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A simple way to decorate your wedding reception tables with jars of seasonal flowers and cake stand arrangements

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Wedding reception table decoration

Apologies for the rather brief (and belated) blog post this morning – I’ve been having rabbit crisis at home with my littlest bunny not very well, so back and forth to the vets.  That being said, I wanted to bring you some inspiration and I’ve chosen this picture about as a beautiful example of why you don’t need to go over-the-top decorating your reception tables.

Sometimes you see these incredibly luxurious wedding reception tables, where there are flowers simply overflowing and you can barely see the tables for all the decorations, crockery, and wedding favours.  I must admit that having beautiful wooden tables, like they do above, does make decorating more simply much easier – I doubt there’s many of us who would want to leave plastic trestles uncovered.

wedding flower cake stand arrangement

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Directory Showcase: Loveducks Photography, Eco Retreats and The Real Cut Flower Garden

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The Natural Wedding Company

It’s Pancake Day and I’ve got a lovely pancake inspired blog post coming up this afternoon – so do come back for a read of that later.  Today I’m going to introduce to you three more of the businesses that are listed on The Natural Wedding Company directory, giving you an insight into the fab companies you can discover if you take a look through the different categories.

Loveducks Photography eco wedding photography

Loveducks Photography is run by Chamonix who brings her playful personality and quirky style to her wedding photography.  She also runs her business as eco-friendly as she can and donates 10% of her profits to charity.  Visit the directory for a full list of more eco-friendly and ethical wedding photographers.

Eco Retreats romantic tipi honeymoon in Wales

If you dream of a honeymoon spent in a peaceful woodland glade or with stunning mountain views, then check out Eco Retreats.  Their tipis and yurts are set in a romantic location deep in the Welsh forest.  Visit the directory for a full list of eco-friendly and romantic honeymoon destinations.

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Win a vintage inspired film of your wedding day from Bright Star Films

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Bright Star Films wedding films with a vintage feel

*This competition is now closed*

The lovely Kieran and Sinead from Bright Star Films are looking for one lucky couple to win a film of their wedding, and are especially keen to find a wedding with a handmade, rustic and vintage feel to it.  The prize includes up to four hours of filming on your wedding day, and both long (up to 20 minutes) and short (up to 5 minutes) versions of the edited film.

Kieran and Sinead are a married couple who have both worked in film and photography for many years – they recently set up Bright Star Films to create beautiful wedding films with a vintage feel to them.

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A Padstow-inspired stop motion animated ‘save the date’

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Charlie Scribble animated save the date

It’s Sunday and I thought I would share something a bit different to the normal inspiration-type posts.  This is an incredible animated ‘save the date’ from Charlie Scribble, one of the talented businesses you can find on the directory.  Charlie Scribble can bring your wedding stationery to life with their stop motion animations like this Padstow inspired ‘save the date’ they created for one couple…

As well as being incredibly cool and quirky, you eliminate the need to send out paper ‘save the dates’ to everyone, instead you can just email people the link, or if you have a wedding website you can embed the animation onto a page.  Visit Charlie Scribble to find out more about the animated stationery that they can offer you.

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Dan and Ali’s rustic seasonal and handcrafted November wedding

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Seasonal Highland inspired November wedding

Seasonal and handcrafted November wedding

It is lovely to be able to share such a beautiful seasonal wedding full of handmade details, and one that took place in November.  Photographed by Laura Babb, Dan and Ali’s November wedding was held at Folly Farm, a stunning green wedding venue set amongst 250 acres of woodland and nature reserve.  On hearing more about this handcrafted wedding I knew it was just the kind of wedding you would love to see.

Folly Farm eco wedding venue Bristol

Folly Farm rustic eco wedding venue

“When we found Folly Farm we knew it was the right spot. We completely lucked out with the weather on the day, it was hard to believe it was November – but as we fell for Folly Farm’s vantage point and woodland walks on a dreich February morning, we knew it would be beautiful no matter what.”

Seasonal autumn BHLDN wedding dress

Wool tie and autumn buttonhole

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Celebrating The Natural Wedding Company’s 5th Birthday – coming up a month of competitions and exclusive offers

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The Natural Wedding Company

In March I will be celebrating The Natural Wedding Company’s 5th Birthday!  I can’t quite believe that it’s been five years since I first launched the website, although it was a few years in the dreaming and planning before that – I am thrilled to have got to this point and am so excited to share this special time with you and have got lovely things in store for March.

To celebrate this wonderful achievement, I have been in touch with all the businesses listed on the directory asking them if they’d like to get involved – the response has been incredible.  Without these businesses the directory wouldn’t exist and I am continually amazed by their generosity and support.

As a result, March is going to be full of fantastic offers and competitions from the businesses listed on the directory, so if you are planning your wedding there are some exclusive deals and prizes to win that you shouldn’t miss out on.  Every day in March, yes that’s all 31 days of it, there will be two exclusive offers for visitors to The Natural Wedding Company.  On top of that, I have over 10 competitions in the pipeline to win some wonderful prizes.

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Photobooth and brown luggage tag wedding invitations and how you can make your own

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photobooth and luggage tag wedding invitation

If you don’t want to do anything too complicated for your wedding invitations then this idea might be perfect for you, whilst still being fun and personal to you as a couple.  A photobooth style strip of pictures (with details on the back) and a brown luggage tag fastened together with string.

Making the photobooth style pictures

Both these items could be printed at home – there are lots of photo programmes that allow you to make collages like these (I like Photoscape which is free to download), so you could take some pictures and put them into a collage to create a photobooth style strip without having to leave home.  This would enable you to easily print details onto the back of the photos too.

Creating the luggage tags

Brown luggage tags come in all sizes so you could find the right size for you and simply stamp a message like they have done here onto the front.  If you wanted to include more details printed directly onto the luggage tag, then you can print onto recycled brown card (available from some of these businesses) then cut them out and trim the corners to make them appear like a luggage tag.

You can punch a hole and stick on the hole reinforcers (brown ones are available from Etsy if you search for ‘reinforcements’ under ‘All Items’) and they should look just like a ready bought luggage tag, but with all the details you want printed on – and no nightmare thoughts of how you put a luggage tag through your home printer!!

I love fonts, and am a regular visitor to Dafont in search of fun fonts.  I believe (this shows how much of a font geek I am) that the font used on the brown luggage tag in the pictures, is one called Artistamp Medium.  I love it and use it quite a lot, if you take a look at my Directory Showcase features it is used on my graphics.  You should be able to type the name into the Dafont search engine and download it for home use.

Alternatively, print your details onto paper and glue them onto the back of the luggage tags like they have done here.  You could also jazz up your invitations by using coloured raffia or stripey butcher twine instead of white string.

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Diary date and giveaway: Vintage Chic Wedding Fair 22nd April 2012

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*All the tickets have now been taken*

If you are keen on having vintage inspired elements on your wedding day then I have a date for your diary – on Sunday 22nd April 2012 the Vintage Chic Wedding Fair is being held in Birmingham.

vintage wedding fair brooch bouquet

Opening its doors from 11.30am til 4pm, the fair will have over 40 vintage inspired wedding suppliers and entertainment from a jazz swing singer.  A full list of exhibitors is coming shortly, but you can view past exhibitors on their website for an idea of what you can expect.

vintage inspired weddings

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Directory Showcase: Rosie Weisencrantz, Simply Love Vintage and the Cupcake Baker

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The Natural Wedding Company

Wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day whatever you are up to.  This week’s Directory Showcase is full of romantic loveliness, ideal for a day celebrating love – from pretty vintage crockery, to exquisite heirloom bridal jewellery, to dainty cupcakes.

Rosie Weisencrantz vintage bridal jewellery

If you want to wear a necklace, headpiece, or bracelet on your wedding day created from beautiful heirloom finds, then Rosie Weisencrantz is a must-see.  Each piece is handcrafted from vintage finds from a bygone era, and with no two pieces the same they are truly unique and individual.  Visit the directory for a full list of vintage, eco and ethical wedding accessories.

Simply Love Vintage crockery hire

Simply Love Vintage offer vintage crockery hire in the Dorset area, to help style you wedding or event.  They have an eclectic collection of china, vintage inspired props, linens and bunting to create a beautiful wedding.  Visit the directory for a full list of vintage crockery hire companies across the UK.

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Get more inspiration and ideas for a natural wedding from my Pinterest boards

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The Natural Wedding Company Pinterest

I’m on Pinterest

Some of you might already know that I have joined Pinterest, but I thought if you didn’t know you might want to come over and have a look at my boards.  There’s lots of the beautiful inspiration you can find on the blog, but also more that isn’t featured on the blog.  If you are on Pinterest then do come and follow me and I’d love to see some of your wedding inspiration and the lovely things you’ve found.  Follow The Natural Wedding Company on Pinterest.

Find me on Facebook and Twitter

I also have a Facebook page and use Twitter, so if you use either of those you can come ‘like’ my page or follow my tweets.  There’s often some lovely extra bits on Facebook and nice conversations going on so do come and join in.

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