Unique wedding Ideas

Wedding Planning Panic

2015-08-24T12:36:00.002-07:00

I know that I did this and a lot of the brides that I speak to also have their moments!! It is natural – you get one shot to get it right and there is a lot of stress involved from money worries, guest lists to the search for the perfect dress. It’s not like we can quit work for a year to plan it, nor stop all of our normal daily routine. It all has to be squeezed in around our busy schedules.

So what are the most common worries for any bride?

· The feeling that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. The first part of wedding planning is the hardest. You may have an idea of the venue but don’t know the date yet, or have seen the perfect dress but don’t have the funds yet. Take a deep breath. You will get there. Buy a wedding magazine; sit down with a notebook and pen and some scissors and glue. Get a cup of tea and sit and relax. As you flick through the magazine circle any ideas you like. There will always be a page in the mag that is dedicated to budgeting and planning the big day. You mind find it a little rigid. I think a great idea is to do your own. Take the information from the wedding magazine planner and list all of the things on it that you want to have. Split that in to the most expensive things like the photographer, venue etc. The things that take a long time to arrange (these will be similar to the first list). Then separate out all the things like invites that need doing by a specific date. Split them out so that you plan and book one thing each month to allow for spreading the cost. This way you are also spreading out the stressfulness and the fun over a longer period of time.

· There is also a bit of fear that you may be too organised, that you should be spending lots of time looking for that special dress. Not necessarily – it really is true that when you try on the one then you know. This may take several trips to the shops or it may be love at first sight. Everyone is different. Don’t feel pressured to follow the herd!

· You might not have any idea how you want your wedding to be styled. Don’t panic. Just concentrate on getting the dress and venue sorted and the rest will follow. Think of what your favourite flowers are and what season you are marrying in. Speak to a florist about whether you can get your favourites at that time of year. Your florist will be able to give you ideas on the colours available and then you can use this information to choose bridesmaid dresses and other details. Don’t feel that you need to have a ‘theme’. It doesn’t have to be all ‘shabby chic’ or all one colour. It’s your wedding – do it your way. Choose what you like – that’s your style.

· Once you find your wedding dress stop looking! You have the one; don’t cause yourself more angst by looking for anything better.

· Choose your bridesmaids well and then delegate them the task of the Hen-do organising.

· Join a wedding forum for brides getting married in the same year as you for support and hints and tips.

Creating your own floral arrangements

2015-08-23T10:33:00.001-07:00

I've been a bit slack recently on my blog writing. Life takes over. From now on I am making a dedicated effort to blog more frequently. I desperately want to keep up to date with all the new wedding trends and also keep our ideas fresh and new. This takes so much time and is all consuming. It is still Summer 2015 but we need to start thinking about what colours and trends will be in vogue in Summer 2016. I tend to go more off of what is in the clothes shops now to get an idea what might carry forward into weddings next year. The colours that I've seen the most of and have a penchant for our Navy and Coral. I seem to have a half a wardrobe full of Coral coloured clothes.

I'm loving pinterest for getting inspiration and for sharing ideas. I am a complete addict!

With regard to flowers for the wedding day I've noticed that a lot of the styles are a lot looser and natural in form nowadays. This got me thinking about whether those budding florists out there could possibly create their own floral displays. We used a magnificent florist for our own wedding but I've always wished that I had done them myself. Not because they weren't brilliant, the flowers at my wedding were everything that I wanted and more!, but because I was obsessed with trying to get our day to be as personal to us as possible.

So if you want to create your own floral displays then the first step would be to use a tool like pinterest to make a mood board of ideas and how to videos.

Next you need to be visiting car boot sales, flea markets, all your relatives for vessels to put your flowers in on your big day. I love the idea of loads of mismatched crystal vases and small jam jars of loose posies of flowers.

If you plan far enough ahead then you could even grow a lot from seed yourself. Sweet peas are a stunning addition to a wedding bouquet and they are relatively easy to grow.

Then you would be to visit the local flower market. The biggest and the best being Covent Garden. Speak to the wholesalers and tell them what you are doing, buy British and make sure you ask for advice on how to get the best from the flowers. Always keep them in a bucket of water for a day before trying to arrange them so that they have soaked up as much water as they can. If you are using oasis make sure you also soak this in water over night so that your flowers aren't wilting during the wedding breakfast.

You'll need a helping hand or two and plenty of workspace to get creating. Make sure you have purchased plenty of foliage. You'll notice that without foliage the flowers don't look quite right. Raid your friends and families gardens for any interested greenery such as ferns, eucalyptus and grasses.

Have a little practise and see how you go. I don't think this is really about saving money but about putting a bit more of your own personality into your big day. How to create your own wedding bouquet

I also wanted to share with you a link to a fab blog on budget weddings. This is actually our own wedding and some of my ideas. The Budget Bride

The Key To Success

2014-10-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

The Key to a Successful Marriage - A new type of guest book from Love Letters.

I went for a walk on the beach this morning and stumbled across a lovely piece of driftwood. I've had some rusty keys in my craft cupboard for a while now just because I loved them. I feel they have a real romantic look about them. So I have spent the rest of the morning putting the two together to creat a fabulous unique guest book. The idea is your guests write their names on the bag of the tag and their key to a successful marriage on the back, then attach them to the sign. Much nicer than a book and you can display it on your wall in your new marital home. Please email us at Lovelettersdirect@rocketmail.com for enquiries.

Shell and Brooch Bouquets

2014-07-16T11:49:00.002-07:00

Here is my new project. A shell and Brooch bouquet. This is the first one I have made and I am in love with it. I am hoping that some lovely bride will also fall in love with it and buy it for her wedding. I want to make more of these. I can match to a colour scheme and can also make button holes, table centres to match. It was lots of fun to make. Enjoy.

Coral Mood Board

2014-07-07T07:40:00.002-07:00

I have a current fascination with all things Coral in colour. I have a stunning Coral rosebush in the garden and I am constantly picking its blooms to bring into the house. I am wearing Coral more and more and find myself drawn to Coral jewellery. I am dreaming about Coral colour schemed weddings and would dearly love to pain some Coral Love Letters. If there is anyone out there having a Coral colour scheme at their wedding please get in touch with Love Letters - I will give you a healthy discount for helping to satisfy my need for all things Coral.

Here's some ideas quickly gathered together for a wedding in Coral. Some really good high street affordability going on here.

Another stunning blog with all things Coral

Take a look at my Pinterest Board http://www.pinterest.com/loveletters1/coral-mood-board/ for exactly where to get each piece from

World Cup Widows Offer................Free Hand painted sign or letters

2014-06-16T10:20:00.002-07:00

WORLD CUP SPECIAL OFFER

A special offer for all football widows! Order in June and get FREE letters or signs

Offer 1: Order a MR & MRS + Surname and get your initials letters or a bespoke sign FREE!
Offer 2: Order 2 signs and get one FREE!

Limited availability so don't delay, order today!
Lovelettersdirect.weebly.com

Email Lovelettersdirect@rocketmail.com

Table Planning

2014-06-13T13:18:00.001-07:00

I don't want to go in to the hassle and stress of choosing who to invite, who not to invite or where to sit the invited! That is the bit of stress that you have to endure. Trust me though it will all be worth it and those who don't get an invite will understand and those that do will not mind where they sit and even if they do they will be gracious and not say anything! Everyone is on their best behaviour at a wedding!

I want to explore some ideas for laying out your table plan so as to really make a statement and set the theme for your wedding reception. Here are some of my ideas.

Firstly you can get some beautiful ones made up by professional wedding stationery companies. One of my favourites is Knots & Kisses They currently have a great offer for orders made before the end of July 2014.

Knots & Kisses

I really like the idea of using old vintage keys and tying luggage tags to each one with guest names on them. Ask Love Letters to create a sign for you to say 'Tell us your key to success'. Each guest then writes their advice on the rear and pops the key back into your vintage suitcase.

Here's another beautiful blog that details the use of keys in for weddings Inspired by this

Esty.com

My next make is going to be a vintage suitcase combined with some old keys, ribbon, dusky pink ribbon, luggage tags and a lovely reclaimed wood sign all handpainted by moi......

watch this space

Adding a special touch to collecting cards on your big day!

2014-06-13T12:54:00.002-07:00

My husband is all absorbed with the World Cup, even going so far as to demand dinner to be from a different participant country each night! I meanwhile am busy looking at all things weddings.

Have just sourced another vintage suitcase to decorate for a special brides wedding. Vintage suitcases are ever popular at weddings to use as table planners, card boxes or both combined.

Before http://lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/

Here's one I decorated previously: -

After http://lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/

It got me thinking of what else would make a lovely vestibule for all of the well wishing cards received on your big day! With time on my hands I went searching!

How about a wicker lobster pot for a seaside/nautical wedding?

http://www.buythesea-bymail.co.uk/

I really think this would look fantastic and could be used as a garden feature after the special day to remind you forever more of all the wonderful wishes you were sent by your guests!

How about a dolls house? If you have or know someone with the skills you could make one to match your new marital home or even a miniature wedding venue?

Lots of options on Ebay

For a rustic affair I have tried to steer away from the obligatory apple crates. What about a hessian sack? You can pretty it up with some raffia or ribbon and even stitch or paint your initials on it. They are cheap as chips. Check them out at you local garden centre or online.


http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Potato_Sacks.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Product_Search&utm_campaign=google_base&gclid=CIKdx7HO974CFeyWtAodYDIAAQ

Anything that is used to store things can be adapted to use as a card collector. It's up to you and your imagination. Remember to contact Loveletters to create you some hand painted letters to say 'CARDS' or contact us and will create you a bespoke suitcase to include ribbon and decorations to exactly match your colour scheme.

White Wedding

2013-06-18T08:20:00.004-07:00

A stunning photograph of a wedding we recently supplied some extra large white wooden letters to!

Flaming June Offer

2013-06-18T07:22:00.001-07:00

SPECIAL JUNE OFFER

To celebrate the arrival of summer (at long last!) we have a very special offer for orders placed in early June – BUY 2 SIGNS GET A 3RD FREE!

Our signs look great on their own but also make a really great impact if there are a few of them dotted around your venue, perhaps one to welcome your guests, one to direct them around and one to celebrate the great day – your names & date & “Just Married” for example.

There’s never been a better time to order - 3 SIGNS FOR THE PRICE OF 2

You can also use this offer if you’d like more than 3 signs – we’ll knock a third off the price – order 6 you’ll only pay for 4 for example.

This offer is for a very limited time only and on a 1st come 1st served basis – so be quick! Just quote ‘SunnyJune’ when ordering.

The elves are in their workshop....

2012-11-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas is in the air in the Love Letters household. We are all about glitter and sparkles this year along with paper roses and cinnamon sticks!!

Paper Roses courtesy of Leanne's obsession with all things Kirstie Allsopp!!!! Instead of the box of dried rose petals or a scattering of diamante we are thinking a scattering of paper roses on the table along with some beautifully decoupaged wooden table numbers. Add some red candles and some scented dark red roses. Winter wedding theme - DONE!! (as Gordon Ramsey would say!)

Red Roses and wooden letters

On the wedding decor front we are now searching high and low for vintage items to hire out to our lovely brides. Our latest finds are a vintage Polaroid camera and some gorgeous art deco mirrors which we are going to turn in to table plans.

We've also got a thing about berries. The hedgegrow's are full of them. It's too early to start creating a Christmas wreath but it's not too early to make a stunning arrangement for the house. This is Sunday's project. Combined with a lovely walk in the crispy country air. Watch this space for the outcome. Am aiming for: -

Wine Charms

2012-08-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's all about the champagne. Corks popping, bubbles forming, fizz fizzing, guests quaffing. Now with our new hand made wine charms you can add a little bit of unique to your champagne/wine glasses.

We will hand create as many little charms as you require. You let us know the letters you would like, choose a colour for the letter to be painted, choose pearls, choose diamante, choose a ribbon colour to match your scheme. Decide whether you would like the charm to hang from the top of the glass or whether you'd like it to clip around the stem. We leave all the choices to you. Your wish is our command!! They are our new favourite piece to create.

Currently we are working on a beautiful silver and ivory scheme with ivory letters, pearls and silver ribbon. The charms look stunning.

We will keep striving to find more unique items to add to your wedding.

Watch this space......http://lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/further-venue-deacutecor--styling.html

Compliments

2012-01-07T04:13:00.001-08:00

Just a few of the many kind responses we've had from our lovely customers over the last year.

Our letters are fantastic! The hotel were very impressed and said they hadn't seen anything like it before! We got lots of compliments on them. They were placed on the fireplace behind us on the top table, so once we get the pics back we'll send you one with them showing.

My letters have just arrived................ they are absolutely wicked, I love them.

I just wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you for the lovely Mr and Mrs letters you made us for our wedding.

Just discovered your fantastic website and have just ordered my MR & MRS in ivory shabby chic, and your description above is just what I'm after with the inclusion of lace and pearls to add a touch of glamour! I can't wait...only a year to go! ha ha!

The letters were fab – the bride was really chuffed when I gave them to her the day before the wedding when we were decorating the marquee. Unfortunately over the course of the evening some of the letters went missing. They turned up the next day outside the church (the marquee was in the field next to the church)... someone had used them to spell out 'arse'. Thankfully the brides dad is the vicar and thought it was all quite amusing!

The numbers arrived yesterday and they look great! Thank you.

Just want to say a huge thank you for the letters you sent for our wedding. They were just what we wanted and we received many comments. I have passed your details to quite few people so hopefully you may receive some more orders in the future.

http://lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/index.html

Christmas letters everywhere

2011-11-28T05:37:00.000-08:00

For once in the year Loveletters aren't thinking about weddings. We're all about Christmas from October onwards. We have been getting our stock ready to do our annual craft fayre appearances.

Here are some pictures of this years letters - if anyone is interested then feel free to check out our Christmas page coming soon at http://lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/index.html

A wedding for under £5000

2011-11-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Why is it that weddings seem to cost the earth? Everything about weddings is expensive. Here are just a few ways that you could reduce the cost of your wedding from £20,000 to £5,000 in a few simple steps.

1. The dress – think about how important this is to you. To me it was pretty important, but the thought of spending £100’s or £1000’s on one outfit made me shudder. We simply could not afford for me to go mad and buy a boutique designer dress. I decided, and would highly recommend looking at high street dresses. I was totally surprised by the excellent quality of them. I ended buying a stunning Grecian style dress from Very.com for £200. I have just recently found and fell in love with the copy of The Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress from BHS. It is gorgeous and yes I know that £500 is still quite a lot of money. But compared to the average boutique dress it is a bargain. Decide where you think your money could be best spent but please do remember the high st when looking.

2. The venue – go to every wedding fayre you can. They are great fun and really are informative. Not only do you get to meet loads of different suppliers and collect information to look at later, but you get the best deals offered from the venues too. DO NOT BOOK YOUR WEDDING UNTIL YOU GO TO THE WEDDING FAYRE! You’ll find (like we did) that venues often reduce their prices especially for wedding fayres. We got a bargain. The brochure price on weddings at our venue was £7000, we couldn’t afford that.. We found a deal for a set amount of guests for £3000. Then we went to the wedding fayre and they were offering the same deal for £2750 – we snapped it up! Make sure that you check for the extras like linen hire and drinks. If these aren’t included they soon add up. Ask if there is a toast master provided. Be cheeky – they want your booking!!

3. Flowers – If like me these are very important to you then you want to spend a fair bit of your budget here. The best ways to reduce costs on flowers is to keep to a season. If you are getting married in January don’t ask for Peonies or sweet peas as they will be very expensive. Ask for more foliage to pad out the arrangements and ask the florist to use big blooms like Hydrangeas as they make the arrangements look fuller for less cost.
4. Venue decorations – Consider what the chairs at your venue look like. Do they really need chair covers? Maybe you could buy a reel of ribbon in your colour scheme and tie them around the chairs the night before. This would cost £25 and a bit of time rather than £250 for covers!! Check out our wooden letters for an alternative to flowers.

5. Cake – Consider buying a cake from Waitrose or Marks and Spencers. They are fabulous cakes and you can add your own decorations to them. Use ribbon or stick on some chocolate buttons to make a polka dot cake. This will save you £100’s.

Winter weddings

2011-10-27T04:58:00.000-07:00

Now that winter is here, there will be many brides planning for a wonderful winter wedding. What could be nicer than a fur stole and sparkly jewellery combo with snow on the ground and the smell of Christmas in the air.

There are many colour schemes and themes that work for a winter wedding.

I really love the idea of a totally white wedding - not just the dress but the flowers too. They could be pure white roses, with some green ivy trailing down with a few dainty snow drops mixed in. Or go with the ever increasing trend of brooch bouquets which really shine in the winter sunshine. Maybe some mistletoe sprigs hanging from the door frames or even as the button holes. A must have would be a big sparkly (maybe snowflake style) tiara and a beautifully embellished dress. The groom could wear a black tuxedo style outfit with a crisp white shirt. A set of vintage ivory MR & MRS letters would look fabulous lined up along the fireplace above a roaring fire with ivy entwined around the over mantle mirror. The choices are endless – how about ‘LOVE’ in metallic silver and covered in glitter to add an extra sparkle.

Or what about a full on red and gold theme with Christmas tree’s standing to attention outside the main door and glasses of sherry to greet your guests. Twinkling fairy lights are a must!!! A daring red wedding dress with a beautiful bouquet of Ivory roses, or a gold wedding dress with bright red flowers to match Swags of holly on each picture frame and over the mirror would look stunning. Make sure you get ones with plenty of red berries on. Friends and family might have them in their garden so you won’t have to pay florist prices for these!! Instead of flowers for the centrepieces, vases could be filled with red and gold baubles which will glisten under the candle light. Wrap the favour boxes in red and gold wrapping paper and make them look like little Christmas presents. Maybe some miniature liqueurs would go down well inside! Here at Love Letters we have a choice of gold letters – gold leaf or antique gold. We can do any red that you can think from pillar box to burgundy. Imagine your new surname sparkling on the fireplace.

For an extra sparkle how about some diamante covered letters spelling out the word ‘AMOUR’. These really glisten in any light.

The choice is yours, but whatever theme you are planning for your winter wedding look to Lovelettersdirect.weebly.com for your unique wedding décor.

I saw the sign.....

2011-09-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Since getting married in April, I've had lots of thoughts about what I wish we'd had at our wedding, even now less than 6 months later my tastes have changed. My new passion is for wedding signs. There are so many things that a wedding sign can add to your day. From basic signs to point guests in the direction of the marquee and the toilets etc. To romantic signs such as 'To have and to hold' and 'Here comes the bride'.

We've just started creating signs and adding them to our repertoire. We've had orders for various signs including 'wedding party this way' 'bridal party' 'Charlotte and Shauns Wedding Party' 'Welcome to our wedding' and we are currently working on a sign for a pageboy to carry up the aisle saying 'here comes the bride'.

I am starting to get sign obsessed. I looking at every blank wall in our house thinking 'what sign could I put there??'

My husband (that still feels strange to type!) makes the signs out of reclaimed wood. He uses a sander to sand them smooth and then gives them a wash of paint (the choice is yours) and then sands it back again to give a vintage look. My job is to painstakingly hand paint each letter with a little help from a stencil and the to paint on various arrows. Then when dry we give it a bit more sanding around the edges for good measure.

We are loving making these signs and the possibilities are endless.

Wedding signs

2011-09-05T04:44:00.000-07:00

It's very exciting times at Love Letters!! We've been doing so well creating so many different colour letters for brides to be that we have decided to introduce a new range to our business!!

They have started to become very popular with our new customers. We love creating them!! My husband makes me a sign out of reclaimed wood and we paint it with a wash of colour (most popular being ivory) ivory, duck egg blue, dusky pink etc and then I stencil on the words and numbers of their choice. So far we've created signs saying 'wedding party this way', ' Welcome to our wedding' 'Charlotte and Shaun's Wedding Party' and many more. We love created them because they look so effective.

I am really wanting to put one up in my living room (duck egg blue) to match the decor, I'm just wondering what words to have. Something seasidey me thinks.

We're also going to create a small one with a number '1' for the in-laws who are sick of their Chinese takeaway being delivered to the wrong house! Hopefully a Loveletters wooden sign will guide the delivery driver to the correct address!!!

Anyway for anyone looking for a unique idea to signpost their wedding with look no further than http://www.lovelettersdirect.weebly.com/ You could have 'Wedding This Way' 'Party this Way' 'Welcome' or even something like 'Marquee this way'. The options are endless.

Quote 'Blog11' to get 10 per cent off your wedding sign until the end of September 2011.

Mr & Mrs

2011-06-08T04:32:00.000-07:00

It's been about 8 months since me and my (now) husband decided to set up out little business hanpainting wooden letters. Since then we have had countless orders from mostly brides, some grooms and a few mother- in-laws. We have painted letters in black, white, ivory, pink (lots of shades of),blue, gold, silver, red, beige, magnolia and many many more.

We have had some orders from home owners looking to decorate their house with unique words such as 'Sweetdreams' 'ZZZ', and 'Mmm... (including the dots!!)'.

Every time we paint a set of letters we try to take a photo to update our website
I can honestly say that every set of letters looks fantastic. We really love it when one of our brides takes the time to send us a picture of our letters in action via facebook
It makes our day to see the letters in such beautiful settings. We also welcome any comments on our facebook page from our happy customers.

At the minute we are busy painting everyday. We have a little workshop set up at home and happily sit with the radio on painting away. While the weather is fine we have started to do the 'shabby chicing' outside in the sunshine with the chickens roaming around the place. They are very intrigued to see what we are doing and very disappointed when they realise that letters aren't edible!!

To totally change the subject, the chickens are so cute or be it naughty! They love the sunshine. They spent their days lounging in the sun and dust bathing in the borders. Occasionally they find the time to try and nibble some of our newly sprouting vegetables!! Aside from this occasional naughtiness they are really sweet natured girls and lay us an egg a day. I end up making cakes every week and having egg sandwiches at least twice a week. They are the best eggs you could ever taste. If anyone would be interested in giving a home to battery hens then more information can be found at http://www.freshstartforhens.co.uk/

Wedding Tips and Hints

2011-05-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Just a few bits and bobs that I've picked up on in the wedding business.

Take a pack of safety pins and a min sewing kit with you for any emergencies.
If the groomsmen are nervous about the speeches think about having them before the meal so that everyone can relax and enjoy the food that you have forked out for!!
Print out a list of timings and suppliers phone numbers for the best man and bridesmaids to keep for emergencies.
Put a basket of deodorant, body spray, hairspray, wet wipes, hair gel etc in the toilets for guests (and you!) to use.
Make sure the flowers don't drip water on your dress by wrapping the stems in toilet roll for a few minutes before picking them up.
Before the big day create a checklist for the groom of things he needs to remember to bring with him on the big day.
Wear a top with buttons down the front for your hair and makeup appointment so that you don't smudge your makeup or ruin your hair by taking it off over your head!
Make a list of everything that you want back from the venue so that you can check it off the morning after.
Buy heel stoppers http://prettypinktoes.co.uk/default.aspx to stop your feet sinking for the photos.
Put some blank cd's on the tables with a note asking guests to upload any photos they have and post them to you.
Take a mini medicine 'cabinet' with you - paracetamol, imodium, Kalms, Good Nytol etc
EAT BREAKFAST!

* http://www.lovelettersdirect.weebly.com

Nearly a month married!!

2011-05-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

So it's been 26days since our lovely wedding. We are now blissfully married. I can't believe how much I loved the whole getting married thing. I was so nervous in the morning (and all night that the night before!), it was all I could do stop the tears rolling down my cheeks during the ceremony. The registrar was so nice and kind to me that I felt like I didn't have to worry about anything. Anyone getting married in Warwickshire you have made a good choice!!BROWNSOVER HALL HOTEL RUGBY

Equally the venue was stunning as I knew it would be, and the staff were fantastic. They really could not do anything more for us! Our every wish was their command! We couldn't have asked for more. Brownsover Hall really is where the magic happens.

Speaking of Brownsover Hall, we exhibited there at the wedding fayre on Sunday. I hope that they managed to book a few weddings just on my compliments about them to the brides I met. We set up our stall right in front of the beautiful fireplace. We met lots of lovely wedding suppliers and loads of excited brides and grooms. We managed to take a lot of orders on the day and have had loads of enquiries since. I can't believe the amount of brides having winter weddings at Brownsover. But then again it would be a perfect wintry venue with candlelight and fireplaces and deep rich red walls. Mind you it was perfect for us on our hot spring wedding day too. There are two fireplaces that could be decorated with our letters (one in the reception room and one in the ceremony room there are also lots of shelves too).

Meanwhile back in the painting shop (our dining room) our table is littered with letters for orders we have taken. We are painting day and night at the moment. You can tell that the wedding season is upon us!! I am so jealous!!! We are getting excited about what colours people are choosing. Ivory shabby chic is still the favourite, followed by gold and shiny!! A couple of brides at the wedding fayre were having more unusual colours like orange and brown or red and green. The choice is endless! Whatever your colour choice we can create your words to match.

A wedding experience

2011-03-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

We were exhibiting at the Kelmarsh Hall Wedding Experience on Sunday and we are still buzzing with excitement. The weather was beautiful and the marquee was in full sunshine for most of the day. The daffodils and crocuses were sparkling in the sunshine.

We would like to thank all of the brides for visiting us at our stall. Everyone was so positive and that is just what you need when you are starting a new business venture. We met some lovely suppliers too. Tracey from Edward and Emma was so friendly and helpful. Her stand looked fantastic. She has even offered her help when I am creating my own table plan in the next few days!! David Hughes(David Hughes Photography) was on the stand next to us and we are now friends on Facebook. His photography really is fantastic. Several of the photographers said that they would be interested in buying some letters for props. There were some lovely flower displays too.

In the main house there was a roaring fire with a fantastic fireplace that our letters would look great on. One couple are going to measure up to check that their surname will fit along the mantelpiece and then are placing an order.

We were offering a ten per cent discount to anyone that placed an order as a result of the wedding fayre so we wait with bated breath to see if any orders come through as a result.

We are just hoping now that the interest turns in to orders.

Kelmarsh Hall is a stunning venue.

Wedding Fayre

2011-03-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that we will be exhibiting at the Kelmarsh Hall Wedding Experience on Sunday 20th March. Please come along and say hello to us. We will have a special offer on the day for any orders we take.

Plus size brides

2011-03-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

In my opinion building up to your own wedding is a stressful time for any bride. We want to look our best and will stop at nothing to get there. Being a plus size bride myself I have the extra anxiety of wanting to be a size 10 model bride but knowing that this is not going to happen. I have decided to give some of the tips and ideas I have found in my search for ways to help me with my confidence on my wedding day.

First off all I have managed to shed a few pounds since our engagement. I haven't lost as much as I would have liked but I have gone down a couple of dress sizes so I'm feeling a lot happier about wearing my dress. I chose my dress months ago and bought it in a size 16. I haven't been able to get in to it yet so have decided to be realistic and sell it. I've bought it again in the next size up and this fits perfectly.

With the aid of some magic underwear such as Gok Wans sex kitten corset I will be feeling confident all day.

I would also advise that if you aren't that comfortable with your arms then invest in a shrug of some sort to wear if you feel the need. There are some lovely ones like this one from Dorothy Perkins

The main thing to remember is that everyone is there because they love you and want to share in your joy. Don't let yourself get too hung up trying to be the perfect model bride. Enjoy your day and when you look back on your photos you will look gorgeous!!!

Childs Play

2011-03-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

Some ideas for those who are inviting children to their wedding day. Firstly remember that it is a long day and children don't enjoy the same things as adults. Make them feel special and maybe just maybe they will behave!!!

During the service perhaps put a little reading book on their chair so that they can entertain themselves quietly whilst the grown ups watch the ceremony. For after the ceremony make sure they are provided with some confetti as they will love throwing it everywhere (some might even land on the bride and groom!)

Get them involved in the photos by buying a disposable camera and asking them to take some pictures of the day. They will relish this task and you might get some really interesting children's eye view shots of your special day. For the formal photos make sure you get any involving the kids over with first of all. Then they can be sent off to run about the grounds while the other shots are taken.

For the wedding breakfast put them all together on a children's only table. Give them pass the parcel type favours and colouring books. Bubbles will go down a storm. Make sure that you have a good selection of non alcoholic drinks for them. They could even have their lemonade in a champagne flute so that they can toast the bride and groom.

After the ceremony why not set up a pinata packed with sweets for them to bash to pieces and enjoy the sweets. This will keep them entertained for the beginning of the evening reception and tire them out also. Have a children's medley of songs early doors and they will be up and dancing away. The birdy song is always a winner for adults and children alike!!!

Children can make a wedding extra special. They just need a bit of extra consideration.