Blog: Suppliers + Products
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Great wedding offers, discounts and a competition – a round-up for January 2012

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Loveducks Photography

I thought I would give you all a quick all-in-on-place round-up of the great wedding offers and discounts currently available (or about to expire!) from businesses listed on The Natural Wedding Company.

Loveducks Photography

WIN a wedding photography package worth £2,500!  To enter the competition click here and tell Loveducks Photography your engagement story – the sweetest engagement story will be announced as the winner on Valentine’s Day 2012.  Get your entry in by 12th February 2012. Check out her photography above!

Wedding in a Teacup

15% off all orders up until 31st January 2012, simply enter the code SPARKLE15 at checkout.  Visit www.weddinginateacup.co.uk to view their range of lovely wedding favours and DIY resources.

honey favour brown craft label

Natural Design

Don’t miss an exclusive 10% discount for all orders placed by The Natural Wedding Company readers, simply enter the code NWC discount in the further information box when checking out.  Visit www.naturaldesign.co.uk to view the pretty range of favours, decorations, gifts and stationery.

Natural Design paper roses

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Directory Showcase: Natural Design, A Alicia Wedding Accessories and Cariad Canvas

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The Natural Wedding Company

It is really lovely to be able to share, in more detail, some of the great businesses you can find on The Natural Wedding Company directory.  Wedding planning is tough enough, but if you care about doing things more naturally, eco-friendly, or ethically it makes it all the more challenging.

When I first started out to create The Natural Wedding Company, back in 2005, there were hardly any businesses that could help you create this kind of wedding – now it is very different and I’m proud to have some of the best all in one place for you.  You can read more about the businesses you can find in the directory (take a look around the different categories found in the luggage tag at the top of the website) in the Directory Showcase.

Natural Design wedding favours and decorations

Ann-Marie from Natural Design handcrafts a range of beautiful wedding favours, decorations and stationery that are eco-friendly and ethically produced.  Like her beautiful flowers and petals that are made from Saa paper that comes from a natural and sustainable tree bark.  Their paper rose petals have featured in films such as Alexander and Harry Potter.  Visit the directory for a full list of atural wedding decorations.

A Alicia Handmade Wedding Accessories

A Alicia Handmade Wedding Accessories are made from ethically produced and vintage fabrics and finds.  Anna Alicia makes a beautiful range of unique, eco-friendly accessories for your wedding, specialising in vintage ribbon and lace garters.  Also within the range are ring pillows, fabric buttonholes, clutch bags and headbands.  Visit the directory for a full list of vintage and eco-friendly wedding accessories.

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The new 2012 wedding stationery collection from Artcadia featuring folk and florals

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Artcadia letterpress wedding stationery

I’m really excited to share some of my favourite new designs from one of the stationery businesses listed in the directory.  These beautiful new designs have been created by Vici-Jane and husband Richard of Artcadia.  They are a mixture of letterpress and digital wedding stationery, and include a new range of ‘uncomplicated’ letterpress designs where you can select your own fonts, motifs, inks and envelope colours.

These two below (and the one above) are called Roma and incorporate beautiful folk styles.

Artcadia Roma letterpress wedding invitation

Artcadia folk inspired wedding stationery

If you’re planning a tealight lit wedding reception with jam jar lanterns hung from the trees then Twinkle Twinkle could be for you – don’t you just love how this invitation completely captures that type of atmosphere?

Artcadia lantern inspired wedding stationery

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Printable floral tags for gifts, place cards or save the dates

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printable floral tags

I don’t usually squeeze in a lunchtime post, but I really wanted to share this find as I thought it would appeal to a lot of you.  These beautiful floral tags are offered free to download and print from Packagery, all you need is a printer, some card and a pair of scissors.  There is such a wonderful choice of recycled cards available now, so do check out the DIY section on the directory for a list of where you can buy it from.

I thought they could be used for everyday gift giving, customised into ‘save the dates‘ (I have a fab handmade luggage tag ‘save the date’ idea coming soon) or perhaps as place names for your wedding guests.  Any other suggestions on how these could be used?

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Paper flowers made from maps, sheet music and love letters

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Moll and Mostin paper flowers

Today I get to share these beautiful paper flower creations from Moll and Mostin – a new business I’d not come across until recently and I most certainly fell in-love at first sight.  Moll and Mostin is run by the lovely Lucy, who tells me she’s had a lifelong love affair with paper, vintage “and everything I can get my hands on at antique markets!”

Starting out making greetings cards with the magazines and papers she’d collected, she soon started looking for uses for those bits that were left over.  From here, Lucy began creating these beautiful vintage paper roses for hair pieces, fascinators, bouquets and buttonholes.  Each one is made by hand from pretty vintage papers – Lucy can even make them with papers of your choice, with maps and sheet music current favourites.

Paper flower fascinator

Engaged couples have also asked Lucy to make bouquets from copies of their love letters or photos together – a wonderful way to incorporate how you met into your wedding day.  Lucy says, “I love the that the bouquet will not wilt and die after one day – it’s not only a greener way of doing things, but it means you have an extra momento.”  In addition to creating the paper roses, Lucy runs hen party workshops so that brides can carry a bouquet where each paper rose was made by her closest friends.

vintage paper flower buttonhole

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An eco-friendly wedding at Riverstation with harbour views and seasonal flowers

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Riverstation eco-friendly wedding venue

Down on the harbourside in Bristol is Riverstation, a fabulous wedding venue with alfresco terraces and harbour views, and a perfect place for an eco-friendly wedding.  Michele from Riverstation recently sent me these photos of an eco-friendly wedding that show off what a spectacular space it is – I love all the natural light and how magical it looks at night.

Riverstation eco-friendly wedding

Eco-friendly wedding venue Bristol

All the wedding flowers were done by Bella & Fifi, another of the great flower businesses listed on the directory, who only source British flowers and where possible from growers in the south west.

Bella and Fifi British wedding flowers Bristol

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Directory Showcase: Posh & Swanky Cupcakes, Andy Rapkins Photography and Alternative Ceremony

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The Natural Wedding Company

This week as we delve into The Natural Wedding Company directory I have some more lovely businesses to showcase – just some of the fantastic suppliers you can find to help you plan a more natural wedding.  If you like what you see and want to search for more, click on the links below or take a look around the directory which can be found at the top right of the webpage in the lovely luggage tag.

Posh & Swanky Cupcake Classes

If you want a girlie hen party why not try something different and have a Posh & Swanky Cupcake Party?  You don’t even have to go out, they’ll come to your home and provide a fun evening of cupcake decorating – plus you get to take home your cupcakes at the end of it and devour them all to yourself.  Visit the directory for more details and a full list of alternative hen and stag party activities.

Andy Rapkins Photography

Andy Rapkins is a wedding photographer based in Dorset – he combines the unobtrusive, documentary style with a considered fine-art approach to produce timeless images that are richly packed with emotion and humour.  As well as being a top-notch photographer he also works closely with environmentally sensitive UK suppliers.  Visit the directory for a full list of green wedding photographers.

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A beautiful antique lace inspired collection of wedding accessories from Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe

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Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe lace garter

What better way to start off the week than with a beautiful collection of wedding accessories from one of our newest additions to the directory – Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe.  Nicola designs and makes a range of garters, veils and headpieces, and shoe clips, this latest collection inspired by a box of antique handmade laces.

As well as handmaking vintage-inspired wedding accessories, Nicola also offers bespoke hen parties to craft your own vintage style headpieces – prices start from £30 per head and can be in your home or venue of your choice.  Scroll to the bottom for a few snaps of what you can get up to at a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe style hen party.

I selected my favourite designs from the 2012 collection to share with you – so take a moment to de-stress by immersing yourself in all this prettiness.  If you’re a bride-to-be make sure you take a look at the Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe website for more accessories, and Nicola’s recently set up an Etsy shop to make it even easier to get your hands on one of these beautiful items – can’t you just imagine passing these on to the next generation for them to become heirloom pieces in the future…

The Pearl Garter

Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe pearl garter

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Win a £2500 wedding photography collection from Loveducks Photography

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Loveducks Photography

Loveducks Photography is the latest business to join the directory – the girl behind the camera is the lovely Chamonix, who not only takes beautiful and personal wedding photographs but also tries to be as eco-friendly as possible in both her home life and business.  She even donates 10% of her profits to charity.

Chamonix is currently running a compeition to win a fantastic prize of a Loveducks Wedding Photographs Collection worth £2500!  Couples who fancy winning this fab prize simple need to send in their engagement story via the form on the Loveducks Photography website – you can find it here.

It sounds like Chamonix is a bit of a romantic, as she’s looking for the sweetest engagement story to win the prize, or as she told me, the one that gets the biggest “aww!”  The lucky winning couple will be announced on Valentines Day 2012.

Any couples who enter but don’t win the grand prize, but decide to invest in Loveducks Photography for their wedding, will be given a £50 gift voucher that they can put towards any photography products they would like to include in their wedding collection.

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Spotted today in Reverie Magazine two of our wonderful businesses

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Reverie Magazine eco-chic wedding

This morning I got totally wrapped up reading the new Reverie Magazine, and was particularly excited because the River Cottage wedding (that featured on the TV series) with the edible bouquet was featured.  Not only was it lovely to see photos from this wedding because it was exceptionally beautiful and captures everything I love about natural weddings, but it also featured two of the businesses featured in the directory.

The wedding jewellery was all ethical and Fair Trade, with some of it coming from April Doubleday, who features in our directory.  In addition to the wedding, there was a page called ‘Get the Look’ and this featured April Doubleday again and also The Vintage Wedding Dress Company (with my favourite Edwardian inspired wedding dress).  Do take a look at these two fabulous businesses and also have a read of Reverie Magazine to see the River Cottage wedding (page 112 if you’re wondering!).

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