Lauren & Matt's Wedding Planning Blog - Part 4

I can’t believe that in March, when it was 6 months until Matt & I get married, we were out in knee deep snow! The mile stone we have been working towards was the 6 month mark and now it’s been and gone and things have really started to get moving!

I had my hen weekend at the start of April, where we stayed in a lodge in Cheddar, Tor Farm, relaxing with spa treatments and a hot tub and catching up with some of the closest people involved in the wedding. We have also met again with our incredible florist, Amy from Blossom Parlour based is Weston-Super-Mare. She is just brilliant, as I said before I think the most important thing when looking for a supplier is to work with someone who when they are talking about an idea it’s pretty much what you were going to say! Amy has literally taken the ideas out of Matt & my minds and made it real and really understood what we wanted – including an incredible floral feature called a ‘moon gate’, look this up! It will be the back drop behind Matt & me for the wedding breakfast.

I have also seen my dress again at Bridal Boutique in Street. It had been a few months since I last tried it on, so my memory was a bit sketchy on how it looked. But trying it on again was just lovely and I am so pleased with my decision. For my veil I have what was originally my auntie’s cathedral length veil, which my mum then wore to her wedding – which I am now wearing! It is so beautiful and I remember being little and wearing it and thinking how much I wanted to get married – it’s also my something old and something borrowed! I couldn’t believe just how perfectly it went with the dress and it means so much to have something which holds so many memories.

Everything slowly is starting to come together now, the wedding room is full of all the things we have been collecting and have been given by family (the incredible handmade post box!) and is still growing. I have really enjoyed making things for the wedding – entirely fuelled by my Pinterest account, somethings have worked really well, others not so well but it’s all been part of the experience. The next few months I think will be filled with appointments with our suppliers and sorting out the details of the day which I am so excited about, the more people we meet the more real it all feels. Also the more our ideas grow and develop, when we look back at how we thought the day would be to now it has evolved so much and we just can’t wait for it to come together.

The biggest thing I think when you start to plan a wedding especially with over a year of planning, is to understand that things do change and ideas will grow and develop. But I would say that from the start have the things in mind which are your core ideas which are essential to you and build around them, ours were; church, family, tradition and our day has grown around these key points, so we know when we look back we can say it was exactly what we wanted.

The next mile stone will be July, which leaves only 3 months and I know everything will start to move even quicker with final appointments, fittings and getting bills settled! We also have Matt’s birthday in July to celebrate and are off to see Ed Sheeran, which will speed up the time even more with lots of exciting things to look forward to whilst we wait for September 1st 2018!

I will keep you posted

Lauren x

A Chat with de Winton Paper Company

In the second instalment of our supplier chats, we caught up with Harriet de Winton from the de Winton Paper company to discuss her work and get some advice for couples looking for some invitation wow-factor. Harriet creates truly dreamy stationery and we absolutely adore her Instagram stories (the most beautiful step-by-step watercolour inspiration - watch them!). So sit back with a cup of tea and enter the magical world of de Winton. 

Farwood Photography

How would you describe your business?

de Winton Paper co. specialises in bespoke hand painted watercolour wedding stationery.

What is your favourite thing about being involved in the wedding industry?

Apart from cake...I really love the couples I work with and getting to know them during their wedding planing process.

Can you describe Coombe Trenchard in three words?

welcoming, creative, (a little bit) mysterious

What aspect of your stationery do you feel best fits Coombe Trenchard?

I paint a lot of botanical studies; flowers and plants for my stationery, Coombe Trenchard's gardens are a wonderful wealth of inspiration. My stationery style, although modern in terms of design, has a real fondness for classic elegance, something that is in abundance at Coombe Trenchard.

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Farwood Photography

What colours/styles do you see being a big hit in 2018?

I'm not really led by trends but I really enjoyed the greenery trend for this year and I hope to see it continue. Next year is certainly looking a little more tropical!

What advice would you give to bridal couples looking for their perfect wedding stationery?

There will always be a wedding supplier out there who is perfect for you and can achieve your stationery dreams. Look around, and don't settle on the first thing you find.

When do you advise sending out Save The Dates and Invitations? 

It all depends on the nature of your wedding. Do you have lots of overseas guests? If so I would bring everything forward by a few months but on the whole my general rule is just shy of a year for Save the Dates and then 3 to 4 months for Invitations.

What do you feel is imperative to making stand-out stationery for your clients?

The most important thing is to make the couple the focal point of inspiration. It needs to represent them as a couple and give guests an exciting first glimpse of what the wedding will be like.

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Farwood Photography

Finally, what excites you most about your job?

Painting. It really is the best job in the world to get to paint all sorts of commissions and see my couples' reaction upon receiving their stationery.

Thank you for taking the time to chat to us Harriet! We implore you to discover more of Harriet's work on her website (the cocktail prints are perfect gifts for Christmas) and her instagram. 

A Chat With Oaktree Occasions

Hot on the heels of our newly updated suppliers list, we felt it was important to give an insight into our favourite wedding contributors. Over the cosy Winter period, we will be posting 'chats' with our favourite suppliers to better inform our bridal couples about the service offered by these fantastic companies. 

Firstly, our thoughts turned to food, and Coombe Trenchard's favoured caterer: Oaktree Occasions. We are huge fans of Oaktree Occasions here at Coombe Trenchard: they offer exacting, friendly professionalism and ensure each and every morsel of food served is a delight. Caroline and Jo are also incredibly efficient and wonderful to work with, and we do so enjoy welcoming them to Coombe Trenchard. 

How would you describe your business?

Catering Specialists for every and any event, delivering stunning, handmade locally sourced food, chosen by our clients to their exact specifications, served to you in an exceptionally professional way with a unique eye for detail in every area of our business.

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Evolve Photography

What is your favourite thing about being involved in the wedding industry?

Every week, every client, menu and location, being different!

The excitement of meeting a prospective client, especially those with a challenge or conundrum that needs solving, be that menu choices to please everyone, which style of service to have-sharing-informal-plated, resolve any timing issues and advise how to best plan your day. Generally being able to pass on all our invaluable knowledge and ability to problem solve to give our clients the best solutions and ensure a hassle free flawless day to remember, ending with an open and honest relationship between us ,which is as it should be when we are trusted to look after clients on one of the most important days of there lives!

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Emily Fleur Photography

Can you describe Coombe Trenchard in three words?

Endless    Delightful    Possibilities

What meal do you feel best fits Coombe Trenchard’s unique atmosphere?

We would always advise using the seasons to guide you and honestly we have such a wide range of menus and styles of service, with careful styling and Coombe Trenchard’s unique locations pretty much anything is a possibility!

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Evolve Photography

What advice would you offer bridal couples when choosing their caterer?

Do your homework first! Professional wedding and event caterers will normally adhere to a set of standards which are clear to see.

Always try and meet face to face at their premises if you can: you should be able to gauge straight away their professionalism, and whether they are everything they proclaim to be. Have a rough idea of timings (any experienced wedding caterer should be able to assist you with this) and put some thought to your whole wedding party and the needs of the group as a whole, for example Grandma may not like your favourite spicy treat that you would love to have!

Tell your caterer everything about your special day and how you envisage it to be, your dreams, your worries and anything unique that may affect the caterers, (such as disappearing on horseback for two hours for photographs after the ceremony)

The quotation should be clear, concise and as transparent as possible based on the information given. This will ensure there are no hidden costs to you. Your caterer will be an important part of your day, we would expect to have a reasonable dialogue with any bride and groom before the day, so you also need to be comfortable with your caterer.

Tastings should always be available to help make those final decisions, remember it is also a business transaction so ask for terms and conditions, how to secure your booking (you don’t want your caterer to double book you), and payment terms...sorry.... but it is easy to get swept up in the occasion.

Finally any reputable wedding caterer of any standing should have a wealth of testimonials, Google reviews and social media reviews, these are a good way to get an insight into their business and give you peace of mind.

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Evolve Photography

What is your favourite thing to cook/serve to bridal couples?

It’s not necessarily a particular dish (although the delight when guests are offered a delicious canapé with a glass of Pimms or bubbles is always a pleasure to behold) what will always be the most important is that we have executed all areas of our cuisine, drinks and food service to our exacting high standards, and that each and every one of our couples is happy with their own particular menu, executed by us to them and their guests.

How should bridal couples choose from the amazing options on your menus?

Pretty much anything goes these days; we have to offer lots of styles of food and service which can be daunting! A lot of couples may start with their favourite dishes and we can build a menu around these. If you are having lots of photos in the fabulous gardens your guests will gratefully receive drinks and canapés on the Terrace whilst you capture your special day.

Think of the style of service you would like- is sharing your thing, or would you feel awkward and rather be served individually?

Do you like traditional English food or something a little different? Think about the time of your ceremony; will your guests have had lunch or missed lunch?

How will the food slot in and not impinge on any evening celebrations...and unfortunately, as we have already said, you do have to consider all of your guests tastes but we can always find a way of keeping everyone happy with the wealth of knowledge and experience we have, and can guide you through this process with ease.

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Evolve Photography

Do you get involved in serving drinks at all?

We can serve your arrival drinks of your choice, garnished accordingly, normally on the Terrace or in the house if the weather is inclement and can provide staff to run a bar for you along with placing your choice of wine on the tables during your meal and serving your toasting drink.

What size catering marquee/kitchen space to you require?

This totally depends on the size of your wedding party, if you are an intimate group we may have access to the kitchen in the main house, however this would depend on your menu choices, number of courses, cooking facilities required etc.

If you choose the marquee site we would require a minimum of 6x6metres for 100 guests, rising to 6x9metres for over 100 guests, this can easily be supplied by your marquee company.

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Jim Wileman North Devon Wedding & Press Photography

Finally, what excites you most about your job?

The anticipation of service on the special day, after all the months of planning and the exceptional feeling of contentment and a job well done when we quietly depart and drive off in the distance...often with the sound of laughter and music drifting after us!

Thank you so much for chatting with us Oaktree Occasions, we look forward to seeing you in December for a cosy, intimate mid-week wedding. You can find out more about the exceptional service offered by Jo & Caroline on their website. 

January blog from Nikki our 'Real Bride Blogger'

Oh my goodness its 2017! I can now officially say we get married this year! To be honest this fills me with a lot of mixed feelings. I’m obviously massively excited … I can’t wait to get married and also get together with all our family and friends and have bloody good knees up! I’m also incredibly nervous though … I’m an over-planner and over-thinker at the best of times so I’m trying very hard to not let the nerves get the better of me but also make sure everything is as planned as possible so on the day I can just hand everything over to Sarah and Emily and relax.

Since my last post we have sent our invitations out. Designing my own invitations, as a wedding stationer, was daunting but also incredibly exciting and I think we managed to strike the right balance between them being pretty but also fun and a little bit geeky. Elements of the invitations were inspired by Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Star Wars … but hopefully in a really subtle way! Our colour scheme is Navy, blush, dark pink, ivory and lots of green ferns and foliage and a bit of brown tweed. I love layering colours when I create colour schemes for stationery so this is definitely what I’ve done for our wedding. I think many people make the mistake of picking just one or two colours for their wedding and it ends up looking a little bit ‘flat’ as there is no layering or substance. My advice for any other couples who are getting married would be always to pick some neutrals as a base and then 2 or 3 ‘accent colours’ on top of that. It looks a lot more natural.

Our rsvp date is looming and we’ve had most of our guests reply but there is always an inevitable bit of chasing up. I’m looking forward to having final numbers though as then we can get all the last few bits finalised and start paying off all those deposits we put down last year!

We had a lovely visit with Sarah & Emily in November which included a very exciting discussion about food and what sandwiches and cakes we were going to have for our afternoon tea.

We also had a lovely visit to see Jennifer at Edible Essence for a taster for our wedding cake. Honestly possibly the best experience so far … me and Ant love our cake so meeting up with Jen was just heaven and we picked 3 flavours for our naked cake, plus a fourth flavour that Ant just couldn’t resist.. so we’ve ended up having a bit of a ‘groom’s cake’ on the side!

I’m beginning to get a little bit worried that with all the food we have planned our guests are going to be on a serious sugar rush for the entire day!

We have another visit to Coombe Trenchard planned for the end of January and I’ll be showing my family round for the first time which will be super exciting. It’s actually quite a bit of a wedding weekend as I’m also having my hair and make-up trial with the lovely Giselle from the Event Studios team which I’m really looking forward to!

Nikki x

www.knotsandkisses.co.uk

Coombe Trenchard's Top Tips for Wedding Planning Joy

The New Year heralds a fresh wave of excitement for our 2017 brides, this is *the* year and with it the to-do list grows longer and thoughts turn increasingly to time frames and making sure all wedmin tasks are completed in time for the Big Day.

Ensuring optimum enjoyment throughout this process should be the goal, it is a completely unique time in your life and story as a couple and something you will look back on fondly in years to come. It is also a time that can feel pressurised and stressful, so we thought we’d give you all a New Year reminder on how to manage that wedding task list, and more importantly have fun doing it!

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Freckle Photography

1. Involve those you love

This is such a huge one. Plan ‘wedding dates’ with your fiancé and sit down to make decisions at your favourite restaurant, or construct wedding signage whilst listening to your favourite album together. Look upon the whole process as memory-making gold, not just the wedding day itself. Take your parents to meetings and involve them, ask siblings to help you shop for last minute decorations or get the whole family round to become a production line for your favours. Those close to you will be incredibly excited for your nuptials and letting them be involved benefits everyone. Delegation is key; make the most of the people in your life and enjoy having an excuse to spend more time together.

2. Write it down

Sometimes all of those light bulb moments, forgotten emails and vague ideas of bouquets can make your head a frantic place to be. Invest in some lovely new stationery and ensure you keep a track of your thoughts and tasks to complete in an organised and clear way. Set aside an evening to go through your emails and to-do lists and streamline them into something legible and straightforward, you’ll feel happier seeing everything written down and ready to get ticked off. Pop a notepad in your bag and jot down thoughts or ideas as you have them, its best to get pen to paper for ultimate calmness.
 

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3. Approach Things Logically and Realistically

From these lists you can work methodically and logically through the wedmin. Be realistic about what you can achieve and when, if you won’t have time then put it to one side or re-arrange other tasks. Over-stretching yourself will not lead to bridal bliss or a relaxed wedding day. There are an infinite amount of components to a wedding, so it’s best to prioritise which key elements are important to you and your partner. Set yourself goals and break down the large amount of things to sort out into manageable chunks, tackling one at a time until it is ticked off.

 

4. Enjoy The Freedom and Have Fun With It

Instead of feeling pressure to conform to certain aspects of a wedding, energise and inspire yourself with the knowledge that your day can be whatever you want it to be. Think back over your relationship and tie in special memories and places, project your personalities and have fun with the details that will make your wedding unique to you and your fiancé.

 

5.Ask for Help if You Need It

Realise when you need some advice or help and don’t be shy to ask for it! Here at Coombe Trenchard, we love to be involved every step of your planning journey and can advise on suppliers, use of our space and most things to do with wedding preparation (we have been involved in quite a few after all!). Reach out and be rewarded with peace of mind, whether from ourselves, suppliers, friends and family or your fiancé, you don’t have to do this alone.

 

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Lucy Wallace Photography

6.Switch Off

As exciting as planning a wedding is, you also need to ensure you switch of from it once in a while! Holding onto your sanity, your life balance and making sure that your wedding doesn’t become a chore relies on taking time to think about other plans and switching your bridal brain off. If you’re finding it hard to take a break, pamper yourself, book a massage or simply have a long bath and read a book, headspace and perspective is so important.
 

7.Remember Why You Getting Married

Don’t let your wedding day consume you: remember that you are making a commitment to someone to build a happy marriage together and professing your love in front of the people that adore you. Your guests won’t care about the details, or your exact heel height, they will only feel your happiness, so stay calm and enjoy such a joyous time in your life.

 

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Freckle Photography

Wishing you all happy planning and relaxing switched-off moments for 2017 (and don’t forget that we are here to help!).