Thursday 22 August 2013

Five Ways To Get Your Wedding Guests Dancing

We went to a wedding a few years ago, where no one danced. I don't know why - they had a fantastic band and the alcohol was flowing freely, but the party never really got started. I really felt for the bride and groom, because you want your wedding to be a fantastic, memorable evening, {you've spent all that money}, and for me, a party isn't a party without a good dance. So here are five ways to persuade your guest to kick off their wedding shoes and get down and boogie.



{Wedding Photographer Credit} Matt Edge Photography

1. Don't leave it to chance. Don't think, 'oh I'll just let people put on their iPods'. Either hire a DJ and discuss what you want before your big day, or sit down and create your own song list. If you're DIY-ing, I really recommend joining Spotify. For £9.99 a month you can stream and download as many songs as you want. I'm not even that into music, and I create Playlists all the time. They seem to have every song you can imagine, including your guilty secrets {Grease anyone?}.

2. Ask your guests to send back two song suggestions with their RSVP slip. A couple of our friends did just this, and everyone danced like crazy. In fact, we had such a good night, we asked them for their song list, and gave it to our DJ as a guide. And then everyone danced like crazy at our wedding. You can take a look at our wedding playlist, but remember, it is three years old!

3. Encourage your girlfriends to kick of their heels, by providing free flip-flop wedding favours. They're super-cheap if bought in bulk {approx £2 per pair}, and if the girls are dancing, you can be sure the boys will follow.

4. Far me it for me to tell you what to choose as your First Dance. After all, I don't know all the heartfelt meaning behind 'Your Song'. But if at all possible, don't pick a slow one! The First Dance sets the tone for the evening, and if you want to party, don't pick something sway-able, you want a beat!

5. Tell your ushers and bridesmaids that one of their key tasks is to join you on the dance-floor after your First Dance, and to stay there for at least three songs. There's a tipping point at a party, where the shyer guests feel there's enough people dancing, for them to join in. You want your wedding party to create that tipping point.

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Wednesday 21 August 2013

British Etsy Wedding Seller of the Week #1

Big news! We're starting a new series of features here on Before the Big Day. We're all about original wedding ideas, and we're all about supporting British boutique businesses and individual creativity, and where better to find that than Etsy? If you haven't stumbled upon this amazing website, be warned, once you start clicking, you may never stop. It's addictive - there are so many incredible wedding ideas and products, your brain may well implode from wedding inspiration. To keep things under control, I'm going to drip-feed you the best of British Etsy wedding suppliers, one a week, every Wednesday. First up is La Pomme et La Pipe. Contrary to its French name, it's run by Amanda who lives in Oxford, and it's a fabulous hodgepodge of rustic handmade wedding supplies, paper goods, textiles and unique french-inspired supplies. Here are just a few of my favourites, but be sure to check it out yourself.


{I want this!} 50 Gold Glitter Mini Pegs, £9.81


{I want this!} 50 Burlap Heart Wedding place setting/name tags, £65.41


{I want this!} 50 Rustic Wedding Seed Packet Envelopes, £65.41


{I want this!} Lace Sampler Set, £6.54

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Tuesday 20 August 2013

Whimsical Print-Your-Own Vintage Wedding Invitations

Wedding stationery still gets me ridiculously excited, and I love discovering brand new designers. Everything about these invitation suites by Splash of Silver is perfect. It's the combination of two of my favourite wedding motifs {bunting and old-fashioned Mason jars}, added to rustic Kraft paper, with a mix of fun fonts. The best things is they're digital designs, so you can personalise them, buy them, and DIY print them as many times as you want, saving you serious ££. They even include Thank You cards! There are three ways to get them printed - at home, at your local printer, or at an online printer like VistaPrint. There's tonnes of printable wedding invitations on Etsy, and check out my wedding stationery board on Pinterest for more inspiration.


{Where can I buy this?} Bunting Wedding Invitation Suite, £66


{Where can I buy this?} Flowers & Mason Jars Wedding Invitation Suite, £66


{Where can I buy this?} Bunting & Mason Jars Suite, £56

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Monday 19 August 2013

A Real Casual South African Wedding: Liebe & Arnold

If you're a barefoot kind of bride, you're going to love this casual South African wedding. Lovely couple Liebe and Arnold celebrated their big day in the middle of nowhere - a properly rural oasis in the heart of the Overberg. I love the opulent, vintage feel of their wedding venue, a ranch called Halfaampieskraal. The exotic mirrors, chandeliers, urn-filled flower arrangements and blue chairs work perfectly with their carnival theme, and red star motif. I love Liebe's short wedding dress, and Arnold's shorts and braces combo - I think it's the first time I've seen a groom in shorts, and doesn't it work perfectly for a casual wedding! Other amazing stealworthy ideas include the celebratory ribbon wands, the bridesmaids ditsy-floral dresses and Liebe's wild tumbleweed wedding bouquet. Enjoy these gorgeous photographs by We Love Pictures - they're our favourite South African wedding photographers.




Sunday 18 August 2013

Wonderful Wedding Blog Links

Waaaay to much time has passed since I last wrote up my favourite wedding blog links from the week, which means I have a huge backlog of fabulousness to draw from! Expect some seriously chunky posts in the future. If you were wondering how I gathered my favourite links, I'd like to recommend Blog Lovin'. I've been using it ever since the demise of Google Reader, and it's a great way to collect all your favourite blogs into one easy read. You can also 'Like' particular articles, and look up popular blog posts. I've found some fantastic new blogs thanks to that feature, including lifestyle blogs Little Miss Homes and The Londoner.


♥ Save ££ by DIYing your wedding flowers with the help of Paper to Petal by bloggers Married To Craft

♥ How about a botanical themed wedding?

♥ A pretty perfect twist on a wedding guest book

♥ New Save the Date stamps from one of my favourite wedding stationers

♥ Everything about this rainbow polka-dot wedding makes me happy

♥ Everything about this wedding is gorgeous

♥ Amazing mason jar themed wedding with lots of DIY-able ideas

♥ Peace and love - a wildflower themed wedding shoot

♥ Make these cool geometric garlands for your stylish big day

♥ Use these amazing free fonts to personalise your wedding stationery

♥ Love the comedy bridesmaid shot in this fun South African wedding

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Friday 16 August 2013

We ♥ Charlie Brier Vintage Wedding Dress Sample Sales

Have you heard? Massively exciting news! Charlie Brear from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company has just announced her annual trunk sale. Taking place from 19th-21st September, viewing is by appointment only at their central London showroom. This gorgeous boutique is renowned for its heavenly gowns, both vintage and vintage-style, and this is your opportunity to get your hands on them at discounted prices! For full information and to book an appointment, call 0207 907 7719.






♥ Want to see wedding dress ideas? ♥ Or how about more vintage wedding ideas? ♥
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Real Quirky Comic-Book Themed Wedding: Verity & Russell - The Reception

Regular readers of the blog might have spotted my giant balloon obsession. It all started back when I was planning my own wedding - I saw this picture, and decided I had to have giant white balloons at my big day. Fast forward two years and Before the Big Day bride, Verity, got in touch to tell me about her love of red balloons, and to find out the details of my supplier. Fast forward another year, and here are the amazing pictures of Verity and Russell's big day! They didn't just use balloons in their wedding decoration - they had a veritable plethora of wedding details, all themed around a vintage comic book and board game wedding theme. You'll find buckets of DIY wedding inspiration, from their Monopoly board table plan, the favour boxes wrapped in comic book pages, their mum-made wedding cake and jam-jar Pimm's glasses. I love the Scrabble tile wedding favours, the vintage cameras and the pop of the homemade red bunting against the white of the marquee. Huge thanks to Verity for submitting her wedding, and to her fantastic wedding photographer, Rebecca L Weddings for capturing all the details. Why not submit your wedding?


We got married on 18 May 2013 at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire with a reception in Rosliston Forestry Centre



We actually had a rough ride with our reception. We booked a nearby barn but got told with eight months to go that they were no longer doing weddings due to noise and neighbour problems. We were gutted! Thankfully Saffron Caterers put forward Rosliston Forestry Centre as an alternative. It was in the middle of the National Forest, and has accommodation for all our guests, so it was the perfect alternative, and better than our original choice. 



Thursday 15 August 2013

Real Quirky Comic-Book Themed Wedding: Verity & Russell

Brighten up your day with this imaginative, comic-book themed wedding! It's packed full of stealworthy ideas, and I'm thrilled that the lovely Verity drew inspiration from Before the Big Day. We share a love of giant round balloons, along with a good wedding theme. Verity and Russell chose an old-school vibe of comic books and vintage board games to decorate their reception, and I reckon it's the first time I've seen a Monopoly board at a wedding! You'll have to wait for this afternoon's feature to see those details, but first, feast your eyes on Verity's fabulous Sophia Tolli wedding gown, her dramatic bouquet of red gerbera and Russell's fantastic red bow-tie. I also love her little bridemaids' dresses - their luxurious red sashes, and little ribbon wands. Verity has tonnes of great wedding advice on how to keep to your wedding budget - from DIY projects to winning competitions! Enjoy reading her answers to Before the Big Day's Bride's Questionnaire, and why not submit your wedding? Huge thanks to Rebecca L Weddings for her gorgeous pictures of this big day.


We got married on 18 May 2013 at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire with a reception in Rosliston Forestry Centre. I won a competition by Wedding In A TeaCup so our wedding invitations were free. We went for a vintage look and used stamps to create the name tags.


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