featuring our businesses Archives - Page 8 of 23

Blog: featuring our businesses

Charlie

Behind-the-scenes at our seasonal wedding hair flowers shoot with The Garden Gate Flower Company

Charlie

Last week I shared all the gorgeous photos from my seasonal wedding hair flowers mini shoot with The Garden Gate Flower Company – if you haven’t seen them already and are dreaming of wearing flowers in your hair at your wedding, click here right now for a heady dose of floral inspiration.

As much as I love sharing all the pretty pictures to inspire you for your weddings, I also like to show the real ‘behind-the-scenes’ stuff that goes into a wedding shoot and the small businesses that put in all the hard work. Today I’ve got all the behind-the-scenes photos from my day at The Garden Gate Flower Company, beautifully captured on film by Taylor & Porter Photographs.

I’m going to hand you over to Maz from The Garden Gate Flower Company who will tell you their experience of the day…

“A misty, typically Cornish day back in June was positively brightened by Charlie from The Natural Wedding Company who stopped off on her TNWC South West Roadtrip. We had a little workshop of our own and focused on hair. Charlie has totally sparked a new interest in native grasses (or … errm, weeds to us gardeners: until now? I am totally embracing the ‘can’t beat them join them’ aspect of this idea!).”

Charlie

Delicate and romantic seasonal wedding hair flowers – beautiful alternatives to the flower crown

Charlie

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling around Devon and Cornwall visiting TNWC businesses, and as part of that roadtrip I got to spend a whole day with the lovely ladies at The Garden Gate Flower Company (you can read more about it here). We had made plans to do a little shoot of seasonal wedding hair flowers, and despite the fact that it was a wet and windy day on the farm, we were undeterred.

Flower crowns have been a popular wedding trend for over a year now, and don’t seem to be going away any time soon. Whilst I absolutely love them, I noticed they were getting bigger and bolder, and felt that I would never have felt confident or comfortable to pull off a flower crown like that for my wedding. It got me wanting to share some inspiration for more subtle and understated hair flowers, yet still incredibly beautiful.

Becca and Maz at The Garden Gate Flower Company equally loved the idea, especially as they’ve had more and more brides this year asking for more demure hair flowers, so it was a great opportunity to try out their ideas. We were joined on this wild June day by Louise and Teo from Taylor & Porter Photographs who have captured Becca and Maz’s designs exquisitely.

Louise and Teo have recently relocated to Cornwall and their photography business Taylor & Porter Photographs is quite special – why? Because they only shoot on vintage cameras using film. With at least six of us huddled in the polytunnel at The Garden Gate Flower Company for the shoot, it was pretty magical listing to the whizz and click of Louise and Teo’s vintage cameras.

Somehow I ended up ‘modelling’ a number of the hair flowers, which wasn’t my intention, but my long hair wound me up in the styling seat when Becca and Maz’s friend who was going to model for us had to leave early. I am not one for having my photo taken, especially when I’m not prepared with a bit of make-up and less windswept hair – I’m hoping the hair flowers are so stunning you don’t even notice me!

Enough talking, over to the flowers…

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 8: final visits to Greens of Devon, Organic Blooms and Church Farm

Charlie

I have finally come to the end of my TNWC South West Roadtrip. I have travelled hundreds of miles, stayed in numerous homes, B&Bs and hotels, and met over 15 businesses who are all listed on the directory. It has been exhausting but amazing. If you would like to catch up on my travels, just click on TNWC Roadtrip for all the posts.

So yesterday I set of from the north coast of Devon, travelled into the county to Greens of Devon, then up the motorway to Organic Blooms, and across into Wiltshire to Church Farm for my final visit of the trip. I hope you’ve liked following along, and enjoy this, my final post on the (first) TNWC Roadtrip.

Greens of Devon

My first stop of the day was to Greens of Devon and are one of my lovely edible flower businesses. With the resurgence in British, locally grown, seasonal flowers, their edible brothers and sisters are following suit. I’ve personally been interested in edible flowers for a few years now, so it’s really nice to see more couples incorporating them into their weddings.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 7: a visit to Rowan Tree Studio

Charlie

I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend – it has been mixed weather in Cornwall and Devon with a lovely day on Saturday in Padstow, but rain on Sunday up on the north coast of Devon.

On Saturday I paid a visit as part of the TNWC South West Roadtrip to Rowan Tree Studio, a lovely business run by Sarah who offers a range of crafty hen parties, as well as making wedding soap favours.

The afternoon I arrived Sarah was just finishing off a hen party of eighteen, who had spent a fun afternoon making a bridal trousseau. I hadn’t heard of a bridal trousseau, but thankfully Sarah told me more about it:

“Traditionally a bride to be started making her trousseau to take into her marriage often before she had a groom in mind. Mothers and daughters collected special toys, cherished books and family recipes to keep in a trunk or case with monogrammed linens, patchwork quilts, stationary, soaps and much more.”

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 6: visiting the studio of Charlie Scribble

Charlie

I can’t believe that I only have two days left of visiting businesses on the TNWC South West Roadtrip (Sunday is my day off with family) – it has been an incredible week so far and I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures.

Yesterday I had a pretty chilled day, which at nearly 29 weeks pregnant I was in need of after the busy week I’ve had. I headed from the south coast of Cornwall, across the county to just outside Wadebridge too meet up with Flo from Charlie Scribble. Flo creates beautiful wedding stationery with a very distinct style that incorporates her beautiful illustrations.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 5: Lancaster & Cornish, Sarah Wants and The Blue Carrot

Charlie

After the dire weather yesterday, today the south coast of Cornwall has been blessed with blue skies and patches of sun and an almighty wind. I spent the morning in Lostwithiel and then travelled further down the coast to Portscatho and have finally seen the sea.

I’ve met another group of wonderful businesses, all of whom you can find on The Natural Wedding Company directory, and it has been a pleasure to get to know them and hear more about what they do. It’s been a real honour to get an inside look into these small businesses, especially to very private places such as offices, studios, workrooms and cutting gardens.

So this is what I got up to yesterday on the TNWC Roadtrip…

Lancaster & Cornish

A recent addition to the directory and a last minute add on to my visits today, was a trip to the studio office of Lancaster & Cornish. I met the lovely Sian, who runs Lancaster & Cornish, last night at dinner with the ladies from The Garden Gate Flower Company, and was really excited at the prospect of looking at pretty fabrics and lace.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 4: The Garden Gate Flower Company with Taylor & Porter Photographs

Charlie

What a lovely day I had yesterday, despite the most miserable drizzly weather in Cornwall. I spent the whole day at The Garden Gate Flower Company (who are based just outside Fowey) with Becca and Maz, generally having a lot of fun with their beautiful flowers.

Our plan was to spend the day creating beautiful wedding hair flowers with the aim to inspire brides-to-be who want to wear flowers in their hair, but don’t feel the big, bold, statement flower crowns are ‘them’.

In the afternoon we were joined by Louise and Teo from Taylor & Porter Photographs, the loveliest couple who’ve recently relocated to Cornwall, and take all their pictures on vintage film cameras – you should definitely check out their work if you want something a bit different for your wedding photography.

Today you get my photos, but soon I’ll be featuring all Louise and Teo’s photos. Can’t wait!

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 3: Lantallack Weddings with Lucy Turnbull Photography

Charlie

I hope you are all enjoying following along with my TNWC South West Roadtrip – I’m only three days and loving it. It has been such a pleasure and a real treat to visit these wedding businesses and find out more about who they are and what they do. I can quite honestly say there are some real gems out there for anyone planning their wedding, so get looking through the directory to find some fabulous suppliers.

After a rather busy Day 2 of the TNWC Roadtrip, yesterday was a bit more relaxed with just one visit scheduled for the day. Like Day 2 I was joined by a TNWC wedding photographer, this time is was Lucy Turnbull, whose photos these are. I momentarily got lost down a very narrow high-hedged Cornish lane, but soon realised my mistake and found the very beautiful Lantallack Weddings.

Charlie

TNWC South West Roadtrip Day 2: JW Blooms, Cowparsley Weddings and Bespoke Confetti with Jennie Hill Photography

Charlie

I’ve had another wonderful day out on the second day of my TNWC South West Roadtrip – today I’ve visited three fabulous wedding businesses and been joined for my adventure by Jennie Hill and her camera. Today you are just getting my camera phone snaps as soon I’ll be sharing Jennie’s gorgeous pictures of our visits.

JW Blooms

My first stop of the day was the flower field of JW Blooms, a Somerset based small business growing beautiful flowers for weddings. Jan has an acre sized plot with about two-thirds of this used for growing flowers. It is utterly charming and as a big flower lover I always feel a little bit jealous wandering amongst rows and rows of pretty flowers.

For brides who book Jan to do their wedding flowers, the consultation process involves a visit the week before your wedding to wander the flower field, see what’s blooming, and pick what you’d like for your arrangements. I can’t think of many more lovely things to do!

Charlie

Luxury yurt honeymoons and hen parties with a woodfired hot tub at Secret Cloud House Holidays in the Peak District

Charlie

When I was planning my own honeymoon I looked for places and pictures that inspired me – I wanted to take one look and think, “that’s what I want to do” or “that’s where I want to be.” That beautiful nighttime picture above of one of the honeymoon yurts at Secret Cloud House Holidays does that for me.

Secret Cloud House Holidays have a lovely selection of luxury yurts, including a brand new wooden yurt, situated in the rolling countryside of the Peak District. Their yurts are available for both honeymoons and hen parties, and there’s even a woodfired hot tub with some of the loveliest views that a hot tub could have!

A Secret Cloud House Honeymoon

At Secret Cloud House Holidays there is a choice of three yurts and a bell tent that you can choose from as your romantic bolthole. New for 2013 is Bilberry Lodge, a Scandinavian inspired wooden yurt, filled with rustic furniture, a log burning range cooker, and a cosy double bed. It is also available to book all year round so perfect for a cosy winter honeymoon.

Seasonal wedding ideas:

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

DIY + Inspiration

Real Weddings

Suppliers + Products

Browse the blog:

Planning

Advertise

Get your eco wedding business listed on our directory