The Place To Be

Bride Society Leave a comment

The National Wedding Show at NEC Birmingham.  What it’s like to go to a big wedding fair.

***

Last weekend Laura and I trundled down south to the NEC in Birmingham (UK) to film at The National Wedding Show to give you an insight into what you can expect from going to a wedding fair.  However, this was not our first time, so we knew you were in for a viewing treat!  We both more than kinda love this particular wedding fair from our own wedding planning days, so we wanted to give you a glimpse of what to expect as it’s not just any old fair!  This is next level…the scale is immense, there are goody bags (and an extra fancy one if you have a VIP ticket!), fashion shows (sneak peek coming your way!), competitions, and of course there’s the suppliers.  There is a supplier for everything you can dream of and then some more that you never knew you needed, but you soon will!  This is the mecca of wedding inspiration.  It’s like Pinterest come to life.  Last weekend they attracted more than 13k visitors over 3 days – this is clearly the place to be!

Now let’s talk VIP…we accessed it all to help you decide if it’s worth the extra pennies (well, ok, pounds)…and I suspect it’s particularly worth considering if you’re planning to visit on the Saturday or Sunday – their busiest days, to get fast track entry, priority seating by the catwalk and access to the VIP lounge when you need to take 5!  Check out the video for a look at the lounge and a peek inside the upgraded goody bags.

We stopped by Foto-Fusion who make bespoke photo-based stationery for your wedding (we’ve got you a 15% discount code – see below!!) for a chat.  We LOVED their cards…genuinely upset I didn’t know about them when I got married…hmmmm, too soon to consider a vow renewal?!  We put Suzanne from Foto-Fusion on the spot and she was brave enough to give us a mini-interview on camera (watch the video!).

…As did the lovely Steph from The Secret Bridesmaid!  Our curiosity and her friendly demeanour lured us in to her stall.  What is The Secret Bridesmaid you might ask?  Well, it might be easier to ask what it isn’t!  We’re pretty confident that once you’ve found Steph you’ve pretty much got your wedding in the bag…meet Steph in our video to find out more.  When you naturally decide resistance is futile and you want to purchase something, use our special 10% discount code (see below).

So, want to catch the next National Wedding Show?  Here are the upcoming dates, we’ll do our best to keep these updated, but you can always refer to their website here and to purchase tickets…

  • Olympia London: 15-16th February 2020
  • NEC Birmingham: 28th Feb – 1st March 2020
  • EventCity Manchester: 14-15th March 2020
  • ExCeL London: 4-5th April 2020

DISCOUNTS for BSoc viewers:

  • The Secret Bridesmaid… are giving you 10% off purchases when quoting “BrideSociety10”.  Order directly through Steph and keep an eye on her website as word has it there is more exciting stock arriving soon!
  • Foto-Fusion… are offering Bride Society viewers 15% off your cards!!  Quote, “BrideSociety” when you request your FREE design/sample on their website. Discount valid until 14th February 2020.

Useful links (in order of appearance):

* The National Wedding Show – http://bit.ly/2lV7oBM

* The National Wedding Show VIP Experience – http://bit.ly/2lYV6II

* The Secret Bridesmaid – http://bit.ly/2muhiLa

* Smiley Booth – http://bit.ly/2nqyOzT

* Foto-Fusion – http://bit.ly/2lVEiSV

–Bride Society

Disclaimer: Whilst we were granted access by The National Wedding Show to film the event, we were not paid to advertise the show or any of the suppliers in this video.  Furthermore we were not restricted in any way nor told to edit any of our content.  All opinions expressed in this video are solely those held by Bride Society.

Down the Aisle in ASOS?

Bride Society Leave a comment

ASOS Bridal Edition

***

It’s been a while since we hit the High Street to check out budget bridal wear options so when ASOS was mentioned to us we thought we’d see whether the go-to website (probably) when you’re after a new outfit can deliver when it comes to bridal wear.

  • ASOS Edition Lace Long Sleeve Crop Top Maxi Dress
  • ASOS Edition Pleated Plunge Wrap Wedding Dress
  • ASOS Edition Bandeau Wedding Jumpsuit
  • ASOS Edition Plunge Lace Wedding Dress with Pleated Skirt
  • ASOS Edition Lace Long Sleeve Crop Top Maxi Dress
  • ASOS Edition Pleated Plunge Wrap Wedding Dress

The links for all the outfits we chose are below:

We chatted through our thoughts on each of the ASOS Bridal outfits we tried on in our previous video, but we realised we possibly didn’t show you enough of the actual dresses! So we thought we’d put together a closer look of the outfits so you can see them in more detail.

N.B. This video was not made in partnership with ASOS and the content is in no way endorsed by ASOS. All opinions expressed in this video are the honest views of Bride Society.

––Bride Society

Raise A Glass

Bride Society Leave a comment

How to give a great wedding speech…no matter who you are.

***

The wedding speech.  A duty that strikes fear into the hearts of many. Where do you even begin? 

At this point in our lives, Laura and I have been to a healthy number of weddings between the two of us.  Heard more wedding speeches than we could likely count, and I even delivered one.  We’ve laughed, we’re cringed, we’ve felt a tad awkward, and I’ll admit it, occasionally glazed over. We’ve heard it all! Which got us to thinking, what is it that actually makes a good speech? 

And whilst we can’t do it for you (well, we’d come at a fee!), we have put together our top tips; from content and preparation, to delivery on the Big Day, we’ve got you covered.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re the Groom, Best Man, Father of the Bride…or indeed anyone else (radical!), these tips can help you all.  And sorry, Dutch courage isn’t our solution!

If you’re having trouble specifically with handling your nerves / anxiety about the day, check out our other video on relaxation techniques which you can find here.

Good luck! Got any tips of your own? Share them with us in the comments here or over on YouTube so other speech-givers-to-be can benefit from the wisdom!

—Bride Society

Adventure Awaits

Bride Society Leave a comment

Honeymoon Inspiration – Whistler Vlog Ft Nita Lake Lodge

***

The mountains, the valleys, the lakes; they are undoubtedly some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life.  If awe, wonder and a little adventure are high on your priority list for your honeymoon destination, then you should pay close attention! 

Whistler, British Columbia showcases some of the finest sights Canada, arguably the world, has to offer.  In the high season it is a ski & winter sports destination, but the area has turned itself into a year-round attraction offering hiking, mountain/dirt biking, cycling, canoeing, camping and more, all in proximity to a well-developed ‘village’ filled with restaurants and shops.  In fact, Tourism Whistler estimates that it now receives 55% of it’s visitors in the summer season! So arguably there is no ‘off season’ anymore.

People here are early risers to get in the kilometres before dinner, so the night life is perhaps a little scarce, but the shops have great opening hours and even Rocky Mtn Chocolate is open pretty late for those well-earned ice creams after a hot summer’s day hike (you HAVE to go there!).

I ventured here in the summer months, so skiing was not on my to-do list (probably best for both my personal safety and that of everyone around me), that said I caught some pretty impressive snowboarding that was still going on.  So my days were spent hiking trails and mountains, and exploring all that Whistler has to offer the summertime honeymooners.

I vlogged some of the best day hikes we could find and give you a glimpse of the village, reviewed our accommodation at Nita Lake Lodge and show you a taste of other activities on offer to help you decide if this is the honeymoon destination for you and maybe even to aid your itinerary planning.

I dare you to watch this and not book your flights immediately!

Happy Honeymooning! 

If you’ve got any questions about the location or what we got up to, leave a message in the comments below and I’ll do my best to help you out. 

These are the websites we promised you in the video that we found helpful (we are not affiliated with these websites and are not responsible for any content):

Anywhere else you’d like us to explore for you?  Let us know in the comments below.

—Bride Society

NB. Bride Society is in no way affiliated with Nita Lake Lodge or Canadian tourism boards and is not responsible for the content of any of the websites listed above.  All opinions expressed in this video are at the sole discretion of Bride Society and are in no way influenced or endorsed by any external organisation.

The Fortune of a Thousand Cranes

Bride Society Leave a comment

Origami Crane Place Setting / Wedding Decoration

I don’t know about you, but when I see a crane I don’t instantly think ‘wedding’! Now don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy when I see one…it’s just not a natural jump in my mind…maybe a swan, I could get there faster with a swan. But make one out of paper and suddenly I’m on board. This Japanese tradition is one that I’m loving and very happy to jump on the bandwagon with as it sweeps across other cultures far and wide.

In Japanese culture it is said that whomever folds 1000 cranes will be blessed with a long, harmonious marriage. Sounds pretty good to me. We’ve taken a twist on the tradition and instead of stringing them all together we’ve turned ours into name cards for your wedding reception place settings. Don’t have 1000 guests? Probably just as well for the bank balance ay! Well if you’re keen to stick to the 1000, rather than simply making a nod to the tradition, then you could display the rest in clusters around your venue, on the cake table, use them as cake toppers, strung together as a photo backdrop….

The paper used in this tutorial is 15 x 15 cm (purchased from The Works), but the same folding instructions would be used for any sized square paper.

Having a go? Tag us in your photos over on Instagram, we’d love to see!

Happy folding! Wishing you a long and harmonious marriage.

—Bride Society

Say Cheese

Bride Society Leave a comment

Photo Guest Book Station

***

I don’t think I’ve ever attended a wedding that didn’t have a guest book…have you?  So let’s start with the assumption that you’re planning to have one at your wedding!  But maybe you’re here because you’re looking for something a little more exciting than page after page of, “Congratulations! Love, X and X”?

Whilst you may well be hiring an official photographer to work your wedding, the chances of them actually managing to capture all of the guests you have invited throughout the day and evening, is ambitious. There’s only so much one person can do! Cue the photo guest book! Combining lasting memories with those congratulatory messages.

This idea takes very little out of the sacred wedding budget…all you need to pull this off is some sort of instant camera which you might be able to borrow from a friend if you don’t already have one, and a guest book where the pages are large enough to accommodate a small photo and a message – but whatever you were already thinking you’d use is likely perfect anyway.  And of course a glue stick and a pen, otherwise you’re not really going to get anywhere with this! 

For our guest book station we’ve used an Instax camera and added a few of our own touches.  Check out the video to see what we included and how we set up our station…

Having a go?  Tag us in your photos over on Instagram, we’d love to see!

What we used:

—Bride Society

Fan-tastic

Bride Society Leave a comment

DIY Paper Fan Tutorial

***

So who’s a fan of a fan?  Credit / disparaging looks should be directed towards a friend of mine who gave me that opener when I was struggling for inspiration for this blog post!  What about ‘who’s our biggest fan?’? That one was all me I’m ashamed to say, as was the title.  Sorry.  Move swiftly on I hear you say?  Fair enough…

I’m feeling pretty happy right now that I chose to do this DIY this week, as looking at the forecast for the UK this week, I’ll be pleased to have it around.  This is basically the jazzed up, beautified version of the paper fan many of you may have made back in your school days.  The great thing is they are cheap and easy to make whilst being highly valued by your guests during your summer-time wedding day.

If you’ve booked a summer wedding, or sunny destination wedding, how about asking your Ushers to hand these out to guests as they arrive at the ceremony with the Order of Service? Or hang them on each chair ready for your guests as they take their seat, especially if you’re having an outdoors ceremony…or even just pop a basket of them near the entrance, or on your guests place settings.  Change the card colour and ribbon to compliment your colour scheme and they will look like the perfect finishing touch.  The couple who thought of everything!

Embrace the summer sun!

Having a go?  Tag us in your photos over on Instagram, we’d love to see!

—Bride Society

The Sun Has Got Its Hat On

Bride Society Leave a comment

Personalised Sun Hat DIY

***

Well, not today as I write this, but hopefully where you’re going on honeymoon it will! 

So we’ve got the honeymoon inspiration sorted (check out our playlist if you’ve not seen it, here), plus more to come on that front soon as Laura and I have both been having our summer adventures recently and filming for you guys. All this travel got us thinking…sun hats!  Slightly obscure thought perhaps, but honeymoons quite often take you to sunnier climes and out comes the sun hat.  And what better to keep those newly-wed vibes going than your own personalised sun hat? 

So we got to crafting for this week’s DIY video…our hat says, “wife”, but you can spell out anything… ‘Bride’, ‘Mrs X’, ‘Just Married’ etc etc.  Possibilities are only limited by the size of the rim!  And let’s be real, it makes us feel kinda special when complete strangers say, “congratulations” as they pass by!

Having a go?  Tag us in your photos, we’d love to see!

Happy Honeymooning!

—Bride Society

InstaSociety

Bride Society Leave a comment

Asking Instagram for Wedding Advice

***

Recently the community or ‘Society’ over on our Instagram page has been growing and it’s been wonderful to connect with so many brides (and grooms)-to-be in the midst of their wedding planning.

As we’ve been producing videos about weddings, and everything around planning them, for two years now we thought it was the perfect time to get real brides and grooms involved in the videos themselves.

We asked some questions and our lovely Instagram Society responded! Today we’re sharing the advice and tips from brides for brides.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our Instagram Stories to help make this video possible.

If you have any more suggestions you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments below.

If you’re not already following us on Instagram, come and join the Society at http://www.instagram.com/bridesociety_uk

— Bride Society

Heatwave or Cold Snap – Weather on your Wedding Day

Bride Society Leave a comment

The UK experienced a mini heatwave last week with temperatures rising to 38oC in some areas. This got us thinking. If you’re planning a summer wedding, or in fact a winter wedding, how can you prepare for a super hot or cold wedding day?

We’ve put together some of our top tips and ideas for making sure your wedding day goes smoothly and is comfortable for you and your guests.

If you have any other tips or stories from weddings you’ve been to, please let us know in the comments below to share with the Society.

-Bride Society

We love weddings, but…

Bride Society Leave a comment

Signs to watch out for that you’re turning more Bridezilla/Groomzilla than Bridechilla/Groomchilla. And tips to turn it all around!

***

Obviously we love weddings…a) we both had one – so there’s your first clue and b) work in the industry… we’re clearly fans.  We have videos focusing on every aspect of the day known to man and spend a slightly excessive amount of time on social media (- don’t tell my husband I admitted that!) staring at wedding related stuff and chatting with engaged couples.  It’s a big part of our worlds! That said, planning a wedding is not all free cake samples and staring at shiny diamonds like a magpie.  There are usually budgets, time constraints, a lot of organisation, stress and sometimes frustrations, tensions and family frictions in the mix.  It’s a big life event that we want to make special in whatever way that means for us.  We’ve spent our whole lives hearing, “it’s the best day of your life” so understandably that can equate to an internal sense of pressure and potentially a lot of external opinions.

One minute you’re checking something off the to-do list with your best smug face on, and the next you’re having a silent (or not so silent bride/groom-zilla sized) meltdown about how much there is left to do.  Believe me you are not alone.  Also the dreams, they are not uncommon either.  But it’s ok!  We have been talking about the warning signs to watch out for and our tips for how to get the show back on track so you can actually enjoy the process! 

Remember, stress isn’t all bad, now this is my counselling degree talking…I think we hear ‘stress’ and have negative connotations of the word.  But if you think about it, a level of stress can be helpful!  It can help us be productive, get things checked off that to-do list, feel motivated and get things moving.  Good stress! It’s when we start to tip over the line into feeling anxious, overwhelmed or even paralysed by it that it becomes unhelpful.  But that’s where this video comes in…our tips are here to help you stay on the ‘good stress’ side of the line! 

If you’ve got any other suggestions for our other brides and grooms to be, leave them in the comments below so we can all be zen together!

Namaste! Bride Society.

Gone but Not Forgotten

Bride Society Leave a comment

Ideas on how to honour lost loved ones during your wedding day.

***

Weddings are a happy, joyous, big life event.  A day that we want to share and celebrate with our friends and family.  However for those of us who have lost people we care about, we know the event can also be bittersweet.  If you are one of those brides or grooms-to-be who are faced with planning a wedding in the knowledge that a special person (/people) cannot be there, then firstly I just want to say that I’m so sorry things could not be different and that this is the reality you are having to deal with.  

Knowing that so many of you out there might be dealing with this, we set out to thinking about ways that those loved ones can be acknowledged and incorporated in to the day so that you are able to honour the memory of that person, in a positive way.  Some ideas are small and discrete and perhaps just for you, others are more outward and obvious for those of you that wish to share with your other guests.  There is hopefully something here for everyone…we have tried to find the line between morbid and sentimental as we realise this will be an emotional day on many levels but we hope to help keep it that joyous occasion that you, and your loved one, would have always wanted it to be. 

If you find any of these particularly helpful, we’d love to hear from you.  Also if you have any other ideas, please share them with us in the comments either on here or on YouTube itself so other brides and grooms can benefit too.  We’ve got our tissues ready. x

— Love Bride Society

DIY Bird Feeder Wedding Favour

Bride Society Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we made a video about choices you can make to have a more eco-friendly and sustainable wedding.

If you’re choosing to have wedding favours, we’re showing you how to make some bird seed favours which look cute on your wedding tables and will bring lots of birds to your guests’ gardens.

And they’re super simple too. All you need is lard, bird seed, a cookie cutter in the shape of your choice and some twine!

Scale up the quantities to make the amount of favours you need. For our basic ‘recipe’ we used 150g of lard to 300g of the wild bird seed mix. This made approximately 10 large heart shaped feeders.

To really finish them off, you could thread a label on to the twine with your wedding date on it or instructions for what to do with the bird feeder.

Tip – Although the lard sets hard again, it may leave a greasy mark if put directly on to a tablecloth on your wedding tables. To avoid this and to avoid using plastic, you could wrap them in brown paper and add a twine bow.

-Bride Society

London Calling

Bride Society Leave a comment

Hen Weekend Ideas – London

Hen Party planning can be tricky! Do you go abroad, do you stay in the UK, over a weekend or just one night? So many decisions to make and quite often a lot of opinions!

If you’re in the midst of planning and are looking for some inspiration, this week we’ve rounded up some of our favourite ideas for celebrating in the Capital. That’s right, London Town!

Costs can soon start spiralling so we’ve included a range of activities for all budgets and interests. Plus, ideas to give you the chance to also play tourist and see some sights whilst celebrating with the Bride to Be.

Pick and choose what works for you and if you have any other suggestions please leave them in the comments below for other hen party planners.

Activities Mentioned:

-Bride Society

The Kids are Alright

Bride Society Leave a comment

Inviting Children to Weddings

You’ve made the decision to include children as part of your wedding day and now you’re wondering how on earth you can keep them entertained/occupied/quiet (only during the important bits obviously) throughout the day.

On top of that, there are the logistics of making sure your venue has all the facilities you may need (e.g. enough high chairs/changing facilities) which you may forget to ask about when you’re looking for the perfect place to say I Do.

We’ve come up with some tips and ideas to ensure everything runs smoothly and everyone, including the little ones, enjoy the day.

If you have any other ideas please leave them in the comments below to help out any other parents and couples who are planning or attending upcoming weddings.

-Bride Society