Introducing HolidayCheck For Your Honeymoons

Our honeymoon wasn't quite what we had in mind! We'd spent most of our money on our destination wedding in France, so although we stayed in Provence, we couldn't splash the cash on a decent hotel, and then it rained. All very disappointing, but we counted our blessings that we had sun on our wedding day, and then headed off to gorgeous Greece for a second holiday a few months later! If you're looking at your wedding budget and wondering whether you'll be able to afford a honeymoon, make sure you get a fantastic deal via HolidayCheck. This fab website includes everything you need for a holiday: from travel offers, to hotel reviews, and honest pictures from other honeymooners and holidaymakers, so you know exactly what you're getting. HolidayCheck enables you to search by destination, and then pulls up the most popular hotels and things to do, including romantic restaurants and not-to-be-missed sights. It's a brilliant website for planning your honeymoon. P.S.....which honeymoon destination below most appeals to you - beach, ski or safari?

 ♥ Want to see more honeymoon ideas? ♥ Or how about real weddings? ♥

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Folksy Hand-painted Wedding Cake Topper

With a touch of folksy, a smidge of whimsy and a lot of charming, these floral cake toppers are a hit for this year's summer weddings. Choose from flowing ferns or pretty florals, and a selection of soft vintage colours to match your big day. Handmade By Madeline Trait, each one is carefully cut from super-thin plywood and hand-painted using custom mixed colours. And they're perfectly pretty!

 ♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more whimsical wedding ideas? ♥

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Real Vintage Marie Antoinette Wedding: Nicola & Marc

Today I've mostly fallen for the Marie Antoinette decadence of Nicola and Marc's vintage wedding at historic Swinton Park in North Yorkshire. Nicola chose a unique style for her big day, with a theme of pearls and lace, plus soft purple tones and plenty of sparkly jewellery. Her for-keeps bouquet is stunning, and a family heirloom in the making - brooch bouquets are a great way to include vintage or family jewellery, so everyone is 'represented' on your wedding day. Buy similar via Etsy. Other stealworthy details include Nicola's 20's-style pearl necklace, her stunning corseted wedding gown {how slim is her waist!}, and Marc's stylish suit {is that tartan?}. I also love the vintage reception props - the old suitcase table plan, the antique books and fan and the birdcage detailing in wedding stationery and wedding cake.  Huge thanks to Lightworks Photography for these stunning pictures.

♥ Want to see vintage wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more castle wedding ideas? ♥

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Amazing Rainbow Honeymoon Shoot

So I need to come clean - I've actually posted this honeymoon shoot before, but my newborn baby has decided to have a growth spurt this week, so I've had no chance to do any blogging! Instead I bet on the fact some of you lovely brides-to-be might not have spotted this fabulousness in Before the Big Day's archives. Combining a rainbow theme and hot air balloons, it's a dreamy concoction that ticks every one of my blogging boxes. Shot by Jose Villa, and style by Joy Thigpen, it's too perfect for words. Don't you wish you could be swept away in a hot air balloon the morning after your wedding? So romantic! P.S. For more from Before the Big Day's archives, be sure to take a look at our Real Weddings, Wedding Themes and 2013 Wedding Trends.

♥ Want to see honeymoon ideas? ♥ Or how about balloon wedding ideas? ♥

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Introducing Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery Wedding Cakes London

The cult of the wedding cake is one of the most curious developments in recent wedding trends. Simple white tiers just don't cut it anymore - wedding cakes are now works of art. I've seen them spot-lit at wedding receptions, getting as much attention as the bride's wedding dress! To make sure your cake stands out from the crowd, consider these fabulous creations from Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery. Sweetness is run by Roma Finlinson, who has a passion for creating exquisite wedding cakes, decorated with delicate, handcrafted sugar flowers. Take a look at the beauties below to get a sense of her stunning work. Can you believe those anemones and roses are made out of sugar?! Sweetness Cakes aren't just seriously stylish - Roma is a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef, so her wedding cakes have the quality and flavour you expect from French patisserie - i.e. they taste AMAZING! Although they're so beautiful, it's almost a crime to cut into them.... Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery make bespoke tiered wedding cakes, cupcakes, iced biscuit wedding favours - everything and anything you could want for your wedding or bridal shower. Be sure to check out Roma's Facebook page for more of her work.

♥ Want to see more wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about luxury wedding ideas? ♥

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Amazing Geometric Wedding Altar Backdrop

If you're not getting married in a church, but you want to walk up an aisle, then you might want to consider an altar-equivalent. There's a huge wedding trend for so-called 'backdrops' in the USA, and it's winging its way over the Atlantic to hit our shores this summer. Ribbons, bunting, flowers, paper chains, balloons, blackboards and vintage door-frames, they've all been used to create a focal point for the marriage ceremony, but the latest {and greatest} idea are these origami diamonds. Designed and handmade by French Knot Studios, they're fabulously neon, and the perfect addition to any contemporary themed wedding. Check out more wedding altar and backdrop ideas on my Pinterest page.

 

{Photo Credits} Izzy Hudgins Photography

♥ Want to see more modern wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about wedding decoration ideas? ♥

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The Best Honeymoon Passport Covers

When it came to my wedding, I was all about the minutiae. There wasn't a wedding detail too small - I obsessed over everything. And I reckon these passport holders are going to divide the readers of Before the Big Day into two camps. You're either like me {a bit of a weird wedding obsessive} and you think love the idea of heading out on your honeymoon with personalised passport covers, OR you think people like me are slightly insane, and you definitely can't see the point. But I love them, so if you're in my camp, pick these up from RMC Studios, or there's tonnes more here! P.S. Don't forget to get your travel vaccinations if you're going somewhere exotice....safety first!

♥ Want to see more honeymoon ideas? ♥ Or how about real weddings? ♥

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Real Traditional English Wedding: Sarah & Michael's Wedding Reception

With wedding details galore, you're going to love the reception pictures from Sarah and Michael's beautiful big day. Sarah chose lace as her wedding motif, and purple and white as her colour palette, for a truly coherent wedding theme. I love the clean lines of their white wedding marquee, and the purple punctuation of the wedding flowers and table stationery. Even their wedding cake is in keeping with the theme, with super-realistic purple flowers made out of icing. The effect is one of classic elegance, all perfectly pictured by Anna Rosell. Enjoy her wedding photographs, and be sure to read all of Sarah's great wedding advice, and don't miss Part 1 and Part 2 of this wedding!

We celebrated our wedding at Longstowe Hall in Cambridge on 4th August 2012. We wanted a real English wedding, and felt the historical feel of Longstowe's Elizabethan architecture, and its beautiful English rose gardens was just perfect.

We had a purple and lace theme to the wedding, and also white roses, again keeping with the traditional English feel. We wanted to keep it simple and traditional yet classic. We also felt it was really important to use local suppliers and we managed to do just that.

My favourite chocolate is Ferrero Rocher, so I decided to give each guest a chocolate as a wedding favour. I bought organza and purple ribbon from Hobbycraft and my Nana, Mum and I had a great {and long} day wrapping each one.

Our wedding flowers were from The Flower House in Cambridge. I don't know much about flowers, and only knew that I wanted purple and white roses in the stem of the vases, so I let the florist decide on the arrangements. 

We loved planning our wedding! Being a teacher I love researching and organising, and a friend bought me a wedding planner, so I was in my element buying wedding magazines and tearing out bits that I liked for reference. The worry is whether it will all come together on the day, a few things didn’t go as planned, but that added to the day.

My advice to other brides would be, don’t get too bogged down with research, there are so many options out there and many people offering similar ideas. Choose something you like and then don’t research it anymore, there may always be something else to find, but you have draw a line, otherwise it can be never-ending. Most importantly, enjoy it all as it is over very quickly.

We spent ages designing our wedding invitations, menus and table names, keeping with the purple and lace/white theme. We found an wonderful lady called Julie, whose local stationery company is called Little Button Nose, who handmade them for us.

For our wedding cake I chose a local lady called Margaret who makes wedding cakes as a hobby. She made handmade the purple icing sugar flowers that cascaded all the way down the cake, and afterwards, as a keepsake, she put them in a little arrangement for us. We had a three tier cake, sponge, fruit and chocolate.

Our photographer was Anna Rosell. She was recommended by the venue, but I also loved her work and the gorgeous colours that she always manages to capture in her shots. I spent months in the run-up to our wedding following Anna’s blog, and looking at the other weddings that she had shot, so I was very excited, as I knew she would provide us with pictures to treasure.

♥ Want to see summer wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about elegant weddings? ♥

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