How is everyone on this beautifully sunny Monday morning? It’s blissful here at English Wedding towers — I’ve been for a walk around my little village, along the seafront and through the fields already! Time now for a bit of inspiration in the form of some papery goodness, I think.

Five great alternative wedding invitation ideas

Alternative wedding invitation 1: the Lotus Flower

Lotus flower alternative wedding invitation found on Without A Hitch — the flower is cut from blue patterned paper and becomes a stunning, different wedding invitation via the magic of origami. A tag attached to the flower has all the information a guest could need!

Alternative wedding invitation 2: for book lovers

For paper– and book-lovers everywhere: these alternative invitations styled from books are divine. A discovery from one of my favourite wedding blogs at Oh So Beautiful Paper.

Alternative wedding invitation 2: invites in a tin!
Wedding invitation in a tin! How cute is this — shiny, retro, thrifty-looking (but not, thanks to Royal Mail!) — worth it if you love to make a splash with your invites! Discovered at Lovely Package.

Beautifully natural: alternative wedding invitation number 3

A creative and natural alternative wedding invitation — carefully designed and styled from two circles of untreated, recycled chipboard — die-cut and then letter-pressed to look like an old planting wheel. This invitation is really different! Another find on Without A Hitch.

Alternative wedding invitation 4: camera film invites

For your inner photographer — these retro alternative invites were created by wedding photographers to be eye-catching and fun. They’re interactive: pull the thingy to ‘reel’ the information out. I saw this on the fabulous Invitation Crush website.

If you have an alternative wedding invitation idea please share it here with everyone! Images can be uploaded with the comments options below –but please keep the size to 600 pixels wide, no more (magazine-quality huge images make my blog run really slowly).

Happy Monday everyone!

Claire xx

I can deny it no longer.  I have become an addict. Deny me my fix and my craving just gets stronger. It’s not drugs or drink or nicotine.  No, I am obsessed with reading wedding blogs and wedding magazines.  And even though we’ve more or less chosen just about everything for our own wedding and don’t really need any more inspiration or ideas, I just can’t stop reading about other weddings.  And I particularly enjoy hearing about brides who have taken up Claire’s call to ‘Think Creative’.  What a lot of talent there is out there!  From brides who stitch their own decorative bunting or ice hundreds of cup cakes to those who hand-write every single invitation or painstakingly thread crystal bead necklaces, I am humbled by those B2B blessed with a creative spirit.

I must admit that my first foray into bridal DIY left me feeling quite down hearted. Whilst my Mum was wonderfully gifted and could paint and draw and sew with great aplomb,  try as I might, I just don’t seem to have inherited any of these skills from her gene pool.  Just her flat feet and short-sightedness.  But although that’s disappointing, I’ve come to realise that people can be creative in all sorts of different ways and just because I can do little more than sew a button onto a coat or draw a stick man on a piece of paper doesn’t mean that I lack creativity.  On the contrary, I might not be able to actually make anything with my own hands for our wedding day, but I do have an active imagination and over the last few months I’ve had a ball finding ways in which to personalise our wedding day.  If you’d like to hear more about my efforts and meet some of the lovely and talented people I’ve had the privilege to encounter along the way, hop over to www.awarwickshirewedding.com where I’ll be introducing some of them to my readers over the next week or so.

Today’s English wedding blog is dedicated to Trudie. Hello there Trudie! A little while ago I asked for wedding jewellery designers to share their best sparkly creations over on the English Wedding Showcase. It works a little like the wedding magazines: I suggest a theme and ask designers to show off their wares, providing all of you wonderful couples with ideas for your wedding. This time we did jewellery.

Gold wedding jewellery ideas — an inspiration board

Fallen in love with a bit of sparkle? Click on these quick links to see the wedding jewellery designs on the designers’ websites!

• Tiaras on auburn haired model are by www.tiarasbytrudiearnold.co.uk
• garland top centre and tiara 2nd from left on bottom row by www.cherishedvintage.co.uk
• lace cuff top right by www.crystabelle.co.uk
• headdress (on sugarlumps) by www.pearlandwillow.co.uk
• vintage Haskell-inspired headdresses middle left, middle bottom and middle right by www.hfcouture.co.uk
• chandelier earrings by www.etsy.com/shop/jewellerymadebyme
• bespoke gold and diamond engagement ring by www.annaclifton.com
• Rule Britannia tiara and tiara bottom right by www.starstruck-designs.co.uk

Love these but looking for something a little more silvery? See more wedding jewellery ideas in silver! (from English Wedding blog on the 24th of April)

Have a brilliant weekend everyone! (No Wedding Planning or Work today — I’m house hunting this afternoon!)

Claire xxx

I’m avoiding union jacks and red-white-blue features with every glance at my inbox these days! There are gorgeous ideas out there, and yes a little inspiration from current events is nice… but before we all plan red-white-blue weddings (and before I start buying red-white-blue accessories for my new home!) I’m going to try and win you over today with some regal wedding inspiration done a little differently. Which is what we love here on English Wedding Blog, yes? Enjoy…

Davenport House wedding inspiration shoot

On English Wedding blog — shared by Big Little Things with photography by Meg Hawkins. All supplier information is towards the end of the page

Big Little Things needed no encouragement to style a shoot to pay tribute to the Queen and the Jubilee. It is potentially the last time in our life time we’ll celebrate a Jubilee of a reigning Queen – how exciting is that?

Our inspiration for the shoot was British heritage and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. We researched photography of the coronation to identify a dress for the shoot that reflected similar elegance and was equally regal. We selected a Lyn Ashworth dress called Mitzi kindly supplied by My Little Wedding Shop, an independent boutique specialising in the best of British design and manufacture. The dress seemed idyllic and echoed the dress created by Norman Hartnell because of the floral bead embroidery. Queen Elizabeth had specifically requested floral emblems of Commonwealth countries on her own dress such as English Tudor roses. We hand-crafted a vintage crown style tiara and matching drop earrings both made from freshwater pearl nuggets to compliment the grandeur of the dress.

We collaborated with wedding and portrait photographer, Meg Hawkins who is renowned for her best use of natural light to capture the perfect ambience within the images. Along with Meg, Liz Bell MUA brought our royalty to life in the shape of our fantastic model, Jessica Biddle.

The backdrop for the shoot is the magnificent country mansion and premier Shropshire wedding venue, Davenport House. Built in the 17th Century it has a wonderful elegance that was more than in-keeping with the heritage theme of the day. We styled the venue with vintage crockery supplied by the wonderful Claire at The Vintage Occasion. We are devils for detail and the genuine 1953 coronation mug leads our colour palette and overall design. From the cream peonies and passion flowers in the posy to the brush-work and floral piping design on the cake — each aspect reflected elements of the mug! The monarchy symbolism continues on the cake with the gold fleur-de-lis associated with French Royalty, not forgetting our handmade coronation crown cake topper.

Wedding supplier credits:

Venue styling, floristry, cake, accessories & finishing touches: Big Little Things

Website: www.biglittlethings.co.uk
email: hello@biglittlethings.co.uk
Phone: 07769748950

Big Little Things are the one stop wedding shop who take care of the little details that are a big deal. They offer a bespoke service including cakes for all occasions, fresh and faux wedding floristry, bridal accessories and finishing touches for any event. All of their creations are as unique as you are.

Wedding venue: Davenport House

Website: www.davenporthouse.co.uk
E-mail: enquiries@davenporthouse.co.uk
Phone: 01746 716221

Davenport House is a magnificent country residence which has become one of Shropshire’s premier venues for weddings and corporate events. The attractions are the building itself, in a secluded setting near the Shropshire village of Worfield, and the high-class cuisine — produced in-house by Cordon-Bleu trained chef Jane Murphy whose husband Roger is the proprietor.

Photographer: Meg Hawkins Photography

Website: www.meghawkins.co.uk
E-mail: me@meghawkins.co.uk
Phone: 07811 672 460

At Meg’s studio in Burwarton, Shropshire, she offers a range of styles perfectly arranged around your big day starting the luxury of boudoir. Then fun engagement shoots. Your Wedding day is approached with a modern, stylish and contemporary twist she captures your whole day creating a story for you never to forget .

Vintage crockery hire: The Vintage Occasion

Website: www.thevintageoccasion.co.uk
E-mail: claire@thevintageoccasion.co.uk
Phone: 07970 072293

The Vintage Occasion hires beautiful vintage china and crockery to help you celebrate your occasion with style. A small team who has fallen in love with china from a bygone age, we offer a professional, dedicated service tailored to individual’s needs. Vintage props and a styling service are also available.

Make-up & hair: Liz Bell MUA

Website: www.lizbell.co.uk
Phone: 07971463795

Liz Bell is a freelance bridal make-up artist with over 20 years experience offering a range of beauty therapy, lash extensions and hair styling for weddings, photo shoots and special occasions. Liz is able to travel throughout Shropshire to offer her service in the comfort of your own home or chosen venue.

Wedding gown: My Little Wedding Shop
Website: www.mylittleweddingshop.co.uk
E-mail: jenny@mylittleweddingshop.co.uk
Phone: 01746 768968

My little Wedding Shop is an independent bridal boutique specialising in the best of British design and manufacture. The boutique has exclusivity across the West Midlands for Lyn Ashworth, Harriet Wilde and Rosie Willett. In addition we offer bespoke bridal and groomswear, wedding planning, excellent, personal service and much more!

Photo credit: McAvoy Photography. Cakes by Beth

Good morning! Who likes cake? And have you chosen your wedding cake yet? I’ve picked some of my favourite wedding cakes from all the real weddings on English Wedding blog over the last few months, and thought it would be a great way to get a little wedding cake gallery going!

Click on the images to see the full wedding and please — if you’re the wedding cake designer and would like a credit, get in touch. (All of these pictures are taken from my real weddings, submitted by wedding photographers)

My top 14 contemporary wedding cake ideas

Tiered wedding cake ideas

These tiered wedding cakes are a contemporary take on the classic shape (and I’m a poet and I don’t even know it

Butterfly and white chocolate tiered wedding cake. Photo credit: Norsworthy Photography

London tiered wedding cake idea Photo credit: Vickerstaff Photography

Choccywoccydoodah tiered wedding cake Photo credit: Tino & Pip

Bright lego and buttons wedding cake Photo credit: Lucy West Images

Cheese wedding cakes

Not in the least bit cheesy (geddit?!) cheese wedding cakes always look artistic, creative… little sculptures almost! The textured rinds and wrappers with bright flowers get me every time. Look at these beauties!

tiered cheese wedding cake idea Photo credit: Neil Redfern

Cheese wedding cake from Kew Gardens Photo credit Martin Beddall

Cheese wedding cake idea Photo credit James P Lester

Wedding cupcake ideas

Wedding cupcakes can look stunning: there’s an art to creating each individual dinky cake, and also to arranging them beautifully! Here are a few of my favourite wedding cupcake ideas:

Striking tiers of purple encased wedding cupcakes Photo credit: Chris Hanley Photography

Flamingo themed wedding cupcakes for Wendy Bell’s Kensington Roof Gardens wedding Photo credit: Green Olive

Assorted wedding cupcake ideas Photo credit Pippa Mackenzie

Wedding cupcakes for a country garden theme Photo credit Pippa Mackenzie

Oh so glamorous wedding cupcakes Photo credit: ARJ Photography Cheshire

Purple wedding cupcake idea — Photo credit Eliza Claire

Pure white wedding cupcakes Photo credit Pete Barnes

Spots and stripes wedding cupcakes Photo credit McAvoy Photography

I can see why choosing a wedding cake is such a big decision! I love all of these… I’d be torn, I think, between the pure white cupcakes, the cheese wedding cakes and of course that fabulous Choccywoccydoodah tiered wedding cake.

Which is your favourite? Are you a wedding cake designer? You can continue the blog post by adding your own wedding cake images using the comments form below. Just upload a picture, 600 pixels wide please (bigger pics can break my blog a little bit!) to showcase your wares!

Claire xx

Hello! I have another video blog for wedding suppliers today: how (and why) to get featured on a wedding blog. Once again, ‘scuse the face — but I hope you find the advice really useful. Enjoy the movie — there’s a quick recap in words below the clip for you to cut out and keep as well.

getting your designs featured on wedding blogs from Claire Gould on Vimeo.

As a wedding stationer, jewellery or cake designer you might not have considered submitting your designs to be featured on wedding blogs. This short video explains the benefits of sponsored blog features, and looks at the differences between wedding blog advertising and the printed wedding magazines.

Getting featured on wedding blogs: why and how you can do it!

1. Readership. Wedding blogs are big these days — far bigger than the magazines. Spend twenty minutes collecting as many media packs for blogs and wedding magazines as you can, and then compare the stats!
2. Visibility. If you’re a wedding stationery, jewellery or cake designer you won’t get near the front of a traditional print wedding magazine. With a sponsored blog post, you get our front page all for yourself and your products.
3. Images. What do you get in a wedding magazine? An eighth of an editorial page with a small photo of one of your designs? Featuring on a blog gives you an opportunity to share large images, and lots of them, with potential customers.
4. Long term search potential. A well-written blog feature will bring visitors to your website for months — there’ll be an initial spike in your website traffic on the day your feature is published, and then Google will pick it up, continuing with a smaller but steady flow of visitors to your site. It’s really important to choose your keywords carefully so this works.
5. Instant calls to action. It’s all in a click: a bride or groom reading a wedding magazine might decide to look at your website later. They could forget, or find an alternative instead. With a blog, you can offer a one-day discount or free samples for the first 10 enquiries — it’s a great way to get a conversation going with potential customers.

—–

My new book How to Blog your Wed­ding Busi­ness is now avail­able to buy!

• Proper book book (in print) How to Blog your Wed­ding Busi­ness on Amazon.com (paperiest)
• Kin­dle edi­tion on Amazon.co.uk How to Blog your Wed­ding Busi­ness (cheapest)
• eBook pdf right here on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog How to Blog your Wed­ding Busi­ness (nearest)

I’ve writ­ten the book for wed­ding busi­ness own­ers who are new to blog­ging, to give plenty of help­ful advice on get­ting set up and cre­at­ing a really suc­cess­ful blog. There are pages of ideas for blog posts, tips on how to opti­mise every aspect of your blog and ideas for mar­ket­ing and pro­mot­ing your wed­ding busi­ness blog.

More Wed­ding Busi­ness Ideas

If you’re start­ing out in the wed­ding indus­try you might also like to take a peek at Wed­ding Busi­ness Ideas — plenty of free ideas and resources cov­er­ing wed­ding busi­ness plans, adver­tis­ing, every­thing from pric­ing to Pin­ter­est and more!

http://wedding-business-ideas.com/

Morning everyone! Wedding dresses and some behind-the-scenes pictures today… I wanted to tell you a little more about couture dress designer Erica Stacey. Erica has made a real splash in the Manchester and Cheshire wedding scene (if that’s the right word: is there a ‘scene’? Answers on a postcard please…) with the launch of her couture bridal wear brand at the luxurious Tatton Wedding Show in January. I’ve come across her name on Brides Up North wedding blog and seen her dresses featured in fabulous creative shoots by some of my favourite wedding photographers. This lady is making waves — with gorgeous designs and a fantastic commercial launch, allow me to introduce Erica Stacey Bridal Wear.

Erica Stacey Bridal Wear — Promotional Video Shoot with Love Gets Sweeter Films

Erica Stacey Bridalwear from Love Gets Sweeter on Vimeo.

Erica Stacey is a new bridal wear label which launched at the Tatton Wedding Show in January. All our dresses are unique and individual for the bride who wants something different for her big day. Our dresses are handmade in Manchester, England.

We originally met Charlene and Lee from Love Gets Sweeter films at The Tatton Wedding Show. We fell in love with their work and commissioned them to prepare a creative promotional video for us.

Behind the scenes at Erica Stacey bridal wear

We met with Charlene and worked together on the brief for a storyboard. Charlene was full of brilliant ideas and she immediately understood the look we wanted to achieve. Our idea was to create something which showed the uniqueness of our dresses, our design process and our attention to detail. Finally we wanted to showcase how our brides feel in one of our dresses on their special day.

We contacted the team at The Alexandra Court Hotel in Congleton and they kindly agreed to let us use their hotel as our location. The Alexandra Court is a beautiful boutique hotel full of character and charm. The management and staff were fantastic and couldn’t do enough for us. They ensured we had everything we needed and were on hand with much needed tea and biscuits throughout the day!

Finally, Laura Simpson from Laurel Weddings created some beautifully, elegant arrangements and bouquets to dress the ‘set’ and the whole day was captured by Hannah Dornford-May.



Initially Erica and our model Cath were a little nervous but Charlene made them feel at ease and the day went really smoothly. Everyone involved really enjoyed the day and towards the end the sun even shone which enabled us to make use of the beautiful gardens at The Alexandra Court.

Wedding suppliers involved

Erica Stacey Bridal Wear – www.ericastacey.co.uk

Love gets Sweeter films – www.lovegetssweeter.co.uk

Laurel Weddings — www.laurelweddings.com

Hair & Makeup by the wonderful Jeni Morris

Hannah Dornford May www.hdmphotography.co.uk

Model Cath Eccleston

Erica Stacey is making a bit of a splash… her bridal designs are exquisite; her launch campaign an inspiration to wedding businesses everywhere. See more:

• Erica Stacey bridal wear in a lavish Cherish The Dress™ shoot by Chris Hanley Photography on English Wedding Blog
• Art deco bridal inspiration shoot on Brides Up North wedding blog with Erica Stacey wedding dresses and photography by McAvoy Photography
• Erica Stacey bridal wear on facebook

Fairytale French wedding blog photo credit www.janisratnieks.com

This week’s Wedding Planning or Work is dedicated to my new friend Scarlet Blue. Last Friday I skived off WPOW entirely, as I was up to my neck in calligraphy… only to find an email on Saturday from Scarlet (which she’d sent on Friday) saying how much she enjoyed my weekly blog roundups… Oops!

Today I’m not skiving off — I’ve made you a bumper edition of Wedding Planning or Work to enjoy. Happy Friday everyone!

Spanish inspired wedding Photo credit: www.joielala.com

Real weddings

• I adore Kimberley’s wedding dress — take a look!North Yorkshire marquee wedding
• An Old Hollywood classic theater same-sex wedding | Offbeat Bride
• Romantic Spanish Inspired Wedding — a backless lace wedding dress which made my jaw drop — beautiful!
• Books and buttons — I adore this Backyard Brisbane Wedding
• I’ve fallen in love with two French wedding blogs this week: here’s one…French Wedding Style
• Beverley and Paul’s Scottish Wedding has all the grandeur you could dream of in a historic venue
• A stunning venue — and a gorgeous wedding: Claire and Simon get married — and scroll down to be impressed by an exquisite wedding cake
• Swish… Bingham Hotel Wedding
• I adore this Retro Music-Inspired Wedding

Think creative

Calligraphy heart by Scarlet Blue www.scarlet-blue.co.uk

• I Heart Calligraphy!! Me too, Scarlet
• Get inspired by this little beauty! Rose Cascade Wedding Cake
• Wolf Whistle: Wedding Stationery Fab, paperytasticness
• (I’ll apologise in advance but it has to be said:) Oooooh la la! YolanCris Wedding Dress — Lumière Collection
• Monty Manatee with some wedding theme ideasWedding Theme
• and last but not least: A Wedding for All Seasons Designer Wedding Show… the first of its kind in the North of England!

Have an opinion

• Not for the faint-hearted, or if you’re in the wedding nightmares stage of planningThe 7 Most Disastrous Weddings Ever
• The debate goes on… Same sex marriage in France
• Wedding suppliers (of the lady variety) — read this: it feels good! Women in business – what do we have in common?
• A serious wedding discussion: cold feet?Should I Cancel My Wedding and Elope? | my honest answer
• More on stress — an insightful blog post Destress Your Wedding-Planning
• And one for the road. Would you? Wedding Fashions for Cats and Dogs

wedding fashions for cats and dogs. www.intimateweddings.com

Wedding business blogs

• I’d say yes — an interesting blog post Wedding Blog Sponsorship — is it a good idea?
• Finding Your Blogging Voice
• Geeky stuff: a good update from Google Google Algorithm Updates
• Even techier: Google Penguin Update Is Live
• Are your wedding business images optimised? Do they show up in image search? Do you want them to? Some tips — really useful tips. 1000 Words About Images
• Learning to Trust Yourself