Wedding #6 - Our Big Day

Well it is finally here - the post that many of you have been eagerly awaiting, and the post that I have been most anxious about - the big reveal. A very happy Wedding Wednesday to you all....

Photographer: Richard Barley

Venue: The Swan Hotel (Bibury, Gloucestershire)

Florist: Jayne Pugh (David Austin Roses used)

Cake: Laura Elizabeth Cakes

Pianist: Steve Christie

Make-up: We Are Make-up Artists (MAC make-up used)

Hair: Laura Leigh (hair roses from Jayne Pugh)

Chair Covers: The Chair Tailor (and Brides Mum)

Candelabra & Plinths (hired): Jayne Pugh

Brides Dress: Just For You Bridal

Bridesmaids Dresses: Elderberry Bridesmaids (included bags)

Grooms/Groomsman Suits: Slaters (full outfits)

Brides Shrug: House of Fraser

Brides Jewellery: Debenhams

Just a couple of things to say....

A few of the photographs above were by wedding guests, but the vast majority are the professional shots by Richard Barley.

There are some things that I could not find pictures of - like our amazing pianist, Steve Christie. He played me down the aisle, throughout the ceremony, and throughout the breakfast, and he was unbelievable. The best non-famous pianist (who really should be) that I have ever come across - you can take that from someone who used to play herself. Highly, highly recommended, so please go and visit his site and have a listen.

I have tried to cover everything here, but if anyone has any questions, please fire away and I will do my best to help.

Lastly, for those of you who perhaps missed our previous wedding posts, you can check them out here: The Venue, Attire, Beauty, Flowers & Decor, and Cake & Favours.

Next week will be our last Wedding Wednesday post, which will cover Our Honeymoon. Complete with breath-taking pictures, and destination details.

Xmas Give Away (Spreading the Xmas Cheer!)

As some of you may have already heard through our tweets and Facebook posts, we have been hard at work the last month, on some Christmas treats...

Some beautiful, letterpressed Christmas cards, and beautiful they are too. Designed by Leaff, and letterpressed by the lovely Martin at Tilley Print. 

Not wanting to give too much of the design away just yet, we have specifically only shown the creation of the cards, and some glimpses, here.

The treats were designed as 'teasers', ahead of the launch of our shop in the New Year. They were handed out in person to local businesses, and posted out to a selection of inspirational companies, to show our support and spread the Christmas cheer.

We did however make a few extra, in order to offer our lovely audience the chance to win a pack of their very own. There are no questions to answer, no pressure to follow us on Twitter and no insistence to like us on Facebook; all you have to do, is head over to our Shop and give us just a few details. If you are lucky enough to be one of the first 15 people to do so, then a Christmas treat will surely be on it's way to you!

Good luck!

Wedding #5 - Cake & Favours

It is week 5 of Wedding Wednesday already? Where has the time gone! This week I am covering
Cake & Favours, which includes beautiful cake designs and an array of favour ideas.

If you missed one or more of our last 4 wedding posts, fear not, you can easily catch up with them
here: The Venue, Attire, Beauty and Flowers & Decor.

The following mood boards were created as a personal project during the planning of our wedding, 
and therefore, I was predominantly screen grabbing any images that I found inspiring. I have done 
my absolute best to go back through and locate their sources, but where sources, designers, stylists, artists or photographers are unknown to me (and if you find your work on here) please contact me 
and I will add a credit immediately.

Unfortunately, just like last week's post, I was unable to find the exact locations of where any of the following images were found. I can confirm again that a lot of them would have come from Style Me Pretty, but I cannot account for which ones exactly, and where the others were found. Forgive me!

Cake Designs



Since we already had our eyes on a local baker for our cake, we didn't need to do any shopping around for a supplier.

Laura Elizabeth Cakes are an amazing little company, based in the heart of Worcester. They create
a huge array of cake designs and styles, from traditional tiered wedding cakes, to less of the traditional shapes and sizes. They also do an impressive range of flavours - again, some traditional and some intriguing (certain conversation-starters!). As if this isn't already enough to have you rubbing your hands together, they also have some very inspiring designs in their portfolio, which quite literally had me squealing.

So, after an amazing cake tasting session at Laura Elizabeth, and a whole load of research for inspiration, we managed to get a design together that was just right, and left them to make the magic happen. They really didn't disappoint - it was literally the most perfect wedding cake we could have ever hoped for; it was out of my dreams.

We opted for a combination of flavours for our cake. We had settled on having a single tiered light fruit cake with marzipan, with a mixture of lemon cupcakes and apple & cinnamon cupcakes. Combined with our breakfast, the food followed an autumnal theme, which was perfect for our October wedding, where
all of the flavours complimented each other. They were all absolutely delicious.

Needless to say, we really couldn't recommend Laura Elizabeth enough, so do pop on over to their website and read more about them.

Favour Ideas

If you are anything like us, we were after less of the usual and more of the fun and unique for our favours, and as you can see from these visuals, there is a lot that you can do. From seeds and plants
to homemade jams and sweet bars, it is certainly possible to let your imagination run wild.

For our own favours, we wanted to give our guests something unexpected and something that would excite them. We loved the idea of homemade jam, as we had actually recently made a batch as Xmas gifts for family, and really enjoyed it, but with a million other things to do and such little time on our hands, it just wasn't possible for us. At any rate, we weren't sure that jam would be as interactive as
we wanted. So, in the end, we decided to do a little sweet bar of our own.

Each guest had a little note on their name placing, to thank them and tell them to go and fill up a bag
of sweets for themselves, to enjoy. We didn't have any children at the wedding, but it was a mixture of friends and older family, so the idea was to loosen people up, by giving them the common feeling of reliving their childhood; carefree, and able to enjoy the small pleasure of devouring a pick 'n' mix. It was certainly a conversation starter for everyone, as they reminisced about the sweets that they loved to buy when they were small. It created a really happy and excitable atmosphere.

There are lots of sweet bars that you can hire out, but they are a couple of hundred pounds. We decided to save some money and enjoy putting our own together, and all in all it came in at around £50 - although there was only a total of 35 of us, as it was a very intimate wedding. That was for 3 glass vase bowls and 2 glass bowls from IKEA, a sweet scoop and tongs from Amazon, sweet bags from eBay (plain and ready to decorate), a mixture of 5 different sweet combinations from local sweet shop Zendels, and ribbon, card & string to decorate.

The 5 different bowls held 5 different mixes of sweets; Fruit Jelly Mix, Sour Jelly Mix, Hard Boiled Mix, Retro Mix and Chocolate Mix, so there was something for everyone. As for those with dietary requirements, we had 2 diabetics at our wedding, and it was no problem at all, as we did a special sweet bag for each of them, using special diabetic chocolates from Thorntons, and they loved them!

Well, I think that I have just about exhausted the subject of Cake & Favours, and I really hope that you have gained lots of inspiration from this post. If you have any questions, or ideas of your own, please share them in the comments box, so that everyone can benefit from them.

As I am sure you are well aware, next week is the big reveal - I can't believe how quickly it has come around! So, I will be sharing our photo's from our big day itself, with details of all of our wonderful suppliers. Eeek! Should I be this nervous?!

Until next week, we wish you a very happy and inspirational Wedding Wednesday!

Your Valued Feedback...

Just a quick nudge in the direction of our facebook page, where we have just posted a very important question.

We would be eternally grateful if you could all (yes, each and every one of you) spare us just a few seconds to pop on over and leave us your extremely valued feedback. It will help us to improve our
blog, which will in turn provide you with more reading pleasure, so it is a win-win situation!

www.facebook.com/LeaffDesign

I know that a lot of you are shy about getting involved, but we would love to hear from all of you - sincerely - no matter who you are or where you are from.

Thank you all again for following us, and we hope that with your feedback, we can provide you with
more and more of the things that you love most.

Kate

Malvern Theatres: As you read it...

A few weeks ago, one Thursday evening, we went over to Malvern Theatre for a free event, called As you read it. It was a bit of an experiment on their behalf, as they seized the opportunity to get more use from the theatre by staging budding, unpublished writers and their short stories.

They asked writers aged 16 and over to submit a short story, which a panel of judges then selected 8 winners from, to perform to the audience at Malvern Theatre. As a lover of writing and words myself, I was intrigued.

We went along with no expectations, but just to have a nice evening out, and everything ended up being a bit of a surprise. It was fantastic! Every story was a pleasure to hear, and we sat transfixed the whole time.

Our favourite of all the stories, were Whisper In The Wind, by Fay Wentworth, Get Me To The Church On Time, by John Jinks and The Revelation, by Tana Durham, although all of them were fantastic.

Fay told of a tale where a young girl, bereaved by the loss of her Grandfather, visits her local church, which transforms before her and takes her to a place much like heaven, where she learns that his soul lives among the things that surround her. It was a charming, heart warming story, enhanced completely by the authors soft, delicate voice - it was beautiful.

John told us of another bereavement - this time an elderly man who had lost his wife. It was uplifting and humorous as he portrayed the different relationships between each witty character, and the endearing relationship between the grieving husband, and his much loved, deceased wife. Again, it was heart warming, and told brilliantly by an utterly charming author.

Lastly, Tana, who took us on an entirely different journey, into the world of a well-to-do married couple, who were rekindling their love through discovery of their daring side, at a time in their lives where things had perhaps grown tired. It was a magical story of the power of adventure, and how the littlest things we do can make such a difference. To be bold every once in a while, try something new, and feel alive.

We really hope that there are going to be more of these performances to come, as we enjoyed it so much, and judging by the turn out, it drew quite a crowd that seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

We will be keeping an eager eye out for the next one, and you can too, at www.malvern-theatres.co.uk.

Welcome, Winter...

As some of you may notice, Leaff has undergone a transformation over-night. We have bloomed from Autumn yellow to Winter red, in celebration of the new season.

Winter 2010 - Fond memories of the magical winter that we had last year.

And, as if it were planned to coincide, today is the very special day that marks the beginning of Worcester's magical Christmas Fair...

Christmas Fair, Worcester, image from Visit Worcester.

If you haven't been before, you are certainly missing out; inspiring crafty stalls, intriguing foods, traditional roast chestnuts, festive hot mulled wine...even a carousel ride! So, make sure you get
down to show your support - local businesses will too, be joining in the fun.

The fair is running from today (1st December) until Sunday 4th December.
Download the leaflet from Visit Worcester here, or the full programme here.

Hope to see you there!

Wedding #4 - Flowers & Decor

It is Wedding Wednesday yet again, and today, I am bringing you the visual feast that is Flowers 
& Decor, covering beautiful bouquets, buttonholes, arrangements, and room dress ideas.

If you are new to our blog, these wedding posts have been running for the last 3 weeks also, and they have covered The Venue, Attire and Beauty - why not take a look?

The following mood boards were created as a personal project during the planning of our wedding, 
and therefore, I was predominantly screen grabbing any images that I found inspiring. I have done my absolute best to go back through and locate their sources, but where sources, designers, stylists, artists or photographers are unknown to me (and if you find your work on here) please contact me and I will add a credit immediately.

Unlike my (mostly successful) previous attempts at image sourcing, I was unable to find the exact locations of where any of the following images were found. I can confirm that a lot of them would have come from Style Me Pretty, but I simply cannot account for which ones exactly, and where the others were found. My sincere apologies.

Bouquets & Buttonholes

When considering and researching my bouquet, the maid's bouquets, and the buttonholes, we were instantly drawn to pastel shades, big, blousy, romantic arrangements, and lots and lots of roses. 

It wasn't just the flowers and colours that we wanted to get right, but the binding of the flowers as 

well - details really mattered.

As you can see above, there are many ways to tie a bouquet, rather than just the normal bind of organza. Why not a big bow using fabric ribbon? Why not a special tie using satin? I for one didn't want to settle for what was the usual thing to do - I wanted to have something out of my dreams.

Arrangements

As a bit of an interior design fanatic, I was in my element when piecing together our room arrangements and dress. There are so many things that you can do with flowers - and as this is what we wanted to 

be the main focus in the room, we had lots to explore. From pretty vases, to vintage tin jugs, the containment itself is a big topic, and then there is the use of flowers - along the aisle, as table centrepieces, in tall vases, cascading down softly lit candelabra, or intertwined in tree branches 

- you can really get lost in the details, which put me right in my element!

To some florists, my vision may have been a challenge, but we were extremely lucky to come across what must be the best florist in the world! We met Jayne Pugh very early on in the planning of the wedding, and straight away she was aware of the level of detail I was dreaming of. Jayne is so full of passion for her work, and loves nothing more than helping brides to accomplish their vision for their big day. From flower arrangements, through to special details that she was able to hire out to us, she took 

it all on, and at a price that was extremely reasonable. Visit her website here - she comes very highly recommended by us.

Room Dress

Lighting, signage, table layout, coverings and ceiling details - you could get lost in this world! There really is so much that you could do, and it certainly is the little details that really make your theme work. 

The biggest challenge for us I think, was the chair covers. We were completely put off by the over-use 

of chair covers with big organza bows, and wanted something far more individual for ourselves 

- our vision just wasn't going to work without it. Alas, there does not seem to be anywhere on this 

planet that offers any other choice, so we ended up putting pen to paper and coming up with our own design (which luckily, we could rely on my dab-handed mum to create). This of course made for such 

a personal feel to the decor. I guess what I am trying to say is, don't be put off or deterred if you can't 

find something that matches your vision - if you can't find it, make it.

The sheer amount of details can seem quite daunting, and I was very nervous about forgetting something. This is why it takes so long to research things - the more inspiration you look at, the 

more ideas you see, and by the end of it, there is no stone left unturned, so you cannot possibly 

forget anything!

When we began our journey of planning our wedding, I desperately wanted to create the vision in 

my head, but I was grounded in the belief that none of it really mattered, because the day was about marrying Jay. However, it is very easy to get caught up in the details and the expectations. You see 

all of the possibilities and think, I could do that, and any time that thought crosses my mind, that is 

it, I am like a dog with a bone.

The year spent planning our wedding was definitely the most stressful and yet the most inspirational year of my life. I discovered so much creativity, I learnt more than I thought I would, and I ran myself into the ground in the attempt to make the day look just how I wanted. Who ever said dreams were easy to reach? I must remind you though, that I was of course running Leaff at the same time, so this certainly didn't help with the stress, or the amount of time I had to do things, but I do think it enriched my creative productivity within Leaff.

On the day itself, I woke up satisfied that we had done everything that we possibly could, to make everything just how we wanted, and it was time to refocus on the most important thing - marrying Jay. It is true what they say - with all the stress that you go through planning your wedding, you really couldn't care less about the details on the day, for your eyes are no where but on your new husband.

I hope that this lot has inspired you - both the rich visuals and what I have had to say on the subject. 

As ever, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post, so don't be shy, leave us a comment.

Next week is the last post on the planning, before the great reveal of our day in week 6. The next post focuses on 'Cake & Favours', and includes cake design ideas, a huge array of favour ideas and visuals, along with the details of our very own baker. Hope to see you here then!