Now for a theme...

Less than 9 months until our big day and by now most brides (and grooms) will have pinned down the colours and perhaps a theme for their wedding.

Choosing January had left me with some (self made) difficulties. Deliberately going the other side of the New Year to avoid a Christmas wedding, I also wanted to avoid the 'traditional' winter colour of red. I also feel that choosing all but the palest pastels is fighting against the season and if you wanted a pretty floral day then you should choose the summer or spring.

I have come up with three possible colour schemes/themes - tell me what you think.

Cadbury Purple & Chocolate Brown

A theme to feed into my VERY sweet tooth - dark and rich offer a warming environment to a cold winters day, whilst still complimenting both a cosy church & the Guildhall.

What a simple excuse to have chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate at my wedding..
The deep rich purple is such a beautiful colour and with the brown would bring warmth to the cold January weather.
Through ribbons and painted hearts it would be easy to create decorations, without relying on expensive flowers. Invites could be sent with a Dairy Milk mini for each guest and of course a chocolate/candy bar, or even a hot chocolate bar with a selection of syrups and toppings.
Around Christmas it is a popular colour so last minute detail could be purchased in the sales, including tealight holders, tree decorations and fairylights.

Adult Bridesmaids could wear elegant chocolate dresses with purple flowers, while the little bridesmaids and I could have purple sashes. The men are going to wear mourning suits (many own their own) but we could add brown or purple ties and a purple flower for a buttonhole.

We could make Blueberry Jam as favours and of course have a rich chocolate cake.

Rustic : Neutral Colours

Rather than fighting the sparse greenery we could go with it. Using lots of woods, neural colours such as creams, ivories and beige and then accent with greens or a shade of purple (as used in stationary).

A theme to completely escape from Christmas, taking inspiration from the bare trees I could have branches or willow to decorate the aisle and door ways. I could use ever green plants: some shrubs, fir trees and Ivy. I would still have some flowers, especially roses as I think they are beautiful and add something to a wedding, however a rustic theme would mean we could look at alternatives as flowers would be out of season.


A decorative feature would be to use texture rather than colour to give dimension to the day. From hammered card to wood/bark patterns and using lace or hessian. I could use different materials to tie as pew ends, make paper chains from old books or recycle glass jars as tealight holders.

 It could give me a chance to make candles a key feature of the design, rather than a complimenting element, instead of lots of flowers I could look at alternatives to create a special feel. Willow rings or disks of tree trunk could form table centres,

I like the idea of serving small sweet pies instead of canapes at a drinks reception after the service. Avoiding mince pies (which everyone will be sick of by then), we could opt for rhubarb, apple and Cinnamon or berries. These would go well with a warming tipple of ginger beer or Winter Pimms.

Classic White : with a few Snowflakes

Another idea where we use the season to shape the day - why not follow in the footsteps of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and opt for a classic white wedding, throwing in a little sparkle and winter wonder with snowflakes.

I love the idea of an elegant all white wedding, from flowers to bridesmaids dresses everything could be in tones of white, ivory and pale creams. The worry of ensuring everything is the correct shade of your chosen colour is removed and unlike the rustic look, you don't have to worry about things looking to shabby for a formal celebration.

To add a seasonal twist, while avoiding anything too Christmasy, I could use snowflakes and a bit of glitter and sparkle. Across the Internet there's some lovely hanging snowflake decorations. We could have shaped table confetti or punch our own. Snowflakes could decorate the stationary, perhaps by punching the shape, rather than sticking.
Following on from the rustic theme, we could have twigs painted white, maybe with a little glitter and fairylights to decorate the church & Guildhall. I would use soft white flowers, but would not add sparkles to these as my tastes would have simple arrangements, simply with blooms and greenery.

I love the idea of a cake with white snowflake shapes highlighted with iridescent, displayed with candles around the bottom (yes I know there has to be a good distance between flame & cake).
I love the idea of snowflake shaped biscuits, maybe they could be the favours, or part of a desert table with coconut ice, white chocolate fudge and lemon drizzle cake.

There are elements of each of these themes that I love.

Supplies I have around that I could use

In the process of writing this post I have realised that there are 3 things that I definitely want to work with ROSES are a flower that I would like to feature in the day, they are so beautiful, simple and symbolic.
I included CANDLES in some form in all mood boards and I think they would lift the day by adding warm and decoration.
Finally, SIMPLICITY - I want to be as hand on as possible and not rely on what I might be able to buy during the sales, but I also want whatever we do to have impact.


To stop me getting carried away and maxing the budget I am working to this 'rule' - The person I want to impress is myself, if I was a guest at this wedding how would I respond?

Do let me know your thoughts, what do you think would work?

TTFN ~ Kate xx

Invites: Beautiful detail

Stationary is a really important element for me, especially the invites - not only do they set the theme, establish the level of formality and make sure everyone has all the relevant informatin, but they also offer the first (well, second after the save the date) chance for me to put my creative stamp on the day and pour my passion into the detail.

The original plan for Save the Dates was that where possible we would sent an email with a jpg attachment, people would benefit from all the design, we would save on printing and postage and our guests would always know where it was - in their inbox! We would print and send a few hard copies to people, in particular our grandparents and siblings etc, people who we knew either didn't have email or who would like to keep a copy.
However this plan was thrown out the window, and it was heavily suggested that we 'should' print & post them to at least one family & if we had to do it for some then I was going to do it for all.

After a brief think, I decided that this would not mean a change of plan - the save-the-dates would remain computer designed with no hand crafting other than cutting up the paper. Which left me with a bit of a problem: How do I produce save-the-date cards exclusively technologically, but still provide continuity with the handmade invitations to follow?

So we came to the first decissions on details for our day: If we chose a couple of fonts that were not standard issue, and purchased beautiful paper and had one colour accenting all elements, then the stationary will coordinate beautifully, especially as all the invite content would have to be produced on the computer - as much as I love doing things by hand, I do not have the time nor the calligraphy skills to hand write 70(ish) invites.

The colour used to accent the designs

So after some fussing and moaning - BH doesn't like fake handwriting fonts, where as I do and felt they would work as we are having the reception in a medieval building.
There was some workings about what colour to use with what will be a very neutral pallet on the day.
And then then was the conversations about what paper; fortunately I had done a table plan for his work and had used some laid paper which he liked the texture of, I also bit the bullet and using the samples from pda cards I ordered some card and examples of the type of invite I would like to make.

We had come to some agreements. We went for white laid paper (some irridecent will also be used in other stationary) a font which looks a little bit like calligraphy and a lovely simpler font - both downloaded especially, and a shade of purple.

The two fonts we will be using for our staioary

I also wanted some sort of picture on the save the date - one design featured a Scottish thistle and for another I took a photo of the church and played with it in Picasa until it created a lovely scetch effect. When I consulted with BH he really didn't like the thistle.

So here we are, the Save the Dates have been put in the post to family and friends who have a role on the day. The decissions are set in stone (well card) and it is official the wedding is happening.

Original photo of church

Final 'sketch'

TTNF ~ Kate xxx

Photgrapher update

I have a fabulous, wonderful Better Half. After seeing online that the photographer I really wanted had put his prices up and after some gental pursuation he made me see that with some more intesive time on the internet (not just following Facebook adverts) we should find someone locally.

Serveral dozen websites and 3 wedding fayres later a lovely guy came to visit me at my mum's, a local man he was enthused by the locations we had in the centre of town, Guildhall and the Cathedral Ruins, as he has yet to shoot there as he is now based more towards Birmingham.
I loved his work, his patience with my questions and his honesty.

TTFN ~ Kate (very happy bride) xx

A 'Gold' Turn

The Table plan, Alphabetical list
and a table name

A couple of weeks ago my Better Half's work hosted a annual fundraiser (he works in politics), a Gala Dinner, that also was raising money for SportsAid. He asked me if I would mind designing and making a table plan and that the theme was Olympics.
Thinking it would be fun and would fill some of my time before I returned to work I agreed to help, and offered to do the names for the tables.

I decided to go for Gold, Silver and Brozne and the organising commitee had said that they would like the tables named after Olympic and Paralympic sports. So after a trip to trusted Hobbycraft for resources and a long search on the London 2012 website for games; I was given the shock of my life - this event was for 250 people with 24 tables (arrrrgggghhh.........). Meaning that alphabetical lists would be needed, as too many people to only have a table plan and their wouldn't be space on the board for both.
After lots of playing around I managed to fit all 24 circles on to the A1 board.

It was then on to the computer to design the cirlces for the table, the title pannel and the bits for the alphabetical list. Fortunately I discovered that putting a grey line on the design I was able to line up my guide for my Xcut Shape Cutting System so that the text was central.

After about 40 hours work and some drama as people kept dropping out and others trying to fill the empty spaces. I had an A1 table plan, 2 A2 Alphabetical lists and 24 table names with 3 facts about the sport on the reverse as an icebreaker.

The Table Plan: 24 tables &
the stage doubled up as the title

One of the Alphabetical Lists - the other had the gold &
silver backing swapped around

 As there were a few empty seats, I was invited to join the event and so dug out my lovely bridesmaids dress from my sister's wedding (which I was just about able to squeeze into) and threw my hair into a messy bun.

With James' Gold Medal
from Sydney 2000

Not only was it a lovely meal but James Cracknell (phwoar!), Zac Purchase and Rachel Morris were there as guests of honour. I didn't get a chance to meet the rowers, but James was lovely enough to pass around his gold medals so we could all have a close look.
I spent some time with the lovely Rachel Morris, she is a hand cyclist and a wonderful and inspiring woman. If you haven't heard of her, please do look her up and don't forget to cheer her (and Zac) on this summer.

BH & I with the Olympic (Gold) and Paralympic (Silver) torches

And Finally....

I have managed to find some time to do some crafting and take some photos, watch my Facebook page for more info and to see my creations.

TTFN ~ Kate x