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Blog: handmade wedding

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Fern’s plans for an afternoon tea reception with homemade scones and cake

Charlie

Real bride Fern shares her plans for an afternoon tea reception

Fern’s post today is full of lovely recipes (lemon and blueberry drizzle cake anyone?) and some great vintage finds, including an old seed tray her dad has upcycled into a drinks tray for their wedding. Go get inspired!

>> View Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding here <<

Over to Fern…

Collecting for our afternoon reception

We really wanted to have an afternoon reception rather than an evening one for our guests who will not be attending the whole event to celebrate with everyone straight away. The National Trust have allowed us exclusive use of the Old Stable Courtyard at Montacute House for us to serve refreshments for our guests and park our wedding car, but guest will be free to access the grounds as they wish.

We are planning to serve baked refreshments following our ceremony for our guests while we have photos taken. I have been really inspired by Charlie’s afternoon tea in the garden (and part 2 here) and have spent a lot of time reading and then re-reading the posts about it to absorb every ounce of inspiration. Although Dominic and I are not going for a full English tea party, I really want some colourful vintage china to liven up the rustic picnic and trestle tables we will be using.

I am searching regularly through our local charity shops for vintage china, baskets and cut glass. My ultimate bargain is the green china set which I found for £9 for the lot. I love the beautiful cut glass bird, another charity shop find, who will hopefully find a nice little home for the day.

The other items are a collection of charity and vintage shop finds, were my own already, or I am borrowing from friends and family.

For months, we have also collected jam jars, coffee jars and wine bottles to display our flowers and candles on the day, now filling 2 suitcases. My amazing dad has cleaned up and varnished a seed tray he had for us to hold our glasses for sparkling drinks, I’m blown away with how great it looks, and my parents have also kindly lent us some parasols to keep the sun off on the day.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Fern’s ‘how to’ guide for the pretty envelopes she made for her bird and wildflower inspired wedding stationery

Charlie

I have just the loveliest post today from TNWC Real Bride Fern, who has not only made the most heavenly bird and wildflower inspired wedding stationery (and with my favourite brown craft card featuring!), but she has put together an easy-to-follow ‘how to’ guide for how she made the pretty envelopes. Plus she’s also shared details of how she created her different wedding stationery items.

I just know you are going to love this wedding stationery and it’s beautiful little details. If you are on the hunt for eco-friendly materials to make items for your wedding, do check out our DIY Resources section of the directory for a great selection of businesses that we love.

>> View Fern and Dominic’s woodland bird and country flower inspired wedding here <<

How to guide for pretty envelopes

It is always lovely to receive special parcels and post by mail, and wedding invitations can tell you so much about a wedding. Most of the weddings we have been to, couples have handmade their invitations and I never considered doing my invites any other way, but I really wanted my wedding invitations to have a wow factor as soon as they land through the letter box. So it was clear very quickly that I was going to make my envelopes as well.

I have included a ‘how to’ guide for making envelopes below, but I will tell you about my other stationary first.

DIY Floral Envelopes

Full ‘how to’ guide below!

Invitations, save the dates and RSVPs

I designed all the stationary myself in Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word, inspired by my finds on Pinterest. As I had decided that my envelopes would hold lots of colour it meant that I could keep my invitations more simple.

The fonts were Segeo Script used for our names on the save the dates and the rest of stationary we only used Traditional Arabic but varied use in all capitals or italics. The save the dates I made in Publisher by using the layout guides to divide the page into 8. I did for the RSVPs in Word; it is do-able but a lot fiddlier. I printed them on A4 and then cut them up with a guillotine.

The card for the invitations I found in a local shop with 10 brown kraft and 10 white sheets in. The design of my invites was dictated by this and its size. These were designed in Microsoft Word by customising the page size, even the map on the details.

We decided to trim all the corners to tie in with the envelopes, hole punch and tie together with ribbon. I then also made an afternoon invitation in the same way by customising the page size to A5 and then putting amended details inside. I printed everything at home on my own printer. It has cost around £35 for everything, not including postage, but I still have things left over for other projects.

Samantha

Clare and Ian’s fun outdoor farm wedding with a colourful, DIY decorated barn reception

Samantha

Fun outdoor farm wedding with colourful barn reception

The beautiful couple who’s wedding we are sharing with you today truly had their wedding their way, choosing their starting point to be a day built around the people that they wanted there. I adore this sentiment and it really shines through in the gorgeous images captured by Dasha Caffrey.

This fun, relaxed, country inspired wedding is full of the biggest smiles, heaps of laughter, colourful rustic DIY decor and the most divine looking wedding cake made from cheese.

A beautiful July day for a summer wedding

Clare and Ian (Clarkey) were married on a beautiful July summer’s day at a ‘friend-of-friends’ farm in West Stoke, near to where the groom grew up. Wanting to steer away from the traditional their charming day and laid-back style is sure to be one you will love.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: introducing Vicky and Steve’s DIY Devon country village wedding

Charlie

Plans for a DIY Devon country village wedding

It’s really lovely to be back again to introduce you to our second TNWC Real Bride of 2015 – Vicky – who is getting hitched this summer to her Mr-to-be Steve. I really love how hands-on Vicky and Steve seem to be with creating their wedding (helpful when your Mr is a builder!) and that they have chosen their home village as the spot to hold their celebrations.

>> View Vicky and Steve’s DIY village fete wedding here <<

Over to Vicky to tell you more…

A proposal in Greece

Hi my name is Vicky and I will be marrying my fiancé, Steve, this summer. Steve and I have been together for over 6 years now and much to the relief of our friends and family we are finally getting married this July.

Steve proposed last year in Skopelos, outside the church from Mamma Mia, with a beautiful ring he’d bought in secret. It totally floored me. I’m not sure what actually amazed me more, the proposal (I’d have staked a lot of money on that never happening after 6 years!), the fact he had managed to get the ring to Greece without losing it or that he’d been confident enough to tell practically everyone we knew what he was planning – even announcing it in the village pub before he left!

Typically he waited until the very last day of the holiday before asking me, leaving our families at home convinced he’d changed his mind at the last moment! Once I’d got over the shock I finally remembered to say yes and started crying – which pretty much carried on all day! As you can see from the photo!

Planning a Devon village wedding

Since then it’s been full steam ahead with the wedding planning. I can’t honestly say I had any real idea of what our wedding would be like when we started planning it, we probably had more idea of what we definitely didn’t want. Steve didn’t want it to be in a hotel where we had to fit in around them and I didn’t want it to be too prescriptive with a set colour scheme and matching outfits etc.

Samantha

Lisa and Tom’s Welsh country wedding with a handmade wedding dress, locally sourced feast and giant tipis on the village green

Samantha

Welsh country wedding

Today we have for you you the wonderful Welsh, country fete inspired wedding of of our Real Bride Lisa and her husband Tim. It is bursting with amazing handmade details and it features the most inspiring fashion that is all made by the mother-of-the-bride.

This sewing supermum not only made Lisa’s stunning beaded wedding dress, but the bridesmaid’s floral dresses, the grooms and groomsmen attire, flat caps and all and then to top it off her own outfit for the big day. To say I’m impressed is an understatement!

Lisa and Tom’s whole big day truly was crafted with love by their family and friends, and it is one thing I truly adore about weddings is not only the love the couple have for one another but the love shared by everyone around them who want to help in anyway they can to create their dream day.

Anyway to the matter in hand, Lisa and Tom got married in June last year, in a lovely little Welsh town where Tom grew up and for all other details I’ll pass over to Lisa to share.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Ellie and Jon’s DIY guide to making your own giant light-up letters

Charlie

DIY guide to making your own giant light up letters

It is so lovely to be back with TNWC Real Bride Ellie today after a bit of a gap in posts. I have just this week been contacting a handful of (hopefully!) new TNWC Real Brides to introduce you to. Today we have a Real Brides first – a groom-to-be has written this fab post (thanks Jon!), which details how him and Ellie created a set of giant light-up letters for their up-coming wedding.

Over to Jon to tell you how to create them…

A how to guide for making giant light up letters

We were looking for giant light-up letters that we want to hang at the end of the field when we get married in May – a huge ‘J & E’ to welcome everyone to the party. However, each letter cost nearly £200 each to buy – and not much less to rent. This was way out of our budget. However, I was a bloke looking for a blokey wedding job – and confidently proclaimed that they’d be easy enough to make. It turns out (fortunately) that it was actually quite simple!

I’ve included a step-by-step on how to do it below. It is significantly cheaper to build them yourself – all three letters’ raw materials came to about £150 (mostly electrics), and they take a bit of time to put together, but if you’re like me and enjoy pottering around outside with a cup of tea and some power tools, then read on!

Samantha

Claire and Andrew’s secluded woodland wedding with rustic chic handmade details, giants tipis and festoon lighting

Samantha

Secluded woodland wedding with giant tipis and festoon lighting

Set among the woods with a swoon-worthy sunset as a backdrop today’s beautiful rustic chic wedding of the gorgeous Claire and Andrew is pure wedding magic! Stunning creative homemade details, tipi tents from TNWC recommended supplier Papakata with festoon lighting and page boys in bow ties are just a few of the many things I am sure you are going to love about this wedding.

A summer wedding in Yorkshire

Claire and Andrew were wed in the summer in South Yorkshire on a gloriously sunny day. Their reception venue having never before been used for that purpose, required meticulously planning from scratch to create the beautiful day we are sharing with you today.

With bride Claire being a designer by profession, you can understand how it all was executed so perfectly and you are guaranteed to find some fantastic do-it-yourself inspiration along the way. So on that note it is over to the lovely lady herself, beautiful bride Claire with all the details from their big day.

Samantha

Dominique and Nick’s elegant 1930s bohemian inspired wedding with candlelit church ceremony and handmade details

Samantha

1930s bohemian inspired wedding

Are you ready to be blown away by today’s glamourous couple and their beautiful wedding? We are bringing you a candlelit church ceremony! Yes that’s right, candlelit, in a quaint old church, during a thunderstorm, how flipping romantic!

The gorgeous details and romance doesn’t stop there, there are elegant blush bridesmaids, to-die-for DIY details, a vintage ice-cream trike, garden games on the lawn, Scottish dancing…I could go on and on.

Dominique and Nick’s ‘everything we love’ themed wedding took place in August last year in the beautiful grounds of a private school , in Thornton, Buckinghamshire. With nods to the 1930’s and a relaxed bohemian feel this wedding truly is a feast for the eyes.

The beautiful images captured by the talented TNWC Recommended Supplier Bohemian Weddings and words by bride Dominique tell the rest of their gorgeous wedding story.

Charlie

We’re on the hunt for our 2015 Real Brides – come share your plans for a natural, seasonal, eco-chic and homemade wedding

Charlie

I’ve been hearing a lot from recently engaged brides-to-be, and it got me thinking about how much I’ve enjoyed these past two years handing over my little space of internet to other blogging brides.

So I’d like to open my blog once again to a small group of brides-to-be who would like to share their wedding planning adventures as a TNWC Real Bride. What’s really special for me is that most of the previous TNWC Real Brides I’ve stayed in touch with and become good friends via the wonders of social media, which is pretty darned cool in my books.

I am once again looking for brides-to-be who are planning a natural, eco-friendly, seasonal, vintage and/or homemade wedding.

Last year’s TNWC Real Brides are all married apart from Ellie, who continues to share her plans on the blog for her upcoming May wedding. You can view all the previous posts by TNWC Real Brides here, lots of them full of lovely little DIY details.

Last year’s TNWC Real Brides, from left to right: Kerry (photo Dave Owens), Miriam (photo Photos by Zoe, Emma (photo Claire Penn), and Lisa

So, who am I looking for?

I’m searching for someone planning a 2015 (or early 2016) wedding who is…

Early on in their wedding planning stages or just starting out
Planning a wedding that is all about natural, eco-friendly, seasonal, vintage and homemade touches
Happy to write candidly about their wedding planning experiences
Able to take pictures of any details they’re making and explain how they made them
Happy to write something after their wedding day about how it all turned out

P.S. Although I’m a UK based blog I am happy for entries from brides all around the world.

Samantha

Ciara and Matt’s relaxed outdoor wedding with vibrant red accents, handpicked florals and an amazing eclectic reception

Samantha

Relaxed outdoor wedding

Well our first real wedding of 2015 is an absolute scorcher, just like the beautiful weather that shone for the gorgeous outdoor wedding of Ciara and Matt, who had the first and only garden wedding at the beautiful Anglesey Abbey Gardens. The setting could not have been more perfect for their vibrant, relaxed day on 31st August. Taking inspiration from wedding blogs (including our very own pages) and Pinterest they created the ‘natural, summery, vintage, outdoorsy, chilled and informal’ wedding they dreamt of.

The day was beautifully captured in the most stunning wedding film by TNWC recommended suppliers Bright Star Films, and as Ciara explained choosing a videographer was a priority for them,

‘For us the video took precedence, and with the help of Sinead and Kieran at Bright Star Films, we are the proud owners of what we consider to be the best wedding video of all time! (we’re biased….of course!) Their video will forever be treasured by us both, and all of our family and friends!’

Wow! Now if that hasn’t bought a tear to your eye!

Read on to hear from bride Ciara about all the lovely details wrapped up in that gorgeous video with great images captured by some talented friends as well as stills from their wedding film by Bright Star Films.

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