Real Wedding: Eleni & David

Prepare yourselves for something special! I'd like to welcome a brand new British photographer to Before the Big Day. Marianne Taylor is based in London, but will travel! Check out these gorgeous pics she took of Eleni and David's big day at Tamesis Sailing Club in Teddington on a beautiful summer's day last year. The happy couple arrive in a boat - such a super-cool idea. Other stealworthy details include the cute pink ribbons wrapped around the cutlery, Eleni's garden-style peony bouquet, and the fab Couple Fact Sheets. Perfect for guests you haven't seen for a while, and a great way to get the table talking at your reception. I'm also deeply in love with the baby's breath in Eleni's hair, and her stunning dress, which was made by her sister!

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Eco-Chic Week #9 - Brilliant Burlap

Just because it's slightly rough and ready, doesn't make burlap any less chic. In fact, it's its naive rusticity that makes it this season's fabric of choice for eco-chic weddings. Made from vegetable fibres, it's often used to make sacks to transport coffee beans, and it's these bags that are super-easy to recyle into gorgeous accessories and favours. Perfect for a couple keen to be green on their big day. Don't miss the special offers for Before the Big Day readers - details below the pics.

Product Credits {from top left} - My Adobe Cottage, Heart Bag: Lilmissi, Napkin Ring: The French Nest Co, Ring Cushion: Ginie Lee, {from bottom left}, Heart Wine Bag: Lilmissi, Heart Bunting: My Adobe Cottage, Starfish Bag: Funky Shique

Product Credits {from top left}- Table Runner: My Adobe Cottage, Key Cushion: Styled Spaces, Bird Bunting: Funky Shique, Welcome Table Runner: My Adobe Cottage, {from middle left} Crown Lavender Bags: Home Spun Style, {from bottom left} Ring Cushion: The Blooming South, Bee Bag: The French Nest Co, XO Bag: Funky Shique

We ♥ Offers
15% off Lilmissi
10% off  Styled Spaces & Ginie Lee
10% off The French Nest Co

Eco-Chic Week #8 - Rustic Elegance

Is there anything more romantic than getting married in a forest? Happy couple Henry and Isby picked a gorgeous rustic-elegance theme for their big day, and fabulous photographer Jessamyn Harris was there to record every little detail. My most inspirational spots have to be the CD favours (perfect for the drive home), the bold orange napkins and the personalised beer bottles. And I love Isby's gorgeous backless dress, and the seed pearls studding her hair - so pretty!

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

Eco-Chic Week #7 - Woodland Whimsy

If you're feeling inspired by Eco-Chic Week, why not adopt an entire woodland theme for your big day? Offer your guests a romantic, Midsummer Night's Dream experience, by using rustic accessories and favours, sourced from the natural world. From feathered buttonholes, to mossy ring nests and birchwood vases, many of these accents can be collected on a countryside walk. Cheap and eco-chic! One of my favourite shops for nature-inspired bits-and-pieces, is Pomp and Plumage, {see pics below), who are offering 15% off on any order from today until April 1st {fab!}. Just mention Before the Big Day in your "message to seller". And don't miss the other special offers for Before the Big Day readers - details below the pics.

Product Credits {from top left}- Ring Cushion: April Hilier Designs, Personalised Sign: Funki Folk Art, Vine Crown: Which Goose, {from middle left} Birch Vases: Bettula, Feather Fascinator: Ginger and Tonic, {from bottom left} Love Sign: Katie Leigh Designs, Birch & Moss Ring Cushion: April Hilier Designs, Moss I Do Letters: Choosing You, Wedding Gown: Sarah Stevens, Tiny Twig Hairpins: Woodland Belle, Leaf Earrings: Briguys Girls, Guinevere Veil: Gardens of Whimsy, Vintage Table Number: Marty Stew

We ♥ Offers
10% off Choosing You
10% off Katie Leigh Designs (with code 10off)
10% off Woodland Belle & Funki Folk Art

Eco-Chic Week #6 - Love Birds

One of the oldest wedding traditions, the wedding toss symbolizes good luck, fertility and prosperity. Whether it's confetti, rice or sugared almonds {ouch!}, you're going to want someone to throw something into the air as you celebrate your marriage. Personally I'm going for bubbles, but for the truly eco-chic bride, the best option is birdseed - as long as your bridesmaids aren't beak-phobic.... And if you're going for a love-bird theme at your big day, why not reflect it in your favours, with these cute birdseed letters and hearts. Nature Favors are even offering 10% off your purchases with the code Big Day - what's not to like?

Product Credits - Bird Seed Sachets: Sarah Shannon Designs, Birdseed Letters: 2 Birds in Love, Heart Birdseed Favours: Nature Favors

Eco-Chic Week #5 - Simply Wood

There's something fabulously tactile about wood favours, and if they're made out of off-cuts that would normally go straight in the bin, they're eco-friendly as well. Perfect for a forest wedding, or one where you want to bring the outside, inside. My particular favourite is the wooden tag Save the Dates. Recyclable as bookmarks, they're the definition of eco-chic.

Product Credits - {from top left} Wooden Bookmarks: Quotes and Notes, Wooden Heart Favours: Indo Bay Textiles, {from bottom left} Inspiration Blocks & Wooden Hearts: Palomas Nest, Customised Favour Tags: Quotes and Notes

Product Credits - {from top left} Clothes Pegs: My Adobe Cottage, Wooden Love Hearts: Aphrodites Canvas, Peg Figures for Personalising & Wooden Heart: Carmelos, Love Pegs: My Adobe Cottage

Eco-Chic Week #4 - Finger Print Tree

This is one of the best ideas I've come across for a long time. It's the brainchild of Hilary and Josh, who celebrated their own wedding in October in California. They made their vows under a huge oak tree, and to continue the theme, decided to create a finger print tree as a commemorative guest book. The idea was such a huge hit, that they now sell peronalised empty trees on their Etsy shop, so you can buy them for your big day. Check out their inspirational wedding photos on the fab wedding blog Green Wedding Shoes.

Useful, Inspiring, Love This!

Solitary blogging is fun, but getting feedback is fabulous, so please do feel free to leave me a comment after any of my features. But for an instant hit, for me and for you, why not click on one of the reaction boxes under each feature? Select useful, inspiring or love this! and keep me posted on my postings!

Eco-Chic Week #3 - Website for the Weak

This gorgeous website is fresh from the south of France, stuffed full of chic home accessories. In La Pomme you'll find unique home décor items, like embroidered pillows, hand-stamped lavender sachets, and plush fruit toys for grown-ups. Designer, Apol Lejano-Massebieau, is big on making her work low-impact on the environment, and she recyles vintage linen, cotton and lace in her work. Perfect for wedding presents or favours and Mother's Day gifts, her site is well worth a visit. Check out her blog too!

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!

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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**