Real Elegant London Wedding with Apple Green Bridesmaids

The bride and groom in the gorgeous pastel green-themed wedding have completely captured my heart. They look so blissfully happy on their wedding day, and you can really tell they're having a brilliant time with all their best mates! All the wedding details are really well thought out, with the soft green colour palette holding everything together. I'm loving the bridesmaid's zingy dresses, the cheesecake wedding cake {yummy!}, and the vintage pictures of their parents' and grandparents' weddings. Lizzie's bouquet is particularly pretty, with white roses and freesias, and I love a groom in a morning suit! The wedding ceremony took place at St Winefrides in Wimbledon, and Lizzie and Andy spotted the zebra crossing outside the church as a fun photo prop. Loving the Beatles' style picture, complete with red bus! The wedding reception was at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park - a little bit of traditional countryside in the middle of the city. Huge thanks to the lovely Hannah, from Funky Photographers for these gorgeous pictures.

Wonderful Wedding Web Links

Months after everyone else, we've finally taken our summer holiday, so I'm typing this poolside in Crete, and slightly worrying about getting a sunburnt back! We've left it so late, it's sure to feel like autumn once we return, and then we'll be into the deliciously cosy feel of autumn and winter weddings. There's something uniquely romantic about candlelight and falling leaves, and I can't wait to see all the real weddings winging their way to my inbox. In the meantime, enjoy the last flush of summer in these wonderful wedding web links from this week. P.S. If you're wondering how I collect all my favourite blog posts together in one place, can I recommend Blog Lovin? It's a great blog reader, and it's got a fab app for your phone.

{Credits} Incredible bouquet by The Little Branch, picture by Ben Christenson, full wedding on Once Wed}

♥ Love how this bride left her hair loose

♥ A caped wedding dress & the funniest groom pic ever!
♥ Are ombre tassels the new bunting?

♥ Are geometric garlands the new ombre tassels? {Great DIY tutorial}

♥ A blow-your-mind Babington House wedding 

♥ DIY popsicle napkin rings

♥ Pimp your wedding envelopes with this fab DIY idea

♥ A blue bicycle themed wedding

♥ Best bridesmaids dresses & table plan EVER

♥ There's a hint of autumn in this pretty perfect wedding

♥ An amazing lavender barn wedding from our archives

♥ DIY Sun Print Placemarkers via the fabulous wedding blog Once Wed

♥ A lovely yellow themed Cornish wedding from our archives

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Wedding Blog Awards.....Two Nominations!

Thank you so much to all my lovely readers who nominated for me in the Wedding Blog Awards! Your hard work paid off, and I'm in the shortlist in not one, but TWO categories - Best London Blog and Best Real Life Weddings Blog. Can you tell I'm EXCITED??!!! Now all we need to do is beat off the {rather impressive} competition, to see if Before the Big Day can win one of the categories {I don't dare wish for both}. I couldn't be more thrilled to be recognised in this way - I've been struggling to keep up with the blogging since my baby was born in April, tapping away in-between feeds and washing, and this has made it all worthwhile. THANK YOU!! So now all you need to do is Vote Here - it takes less than a minute!

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What Dress Style Best Suits Your Bridesmaids?

Have I told you that I'm going to be a bridesmaid in December? I'm SO excited about it! The bride's keen for us to wear a deep red colour to fit in with the her warm wintery colour palette, but that's all I know! We'll probably aim for high street gowns - Debenhams' bridesmaids dresses or something from the summer sales. One of the other girls is going to be six months pregnant, so it's going to be really hard to find a dress that suits us all. It's the same for most brides - invariably your girls are going to be different shapes. Take a look at this fantastic guide on how to make sure they all look fabulous!

Infographic by Debenhams

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Real Elegant Love-Filled Wedding with a Pink, Silver & Cream Colour Palette

Roll up for the fantastic reception pictures from Lucy and Matt's vintage-themed wedding. With a traditional sweetie table, a framed table plan, and wedding favours full of meaning and memory, it's a heartwarming big day. My favourite stealworthy details include all the matching table stationery {if you're DIYing choose a font and use it on everything for a put-together look}, the red velvet, four-tier wedding cake, and the table names {all after famous couples!}. Don't miss Lucy's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire - there's tonnes of fab suppliers and advice in there. Lucy's top tip? To draw on the talents of your friends to save you money. Lucy was lucky enough to know a make-up artist, a hairdresser, a graphic designer, and a florist! We can't all be that fortunate, but ask around, you'll be surprised how many handy people there are out there. Huge thanks to Kirsty from This and That Photography for these gorgeous photographs.

We chose Kirsty from This and That Photography to capture our big day. She's a local photographer, and our close friends had already booked her for their wedding, so she came highly recommended. Her pictures are always stunning, natural and warm with a sense of fun.

Kirsty has a real passion about each wedding she photographs, and seems to genuinely love what she does. On the day she was discrete, capturing secret shots of our guests, and she had fabulous ideas for posed photographs. She always has a smile on her face, and has a real knack at putting people at ease. We couldn't have picked a better photographer to shoot our wedding day and I would thoroughly recommend her. 

Real Elegant Love-Filled Wedding with a Pink, Silver & Cream Colour Palette

This is one of those weddings which reminds you of the truly important things in life; your family, your friends, and the love you share for your future husband. Lucy and Matt wanted their wedding to pay tribute to Matt's mum, who died a few years ago. She loved cream roses, so that formed the base of their wedding colour palette of pink, silver and cream. They then added buckets of brilliant wedding details, including a traditional sweetie favour buffet, complete with vintage scoops, jars, and hand-stamped paper bags. I love Lucy's flattering strapless Sophia Tolli wedding gown, her simple but sweet jewellery designed and made by her grandmother, and a veil that Lucy designed herself via Wedding Veils Direct {a top tip, as wedding veils are often very overpriced}. I've got tonnes more gorgeous reception pictures to show you in the next feature, in the meantime, enjoy this shots by Kirsty at This and That Photography. P.S. Lucy submitted her wedding to Before the Big Day, why don't you?

Matthew and I got married on 18th May 2013 at Warbrook House and Grange, in Eversley, in Hampshire. We wanted a venue that was elegant and special, yet welcoming and not stuffy, and so soon as we went to visit Warbrook House, we knew it was exactly right for us. The grounds are stunning and we had complete run of the Main House, which meant it was only us and our guests around.

The thing that really sealed Warbrook for me, was the Morning Room, a beautifully light space with an adjoining conservatory, that my bridesmaids and I used on the morning of the wedding. It made the getting ready process so special, and I am so pleased that our wedding pictures captured how happy and relaxed I was on that morning {surprising for me as I do have the tendency to be a little bit of a stress head!}.

Five Fantastic Wedding Guest Book Ideas

Last week I was sorting out the chaos of books on our coffee table, and I re-discovered our wedding guest book. It's chock-full of hilarious polaroid pictures, and ever-more surreal messages, as the evening went on, and our guests got more tipsy. It's a wonderful trip down memory lane, and we've only been married for two years! The difficulty with guest books is persuading your friends and family to take time out from all the fun they're having, to actually write a message. We've had friends who've bought round their book after their big day, because we failed to write in it on the actual event. One failsafe method is to add a polaroid camera {like we did}. At least then you'll have some sort of photographic record! Or you could try one of these gorgeous creative ideas from my favourite Etsy sellers. They're so pretty, your guests can't fail to want to write in them! P.S. I considered a big wooden sign for our own wedding, but we'd already hired a van to get all our wedding stuff out to France, and I had to stop somewhere!

{I want this!} 3D Heart Wedding Guest Book by Mio Gallery

A Fab Alternative for a Star-Bride

Modern brides are eschewing the classic veil for some seriously on-trend accessories. Why not use your wedding day as an excuse to purchase that fabulous feathered hat you've had your eye on for months? Or add a dramatic diamond clasp to your chignon? Right now I'm channelling stars with these cute starlet crown from Giant Dwarf.

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