Real Quirky Music-Themed Wedding: John & Jane - Part 2

This wonderful quirky wedding is sure to inspire any brides wanting to organise their wedding in their own fabulous style, without worrying too much about tradition. Just take a look at gorgeous bride, Jane's stunning silver grey wedding gown! Unique, elegant, and definitely re-wearable. There are tonnes of wedding ideas worth stealing from Jane and John's fun outdoor wedding reception. I love the cosy fire-pit - a great idea for cold English weddings, where you could toast marshmallows and snug around in blankets. The open safari-style marquee makes for a warm atmosphere, and I love the simple but sweet, twiggy table flowers. Homemade ginger beer and produce complete the family atmosphere, and the vintage water ewer and jug are a lovely way to welcome your guests to wash their hands before they sit down to eat. It's a wedding set in rustic heaven! Huge thanks to We Love Pictures for their gorgeous work, don't miss Part 1 of their pictures here.

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Real Quirky Music-Themed Wedding: John & Jane

There's nothing I like better than stumbling across a fabulous quirky wedding day, shot by one of my favourite photography teams! It makes my Friday! Just take a look at these gorgeous music themed big day, by South African photographers We Love Pictures. The gorgeous John and Jane are both professional musicians, and entertained their guests with a brilliant duet they wrote specially for their big day. Wedding favours were copies of their full-length album recorded for the event, table numbers were cut out of musical scores, and there we not one but two wedding bands. Other details I love include Jane's beautiful grey wedding dress, the hay-bale seats, the asile decorated with natural cotton bolls, Jane arriving in a cart pulled by a donkey called Abram, the bridesmaids in their dresses with tails {!), and the boys in top hats decorated with ears! More fabulous reception details coming soon. Huge thanks to We Love Pictures for their gorgeous work.

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How To Make a Wedding Flower Crown

One wedding trend that looks set to run and run is the boho look. With Kate Moss setting the tone with her festival themed wedding, and teepee weddings huge for summer 2012, I'm betting 2013 will be the year of the boho bride. For a fun and easy way to create the boho look, dress your bridesmaids in flower crowns. Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, these versatile accessories can look as glamorous, or as country-chic as you like. An added plus is their super easy to DIY - partly thanks to this brilliant tutorial by Brittany Watson Jepsen via Etsy Weddings. Brittany is easily one of my favourite DIY bloggers - she lives in Denmark, and writes a fabulous blog called The House That Lars Built, with tonnes of DIY wedding ideas and inspiration.

{Photo Credit} Photography by Brittany Watson Jepsen and Amanda Thomsen.

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Custom Wedding Favour Bags

Whatever you choose for your wedding favours, I'd be tempted to house them in these cute little muslin bags. Discovered on one of my many wonders around the wedding web world, they're made by the lovely ladies over at The Wedding Chicks, and they come in a dozen pretty designs. Personalise them with your wedding date and your names, and fill them with sweets, a handmade biscuits, or little keepsakes. You could even stuff them with lavender to make DIY scented bags. The numbered bag would make the perfect Save the Date, or send it as an extra detail with your wedding stationery. If you're not keen on the designs - you could always buy your own via Etsy, and personalise with a stamp.

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Real Colourful Vineyard Wedding: Blake & Ashley

Bold bright colours are much harder to style, but create such memorable weddings, that if you've got the guts then you should go for it. Californian couple Blake and Ashley picked fuschia pink and lemon yellow for their colour scheme, and in the hot bright west-coast light, it all came together beautifully. Their vineyard venue was naturally gorgeous, so they kept their florals to a minimum, with bundles of tulips and a scattering of petals up the aisle. Table displays were cleverly filled with sliced oranges, a fantastic idea to steal for your own big day. I'm also loving how the place markers were wedged into a corks, and the tables named after grapes, all great ways to continue the vineyard theme. Don't miss Ashley's amazing pink shoes - she even spelt out 'I Do' in blue sequins on the soles, as a super-cool 'something blue'. Stunning photos, as ever, from the mega-talented Sarah Yates Photography.

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Real Vintage Seaside & Sweetie Wedding: Kate & Iain - Part 2

Any bride planning to hire a 'blank canvas venue' will find huge inspiration from Katie and Iain's clever vintage theming of their local Town Hall in Part 2 of these gorgeous wedding. With the help of their florist, Foxtail Liley, they created a pastel and seaside wedding wonderland, with hundreds of pretty flower displays, pastel bunting, swathes of wavy fabric, a vintage suitcase for guests' messages and pretty birdcage details. With subtle seashells on the chandeliers, and vintage seaside postcards, Katie and Iain reflected their seaside location without going overboard and spending a fortune. Thrifty DIY ideas to steal include the vintage sweetie favour bar, the gorgeous Waitrose wedding cake and asking your florist to help set up, saving the cost of a full wedding planner. Big love to Laura Babb for sending over this fabulous wedding, don't miss Part 1 here.

Our photographer was Laura Babb. We found her after we had a difference of opinion with our previous photographer over our engagement shoot - which we just weren’t happy with. Laura was recommended by a friend and we knew as soon as we saw her work that she fitted our style – soft, quirky, fine art photography - exactly what we wanted.

Our wedding theme was 1950s Vintage Seaside with pastel colours.

My Uncle is a trustee of the newly refurbished hall so it was an obvious choice – it is also a five minute walk from the church! The hall needed a lot of work to make it look 'wedding' so we hired local Southwold florist Foxtail Lily and discussed a Vintage Seaside theme. 

After many meetings we came to the eventual vision – soft blues and ice cream colours, bunting, a vintage suitcase and lots of beautiful floral displays.

Our DIY projects included the vintage suitcase for guests' cards, which I created using ribbon and vintage postcards. We also designed the sweetie favour bar. Everything was set up by our florists, Foxtail Liley.

For our wedding favours, we had a pick-your-own sweetie bar, with old-style vintage sweets, bought by my husband’s parents from their local Olde Watermill shop in Lancashire. We bought glass apothocary jars online.

Our wedding cake was bought from Waitrose. We loved the vintage look and cream colour and thought it fitted the theme perfectly. We had layers of fruit and Victoria sponge. It was lovely.

My advice for future brides, is that in an ideal world hire a wedding planner! Other than that, try to relax – your big day will happen and it will be wonderful, so try not to get bogged down chasing suppliers. It all comes together in the end. Also – keep lots of lists!

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