vintage crockery Archives - The Natural Wedding Company

Blog: vintage crockery

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Fern’s plans for an afternoon tea reception with homemade scones and cake

Charlie

Real bride Fern shares her plans for an afternoon tea reception

Fern’s post today is full of lovely recipes (lemon and blueberry drizzle cake anyone?) and some great vintage finds, including an old seed tray her dad has upcycled into a drinks tray for their wedding. Go get inspired!

>> View Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding here <<

Over to Fern…

Collecting for our afternoon reception

We really wanted to have an afternoon reception rather than an evening one for our guests who will not be attending the whole event to celebrate with everyone straight away. The National Trust have allowed us exclusive use of the Old Stable Courtyard at Montacute House for us to serve refreshments for our guests and park our wedding car, but guest will be free to access the grounds as they wish.

We are planning to serve baked refreshments following our ceremony for our guests while we have photos taken. I have been really inspired by Charlie’s afternoon tea in the garden (and part 2 here) and have spent a lot of time reading and then re-reading the posts about it to absorb every ounce of inspiration. Although Dominic and I are not going for a full English tea party, I really want some colourful vintage china to liven up the rustic picnic and trestle tables we will be using.

I am searching regularly through our local charity shops for vintage china, baskets and cut glass. My ultimate bargain is the green china set which I found for £9 for the lot. I love the beautiful cut glass bird, another charity shop find, who will hopefully find a nice little home for the day.

The other items are a collection of charity and vintage shop finds, were my own already, or I am borrowing from friends and family.

For months, we have also collected jam jars, coffee jars and wine bottles to display our flowers and candles on the day, now filling 2 suitcases. My amazing dad has cleaned up and varnished a seed tray he had for us to hold our glasses for sparkling drinks, I’m blown away with how great it looks, and my parents have also kindly lent us some parasols to keep the sun off on the day.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Lisa’s handmade napkins and bunting, vintage crockery collecting and other last minute wedding preparations

Charlie

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.

Charlie

Tamara and Ed’s elegant country wedding in Dorset on a friend’s farm with buckets of sunflowers and live music

Charlie

Elegant country wedding

It’s been all about farm receptions in recent real weddings, and today’s beautiful wedding is another stunning example of a simple but elegant way to hold a party in a barn. Tamara and Ed’s wedding was sent to me by their photographers Louise and Teo, who run Taylor & Porter Photographs, one of our recommended suppliers on the directory, who only use film cameras and do so capturing exquisite images.

Over to Tamara to share their wedding day with you…

Tamara and Ed got married on the last day of August, one what looks like an incredibly bright sunny day in the Dorset countryside. “We got married at Powerstock Church in Dorset. I wanted it here because my mother and father were married there.”

Izzy

A Day in the Life … For The Love Of Vintage: styling an English Summer Fete wedding in the Lake District

Izzy

Today we have a lovely guest post from Sharon who runs a vintage crockery company For The Love Of Vintage. For our ‘A Day in the Life’ feature Sharon is taking us along to find out what it’s like to be involved with one particular summer Lake District wedding.

Over to Sharon…

Apart from my life long obsession with crockery and getting to play tea parties every day, the two things I love most about my job are the variety (as no two vintage weddings are ever the same) and the people I meet.

I have styled weddings in all sorts of venues but was especially excited when Kimberly and Tim contacted me to discuss their big day. We met over a year before the wedding, eating cake, drinking tea and talking about the wonderfully creative ideas they had and our mutual love of Cocker Spaniels!

One of the things I loved most about the ideas for the day was Kimberley and Tim’s determination to use artisan crafts people, local suppliers and really bring their treasured Lake District as a theme into the whole day. I just knew from the start this was going to be a very special wedding.

After a year of planning and preparation July 6th was almost upon us. It’s hard to squeeze an event like this into just one day but here is my story of a perfect wedding day!

Charlie

Jen and Chris’ pretty village fete wedding – happy anniversary guys!

Charlie

This time last year my sweet friend Jen was getting married to her Mr, Chris, as it happens in the lovely village church that we both go to sometimes. It’s in a gorgeous little village called Dunham Massey in the countryside south of Manchester. Most of the cottages are owned by the National Trust so it still has this old fashioned feel to it, and the vicar is just the best ever.

I was lucky enough to meet Jen a couple of days after her wedding for my TNWC 5th Birthday Party and we had previously met up for a cup of tea when Jen emailed me and we suddenly realised for a few months we’d been sat in church together whilst she was busy reading my blog – she created some beautiful paper details for her wedding based on our own wedding stationery.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Sarah has been dreaming up a very vintage afternoon tea for their homemade wedding

Charlie

Welcome back to another fab guest post from one of our TNWC Real Brides. Today we’re joined by Sarah who is planning a homemade child-friendly wedding to her Mr-to-be Lee. She’s been a very busy lady (along with her mum) collection a mass of vintage china for their wedding, as I’m sure many of you are…

Hi everybody!

So much has changed since I wrote my last blog post, it would seem that as the wedding gets closer our plans and ideas develop and change.

But one thing we have set in stone is our plans for wedding food, which from the start of our planning we have always been pretty certain of what we wanted.

After the service we will be having an afternoon tea, which fits in perfectly with our relaxed theme for the day. We will be having a selection of sandwiches, sweet and savoury pastries along with scones and other sweet treats. There will also be coffee and a selection of teas served with the meal. This will all be served on vintage china cups and saucers and vintage cake stands which my mum has been collecting for a few months now!

Charlie

Small nation, big green heart – a visit to the Welsh Green Weddings Fair

Charlie

Welsh Green Weddings tipis

You may recall a couple of weeks ago I told you about a wedding fair that was being held at Welsh Green Weddings, one of our beautiful TNWC wedding venues. Although I was unable to attend the day, lucky for us the lovely Nik from Little House in Town did go and today I get to share what she found with you all.

Back in July, Nik shared her experiences at the Catkin cut flower workshop (she was the lucky TNWC competition winner) and I’m delighted to have her back guest posting.

Sunburst mirror in Welsh Green Weddings yurt

Grab a cup of something warm and enjoy. Over to Nik:

If you’re a bride-to-be living in Wales, then you are one lucky lady. This tiny nation may hold only 5% of the UK population, but it certainly knows how to send a message, loud and clear. One such message was firmly delivered last weekend, as local green wedding suppliers convened on a field in rural Carmarthanshire for the Welsh Green Weddings Fair.

Charlie

Anna and James’ relaxed country tea party wedding at South Farm

Charlie

Country tea party wedding at South Farm

I’m utterly delighted to be able to share Anna and James’ relaxed country tea party wedding on the blog today. They got married at South Farm in Cambridgeshire back in June and the lovely Dasha Caffrey captured their wedding.

“Our idea was to have a really relaxed country wedding with bunting, vintage tea cups and hopefully an outdoor ceremony if the weather was good enough! James and I are also real ale enthusiasts, so we had a good number of polypins [barrels] of beer on the bar, which along with the pimms and croquet, helped create a lovely village fete type atmosphere.”

“We fell in love with South Farm as soon as we saw it – it has a very natural charm and just felt like a friendly place. We thought it would be totally out of our budget, but decided to go and have a look anyway as it’s only about 20 minutes from where we live.” It turned out a number of Anna and James’ friends had either been married there or been to weddings at South Farm and all highly recommended it. “I guess having so many personal recommendations just clinched it for us!”

Charlie

Wedding dessert table with rustic crates, vintage crockery and pretty flowers from And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon

Charlie

If you are a fan on Facebook, then this post has been long awaited – not only will you have probably seen this picture, but you might have also seen my sneak peek post here on the blog. Well, without further ado, I am delighted to share with you all the fantastic pictures from this photoshoot as well as introducing you to a fab new business who’s just joined the directory.

I’m no stranger to And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon, a fabulous cakeshop and cafe in a trendy suburb of Manchester. I’ve enjoyed some fabulous events held in their tearoom after hours, from the fabulous An Era of Experience press launch party to the Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe bridal workshop, I’ve also enjoyed countless chocolate milkshakes and brownies on lazy afternoons with Mr Rigg and friends.

Charlie

Pebble in the Pond are offering an exclusive 20% hire discount on their beautiful range of decorations and details

Charlie

To celebrate The Natural Wedding Company turning 5 years old, the lovely Emma from Pebble in the Pond is offering our readers an exclusive 20% hire discount on any of their items. Their range includes vintage china, organic cotton linens, lace chair sashes, pretty old cut glassware, cake stands, and more!

Pebble in the Pond hire out these pretty items that are perfect for making your wedding that extra bit special. They have a beautifully eclectic collection of vintage tea sets, teapots, jugs, and vases to provide a wonderful, English country tea style setting for your wedding.

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