kids at weddings Archives - The Natural Wedding Company

Blog: kids at weddings

Charlie

Favourite Natural Wedding Details: favours, table plans, wedding cakes, DIY projects, transport & children-friendly weddings

Charlie

Natural Wedding Details

For the third part of our Real Wedding Favourites mini series we are bringing you are Favourite Natural Wedding Details. As you might imagine, choosing ‘favourites’ in this category is really hard. It’s also a lot down to personal preference. My suggestion is to enjoy browsing through our blog archive for inspiration for your wedding details.

All our picks are chosen from the very first Real Wedding we featured up until spring of this year. You can find all the links to our Real Wedding Favourites here.

Our Favourite Wedding Favours

Hot Chocolate Mugs with a Vintage Welsh ‘Love Teaspoon’

Nik was one of our first TNWC Real Brides and together with her husband Chris they created a true-to-them chilled out wedding at their home. We followed many of the details that Nik created for their wedding, but it was hot chocolate inspired wedding favours that I really loved.

Nik decorated a mug for each guest that they served hot chocolate in at their wedding, and gave the mug along with a vintage teaspoons with the words ‘LLwy Garu’ (Welsh for ‘love spoon’) stamped onto it as wedding favours. Useful and beautiful.

Charlie’s favourite wedding favours come from Nik and Chris’ chilled out rustic coastal farm wedding. Vintage teaspoons from Rescue & Revive and mugs hand decorated by the bride. Photography by Pete Cranston Photography.

Nik’s wedding dress was also one of our favourites, which you can see in our Natural Wedding Styles post.

Charlie

Louise and Andrew’s cosy winter wedding at River Cottage with spring inspired bouquet and dapper groomsmen

Charlie

We might be headed into summer but this cosy winter wedding held at River Cottage in Devon reminds us of all that is great about a winter wedding done well. Louise and Andrew had an intimate wedding with just 50 of their friends and family, with excellent local food (obviously!) and seasonal touches that embraced the farm venue. I also particularly love the attention they put in for the babies and children at this wedding – some great ideas. Plus gorgeous photography from Larissa Joice who we’ve featured previously here.

Over to Louise to tell us more…

A Cosy Winter Wedding at River Cottage

Charlie

Vic and Farid’s pretty country fete wedding with floral bunting, an Etsy dress and a dried flower meadow bouquet

Charlie

Vic and Farid’s country fete wedding is beautifully soft and natural; set in an idyllic wood panelled village hall, it is pretty and understated yet fabulously chic.

Holding both the ceremony and reception in the bunting-filled village hall, the couple enjoyed a relaxed and captivatingly charming day in Leicestershire with all their favourite people, whilst TNWC recommended photographer Sarah Brittain Edwards Photography captured their day perfectly.

Choosing retro sweets as favours and dried flowers for her bouquet, we asked bride Vic to tell us all about the ideas behind their cute country fete wedding…

Charlie

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

Charlie

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…

Samantha

Amy and Alex’s colourful, handmade outdoor wedding with a floral wedding dress and relaxed Buddhist tea ceremony

Samantha

Today’s gorgeous wedding has us beaming from ear to ear, it is a incredible explosion of colour, brimming with love, laughter and personal handmade touches. This wedding truly optimises the idea of doing ‘your wedding, your way’ throwing the ‘wedding rule book’ out the window and we just love it.

You will find no big white dress or matching suits here, think floral prints, an outdoor buddhist tea ceremony, a ‘bring a dish’ buffet, and an evening full of family entertainment and you will begin to get the picture.

Alex and Amy, July 2015

Alex and Amy, who met at university, were married on a gloriously sunny day back in July last year. They wanted to create ‘a relaxed day of fun for everyone’ and they most certainly did that.

Our day was about celebrating us as a couple, our two children, our family and friends. We are very fortunate to live in a beautiful valley which was the perfect venue for our wedding.

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: introducing Sarah and Lee’s homemade child-friendly wedding

Charlie

This week I’ve already introduced TNWC Real Bride Myfawny who’s planning a creative and vintage inspired wedding celebration with her Mr-to-be Tom (oh and Arthur the dachshund!), so today it’s ‘Real Bride’ number 4 – the lovely Sarah.

Sarah and Lee are getting hitched in Nottinghamshire and are making their wedding a child-friendly (they have two cuties called Ava and Archie) and homemade affair – I can’t wait to hear all about it as their plans unfurl.

I’m also really excited because I met Sarah’s mum Susan last summer on the Catkin cut flower course (she’s growing lots of flowers for their wedding!). So it’s over to Sarah to tell you all about their plans so far…

Sarah + Lee: 24th August 2013, Nottinghamshire

Hi my name is Sarah Milner I am 26 and engaged to the handsome Lee Broadhurst who turns 30 on Christmas day! We have 2 children Ava who’s 5 and Archie who is 21 months old. Our wedding is taking place on August 24th 2013, we are tying the knot at the gorgeous old vicarage in Elkesley – it’s a beautiful old building which is a private home in which they allow 12 weddings a year to take place.

The ceremony would take place inside the house and afterwards we move into the marquee set in the beautiful gardens where we are having an informal tea party for guests and a BBQ later in the evening. It’s the perfect setting for the relaxed, homemade, family wedding we really desire.

My lovely mum is playing a big part in my day, she is growing and arranging the flowers for the big day. She is also making hand knitted toy dogs as favours for young guests, handmade lavender bags for the ladies and we are still deciding what to do for the men!

Rachel from Catkin Flowers showing my mum and Charlie from The Natural Wedding Company how to make a hand-tied bouquet:

Charlie

Jodie and James’ epic weekend wedding full of feasting, festivities and handmade details

Charlie

Epic weekend wedding with handmade details

Today I have an incredible real wedding. It is utterly epic (I don’t use words like that often) and it’s not short on beautiful ideas and inspiration if that’s what you’re looking for. I’ve even broken it down into headings because there is so much to share with you!

Jodie and James got married on 15th September 2012 and spent the whole weekend celebrating with their family and friends. Jodie has kindly told me so much about their incredible weekend celebration, and I am sure that many of you brides-to-be will find lots of helpful snippets throughout from Jodie and James’ experience.

Without further ado, I’ll hand you over to the lovely Jodie to tell you all about their epic wedding weekend…

Charlie

Inspire your younger wedding guests by creating a natural flower carpet

Charlie

I am always on the lookout for something new and original to share with you, so I was quite intrigued when I received an email from Camelia telling me about her wonderful business Sea Mandala and the flower carpets she helps you to create.

These flower carpets are a wonderful way to get your family and friends to create a unique piece of art at your wedding day, and look incredibly engaging for kids.

Before Camelia got in touch I had never heard of a mandala or flower carpets, so I asked her a few questions to help understand the creative process…

So what is a flower carpet? “A flower carpet is an art design that is created out of an exuberance of petals and other colourful natural material through the contributions of children and adults at a wedding ceremony. It is a beautiful and aromatic space that creates a lasting impression on onlookers and participants alike and provides for wonderful unique photographs of the couple placing handfuls of petals onto the evolving design.

The design evolves through the energy of the people that pass through it and their contribution with a handful or more of the materials on display. Children love it and adults feel inspired to contribute a handful of material towards the evolving design through the duration of the wedding party.”

Charlie

Colourful cupcake tower for a fun summer wedding

Charlie

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 wedding. Cupcakes 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.

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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