DIY + Inspiration Archives - Page 10 of 19 - The Natural Wedding Company

Blog: DIY + Inspiration

Charlie

A seasonal winter wedding bouquet of garden grown hellebores, succulents, ferns and magnolia buds

Charlie

Angela who runs Petal and Twig, on of our TNWC recommended florists, sent me these photos of a winter bouquet she recently designed. Made completely from garden flowers and foliage it is cleverly constructed on a handmade moss pad with a handle of dogwood.

The bouquet itself contains hellebores, succulents, variegated Euonymous, variegated Box, ferns, Skimmia (both pink and green berried varieties), Mahonia Japonica flower sprays, Spirea, Magnolia twigs and buds, and ivy. I think it’s a really unusual and beautiful example of a winter wedding bouquet that celebrates the season.

Angela also created this posy of Paperwhite Narcissi (one of my favourite winter flowers) from the Channel Islands surrounded by two types of ivy. The green ivy leaves each wrap an individual stem of narcissi to protect their delicate heads and ensure they all face ‘up’. The bouquet is finished with a piece of antique cotton lace, a brown satin ribbon, and vintage pearls.

I am so pleased to be able to share with you these lovely examples of seasonal wedding flowers. If you like these, take a look at this pretty spring bouquet of white tulips and hyacinths or these spring arrangements in vintage teacups.

Charlie

Handmade wedding stationery from a TNWC bride-to-be printed onto ellie poo paper

Charlie

One of the nicest parts of running my own business is that I get the loveliest emails from brides-to-be and couples planning their wedding. Sometimes you even send me pictures of the sweet items you’ve been making, often inspired by things I made for my own wedding. Today one such bride-to-be has been kind enough to share her handmade wedding invitations – and the all important details on how she made them – that were inspired by my own handmade wedding stationery.

Becky was kind enough to detail down how she made each part of her wedding stationery and included some of the websites where she bought supplies from. Over to Becky to tell you about how she made her handmade wedding stationery…

The Invitations

Our wedding reception is taking place in a tipi in a field on our friends’ farm which is overlooked by the forest where Tom proposed, so we wanted the stationery to reflect this natural and beautiful setting that is so special to us.

I found a previous post on The Natural Wedding Company blog where someone had used card made out of elephant poo for their invites, which I loved the idea of, so I ordered some of the paper from The Green Stationery Company with matching envelopes.

Charlie

A heavenly seasonal spring wedding bouquet of white tulips and hyacinths

Charlie

Today I have some gorgeous spring arrangements from TNWC recommended florist Campbell’s Flowers based in Sheffield. Owner Tracey sent me pictures of these exquisite arrangements she’s done, all of which would be available during the spring months (just ask your wedding florist or flower grower to check specifics).

I’m not usually a fan of all white bouquets, but these are pretty stunning and have completely won me over to the idea. The bouquet above is a simple but heavenly arrangement of white tulips and white hyacinths. If you’ve ever bought or been given a pot of hyacinths you’ll know the incredible fragrance they give off, so just imagine carrying a bouquet with them in – wow!

Charlie

Seasonal spring wedding flowers inspired by a very English ‘afternoon tea in the library’

Charlie

The Natural Wedding Company is a huge supporter of seasonal British grown flowers (if you’re interested to know more check out the #britishflowers chat that’s happening on Twitter) and so I want to ramp up my support by sharing truly seasonal wedding flower inspiration with you.

I think what can be so hard some times is knowing actually what’s in season in Britain during each month of the year, and even whether it’s seasonal in the part of the country you’re getting married in – for example, the flower growers in Cornwall tend to have blooms earlier than somewhere in the north.

The lovely ladies from The Garden Gate Flower Company in Cornwall have been playing around with some seasonal spring flowers and created these beautiful arrangements that I’m delighted to share with you. The ideal inspiration for those of you planning a spring wedding!

Charlie

Sneaky peek of my upcoming photoshoot inspired by the bleak mid-winter countryside

Charlie

I wanted to give you a little heads up about a very exciting Saturday I have ahead of me – I am going to be working with the lovely Jennie Hill on my very first style wedding photoshoot – eek! We have been plotting together ever since we met up at the Eco Wedding Fair in Bristol and dreaming up a mid-winter shoot that features a number of small British businesses.

As well as being a wedding photographer, Jennie also works on a farm with her very cute sidekick Pip the sheepdog (here’s a video of him in action!), and as such she wanted to create a styled shoot based around sheep and shepherding. We have been inspired by the bleak English countryside in January (although it looks like it might snow on Saturday!) and all things wool related.

I am super excited for Saturday, not only for getting to put together something magical, but also to be able to work with and feature a number of TNWC businesses – even the venue we are using for the location is a brand new TNWC wedding venue. Above are some of the things we’ve been inspired by – woollen blankets, smoky wood fires, tweed suits, rustic pies, and twiggy bouquets.

Charlie

A pretty pink and green spring flower wreath from Fletcher and Foley

Charlie

It snowed here last night – not very much, but still a sprinkling! Despite that, this morning I wanted to share a little glimpse of spring with this pretty pink and green floral wreath from Fletcher and Foley. When I spotted it I was instantly dreaming up all kinds of wedding uses for it.

It would make a gorgeous table decoration, just as it is, sitting on a table with a pale church candle at its centre. Hung from a door it would be a beautiful way to welcome your guests to your wedding ceremony or reception venue. And a slimmer version would make a glorious flower crown for a bride or bridesmaid don’t you think?

I got in touch with Joanne from Fletcher and Foley to find out what the different flowers and foliage are that she used to create this beauty. Joanne told me, “the flowers in it are pink and white striped tulips, cerise ranunculus, ‘Amnesia’ roses, pink anemones, hyacinth pips, astrantia, waxflower buds with ming fern foliage and grape vine twine.”

If you love the current trend for flower crowns and floral hair wreaths, then do check out my flower crown Pinterest board where you’ll find a huge collection of my favourites.

Image: Fletcher and Foley

Charlie

A winter woodland wedding photoshoot with lush florals, fur stoles and vintage details

Charlie

Did you see yesterday’s wintry Cornish reindeer photoshoot? If not you must go take a look – it’s stunning! Today I’ve got part 2 of the photoshoot that was dreamt up by wedding photographer Sarah Falugo (who also runs Green Photographic) and took place at Cornish wedding venue Gwel an Mor.

Yesterday the setting was a wild and windswept landscape, today a sheltered woodland featuring lush floral arrangements full of ferns and blackberries. For a photoshoot done on a budget, it is overflowing with lovely inspiration and ideas that can easily be recreated for your own wedding.

Despite it’s wintery themes, the shoot took place in August (can you believe it!) which explains the soft blush dahlias you can spot in the floral arrangements – no doubt from The Blue Carrot’s cutting garden.

Charlie

A wild and wintry Cornish photoshoot with reindeer and timeless vintage styling

Charlie

I am so thrilled to share this photoshoot with you, and what could be lovelier than a bridal shoot featuring a reindeer, some owls, the beautiful windswept Cornish landscape, and a lush woodland? Oh, and a handful of TNWC recommended wedding suppliers.

Well, in my book, there aren’t many things lovelier, so I was delighted when Sarah Falugo (who also runs Green Photographic) got in touch to see if I would featured this stunning shoot.

There are just so many lovely photos from this shoot that I struggled to narrow it down – so rather than only share a handful I’ve decided to split the shoot into two parts to allow you to enjoy them all.

Charlie

Beautiful floral arrangements from an autumn hedgerow inspired wedding with rosehips, teasels and old man’s beard

Charlie

The lovely Alicia from Grace & Green recently got in touch with me to share photos of the autumnal wedding flowers they did for a bride who found them via The Natural Wedding Company. Getting emails like this are guaranteed to make my day, not only because there’s lots of beautiful pictures but because I was able to match up a bride with a TNWC business to make their vision come true.

Having seen the photos I really wanted to share them with you all too, so very kindly Alicia from Grace & Green is here to share some more details on the brief for this wedding along with the pictures of her creations:

“The original brief for the wedding was wildflowers, but given that the wedding was in November we knew that there wouldn’t be many ‘wildflowers’ available at that time of year. So I started thinking about what you do see in the wild in November, like old man’s beard, teasels, seedheads, rosehips and lots of other lovely berries, and suggested the idea of ‘hedgerow‘ style flowers instead.”

“The bride and groom had been to a lot of weddings already this year, and really wanted the flowers at their wedding to be a bit different. The bride’s mother, who I met with, and who organised the flowers, really loves flowers, as does the bride’s grandmother, so she really wanted to give her daughter something very special on her wedding day with the flowers.”

Charlie

A ‘how to’ guide to making frozen flower ice bowls with seasonal British blooms

Charlie

I don’t know about where you are, but it’s flipping freezing here! With these frosty days in mind, I wanted to share with you these beautiful ice bowl creations made by Anne-Marie at Forage For (she also grows flowers in her Suffolk garden for weddings so do check her out if you’re getting hitched in that part of the country).

Anne-Marie has been making these wonderful frozen ice bowls using her seasonal British flowers to decorate them. I love this idea and it’s so simple to create (just scroll down for the instructions) and could be made at any time through the year. Whether you made them for your wedding or for a party, I’m sure they would cause a bit of a stir!

Can’t you just imagine these as focal points on a dessert table filled with ice cream or a larger version could even keep your drinks cool. Anne-Marie filled this yellow chrysanthemum ice bowl with lemon sorbet to show you how they can be used.

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