It is so lovely to be joined by a new group of brides-to-be for the TNWC Real Brides series here on the blog. Last time we heard about Kerry and Nick’s initial plans for their festival inspired wedding, and today Kerry is back with more details on the crafting they’ve been up to.

Over to Kerry to dish the details…

Planning, Making and Gluing

So, it’s May, the last 5 months have been spent; planning, meeting, researching, making and gluing.

We spent hours deliberating over the invites (featured in my last blog post). We both had different ideas of what we wanted, so it was quite tricky to find a middle way. In the end we decided on a PDF printable from STH Blue on Etsy.

Niki customised one of her standard invites especially for ‘Kipstival the Wedding’ and we LOVED it, it’s so personal to us and unique. We liked the postcard RSVP idea, and have had lots of lovely responses back already.

Festival Wedding Programme

The next piece of stationery we created was the programs. We wanted to create something which would inform our guests of what’s happening next. A kind of playlist of the day, as it will be broken up into various sections around the farm. This introduced our first conundrum – what are our timings for the day?

We had to sit down, walk through it in our minds, and try and agree on both format and timings; we got there in the end, after a number of hours sat at the kitchen table and a few glasses of wine! Once that was sorted, we then decided on a front cover and I used old festival programs, which I’ve hoarded over the years, as inspiration for a ‘With thanks’ section on the back page.

I’d bought a pack of blank cards with natural brown envelopes from Papermania, we used the envelopes to send our invites, but had the left over cards, so I put these to good use, and had the programs printed on these. I also wanted to include a handful of confetti in the program, I’d seen a Pin on Pinterest that I liked, so I consulted The Natural Wedding Company directory and found The Confetti Farm.

Then to finish the whole thing off, I purchased a customised stamp from Rebecca Parker of Arthur and Annie, again on Etsy.

A Love Of Hessian

Over this creative journey, I have discovered a love for hessian sacking, a bit random, but if you’ve spent many an hour browsing Pinterest, you will understand what I mean. I’ve created some ‘Mr & Mrs’ bunting, wrapped numerous jars and have also made a cuff for my flowers, using this and some satin and lace from my wedding dress (as I’ve had to have it resized).

The Dress

Oh my dress, yes I already have that, it was one of the first things I thought about! I didn’t want to go to a bridal boutique and try on a load; I’m a see it, try it and buy it kind of girl. I started my search on eBay and saw one early on which I loved. It was one of those dresses from China, but it was a price which I didn’t mind paying for the risk, if it turned out terrible, then I could always sell it.

So, I bit the bullet and went for it. A month later, whilst getting the kids ready for school, a postman knocked my door and asked me to sign for a large package….then it dawn on me; it was MY DRESS! I had to try it on immediately, it was a little big here and there, but other than that, I was over the moon, all day at work I had a buzz in my tummy. So, I’ve now had it resized, to fit like a glove, which is how I’ve managed to have some extra fabric for my wedding crafts.

There is of course, still the burning question of the cake. Nick’s left this bit entirely up to me, which I don’t mind – as music’s his forte, he has helped with the flavour decision though; coffee, chocolate and lemon tiers. I don’t want a ‘themed’ cake with figurines, but would like it to feel ‘festivally’, so I immediately think of bright colours.

We don’t really have a colour theme, it started out as sage green, but it’s all sorts now, including coral and gold (for the bridesmaids) so I might incorporate these colours. Just watch this space…

Images: (1 – 7) Brides own pictures