's French wedding near Biarritz definitely falls into that category. I'm completely in love with Loan's gorgeous elegant wedding style - her ruffled dress, wavy strapped Jimmy Choos and super-cook fish-tail French plait wedding hairstyle. Throw in the fabulousness of her bridesmaids mismatching but matching dark blue dresses, and Andrew's chic suit, and you've got the best dressed wedding party I've seen in a while. I'm also loving the white peony and berry bouquets, the lace detailed vases {buy them from Ikea}, the vintage getaway car and the ornate gold-frame table plan. Guests were encouraged to write messages on cute tea-stained tags and hang them in a wishing tree, before enjoying a delicious French meal, with multiple wedding cakes. Heavenly pictures published with thanks to Jonny & Morgane from M&J Photography.

A Lucky Wedding Sixpence

'Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue' ...and you'll be needing one of these too! I'm a huge fan of the wedding traditions, and the lucky silver sixpence has been a traditional wedding symbol since the Victorian Era. Glue it to the sole of your shoe, and think of it as an anti-rain talisman! Love this card too - wouldn't it make a fantastic present from the groom to the bride - or equally, you could turn tradition on its head, and give one to your future husband. The silver sixpence is genuine!

{I want this!} Silver Sixpence Wedding Card, £8.00 by Clouds and Currents, who also stock a particularly gorgeous range of chevron straws!

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A Pretty Vintage-Inspired Garden Wedding - The Reception

After a little bit of a delay {building up the anticipation}, I'm thrilled to bring you the amazing detail-filled reception photographs of Lucy and Jim's fantastic wedding. With tonnes of DIY extras, including a veritable fairground of activities for their guests, it looks a complete treat. There's so many stealworthy ideas, but my favourite picks have to be the watercolour-style wedding cake {created by Lucy's sister!}, the lovely teepee venues, Jim's enormous rose buttonhole, and Lucy's pretty-as-a-picture Ellis Bridals short wedding dress. I love how Jim and Lucy wrote their own wedding ceremony, personalising it with sing-alongs and their own special vows. The reception decorations are gorgeous as well, with prettified jam-jars and tin cans, plus fantastic tea-bag and shortcake DIY'd wedding favours. You can't fail to love it! Big love to Lily Sawyer for capturing every perfect detail, and to Lucy for filling in the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire.

We got married twice, the first time on Thursday 25th July 2013 at The Old Marylebone Town Hall in London. This was our legal registry office ceremony, and only our immediate family members were present. Our second wedding was on Saturday 27th July 2013 at North Hill Farm, Chorleywood. 


Our second wedding was a celebration for all our other guests, although we did have an informal ceremony led by our friend. This involved sitting on straw bales, sing-a-longs ('Eight Days a Week' by the Beatles and 'You Give A Little Love' from Bugsy Malone), readings and 'vows' from Jim and I.