Mexican Papel Picado Personalised Weddding Decorations

Yet more incredible paper wedding decorations to brighten up your wedding day space. Whether you hire a marquee or a village hall, these gorgeous personalised banners will create a festival atmosphere at your wedding. Created by Ay Mujer, they're called papel picado, and they're a traditional Mexican folk art made out of tissue paper of every shade. Why not continue the theme, and have a Mexican meal with a margaritas?

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Blackberry Autumn Wedding Theme

One of my best girlfriends is going to be getting married in December, but for family reasons, she had to bring forward the official ceremony to the autumn. Everything happened quite quickly, and she ended up organising her mini-wedding in just a week! {So it is possible!}. I was super-keen to get her just as excited about her autumn wedding as her winter big day, so I went into overdrive with my theme ideas, and created tonnes of Pinterest boards. One of my favourite ideas was a Blackberry Themed Wedding. I found bucket-loads of pretty inspiration....take a look at a few of my favourite ideas below.

Wedding Theme Ideas
✿ Eat: Add blackberries to your wedding cake and fill pick-your-own-style punnets with berries to each table for guests to nibble on between courses. Serve blackberry crumble for pudding.
✿ Drink: Blackberry mojitos are yummy, or just add a few blackberries to bob around in each champagne glass
✿ Dress: Add rich purple ribbon sashes for your bridesmaids dresses, and wrapped around your bouquet
✿ Decorate: If you can catch blackberries before they ripen, they look beautiful added to bouquets, buttonholes and table decorations. Make blackberry jam for wedding favours.

A London Library Wedding with Irish Tartan & Indian Extras

There's nothing I like more than a bride who knows exactly what she wants for her wedding day, and when she can't find it, makes it herself! Lovely Sally handmade all her wedding stationery - including her invitations and table plan, and her pretty seed wedding favours. Then, when she couldn't find bridesmaids dresses in her chosen shade of green, she called on her mum to sew them out of fabric originally designed for suit linings. The end result is a gorgeous, relaxed big day with tonnes of truly personalised wedding details. I love how groom Michael reflected his Irish heritage with his fabulous traditional kilt, and the sunny pop of the gerbera buttonholes. Sally bought her wedding dress from BHS online, and isn't it stunning! Just goes to show you don't have to have a designer gown to look gorgeous on your big day. Another stealworthy idea is Michael and Sally's choice of a fabulous Indian buffet for their wedding reception. If your favourite food is Asian or Mexican, why not choose it for your wedding menu? Huge thanks to Corrado Chiozzi for his fantastic wedding pictures, more of his work coming soon on Before the Big Day!

We celebrated our wedding at Charlton House in London. I knew I wanted our wedding to be fairly simple, my husband wanted it to be somewhere fairly formal, and I wanted fairy lights! Also we both love reading, and so hosting our reception in a library suited us perfectly.

We didn't have a theme as such. We wanted green for the bridesmaid dresses, yellow for the flowers and Indian fabrics and food to feature!

Super-Glam Sophisticated Bridal Jewellery

Brides who like a bit of glitz {I'm thinking Jenny Packham-style glamour}, are going to L-O-V-E my latest wedding discovery. Just take a look at these amazing headdresses from Willow Moone. Aren't they just the bomb?? They pick up on the big jewellery trend that we're seeing right now {lots of v large necklaces spotted in Anthropologie & J Crew}, and add a massive luxury twist. Every piece is hand-created by boutique owner Debbie Bailie-Collins out of perfect crystals, scattered artfully on to the finest ivory illusion bridal tulle. There's something very vintage, flapperish and 20's about them, and I have a serious obsession with the whole collection.

{I want this} 1. Lujon - Crystal Art Deco 1920's Tulle Headpiece, £330 | 2. Ishtar - Crystal Silk Organza Headpiece, £398.89

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A Traditional Countryside Wedding with a Fabric Inspired Theme - The Reception

It's taken me far too long to put up the second half of this amazing detail-filled wedding, {I've had horrible flu}, but believe me, it's worth the wait! Bride Amy read Before the Big Day while preparing for her wedding, and took her decor details to the next level. We're talking 250 meters of hand-sewn bunting, homemade fudge wedding favours, and carefully painted dog food tin can vases. The result is a perfectly rustic English country garden theme, with a pretty green and blue colour palette. I love all the Colefax and Fowler fabrics, and the DIY'd table flowers, picked from Blooming Green Flower Farm. Look carefully at every picture for the little extras, including the twine-tied jam jar lanterns, the blackboard paint table names, menu cork stands and burlap table runners. Huge thanks to Amy for submitting her wedding, and filling in the Before the Big Day Bride's Questionnaire, and to Kate Murrell Weddings for her beautiful wedding pictures. Don't miss the two fantastic wedding videos at the end - one by 

We got married on the 27th July at St Michael and All Angels in Withyham, in Sussex, and we hosted our reception in my parent’s garden ten minutes away from the church.

As I work in interior design I was very into the visual side of the wedding planning, and I had a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics! I wanted to go for a very traditional English country wedding look, with bunting, a pole marquee, trestle tables and country garden flowers. 

A Traditional English Countryside Wedding with a Floral Fabric Inspired Theme

This is one of those simply perfect weddings, where you just want to dive in and devour all the details. Lovely Amy read Before the Big Day in the run up to her wedding, and along with her husband Alex, they created the most amazing array of pretty DIY'd decorations. Amy works in interior design, so she was very keen on the visual side of the wedding planning, and started with a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics. In fact the wedding colour palette was entirely themed on a tiny scrap of fabric - a pretty blue and green floral print on a cream background. The crafty projects are never-ending! Along with her mum, Amy made 250 meters of double sided bunting {now available to hire!}, dried all the confetti in their airing cupboard, and picked and arranged all the marquee flowers. Meanwhile Alex's mum made the fudge favours, and not to be outdone, Alex made the chalkboard table-plan. There's so many stealworthy ideas to choose, but my favourites have to be Amy's stunning self-designed wedding gown, her adorable traditional pageboys' outfits {in knickerbockers made by her mum!}, and Amy's family jewellery - some serious rocks!! Huge thanks to Kate Murrell Weddings for her stunning pictures of the day....more to come in Part 2.

We got married on the 27th July at St Michael and All Angels in Withyham, in Sussex, and we hosted our reception in my parent’s garden ten minutes away from the church.

As I work in interior design I was very into the visual side of the wedding planning, and I had a scrapbook full of sketches, pictures and fabrics! I wanted to go for a very traditional English country wedding look, with bunting, a pole marquee, trestle tables and country garden flowers. 

My Top 5 Beauty Products For Your Wedding Day

{Posting by Julia Bowden, Before the Big Day's Hair & Make-up Expert} As a professional make-up artist, I'm always getting asked 'what is the best beauty brand?'. Sadly it's not that simple, because while one brand will make the best lipstick ever, their foundation won't rock my world. You have to pick and choose. Luckily for you, I'm the original product junkie, on a constant quest to find new and exciting lotions and potions. So while I do the testing, you can reap the rewards, and only buy the best for your wedding day. In my wedding beauty features for Before the Big Day I'll be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest hair and beauty innovations, so you can look your best on your wedding day. Follow me on Twitter for all the latest updates or email me here.

{Photo Credit} Julia Bowden's Wedding Hair & Make-up Work

To kick things off this time round, I just wanted to fill you in on the beauty products I can't shake. No matter how hard I try to innovate, I keep coming back to those old faithfuls. Georgia told me to come up with my Top 5 but I’ve got 7 {whoops…sorry Georgia}! Remember, this isn't just about your bridal make-up bag. In my view the following products are staple make-up investments for every girl. Not just for your wedding day, but for life!

1: Laura Mercier foundation Primer – smoothes your skin ready for foundation and makes it last all day {I promise}! I can't wear a full face of make-up without it. I'm officially addicted.
2: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation - light and sheer, looks like real skin but fabulously light reflective with great natural coverage
3: Bobbi Brown: Pot Rouge in Pale Pink - for the original blushing bride look, very natural, lasts all day and breaths life into your face.
4: By Terry Touch Expert Advanced Under Eye Pen - From the lady who designed the famous Touch Eclat for YSL, this is similar in that it’s light reflective, but it also covers dark circles and plumps the skin around the eyes. An all-in-one dark-circle destroyer.
5: Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effet Faux Cils Luxurious Mascara – Instant false lash effect, no clogs and great longevity – can't argue with that!
6: Mac Blankety Lip Stick – A lovely nude lip colour that's so flattering and natural – it suits almost everyone.
7: Urban Decay Naked Eye Shadow Palette – A lovely range of shades for creating dramatic or subtle looks – a great all rounder palette you'll use time and time again.

I hope you enjoy them! Till next time xJB

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Introducing Alice Cowen Personal Training for Your Wedding-Ready Body

Brides looking to slim down and tone up for the wedding are in for a treat! Before the Big Day's Nutrition & Fitness Editor, Alice Cowen is back from three busy years in Mallorca, and now available for personal training in the UK. Alice is a secret weapon for her celebrity clients, as she's known to whip people into shape in just a couple of months. She's their go-to girl for red carpet emergencies, and the perfect person to get your bottom walking-down-the-aisle ready, and your tummy honeymoon-bikini-flat! She sorted me out before my wedding, and although I felt the pain, I've never felt more confident as I did on my big day. So if you're looking for a last-minute blast ahead of your winter wedding, or a more gradual long-term figure-change for the summer, then take a look at her website. Alice is based in Dorset, but comes up to London three days a week, and she's also available for Skype training.....and if you think you can get away with cheating on the squats via Skype, think again! This girl is strict! Read more about Alice on her Bootique blog.

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