Easy Wedding Branding with Monogram Stamps

You can safely assume that most of the guests at your wedding won't notice all the perfect wedding details, you've so carefully curated. The male guests won't even be able to describe the colours of the flowers, let alone the lace you stayed up all night glueing onto jam-jars for the perfect boho vases. But one thing that the guys did notice at my wedding was our vintage key branding. I think it was because it was everywhere! It was all part of my Secret Garden wedding theme, and it tied all the our wedding details together. For a similar effect, brand your wedding with a monogram. Nothing says together more than a design including your initials, and if you order a personalised stamp, you can easily DIY all your details....I'm thinking favours, place-cards, wedding invitations, envelopes, menus, the lot! I love this heart stamp, £10 by Stamp Couture, check out my Pinterest board for tonnes more ideas.

{I want this} Heart Monogram Stamp, £10 by Stamp Couture

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Five Top Tips on Buying Your Designer Wedding Dress for Less

Wedding dresses are crazily expensive - some surveys even suggest they count for 20% of some bride's wedding budgets. I really struggled to find a reasonable wedding gown that felt like 'the one', and in the end, my mum very kindly gave me my Delphine Manivet dress as a wedding present. It was worryingly expensive, and I spent months trying to find it second-hand, but at that time Delphine was a reasonably new designer...now she's stocked in Browns Brides! I managed to recoup some of the money by selling my gown to another bride, who visited me at home to try it on. I felt very sad to let it go, but it halved the overall price, and assuaged my guilt sightly. So in the spirit of saving money, and looking hot for less money, I thought I'd give you these top-tips for getting your wedding dress for less.

{Wedding Photographer Credit} Me on my French wedding day by Jemma Harding Photography}

♥ Find out whether your wedding dress designer does sample sales, and be the first in the door.

♥ Search on eBay. I know there are tonnes of Temperley London and Jenny Packham wedding dresses available, and most brides expect you to want to try before you buy. If your designer is French, search on French eBay {tip: you'll need to use the word 'robe' for dress or 'voile' for veil}. My wedding dress for my London wedding was designed by Australian dressmakers, Rose & Ruby, so I searched on Australian eBay.

♥  Check out wedding blogs that allow brides to list their wedding dresses. Once Wed is a US wedding blog with a great listings section, and Rock My Wedding in the UK also offers second-hand dresses.

♥ Scour the Secondhand Dress websites. My favourites are Sell My Wedding Dress and Preloved, but there are loads - just type "secondhand wedding dress" into Google.

♥ If all else fails, ask for a discount. You'll be surprised how often shops will offer 10%-20% off, and you've got nothing to lose by asking.

P.S. There is another option. Don't go designer! Tonnes of high street stores like Monsoon sell off-the-peg wedding dresses that look just as good as designer gowns. And if you don't tell...neither will I....

P.P.S. I have now sold both my wedding dresses!

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A Beautiful Barn Wedding with Pink & Sage Green Details

I've got some pretty perfect wedding details to show off to you in this afternoon's beautiful barn wedding. Keri and Kiran chose pastel colours as their wedding palette, and I love the simplicity of the white on white table linens, and the occasional pop of pink roses. Stealworthy ideas include the wire heart table-plan {such an easy but elegant design}, the delicate rose petal table decorations, and the twisted three-tier, square wedding cake. Stunning wedding pictures published with thanks to the lovely Kayleigh Pope Photography.

We got married in Dodford Manor in the Northamptonshire countryside, on 30th July 2013. 

Our photographer was Kayleigh Pope. We chose her through a recommendation, and as she lived so close by, many of our friends knew her personally. After seeing some of her work it was a very easy decision.

A Beautiful Barn Wedding with Pink & Sage Green Details

Sage green, pink and cream have to be my favourite wedding colours. My own wedding was themed around those soft shades, along with a touch of dove grey, and I reckon they're just the right combination of feminine and masculine. You don't want to go too pink, or your husband can look slightly out of place! Keri and Kiran chose Dodford Manor in the Northamptonshire countryside for their summer wedding, and I've fallen for its rustic charms. I'm a big believer in the barn wedding venue - they're intimate and cosy, and just the right side of vintage. Keri looks stunning in her wedding gown - her whole outfit was a present from her mum {just like at my wedding!}. There's something particularly special about your mum buying your dress - it makes you feel like they're supporting you throughout the day. I've also fallen for Keri's pretty in pink bridesmaids - Grecian gowns are so elegant, and they really do suit every figure. Huge thanks to Kayleigh Pope for sending through this fab wedding. Kayleigh's portrait shots are the best! More to come in Part 2, along with all the pretty pastel reception details.

We got married in Dodford Manor in the Northamptonshire countryside, on 30th July 2013. We looked round a hotel venue before we found Dodford Manor, and we quickly realised that it was everything we didn't want. We wanted a place which we could hire exclusively for our wedding and our guests, and somewhere that would take beautiful pictures and really impress our guests.

How To Avoid Wedding Jet-Lag

Perhaps it's because I'm on holiday this week, but my thoughts have turned to honeymoons. My husband and I decided not to have one immediately after our wedding - our budget was bust, and we decided our money was better spent elsewhere {like champagne for our guests!}. And after all, a honeymoon is just a holiday, and we figured we could wait until we'd refilled our coffers. We couldn't have been more wrong. The feeling you get after your wedding is a unique combination of massive joy, extreme exhaustion, and huge deflation. It's like wedding jet-lag, and you need a honeymoon to avoid it. Just think, you've been planning your wedding for months, and now it's over. You need to get away, to get over the gap it leaves in your life! Obviously not all of us can afford to go on a tropical break, but even if it's a long weekend away, use your credit card, beg, borrow or steal...but book yourself a romantic break. And try to leave some money for new beachwear, or cheat and get married in your bikini - Pamela Anderson-style!

{Credit} Love this beach-ball confetti! Picture by Elaine Palladino Photography - more from this wedding on Ruffled Blog

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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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