Blog

Charlie

Visitors past and present we’d love your feedback, thoughts and ideas for our 2014 visitor survey – plus a giveaway!

Charlie

It has been quite a while since we last did a visitor survey and after a funny old year since having a baby, it felt like a good time to ask for your thoughts and feedback.

We have some ideas for improvements we’d like to make to the website, but what our visitors think is one of the most important aspects. So we’ve put together a visitor survey and would like to ask our lovely brides – both past and present – to give us their feedback.

Instead of creating a quick multiple choice survey, we have tried to ask questions that allow you to share your views and thoughts, as your individual opinions are what matter most. We hope you’d be up for taking 10 minutes out of your day or evening and sharing your views with us.

As a thank you for completing our survey, we’ll be entering everyone into a giveaway to win a beautiful 2015 calender from Pirrip Press (below!), who can usually be found in our Stationery category with their contemporary hand-printed wedding stationery.

Charlie

Bridget and Jeremy’s laidback Irish wedding with a vintage wedding dress, homegrown flowers and inspiring homemade decor

Charlie

Laidback Irish wedding

Today’s wedding has been a long time coming – a long time. I feel incredibly selfish that I haven’t shared it with you until this point, and only now with the help of the lovely Samantha who is going to be helping me by writing up some of our real weddings featured on the blog. Bride Bridget has since emigrated to Australia where she works as a printmaker and artist (check out her online shop) and has recently had her first baby.

Now over to my lovely colleague Samantha who is going to tell you all about this beautiful wedding…

Today we are bringing you the beautiful, effortlessly cool wedding of Bridget and Jeremy, brimming full of homegrown details! Not only is the bride incredibly creative (wait until you see the willow arch they got married under) but their friends and family are one talented bunch, who also brought their own personal touches throughout the whole day.

From the décor and ceremony to the food, photography and entertainment, everything was lovingly curated to make a day that was so incredibly personal you can feel the love jumping out the page! So without further ado I am going to hand you over to bride Bridget who provides the most lovely rendition of their big day.

“We wanted our wedding to be fun, country, vintagey, relaxed and just very us. Our main aim was we wanted everyone to have a brilliant time. It wasn’t only a party for our wedding it was also a bit of a leaving party because a month later we left Northern Ireland and moved to Australia, so for me to be able to see and celebrate with so many friends and family before I emigrated was lovely!”

Bridget and Jeremy got married in August 2011, in a field between Bridget’s granny’s house and her mum’s weekend home:

“My granny lives in a cottage near a town called Killinchy in Ireland. I think I’ve imagined my wedding to be there my whole life. When I was growing up we went to Killinchy every weekend. Even now, if we’re home in Ireland, we go down for Sunday dinner. It is a place of childhood magic and full of family history.

My mum got married there and my brother got married there. The ceremony was held on the grass in between the two cottages and then the celebrations went on in the most amazing Nordic tipis erected in the field beyond the cottages. The tipis looked so beautiful!”

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Lisa’s pretty floral bridesmaid gifts and edible Welsh cake wedding favours

Charlie

We’re back with 2014 TNWC Real Bride Lisa with her final pre-wedding post on the gifts she made for her bridesmaid and their yummy edible wedding favours.

Over to Lisa to tell you more…

Bridesmaids gifts

This idea was unashamedly stolen from another lovely wedding blog called Lucy Says I Do – handmade floral dressing gowns. This looked so perfect that I really wanted it for myself and so set about copying it.

I felt this was the perfect bridesmaid gift and so choose each fabric to suite each of the bridesmaid’s personalities. With the help of my mother we spent one Sunday at our sewing machines stitching the dress gowns up.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Emma’s beautiful DIY wedding details from viola pops to gold animals on their tables

Charlie

Back in July our lovely TNWC Real Bride Emma got married in a beautiful wedding in the heart of Liverpool. Emma is back today to share some stunning pictures from their wedding day and the final few details they made. In Emma’s first blog post she said:

“It might seem a contradiction, a natural wedding in the city, but I’m determined we can made it happen!” And I’m sure you’ll agree from the snippets below that her and Shane most definitely made it happen.

Over to Emma…

Three months ago Shane and I said “I do!” in a city wedding in Liverpool with a natural, handmade flair. The day itself was full of smiles, laughter and love, and I’m looking forward to telling you all about it and sharing more of our photographs soon! But first, I want to share some of the personal and handmade elements we brought to our day.

Viola pops and meaningful keepsakes

It was important to us to make our wedding as personal as possible, not just in terms of reflecting who we are but letting our guests know what a significant part of the day – and our lives – they are.

Something that was quite a simple idea but very popular was the name tags I made using my granddad’s old typewriter. I was very close to my grandparents growing up and they’re sadly not with us anymore, so despite the fact it’s not in the best shape I was determined to use my granddad’s vintage Olympia and not just any old typewriter!

I bought some lovely cream luggage tags from a local craft store and typed the names directly onto them, but the black ink smudged terribly no matter what we tried. After a bit of trial and error, I found that the red typewriter ribbon smudged much less so I typed them in red ink instead!

Charlie

Ethereal, natural and bohemian inspired wedding dresses in the new 2015 collection from Minna plus a 15% discount

Charlie

Please note: Minna is now Indiebride London.

It’s time to fall in love with the new 2015 collection of exquisite wedding dresses from TNWC recommended supplier Minna, and if you’re a bride-to-be who sees her dream dress amongst the new collection then we have a fab 15% discount if you purchase before the end of November 2014.

Minna Hepburn the founder of Minna told me that her team have been listening to their customers to find out what it was they wanted in a wedding dress to influence their latest collection. She told me, “We just wanted to make beautiful dresses, dresses that cannot be found elsewhere. We listened to our customers and designed this collection for them.”

Charlie

A Day in the Life … Wild Bunch: living and learning the joy of flowers on a beautiful farm on the Herefordshire Welsh borders

Charlie

I was so thrilled when Tammy from Wild Bunch got in touch keen to do ‘A Day in the Life’ blog post having read the ones written by Pyrus and The Garden Gate Flower Company (I’d recommend you go read them too!). She got photographer Nic Rue (who also captured Pyrus’ beautiful garden and studio) to come to her little piece of flower paradise on the Herefordshire / Shropshire border.

The photos are gorgeous, the words are beautiful, and the flowers…well the flowers are stunning! Need I say more…

Over to Tammy…

Entering the second year of my little cut flower business I was searching for a point of reflection on where I was at with my new found work and passion. And when I came across the beautiful work of the photographer Nic Rue, I tentatively asked if she would be interested in working with me to document my garden and flowers.

It was a big step for me asking a photographer into my little world, but Nic was inspirational and really helped me see and think about my garden and flowers with new eyes.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Lisa’s handmade napkins and bunting, vintage crockery collecting and other last minute wedding preparations

Charlie

For any of our regular readers you’ll probably have realised that our lovely TNWC Real Bride Lisa is now married, however she got so busy in the lead up to her wedding day that it’s only now post-wedding and post-honeymoon that she’s been able to fill us in on the final aspects of her wedding planning.

Over to Lisa to tell us more…

Vintage crockery, stamping, bunting, lots of napkins and trying to get ahead…

In the run up to our big day, we realised that a lot of the things we wanted to do could only be done at the very last minute, such as our favours which were Welsh cakes, the flowers (which Tom’s mum was growing) the drinks for the drinks dispensers etc. We also found that we were still coming up with ideas even up until the eleventh hour! Below are some of things we did manage to do in advance (thankfully!!).

The hunt for vintage crockery

For our reception we had beautiful Kata tents, if you are not familiar with them they are a type of interlocking tipi and are absolutely beautiful inside. You could pretty much leave them as they are without doing very much decoration, I can imagine them to look stunning with very simple table settings and lighting. However I have always had my heart set on a very colourful, mismatch of styles filling the tables and all around.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Ellie’s trip to her florists garden to pick out her seasonal blooms for her late spring wedding

Charlie

How many other brides-to-be have visited their florists garden to pick out the flowers for their wedding? Well in today’s post from TNWC Real Bride Ellie she shares how she did exactly that over the summer, and she took along some of her family and bridesmaids.

Ellie is a girl after my own heart with her love of countryside and seasonal flowers and foliage. Over to Ellie to tell you all about it…

For some brides, the most exciting part of wedding planning is finding the perfect dress. For some, it’s food and drink and, for others, it’s music or decoration. For me, however, the most exciting part of planning my big day has always and unequivocally been…flowers!

Since I was a little girl, I have walked along country lanes with my Mum and Granny and been filled up with the names of the flowers growing madly all along the verges.

I’ve also been lectured somewhat extensively on the folklore of flowers; from blackthorns being the preserve of evil faeries, to a horror of white lilies displayed on their own (exceptionally funereal), flowers have always been a part of my life – and, perhaps oddly, a huge part of how I’ve related to members of my family, and an important impetus for spending time together.

Charlie

A new affordable wedding package for brides seeking seasonal and locally sourced flowers from Jay Archer Floral Design

Charlie

Here at The Natural Wedding Company, we’re great advocates of DIY weddings. DIYing certain elements not only allows you to keep within a budget, but gives you the chance to get hands-on and really make the day your own.

However I’ll be the first to put my hands up and admit that sometimes you simply can’t do everything yourself, especially those things on the list that have to be done last minute and not prepped ahead of time — at least if you want a few precious moments to relax with your best girls and a good night’s beauty sleep before walking down the aisle.

Cue award-winning florist, champion of seasonality and bride-to-be herself, TNWC recommended supplier Jay Archer Floral Design; “I’ve often been called upon last minute by distressed brides who decide to go it alone with their wedding flowers, only to find themselves in a fluster when they’ve run out of time, a friend has let them down, or they’re disappointed with the end result.”

Jay’s come up with a new option, the simply JAFD package, which provides the seasonal, locally-sourced flowers she and her team are renowned for, at a set price. The Simply JAFD package costs £750 and includes:

• The bridal bouquet
• 3 bridesmaid bouquets
• 6 men’s buttonholes
• 2 ladies buttonholes
• 10 table centres in a choice of vessels (that couples can be keep afterwards)

Charlie

A short personal post on my challenges of mummyhood and returning to business and blogging

Charlie

I’m sure that by now some of you will have realised that almost two months have passed since I last posted on the blog. I’m pretty sure this is the longest ever stretch that the blog has gone without a feature, which makes me heart a little sad. I do hope that you’ve not all lost hope in me and continue to find inspiration among the blog archive and directory pages.

Without going into a huge long account, it felt right to share a little of where I’ve been this past few months, if not this past year, since my little girl was born. Jumping right back into regular blog posts without some note would have felt a little strange.

A month ago my little girl turned one – I can’t quite work out if the past year has gone in the blink of an eye or seemed like forever (a feeling shared by many first-time parents I imagine). What I do know, is that it’s been bloody hard! It’s been the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced, one that will undoubtedly continue for the rest of my life now that I’m a mama.

Whilst she is my first ‘real’ baby, my business – The Natural Wedding Company – was my first baby of another kind. As I’m discovering with many things in parenting, I thought I had an idea of how I would make things work once my baby burst into my physical world…well it turns out you can’t really plan or imagine any version of how your life will be with a baby.

I have found becoming a mother really challenging in so many ways and I have at various times cried buckets of tears at the ‘loss’ of my former life, most especially in relation to the 24/7 freedom I had to run The Natural Wedding Company. For numerous reasons I won’t bore you all with, about 6 months in I realised that I was (and had been from the start) suffering from post natal depression.

I have felt so overwhelmed and so frustrated and so sad and so in love and so awed and so (positively) changed by this small person and the last year of my life. Having to concede that my business had to come second (in light of all of the above) has been excruciatingly difficult, and my familiar friend doubt has been ever on my shoulder.

And so here I am, for what feels like the first time in an age, writing a blog post and reaching out to reconnect with long-time readers and TNWC businesses, to connect with new readers and businesses (hello!), and to start building back up the wonderful relationships that I had worked so hard to build over the past years.

I hope you haven’t all disappeared or lost faith in me, I have missed you all so much.

Love Charlie x

Seasonal wedding ideas:

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

DIY + Inspiration

Real Weddings

Suppliers + Products

Browse the blog:

Planning

Advertise

Get your eco wedding business listed on our directory