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Izzy

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

Izzy

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.

Charlie

A handmade bride’s guide to growing your own wedding flowers for a rustic country garden feel from Lucy Says I Do

Charlie

We’re back today with the lovely Lucy from Lucy Says I Do, who is sharing with us some of the wonderful DIY projects from her own country wedding. If you missed her first guest blog on designing and creating her bridesmaids dresses, do check it out here. Over to Lucy…

We wanted to embrace the location of the wedding and play with the English Country Garden idea. I love flowers and plants that are found in wild flower meadows and old walled gardens, and I wanted to incorporate these into our wedding. We were also heavily inspired by the wonderful Petersham Nurseries, and their beautiful plants and flowers.

We decorated the area outside of the marquee with a multitude of plants and flowers, many of which we grew from seedlings specifically for the wedding. We decided on the plants and flowers we wanted, and made sure they were likely to be flowering or at least alive at the time of the wedding and set to work planting and potting them up.

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

Izzy

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

Izzy

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.

Charlie

Designing and creating bespoke bridesmaids dresses with an English Country Garden theme from Lucy Says I Do

Charlie

I’m delighted that the incredibly creative Lucy from Lucy Says I Do, a recommended TNWC supplier who designs beautiful wedding stationery, will be joining us for a series of guest blog posts whilst I’m off on maternity leave. Lucy had a stunning wedding that was featured on Love My Dress and she booked wedding photographer Mark Tattersall after seeing his photos of our wedding.

Lucy created so many lovely things for her wedding, that I’m really excited to share some of them here with you – I just know you’re going to be inspired. Love Charlie x

Over to Lucy…

I knew I wanted to make dresses that suited the wedding, so my thoughts were: English Country Garden, summery, fun, and natural. In addition to this I wanted the girls to feel really special when wearing them, so they needed to be high quality, feminine, soft and elegant.

My sister (one of my lovely bridesmaids) and I designed the bridesmaids’ dresses together. We decided to design the print as an English country garden story. When developing the design I created an ‘English Country Garden’ inspiration board to help focus my ideas for the print. Here’s my print inspiration board:

Taking different natural elements of the English Country Garden idea we developed the print to include lots of detail including: flowers, fruits and insects. I loved the way the print developed, and the way that every time you looked at it you’d notice something different. Including the little bumblebees! We made sure we incorporated botanical elements such as the strawberry plant, but we balanced this with soft painterly effect flowers to make sure the print maintained a softness, like that of wild flowers.

Here’s a sample piece of the print, how many different elements can you spot?

Izzy

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

Izzy

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

Izzy

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).

Izzy

‘Grow the Love’ with these beautiful ideas for incorporating living flowers and plants into your wedding from Wedding in a Teacup

Izzy

Today Hester from Wedding in a Teacup tells us about how to use living potted plants and greenery in weddings, rather than cut flowers. With some super helpful tips, it’s a must-read for any brides-to-be looking for quirky eco-chic ideas.

Over to Hester…

We love the idea of living flowers and greenery at a wedding. They look natural and informal and are a great way to add practical decoration, but more than that – there’s something about having something living on your day that is so wholly positive!

We like tables named after love-in-the-mist or sage, with pots and gardeners labels to mark them; tiny flower pots doubling as place markers and favours (check out our personalised labels created with these in mind); and an apple crate of herbs or flowers as a luscious table plan holder.

Izzy

A stunning jewel toned wedding cake with edible flowers, petals and berries for a rustic autumn wedding

Izzy

Today we have a mouth-watering guest post from P-J Parker of Emily Harmston Cakes, with a gorgeous autumn inspired wedding cake that features such beautiful rich purple colours. When we first saw these cakes we fell in-love with the use of edible flowers and petals – why not take a look for yourself?

Don’t forget we have a regular feature on wedding cakes called Cake Love, so do check out the link if you are after more wedding cake inspiration.

Over to P-J to tell us more about these stunning creations…

We have just seen the end of a glorious English summer but it brings an abundance of our beautiful berries that rival any array of the fruits that are imported. The colours and choice are breath-taking; it’s almost as if all summer long the sun has become concentrated to give the sumptuous jewel colours inside our blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and damsons.

I really wanted to capture the beauty of this season. The three tiered cake I made here incorporates two white chocolate and raspberry cake tiers at the top and bottom with a double layer of blackberry and raspberry cheesecake in the middle. All topped off with fresh edible Dahlias and handcrafted blackcurrants lollipops.

Charlie

Everything you wanted to ask a wedding photographer but were afraid to ask – a guest post from Bohemian Weddings

Charlie

Today we have a guest blog post from Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings, one of our recommended wedding photographers, who have tips and advice on what to ask your wedding photographer to make sure you get the perfect photographer and feel for your wedding day.

Over to Michael and Andrea from Bohemian Weddings…

It may sound obvious but one of the most important things to us as wedding photographers is our relationship with our couples. The reason for this is simple, if we have a good relationship the couple are relaxed, we are relaxed and this really really shows in every photograph we take.

If you have just started your search for your perfect wedding photographer this is an exciting time as there are so many talented people out there who are amazing to work with. But it is important to note that the wedding industry like any other does also have its undesirables and unlike big corporate companies there is no law to enforce vetting of small self-employed photographers…it’s down to you folks!

To help you make the right choice we are going to guide you through what to expect based on questions we receive from our couples.

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