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Charlie

Vic and Farid’s pretty country fete wedding with floral bunting, an Etsy dress and a dried flower meadow bouquet

Charlie

Vic and Farid’s country fete wedding is beautifully soft and natural; set in an idyllic wood panelled village hall, it is pretty and understated yet fabulously chic.

Holding both the ceremony and reception in the bunting-filled village hall, the couple enjoyed a relaxed and captivatingly charming day in Leicestershire with all their favourite people, whilst TNWC recommended photographer Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography captured their day perfectly.

Choosing retro sweets as favours and dried flowers for her bouquet, we asked bride Vic to tell us all about the ideas behind their cute country fete wedding…

Charlie

How to do a 10 minute facial using natural products from your kitchen

Charlie

Our make-up artist friend Ellie Gill has put together a 10 minute facial for us using natural ingredients you’d find in your kitchen – now that’s my kind of beauty treatment. Back in the spring she talked to us about the benefits of a pre wedding massage and mentioned that she encourages her bridal clients to do a 10 minute facial in the lead up to their wedding.

I wanted to hear Ellie’s advice for her 10 minute facial, so she’s put together her tips and suggestions. Over to Ellie…

What’s your natural daily skincare routine?

In today’s busy world it’s so lovely to have a daily skincare routine. I find it so relaxing to just take a few moments to pamper myself and I genuinely believe that natural ingredients are the most beneficial.

I’m sure most of you will have experimented with making face mask as a teen. My friend and I used to coat our faces with lumpy bits of banana and egg when we had sleepovers. I always just thought it was a bit of fun and didn’t pay serious attention to my skin but fifteen years later and I’ve returned to the kitchen for some of my favourite beauty staples.

A simple routine using natural ingredients

Through years of experimentation with various skincare products and a multitude of brands I’ve finally learnt that money doesn’t buy value and often the most expensive, cleverly branded creams and serums cause my skin to flare up.

Within my job as a makeup artist I see so many different faces. Time and time again clients with problematic skin seem to use lots of synthetic products with tons of suspicious ingredients. My clients with the best skin tend to have a more simple routine using natural ingredients.

So lets take it back to basics.

Top natural beauty products for a 10 minute facial

Charlie

Kate and Aidan’s outdoor eco wedding with a hike to the venue, mountain biking, and cornflowers in beer bottles

Charlie

Kate and Aidan’s outdoor eco wedding, set on Masson Farm in the rolling hills of Derbyshire, is truly inspiring. This biking, hiking and climbing loving couple had a personal vision for their wedding day, but rather than it being about bunting and flowers (though there is an abundance of both) their vision focused on ensuring their celebrations were sustainable and ethical.

The couple and their guests reached the wedding venue by cable car and a hike, before they were married in an outdoor ceremony. Afterwards the reception was held in a tipi that could only be accessed along a steep road which provided seclusion and created an intimate, relaxed atmosphere. Kate and Aidan’s relaxed outdoor eco wedding has been beautifully captured by TNWC recommended supplier Chris Scuffins Photography.

We caught up with Kate to shed some light on their ideas and explain the reasons behind the couple’s choices…

Samantha

A DIY wedding menu wall hanging and book review of Decorate for a Party

Samantha

The ultimate party season is fast approaching so surely there is not a more perfect time to check out a book solely focused on creating beautifully themed parties. Decorate for a Party by Holly Becker of the fab Decor8, design and lifestyle blog and Leslie Shewring of the charming blog A Creative Mint provides an abundance of ‘stylish and simple ideas for meaningful gatherings.’

With such brilliant creative minds behind the book you can find the sort of inspiration and DIY suggestions you would expect. And you know we are a sucker for a good DIY project especially if it involves re-using or recycling items that you already have around the house. With this in mind we pawed over the lovely pages and selected a simple DIY wedding menu wall hanging to make to find out just how easy the suggestions are for you.

So check out our version of their DIY wedding menu wall hanging followed by our review of the book.

DIY Wedding Menu Wall Hanging

Now we couldn’t just review a DIY book without testing out an idea and giving it a go to see how simple they really are. With a friends winter wedding fast approaching, I selected an idea that I felt would work with the look and theme she is going for – a DIY wedding menu wall hanging.

Charlie

Cheryl and Andrew’s magical woodland wedding with sand ceremony, handpicked wildflowers and a bouncy castle

Charlie

This week’s real wedding is a magical woodland wedding full of natural decorations, mismatched pots, handpicked wildflowers and little green woodland creatures.

Cheryl and Andrew, whose two children played important roles on the day, got married at Sconner Down in Polbathic – a beautiful woodland venue with stunning views of Cornwall and their hometown, Plymouth.

Their informal, family-centred day radiates happiness and joy. Ultimately, they wanted a relaxed, fun day for everyone they love and they undoubtedly achieved this wish: they even had a bouncy castle (for the children, of course).

Over to Cheryl to tell us all about this fairytale wedding…

Charlie

16 beautiful ethical engagement rings for a Christmas or New Year’s Eve proposal

Charlie

With Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve less than two months away what better time for a round-up of our favourite 16 ethical engagement rings. With those two days the most popular days in the whole year to get engaged, I imagine there are a lot of (slightly anxious) men and women out there with rings on their mind.

Why choose an ethical engagement ring?

There are all kinds of ways to propose these days, but it has never been easier to choose an ethical engagement ring. What do we mean by ‘ethical’? We are talking about engagement rings made from fair trade gold and silver, recycled gold and silver, and ethically sourced diamonds and other precious gems. In addition to this, many of our recommended wedding ring suppliers are offering more unusual creations using sea glass, lab grown eco diamonds, and sustainable wood (more on those below).

Whatever you choose, do not underestimate the impact made by your choice to propose with an ethical engagement ring. Now onto our top 16 of the most beautiful and unique ethical engagement rings, all available to buy from our recommended suppliers collections.

Modern Ethical Engagement Rings

The teardrop shape of this ethical solitaire diamond engagement ring gives it an interesting twist that will set you apart from the usual diamond engagement ring. Designed by Glasswing Jewellery on a dainty recycled gold band, this is one of my favourites. Buy it here.

Slade Fine Jewellery always come out with some beautiful designs, part modern but with a liberal sprinkling of Tolkein-esque elvish magic. We were particularly captured by this grey rosecut diamond set against that earthy yellow gold, which in this case is recycled eco gold. Buy it here.

The warmth from the rose gold and the ‘rubover’ setting of this solitaire ethical engagement ring from long-time fair trade gold and silver champions CRED Jewellery, create a modern but romantic feeling ring. Buy it here.

With this design, April Doubleday has combined sleek modern lines and a ‘rub over’ setting for ethical diamond ring with the slightly hammered fair trade gold band for a natural feel. Buy it here.

Charlie

Gemma and Nick’s flower filled cottage garden wedding with homegrown sweet peas and pale blue bridesmaids’ dresses

Charlie

This Real Weddingsis one of those relaxed, family-filled days; brimming with joy and carefully chosen homemade details, it is unique yet classic and timelessly traditional.

Gemma and Nick, who met at university, were married in their beautiful local church and held their reception in a marquee adorned with borrowed bunting and homegrown flowers in the garden of Gemma’s family home.

We asked bride Gemma to fill us in on more details of this picture-perfect DIY wedding, captured by one of our recommended wedding photographers, Maureen de Preez. Over to Gemma…

Samantha

Hazel and Dan’s backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details

Samantha

Today’s wonderful backyard family wedding is full of colour, smiles, love and laughter – a perfect wedding recipe.

Hazel and Dan were married October 2015 in an intimate humanist ceremony in their backyard surrounded by their family and friends. Followed with a parade through Arthur Street in Edinburgh they continued their celebrations at their local community hall with child-friendly entertainment and a celidh.

The moments and details of their day were beautifully captured by one of our talented directory member Solen Photography, and to tell us a bit more about it all is lovely bride Hazel…

Samantha

How to make a red gingham pageboy bow tie for your rustic country wedding

Samantha

Today I have created a lovely and simple pageboy bow tie DIY tutorial. Being a mama to a little boy I sometimes find the outfit choices a little limiting compared to the options for girls. For a celebration however I don’t think there is anything more adorable than a boy in a bow tie – paired with some braces, a flat cap, or blazer you can’t really go wrong.

These bow ties are so simple and easy they would be perfect to make for little pageboys, and the advantage of making them yourself is you can choose any fabric that compliments the rest of your wedding party. I chose a red gingham fabric but you could choose any kind.

The tutorial today has been adapted from one by Slow Mama which I used a couple of years back when my little one was a baby. Now he’s a little older I made a couple of small changes to suit a family wedding we had this summer. You really don’t need to be a pro seamstress to make one, I am most definitely not!

What you need to create a pageboy bow tie

What you will need:

Fabric (at least 25cm x 20cm)
Complimentary thread & needle
Sewing machine (optional)
Scissors (material scissors preferable)
2 x small safety pins
Tape measure
Iron (optional but helpful)

Making your pageboy bow tie

Step 1 – Cut the fabric

Cut the two pieces of fabric required to make the bow tie:

Piece 1 – 25cm x 12cm
Piece 2 – 8cm x 4cm

As my fabric was chequered it was easy to follow the lines. If you are not confident in cutting the right sizes in a straight line, make the templates out of paper/newspaper first and trace onto the fabric.

Samantha

Vicky and Steve’s DIY Village Fete Wedding with garden games, cream tea and a beaded wedding dress

Samantha

Today’s beautiful DIY village fete wedding is that of a couple you may recognise from these very pages – Vicky and Steve, one of our TNWC Real Bride couples from last year. We followed them through their epic DIY-ing journey and now we get to share in their gorgeous day and enjoy all their efforts.

After being together over six years Steve proposed to Vicky on holiday in the beautiful Skopelos. Since then with friends and family on board, and with Steve’s handy occupation as a builder, they have gone about creating the most wonderful projects to fill their day with personal touches, all of which you can find out about here.

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