Friday 11 October 2013

Introducing Bloom & Wild Wedding Flower Subscription

My biggest extravagance is fresh flowers. There's nothing I love more than to come home to buckets of tulips or peonies. I used to buy my flowers from Colombia Flower Market in East London, but now I've got my little son, it's not as easy to get over there. So I was thrilled when a friend recommended Bloom & Wild. They're a flower subscription service, who send you a bunch of flowers in the post every week, or every fortnight. What's amazing about their service, is you don't have to be at home to receive the bouquets, because they come through the post, in an innovative letterbox size box! The flowers are super-fresh, and last forever - my bouquet is still going strong over a week later. Bloom & Wild bouquets would make a brilliant wedding present - just imagine if you bought a year's subscription - it would literally be the gift that kept on giving! If you'd like to try Bloom & Wild, check out their bouquets, or enter their competition to win a three month subscription. Enter before next Friday, and you'll be in with the chance to win a free bouquet through your letterbox every 2 weeks.

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Thursday 10 October 2013

An Exquisite English Country Garden Spring Wedding - The Reception

After all the excitement of the Wedding Blog Awards, I completely failed to publish the second half of Jo and Luke's incredible wedding. And you've got to see these amazing pictures, as they're chock-a-block with wedding inspiration. Jo chose a beautiful garden theme, which fitted perfectly with their Friars Court wedding venue. The owner is clearly some sort of wedding decoration genius, as he's created a wonderful romantic world of swinging lanterns and vintage props. There's so many stealworthy ideas, it's hard to pick my favourite, but....{deep breath}....I love the swinging white lanterns, the 14 real, blossoming cherry trees lining the marquee, the tables named after flowers, the mossy logs, the memory table {complete with budget-savvy Waitrose cake}, and the wooden LOVE hearts hanging off the water bottles. Don't miss Jo's answers to the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, they're full of wedding inspiration, and take a look at their wedding photographer, Lily Sawyer's website - she's a serious talent!


We got married in Alvescot Church on 27th April 2013 near where I grew up. For the reception, we wanted something near to the church, and we were fortunate enough to find the most incredible venue available in the next village. Friars Court is an old country manor, and we held our reception in the gardens and the garden room. 


We also had a marquee on the old tennis courts. We wanted to make the most of being in the countryside - particularly for our friends from London. I wanted it to be an extension of my childhood - of which I have such happy memories. 



Wednesday 9 October 2013

An Exquisite English Country Garden Spring Wedding

This incredible English country-garden wedding has been a long time coming! I've found it super-hard to edit - every one of Lily Sawyer's shots is incredible, and lovely Jo and Luke created such a beautiful wedding day, it's hard to choose which pictures to exclude! Jo's friends call her an English rose, so she themed her wedding loosely around the tea rose, with plenty of pretty blooms in her wedding bouquet, and rose wedding stationery. Jo and Luke followed tradition, and married in Jo's local village church, hosting their reception in the gorgeous gardens of Friars Court. You'll fall head-over-heels for all their country garden wedding details, but first, drink in Jo's stunning Essense of Australia wedding gown, her elegant vintage jewellery, and the amazing DIY'd church flowers. More amazing photographs of Jo and Luke's reception, coming soon! Huge thanks to Lily Sawyer and second shooter, Esther Bissessar.


We got married in Alvescot Church on 27th April 2013.. The church is over 900 years old and is situated in a small village in Oxfordshire on the edge of the Cotswolds, where I grew up. 


For the reception, we wanted something near to the church, and we were fortunate enough to find the most incredible venue available in the next village. Friars Court is an old country manor, and we held our reception in the gardens and the garden room. We also had a marquee on the old tennis courts. We wanted to make the most of being in the countryside - particularly for our friends from London. 



A Winner at The Wedding Blog Awards

So if you follow me on Twitter, you might have spotted a few excited tweets last night and this morning {like a million}! It's all thanks to one of the most amazing evenings of my entire life! Last night, I won Editor's Pick at Wedding Magazine's Wedding Blog Awards. It was the last prize to be announced, so I was ready to put the evening down to a fabulous experience, and then {as if in slow motion}, I heard my name being announced as the winner! I'm now the proud owner of a beautiful award, I got to kiss a very attractive man from Made in Chelsea, and I drank plenty of champagne at The Ritz - which has to be the dreamiest place to get married, and I got the best and biggest goodie bag ever! What's more, I even won a mini-break in Sicily thanks to the amazing Hotel Imperiale Taormina. HUGE thanks to everyone who voted for me - I'm so thrilled and flattered to have won the Editor's prize - but I'm sure Before the Big Day wouldn't have come to Ciara's attention, if it hadn't been for your votes. Take a look at a few of the pictures below...there's be much more to come later today on my Facebook page.


{Photo} Me & the Editor of Wedding & Wedding Flowers Magazine, Ciara Elliott.

A bit like the Oscar's I have a few thank you's...

To Julia Bowden - the best hair and make-up artist in the world, who made me look and feel super-glam. Book her for your wedding now! More beauty posts from Julia coming soon on the blog!
To Ciara and the whole team at Wedding Magazine
♥ To the Hotel Imperiale Taormina for my amazing prize
♥ To Intricate Creations for making my lovely trophy!
♥ All the fantastic companies who contributed to the goodie bag! I'm still working my way through it - more info coming soon.

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Tuesday 8 October 2013

Five Easy Ways to Avoid Breaking Your Wedding Budget

I'm yet to meet a bride who doesn't have to work within some sort of budget. Even the luckiest of girls balk at spending tens of thousands on what is ultimately a one-day affair. Here on Before the Big Day, we're all about saving pennies, whether it's through DIY projects, or clever compromises, but it wasn't until my best friend started planning her wedding, that I realised just how many thrifty hints I had in my back pocket. Here are a few of my favourites - I hope they help you stick within your budget....



{Photo Credit} Tanya Lippert Photography

1. Go online for your wedding favours, stationery, decorations and general wedding supplies. There's a reason the high street is failing, and it's because savvy shoppers buy everything from Amazon or eBay. Before I buy anything, I compare the prices on Amazon and eBay, and any other relevant online shops. I've found giant white balloons priced at £5 each on some websites, while you can find them on eBay for less than a pound - particularly if you're buying in bulk. It's the same with paper lanterns.

2. Wedding cakes are another wedding detail where you can make massive savings. A designer cake can cost over a £1000, and although they'll be beautiful, and taste fantastic, not everyone can stretch to such a massive sum. If your mum's not up to baking a fashionable naked wedding cake {the icing is the hardest element to recreate}, then buy your tiers from M&S or Waitrose, and DIY your own decorations using fresh flowers or fruit, or even butterflies.


{Photo Credit} Anna Louise Crossley, more from this pink themed wedding

3. Look out for secret sales and voucher offers online. It's amazing how many big name boutiques offer discounts on their dresses and accessories on their websites. Find the bridesmaids dresses you want on the high street, and then go online to see if they're cheaper. You could even do a spot-check on your iPhone from the changing room! 

4. Wedding flowers are easy to DIY. I recommend spending money on professionally tied bouquets and buttonholes, but fabulous table flowers are easy to create on your own, using blooms bought from your local flower market, or online. If you're not artistic, then avoid fancy arrangements and fill lots of small vases or jam-jars with the same flower, and mix and match.

{Photo Credit} Paige Jones

5. One of the biggest expenses of a wedding is the reception meal. Three-course meals are pricey and often unnecessarily extravagant. Instead host a BBQ with a selection of table salads, a picnic {complete with baskets and blankets} or a vintage tea-party. With fun styling, no one will notice you're trying to save money. Offer wedding cake for pudding, or keep it cheap and very cheerful with a DIY ice-cream station, complete with cones, toppings and 99p flakes.

** For more money saving tips - How to Buy Your Wedding Dress for Less **

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Saturday 5 October 2013

Wonderful Wedding Blog Web Links

So for me, this week has been all about planning what to wear to the Wedding Blog Awards at The Ritz. I've no idea what I'm going to wear, but our lovely Wedding Blog Beauty Expert, Julia Bowden is going to be doing my hair and make-up beforehand, so at the very least, I'll look great from the shoulders up! In the meantime, the weather's been turning, and so have my thoughts, towards autumn and winter weddings. There's some fabulous seasonal themes out there for autumn brides - take a look at my Pinterest boards for some sneak-peaks of next week's posts. This weekend I'm in Dorset, so expect some countryside inspiration....I'm thinking log fires, apple crumble, and handmade blackberry jam wedding favours! Enjoy your weekend - here's the best from the wedding blogs this week.

{Photo Credit} Unknown - buy a heart punch

♥ 
A sweet and easy autumn DIY - more on my Autumn Pinterest board
An elephant at a wedding? And why not!
♥ Hot on the heels of the flower crown, comes the flower necklace....would you?
♥ The table flowers at this New York wedding look like they're growing out of the table - stunning!
♥ An elegant French chateau wedding - I'll be at The French Wedding Show if you want to come and chat!
♥ This is what happens when an American bride gets married in the UK
♥ Oh my - this Norwegian wedding is beyond stunning
♥ Another French wedding, this time flush with pink pom-poms....and did I mention The French Wedding Show {sorry!}?
♥ L-O-V-E polka-dots at a farmers-market inspired wedding
♥ A very stylish London elopement
♥ Spring brides will fall hook-line-and-sinker for these florals!

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Friday 4 October 2013

Pretty Sage Green & Dusky Pink Shabby Chic Church Wedding - The Reception

With a dusky pink and sage green wedding colours, I was always going to love Daniella and Paul's wedding - after all, they're the same shades I picked for my own big day. Add in the stunning DIY wedding details and the shabby chic theme, and this wedding is something of a humdinger! I love all the pretty touches, from the handmade burlap menu folds, the pashmina favours, the table plan tree, the vintage tea-cups filled with sweeties for snacking, and the fingerprint guest-book. With two years to plan, Daniella thought of every single wedding extra, and it really shows in this lovely personal wedding. Don't miss her answers to the Before the Big Day Questionnaire - if you're thinking about hiring a wedding coordinator for the day, Daniella's answers will swing you towards asking your florist! Huge thanks to Dean Govier for his beautiful wedding photographs - he captured every perfect detail.



Paul and I got married on 1st June 2013. We had our ceremony at St. George's Church in Crowhurst, and hosted our reception at Coltsford Mill, a Watermill barn near Oxted in Surrey. The barn is a blank canvas and the grounds are simply stunning, with an abundance of lakes and lawns.


Our wedding photographer was Dean Govier. Originally we had someone else booked, but as time went on I felt I wasn't connecting with him, and had my doubts. Luckily we met Dean at our marriage prep classes {he got married 3 weeks before us} and we instantly felt drawn to his style and personality. We knew he would be a fab photographer, and someone we wanted there on our day, so we lost the deposit on our original booking and booked Dean, and we were so pleased with our decision!



A Pretty, Sage Green & Dusky Pink, Shabby Chic, DIY Church Wedding

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there's nothing I like more than a Before the Big Day bride who gets in touch after her big day to submit her wedding. Daniella read BBD, and I'm thrilled to say she's a girl after my own heart - a DIY bride with an eye for wedding details, and a love for a sage green and pink colour palette. You'll find stacks of inspiration in her pretty designs - this is a bride who created everything from the bunting, the table plan, place name holders, hessian cone pew-ends, happy-tear tissue pouches, Orders of Service, hundreds of jam jar candles and even 100 tea-light candles! You'll love her advice and her enthusiasm for her wedding vendors - enjoy these beautiful photographs by Dean Govier...with much more from the wedding reception later today.


Paul and I got married on 1st June 2013. We had our ceremony at St. George's Church in Crowhurst. It's our local church and it means a lot to me, as I was christened there, and attended family services there all my life. The Vicar has known me since I was three years old, so it felt like the right place to get married.


I picked pale green and dusky pink as our wedding colours, and we incorporated birds and roses as our main theme, plus a monogram of our initials on our wedding stationery. I worked with my florist to get the colours just right, and her inspiration was invaluable. I recommend her 100% - she was more than just a florist.




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