I was really pleased to work with Farrow Photography on another styled shoot this autumn. We first joined forces in 2014 to bring to life some inspirational themes to show how you can enhance your milestone events. Following the success of our previous themed photo shoots, we collaborated once again to produce an amazing bridal styled shoot based around another well known story, The Wind in the Willows. It was also an honour to be able to showcase some amazing products from some fantastic local suppliers.
Theme I choose the Wind in the Willows theme as it is another classic story with it’s roots firmly based in and around Oxfordshire. The book by Kenneth Grahame was written 108 years ago (published on 15th June 1908) and he took inspiration from the River Thames from his child hood and also from when he lived in Oxford when he was at school. In later life, he lived in Blewbury with his own family and The Wind in the Willows was based on stories that he used to tell to his son Alistair. It is even claimed that Mapeldurham was the vision for Toad Hall.
This book evokes such beautiful natural scenes of being beside the riverbank – a relaxing setting, which allows characters rustic picnics and peaceful treks down the river, all to contrast with hectic, crowded city life. Many cite that the book has a common theme of struggling with a sense of place. Whether it’s being comfortable with where you are or facing things that need to be changed.
For me, it typifies a sense of adventure and the great open road. So initially, I really wanted to focus on getting as many different modes of transport involved in this bridal shoot, including a rowing boat, a vintage car (poop poop!), a colourful old fashioned bow top caravan and even a barge, if possible.
There’s also a running theme of hospitality in the book, so I wanted to get across the feel of a decadent banquet in the Grand Hall as well as a sumptuous picnic.
I wanted to hint at the theme with slight nods to the book in place names, the table plan and on the cake. I certainly didn’t want to focus on the weasels at Toad Hall as their laughs and noises used to scare me when I listened to the cassette story as a child!
The final thing that I really wanted to capture was stunning, rich autumnal colours.
Styled shoot A styled shoot takes almost as much time and effort to produce as a wedding day and entails bringing together the theme from many different suppliers.
The beauty of styled shoots (versus a real life wedding) is that it is a great opportunity to be a little more extravagant and really show off what you’ve always wanted to do. You can indulge your fantasies with new trends or products that couples may not have seen yet or something really unusual.
This styled shoot is a collaboration of like minded people that can create great things together but perhaps don’t have the budgets to produce this kind of work if they all worked independently.
Brief I am very lucky to live in a beautiful part of the UK and am surrounded by some seriously talented wedding venues, professionals and suppliers. I was honoured that so many wanted to be involved in this shoot and they certainly didn’t disappoint with the products that they provided.
I gave them all the same brief that I was trying to achieve:
an outdoors adventure with vintage transport along the beautiful riverside, followed by celebrations in a grand hall dressed in marsala and tweed with chalk board signs
I also provided them with my collated vision and ideas on my Pinterest board.
The themes I wanted to encapsulate included:
Transportation
Autumn
Bo-ho / 1970s
Chalk board
Marbling
Greenery
I wanted to focus on the following autumnal colours:
Marsala (colour of the year in 2015 and still going strong)
Pale pink/coral (Rose Quartaz is one of the colours of the year in 2016 and I wanted to have a dress that wasn’t a traditional white dress)
Gold (using the current metallic trend along with copper and a welcome alternative to silver)
Tweed (casual men’s wear perfect for the country setting)
Forest Green (focusing on lots of greenery and foliage)
Designs The creative suppliers worked wonders in transforming my overflowing pot of ideas and pairing it down in to realistic and achievable products for us to showcase.
Stationery designs – One of the first ideas for this shoot came from an image that I saw of a floral archway bursting with rich dark coloured flowers. Having spoken to Paper Tree Design about my vision, they were excited about making this floral arch from paper and card including lots of dark green foliage and some metallic and pearlised paper. The stationery had to synchronise up with lots of other elements such as the font and date of the wedding used on the invitation and cake, the flower illustrations used are ladies smock, wild rose and pink, and white campion, the menu used is a sample from the venue, plus the envelope liner was tweed inside a marsala coloured envelope.Then the theme came alive with the inclusion of the author and character names on the place cards (Mr Grahame, Mrs Grahame, Mr Toad, Mr Badger, Mr Mole, Mr Rat), and the seating plan had table names displayed on a chalk board which were named after the first 9 chapters of the book (1. The River Bank, 2. The Open Road, 3. The Wild Wood, 4. Mr Badger, 5. Dulce Domum, 6. Mr Toad, 7. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 8. Toad’s Adventures, 9. Wayfarers All).
Cake design – The Pretty Cake Company helped to combine a few ‘on trend’ themes for this photo shoot, whilst combining the floral themes too. Marble wedding cakes are a revived trend that are becoming very popular and combined with the ongoing popularity of metallic effects, this shoot was perfect to experiment with both. The top and bottom tier were covered using a hand mixed grey marbled sugarpaste. The top tier had a subtle splattering of edible gold lustre paint and the bottom tier had the gold drip effect which looked like it poured from the second gold lustred tier. The chalkboard effect on the third tier was sympathetic to the stationery used and with a nod to Kenneth Grahame whose book ‘The Wind in The Willows’ inspired this shoot. The cake was finished with a selection of arrangements of sugar flowers such as burgundy dahlias, coral ranunculus, sweet avalanche roses, snowberries and green viburnum.
Flowers – Classic Flowers really went to town with my brief of having loose and flowing displays along with the colour themes running throughout the shoot. The green amaranthus especially in the bouquet worked in beautiful harmony with the weeping willow at the venue.Here are the flowers that were used in the shoot:
Brides bouquet – Mustard roses, Astrantia, Green and Coral Hypericum, Bombastic spray roses, Green Amaranthus, Burgundy Dahlia, Skimmia, flowering eucalyptus, ivy and fatsia leaves.
Buttonhole – Mustard rose, Bombastic spray roses, Burgundy Dahlia, Green and coral hypericum, flowering eucalyptus and skimmia leaves.
Table arrangement – flowers as brides bouquet PLUS green orchids and soft ruscus.
Swag on fireplace – Flowering eucalyptus, ivy, skimmia and soft ruscus.
Temple – Peach roses
Love Seat – ivy, flowering eucalyptus and skimmia
Despite getting stuck in Calais (due to the migrant camp closing), the flowers thankfully made their way from the Dutch supplier in time for the shoot!
Soap favours – the beautiful Marsala Peacock soap favours were an equistite addition to the beautifully laid tablescape in the banquet scene. Stonesfield Soap Company were amazing at making these bespoke soaps to match the colour theme of the shoot and they added a great aroma to the room whilst we were shooting! They are all made by hand and these images give an idea of the amount of processes that go in to making these favours. Here are the ingredients of the soaps that were used on this shoot:
Other inclusions: goat milk yogurt, tapioca starch, kaolin clay
Suppliers I couldn’t have been happier (and luckily) with the products that all the suppliers produced and provided.
Venue – I picked the Old Swan and Minster Mill based on it’s riverside location and it’s glorious weeping willow tree. How fortuitous that we also discovered that they had an old disused boat house and moored rowing boat that just so happened to be painted in red to match our theme perfectly! Also the chairs in the dining room were also a perfect colour match. It seemed like fate to bring the venue and colour palettes together in one amazing venue.
Hair – I was incredibily pleased that Lucy Beesley Bridal were available to do the bride’s hair and make up for this shoot. She actually did my hair at my own wedding 5 years – surely you can’t get a better recommendation! She brilliantly included the colour theme in the marsala lipstick and green/black eye liner and ensured the braided hair followed the loose and flowing themes.
Dress – Originally, I really wanted to use a non-white dress for this shoot – like a pale pink or coral colour. Plus I wanted to get away from the strapless dresses we see all too often. So I briefed Mae Bridal that I wanted to use something that covered the shoulders (which I think our cold bride was appreciative on the day!) and that had embroidery on it. The Watters Amelia dress hit the brief bang on with a nude coloured under skirt, amazing embroidered back and sleeves, plus a nice bo-ho vibe to fit in with the laid back theme.
Menswear – Keates of Witney provided a brilliant tweed jacket and waistcoat with pops of red to bring together the bow tie, cords and red of the checked shirt. Our groom looked like a proper country gent!
Cutlery – I wanted to get away from all the silver cutlery adorning tables and push towards the mixed metallic trends that are appearing. I was also really keen to use local suppliers for this shoot and searched extensively for gold cutlery. I was delighted to find the Vintage Gold China whilst networking on a wedding Twitter hour one night. They seem to be the only supplier locally to have an extensive selection of modern and traditional styled gold cutlery as well as crockery to hire. Plus they were a font of knowledge and extremely happy to help with my quest for finding marsala coloured candles to go in their lovely selection of gold coloured candlesticks. Even after a tiring night washing up the products from the night before, they turned up with such enthusiasm and encouragement that it was a delight to have them involved in the shoot.
Tea light holders – Another trend I wanted to include an element of geometric terrariums or candle holders. Just by chance, I was talking to Larkrise Flowers at the Cogges Wedding Open Day about my search and they were able to very kindly source some brilliant geometric copper candle holders from Talking Tables on my behalf.
Car – The shoot’s main inspiration was always about different modes of transport, so it wouldn’t have been complete without the stunning Humber from British Classic Car Hire. And a stroke of luck that the interior of ‘Hester’ was a luxurious marsala coloured leather – it was meant to be! ‘Hester’ is stunning in Black and White, with her beautiful, almost Art Deco lines, lots of chrome detailing and huge headlights, Hester turns heads wherever she goes. A comfortable ride, sliding sun-roof and lovely drop down tables in the rear, she’s a real beauty.
Models – And lastly the shoot was brought beautifully to life by the stunning models. I advertised for waves and beards and was so pleased that Jess and Henry were not only able to play our bride and groom but fitted the bill perfectly (his beard was so well coiffured!) They are a real life couple and this really showed in the way that they interacted and came across on camera. Not yet married, but very much in love, they were just right as the happy couple (even if it was a fake wedding!) I, for one, can’t wait to hear if playing the parts has sown any seeds and I look forward to hearing any engagement news in due course!
Your wedding day is a unique kind of day when your ‘circles’ all come together. It’s not often that you have all the people from different walks of your life in the same room at the same time. How wonderful to look around and see the people you love just there for you two.
Photographs are a brilliant way of capturing who celebrated your big day with you, plus traditionally guests sign a keep sake book and leave a poignant message for the happy couple to read back after the special day. This lovely tradition has got some modern updates and ingenious alternative ideas.
Here are a few of my favourite wedding guest book alternatives:
Photographs
Take polaroids of guests on the day and put them in a book alongside a handwritten message
Have a photo booth for people to take their own snaps of the day
Have a video diary or place where people can leave their own video messages
Paper
Have a recipe book where everyone contributes a favourite recipe to be printed in a book (see recipegiftbook.com below)
Get guests to complete a calendar with their message on their own birthday or special anniversary
Ask guests to write how they know bride & groom on postcards
Provide advice cards for guests to suggest date night ideas
Leave notes and cards in an engraved oak lift-lid box (see Make Memento below)
Get guests to put their best wishes on to labels to hang from a wish tree (see Tree of Hearts below)
Ask guests to write their messages and seal them in a bottle to be opened on their first anniversary
Furniture / homeware
Encourage guests to sign a pottery wedding plate that you can display or use in your kitchen (see Busy Brush Café below)
Get guests to sign a piece of wooden garden furniture such as a swing seat, table or bench
Ask people to sign decorative, keep sake items for your home such as a quilt, globe or Christmas baubles
Provide bottle labels for wine that people can write advice or wishes to be read on wine to be opened for future anniversaries
Poster / artwork
Use guests fingerprints to create the leaves on a tree on a canvas that be hung afterwards (see Tree of Hearts below)
Have hand written messages on various hearts placed around a cut out framed tree (see Paper Tree Design below)
Frame an illustration of your venue which guests can sign (see Illustrated Invites below)
Get your guests to contribute and colour in a giant poster mural (see Fancy Features below)
Ask your hen party to all ‘kiss the miss goodbye‘ and place their lipstick mark next to their signature for instant framed artwork
Provide wine corks for guests to sign and then be framed
Place signed pebbles or wooden hearts in a big glass vase
Games
Get guests to sign jigsaw or Jenga blocks
Write labels with wishes and attach them to balloons that can be launched at the end of the day
And take a look at these brilliant local suppliers that can bring a different angle to a guest book at your wedding:
Create a beautiful and highly personalised platter or serving plate, design it with a painting of your venue or of the happy couple and have it glazed and fired ready to present at your wedding along with a special ceramics pen that guests can use to write their message on the plate.
Busy Brush Cafe offer wedding plates of all shapes and sizes that can be used every day in the kitchen or hung up on the wall for decoration. Spend a couple of hours in the quirky and supportive cafe environment and have fun painting up your own plate, or have one of the team design it all for you to specification. The plates can then be collected a few days later once they’ve been glazed and kiln fired and the team will provide you with a permanent ceramics pen for guest messages that will last a lifetime! Prices range from £40 to £150 depending on size and detail required.
Fancy Features make Giant Colouring In – fully personalised artwork hand illustrated to canvas ready to get coloured in by you and your friends at your event. We design and deliver artwork to clients all over the world.
A small family business located in Somerset, who are passionate in bringing a niche service to wedding stationery.
Producing beautifully detailed pencil sketches of the couple’s wedding venue or church which are then used as a theme throughout the wedding stationery products. Choices of colours, font styles and wording of invitation according to your needs ensures a personal and unique touch to the couple’s stationery. “Designed exclusively for You”.
Our Guest Comment Frame is proving particularly popular for its uniqueness as we go one step further than to just leave a blank space for guests to write on at the reception.
We provide guests with ‘message cards’ for them to write on during the reception, which has proved to be a great talking point after the speeches have been done and dusted and a lull in the proceedings whilst coffee is being served.
After the honeymoon, the couple send us the cards to be edited onto the frame and these original cards are returned together with the completed frame.
Our specialty is that we either print or scan the original messages onto the frame around the sketch, ensuring that perfect spacing and an overall pleasing look is achieved. Providing this in either a black or white modern frame, this product not only doubles as a great keepsake but great to hang proudly in the home as a reminder of the Special Day!
Our hand-engraved, solid oak keepsake boxes make the perfect wedding gift for the happy couple! Perfect for storing treasured wedding keepsakes and mementos, you can make this gift extra special by adding a personalised engraved date to mark the special occasion!
Handmade to order in our studio, our solid oak wood boxes have been lovingly designed and crafted using thick, heavy European oak timber. The wood is hand-cut, then individually sanded and treated to enhance the natural grain and preserve the beauty of the wood. Our boxes are finished with a chic hand-engraving and black infill, with the heart arrow finished with a red infill – producing a truly unique style. Finally, our oak boxes are finished with a clear gloss protective varnish to ensure durability and display a stunning finish. These lift-lid boxes are great for presenting and storing cards, photos and other treasured wedding mementos!
The wedding tree from Paper Tree Design is a great way to remember all the people who took part in your special day, family members on the hearts and friends written around the tree. It can be provided fully made up, or instead you can chose to have a blank tree and hearts for your guests to hand write around the tree. Various sizes are available depending on the number of guests, and prices start at £50.00. The tree can be colour matched to the colour theme of the wedding, contact suzanne@papertreedesign.co.uk for further details.
Paper Tree Design was created through a love of paper and a desire to produce beautiful and personal stationery and decorations. Thoughtfully designed, we focus on quality and attention to detail to make your stationery truly individual. With a background in Fashion and Textile Design, and 15 years experience in retail buying and product development Suzanne has a wealth of experience to draw on and is passionate about delivering design with little personal touches that reflect the clients loves and interests.
Living in rural Oxfordshire Suzanne cannot help but be inspired by the beauty of the natural world and the changing seasons, and can frequently be found in lanes and hedgerows with her camera and a sketchbook. Specialising in paper cutting, at Paper Tree Design we create your handcrafted wedding stationery to order. Choose to personalise a card from one of our ranges or commission a bespoke design. I am at my best working with your theme and ideas for a truly personal invitation and welcome you to come and have a chat and a cuppa in my Oxfordshire studio to discuss plans for your wedding.
recipegiftbook.com enables friends and family to give a truly meaningful gift to the bride and groom, the gift of a recipe.
Create a beautiful keepsake to celebrate your wedding day, a cookbook filled with recipes from all your wedding guests.
Whether it’s treasured family recipes or modern favourites, your guests will have fun sharing their recipes, photos and personal messages with you. Guests simply add their recipes online then following your wedding a charming hardback cookbook is sent to you.
Creating a ‘recipe gift book’ is a great way to bring both families together in the run up to a wedding. It’s a special cookbook and a wonderful way to collect precious recipes and create something unique to celebrate your marriage.
The bride and groom can choose from six recipe book designs and personalise the front cover title to make their book unique. When complete the bride and groom will receive a beautiful hardback book, presented in a gift box. The finished recipe book is free for the bride and groom. The guests just pay £4.99 to add a page to the book. The bride and groom can order additional copies of their recipe book and even allow guests to purchase a copy too.
recipegiftbook.com supply the ultimate personalised wedding present from all of the guests, a gift the bride and groom will treasure long after their wedding day. Take a look at their introductory video to find out more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di7YPD3koBA
Tree of Hearts specialises in personalised wedding stationery and has over 90 beautiful collections to choose from including traditional, modern, vintage and beach designs catering for a wide range of tastes and styles. They offer quality stationery at affordable prices and have everything you need from save the date cards and wedding invitations to order of service, table plans, fingerprint trees and thank you cards.
Free samples are available upon request so you can see and feel the quality of their stationery ensuring it is perfect for your special day.
Fingerprint trees can incorporate approximately 50 (small), 80-100 (medium) or 150-200 (large) fingerprints per tree size. Includes a personalised print and 3 small ink pads in colours of your choice.
Wishing tree & wishing tags includesa white freestanding manzanita wishing tree (90cm tall) supplied with personalised wishing tags & sign in a design of your choice. The tags can be used for favour tags or wishing tags.
As someone with dietary requirements, I’m always impressed (& relieved) when different diets are considered at a wedding (which also means I’ve got something to eat to soak up all that free drink!)
I stir clear of most dairy products (apart from the occasional chocolate treat and an annual ice cream when I’m on holiday) and have done for about 30 years now (yikes – now that’s showing my age isn’t it!) I found that dairy was a trigger for migraines and now I find that cheese or cream doesn’t agree with my stomach either after years of abstinence. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t miss it. In fact, just thinking about the smell of melted cheese makes me feel queasy!
When I was younger it was hard to find alternatives to dairy but now the supermarket shelves are stacked with wonderful ‘free from’ and alternatives to suit varied and diverse diets. I certainly don’t feel so difficult to cater for anymore!
For me, there’s not always an instant reaction to eating the things I avoid but for some people they may have a severe allergy or strong beliefs that mean they must not come in to contact with some foods.
That’s why I’m a strong believer in the importance of asking wedding guests if they have any special dietary requirements in order to respect their health, religious, moral or political choices. Plus it’s nice to have happy guests who don’t feel awkward (or hungry), tucking in to delicious food and not the same old unimaginative alternatives.
Here’s my quick ABC of how to make sure you’re covering all your bases when it comes to catering for special dietary requirements.
A – Ask your guests as early as you can. Include a section on your RSVP cards (to send with the invites) for them to be able to fill in any dietary requirements. Or even on your save the date cards if you’re really on the ball. You could even give them an example of what the menu might be and get people to choose their meals in advance.
B – Base the menu on your tastes – it is your day after all! It’s a good starting point to think about what you like and dislike to eat plus what you have enjoyed feasting on at weddings that you’ve attended as guests. You can ensure the food will fit your theme and style of wedding. However be mindful if your tastes are unconventional as you want to be inclusive to your guests too. Which leads us to the next point…
C – Customise your menu. Create your menu in such a way that anyone with an allergy or dietary requirement can still enjoy the main aspect of the meal. However, for example, a vegetarian option shouldn’t just remove the meat element of the dish but rather have a delicious alternative instead. Likewise, for a non dairy person like myself, having the option to be able to add your own sauce to a meal (that may have cream, yoghurt, butter or cheese in it) could mean that I could still enjoy the same dish but without the sauce (or with a substitute sauce) rather than it coming served in the sauce. The main dish could remain the same but with some ‘pick and mix’ elements to ensure dietary requirements are met. A clever caterer will be able to think of ways to alter dishes to suit.
D – Diets to consider could include the following (although this is by no means an exhaustive list):
Vegetarian
Vegan
Non dairy
Gluten free
Kosher
Halal
Hindu
Diabetic
Low fat
Low salt
Nut free
Child friendly
Pregancy
E – Establish and eliminate elements of the menu. Once you have a list of your guests requirements you can start to construct a menu with your caterer or venue that can suit their needs. If you are unsure what they can/can’t eat then it is always best to confirm with them and show them specific ingredient lists from the chef. Decide how many main dishes will be offered to guests such as a meat, a fish and a vegetarian option that can then all be adjusted to take in to account the different diets.
F – Figure out the style of meal being offered. How you serve food can have an impact on offering alternatives. For example, a sit down meal can mean that meals can be tailored individually though could be increase costs to prepare separate dishes for different people. A (well labelled) buffet could mean that guests can choose the food that is most appropriate to their diets although means that food may have been premade and harder to adjust on the day. A hog roast is a cheap and tasty way to mass cater but provides limited choices and alternative options.
G – Go and meet with your caterer / venue. Any chef worth their weight in gold won’t be phased (or surprised) by the challenge of catering for guests with different dietary requirements. As long as they know enough in advance, they can plan and prepare for the different meals. It is also worth checking how they prepare the food if allergies or religion are the reason for some special diets as you may need to use specific caterers for some meals.
H – Have your cake and eat it. Don’t forget about all meals and beverages that are going to be consumed during the day including your wedding cake. Think about having different tiers of the cake made to suit different guests. Or even having an alternative to a cake altogether.
I – Inform your guests. Make sure that you check the final menu with the guests that are most affected so that they know what they will be able to eat on the day. Communication plus no surprises puts most people at ease.
J – Just checking. Confirm numbers, menu and dietary requirements with the caterers / venue just prior to the big day so that it’s fresh in their minds. Plus check that the waiting staff know where the special meals are to be served at each table. Perhaps put a subtle symbol on the name places that signifies a special meal.
You don’t have to provide an a la carte menu with several variations, you just need a flexible kitchen and an inventive chef or caterer who can conjure up a meal to suit all diners.
Enjoy picking the menu for your wedding breakfast. Remember that it is your special day and you should choose what you both love. You won’t be able to please all your guests however keeping them well fed will be a good start to keeping them happy. Bon appetite!
We are lucky in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds to have some highly talented, local suppliers who specialise in offering unique, bespoke and professional wedding services.
Plus, right on my door step, is the stunning barn venue at Cogges Manor Farm which I’m delighted to be supporting at their Wedding Open Day on Sunday 16th October 11am-3pm.
Come along for a tour of the amazing barns and gardens – perfect for your wedding venue.
I will be offering a drop in wedding planning clinic for couples who would like practical help to turn their ideas into reality.
You’ll also be able to see all these lovely local wedding suppliers too:
At Abigail’s Kitchen we pride ourselves on providing a completely bespoke service. We understand that every couple has a dream of their perfect day and that no two wedding days are alike. We provide free help and advice at the planning stages and meet to work with each couple to help them get the most from their budget, to allow those dreams to come true.
With that in mind, there are no set menus; we create each menu and service style to meet with the client’s requirements. This allows us to do everything from picnics and afternoon teas to a formal four course wedding breakfast. We also offer canapes, finger buffets, hot and cold fork buffets, pig roast and BBQ’s, cheeseboards with homemade chutneys and pickles, wedding cakes of cheese, evening food sausage and bacon rolls, and our ever popular 12 hour slow cooked pulled pork and coleslaw baps.
We use local suppliers wherever possible, and vegetables, salads and herbs are often home grown. We provide all white china, stainless steel cutlery, glasses and any serving equipment required by your menu choices, from 3 layer tea stands to 6ft long cheeseboards. We pride ourselves on our highly trained and experienced front of house staff that make your guests feel looked after from the first welcome drink to the last crumb of wedding cake.
Please do get in touch to arrange a meeting with Abigail at a time convenient to you (7 days a week and evenings and weekends). Call 07771 616415 or email abipritcher@yahoo.com
As a photographer for over 16 years, assignments have taken we worldwide. I enjoy working locally within West Oxfordshire as much as being commissioned to photograph weddings around the world. I believe the key factor in supplying services is customer satisfaction. Having taken traditional wedding images for a number of years I made the decision in 2015 to take on a new challenge. Now fully trained and licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority to fly commercially, I am proud to be one of very few people permitted to take aerial images of our beautiful area and capture stunning memories. Take a look at some of my wedding clips on YouTube.
Lark Rise Flowers, are professionally qualified florists, based in the rolling countryside of North Oxfordshire. They provide flowers for weddings and events throughout Oxon, Bucks, Northants, and beyond.
Stock is sourced from the major flower markets, and if seasonally available from an expanding group of British growers. The Eco commitment continues with a policy of recycling waste packaging and surplus green material.
Sandra, the Proprietor, is happy to meet with you for personal consultations and site visits. She will work with your brief, budget, or theme, to create a unique day for you both.
The Lark Rise team have a wealth of experience, having provided many wedding flowers, and decorated most of the major wedding venues in the area. They take pride and care in their work, from the simplest buttonhole through to beautiful bridal bouquets and venue décor.
As a wedding celebrant, I love spending time getting to know you as a couple, your story, your dreams, what makes you tick as a couple and then using this to create bespoke wedding ceremonies that are all about you – a ceremony that your guests will remember, a ceremony that you will never forget. Using a celebrant opens up so many choices of where and when to hold your ceremony and what to include in it. Truly, your choice, your voice, your ceremony.
Mabel & Rose has a lovely array of original vintage and rustic props available to hire. Our large range includes old apple crates, oak barrels, chalkboards, vintage suitcases, rustic wheelbarrows, an old delivery bicycle plus lots of smaller items like vintage bottles, jars, jugs and pots. So whether it’s large milk churns filled with flowers or a selection of vintage tin baths to keep your drinks cool we would love to help you enhance your venue and create the perfect look and feel for your wedding. Styling and on the day venue dressing services are also available.
Mag & Tim serve Winstone’s delicious traditional ice cream to your guests for approx 2 hours at a time to suit you, in either waffle cones or tubs and then guests can help themselves to the “Extras” table with sprinkles, sauces, flakes, choc sticks etc.
They have been trading for about 3 years. Take a look on their Facebook page to see some of their lovely reviews.
Oakwood Events supplies stunning lighting for stylish couples. They design and install lighting schemes for barn weddings using fairy lights, festoon lights, bare bulbs, paper lanterns, chandeliers, drapes, uplighting, bunting and dance floor lighting.
Lighting is a unique addition to your wedding and can be used to highlight features like beams or stone walls, change the atmosphere between day and night or make a colour or design statement to match your theme. Oakwood Events pride themselves on top quality design, professional installation and amazing features; explore their Pinterest boards for inspiration and to see how their lighting adds wow factor to barn weddings. See your wedding in a different light!
The Oxfordshire Photobooth Company offer you the best DSLR photobooth. Our ‘open-air’ booth creates the perfect ice breaker and talking point, an easy way to get the whole family involved. The only limit to how many people can fit in to our booth is your imagination!
We offer a range of packages for a range of budgets and can tailor any of these to your requirements. Every booking receives a fully customised start screen and watermarked image with your names in your colour scheme! Our instant photo prints, social media sharing, scrap books, photo albums, backdrops and bunting give gives your special day a completely unique, bespoke touch. For more information, please get in contact via any of our social media links.
Paper Tree Design was created through a love of paper and a desire to produce beautiful and personal stationery and decorations. Thoughtfully designed, we focus on quality and attention to detail to make your stationery truly individual. With a background in Fashion and Textile Design, and 15 years experience in retail buying and product development Suzanne has a wealth of experience to draw on and is passionate about delivering design with little personal touches that reflect the clients loves and interests.
Living in rural Oxfordshire Suzanne cannot help but be inspired by the beauty of the natural world and the changing seasons, and can frequently be found in lanes and hedgerows with her camera and a sketchbook. Specialising in paper cutting, at Paper Tree Design we create your handcrafted wedding stationery to order. Choose to personalise a card from one of our ranges or commission a bespoke design. I am at my best working with your theme and ideas for a truly personal invitation and welcome you to come and have a chat and a cuppa in my Oxfordshire studio to discuss plans for your wedding.
The Pretty Cake Company offers a friendly, personal and bespoke wedding cake design service to produce breath taking wedding cakes that will be remembered for years to come. Our aim is to produce a wedding cake that is individual to the bride and groom – always focusing on the attention to detail that makes all the difference. We have over 10 years of experience in designing and creating wedding cakes and work closely with numerous prestigious wedding venues in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and The Cotswolds. We will work with you and take your ideas and inspirations in order to create a truly memorable wedding cake. We pride ourselves on using the finest quality and freshest ingredients available.
Unlike many other cake companies, we now specialise only in wedding cakes, as this is our true passion. Now we are able to focus on keeping up to date with current bridal trends and ensuring that our clients receive expert advice in the wedding cake field.
Clients are guaranteed a friendly, efficient service where quality is never compromised. Consultations by appointment only. We are based in Minster Lovell, Witney, West Oxfordshire and can deliver to a wide area.
Richard Young is a professional wedding magician who will amaze and amuse your guests throughout the quieter parts of your big day with his amazing close-up magic and mind reading. Magic is one of the few forms of entertainment you can book that will connect with all ages, nationalities and cultures at your wedding because everyone loves to be amazed and made to feel like a kid again. Richard’s magic will create lasting exciting memories of your wedding and create a fantastic atmosphere as he moves from group to group. Richard can perform during your drinks reception, wedding breakfast or evening reception, the choice is yours and Richard has different packages available for different size weddings and most importantly different size budgets.
Richard has been a full time professional magician for 10 years and lives in Oxfordshire, he is a full member of The Magic Circle and he performs at over 60 weddings a year so you can be assured of a top notch product that will go down an absolute storm at your wedding. You will soon see him on the brand new ITV1 prime time TV show ‘The Next Great Magician (7pm November 6th 2016 on ITV1) and he is also the headliner magician on the touring theatre show Champions of Magic. Richard is recommended by all the top wedding venues in Oxfordshire including Blenheim Palace, Le Manoir, Eynsham Hall and Caswell House.
I am Rosie of Rosie Red Corsetry & Couture, creating luxury bridal wear for all body types. My garments are made with the utmost of love, bespoke for you in Oxfordshire, England. Whether you’re plus size or petite, I promise you a fabulous experience from start to finish.
My growing celebrity following includes Helena Bonham Carter and Billie Piper.
I am such a romantic and a fan of love, creating your bridal gown is so much more than just a job to me. I would love you to be a Rosie Red Bride.
Occasion Hair and Make up Artist specialising in Bridal and Occasion Hair and Make up. Twists offer a professional and creative service throughout Oxfordshire and the Cotswold villages, in the comfort of your own home or venue.
We understand that your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. Therefore we endeavour to ensure that your wedding hair and make up is one to be admired and remembered.
@illustratedinv
We are lucky in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds to have some highly talented, local suppliers who specialise in offering unique, bespoke and professional wedding services.
