Charlie
Charlie
A wedding on a stunning organic farm complete with a beautifully restored red and yellow gypsy wagon…if only such a place existed. It does, and to showcase this beautiful wedding venue deep in the heart of Wales, a group of local suppliers got together to produce a beautiful autumn inspired wedding shoot.
Charlie
Charlie
Following up from my post about using grasses in wedding arrangements and bouquets, I wanted to share some pictures of from Susanne at The Blue Carrot in Cornwall, one of the businesses listed in the flower section of the directory. She got in touch with me after the original blog post to say that she loves using grasses in her arrangements and to share a couple of pictures.
Thought you’d all like to see some on a dreary January afternoon! Any favourites?
I love these deep wine colours with the silvery green grasses and foliage, and the spray of blackberries too.
Charlie
Charlie
I’m really excited to share some of my favourite new designs from one of the stationery businesses listed in the directory. These beautiful new designs have been created by Vici-Jane and husband Richard of Artcadia. They are a mixture of letterpress and digital wedding stationery, and include a new range of ‘uncomplicated’ letterpress designs where you can select your own fonts, motifs, inks and envelope colours.
These two below (and the one above) are called Roma and incorporate beautiful folk styles.
If you’re planning a tealight lit wedding reception with jam jar lanterns hung from the trees then Twinkle Twinkle could be for you – don’t you just love how this invitation completely captures that type of atmosphere?
Charlie
Charlie
This week I spotted the lovely floral work of Green and Gorgeous at this beautiful wedding of photographer Caro Hutchings. It’s always lovely to see the work of businesses listed in The Natural Wedding Company directory, especially at real weddings.
I love the combination of blues, yellows and greens in these buttonholes and bouquets – I’m really loving this kind of blue colour scheme for wedding flowers at the moment and these are a beautiful example.
Charlie
Charlie
Down on the harbourside in Bristol is Riverstation, a fabulous wedding venue with alfresco terraces and harbour views, and a perfect place for an eco-friendly wedding. Michele from Riverstation recently sent me these photos of an eco-friendly wedding that show off what a spectacular space it is – I love all the natural light and how magical it looks at night.
All the wedding flowers were done by Bella & Fifi, another of the great flower businesses listed on the directory, who only source British flowers and where possible from growers in the south west.
Charlie
Charlie
What better way to start off the week than with a beautiful collection of wedding accessories from one of our newest additions to the directory – Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe. Nicola designs and makes a range of garters, veils and headpieces, and shoe clips, this latest collection inspired by a box of antique handmade laces.
As well as handmaking vintage-inspired wedding accessories, Nicola also offers bespoke hen parties to craft your own vintage style headpieces – prices start from £30 per head and can be in your home or venue of your choice. Scroll to the bottom for a few snaps of what you can get up to at a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe style hen party.
I selected my favourite designs from the 2012 collection to share with you – so take a moment to de-stress by immersing yourself in all this prettiness. If you’re a bride-to-be make sure you take a look at the Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe website for more accessories, and Nicola’s recently set up an Etsy shop to make it even easier to get your hands on one of these beautiful items – can’t you just imagine passing these on to the next generation for them to become heirloom pieces in the future…
The Pearl Garter
Charlie
Charlie
This morning I got totally wrapped up reading the new Reverie Magazine, and was particularly excited because the River Cottage wedding (that featured on the TV series) with the edible bouquet was featured. Not only was it lovely to see photos from this wedding because it was exceptionally beautiful and captures everything I love about natural weddings, but it also featured two of the businesses featured in the directory.
The wedding jewellery was all ethical and Fair Trade, with some of it coming from April Doubleday, who features in our directory. In addition to the wedding, there was a page called ‘Get the Look’ and this featured April Doubleday again and also The Vintage Wedding Dress Company (with my favourite Edwardian inspired wedding dress). Do take a look at these two fabulous businesses and also have a read of Reverie Magazine to see the River Cottage wedding (page 112 if you’re wondering!).
Charlie
Charlie
Are ‘vintage’ weddings a dying breed of wedding? There seems to have been a lot of mumblings in the wedding world recently that ‘vintage’ weddings are has-been, over-done, contrived and a ‘trend’ that is on its way out. As someone who’s never really been that fussed by trends, it got me wondering if this is really the case.
The lovely Helen at Doily Days was the person who planted a seed in my mind about whether I had an opinion on this subject when an email popped into my inbox last week. So I decided to get in touch with some of the businesses listed on the directory who hire out vintage crockery and accessories for weddings. I wanted to know what they thought.
Jenna from Wren’s Tea Party told me that couples should do what they want: I don’t think that brides-to-be should feel that a vintage vibe is ‘so last year’ if that’s what they want. Weddings are very personal occasions and should reflect a couple’s personal style. People’s homes are also a reflection of their style – our home is a mixture of old and new things, we have lots of vintage furniture and accessories as well as newer pieces. My wedding was therefore a reflection of our love of good design and vintage pieces, it wasn’t about following a trend.
I think Jenna’s completely right that weddings should reflect you as a couple, and not just themed to a trend or what you might be told is in fashion. Like Jenna, our home is a mixture of old and new, which is naturally what our wedding turned out like – if the great-and-the-good of the wedding industry had told me that glamorous and oppulent weddings were in last year I wouldn’t have styled my wedding that way. It wouldn’t have been ‘us’ as we don’t live that way or love those sorts of things.
Charlie
Charlie
This was love at first – the moment I spotted these masks from A Alicia Handmade I was smitten and head-over-heels in love. Aren’t they just gorgeous?
As one of the wonderful businesses listed on the directory, Anna not only makes beautiful wedding accessories, but she also runs hen party craft workshops – the foxy masquerade and burlesque masquerade mask making parties are her latest additions. What’s even better is she is offering The Natural Wedding Company readers an exclusive offer – so keep reading for details.
Charlie
Charlie
If you’ve got engaged over the Christmas break then one of the first things you might be thinking about is your wedding dress – I know I certainly was concerned about what it would look like and where I would find it. One of the lovely businesses from the directory, Sabina Motasem Bride, has just launched a beautiful new collection for 2012 so I wanted to share some of these beautiful dresses with you.
Sabina Motasem Bride is a London based label creating understated and vintage inspired wedding dresses, and for the eco-conscious or ethical bride you can be sound in the knowledge that they are ethically produced in the UK and can be made from peace silks. What’s even better is they offer a fantastic service to transform your wedding dress after your big day into a cocktail dress that you can wear again.
