Autumnal Wedding Inspration

A few weeks ago I was at the Thorp Perrow Arboretum and the colours reminded me how striking an autumn wedding can be - full of rich browns, greens, golds, oranges and deep reds.  Whether you choose one or a combination of these colours they can real work well to bring a warm, opulent tone to your wedding day.

An Autumnal or Fall themed wedding also brings lots of opportunities to say money - think about using leaves as place settings and table confetti, fruit and candles for decorations and why not even try making a table plan tree from twigs?

So I thought I'd pull together a mood board to help you all get some inspiration too!!

Image credits:

Green baubles, gold small vases & brown, sliver & green heart baubles: cox and cox

Chocolate wedding cake: Marks & Spencer

Red bridesmaid dress: Jasmine Bridal

Sun flower table decoration: Serendipity Floral Designs

Chocolate and Fruit Cake: The perfect cake company

Shoes: The beautiful image

Sun flower urn and bouquet: Taylored Images

Orange candle and birch tree: Hus and Hem

Brown & green bridesmaid dresses: JLM Europe

Gold and multi-coloured table confetti: handmadebyhells.co.uk

Lanterns & skeleton leaf tea light holders: notonthehighstreet.com

Red star lights: lights4fun.co.uk

Finding a good wedding photographer

http://www.taylored-images.co.uk/

There really are an unbelievable number of wedding photographers out there vying for your business and as your photos will help give you a lasting memory of the day you really do want to make sure you make the right choice.  The quality of service and product can vary massively (trust me, having helped lots of brides On the Day I've come across the good, the bad and the ugly!!) so here are some tips for finding a good photographer:

• Make sure you see lots of examples of a photographers work - don't just rely on examples on a website as these will naturally be their best shots. Ask to see a whole wedding so you can get a feel for the full range of photographs you will get. Also ask to see some albums if the package you are looking at has an album included.
• Ensure that the style of the photography is right for you and fits the style of wedding you want.  If you are looking for lots of relaxed informal shots of you and your guests throughout the day then a reportage style photographer will be best for you.  However, if you would like lots of formal groups shots then look for a more traditional photographer.  Also think about the overall style of your day - if you are looking for a romantic feel then a photographer with a more edgy urban feel won't be right for you. 
• You can't beat recommendation from friends and family - particularly if you've been to the wedding and seen how the photographer works. However, if you don't have that option you can always ask potential photographers if you can talk to any previous customers to find out how they found the service and the photos.
• Ensures you get on well with the photographer.  It's really important that not only do you like their photography but that they make you feel relaxed and you have a rapport with them.  You will be spending a lot of time with them on the day and they won't get the best shots out of you if you are feeling irritated, bullied or patronised!!
• Ensure you know who is shooting your big day.  If you are working with a larger photographer they may employ several photographers so ensure that you have met and get on with whoever is shooting your day and you have seen specific photography that they have done.
• It is important that you get a contract and you are comfortable with exactly what is covered in the costs and are clear on when you need to make payments.  In particular it's important to know how much ongoing costs are going to be for things such as reprints for you and your family, extra pages in your album, parent albums, and canvases  - you don't want any nasty surprises after your wedding.

This is a really important decision and should be one of the first you make after you've booked your venue.  Good photographers can be booked up well over a year in advance so you don't want to leave it to the last minute.  With the cost of photography ranging from about £500 to over £2000 it can be a difficult decision to make - especially if you are on a tight wedding budget. If you really don't know where to start or are worried about finding the right photographer then why not consider getting some professional help?  My Supplier Search service starts from just £50 so it doesn't have to cost a fortune to get some help making such an important decision.

It's raining again!!

There really are no guarantees of good weather in this country.  This year's seen yet another mixed summer so what is the best way of dealing with the question of poor weather? Planning, and if you really want an outdoor wedding be prepared to embrace it!!!  Here are some hints and tips for how to get round the great British weather.

If you want to avoid the rain make sure you look for a venue that works well inside and out.  Speak to your photographer about where you could take great shots in the rain - look for feature staircases, big windowsills you can sit on and fireplaces.  Even door frames can look great - your photographer might get wet but you don't need to.

If your reception venue doesn't really cut it for features, then if you are marrying in a church this can give you lots of indoor opportunities for fabulous group and inidivdual shots with alters, stained glass windows and great big stone door frames.  If you plan in advance you can always bring hot flasks of coffee to keep your guests occupied whilst all the photos are done - or why not even bring some mulled wine?

An outside drinks reception is fabulous in the sun but a real headache in the rain so again it is worth thinking about how this will work if the weather is poor.  Is there enough inside space for all your guests - particularly if your reception venue only has one room?  Is there a bar or another room that can be used?

However, if you truly want an outside wedding then you need to embrace the rain!  Consider looking on the brighter side of life and incorporating the rain into your theme.  Think colourful quirky wellies and funky brollies.  Make sure you have lots of each on hands so guests can still enjoy your wedding outside - or at least be able to get to the toilets if they are seperate from your marquee!! Think about doing fun shots of you and your guests in the rain.  You really can get wellies and brollies in each and every shade these days so why not match them to your theme - or even consider bright multi colours to brighten up a dark dreary day. 

Not convinced?  Well, hopefully these images from weddingindustrypros.com will help change your mind!

Tiffany Blue

I've always loved Tiffany Blue as a colour for a wedding - it conjures up images of glamour, sophistication and Audrey Hepburn.  It's a classic sophisticated colour scheme which can be teamed with ivories, silvers and even brown tones.  It also works well with vintage themes using diamonds, brooches and sumptuous fabrics.  I've pulled together a mood board which gives you some ideas on how to pull this theme together:

Image credits:

Wedding Cake: elegantcakery.com

Tie: jaanj.com

Flowers: brides.com

Cup cakes & chocolate favours: kaboodle.com

Bridesmaid dress: watters.com

Invitation: vanillapoddesign.com

Trinket box & bracelet padlock: tiffany.com

Shoes: arunaseth.com

Every little helps!!

There's so many decisions to make when planning a wedding that it's often easy to forget the little personal touches which may not cost much but can really help make your day special.  Here's a few ideas that I've come across whilst helping at weddings over the years:

• Put photo frames with pictures of previous family weddings on your cake table or with your guest book
• Place a basket of flip flops near the dance floor to encourage your friends to party all night!
• Instead of the standard group shot of all your friends and family why not hand out pots of bubbles, or sparklers if it's dark enough, to make it a fun memorable photo
• Instead of taking a vintage car on your own why not travel to your reception in a vintage bus with all your guests so you to get to spend more time with them
• Instead of a guest book why not ask guests to email or text you photos of themselves at your wedding along with a message - you can then put it all together in a digital photobook.  Alternatively use the digital wedding guestbook website to co-ordinate everything for you and create a personal DVD record from your guests messages, pictures and clips
• If you have friends or family who are staying a few days why not prepare a pack with details of places to visit, things to keep them occupied and nice restaurants to go to that are appropriate to them
• Make sure there are nice soaps, hand creams and perfume in the ladies toilets - it will always go down well!!
• Quite often favours are forgotten or not even taken away, despite costing quite a lot of money.  Why not have favours that mean something special, so they are more likely to be remembered:

• Make them yourself, for example pots of jam, biscuits, sweets, decorated tea light holders
• Have something that relates to where you come from or where you are getting married, for example Yorkshire Lavender, Kendal Mint Cake, Whisky
• Give money to a charity that means something to you instead and put cards on the table explaining your decision
• Have something seasonal - baubles at Christmas, chocolate eggs at Easter 

What's important with the details is not how much you spend but the thought that goes into it - the more personal and relevant it is to you, the more memorable it is likely to be.

A fab new venue

Finding the perfect wedding venue is perhaps the most important decision you can make when planning your wedding - and one of the areas I'm asked to help with most frequently.  With this in mind I'm always on the look out for great new venues in the Yorkshire region.  In particular, given the current economic climate, I'm always looking for places that offer great value and flexibility - so I was really excited when I came across Browsholme Hall.

Yes, it is further afield (just over the border in Lancashire) - but as families and friends often come from across the country (and even from abroad) does it really matter if its not around the corner?  It's location is also far outweighed by the opportunities it brings.

Wedding ceremonies and receptions can take place in the recently renovated tithe barn which offers bags of character but modern facilities - such as underfloor heating and top of range lighting and sound.  For small ceremonies there is also the option of getting married in the hall.  There is plenty of outside space within the gardens of the halls for your drinks reception and photos.  However, if the weather is bad there is also a separate room in the barn for holding a drinks reception.

The venue is incredibly flexible offering lots of alternatively for your food and drink - using local caterer With a Twist.  For it's size and quality it is also incredibly reasonably priced and its location in the Forest of Bowland makes it a great place for your family and friends to explore if they are there for more than a day.  To find out more visit their website.

A new trend - Pork Pie Wedding Cakes

We've seen cup cakes and 'cheese' cakes but now there's a new trend in Wedding Cakes:

The Pork Pie Wedding Cake 

So if you are looking for something different (particularly if you are a meat lover!!) why not give it a go?  It doesn't have to be instead of your main cake and if you are worried about your budget why not serve it as a canape or as part of evening buffet?  You could also incorporate it into a 'picnic' theme to your day.

Wilson's Butchers are already offering a 3 tier cake which can even be personalised and is shown above.  They've already sent out over 100 'cakes' so it's clearly a growing trend.  Why not let me know what you think - or maybe you've tried or come across other types of wedding cakes - always interested to here new ideas.

Church wedding flowers



Image by www.cranstar.com.au

I was doing some research into pew ends for a bride that I'm currently working with and it got me to thinking about how best to decorate a church for a wedding.  It is often quite difficult to decide exactly what to do and it is very easy to go over the top and spend a lot of money.  So here are my thoughts on how to save money and get fabulous church flowers for your wedding on a budget:

1. Less is more - you are not in the church for long and hopefully everyone will be focussing on you so don't get carried away!!  If you really want to do pew ends think about only do every other one rather than thenm all - this plus something on the alter and maybe one other display is more than enough
2. If you want to use big displays consider whether these can also be moved to your reception to save money - some pew ends can also be put on the back of chairs at your reception
3. The church may have someone who can do flowers for you which can often be cheaper than a florist
4. Using candles on the alter, register signing table and on window ledges can often be a nice cheaper alternative to flowers
5. If you can't afford pew ends what about scattering petals down the aisles?

Don't forget to talk to your vicar about your choices as they may have strong views about what you can and can't do - and you don't want to find this out on the day of your wedding!!

Finally, here's some photos of some great pew ends I found which I hope will help inspire!



Image by: loveweddingflowers.co.uk

Image by: loveweddingflowers.co.uk

Image by: blog.bloomroom.com



Images courtesy of:
cranstar.com.au
loveweddingflowers.co.uk
Blog.bloomroom.com