Budget Friendly

DIY Tutorial: Vintage China Cake Stand

Kat

January 7, 2012

This week's DIY tutorial comes from Betty of Betty Bee Vintage. This simple project looks like a lot of fun, and wouldn't these look amazing as part of your reception centrepieces? You could cover them with cupcakes, flowers, pearls...well, whatever takes you're fancy I guess. I kinda like the idea of using really dark coloured plates and putting skulls on them surrounded with ivy...but well, that's just me. I better leave this to the experts...

A Handmade & Simple Wedding: Genevieve & Andy

Kat

January 5, 2012

Genevieve & Andy were married at Smokey Glen Farm, Washington. A simply styled day, the couple put a lot of importance on their friends and family being involved and having a good time. "Early on, we decided which things were most important to us. We wanted it to be a fun party, to be simple, and to be uniquely us - everything else we tried not to sweat too much. As a result, we simplified our approach and only spent a lot of time and attention on a few key things. The venue supplied great BBQ, beautiful scenery, and a lot of fun games for our guests. And we rented a ping pong table. That was key."

A Vintage Rock n Roll Italian Wedding: Alice & Matteo

Kat

January 4, 2012

Oh baby I'm literally dying over Alice & Matteo's Italian wedding. Everything is so beautiful and the photographs by Martino Vincenzi leave me weak at the knees. "Since my husband proposed me last year, I knew that my wedding would have been not a classical italian wedding," Alice wrote to me. "So, when I found your wedding blog, it was like a mirage in the desert! You have been my bible, THANK YOU!!" "During the planning I gently forced all my best friends to help me to make everything! It has been so tough, but worthwhile. We made all the cupcakes two days before the wedding, and the morning of the celebration we were still preparing and fixing stuff!"

A Swedish Vintage Circus Wedding: Frida & Richard

Kat

January 4, 2012

Frida & Richard were married at Hagaparken, a nature reserve just north of Stockholm, Sweden. The beautiful ceremony took place under a carefully selected tree and the reception was in The Copper Tent, also in Hagaparken, which was originally built by one of the Swedish Kings to house his horses, but which looks a little like a circus tent. The couple based their celebration around this tent, creating a vintage circus theme. The bride designed her own dress and the couple DIY'ed as much of the day as possible including the flowers, the stationery and all the reception decor and props.

Hearts, Clouds and a Massive Party: Brandon & Tiffany

Kat

January 2, 2012

"A friend of mine described our wedding by saying it was 'kind of like the Hangover, only without the tiger'." newlywed Tiiffany explained. "Brandon and I planned the wedding purposely during our favorite holiday - Halloween. Our wedding venue was in the middle of downtown Orlando, which has a HUGE Halloween street party the weekend of Halloween. It’s loads of fun, and I knew that everyone would want to party on the streets after the wedding. Well, my maid of honor partied a little too hard, and we ended up in the emergency room the night of our wedding. Haha. I love her!" Brandon & Tiffany were married the day before Halloween at Sak Comedy Lab. As you can see, they wanted a real party atmosphere for their wedding and so threw the rule book out the window when it came to deciding what they wanted.

An Urban & Eclectic Community Wedding: Stevie & Nick

Kat

December 28, 2011

Stevie & Nick's eclectic city wedding took place in Mile End, East London. The bride described the day to me as "eclectic retro community chic," with so many of their friends and family pitching in to help. "So many people said ‘that’s how weddings used to be’ and ‘this is how it should be, family and friends mucking in’. It meant a lot to us that this was how we did it – it wouldn’t have happened without all of the support we received." The wedding day started with the ceremony at Bromley Public Hall and concluded with a rockin' party reception at The Victoria Pub, "Old man pub heaven" as the bride described it! "They’d never hosted a wedding before, but we were there for a jumble sale and afternoon pint and fell in love with the place," she explained. "We started chatting to Jo and Martin, the amazing couple who own the pub with their son Alfie and couldn’t believe how genuinely excited they were by it. It made me realise that experience of weddings only gets you so far – real passion and enthusiasm was a lot more important in the end. When we wanted to bring in our own flowers, cakes and decorations – including nailing things to the wall – they were all for it!"

Discounts & Savings From Some of My Favourite Wedding Suppliers…Happy Christmas!

Kat

December 22, 2011

What could be a better way to celebrate that Christmas is just around the corner than by sharing with you some amazing discounts? Check out these fabulous offers from some of my favourite wedding suppliers. Happy shopping (for yourself I hope!)

A Autumnal Vintage Cinema Wedding: Holly & Robert

Kat

December 20, 2011

Holly & Robert were married at The Electric Cinema in Birmingham. After walking down the aisle to Billie Holiday 'It had to be you', the bride with her groom, headed to Kitchen Garden Cafe Kings Heath for a casual and DIY reception. "Rob asked me to marry him in NYC in October last year he got down on one knee in Central Park and gave me a beautiful 1920's pearl engagement ring," Holly wrote to me. "It was the happiest day of my life everywhere was just bursting with Autumn colour, strolling through the park was so romantic I wanted to capture the feeling of that day at our wedding."

A Blue Burlesque Wedding with a £900 Budget: Sally & Mark

Kat

December 13, 2011

To say that I'm excited to be sharing Sally & Mark's wedding with you this afternoon would be an under-exaggeration of HUGE magnitude. Not only is their wedding freakin' awesome on so many levels, but they pulled the whole thing off for £900! Let me repeat myself to make sure you got that, because I didn't quite believe it when I read it on Sally's submission either - the whole wedding cost just £900!! "We had approx 6 weeks and a budget of around £900 for our wedding," Sally wrote. "Where we could we handmade items or got friends to help us out. We were lucky that our photographers, performers, DJ and cake makers were all friends so did us special deals. We were also able to get both our venues (the afternoon reception was held at William Steads Pub and the evening afterparty at the Tap and Spile Pub, Darlington) for free as we didn't hire them exclusively."

A Psych-Folk-Horror Themed Wedding: Ali & Dan

Kat

December 7, 2011

Ali & Dan, who won free wedding photography with Laura Babb through a feature on this little wedding blog of mine, were married in November. With Dan being Scottish, they originally thought about having their wedding in the far North of the country (the area where he's from) but it turned out the logistics were impossible. However they luckily found their perfect venue in Folly Farm, Bristol. "We trawled around plenty of places with the help of the internet, and even booked another venue at one point - but when we found Folly Farm we knew it was the right spot," Ali told me. "We completely lucked out with the weather on the day, it was hard to believe it was November – but as we fell for Folly Farm’s vantage point and woodland walks on a dreich February morning, we knew it would be beautiful no matter what. We will shortly be leaving the UK to spend a few years working in Philadelphia, so the wedding also gave us a chance to say goodbye to our closest friends and family."

An Origami Wedding: Ceri & Terry

Kat

December 7, 2011

Ceri & Terry didn't really plan to have a theme for their November wedding, however once they started with the origami they found it hard to stop! Ceri told me all about their beautiful wedding, "When we first started planning the wedding, we were determined to do our best to be relaxed about the whole thing. We decided that, if we could find the right venue then even if everything else went wrong, we'd be ok - we could turn up in jeans and order pizza, if necessary, as long as we could get all our loved ones in the right place. After a couple of months of looking, we found it: Great Wilbraham Hall Barn. It was perfect - big enough for our guests, fairly isolated, licensed for weddings (we wanted everything in the same place), ideal for the winter months with lots of warmth and character, and within 30 minutes drive of Terry's grandparents."

Post It Notes – 2nd December 2011: How to Save Money on Your Wedding Dress

Kat

December 2, 2011

For this week's wedding note I thought I'd blog some money saving ideas relating to the wedding dress. Although, yes, your wedding dress may well be the most expensive dress you'll ever own, I'm well aware that the average price of somewhere between £1000 - £2000, is going to be out of a lot of bride's budgets.

A Simple DIY Wedding: Tara & Oleg

Kat

November 30, 2011

Tara & Oleg were married at Wentworth Falls School of Arts, NSW, Australia. The bride wore a beautiful 1950's debutante gown made of white taffeta with black flocked trim which she found on eBay! "They met at Acting College in Sydney and have been together for the last 6 years," their wedding photographer Jemima Richards told me. "The easiest way to describe these two as madly in love. Their wedding was a really beautiful reflection of that. The entire wedding had a distinct DIY theme, but with all of their personality in every single element. Oleg is from Croatia, so his family members made the special journey over, with his two sisters travelling from opposite ends of the planet just to be there. As a wedding gift, Tara also flew in Oleg's very best friend from London as a surprise!"

A Homemade Back Garden Wedding: Philip & Katie-Jane

Kat

November 22, 2011

Philip & Katie-Jane had a handmade wedding in the bride's parent's back garden. They hired a tipi and decorated the whole garden with the things they love - creating a really magical looking space. They even converted the shed into 'The Poppy Red Shed' (Poppy Red is a bar in Birmingham which the bride and groom first met) which they stocked with local ales, spirits and liquours.

Post-It Notes – 18th November 2011: Just How Much is This Wedding Going to Cost Us?

Kat

November 18, 2011

I've been wanting to put this post together for some time to give you an idea of what you might expect to pay for certain areas of your wedding. Now before I get you all hating on me, saying "But we can't afford to spend XYZ on my dress/our photos/the food" I want to make it clear that I'm certainly not writing this to show you what you should be spending. No no no, I want this post to give you a basic idea of what you might get initially quoted to save you from the mini-heart attack I had when I first realised how much wedding dresses were.

A Budget-Friendly Autumnal Themed Couple Shoot: Rob & Jayne

Kat

November 17, 2011

Rob & Jayne used a mix of high street and vintage items for their shoot with Don from The Mottleys. I love how these images show that you really don't need to spend a fortune on props and designer outfits to look beautiful in your wedding portraits.

A Halloween, Day of the Dead & Bonfire Night Themed Wedding: Jennifer & Ian

Kat

November 16, 2011

Jennifer & Ian were married on Halloween so their day had a distinct theme to fit the time of year. "We wanted the wedding to have all the components of a 'normal' wedding but be personal to us," the bride told me. "We both love Halloween, Day of the Dead and bonfire night and so decided to incorporate all three into a super-theme!"

A DIY Cornish Wedding: Angie & Jack

Kat

November 15, 2011

Angie & Jack's Cornish Wedding was a wedding of three parts - with the ceremony at Devoran Parish Church, drinks and afternoon snacks at Devoran Village Quay and finally the main reception, with dinner and dancing, at Devoran Village Hall. "We didn't stick to the standard 'wedding rules' and just wanted our wedding to be fun and to show our personalities," the bride told me. "We wanted everything to be as unique and as personal without spending a fortune."

An Autumnal Lakeside Wedding: Meredith & Nic

Kat

November 14, 2011

Meredith & Nic's wedding couldn't be any more perfect for a changeable autumnal day like today. The warm orange accents with the lakeside location are all kinds of wonderful.... The wedding took place in September at the family cottage on Bob's Lake, Ontario, Canada.

A Late Summer, Rustic & Nature-Filled Shoot: Agnese & Iveta

Kat

November 3, 2011

Agnese & Iveta's DIY shoot was set up with the help of Jaye from Tux & Tales Photography. Jaye has been doing a DIY inspiration shoot series, to show brides that they don't have to spend a fortune to have a beautiful wedding (I featured one of her first ones here).

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