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Charlie

Announcing the lucky winner of the Mama Wolf competition to win the springtime bow tie and pocket square set

Charlie

Just over a week ago this lovely competition to win a pretty springtime bow tie and pocket square set from new TNWC business Mama Wolf finished. This afternoon I get to announce the lucky winner!

Everyone who entered shared what they loved most about spring, and who they’d like to win the bow tie and pocket square for – I really enjoyed reading everyone’s entries, but there can only be one winner…

A huge congratulations to Emily Wilson! I really hope your husband-to-be enjoys his new springtime bow tie and pocket square and we would love to see some pictures. I will be in touch by email to connect you up with Sandeep from Mama Wolf to ensure your prizes get sent out shortly to you.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 8: final visits to Greens of Devon, Organic Blooms and Church Farm

Charlie

I have finally come to the end of my TNWC South West Roadtrip. I have travelled hundreds of miles, stayed in numerous homes, B&Bs and hotels, and met over 15 businesses who are all listed on the directory. It has been exhausting but amazing. If you would like to catch up on my travels, just click on TNWC Roadtrip for all the posts.

So yesterday I set of from the north coast of Devon, travelled into the county to Greens of Devon, then up the motorway to Organic Blooms, and across into Wiltshire to Church Farm for my final visit of the trip. I hope you’ve liked following along, and enjoy this, my final post on the (first) TNWC Roadtrip.

Greens of Devon

My first stop of the day was to Greens of Devon and are one of my lovely edible flower businesses. With the resurgence in British, locally grown, seasonal flowers, their edible brothers and sisters are following suit. I’ve personally been interested in edible flowers for a few years now, so it’s really nice to see more couples incorporating them into their weddings.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 7: a visit to Rowan Tree Studio

Charlie

I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend – it has been mixed weather in Cornwall and Devon with a lovely day on Saturday in Padstow, but rain on Sunday up on the north coast of Devon.

On Saturday I paid a visit as part of the TNWC South West Roadtrip to Rowan Tree Studio, a lovely business run by Sarah who offers a range of crafty hen parties, as well as making wedding soap favours.

The afternoon I arrived Sarah was just finishing off a hen party of eighteen, who had spent a fun afternoon making a bridal trousseau. I hadn’t heard of a bridal trousseau, but thankfully Sarah told me more about it:

“Traditionally a bride to be started making her trousseau to take into her marriage often before she had a groom in mind. Mothers and daughters collected special toys, cherished books and family recipes to keep in a trunk or case with monogrammed linens, patchwork quilts, stationary, soaps and much more.”

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 6: visiting the studio of Charlie Scribble

Charlie

I can’t believe that I only have two days left of visiting businesses on the TNWC South West Roadtrip (Sunday is my day off with family) – it has been an incredible week so far and I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures.

Yesterday I had a pretty chilled day, which at nearly 29 weeks pregnant I was in need of after the busy week I’ve had. I headed from the south coast of Cornwall, across the county to just outside Wadebridge too meet up with Flo from Charlie Scribble. Flo creates beautiful wedding stationery with a very distinct style that incorporates her beautiful illustrations.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 5: Lancaster & Cornish, Sarah Wants and The Blue Carrot

Charlie

After the dire weather yesterday, today the south coast of Cornwall has been blessed with blue skies and patches of sun and an almighty wind. I spent the morning in Lostwithiel and then travelled further down the coast to Portscatho and have finally seen the sea.

I’ve met another group of wonderful businesses, all of whom you can find on The Natural Wedding Company directory, and it has been a pleasure to get to know them and hear more about what they do. It’s been a real honour to get an inside look into these small businesses, especially to very private places such as offices, studios, workrooms and cutting gardens.

So this is what I got up to yesterday on the TNWC Roadtrip…

Lancaster & Cornish

A recent addition to the directory and a last minute add on to my visits today, was a trip to the studio office of Lancaster & Cornish. I met the lovely Sian, who runs Lancaster & Cornish, last night at dinner with the ladies from The Garden Gate Flower Company, and was really excited at the prospect of looking at pretty fabrics and lace.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Sarah’s been busy with her family working on a number of DIY craft projects for her wedding

Charlie

At about this time I will probably be meeting Susanne from The Blue Carrot in deepest Cornwall, over 300 miles from my home. If you’ve just joined us, this week I am on a TNWC South West Roadtrip travelling around Somerset, Devon and Cornwall visiting a number of the lovely wedding businesses listed in the directory.

This afternoon I have Sarah one of my TNWC Real Brides who is sharing some of her DIY projects that her and her family have been busy creating for their upcoming wedding.

Over to Sarah…

Hi everyone! In this blog I will be writing about some of the creative projects we are doing for the wedding, with less than 3 months to go everything is starting to get a bit crazy!

One of my projects is using a gorgeous old gate dad came across, we were thinking of painting it but soon decided it was perfect as it was. I’m going to use it to display picture of myself and Lee. I’m also going to decorate it with lovely trinkets and bunting along the top.

My mum has been busy making bunting, we were told we’d need 150 meters worth – my mum nearly fainted at the thought! She’s making lots of progress after lots of trouble with it – we sourced our fabric from charity shops and eBay, and I bet it will look stunning!

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 4: The Garden Gate Flower Company with Taylor & Porter Photographs

Charlie

What a lovely day I had yesterday, despite the most miserable drizzly weather in Cornwall. I spent the whole day at The Garden Gate Flower Company (who are based just outside Fowey) with Becca and Maz, generally having a lot of fun with their beautiful flowers.

Our plan was to spend the day creating beautiful wedding hair flowers with the aim to inspire brides-to-be who want to wear flowers in their hair, but don’t feel the big, bold, statement flower crowns are ‘them’.

In the afternoon we were joined by Louise and Teo from Taylor & Porter Photographs, the loveliest couple who’ve recently relocated to Cornwall, and take all their pictures on vintage film cameras – you should definitely check out their work if you want something a bit different for your wedding photography.

Today you get my photos, but soon I’ll be featuring all Louise and Teo’s photos. Can’t wait!

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 3: Lantallack Weddings with Lucy Turnbull Photography

Charlie

I hope you are all enjoying following along with my TNWC South West Roadtrip – I’m only three days and loving it. It has been such a pleasure and a real treat to visit these wedding businesses and find out more about who they are and what they do. I can quite honestly say there are some real gems out there for anyone planning their wedding, so get looking through the directory to find some fabulous suppliers.

After a rather busy Day 2 of the TNWC Roadtrip, yesterday was a bit more relaxed with just one visit scheduled for the day. Like Day 2 I was joined by a TNWC wedding photographer, this time is was Lucy Turnbull, whose photos these are. I momentarily got lost down a very narrow high-hedged Cornish lane, but soon realised my mistake and found the very beautiful Lantallack Weddings.

Charlie

Beauty is a feeling: a personal post on why one bride cancelled her wedding make-up artist

Charlie

You will probably recognise today’s guest blogger, she’s one of my lovely TNWC Real Brides, Emma, who is sharing all her wedding planning experiences with us. She recently emailed me a blog post she’d written about her experience of her wedding make-up trial as she felt it might strike a chord with some of my other bride-to-be readers. And I think it will.

I decided not to include it among Emma’s TNWC Real Brides posts as I think it needed to stand alone. If you’d like to read more about Emma’s wedding plans, you can do so here.

I also wanted to extend an invitation to any other brides-to-be out there, like Emma, who’ve had positive or negative experiences during their wedding planning and want to share them with others – you are welcome to write them up and pop them in an email to me at charlie@thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk and I will try and feature them here on the blog.

Over to Emma…

Beauty Is A Feeling

I wanted to share with you all my experience of my make up trial and why I decided to cancel having a professional make up artist on the day, leaving me out of pocket.

I always thought that having my make up done on my wedding day would be a real treat as I so rarely wear make up and thought it would be nice to feel and look glamorous. Every bride wants to look their best on their wedding as so much attention is focused onto you and there is a little pressure to look better than you would on any other day, which is why I thought professional make up would make me look ‘more like a bride.’

I booked a trial with a local make-up artist and was looking forward to having a girly time trying out different looks. When I arrived at the studio I explained that I rarely wear much more than a bit of mascara and some tinted moisturiser and that I wanted to look really natural but have my features enhanced. The make up artist started by tweaking my brows, which turned into a full on overhaul with wax, threading and trimming with scissors… I was a little worried as I quite like my eyebrows to be natural but I trusted the make up artist as she has an excellent portfolio and is clearly very talented.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 2: JW Blooms, Cowparsley Weddings and Bespoke Confetti with Jennie Hill Photography

Charlie

I’ve had another wonderful day out on the second day of my TNWC South West Roadtrip – today I’ve visited three fabulous wedding businesses and been joined for my adventure by Jennie Hill and her camera. Today you are just getting my camera phone snaps as soon I’ll be sharing Jennie’s gorgeous pictures of our visits.

JW Blooms

My first stop of the day was the flower field of JW Blooms, a Somerset based small business growing beautiful flowers for weddings. Jan has an acre sized plot with about two-thirds of this used for growing flowers. It is utterly charming and as a big flower lover I always feel a little bit jealous wandering amongst rows and rows of pretty flowers.

For brides who book Jan to do their wedding flowers, the consultation process involves a visit the week before your wedding to wander the flower field, see what’s blooming, and pick what you’d like for your arrangements. I can’t think of many more lovely things to do!

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