Wedding Wednesday: Save the Dates

Choosing the stationery for our wedding was one of my favourite parts of wedding planning. As a graphic designer I was really excited to get the opportunity to be creative- I think the last time I sent out a physical invitation was when I was about 9 years old! We actually ended up not sending out save the dates for our wedding, opting for the invitation only, as I agonised over both the invitation designs and the guest list for several months.

Save the dates are very common in the USA, but are increasing in popularity here in the UK. They are usually a postcard consisting of a photo and the date of the wedding on, with further details about the wedding to follow at a later date. It's useful to send them out as soon as you book your wedding venue, i.e. as soon as your date is secure.

There are loads of cute and creative save the date ideas on Pinterest, and here's a few as inspiration to get you started.

If you'd like more save the date inspiration, you can see my graphic design board on Pinterest here.

Wedding Wednesday: Table Centrepieces

Choosing the centrepieces for our wedding was one of my favourite parts of wedding planning. You can really get creative and take it as an opportunity to personalise your day. Centrepieces can range from simple and rustic, to extravagant and elaborate. Some of the most popular centrepieces incorporate flowers and candelabras, but other common and contemporary options include birdcages, mirrors, fish bowls with floating candles, wishing trees, rose petals, books and balloons.

I have to admit my personal favourites always include flowers, but I'm one of those women who loves plants / flowers in the house all year round. For our centrepieces we shopped around for inspiration for quite a while until we knew what we wanted and where we could get that on a budget. Our flowers are being grown by family and we are placing them in oasis in £2 pink jugs from Wilkos (similar here), with the top table jug being a white version from IKEA (similar here). On our cake and table for cards we are using these very popular IKEA plant pots, which I already own. You can see what they look like with a plant in here.

If you'd like to see more centrepiece inspiration, you can check out my Pinterest board here!

The National Wedding Show 2014 at the NEC Birmingham

A few weeks ago I visited The National Wedding Show at the NEC Birmingham. I won a pair of VIP tickets from Bride de Force. Fleur & Hannah's blog and YouTube channel are really useful wedding planning resources, so don't forget to check them out. The National Wedding Show is the largest wedding fair in the UK, and is held once a year in London, Manchester and Birmingham. We're coming to the end of our wedding planning now but we still had a few suppliers to find, so I was keen to go. After all, you only get to be a bride once (with luck) so I was looking forward to enjoying the experience.

The National Wedding show I attended was held at the NEC Birmingham. The venue is a large exhibition centre, and we spent time walking around the show looking at different stalls and taking down information. Walking in I was immediately struck by the beauty of the wedding dresses. I already have my dress, but if you are a bride-to-be I couldn't recommend the National Wedding Show more. There were quite a few stalls, including one of the largest wedding dress suppliers in the UK, Berketex Bride. Many dresses were on sale and there were lots available to take away on the day. There were also changing facilities and we walked past many brides trying on dresses with their mums and bridesmaids in tow. This was really nice to see and you really felt the excitement of the brides looking forward to their wedding day.

Click on the images to enlarge

There were also many stalls selling veils, tiaras and bridal accessories, so it was very easy to get completely kitted out for your wedding day at the show. Other stalls available were for destination weddings, suit hire, musicians, magicians, wedding decorations, wedding magazines, Debenhams and John Lewis gift lists, photographers and lingerie. VIP visitors to the show got access to the VIP lounge, including a glass of wine, a beauty box of samples, Bare Minerals makeover and VIP seats for the catwalk.

The catwalk was one of my favourite parts of the day. They were held regularly every hour or so, and we watched the show at around 4.30pm before we left for the day. The show was really well produced; it was split into four parts, each with a different theme. The music was well mixed and brought a lot of energy, and the lighting was used to set the mood. There were many dresses and accessories on display, and suits for the groom. The one thing that could have been added to the show was dresses for the bridesmaids and mother-of-the-bride. I found that choosing these outfits with my maids can be more stressful than choosing my own dress so it would have been nice to have had some inspiration, particularly with hats/fascinators, which I didn't see on display at the show.

If you're a bride-to-be at the beginning of your wedding planning journey I would really recommend the National Wedding Show for a nice day out with your mum and bridesmaids. It's particularly useful if you are looking for local suppliers in the areas of London, Manchester and Birmingham. Have you been to the National Wedding Show? Did you find it a useful experience?

Wedding Wednesday: Boutonnières for the groom

For many grooms, their own wedding will be the first time they wear a boutonnière. Boutonnières are traditionally a single bloom, and worn above the heart on the left lapel of the jacket or coat. At weddings there are no set rules on who wears a boutonnière, but most couples choose for them to be worn by the groom, best man and ushers, and sometimes the bride and groom's fathers or brothers. The blooms in the boutonnieres usually match the flowers in the bride's bouquet. Below are a selection of boutonnieres to inspire you when choosing them for your wedding.

If you'd like more inspiration for the groom, you can follow my Pinterest board here.

Wedding Wednesday: How to choose your wedding favours

This week's Wedding Wednesday post is on the topic of wedding favours. The most popular and traditional favours in the UK are sugar covered almonds. Almonds as favours were historically used by the French aristocracy by the name Bomboniere, and five almonds were also used in Greece and the Middle East as a representation of health, wealth, fertility, happiness and long life.

Today wedding favours are still a common feature of most weddings, but couples are getting increasingly creative with favours. Favours can be almost anything, from sweet treats such as chocolates, to home made jam, cordial, plant seeds, and tea.

DIY favours are a great excuse for a bonding session with your bridesmaids or fiancé. They are also a good way to personalise your day. Favours can range from the expensive to the simple, but being on a budget doesn't mean you have to scrap favours. They are by no means compulsory, and for a while we considered not including them in order to cut down on cost, but after some research we discovered some great budget options that felt 'us' and suited our day. Below are some creative favour ideas that can be as expensive or as frugal as you like.

Wedding Wednesday: How to choose your wedding flowers

Ranunculus, peony bouquets

Choosing your wedding flowers can often be a bit of a minefield (albeit a very pretty one), particularly if you are on a budget. You may get lucky, in having a mother who loves flower arranging, or a florist or church-going friend who can help. For those of us who don't have these resources, here are some tips that may help you choose your flowers.

Think about the month you are due to get married. If you are due to get married in November and are dead set on peonies, you are going to end up disappointed. If you are keen on a particular flower, Google the month they are in season to see if they will be easy to get hold of. Here is a handy table which tells you when your flowers are in season.

The next thing to think about is budget. Some flowers are always more expensive, like orchids and lilies, but prices may vary dependant on which part of the world you live in. If you like the look of a particular flower but they are on the pricer end of the spectrum, it's often possible to get a similar look with a cheaper flower. For example, peonies are very popular choice with brides, but did you know you can get a very similar effect with ranunculus at a smaller price?

The colour scheme for your wedding is also important when choosing wedding flowers. You may think that you don't have one, but don't forget to take into consideration the colour of your bridesmaid and mother-of-the bride dresses and the colours of the venue. If the venue is already very multi-coloured, such as a brightly coloured modern hotel, you may want to choose flowers that are mainly white with green foliage. If your venue is plainer, such as a town hall or marquee, you may want a mix of bright flowers to bring interest to the room.

You should also have a think about how you want to use the flowers on your wedding day. Most brides have a bouquet, bouquets for their bridesmaids, corsages for their mother and grandmother, and boutonnieres for the groom, best man and ushers. Will you use the same flowers to decorate the church/ceremony room and the reception? Do you want flowers as centrepieces? Some brides also use flowers to decorate their wedding cake. You don't need to have all of these by any means but it would be very helpful for your florist to know what you need the flowers to do.
 

 
When choosing flowers for your bouquet, don't forget to take the style of your wedding dress into consideration. A large cascade bouquet may overpower a tight, slim fitting dress, whereas it would balance out a princess/prom style gown well. Likewise, a round bouquet would suit a modern city bride, but might look out of place on a loosely cut dress and boho bride.

If you'd like to see more wedding flower inspiration, you can check out my Pinterest board on wedding flowers here!

Wedding Wednesday: How to choose your wedding cake

One of the most fun parts of planning a wedding can be choosing the wedding cake. Having a white wedding cake is one wedding tradition that seems to have endured through the ages, and cutting the cake is often one of the first things you do together as a married couple. At the risk of sounding patronising, choosing the cake and going to tasting days can also be a good way to get the groom involved in the wedding planning- I know my groom has as many opinions on our cake as I do!

Professional vs Home Made

Most couples choose to get a cake made by a professional baker, as even if you are a keen baker yourself, nerves can get the better of you, and there may be difficulties in assembling, storing and transporting the cake to the venue. Your bakery / caterer will be an expert in these things so choosing a professionally made cake may take some of the stress out of your day. However, it is by no means impossible to make your own wedding cake! Lots of couples are increasingly choosing a tower of cupcakes as an alternative, (pictured below) and these would be a lot easier to make and transport to your venue.

Choosing your cake style

A fruitcake with marzipan icing is the traditional wedding cake in England, but this seems to be going out of style. It's rich, and isn't to everyone's taste, but keeps well. A common alternative is the traditional sponge cake, filled with jam and cream. A new trend in wedding cakes is the cheese cake- not a traditional cheesecake, but a cake of cheese disks piled on top of each other (pictured below). This allows for the layered effect but can often work out cheaper.

Increasingly common in the USA is the inclusion of a 'groom's cake'. This is an additional cake, usually smaller, and more 'fun' in that it isn't the traditional white colour or sponge flavoured, but more commonly chocolate. For our wedding, we are having the wedding cake chocolate, with a fudge bottom layer, with white icing, as we're both chocolate fiends but like the aesthetics of a traditional white cake.

Decorating your cake

This is often where you can really get creative with your cake. Most couples still opt for the traditional white icing, but a quirky alternative is the 'naked' cake, where the cake sits un-iced, its fillings on show (pictured above). This works well for a rustic themed wedding. Other popular ways of decorating a wedding cake range from the use of flowers, fruit, bunting, to a variety of cake toppers. Cake toppers can be a fun way of incorporating some of your personality into your wedding day. I should be doing a separate post on these so look out for that soon.

How many are you feeding?

Don't forget your guest list- numbers are crucial in knowing how large to order your cake. Make sure there's enough cake to go round, and don't forget to include yourselves! I've included a handy cake sizing chart below to help you to size your cake. It's always better to have too much than too little cake- don't short change your guests, especially if you are serving your cake as pudding, rather than in addition to a pudding course, as we are!

 
For more cake inspiration, check out my Pinterest board here!