Blog: Suppliers + Products
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Handcrafted clay eggs filled with messages from your family and friends – a great new gift experience from Metta Eggs

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Metta Eggs

The Natural Wedding Company directory is full of fantastic businesses offering brides- and grooms-to-be products and services to make their wedding day more unique with an eco-conscious twist.  Today I’m going to share my personal experience of the beautiful gift service of one of the newest businesses to join our handpicked suppliers – there’s also a special offer for TNWC readers so scroll to the bottom for full details.

Metta Eggs offers a very unique and special gift experience that was “born out of the desire to provide loving, individual and positive testimonies to people at every key stage of their lives, and to give those who love them an engaged and participating role.”  These pretty handmade clay eggs have messages from your family and friends hidden inside of them, with each tiny egg rolled in glitter or meadow flowers seeds and then nestled in a fair trade box.

These ones we received are covered with the meadow flower seeds…
Meadow flower seed covered Metta Eggs

Metta Eggs can be used in a variety of ways for weddings – a friend or family member can commission Metta Eggs in the lead up to your wedding day, you can include it on your gift list, it could make a great alternative to a wedding guestbook, or you can even have a Metta Egg stag or hen party where you create the eggs yourself.

The lovely Libby who runs Metta Eggs invited myself and Mr Rigg to receive a box of Metta Eggs to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in May.  As Metta Eggs are usually gifted to someone, we nominated my mother-in-law to help us tell our family and friends so as to keep the messages a surprise for us.

Glittery silver Metta Eggs

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Beautiful bohemian vintage wedding dresses and an exclusive reader discount from Daughters of Simone

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Vintage wedding dress from Daughters of Simone

Recently I had the pleasure of welcoming Daughters of Simone onto The Natural Wedding Company directory, an online vintage wedding dress boutique based in San Francisco, California. Set up and run by the lovely Brittany and Christy, Daughters of Simone offers a beautiful collection of one-of-a-kind vintage wedding dresses all with a bohemian feel to them.

All of the wedding dresses are vintage by origin, but Brittany and Christy love to look at a gown and see the possibilities it has – many of the gowns are reconstructed to have that contemporary feel to them.

Vintage wedding gown with elegant sheer sleeves and full flowing skirt

Naturally, I was bursting with excitement to showcase their current collection of wedding dresses and I’m thrilled that readers of The Natural Wedding Company can claim a 10% discount on any purchases made until Sunday 15th July 2012.  Daughters of Simone ship all of over the world, including the UK (our very own TNWC bride Emma bought one of their clutch bags for her wedding).

All the dresses below are currently available from Daughters of Simone, but please note they are one-of-a-kind dresses and therefore once they are sold they are gone, so if you see one you love make sure you order it soon to avoid disappointment.

Here are some of my favourites…

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The new whimsical and vintage inspired collection of wedding headpieces from Pearls and Charm

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Lace and pearl wedding tiara

Pearls and Charm have been one of the lovely businesses on The Natural Wedding Company directory for a while now, and I was delighted when I saw some great new photos of Gail’s designs on Facebook.  Gail of Pearls and Charm designs wedding hair accessories and tiaras from recycled finds and treasures, incorporating lace, ribbons, pearls and buttons into her pieces.

Repurposed trinkets and charm tiara in gold

Repurposed Trinkets and Charm Tiara in Gold

This beautiful tiara is created using repurposed charms, pendants and beads in a gold colour – it is such a gorgeous colour with the amber and golds and delicate wiring.

Grace vintage lace bridal tiara

Grace vintage lace bridal tiara

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Sneak peek of the Pimhill Barn launch event – a new rustic wedding venue in Shropshire

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Pimhill Barn wedding venue

Last night Mr Rigg and I were lucky enough to be invited to the launch event of a beautiful new wedding venue called Pimhill Barn.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share some more pictures of the barn and full details, but for now I thought you might like to see the snaps I took.

Rustic barn wedding venue

The barn – which has been sensitively renovated and is full of rustic charm – was decked out with the most stunning wild flower arrangements (from The Better Bunch), there was seriously good canapes and even a paella prepared in front of us, and I got to meet the lovely Ginny who runs Pimhill and the lovely husband and wife duo behind Polly’s Parlour – a fab new vintage VW ice cream van.

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Eco-chic bridal showcase in Manchester of the new Sabina Motasem Bride collection

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Sabina Motasem Bride ethical wedding dress

It’s very exciting to hear that Sabina Motasem Bride is holding an exclusive showcase of her new collection in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2012.

Sabina Motasem Bride wedding dress

Held at the new Te Amo Bridal Boutique in the heart of Manchester, this will be a wonderful opportunity for brides-to-be to see this gorgeous collection of wedding dresses, which up until now has only been available in London boutiques.

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Wedding open day at fforest on Saturday 14th July 2012

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fforest wedding open day

The fabulous fforest wedding venue is holding an open day on Saturday 14th July 2012 for prospective brides- and grooms-to-be to come and see what they have to offer.  A wedding at fforest draws on the seasons and natural environment, you get to take over the whole camp, feast on homemade food and spend a weekend relaxing with your family and friends.

Take a peek at Rhiannon and Richard’s wild and natural fforest wedding the we featured on The Natural Wedding Company.

afternoon tea wedding at fforest

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Competition winners Adeline and Andy’s beautiful wedding film from Bright Star Films

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Bright Star Films

Back in February I ran details of a competition from Bright Star Films to win a vintage inspired film of your wedding day – it was lovely to hear a couple of months ago that it was a reader of The Natural Wedding Company that won the competition.

A couple of weeks ago, Sinead and Kieran from Bright Star Films headed off to the Cotswolds to film Adeline and Andy’s wedding day, and I get to share with you today their wedding film…

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Quirky and playful illustrated wedding stationery with a mixture of modern designs and old fashioned charm

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Quirky and pretty illustrated wedding stationery

When I came across the wedding stationery created by illustrator Victoria Whincup I was certain that you would all love to see her designs too.  I got in touch with Victoria and she told me that she first started doing wedding invitations when she made them for a friend, and since then hasn’t been able to stop!  “I love to hear a customer’s idea and then translate it into a design.  I have always drawn and painted, it’s all I’ve ever really wanted to do.”

Antler bird illustrated wedding stationery

Blue bird illustrated wedding RSVP card

Victoria uses paint brushes and pencils to create her designs, telling me she believes it gives a much more personal feel to the invites.  “I’m a great lover of typography, so all of the text is delicately hand drawn.  Colours are also definitely important when it comes to my designs, it’s nice to subtly tie in the colour theme of a wedding, or perhaps the season.  Most of the tones I use are quite muted, but I am a fan of a splash of vibrant colour here and there.”

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An evening at the Silver Sixpence “Made By You” bridal workshop

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Silver Sixpence "Made By You" bridal workshop

I am priveledged to live near a vibrant community of small, independent wedding businesses with more and more opportunities to meet with them and experience the products and services they offer.  A few weeks ago I got to spend the evening with Nicola from Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe at her new “Made By You” bridal workshop.

Bridal workshop

Manchester bridal craft workshop

We were joined by a group of brides-to-be, two of whom I’d previously met at my 5th birthday party the month before, and another couple I’ve exchanged emails with.  Each bride-to-be was there to create a unique bridal accessory that they could wear on their wedding day.

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A rustic and friendly wedding venue surrounded by rolling countryside – a visit to Huntstile Organic Farm in Somerset

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Huntstile Organic Farm rose arch

A few weeks ago Mr Rigg and I were lucky enough to be invited to spend a night at Huntstile Organic Farm in Somerset.  Hunstile is one of the beautiful wedding venues listed on The Natural Wedding Company directory – it’s a gorgeous organic farm run by some of the loveliest people I’ve ever met.

We were warmly welcomed to Huntstile by Lizzie and John (the farm has been in John’s family since 1951 but dates back to the 15th century!) after making our way down lush green winding lanes.  The farmhouse is breathtaking, a mixture of warm stone, mullioned windows, and white wash – the ancient front door thick and full of secrets.

Hunstile Organic Farm farmhouse

Surrounded by rolling farmland, stunning views and a lovely menagerie of goats, ducks and pigs, Huntstile Organic Farm is a tiny piece of heaven and I can’t imagine a more lovely setting for a relaxed country wedding.

Huntstile even has its own stone circle where you can hold a marriage ceremony atop a hill overlooking the farm, a magical spot on the edge of a small copse with views all around.  To get you and your guests to the stone circle, Lizzie and John have a wedding tractor and trailer, or if you’re getting married locally in church you can also arrive by tractor.

Somerset wedding venue Stone Circle

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