Hey love,

The below link is the venue in Camden I was telling you about
www.whiteweddingclub.com – I forgot to say that we all have
to dress up as a trashy bride!

So I will be emulating… x

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Ha ha ha ha!!! LOVE IT.
Slight issue mind… you don’t have bapps like that!! Or such style…
So good luck with emulating!!

Had a look at the venue.. like it alot- the dance floor sounds right
up our street (post 2 bottles of Bubbles)… Only thing is…
Do you want to share your venue with other hens??

I think you should hold the glory alone. Can you imagine how competitive we will be??!!
There will be feathers flying! Ha ha ha!

Let’s keep hunting… but I really need your list of invitees!!!
Need to save the date & get some idea of numbers which will help pick the venue.

Cluck Cluck xxx

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Yeah you’re right- I don’t want to share! Its MY night xxx

xxx

I’m a big penny-pincher (when I can be bothered) so these voucher codes got me thinking… some much needed saving of the wedding pounds!! ££

Courtesy of VoucherCodes.co.uk

Hotel deals for your guests!
Hotels.com
*Exclusive* 10% Off Bookings Including Hotels in the Up to 40% Off Sale
Travelodge
£15 Off Flexible Rate Room Bookings

Something to line the stomach pre-hen or stag do…
Strada
*Exclusive* 2 for 1 Mains This Friday
PizzaExpress
£10 Meal Deal Plus *Exclusive* PizzaExpress Weekends – 3 Courses Only £12.50

Need an outift or something for the Bridesmaids??
Warehouse
Up to 50% Off in the Sale Plus *Exclusive* Free Delivery
Debenhams
Up to 50% Off in the Sale Plus *Exclusive* Free Delivery

Wedding Hair!
TONI&GUY
*Exclusive* 20% Off Cut and/or Colour

Need to get Bridal Bodided maybe?!
Fitness First
*Exclusive* Free 3 Day Gym Pass for You and a Friend Plus Free Health Check

Or maybe a fabulous holiday hen do or Honeymoon…
lowcostholidays.com
*Exclusive* £20 Off Flight and Hotel Bookings Over £200

Enjoy!!
Charlotte x

Hey wedding fans!

I wanted to show you our table plan today – because it was home made and I think it looked fab!

The table plan at our wedding was in the end home made. I had toyed with the idea of getting one made but we just ran out of time, and in the end Matt’s mum said she would do it – and it looked fab!

We named all our tables after places in Brixton. We got a map of Brixton, and then took it to the printers who blew it up for us.

Our top table was named after The Dogstar, which is where Matt and I first met after I had been to a Primal Scream gig at Brixton Academy.

Each table had a photo of the place it was named after, and a short paragraph on the other side of the table card as to why that place is linked to me and Matt.

We both love living in Brixton, so we thought it was cool to be able to include it!

Hope you like it too!

Love

Emma xxx

Hello Wednesday!

While we are on the Blue Peter vibe, I wanted to show you all our ideas for name places. Well actually, this was Matt’s mum’s genius idea.

So here we go on how to do it!

Step 1: Get a piece of paper for each guest

Step 2: Draw a circle template on each one, placemat size.

Step 3: Cut them out (yes this is tedious I am not going to lie!)

Step 4: Write everyone’s name on each one in felt tip

That’s it!

We then put them on the tables as name places so people knew where to sit, and then we put little jam jars on the tables full of felt tip pens. Inside the menu, we wrote

‘You will notice you have been given a blank paper placemat and several jars of felt tip pens. The rest is up to you!’

All the guest decorated their own placemat, and then afterwards we collected them all up – and stuck them all up at the BBQ we had the next day so everyone could see them. We are going to bind them all together into a book to keep. We thought it was more fun than a guest book!

And before you ask, yes we did get a fairly large amount of rude drawings… boys will be boys eh?

Love

Emma xx

Morning wedding cadets!

Huuray it’s Friday! And I’m so darn excited about this post!

I was on twitter a few months ago when I came across Sweet Days and Roses.  I thought the website was so gorgeous that I emailed them to say so, and got a such a lovely message back from Janey Butler, the founder of Sweet Days and Roses that I thought I would write all about them today, because I want you all to see how fabulous it is.

Sweet Days and Roses is a bespoke wedding planning company based in Cheshire, specialising in vintage weddings.

Their philosophy is all about creating weddings that are not only visually stunning, but unique and individual and completely tailored to the bride and groom.

If you have ever wanted a wedding fairy godmother to come and take care of every aspect of your wedding, Janey is it! She takes care of every detail of the wedding, whether you need her advice on wedding dresses, cakes and bridal showers, to rings, invitations, favours, gifts, flowers and photos.

All photography in this post is by Lovegrove Photography.  Images used in this post have also been posted previously on the very beautiful Love My Dress blog, and  the lovely Hummingbird Cards Blog.

Choosing your wedding venue is a big descision.  Janey uses a database of properties to help her brides choose the place best suited to their big day – for example Babington House, seen here on the left. She says:

‘The database contains everything from gorgeous country houses, National Trust properties, elegant registry offices and rustic barns to beautiful, old churches, stunning hotels and intimate garden party settings, so we will help find the perfect wedding venue for you’

Janey takes her inspiration from many different things, and when we asked her if she could name a few she told us Roses (of course!), wild flowers, sage greens, pale antique pinks and creamy ivory colours, old mother of pearl buttons, junk shops, pretty china tea cups filled with garden flowers, photos in gorgeous antique picture frames, France, Lavender and old linen and lace.

Her use of these influences is evident.  For example, these flower girl dresses were Janeys work.  She told us:

‘We designed the flower girls dresses and had sewn on the front the vintage silk
roses which were found in an antique shop.’

What I liked the most about Sweet Days and  Roses was the massive attention to detail.

Sweet Days and Roses makes and sells these pretty hairslides, and also customised the bag of the bride too!

My favourite flowers, like Janey’s, are roses (Janey is a keen gardener and if you want to see something REALLY pretty then go on her facebook page and have a look at her garden! I think I actually want to live in her shed!

Here are some absolutely beautiful flowers that Janey has used –  pale pink peonies and antique coloured roses.

Janey says that;

‘During our initial meeting, we will put together a wedding design and colour theme, creating a special mood board that will help us to create a wedding that is not only beautiful and unique to you, but also something that is full of personal touches and details that will wow and surprise your guests’.

Janey uses gorgeous little touches, for example; these Antique urns in the church filled with cottage garden flowers, and Diptyque Jasmine scented candles to add to the atmosphere.

Another detail I love is these order of service cards. Again Janey tells us that;

‘We are constantly searching for wonderful and individual pieces that enable our vintage weddings to be unique, beautiful and unlike any other’.

At the reception again attention to detail continues. Janey says:

‘We sourced these painted frames. The pretty picture is a photocopy of a gorgeous piece of fabric that we found and we photcopied onto tracing paper. We then imposed the table numbers onto this with the printer’

And how about these for beautiful favours? Janey told us that;

‘Sweet Days and Roses makes these vintage linen lavender pouches with antique lace, old mother of pearl buttons and faux roses. They also have tiny pearls, rhinestones and crystals sewn on and are lovely as ladies favours’.

It was little details like these hand made lavender bags attached to old french handles, and this amazing cake which was covered with sugar roses, that made me love all of Sweet Days and roses work when I saw it.

Janey really gets to know all her bride and grooms, and speaking from experience I know that she is one of the most lovely people I have ever spoken too!

I hope you have all enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I have! They have made me feel all romantic and dreamy (feel like should go and swoon around a field lying in flowers in the sunshine now)!

To speak to Janey, contact her via her website here.

Love

Emma xx

Hello Wednesday!

My favourite part of our wedding was the ceremony itself. We were lucky enough to get married in St John’s RC Cathedral in Norwich, which was a really beautiful venue.

Because it is so big, where we were standing was quite far in front of where all the guests were sitting, which meant that it really felt like we were the only ones in there at some points which was really nice (not that it was nice to feel like we didn’t have any guests but it didn’t feel as overwhelming!

We had 3 hyms, ‘Vow to Thee My Country’, which is my favourite, ‘Amazing Grace’, which was my Nanna and Poppa’s favourite (so it was nice to remember them with), and ‘How Great Though Art’, which was Matt’s Grandma’s favourite.

We had two readings. The first was our religious reading, which was a selection of several parts from ‘Song of Solomon’. This was read very beautifully by Charlotte (hurray!), as you can see in the picture above! The second was ‘Why Marriage’ by Mari Nicols Hanning. This was read by our friend Obi. We felt this summed up our reasons for wanting to get married perfectly. It reads:

Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body…

Because with this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.

Matt also read this as part of his speech later on, which was lovely.

Everyone said that we looked like we were having a really good time during the ceremony, but to be honest I think it was more we couldn’t help laugh, as several things went slightly askew… first the microphone cut out as we were walking down the aisle (it went boom quite loudly, I thought for one minute it was a sign, ha!), so a lot of people couldn’t quite hear us, which to be honest was just as well in one part, where Father James got my surname wrong! It was just like Four Weddings and a Funeral! Hahaha!

As I said my name right – we were all ok (although we did have to check with the registrar)!

Matthew also tripped over my veil when we walked up to do our vows – bless him, it was rather long, I think he got confused…

We then got all of Matthew’s younger cousins to do the bidding prayers, which was nice because it got them all involved in the ceremony.

We walked back up the aisle to ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles (the organist played it for us, it sounded lovely).

I loved our ceremony – try and take it all in because it goes so fast! It is why you are there and the reason why all your friends and family are there too – there is no need to be nervous at all.

Next up – our part-ay!

Love

Emma xxx

Hello wedding chickens!

Our guest blogs continue today with a post from Sophie, from Cards by Sophie Stationery who is here to expert advice on how to choose your wedding stationery! Hurrah!……..

Hi Everyone, I’m Sophie from Cards by Sophie. I’m thrilled to be one of the guest bloggers this week!

As wedding stationery is my passion, I thought I’d give you a few tips on choosing your wedding stationery. Your stationery can, in fact, set the scene for your wedding. It is an exciting way of giving your guests an idea of what your day will be like, a great way to set the scene.

Don’t worry about picking a theme for your save the date cards as you will be sending these early, sometimes a year in advance. So just choose something you like the look of! It may give you some ideas on what you’d like to go for with the rest of your stationery too!

The invitations are the first key step to setting the tone and choosing them may help you decide on your flowers and other accessories. Think about the sort of clothes you love, your ideal décor, and the place where you are getting married. This will help you decide whether you’re going for something traditional or modern. What colours do you love? It could be your favourite colour, or something that reminds you of where you met your partner. Many of my brides chose ribbon colours on the stationery to match the bridesmaids’ dresses and send me a swatch of fabric.

I  had a recent request for a Wedgwood blue ribbon – and of course, managed to match it!

The fonts can also set the scene really well, we offer a choice of fonts from a modern Century Gothic to a traditional Edwardian Script. It is amazing the difference a font makes to your invitation as you can see in the examples. We’ve plenty more to choose from too. You could be slightly different and go for a pocket fold style which includes the invitation, RSVP and information card or the get the invitation and RSVP separately. (You’ll find RSVPs a really good way of getting your guests to respond quickly by the way!)

The choices you make can be taken right through to on the day items, such as order of service, table plans and place cards. Of course, we are also happy to help couples who wish to order just on the day items. The images below are actually the same design, but look how differently they can turn out!

We offer 14 designs through our website at Cards by Sophie , and we welcome bespoke orders too. If there is something you’ve found or a particular item that has become your inspiration for your wedding, let us know. We love a challenge!

If you need any further information or have a stationery related question, please contact me through the website or email me at sophie@cardsbysophie.com

Sophie x

(PS note from Emma & Charlotte; Sophie is one of the nicest people we have come across on our blogging travels and we think her post today was fabulous! Thanks Sophie! xx)

For our Guest Blog today, please welcome Maggie Mayfair!

Maggie Mayfair has a website specialising in Groom and Bride Wedding Speeches & Insider Tips and Secrets on How to Prepare a Meaningful and Inspiring Wedding Speech!
Much needed advice from an industry expert…

Hello all – I’m Maggie Mayfair!
I’m passionate about weddings and wedding speeches. To make sure everything went smoothly on your big day without any hassles, including the preparation and delivery of the groom and bride wedding speeches, I’ve compiled these insider tips and secrets for Charlotte’s and Emma’s loyal readers.

Most Important Person in Your Life – Your Lovely Bride or Your Dashing Husband

Groom
First of all tell your bride how lovely and absolutely gorgeous she looked
as she came down the aisle and how she took your breath away. You can also tell her that you find it hard to speak because of the gigantic lump in your throat and she will be genuinely touched.

Bride
Assure your husband of your love and devotion and how you look forward to your new life together. Also mention the special things you appreciate about him and
of course how dashing he look.

Thank Your Loving Parents
Extend warm and heartfelt thanks to your parents for the role they played in bringing you up and for their unconditional love, support and encouragement over the years. Make it personal and think of funny incidents when you were growing up.

Assure Your In-Laws
It is probably wise to assure your in-laws of your love and devotion to their daughter/son. Reassure them that you will take good care of him/her. When speaking about your in-laws, make them feel part of your new extended family and mention special things they did for you.

Special Welcome and Thanks To Your Guests
Extend a warm welcome to your guests and tell them that their presence made this day very special for you. Also thank them for the lovely gifts you as the newlyweds received.

Don’t Forget Your Wedding Party Members
No Groom or Bride Wedding Speech can be complete without mentioning your best man and the bridesmaids as well as the rest of your wedding party. It is only appropriate to make them feel special and mention them. You can also present them with a small gift if you feel like it.

Be Unique
Make sure your wedding speech express your unique personality and comes from your heart. You don’t have to deliver a prize winning speech, a few simple but sincere words are sufficient to relay what you think and feel.

Relax and Enjoy
When delivering your groom or bride wedding speech relax and speak
from your heart. Enjoy this special day with your new husband/wife, family and friends. Savor every moment and enjoy yourself!

For excellent and professional examples of wedding speeches and toasts as well as personalized wedding vows and poems wedding speech templates, jokes, one liners, and meaningful wedding quotations visit http://www.weddingspeechesandtoasts.net for all the resources you need to write an amazing and stunning wedding speeches in just a few minutes!

Much Love,
Maggie Mayfair

Happy Sunday!

Today is time for the final installment of my hen party!

So after the afternoon tea, we all got on a bus and headed off to Last Days of Decadence which is an amazing club in Shoreditch in East London, the theme of which is the 1920s – 1950s.  We all had dinner first and then it was time for some serious dance – off action.

There was burlesque performances for the first part of the night, and then a swing band came on, playing so seriously cool tunes…..

….which got us all dancing….

…..and dancing……

….and dancing! What made it even more cool was that everyone in there was dressed in a vintage style – a big assortment of flappers, war time dance hall and 50’s rock n roll.

After the swing band finished a DJ came on who played everything from war time jive to Bugsy Malone. Seriously amazing!

You know I said everyone dressed up? I have no explanation as to what era the pig was from, but we thought he was pretty amusing all the same…!

I LOVED my hen – it was the best day ever. Thank you to all my friends and my family for being there and especially for Alex for creating it and also Cazza, Rachael and Helen for help organise it!

Love

Emma xx

Hey Thursday!

So after my MAC makeover (as blogged about on Tuesday), I was taken on my next surprise instalment of the day!

There is a little cafe across the road from my house called Burning Bread which does really nice organic food and cider, and I was well chuffed to find that my hens had hired it out for the afternoon and put on a very lovely afternoon tea!

It looked amazing, with hand made decorations from Mary (Matt’s brother Jona’s girlfriend and artist) – she had made lots of handmade bunting and big massive paper flowers which looked fabulous!

When I arrived, everyone was already there – it was so lovely when I arrived and they all cheered! The nicest thing about it that everyone I know was there – from my family to my school friends, to uni friends and all my London friends. I was well chuffed!

The very kind owner of Burning bread had laid on some amazing Glastonbury Cider for us all to drink (which is very apt as I am a big Glasto fan) – which was delicious, and he had also made loads of cool little afternoon-tea style canapes.

I loved the bunting that Mary had made – Emma Bunting! She is going to make some Matthew bunting for the wedding too so we can re – use it! Isn’t it cool?

We also played a really nice game while we were there – they all gave me a load of balloons, and I had to pop each balloon to find a memory of me someone had put inside – and I had to guess who had put the memory in the balloon and then explain it!

There were some hilarious ones inside – that I had completely forgotten about – from loosing (and finding again) our tickets to Gatecrasher in Sheffield on millenium eve, to having Pythons in my sink in Thailand, to sleeping with a hammer on my window sill for about 5 years after I watched an episode of 999 when someone had to break a window to escape a house in a fire (I had completely forgotten about that one haha)!

I has such a lovely time – it was so thoughtful. Then a bus pulled up and we all hopped aboard to be taken to the final stage of the night – stay tuned to see where we went!

Hope you liked my piccies!

Love

Emma xxxx