Wedding Preperation (part two)

In a further bid to keep costs low, because we wanted to something a little bit different and just because I like being crafty (my now husband will attest to that - on two counts), we decided it would be a good idea to do the paper bits and pieces (i.e. invitations, orders of service, menus cards for the tables, place cards) for ourselves. We were inviting about 100-120 people which meant a LOT of paper. To give you a better idea, the average cost of wedding stationary is about £450. We did ours for about £150 all in - bargain!

Having access to a easy (ish) to use design programme I drafted out the wording, colour and fonts as I thought we might like and worked with our friendly local printer to make sure I was able to give him everything in a format he was happy with.

Next we searched for a stamp online. The plan was always to go with a stamp to create a bit more whimsical/vintage feel to the whole thing . This was the one we liked the best.

We then spent a good few hours stamping pretty much everything, the invites, the table planners, the notices, the orders of service etc.

(My sister hard at work for her supper!)

Our invites were sent out tied with navy ribbon and with a couple of sprigs of lavender inside. I kind of felt like Roan Atkinsons character in Love Actually when I was making them all up!

Hard work but we were VERY pleased with the results!

Six Months Off Blogging = Wedding Preperation (part one)!!!

So wedding preperations for me didnt start with the usual hunt for the dress etc, it was all about what I could craft. So thats probably a big lie - it was ALL about the venue for the first 3-4 months but once that got sorted, the rest was all about the crafting!

Inspiration came early on for me in that i LOVE lavender, the smell, the look, the colours etc etc. I had it in my head that I might be able to reduce the cost of centre pieces by doing them with dried flowers which wasnt to be in the end, but the dried bits and pieces worked there way into practically everything else.

My first and biggest shop of wedding type materials was at a gorgeous farm out in Kent (www.thehopshop.co.uk) known locally for its lavender festivals and cider. We sampled both - fantastic!

Freshly Cut Lavender on the farm


Let the crafting commence! My 'work space' aka. the living room.








Dried flower hearts for the church pews, to hang off of door handles.


Possible centre pieces

I saw the flower hearts in a local florists selling for £10-20 each and thought 'I cant do that!!!' - and as it turns out - I can.

I used several layers of a thin wire and florists covered wire (the green one). I shaped the thin wire into an approximate heart shape (leaving a loop of wire at the top to tie a ribbon through or something), took a bunch of lavender, a few stems of corn or a few sprigs of a flower (whatever you are using basically), held it against the heart shape and secured it into place with the florists wire. Next I took another sprig of chosen foliage, placed it over the bottom of the first sprig and wire into place - and so on all around the heart. Re-shape slightly at the end if needed.