Gemma @ Planet Flowers – thank you for feeding my obsession with buttonholes (and talking us through all the different flowers involved). I have to say that Planet Flowers are one of my favourite florists and come highly recommended – I know many of the scottish photographers that I feature on LMW work with them regularly and speak very highly of them. Do make sure that you check out their site, Planet Flowers, for more examples of their work.

Which of these do you like? Please share with us what you are planning for your wedding…

* What gave you the inspiration to set the company up?
I established Gioia Mia in 2004, after designing and making all the jewellery and hair accessories for a bride, her bridesmaids and flower girls.
I had been making things for as long as I can remember – usually the sorts of things which were so small and intricate that they would drive most other people to distraction. Over the years, people told me repeatedly I had an amazing imagination and such incredible patience for working on so small a scale.
From the very beginning, I loved the process of working collaboratively with my friend who was getting married. She had brought her own vision, her own energy, I added my imagination and skills into the mix to design and create a series of unique pieces which, however, all belonged together. She absolutely loved them and I was really touched to hear that so many people had commented on my work at the wedding, saying how unusual it had been, how beautifully designed it was and how well finished it all was. I had enjoyed the whole process so much that it seemed the most natural thing in the world to want to repeat it, and so Gioia Mia, bespoke jewellery and accessories, was born.
From that point I continued to expand my knowledge of jewellery-making techniques, and in 2007 I moved into a bright, top-floor studio space which I share with painters and other jewellers. I now receive commissions from throughout the UK (as well as from further afield) and my work is regularly featured in bridal magazines.

Photo by Ksenia Kamotskaia

Have a look at her site, Gioia Mia, where there is lots more info on Sonia and her accessories, including pricing (its very good value from what I can see). Isn’t this photo above gorgeous with the bride wearing Gioia Mia hair accessories?

* Monochrome Theme – minimalist, sophisticated and chic – for a silver, white or black wedding. Ideal look for a black tie evening reception.
Black Love Birds Cake Stand £16.50, Silver Amazon Butterfly £1.50, White Wooden Letters £6 each, Ornate Metal Heart Daisy Decoration £3.75, Ivory Trellis Heart decoration £4.95, LOVE Wooden Blocks £19.50, Double Sided Wedding Arrow Sign £5, Mirrored Place Card Holder £2.50.

Velvet Wedding have got so many wonderful products on their site, that whatever look you want to create at your wedding I am sure you’ll find some inspiration (royal britannia bunting, bird cages, stationery, wedding lanterns, cake stands etc). Their website is really well done – it is easy to find what you are looking for and has clear photos and descriptions of all products, visit online at Velvet Wedding. Oh and if you live near Brighton then its definitely worth popping in to one of their two shabby chic lifestyle stores, where they stock everything from wedding favours to furniture and clothes.

I asked Velvet Wedding what was popular with their brides and for any themes that they saw becoming popular….
“The Vintage wedding theme has always been popular for us with our Hanging Heart Tealight Holders and Wicker Hearts being the best sellers for a shabby chic reception. Couples are definitely becoming more creative in their approach to venue décor, we’ve noticed an increased interest in Union Jack and Colourful Ethnic wedding requests from our local demographic”

Do you know of a good place to buy favours and decorations? Do you like these ideas from Velvet Wedding? and what look are you going to create on your wedding day?

* Eat Me Party Picks – £3.00 for pack of 8
These cute party picks would be the perfect addition to cupcakes or other small food items at a vintage or Alice in Wonderland/tea party themed wedding, or even just to let your guests know the food is there to be eaten! Each tag reads ‘eat me’ in a vintage style font and have been adorned with a hand tied bow. They can also be custom made to your desired colour scheme and quantity.

Fantastic value, beautiful handmade goodies from a lady that is living her dream doing something that she loves. I wanted to find out a bit more about Vintage Twee…..
* Why did you set up Vintage Twee
Vintage Twee was created out of my passion for tea, classic romance &, of course, ambition. Officially I opened my doors for business in March 2010 but Vintage Twee was the lifelong dream of a little girl who favourite past times were her ‘making box’ and preparing her Auntie Edith’s tea trolley in Yorkshire with fresh sandwiches and cakes. My aim is to add a touch of English authenticity to your special day with my range of unique favors, table centrepieces and dining accessories.

* Why do you think brides would use Vintage Twee when looking for something a bit different or special for their wedding day?
Every item I make has been individually hand crafted to the highest standard and is not mass produced, therefore no two brides need have the same thing. As I am only a small company, I am able to offer a very personalized service and am keen to work together with a couple to ensure they get exactly what they want for their day. I am flexible, reliable and most importantly friendly so no request is too small! Whether you are having a vintage themed wedding or are just looking for something that little bit different, Vintage Twee can provide brides with something extra special with it’s authentically English appeal for an unforgettable and truly beautiful wedding.

You can buy these and many more from her Etsy shop or email joanne on vintagetwee@gmail.com .. lets all support these new upcoming creators of beautiful things!

I really like the first one with the peacock feather – there is something quite distinguished about the peacock, its almost regal. These are all designed by British designer Rowena Dugdale, and you can buy from her Etsy store, Red Ruby Rose (don’t be put off that price is quoted in $, she is based over here in the UK and it just gets converted to £ when you buy on Paypal) or you can buy from NotontheHighStreet. Her clutches are approx £75-£85 but it depends on the style that you choose. The best thing is that you will be supporting young british design and its high likely that you’ll be carrying a one off beautiful creation on your wedding day.

A few words from Rowena about her gorgeous wedding clutches,
“Welcome to the Red Ruby Rose collection of clutch bags, featuring sumptuous silks, striking contemporary prints, and fine Italian leathers, all stylishly and individually handmade by independent artist Rowena Dugdale in her central Bristol studio. All the clutches are lined with beautiful dupion silks and linens for a little added ‘secret’ luxury when they are opened.”

Oh.. if I had my time again I would have been more organised, I would have done my research and found some hidden gems like the ones below….

The scrabble cufflinks are doing it for me – perfect for a casual wedding and the best value at only £12. These and the silver fingerprint cufflinks are available from fantastic gift site, Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous. The other 3 handcuffs are by luxury brand, ‘Hoxton London‘ which specialises in beautiful sterling silver cufflinks. I am definitely going to be treating Lovely to a couple of these soon.

Always on the look out for lovely accessories – if you spot any cool, stylish cufflinks or accessories for the groom please do let me know.

Sometimes I get emails in my inbox and I don’t even need to look at the content I just know that I am going to want to post about it. It seems that is always the case with Donna from Archibald Photography. Their photos are beautiful – always (well I haven’t seen a bad one yet!) – so I was over the moon to get these pictures from a recent shoot that they did for british milliner, Beth Morgan.

These photos were taken by award winning Scottish photographers Archibald Photography. I know that I keep featuring their work on LMW but I think that their photos are beautifully taken. Click here to see the 1920′s vintage wedding shoot that they shot recently which was one of my most popular posts on LMW. I thought that I would get a bit of behind the scenes chat with them so asked if they’d answer a couple of questions about how they came to meet Beth, why she chose them to do her shoot and which were their favourite shots… so here goes

1) How did Beth hear about you? And more importantly go about deciding on Archibald Photography to do her shoot?

There is a good story in how Beth found us. In the summer of 2008, we were asked to photograph the wedding of Pamela & Steven MacGregor in Girona, Spain. The resulting images from this wedding won Mark a number of awards:

Fujifilm Licentiate Winner 2008 at the British Photography Awards
Best Complete Wedding Photographer at the Scottish Master Photographer Awards in 2009. You can see some of the fab shots of her wedding in the slideshow below – (takes a few secs to load so be patient)

The bride at the wedding in Girona wore one of Beth’s stunning bridal fascinator creations. We then got chatting to Beth when she admired Mark’s images and she happened to say that she would love Pamela to model all her work and for Mark to photograph her entire collection. We happened to know that Pamela was coming home for Christmas and so we said ‘why don’t we then’. So the first shoot took place in 2008 and then a year later (when Pamela was back for Christmas 2009), Beth booked Mark to photograph her newer pieces with Pamela modelling again. These images are from this most recent shoot.

2) What do you like/ is special/ different about photographing fashion shoots (as you seem to do a great job of it). (like I said check out the 1920′s inspired wedding shoot that they did for Lindsay Fleming)

I love fashion shoots. There is so much that can be done when you have a good model who is conducive to helping you get a particular shot or look. I love working loosely with fashion in a way that allows the shoot to lead us in new directions we may not even have thought to explore if given a really specific brief. I absolutely adore working with different qualities of light and fashion photography allows me that bit more creative freedom to use light in a way which will bring the best out in a subject. I want everything to look great and always keep an element of a natural look in the finished shot. And above all…it has to be fun!

3) What do you think sets Beth apart from her competition?

We think Beth is set apart from her competition in a number of ways – firstly she provides a really friendly, down to earth service. Beth is always ready to help, answer questions, discuss styles, source new fabrics and generally as she says herself “make the impossible possible”! She is genuinely not happy unless the customer is happy! Then her creations are truly spectacular – she manages to play with colour, shape and texture to create designs that are unique, eye catching but at the same time completely wearable at weddings and high society events.

4) Which is your favourite piece that she has designed and why?

Ooooo, that’s so hard to decide – we love all of Beth’s work! However, if we had to choose from the most recent shoot it would be the two images below. The pieces are so eye catching and different and just frame Pamela’s face perfectly for photography. These pieces can make for quite sexy and sultry images as the model is looking through the fabric of the design.

If like me, you’ve got a bit excited by these wonderful creations make sure you check out Beth Morgan where you can view her whole range of hair pieces and fascinators and find out more about her bridal collection. All photos from this shoot are taken by Archibald Photography – thank you Donna, another lovely shoot!

The vintage style headpieces are embellished with feathers, lace, gems, veiling and vintage bits and bobs. I love this picture from the December issue of Cosmo Bride which shows the model wearing one of Jane’s art deco vintage-style headpieces. The Ian Stuart dress is pretty amazing too.

If you want to steal the show then this beautiful feather hairpiece will do exactly that. I remember trying to find something like this for my wedding, but just didn’t know where to start looking. I would love to see this on an actual bride but as its from the summer 2010 bridal collection we’ll just have to wait a while. Its called the Ivory Feather Flower – so delicate and beautiful but still a real statement piece.

This vintage hair accessory from the new bridal collection is equally gorgeous – much more laidback and simple than some of her designs, but perfect for a bride that is going for a natural hair style look.

I could go on and on posting more and more photos of her work but I can’t really choose between them (and its getting late) – I suggest that you check out her site for photos of more of her designs and to read a bit more about Jane Taylor Millinery. I’m looking forward to featuring some real life brides wearing some of Jane’s designs this summer – I think she is going to have a busy few months ahead.