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Charlie

Woodland inspired luggage tag ‘save the dates’

Charlie

Today it’s more handmade loveliness from a lovely bride-to-be and another fab idea for creating ‘save the dates’. These ‘save the date’ luggage tags were made by Tara and her husband-to-be Ben who run a vintage restoration business called Elegantly Wasted Vintage. They are getting married in December and are going for a woodland Edwardian feel for their wedding.

Tara was happy to share the details of how she made them and where she got her supplies… The ‘save the dates’ were easy to make – although all the furious typing on the old typewriter gave me very sore wrists – I don’t know how my mum, who was a secretary in the 1970s, did it! The whole lot cost about £15 to make 50. I used letter stamp blocks from Dunelm Mill and cost £2, the tags were £2 for 50 from Ebay, the twine was £3 from Nutscene, and I ordered the stag stamp online from stampsdirect for £7. I trimmed the paper with the details using scalloped edged scissors.

Charlie

The new 2012 wedding stationery collection from Artcadia featuring folk and florals

Charlie

I’m really excited to share some of my favourite new designs from one of the stationery businesses listed in the directory. These beautiful new designs have been created by Vici-Jane and husband Richard of Artcadia. They are a mixture of letterpress and digital wedding stationery, and include a new range of ‘uncomplicated’ letterpress designs where you can select your own fonts, motifs, inks and envelope colours.

These two below (and the one above) are called Roma and incorporate beautiful folk styles.

If you’re planning a tealight lit wedding reception with jam jar lanterns hung from the trees then Twinkle Twinkle could be for you – don’t you just love how this invitation completely captures that type of atmosphere?

Charlie

Pretty seasonal flowers from Green and Gorgeous for a beautiful Berkshire wedding

Charlie

This week I spotted the lovely floral work of Green and Gorgeous at this beautiful wedding of photographer Caro Hutchings. It’s always lovely to see the work of businesses listed in The Natural Wedding Company directory, especially at real weddings.

I love the combination of blues, yellows and greens in these buttonholes and bouquets – I’m really loving this kind of blue colour scheme for wedding flowers at the moment and these are a beautiful example.

Charlie

Printable floral tags for gifts, place cards or save the dates

Charlie

I don’t usually squeeze in a lunchtime post, but I really wanted to share this find as I thought it would appeal to a lot of you. These beautiful floral tags are offered free to download and print from Packagery, all you need is a printer, some card and a pair of scissors. There is such a wonderful choice of recycled cards available now, so do check out the DIY section on the directory for a list of where you can buy it from.

I thought they could be used for everyday gift giving, customised into ‘save the dates‘ (I have a fab handmade luggage tag ‘save the date’ idea coming soon) or perhaps as place names for your wedding guests. Any other suggestions on how these could be used?

Charlie

Paper flowers made from maps, sheet music and love letters

Charlie

Today I get to share these beautiful paper flower creations from Moll and Mostin – a new business I’d not come across until recently and I most certainly fell in-love at first sight. Moll and Mostin is run by the lovely Lucy, who tells me she’s had a lifelong love affair with paper, vintage “and everything I can get my hands on at antique markets!”

Starting out making greetings cards with the magazines and papers she’d collected, she soon started looking for uses for those bits that were left over. From here, Lucy began creating these beautiful vintage paper roses for hair pieces, fascinators, bouquets and buttonholes. Each one is made by hand from pretty vintage papers – Lucy can even make them with papers of your choice, with maps and sheet music current favourites.

Engaged couples have also asked Lucy to make bouquets from copies of their love letters or photos together – a wonderful way to incorporate how you met into your wedding day. Lucy says, “I love the that the bouquet will not wilt and die after one day – it’s not only a greener way of doing things, but it means you have an extra momento.” In addition to creating the paper roses, Lucy runs hen party workshops so that brides can carry a bouquet where each paper rose was made by her closest friends.

Charlie

An eco-friendly wedding at Riverstation with harbour views and seasonal flowers

Charlie

Down on the harbourside in Bristol is Riverstation, a fabulous wedding venue with alfresco terraces and harbour views, and a perfect place for an eco-friendly wedding. Michele from Riverstation recently sent me these photos of an eco-friendly wedding that show off what a spectacular space it is – I love all the natural light and how magical it looks at night.

All the wedding flowers were done by Bella & Fifi, another of the great flower businesses listed on the directory, who only source British flowers and where possible from growers in the south west.

Charlie

Directory Showcase: Posh & Swanky Cupcakes, Andy Rapkins Photography and Alternative Ceremony

Charlie

This week as we delve into The Natural Wedding Company directory I have some more lovely businesses to showcase – just some of the fantastic suppliers you can find to help you plan a more natural wedding. If you like what you see and want to search for more, click on the links below or take a look around the directory which can be found at the top right of the webpage in the lovely luggage tag.

If you want a girlie hen party why not try something different and have a Posh & Swanky Cupcake Party? You don’t even have to go out, they’ll come to your home and provide a fun evening of cupcake decorating – plus you get to take home your cupcakes at the end of it and devour them all to yourself. Visit the directory for more details and a full list of alternative hen and stag party activities.

Andy Rapkins is a wedding photographer based in Dorset – he combines the unobtrusive, documentary style with a considered fine-art approach to produce timeless images that are richly packed with emotion and humour. As well as being a top-notch photographer he also works closely with environmentally sensitive UK suppliers. Visit the directory for a full list of green wedding photographers.

Charlie

A sweet, homemade animated ‘save the date’ and how you can make your own

Charlie

I have something very special, fun and inspiring to share with you all this afternoon – a homemade animated ‘save the date’! This was sent to me by the lovely Beth who is getting married to Ben this coming July 2012. She described it as a country-wedding inspired, budget ‘save the date’ – why don’t you watch it for yourself…

How fun is that? And it’s accompanied by a song (Crystal Fighters Plage) that seems to perfectly fit the style, and it’s short but sweet – I would be pretty excited if I was a wedding guest and this landed in my inbox. So after watching it half a dozen times I decide to ask Beth how they created it, as I was pretty sure some of your lovely readers might want to create something like it yourself.

Charlie

A beautiful antique lace inspired collection of wedding accessories from Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe

Charlie

What better way to start off the week than with a beautiful collection of wedding accessories from one of our newest additions to the directory – Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe. Nicola designs and makes a range of garters, veils and headpieces, and shoe clips, this latest collection inspired by a box of antique handmade laces.

As well as handmaking vintage-inspired wedding accessories, Nicola also offers bespoke hen parties to craft your own vintage style headpieces – prices start from £30 per head and can be in your home or venue of your choice. Scroll to the bottom for a few snaps of what you can get up to at a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe style hen party.

I selected my favourite designs from the 2012 collection to share with you – so take a moment to de-stress by immersing yourself in all this prettiness. If you’re a bride-to-be make sure you take a look at the Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe website for more accessories, and Nicola’s recently set up an Etsy shop to make it even easier to get your hands on one of these beautiful items – can’t you just imagine passing these on to the next generation for them to become heirloom pieces in the future…

The Pearl Garter

Charlie

Win a £2500 wedding photography collection from Loveducks Photography

Charlie

Loveducks Photography is the latest business to join the directory – the girl behind the camera is the lovely Chamonix, who not only takes beautiful and personal wedding photographs but also tries to be as eco-friendly as possible in both her home life and business. She even donates 10% of her profits to charity.

Chamonix is currently running a compeition to win a fantastic prize of a Loveducks Wedding Photographs Collection worth £2500! Couples who fancy winning this fab prize simple need to send in their engagement story via the form on the Loveducks Photography website – you can find it here.

It sounds like Chamonix is a bit of a romantic, as she’s looking for the sweetest engagement story to win the prize, or as she told me, the one that gets the biggest “aww!” The lucky winning couple will be announced on Valentines Day 2012.

Any couples who enter but don’t win the grand prize, but decide to invest in Loveducks Photography for their wedding, will be given a £50 gift voucher that they can put towards any photography products they would like to include in their wedding collection.

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