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.

Hannah and Graham's glamorous Chiddingstone Castle Wedding

Hannah and Graham married recently at the lovely Chiddingstone Castle and decided on a very glamorous theme of grey / silver and white / ivory.  We used soft and gorgeous multi-petalled flowers such as hydrangeas and Alabaster garden roses along with bouvardia and stephanotis.  All foliage was the silvery grey senecio or eucalytpus.

Hannah's gown was stunning and hence we decided as with all the flowers, to keep the bouquet striking in its simplicity.  We used the white hydrangeas as a base flower and added stephanotis, large and beautifully scented Alabaster roses and a selection of spriggy pearls and crystals.  We used senecio at the edges to give a silvery touch and also to contrast against her dress.

For her bridesmaids we used the hydrangeas on their own just augmented with crystals and pearls and with the greyish foliage at the edge.  For her Flower Girl, a single Alabaster rose was used (you can see how large it is!), surrounded with foliage, crystals and pearls.

Graham's buttonhole was particularly lovely as we provided the Alabaster rose and stephanotis in a silver boutonniere designed by Assuntina at Diamond Love.  So very glamorous.  We then used the same roses for the rest of the groom's party, with the Page Boy having something a little smaller to suit his size.  Mums and Nan also had elegant corsages designed to match their outfits.

For the ceremony in the Orangery, we used silver vases attached to the aisle chairs and filled with hydrangeas, and then provided two large silver pots filled with white hydrangea plants to be placed in front of each of the pillars.  These were then given to the Mums as a long lasting memory after the wedding.  For the celebrant table, we used silver vases filled with flowers to match the wedding.  The final outside detail was the floral corsages provided for the two stone dogs (I know I'm mad, but they do look dandy wearing them!)

Within the Great Hall for the wedding breakfast, we dressed the mantelpiece with a selection of silvered and mercuried vases filled with flowers.  We then dressed each table with two crystal hurricane lamps at different levels, with cylinder vases filled with floating candles at different heights.  We also used silver pumpkin vases filled with flowers at the base on the mirror.  The final finishing touch was a sprinkling of hydrangea florets.

For the White Rose Room, we again dressed the mantelpiece with silvered and mercuried vases filled with flowers and then provided a vintage silver tea and coffee set filled with flowers to dress the gift table which complimented the gorgeous silver champagne bucket used for the post box.  At this point we have to mention the fabulous macaron towers and cake which looked so glamorous.

After a fairly horrid week of weather, the sun shone on Hannah and Graham and it was just a perfect setting for a perfect day.  We hope all their planning and attention to detail meant that it was the day of their dreams.