Out with the Old, in with the New

We're really busy at the moment, getting out what seems like hundreds of samples to all the brides that saw us at the National Wedding Show and the local fairs.

But, I personally am feeling jaded, what with the clocks going back and the darker evenings; not quite into Christmas cheer yet, but the fast deadlines of summer weddings now gone.

It would be easy now just to hibernate; oh how I would love to do that - just hide now until March, just sleeping under my 13 tog duvet! Can't even make a decision on which holiday hubby and I should go on - so any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Mandie is on a good vibe only mood, and sat happily shredding files from 2003 onwards - oh the cringing at some of the designs we did!

So tomorrow more clearing out of the workroom and then onto the shop display area - maybe we should hire a skip!

Watch this space ... maybe it will clear our minds for new designs.

Envelopments - the real home of pocketfold invitations

We are pleased to announce that we have renewed our licence with Envelopments, who are the leading supplier of quality pocketfold invitations. This enables us to continue to supply high quality product to our brides, along with offering them support in designing their perfect wedding invitations and stationery.

This will be our seventh year with Envelopments, and their popularity has grown immensely - to the extent that they are being copied by far inferior products in the UK. Envelopments isn't just about being able to supply beautiful patterns by Anna Griffin; it's also about a design concept. It's about putting different colours, textures, patterns, fonts and graphics together and creating a perfect image for your wedding or event.

Look at the beautiful colours of Ashley's wedding http://www.envelopments.com/mixandmatch/featuredrecipe/Wedding/118/Ashley--Alan.aspx - with the typography and graphics making it unique.

The subtleness of Gabrielle's wedding http://www.envelopments.com/mixandmatch/featuredrecipe/Wedding/58/Gabrielle--Austin.aspx with a hint of coral.

We also design our own - the little funky number above is in our Washington range

Who's wedding would you prefer to go to? One of the above, or just a bog standard pocketfold invite with a sheet of paper stuck in it - which is what the majority of UK companies seem to be promoting.

Make sure your wedding stationer is a licensed Envelopments reseller to ensure quality and perfection!

Wedding Breakfast

So you are going to take more than 50 people out for dinner – a sumptious three or four course meal for that matter. Just how often do you do that?

Not often, so your first meal together as husband and wife should be planned, thought about, tasted and will then wow your guests.

Think about your favourite dishes, your individual tastes and how they can be incorporated into a menu that everyone will enjoy. Try to think outside of the box; don’t just go for a roast because it’s popular, you can have a roast dinner every week. Why not try a Rosemary Roast Beef with Balsamic and Cranberry Glaze.

Profiteroles are also popular, but can your chef think of profiteroles with a slight twist – how about Profiteroles with Passion Fruit Creme.

And don’t forget about your vegetarian guests – if your chef can only think of brown Mushroom Risotto – fire him!

Anna & Jamie, Whittlebury Park, 22nd August 2009

We said we would post some pictures and here they are. They chose our Alabama range in Diamond Repousse and Antique Gold. The main colour for this concept is the beautiful floral pattern from Anna Griffin in creams, accented with gold and finished with flowing ivory chiffon ribbon.

We kept the menu scrolls in keeping, and rolled the floral paper and tied with the same ribbon, with the table numbers on a floral tentfold card, the same as the place settings.

Very feminine, very in line with their venue and very traditional!

Why?

We don't air our laundry in public but this story has really got our goat - what a use of words.

http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Fury-as-county-wedding-firm.5578627.jp

This young lady used to buy from us; had lots of friends weddings to make favours and stationery for. Until one day she came in and told us she was setting up in competition with us - we don't think so! The shop closed in May, Companies House have a proposal to strike off the company off (since June 2009).

So what does she do; she resigns and sets up a new company, leaving her husband to deal with the fallout (although the new company has yet to be confirmed, but we are working on it).

Why? How can she do this? How can she mess with the biggest day of people's lives?

Rant over for now......

Country Estate Chic

Today, we're writing about our favourite local venue, Rushton Hall. From the moment you drive up the longway driveway, walk through the ornate doorway and down the red carpet to reception, you know you are in one of the world's favourite hotels.

Every bedroom has been individually designed by its owner, a lady that is hands on everyday. Her attention to detail is perfect. She has restored this beautiful country estate to its former glory.

The Drawing Room is perfect for your civil ceremony and welcome drinks are served in The Courtyard. You then have a choice of The Library or the Pavilion for your wedding reception. If you take exclusive use, you can use the Great Hall too - which is a fabulous panelled room that looks over the gardens.

They have recently added the most perfect spa too.

Such a serene venue ...

Mixed Bag Today

Today, we are finishing off Anna & Jamie's wedding at Whittlebury Park. They went for our Alabama design using Anna Griffin's Repousse which is a lovely soft cream floral pattern. Finished with sheer ribbons, this design is very "floaty". Pictures to follow later of table plan, menu scrolls, place settings AND table numbers.

We're also getting ready for the autumn wedding fairs and need to design lots of new stationery, if the wedding dress shop round the corner is right, there are going to be lots of dark colours next year; midnight blue, purple and burgundy to name a few.

Plus we have a South African wedding party that are leaving the UK on Friday and need Order of Service, place setting menus, guestbook, table numbers and table plan. Ann is a lovely bride. She came into the shop last October asking for ivory or white wedding stationery and left with Pyrite, Tartan and White Kaleidoscope (35) - very funky but that's what we love about using the Design Studio from Envelopments.

So if we are so busy, why are we writing a blog .... more later!

mmm wedding cake

I have a figure that would show you that I have tasted more than just one wedding cake in my time, but I would only recommend one in the Northamptonshire area and that is from the Hockleys boys in Brixworth.

Their cake is beautiful; whether it is the fudgy chocolate cake, the delicate lemon cake or the extremely fruity fruit cake. Their cakes are well made, use the finest ingredients and taste devine!

When choosing your cakemaker, you need to have one that you can trust. Visit their premises for hygiene, are they open to your ideas or are they pushing you into something they know they can make, will they set the cake up for you as part of the package, can they make a cutting cake for you?

Hockleys Cakes also have a budget range that “compete” with Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco etc… there’s no competition!

Gasp, horror ....

This is the first Saturday that the shop has officially been closed in five years. We've decided to change the shop hours to Monday to Friday, 10 til 2 only.

We've made this decision because we've seen a huge increase in internet sales, we're doing more venue dressing and if no-one comes into the shop on a Saturday, we don't get anything done as we have no motivation - it's the weekend!

So what are we going to do with ourselves? We are still running an appointment system, so guess what - we're in the shop this morning with an 8.00 am pick up - typical. They were on time too so I didn't get a chance to take any photos of their on-the-day stationery.

But I do have a picture of the gorgeous place setting that we did at a very Mama Mia style wedding in a barn (unconverted) last weekend. We did 110 random china place settings, each with a handmade shortbread heart, dolly bead bracelet round the napkin and a luggage tag (each individually handmade by Laura the bride. Random vases of country flowers, along with mismatched lace tablecloths made the barn looking stunning. One of our favourite weddings this year - congratulations to Laura & Nikki.

Back to work now, creating our Iowa design for a beautiful russian bride, so much for a weekend off!

Blogging?

We’ve never really got the hang of blogging, but we are trying; very trying.

However, we have had a whole world of blogging opened up to us by twitter. We are now reading stuff that we would never have looked for, let alone found. We've signed up for Google Reader so that we can read more and more.

Our favourite blogs at the moment are:

http://blog.sarahvivienne.co.uk/ - biased here because Sarah is a fab local photographer, that just happened to have her stand next to ours at the National Wedding Show last October!

http://prettybypistachio.blogspot.com/ - because Louise finds some really different stuff

http://weddingmarketing.net/blog/ - because it’s about time someone tried to sort the wheat from the chaff in the wedding industry.

http://blog.noten.co.uk/ - because although he hasn't found us yet, we love his flamboyancy.

Happy reading...

RSVPing

Whilst lurking on a wedding forum recently, we chanced upon a thread where the bride was moaning about how few guests had responded, including the brother of the groom. This is a big pet hate of ours.

We have several minor “issues” with this:

1. Surely our parents have brought us up better than not to reply to an invitation – it’s etiquette that you would reply in writing, whether you are family or not. You should not assume the couple presume you are attending.

2. How will the couple know if you are a vegetarian if you haven’t responded; how many guests to feed if they can only assume you are attending; and how do they know you aren't bringing the kids.

Wedding planning is stressful at the best of times; and guests are making it even more so!

If your invitation includes an RSVP card and envelope, please use it, if it doesn't get yourself down to WHSmiths and buy one or write a letter - or if you really have to call or email (last resort please).

Budget Wedding or Credit Crunch Wedding?

The buzz word for 2009 in the wedding world has been "budget". That's all the media seems to talk about. However, the media seems to be defining the word "budget" as cut backs, make your own, make do with less; whereas as surely that's all to do with the recession and the credit crunch?

Wikipedia describes the word budget:

Budget generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving and spending.

If you want to spend £100 on wedding stationery, you budget for that £100. If you want to spend £1000 on wedding stationery, you budget for that £1000. So if you’ve got £100, why should you be labelled a budget bride by the media? You are all brides planning the most special day of your life; whether you have a large or small budget; don’t let the media label you.

Although we would add if you have £100 to spend, but want to spend £1000, why get married now, why not wait a year, two years or have a smaller wedding.

Remember to have the wedding of your dreams; you are creating memories and don’t want to look back in ten years and wish “what if?”.