July's Headlining Wedding!

Festival season is now in full swing, with a music festival of some sort every weekend for the rest of the summer. So let’s embrace it with a fun festival themed wedding…

Let’s start with the colour scheme. A fun, bright yellow for the sash, with hints of green, like the not so green grass of the festival arenas. With fun bright colours like this, the sun is sure to shine on your wed fest!

Next up is the table plan and table names. We love the idea of a festival poster, showing your guests which table they are sitting at. What better for table names, than the big festivals of the UK? With the top table of course being Glastonbury.

While we are on the subject of stationary how does a VIP style lanyard sound for your guests to find their seat? These yellow lanyards are £18.99 for 50 (with free postage on eBay) and in yellow, they add a bit of your colour scheme to the table. Pair them with these fab cards they work a treat. Even better, it doesn’t matter if your handwriting is like chicken scratch with this style, scribble away! 

Next to the lanyard we will put the favour, and as this is a fun themed wedding, let’s keep it light hearted, with a glow stick each for your guests, only £24 for 50 from eBay. These will also make a great prop for your wedding photos; think like a sparkler, but a lot safer.

Now let’s focus all our attention on the main table decoration, the centre pieces. And what better than… a welly! After all, foot ware is key at any festival. This pair of wellies is only £19.95 from eBay, and you only need 1 of the pair per table, cutting the cost! The welly can also work as a canvas for you to scribble the table names onto with a sharpie, what a handy shoe! The welly can be filled with wild daisy flowers and placed on a wooden block to add a bit of height and bring a bit of the outdoors in. Next to the welly on the raised platform a simple jam jar candle lantern adds a bit more green, to break up the yellow of the welly. This jam jar lantern is £4.50 from Not on the High Street. To finish the table off these glimma tea light holders are fab, and only £2 for 12 and filled with these scented green candles the room will smell great, these are £1.35 for 30, both are from Ikea.

For the top table we want to see the bride and grooms marital surname spelled out, it is their festival to headline after all! These paper Mache letters are great, and at 20cm tall they won’t block the view from the top table. Just give them a lick of paint so they tie in with the colour scheme. Currently on offer in Tesco, 2 for £3. To finish it off add a few of the glimma tea light holders and candles and a fun bit of bunting across the front of the top table.

To tie the whole theme of this months wedding together, a live band! You can’t beat a great wedding band to get all your guests up and dancing into the evening… glow sticks in hand!

We would love to hear any of your wedding plans, maybe you could inspire a future months blog. Get in touch with us on Twitter @WeddingBBF, on Facebook Crowhurst Park Weddings, on here in a comment below or email us on events@crowhurstpark.co.uk. Or why not follow us? It would be a shame to miss out on future wedding blogs from Crowhurst Park!

Love,

Your BBFs x 

June Summer Solstice

Summer solstice is a pagan celebration of fertility and religion. It is the time of year when for us here in the UK the sun is closest to earth and many celebrate with big displays of fire and light. Beacons are lit and bonfires are built. What better way to get in on this party than to have yourselves a solstice themed wedding?!

I’m thinking a subtle pale green running theme complimented with brightly coloured flowers and simple summer food. 

Keeping your themed day simple but effective, I would be looking for a centre piece that embraces the light and fire of the festival, for example white lanterns filled with candles.

And why not add extra tea-lights dotted around? They really do bring a little something extra to the room and will look fabulous later in the evening when the sun finally begins to set!

100 Tealights £3 from Tesco

White lantern £4 each from Hobbycraft

So name cards, keeping it fresh and outdoorsy themed, what about small wood carvings with peoples names printed on? Drill a small hole in the top and attach a ring and you've got yourself a favour of a personalised key ring too! Guests love to feel that some thought has gone into their small token! Not only that, but they will cost you next to nothing to make except your time and skills :-)

Gerberas, daisies and freesias are all in bloom in June and make for a perfect summer bouquet. Maybe look at adding flower hair garlands to your bridesmaids and flower girls to get that midsummer feeling!

Ask your venue whether a BBQ or hog roast is an option rather than a sit down 3 course meal. If the weather is warm and sunny then there’s nothing worse than being kept in your seat in a stuffy room wading through the formalities. Opt for a more relaxed and informal day where guests can mill about and socialise, helping themselves to a lavish buffet abundant with salads and a delicious BBQ that really makes use of the weather. Rain on the day? No worries, most venues should be able to cook up a BBQ in a normal kitchen!

To finish your day how about mini fire pits (venue allowing) or chimeneers for guests to mingle around outside? Buy some marshmallows and let them get toasting, adding a twist to what can sometimes be a lovely but unoriginal evening buffet!

Create a day that your friends and family will look back on and go "Oh wow! wasn't it great when they did this" and "I still use my favour to this day, such a great idea!"

Love from

Your BBF

Magical May

This month, we thought it would be great to look at a fairy tale themed wedding. May is that month when the weather is starting to warm up and the sun is a more frequent visitor so you can start looking at lighter and brighter colours!

For this theme we opted for a dark silver coloured sash to be complimented with pale pink accessories…….whoever heard of a princess that didn’t like pink?!

So the invites, because if we’re honest, if you don’t have those it’s a bit of a non-starter! We found that there were lots of great invites that fitted with the colour scheme we’d chosen and many others besides! These simple invitations were £13.50 for 50 on amazon.co.uk. 

We love these for their simplicity but you could always adapt them with some DIY and plenty of glitter if that’s more your style!

It’s time for the wedding breakfast; your guests are all looking for their seats. Name cards on the table are incredibly important so that everyone is sat where they should be. Your table plan will have been a laborious and long drawn out process to make sure that Old Aunt May doesn’t upset Grandad like she did at the last family gathering!

We found these names cards on amazon at a bargain price of £12.88 for 50. They fit the theme perfectly and not only do they look fab but as they sit on the wine glass it’s much easier for guests to pick theirs out.

Your guests arrive at their table; the first thing they’re going to look at is the centre piece. We love the use of flowers in centre pieces, they add an extras fresh feel to the room and aren’t overly showy and yet still grab your attention. Who can forget the iconic rose featured in Beauty and the Beast? Well we think this a great statement for your table. Pink roses can be found at most florists and won’t cost you the earth. From experience we find that you don’t want your centrepiece to have too much height, guests will want to be able to see the person they’re speaking to on the other side of the table! We found these great vases on amazon, £30.50 for 5 at 30cm tall. They have a simple elegance that will add class to your overall display and not overshadow the entire table!

Next up the favours. After deliberating for a while as to whether pixie dust was a good idea (do your guests really want to find glitter in their hair 3 weeks later?) we thought why not give your guests their very own magic beans? If children are attending they’ll love it and if the grown-ups don’t get them, they’ve got themselves some broad bean plants for home growing!!

Baby pink organza bags can be purchased online at a very reasonable price of £10 for 50 bags at the favour fairy.com. The beans themselves we opted for a broad bean seed at £2.00 for 30 on amazon. Put together we think these will look really cute and are definitely a quirky and original favour! 

We’d love to hear your thoughts for a fairy tale themed wedding. Perhaps you’re already married and have some great tips on how to make a fairy-tale day even more magical or ideas on how to add extra princess sparkle. Drop us a line on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowhurst-Park-Weddings/186642608072745?ref=ts&fref=ts

Happy ever after!

Your BBFs

Stress Less

It is common for the bride and groom to be nervous when the big day finally arrives. Months and months of planning all falls onto the day you finally tie the knot. Here are a few tips on how to calm pre wedding nerves running up to the big day.

stress stress stress stress STRESS!!

One of the best ways to keep you calm would be to spend time with your family and friends, especially those that are playing a big role in your wedding such as the maid of honor and the best man. By spending more time with your wedding guests it can create an exciting feel and really calm down your nerves running up the big day. Close family especially are always a great help when going through wedding jitters as they are there as support and will ensure you have fun during and after the ceremony.

Pamper and gossip with the girls makes everything better. 

Every wedding still has a list of things to do right up to their wedding day, do not feel as though you have to take responsibility for absolutely everything, the last week running up to the wedding should be a relaxing time for you and your partner. Why not spend a day together to just relax and give the responsibility of the ‘to do’ list to a close relative or friend to help you out.

A top tip I suggest all couples should do is to have a good night’s sleep the night before. By winding yourself down and having an early night will make sure that you wake up fresh and calm for the day ahead. And a good tip for brides by having an early night you will wake up looking your best and give you a good bounce of energy to get you through the day. Being in a good mood will reflect onto others and make your day the best it can be.

Sweet Dreams.. 

As the start time for the ceremony approaches, couples should spend some time to themselves, sit down, have a glass of water and relax.  For brides to be once hair and makeup is finished a good way to relax would be to spend time with your bridesmaids having a gossip or head out in a nice little unseen spot and have some photographs taken. For the groom sit down with the best man and a few of your mates and have a drink and chat to calm the nerves a bit.

When calming your wedding jitters, always know that your family, friends are always there for support and know that your wedding organizer is there to take a big weight of responsibility off your shoulders. Just think how great the day will be and think about all the great things you will be planning in your future together.

All the best,

Your BBF x

Sprinkles of Cheer

A small detail often overlooked is the ‘sprinkles of cheer’ – otherwise known as wedding confetti. A time to celebrate the end of your wedding ceremony, surrounded by friends and loved ones, covering you head to toe in multi-coloured bits of rice paper. But is it really necessary to conform to this tradition?

Rice and Naan?

Years ago, the traditional confetti came in the form of dry rice and was liberally thrown all over unsuspecting couples by way of congratulating them. Thankfully, this is one tradition that has passed by the wayside and the modern day image of confetti tends to be horseshoe and love heart shaped bright paper. But why not shake it up a bit and add your own personal twists?

Would you really want this poured over your head? 

Fresh Thinking

Fresh petals may be an expensive treat to be used for your confetti, but it will add a touch of fresh luxury to the feel of your day. Choose your favourite flowers to match in with colour schemes and personalities. Not only is totally environmentally friendly, but they will smell divine. You could even try herbs, lavender has a great scent and is brightly coloured to boot. Dried or fresh, the choice is yours.

Beautiful and smell lovely too!

Having an Autumn or Winter wedding? Try collecting some beautiful dry leaves instead and embrace your season of choice. The photo opportunities will be endless.

That warm autumn feeling. 

Out With The Old…

For a ‘cheap as chips’ option, roll up your sleeves and recycle old newspaper by cutting your own confetti. Not only does this look chic and interesting, it’s also right on trend and will compliment any vintage inspired wedding.

Bubbles are another cost effective option and with no mess, every venue should be agreeable. Bubbles are popular as little favours for the tables, however I think they are more suited as confetti. You may like to have your bubble bottles personalised and this can be done so easily for a very small cost.

Putting your own personal touch on these teeny tiny details can make your day just that bit extra special.

Blow us a kiss!

Share the multi-coloured love,

BBF

Thanks for the Favour!

There’s always that one thing that you want to say to guests on your Wedding Day and that is a big thank you! You also want to give your guests the best memories possible from your special day. What’s the best way to do so? Getting creative with your favours of course!

Family and friends are the ones that make your day special so try to give them a gift that they will remember. The traditional favour is usually sugar coated almonds in small organza bags; these are good to have as they are cheap and traditional. Although nowadays it has become more popular to use sweets in a bag instead, this could work out to be a more cost effective option and would suit both adults and children.

If you wanted to go that extra mile and spend a little bit more, another great idea would be to give out personalised favours such as gifts with names on or individual small gifts or gestures. A great example would be personalised named chocolate, not only would this be a good favour it would also double up and become a name card on each table.





 



Tasty treat and practical too!



An alternative idea would be to relate a gift to part of your wedding. For example if your wedding was in the winter season why not supply your guests with small hand warmers or gloves to keep warm when gathering outside. Or, on the other hand, if you are planning a summer wedding why not supply ice lollies as a refreshment to go alongside with the celebratory drink? Cheap and Cheerful.

 

What you don’t want to happen during your meal is to have lots of screaming and crying kids running around and ruining the atmosphere. Instead of giving them a favour of chocolate and sweets try gifting them a colouring book and some crayons, this would help to settle the kids down and keep them at the table.

Let the speeches begin!

Remember - It is your day and it is just one day, so make every little thing count.

Chloe

Your BBF

X

 

A Perfect Spring Wedding…..DIY Style!

Well the wedding season is well and truly upon us! This week kick starts our bookings for this busy season and one thing that really suits spring weddings are DIY touches.

There are many ways to add DIY touches to your big day

We automatically think of pale colours - greens, pinks and yellows with birds, butterflies and vintage inspiration. Weddings can be expensive and you want to keep the cost down without cutting corners and having to miss out on those extra little touches which make your wedding day perfect. Here’s a few tips on how you can have a perfect Spring wedding, at a price you can afford....

Let’s start with the invitations…

For a spring feel, simple and elegant with splashes of those pale colours. Pay a visit to your local craft shop they are bound to have a selection of different papers and decorations that can be used to make those invitations more affordable and even a bit more personal. You could try layering different textured card and paper, stencils and borders, diamantes and beads to add that bit of extra sparkly detail. There’s so much to choose from! So go and explore and see what suits you best.

Craft shops can offer an endless choice of inspiration

Place Cards

There are so many different ways that you can produce name placements and seating plans for your guests to make them quirky and unique. I’ve seen plenty of cards simply folded over with guests’ name written on the front but why not jazz it up with a print or attaching little objects that are symbolic to your wedding and can be keepsakes? How about making small cupcakes and writing your guests name in icing or even writing their name on a flag and sticking it in? The opportunities are endless.

Seating Plans

Seating plans are yet another one of those all-important necessities at weddings. We all have certain members of family and friends that need to be seated separately…a drunk uncle cracking inappropriate jokes to a group of children is never a good mix. The way you want your seating plan to look will effect how much you need to spend. So, here are a few tips… If you decide you want a paper/card layout then you can buy this in bulk from arts and craft shops as well as any decorations you may want to add. You could buy stencils for the text or create it on a computer and print it out. If you want to add bits of fabric and ribbon then the best place to go is a fabric or haberdashery shop.  These can all be stuck together using glue so it’s relatively easy it just takes time and patience. How about having a get together with close friends and family who may be willing to help you with your DIY cost effective wedding preparations for brainstorming sessions? Then you could have arts and crafts get togethers to have a good old gossip about your wedding, whilst adding those personal touches at a bargain price. The seating plan needs to be displayed for everyone to see and can be mounted and placed on an easel, put in a large photo frame or simply stuck or hung to the wall…whatever suits you and your venue.  

Confetti

You say “I Do”, walk back up the aisle with your loved one, head outside and you’re congratulated with shouts and showers of rice confetti! All shop bought confetti can get a bit repetitive….it only seems to be full of hearts and horse shoes. So how about making your own confetti to give to your guests to throw over you? You could make your own confetti shapes using paper or even rose petals can be romantic. Rose petals can be bought in huge bulks from online shops such as eBay for reasonable amounts and then you could make the packets to put them in. For example, paper cones, paper bags and organza bags. Paper confetti can be cut out using hole punchers that can be bought online and from craft shops in specific shapes and sizes.

Personalise your confetti, you can even make it environmentally friendly

Decorations

Lots of brides want mismatched decorations and furniture at their wedding but aren't sure where to look. For example, a vintage tea party theme. You want old, worn out, flowery patterns, intricate detailing but it’s difficult to find these in a shop today. The best places to look for these items are antique shops, boot sales and charity shops! You’d be amazed at the old treasures you can dig up and all for a thrifty price tag too. So get out there and get digging…You never know what you’ll find!

There are loads of other decorations you may want at your wedding….bunting, personal signs and messages, table decorations, ornaments etc to hang if you have an outside wedding…the list goes on! For nature inspired weddings you could go and collect pine cones, acorns and etc that have fallen from the trees…for free too!

Vintage themes work brilliantly for DIY touches

Cake Time

Cakes are a must have at any wedding! Unfortunately, they can be a bit pricey but everyone seems to have that one person in their family who offers to make theirs, so why not take them up on it? Or if not, why don’t you give it a go yourself? You can practice with different types of cake…fruit, flavoured, Victoria sponge, chocolate or one of each. There are lots of online tutorials on how to make icing decorations or look out locally for cake making classes that can teach you the basics. Or perhaps, instead of having one big cake, you could have a tiered cupcake stand and they could be decorated individually…The choice is yours. 

It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it

Favours

It always nice to give your guests a token gift to say thank you for helping you celebrate your special day. The most popular favours are sweets and chocolates but flower seeds of flowers used at the wedding are an excellent tooth friendly alternative. The way you present them can be up to you…organza bags, paper bags, gift boxes, mini jars etc. Sweets and other small gists can be bought in bulk (just look on Ebay) and then you can divide them between your guests and keep your costs low. You could also include little messages which could be hand written or printed off.

For bridesmaids, best men, page boys, flower girls and so on, it may be nicer to get them something a bit more personal. Items of jewellery are quite popular and you could get them engraved with their title for the day and the wedding date to make it more personal.

Sweets and chocolates make a nice little treat for your guests

Bouquets

Flower bouquets can be pretty pricey and only last for a couple of days before they die. Why not make your own non-flower bouquet using brooches, beads, diamantes, butterflies, shells, feathers, bits of fabric and so on. You could also make origami flowers to make it look a bit more quirky and fun. They can work out cheaper and last forever….another beautiful memento from your special day. You could ask family and friends to donate objects to add, so it makes it that bit more personal. Alternatively go to craft shops, jewellery sales, charity shops and boot sale to dig up a few treasures. You can make it any size you want, add as much or little decoration and have as many colours as you like. 

We are in love with these alternative boquets!

You can look online for more examples and inspiration on everything mentioned above and so much more! Have a look at how other DIY Brides have kept the cost down and then DIY away to your heart’s content!

Charms & Keepsakes,

BBF & Guest Author, Chloe Tomlinson

xx