The Tradition of the Wedding Garter

Today, we are pleased to introduce Jodie Ford as our guest blogger, who has written a piece on the traditions of the wedding garter.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue."- Opt for a wedding garter with a hint of blue to fulfil ‘something blue’, which symbolises purity, loyalty and faithfulness… or maybe, you could try ‘something different.’

Like a four-leafed clover, the tradition of tossing the bridal garter is seen as a symbol of good luck, dating back to the 14^th century. The romantic history of the garter still lives on and is a fundamental custom to any wedding ceremony.

It then came to be that the bride would instead throw various items to the crowd - including the garter. The accessory is taken off and thrown into the sea of bachelors or groomsmen, as opposed to the bouquet in which eligible ladies have their eyes fixated on and anticipate that it will fall to their hands.

The removal of the garter originated from the view held by guests at weddings that owning a piece of the bride’s clothing, would bring them good luck. As you can imagine, this did not bode well with the bride, having guests lunge at her to ruin and rip at her wedding dress.

The wedding garter was also associated with the bride’s virginity. When the groom removed this item from her leg, it represented the idea that she would be forsaking her virginity.

Generally brides have two garters - one to carry out the tradition during the ceremony and one to keep as a cherished keepsake. Charms can be added such as a horse shoe, double rings or hearts which add a personal touch.

Wedding garters are still very popular and they are lovingly-made with silk, lace and bows. However, lots of different materials and colours are available to take your pick from – wedding garters don’t have to be blue! Choose one that means something, reflects your personality or simply integrates with your wedding theme.

Wedding Paraphernalia offers a wide variety of beautiful wedding garters (blue or not), ranging from traditional, vintage garters to contemporary, pure and delicate pieces.

It's your Wedding DAY, not a mish mash of colour

Recently, we have found that brides are purchasing lots of items in their colours but from lots of different suppliers - maybe because they are cheaper or maybe at that moment in time you just love those so have to have them!

But stop and think for a moment. Is everything going to match? Whilst we don't want everything exactly the same colour, we want tones coming together; remember that there are different sides to every colour. Your purple bridesmaids may be the red side of purple, but the chair cover sashes you have ordered are the blue side and will actually clash on the day.

Slow down a bit, use suppliers that will work backwards with you. Make you look at the whole picture of the whole day. It's your wedding; it's not your wedding favours are from here, your invites from here and the chair covers are here; it's a day, it's your wedding day.

So you've already bought the wedding favours, because you couldn't resist. Let's start from there. Let's put that wedding favour on the white tablecloth, with a white napkin, glassware and cutlery. Now let's add a ribbon round the napkin, that complements the wedding favour. Now let's add a place name tag to that ribbon. Ooooo let's use that lovely plum card as a backing because it complements the wedding favour box and the napkin ribbon - and suddenly your wedding stationery "look and design" starts coming together.

Don't be frightened to say to your suppliers "how will that flow with everything else?". A good wedding supplier will walk you through it - we do it every day, hopefully you will only do this once and we only get one day to make it work.

At the end of the day, it will also save you money - stop buying lots of bits on e**y and hope for the best .... look at your day as a whole and it will come together.

Winter Wonderland

You probably think we've lost the plot and should now be talking about spring and summer weddings .... but no we aren't as mad as we think we are.

The great thing about this time of the year is the January sales! Christmas brings lorry-loads of glitz and sparkle to the shops and no sooner have you deckled your halls, you've got to take it all down again but this is when the fun can start. Whilst you are rummaging through the fashion rails don't forget to shop around for decorations, ribbons and glittery bits that could be perfect for your wedding.

Candles are a perfect example. Opt for pillar candles and tealights, avoiding scented unless you can guarantee the scent will last until your wedding. Store in a cool place, keeping them away from direct sunlight or any where warm.

Dark, winter colours and crisp, bright white lend themselves to any wedding. Look out for wreaths which can be bulked out with artificial foliage and make fabulous centrepieces. Sparkly and organza ribbons can be found at knocked down prices great for your flowers or wedding favours. Look out for gift wrap, raffia and bags for your bridal party gifts.

Providing they will keep for your wedding, Christmas confectionery can be bought and stored in a cool place (not the fridge). Look out for silver and gold balls, foiled coins, fortune cookies and jellybeans.

But stop and think ..

Remember that a sale buy is only a good buy if you needed it in the first place and you therefore save yourself money.

Avoid bargains in unusual colours unless they are the colour of your wedding. You run the risk of discarding them at a later date.

Sale goods are often end of line which means you may not be able to purchase more in the future - make sure you buy enough at the time.

Have fun!

2nd January 2011

Ok, so we missed 1st January 2011 with a post, but are posting today so 1 out of 2 isn't bad.

The blog today is more about a catch up, than anything and we are hoping to blog every week, if not every day so you can keep up with Wedding Paraphernalia Towers!

December was a very hard month for us. Unfortunately our father has been taken ill and has finally been diagnosed with lung cancer which is unoperable and terminal. Mum is a pillar of strength and support, we don't know how she is doing it. I was on holiday at the time, and it was very difficult spending Christmas Day abroad, when the paramedics were trying to stabilise him and admit him to hospital.

He is now at home and comfortable but we don't know for how long; we don't know yet how far it has progressed. We are being brave for him, but deep down we know both mum and dad are struggling - they WILL be celebrating 45 years of marriage in October.

We don't know how 2011 is going to progress. We have a very strong business and an excellent book of orders. We will endeavour to keep ourselves strong and keep going - dad has been a rock and supported us since we started and we won't let him down.

Love you both mum and dad, and here's to what may be a difficult 2011 but we will get through it. Mandie and I will be strong for them both. xx

Black....

2010 has been very black. Black and white, black and silver, black and red, black and green, black and ...... black.

Sarah and Paul's colour was black and we mixed it with a light silver and a dark graphite, and finished everything with clear Swarovski crystals. With all that black you would think the Pavilion at Rushton Hall would be dark, but far from it.

We folded the napkins and finished with a double tied ribbon - black sheer ribbon and a silver satin. Each napkin had a personalised menu; the ladies then had a little white notepad with the bride and groom's name and the men had chocolate cigars.

Beautiful white roses in black martini glasses graced each table - the white roses were dipped in black ink and finished with crystals.

We finished the tables with black table crystals, clear dewdrops, frosted tealight holders and diamond bubbles - how very sparkly!

Envelopments in the UK

We're proud to say that we've been a licensed reseller for Envelopments since about 2004 and will continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

Envelopments are probably best known for their pocketfold invitations, which we use for corporate, events and weddings. They are available in so many colours, patterns, sizes and styles and are of the highest quality.

We are yet to try out their new range of pocketcards and pocket envelopes, but their time will come when we get a chance to draw our breathe! In fact, we are currently designing our own corporate terms and conditions around the pocketcards.

They are constantly looking at new ways to stay as the market leader and this year have brought us the Twist Card - which are going to be great for Christmas cards and will be featured in our 2012 wedding season.

So how will you let us inspire your creative touches, with an invitation that is designed entirely by you, but created by us?

Planning - Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

When we started Wedding Paraphernalia in 2003, we found that many bride and grooms were taking the planning process quite slowly. They would build their dream wedding over the space of a year, maybe two years. During that time, they were able to think their plans through and save for the paraphernalia they wanted. By booking early, they were able to secure the photographer, venue, church and cars they wanted too.

So when we look back at 2005, we found that we had been talking to these couples for anything up to two years, we knew the couple really well and they knew and trusted us. They had excellent relationships with their wedding suppliers.

Fast forward to 2007, suddenly there was a boom of "we've remortgaged or taken out a credit card to pay for the wedding" and budgets went through the sky. Couples were coming into the shop and booking us for a wedding that was literally in six months and there was no limit to their budget. Yes, we had great business relationships with them, but didn't get invited to half as many weddings as we did in 2005!

But this was the start of the recession years .... and suddenly reasonable budgets did matter and ebay was looked upon as the place to buy lots of cheap items and "do it yourself" - and many weddings were postponed until a later date.

Roll on to 2010 and a reflection of the weddings we have been a part of this year. We've had a really excellent year turnover-wise and have helped with lots of last minute weddings, where couples have secured venues at cut-price offers and taken cancellations but suddenly we are taking bookings for 2012, what about 2011?

We think we are going back to the days of carefully thought out budgets and savings plans; the budget-savvy bride is going for a 2012 date and will carefully think through her ideas and suppliers, whilst saving every penny for it.

So, what about 2011? Will it be mainly last minute weddings again or are couples sitting tight until the New Year now before booking? Just remember, come January and you will be paying the VAT increase!

Ribbons and Bows

As we were uploading some photographs to Flickr today, we realised that we use a lot of ribbon, and when we say a lot of ribbon, we mean a LOT of ribbon.

Whether we use it to finish our wedding invitations as seen here in our California design or for creating a beautiful look on your reception tables with our Michigan Napkin Tags, ribbon gives a very feminine feel to your wedding stationery.

We use satin and sheer ribbon, depending on whether you want a sumptuous or a lighter feel to your design.

Use ribbons at your reception as a great way of adding colour; from the bows and sashes on your chairs, to little satin bows on your wedding favours. How about dressing up your napkins to bring in your colours?

Here we used black sheer ribbon as a bow and then finished with a smaller satin ribbon. The napkin look was finished with a personalised menu tucked underneath a personalised notebook.

Get creative with your wedding ribbon!

How to get your woman on YOUR wedding wavelength

We haven't blogged recently, but have something new in the pipeline that we are working on - which has been made easier with Kara now on board. Although I can't decided whether we should use Blogger or Wordpress - hence why I keep skipping between the two!

So in the meantime this is something we blogged on Wordpress in February! see you soon xx

So you went down on one knee and popped the question. Not only did she say yes, but she’s now having the time of her life showing off the engagement ring that cost you three months salary, looking at venues, choosing flowers and oohing and aahing over dresses.

But chances are your enthusiasm for making her your wife has now cooled a little and whilst you are really looking forward to the day and to be being the leading man to her leading lady; it really seems it’s all about her being the centre of attention. What about you?

Our Wedding

Make her smile by mentioning “our wedding” regularly, gently reminding her that it’s a big day for you too and that yes you would like some input.

Calendar

Make sure you write your important dates across your Nuts/Michelin/Rachel Stevenson calendar, including Sunday services to hear your banns being read, stag/hen weekends, appointment at the suit hire shop, her birthday, when the invites go out, RSVP date. When she sees how much you’ve got on the calendar, she won’t give you too much more to think about.

Off-Limits Time

Book a weekend break away and insist that you do “couple” things without mentioning the W word. Book a lovely hotel, run her a bubble bath, cook her breakfast in bed, or just stay in bed all weekend and remind her why she’s marrying you in the first place [nudge nudge].

Think Like a Woman

Whilst you don’t want to pay a great deal of attention to the finer detail, you tell her that’s her forte; why don’t you let me sort out the honeymoon – think of the time you can sit surfing the net looking for the perfect trip together and if you are a good negotiator think of the money you will save playing the agents off against each other.

Flatter Her

Tell her regularly what a fantastic job she is doing and she will be more inclined to let you sit back and watch her do all the hard work. Tell her how much you appreciate what she is doing, by boosting her ego you’ll get her on your wavelength faster than you thought possible!

Don’t let her ask you to make decisions on things she has chosen

You know she’s already chosen the invites, she’s been looking through websites for months. Tell you trust her judgement and would like to see her top three favourites so you can help her decide on THE ones.

And if this all fails subscribe to the leading online mens magazine Staggered.

Happy planning!

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).