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Charlie

Go on girls, get cupcake decorating for your hen party

Charlie

Yesterday evening I had a wonderful time learning how to decorate cupcakes with And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon. Whether you are wanting to plan a more alternative and meaningful hen party, or you’re planning on making your own wedding cake from cupcakes, you should consider having a cupcake decorating party.

Our evening looked a bit like this – just at night – I hope to share a photo of my cupcakes when they’re available…

Image: Jonny Draper

There are some wonderful businesses out there offering these services, and tailored specifically for hen parties and weddings. They can be found all over the country, but some in particular are a bit special, I think, because they are passionate and committed to using high quality ingredients – fair trade, free range, organic, seasonal, local.

So today I’m paying homage to them. Girls, its time to roll up your sleeves, pop on your apron, and learn a great new skill – and have a good giggle with your girl friends while you’re at it.

Charlie

Our rustic country wedding – an outing with Carrots the pony

Charlie

Today’s photos are some of my favourite from our wedding and I’m really excited to be sharing them with you all. After the church ceremony and ice cream outside, Nick and I left across the field on a simple pony and carriage, which took us down the country lanes for a short while just the two of us.

My mom is solely responsible for organising this – as a teacher in the village primary school she knows a lot of local people, and John who took us out in his pony and carriage is one of them.

I’ve had a love of horses and riding since before I can remember, as a little girl growing up in London I used to dream of moving to the country and having riding lessons. That finally happened when I was six, and I think for my 7th birthday I got my first lessons.

Charlie

Original fabric ‘save the date’ idea with personalised ribbon hanger

Charlie

Today we have more fab ideas for wedding projects shared by one of my readers, Gemma, who writes Blossom Bells. Gemma created these sweet ‘save the dates’ inspired by a tutorial she saw in the July issue of Sew Hip magazine, written by Lilipopo.

Gemma, who is currently planning her wedding, decided to make these hanging fabric ‘save the dates’ from linen and a pretty back (that you can’t see) from organic cotton from the Cloud9 range. You can also buy organic fabrics from Organic Cotton.

Gemma designed a heart and bird shape, but also did a bat because both her and her husband-to-be have wildlife-related jobs – a fun way to incorporate your interests into your wedding.

Next Gemma stamped their wedding date onto the plain linen side using a custom stamp from The English Stamp Company with a water based screen printing ink. Another lovely touch from Gemma is making the hanging tags from ribbon with their wedding website link on it. That way your guests can find out details about your upcoming wedding.

Charlie

20% discount for 2012 weddings at Folly Farm in Bristol

Charlie

The beautiful Folly Farm, a green wedding venue in the Chew Valley between Bristol and Bath, is offering a fantastic 20% discount on all 2012 weddings booked before the end of March 2012.

The wedding suites are in a historic farm building that has been sensitively converted, set amongst a 250 acre nature reserve – ideal for wedding photographs. They are licensed for civil ceremonies and are available for weddings and wedding receptions throughout the year.

Wedding venues that are beautiful in all seasons are always wonderful to find, and Folly Farm Director, Philip Niemand says that you’ll always enjoy something special whether it be “wild winter skies and beautiful frosty mornings [or] flower meadows and summer sunsets.”

Charlie

Autumn rustic barn engagement shoot with DIY details

Charlie

I am really excited to share these photos with you – they are the first official engagement photos to be shown on the blog and aren’t they beautiful!

The bride- and grooom-to-be, Ashley and Nate, wanted to create a unique ‘save the date’ announcement that they could send out to their guests. They are planning a rustic barn wedding so wanted to create a similar rural country feel to their engagement photos.

Charlie

A fun day out at the Designer Vintage Bridal Show

Charlie

I’m exhausted after a fab day out in Birmingham at the Designer Vintage Bridal Show. My friend Kerry and I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful wedding dresses (both vintage, and vintage and inspired), gorgeous displays of cake pops, cupcakes in jars, and non-edible soap cupcakes, as well as chatting with some of the wonderful people behind these businesses.

If you’re planning your wedding and interested in vintage inspired elements, and are free tomorrow, then you should definitely get yourself over to Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham and enjoy a great day out. We came away with lovely goodie bags filled with nice treats both edible and lovely smelling.

Charlie

Getting married in 2012? Win custom made letterpress ‘save the dates’ from Artcadia

Charlie

The wonderful Vici-Jane from Artcadia is giving away up to 100 custom designed letterpress ‘save the date’ cards with envelopes to one lucky winner. All you have to do is go to the Artcadia website, pick your favourite ‘save the date’ design from the collection, and leave a comment about it on their blog.

As the winner, you’ll not only be able to pick whether you have your ‘save the dates’ digitally or letterpress printed, but you’ll also be able to choose from any of their designs or get one custom-made.

The closing date in October 31st and the winner will be contacted by November 5th 2011. So what are you waiting for all you 2012 couples? Don’t forget to mention in your blog comment that you heard about it at The Natural Wedding Company.

Charlie

Our rustic country wedding – ice cream in the church yard

Charlie

It is terrible to toot your own trumpet, but this is one of the ideas that we had for our wedding that I was so pleased with. Nick and I love our food and love supporting local producers, so we always knew this was going to be woven throughout our wedding. There were moments we worried we might be overfeeding people!

We have a wonderful local farm to where we live in Cheshire that makes its own ice cream – we practically live off the stuff. Somehow we wanted to incorporate this into our wedding day, and the only place we could think of when people might need something to eat and break up any standing around was after the ceremony.

So we set about creating our own ice cream stall that would greet our family and friends as they exited the church. We commandeered a nice old trestle table from my parents, which meant we didn’t need to cover it.

Nick built a wooden cone holder by drilling holes into a plank of wood and attaching legs to it. Then I painted it with leftover paints (tester pots are great for small projects).

Charlie

The order of service for our rustic country wedding

Charlie

When you’re heavily involved in planning, organising, and making your own wedding there are so many details to consider. I found it was quite easy to get wrapped up in whether or not I should wind ivy inside the tealight lanterns on the dinner tables (ran out of time/forgot in the end!) and other details, without putting as much thought into our ceremony.

And however beautiful, pretty, rustic, handmade we want to create our weddings, however great that need for attention to small details, there wouldn’t be all that if we weren’t getting married. I think partly I put off getting to grips with the content of our wedding ceremony because it seemed an insurmountable task to craft something that was so heavy and laden with meaning.

I find myself getting so lost in trying to create meaning with words when it comes to the different ways you can say ‘I love you’, that I end up just throwing up my hands and admitting defeat – sometimes ‘I love you’ says it all. At any rate, Nick and I know how much we love and care for each other, so why fret over putting that all into words?

Well I think that it is important to give it your best shot. I’m sure that with thought and care whatever you decide on for your ceremony, whether it be traditional hymns, modern love songs, readings for children’s books or excerpt from the world’s greatest poets – it will be lovely and meaningful.

So with that preface, these are what Nick and I chose for our wedding ceremony back in May. On the first page we had a short thank you to our family and friends for coming to share the day with us, including a list of everyone’s names. We also made special mention to Nick’s granny who died a month before our wedding – she was a very special lady in our lives and we wanted to recognise that.

Charlie

Pretty vintage inspired save the date magnets

Charlie

It is so wonderful being allowed to share other handmade wedding projects from my readers. Today’s exquisitely created ‘save the dates’ are made a Creative Designer, so those of us looking at them thinking ‘I wish I could be that creative on the computer’ – this lady is skilled and talented and it’s what she does for a living.

Jess, the bride-to-be, used a badge maker to create the front of the magnets, and attached a magnet to the back. I love this idea that your family and friends can stick it onto their fridge at home to remind them.

On top of making the magnets, Jess also designed and made the packaging! She bought the card and other materials from Hobbycraft – don’t they look sweet all parceled up?

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