I do love a Sunday! While I settle into my interim flat & wait a few weeks for the house to be ready I am getting a little bit of well deserved R&R.
I ache all over!!
Big Love to my fiance for doing such a sterling job on our move whilst I have been hard at it with my job.
He’s off to Glasgow again tomorrow for more training in his new job! So its just me & Lola (the cat) this week.

Here’s a huge Thanks to Helen, a la Team Bride for her fabulous Guest Post yesterday. You rock my love!

Last week I met up with Bride to Be Carly & we had a squeel over Emma’s amazing wedding! Carly is so excited now about her own as she has set the date. Corfu here we come!! In light of this I wanted to give you some more wedding pictures from another stunning event this year that bonded Iain & Louise Lennard.
Another wedding worth squeeling about!

Be inspired & enjoy!

Love
Charlotte & Lola (the cat, not from Ask Lola!)

As we continue with our guest posts while Emma is away on honeymoon, we are joined today by Emma’s little sister Helen, who is telling us all about her dream wedding! Over you you Helen….

My Dream Wedding

Every little girl dreams of how her perfect wedding will be, from the stunning white dress and quaint country church, to the glitzy reception full of family and friends where the champagne corks are popping all night long. Well that’s what I had always dreamed my wedding would be like and it still was until about 6 months ago. What Changed!? A phone call from my big sister to say she was getting married in a cathedral and we only had 6 months to plan it!!!

Helen - my sister

In all fairness my sister has done a fantastic job but it has made me realise how wrong I was about my dream wedding. The formalities have gone and the following now details the more relaxed approach to my big day……

The quaint country church has turned into a white sandy beach, with crystal clear waters and hot sunshine for the perfect wedding pictures; the guest list has become a more personal affair which now only consists of close family and friends, and the wedding reception although still features the cork popping champagne, now focuses on cocktails at sunset and a mouth watering bbq.

Of course this will all take place in a huge villa, complete with pool, (like the ones you get in “The OC”) and will only be a stone’s throw away from where the ceremony will take place.

My dress will not be the typical wedding outfit and a flowing white Grecian style dress will take the place of the formal gown, complete with bridal bikini for the after party! My bridesmaids will be in coral sun dresses with beach chic hair and the guests can wear anything they please, my only request is that everyone wears bright colours and no shoes.

The reception will be nothing more than a pool party, a few speeches thrown in to please the parents and a BBQ to help see us through into the early hours! My perfect wedding and I even get a tan…

So what do I need to until this fabulous day, firstly I need to find the perfect location, secondly diet like crazy and thirdly and probably the most important is to get the man of my dreams to propose!!

EASY!!

Love

Helen xx

(PS from Emma; “This is all very fine by me Helen providing I am still a bridesmaid otherwise I am going to make myself one anyway, you promised me!”)

I like to think I know a little bit about weddings, so can judge fairly. I am honest with Brides when they ask me what I thought of the day. Emma asked the same…

As you can understand, she doesn’t want any pictures of the day going up until she’s back from Costa Rica (in a few weeks) and has had a chance to look through them all. Not to mention that she hasn’t seen Sophie Laslett’s final pictures either! I can’t wait for those! We even got to do our own Electric Wedding shoot for fun. Thanks Sophie!!

But I want to bring you my highlights of the day….

* Ceremony
When I realised Emma had arrived & looked back to see her stood at the beginning of the aisle under an arch of flowers, I shed my first tears of the day.
I looked over to Matt who looked so excited he was almost bouncing where he stood. At which point I was instructing Rob, in an over excited manner, to take pictures of everything!
“Quick, get Matt.”
“Oh don’t miss Emma.”
“Oh now Matt”
“The BRIDESMAIDS!!!”

* Speeches
Well done all!! They were fantastic! Emma’s dad, Mike, gave a very funny & heartfelt speech about Emma & Matthew which re-lived his memories of his little girl & how Matt asked for his daughter’s hand. I welled up more than a few times!
Alex, the Chief Bridesmaid did a very funny & animated speech about how she knew Emma & her memories of Emma & Matt. There was a lovely picture of Matt wearing something very dodgy & 80’s looking that was passed around!
We also heard from Matt, his dad & the Best Man… all well worthy of a mention as they were great.
I love the speeches & these were brilliant.

* Food
This was the biggest group talking point.
As Emma & Matt are vegetarian, they decided to have a meat free meal. This alone was a topic of converstation, but once it had all been tries.. I can safely say to anyone, including my man- “Book those caterers!!!!”
They were great. And not just the food! They were friendly, helpful & fun.
The Green Grocers, Norwich. I salute you.

* Wedding breakfast
This is especially referring to the table decor, but not forgetting the hanging pom poms.
The flowers were so pretty on each table & we had seeds for wedding favours. I’m gutted as I lost mine! So Em, if you have some spares.. I really wanted to plant them!!!
The best bit & I have to be careful not to steal her thunder here… was The ‘Who’s Who”.
I know how hard this was for Emma & Matt to complete! But it was absolutely well worth it.
Everyone in the room was in the book & it made conversations fun to start & made everyone laugh!

I told Emma exactly what I thought. It was easy!
Oh. Simply. AMAZING.
Well done indeed!!!

A HUGE Thank you to Robert & Jo Conway, Mike & Jane Welch, all the beautiful Bridesmaids & Ushers, plus The best man, Tom & The chief Bridesmaid, Alex. You did a great job & it was perfect!

Can’t wait to see the pics now!

Hurrah!
Charlotte xx

Electric Wedding aren’t here today….they have declared it a holiday!

So….just a little note to say……..

Happy Wedding Day Emma & Matthew!

Hurrah!

xxxxxxxxxxx

My stomach is in knots. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept wondering about all the things that could go wrong & how I could fix them.
The flowers, the eyelashes, the dress, the hair, oh the hair.

Then I realised. Its not even my wedding!!!

Ahhhhh!!! Tomorrow one of my best friends & blogger extraordinaire, Emma, is getting MARRIED.

I’m sooooo excited, but so nervous for her too. I know all the ins & outs of this wedding! Especially the un-writable version which would look, at times, more like a journey through the Hellmand Province to the aisle.
Fortunately, there have not been many casualties of this battle-to-the-alter, except maybe Emma’s sanity.
Most texts & emails from Emma this year have begun “Oh Charlotte”… its been a mine field at times & we have both learned so much about an industry & event that we love so much!

The things is, I KNOW how amazing its going to be. I KNOW.
There are some secrets that Emma hasn’t revealed to me- we all like a wedding surprise afterall!
Like many a-Bride-gone-by, she has worked impressively hard to get to this day. Really hard. And in only 9 months, which I think most of you would agree isn’t much time to plan a large wedding!

Not only has there been the meeting of families, choosing of Maids & co-ordination of the seemingly impossible, but there has also been detail. Lots of hand-made detail.
I’m still so impressed with the pom poms!
Oh and the small matter of having a full time job which includes long-haul travel, honouring all her friend’s events & oh yes, setting up a blog site to share her experience to help others.

She even wrote a song about her fears over the volcano ruining her honeymoon!

If you have missed any of this journey.. you can catch up in Emma’s Electric Dreams

I hear some squeal about how its been done before… but I think she deserves a huge pat on the back. I think all Brides do!
And possibly a stiff drink.
Then a BIG holiday!!!

So, today, I write this as an acolade to Emma & all the Brides for 2010 who have worked impressively hard at making their Big Day special for everyone!
I’m sending you a lifetime of Love & Happiness!

Oh Emma.

A while back we did a little post on behalf of one of our readers Lucinda – who has a totally gorge dress she would like to sell. She found a buyer who unfortunately fell through, so it is back on the market – and she has reduced it for a quick sale.

Lucinda is getting married in August (congratulations Lucinda!), and has purchased as very fabulous Claire Pettibone gown.

Unfortunately she is now getting married in Venice and the gown isn’t quite right for the venue (lets face it, this isn’t very unfortunate at all is it! Jealous? Us? OF COURSE WE ARE)!

So now she is looking for a new home for her super fabulous dress, and she wants to see it go to a good home because its so beautiful!

The gown is Lucia… It’s a US size 6 (UK size 8-10), and, take it from me, this dress is spectacular.

Check out the dress on Lucinda’s ebay page here

If you are interested, then give us a shout at info@electricwedding.co.uk and we will forward it on to Lucinda.

Be quick, because you have about 30 minutes before I cave and buy it myself – a girl can have more than one wedding dress can’t she?

Good luck!

Love

Emma & Charlotte

I know we like weddings to be all flowers, champagne & aim for general perfection… but there are things to know.

I have heard recently a few horror stories about those who supply you on your Big Day!

I really wanted to share this as I don’t want any other Bride bought to tears on the day

Pay Up!
So, you save, you spend, then you spend a fair bit more. Its a wedding & many of us will spend whatever we can to make it a great day. But do know, that not everything is paid for up front.
On the day you will need to make payments to many of the suppliers. In cash.
It makes sense I suppose. I mean you aren’t going to pre-pay the caterers & risk them not turning up. Nor would you pre-pay for a car, flowers or master of ceremony before they have done the job at hand at riskk they might not arrive & you have wasted your money.

I recently heard one story that was cruel… A Bride was approached by the evening’s DJ…

DJ; “Are you the Bride?”
Bride: “Erm, if I’m not, I am stealing the day in this dress! ha ha ha!”
DJ: “Yes, well I’m the DJ & I would like to know what you are doing about the first dance”
Bride: “Um, I don’t know. What do you suggest?”
DJ; “I suggest you pay me first & ask questions later”
Bride: “Excuse me?”
DJ: “Pay me now or I leave”
Groom comes over to the Bride.
Bride: “The DJ is asking about the first dance”
DJ: “Yes, but I need paying first or I’m going home”
Groom: “I see. Follow me, we can do this more discretely”

The Groom had to carry £7,000 in CASH on him on the day to make all the payments. Even when the temperature rose, he didn’t take his jacket off!

I have been hearing many stories like this from various brides about the suppliers. They have you over a barrel & there’s no way you want to tell them to ’shove it’ for being rude!

If you are a supplier who behaves in this way.
Shame on you.

Here’s one for the Maid of Honour, Bridesmaids & Best man.
Thirsty
Bride: “Do you know, I never once minded spending all that money on my wedding, not at all. You know, we simply couldn’t afford a free bar, but we paid a set amount upfront to make it much cheaper for everyone plus a sale or return deal.”
Me: “That’s a good idea. Wine for the tables & a a paid bar in the evening isn’t so bad & quite common now. That’s dead nice of you to make the drinks even cheaper”
Bride: “I know, but do you know what? Not one person bought me a drink”
Me: “WTF?!”
Bride:” Not one. My husband was hammered. Me? I kept asking for water. I was too embarrassed to tell someone to buy me a drink”
Me: “Wow”
Bride:”Well, where was I going to keep cash on me?!”

This is NOT the first time I have heard this from a Bride.

So what have I learned? What’s the point of these depressing stories?
Well, I want to learn from them. I think delegation is the key here. Payments- Best Man. Drinks for the Bride- select two mates to keep you topped up. I would say the Miad of Honour, but they can’t do everything.

You have a room full of family & friends. Let them help, they always offer…

Have a story to share? Something to help us all get a smoother day??
info@electricwedding.co.uk

Finger’s crossed.
Charlotte xx

Happy Sunday wedding lovers!

Argh.
I have been trying to find out about ‘free’ glass hire for our wedding- what a kafuffle.
I can’t seem to get a simple answer anywhere- not even on the phone to customer services! I can only imagine many of you are having the same issues??
So, today, “My Name is Charlotte, Happy to Help”. Except, I really am!

I have checked out supermarkets & a wine store. I aim to keep this as simple as possible for you!!

Waitrose
* Wine glasses, pint & 1/2 pint glasses come in cases of 24
* Champagne glasses come in cases of 48
* Enquire & Order in-store
* No deposit required
* 48 hours of rental
* Book ASAP to avoid disappointment
* Collect glasses from your store & return clean
* No additional purchase required
* £1 payable per broken glass
(I asked in Welwyn Garden City- details may vary per store. Click here for the store finder)

Tesco
* Wine glasses, pint & 1/2 pint glasses
* Enquire & Order in-store
* No deposit required
* Book ASAP to avoid disappointment
* Collect glasses from your store & return clean. Click here for locator!
* No additional purchase required
* They do charge for breakages

Sainsbury’s
* Minimum of 48 hours notice required
* Loaned for upto 7 days (day 1 being your collection date)
* £20 deposit
* Sign contract in store
* £1 per breakage
* As in store as they all differ to how many they have available. Click here for the locator.

Morrison’s
* Wine glasses, pint & 1/2 pint glasses come in cases of 24
* Champagne glasses come in cases of 48
* Enquire & Order in-store (trust me, its better than on the phone with this place…)
* £20 Deposit required on booking
* 1 week’s rental, more can be discussed at time of booking
* Book ASAP to avoid disappointment
* Collect glasses from your store & return clean
* Additional purchases- depends on the store- one said its not required, another said £50-£60, another said “a few bottles” Erm….
* They do offer a sale or return, but it differs by store so you may have to ask a few of your local ones
* 50p payable per broken glass & deducted from the deposit
They didn’t seem too sure of the guidelines in Morrison’s, not in 3 stores & at Head Office so to be honest, I personally would steer clear!

Majestic
Again, this is store specific, so check with your local store manager
* Wine, champagne & pint glasses available
* Wine Coolers/ ice bins available to hire as an extra
* They offer sale or return on drinks
* You have to buy wine/ drinks form them on ordering the glasses
* No collection service on glasses but they do offer a free delivery service (T&Cs apply)
* Click here for more info & to find your local store

ODDBINS
also do free glass hire, but again, you need to contact your local store. More details on how to contact them if you click here!

Ok, so all in all its a great deal to get this free hire & with such a small fee for breakages. But the bad news is.. this is store dependant. The larger the store you visit, the more likely they are to be able to meet your quantities. You have visit or call the store customer services not by calling their Head Offices. As I visit the supermarkets regularly for work, I was able to gather a decent amount of info, but pleeeease don’t take this as gospel! it really is a ‘enquire within’ job I’m afraid!
What about water glasses? Seems we are on our own there. The good news is that you can buy plenty of very cheap & nice ones in supermarkets & pound stores! There we go then.

Chink plink
Charlotte xx

Hello wedding lovers!

Today I am bringing you part two of Victoria and Jon.  In this post we are looking at their very lovely venue and recepetion!

Photos by Adam Smith photography.

Tor hunted high and low for the right venue (something that I think is a bit of a theme with most brides!)…
she says:

Me 1 week after I got engaged in a venue that can only be described as awful..
‘I love it lets get married here!’
My mom’s response? ‘Its filthy!’ (as she ran her hand over the doorframe).
My dad’s response was ‘but there is no aisle to walk down – and the room is like a funeral parlour’..
And my future husbands response was ‘It is quite clear you are giddy with excitement, have rose tinted glasses on and are not focused Victoria. I am taking over the venue search’.

It was true I was so excited I could not focus everything looked beautiful, oh what a fool!

‘I wanted a church, I wanted an old venue and I didn’t want to get married local in a venue everyone had been to before for a wedding! I had a problem I either got married in a local church and had to drive at least 45 minutes to a venue I liked, or I got married at the venue (but I wanted a church!).

I was going to Warwick for a hospital appointment and on the way Jon took me to see a venue ‘I might like’. Oh my god I loved it! He had done brilliantly he had found me a venue that had a chapel on site! the venue was Wroxhall Abbey. The chapel was small and dated back to the 18th century, the ‘mansion house’ was everything I wanted it was old but not stuffy, it had character but was subtle, and I think Jon will remind me for a long time how he was responsible for our beautiful venue, and if it was left to me we would have got married in the overpriced uncleaned venue!’

Victoria’s favourite moment of the day was walking down the aisle.She says..

‘Ironically this was the moment I was most nervous about, and really would have avoided given the choice. I was worried about everything, how I looked, what people would think, if I would cry, if I would fall over- but oh my god it was the best feeling in the world. It was so lovely seeing all my friends, and as it was only a small wedding I really did get to look over to them all.

I had spoken to Jon about how nervous I was and he told me, everyone who was there would want to see me enjoy walking down the aisle and see me smiling, and I would only ever get to do it once so I was to enjoy it! I just remembered that before I walked in and when Jon turned round and had a massive smile on his face all my nerves went, as I was so happy. It was also a lovely lovely moment with my dad, before we went into the church he was so nervous- he was really emotional and very proud. He had my share of the nerves too as I was fine – I think I walked him down the aisle!’

Victoria had a fairly small wedding and says that this was the most difficult part of her wedding planning process.

‘I was really worried that I would offend people because I couldn’t invite them all day which I found really hard. However, once I got stuck into organising the day, and realised the amount of effort, time and money I was putting into the day I realised that it was actually all about me and Jon for just one day and I couldn’t ask everyone.

I explained to my mom and dad that I was not inviting great aunts, 3rd cousins and the next door neighbours from years ago, as it was the year 2009 and things had progressed slightly since the days when parents paid for the whole wedding, and the wedding party consisted of mainly over 50’s, people you had not seen since you were 5 or wouldn’t see again until the next wedding! So I did it, I was brave and I may have offended a few family members by excluding them (and I did have a few stomach churning moments as the invites left my sweaty palms for the postbox), but it meant instead we got to ask our friends (who made up 70% of day guests). We invited 60 people to the day, which I think is a small number but invited (including day) 150 to the evening so we could party with everyone!’

Victoria says that she loved organising the reception as it was all about their favourite things… favourite flowers, music and food (they had fish and chips)! One of the things she enjoyed doing the most was a photo gallery that she put together…

‘I really really enjoyed putting together my photo gallery! I am obsessed with photos and I wanted to display as many as I could. I made four extremely large collages, 1 of me and 1 of Jon (childhood, teenage photos etc), 1 with me and Jon with all our friends and then 1 of me and Jon over the years. I displayed them so that everyone could see them as they walked into the room where the reception was held, and they went down so well, there was a queue at one point to see them! Everyone who was at the wedding was featured at least once and they got so many comments and laughs.

It was brilliant making it, it made me laugh, cry, get frustrated at times when surrounded by 100’s of pictures and it virtually took a year to complete but I have the 4 framed collages forever, and I am still not bored of looking at them!’

I have loved every minute of putting this post together and I think Victoria looks beautiful!
I hope you have enjoyed reading, I know I love reading about every single detail of other people’s weddings!

Thank you Tor and Jon for sharing your special day with Electric Wedding!

If anyone else would like their wedding featured then let us know, although as I have only just stopped crying looking at these wedding pictures you may have a tear soaked response! Awwww… I love LOVE!

love

Emma xxxxx

If something is worth us sharing, then share we will.
This Monday morning, I share a wedding card delight that has changed the way I mark an occasion.
Engagements & weddings are very very special occasions I’m sure you will all agree!!
So having shared a few of my tips & suggestions for gifts in Mmmm smells like a gift, I think I am now ready to share another great find, Bizara!

Whatever the occasion; Engagements, Weddings, New baby, Anniversary, Birthday or just to say “I love you”… I always go to Bizara.

They do an amazing range of handcrafted cards for any occasion! They cards are pre-made, they then add the details… name, date, age & the details like hair colour! The range is extensive so you will be hard pushed not to find what you like. I often have difficulty choosing just one!
Check out the one I had made for Emma for her 30th!

I also always get my wedding cards from here! They are always personalised & stunning! When Louise had her twins, I got a persoanl card from here. Its the kind you can keep forever.

A really thoughtful & personal addition to your wedding gift. You might want to consider them as Thank you cards for your flower girls or Maid of Honour & the Best Man? I have heard about Grooms getting theire wife-to-be an amazing & personalised card from here which they have given her on the day with a gift. Such a lovely guesture!

Sadly they are not available to order online- boo! But they do have 3 outlets across London. If you don’t live in or near London then its a place to find when you visit!

We like to share with you any suppliers we think are worth a shout out, no matter how big or small! So please get in touch on info@electricwedding.co.uk

Charlotte xx