2012

Even I had to admit that Christmas is looming on the horizon, and as someone who likes to buy gifts from small independent sellers via sites like Etsy, I have to start thinking ahead to have enough time for things to arrive.

This morning I have a fantastic offer (nearly 50% off!) on these beautiful bracelets from Rosie Weisencrantz – they would not only make a beautiful Christmas present, whether for yourself or for someone you love, but I also think they’d make stunning bridal jewellery.

Rosie Weisencrantz is well known for her exquisite jewellery and accessories, each piece handcrafted using vintage and antique beads, brooches and trinkets dating as far back as the 1900s.

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2012

Are you, like me, of the school era when blackboards went out and whiteboards came in?  Do you remember thinking that those new fangled whiteboards were pretty cool and modern?  Isn’t it funny when you then reach an age (now) when you realise that blackboards are the cooler of the two.

I’ve bought myself a couple of blackboards from Baileys Home & Garden (if you are ever near Ross-on-Wye you must drop in!) and have a few others scavanged from carboot sales, certainly for wedding fair stalls they are invaluable and quite sweet for doing signs.  I even used giant homemade ones for our wedding to display the afternoon tea menu.

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2012

As wedding cakes look more like a cake that could be celebrating any kind of occasion, the more I love them.  Gone are the old stereotypes and in floods all these beautiful alternative designs – there’s no one to tell you can’t have a cake of any description, taste, style, colour, or design any longer, you don’t even need to have cake!

I love this homemade wedding cake, with it’s rough white icing, single thick layer of cake, a scattering a vibrant lemon peel on top, and those fun mini ribbon flags in all their sea blues and greens.  I’ve featured a similar ribbon flag wedding cake before if you like this style.

These flags are really easy to make yourself at home, I made some for my TNWC birthday cake, all you need is some long wooden skewers (the kind you’d use on a barbeque), ribbons and possibly some glue or double-sided sticky tape.  All I did was thread the ribbon onto the sticks (would anyone like a tutorial on this?) and pulled them tight – no glue needed.

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2012

I would like to see more floral and foliage garlands – a bit like bunting, I think they bring so much cheer and a bit different to the traditional flowers in a vase format.  This garland of colourful leaves, mini pumpkins and garden twine would be a beautiful additional to any kind of autumn wedding.

It’s got that lovely rustic look and is a great way to bring a bit of autumn cheer into your wedding venue.  My thoughts at attaching mini pumpkins to the twine?  Well, I think I’d maybe recruit my Mr to drill a hole through the centre of them (I reckon that’s what they’ve done here).  Those tiny pumpkins are such solid little things, and hopefully if you didn’t make them too far in advance and kept them somewhere dry, they wouldn’t rot with the hole in them.

If there are any florists or gardeners out there who have suggestions on to make a garland like this please do leave your tips in the comments box below – they would be greatly appreciated.

Image: Better Homes and Gardens

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2012

I came across this idea today and think it’s a lovely way to decorate your wedding venue – especially if you have a lot of dull wall space to cheer up.  The couple used embroidery hoops of varying sizes and done in different styles, with a piece of colourful ribbon to hang them from the windows of their wedding venue.

Embroidery hoop artwork has been quite trendy this year, with lots of Etsy sellers bringing us gorgeous designs (just search for embroidery hoop), and after your wedding would look equally beautiful in your own home.  If there’s too many, you could always give them out as gifts to family and friends who helped with your wedding.

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2012

It’s with great pleasure that I get to bring you another real wedding from a couple who planned a beautiful, handmade and natural wedding.  Bride Laura used a number of TNWC businesses to help her create the wedding that her and groom Charlie dreamed of, and they were even inspired by my own handmade wedding invitations.

I know you are just going to love this wedding and I’m sure you’ll find inspiration for your own day here.  So stop what you’re doing, make yourself a cup of tea and settle down to read all about Laura and Charlie’s beautiful day (and if you like specific details you’ll find links to all the suppliers at the bottom of the post)…

Laura and Charlie got married on a very rainy Saturday in July at Silchester House in Berkshire. “We wanted the wedding to be fairly informal and very relaxed.  Charlie and I are very casual so it would have felt a bit false to go for something overly traditional.  We tried to make the day feel like ‘us’ wherever possible.”

“We also avoided having a specific colour scheme as we wanted everything to be as organic and natural as possible.  I think this approach made planning the wedding a bit more work – we ended up DIYing lots of the elements when we couldn’t find any alternatives that we liked – but seeing everything come together just as we wanted made it worthwhile.”

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2012

On Saturday I shared Jennie Hill’s lovely photos from the Eco Wedding Fair (you can see it all here), and today I’ve got my pictures of my stall and a few more details about how I decorated it. Perhaps you’ll find some inspiration for your wedding or just an autumn or winter celebration you might be planning.

We arrived at Riverstation in Bristol at about 9am and first we had to: unpack a number of boxes of what at first glance probably looked like a pile of junk, carry two heavy buckets of sand up a flight of stairs, and manoeuvre a bundle of 7ft long bamboo canes.  I was so pleased that the other exhibitors had equally quirky bootfuls for their stalls!

My mom and I had two hours to set up before visitors started arriving, so here’s what I did with the mottley collection of items.  I used a pair of curtains to cover my table – they are a rather fun botanical print style curtain with what looks like horse chestnut leaves on them, and they ended up working in perfectly with that autumn feel I was going for.

The two metal buckets of sand went either side of the table and they held some of my bamboo canes – apologies this is the best picture I have which shows the bamboo canes and bunting…

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