DIY Favours: some inspiration

Some things I've seen that might give you some ideas:

Choosing a ring... do I have to?

We bought my engagement ring in San Fransisco. After a “this really isn’t our kind of place” experience in Tiffany, we found an astonishing vintage jewellers on the same street as our hotel.

Their window was full of incredible (and incredibly expensive) jewels that included some Van Cleef rocks that you’d need to win the Euromillions to get anywhere near.

But I had a feeling they’d have something we’d like. I like old stuff because I love the idea that it already has a story. (I once tried to persuade my sister to buy a wooden flute that was 400 years old but she ditched it for a less romantic, new, silver one).

Anyway, I was right. Laing did have the ring for me. (I’m linking to their website here but obviously mine’s not listed anymore, cos it’s on my finger! It will give you an idea of the styles though...) Suffice to say it’s a 1920 white gold and diamond number and it didn’t cost $35,000 ;) I love this ring. The woman in the shop said I’d chosen it a record speed. But the thing is, the setting is hexagonal. Which means, of course, that finding a wedding band that will sit with it is going to be a) challenging and b) expensive.

And that got me thinking. Do I really want a modern, no-story wedding band? Or could I just use my engagement ring as my wedding ring? That’s what I’d rather do… but will people think I’m mad? Will they look at my finger and think of me as a permanent fiancee and never a wife?

Anyway, I’m throwing caution to the wind. I’m not buying a wedding ring. I’m going to use my gorgeous, stylish, unique and antique diamond and I don’t care what anyone else says.

Now all we need is to find a ring for him that he’ll love as much as I love mine…

DIY save the dates

So, my Save the Date cards arrived yesterday from moo.com.

The aim of the game here was to keep them low cost without looking cheap – so I went for a standard business card size card, designed the images myself, and thought I’d worry about making them look special when they got here!

The front is a picture of my wedding shoes. I’m known for my footwear, and the shoes are rapidly forming the basis of my colour scheme/diy details. (I’m thinking I might use a different picture of the shoes for the RSVP cards too…) The image came out a bit too dark for my liking, but there’s nothing I can do about that now!

We’re having a loosely autumn-themed wedding and I’m already in possession of a LOT of leaf punches.

I saw a save the date where an design had been stamped out of the envelope in the recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings and I thought it was a nice idea.

I’ve also got lots of gorgeous paper, so I took one card, one enevelope and some ribbon and had a little play.

This is what I eventually decided on: I punched a very small leaf shaped hole in the corner of the cards, and a larger hole in the flap on the back of the envelope.

I fed a small piece of ribbon through the card. I then punched two of the larger-sized leaves out of a piece of patterned paper. One of these went where the gap in the back of the envelope falls.

Then I took the leaf that came out of the envelope, and the second patterned leaf and sandwiched the ends of the ribbon between them, so each card has a leaf attached by a length of ribbon, like this:

When I was addressing the first envelopes this morning I thought they looked a little bit bare from the front, so I’ve also glued some cream ribbon round the envelope and covered the join with a smaller patterned leaf.

It all sort of came to me as I went along, but I can see how I can build on these when it comes to designing the invitations.

And I've now got a pot of tiny leaves stamped out from the cards that will make lovely table confetti!

Finding The ONE

Nope, I’m not talking about h2b. I’m talking about the venue. Yesterday I finally booked the registrar and confirmed our chosen location.

But before I tell you where (cos I can tell you’re all jonesing to know) let me tell you a bit about what we were looking for.

My boyfriend’s not much of a one for public speaking. He loves to be the centre of attention in small groups but put him in front of people he doesn’t know very well – even for something nice, like winning an award – and he gets very nervous.

So top of the list on the criteria for venues was somewhere he’d feel relaxed – and somewhere we could do things the way we wanted.

Fortunately, the budget didn’t allow for anywhere terribly grand (we need to keep it to four figures). But I also wanted somewhere that would look great in pictures and that we could rely to serve really good food. I So after a mammoth and fairly depressing trawl of the internet for places that were in the price range, we went to visit three.

First was the Langton Arms in Tarrant Monkton – a beautiful thatched country pub near Blandford Forum. The food is fabulous. The pub is gorgeous and the landlady, Barbara, is a gem. (Hopefully she’ll be guest blogging for us in the future, so you’ll get to see what I mean!) So we came away envisaging a village wedding – but with a slight fear the space wouldn’t be big enough for us.

Next on the list was boutique hotel Stanwell House in Lymington. We were immediately impressed with the “we’ll do it whatever way you like” attitude, the fact there were 27 rooms on site and the style of the rooms on offer. (And daft as it sounds, but I LOVED the fact that the room numbers were written as words not numbers.)

That left one more to see, a spectacular gardens in Somerset. A beautiful orangery and some stunning formal gardens; follies dotted around the landscaped gardens, ponds and millwheels – it certainly had the backdrop. The photographs would have been stunning.

No accommodation on site but plenty within a five minute drive. H2b though it might all be a bit overwhelming for him, but hadn’t ruled it out because it was so pretty.

But then came the negotiations over food. Now I know weddings are big business. But if you’re having a cake of cheese, instead of a cake of cake, surely the serving of the cheese should be the same as the serving of the cake?

Apparently not. If we wanted the cheese served, later in the evening, it would cost £600 (that’s revised downwards from the original quote of £1000). The lady who showed us round was, of course, only doing her job. But the cheese (alongside some other minor “no, we do it like this” moments) convinced us.

So I’m delighted to say that we’ll be getting wedded in Lymington, at the lovely Stanwell House. I’ve lost my sweeping backdrop for photos (which will mean a bit more of a challenge for our photographer if we’re going to do outside shots!) but in the end – a bit like when we were hunting for a house – there’s something about Stanwell that just felt like us. It’s stylish, relaxed, and they don’t mind us doing things our way. Oh, and the food’s great too. What more could I ask for?

I’m fluctuating wildly when it comes to colour schemes. An Autumn wedding speaks of autumn tones; orangey-reds and golds and oranges. Seasonal flowers tend to be cheaper and since I’m aiming for a sort of harvest bounty feel to the food, it seems like the most appropriate décor.

Plus my DIY projects would fit in nicely, as would my plans for favours – and more importantly, the only element of my outfit I have so far (shoes) have gold ALL over them. And autumn is my favourite time of year.

So why am I daydreaming about purple and ivory flowers, peacock feathers and sprays of jasmine?

What do you think? Stick with the autumnal hues or investigate the alternatives?

welcome to the blog

I’m not one of those girls who’s been planning their wedding day since they were old enough to choose their own clothes.

If you’d asked me, I’d have said I wanted something not like the traditional wedding breakfast, and if pushed, I’d have said that I wanted it to be somewhere beautiful, but that I didn’t want it to be expensive.

So when my boyfriend (or the wedding magazines would have it, h2b omg!!!!! IYKWIM*) unexpectedly popped the question after four and a half years, I thought I’d be quite open minded about the whys and wherefores.

Turns out my subconscious has other ideas. Lots of them. Comprehensive, specific, technicolour ideas.

The trouble is, my budget is WAY less than the apparently average spend of £22,500 (we’re spending less than that on the deposit for our new house!).

And although I know what I don’t want, finding a way to get those images of the perfect day out of my head and into reality without bankrupting myself is going to be a challenge.

Despite having no discernable craft skills I’m envisaging DIY creations of great beauty to supplement my decorations budget (more on that in a later post…)

But the biggest stumbling block so far has proved the venue. Without one I can’t decide on date, or theme, or budget, really.

I’ve looked at so many websites they’re all blurring into one. Because I’ve got no real preconceived idea about location, or type of venue (and because h2b REALLY doesn’t want a grand country house affair) I’ve looked at places all over the country.

It’s been a bit like looking for a house – and certainly as stressful. You start with an idea of what your budget will stretch to. Then you look at the kind of places you envisaged and realise you can’t afford them.

Then you realise you’ve underestimated how much added extras will cost (in my case I had no budget for drink. Rookie mistake) so then you revise the budget downwards.

You look at things you can easily afford – but your heart sinks because it’s not what you want it to be.

You start to know just by looking at the details which places will be out of your price range.

Sometimes you think something should be affordable only to discover it’s three times the price of the similar place you looked at last week. And, just sometimes, you see somewhere adorable that isn’t as much as you think it’s going to be. So. Have I found anywhere yet? We think so. All will be revealed this time next week.

(And yes, I know it shouldn’t be stressful. I know it’s not about location or flowers or the dress. I know that no matter where we end up, it’ll be a great day, because my extremely gorgeous boyfriend will be there. And thanks to BBC Three’s Don’t Tell the Bride for reminding me of that at my most stressed last week! More on that in a later post, too…)

In the meantime, I have bought shoes. That may sound strange. No dress, no venue, no date… but shoes? But to those who know me, it’s not strange at all.

When they arrive I shall post a picture (they’re going to feature on my save the date cards).

Anyway. On this blog, we’ll be recruiting some expert advice to help me - and you – with some of the more tricky decisions. How to choose a photographer. What flowers work in which season and how to keep the cost down. Advice from venue owners about how to make the day run smoothly.

We’ll have pics from real weddings to help with ideas and inspiration – and if you’ve got a tip or trick to offer, or if you’d like to send pictures of your day, feel free to get in touch. Our guest posting starts tomorrow, with two of Bournemouth’s wedding photographers giving us the low down on how to choose a photographer and the various options you may be faced with.

They’ve also included some gorgeous photos from weddings they’ve photographed so be sure not to miss it!

* That's "if you know what I mean", obviously.