Eco-Chic Week #1 - Flowering Love

To celebrate the start of spring, the return of sunshine and the flowering of the daffodils on my roof terrace, I hereby announce that this week shall be Eco-Chic Wedding Week. Which means I'll be featuring a different eco-favour a day, plus any eco-weddings I can find. To kick us off, here are some fabulous flowering favours and an invitation, all made out of seed-embedded paper. Perfect for a garden wedding, these tags, boxes and pellets will grow your guests living memories of your big day. There's also all sorts of anologies with flowering love, but that's a bit too soppy for a Monday morning, even if it is sunny.

Product Credits {from top left}- Wildflower Seed Tags: Jenearjen, Pots of Love Favours: Nature Favors,
{from bottom left} Plantable Favour Boxes: Jenearjen, Thank You Seed Cards: Backward Prints, Plantable Seed Tags: Jenearjen, {second picture} Invitation: Artful Beginnings

We ♥ Offers
10% off all of Backward Prints handmade cards, all of which bloom into beautiful wildflowers.

Real Wedding: Ali & Evan

Huge quantities of eye-candy for you on this sunny March day. {Doesn't it feel like spring is finally on it's way?}. Ali and Evan's big day was all about props, from a twin bike, a broken down bus and 'Applause' signs, to a gorgeous pet pug. Props are usually a massive success at weddings, after all, not many of us are professional models, and it's pretty hard to pose in a thousand different ways on one day. Unusual props and poses, that's what will make your wedding shots zing. Other stealworthy ideas have to be the groomsmens' personalised Converse trainers {double click the pic for a closer view}, the handmade quilt sheltering the happy couple from the sun as they said their vows, and Ali's birdcage veil. But nothing beats Ali and Evan's smiles - they looks so blissfully happy, it's warming the cockles of my heart. Gorgeous, gorgeous shots from the hugely talented team at Our Labour of Love - a big thank you to them for sharing!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Personalised Presents

Favours are fantastic when they're something unexpected. We're all used to receiving little baggies of sugared almonds (meant to encourage fertility in the happy couple), but it's much better surprise your guests. At a recent Italian wedding, my friends A & L, homemade a delicious lemon liquer called limoncello, and gave each person a commemorate minature bottle. It was the perfect present; personalised, original and unusual. For your own homemade favours, try these DIY ideas.
1. The first collage is from Twig and Thistle Store. You choose a colour, buy the patterns, personalise them and print them at home.
2. The second collage is from Miss Pickles Press, who will print preserve labels with names, event date and contents of jar. Or, if you're throwing a BBQ, use these bold cutlery packets to add a touch of USA vintage to your day.

♥ Real Weddings ♥

Before the Big Day has now featured over eighty real weddings, all for your inspiration-delectation! Don't miss a single idea, click here to see them all, or check out the theme list or colour labels. A huge thank you to all the photographers, brides and grooms, who have happily let me publish their pictures! If you'd like your wedding to be featured on Before the Big Day, then please or get in touch here.

Real Wedding: Glory & Avery

A simply peachy wedding for you today, sent all the way from Hong Kong! Glory and Avery got married on New Year's Day in a flurry of chiffon and luxury. Top of the stealworthy ideas has to be the lovely shiny Bentley - you'd definitely get to the church on time if you were travelling in that type of style! The page boys are just the cutist with their shiny shoes, and I adore Glory's gloves - soooo elegant. Also loving the bridesmaids' pearl necklaces; each one is different, do you think they might have been presents from the happy couple? Many thanks to Punam Bean for her gorgeous photos.

**If you love getting inspiration from Real Weddings then click here for more**

Real Wedding: Ellie & Dave

Gorgeous organic detailing at this spectacular urban wedding. The happy couple, Ellie and Dave took a large open space and filled it with moss, stones and wood, with orchids jostling for space alongside aged wooden lanterns, grass table tops, nests, honey jars and statues. A veritable nature wonderland! Just goes to show that even an urban wedding can feel green. Looking through the pics, my favourite spots have to be Ellie's stunning vintage engagement ring, the square tiered cake, the muslin favour bags and the sculptural vases of twigs. Truly an inspirational big day - huge thanks to the team at Our Labour of Love for capturing all the details!

Postcard Allotment

Sometimes I'm staggered by the sheer level of creativity out there in the blogosphere world. There I was, taking a quiet stroll around some of my fav blogs, when I stumbled on these totally original postcards on Oh So Beautiful Paper. Combining gift and greeting card, they're called Postcarden, and they're pop-out cards that transform into a mini living cress garden. Designed by an independent company based in London called A Studio for Design, they come in three different models, all brilliant. Which one would you pick for your wedding invitation?

We ♥ Offers

How are your walls looking? Could they do with an extra bit of a love? Check out these gorgeous screen prints from London artist Mengseldesign. Perfect as a wedding present, a momento for your bridesmaids and ushers, or even as a self-gift to celebrate your engagement, they now have 20% off, exclusively to Before the Big Day readers. Check out the Etsy shop here, and mention Big Day on check-out to have 20% refunded direct to your Paypal account.

Real Wedding: Lindsey & Scott

There's so many things I adore about Lindsey and Scott's big day, that I'm struggling to order them in my mind.  Lets start with the stunning lilac roses - I believe they're called Blue Moon, and they're just the most gorgeous starting-point for a truly romantic colour palette. Then the green-grey of the bridesmaids' dresses, which incidentally are cut just beautifully - no frilly flounces or bonnets here.  And then there's the bride's gown, which is the definition of elegant simplicity. I'm keen to copy everything! Many thanks, as always, to Karen Wise for her gorgeous photographs.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.