Blog: rustic
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A rustic Lithuanian village wedding celebrating old traditions and a simpler way of life

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Lithuanian natural farm wedding wedding

Rustic Lithuanian village wedding

It’s always nice to get inspiration from other countries and cultures when it comes to all aspects of life, but in particular I love seeing the way the other people celebrate their wedding days.  I am so excited that I get to share with you this gorgeous Lithuanian wedding shot by photographer Svetlana Batura (who also captured this timeless autumn wedding I featured).

Bride in a vintage dress

Svetlana took the time to tell me all about the wedding of Irminta and Artur and what they were inspired by, I particularly love the horse drawn cart ride for the bride and groom and their friends – more about that below!

Horse and farm cart wedding

Svetlana Batura Photography

Bride and bridesmaids white dresses

Irminta and Artur were inspired by their love of nature, old traditions, the naturalness they feel is missing from everyday life, and of their grandmother’s stories of village weddings.  They wanted to combine old and new styles to create a wedding day that was beautiful, fun and that celebrated their family traditions.

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Rustic shabby chic wedding stationery with brown card, lace and luggage tags

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Rustic shabby chic wedding invitations

Some of my favourite emails are from you lovely readers, sending me pictures of your wedding stationery that has been inspired by my own wedding invitations or save the dates.  Today I get to share with you Hollie’s wedding stationery, which was also inspired by ours, with a few tweaks and her own stamp on it.

Recycled brown card wedding invitations

She combined our two ideas, turning her wedding invitations into a larger version of our sealed save the dates.  I love this idea, I can imagine it would be lovely to receive one of these in the post and to unfold it.

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Photobooth and brown luggage tag wedding invitations and how you can make your own

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photobooth and luggage tag wedding invitation

If you don’t want to do anything too complicated for your wedding invitations then this idea might be perfect for you, whilst still being fun and personal to you as a couple.  A photobooth style strip of pictures (with details on the back) and a brown luggage tag fastened together with string.

Making the photobooth style pictures

Both these items could be printed at home – there are lots of photo programmes that allow you to make collages like these (I like Photoscape which is free to download), so you could take some pictures and put them into a collage to create a photobooth style strip without having to leave home.  This would enable you to easily print details onto the back of the photos too.

Creating the luggage tags

Brown luggage tags come in all sizes so you could find the right size for you and simply stamp a message like they have done here onto the front.  If you wanted to include more details printed directly onto the luggage tag, then you can print onto recycled brown card (available from some of these businesses) then cut them out and trim the corners to make them appear like a luggage tag.

You can punch a hole and stick on the hole reinforcers (brown ones are available from Etsy if you search for ‘reinforcements’ under ‘All Items’) and they should look just like a ready bought luggage tag, but with all the details you want printed on – and no nightmare thoughts of how you put a luggage tag through your home printer!!

I love fonts, and am a regular visitor to Dafont in search of fun fonts.  I believe (this shows how much of a font geek I am) that the font used on the brown luggage tag in the pictures, is one called Artistamp Medium.  I love it and use it quite a lot, if you take a look at my Directory Showcase features it is used on my graphics.  You should be able to type the name into the Dafont search engine and download it for home use.

Alternatively, print your details onto paper and glue them onto the back of the luggage tags like they have done here.  You could also jazz up your invitations by using coloured raffia or stripey butcher twine instead of white string.

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A fantastic special offer on wedding packages at a romantic French chateau

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Chateau de Fayolle France wedding venue

If you’re dreaming of a sunny French wedding, then don’t miss this fantastic special offer from Chateau de Fayolle in the Dordogne region of France.  This 17th Century fairytale chateau is owned by the lovely Janet and Gerry de Bathe, who would be delighted to welcome you and your guests to their beautiful home, which includes a private chapel, gardens and natural salt water swimming pool.

eco-friendly French chateau wedding venue

For those of you looking for somewhere that is more eco-friendly, you’ll be sound in the knowledge that Janet and Gerry run Chateau de Fayolle with an eco-friendly approach, from the salt water pool and eco light bulbs, to a carbon neutral wood heating system and furnishing and decorating the chateau with flea market finds.

French chateau wedding venue

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Mariette and Benjamin’s natural French countryside wedding ~ part two

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natural French countryside wedding

Natural French countryside wedding (part two)

If you missed part one of Mariette and Benjamin’s natural French countryside wedding yesterday, get over there now and immerse yourself in an utterly gorgeous wedding.  Today it’s the second part with some gorgeous photos in woodland and around the stone villa, and their fun reception and rustic decorations.

>> View Mariette and Benjamin’s natural French countryside wedding (part one) here <<

countryside woodland wedding

rustic natural woodland wedding

What a happy looking couple – and those gorgeous lace sleeves and floral headband.  Everything is just so fitting about this wedding, nothing seems out of place or contrived – just simple, natural and beautiful.

antique lace wedding dress

It always helps to have a beautiful rustic backdrop to create romantic wedding photographs, like an old French villa with mint green shutters and a rambling rose (oh France how I miss you!)…

French wedding in an old stone villa

rustic French countryside wedding

stone villa wedding in the French countryside

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Mariette and Benjamin’s natural French countryside wedding ~ part one

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Natural French countryside wedding

Natural French countryside wedding (part one)

It goes without saying this might possibly be one of my favourite weddings ever.  Shot by American photographer David Blair, this oh-so-pretty wedding of Mariette and Benjamin took place at a family-owned, rustic stone villa in the French countryside.

>> View Mariette and Benjamin’s natural French countryside wedding (part two) here <<

Rustic French countryside wedding

French wedding rustic villa

If you’re regular readers of the blog, it won’t come as any surprise that the brides dress is one of my absolute favourites – I’m not sure I’ve seen many more that I think are more exquisite.  I even told Nick that I might have swapped my own wedding dress for it – he was shocked!

Antique lace country style wedding dress

Antique lace wedding dress

I love the delicate lace sleeves and the way the front is loosely draped and edged with more lace.  I love the ribbon sash around the waist that is fastened in a bow at the back and the way the skirt falls simply to the floor – the lace hem full of dainty detailing.  It seems quite Edwardian inspired – one of my favourite eras for wedding dress inspiration.

French wedding dress with lace sleeves

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Woodland inspired luggage tag ‘save the dates’

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rustic woodland luggage tag save the dates

Today it’s more handmade loveliness from a lovely bride-to-be and another fab idea for creating ‘save the dates’.  These ‘save the date’ luggage tags were made by Tara and her husband-to-be Ben who run a vintage restoration business called Elegantly Wasted Vintage.  They are getting married in December and are going for a woodland Edwardian feel for their wedding.

Tara was happy to share the details of how she made them and where she got her supplies…  The ‘save the dates’ were easy to make – although all the furious typing on the old typewriter gave me very sore wrists – I don’t know how my mum, who was a secretary in the 1970s, did it!  The whole lot cost about £15 to make 50.  I used letter stamp blocks from Dunelm Mill and cost £2, the tags were £2 for 50 from Ebay, the twine was £3 from Nutscene, and I ordered the stag stamp online from stampsdirect for £7.  I trimmed the paper with the details using scalloped edged scissors.

rustic woodland luggage tag save the dates

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Handmade ‘tying the knot’ save the dates made from brown card and twine

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tying the knot rustic save the dates

The joys of having a photographer husband-to-be!  If you’re the lovely Lisa, one of my blog readers, it means you can make pretty wedding details and get great pictures of them – which in turn means lovely photos to share with you all.

raffia save the dates

Lisa was inspired by my own rustic ‘save the dates’ and got in touch to share hers – I think they are so beautiful and they incorporate a really neat extra that Lisa found on this blog whilst searching for inspiration – a twine knot.

tying the knot handmade save the date

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Medal buttonholes made from wood and vintage fabric

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woodland medal buttonholes

I thought these were so inspired when I spotted them on Etsy.  Made in the UK from a slice of a tree branch and hand-stitched vintage fabrics I think they would make great buttonholes.  They are quirky and a bit different, and I love the handcrafted and natural look of them.  They are made as brooches so come with a metal pin on the back, easy to fasten to suits.

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