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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

Why you should ignore everyone’s wedding planning rules (including ours): An alternative guide to planning your wedding

Charlie

We felt it was about time that we put together our own alternative wedding planning guide, one that encourages and empowers you to create a wedding that reflects you as a couple. Many couples that stumble across our eco wedding directory and blog tell us they suddenly feel at home amidst the often crazy world of weddings.

“I felt I had an affinity with your blog that inspired me to be confident in creating a wedding day that was meaningful to us as a couple.”

Here are our top 10 tips to create an alternative wedding planning guide. Take what you want and leave the rest. We’re not here to tell you what to do or how to do it, we just want to empower you to make your own choices and create a wedding that reflects you.

1. Pinterest – The Bane Of A Newly Engaged’s Life?

Don’t get us wrong we really do love Pinterest (<< go see if you don’t believe us), we can get lost on it for hours and it really is a great source of inspiration. HOWEVER, please don’t let all the beautiful styled images freak you out and suddenly make you think you need to have things you hadn’t even considered. Use it as a tool for ideas and leave it at that, don’t get wrapped up in recreating every styled image you see. Unless of course DIY is your bag and you have the time to do it stress-free.

2. Your Wedding Should Not Be Used As An Excuse To Spend Money You Don’t Have

Your wedding in not an excuse to spend more money than you have or are prepared to spend. Lots of couples will have a budget (in 2016 the average UK wedding cost – in our opinion an eye-watering – £25,000), but just because you set your budget at X amount doesn’t mean you need to find things to spend it all on.

Why not try working the opposite way. Start with no budget and by listing out the big things you’d love. Find out how much they cost, then list out your essentials and find out how much they cost. Add it all up. Finally, work out how much more you can, need or want to spend on your wedding. This might help you to focus on what you really want rather than just spending (or blowing) your budget.

It’s also worth accepting early on that (some of) your dreams will likely be dashed by “lack of money” (whether you are spending £2,500 or £25,000). Instead of feeling disheartened, see what you can dream up when you are forced to be creative and think outside the box, you might just get something even more wonderful.

Charlie

A guided tour of our eco wedding directory for newly engaged couples

Charlie

Hello and a massive congratulations to you if you are newly engaged. We know the festive period is a very popular time of year for people to pop the question, so if this is your first time here and you are just about to start your wedding planning journey we are delighted to welcome you to our pages.

We hope that throughout the next months or years we can help assist you with everything wedding planning related and offer great ideas on how to create an eco-chic wedding. This post is designed as a guide tour of all the wonderful things you can find here at The Natural Wedding Company.

Be sure to check back next week for our Alternative Guide to Wedding Planning. We’ll be sharing our honest thoughts and advice on how to really go about planning your wedding – we promise it doesn’t include 18 month check lists or encourage teeth whitening.

Who am I?

My name is Charlie – I’m the founder of TNWC and I’ve been running it for nearly 10 years.

You can find out more about the origins of TNWC and me here.

Welcome to our Guided Tour of our Eco Wedding Directory

You’ve got engaged and are still high on the excitement of committing to your love, and now begins the (sometimes) mammoth task of planning the wedding you want. It can all be a bit overwhelming, the wedding industry often provided a checklist of what you “need” to create a wedding day, but we like to put that aside and do it our own way.

If you’ve found us then it might be because you weren’t feeling any of the other wedding blogs and inspiration. There is so much quality information on our website just waiting to be discovered, so in the spirit of feeling overwhelmed, we’ve put together a sort of guided tour to our pages. Here’s what one bride had to say about us:

“I just wanted to say thank you for your gorgeous website. With the help of your directory we have sourced a great organic caterer and commissioned some beautiful recycled silver wedding rings. I’ve also got loads of great ideas from the site for DIY decorations and flowers, and I’m even planning to have a go at making my own wedding cakes. I’m not sure how I would have managed so far without your directory. More than that, you have made the process of wedding planning (which I was rather dreading) into something meaningful and even enjoyable.” Read more

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

Chloe and Sam’s modern spring woodland wedding with earthy organic decor, gold dipped feathers, and lush green and white florals

Charlie

This week’s modern spring woodland wedding is incredibly beautiful. There are mismatched chairs under waxed scaffold-board tables, gold-dipped feathers, vintage candlestick holders and garlands of greenery. Every single element of this wedding is carefully planned yet natural and organic. It’s a strong contender for my favourite Real Wedding so far (and it’s the final one of 2016) and I just love that they did it all themselves.

We first met Chloe and Sam when the gorgeous couple featured in this rainy romantic Cornish wedding shoot back in March. I think we all knew then that their wedding would be a beauty and it certainly hasn’t disappointed.

Bride Chloe tells us more about their modern spring woodland wedding…

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

A Day in the Life of Bride and Bloom: crafting wedding flowers from Worcestershire fields to beautiful seasonal bouquets

Charlie

I am always so delighted when our flower farmers get in touch to say they have a set of A Day in the Life photos to share with our readers. Bride and Bloom are one of our newest additions to our eco wedding directory, and whilst I do get to visit a number of our recommended suppliers, it’s always nice to find out more in these kind of features.

You can see ‘behind the scenes’ with a number of our other flower farmers by visiting our A Day in the Life archives, or for similar posts check out our Meet the Maker series. What I particularly love about today’s feature, is that fellow mum and flower farmer Hannah, had her little girl along to help her pick flowers for the wedding.

What’s also special about this feature, is that at the end of the post we’ve shared photos from the wedding that Hannah of Bride and Bloom was working on in her A Day in the Life. Over to Hannah to share her day in the life at Bride and Bloom…

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

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