Showing posts with label Gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gold. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

An Easy Wedding Decoration DIY

You don't have to be a graffiti artist to fall in love with spray paint. Any crafter worth her salt knows it's the easiest tool for fast, effective results. You can easily turn the mundane into something incredible. My friends recently celebrated their wedding at an incredible venue in East London. They needed to personalise the reception space, but didn't have much of a budget. For under a £100 they bought dozens of white paper lanterns, and saved jam-jars. A simple spray of neon spray paint, and a bag of Ikea tea-lights, and they had a brilliant, original wedding decorations {like these}. My colour of choice is gold - particularly for autumn and winter weddings. Just take a look at these fantastic DIY ideas - find more on my Pinterest page.





Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Love Before the Big Day? Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and check out our Pinterest boards. Don't miss a single post - sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin! 

Friday, June 5, 2015

Glittery Glamorous Bridal Accessories

One of my girlfriends got married last weekend and wore the most incredible Cinderella shoes ever! They were Jimmy Choo's, and cost a crazy amount of money, but they've inspired me to go looking for glittery treats for your big day. So whether you're going for a Grecian look, an Art Deco style, or want to be a bling-y bride, you shall go to the ball!


{I want this!} Clockwise from top left 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

Love Before the Big Day? Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and check out our Pinterest boards. Don't miss a single post - sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin! 

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Wedding Trends of 2015 - Classy Chevrons

Polka-dots, stripes, and tartan, they've all had their day. This wedding season is all about chevrons. The humble zig-zag is finally making its mark. Whether you chose a sequinned table cloth, a patterned paper straw, or a sexy envelope liner, add the classy chevron to your big day. Here's a selection of my favourite looks - find more on my Pinterest Board.



Sequinned Chevron Table Runner, £24.40 from Mrs Freund & Co


1. Sequinned Chevron Table Runner, £24.40 from Mrs Freund & Co | 2. Wedding cake by the Sophie Bifield Cake Company


1. Chevron macaroons, picture by Arielle Doneson Photography. See more from this wedding shoot on Elizabeth Anne Designs | 2. Chevron diamond wedding ring, £712 by MimimalVS


1. Champagne Blush & White Chevron Sequin Table Runner, £22 by The Sweet Hostess | 2.  Chevron paper bags, picture by Laura Murray Photography. See more from this wedding shoot on Martha Stewart Weddings. Buy similar gold paper chevron bags.

Love Before the Big Day? Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and check out our Pinterest boards. Don't miss a single post - sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin! 

Friday, April 3, 2015

A Pretty Pastel Blue Winter Wedding with a Tea-Party Theme

After years of not receiving many winter weddings, my inbox is suddenly full of lovely photographs! The latest bride to choose January for her big day is Natalie, and I've fallen for her stunning ice blue and gold colour palette. Natalie's Cotton and Crumbs cake was the first thing she ordered, and the inspiration for the rest of her wedding. I love its tea-cup topper, and ornate lace icing, but there's plenty of other wedding details for you - from the gorgeous Coast bridesmaid maxi-dresses, Natalie's stunning Charlie Brear gown and Glenn's specially tailored suit. Enjoy! Many thanks to the lovely Kayleigh Pope for sending over these lovely wedding pictures.



We got married in Coombe Abbey Hotel on 31st January 2015. We didn't actually view many venues because we wanted something local to make things easier for my family.





I'm not a typical bride and I wanted my wedding dress to be very simple, I choose a stunning Charlie Brear silk slip, with a beautiful handmade lace dress overlay.


I had my hair and make-up done on the day by Chloe McCall and Kelly Cooper Hairdressing.


I found it in The Wedding Club in Birmingham, they have the most amazing collection of less traditional yet stylish and elegant dresses.






My shoes were Gucci and on the border of trashy yet classy. This is what drew me to them - the bright yellow gold metallic was really appealing, and I just had to have them!


 I chose a very long veil with a lace trim by Joyce Jackson. This came from The Wedding Club as well.


Glenn's suit was from Marks and Spencer, and he had the waistcoat specially tailored into a horseshoe style to make it unique to him for our wedding day.


His tie and pocket handkerchief matched the blue of my bridesmaids' dresses, and he also had the most amazing two-toned shoes from Ted Baker.


Dressing my bridesmaids was hard - I had all the girls' outfits before I even choose mine - I was so determined to get it right. I had eleven bridesmaids including flower girls, and I wanted them all to feel beautiful in the dresses we choose.


I didn't choose typical bridesmaids dresses - they were a beautiful pastel blue maxi dress from Coast teamed with a fur scarf from Miss Selfridges. The flower girls had very simple white dresses from Monsoon.


Our wedding florist was Arcadia on the Binley Road in Coventry. The florist there, Hayley, was really good. I showed a number of pictures on Pinterest and she created her own version for our wedding day.


I had white roses and gypsophila in my bouquet, and the bridesmaids had small hand-tied bunches of gypsophila.



The men had gypsophila button holes, and Glenn had a single white rose lapel.



Kayleigh Pope was our wedding photographer and I can't recommended her highly enough. 


One of Kayleigh's first shoots was a charity football match in honour of my late brother and it felt right when we met her to discuss the wedding.




Our theme colours were white, gold, pastel pink and blue, with lace detailing.




My dear friend and bridesmaid Junie Poonie designed and created our wedding stationery. What made it extra special is that she designed the lace print with roses created especially for us. June is extraordinarily talented.


We wanted to keep it simple, we had a traditional afternoon tea with our own crockery. It was all mis-matched but that added a little fun to the occasion. 


We had candelabras on the tables so we opted for a reef of gypsophila at the base. It looked really simple and pretty.


We had bone-china trios as our wedding favours. It made everything more personal on the day, plus every time our guests have a cup of tea, they can be reminded of our wedding.


Our wedding cake was the first thing that we ordered, and everything else feel into place once the cake had been designed, with its gold and pastel blue icing, and tea-cup topper.


It was my whole wedding inspiration. Tracy from Cotton and Crumbs is so talented and made the most beautiful four tier cake. It tasted as good as it looked.


Weddings are hard work and require a lot of attention, but it was all worth it on the day! My advice to brides is to no rush into the planning. Take your time and enjoy each and every second. Often we forget about ourselves, by putting everyone else first, but try and remember whose day it is, it all goes by far to fast.


Love Before the Big Day? Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and check out our Pinterest boards. Don't miss a single post - sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Going for Gold Wedding Shoes

*Full disclosure* - this is a completely biased blog post. I still hold a candle for my gold Halston Heritage wedding day heels {bought for a steal on The Outnet}. So I've gone searching for similar shoes on your behalf, and found a delicious selection on Shopbop. I've even included glamorous flats for comfortable late-night dancing! What do you think? Do you fancy going for gold on your wedding day?



{I want this!} 1. Diane von Furstenberg Viola Too Sandals, £238.70 | 2. Schutz Dunna Sandals, £122.76 | 
3. Badgley Mischka Melany II Wedge Sandals, £146.63 | 4. Badgley Mischka Mayee Flat Thong Sandals, £67.52 | 5. Badgley Mischka Glenna Espadrille Wedges, £146.63 | 6. Badgley Mischka Melinda II Flat Sandals, £112.53 | 
7. Schutz Drauzia Woven Sandals, £136.40 

Love Before the Big Day? Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and check out our Pinterest boards. Don't miss a single post - sign up to our free RSS feed on BlogLovin! 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Real Rustic Vintage Wedding: Camille & Chris - Part 2

It's time for the wedding reception pictures from this amazing detail-filled rustic, country wedding! With elegant parasols, handmade wedding favours, pretty doily decorations, and vintage fabulousness, you're going to want to copy every wedding detail for your own big day. Camille and Chris celebrated their destination wedding in Quebec in Canada, so all their DIY details were planned at a distance - no small feat! I love how they used luggage tags and a French Bistro style mirror as their table plan, and the pretty lace curtain makes the perfect backdrop for a photo booth. Other pretty reception decorations include the vintage lace table runners, the matching doily table numbers and the simple baby's breath and hydrangea wedding flowers. Love! Take a look at Camille's answers to the Before the Big Day's Bride's Questionnaire, for all her DIY projects and advice. Don't miss Part 1 of this gorgeous wedding here....coming soon Part 3, going live later today. Beautiful pictures published with thanks to the hugely talented Jonny and Morgane from M&J Photography.





We got married on July 7, 2012 in Mille-Isles in the province of Quebec, Canada, at the Fiddler Lake Resort. We visited several venues looking for a country-ish place where we would be celebrating our wedding outdoors, with the sun and mild temperatures of summer. 



We opted for the Fiddler Lake Resort because all our guests would be able to enjoy great authentic country cottages for a weekend {and week for those coming from overseas}. Also the Resort gave us 'carte blanche' for our wedding preparation, including no time limit for the party!


All of our decor was pretty much a DIY décor. We had a lot of fun looking for vintage, simple yet chic details and giving a second life to some furniture and pieces we found. Our theme was vintage-country and we asked our guests feel free to dress comfortably and to add a touch of vintage in their look! 

Our wedding color scheme built over time, as we were finding decor pieces bit by bit. Overall, we wanted to have white or cream flowers, beige table clothes and touches of cream lace here and there, as well a natural wood.



For our wedding favours, we made little candy bags out of brown paper bags, decorated with white doilies, and placed at each seat. We had the candies brought from France, the kind we know kids and adults are addicted to!

 We also had a lot of DIY projects but the funniest was making our lips and moustache favours for our guests! My handy husband mastered his scissors like no one, so we were done quickly! 


Our stationery kind of inspired our wedding décor. We chose them early in our planning, and bought them online at Minted. The process was so easy, I'd recommend it to any couple! We loved the lips and moustache vintage design, customized the text, and got our cards in no time.




We had tonnes of DIY projects, and worked as a team for months. I would buy used pieces in flea markets and Chris would help me give them a second life. We looked both for ideas online and shopped together - we loved it planning our wedding, and we'd do it again! Inspecting venues, talking budget, looking for suppliers, finding unique pieces everywhere and anywhere, making it our own, negotiating rates, thinking the entire day through and wanting the best to enjoy our time with friends and family - it was a fantastic experience!

We picked flowers at the last minute from a local florist. We ordered them by phone a week before the wedding! Arranging the flowers was another one of our DIY projects: we ordered a bunch of white hydrangeas in bulk, and placed in mason jars, along with some gypsophile or baby's breath.

We chose M&J Photography for our wedding photographers. We flew them all the way from France because they capture moments in a way that is so natural, without posing too much and from two different angles. Each one of them also accompanied my husband and me while we were getting ready, to be pictured separately. 

Jonny and Morgane are so easy to work with, and use everything they can to make the shots interesting and reminding us of the venue we chose. They just blended in with our guests so naturally that we did not feel that we had "paparazzi" at our wedding, something that often annoying for guests who want to approach the bride and groom!




My advice? Find compromises with your future husband by listening to each other's wish list and making priorities out of it. We both ended up getting the most important things we wanted! Don't take any suppliers for granted: our DJ abandoned the ship a week before the wedding and even the most professional suppliers need some directions and a good brief on how you want things to run before the event. If it is a destination wedding, guests should take care of their own accommodations and travel details, as the couple can quickly become travel agency and tourist bureau! 



♥ Want to see DIY wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about rustic weddings? ♥
If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for our free newsletter
Before the Big Day - the Best UK Wedding Blog.