Natural Wedding Details

For the third part of our Real Wedding Favourites mini series we are bringing you are Favourite Natural Wedding Details. As you might imagine, choosing ‘favourites’ in this category is really hard. It’s also a lot down to personal preference. My suggestion is to enjoy browsing through our blog archive for inspiration for your wedding details.

All our picks are chosen from the very first Real Wedding we featured up until spring of this year. You can find all the links to our Real Wedding Favourites here.

Our Favourite Wedding Favours

Hot Chocolate Mugs with a Vintage Welsh ‘Love Teaspoon’ 

Nik was one of our first TNWC Real Brides and together with her husband Chris they created a true-to-them chilled out wedding at their home. We followed many of the details that Nik created for their wedding, but it was hot chocolate inspired wedding favours that I really loved.

Nik decorated a mug for each guest that they served hot chocolate in at their wedding, and gave the mug along with a vintage teaspoons with the words ‘LLwy Garu’ (Welsh for ‘love spoon’) stamped onto it as wedding favours. Useful and beautiful.

Charlie’s favourite wedding favours come from Nik and Chris’ chilled out rustic coastal farm wedding. Vintage teaspoons from Rescue & Revive and mugs hand decorated by the bride. Photography by Pete Cranston Photography.

Nik’s wedding dress was also one of our favourites, which you can see in our Natural Wedding Styles post.

Eco-friendly Succulent Wedding Favours

It wouldn’t be much fun if you only saw my favourite picks, so I asked Samantha to share with me her favourite wedding favours. She chose these sweet pots of succulents from Jenny and David’s botanical Welsh wedding. Not only were the homegrown and eco-friendly, but they also doubled up as place names.

Samantha’s favourite wedding favours come from Jenny and David’s botanical Welsh wedding. Succulent wedding favours homegrown and made by the bride and groom. Photography by Emma Stoner Photography (TNWC Recommended Supplier).

Our Favourite Weddings For Children

An Outdoor Wedding with Children at its Heart

This is my top pick from our real weddings for including children because the kids seem to genuinely be included in every part of the wedding. Amy and Alex had an alternative wedding with a Buddhist tea ceremony and just a whole lot of fun in a field at their home.

It’s this genuine inclusion of the children in all aspects of their wedding that I think makes theirs worth mentioning here. They didn’t really plan anything special and separate for the kids at their wedding, instead they just made the whole day child-friendly.

This child-friendly wedding is Amy and Alex’s colourful outdoor wedding. Photography by Larissa Joice Photography.

Fun Activities and Child-Friendly Foods

One of our other favourite child-friendly weddings was Jodie and James’, which featured many different activities for the kids. They had a ‘Creative Kids Corner’ with  lots of fun and messy things to make, which was aimed to keep little ones during the speeches – what a great idea!

They also had food specifically for the kids including popcorn in cinema boxes, chocolate owl cake pops, cream soda with paper straws, and a giant Chuppa Chup lolly filled with little lollies.

This child-friendly wedding is Jodie and James’ epic weekend wedding. Photography by Richard Rayner Photography.

Our Favourite Wedding Table Plan / Place Names

Living Plant Wedding Table Plan

This super eco-friendly table plan idea is my favourite from all the real weddings we’ve featured. Lizzy and Graeme created this wedding table plan using potted living plants (one for each table) and their guests’ names stamped onto wooden lolly sticks. It looks great with the pots displayed together and you could always hand out the potted plants afterwards as thank you gifts to anyone who helped you out.

Charlie’s favourite wedding table plan is from Lizzy and Graeme’s country fete inspired Cheshire wedding. Photography by Bohemian Weddings.

Cotton Reel Place Card Holders

Our other favourite in this category, is these place cards from Holly and Laurie’s English picnic wedding. Their entire wedding was full of DIY details, and I love how Holly re-purposed cotton reels to create holders for their place cards.

These place cards are from Holly and Laurie’s English picnic wedding. Photography by Chamonix Thurston Rattue.

Our Favourite Wedding Cakes

A Naked Tiered Wedding Cake with Berries, Flowers and Ferns

Well I actually billed this wedding cake as ‘the best cake ever’ in this real wedding, and it’s still my favourite. It is up there with my idea of cake perfection. It’s three tiers of sponge cakes, left unadorned in a naked wedding cake style. It’s decorated with all kinds of berries in a different shades – a garland of blue and purple blueberries and blackberries at the bottom, a ruby red circlet of strawberries and redcurrants, and topped with a halo of yellow raspberries.

Then there’s the flowers, a collection of some of my favourites – cornflowers, larkspur, and cosmos. The delicate fresh green foliage from the ferns adds to the woodland feel of Tamsin and Alex’s wedding, as do the tree trunk cake stands. Need I say more?

Charlie’s favourite wedding cake is from Tamsin and Alex’s relaxed eco-friendly wedding. Wedding cake by Queen Bee Cakes (TNWC Recommended Supplier). Photography by Emma Stoner Photography (TNWC Recommended Supplier).

Acorn and Fern Woodland Wedding Cake

Samantha chose this stunning wedding cake from Jessica and Paul’s natural countryside wedding. Jessica (aka The Woodland Wife) told us she wanted a ‘traditional’ wedding cake but with a bit of a twist. She elegantly adorned their wedding cake with white acorns, oak leaves, mushrooms and ferns. So magical!

Samantha’s favourite wedding cake is from Jessica and Paul’s natural countryside wedding. Wedding cake made by the bride. Photography by Lyndsey Goddard.

Our Favourite Wedding DIY Projects

Autumn Leaf Bunting

For their autumn wedding Ali and Dan made this incredible real leaf bunting to decorate the barn where they got married. After collecting and drying out hundred of autumn leaves, Ali strung them on string and fixed them to the beams of the barn where their ceremony and reception was held.

It’s a simple idea, but strikingly beautiful and totally in-keeping with the season. If I was planning an autumn wedding I would absolutely steal this idea.

Charlie’s favourite wedding DIY project comes from Ali and Dan’s rustic and seasonal handcrafted November wedding. Photography by Laura Babb Photography.

Homemade Polaroid Film Inspired Photobooth

Vicky and Steve made so many things for their DIY village fete wedding, but we particular loved their homemade photobooth. Inspired by the iconic polaroid camera film, they made this fab photobooth for their family and friends to capture fun pictures at their wedding reception. Don’t miss all the details of what they made here.

This homemade photobooth is from Vicky and Steve’s DIY village fete wedding. Photography by Lucy Jane Photography.

Our Favourite Wedding Cake Toppers

A Family of Mice for a Cheese Wedding Cake Tower

Not only is this wedding cake topper very sweet, but it’s a lovely reflection of the couple getting married. This family of mice cake topper represent Cheryl and Andrew and their two children – the little girl mouse is even wearing a matching dress to their daughter. What a sweet idea.

Charlie’s favourite wedding cake topper is from Cheryl and Andrew’s magical woodland wedding. Photography by Enchanted Brides.

A Pair of Needle Felt Squirrels to Top an Autumnal Wedding Cake

I asked Samantha which of all our Real Weddings had her favourite wedding cake topper, and I have to agree this was pretty cute. Laura and Jamie’s wedding was held in October, their favourite time of year. Laura’s talented mum needle felted these bride and groom squirrels and they couldn’t be a more perfect fit for their wedding.

Samantha’s favourite wedding cake topper is from Laura and Jamie’s autumn village hall wedding. Photography by Amy Woodward-Taylor (TNWC Recommended Supplier).

Our Favourite Wedding Transport

A Rustic Cart Pulled by Horses

The horse and cart ride from Irminta and Artur’s rustic Lithunian wedding is my favourite for a number of reasons. Firstly I love horses and the romance of a horse and carriage ride either to or from your wedding ceremony will always capture me. Secondly, it’s such a leisurely pace, and allows you to have some time together as a couple. Thirdly, I particularly love this example because Irminata, Artur and their friends took a 4 hour cart ride from their ceremony to reception. Four hours! How epic is that?

Their photographer Svetlana Batura told us: “The 10km long journey took almost four hours – gravel roads, dust, hot sun, happy faces, celebrating and having a great time all the journey long.” Do your wedding your way, and have fun!

Charlie’s favourite wedding transport is from Irminta and Artur’s rustic Lithuanian village wedding. Photography by Svetlana Batura.

Vintage Fiat for a Taste of Italy in the Cotswolds

From horses to horse power, Samantha’s favourite wedding transport is Emma and Gianni’s vintage Fiat 500. With Gianni’s family (and their vintage Fiat) originating from Sciliy, this was a special way for the couple to incorporate his heritage into their wedding.

Emma and Gianni’s wedding was also the first Real Wedding we ever featured, so it has a special place in our hearts (plus it’s beautiful!). Go check it out.

Samantha’s favourite wedding transport is from Emma and Giani’s rustic country wedding. Photography by Andy Rapkins Photography (TNWC Recommended Supplier).

Don’t forget to check out the other posts in our Real Wedding Favourites.

This is part of a mini blog series called Real Wedding Favourites. You can find the other parts here:

(Part 1) Our Favourite Natural Wedding Styles

(Part 2) Our Favourite Natural Wedding Spaces