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Charlie

Elena and Simon’s colourful handmade wedding with rustic outdoor ceremony, felt heart garlands and a unicorn

Charlie

This week’s Real Wedding is vibrant and carefree. There’s a marquee bedecked with sweet felt heart garlands and hundreds of handmade pom poms, and wildflowers and hay bales adorning the open-air ceremony space. This colourful handmade wedding is an inspiration for anyone who wants a laid back and fun vibe for their big day.

Beautifully captured by one of our TNWC recommended photographers, Emma Stoner, on a horse rescue farm. Join us as we find out more about this September wedding from bride Elena…

Charlie

Rachel and Lee’s autumn lake house wedding with outdoor ceremony and sunflower bouquets for this boat loving couple

Charlie

For this Real Wedding we travel across “the pond” to the beautiful East Coast of America. Rachel and Lee’s early autumn lake house wedding is a feast for tired January eyes. They held their wedding at Rachel’s family’s Lake House in Maryland under the hazy September sun.

Before we catch up with bride Rachel to learn more about this rowing boat-filled, sunflower-adorned day, a few words from to TNWC’s Charlie…

This wedding feels close to my heart, which might sound strange when I’ve never met Rachel or Lee, but I have got to know Rachel a little over the past year. Firstly she shared with me her nautical wedding invitations inspired by my own save the dates. I especially loved that the “tying the knot” element (inspired by this version of mine) had such relevance to their love of sailing.

Since their wedding, Rachel and Lee have been on the most incredible 12 month adventure sailing around America in their yacht. I have followed their adventures on Instagram and have kept in touch following their return to dry land, where Rachel has set up her own business Rachel Kendall Events. I am so thrilled that we get to share their wedding with you.

Charlie

An earthy woodland wedding shoot with exquisite animal masks and a seasonal winter bouquet of seedheads and ferns

Charlie

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a seasonal appropriate earthy woodland wedding shoot. It’s full of winter wedding inspiration – think feathers, seedheads, foliage and pine cones. Plus the most exquisite animal masks we’ve ever seen. These are proper grown up masks, perfect we reckon if you want a quirky detail to add a twist to your wedding photos.

So what do I love most about this earthy woodland wedding shoot? I love the attention to seasonal details like the pine cone and pheasant feather hair decorations. It’s over to photographer Megan Duffield to tell us more about what inspired the shoot…

Charlie

Welcome newlyweds and farewell to 2016

Charlie

Can you believe it’s Christmas Eve already? I hope that you’ve had a year full of love and laughter. Looking back my year has been full of ups and many downs – aren’t they always? But my best bit of 2016 was going to London for the Wedding Blog Awards with Samantha. My visit to the Shropshire Petals flower fields was also pretty special.

While we’re all busy enjoying the festive period I wanted to have a little welcome sitting here to anyone popping by. So here’s a little round-up of recent features you might like, plus what’s to come in the New Year. If you’re newly engaged then do take a look around.

Be sure to check back on January 1st for a fab guided tour of our eco wedding directory and blog.

You might like…Ethical rings

As it’s the busiest time of the year to get engaged we did a round-up of our favourite ethical engagement rings. Our 16 beautiful ethical engagement rings feature might give you a starting place if you’re looking for an engagement or wedding ring.

You might like…Spring woodland wedding

Not to be missed is our last Real Wedding of 2016 and what a stunner it was. Already a favourite among the TNWC team, Chloe and Sam’s modern spring woodland wedding is truly exquisite. Bride Chloe described it as bursting with “wood, metal, delicate gold dipped feathers, metres of green garlands and beautiful white spring flowers in little glass inkwells.”

Charlie

Kim and John’s fun garden party wedding on the Isle of Wight with an outdoor ceremony and a Bride vs Groom game of rounders

Charlie

When it’s so cold out and the days are short, it’s difficult to remember what the heat of summer feels like. But today we are transporting you back to a long hot day in July for this week’s real wedding. Kim and John got married at Fernhill Meadow on the Isle of Wight on a beautifully warm day in a fun garden party wedding.

On 23rd July the lovely couple, who got together on the island, held a relaxed, informal wedding. The ceremony was written by them and conducted by a friend under a rustic wooden arch, there were games of rounders and beer pong to entertain their guests, and a pretty preloved wedding dress.

We chatted to bride Kim to find out more about their fun garden party wedding, which was captured by TNWC recommended photographer Betti Confetti Photography…

Charlie

Jenny and David’s botanical Welsh wedding with succulent buttonholes, button bouquets and wildflowers

Charlie

We might be hurtling towards Christmas but today on the blog we are back in June for a beautiful summer wedding. This botanical Welsh wedding is full of sweet eco details – homegrown plants for decorations, handmade bunting – and a love of plants and the natural world.

Jenny and David got married on 25th June at the Ceridwen Centre in the Welsh countryside, and their wedding was captured by TNWC Recommended Photographer Emma Stoner. Over to Jenny to tell us more about their botanical Welsh wedding…

Charlie

An Eco Christmas Gift Guide featuring all ethical British businesses

Charlie

Our 2016 Eco Christmas Gift Guide

It’s December and we want to help you with your gift searching with our eco Christmas gift guide. Samantha and I have been scouring the internet to bring you our favourite eco-chic finds – from gifts to decorations to wrapping.

You might think ‘not another Christmas gift guide’ but we promise ours is a bit special because all the items we’ve chosen have eco credentials, all come from UK based businesses (many of them small independent businesses), and we’ve kept the majority of items affordable with a few luxuries thrown in.

The items in our eco Christmas gift guide are handpicked by us because we feel they are truly worth sharing – they are not just what’s ‘on trend’ or cool this year. We’ve also included direct links to where you can buy the items to make it even simpler. So go dive in and support our ethical British businesses.

If you love a more rustic and natural Christmas style, then check out all blog archives for natural Christmas decorating ideas and DIY projects – my personal favourite being the DIY guide for making snowflakes from vintage doilies.

Decorations for an Eco Christmas

First up in our eco Christmas gift guide – our favourite eco Christmas finds for decorating your home…

Snowflake Garland from Paper Tree

This pretty paper snowflake garland is a super version of those handmade paper ones you (attempt) to make. Plus, these 14 handcrafted snowflakes unfold to create a 3D effect.

£7.50 – Buy it here

Eco Credentials – Made from recycled and FSC paper; Paper Tree are members of 1% for the Planet and give 1% of our sales to environmental organisations.

Beeswax Christmas Tree Candles from Gold&Black Candles

Beeswax is the ultimate candle and with it’s gorgeous gold colour couldn’t be more glorious at this festive time. Made by hand from 100% pure beewax the set of 3 Christmas Tree candles urn for approximately 8 hours each.

£20 (set of 3) – Buy it here

Eco Credentials – natural beeswax; gift box from recycled board and paper covering from sustainable forests.

Mistletoe Wreath from Paper Tree

A beautiful hand crafted paper mistletoe wreath with raffia hanging string and ribbon. The mistletoe is hand crafted from eco-friendly saa paper – we love this.

£25.95 – Buy it here

Eco Credentials – Made from recycled and FSC paper; Paper Tree are members of 1% for the Planet and give 1% of their sales to environmental organisations.

Rustic Driftwood Christmas Tree Decorations from Emma Lane Designs

Charlie

Free printable Christmas gift tags in six beautiful designs

Charlie

What a treat we have for you today – free printable Christmas gift tags exclusively created for our readers by a selection of our talented wedding stationery designers. Themed around ‘A Natural Christmas’ each design captures the individual style of the designer, and there are various sheets for you to download and print off.

We’ve come up with some various idea of how you might choose to use these beautiful Christmas gift tags – whether printed out onto recycled card and cut out as traditional gift tags, or perhaps you’d prefer to print them off on sticker paper and simple stick them onto your wrapped gifts.

Speaking of gifts, check out the blog this weekend for our special eco-chic Christmas Gift Guide.

Download your free mixed Christmas gift tags

First up we have a sheet of each of the 6 designs of Christmas gift tags.

Download the mixed sheet of Christmas gift tag designs

Here’s what the sheet looks like printed out…

Next up we have created individual sheets of each of the 6 designs of Christmas gift tags, so if there’s one design you really love, you can print out a sheet of just that design.

Download our Christmas gift tag and meet the designers

Charlie

Vic and Farid’s pretty country fete wedding with floral bunting, an Etsy dress and a dried flower meadow bouquet

Charlie

Vic and Farid’s country fete wedding is beautifully soft and natural; set in an idyllic wood panelled village hall, it is pretty and understated yet fabulously chic.

Holding both the ceremony and reception in the bunting-filled village hall, the couple enjoyed a relaxed and captivatingly charming day in Leicestershire with all their favourite people, whilst TNWC recommended photographer Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography captured their day perfectly.

Choosing retro sweets as favours and dried flowers for her bouquet, we asked bride Vic to tell us all about the ideas behind their cute country fete wedding…

Charlie

Kate and Aidan’s outdoor eco wedding with a hike to the venue, mountain biking, and cornflowers in beer bottles

Charlie

Kate and Aidan’s outdoor eco wedding, set on Masson Farm in the rolling hills of Derbyshire, is truly inspiring. This biking, hiking and climbing loving couple had a personal vision for their wedding day, but rather than it being about bunting and flowers (though there is an abundance of both) their vision focused on ensuring their celebrations were sustainable and ethical.

The couple and their guests reached the wedding venue by cable car and a hike, before they were married in an outdoor ceremony. Afterwards the reception was held in a tipi that could only be accessed along a steep road which provided seclusion and created an intimate, relaxed atmosphere. Kate and Aidan’s relaxed outdoor eco wedding has been beautifully captured by TNWC recommended supplier Chris Scuffins Photography.

We caught up with Kate to shed some light on their ideas and explain the reasons behind the couple’s choices…