How to bend the rules with wedding speeches! An article by Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
Alternative, eclectic, beautifully relaxed wedding by Inbetween Days Photography (27)
PIN IT
FEATURED

The wedding speech is a big honour and a big part of wedding tradition but it can also be something peppered with fear and confusion (who should speak, how long for, in what order and when?).  There’s no shying away from the fact that a good speech is a highlight of the wedding meal, it can bring tears (of the happy and sentimentally variety) and fill the room with belly laughs of fun.  But… done badly the speech can be remembered for all the wrong reasons.  I don’t know about you but I certainly have ‘that’ speech memory that makes me feel slightly uneasy.

Today I’m sharing my advice on what makes a really good speech – the dos and don’ts – as well as the etiquette low down.

Alternative, eclectic, beautifully relaxed wedding by Inbetween Days Photography (26)

All images in this post are by lovely Inbetween Days Photography (Brighton)  See more...

Continue Reading

Daisy and Will’s relaxed country garden wedding weekend at The Copse, with Craig Williams Photography

FEATURED
Beautiful Essex wedding by photographer Craig Williams on the English Wedding Blog (26)
PIN IT
FEATURED

This will brighten up your Wednesday – I promise! I’m totally in love with today’s wedding from The Copse, and Daisy and Will are just gorgeous – in fact everything about their wedding is just perfect from Daisy’s dress (wow!!) to the florals and greenery. Images are by English Wedding Directory member and super talented Essex wedding photographer Craig Williams – whose website and instagram are both wonderfully addictive!

Beautiful Essex wedding by photographer Craig Williams on the English Wedding Blog (25)

Daisy and Will’s venue is fabulous. The Copse allows couples to choose their own caterer and bring wine with no corkage – which we think is pretty special! I know it’s a favourite of lovely friend, English Wedding feature writer and wedding planner, Jenna Hewitt. “Jenna ran everything for us and that meant we had much more time to relax and enjoy the day. Having Craig as our photographer and Jenna as our on the day coordinator made all the difference in the world.”

Beautiful Essex wedding by photographer Craig Williams on the English Wedding Blog (14)  See more...

Continue Reading

Wedding Day Timings – your essential guide, by Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
Contemporary English wedding with a Kula Tsurdiu bride, images by Martin Makowski Photography on the English Wedding Blog (9)
PIN IT
FEATURED

I think there are two sides to putting together any amazing wedding: the look and design on one hand and then the planning and ‘making it happen’ on the other. In my book, both are super important. Today, I’m focusing on the planning side of pulling together an unforgettable wedding celebration – the importance of the timings and how on earth it’s all going to flow. Have you ever been to a party billed as “the best event ever” only to feel slightly underwhelmed? Not by the lack of design or “pretty” WOW-factor but by the fact that you weren’t fed in time and/or enough, or it took ages to get a drink? It’s these details that can really dampen an atmosphere. Planning out your wedding day, what will happen and when deserves attention.

Contemporary English wedding with a Kula Tsurdiu bride, images by Martin Makowski Photography on the English Wedding Blog (8)

All images in this blog post are by Martin Makowski – you can see beautiful bride Tig and Piers’ spring wedding on the blog next Wednesday!  See more...

Continue Reading

Wedding Day Regrets (you absolutely won’t have if you read this article!) by Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
Greenery and gorgeous urban chic styling at Manchester Victoria Warehouse with Kate McCarthy Photography (11)
PIN IT
FEATURED

It’s December, time for festive cheer! So, it probably feels a little strange that today I’m bringing you a piece titled ‘wedding day regrets’ but bear with me, I promise it will be worth it!

Nothing saddens me more than listening to the words “if I could do it all again I wish I would have…” and, if you are a 2018 bride to be heading into the year of your wedding, you have the wonderful luxury of time and the fabulous opportunity that comes with it to avoid those wedding day regrets I hear about too often.

Continue Reading

Introducing… the top 15 UK wedding stylists and planners for 2018!

FEATURED
Understated luxury wedding styling in Hampshire by Jenna Hewitt, with Kitty Wheeler Shaw Photography (9)
PIN IT
FEATURED

We’re looking back on an amazing year of real weddings, editorial photoshoots and glorious prettiness on the English Wedding Blog. We’ve shared features with so many amazing suppliers, I wanted to introduce you to some of our favourites today – and where better to begin than with the folks who turn dreams into reality? It takes a huge amount of talent and skill to be a wedding stylist and planner: these guys have an eye for beautiful design and a head for figures, logistics and calm reassurance. I take my hat off to every single one of these wonderful ladies – and I would recommend them to any couple looking for a little extra help with any aspect of wedding planning.

In no particular order, my top 15 recommended wedding planners and stylists for your 2018 wedding are…  See more...

Continue Reading

Wondering About Wedding Flowers? An article by Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
Rusted Rose Photography flower pics for Jenna Hewitt and Ladybird Flowers on English-Wedding.com (1)
PIN IT
FEATURED

It’s November and we are officially within the 8-month mark before Hannah and Ben’s wedding weekend next summer! With all the big planning pieces ticked off there’s time to focus on the fun stuff and, in my book, the wedding flowers and styling come top of that list! Today I’ve teamed up with Emma Soulsby of Ladybird Flowers to bring you all our floral and styling expertise in a piece about where to start with your wedding flowers.

Rusted Rose Photography flower pics for Jenna Hewitt and Ladybird Flowers on English-Wedding.com (10)

https://www.jennahewitt.co.uk

Instagram | Facebook

First, let me introduce Emma. Emma is an experienced wedding florist (as well as being an all round lovely lady). Since starting her business 5 years ago she’s had her work featured across numerous wedding blogs and publications (Wedding Sparrow, Bridal Musings, Way out Wedding and our very own English Wedding Blog, to name but a few). For me, a fantastic florist is one half of any wedding styling partnership and I’ve had the pleasure to work with Emma on a number of occasions. Emma is also Hannah’s chosen florist for her wedding day! Last week we took a trip to London’s Covent Garden Flower Market to catch up on everything floral to bring you this post.  See more...

Continue Reading

How to put together your wedding style

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

There was a time (and it feels like long ago), when we didn’t have the joys of the internet, social media or Pinterest.  When it comes to wedding style part of me thinks “how on earth did we manage” but the other half of me feels it was possibly a much simpler place.

Styling your 2018 wedding, expert advice by Jenna Hewitt. Photo credit Kitty Wheeler Shaw (1)

Without a doubt the access to the resources we have has placed huge focus/pressure on wedding styling.  There now exist wedding trend reports and predictions and, as a wedding stylist and planner, I eagerly await Pantone’s release of colour of the year – so often linked to the emerging colour trends and choices for the next season.  Most recently we’ve seen rose quartz and grey elegance, metallic and acrylics and, currently, a trend for minimal, white and greenery.  Next year I’m predicting a resurgence of tropical brights (we shall see…).   Anyhow, my point is that today, more than ever, putting your style stamp on your big day is a big deal. But it isn’t always easy to zone in on a style, put it all together, or know where to begin.  See more...

Continue Reading

Finding ‘the’ Dress! Honest and inspiring advice from wedding planner & stylist Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

Thank you again to Claire for having me on the English Wedding Blog.  For those of you not following this monthly piece, I’m Jenna (Weddings by Jenna Hewitt) and I plan and style weddings for couples looking for a laid back luxury feel across the UK.  This time I’m talking the dress! How exciting! In fact surely this is the most fun part? The dress shopping is at least billed as fun, a lovely experience, but are you feeling a little overwhelmed at the prospect? Are you feeling the pressure to find something perfect? Back in July I had the pleasure of dress shopping with my lovely bride-to-be, Hannah and I thought I’d share a little bit about the experience and some advice on where on earth to start when searching for that dress!

Tips and heartfelt advice for finding 'the' dress - with Jenna Hewitt at Miss Bush Bridal (2)

All images by Joanna Brown Photography at Miss Bush Bridal

Tips and heartfelt advice for finding 'the' dress - with Jenna Hewitt at Miss Bush Bridal (12)

I’m going to start with a couple of things you really should think about before you even begin.  See more...

Continue Reading

Wedding chair styling – beautiful ideas and chair styles explained!

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

Wedding chairs are a big thing for 2018. It’s rare nowadays to cover chairs; instead brides and grooms are sourcing their own chairs with a look to fit the style of their day. You’ll very rarely see a chair cover on a wedding blog – and I’ve featured so many wonderful shoots with ghost chairs, chiavari chairs, crossback wooden chairs and eclectic collections of chairs from chic city venues I thought it was about time we looked into the wedding chair mystery a little further!

Wedding chairs from Wedhead.co.uk and image credit Lucy Davenport at Sezincote

I spotted a great piece on alternative wedding chair styles on Wedhead‘s blog (which is a beautiful part of the internet all on its own, and highly recommended reading) which taught me so much about wedding chair styles. Lovely Anastasia explains that chair covers can be just as expensive (as much as £10 each!) to hire as chairs themselves – and someone has to spend an hour or five wrestling them onto the chairs… is it really worth it? (And then they come off… I’ve even seen people wearing chair covers at the end of one evening do! As ghosts. Not even kidding…)  See more...

Continue Reading

How to Handle Children at Weddings! 9 genius tips from planner & stylist Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

Hello! I hope you all had an amazing summer of fun in the (surprisingly good) English weather. If you missed me last month, I’m Jenna Hewitt and I plan and style weddings.  Each month I’ll be writing a kind of ‘wedding planning diary’ of help and tips that follows the planning journey of real life couple, Hannah and Ben (very lovely clients of mine).  This month I’m writing some thoughts, musings and general advice on children (and what to do with them) at weddings!

Hannah and Ben have a fair number of children on the guest list – 27 at last count (and 5 of those are their own) so having a plan that included the children was a must.  They were also really clear that both the children and adults should have an amazing time – a tricky balance to achieve (as anyone with children can vouch for).  See more...

Continue Reading

A year in the life of wedding planning: finding your ‘perfect’ venue, by Jenna Hewitt

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

If you missed Claire’s lovely introduction last month, I’m Jenna Hewitt from Weddings by Jenna Hewitt. I’m a creative wedding planner who loves to work with couples looking for style and a sense of laid back luxury where the focus is all about the atmosphere, the food, the drink and having an amazing party!

Images from Cowley Manor wedding venue and words by wedding stylist planner Jenna Hewitt. Credit Helen Warner Photography (9)

Over the next 12 months I’m really excited to be covering a year in the life of planning a wedding and each month I’ll be sharing the inside, honest track of what it takes to plan your perfect day as well as what to expect and watch out for along the way. In fact I’ll be writing about the planning journey of real life couple and lovely clients of mine, Hannah and Ben. Today I’m starting with the venue search!

No such thing as the perfect venue?

My first tip for the venue hunt is to steer well clear of the word ‘perfect’. It is almost impossible to find the perfect venue in every sense and you could end up quickly frustrated. The trick to making the venue search an enjoyable one is to narrow down your must haves as well as what you are willing to be flexible on.  See more...

Continue Reading

Somerley House wedding editorial by Baxter and Ted

FEATURED
PIN IT
FEATURED

Hello lovelies! Did you catch today’s beautiful bridal inspiration feature from Somerley House with our fabulous new sponsor Weddings by Jenna Hewitt? If you weren’t around when I hit publish please do pop over for a look – it’s one of the most breathtaking shoots we’ve featured this year. If you did catch the feature, you’ll know we promised something rather special this afternoon…

The editorial film by English Wedding Directory member Baxter and Ted brings a whole new dimension to this styled shoot, and totally convinces me that having your wedding filmed is such a fabulous treat if your budget will allow. The fine art, almost film look of the editorial is simply beautiful. I am also totally in love with the last, slightly edgier bridal look from the shoot (which we didn’t include this morning).

“Shot in the stables, this was the most dramatic look with hair accessorised with a handmade piece by Victoria Millesime.  For this look I chose a gown from Luella’s Bridal that was clean in cut with simple fine straps and a beautiful dropped back, paired with bridal mules from Emmy London.” ~ Jenna Hewitt  See more...

Continue Reading