DIY Weddings

How to use lights to create a magical fairy tale atmosphere in your wedding marquee

lights

Festive Lights is one of the UK’s leading event lighting specialists www.festive-lights.com

Stephen Alty, general manager at Festive Lights, says: “Elaborate entrances are a big trend for weddings this year and using festoon lights to illuminate the walkway to the marquee will create that magical atmosphere for guests as they arrive.  Draping strings of festoons above head height can also create a tunnel of light effect, which looks spectacular.  Special free-standing hooks can be used for this, or trees on the approach if it’s in a woodland setting. 

5 Crafty Wedding Favours You Can Make

Crafty Wedding

While your wedding day is a celebration of your love for one another, it’s become customary to shower your guests with a little affection too, in the form of a wedding favour. 

 

Originally introduced at high-society weddings in Europe as a way for the rich to provide their guests with a gift for attending their wedding, they were known as bonbonniere, a box covered in crystal, porcelain or gold, which was encrusted with precious stones. Inside the box were bonbons or other confectionary – which were particularly desirable at the time as sugar was an expensive treat. 

 

The Greenery Wedding Trend - and why it’s a big hit with brides

Jay Rowden Photography

 

It’s official: Panetone’s colour of the Year is Greenery.

 

Known by its official name as 15-0343 Greenery, this zesty yellow-green shade

is symbolic of vitality, rejuvenation, and our desire to authentically re-connect with the wider world and with ourselves. 

 

And in our innate desire to ‘feeling human’ again, we seek to surround ourselves with nature, and our loved ones. Perhaps this explains why Greenery transcends so well into wedding design, and its rising popularity: the association we have with this ‘life-affirming’ shade is the association we have marriage.

 

Tips For Creating a Unique Wedding

Unique Wedding

Our Expert: Helen Ladlow has been working for a gorgeous wedding venue in Kent called The Orangery for over ten years. She loves meeting people and finds helping them make their dream wedding a reality hugely rewarding. Watching the reaction of the guests and groom when they first see the bride still brings a tear to her eye even after a decade of weddings! Over the years Helen has seen it all and has shared with us some top tips that she wants every bride to know.

What makes a wedding unique?

Top tips to planning your own wedding

 wedding

Planning your wedding is exciting, overwhelming and fun...but it can be daunting.  Here are my top tips on planning it right.

 

Know your budget:

 

Your wedding is one of the most special days of your life, but don’t let the funding of it take over the rest of your life.  Discuss and agree your budget and ensure there’s a 10% contingency included – then get planning...not the other way around! bride groom

 

Make it personal:

 

How to use lighting to create the perfect ambience for your wedding

wedding lighting

Great lighting can really make a wedding by providing just the right level of ambience, butthere are a number of important elements that every bride and groom needs to have considered in order to get the lighting just right. Here are five illuminating tips for achieving lighting perfection on your big day.

 

1. Check the venue’s rules

Brits set to spend £11,411 on affordable weddings in 2017

brideandgroom

·         Modest marriages: 56% of those set to marry in 2017 are planning a mid-range budget

·         High street is the new high end: 19% of Brides are planning on wearing a high-street gown

·         DIY before I DO: 26% of Brits have made homemade items to save on costs

·         Convenient collections: Two in five Brits opting to click and collect their wedding haul

How to use Wow How app to create your perfect bridal look

wowhow

WOWHOW- the app that shows and teaches you “bridal “makeup styles based on your facial features.

WOWHOW is a handbag & home essential for all women and empowers you to make the most of your facial features and skin type providing a simple step by step guide to creating bridal looks tailored perfectly to you.

Experiment with different bridal looks in virtual reality.

The app is easy to use, with easy to follow instructions where by you create a 3D mannequin built to mirror your own facial features and skin type so that you can see exactly how to apply each item of makeup to best effect.

5 Stunning Wedding Decorations For DIY Brides

Wedding Decorations

We all know that weddings and money worries go hand in hand. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the planning of your big day; when you factor in the dress, venue, invitations, photography and food, the budget can pile up in no time!

With the average wedding in the UK now costing in the region of £27,000, it’s no surprise that brides-to-be everywhere are looking for ways to save money. More and more couples are taking a DIY approach to their big day. From homemade invitations to getting a friend to step in as the photographer, DIY weddings give your day a unique, personal touch while cutting down on all those unnecessary costs.

 

The on trend country-style wedding

flower display

Gone are the days of simply picking a colour for your wedding day. Today’s couples not only tend to select a whole colour palette, but they also work to a theme when styling their dream wedding.

A trend appearing in more and more weddings is shabby chic / country garden with plenty of bunting, old apple crates and paper pompoms helping to achieve the look.

Have a look through some of Hylands House wedding styling ideas for your own country themed wedding...

• collect old jam jars, decorate with lace and twine and fill with gypsophila to display around your wedding venue

Decorating a village hall

Village hall

When you get engaged, what is the first thing you do in the planning process?  Some will choose their dress, some will choose a venue and some will choose their wedding theme.  Many couples are now opting to get married or have their reception in an alternative venue rather than hotels such as barns, warehouses and village halls. 

Deciding how to decorate your venue is another task you will need to consider.  Venue stylist, Lindsey Hunter loves the challenge of decorating alternative venues and talks through her tips on how to style a village hall, which tend to be spacious with high ceilings, perfect for creating something spectacular for your wedding.

5 reasons to have your wedding at home

wedding at home

 

Five reasons to have your wedding at home from bespoke caterer and event specialists Dine

If you are lucky enough to have space in the garden, there’s something nicely relaxed and intimate about being able to hold your wedding in your own home or in the home you grew up in.  Such an individual location enables you to buck the trend and create your own traditions by putting your own personal stamp on your day in a unique family setting.  Your home will already hold so many memories; wouldn’t it be amazing to add more from your own wedding day? 

1. Flexibility

Build your own Wedding

Rob A Smith, Build your own wedding

 

Choosing a wedding venue is arguably, one of the biggest choices a couple can make when it comes to planning their big day, and the chance of finding one which meets every expectation is a tall order.

Karen James-Watkins of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, shares with us her observations over the last couple of years, reflecting on the notable rise in couples wanting the ability to “build their own” wedding, ensuring their day is unique and personal to them.