Behind the Scenes

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Behind the Scenes at a Styled Wedding Photo Shoot

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Back in November, Rebecca and I were invited to Melbourne in Derbyshire by Steph from the Secret Bridesmaid to be involved in a styled wedding photo shoot. We went along to capture some behind the scenes footage of what goes on. 

If you’re unsure of what a styled wedding photo shoot is, it’s an opportunity for wedding suppliers to come together, do something creative and show potential customers what they can offer. 

Despite us only planning on being in the background (and getting to hang out with the gorgeous four legged model!) Rebecca got involved and became a bridesmaid for the afternoon, showing off one of Steph’s multiway bridesmaid dresses. 

Details of all the suppliers involved are listed below so please go and check them out.

A selection of photos from the shoot…

We hope you enjoy the behind the scenes look at the shoot day and if you’d like us to do more of this kind of thing, please let us know in the comments below.

-Bride Society

Kickstarting Your New Year Planning

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Wedding Planning Reboot

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The busyness of the holidays can mean that wedding planning’s put on the back burner while life and festivities take priority! This may mean you’ve woken up (almost) mid-way through January and realised you’ve lost your planning mojo.

Well, the New Year has come and gone, and resolutions may or may not have already been broken but we’re here with some motivation to at least get your wedding planning back on track!

We’re taking the dread out of the to-do list with tips ranging from the smallest re-introduction to planning to re-igniting the excitement of why you’re planning your wedding in the first place.

There is talk of the dreaded budget, but you never know, Father Christmas may have been generous this year and given the wedding budget a bit of a boost.

If you have any other tips or advice, please leave them in the comments below to help out the rest of the Society.

-Bride Society

One More To Go!

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Engagement Gift Ideas

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Happy New Year!  Here’s to our first post of 2020 and a whole New Year of Bride Society content!  (Hoping it’s not just us that’s excited about that! Comment below and say hi.)

We hope you had a lovely time over the holidays, however you spent it.  For me that meant Canada (home is in the UK if you weren’t sure) with my husband’s side of the family, and I’m now sat on the plane home on New Year’s Day (sadly an early flight so I was asleep before midnight on New Years’ for the first time since childhood) writing this blog, closed in on my north, south, east and west by children still hopped up on the remnants of Christmas candy, thinking these 7 hours are going to be a challenge!   However, thanks to my Mother-in-Law for my noise cancelling headphones this Christmas, I’m instead able to focus my attention on all you engaged brides and grooms-to-be down there and how much I’m looking forward to being a part of your journey down the aisle.  Join us over on YouTube every Friday for all our video content from advice, to DIYs, to honeymoon inspiration and lots more.  Plus check out our Instagram page where you can find us; Rebecca and Laura, and the rest of the Society for more inspo, support and the personal touch from our community of brides and grooms to be.

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Know someone who got engaged over the Christmas – New Year period?

Whilst the January blues may soon be hitting hard for many, the excitement is just kicking off for some – hooray!  Congratulations to you or whoever that person/couple in your life is!  If you were just starting to contemplate heading back up into the loft with the left-over rolls of wrapping paper and feeling grateful you don’t have to head into another store filled with crowds of frenzied shoppers, you may want to hang back a second.  That’s right, we’re thinking ‘engagement gifts’.  By no means compulsory, but if the person/couple is close to you, you may be looking for something small to mark the special occasion. 

If your present buying brain power has already imploded in a post-Christmas related trauma, fear not, we have the answers!  This week’s video is packed full of our favourite engagement gift ideas for the newly engaged couple and there are even some helpful links below to get you going (none of these are affiliate links, they are purely here because we think they’re awesome!).  We also have a Pinterest board that specifically accompanies this video here.

Congratulations again!  Comment below if you have any other great engagement gift ideas to help each other out, we all appreciate it!

Featured in this video (in order of appearance):

—Bride Society

On the Third Day of Christmas…

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…not french hens, but a special festive message from Bride Society!

Merry Christmas to all of Bride Society!  And no, we’re not late to the party with this message….there are 12 days of Christmas and I won’t be told otherwise!!

Whether you’re a bride, groom, bridesmaid or anyone else that has been part of the Society over the past year, we hope you’ve had a wonderful year planning your weddings and we are excited to have been a part of your journey in some small way.  Thank you for being a part of what we create, it honestly matters so much to us every time one of you follows us on Instagram, subscribes to our YouTube channel, sends us a message or comments on a post – we notice it all! 

If you’ve just about maxed out on family time (we know you love them, but…!) and Christmas movies, take a moment to watch our Christmas message to you and we look forward to helping you plan your wedding in the New Year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from Rebecca and Laura at Bride Society xx

Tis the Season

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“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”…. weddings that is! 

We couldn’t let this time of year go by without discussing some of our favourite ways to add some festive touches to your winter/Christmas weddings. From wreaths to snow covered mason jars, candy canes to pigs in blankets canapés, you can pick out some subtle touches or go full on festive extravaganza!

This weeks video is packed with festive inspiration. 

Christmas is a great time to get married, venues look beautifully decorated when festive touches are used (we’re thinking embracing the darker evenings with fairy lights, candles and a few sparkles!), and food options are especially great during this season. 


We’d love to hear if you’re planning to add some festive touches to your winter wedding! Tag us in your photos over on Instagram if you do!

Find our Pinterest board that accompanies this video here.

-Bride Society

To Have and To Munch

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Gingerbread Bride & Groom Cake Toppers

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Recipe – makes 30 biscuits (approx.).  We actually only need two for the cake toppers, the rest are just for fun!

Ingredients:

  • 350g Plain Flour
  • 85g Golden Syrup
  • 175g Dark Muscovado Sugar
  • 100g Butter
  • 1 Egg
  • 1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
  • 1tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1tbsp Ground Ginger

To decorate:

  • Water
  • Icing sugar
  • Black Food Colouring

At this point in the season I’m a good vat-full of gingerbread lattes in, interspersed with a few eggnog lattes for good measure.  The Christmas tree is up and I’m one good Christmas movie and countless bad ones down (recommendations welcomed!). 

Whilst fully embracing the festive vibes, it came to us…how adorable would gingerbread people be as wedding cake toppers (or just on your Christmas Cake…but you might just want to decorate them differently from us else it could be weird, just saying!)?!  If you’re having a festive wedding, we don’t think you can get cuter than this! 

Bake with us in today’s video as we show you how we made our little gingerbread couple…totally not bad luck to eat yourselves afterwards! Haha.

Having a go? Tag us in your photos @bridesociety_uk over on Instagram, we’d love to see your take on them.

Happy munching!

—Bride Society

Cake Glorious Cake

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Wedding Cake Trends for 2020

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We’re big fans of cake here at Bride Society so when we decided to film our wedding trend videos looking ahead to the New Year, we thought it was only fair to give it the attention it deserves with a specific wedding cake trends video for 2020.

If you’re looking for a more general wedding trends video, then you’re in luck, check out our 2020 trends video here!

Instagram handles for all suppliers shown in the video:

Have you or are you planning to use any of the styles we’ve talked about in this video for your wedding? We’d love to see your photos!

– Bride Society

Embracing the Winter Feels

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Our round up of our favourite winter wedding ideas!

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Who said Winter is dreary?  Well, ok, most of us at one time or another, but if you’ve decided to have your wedding at this time of year, we’re thinking you are probably someone who has seen the good in the season! 

We love all things warm and cosy around here – give me a chunky knit jumper and a mug of hot chocolate, throw in some soft lighting and if you can muster up a roaring fire, then life is good! …That has led me to imagine a bride in an oversized jumper over a wedding dress, and bizarrely I’m thinking that could be quite cute (not so much for walking down the aisle – I’m not crazy, but in between times)!  Who’s with me? 

Ok yes, the season has it’s challenges, but it is also full of everything from the cosy jumpers I was just fantasising about (full disclosure – wearing one right now!), to sparkle and glitz!  What more could you want?  And whoever it was that just said “sunshine”, shush!

Laura and I put our heads together and came up with our top loves for winter weddings in today’s video.  We’ve got it all covered from décor to attire to food and those extra special touches!  Check out our dedicated Pinterest board accompanying this video here.

Useful links:

  • Our Pinterest board accompanying this video can be found here.
  • Our YouTube Winter Wedding Playlist where you can find all our videos related to planning your Winter-time wedding is here.
  • Hot Chocolate favours DIY video.

Having a winter wedding? Let us know if you’re using any of these ideas and tag us in your photos! What’s your favourite idea? Comment below! x

The images in this video are sourced from Pinterest.

—Bride Society

Looking Forward to the Roaring Twenties

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The countdown has begun to the end of the year so it’s time that we look ahead to the new decade and the expected wedding trends for 2020!

There are rumours in the wedding industry that 2020 will be a bumper year for weddings as couples appreciate the symmetry that the round number of 2020 gives.

As weddings are often planned over a prolonged period of time, i.e. it’s not unusual to be planning your wedding for one or two years before the Big Day, trends in weddings can also appear over multiple years. In this year’s trends video, we’re talking about the new trends that will appear in the new year as well as a few ideas that we think are here to stay.

So get ready for chat about sustainable weddings, grazing tables, dried flower decor and much more!

Let us know if you’re planning on incorporating any of these ideas in to your wedding. We’d love to hear about it!

And if you’re interested in what we had to say about 2019 and whether we were right in our predictions, like did frosé turn out to the big drink of summer weddings?!, you can still check that video out here.

–Bride Society

Peonies and Pears

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Wedding Candles ‘Unboxing’ with The Secret Bridesmaid (gifted)

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So, it’s safe to say that airport security won’t be offering us employment as sniffer dogs anytime soon as we are both clearly unskilled when it comes to being able to identify smells! That and we are human beings, but I’m confident that would be the lesser of the two problems for them! (Blog continues below…)

KEEP READING, details below!

This week, Steph from The Secret Bridesmaid sent us a range of her soy candles to test out!  Happy days, our houses have never smelt so good (we live with boys after all)!  I will preface this whole exercise by saying these look beautiful and smell amazing…she personalises the candle tin lids to feature your details and has so many designs to match your look.  Whether you want them as wedding favours, names for your place settings, thank you gifts, or maybe even a Christmas present – she can take care of you!  Now, whilst they do smell amazing… Laura and I set ourselves the challenge to ‘guess the scent’…let’s just say that was a mistake on our behalf! Haha, who knew that would be so hard?  Also, in my defence, having a cold didn’t exactly help my situation…watch now to see who won!

GIVEAWAY: CLOSED. The Secret Bridesmaid is giving Bride Society viewers the chance to win a handmade decorative bridal hair comb worth £45! Visit our Instagram @bridesociety_uk for details of how to enter and t&c’s!

WAIT, there’s more!  The Secret Bridesmaid is giving you 10% off purchases when quoting “BrideSociety10”.  Order directly through Steph and keep an eye on her website as there is always more exciting stock arriving! 

NB. The candles featured in this video were gifted to Bride Society, however all opinions and comments made in this video are those held by Bride Society who retain full editorial control over the video / blog content.

—Bride Society

Rise and Shine

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Tips for the morning of your wedding

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You’ve spent countless hours meticulously planning every detail of your ceremony and wedding reception…but wait there’s more!  Sorry, there’s always something else when it comes to wedding planning isn’t there?!  The wedding morning!

It’s really easy to overlook your wedding morning, the bit after you wake up (if you even slept!) and before the official part kicks off.  You may be thinking, “I just need to get ready, what’s there to plan?”  Well, whilst this is true and if you don’t want to think about it anymore beyond figuring out your timings, you can definitely leave it at that…but it is still a really significant part of the fun and enjoyment of the day and we want you to wring out every last ounce of happiness you can from this special day!  So, to help you get your day off on the best foot possible (and help it run smoothly!), we’ve put together our top tips and things to think about ahead of time.

Got any other wedding morning tips or ideas to share with other brides/grooms-to-be?  Let us know in the comments below or over on our YouTube channel.  Be a part of the Society!

Links for related videos:

‘Morning Of’ Bridal Box video

British vs North American Wedding Traditions video

—Bride Society

And they lived ‘apple-y’ ever after…

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Toffee/Chocolate Apple Wedding Favours

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Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and …. wedding favours?! 

Yes that’s right, as autumn and winter are upon us it is time to consider season appropriate wedding favours for your guests.

In this week’s video you will find a tasty DIY video on making toffee apple favours, perfect for this time of year. Whether dipped in toffee or chocolate, these sweet treats are a great way to say thank you for coming or maybe even to mark a place setting ready for the meal, just add a handy name tag to complete the look!

All you will need for this DIY is:

  • Apples
  • Lolly Sticks
  • Toffee or chocolate 
  • Sprinkles 
  • Home made name tags
  • Something to present them on (we used mini cake boards)


-Bride Society

A Week in the Whitsundays – (Well a few days anyway…)

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Honeymoon Inspiration – Hamilton Island, Australia

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Just a few miles from the east coast of Australia is the paradise resort of Hamilton Island. Part of the Whitsunday group of islands, Hamilton Island is surrounded by warm coral seas and beautiful landscapes. Hamilton Island is the only island in the group with its own airport, which means you can fly in from all over Australia directly. The island is a mix of hotel, villa and private accommodation meaning you have a wide choice of places to stay. It’s also home to the 5 star Qualia resort, a prestigious, secluded and private holiday destination overlooking some of the best views on the island, not that you could complain about any of the views anywhere on the island!

There are lots of facilitates on the island, ranging from restaurants and cafes (definitely recommend Bob’s Bakery for coffee and pastries!) to sport and leisure activities as well as shopping of course! Hamilton Island is also a big draw for sailing enthusiasts, with the annual Race Week taking place in August.

For our trip we used AirBnB to book into the fantastic Heliconia Grove apartments, these have amazing views over the ocean and harbour entrance meaning you get to see all the comings and goings as the days go on. If you are really lucky you might also get to see a whale from the balcony, but this is season and luck dependent!

As we had a kitchen in the apartment and could self cater, we made use of the IGA supermarket on the island, but also picked up takeaways from Popeye’s Fish and Chips and the Pizzeria. If you are looking for a special meal out, there are plenty of options for that too. And don’t forget the all important holiday ice creams from either the Gelateria or Ice Cream Parlour!

All in all, Hamilton Island is a brilliant get away, exclusive, and beautiful. As you will see from the video it is truly a place you will want to return to again and again (I know we certainly would like to go back asap!). So take a look at our Hamilton Island vlog and don’t forget to like and subscribe; happy travels!

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For more information about the Island and all the facilities and activities on offer, visit http://bit.ly/2Jn7lr7

Our accommodation: http://bit.ly/31Fy1cQ

-Bride Society

Not to Upstage the Happy Couple, but….

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Munchkin (Mini) Pumpkin Cake Toppers

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Who doesn’t love a munchkin pumpkin!?  The cuteness factor is way up there, somewhere between kittens and babies…but you know, slightly more autumn wedding décor appropriate!  

Here at BSoc we’re all in on using pumpkins, of all shapes and sizes (no discrimination here!), as decoration – put them at the pew ends, an assortment at the top table, and now on top of your cake!!!  In this week’s DIY we’re showing you how to turn the humble, unassuming munchkin into the star of the show as cake toppers – not wishing to upstage you and your other half, but…sometimes a sacrifice is worth making.  We’re demoing how to make both a Bride and Groom topper, but obviously you can make whatever combo you need. 

NB. In case you need to skip ahead to one or the other, the bride topper starts at 00:21 and the groom topper at 04:23.

Having a go?  Share your photos and tag us over on Instagram (@bridesociety_uk), we’d be so excited to see!

If you’re looking for more autumn/fall wedding inspiration, check out our special playlist over on YouTube:

—Bride Society

A Word for Everything

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Tips for Creating a Personal Intercultural Wedding

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The first question you might have is ‘What is an intercultural wedding or marriage?’ Well you’re not alone, the term intercultural has only just come on our radar and is a way to express (in a snappier way) the marriage and wedding “between people of different faiths, races, ethnicities and geographical regions”. (Washington Post)

Bride Society’s very own Rebecca is part of an intercultural marriage as her husband is Canadian, which is where the idea for this video came from. How do you incorporate elements from both countries, be it cultural traditions or wedding traditions or simply decorative elements from either place, to make your wedding personal to you as a couple?

Because weddings should be personal, meaningful and reflect you as a couple, we’ve put together our tips, both big and small, for creating an intercultural wedding.

Rebecca shares some of the things she did as part of her wedding day but we’d love to hear if you have any more ideas or any examples from your own wedding planning. Please leave them in the comments below.

–Bride Society