...good morning! I am running around in crazy circles at the moment, working on orders and organising The Wedding Institute with Becky Mitchell. So the blog has been neglected for a while.
So here are some snippets - to show you that I have been working honest!!!
...and this is how the studio looks this week - a total chaos of linen, card and all that is floral....
Back in January 'me' and photographer Becky Mitchell (as well
as lots of creative and talented folk) worked very hard in styling and
photographing The Rigwood Manor shoot.
From that collective the idea for The Wedding Institute was born – a wedding fair new to the North Yorkshire/Teesside/North East area that is specialising in a more creative/vintage/design based approach to the more traditional generic wedding fair.
Well, after months of organising this is now taking place in the coastal town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the Community Arts Hall (attached to the theatre) on Sunday April 29th. The very first event 'The Wedding Institute @ The Village Hall"
There is such a wonderful mix of exhibitors – you can meet
them over at The Wedding Institute’s Facebook page (inspiring images are also
posted daily).
Alongside the 18 exhibitors there will be a tea room to sit
and relax and enjoy tea and cake while listening to live music.There will also be a boudoir section where
you will have the opportunity to have your hair styled in a victory roll, your
make-up applied with a 40’s or 50’s look and even the chance to be pampered and
have your nails done.
It is also a small intimate affair, we want you to come and‘hang out’ with us and not just ‘visit’. We want you to leave with a refreshing cluster of new suppliers to help you with your styling and wedding planning.We would love for you to make new friends, to have fun, to laugh, to have a day out, to be totally immersed in the creativity and vintageness of organising your big day.We want to inspire you to allow your personality to come through into the styling of your day and for your wedding to be true to you and the love you have for each other.
The event has it's own little blog to follow with lots of information and a
page to buy tickets (click here).Prices for tickets
are as follows:
1 ticket: £3.00
2 tickets: £5.00
3 tickets: £7.00
For the last week I have been busy sorting/collecting/making ready to sell vintage finds/Printed Stationery/The Vintage Drawer hand mades for the event.Problem that I have is now having to decide what to take and what to leave behind – so I leave you with a collection of images of my findings and sortings as well as the 10m length of bunting that I am slowly stitching together - so until the next post!!!!
My perfect day is a simple unhurried sort of day and one that I would
choose not to spend on my own but with a friend who loves and values having
time to potter without children as much as I do!! (although we love our children
dearly of course!!)
The day would begin with walking my daughter to school which is a time
that we often have a little chat about what is happening in her life (she's only
6 but you wouldn't believe the trouble she's having with boys trying to kiss her
all the time...it's such a tough life) I always love the way she asks me to
carry her book bag so she can hold my hand and carry her lunch box in the
other. I always spend a few moments in her classroom with her before then
meeting my friend Louise outside the school gates and we wander off to the
local cafe for tea and croissants. We met when we were both pregnant with our
girls and 6 years on we are still great friends. We live near the Gloucester
Rd in Bristol which is one of the best high streets of independent shops in the
UK. It's a fantastic community and also full of charity shops which of course
always fills me with excitement to see what treasures I can find. I think it is
literally having the time and slow pace to explore, discover and savour the
time to be myself, to really take notice of what is around me and forget all
the ups and downs of life for a few hours. There is an amazing cafe at the end
of the high street called Tart and lunch here is always amazing and a real
treat so a great way to finish off the day before getting back for the school
run and figuring out what exactly we are going to have for tea.
I do love Hope Cove and Salcombe in Devon to escape too. For the past 4
years I have spent the Easter holidays down there and feel very lucky that I
live just up the motorway and so near to such beautiful and breathtaking
places. I go down with a great friend of mine and all the children love the
hours spent on the beach digging and building on the beach while we put up our
specially bought little deckchair seats and get out the chocolate and the
magazines. It's bliss all round and just perfect.
Holding blackboard bubble: this was at my launch party which I never had
when I actually did start the business from home and maybe thought I couldn't
really do one as I still teach part time so it doesn't really count?! I was
overwhelmed at the support from the wedding world and the fantastic friends I
have made because of the industry I am now in. The photo booth was a fun way of
celebrating the fact my little idea in my head had become a little
reality.
Table styling: this is one of my favourite weddings that I styled in one
of my favourite venues (Westbury-on-Trym village hall in Bristol) I still get so
many comments from this wedding and quite a few bookings for my services at
this venue based on this photo!
and tweet up photo: I started the Bristol tweet up's last year purely
because I worked from home, on my own, wanted to meet other fab creative minds
and to enjoy a glass of wine while doing so. Simple as that really and the
evenings have grown and grown which has showed me that more formal networking
events or clubs weren't for everyone and actually meeting other amazingly
creative minds in one place was inspiring and wonderful.
Perfect Wedding award: this was a complete surprise and was awarded by
the magazine to me when they had seen my work and asked me to write a few
articles for them about styling your wedding reception. I love to step outside
the box and do things a little differently and so this sits very proudly on
my mantlepiece in the lounge!
Butlers in the Buff: This photo always makes me giggle and reminds me of
a great evening at another tweet up organised by Wedding Ideas magazine and
the Marry Me in Somerset girls. With my surname being Butler how could i not go
and say hello to these fine looking men!
Currently car boot sales and I totally blame Ali from Bristol Vintage for
passing on the bug of looking for and finding hidden vintage treasures!! So
much fun!!
My inspiration is always coming from things around me! Whether it be a shop
window, a magazine cover, Pinterest, travelling around or the amazing blogs that
are out there.
This was a tricky one but I think one of my favourites from childhood and now reborn in The Muppets movie is 'Rainbow Connection'. The words are just so
lovely and simple and it's so dreamy and Kermit is a legend.
I discovered the blog through Twitter and have just loved all the
ideas and real weddings that have been featured. The styling & inspiration
is fab!
I've just got into this after resisting for a while, scared that I would get
addicted to something else that would eat up my precious free time but actually
it has been a great tool in my styling, ideas for photo shoots and gaining
inspiration from around the globe! A great idea!! Hopefully have attached
favourite image at the moment!!
