Bluewater Wedding Fair 2016 - In the Vintage Village

Last weekend saw us exhibiting at Bluewater Wedding Fair for the first time.  We decided we best fitted within the lovely Vintage Village designed and organised by Creative Brides alongside such lovely people as Story of My Dress, Purple Flour, Livvy Hukins, ELS Creative Design, Joes Bows, Chic n' Cheerful and many other lovely people.  It was organised brilliantly by Clair and her team from Creative Brides and felt like a totally different experience...no jostling, pushing for customers or lines of faceless stalls...just one big happy family of exhibitors joined by the passion for all things creative and vintage in the wedding world.

We decided we wanted to show that vintage doesn't just mean shabby chic, so we decided to exhibit some more glamorous vintage styles alongside some very rustic and natural styles.  Our "hook" was Downton Abbey using the upper class wedding of Lady Edith for our glamorous side, linked with the spurious imagined wedding of Downton Abbey's cook Mrs Patmore to Mr Mason at the farm.  So here's what we did...

For Lady Edith's "wedding" we showed glamorous candelabra and silver urns dripping with pearls and lace alongside silver salvers of vintage tea and coffee sets filled with flowers.  Colours were muted, soft and elegant including hydrangeas, syringa, roses, orhcids, lilies and soft eucalyptus.  Lace, pearls and brooches were added as finishing touches.

For Mrs Patmore and Mr Mason, we used mixing bowls, pastry cutters, milk jugs, vintage stilton and marmalade jars along with lots of wood, implements, urns, jars and even a pig and a sheep!  Well every farm needs them.

We had fun and met so many wonderful people, many of whom we hope to see in the studio for a consultation soon.  In the meantime I hope you enjoy our slightly quirky "take" on vintage.

A perfect early summer wedding - Rebecca and Ben at The Old Kent Barn

      

 
When I first met Rebecca, I knew I wanted to work with her, and little did I know that I would get to work with her not just once, but three times.  No, she didn't have three weddings but even before her big day I worked with Rebecca on photoshoots as she is a super talented and successful photographer (www.mywildrose.co.uk).  I love working with her as she is so relaxed, so professional and her photos are stunning...she leaves the flowers to me and manages to make every shot look amazing.  She also keeps getting onto the front covers of magazines (quite rightly) so we manage to get our flowers seen by more lovely people.  So you may think it would be easy working with her for her big day...not so!  I don't think I have ever been more nervous!  Knowing that this was Rebecca and Ben's own very special day, rather than just a photoshoot made it all the more important to get it right.

You may be forgiven for thinking that this is just another styled photoshoot as Rebecca and Ben are stunning and the whole day looks like a dream but it really was their special day and the photos show what a relaxed and happy event it was.  Rebecca couldn't photograph her own wedding, so she entrusted this to Holly from Belle and Beau Photography (www.belleandbeaublog.com).  And what a job she did!  Most of the photos in this blog are provided courtesy of Belle and Beau and we want to thank them for sharing them with us.

Rebecca and Ben are very natural individuals who like the outdoors and wanted to make their wedding feel very green, soft and natural with vintage styling provided largely by using items from their lovely home e.g. the mirror table plan normally has pride of place in their home.  The colours for the day were blush, nude, palest pink, champagne and mink.  All with liberal doses of lovely greenery.  The brief was for a natural, rustic and not neat set of flowers, all being hand-tied with string.

As well as all the personal flowers shown above, or the church we provided pew ends in jars filled with flowers to match the rest of the wedding, and for the reception we draped lots of soft and gorgeous foliage around glamorous candelabra and then placed small vases of flowers at the base.  Smaller vases for the bouquets and additional ones filled with flowers were added along the top table.  Additional styling was provided for the napkins, the tableplan, the entrance tables and the cake.  I could go on about the flowers used and why we placed everything where we did, but I just think the fabulous photos tell such an amazing story.  A bit of a fave wedding for me, especially when looked at on such a miserable winters' day.  

We hope you enjoyed this fab wedding...I know Rebecca and Ben had a fab day and said they were "blown away" by the flowers which were "stunning" and they couldn't have been happier.  Music to my ears...perhaps I'll be less nervous next time!