A Pastel Inspired Moodboard

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!  I hope you are all keeping to your new years resolutions one month in.  To celebrate dull January being over, I bring you this bright and breezy pastel themed wedding mood board.  The inspiration for the boards below can be blamed on this photo.  Just think if we all lived in houses like this I think the world would be a much happier place to live...

So to make this wedding related think lemoncillo cupcakes, bridesmaids in lilac and blooms in shades of baby pink and light green.

Credit: Cake from www.dashofblonde.blogspot.com, wreath from Homesense, bridesmaid dress by Amanda Wyatt, flower bouquet by Blush Rose, chair covers with alternate pastel pink and yellow organza sashes by Simply Bows and Chair Covers

Credits: Flower centerpeice from pinterest, rose bouquet photo by Mick Cookson, Macaroons by The English Rose Bakery, pastel balloons from Dior advert, yellow dress by  Dessy, cakes from The Cake Blog.

If you're having, or thinking of having, a pastel themed wedding then I really hope I have given you some ideas.  Be sure to let me know your pastel themed wedding plans by commenting below.

Love Lancashire Bride x

Jenna & Pauls Scarisbrick Hall Wedding Highlights

I am so very excited to be featuring my very first Lancashire wedding video today, courtesy of Love Gets Sweeter.  I am also even more excited since I met the beautiful Charlene, from Love Gets Sweeter, on Sunday, where she was exhibiting at Tatton Park Wedding Show, and I got to witness even more of her beautifully filmed weddings.  For anyone who is debating about whether to have a videographer or not, then please use this as a great example.  Jenna and Paul, who have kindly let me share their wedding video with you, were undecided about having a videographer at first, but after seeing a few of Love Gets Sweeter's previous weddings, they swiftly changed their minds and I bet they certainly don't regret it now! 

Jenna and Paul were married at Scarisbrick Hall in Southport, Lancashire on 11th June 2011, please be so kind to leave your comments below for the newly married couple. 

Jenna and Paul's Highlights from Love Gets Sweeter on Vimeo.

Jenna & Paul's Book of Contacts:

Love Gets Sweeter

Scarisbrick Hall

Love and Bride Photographers

Dancefloor Couture

Advice from a Lancashire Bride

Let me introduce Steph, a close friend of mine and also a Lancashire bride to be. Stephanie Brown and James Wilson are due to be married on 16th June this year so I asked Steph if she had any wedding planning hints to share with you and here is what she said.

"I’ve never organised a big event before and so I thought that planning my wedding was going to be so stressful! It turns out, it’s rather enjoyable!

I’ve always been to the same church all my life and it was very important to me that we were married there and so I just needed to find somewhere for the reception. We needed it to be reasonably close to the church and so we stuck to places in Lancashire. I did some research on the internet and we chose to look at four venues…Barton Grange in Garstang, Farrington Lodge in Leyland, The Gibbon Bridge in Chipping and Bartle Hall in Lea, near Preston.

As soon as we stepped foot inside Bartle Hall, we were in love! It has its own private driveway and car park and a beautiful but small private garden at the back. The main hotel can host smaller weddings of around 60 people for the day and then there is a large barn conversion at the back of the hotel for larger weddings.  The room itself is large with a dance floor at one end, a bar and lounge area in the middle, and the formal dining area at the other end. Most reception venues require you to leave the room half way through the day for tablecloths to be changed etc but, due to the size of the room, we would be able to stay in the room all day.

Bartle Hall- regional winner of the best wedding venue in The Wedding Industry Awards 2011

The style of the room – traditional yet not old fashioned, was perfect. We loved the fact that we had a completely private garden and, as well as the main area for the sit down meal, there is also a bar and lounge area where people can sit later in the evening. Because the room was so beautiful and large, we were rather dubious about the cost. However, Bartle Hall was cheaper than two of the other venues we looked at and there were so many different options for food, drink and décor. The staff at the venue were happy to talk us through anything and answered all our questions. I have also contacted the venue on numerous occasions throughout the year and they have always been very helpful and given me all the information I needed. They have sent table plans and are happy to decorate the whole venue on the morning of the wedding.

Once the venue was booked, we had to decide on a colour scheme and the theme that we wanted for the day. Whilst looking at stationery on the internet, I came across a beautiful invitation in ivory with a black ribbon and diamante buckle. I had already considered black as a theme and this invitation became the inspiration for the whole wedding. I am a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and so I wanted to tie this in as well.

I was slightly apprehensive about choosing my dress as I love fashion and didn’t want to have to pick just one dress! However, the first dress I tried on was the one that I purchased. Even after trying on numerous other dresses, I couldn’t even think of another dress but that one and it fit in perfectly with my theme. I would definitely recommend investing in a dress box to store your dress because, although they are expensive, my dress is still completely immaculate even though its been on top of the wardrobe for over a year!

Although I had found the invitations on line, they were £4.50 each which I wasn’t prepared to pay. So me, and my mother-in-law to be, decided to make them ourselves. We bought professional card, ribbon and buckles from an online craft store and invested in a laser printer to make it easier to print. It was really fun to make them together and they look just like the expensive ones for less than half the price!

Although we’re getting married in the summer, and it seems a bit dull, my bridesmaids are wearing 50’s style black strapless dresses from Coast which were very expensive…and very hard to get hold of in the right sizes…but the girls look fabulous! We then chose to just keep things simple and have ivory roses with greenery and black ribbon incorporated. I would wholeheartedly recommend Eden Florist in Chorley as they are very knowledgeable about different types of flower and the cost was much less than I had expected for roses.

www.bartlehall.co.uk

When it came to finding the big things, such as a photographer and singer, we did a lot of research online before contacting anyone. We wanted a singer who could entertain guests on arrival at the hotel and also perform later in the evening for people to dance. We met up with Paul Guard, who sings swing and Motown, and he asked us all about our tastes and likes and dislikes so he knew exactly what we wanted. As well as being a fantastic singer, he can also play the piano and so will be playing while we have dinner. Our photographer, Tim Emmerton, came out to our house so he could find out more about us and show us his photography style. We were able to tell him exactly what we wanted and he was happy to do that. Both Paul and Tim offer a very personal service.

Its really hard when shopping around for the extras, such as favours and hair and make up, as there are so many options. To tie in with our Audrey Hepburn theme, I wanted some hints of Tiffany blue. Our cake will have a Tiffany box made of icing on the top, which we got from Chorley Cake Centre at a very reasonable price! Luckily, my cousin works for Bacardi and so he was able to get us Bombay Sapphire miniatures for free to use as favours!

So now, with only 21 weeks to go until the big day, all we need to do is sort out suits for the groomsmen and set up a gift list! I may have had almost two years to plan this wedding, but I really believe that you can plan a perfect wedding and be relatively stress free! I’m no expert… but I’ve put some of my top tips below!!"

• You can always go to expensive shops or websites for inspiration but, with certain things, it’s so easy to get creative and make your own invites/place cards etc. Plus you can get your friends and family involved too!
• Have a list of questions ready for when you visit each venue so that you don’t forget anything.
• If you aren’t in too much of a rush, try to wait until that perfect wedding dress is in the sale. My dress should have cost £3000 (which I could never have afforded) but was reduced to £1000 in the sale!

Stephanie's & James' Book of Contacts:

Chorley Cake Centre

Bartle Hall

Tim Emmerton

Paul Guard

A Taste of Lancashire: Blush Rose

So it's the last post of the week from me and I have another fantastic and local Lancashire supplier as part of the Taste of Lancashire feature to share with you.  Blush Rose are a local florist specialising in wedding flowers and special events.  If you're inspired by Clare's interview and previous work then please leave your comments below for her.  Over to Clare...

"When I first started out in the industry, I had no qualifications and just started out working in a florist.   I started work for one of the leading stores on king street Manchester and went on to work for Laura Ashley Interiors. I loved working with colours and patterns and before I knew it I was designing rooms and worked up a client base that consisted of clients that were famous on and off television.  Next I managed a fashion line from within the House of Frazer.  I have always been interested in anything creative and art and so Blush Rose was created as I had also worked within the wedding business on & off for over a decade.

Myself and the Blush Rose team work along with brides creating their perfect day as regards the wedding flowers and venue decoration. We work all over Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and all of Greater Manchester. We also work internationally and look forward to some of the weddings we have abroad as they are always magical."

Tell us more about your concierge service.

"I started the concierge service as for most brides this is the first time they get to plan a massive event and it can feel over whelming. So when the bride books us to create their wedding flowers, as we sit discussing designs, we also ask if there is any other way that we can help.  If they are struggling we can provide useful contacts for them to use for example photographers, makeup, cakes etc. I only suggest suppliers who are reliable and I would use for myself and I know their work is first class.

http://www.blushrose.co.uk/concierge/ ."

Do you have a favourite type of flower yourself?

"My favourite flower is the sweet pea.  This is why I created a florist company, for the simple reason being when I was a little girl my father would grow them every summer and the smell was so intoxicating. This flower and its hypnotising smell brings back so many lovely memories of my happy childhood. I strongly feel flowers and scents can evoke such feelings in all of us."

Can you describe the most memorable wedding you have experienced so far?

"Wow this is a hard question as I have done so many. I have to say what makes a wedding memorable for me is when I decorate the room and I get the privilege of seeing the brides face when she walks in with the groom on their own to look at the decorated room.  Words cannot express that look when she walks in and gasps and if I get to see that I feel on top of the world."

What are the wedding trends for 2012?

"Block colours are in for summer weddings such as hot pinks and oranges. But I have noticed since the royal wedding and also Kate Moss to Jamie Hince that soft and wild flowers are in vogue. Brides are tending to choose soft and loose wild flower bouquets rather than uniformed structures. But like I always say each wedding is unique and I have never done two weddings that are the same and that is why wedding flowers are such bespoke designs."

Why should Lancashire brides book you?

 "I am unique in what I offer, I sit and listen carefully to what the bride requires and the look and theme she wishes to create around her special day.  We only do one wedding per day as I will not allow others to do the designs or pass it on to someone else. I personally see to the picking and choosing of all the wedding blooms. Also, because we only do one wedding per day, and not several in a day, the bride is booking me personally for that day, which I feel strongly it should be."

Have you got any tips for our brides when it comes to organising their wedding flowers?

"Enjoy it and look around and see what inspires you.  Never feel silly if you have an idea but scared what others think, break away from the norm.  Flowers speak volumes and depending on the designs you can invoke certain styles without saying anything.  You can go for relaxed, fun, elegant, vintage, and chic, the list is endless.

I love the fact that brides are becoming more confident and showing me designs as to what they want. The wedding flowers magazine http://weddingmagazine.co.uk/ which has flower recipes for putting together a wedding bouquet, is a fab read."

Where can our readers meet you? Is there a website?

Yes there is a website to contact me on or call 07837097639

www.blushrose.co.uk

And we are on Facebook and twitter too.

www.facebook.com/blushroseevents

www.twitter.com/blushroseevents

Thank you for reading about Blush Rose and if we never get the pleasure of working with you we wish you all the happiness for your future.

Love Clare xx

Alfred Angelo's New 2012 Collection

I have been a big fan of the team at Alfred Angelo ever since their Disney Princesses collection.  So it's no surprise that I love their new 2012 collection just as much!

A romantic, sophisticated and elegant collection Alfred Angelo have worked hard to blend current trends with tradition and all I can say is that they have done it bloomin' well!  It follows the Disney collection so well in that it ties in the romantic theme with the dresses still so fairytale-esque. See what you think...

Style 2219:  The train from this dress can be removed so you're left with a shorter bodice style dress perfect for your evening reception.

Style 2300

Style 2280

Style 2240

Your local Lancashire stockists of Alfred Angelo are:

A1 Bridals in Wigan

Kiss The Bride in Carnforth

Bliss Bridal Centre in Bolton

Dan Kerr Brides in Preston

Halo & Ellis Bridal in Preston

What do you make of the new collection? Be sure to leave your comments below!

           

Are You The Perfect Couple?

Award winning designers Dessy Group have come up with another blinder, but this time in the form of a website dedicated to showcasing your wedding websites.  The Perfect Couple "is the first site of its kind dedicated to showcasing the many beautiful, creative and clever, wedding ‘wed sites’ that are published every day."

As the world of blogging and social media take hold of the wedding world, wedding websites have become a huge hit with brides and grooms to be.  They allow you be inspired off other couples stories, source venues and suppliers with useful reccomendations and they also provide useful advice and tips.  Many couples also use the sites to post their wedding invites, to make RSVP'ing quicker and easier and to display their wedding gift list.  As informal as it seems, many see it as a cost cutting excercise that still lets you put your own personal stamp on your big day.

Lee & Jessicas wedding website from www.gettingmarried.co.uk

The Perfect Couple have kept one step ahead of the competition by amalgamating all the websites together for you to browse on one easy to use website.  And there is even prizes instore for the best ones, as visitors will be given the chance to view and rate the sites.  To be in with the chance to win just nominate your own or your friends website at www.perfectcouples.com. 

If you have a wedding website, please get in touch.  We would love to hear the pros and cons and would also love your thoughts on The Perfect Couple.

The Butterfly Effect



www.lulyyang.com

The inspiration for this mood board came when I saw this picture of The Butterfly Dress from Luly Yangs Metamorphosis Collection.  Yes it is quite gothic but it whispers magic and illusion, something that every bride can aspire to when planning their wedding.  This is probably why butterfly's are a big theme for weddings.  Using some local and very talented people I have put together these Butterfly inspiration board to allow you to ooze a bit of magic into your big day.


Real butterfly by Nicola Pearson, Butterfly fondant photo by Mick Cookson, hairpiece by HF Couture, birdcages from My Fair Vintage, Butterfly Bouquet from Love Bouquets (photo by Joanne Spencer), cupcake and blue butterfly cake by Cats Whiskers Cake Design



Seating plan by Perfect Touch Stationary, Butterfly image from the Philosophy Flowers brand, butterfly in hair image from thirstyroots.com via pinterest

 I would love your feedback, so please feel free to leave your comments below.

Love Lancashire Bride x