Is anyone not considering a Great Gatsby wedding theme this week?

Hello every­one! I hope you’ve had a lovely week. I’m work­ing on a few lit­tle blog fea­tures for the weeks ahead and I’ve had to turn off the TV, avoid read­ing any­thing online or in mag­a­zines and steer pretty clear of wed­ding blogs and web­sites — as well as my inbox!

The Great Gatsby

Is it me or do they look a tiny bit bored already?

Why? I’m all Great Gatsbied-out.

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Tie the Knot with Ted Baker

Ted Baker is one of those clas­sic British brands I love and admire. From the polo shirts I lived in at Uni to the flo­ral prints of today, I feel like I’ve known Ted Baker for years and years.

Ted Baker wedding outfits (1)

I’m not actu­ally going to tie the knot with Ted Baker as in marry him (he’s not a real per­son), so apolo­gies for the pos­si­bly mis­lead­ing title (just in case!) But the brand has launched a new ser­vice for your brides­maids and best men in Man­ches­ter and Lon­don stores, and I think it’s bril­liant for super cool bridal par­ties. If you’re out and about this week­end look­ing for out­fits for your best boys and girls, Ted Baker is def­i­nitely worth a visit!
Ted Baker wedding outfits (2)
Ted Baker wedding outfits (3)
Ted Baker wedding outfits (4)
Ted Baker wedding outfits (5)
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Ted Baker wedding outfits (7) Visit Ted Baker online at www.TedBaker.com to find out more.

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Over to you! Flower Power wedding ideas

Hello every­one! Can you help me with a ‘Flower Power’ fea­ture on the Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog? I’ve given it a quick men­tion on face­book and got some great ideas already, but the more the merrier!

bright wedding flowers Adam Riley Photography

Photo credit Adam Riley Pho­tog­ra­phy — click to see Cal­lum and Leanne’s wed­ding on the Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog

Don’t be shy… feel free to rec­om­mend a wed­ding sup­plier, share a Pin­ter­est board, email me with a pic of your hand­made wed­ding invites, or share a photo of any­thing bright, flo­ral, and excit­ing with a wed­ding theme. I’ll share the best with you all next week :)

Have a fab­u­lous week­end everyone!

Claire xxx

Wedding cupcakes by Baking Mad

Flower Power? Wed­ding cup­cakes from Bak­ing Mad… yummy. Click the image to see more! And don’t for­get to send me your flower power wed­ding ideas!

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1920’s and Art Deco Wedding Stationery

Art deco has the poten­tial to be a huge trend this year, and I’m thrilled today to be able to show you one of the UK’s very best col­lec­tions of art deco wed­ding sta­tionery. My lovely friend Nathan (of Artemis Sta­tionery) is a bit of an expert on the sub­ject and shares his rec­om­men­da­tions for art deco sta­tionery and styling with you here on the blog today. Enjoy! Claire x

Capri Art Deco wedding sign and invitation with swarovski crystals

Capri Art Deco wed­ding sign and invi­ta­tion with swarovski crystals

Recently I wrote a bit about Art Deco and the 1920s, hope­fully illus­trat­ing why I like the style of the period.  But why is this rel­e­vant to wed­dings today?  Although quite pop­u­lar at the moment it’s a style you can use through­out the day to make your wed­ding a lit­tle bit unique from oth­ers which you may have been to. Also it’s not a strong theme such as demand­ing every­one dress up as Super­heroes.

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Charlotte Balbier’s wedding dresses for 2014 — A Decade of Style. Which is your favourite?

Every bridal col­lec­tion launch has a story behind it — and for 2014 top UK wed­ding dress designer Char­lotte Bal­bier has come up with indi­vid­ual love sto­ries to go with every dress in her col­lec­tion. Char­lotte got in touch to tell me about the great reac­tion this new col­lec­tion has already received from UK brides — and I’d love to know what you think.

wedding dresses 2014 Charlotte Balbier (1)

The design which seems to be get­ting most atten­tion — and it’s eas­ily my per­sonal favourite — is Beaul­lea. The exquis­ite lace back of the dress is just beau­ti­ful isn’t it?! I’ll show you the dresses and share Charlotte’s sto­ries with you too. I love the romance of it all… I think Charlotte’s words really demon­strate her cre­ativ­ity as a designer — they’re fan­tas­tic!

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Hot off the press! My friend Phil Drinkwater has a new wedding photography website to show you

Hello every­one! I hope you’re hav­ing a lovely day. I’ve been excit­edly wait­ing for the new web­site from Phil Drinkwa­ter Pho­tog­ra­phy to land on my screen since… ooh, months! And it’s here. Phil has had his wed­dings fea­tured reg­u­larly on the Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog as well as on Brides Up North, and has fea­tured on the Wed­ding Com­mu­nity Blog also.

Phil Drinkwater Photography in Manchester

click to see this Great John Street Hotel wed­ding in Man­ches­ter. Photo credit Phil Drinkwa­ter Photography

Phil Drinkwater wedding Photography

Click the image to see the full wed­ding fea­ture. Pho­tog­ra­phy credit Phil Drinkwa­ter

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Wedding flowers — how much?!

Have you found your­self shocked by the prices quoted for wed­ding flow­ers? You won’t be alone — seem­ingly expen­sive quotes from florists can come as a big sur­prise and often mean cou­ples have to change their plans for wed­ding flow­ers to come in under bud­get. I won­der if the wed­ding mag­a­zines are mis­lead­ing us by fea­tur­ing shoots full of flow­ers and giv­ing aver­age cost break­downs which sim­ply don’t match… what do you think?

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Flow­ers by Jades Flower Design Photo credit Mark Bothwell

Today I’m shar­ing a very hon­est and detailed break­down and expla­na­tion of the price you can expect to pay for your wed­ding flow­ers. Bernadette Chap­man from Dream Occa­sions is here to tell you more. Read, digest, com­ment if you’d like to, even ask us a ques­tion. I hope you’ll find this advice fea­ture use­ful! Over to Bernadette…

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Timeless Romance Wedding Stationery from Olivia Samuel — for old or new romantics!

Have you bought your wed­ding invi­ta­tions yet? I’m very proud to have some of the UK’s top wed­ding sta­tionery brands as a part of my lit­tle team here on the Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog and it means I can share new designs and lat­est col­lec­tions with you, often even before they appear in the national wed­ding mag­a­zines! Let’s start with a lit­tle time­less romance… over to Lisa from Olivia Samuel to intro­duce a brand new invi­ta­tion design. I hope you like it! Claire x

Timeless Romance Wedding Invitation

A fairy­tale wed­ding theme is prob­a­bly the most roman­tic theme you can have, and let’s be hon­est, if you can’t be roman­tic on your wed­ding day, then when can you?  We wanted to cre­ate a sta­tionery range that would be time­less, roman­tic and cap­ture that notion of a fairy­tale, with­out being too sug­ary sweet.

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An intimate and simple London wedding blog — Lydia and Lloyd at the ICA, London

Today’s real wed­ding blog is from the very beau­ti­ful Lydia and her hand­some groom Lloyd at London’s Insti­tute of Con­tem­po­rary Arts. I fell for their wed­ding style as soon as I saw the first images of their day. They kept things sim­ple and classy with chic and con­tem­po­rary flow­ers, beau­ti­ful lace, can­dles and pretty accessories.

UK London wedding blog images by Amanda Balmain (1) ICA, London')">

Wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Amanda Bal­main describes the ICA as hav­ing “gor­geous high ceil­ings, huge win­dows and ele­gant white inte­ri­ors it is a beau­ti­ful set­ting for a roman­tic, styl­ish wed­ding”. It’s a new venue for me as a wed­ding blog­ger but looks really lovely. Lydia and Lloyd were impressed as well, and used the venue’s rec­om­mended sup­pli­ers who they were very pleased with.

UK London wedding blog images by Amanda Balmain (2) ICA, London')">

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11 unique and unusual wedding favours

I’m for­ever hop­ping from one side of the fence to the other when it comes to wed­ding favours. Yes, it’s lovely to give a lit­tle ‘some­thing’ as a ges­ture — if your guests will appre­ci­ate it and if your wed­ding bud­get allows. But there are some dull favours out there too! My per­sonal favourites are of the edi­ble vari­ety… hand­made cook­ies in a lit­tle packet, rus­tic jars of jam and the like. I also like the sound of per­son­alised thank you notes, just one of the ideas in this arti­cle Carol has writ­ten for us all today. Oh, and the lego one. Clas­sic! Enjoy the arti­cle, and share your thoughts and ideas below if you have a sec! Claire x

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