As our wedding preparations are coming to an end, I'm excited to be able to share with you the creations I’ve made for our long awaited celebration on Saturday 8th February 2014. Anyone who has arranged a wedding will know how expensive things can get, especially the finishing touches such as flowers, favors and decorations. I wanted to ensure a personal element was entwined despite being on a budget. I won't post any of my ideas now (I'll wait until post 8th February :-)) but below are some pointers which a crafty bride-to-be may find useful to get thoughts flowing.
Ideas - A great source of inspiration for me was Pinterest (www.pinterest.com), if you haven't joined then do so ASAP. It’s brilliant for browsing at anything from fashion trends to dream holiday destinations and especially for wedding ideas. You set up your own themed "boards" and then you ‘Pin’ away! People will search and follow some of the ideas you have pinned to your boards and you in turn can follow others. Think of it as an enormous database of inspiration. You can even have secret boards if you are collating inspiration for something special! I must say it’s extremely addictive.
Budget - I honestly didn't realise how much things would cost when planning a wedding until we started ringing around for quotes. Décor was an area I found that where we could save some money. I started by going bargain hunting and using anything I could find from what was in my kitchen cupboards to gems I found in charity shops. Charity shops have some real finds, especially crystal, vases, glasses etc. You will find some that look quite dated but they can easily be made to fit within your scheme. The Range (www.therange.co.uk) was also a fabulous place to visit, they have a wedding section which can be little tacky, but you can pick out some odd bits and pieces such as candles and glassware.
Little details - It’s very rare you go to a wedding and you don't see ribbons or bows . A company I have used for years for wrapping jobs is MeiFlower (www.meiflower.co.uk); they have a large range of colours and sizes, from satin, organza, grosgrain and come at a very reasonable price. An added bonus is delivery is fast and is only 99p!
Bringing your day to life - I wanted lighting to be a big part of our atmosphere as our venue was a large room to decorate - we went with uplighters, LED lights and candles. I found Wilkinson (www.wilko.com) to be the best priced for lights and had the biggest selection - we managed to buy a row of micro LED lights for £3.50 each which was a lot cheaper than other places I tried. These tend to only be available in the run up to Christmas so be organised and think ahead.....