Eco Wedding Venues

One of my bridesmaids is getting married next August, and has picked an eco park as her wedding venue. We're all about ethical clothing here at Ears and Whiskers, and given that Sophie is beavering away making ethical wedding dresses we thought it would be fun to take a look at some other wedding aspects that you can put an ethical spin on.

We've picked five of the most beautiful ethical and eco wedding venues we could find across the UK - first up...

1. Mount Pleasant Eco Park - Cornwall

Located near Porthtowan in Cornwall, the Mount Pleasant Eco Park offers a beautiful, unspoilt landscape. This is the venue that my bridesmaid has picked, so perhaps I'm a little bias, but doesn't it look absolutely stunning?

Cost: from £2200 for 100 guests during May-September

Location: Cornwall, England

We like: It has a beautiful amphitheatre ceremony site, a wedding tipi for the wedding night, plus a campsite for your guests. You also get use of the barn for your wedding breakfast - very rustic!

2. Fforest, Cardigan

Fforest is a 200 acre camp and farm, tucked away in West Wales, and a beautiful location for a relaxed, informal wedding. 

Cost: from £8950 for 80 guests

Location: Swansea, Wales

We like: You can have a Humanist wedding, eat some beautiful local and homegrown food and then dance the night away in a giant hat tipi. Gorgeous!

3. Pines Calyx, Margaret Bay

Hidden in plain site near the White Cliffs, Pines Calyx is a gem of a venue. If you're looking for that natural, relaxed vibe it might be a good choice for you!

Cost: from £1950 for a week day wedding during low season

Location: Dover, England

We like: Pines Calyx is a zero carbon venue, with lots of sustainable building features, organic gardens and absolutely stunning sea views.

4. Beach Weddings Bournemouth

I've always thought it was a shame that you can't get married outdoors in the UK, however Beach Weddings Bournemouth offers just that and goes one better - you can get married on the beach! Amazing!

Cost: from £8950 for 80 guests

Location: Dorset, England

We like: You can get married on the beach, under a locally made driftwood arch. Swoon.

5. The Bivouac, Ripon

Bivouac comes well equipped for a magical woodland wedding, probably the only thing missing is phone reception.. ;)

Cost: Unavailable online. Contact weddings@thebivouac.co.uk for more details.

Location: North Yorkshire, England

We like: Community fire pits, beautiful Yorkshire countryside and a hot tub (!) - the Bivouac seems like an idyllic place to get married.

What do you think - have you ever considered an eco wedding venue? :)

Love

Sarah

Wedding Wednesday // Sustainable style - Invites and Decor

Evening lovelies, it's Wednesday again! Time for some Wedding style inspiration... We've been majorly busy pinning the last few days trying to find some fab ideas and style tips to keep your wedding eco friendly and sustainable!

With the 'Rustic Wedding' in such demand for this summer - there's no easier time than to keep your wedding sustainable. The rustic look is all about the recycling and the vintage quirkiness and of course some DIY (time to rope in those creative bridesmaids!)

With some good research - you can literally make EVERY part of your wedding ethical, from stationery to THE dress, decor to rings and all the lovely bits in between. Here's our favorite ethical Stationery and decor ideas for your day...

The Invitation...

These super cool plantable invites are available Forever Fiances and you can choose from a selection of plantable papers on which to have your invites printed. All are printed with natural soy inks onto 100% recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds! Our favorite is this cute mason jar invite!

The Decor...

Burlap is a great fabric and fits in so nicely with the rustic wedding look. Burlap is woven from a mix of vegetable fibers, namely Jute. Jute only needs rainwater to grow and grows in a short period of time making it an easy renewable source. Jute can also be recycled and is 100% bio degradable!

You can use Burlap for a lot of things in your wedding, but we just LOVE these chair sashes!

We're also a bit of a sucker for odds and ends here at E&W. Bottles being our top favourite.

You can pick bottles up from a lot of places, charity shops, flea markets, car boots and once you have a collection - they look wonderful together (and are a lot cheaper than most decor items!)

Mix them up and plant with wild flowers to add some color to your day!

(Read more about this ethical styled shoot on Green Wedding Shoes)

For more Ethical Wedding inspiration visit our Pinterest board and we will post part 2 soon ♥

xoxo

Wedding Wednesday // Dressed in Blue

Ever thought about having your wedding in Blue?

Pantone (the global authority on color) has surveyed the global Fashion weeks to bring the most important color trends of the season... This Spring/Summer it has brought 2 beautiful shades of blue! Perfect for all you quirky brides to be, get in your 'something blue' on your wedding dress!

We're a huge fan of unique dresses at E&W and are in fact already in the making of our first blue silk Wedding dress for a very wonderful bride. As we cant show any progress on this one (its all hush hush!) we thought we'd put together our little montage of the most beautiful blue gowns we could think of!

Some old and some new, but you'll have your something blue on full show!

Image credits: 1.Dior S/S 11  2.Marchesa Resort 2014  3.Monique Lhuillier Pre Fall 2012  4.Claire Pettibone 2012 

5.Ellie Saab Haute Couture S/S 14  6.Yolan Cris Evening wear 2013

Check out Pantone's full color report here

Let us know what you think of a colored wedding dress! Would you wear one down the isle?

♥

// Photoshoots

We recently teamed up with some amazingly talented companies to create a stunning styled shoot in the absolute best location!

The photos of the shoot are soon to be released on Gwen's Bridal Bazaar and we absolutely can NOT wait!

Without giving too much away, here's a sneaky peek at the amazing Laura Power's images from the day and a quick phone shot of the beautiful dress we had the pleasure of making...

I can't wait to tell you how i got all my inspiration for the dress once the shoot is released! Its a good un!

xoxo
♥

Dress mess...

In my fairly short time of designing wedding dresses, I've had a lot of brides that were last minute panickers... as far as I can tell, it's mostly stemmed from that budget dress they've had on order.

This post is pretty close to my heart and is as much about throwaway fashion as it is about weddings, because it's not all weddings I've had this problem with! 

Maybe it's because I'm a massive perfectionist or maybe because I was taught to make couture, either way I now find it very hard to shop (especially on-line) as I scrutinize the quality of the clothing. I'm even seeing more and more brands who's quality is dropping but the prices certainly aren't! As much as I'm a lover of the ethical, budget always comes in to play and now an again I will opt for the not so well made cheap piece to add to my wardrobe but where ever possible I will save to purchase a top quality garment as in the long run, it's much better value for money.

On this subject, if there is a ever a time to not cheap out on a garment - I would suggest your Wedding dress! This week reminded me of this little nightmare and if I can ever give you some advice - it is this... Do not buy your dress on-line! 

Granted - there may be some success stories with Brides who have bought their dress cheaply on-line and had the best dress they can imagine - but more often than not I get the last minute panickers who have ordered their dresses only to be completely gutted at the quality of the garment, the fabrics and the fit.

A few months back, BBC's 'Fake Britain' took a look at the sale of counterfeit wedding dresses on-line, this is what was said  “Brides think they are buying what they see in the pictures, but they are not, these dresses are only available from official stockists of the particular designer…The fake dresses are made for pennies from lining material or something equally as cheap, seams and stitches are often unfinished and they mostly arrive with no underlay; meaning it falls like a sack.” 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news girls but if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

Getting your dress made you can choose and see the quality of your fabrics, you can watch your dress coming together, change any little bits (if your as fussy as I am strap width is always a biggy!) and you can relax knowing its going to fit you perfect. Even buying from a reputable shop - you can guarantee the quality and know you have some insurance if anything were to go wrong.

So please, no matter how nice the picture looks - don't buy your dress on-line! Get it right the first time and don't end up spending more than you bargained for.

xoxo

♥

Eva...

My re-designed version of Eva! 

Eva is a chiffon and lace dress

The delicate lace bodice has capped sleeves and a full button opening down the back. 

Eye lash fringed edging is hand sewn to the neck line, sleeves and at the waist. 

There is a silk wrap around waist tie made to match the color of the under dress.

The chiffon is gathered and full at the bottom to give an elegant floating skirt.

Pair Eva with our champagne under dress for a vintage feel.

Eva...

A recent commission got me drawing...

I decided to call this dress Eva and I'm going to include a similar version (editing some details in the back and adding sleeves) in my mini collection of versatile wedding dresses.

The lace is a beautiful corded open work lace and the skirt will be layered chiffon and floor length with a separate under dress that can be worn by itself too!

♥

xoxo

Beautiful Bride

One of our wonderful Brides Lucy got married today (Congratulations!), so we can officially release out photos of the stunning champagne and ivory dress we made for her. 

You may remember our post Here comes the Bride showing the preliminary sketches and designs for Lucy's dress. A champagne satin under gown with a beaded lace overlay and stunning keyhole feature in the back. As far as I'm concerned I'm still new at working with lace, especially of the beaded variety, but I'm so pleased with how this turned out!

Complete with a button up bustle train to dance the night away!

The sash is optional, appliqued over the champagne under satin with a tie back.

We hope Lucy had the best of days and wish her all the best for her future! Enjoy your beautiful dress

♥

xoxo

Here comes the bride

This week I'll be sharing one of my current projects with you guys - a 20s-inspired wedding dress!

The bride, just like so many others before her, couldn't find an off-the-peg dress quite as perfect as the one she imagined, so she contacted Ears and Whiskers and challenged us to create a unique gown.

Besides preferring the corset-free style and slinky cuts of roaring 20s fashion, the bride also had a special request: a "keyhole" cut-out back!

I set to work immediately, designing a few different styles which matched various fabrics for overlays and underskirts, and short-listing lace samples (I normally use this site for my research, because their vintage laces are just to die for!).

After a bit of testing and consulting with the bride-to-be, we decided on the final look: beaded lace overlaying a bias cut satin gown. Subtle but memorable, just as a truly dashing 20's dress should be!

For us the hard-work is yet to begin. Awaiting are long hours of cutting, pinning, fitting, sewing and hand-finishing all sorts of details, including a full row of beautiful pearl buttons and a scalloped edging to trim the keyhole back.

We'll keep you posted on our progress! :)

The bouquet toss

We love making our special wedding bouquets. It's incredible to start with a pile of unconnected bits and pieces and end up with a unique composition that will mean the world to someone. This particular bouquet includes flowers made from the same fabric as the bridesmaids dresses, pearls, delicate paper flowers and tons of tiny details.

It's a piece that will last a lifetime - a real ornament. And it is so personal that I don't think any bride would even dream of tossing it into a wild sea of single ladies! Yes, the bouquet toss can be considered an extreme sport, but it has granted me some of my funniest memories. That's why today I'll be sharing with you this gem of a list: the Top 50 WeddingBouquet Toss Songs!

The number one is, of course, Single Ladies by Beyonce, and the top 5 includes all the same tired numbers: Girls Just Want to Have Fun, It'sRaining Men... But after that the list throws up some hilarious titles like: Another One Bites the Dust, You can't hurry love, Eye Of The Tiger, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Maneater.

Which one would you choose?

Love is in the air

Hubbard's Cupboard has gone into Valentines mode with Something Kinda Cute's irresistible kissing booth! So grab your other half and pop in for a smooch and a pic!

Say Hello to Ashley!

Ashley is our wonderful new bespoke designer in store, designing and making amazing crafted headpieces and veils for all you lovely brides…

‘With Love From… Bobbin’ is a luxury range of handmade bridal headwear and accessories for the modern vintage bride and bridesmaids. From the deco hair band to the 1940’s inspired cap with optional veil, Ashley uses fine silks, antique lace and embellishments to create a unique look for your big day. A bespoke design service is also offered where lace and trims are sourced specifically to match ‘the’ dress, incorporating heirlooms or trinkets for that truly personal touch.

Prior to establishing With Love From Bobbin, Ashley worked in fabric buying and sourcing for a number of high street brands including Coast and still designs textiles for the high street today. Now based in Wales, Ashley is rekindling her love for fine fabrics and antique trims to create a range which encompasses the glamour and romance of a bygone era.

Now available in store - bespoke items too!

Vintage Wedding

As what we do is such a niche market, we have a lot of interest in our lovely wedding collection. I make all my dresses bespoke to each person, designing and making around them and their vision for their big day!

With such a large interest, I decided to design a small collection of dresses - customizable to suit your style and made to measure! Check out the prototype on the wonderful Lauren.

Each dress can be made individual to you, you can choose your sleeve length or have no sleeves what so ever! Choose whether you want polka dot tulle, lace or an all over satin, if you want the sleeves and top see-through or covering you up, choose your length and sash style, all from as little as £650. 

Each dress is made from a true vintage pattern, adapted to your style meaning you get the fit and quality of a true vintage dress with the whole process being easy and suited to you!

Simple and elegant

Jennifer Wedding Dress - Simple & Elegant! Empire line, capped lace sleeves and a detailed lace band.

It’s been a while…

Its been a very long time since we’ve posted much at all on our E&W front!

We’ve had a very busy few weeks and a few busier ones coming up but not to worry we are still on the ball with our making and picking our lovely stock, tomorrow we will be swapping all of our stock over to our handpicked winter goodies!

We are mid wedding dress, mid bouquets and button holes, mid bridesmaid dresses and mid veil! It’s all coming together very nicely :)

Take a look at our most recent bouquet for Corrine - made from heirloom brooches complete with matching button holes for her beautiful wedding last month!

We will be getting our act together soon enough, it’s been a bit hectic since moving in and we’re playing catch up!

We’ve also organised a vintage movie night, super excited! Check HC’s facebook for more details and to book tickets!