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Emma and Matt’s pretty May wedding in a field with giant tipis, fete inspired games and a vegetarian feast

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Pretty May wedding in a field

It might not yet be May, but by the end of the week it will be, and my favourite month of all (I am biased because it contains both mine and my Mr’s birthdays plus our wedding anniversary!).

So I want to kick-off May today with the beautiful laidback fete-esque spring wedding of Emma and Matt. It is full of understated soft floral colours with pops of brightness here and there – from the funky orange VW Campervan to the groom’s colourful leaf buttonholes. See what you think!

Over to Emma to tell you about their pretty May wedding with beautiful photography from TNWC recommended supplier Hannah Beatrice…

Emma and Matt got married in May last year and chose a church ceremony at St Patrick’s Church in Earlswood where Emma was baptised. The reception was at Mousley House Farm, “We were keen to have an outdoors reception and found the perfect space at Mousley House Farm, where we were given use of their beautifully spacious field. We had a fantastic reception in kata tents that had been put up and tended to by the team at PapaKåta.”

Izzy

Unique, handmade and guilt-free ethical wedding jewellery with colourful gemstones by Lilia Nash

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Today’s guest blog post addresses the issue that many of us go out and pick jewellery we like without much thought to where it has come from or what efforts have gone into sourcing the gemstones and metal. Lilia Nash, who is one of our recommended jewellery businesses, not only creates beautiful wedding and engagement rings, but she ensures she knows just where her raw materials are sourced from.

Over to Lilia to tell us a bit more about her gorgeous ethical wedding jewellery…

I fell in love with gemstones when I was young, and when I decided to start designing engagement rings and wedding jewellery, I wanted to do so without damage to our planet’s resources.

You may not know when you buy a piece of jewellery from a store as to whether or not it has been made from recycled gold or fair trade gemstones. Very often you just fall in love with something you see. I would like us to pay more attention to what we are buying, so that the jewellery we buy is responsibly sourced.

Izzy

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

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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!

Izzy

Hayley and Iain’s rustic and romantic wedding in the country with hessian, lace and daisies for an intimate feel to the day

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Romantic wedding in the country

I took a look back through the Real Weddings we’ve featured on the blog, and it’s been months and months since we last featured one. In other words, it’s been too long – I know how much wonderful inspiration and ideas that other couples’ weddings provide, and we have lots of pretty ones lined up for you.

Today we have the romantic, rustic country wedding of Hayley and Iain who got married in Cheshire this past September which was sent to me by Christopher Ian Photography, one of the great photographers on our directory. Over to Hayley to share with you the details of their beautiful day…

Izzy

A how to guide to make your own pretty linen and lace pocket wedding favours filled with dried petals from The Brides Table

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We are really getting spoilt at the moment with lovely guest posts from some of our recommended wedding suppliers, and today we have another DIY project to inspire all you crafty brides. If you are looking for wedding favour ideas to make, then Katy and Kath at The Brides Table have a great step-by-step guide to making these pretty petal pockets.

If you love the look of these petal pocket wedding favours but don’t feel crafty enough to have a go making them yourself, or if you already have a wedding ‘to do’ list as long as your arm, then visit The Brides Table website where you can buy them instead. They would also make beautiful bridesmaid gifts.

Over to Katy and Kath…

These petal pocket favours are filled with dried petals or lavender and not only do they smell divine, they look so pretty too!

You could ask your family and friends to save flowers from their gardens for you to use (roses work particularly well). Just before the petals drop, collect them on a tray and leave to dry in the sun or on a very low heat in your oven.

Izzy

DIY guide to creating painted clothes peg name cards for your homemade wedding from A Alicia Handmade

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Today’s guest blog post is another fab DIY guide, this time from the lovely Anna who is the designer behind A Alicia Handmade. She has put together this ‘how to’ guide for making peg name cards, and also has lots of advice on how to give them your own style!

Without further ado, it’s over to Anna…

Hi, I’m Anna and I’m a designer-maker and author of craft/interiors how-to book Make it Your Own. The idea behind the book was to encourage anyone trying the projects to explore and develop their own design style, to literally make the projects their own, and I think this principle couldn’t be more important in planning your wedding.

Whatever kind of day you’re planning – from a big do with loads of guests to a tiny ceremony followed by chips and champagne in a lovely old pub (mine was the latter option!) – it’s such a beautiful opportunity to explore who the two of you are.

Izzy

Get this soft, smokey look to go with your pretty coral wedding palette with a make-up tutorial from the Organic Make-up Artist

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Coral coloured peonies have all over the wedding world this summer and it’s not difficult to see why they have become so popular with brides-to-be. Today, Laura Jane Sessions, who is the Organic Make-up Artist, is bringing our readers a make-up tutorial using a coral palette to create a soft, smokey look. Laura Jane’s pretty make-up is complimented by some gorgeous florals and a beautiful upcycled wedding dress.

Over to Laura…

Shot in the grounds of Danson Park in Bexleyheath, the shoot, designed to inspire brides with an upcycled dress and simple styling, was the creative vision of Gwenda Jeffs from the Vintage Flower Design Company and photographer Heline Bekker.

The idea of the shoot was to team a simple hair and make-up with a beautiful coral palette. I wanted to design a soft, flattering smokey look that could easily be replicated at home. Keeping it as minimal as possible, I tried to avoid using too many products as this can be daunting to someone wishing to do it themselves.

Izzy

DIY guide to making pretty paper flower place settings and wedding favours from Hollyhock Lane

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We have such a lovely DIY guest post today from Julie at Hollyhock Lane – she’s put together an exclusive ‘how to’ guide for our readers on how to create these gorgeous paper flowers that can be used both as place settings and/or wedding favours. They are a perfect project for all you crafty and creative brides out there.

Over to Julie to get you started on making your own pretty paper flowers…

So here’s a DIY for those brides that like to make stuff. Paper flowers can be used for anything really, but in this example I decided to make them into place settings which can be taken away as favours for the guests as well.

Admittedly, these could take some time if you’re planning on a wedding for a hundred guests or more, but when you get into the flow of it, they only take about 10-20 minutes each. The good thing about them is that they can easily be made in front of the TV, and unlike fresh flowers, they can be finished well in advance of the big day.

You could always make it part of your hen party activities and get crafting with a group of your best friends. There’s nothing like bonding over a creative project and a good cup of tea to while away the hours.

Izzy

Country garden and dreamy meadow inspired bridal bouquets full of seasonal blooms and a necklace made of flowers

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What a beautiful feast of floral design we have for you today! If you are planning a summer wedding and have just started thinking about your wedding flowers, then grab of cup of something warm and settle down to soak up some inspiration from one of our florists, Campbell’s Flowers.

Over the summer Tracey and her team at Campbell’s Flowers had a lovely intern – Kate – working for them. To celebrate the end of her internship they put together a shoot of stunning seasonal blooms, and my gosh are they heavenly. Kate also works as a second shooter for a wedding photographer so she’s pretty nifty with a camera, capturing this beautiful floral collection at Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

Here’s Kate to tell you more about what they did…

To mark the final day of an amazing internship with Campbell’s Flowers, we ventured off to shoot some beautiful British grown bouquets. While taking shelter from the summer showers we made use of the beautiful light in the Pavilions in Sheffield Botanical Gardens and got some lovely soft shots of the interchangeable flower necklace and flower crown, crafted from locally grown seasonal flowers.

Izzy

Alice Palace’s guide to getting the wedding stationery that really reflects you as a couple

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We have a great guest blog post from the team behind Alice Palace, one of our recommended wedding stationery companies here at The Natural Wedding Company (you can check out their profile page here). They have been designing and printing wedding stationery for over 6 years now and often get asked about how they come up with their wedding stationery designs and what information should be included on the invitations.

To help our lovely brides- and grooms-to-be they have come up with a fab guide to help you get the wedding stationery which really reflects you as a couple. We’re going to hand you over to Liz, Alice Palace’s studio manager, to tell take you through their top tips…

How We Came Up With Our Wedding Stationery Designs

When Charlie and I were planning our wedding, we were a bit indecisive, we knew we wanted a small intimate wedding with just our closest friends and family but that was as far as our ideas went!

So first things first, we fixed our budget, sensible I know, but there was no point coming up with ideas if they were going to run off the money scale! Once we knew what we had to spend (a small budget), we spent a fun evening consuming a (little) bit of wine, and using the following wedding words we wrote down the first idea that came into our heads:

Date / time of year we wanted to get married
Venue / where we thought we would have it
Colour themes
What would we eat?
Our outfits
The cake
The flowers
Stationery ideas

We each took it in turns to read out the answers and discussed our ideas. This really helped to see what we both wanted and it was a great way to come up with ideas for our own unique wedding stationery – which can then be passed on to your wedding stationery designer (if you’re using one).

Author: Izzy

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Pretty May wedding in a field

Romantic wedding in the country

How We Came Up With Our Wedding Stationery Designs