Blog

Charlie

A rustic Lithuanian village wedding celebrating old traditions and a simpler way of life

Charlie

Rustic Lithuanian village wedding

It’s always nice to get inspiration from other countries and cultures when it comes to all aspects of life, but in particular I love seeing the way the other people celebrate their wedding days. I am so excited that I get to share with you this gorgeous Lithuanian wedding shot by photographer Svetlana Batura (who also captured this timeless autumn wedding I featured).

Svetlana took the time to tell me all about the wedding of Irminta and Artur and what they were inspired by, I particularly love the horse drawn cart ride for the bride and groom and their friends – more about that below!

Irminta and Artur were inspired by their love of nature, old traditions, the naturalness they feel is missing from everyday life, and of their grandmother’s stories of village weddings. They wanted to combine old and new styles to create a wedding day that was beautiful, fun and that celebrated their family traditions.

Charlie

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

Charlie

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.

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…

Charlie

A soft and romantic Victorian inspired 1970s wedding dress

Charlie

A purely self-indulgent piece of inspiration this morning, but hopefully you’ll love it as much as me. I spotted this image over on the blog from handmade British knitwear maker My-Shell Me-Shell and was instantly in-love, if that’s possible with an image. I think deep down I must be a soft romantic type, although I claim not to be.

What do I love about this image? What don’t I love more like – I love the soft light, the messy hair, the pretty dress and even the way she’s sat. I think if I was still planning my wedding this would have been bookmarked as part of my inspiration, not necessarily because I wanted to find a wedding dress like it, but just because it captures something I love, a feeling perhaps, that I would have liked to translate to my wedding day.

Charlie

Behind-the-scenes photos and film from our ‘on the farm’ bridal shoot

Charlie

So you’ve seen all the gorgeous bridal looks from our Heaton House Farm photoshoot – and if you haven’t you can catch up on my introduction, part one and part two. Today I wanted to share some of the behind-the-scenes pictures that Jonny Draper captured, because I thought you might like to see what goes into putting together a photoshoot.

When it’s a cold blustery day in April and you’re doing a shoot on a working farm it’s not all glamour. There is one brave model in a wedding dress to keep warm and smiling (mind you, our model Lizzie was incredible and cheerful throughout), there are cows and calves to manoeuvre into shot (thanks to Sarah Heath!), and somehow to get a girl in a big white dress onto a horse. It is all great fun.

Here’s the fab video of the day from Rebecca Reville Videography:

<a href="http://vimeo.com/45146409">http://vimeo.com/45146409</a>

Loving the leggings and socks to keep warm…

Charlie

A bridal horse in Indian finery and vintage farm props at our ‘on the farm’ photoshoot at Heaton House Farm

Charlie

Today it’s the final two bridal looks from the photoshoot at Heaton House Farm, if you missed yesterday’s with the very cute calves you can view it here, and the introduction to the photoshoot. Despite the overcast weather on the day of shooting back in April, it provided a stunning backdrop when we headed out to shoot with Tootsie the horse beside the big oak tree.

Fairytale bride and horse by the old oak tree

Thankfully, our lovely model for the day Lizzie was a horse rider making for a much easier shoot, and Tootsie the horse was so well behaved. I’ve heard from Sarah Heath that Tootsie did her first Asian wedding at Heaton House Farm and was a star, in spite of the drums and dancing!

Charlie

A vintage inspired bride and cute calves at our ‘on the farm’ photoshoot at Heaton House Farm

Charlie

Following on from yesterday’s introduction to the fabulous photoshoot at Heaton House Farm that I got to be involved with, today I’m sharing the first of the two bridal looks that we created. A team of wonderful wedding suppliers came together to put these looks together and you’ll find all their details at the bottom of the page.

Today’s bridal looks are accessorised with cute calves and a stonking great big tractor…

1950s inspired bride in the cow barn

This was probably my favourite look of the day, a gorgeous vintage-esque wedding dress with gorgeous lace bodice and cinched-in sash around the waist, red sparkly shoes and blanket covered hay bales.

Charlie

A rustic bridal photoshoot ‘on the farm’ at Heaton House Farm wedding venue

Charlie

You might remember that a couple of months ago I gave you this sneak peek of the fabulous photoshoot I was invited to at Heaton House Farm, well today I finally get to share some of the incredible images taken by Jonny Draper that day, and over the next few days I’ll be showcasing all the different looks we created.

Heaton House Farm is both a wedding venue and working farm in rolling Cheshire countryside with views out over three counties. It is owned by the Heath family, now in its 6th generation and as well as being an exclusive wedding venue they also have 200 sheep, 24 cows and currently 12 very cute calves.

This was my first visit to Heaton House Farm and yet you can feel how friendly and family-run it is, and despite being a large wedding venue that can seat up to 500 guests (!!) it also provides flexible spaces that can accommodate smaller, more intimate functions. As you will see from the photos, there is gorgeous scenery around the sandstone barn and a wide patio perfect for drinks and canapes.

Charlie

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

Charlie

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

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

Charlie

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

Charlie

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.

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.

Charlie

Edwardian inspired lace wedding dress for a modern bride

Charlie

I’m sure a number of you will have already seen this dress when the wedding was featured over on Love My Dress, but as regular readers will know I love the Edwardian era and feel the old eras are often forgotten when it comes to ‘vintage’ inspiration for weddings. So I’m hoping I can champion it a bit here at The Natural Wedding Company.

Back in September of 2011 I featured a couple of dresses from Charlotte Casadejus that I’d fallen in-love with for their use of beautiful lace, and when I say beautiful lace I mean the kind that is intricate, delicate and feminine. It was lovely to spot this gorgeous bride on Love My Dress wearing one of those dresses that had been tailored especially for her.

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