Blog: child-friendly
Charlie Charlie

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

Charlie

Family picture on wedding day with beams of light // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

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

Wooden ivy covered woodland shed for wedding // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

Bride with veil and bespoke dress // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

Pink and white wildflowers in mismatched pots // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

Wedding cheese cake with mice cake topper // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

Bride, groom and daughter at outdoor woodland wedding // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

Bride and groom in field with long grass // Enchanted Brides // The Natural Wedding Company

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Samantha Samantha

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

Samantha

Hazel and Dan's backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details // Solen Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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…

Hazel and Dan's backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details // Solen Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Hazel and Dan's backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details // Solen Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Hazel and Dan's backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details // Solen Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Hazel and Dan's backyard family wedding with child-friendly entertainment and colourful, DIY details // Solen Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

Claire and James’ rustic Easter wedding in the Cotswolds with an egg hunt for the kids and lots of homemade details

Charlie

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

Rustic Easter wedding

What could be more appropriate for this week than a pretty homemade wedding held on Easter Sunday complete with spring flowers and an Easter egg hunt? I hope you agree, so I am delighted to be able to share Claire and James’ beautiful wedding which has all those elements.

Over to Claire…

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

“As we’d chosen to have a spring Easter wedding in a barn in the beautiful Cotswolds, we decided that a rustic Easter country themed wedding was for us – nice and relaxed with lots of fun.

April has always been a favourite month of ours and Easter a family favourite time growing up.  As all our family and friends would have to travel, we decided to give them the opportunity to have a mini break to the Cotswolds and an Easter egg hunt sealed the deal!”

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

“I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this – but I started planning my wedding day (probably like others) years and years ago!  James (Jim) and I had been together 12 years when we got married so he gave me plenty of time to start a scrapbook (no Pinterest back then!). Some of the thoughts I’d had never changed and made it to being part of the day – particularly the theme.”

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

“Our day was rustic country and Easter themed, bursting with creative touches, many of which we’d made ourselves. There were handmade clay birds, beautiful flowers, tree slices, bales of hay, milk churns, birch tealight holders, homemade chutney, chalkboard signposts, handmade stationery and printed linen, planted wellies, rusty letters, old French crates, Easter photo props, a lucky dip and chocolate eggs galore!”

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

“There is so much inspiration out there, but mostly we felt inspired to create a day that reflected our love for nature and relaxed natural style.”

Claire and James' rustic Easter wedding – photography http://www.nealejames.com/

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides Married! Sarah’s back to tell us all about her homemade child-friendly wedding

Charlie

Izzy Burton illustration

The fifth of our six TNWC Real Brides is here today to tell us about her lovely summer wedding. Sarah married Lee back in August with a very homemade wedding full of child-friendly touches. After the seasonal wedding flowers all grown by Sarah’s mum, my favourite part is the duck race!

Over to Sarah…

Married at last! Our wedding was back in August. The chaos began on the eve of the wedding…

Sarah and Lee's homemade wedding

In the morning me and my now husband went to my mum’s house, where, along with my mum and dad, my brother, his wife and my mum’s best friend were all ready and raring to go with the wedding day prep. All of the flowers we used were homegrown by my mum so we set to work on bouquets, buttonholes and vase arrangements for the tables.  After a spot of lunch we loaded my dad’s van with all our wedding day goodies and headed to venue to set up.

Homegrown summer wedding flowers

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Charlie Charlie

Colourful cupcake tower for a fun summer wedding

Charlie

Colourful cupcake tower

Colourful cupcake tower for a fun wedding

I love to cook, so I thought it was about time that I posted a creative food idea for all of you planning a more down-to-earth weddingCupcakes would be perfect if you’re thinking about creating a colourful and relaxed wedding.  Even if you’re not confident about your cupcake or fairy cake making skills, I’m sure most of us have a family member or friend who is a bit of a whizz when it comes to cake making.  Besides, everyone should have a go at making fairy cakes as they’re really simple, taste so much better when homemade, and you can decorate them any which way you choose!

By making your own fairy cakes, you can ensure that the ingredients are organic, fair trade, or local depending on your preference.  From organic flour to local eggs, fair trade sugar or farmhouse butter, you will be able to make positive choices about what goes into your wedding cakes.

Colourful cupcake tower

Now for the recipe.  I use the following recipe, though I can’t remember where I got it from, which produces lovely fairy cakes.  However, there are loads of fairy cake or cupcake recipes out there, or you may even have a tried-and-tested family favourite.

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