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Our rustic country wedding – afternoon tea in the garden before the ceremony ~ part 1

Charlie

For us, dreaming up an afternoon tea in my parent’s garden before our wedding ceremony was probably one of the best ideas we had.  So often at weddings you have travelled for a couple of hours, often arriving at lunchtime or soon after, having not had a chance to eat anything and feeling a bit out of it from the car journey.

We wanted our guests to feel as relaxed as possible and well fed before getting down to the serious business of witnessing our marriage.  For a start, on the invitation we told people they could arrive from 3pm, rather than saying ‘you must be here at…’  This meant there was a nice staggered arrival of family and friends, and hopefully it meant people weren’t under too much pressure to arrive by a specific time.

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Charlie Charlie

Colourful seasonal flowers for a bohemian wedding

Charlie

Following on from the recent post on creating your own floral headband – aren’t these ones stunning!  The flowers at this laid-back wedding in Somerset are so fun and colourful, and what’s best is that they were grown and arranged by Charlie (of The Real Cut Flower Garden) who did our wedding flowers, and is also one of the lovely businesses listed on the directory.

I love the flower wreath around the cake, what a lovely and simple way to make your wedding cake look utterly gorgeous.  Charlie’s stunning heart shaped flower garland makes a beautiful focal point for anyone planning an outdoor wedding ceremony.

You can see all the photos from this wedding here.

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Sneak peek of the new wedding stationery designs from Emily&Jo

Charlie

Emily&Jo design beautiful wedding stationery combining stunning patterns and classic typography.  They are about to launch their new website and have been kind enough to share with me and you some of their gorgeous new designs.

They are keen to keep their business green and use FSC accredited or recycled papers for all their stationery and employ no bleaching, all things that are better for the environment and as they tell me “make trees smile.”

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Plantable seeded paper for eco-friendly wedding stationery

Charlie

I can remember the first time I came across flower seeded paper, it was way back when I was first starting out with The Natural Wedding Company.  It only ever seemed to be available in America, and even now it never seems to appear that often in the UK, so it is truly lovely to see these fab products from one of our businesses, Favour Haven.

The idea that you can create something beautiful from the paper and then plant it and have pretty flowers grow from it, is in my opinion, wonderful.  Favour Haven sells these lovely favour tags, which come in four designs, are available in different colours and can be personalised for your wedding with your names and date.

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Charlie Charlie

“English Romance” cupcake decorating class inspired by vintage jewellery

Charlie

Posh & Swanky Cupcakes is one of the new businesses to be listed on The Natural Wedding Company directory, running couture cupcake classes in Leeds.  Andrea, the talent behind Posh & Swanky Cupcakes contacted me to tell me all about her latest cupcake class called ‘English Romance’.

Andrea told me that this class is inspired by “dreamy old England, afternoon tea, and shabby chic” and at the end of this class your cakes will deserve to be saved on your best vintage china.

In this class you’ll make moist green tea cupcakes (which sound incredible!) that are then covered in fluffy buttercream, fondant, and are then piped using Royal Icing.  Andrea says that the colours for this collection are “pale, sophisticated and romantic” and that the cupcakes are “sumptuously adorned with fondant and sugar paste jewels, roses and pearls.”

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Charlie Charlie

Vintage silk saree bunting

Charlie

I came across this stunning silk bunting made from vintage sarees on one of the businesses listed on the directory.  Ganesha is a fair trade shop that sells gorgeous gifts, accessories and bits for your house – but this bunting really stood out.

I’m beginning to feel like I’m a bit bunting-ed out, the stuff is all over the wedding world, you feel like you won’t ever see an original piece of bunting and that it’s only ever floral or Cath Kidston-inspired.  Then you stumble across bunting like this, which is not only made from vintage silk, but it’s also recycling an unloved product, and on top of this each string is unique.

Lovely at a wedding, but also perfect for a hanging in your bedroom.  Yey for interesting and different bunting!

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Charlie Charlie

Our rustic country wedding – the boys get ready

Charlie

So we’ve done the girls getting ready, and you always see loads of photos of the bride and bridesmaids.  For today, it’s all about the boys.

On our wedding day there were four key men in my life: my dad, my little brother Freddie (aged just 15), Alex the best man, and of course Nick (the groom and my ‘husband-to-be’).

With Mark taking photos at the house of us setting up the garden and my gorgeous antique lace dress, I asked my good friend Kate if she would take some photos of the boys getting ready.

She took all these lovely photos – I’ve only just seen them and it’s so exciting to see new photos from our wedding that I’ve not seen before.

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Competition to win a bunch of seasonal flowers or a beautiful Camelia corsage made from fairtrade cotton

Charlie

Please note: my Reader Survey 2011 is now closed.

I’m doing a bit of a reader survey, to help shape what I do with the website and blog in the future.  So if:

  • you’ve used The Natural Wedding Company website and directory
  • would be happy to spend about 10 minutes filling in a survey to share your thoughts and ideas
  • and would like to win one of the two lovely prizes mentioned in the heading

Here’s what to do…

Send me an email to charlie@thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk with the subject line ‘Survey’ and I will reply with a link.  I’ve thought about adding the link to the website and blog, but I’m really keen to get feedback from people who’ve used the directory, not just the blog.

The prizes

As a bit of an incentive and a ‘thank you’ I’ve decided to buy two gifts as prizes from businesses listed in the directory.  I’ve picked these particular businesses to celebrate those businesses who were part of my wedding.

Someone will win a bunch of seasonal flowers from The Real Cut Flower Garden, grown by Charlie Ryrie in her flowerfield in Hereford – the same place where my wedding flowers came from.


This is an example of the sort of bunch of flowers you could win

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Our rustic country wedding – the veil, the hair and make-up, and pretty accessories

Charlie

Today it’s all about my wedding accessories – from my vintage inspired shoes to the heirloom lace veil, natural make-up to a gorgeous garters.  It’s all here including the details of how I came to choose them for our wedding.

The Shoes


Mark Tattersall Photography

I spent ages looking for the ‘right’ shoes.  So many wedding shoes are elegant but modern, and my dress was so delicate and had a country feel to it, that I wanted something with an old-fashioned feel.  I also didn’t want really high heels as most of our wedding was spent walking on grass.


Mark Tattersall Photography

In the end I came across the gorgeous designs by Diane Hassall and fell in love with a pair called ‘Liliana’ – I managed to track them down to a bridal shop in nearby Knutsford and despite being loads more than I’d ever imagined spending, they came home with me.  They came with a choice of floaty organza or velvet ties – I went for the velvet ones.


Mark Tattersall Photography

I particuarly love this picture above of my shoes on the windowsill in my parent’s bedroom, with all those personal bits you find in people’s houses in the background.

The Veils

I hadn’t planned on wearing any veil…and I ended up having two!  My mum spent ages trying to track down the family veil, which she had worn when she married my dad, and my granny before her, and so on back through the generations.

I love this photo of my little sister Izzy holding my parents wedding album open at a photo of my mum wearing the veil, with it hanging behind Izzy from the cupboard…


Mark Tattersall Photography

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