A Quick Personal Message

Hello there and thank you for reading Before the Big Day! You might have noticed that my posts have been slightly erratic just lately, and I want to apologise for that. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you might have gleaned the reason....I've recently had a baby boy. His name is Ivo, and he's now nine weeks and satisfyingly chubby! But much as I try to tell him he needs to nap regularly so I can blog, he hasn't quite got the knack for it. My passon for Before the Big Day is still as strong as ever, and I have been known to look longingly at my laptop, while burping him over my shoulder. I'm soon going to be getting a bit of help, so that my wedding blogging can continue apace, but in the meantime, please do bear with me. Before the Big Day is a one-man-{woman}-band, so if I haven't answered your email, or edited your wedding, Ivo is why....it's not that I'm ignoring you! P.S. During my pregnancy I also started another blog - Before the Baby, which is also getting less attention than it needs. Definitely worth checking it out though!!

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Creative Wedding Invitation Inspiration

Wedding stationery is one of the most obvious ways to personalise your big day. It'll give your guests a sense of what's to come, and can really set the tone of your wedding theme. Graphic designers are up there with my favourite creative people, and they're constantly coming up with new and clever wedding invitation ideas. Here are a few of my recent favourites - discovered via Storkie and stationery blog Oh So Beautiful Paper.

{Product Credit} DIY'd by bride and groom Christine & Ian

{Product Credit} Kate at Ruby & Willow

{Product Credit} Kate at Ruby & Willow

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Real Vintage Sunflower Wedding: Chanelle & Terry - Wedding Reception

If you're a budget-conscious bride, this wedding is going to fill your heart with joy. It's a complete detail-fest, with tonnes of DIY ideas, and all of them are wallet friendly. It's all about having your unique wedding style and keeping to a particular theme. Fantastic couple, Chanelle and Terry chose a sixties vibe for their big day, and DIY'd their flowers, photo-booth, table-plan and much, much more. Armed with blackboard paint and a huge fancy dress box, they kept their guests entertained late into the night with a music themed wedding reception in Terry's parents' back garden. Take a look at all these incredible photographs by Michael at My Beautiful Bride, and be sure to read Chanelle's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire. She's a vintage genius {take a look at her retro clothes shop Annie in the Attic} full of fantastic wedding advice!



We married on the 30th June 2012. The ceremony was held in St Mary's Church in Buckland in Surrey, and the reception was held in the garden and marquee at Terry's parents' house in Buckland. Holding the reception at Terry's parents meant we had full control of all aspects of planning, styling and dressing which is exactly what we wanted.

Terry and I have known each other since high school! We didn't see each other for years and then met again in a local bar, and the rest is history as they say.

On our five year anniversary, Terry took me and our son {who was only 6 months old at the time}, to Brighton for the day, as this is one of our favourite places to visit. We spent the day there, trawling vintage shops, and had lunch before a walk on the pier. It was sunset and he timed it perfectly, when he got down on one knee on the end of the pier!

Our photographs were taken by the fantastic Michael from My Beautiful Bride, who we can’t praise enough. Michael captured our day perfectly, and he was great in the build up to the wedding, and on the day itself. 

Ahead of your wedding, Michael really gets to know you as a couple, and spends time brainstorming ideas for creative shots, to ensure he knows exactly what you want from your pictures. All our guests commented on how helpful he was, and we were flooded with messages and comments on the finished photos. 


The thing we realised about photos is that the day goes so quickly, that actually your photos are one of the most important elements of your big day. They're your wedding day story book.

 

We began planning the wedding the summer before our big day. We drew inspiration from wedding blogs, moodboards and places like Pinterest. As I work in vintage, the wedding was always going to have a strong sixties influence, as this is my favourite era. I also found choosing the flowers really helped develop my ideas and colour themes, and I put together many moodboards.



We wanted lots of interesting things for our guests, so we had tonnes of DIY wedding details. We turned the potting shed into a vintage photo booth with old curtains that could be changed for different backdrops, and a huge chest of vintage clothing, props and hats. We purchased a Fuji Instax {a LOT cheaper than Polaroid, plus films are easy to buy} that produces instant pics, and hung out string with coloured pegs to create photo bunting. Guests had great fun doing this and wrote messages on the photo borders for us to keep. 


Another detail that added interest was our 'Family Tree'. We collected old and vintage pictures, and photo frames, and used them to display photos of Terry and I, and our families. They were tied on string and nailed into an old tree which looked really pretty. Guests loved laughing at old photos of us and reminiscing.

We chose records for our name places and table plan, and chose some of our favourite songs for table names; we also played these tracks in the background whilst we ate. 

We provided coloured chalks on the tables, and guests wrote messages on the record table names, and on their glasses, which we'd painted with blackboard paint so we could use them as name places.

Wedding stationary can be expensive, and I enjoy DIY projects, so I made our wedding stationery myself. The Save the Dates were simple magnets with the day, date and time and a 60s 'Just Married' couple photo in black and white. The wedding invites were the same design with further information printed on postcards. It was much cheaper than traditional invitations, and suited our wedding perfectly.

We DIY'd our wedding flowers. Ahead of our big day, we went to flower shows and wholesalers to select the flowers we liked. We then found a wholesalers close to the wedding venue, and ordered the flowers and picked them up the day before the wedding. We all made the bouquets and table decorations together, and left them in water in a dark shed overnight so they didn't wilt. Florists can be very expensive so we saved a lot of money by doing them ourselves.

Our wedding cake was made by a friend of ours, and an expert baker - Jody at Boola's Bakery. Jody created exactly the cake we requested, but she is great and has a whole portfolio of ideas if you need inspiration. We told her our ideas and she created the perfect cake!

For wedding favours we created a penny sweet table, with small pink and white paper bags. Our guests were encourage to help themselves. We also made little brown paper envelopes containing sunflower seeds with the words 'Let Your Love Grow' stencilled on the front. Guests really liked these and they were very cheap to make.

I loved planning my wedding! It can be stressful at times, but on the day when you and all your guests can enjoy all that hard work, is really worth it. I say all the time, I wish I could do it all again!

My advice to brides planning their wedding is - enjoy the day! Its cliché but it goes so quickly. Get a great photographer {I couldn’t recommend Michael from My Beautiful Bride enough} so that you have perfect memories, and don’t be afraid to do things yourselves. You can save lots of money and its really rewarding.

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Real Vintage Sunflower Wedding: Chanelle & Terry

This is one of those amazing weddings, where the bride and groom's exuberance and sheer joy just leaps out of the pictures. Chanelle and Terry celebrated their big day in vintage sunshiny style, with a gaggle of girlfriends and a fabulous 1960s theme. Chanelle owns and runs the fantastic vintage shop in Balham called Annie in the Attic, and I'm slightly obsessed with her retro style. Just take a look at her bridesmaids mini-shift dresses, white tights and cute lace gloves for starters! Anyone planning to scrimp on the number of maids of honour should think again - getting ready looks like a riot, and the matching outfits make for amazing pictures. With a church wedding and a marquee reception in Terry's parents' cottage garden, this is the DIY-wedding of your dreams. Don't miss Part 2, published tomorrow - it's packed to the brim with original wedding details, including a photo family-tree, a table-plan of vinyl LPs, and a potting shed turned vintage photo-booth! Huge thanks to Michael at My Beautiful Bride for his truly fantastic photographs. He didn't miss a single shot!

We married on the 30th June 2012. The ceremony was held in St Mary's Church in Buckland in Surrey, and the reception was held in the garden and marquee at Terry's parents' house in Buckland.

My dress was from Ronald Joyce and I bought it from The Wedding Service in Wallington, in Surrey. My shoes were Benjamin Adams, and my jewellery was vintage. 

I handmade my oversized bow hair accessory in the hotel the night before the wedding {which gave me something to focus on!}.

Until a week before the wedding I had an original 1960s wedding dress hanging up in a dress bag ready to go for my wedding day. I'd fallen in love with it, and bought it from a supplier I know in LA. But then my mum took me shoe shopping the week before at a bridal shop and my eye caught on the Ronald Joyce gown... I tried it on and couldn't take it off!

I had ten bridesmaids! When I first told people this, they thought I was crazy... but it was fantastic! It meant I didn't have to choose between my best friends, and I had support the whole time. They were all great and helped me out in different ways.



They wore special edition dresses from River Island {including Rhiannon, my Maid of Honour}, and I sourced them white tights, vintage court shoes and communion dresses from eBay. 
 



Terry went for a sharp, mod inspired style with a two tone blue Ben Sherman suit, Ben Sherman shirt and accessories, a vintage tie-clip and Lambretta shoes.

When we started planning our wedding, we started looking at venues, and then remembered St Mary's Church near Terry’s parents' house. We looked around and it was perfect. 

A quaint village church, with medieval characteristics, beautiful and within walking distance of Terry's parents where we decided to have a garden and marquee reception. 

Holding the reception at Terry's parents meant we had full control of all aspects of planning, styling and dressing which is exactly what we wanted.

We DIY'd our wedding flowers. Ahead of our big day, we went to flower shows and wholesalers to select the flowers we liked. We then found a wholesalers close to the wedding venue, and ordered the flowers and picked them up the day before the wedding. 

We all made the bouquets and table decorations together, and left them in water in a dark shed overnight so they didn't wilt. Florists can be very expensive so we saved a lot of money by doing them ourselves.

Our photographs were taken by the fantastic Michael from My Beautiful Bride, who we can’t praise enough. Michael captured our day perfectly, and he was great in the build up to the wedding, and on the day itself.

Ahead of your wedding, Michael really gets to know you as a couple, and spends time brainstorming ideas for creative shots, to ensure he knows exactly what you want from your pictures. All our guests commented on how helpful he was, and we were flooded with messages and comments on the finished photos.

The thing we realised about photos is that the day goes so quickly, that actually your photos are one of the most important elements of your big day. They're your wedding day story book.

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

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Incredible Luxe Bridal Headware & Accessories

For me there was never any question that I was going to wear a veil. But lots of brides are far more modern, and choose to wear hat or glittery hair accessory. To be honest I've never been that keen on the fascinator look {too Kate Middleton}, until I stumbled across Jane Taylor Millinery. Her work is so beautiful that it's totally blown away all my preconceptions. Just check out these heavenly ethereal designs, and there's many more on her website. Once again I'm wishing for another wedding so I can try out a different bridal style, with one of these gorgeous pieces!

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Sparkly Cinderella Wedding Shoes

Shoes, glorious shoes! Wouldn't these lovelies make you feel like Cinderella? They're gorgeous enough to make you want to wear a short wedding dress. Designed by the lovely Tess from T.L.C. Creations, they're a labour of love. Each crystal and pearl embellishment is added by hand, using Swarovski crystals, vintage jewellery pieces, and pearl and glass beads. Every pair she makes is completely unique, because of the thousands of pieces used to cover the shoes. So they're bespoke, just like the glass slipper in the fairy-tale.

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Real Barn & Burlap Wedding: KT & Chad

Brides planning a barn wedding are going to L-O-V-E this incredible big day, photographed by the fabulous Jose Villa. It's a shabby-chic wedding explosion, with tonnes of dreamy vintage, burlap and wooden details. Throw in a couple of romance swings, tonnes of ribbons, succulents and the best wedding dress I've seen in a long while, and I'm in wedding heaven. Drink in the wedding details, ladies, and keep an eye out for the mossy monograms and the stitched, cotton wedding invitations. Paper stationery is so passé! P.S. Have you spotted KT's giant bridal bouquet? This season's bouquets are all about size, and bigger is definitely better.

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