CHRISTMAS WEDDING IDEAS.

 

Oh I do love a good Christmas wedding dont you?

So imagine my excitment when my best friend said she was getting married and wanted me to be her M.O.H... And the date... you guessed it, Christmas!

There is something ever so romantic about getting married at this festive time of year. Let your imagination run wild with some great Christmas time ideas. 

 

Your not worrying over the weather! It's going to be cold right? so use this excuse to wrap up in furs. (we heart www.trulyvintagebridalhire.co.uk for vintage furs and dresses).

The week inbetween Christmas and new year is a great way to keep the festivities up. Plus in this mid time slump you may be able to bag yourself a good deal on your venue.

Save on venue flowers as most venues are already decorated beautifuly, instead blow your budget on gorgeous bouquets and button holes. we love www.wildorchiddesigns.co.uk  

Have a small wedding reception at your country inn. Think cosy fires and satisfying sausage and mash!

Instead of a guest book use a real Christmas tree as a wishing tree, get your guests to hang pretty tags with their messages.

Sing Christmas carols... need we say more?..

Serve mulled wine and hot chestnuts as guests arive to keep off the winter chill.

Use candy canes tied with name tags to double up as favors and name places.

If you have a large hall decorate with antique props for a quirky vintage touch. (we can help you there www.chintznchinavintagehire.co.uk )Think cut glass candle sticks and vintage books parcels tied with lace.

 Your photos will be fab! We love www.emmalucyphotography.com for beautiful and unique ideas.

Jet off somewhere hot after for your honeymoon and get great winter deals!

 

Hope this is enough to convince you ;o)

 

Emma    x         

AUTUMN DIY BUTTON HOLES.

I do Love an Autumn wedding! Go foraging in the hedgerows or your garden for pretty seed heads and beautiful leaves for this lovely idea.
Beautiful for button holes for men or ladies, or simply in old enamel tins dotted around your venue.
(for vintage tins for hire please contact us at info@chintznchinavintagehire.co.uk)

You will need: Assorted seed heads, leaves and anything else you can lay your hands on that will withstand being cut and some gardeners string, if you have it you can use florist twine.
 Why not also add in feathers or some vintage lace.

The next bit is so easy, Start with your leaves/foliage that you want at the back of your button hole, then add stem by stem, overlaying at a slight angle each one until your happy with your look.
Then wrap around your string and knot.

Once secure, snip off the ends of your stems to make them nice and neat. Finish by wrapping lace or ribbon around the length of the stems and secure with a pin.
Simple and quick idea that's free!

Top Tip: depending on what you use these should keep well so get your girls round and make these together over some warm spiced punch.

                                                                          Enjoy!
                                                                         Emma x

Vintage fever. Weddings.

 Vintage fever... Spreading like wild fire through the wedding scene and doesn't look to be dying out anytime soon. Our beautiful vintage stall www.alittletasteofvintage.co.uk went down a storm at the Milton Keynes wedding show this month, and we had lots of excited brides and M.O.Hs telling us all about their plans for a fabulous vintage inspired day.
This involved alot of craft, collecting jam jars & lots of lace, some were even collecting tea cups (I turn a blind eye).
 There is no telling or guiding an excited bride to be. But girls, if I give you only one word of wisdom, from a complete control freak collector maniac bride myself this June, Listen! When your friends and family give that look that you choose to ignore it is because they care and they want you happy! They don't want you taking on too much and they want to HELP you!
I know I've harped on about this before but delegate some jobs.... Feeling your stress levels rising and your eyes bulging at the very thought? then you definitely need to!
 Try getting your girls (and guys) together and if you can't explain how you want things done then show them, give them mini craft lessons. Crack open some bubbly and make it a little party, believe me you will be a far happier bride for it.
Give the job of collecting things you want to a group of people. I had both mums collecting jars and my sister collecting lace. Tell and show people what things you are after and you'll be surprised how right they do get it.
  Check out our crafty D.I.Y projects and then make a night of it with the girls!
And if you have to collect your own tea cups (I hasten to add this is very expensive in the long run and you may as well hire them from us it will save you £££s www.chintznchinavintagehire.co.uk) then find our DIY blog post on wedding favors, making candles. After the wedding this is a great way of using your cups to give as presents for birthdays and Christmas.

Happy Planning.
Emma x

DIY WEDDING FAVOUR CANDLES. SEPTEMBER

LOVE these little favours.
So simple to make and very cost effective why not give your guests a little candle favour.
You can use pretty little coffee cups like the ones in the picture, they are cheaper to pick up than tea cups and you don't need to use as much wax, or for an either cheaper alternative collect little glass jars and trim them with pretty bits of lace.



To make these you will need:

An old saucepan.
Large pan.
Candle wax/paraffin wax
Candle wick
Metal holders
Coffee cups/glass jars
Essential oil of your favourite scent

Cut wick to size, leave an extra inch on to work with and thread through
the wick holder and knot.



Add the wax pellets to the small saucepan, place this inside a large pan half filled with water and
heat gently, be carefully, never leave unattended as wax is flammable.
Heat gently until wax has melted and gone clear.

 Secure wicks in place using a little melted wax    
                                                                                                                                                            


Gently pour the melted wax into the cups,
you will need to protect your surfaces as it will drip.

 

 

 

Leave to cool for a couple of hours. The wax would of then sunk around the wicks,

just top them up slightly with some more melted wax.

I've sprinkled lavender flowers onto mine and I've used a lavender scent.

 

 

When completely cool, cut wick to size.

 

Pretty little candle favours!

All they need now are the tags from the last months diy favour blog.

 

Everything you need for candle making can be found on Amazon.

Always be carefull when working with hot wax and never leave unattended.

                                                                                                                                 

Vintage wedding special. GET WED LOCAL & SAVE £s

 A hopeless romantic? me too, I can't help it, so planning a wedding got me thinking on not what looks pretty (although I obviously thought that too) but what matters to us.
 My hubby proposed to me in a garden in Lake Como under a little gazebo looking out to the lake, (I know... I'm one lucky lady.. its all about the romance). So our first thoughts on planning a day with sentiment was to have a very small wedding in that very same garden in Lake Como. Swoon...
 It's very easy to get carried away when you first get engaged but just stop & breath a little before making any rash decisions. I would of adored a wedding in Italy... however that meant leaving behind our grandparents & that was not going to happen, I couldn't get married without all my nearest & dearest around me & that brings me to my first tip... Draw up your guest list, now look at it.... properly! Do All these people on your list really mean something to you? chances are your inviting some as its the done thing, this is your first cut! "HARSH" you say...
"TRUE" I say! After going through your list again with this rule you will be surprised at how many people you haven't seen for years & probably haven't spoken to for the same amount of time.
Once you have your number you can start considering all your options.
 Realising we had to stay local was no bad thing and I'd strongly advise it to all you engaged happy couples!
 We picked the church from the village where I grew up. To get married in a church you need to either be living in the parish, or have lived in the parish for a minimum of 6 months, or have a family connection (your mum & dad) living in the village.  After booking the church we knew we didn't want to spend obscene amounts, we didn't have a budget as such, but just a figure in our heads that we were comfortable to go up too & we knew how much was too much when booking suppliers. In our aim to keep costs down and do our bit for the environment we decided to look local. We managed to find everything & everyone we needed within a 10 mile radius (and that's good going considering we live in a village). Keeping all our suppliers local not only meant keeping costs down, it was also huge piece of mind knowing they were on our doorstep, Our caterer lived in the next village and we were soon on first name terms.
The hog roast came from Ollie, the local butcher, most butchers can do hog roasts, or they will be able to recommend someone, it's worth checking out first before hiring a big company with an impressive looking website as these can be really expensive.
We went to our local music shop to see if they knew any good cheap bands, as it happens the owner of the music shop was in a great band, another one ticked off the list.
Keeping local meant that we could pop in on these people, and gave us all a chance to get to know each other, there is nothing worse than booking suppliers whom you've never met let alone paying them!! Then there's the stress of "are they actually going to turn up"
Along with keeping it local, seek out help from friends and family, and not forgetting bridesmaids, maid of Honor and best men. I managed to rope all my bridesmaids (& the groom) into a bunting making party, ok so they did groan a little when I started pulling out yards & yards of fabric, but when I pulled out the food they were fine lol.
I am very lucky that my Mother in law is an artist & she did all our invites.
I have a friend who's a florist who did our bouquets & button holes as this was something I felt should be left to a professional! Friends & family picked flowers from gardens to decorate the venue.
Hiring a village hall is a great way to style your own day and they are often very reasonable, have a look around as there are some beautiful ones. Some village halls come with a bar and staff, some just have a bar area which is great, it means you could buy all your drinks for the wedding at cost price. Village halls can easily be transformed & lend themselves nicely to the vintage theme. Decorate them with lots of bunting and fresh flowers.
To finish the look why not hire some vintage props from www.chintznchinavintagehire.co.uk .
Catering companies can be very flexible when working in a village hall too, and what's really great is you get to choose your own caterer! Why not try a traditional afternoon tea. Ours went down a storm and the vintage china worked so well.
Working with local people was great, we ended up coming in well under the amount in our heads, so we treated our guests to a pimm's & canape reception on the village green.

Of course you don't have to get married where you live to keep it local, but finding suppliers local to your church/venue will keep costs down. Suppliers will charge for delivery/travel and this can soon mount up, most however do not charge this within a 10-20 mile radius. The saving could be hundreds!  

   So girls n guys stay true to your heart and I hope you have a totally unique wedding day!      

Emma x

DIY Wedding favours/name tags

I Love these and they are so simple to make and at very little cost, they double up as great favours too!
You will need: small luggage tags (always make a few more than you need to), Ribbon or string for tying, a small plate, some tea bags & kitchen roll.

Step 1, Place a couple of tea bags onto your plate and add hot water,
carefully squeeze them with the back of a spoon
 so all the tea stain comes out.



Step 2, Put as many tags in as you can and make sure they are well covered, put the tea bags on top of them and leave for about ten minutes. (You will need to do this in batches). After ten minutes, remove the tags and place on the kitchen towel to dry, place another layer of kitchen towel over them and press down to remove excess moisture.

Step 3, Leave the tags to dry in a warm place over night, if the have curled slightly they may just need putting in a heavy book once dry, although I've never needed to. Once dry, in a pen of your choice, (I like Berol Italic in medium from smiths) carefully write out the names taking care not to smudge the ink. Once the ink is dry, if your not using the string that is already on the tags, snip off string, cut a length of ribbon at least 4", fold in half and with the loop end, thread through till you have a small loop just poking through, then tuck both the ends into this and pull.

Step 4, Collect your flowers into small bundles, I like to use lavender as this can be used dry, even when cut fresh it will stay looking good. You could use other dried flowers, or if making them on the day of your event you could use fresh. I also like to use herbs as they can also be made in advance & smell lovely, this teams up nicely with very small centre pieces of lavender with rosemary and sage. Herbs can be pretty when in flower. ooops look at that... I've been off on a tangent of flowers... where was I?... Oh yes, Tie your tags onto the little bunches of flowers, I forgot to say, if your just using the string provided you could also wrap lace around too for a pretty vintage touch.

P.S If you love this idea but want a short cut, hop over to my facebook page and there is an etsy link there to buy the tags ready made.

Thank you.

Vintage wedding. All in this together!

I am a control freak! and a perfectionist! and possibly a little bit hard to live with at times.... Now throw in a wedding day, my wedding day and if you know me well you may just want to run a mile, thankfully & lucky for me I Have the most lovely & supportive friends and family. I will never forget how at the very last minute, when I was still insisting I didn't need any help...(the day before) they all blissfully ignored me and helped me & my hubby have the best wedding ever. My mother in law offered to make my cake... most brides would of been thrilled, I wanted to make mine myself without any help! My mum wanted to help lay my beautiful china.... you must be kidding, I know what cup looks best with what tea plate. My friend/florist wanted to do the flowers in the hall.... erm I thought I'd do those too. If I could of taken my own photo's I would of. looking back I was an absolute nightmare before my wedding although not until the last week, I had kept my bridezilla under wraps well. I cracked the week before under pressure of doing everything myself as I had insisted. I was sewing bunting till midnight, making cakes 3 days running, making orders of service, tying lace around anything that stood in my way, even the dog got it. Then 2 days before W day my second tier of my cake melted... yes melted, then came my melt down, I rang my friend wailing... (I'm very lucky to have a lovely lady who makes beautiful cakes as a friendwww.Lisasicedgems.co.uk)   Bring it round she insisted, I'll re-ice it now, so at 7.30pm I went walking down the road with my cake hiding under a Cath Kidston tea towel, and a big frown on my face. as soon as I walked in the relief washed over me and I realised I'd been really foolish to not let anyone help. After this I quietly admitted defeat... actually I didn't have to admit anything, one by one our friends & family tactfully took on the little jobs to pull our vintage wedding together, Lisa re-iced my cake for me, my future brother in law ended up doing the flower decorations around the hall, my mother & sister in law did all the table decorations, my sister helped hold me together and my maid of Honor went above and beyond, I even had our best man making the favours out of lavender. Our friends did our bar, another friend lent us bunting. It really is overwhelming when I think of how everyone pulled together for us. Everything went beautifully and if I could give one bit of advice it would be this... trust in your friends and family, they know you, they love you, they will always do what is right by you, relax and enjoy the build up to your day & most of all delegate!!

Pretty as a picture

DIY Special... simple table decorations

I did these simple decorations for my wedding and they looked lovely and are a good way to fill every nook and cranny and are fab to use on tables as they do not take up too much room and you can still see over the top of them. They are so easy to make so get all your maids, the mums and I even had the best man making these fab little jars that can also double up as favours. Step 1.

Collect all jam jars ect the best ones are spice jars, I had everyone collecting them and they soon add up. Step 2.

Add pretty lace or ribbon to jars or both, Tip... look out for a fabric/wool/craft shops, they often sell bundles of off cut lace and ribbon alot cheaper than buying online or on the roll. Step 3.

Raid everyones garden! I raided mine and my sisters, however we planned for this a year in advance. The year previous we looked at what was out in the garden already so we knew what we'd have to use, then I bought seeds or plants of anything extra I wanted that I knew would be in flower the time I was getting married. Don't fret if you dont have a garden as there are companies that specialise in cut your own. A good idea is to raid the hedgerows, this is especialy good when creating an autuminal theme as you can forage for some beautiful things. Step 4.

Arange your flowers in the jars. I also used the larger jars as tea light holders and they looked so pretty in the evening! Happy DIYing. Watch out for more diy tips for planning your wedding by Chintz 'n' China.

Throwing a bridal shower.

Bridal showers, originally from America are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. If your a M.O.B, C.B or M.O.H then read on, we're here to help you throw the best bridal shower ever. If she's a crafty bride why not treat her to one of our wedding DIY Tea Parties . They include a Full Afternoon Tea and there are some lovely ones to choose from. We have Cup Cake classes with Lisa of Lisa iced gems. Button hole & Bouquets by Christine, with flowers from the garden, or Make your own cake stand, by myself (limited numbers apply ). However if your bride would just like to sit back and relax a little we can host a beautiful Tea Party on vintage China and leave you to chat about the big day while we serve out more cake. Craft packages from £30.00pp Afternoon Tea Parties from £7.50pp (minimum & maximum numbers apply) Hosted either at yours or in our shabby chic conservatory. Please also see us on http://www.mrandmrsfunique.co.uk where we have been awarded their seal of approval.

Vintage Tea Parties. Hire or buy debate.

Hire or buy? Well obviously im going to say hire, & hire from us, but let me tell you why... Collecting vintage China for an event seems like a great idea, it is soo pretty and looks fantastic . Other brides have done it, how hard can it be?... 'answer....Very!' What starts off as a lovely DIY project can soon turn into a nightmare leaving you £s out of pocket . You really do not need the added stress of searching/buying the amount you need, in time for your big day. Being a vintage hire company I always have my magpie goggles on and over the past two years I have seen China prices rocket with the popular vintage trend. Don't get me wrong there are still bargains to be had but probably not many in the time scale that is your wedding. Expect to pay around £15.00 for a vintage cup, saucer & tea plate, now times that by your guest list...alot isn't it?! and that's before you get started on teapots, sugar bowls & tongs,milk jugs, cake stands.... the list is endless. At Chintz 'n' China our antique China is stunning and in perfect condition . We provide a free washing up service, will deliver and collect from your venue and for a small fee lay the China on your tables. For stress free planning we also offer a full venue decoration service with fresh flowers straight out of the cottage garden. Instead of paying that £15.00 for a trio the cost to hire would be £2.50 We specialize in tiered cake stands (which as i wright this humble little blog are being hired and used by the Russian Olympic team for the London Olympics) they look absolutely stunning for afternoon tea or to place your canapes on. Of course the real beauty of hiring China from us is that we will look after you and when your finished using it we will come and clear it and take it back to its home, ready for the next happy couple Packages start from £50.00 please see our website for further details.www.chintznchinavintagehire.co.uk

UGH... NOT THE SEATING PLAN....

Tips & advice on the seating plan.

Seating plans unfortunately are one of the things that can only be put together last minute, & I mean last minute...
I could not understand what all the fuss was about when organizing your wedding seating plan, after all these people are your nearest and dearest and all get along, right?
Unfortunately this is not the case for some people and I was no exception! With divorced parents, and an extended family beyond belief I had my work cut out.  You can try and have your seating plan done a month before, however realistically 2 weeks is probably best. Cutting it fine you say? You would not believe who and why for whatever reason might have to miss your big day last minute. Here are some tips to keep stress levels down & good luck! x

Chintz 'n' China

Tip 1 Scrap the head table, this was such a relief to everyone. We had round tables that seated 8 & the hubby & I did not fancy the other 6 being awkward parent moments, neither did the parents! Letting each parent host their own tables is a fab idea and it worked brilliantly, (plus if they really don't get on you can put a lot of space and friends between them). The parents really enjoyed hosting their tables, and we enjoyed a lovely relaxed Afternoon Tea on a table with our 2 best men + wives and maid of honor + partner. Smiley faces all round!

Tip 2 Although round tables do look nice, the trestle table is making a welcome come back! Think country church fete. Not only can they look really pretty, especially in a marque or quaint village hall, they put no end of would be seating problems to rest! There is none of this "what 8 people will work best together on this one table?" Instead you can really pile your friends & family round and it does not matter as it flows!

Tip 3 Works nice with tip 2. Instead of a formal top table, consider having a table for just you two! There is nothing like nestling in to your new hubby/wife and having tea for two. There is plenty of time to mingle with people all day! This is a nice moment where the two of you can reflect on the day so far.

Tip 4 Wright everyone's names on tags, draw up a sketch of your venue with tables, as large as you can and place your named tags onto your sketch. Its far easier than writing over & over again rough table plans. You can shuffle your guests around till your hearts content and it's perfect!






                                     

                                      Tip 5 I love this one! No Plan, 

Just invite your loved ones to pick a seat.

  

TWO WEDDING DRESSES!! WELL KATE DID!!

I fell in love with a wedding dress I was not looking for and was not at all like what I had been swooning over in the bridal mags. I now know this to be quite a common thing amongst brides. I had visions of buying the slinky vintage lace number, the page I'd torn out of Brides & was now dog eared and falling to bits... This was not going to happen as only being 5ft tall these dresses did nothing for me and I realised that as soon as I'd tried the first one on. However, what I ended up with was another story altogether. I fell for the ultimate swishy number (by swishy I mean like when you move it swishes... (like the one in runaway bride with Julia Roberts when shes trying "the one" on in front of Richard Gere). However  I was  a two faced bride to be, I loved my dress... it was fit for cinders walking down the aisle and I realised I wanted that full on church/dress/veil/bling combo.... although did I? The other part of me still wanted something truly vintage and different, something classic and fitted, that I could move in without getting my shoes stuck in all the netting (yes that did really happen). Could I really be that cheeky and have both?? Well Kate did it! so why not. I got to thinking back of when I was little, going to family weddings and all the brides used to get changed in the evening, it was always as big an event as the church dress... "ooh whats she going to change into... the suspense!" As luck would have it, my sister decided to embark on a new business... hiring out vintage dresses, so Truly Vintage Bridal Hire was born, and you've guessed it she had a fab little number that was everything you could wish for in a vintage wedding dress. Perfect for the evening, glamorous and truly stunning and I could finally show off my shoes. I was very lucky to have the best of both worlds/dresses! I would highly recommend hiring a second dress for your big day, lets face it, it's so hard with all that choice out there, having a different look for the evening is great, after all that's when you'd normally get all glammed up and theres nothing like a vintage dress to make you feel bridal special! Go on, you deserve it! Dress hire from Truly Vintage Bridal Hire starts from just £70.00 http://vintagebridalhire.blogspot.co.uk  The dress I wore she has named 'Emma' and I am very honored. Plus I have to say my church dress is still as good as new!