bridesmaids dresses Archives - The Natural Wedding Company

Blog: bridesmaids dresses

Charlie

Favourite Natural Wedding Styles: wedding dresses, hair styles, grooms style, bridesmaids and accessories

Charlie

It’s the first in our new Real Wedding Favourites mini series, which will be featuring some of our favourite picks from the Real Weddings we’ve featured over the years. It’s been such a challenge to choose our ‘favourites’, but as we mentioned in our introductory post, these are really just some of our favourites.

Our picks are chosen from the very first Real Wedding we featured up until spring of this year.

Natural Wedding Styles

Today it’s all about Natural Wedding Styles. This includes our favourite wedding dresses, our favourite bride’s wedding hair style, our favourite groom style, our favourite bridesmaids style, and our favourite wedding accessories.

Our Favourite Wedding Dresses

An Asymmetric Layered Wedding Dress

I got a bit stuck on this category because every bride chooses a wedding dress that suits them, and is right for their wedding. The dilemma was, how should I choose? Should I pick the one I’d most like to wear? In the end I was tied between two (this was the other), but Nik’s wedding dress won out for me.

For her Welsh coastal farm wedding, Nik unexpectedly fell in love with this wedding dress from Coast on a shopping trip for bridesmaids dresses. She even told us: “I actually tried it on for a laugh – it looked hideous on the rail and I was going to leave it behind.” I love the asymmetric hem line and layered skirt of this wedding dress, which Nik wore with a thin leather belt.

Looking through their wedding day I just felt that the dress not only looked great on Nik, but it fitted in with their day. Worn with silver flip flops it blended perfectly into their down-to-earth (and very hot!) outdoor ceremony. Later on for their champagne picnic and walk on the beach it worked wonderfully with bare feet. And for the evening party on the farm with a pair of vintage cowboy boots.

My favourite wedding dress comes from Nik and Chris’ chilled out rustic coastal farm wedding. Wedding dress by Coast. Photography by Pete Cranston Photography.

Charlie

Poppy and Mark’s colourful meadow festival wedding with outdoor ceremony, hay bale seating and bridesmaids in yellow maxi skirts

Charlie

Poppy and Mark’s colourful meadow festival wedding in Wales is not only full of inspiration and pretty details, but it just oozes love and fun. It’s a beautiful example of a British summer wedding at it’s best, with hay bale seating, sunflower yellow bridesmaid dresses, and romantic meadow photos.

This wedding was captured by Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings, one of our recommended wedding photographers. If you’re on the hunt for photographers for your 2017 wedding, you could win your wedding photography with Bohemian Weddings this month via our blog – full details here on how to enter.

Here’s what Poppy and Mark said about them…

“We met our wonderful photographers, Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings, at a friend’s wedding the previous year (Lizzy and Graeme had found them by contacting The Natural Wedding Company after being let down last minute).

We wanted to capture the feel of the day rather than have hours of posed photographs, and as we’d seen them previously we knew they would be perfect. It felt like having friends take our photos rather than official photographers, and their friendliness and ease spread to all the guests throughout the day.”

Over to Poppy to tell us more about their colourful meadow festival wedding…

Charlie

Elena and Simon’s colourful handmade wedding with rustic outdoor ceremony, felt heart garlands and a unicorn

Charlie

This week’s Real Wedding is vibrant and carefree. There’s a marquee bedecked with sweet felt heart garlands and hundreds of handmade pom poms, and wildflowers and hay bales adorning the open-air ceremony space. This colourful handmade wedding is an inspiration for anyone who wants a laid back and fun vibe for their big day.

Beautifully captured by one of our TNWC recommended photographers, Emma Stoner, on a horse rescue farm. Join us as we find out more about this September wedding from bride Elena…

Charlie

A romantic Flower Fairy inspired wedding with gypsophila flower crown and woodland themed wedding reception

Charlie

I had another blog feature planned for today, but then I found out it is my colleague Samantha’s fourth wedding anniversary today, and naturally I felt that sharing some snippets from her beautiful wedding was much more appropriate.

Samantha came into my life a couple of years ago when I was looking for someone to become a blog features writer – up until that point it had just been me running The Natural Wedding Company directory and writing the blog. I loved her enthusiasm and obvious love for weddings, I loved that she had become a mum at a similar time to me and had a little boy near in age to my little girl, and I loved that she had been inspired by childhood books The Flower Fairies for her wedding.

Whilst we don’t get to see each other very much because we live at opposite ends of the country, she has become such an important part of my life and the fabric and future of The Natural Wedding Company. So today while she celebrates four years of marriage with her husband Paul, our blog will celebrate that day four years ago when they said their “I do’s”.

Here’s to celebrating true love (these two are truly my idols when it comes to romance – you’ll see what I mean from Paul’s proposal) and to living out our girlhood dreams of being Flower Fairies. Put on a suitable romantic song, turn it up loud and enjoy this sweet celebration of marriage. Over to Samantha for a few snippets from her wedding…

A wedding inspired by The Flower Fairies

I have deep down (ok, not that deep down) always wished to be a flower fairy, therefore wanted to create the feeling of a magical world in the depths of the woods for everyone to enjoy. Luckily Paul didn’t even bat an eyelid when I suggested that we go for a woodland inspired ‘theme’ which would feature giant strawberries.

Charlie

Lizzy and Graeme’s country fete inspired Cheshire wedding with vintage ice cream van and cottage garden flowers

Charlie

To describe this wedding at a country fete inspired wedding is really to do it a disservice, because it is so much more than just that. The bride, Lizzy, told me that her photographers “truly captured the happiness and love felt”, a wish that I imagine most of us have for our wedding day. Lizzy has put into words so many of those feelings we have in the lead up to our wedding day, so if you are a bride-to-be then I encourage you to stop a while and read as well as soak up all the pretty details.

For an overview of this beautiful wedding this slideshow put together by photographers Bohemian Weddings gives you a little of the magic these two shared on their wedding day, and includes lots of extras captures. A lovely alternative to a wedding film, and I get all teary watching it despite not knowing these two…

As a quick aside, you might also notice that we’ve changed up the format of our real weddings a bit, we have crafted a new questionnaire for our couples which we hope gives them more freedom to tell us the story of their wedding in their own words. For this reason I imagine that the appearance of these features will change from wedding to wedding, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it will truly allow the stories to shine through.

Lizzy + Graeme, July 2015

So many of the real weddings I share have extra special meaning to me, and today’s wedding is no exception. I was contacted by Lizzy after her wedding photographer cancelled just 8 weeks before her wedding, asking if I could help. After I emailed all of the wonderful wedding photographers in our directory, Lizzy received over a dozen replies, and from those she fell in love with one couple – Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings. I understand the four of them really connected and I am just so delighted to be now sharing Lizzy and Graeme’s wedding with you. Over to Lizzy…

Charlie

Designing and creating bespoke bridesmaids dresses with an English Country Garden theme from Lucy Says I Do

Charlie

I’m delighted that the incredibly creative Lucy from Lucy Says I Do, a recommended TNWC supplier who designs beautiful wedding stationery, will be joining us for a series of guest blog posts whilst I’m off on maternity leave. Lucy had a stunning wedding that was featured on Love My Dress and she booked wedding photographer Mark Tattersall after seeing his photos of our wedding.

Lucy created so many lovely things for her wedding, that I’m really excited to share some of them here with you – I just know you’re going to be inspired. Love Charlie x

Over to Lucy…

I knew I wanted to make dresses that suited the wedding, so my thoughts were: English Country Garden, summery, fun, and natural. In addition to this I wanted the girls to feel really special when wearing them, so they needed to be high quality, feminine, soft and elegant.

My sister (one of my lovely bridesmaids) and I designed the bridesmaids’ dresses together. We decided to design the print as an English country garden story. When developing the design I created an ‘English Country Garden’ inspiration board to help focus my ideas for the print. Here’s my print inspiration board:

Taking different natural elements of the English Country Garden idea we developed the print to include lots of detail including: flowers, fruits and insects. I loved the way the print developed, and the way that every time you looked at it you’d notice something different. Including the little bumblebees! We made sure we incorporated botanical elements such as the strawberry plant, but we balanced this with soft painterly effect flowers to make sure the print maintained a softness, like that of wild flowers.

Here’s a sample piece of the print, how many different elements can you spot?

Charlie

Introducing Ellie Gillard Photography and an exclusive 15% off your wedding photography

Charlie

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend and that the sun shone for you, at least a bit. What better way to start the week than with an exclusive offer for all you lovely TNWC readers!

One of recent additions to the directory, Ellie Gillard Photography, was keen to introduce herself to you – I was delighted because not only does Ellie take gorgeous photographs, but like all our businesses she does her bit to run her business in an eco-friendly way.

So if you’re on the hunt for a wedding photographer then get to know Ellie Gillard Photography a bit more, and enjoy looking at some beautiful pictures from weddings she’s captured. Plus, at the bottom you’ll find an exclusive 15% off last minute availability offer if you book before the end of May 2013! Over to Ellie…

Hi, I’m Ellie. I’m the photographer, owner and general dogsbody at Ellie Gillard Photography. I love to photograph couples who want to break for the norm, I always think a picture says a thousand words but what you might not know is that I’m also eco-friendly, both in my life and in the way I run my business. So I make four key promises.

Charlie

Jen and Chris’ pretty village fete wedding – happy anniversary guys!

Charlie

This time last year my sweet friend Jen was getting married to her Mr, Chris, as it happens in the lovely village church that we both go to sometimes. It’s in a gorgeous little village called Dunham Massey in the countryside south of Manchester. Most of the cottages are owned by the National Trust so it still has this old fashioned feel to it, and the vicar is just the best ever.

I was lucky enough to meet Jen a couple of days after her wedding for my TNWC 5th Birthday Party and we had previously met up for a cup of tea when Jen emailed me and we suddenly realised for a few months we’d been sat in church together whilst she was busy reading my blog – she created some beautiful paper details for her wedding based on our own wedding stationery.

Charlie

Laura and Dave’s autumn barn wedding with a handfasting ceremony and seasonal decorations

Charlie

Autumn barn wedding with a handfasting ceremony

It has been a while since I featured an exclusive real wedding on the blog, more through my own fault than lack of them to share. Whenever I put together a real wedding feature I feel this immense sense of responsibility to the couple who’s wedding it is – after all this was their special day and I want to do my very best in portraying it here on my blog.

As a result it takes me a great many hours to put together the beautiful photographs and carefully answers questions submitted by the bride. Today’s wedding is a very gorgeous autumnal affair, that was inspired by the couples love for the countryside.

Laura and Dave got married in Stratford Upon Avon during the autumnal month of October, with a humanist ceremony. Their wedding was captured beautifully by TNWC photographer Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography. Over to bride Laura to tell us more about the day…

“We both love Autumn and were keen to reflect the season, with it’s lovely cosiness and beautiful colours. We wanted it to feel personal and handcrafted – no ‘Gold Package’ all inclusive deals! And being a country girl at heart, I wanted it to feel rustic, homely and unfussy.”

Charlie

Fairtrade and organic summer bridesmaid dresses in vintage inspired floral prints

Charlie

People Tree is one of the original fair trade clothing brands in the UK and one that I love. As ‘ethical’ and ‘fairtrade’ has become more mainstream it has been great to see People Tree’s collections grow and there to be even more choice of beautiful clothes.

I ended up on their website checking out what was in their sale when I spotted a number of dresses that I thought would make perfect summer bridesmaid dresses and knew I had to share them with you.

Please bear in mind these are currently in the January 2013 sale so they might not stay around long. Even if you come across this post later, do check out their current collections as I’m sure there will be more lovely items – www.peopletree.co.uk.

Lora V Neck Dress

This vintage inspired dress is made from a pretty floral print in 100% organic Fairtrade certified cotton and is £37.50 (50% off) in the People Tree sale. Perfect for a English country garden wedding.

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