Team Bride

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Sometimes you just gotta get your stuff from A to B, and on your Wedding Day there’s plenty of ‘stuff’, believe us!  But…it’s your Wedding Day!  This is not the time to be grabbing a spare bin liner from your kitchen, not only for the risk of rubbish collectors accidentally picking it up!  You’ve got to do it in style, so today we’ve got a DIY video for you for personalising Tote Bags.  Do one for yourself and for each of your ‘maids, and maybe even make it a cute gift in miniature size for your flower girl / mini ‘maids!  Everyone appreciates a gift that someone has taken time over with them in mind and if you’re all matchy-matchy you’ll feel like a solid group; Team Bride, not to be messed with.  You’ll look like you mean business!  And, of course, you can all use them after the day too – added bonus, especially with those 5p plastic bag charges!   Yes, I know, we’ve thought of everything.

 

Whether you’re stashing your make up, hair pieces, jewellery, tissues for those teary “I do’s” or mini bottles of Prosecco, you’ll be so glad you made them!

 

If you’re making them for your bridesmaids, why not put a few small items in the bags for them too as a gift to say thank you for helping you through your day too – blister plasters, paracetamol, hair grips, chewing gum, compact mirror – you see where we’re going with this.

 

Iron at the ready….

 

—Bride Society

Conquering the Sales Pitch

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So if you’re in a wedding frenzy right now trying to find your perfect wedding venue and you’ve stumbled into this post, you can take a breath, we’ve got you covered! First of all, you should check out our earlier video on how to shortlist your potential wedding venues…if you’ve already done that and are eagerly awaiting part two, then hurrah, the wait is over!

 

Today’s ‘part two’ venue search video is here to help you once you’ve got some appointments booked in to check out these magical places where you might say your “I do’s” in person, but a sudden surge of feeling clueless and intimidated has just swept over your body. Other than figuring out if you like it and if it’s everything you’re imagining it to be, what do you actually need to find out once you’re there?

 

If you’re worried you’ll get over-run by their fancy sales pitch, then fear not, we have got you sorted with our suggestions of what you should think about before you head off on your merry way, helping you figure out what YOU need to know! We’ve got everything from, “can our dog bring our rings down the aisle?” to “can I land a hot air balloon on your lawn?” to “is confetti allowed?” and much more that you might not have thought about. Watch with a notepad in hand! There’s more you might need to ask than you realise.

 

Of course there is no need to panic! If you think of something after you’ve been, or indeed you’re watching this later on in your planning process, you can of course send them an email / give them a call – knowing how responsive they are is also a good test!

 

And with fingers crossed and a little bit of luck, you’ll be picturing your blissful day in your dream venue before you know it.

Good luck

 

 

—Bride Society

Unravelled – Linger Here a While

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For your Wedding Day, you think about every little detail, from place settings to bridesmaid dresses to playlists and everything in between to make sure you and your guests have a wonderful day, but what about what’s going on underneath?  Underneath your dress that is!  Can we get a woohoo please?  But seriously, a) more people than you think are likely to see you in your underwear on this particular day, b) you’ll want to feel great and oozing confidence throughout your day of being the centre of attention and c) there’s a certain tradition to prepare for that we don’t need to spell out for you!

Not that we wish to overfocus this post on our Brides-to-be…Grooms-to-be, if you’re reading this, a classy lingerie set always makes a good wedding gift in our opinion – start married life as you intend to go on!

 

So we at Bride Society have been hitting the High Street to round up the latest collection of Bridal Lingerie on offer, we picked up a bunch of different styles to review for you that we hope will see you from morning to night.  Be mindful about the cut of your dress, i.e. strapless / halterneck / keyhole back / snug / clingy, and pick underwear as appropriate and if possible, we highly recommend trying the underwear that you intend to wear on with your W.dress so there are no stressful surprises on the day!  If Spanx end up being the name of the game, no worries, you can always do a quick switch out in the evening if it’s not the ultimate look you’re going for – though all power to you if it is …. now suddenly getting flashes through my brain of scenes from Bridget Jones.

If you like anything you see in our video, we’ve included links to the products down below!  But remember, confidence is key!

 

(If your brain is still stuck pondering on point ‘a)’ above, we’re talking your ‘maids who may well be needed to assist you into your dress / aid you in the washroom throughout the day, and then of course the obvious, new SPOUSE!)

 

Product links in order of appearance:

 

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

— Bride Society

My Sweet Valentine

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We’re never disappointed around here when an edible DIY week comes around. This week we just ‘had’ to quickly whip up a batch of cookies to give you some inspiration for your wedding favours. This one even doubles up as your guests’ seating labels – now who doesn’t love killing two birds with one stone? Cost effective and not nearly as cruel or gruesome as I somehow just managed to make that sound! In fact not at all, we’re satisfying your sweet-tooth (and ours) with these heart-shaped iced cookies leaving everyone 100% happy, including the birds.

We’re using the same recipe for the bake as we did in our earlier video, although we’ve included the recipe again for you. If you’re in need of a reminder of the process, jump over to our Hen Party Cookies video first (but use heart cutters / shape of your choice, not hens – that would be random – unless perhaps you or your fiancé are farmers…it’s possible!)

Top Tip: If you have two sizes of heart shape cutters as we have, we suggest cutting the dough with the larger cutter and using the slightly smaller one to cut the icing as this will give a decorative frame around the icing and will allow for any little discrepancies that occurred during the rising process in the oven. And don’t go too small! Not only will you be upset that there is not as much cookie to eat, but you’ll find it a challenge to write people’s names on them!!

NOTE: This DIY also works well as a homemade Valentine’s gift – JUST SAYING! *hint hint* I’m really not aiming high here!

—Bride Society

Sunshine, Turtles & Luxury Anyone?

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VLOG: Destination Wedding and Honeymoon Review || Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya, Mexico

If an all-inclusive, adults-only, sun-drenched, luxury resort with cocktails, sunset beach walks, snorkelling and culture on your doorstep doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy, then you probably shouldn’t read any further, it would just be an outright waste of your life.  However, if you’re anything like me and those words leave you screaming, “YES, PLEASE!” whilst pushing some little old lady out of the way to get first in line (sorry, I wouldn’t really, honest), then Secrets Akumal on the Riviera Maya in Mexico is probably the place for you!

Last month Bride Society escaped the miserable British winter weather in search of the perfect Destination Wedding & Honeymoon location for you (as well as a little sunshine, warmth and daylight hours for us!), and if we can say so ourselves, we did good!  In this very special edition of Bride Society, we Vlog our way around this divine resort, reviewing the romance factor, giving you the insider-view on what you can expect from this location, from a room tour, to beach quality to wildlife sightings and more.

If you’re contemplating getting married in Mexico in addition to honeymooning, then there are a few surprises in store from our chat with the on-site wedding co-ordinator at Secrets Akumal – we learnt a few things!  There is so much choice with this location that you won’t feel constricted just because you are planning from so far away, it will still be YOUR day.  Check out their website for extra info and wedding date availability here.

Get your sneak peak of Secrets Akumal with us…

—Bride Society

Helping You Survive Headache No.1

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You said, “YES!”.  You jumped up and down ecstatically with your friends, or knocked back a few beers depending who’s reading! (I say that, neither I nor my husband did either of those things…) You keenly followed the advice in our, ‘You’re Engaged: Now What’ video (nudge nudge!), you’ve toyed with some possible dates and you’re on The Venue Search! Welcome headache no.1, sorry guys, this can be a mentally challenging process, with so many factors to consider and the whole world as your oyster, how do you even begin to narrow down what you both want?

Now, if you imagine Laura and I wearing superhero capes and standing in ‘superman pose’ (if you watch Grey’s Anatomy that reference will hopefully make a little more sense) by your side, you should instantly feel much calmer, although perhaps a little freaked out!  We are here to bring you our venue shortlisting tools!  We walk you through narrowing down the globe of choices to a shortlist, where you might then start visiting venues – because you can’t see them all!

Also, join us again later on when we will bring you another video on what you need to know/ask/consider when you’re viewing your shortlisted locations.  We’ve got your backs!

—Bride Society

Breathing Gold

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Gypsophila, aka Baby’s Breath, as wedding bouquets is a look we’ve been admiring for a while now.  We love the idea of the bridal bouquet being really full whilst the bridesmaids and flower girls carry petite versions.  This keeps the ‘look’ and ties everybody together, whilst maintaining that the bride stands out.

Also, on a side note which has nothing to do with this video in the slightest, a personal favourite of mine when planning Baby Showers is to include Baby’s Breath in the decor (give it a second), too cute?  I’ll leave you with that one, back to the matter in hand…

This flower is typically fairly economical and is readily available throughout the year.  It’s low purchase price, by comparison to most cut flowers, and its long life makes it a winner for us as this means you’re not breaking the bank AND you can prep well in advance of your Wedding Day, rather than running around the night before!

N.B. In this video to create our bridesmaid bouquet we have used one single bunch of store bought flowers, as they do ‘fluff up’.

To glam these up we are going gold, and for the first time in your lives, gold is going to seem like a bargain!

 

Tip: Unlike us, try to pick a still day to spray your bouquet so the paint doesn’t get carried away from the flowers!

—Bride Society

You’re Engaged: Now What?

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CONGRATULATIONS!  This New Year is especially exciting as you are engaged to the love of your life AND you get to plan your wedding!  You’ve had a wonderful Christmas/New Year’s celebrating your engagement, showing off your ring to whoever will look and telling your engagement story to any passer-by who notices your newly-engaged-glow.  And whilst your excitement continues, people are beginning to ask you if you’ve set a date and probably another hundred questions you don’t have the answers to yet.  It’s ok!  Take a moment.  Whilst we know you’re excited about planning your big day, we also know that it can be a daunting task to bring your dream day into fruition, the stakes are high…but hold on to your excitement and remember why you are doing this!

Take a deep breath and we’ll begin – we’re talking you through the first steps to get you on the planning path to a successful W-Day and warning of a few pot-holes to avoid.  Just those first few things you should do/think about though, we are not going to overwhelm you with information that makes you want to hide under a rock and declare you’re having a ‘long engagement’.  DO NOT FEAR, come this way….

And remember if you want more help, we have lots of other videos on our channel!

—Bride Society

Time to Cover Up!

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Brrrrrrr! It’s pretty chilly outside, to be specific, it’s -17°c where I am right now. And when those winter months get chilly, all I can think about is getting cosy, suddenly every heavy jumper I see looks really appealing when I would otherwise reject it as ugly.  Although you may be dreaming about a Winter Wonderland Wedding, you may not be necessarily wanting a long sleeved, high necked dress (although you legitimately may be.  Side note: this fits the description of the dress my mother got married in, which she picked out in Winter, but then was married in August on the hottest day of that year, oops! Moving on…), so if you’re instead picturing a short sleeved / strapless number, then a cover-up may be for you!  Now, to be clear, we’re not suggesting you grab any old oversized jumper to throw on over your beautiful dress….we’ve picked out a range of styles and options you might like to consider, not just for you but perhaps your bridal party too.  The ones we have chosen, without a jumper in sight, are all ordered from the high street to give you some ideas, but Bridal Boutiques also offer similar styles that are incredibly beautiful too.

If you’re sat there thinking, “but I don’t want to disguise this beautiful dress that I’ve paid all this money for, I can handle the cold!”, then ok, it may not be -17°c on your big day, but it’ll probably still be pretty uncomfortable out there, particularly for your ‘maids who are likely to have thinner dresses on.  Consider getting a cover-up just to get you from A to B stylishly, then you can whip it off before you head down the aisle.  We have everything here from faux furs to leather jackets to little lacy numbers (if you’re just trying to avert a light chill).

Stay warm and cover up in style! (Links to featured products are listed below.)

—Bride Society

Links for featured products (in order of appearance):

1. Ted Baker Faux Fur Scarf in Maroon (also available in Pink)

2. Coast ‘Luella Faux Fur Scarf’

3. Monsoon ‘Luvenia Feather Cape’

4. Jenny Packham at Debenhams, ‘Ivory Sequined Leaf Shrug’

5. Phase Eight ‘Constance Beaded Cape’

6. ASOS ‘Storm & Marie Glam Sequin Collarless Blazer’

7. Ted Baker leather jacket, models own.

 

Thank You & Merry Christmas

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2017 has been a special year for us as it marked the beginning of Bride Society.  It’s been a wonderful year of experimenting, learning, spending time with an old friend, and having fun working on something we both love.  We wanted to send all you readers/viewers our biggest thanks for the support you’ve given our channel since we launched, we’re so appreciative of each and every one of you and the time you take out of your busy lives to see what we’ve been up to.  We hope you’ve enjoyed our videos as much as we have enjoyed making them.

A special thanks to our husbands, who have spared us from their lives for many hours whilst we’ve worked on setting up this business, as well as the support they have shown in terms of ideas and feedback (even when we’ve rejected it!).

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas with your fiancé(e) and a very Happy New Year (especially if 2018 is the year you’re getting married!).  We’ll be back next Friday with more content and look forward to sharing so much more with you in the year to come.

 

(Warning: This Christmas Message may not be on a par with the Queen’s Speech, but it does contain Christmas jumpers!)

Love Bride Society.

Bring out your Inner Child

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So, full disclosure, I’m currently sat in my shorts, t-shirt and sunglasses in a sunny villa in faraway lands trying to write this blog post about hot chocolate wedding favours.  As idyllic as that sounds, and is, it seems to be making it somewhat challenging to get my head in the zone to talk about winter wedding favours!  That said, I’m still sat here drinking hot tea – you can take the girl out of Britain…

Apologies to all of you sat there reading this who are shivering with three jumpers on, wondering how much it will cost you to turn the thermostat up another degree or two.  If it’s any consolation, mosquitoes think I’m super juicy and will soon bring recompense for my gloating!

Ok, so HOT CHOCOLATE…a childhood favourite for many, ourselves included, and something that brings so much choice in flavours and toppings.  These miniature favours can be so adorable for a winter wedding that all guests will love, both big and small.  There’s definitely a romance to cosying up with a mug of hot cocoa.

This might be a win for the kids but it can also be made more ‘adult’ by attaching alcohol miniatures with a ribbon.  We’re showing you a couple of examples in this tutorial but it’s easily adaptable to your flavours and toppings of choice…

 

BSoc Tip: After you pop your mini marshmallows in the jar, compress them down slightly to reduce gapping if you’re planning to put another layer in, otherwise your next topping will just filter down into all the holes and you won’t achieve a nice layering effect.

 

Ok, back to the beach for me…

 

—Bride Society

Dreaming of a (Wedding) Winter Wonderland

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White topped post boxes, branches laiden with snow, icicles hanging from rooftops…it all makes for a pretty beautiful picture.  These may all be things you were dreaming of for your wedding when you picked this time of year to say your, “I do’s”.  I mean, who doesn’t love snow!  That wasn’t a question, I know there’s lots of people, but I don’t talk to those people, let’s move on….

 

So there’s the fringe benefit (or perhaps for you a slightly more central benefit) of cheaper supplier and venue rates in the winter, ‘off-peak’ season – wedding win, there’s the beauty of snow, as we’ve established, and then there’s the love of all things cosy…blankets, warm drinks, open fires, all of which can be incorporated into your wedding.  But whilst there are upsides, there are also potential challenges that should be considered and catered for so they can be headed off at the earliest sign of trouble, or indeed planned around in such a way that they never become an issue in the first place.  Winter Weddings are Wonderful, they just might need a little extra foreplaning, and that’s where we come in!  Watch now for help to navigate, and enjoy, this planning journey.

 

Any further questions or help required, let us know in the comments, ideally before panic sets in…

—Bride Society.

No Coal for you this Christmas

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If you’re getting married this Christmas-time, we’re pretty confident you won’t be getting a lump of coal in your stocking this year!  No matter how old we get we still love a good stocking around here, so we figured a lovely way to bring a touch of Christmas to your wedding day would be to personalise one for guests to pop your wedding card into.  And whilst for me a stocking is not a stocking without an apple and satsuma in the toe, this is a great way to incorporate your theme, your guests get to feel like Santa and you have a fun way to transport your cards home!

We’re using iron transfers to personalise initials and year of wedding onto our stocking, but you could use your new married name, the date of your wedding, or simply type ‘cards’ onto it.  A really festive touch.  You could even go the whole nine yards (I should really look up where that saying comes from; why nine? It’s kinda odd) and get a Santa sack for gifts too!

 

Of course, you don’t even have to be getting married to have fun with this video…maybe you’re hosting Christmas this year and would like to do something fun for your guests or kids!

 

Tip: Whilst we include instructions on how to use the transfers in this video, please refer to the manufacturer instructions in the manual provided with your paper as they may differ.

 

Ho ho ho!  —Bride Society

Deck the Tables

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It’s the 8th of December, by now many of you will have put up your Christmas Trees, draped your twinkly lights and hung baubles from the branches, the excitement has begun.  If you’re planning a Winter Wedding or simply hosting a Christmas gathering, then come this way as this week we’re talking festive place settings and favours.  In fact this is a two in one…taking inspiration from those Christmas trees, we’re personalising baubles that can be put on guests place settings – acting as name cards, and then doubles up as a favour for them to take home to put on their own tree, as a reminder of this special occasion year on year.

Quick, simple, sweet.

–Bride Society

Christmas Gift Guide

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With the festive period being popular for lots of new engagements and Christmas only a few weeks away, we thought we’d help you out with some Christmas present ideas for your other half or the newly engaged couple in your life!

 

  1. ‘Next Christmas We’ll Be Married’ Card

Not exactly a present, but what a lovely way to share the excitement of your upcoming wedding with your partner. We especially like this fiance card from Not on the High Street. Or what about a personalised card with your new married name on?

 

Fiance Christmas Card by Norma and Dorothy

 

2. A Wedding Magazine Subscription

Want to give the happy couple a year of wedding inspiration, why not buy them a wedding magazine subscription? Even better if you know their favourite magazine. Want to give them an actual physical gift to open on Christmas Day? Opt to start the subscription in January then buy the December magazine to wrap up, maybe with a bottle of something bubbly to enjoy while reading!

 

3. Wedding Box Subscription

Either for your partner or a recently engaged friend, what about treating them to a Bride to Be Subscription Box from The Wedding Box? They offer 3, 6, 9 and 12 month options along with ‘one-off’ options.

A gift in the post containing beauty products, inspiration and sweet treats every month? Yes please.

 

Wedding Subscription Box – The Wedding Box

 

4. A Planner

For every organised bride and groom to be, or those who want to keep track of all their wedding plans! A planner is a great gift idea and there are so many to choose from, to suit all styles. How about this cool Rock and Roll Bride x Veronica Dearly collaboration or a personalised Wedding Planner by Illustries.

Planners can give lots of practical ideas and tips as wedding planning can be daunting when you’ve never done it before!

 

5. Books

DIY wedding? If you know the couple are planning on making certain elements themselves but aren’t necessarily sure where to start. Why not give them some help with a book on that subject. For example, if they’re planning to grow their own wedding flowers, ‘Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers: How to Grow and Arrange Your Own Flowers for All Special Occasions‘ by Georgie Newbery is not only a beautiful book but also gives really useful advice about tackling the task. Tailor the book to the couple and you can’t go wrong!

Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers – Georgie Newbery

 

 

Happy shopping!

-Bride Society