Blog: vintage wedding
Charlie Charlie

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

Charlie

Floaty Mermaid Bridal Etsy dress and dried bouquet from The Artisan Dried Flower Company // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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…

Village hall wedding with vintage chairs // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Homemade Just Married banner // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Dried flower bridal hair flowers // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Pink and yellow cupcake wedding cake with peas in a pod cake topper // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Chalkboard order of wedding // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

Vic and Farid's pretty country fete wedding with floral bunting, an Etsy dress and a dried flower meadow bouquet // Little Caravan Photography // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky’s hunt for vintage glass bowls and doilies to add dash of vintage charm to her wedding tea party

Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Vicky's hunt for vintage glass bowls and doilies to add dash of vintage to her wedding tea party

As I am so often admitting, I have been fairly ‘behind’ (a polite way of putting it!) with keeping up with last years lovely TNWC Real Brides. Recently we featured Fern’s beautiful wedding, and now I am thrilled to be bringing you a couple of catch-up posts from Vicky.

She did an incredible job of collecting a selection of vintage glass bowls, vases and doilies to add a relaxed vintage vibe to her wedding tea party. Her thriftiness paid off with a fantastic sounding haul – can’t wait to see how it looked all put together on her wedding day!

Over to Vicky…

We always wanted our wedding to have quite a relaxed vintage feel to it but didn’t want to spend too much money in achieving this, preferring to be able to invite more people if money allowed. I’ve always loved the mismatched vintage china that lots of people use but the cost of hiring the vintage crockery was too much to comfortably justify and after a quick scout around charity shops I wasn’t confident that we’d ever collect enough or it would work out any cheaper!

Vintage glass bowls // The Natural Wedding Company

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Charlie 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

become_a_tnwc_real_bride

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

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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.

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Charlie Charlie

Colette and Simon’s vintage eco wedding with an original 1950s wedding dress, homegrown flowers and a vegan feast

Charlie

Colette and Simon’s vintage eco wedding – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Vintage eco wedding

Such a pretty wedding today! Do I say that every time? But each and every wedding is beautiful, and yet so different and personal to the couple. Colette and Simon got married in August on the Cornish coast (you might recognise their wedding venue from last week’s wedding), with a real vintage-cum-eco feel.

Colette told me that for her and Simon, “it wasn’t too much about the look, rather more about the feel we wanted to create which was, beautiful, relaxed, sustainable, vegan and fun, fun, fun!”

I’ll let you see for yourselves – over to Colette and exquisite photography from Mark Tattersall (TNWC recommended wedding photographer and Colette’s brother-in-law!)…

Vintage bride in faux fur stole – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Homegrown wedding flowers in mismatched glass bottles – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Origami paper crane wedding ceremony decorations – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Colourful vintage inspired baby bridesmaid dress – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

“We wanted a kind of a mixture between an eco wedding, a vintage themed wedding – 50s style and a handmade really relaxed wedding. This kind of just reflects our favourite kinds of weddings and our personal likes and dislikes. We wanted everyone to be comfortable and to have lots of fun.”

Homegrown purple and yellow bridal bouquet with buddelia and sunflowers – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Vintage inspired bride and groom with paper crane ceremony decorations – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

Homegrown summer wedding flowers in vintage bottles – photography http://www.mark-tattersall.co.uk/

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Charlie Charlie

Get a vintage, rustic or festival look for your wedding flowers with ideas and inspiration from Fletcher & Foley

Charlie

Wedding flower styling with garden roses, hawthorn, and autumn fruits by Fletcher & Foley

I can hardly believe that Christmas is so near now!  This year has gone by in such a whirlwind for me what with having little Tilly at the end of the summer, and I imagine all of your brides- and grooms-to-be who are getting hitched next summer will be feeling like it’s not long now once the New Year is upon us.

Today I have another lovely treat from one of our recommended wedding suppliers.  This guest post has been put together by Joanne of Fletcher & Foley (a fab Manchester based florist) using the same selection of flowers and foliage, but in three quite different styles: Rustic, Vintage, and ‘Wedstival’.  I love the selection of old pots Joanne’s used for the vintage styling, but I most like her use of colour for the ‘Wedstival’ theme, perfect for all of you inspired by summer festivals for your wedding day.

Over to Joanne…

Colourful festival inspired wedding flowers by Fletcher & Foley

Autumnal festival style wedding flowers by Fletcher & Foley

Get the look

Getting the styling right for your wedding can be a daunting prospect.  So much to think of.  In fact writing this blog I’m a little worried myself  as to where to start.  Ok, let’s start with a little inspiration, and this can come from anywhere.  Without rambling too much, a visit from my mother-in-law means a whole heap of glossy magazines will be left behind.  A trend piece in Vogue.  It screams autumn.

Inspiration for wedding flowers from magazines

Using key words may help.  For this little project I’m going to break it down into three wedding trends.  Rustic, Vintage and Wedstival.

See what we’re doing here?  Building up a picture of the overall feel for the big day by taking it slowly. Not getting bogged down in too much detail. No micro managing. Giving yourself a break so you can enjoy it.

The flowers

From a florist’s viewpoint, it doesn’t matter if you know nothing about flowers.  Give us some idea of colour and seasonality or if you prefer a particular flower and let us do the work.  Or even just tell us what you don’t like. That can often guide us in the right direction too.

Hydrangeas and ferns in vintage pots by Fletcher & Foley

I used the following flowers and foliage for the three wedding themes: Amaranthus, Dahlia, Free Spirit and Coffee Break Roses, Sedum, Hydrangea, Elder Berries, Nigella (Love in the Mist), Rosemary, Aster, Cornflower, Eryngium, Hawthorn, Scabious Seed Head, Mokara orchid, Rowan, and Virginia Creeper.

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Izzy Izzy

Get a free goody bag at White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair in Cheshire on Sunday 6th October 2013

Izzy

White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair

Here at The Natural Wedding Company we are delighted to tell all you brides-to-be that White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair is returning to Cheshire on October 6th 2013.  This autumn wedding fair promises to be a ‘whimsical wedding wonderland designed for the vintage inspired modern bride’, and we’ve got the opportunity for you to win one of 25 goody bags – more details below!

Held at the beautiful “Festival Hall” a 1920’s ballroom in Alderley Edge, this new venue for White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair will host host 25 independent bridal suppliers from across Manchester and Cheshire, who specialise in providing services and products with a twist on tradition.

Pebble in the Pond

Coming up later in the month we will be hosting the White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair competition (here’s details of the last one we ran), where one lucky bride-to-be will win a bundle of fab wedding prizes – so put Wednesday 25th September in your diary and be sure to check the blog that day to find out how you can enter.

Today though, White Memoirs Vintage Wedding Fair has 25 goody bags to give away to 25 lucky readers of The Natural Wedding Company blog.  Find out how you could win one below.

Vintage wedding hair and make-up

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Charlie Charlie

Would you like to be one of our next TNWC Real Brides? We’d love you to come and share your wedding plans with our readers!

Charlie

become_a_tnwc_real_bride

One of the best things I’ve done on the blog is to open it up to other real brides to share their wedding planning experiences – this year I’ve already had six fabulous girlies become my TNWC Real Brides.  As we head towards the autumn and their wedding days, I am looking for some new TNWC Real Brides to start blogging around September 2013.

From this year’s experience I am looking for another group of brides-to-be who’d like to share their plans for a natural, eco-friendly, seasonal, vintage and homemade wedding.

Each of this year’s TNWC Real Brides had a personalised illustration created of them and their Mr-to-be with a decorative border reflecting their wedding plans – I’m hopeful that my sister Izzy Burton who designed these will be up for doing them for my next TNWC Real Brides too!

Izzy Burton illustration

To get an idea of what it might like to blog as a TNWC Real Bride take a look at the blog posts from our six current brides-to-be…

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Charlie Charlie

TNWC Real Brides: Myfanwy tells us about her embroidered napkins, personalised vintage hankies and knitted napkin rings

Charlie

Izzy Burton illustration

The one thing all our TNWC Real Brides have in common is that they are all creating handmade or homemade weddings to some extent, whether it be designing wedding invitations, sowing wildflower seeds around their ceremony site, making bridesmaid gifts, or brewing up elderflower champagne.

One things for sure, of all our brides-to-be Myfawny is the one whipping up a sewing storm of beautiful items for her autumn wedding to Tom.  Today she shares some of her many wedding related sewing projects – from embroidering motifs onto their napkins, to personalising vintage hankies – and I’m sure that you’ll find some inspiration here for your own wedding.

Over to Myfanwy…

Vintage Tablecloths

Over the winter we did a lot of our planing and preparations including a lot of collecting.  This is something we have done ever since we set the wedding date and decided on the venue.

We are not white tablecloth people!  Mainly because one of us will spill something on them before the big day!  We did not want round tables covered in perfect white tablecloths, at some weddings it looks great, just not ours.

Vintage tablecloths

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Charlie Charlie

Jessica and Paul’s natural countryside wedding with a Georgian mansion ceremony and magical woodland evening party

Charlie

Natural countryside wedding

Natural countryside wedding

This week I’m going to spoil you all with another gorgeous real wedding – one in which the groom actually built a beautiful timber framed tent for their wedding reception in a woodland.  It really looks as magical as it sounds!  Wow, wow, wow.

Woodland wedding yurt lit up a night

Rustic wood table name holders

Jessica and Paul were married in Kent in September 2012 and celebrated their wedding with a ceremony and reception in a Georgian manor followed by a magical woodland after party.

Country manor house wedding

Bottles of Sloe Gin wedding favours

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Charlie Charlie

Becoming ‘A Natural Wedding Bride’ – come and join me to share your wedding plans on the blog with all my other brides

Charlie

Becoming A Natural Wedding Bride

Please note as of February 2013 I have closed applications for this feature.  However, if you are planning a wedding for 2014 and are interested in being a guest bride blogger later in the year, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at charlie@thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk.

I thought it was about time I opened up these pages to someone else’s wedding plans, a bride-to-be who’s creating a handmade wedding that fits with my ethos of natural, eco-friendly, seasonal, vintage and homemade.

I get so many emails from creative couples who are crafting wonderful sounding wedding days that I’d like you all to have a voice here too, and to inspire others who are just starting out on this mad wedding journey.

vintage rose bridesmaid dress ideas

I don’t have a specific number of contributors that I’m looking for, it seemed a bit daft to request a certain number when it’s the first time I’ve tried it, I would just like to open up the invitation for you to get in contact if you’re interested and keen.

Brown craft wedding menu and country garden flowers

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