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Izzy

Get this soft, smokey look to go with your pretty coral wedding palette with a make-up tutorial from the Organic Make-up Artist

Izzy

Coral coloured peonies have all over the wedding world this summer and it’s not difficult to see why they have become so popular with brides-to-be. Today, Laura Jane Sessions, who is the Organic Make-up Artist, is bringing our readers a make-up tutorial using a coral palette to create a soft, smokey look. Laura Jane’s pretty make-up is complimented by some gorgeous florals and a beautiful upcycled wedding dress.

Over to Laura…

Shot in the grounds of Danson Park in Bexleyheath, the shoot, designed to inspire brides with an upcycled dress and simple styling, was the creative vision of Gwenda Jeffs from the Vintage Flower Design Company and photographer Heline Bekker.

The idea of the shoot was to team a simple hair and make-up with a beautiful coral palette. I wanted to design a soft, flattering smokey look that could easily be replicated at home. Keeping it as minimal as possible, I tried to avoid using too many products as this can be daunting to someone wishing to do it themselves.

Izzy

DIY guide to making pretty paper flower place settings and wedding favours from Hollyhock Lane

Izzy

We have such a lovely DIY guest post today from Julie at Hollyhock Lane – she’s put together an exclusive ‘how to’ guide for our readers on how to create these gorgeous paper flowers that can be used both as place settings and/or wedding favours. They are a perfect project for all you crafty and creative brides out there.

Over to Julie to get you started on making your own pretty paper flowers…

So here’s a DIY for those brides that like to make stuff. Paper flowers can be used for anything really, but in this example I decided to make them into place settings which can be taken away as favours for the guests as well.

Admittedly, these could take some time if you’re planning on a wedding for a hundred guests or more, but when you get into the flow of it, they only take about 10-20 minutes each. The good thing about them is that they can easily be made in front of the TV, and unlike fresh flowers, they can be finished well in advance of the big day.

You could always make it part of your hen party activities and get crafting with a group of your best friends. There’s nothing like bonding over a creative project and a good cup of tea to while away the hours.

Izzy

Country garden and dreamy meadow inspired bridal bouquets full of seasonal blooms and a necklace made of flowers

Izzy

What a beautiful feast of floral design we have for you today! If you are planning a summer wedding and have just started thinking about your wedding flowers, then grab of cup of something warm and settle down to soak up some inspiration from one of our florists, Campbell’s Flowers.

Over the summer Tracey and her team at Campbell’s Flowers had a lovely intern – Kate – working for them. To celebrate the end of her internship they put together a shoot of stunning seasonal blooms, and my gosh are they heavenly. Kate also works as a second shooter for a wedding photographer so she’s pretty nifty with a camera, capturing this beautiful floral collection at Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

Here’s Kate to tell you more about what they did…

To mark the final day of an amazing internship with Campbell’s Flowers, we ventured off to shoot some beautiful British grown bouquets. While taking shelter from the summer showers we made use of the beautiful light in the Pavilions in Sheffield Botanical Gardens and got some lovely soft shots of the interchangeable flower necklace and flower crown, crafted from locally grown seasonal flowers.

Izzy

Alice Palace’s guide to getting the wedding stationery that really reflects you as a couple

Izzy

We have a great guest blog post from the team behind Alice Palace, one of our recommended wedding stationery companies here at The Natural Wedding Company (you can check out their profile page here). They have been designing and printing wedding stationery for over 6 years now and often get asked about how they come up with their wedding stationery designs and what information should be included on the invitations.

To help our lovely brides- and grooms-to-be they have come up with a fab guide to help you get the wedding stationery which really reflects you as a couple. We’re going to hand you over to Liz, Alice Palace’s studio manager, to tell take you through their top tips…

How We Came Up With Our Wedding Stationery Designs

When Charlie and I were planning our wedding, we were a bit indecisive, we knew we wanted a small intimate wedding with just our closest friends and family but that was as far as our ideas went!

So first things first, we fixed our budget, sensible I know, but there was no point coming up with ideas if they were going to run off the money scale! Once we knew what we had to spend (a small budget), we spent a fun evening consuming a (little) bit of wine, and using the following wedding words we wrote down the first idea that came into our heads:

Date / time of year we wanted to get married
Venue / where we thought we would have it
Colour themes
What would we eat?
Our outfits
The cake
The flowers
Stationery ideas

We each took it in turns to read out the answers and discussed our ideas. This really helped to see what we both wanted and it was a great way to come up with ideas for our own unique wedding stationery – which can then be passed on to your wedding stationery designer (if you’re using one).

Izzy

‘Grow the Love’ with these beautiful ideas for incorporating living flowers and plants into your wedding from Wedding in a Teacup

Izzy

Today Hester from Wedding in a Teacup tells us about how to use living potted plants and greenery in weddings, rather than cut flowers. With some super helpful tips, it’s a must-read for any brides-to-be looking for quirky eco-chic ideas.

Over to Hester…

We love the idea of living flowers and greenery at a wedding. They look natural and informal and are a great way to add practical decoration, but more than that – there’s something about having something living on your day that is so wholly positive!

We like tables named after love-in-the-mist or sage, with pots and gardeners labels to mark them; tiny flower pots doubling as place markers and favours (check out our personalised labels created with these in mind); and an apple crate of herbs or flowers as a luscious table plan holder.

Charlie

Everything you wanted to ask a wedding photographer but were afraid to ask – a guest post from Bohemian Weddings

Charlie

Today we have a guest blog post from Michael and Andrea of Bohemian Weddings, one of our recommended wedding photographers, who have tips and advice on what to ask your wedding photographer to make sure you get the perfect photographer and feel for your wedding day.

Over to Michael and Andrea from Bohemian Weddings…

It may sound obvious but one of the most important things to us as wedding photographers is our relationship with our couples. The reason for this is simple, if we have a good relationship the couple are relaxed, we are relaxed and this really really shows in every photograph we take.

If you have just started your search for your perfect wedding photographer this is an exciting time as there are so many talented people out there who are amazing to work with. But it is important to note that the wedding industry like any other does also have its undesirables and unlike big corporate companies there is no law to enforce vetting of small self-employed photographers…it’s down to you folks!

To help you make the right choice we are going to guide you through what to expect based on questions we receive from our couples.

Izzy

Make your own edible flower wedding favours from flowerpot muffins to floral marshmallows and petal studded chocolates

Izzy

Today we have a great post from Jan of Maddocks Farm Organics with some great tips on how to create your own wedding favours using edible flowers. There are some truly beautiful ideas that are sure to inspire you to create some fab homemade wedding favours.

Over to Jan to tell us how to create these beauties…

Whilst increasingly popular, wedding favours are yet another expense and can be very pricey if they are not to look cheap and tacky.

An easy way around this is to make your own. Not only do they look much nicer but they also add a personal touch and can be a fraction of the price of commercial alternatives. Here are a few suggestions which are all very straight forward to make so it is job that could be delegate to the future mother-in-law or chief bridesmaid!

Flowerpot Muffins

These are a sweet idea for a rustic themed garden wedding. I used a classic Mary Berry recipe (you can’t improve on Mary perfection!) but any good quality chocolate cake recipe will do or you could use a rich chocolate mousse if you prefer. The mini silicone flower pots are available from Lakeland and other online retailers.

The choice of edible flower is important if you want the ‘plants’ to hold well. Tagetes and Dianthus are particularly good for this but cornflowers also work if you add them at the last minute. We also used springs of rosemary to add to the foliage.

Floral Marshmallows

Marshmallows make a lovely wedding favour and running some edible flower petals through the mix ensures that they are as individual as your wedding.

Charlie

Behind-the-scenes film with The Garden Gate Flower Company for a sea-meets-land wedding of seasonal British blooms

Charlie

Today I’ve got a pretty special blog post for you and something a little different. The lovely Becca and Maz from The Garden Gate Flower Company have had a short film made telling the story of one couples wedding flowers, from picking seasonal blooms in their Cornish cutting patch, to setting up the venue and delivering the brides bouquet (such a gorgeous moment!).

This beautiful film provides couples with a special insight into how one homegrown flower business creates stunning seasonal blooms for a wedding. So take a peep behind the scenes with The Garden Gate Flower Company and don’t miss that magical moment when Becca delivers the bride her bouquet – so sweet.

Also keep a look out for my other favourite moment of the film – their use of tomato cuttings for the table centrepieces!

http://vimeo.com/76329323

Now over to Maz from The Garden Gate Flower Company to tell you a little bit more about the wedding and the film…

Our friend, Emma Griffin is a super creative photographer, artist and more recently film maker, based in Cornwall. Together we had the idea to make a short film which told the story of Katie and Damian’s flowers from picking to setting up the venue and delivering Katie her bouquet.

Charlie

A wild and natural bridal bouquet of fragrant blooms and trailing jasmine for a Scottish wedding

Charlie

Hi everyone! A quick message here from Charlie – I’m really sorry that it’s been so quiet on the blog lately, but we’ve got loads of great guest posts coming up. There’s some gorgeous floral prettiness on the blog today, and coming up soon a beautiful Bedouin tent real wedding and a competition. Hope all your wedding plans are going well!

In order to find the loveliest inspiration and ideas for my readers I trawl the internet and blogs on the hunt for only the very best. When it comes to flowers, sometimes I spot a bouquet and am convinced that it must have been created by one of our talented flower farmers or florists – and quite often I’m right.

This is one such bouquet that I spotted on this Fairytale Scottish Castle Wedding and thought it was just the kind of wild and natural style that many of our TNWC recommended florists dream up – indeed, it is from one of our Scottish contingent, the lovely Pyrus.

Charlie

Exquisite ‘Springtime’ and ‘Vintage Dream’ wedding cakes with handcrafted sugar flowers from Amy Swann Cakes

Charlie

I have a lovely bit of wedding cake inspiration for you today. These stunning cake designs were created by Amy who runs Amy Swann Cakes, and who is also one of our fab recommended suppliers on the directory.

Amy is incredibly talented at creating some of the most realistic and beautiful sugar flowers I’ve ever seen. You might recall this incredible wildflower wedding cake design of Amy’s I featured last autumn, and despite recently welcoming twin baby girls into her family, she has still been busy dreaming up these lovely designs for her clients.

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