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I was so thrilled when Tammy from Wild Bunch got in touch keen to do ‘A Day in the Life’ blog post having read the ones written by Pyrus and The Garden Gate Flower Company (I’d recommend you go read them too!). She got photographer Nic Rue (who also captured Pyrus’ beautiful garden and studio) to come to her little piece of flower paradise on the Herefordshire / Shropshire border.

The photos are gorgeous, the words are beautiful, and the flowers…well the flowers are stunning! Need I say more…

Over to Tammy…

Entering the second year of my little cut flower business I was searching for a point of reflection on where I was at with my new found work and passion. And when I came across the beautiful work of the photographer Nic Rue, I tentatively asked if she would be interested in working with me to document my garden and flowers.

It was a big step for me asking a photographer into my little world, but Nic was inspirational and really helped me see and think about my garden and flowers with new eyes.

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For any of our regular readers you’ll probably have realised that our lovely TNWC Real Bride Lisa is now married, however she got so busy in the lead up to her wedding day that it’s only now post-wedding and post-honeymoon that she’s been able to fill us in on the final aspects of her wedding planning.

Over to Lisa to tell us more…

Vintage crockery, stamping, bunting, lots of napkins and trying to get ahead…

In the run up to our big day, we realised that a lot of the things we wanted to do could only be done at the very last minute, such as our favours which were Welsh cakes, the flowers (which Tom’s mum was growing) the drinks for the drinks dispensers etc. We also found that we were still coming up with ideas even up until the eleventh hour! Below are some of things we did manage to do in advance (thankfully!!).

The hunt for vintage crockery

For our reception we had beautiful Kata tents, if you are not familiar with them they are a type of interlocking tipi and are absolutely beautiful inside. You could pretty much leave them as they are without doing very much decoration, I can imagine them to look stunning with very simple table settings and lighting. However I have always had my heart set on a very colourful, mismatch of styles filling the tables and all around.

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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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