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.
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.
Signs to watch out for that you’re turning more Bridezilla/Groomzilla than Bridechilla/Groomchilla. And tips to turn it all around!
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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!
Ideas on how to honour lost loved ones during your wedding day.
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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
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.
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.
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.
Ever hugged a tree? Swam in the ocean? Or wanted to invite David Attenborough over for a cuppa? I have definitely swum in the ocean, and I was about to say that I’ve never hugged a tree, but I don’t think that’s actually true, though I can say with confidence I’ve never gone as far as chaining myself to one! And sadly I’ve never shared a brew with David either.
Maybe you’re full eco-warrior, or maybe you’re just embarking on small changes, but either way, you’re doing the planet, and the lovely Sir Attenborough, proud. I personally fall into the category of making simple swaps on a day-to-day basis, like always taking my reusable cups/bottles/bags with me and putting my recycling bins out every fortnight, so I’m no pro and not here to judge, just striving to do better too.
This video is packed full of our ideas and tips on how to turn your wedding eco-friendly and sustainable. Go all in or just use a few…some will also help you save $$$, others might cost you a little extra, but no matter how much you do, it’s something.
Got any more ideas? Share them with us in the comments below or over on the YouTube video itself so other brides and grooms can save the planet with you.
Last week we found ourselves drinking prosecco at a rooftop bar overlooking the London skyline. A slight change from our usual filming location! But we were kindly invited to celebrate the Paperchase wedding and hen party ranges at Paperchase’s ‘Bridal Shower’. We filmed some clips from the day as well as what we got in our goodie bags!
Along with being able to see the full wedding and hen party ranges, we were also treated to workshops. We didn’t quite get round to taking part in the calligraphy workshop with Mathilda Lundin Atelier, but other guests were honing their skills and then personalising notebooks.
We did get the chance to make a paper floral wreath with Lora Avedian which was great fun and a lovely keepsake from the afternoon.
Thank you to the lovely team at Paperchase for inviting us to the event. You can check out our recent videos showing the ranges here.
We’ve all seen a hen party staggering through the local high street with matching tees and feather bowers, but if you want to keep things interesting, and classy, then we’ve rounded up our favourite hen party games for inspiration. These could all be played at home or some could even be done on the move, but wherever you play them, it’ll get your hens laughing and enjoying themselves.
Now we should preface this by saying that, as boozy nights on the town are not at the top of our personal favourite things to do, these are all games that are not based on having to drink (though naturally, you can always adapt them!), plus they are tame enough that they can be played with any ‘PG’ guests, i.e. you won’t be left cringing sat across from the future M-I-L … probably! Though again, they can easily be spiced up, we’ll let you gauge the room!
What’s your favourite hen party game that’s always a winner? Share with us and the rest of BSoc in the comments below!
OK, so I’m mixing up my supermarket slogans but we all know the wedding budget can start to mount up once planning begins. So anywhere you can make savings can only be a bonus. This is where this week’s video comes in. We’ve been wedding shopping along with our weekly shop at Sainsbury’s!
It might not be the first place that springs to mind when you’re planning your wedding decor, but Sainsbury’s have created a collection of coordinating wedding decor which could be perfect for your Big Day. (And even better, won’t break the bank.)
Items mentioned in the video:
Hoop Table plan – £16
Letter Memo Board – £12
‘Bride’ Hoop (Groom also available) – £8
White and rose gold faux floral place setting – £4.50
Are you a morning person? Yea, me neither. Though if I woke up to a box of treats I’d definitely be more motivated to crawl out from under the duvet! Of course your wedding morning is a little different and if there were ever a time, as an adult, you were going to leap out of bed with excitement, this would be it! Even so we still think a box of treats to aid the getting-ready fun on the morning of the wedding is a thoughtful and special way to kick the day off. If you’re the bride you could put a box together to share with your ‘maids, or if you’re a bridesmaid reading this, you could do it to treat the bride.
We’re talking you through what we think makes up the perfect Wedding Morning Bridal Box, from snacks to keepsakes. I was just trying to think about what my favourite item in our box is, but I can’t decide! Maybe the slouchy personalised pyjama top, cos I do like being cosy, but then I LOVE Mallow & Marsh’s chocolate coated marshmallows, but then what is chocolate without tea…argh! It’s too hard, basically I need/want it all!
Like what we’ve put in our box? Will you be adding anything
extra? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be snuggled up with a cuppa eating marshmallows in my pjs. See ya!
P.S. If you’re looking for our video on how to make the personalised pyjama top featured in this video, you can find it here.
One of our 2019 wedding cake trend predictions was couples choosing more unusual cake flavours for their wedding cake. Now, if your favourite is fruit or can’t resist Victoria sponge, go for it, but if you’re looking for something a little different we’re showing you how to make an apple crumble cake with spiced apple buttercream.
Recipe
Cake: – 490g plain flour – 500g caster sugar – 160g dark brown sugar – 2 eggs – 340g butter – 1 1/2 tsp salt – 1tsp baking powder – 2tsp bicarbonate of soda – 2tsp cinnamon – 1tsp allspice – 1tsp nutmeg – 280ml apple sauce – 2 Granny Smith apples (diced)
In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and set aside. In a stand mixer, add the butter, eggs and apple sauce and beat. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on a slow setting. Once combined add the diced apple. Divide the mixture into three 6″ cake tins and bake at 160C for 50 minutes.
Rub all the ingredients together until you have a breadcrumb consistency. Spread out on your baking tray and bake at 170C for approximately 20 minutes.
Let us know if you give it a go or if you’re choosing something a bit different for your wedding cake flavours.
You’ve been given the task of organising an epic Hen Party, (or maybe you’re organising your own) but are getting daunted by the idea of asking all the guests to contribute an ever increasing amount of money towards the festivities and to make it really personal for the VIB (Very Important Bride)!
After the success of their SS19 wedding range, we’ve been back to Paperchase to check out their Hen Party provision. It’s all purse friendly which means you can spend the budget elsewhere while still giving the Bride a special send off into married life!
We’ve picked up some of our favourites but you can check out Paperchase’s full Hen Party range on their website here.
Links and product info for items shown in this video:
Bonjour! And that’s where I’m going to leave the French, as it’s been a little while now since I was at school (shhh! Be nice!) and it was never that strong to start with!
Now, I say mini-moon because Paris is a quick hop, skip and a swim away on the Eurostar for us Brits, so it’s easy to go for just a couple of nights. But of course if you’re coming from further afield for a full honeymoon you can make much more of it and hit all the key European cities whilst you’re at it!
On this trip, we visited Paris for 3 nights in the spring and stayed in the 5 star hotel, Le Cinq Codet. This vlog is here to help you decide if a mini-moon in Paris is for you and provide a little inspiration for what key things you might like to fit in to a short trip. What we didn’t realise when we booked this trip was that it fell within the school Easter break (we’re not teachers and don’t have kids, so we’re a little oblivious!) and over the Paris marathon (which was kinda gutting because my husband would have run it if we’d known!), so I’m thinking things were a tad busier than they might normally be in Spring as a whole. What you might be taking from this is that we didn’t research our trip very well, and this is probably true! Our general plan going in was to eat brunch, walk a lot and see the main sights – which we did achieve! Including the Notre-Dame in all its glory (plus some scaffolding)…please note there is some footage in this video of the Notre-Dame which was filmed the day before the major fire in April ’19, we were so saddened to hear the awful news upon our return home – so obviously it no longer looks as shown in this vlog. However, whilst this major tourist attraction may be out of action for a while to come, Paris still has so much to offer a couple on a romantic getaway.
How’s your French? A little on the dusty side like me? I like to try as I don’t want to be rude, but it helped travelling with a Canadian who did French-immersion schooling for a few years! If your language skills are not the hottest either and it’s causing you to worry about honeymooning in Paris, fear not – every staff person I encountered from cafés to museums to hotels were fluent in English and we didn’t run in to any problems. Well, except their menus tend to be less than descriptive – so being a fussy eater I ran in to the occasional problem where my food would come covered in various things I was not expecting, and not in a good way! I’d take the cautious route and be specific when ordering!
Quick things you need to know:
Drinks, even soft drinks, are EXPENSIVE!
The bread is amazing everywhere you go.
Basically everything is closed on Sundays except the shopping malls.
Check out the vlog for a Parisian adventure. Been to Paris? Where was your favourite spot to visit?