Blog: autumn wedding
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Beautiful floral arrangements from an autumn hedgerow inspired wedding with rosehips, teasels and old man’s beard

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Autumn hedgerow inspired bridal bouquet

The lovely Alicia from Grace & Green recently got in touch with me to share photos of the autumnal wedding flowers they did for a bride who found them via The Natural Wedding Company.  Getting emails like this are guaranteed to make my day, not only because there’s lots of beautiful pictures but because I was able to match up a bride with a TNWC business to make their vision come true.

Having seen the photos I really wanted to share them with you all too, so very kindly Alicia from Grace & Green is here to share some more details on the brief for this wedding along with the pictures of her creations:

“The original brief for the wedding was wildflowers, but given that the wedding was in November we knew that there wouldn’t be many ‘wildflowers’ available at that time of year.  So I started thinking about what you do see in the wild in November, like old man’s beard, teasels, seedheads, rosehips and lots of other lovely berries, and suggested the idea of ‘hedgerow‘ style flowers instead.”

Jam jars of hedgerow berries

“The bride and groom had been to a lot of weddings already this year, and really wanted the flowers at their wedding to be a bit different.  The bride’s mother, who I met with, and who organised the flowers, really loves flowers, as does the bride’s grandmother, so she really wanted to give her daughter something very special on her wedding day with the flowers.”

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An ethereal harvest photoshoot with a dove grey vintage wedding dress and wildflower bouquet

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Natural harvest bridal shoot

We may grumble about the days getting shorter, the air colder, and the nights darker, but there is something truly magical about this time of year.  With a desire to capture some of this beauty, this harvest inspired bridal shoot was dreamt up by photographer Rebecca Douglas and make-up artist Suzanna.  It’s got some lovely inspiration for anyone planning an autumn wedding.

Natural bride in soft silver 1950s wedding dress

Wildflower bouquet

Natural bride with wildflower bouquet

Harvest bridal shoot

“We wanted to capture the pure essence of young love at its most beautiful, in the most stunning of settings – our quintessential Kent countryside.  With the cascading colours of late summer call us to capture the moment, what could be more beautiful than to celebrate this montage of golden evening glows with the glory of young love?”

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An autumn visit to The Real Cut Flower Garden and a beautiful seasonal bouquet

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September seasonal flower bouquet

I feel like I’ve known Charlie Ryrie who runs The Real Cut Flower Garden for almost as long as I’ve run The Natural Wedding Company, and that’s quite a few years now.  Undoubtedly one of my favourite parts of running this business is the people I get to meet and talk to, and the friends I make – both couples planning their wedding and the lovely people behind the businesses I work with.

The best treat is getting to meet up with these wonderful people and spend a little bit of time getting to know them, and in the case of businesses, seeing behind-the-scenes and how they work.  These are fabulous, real, small businesses, and it’s partly why I’ve started my new blog series A Day in the Life.

Wild autumn flower bouquet

Last week I was on the road for a couple of days and it was in deepest Herefordshire that I had elevenses with the lovely Charlie Ryrie.  It’s not the first time I’ve visited Charlie, the first time was back in 2010, then I went to see her about our wedding flowers, and finally I’ve been back again. We had a catch up over a cup of tea before wandering around her flower field in the drizzle.

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An end of summer bridal bouquet inspired by the approaching change in season

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End of summer bridal bouquet

I love the colours in this end of summer bouquet from one of our new TNWC businesses, The Garden Gate Flower Company.  This bunch of gorgeous flowers was picked from their cutting garden in Cornwall yesterday and they dropped me an email to share it with me – and I thought it only right to share it with you all too.

Rebecca from The Garden Gate Flower Company told me, “Inspired by the slight change in the air and the browning of the leaves, this bouquet will still keep any bride happy with its cheerful red sunflowers and the second flush of yellow roses!  It just goes to show an autumn wedding can still be a lovely time to get married….only problem is I’d never through this bouquet over my shoulder!”  I don’t think I would either!

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Eco-friendly birch bark cake toppers and confetti for a woodland wedding

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Birch bark bird wedding cake topper

One of my Favourite Finds recently is this Etsy shop who are creating these beautiful wedding items from biodegradable birch bark.  There is a wonderful selection of cake toppers (like these cheerful little birds above), cupcake toppers and mini flags, birch bark confetti in the shape of leaves or hearts, and even a cute little ring bearers pillow.

This is the birch bark confetti, which is full compostable making it a great eco-friendly option.  I think it would be particularly nice at an autumn or winter wedding…

Birch bark confetti

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Natural handmade corn lover’s knots, hearts and horseshoes for an eco-friendly country wedding

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natural corn crafted wedding knot

These pretty handcrafted corn hearts, lover’s knots and horseshoes are the latest items available from the Wedding in a Teacup online shop – aren’t they beautiful?  I am always at risk of over-using the word ‘natural’ here, but I do love how ‘natural’ these items are, and according to Hester from Wedding in a Teacup they have centuries of British rural tradition behind them.

natural corn crafted wedding heart

If you’re planning an autumn wedding I can’t imagine many things more lovely than these to decorate your ceremony or reception venue with.  In fact, it was my family church decorated for the harvest festival that inspired how I wanted the church to feel for our wedding – among other details, they used two big milk churns outside filled with dried corn, we used those same milk churns but filled with cow parsley for our wedding.  You could also give them as wedding favours.

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Dan and Ali’s rustic seasonal and handcrafted November wedding

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Seasonal Highland inspired November wedding

Seasonal and handcrafted November wedding

It is lovely to be able to share such a beautiful seasonal wedding full of handmade details, and one that took place in November.  Photographed by Laura Babb, Dan and Ali’s November wedding was held at Folly Farm, a stunning green wedding venue set amongst 250 acres of woodland and nature reserve.  On hearing more about this handcrafted wedding I knew it was just the kind of wedding you would love to see.

Folly Farm eco wedding venue Bristol

Folly Farm rustic eco wedding venue

“When we found Folly Farm we knew it was the right spot. We completely lucked out with the weather on the day, it was hard to believe it was November – but as we fell for Folly Farm’s vantage point and woodland walks on a dreich February morning, we knew it would be beautiful no matter what.”

Seasonal autumn BHLDN wedding dress

Wool tie and autumn buttonhole

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Rhiannon and Richard’s wild and natural Welsh wedding with a midnight canoe send-off

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Wild and natural Welsh wedding

Wild and natural Welsh wedding

I’m in-love with today’s wedding for its laid-back and relaxed attitude – for me, Rhiannon and Richard seem to have really captured what your wedding day should really be about: love, family, friends, good company and delicious food.

They got married in September 2011 with a beautiful weekend-long wedding held at Fforest, just outside Cardigan in Wales.  Rhiannon and Richard really did their wedding their way – with no photographer, no over-the-top details, just lots of fun and a super relaxed weekend surrounded by their family and friends.

Tiny coastal Welsh church

Rhiannon is a freelance journalist who writes about all things green, community, and outdoor travel related, and Richard runs Greentraveller, so it’s not hard to see why their wedding embraced all things natural.

They got married at Mwnt Church, a tiny white building perched on the Welsh coast.  Rhiannon wore a oyster coloured dress from Donna Karan and carried a gorgeous bouquet of cornflowers and herbs.

BareBlooms wild and natural wedding bouquet

“My flowers were by Chloe at BareBlooms, who I found through The Natural Wedding Company, and were exactly what I wanted.  They were a mix of wild-looking flowers and herbs.”  The flowers for the buttonholes they picked themselves from the garden at Fforest.

Seasonal cornflower and herb wedding bouquet

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Allie and Tom’s handmade 1930’s inspired country wedding ~ part two

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1930s inspired country wedding

1930s inspired country wedding (part two)

If you missed yesterday’s part one of Allie and Tom’s handmade 1930’s inspired country wedding be sure to read it first – it’s full of beautiful details and photos of their ceremony and how they got Allie’s parents field ready for their wedding.  So without further ado, after their ceremony, Allie and Tom had some photos taken whilst dodging the rain showers – what a beautiful vintage car.

>> View Allie and Tom’s 1930s inspired country wedding (part one) here <<

vintage wedding car

Then everyone headed back to Allie’s parents field where they had Pimms in the marquee, followed by an afternoon tea of cakes, scones and sandwiches, all made by her mum’s friends.

country flowers and afternoon tea wedding

Afternoon tea was served on vintage crockery collected over the year by Allie and her mum.  I spent a lot of time the day before the wedding selecting all the crockery and it really did look as I imagined it.

vintage crockery afternoon tea wedding

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