Invites: Finished Product

Now all the invites have been sent (hopefully all have been received) and RSVPs are (very) slowly beginning to arrive; I thought it was time I shared them with you all.

I have already shared with you how we came to some of our decisions, Beautiful Detail looked at the fonts and colours I have used and On My Marks explained the use of a pocket-fold invite and belly-band, but now I bring to you the full details (and dilemmas).

The outside with belly-band

I really like it when an invite comes as a complete package, when all the elements and info tie in together and it feels like a whole and we had a lot of information we wanted to pass on, as most people are coming from out of town. BH, on the other hand, prefers a simple (elegant) style invite.
Using a Pocket fold enabled us to combine both tastes as well as creating a handmade item.

The inside: all elements in their place

I knew there are lots of possible setups for pocket folds, and to make life easier I ordered a sample pack from PDA Card and Craft, who had the widest range of designs that I could find; this allowed us to physically look at the options and mock up a couple of ideas. As part of the pack we also got swatches of the paper they stock and were able to know exactly what we were buying (BH got rather annoyed as it took me weeks to decide which pearlescent card I wanted to co-ordinate with the Laid card we'd chosen)

All the elements of the Invites
You can see the stamp of the church which is hidden behind all the info sheets.

We opted for the A6 Pocket-fold in Brilliant White Laid (Contour) with matching A4 card to create the Direction and further info sheets and paper to make the sections for the RSVP, we also selected Crystal White for the RSVP folded card and A4 card to make the invite inserts, finally we chose to get matching Brilliant White Laid envelops to finish the set.

I also decided to create a 'belly-band' to hold the invite together, but also to add a decorative, crafty element to the design. The demo band was just hessian, BH felt this was too shabby for it to work with the more formal style; I then found the grey stitch grosgrain ribbon, and after a second demo, we both felt that the design was greatly improved by its inclusion.

Invites to the church and reception

As we had selected the smaller smaller size for the pocket, I chose to design two invite sections; one for the marriage ceremony in the church and the other for the reception. This meant that no element was too crowed, we could include the drinks at the church and info about photo before welcome drinks in Coventry on the relevant invite and that we didn't have to re-think the whole design for the handful of evening invite we sent.

Directions: front and reverse.
Driving, Public transport and vintage bus info
Map designed on Powerpoint

Choosing the A6 pocket had its upsides (or John Lewis gift list cards fitted perfectly tucked, hidden. behind the info sheets) and one big downside - with all the info we wanted to include I wasn't able to use pre-cut inserts and had to faff with publisher and pdf files to create the desired size and spacing in-between each element.

Further Information: front and back.
Local hotels, when photos being taken, Confetti (natural petals only),
reminder the dress warm, a note about gifts and full contact info for my Mum.

As we are providing a vintage bus for people and many of our friends have dietary requirement we decided to include a self-contained and pre-addressed RSVP card to make keeping track of these details simple.

I originally ordered the circular RSVP seal stickers from Label Amour (their ebay store), who then kindly designed and printed the coordinating address labels.

RSVP card and sticker seal
The card fold on itself has my
 parents address on the reverse

Addressed Envelope with sender address label
It took my months to practice my handwriting

Having invested in lovely envelopes I decided that I wanted the invites to look good from the minute they are picked up off the floor so I spent sometime practicing my hand writing and created guide lines for stamps and the. return address stickers.

These invites have been a real team effort, BH has guided the overall look and had some really good ideas during the design phase. He was responsible for the gluing of the pockets and all stamping, while I took charge of the cutting and assembly.

Pockets and elements ready to start assembly.

I have to say I'm really pleased with the finished result and from the feedback we've received our friends and family like them too. Now they are finished I know they were worth the time and effort, but the whole process did begin to get to me after hours of hand cutting the elements.

I have now started work on the Menu, place names and Order of Service to complete the set, but this time I am asking friends to help with the cutting.

Do let me know what you think of these.

TTFN ~Kate xxx

Save the Date

As invites are soon to go out, I thought I would share my Save-the-Dates with you.
I sent these to immediate family and very close friends.

They are slightly smaller that 3rd A4, printed on 300msg Contour white laid card and were sent in a DL envelope.

The fonts were chosen and downloaded to reflect a slight Shakespearean theme (the title font is called 'Hamlet or Not'), the fonts and use of a little purple has been replicated on my invites.

TTFN ~ Kate xx

Flowers Finalised

Buttonhole, Hair wreath,
Bouquet, Table Wreath
Corsage on bag.

While I was at my parents for a few days, I finally managed to meet up with my friend Fay, who is a talented florist and who is kindly doing my flowers for the wedding.

What I love about having a friend do the flowers for you is that you can discuss the details over a cup of tea and a giggle.
Fay's known me for years, so as I sat there explaining the theme and the look I'm going for, she could follow me and begin to picture what I'm after.

I knew exactly what 'items' I would like her to create and, even though I am doing the church decoration, there was quite a list:

1x buttonhole for groom, using both flowers.
4x buttonholes for grooms family, Best man and Ushers, using one type of flower
4x buttonholes for my family and friend, using the other flower
4x girlie buttonholes for 'team Bride'
3x corsages for Mums and BH sister
2x hair pieces for bridesmaids
2x flowers to carry for bridesmaids
1x bouquet for me
12x table centers
decoration for around cake
20+x sprigs for the choir
and possibly 4 small vases for around reception

The thing I love about Fay is that she has known me for years, so she very quickly caught my vision for the look of the day of a magical/fairy tale woodland. I was also able to show her the plant my Grandma's been growing for use at the wedding and tell her exactly what flowers I would like - thankfully she agreed that it would all work well together and would be in keeping with the 'theme'

TTFN ~ Kate xx

Decisions and Dilemmas

Oh my, it's been a while since I've posted. Since I was last on here it's been a tad crazy; I've been in hospital, crafted and begun to plan the wedding, as well getting back to everyday life and work after op. Over the next week or so I hope to update you on the crafting, but today I will begin to update you on wedding related bits.

When I started to think about planning a wedding I knew the 'ToDo' list would be long, but I had not realised that the more stressful list was entitled 'To Decide'...
when? where? colours & themes? numbers? how involved do I want to be creatively speaking? how traditional? how formal? (breathe...) what to include? what are the most important elements? how much input do my mum, sister, friends & in laws have? how much of a surprise do I want to create? how DIY am I prepared to go? ...?...?...?

Many of these will be influenced by the fact that I love to go the extra mile in detail to make an event rememberable. I want to create a day that reflects us and that I've poured my heart into - but at the same time I have a busy year with work so can't take too much on and will need support from people.

So I come to my first dilemma, how much of my plans do I share on here and my Facebook page before the event?
I want record the journey and have other creative peeps feed into my ideas, but I still want my friends and family to have many surprises on the day. Therefore I will share elements of detail, ideas from other places and drafts as I plan and then give you all the crafting detail after the day.

 Which brings me to the first and most obvious decisions- date and venues.

Snowy Lane

WHEN?

We are getting married in January 2013. When we sat down we realised we had two choices, January or end June/July, so we went for January so we weren't waiting too long before we are husband and wife. It also means Better Half had less time of hearing about wedding and being asked lots of questions on opinions he doesn't have.
The other big factor is that I have always (well since I was about 6) wanted a winter wedding and had so many beautiful ideas for our day, that just wouldn't work in other seasons; and non of them would work in a 'Christmas in July' quirky way.
Just to be awkward: I don't want snow, just a beautiful frosty day.

WHERE?

 We had three possible options for the church and early on had narrowed it down to 2, the village church where my parents live and Coventry Cathedral. Both are very beautiful and are very important to me and after some discussion we decided that the more intimate church would suit the type of day we wanted - with our friends and family being the focus of the celebrations, not the building, feeling close and involved as we exchange vows.

The village church c. 1800-1890

The other advantage of the village church (as well as being able to walk to the service) is that I can make lots of beautiful decorations that will compliment the space, rather than be lost. Tbh I have far too many ideas now and I run the risk of the beauty of the church being lost in my crafts (eek!)


For the reception venue we knew what we couldn't do and what style of establishment wasn't to our taste. 
Marquee was out of the question (even if we had chosen a summer wedding) as it would mean hiring a location and make it too expensive. We didn't want a venue that feels like a conference centre, nor a village hall. Even though we don't have a HUGE budget our parents are being generous and we have saved hard to fund this and therefore want something that would be special for us.
We are both history geeks, National Trust members & BH has a degree in medieval history - we wanted something that reflected our passion for beautiful old buildings, that suited the time of year and somewhere I could add my creative flair.

We dutifully looked around a handful of country house hotels, but non of them quite fitted what we were looking for:
x One was too small
x Another was removed from the list within 5 minutes, no effort had gone into the open day and the annoying photographer (with big white background and flash umbrella that went off very 30 seconds) was the last straw
? If we could take the beautiful main hall from one of the hotels and put it in the place of the 'purpose built' complex at the forth, then we would have the perfect setting for a summer wedding. x Alas we couldn't do that leaving us with a beautiful hall on the end of a beautiful shell of a house and landscaped gardens that was let down buy its fraying carpets, grubby walls and over conference friendly layout. Or a lovely, well maintained hotel which felt cosy with a sense of luxury, that was in keeping with the period and style of the house, but to accommodate our guests we would have to use the modern block stuck on the end of the garden which didn't fit in with the rest of the property, or our tastes.

St Mary's Guildhall

The venue we finally went for was St Mary's Guildhall Coventry a hidden gem in the centre of Coventry. One of the few remaining medieval civic builds still standing (tho significantly restored after WWII) in the country. A reasonably small venue, with only a small courtyard of outside space; it has beautiful stained glass windows, high carved and painted ceiling and stunning tapestries. It is near Coventry Cathedral, over the lane from the ruins which we will use for photographs and features a vaulted undercroft for drinks receptions etc.
I am so excited - sorry WE are so excited. The staff are lovely, the menus look fab and the building is stunning. There's lot of scope for creating decorations, but not the need to spend every waking hour making them, as all we need to do is compliment the space not create an atmosphere.

The next instalment should be back to crafting - the next item on the 'To Do' list is the Save the Dates, which means decisions about all the stationary.

TTFN ~ Kate xxx

*I know thing can and will won't turn out on the day as I had planned. I want to turn my vision into a reality and to know on the day I did all I could to make it special for us.

Seasons and themes

The first big question I'm asking is: When to hold the wedding?
And how does the time of year shape the theme and feel of my day?

Everyone has a reason behind their choice of date, whether its because they want a short engagement, to save money, to have good weather or to tie in with another event.
Since I was little I have wanted a winter wedding and as I have grown up this has expanded to 'I don't want a summer wedding'. Don't get me wrong, summer wedding are wonderful, I just could not find inspiration to create a day that would be mine, I also easily over heat and as I want a structured dress I could just see myself being grumpy - NOT a good look.


For a while I have been thinking through hypothetical wedding plans based on the three remaining seasons.

I had come up with either vintage or 'Lovehearts' themes for Spring.
I know vintage has been done many times over and is featured at least twice in ALL the magazines, but I think it's so romantic and feminine. with handmade candles in teacups, cake stands, ribbons, lots of flowers and possibly with a bird theme.
I always think the colours of Lovehearts would make a lovely flower display, as well as BM dresses and ribbons; and with the messages and the heart in a circle there's plenty of scope for stationary.

Left-Right, Top-Bottom: Dusty pastel bridal bouquet, Camilla Flowers. Love Heart Mini Stamps, Not on the High Street.Com. flower and floating candles table centre, Super Weddings. 5 tier pastel cake, Seattle Flowers. Loveheart sweets. Heart of flowers, Joy of Flowers and Events. Pastel Bridesmaid dresses. small flower display in jug.
And finally the beautiful cupcake bouquet made for my sister for her wedding, by the talented Vicky at Cornish Fancies, do check them out on Facebook

For Autumn,  had thought of a more rustic setting and harvest festival feel, with hay bales and farming containers like old milk churns, barrels and baskets. All matched with the rich colours of fallen leaves; reds, brown, burnt orange and golds.
Using produce and wheat alongside f lowers to create the church displays and table centres. And choosing earthy flavours for the meal: butternut squash soup, pork and apple and pear tart.I have also seen hollow transparent cake stand that could be filled berries or apples. Finally, I thought giving preserves as favours would work really well with this theme.

The final season I was willing to entertain was the one where I had ideas coming out of my ears... I should point out that I love winter (when it's dry or snowing) , I am a winter baby and love wrapping up for walks in the crisp weather. I find it magical and beautiful and so much easier to create a warm and welcoming environment, especially as I love candle light.

The most obvious theme for winter would be Christmas. But if we were to choose a December wedding I would avoid the traditional red, green and gold, for no other reason than I like to keep them for my Christmas decorations. They are also a little over done and when the shops stock such a wide range of bold jewel colours why go for the same old?
I would have trees, and coloured fairy lights. not to mention lots of beautifully wrapped boxes, and baubles. I could use the baubles for place names, chocolate Santas or gingerbread for favours. You could have carols or a choir before the speeches and Father Christmas delivering gifts.

Another theme is winter wonderland, suitable for December through to February.
Either entirely white or accented with very pale pink or blue and lots & LOTS of glitter. Fairy lights, sparkles and snowflakes adorning the venue. If you wanted some colour for the stationary I would use dark forest green, but compliment it with glitter.
If I decided not to put my bridesmaids in white I would go for the pale pink or blue, but if trying for a white wedding a pale champagne or oyster would be different from the bride, while not standing out too much.
If I had the space I would create a chill out area with chucks of tree trunks, fake fur throws and wraps for the guests and serve winter warms like mulled wine and hot chocolate.

If I *HAD* to organise a summer wedding (and it came with a huge budget) I would have a garden party with tipis and an Alice in Wonderland theme. With a tea party and fair games, trees and furniture all decorated to make the space more than a garden, with streamers, props and relevant accessories e.g. playing cards, giant pansies, flamingos, toadstools and hats.

Illistration by John Tenniel. Source:
.fantasybooksandmovies.com

Image source: Cleveland.com

I would put my bridesmaids in tea length dresses, and suggest tha guests wear tea dresses and bring hats for the reception.

Lots of cake to enjoy and colour to make the whole day have a wacky look, as well as childhood favourits; from penny sweets to shows TV shows & a libaray chillout space with bean bags and children's classics.

So what time of year are we going for?
Firstly, we want to get married in 2013, while I could happily plan a wedding for October/November this year, personal circumstances mean it is best to wait the extra few months to ensure we can both enjoy our day. Also. our work diaries are fairly limiting with anything between January 20th and the middle of June and after August not being an option - we are left with earky January or June/July.

To finish: the beautiful font flowers my Garndma did for
my sister's Summer wedding

You've guested it... we are hoping to book somewhere for January 2013.

We are visiting potenial venues next weekend... so watch this space.

TTNF ~ Kate xx

PS I have not shared my favourite idea for theme with you today, I'm sure I will in good time...