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The never-ending uses for a recycled jam jar! I really hope they are one of those things that doesn’t ever go out of ‘fashion’ when it comes to weddings, I mean they are so versatile and such a wonderful way to reuse unloved items (if you go down the proper recycling old jam jar route).

I’m not hugely into theming weddings, but weaving in subtle touches that speak to who you are as individuals or a couple I am for. So I wanted to share this simple but fun idea for a table plan/escort cards. Recycled glass jars, filled with dried beans, and filled with pencils turned into little flags with your guests name and table details on.

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How many other brides-to-be have visited their florists garden to pick out the flowers for their wedding? Well in today’s post from TNWC Real Bride Ellie she shares how she did exactly that over the summer, and she took along some of her family and bridesmaids. 

Ellie is a girl after my own heart with her love of countryside and seasonal flowers and foliage. Over to Ellie to tell you all about it…

For some brides, the most exciting part of wedding planning is finding the perfect dress. For some, it’s food and drink and, for others, it’s music or decoration. For me, however, the most exciting part of planning my big day has always and unequivocally been…flowers!

Since I was a little girl, I have walked along country lanes with my Mum and Granny and been filled up with the names of the flowers growing madly all along the verges.

I’ve also been lectured somewhat extensively on the folklore of flowers; from blackthorns being the preserve of evil faeries, to a horror of white lilies displayed on their own (exceptionally funereal), flowers have always been a part of my life – and, perhaps oddly, a huge part of how I’ve related to members of my family, and an important impetus for spending time together.

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Here at The Natural Wedding Company, we’re great advocates of DIY weddings. DIYing certain elements not only allows you to keep within a budget, but gives you the chance to get hands-on and really make the day your own.

However I’ll be the first to put my hands up and admit that sometimes you simply can’t do everything yourself, especially those things on the list that have to be done last minute and not prepped ahead of time — at least if you want a few precious moments to relax with your best girls and a good night’s beauty sleep before walking down the aisle.

Cue award-winning florist, champion of seasonality and bride-to-be herself, TNWC recommended supplier Jay Archer Floral Design; “I’ve often been called upon last minute by distressed brides who decide to go it alone with their wedding flowers, only to find themselves in a fluster when they’ve run out of time, a friend has let them down, or they’re disappointed with the end result.”

Jay’s come up with a new option, the simply JAFD package, which provides the seasonal, locally-sourced flowers she and her team are renowned for, at a set price. The Simply JAFD package costs £750 and includes:

• The bridal bouquet
• 3 bridesmaid bouquets
• 6 men’s buttonholes
• 2 ladies buttonholes
• 10 table centres in a choice of vessels (that couples can be keep afterwards)

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I’m sure that by now some of you will have realised that almost two months have passed since I last posted on the blog. I’m pretty sure this is the longest ever stretch that the blog has gone without a feature, which makes me heart a little sad. I do hope that you’ve not all lost hope in me and continue to find inspiration among the blog archive and directory pages.

Without going into a huge long account, it felt right to share a little of where I’ve been this past few months, if not this past year, since my little girl was born. Jumping right back into regular blog posts without some note would have felt a little strange.

A month ago my sweet Ottilie turned one – I can’t quite work out if the past year has gone in the blink of an eye or seemed like forever (a feeling shared by many first-time parents I imagine). What I do know, is that it’s been bloody hard! It’s been the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced, one that will undoubtedly continue for the rest of my life now that I’m a mama.

Whilst Ottilie is my first ‘real’ baby, my business – The Natural Wedding Company – was my first baby of another kind. As I’m discovering with many things in parenting, I thought I had an idea of how I would make things work once my baby burst into my physical world…well it turns out you can’t really plan or imagine any version of how your life will be with a baby.

I have found becoming a mother really challenging in so many ways and I have at various times cried buckets of tears at the ‘loss’ of my former life, most especially in relation to the 24/7 freedom I had to run The Natural Wedding Company. For numerous reasons I won’t bore you all with, about 6 months in I realised that I was (and had been from the start) suffering from post natal depression.

I have felt so overwhelmed and so frustrated and so sad and so in love and so awed and so (positively) changed by this small person and the last year of my life. Having to concede that my business had to come second (in light of all of the above) has been excruciatingly difficult, and my familiar friend doubt has been ever on my shoulder.

And so here I am, for what feels like the first time in an age, writing a blog post and reaching out to reconnect with long-time readers and TNWC businesses, to connect with new readers and businesses (hello!), and to start building back up the wonderful relationships that I had worked so hard to build over the past years.

I hope you haven’t all disappeared or lost faith in me, I have missed you all so much.

Love Charlie x

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For our 2014 TNWC Real Brides we have just Kerry and Nick left to get married in August – I can barely believe it, this year has gone so fast! Kerry is sharing the details of what became a hen-a-thon with four hen parties (including a hen and stag do at Glastonbury Festival).

Over to Kerry to tell you more…

Nick and I originally said we weren’t going to have hen and stag do’s.  The very idea of such an event is to “celebrate” your last night of freedom prior to becoming man and wife; however we’ve been together for 15 years and didn’t see the need, so we opted for Glastonbury Festival instead.

However, my bestmate and bridesmaid Raz had other ideas. She convinced me I needed something a bit more hen-like. So I gave her a date and a list of names and off she went, organising a surprise extravaganza! I was instructed to make my way to Covent Garden for lunch at Dishoom a fantastic Bombay café, which was followed by a Michael Jackson dance lesson at Pineapple Dance Studio.

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The lovely Miriam and John are getting married this coming Saturday! So excited for them both and fingers-crossed this incredible British weather hangs around for them.

So over to Miriam for her last pre-wedding blog post…

DIY weddings stitch by stitch

One of my favourite things about The Natural Wedding Company blog is that there are so many beautiful homemade creations from other brides for your wedding and beyond. With our wedding looming very close I am starting to realise how much I will miss all the planning, researching and creating that has occupied most of my brain-space for the last 18 months. Having this creative outlet in my otherwise very science-oriented life has been wonderful, and I will surely miss it – but luckily I will have John and our new married home to carry on the next creative adventure!

Like many brides, physically creating aspects of our Big Day and researching novel ideas has hugely spurred on the crescendo of excitement towards the day, so I thought it would be good to share some of the homemade or personally designed aspects that are not too difficult to incorporate into a wedding to ensure that intimate feel for your guests.

Personal by design

There are some fantastic suppliers out there who will go the extra mile to create something handmade and personal for your wedding, without stretching yourself too far trying to do absolutely everything by yourself (as I am prone to attempting!). I was very lucky to find Noolibird via The Natural Wedding Company, who crafted this beautiful personalised stamp that we used to make our save-the-date cards, and might use somewhere in our home post-honeymoon decorating.

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One of last year’s TNWC Real Brides, Nik, made these brilliant hot chocolate wedding favours for her wedding. She customised mugs and had these beautiful vintage teaspoons stamped with a message for each of her guests.

On the evening of their wedding guests were able to fill their mugs with hot milk and stir in a wooden spoon coated in chocolate. What a neat idea and a great way to have wedding favours that really get used as opposed to just taken home and forgotten about.

For an autumn or winter wedding in particular (but lets face it, hot chocolate is great at any time of the year!) I think the idea of hot chocolate wedding favours couldn’t be any more perfect. Here you have two options – hot chocolate spoons or jam jars of hot cocoa mix.

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