Before the Big Day Wedding Theme: English Tea Party

If you're a regular visitor to Before the Big Day, then you might have heard that I'm having two weddings. Yup, double the stress, double the fun! It's all down to not being able to get legally married in France, plus our grannies and granddads not wanting to make the journey all the way out there. We considered secretly heading down to the registry office, but as a wedding blogger, I felt it was almost my responsibility to have a proper themed, detail-filled wedding. So while in Provence we're going for a Secret Garden wedding theme, and in London, we've picked an English Tea Party theme. I say we, but we all know that The Boy has had very little input {I've tried, but not a flicker of interest}. The London wedding is SOON. Like 3 weeks away, on 5th May.  Anyway, this is all a huge preamble to me showing off my latest, gorgeous English Tea Party wedding accessories. What do you think?

P.S. If you're not a regular reader of Before the Big Day, and you're a newbie to wedding blogs, welcome!

Product Credits - Cake Stand & Cupcake Flags: Utterly Scrumptious via Party Pieces {Kate Middleton's parents' business!}, Large White Round Balloon: Balloon Allsorts {round and 17 inches - perfect!}

Product Credits - White Voile Bunting & Heart Sugar Cubes: Cox & Cox {follow me on Twitter for the code to give you 25% off}, Heart Doilies: Edible Glitter {although I found mine on Ebay}

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Real Royal Windsor Wedding: Laura & Stephan

With the Royal Wedding only weeks away, I thought I'd kick off the celebrations with a wedding set in Royal Windsor. Gorgeous bride, Laura, chose a classic monochrome theme, and looked like a modern-day Audrey Hepburn with her elegant dress and up-do. I'm serious loving how 'together' the wedding party look in their black and white outfits. Little black dresses are definitely the chicest way to achieve this look - after all, everyone has their favourite LBD! My favourite wedding blogger stealworthy ideas? The monogrammed menus, and the cute cupcakes, plus cutting cake decorated with green-tinted flowers {and made by Laura's mum!}. Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Kelly from Lola Rose Photography. Don't miss Laura's answers to the Before the Big Day Bridal Questionnaire below. She's included all her top tips for future brides-to-be, plus a fair few wedding DIY ideas.

The Before the Big Day Bridal Q&A - Laura was kind enough to fill in our questionnaire, aimed at helping other brides with their planning process. Feast your eyes on her answers for helpful hints and tips from someone on the other side of her big day!

Where and when did you get married?
25th September 2010 at St Peter’s Church in Iver.

What was your thinking behind choosing the venue and the decoration of the reception?
We held the reception in Windsor at the Hart and Garter Hotel. The hotel is directly overlooking Windsor Castle and the décor fitted our classic ivory and black theme beautifully. We kept our tables very simple with a central low floral arrangement, matching the bridal party flowers, and lots of tea lights. We designed and printed our own menus and place cards to fit in with our black and ivory theme and had everything delivered to the hotel the night before for them to put out. My mum had special permission granted for us to have some photographs taken right outside the castle so we sneaked off for 10 minutes with the bridal party and Kelly got some lovely pictures.

Did you have a theme, colour or motif in mind?
We went for a very classic black and ivory theme with all ivory, white and cream flowers with green foliage and ivy.

Who made your wedding outfit (dress, veil, shoes and accessories), and how did you come to that decision?
I was very lucky because my godmother owns Airs & Graces Bridal Wear in Berkhamsted and organized all the dresses for us. I had seen the dress I wanted before we even got engaged and despite trying 'everything' on as you inevitably do, I stuck with my original choice in the end. The dress was beautiful; it was simple, elegant, and comfortable and worked perfectly with our theme and style. I picked a strapless empire-line dress by Eternity Bride and a full length veil with hand sewn Swarovski crystals. I replaced the veil later in the evening with a beautiful ivory, crystal and pearl flower comb.

What about your husband’s outfit? Where was it from?
Stephan wore a classic black dinner suite with a white shirt, Tiffany cufflinks {a wedding present from the bride}, an ivory silk waistcoat with an ivory ruche and black Barker shoes. He wore a simple ivory rose button hole with a sprig of purple Scottish thistle. Perfect!

And how about your bridesmaids’ outfits?
My maids of honors wore chiffon, empire-line, strapless gowns by D'Zage, a perfect echo of the bridal gown in black with a black overlay band around waist. My younger bridesmaid wore the same style but all ivory with straps. The girls looked absolutely stunning and the dresses are timeless, classic black evening dresses that they will be able to wear again which is great.

What type of cake did you go for, and how did you come to that decision?
Mum made the cakes for us which was lovely. We had the most beautiful 'muffin' sized fairy cakes and a 6" square top cake to cut. All were individually decorated with ivory butter cream and a mix of sugar flowers and pearls to decorate. They were a real talking point and looked so beautiful.

Who was your florist, what flowers did you choose, and how did you come to that decision?
We had our flowers made through Iain Fowles from The Green Room in Berkhamsted (C/o Airs & Graces Bridalwear) arranged our flowers for us. We wanted to keep the flowers all ivory and white so Iain used a mix of Avalanche Roses, Ivory Spray Roses, Ivory Freesias, Green Lysianthus, Thistle & Snow Berry and mixed Greenery. The effect was beautiful and so simple to do. The flowers were simply stunning.

Who was your photographer and how did you choose them?
Choosing the right photographer was very important to us as we were having an intimate wedding later in the day with just our closest family and friends; we wanted the atmosphere of the day to be captured without the photography imposing too much on the time we had to spend with our guests. We found Lola Rose Photography on the internet and were immediately taken with the style of Kelly’s photos. Kelly understood exactly what we wanted and was an absolute pleasure to work with. She captured our day perfectly. Her attention to detail, the service we received from her and the presentation of our photos was amazing. We couldn’t have asked for more.

Who designed your stationery? What did it look like and how did you come to that decision?
We designed and made all the stationery ourselves as we couldn't find anything that we both liked. We followed the black and ivory theme and designed a monogram with our initials. We printed on to a lovely pearlescent ivory card and mounted this onto to a textured black card. The invites were sent out in black, tissue lined envelopes. My sister hand wrote the names and addresses with a white pen. We followed the same design with the menus and order of service. For the order of service we printed onto the same ivory paper and rolled and tied these with black ribbon.

What advice do you have for brides planning their big day?
Time! It really doesn't have to take a year or 2 to organize a wedding. With most people nowadays leading such busy lives, it’s easy to wait and push the date back. The best thing we did was to just 'get on with it'. We organized our wedding in 6 months and that was a really nice time frame to work to.
Relax! Everyone tells you this all the time and I thought I was doing quite well on the day but I did spend most of the day waiting for that 'something' that inevitably goes wrong {which didn't thankfully} and subconsciously checking that the day was going smoothly. Remember…'don’t sweat the small stuff'! You’ve done your bit in the planning and as long as the main things are in place, the day is your time to relax, enjoy and not worry about a thing.
Hair & make-up: I always knew I would do my own make-up but also planned to do my own hair and my bridesmaids hair. Fortunately I have a wonderful hairdresser {Sam Bifolco of Bifolco & Mattey in Langley} who was a bit worried about this idea and said she would pop over in the morning 'just in case' I needed help. By the time Sam got to me in the morning nerves has completely taken over so I was just thankful to sit back and let someone else take control.

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Stunning Mason-Jar Wedding Chandelier

This isn't the most weddingy item I've ever featured on Before the Big Day, but I've fallen in love with it. Wouldn't it be perfect hanging from a tree at your reception, or from the centre of a wedding marquee? Then you could reinvent it as a focus in the kitchen in your home, or buy two and hang them on either side of your marital bed. Handmade by Boots N Gus out of recycled mason jars - bespoke options are available, but each jar is lit with a crystal pattern night light.

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That Friday Feeling Wedding Blog Web Links ♥ 13

Unlucky number 13! Or not as the case may be, as I've got a lovely selection of wedding blog links for you this Friday. It's going to be another busy weekend for me, as I've got my dress fitting at Delphine Manivet and I've got to decide whether to spend a fortune on one of their gorgeous veils. Sunday will see me planting up my roof-terrace ready for our London wedding reception {chez nous}, and doing lots of DIY wedding projects. My place cards need individually stamping, and I'm going to make giant tissue pom-poms - can't wait! Plus it's going to be a gorgeous summery sunny weekend - bliss! Hope you like the pics - I'm having a baby's breath moment this week.....

♥ I love this dress soooooo much, if I hadn't already sold my heart to Delphine Manivet, I'd probably buy it.

♥ Add a vintage touch to your wedding day with this rolling stamp from Wonderland Room.

♥ How to make giant tissue pom-poms {via wedding blog Before the Big Day!}

♥ Amazing pom-poms at an amazing mermaid wedding {via Rock My Wedding}

♥ She wore flowers in her hair - how to do your own wedding hair {via US wedding blog 100 Layer Cake}

♥ Unusual DIY wedding project for an origami place marker

♥ South African wedding blog Cap Classique spots a doodle trend

♥ Incredible Bali beach wedding - pure elegance {via Once Wed}

♥ Erin of Sparkle & Hay shows off her gorgeous wedding details

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Fun Wedding Biscuit Favours

Lots of brides agonise over what to have for their wedding favours, only to have them left, unloved, on the table at the end of the night. I know of one bride who handmade each guest a heart-shaped lavender bag, only to have half of them left behind - heartbreaking! One way to make sure your wedding favours are appreciated is to make them edible, and my latest crush is on these cute iced-bisuits from Biscuiteers. Pick one of the designs below, or get creative, and call on their special bespoke service, where you can work with them to create a brand new range of biscuits just for your wedding.

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Real Asian-Themed Wedding: Shazna & Saad

Indian-style weddings are the best! They're such a riot of colour and shimmer and details, that it's hard for a wedding blogger to know where to start! Shazna and Saad celebrated their wedding in traditional style, complete with a henna ceremony and saris. My favourite stealworthy wedding ideas include the soft baby pink that Shazna chose for her theme colour, her incredible peony bouquet and the glamorous diamond-detail added to the wedding cake. You can never have too much sparkle! Gorgeous pictures published with thanks to Alders Photography.

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My Wedding - Two Months To Go {eeek!}

Last weekend we went to Provence for the final time before our wedding. For the whole week ahead, my brain was fizzing with ideas and hopes and fears, and all the decisions we had to make. And now we're back, and it's Wednesday, and my brain is still fizzing, but in a good way! I don't think I've ever made so many expensive decisions in such a short amount of time. The good news is the following.....

{Our Provence Wedding Planner}
Kerry Brackan. We love her. She's amazing and she's saved our lives. If you're planning a wedding in Provence or on the Cote d'Azur, contact her at My Riviera Wedding and beg her to become your planner. She's busy though, so you'll have to get in there soon! Kerry helped us with every single step of the big decisions. She knows how many glasses of wine your guests are likely to drink at your wedding, she knows how much space 13 round tables need, she thinks of things like power sockets, and catering tents and what to do when it rains. Plus a million other things you don't know that you don't know, but you need to know for your wedding. If you know what I mean.....{bit lost now}.

{Our French Wedding Caterer}
We had a proper tasting session at the Head Office of our caterer Marrou in Marseille. It's a family-run business, and the Head Chef cooked us four starters and two main courses so we could choose what we wanted at our wedding. The food was incredible, and absolutely reminded us why we want to get married in France. Plus Marrou will organise all the tables, chairs, cutlery, crockery, etc, etc, all the way to how we want our napkins tied with a sprig of olive leaves. Fantastique - non?

{Our Provence Wedding Venue}
Is gorgeous. We booked it over a year ago, and I'd forgotten what it looked like. The good news is that it's better than I recalled. Our invitations have gone out now, and I'm sure most of our guests have googled our venue, so here's the first sneak-peak pictures. Do get in touch if you'd like the name of the Château.

{Our French Wedding Flowers}

We met Stephane of Stephane Fleuriste in Puyricard for the first time on Saturday, and my thoughts on flowers were pretty jumbled. The problem with writing a wedding blog is you see too many incredible images. Then if you throw in the budget issue, you can find yourself stuck in a bind. Stephane was incredibly patient and enthusiastic, and between us all, we came up with a plan. I'm keeping to all white blooms, and fingers crossed, it should look fab. If you've got an appointment with a florist coming up, I'd recommend collecting lots of pictures together. It makes a huge difference.

Photo Credits: Lavender Table {Laura Novak}, Chateau {Simply Chateau}, Bread & Champagne {Michael & Anna Costa}, White Flowers {Dreamy Whites Blog}

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Real Spring Red-Themed London Wedding: Sara & Rich

Fabulous London bride, Sara, chose brilliant red as her signature colour, and check out her incredible wedding! From her crimson shoes, to her bridesmaids' sexy silk dresses, I'm crazy about every detail. This is another Dartmouth House wedding, and it's fast becoming my favourite venue in London - all the weddings there are so chic. Sara and Rich chose a London theme for their wedding, and as you can see from these pics, they made the City a guest at their wedding. They had a photo shoot on the streets of London, much to the enthusiasm of passing traffic. Other details to copy? Sara's incredible bustled dress, her elegant ribbon-rimmed veil and her gorgeous cascading orchid bouquet. Wow! Loving all the pictures, published with thanks to Justine Ferrari Photography.

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