Archive for April, 2011

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  • Helen Carter Wedding Blog
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  • The Royal Wedding – A Modern Design

    Thursday, April 28th, 2011

    Posted in Design Concepts , Wedding News

    So we’re now less than 24 hours away from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, and I am ridiculously excited! I don’t really know what’s come over me, but I appear to have got caught up in the atmosphere of intense anticipation that seems to be sweeping across the whole country. People are pitching their tents along the mall, there are union jacks popping up in gardens along my road, and the social media network is absolutely buzzing with royal wedding chatter.

    There’s been a huge amount of talk about the style of the day, so for my last post in this week’s special royal wedding series I wanted to share my thoughts on the design. A few snippets of information have leaked out over the past few days, not least the fact that potted trees are being installed inside Westminster Abbey, so with this in mind I’ve opted for a classic and elegant spring design with a muted natural colour palette of sage green and peach.

    A Modern Royal Colour Palette The Royal Wedding   A Modern Design

    A Modern Royal Design Board The Royal Wedding   A Modern Design (more…)

  • The Royal Wedding – Royal Wedding Fashion

    Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

    Posted in Fashion Focus , Wedding News

    The most talked about aspect of Friday’s royal wedding has to be what Kate has chosen for her wedding dress. Who’s designed it? What will the fabric be? Will it be a simple design or a grand creation? The wedding gown is, without a doubt, at the centre of the world’s media attention, but what did royal brides wear in years gone by?

    Back in 1923, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (aka the Queen Mother) wore what was considered to be a simple royal wedding gown. The flapper-style creation was designed by Madame Handley Seymour, and was very much in keeping with the fashion at that time.

    Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon The Royal Wedding   Royal Wedding Fashion

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  • The Royal Wedding – Did You Know?

    Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

    Posted in Wedding News

    Queen Elizabeth wedding The Royal Wedding   Did You Know?

    With just 3 days to go until Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s big day, today I thought I’d share a few quirky little facts from Royal Wedding history.

    Did You Know…

    1. Queen Victoria introduced the tradition of wearing a white wedding dress when she married Prince Albert on 10 th February 1840. Before this brides wore coloured dresses, as a white dress that could only be worn once was considered too much of an extravagance

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  • The Royal Wedding – Personal Thoughts

    Monday, April 25th, 2011

    Posted in Wedding News

    In the run up to what has to be one of the most eagerly awaited weddings of modern history, I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s blog posts to the Royal Wedding. Up until now I’ve deliberately tried to avoid the hype surrounding the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It’s not that I’m not interested, far from it, but especially working in the wedding industry I didn’t want to get caught up in all the speculation and become bored with it by the time the day arrives.

    Kate and William www.officialroyalwedding2011.org  The Royal Wedding   Personal Thoughts
    However, over the last couple of weeks I’ve watched the 2-part BBC documentary “Britain’s Royal Weddings”. This was a great insight into the history of our country’s royal weddings, and it got me thinking quite a bit about Kate and William’s impending nuptials – not just about the day itself, but about how different the planning process will have been from any other ‘normal’ couple.

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  • The Wedding Sanctuary – Part 2 (The Inspiration Zone)

    Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

    Posted in Wedding News , Wedding Styling

    Earlier this week I posted some photos from The Wedding Sanctuary held at Somerset House in March, and today I want to share the designs from the Inspiration Zone in more detail. Without a doubt this was one of my favourite aspects of the Sanctuary – ok, so I’m a bit biased because I was involved in this area (!), but on a more serious note no other wedding show I’ve been to has showcased so many different table settings in this way. It was great to see brides taking in all the ideas and chatting with their fiancés and friends over a glass of champagne about how they might be able to incorporate them into their own wedding designs.

    inspiration zone1 The Wedding Sanctuary   Part 2 (The Inspiration Zone)

    Five UKAWP members devised their own themes for a table setting, and worked hard to find the perfect linens, tableware, stationery and flowers to bring their designs to life. In the centre of the room was an ‘Elegant Glamour’ themed table with a stunning teal and silver colour scheme – I loved the attention to detail and the laser cut skyline menus from Cutture were just inspired:

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  • The Wedding Sanctuary – Part 1 (The Overview)

    Monday, April 18th, 2011

    Posted in Planning Advice , Wedding News

    It’s been a busy start to the year here at HCW headquarters and I can’t believe we’re already a quarter of the way through the year! March was a particular highlight for me, with two great weddings (which I’ll be blogging soon), and the Wedding Sanctuary – a unique twist on the traditional wedding fair organised by the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners ( UKAWP ).

    As a UKAWP member I was delighted to be involved in this event, and I was really proud to see how over 20 wedding planners, headed up by one of our lovely directors Kelly with assistance from members Andri and Isabel, came together and used their individual expertise to make it such a success. I’ll be reporting more on my involvement  in the Sanctuary over the next week or so, but for now I want to give you a tour of what happened and share some photos from the day.

    welcome area The Wedding Sanctuary   Part 1 (The Overview)

    On arrival at Somerset House guests were greeted with champagne and given their own goody bag, custom-made by the team at The Original Wedding Tea Towel , which included some tasty treats from well-known caterers Table Talk, who also served up some yummy canapes, and delicious cookies from Zoe Clark .

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  • Fashion Focus: Timeless Vintage Wedding Gowns

    Thursday, April 7th, 2011

    Posted in Fashion Focus

    I stumbled on The Frock months and months ago, and I can now often be found procrastinating on there, nosing through pages and pages of beautiful vintage wedding gowns and fashion pieces. Even if you’re not having a vintage wedding or you can’t bring yourself to order a wedding dress without seeing it in person, it’s definitely worth having a nose around for inspiration. And if nothing else, you can’t really argue with spending a bit of down-time chilling with a cuppa and browsing some serious eye candy!

    Vtinage lace frills Fashion Focus: Timeless Vintage Wedding Gowns

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