Thank you so so much to everyone who entered and has read my blog over the last two years. It's been an amazing journey and it means a lot to have you along with me! A special thank you to Melly, Celia Rose, MoG and Rachel for donating beautiful prizes to the giveaway.
Thank you so so much to everyone who entered and has read my blog over the last two years. It's been an amazing journey and it means a lot to have you along with me! A special thank you to Melly, Celia Rose, MoG and Rachel for donating beautiful prizes to the giveaway.
April means my little blog has turned 2! It's become such a big part of my life and has introduced me to so many wonderful people. Last year I hosted a blog giveaway, so I decided to make it a yearly tradition! This giveaway will run for 2 weeks from today and I'll announce the winner on 15th May. Here's what you can win!
A beautiful ceramic 'Love' sign kindly donated by The Crafty Retreat of Scartho, Grimsby. Because this is ceramic you can paint it in any colour you like, or leave it as is.
A tote bag designed and donated by illustrator and generally awesome body positive artist MurderOfGoths! This jellyfish design came from MoG asking for ideas on twitter, and as I love fat merbabe designs, I suggested fat jellyfish and shark babes. And being the genius MoG is, this was the end result. It's so damn cute!
A matte pigment gloss in 'Secret' from L.A. Girl. I love their range of matte liquid lipsticks so snagged an extra red for the giveaway. You can see my review of this here.
Adorable 'Lucky 13' earrings I bought from Punky Pins. These are acrylic mounted on butterfly studs and really cute!
A copy of feminist zine 'Women Can Be : Volume One' kindly donated by Melly Em Clark, plus the fab illustration pictured above. You can read all about the zine in my blog post here.
And finally, this incredible necklace kindly donated by Celia Rose Jewellery. This is a stunning stirling silver piece and I wish I could keep it for myself to be quite honest. Celia is the genius making our wedding rings and I am so thrilled to have her involved in the giveaway.
April means my little blog has turned 2! It's become such a big part of my life and has introduced me to so many wonderful people. Last year I hosted a blog giveaway, so I decided to make it a yearly tradition! This giveaway will run for 2 weeks from today and I'll announce the winner on 15th May. Here's what you can win!
A beautiful ceramic 'Love' sign kindly donated by The Crafty Retreat of Scartho, Grimsby. Because this is ceramic you can paint it in any colour you like, or leave it as is.
A tote bag designed and donated by illustrator and generally awesome body positive artist MurderOfGoths! This jellyfish design came from MoG asking for ideas on twitter, and as I love fat merbabe designs, I suggested fat jellyfish and shark babes. And being the genius MoG is, this was the end result. It's so damn cute!
A matte pigment gloss in 'Secret' from L.A. Girl. I love their range of matte liquid lipsticks so snagged an extra red for the giveaway. You can see my review of this here.
Adorable 'Lucky 13' earrings I bought from Punky Pins. These are acrylic mounted on butterfly studs and really cute!
A copy of feminist zine 'Women Can Be : Volume One' kindly donated by Melly Em Clark, plus the fab illustration pictured above. You can read all about the zine in my blog post here.
And finally, this incredible necklace kindly donated by Celia Rose Jewellery. This is a stunning stirling silver piece and I wish I could keep it for myself to be quite honest. Celia is the genius making our wedding rings and I am so thrilled to have her involved in the giveaway.
One of the things that is really important to me about our wedding suppliers, is that wherever I can I want to use independent and small businesses. As someone who works for a small business, I know how important it is to buy local and indy. It can mean some extra expense because their products aren't being mass produced in factories, but the extra care and love they can give is worth it. Using indy supplies also means more uniqueness in your wedding! If you aren't buying off the high street, there is much less chance of someone you know having used similar in the wedding, or even the exact same thing.
Buying independent means you are supporting individuals, rather than giant, faceless corporations. It isn't someone dodging tax and paying fat cats, it is a family being able to pay their mortgage. It is someone paying all their bills on time. You are helping someone creative be able to support themselves, and that is bloody amazing.
So I'm going to share with you my suppliers! Many of these are people I know and love, and have been lucky enough to work with. Hell, one of them is even one of my bridesmaids too!
So not only is the gorgeous Liv one of my bridesmaid, she is also my hair and makeup artist on the big day itself! I have worked with her on many photoshoots and she is so so talented, and she also knows me well enough to make sure I look like me, just like the best possible version of me! Liv also happens to be an incredibly awesome milliner/accessories designer. Originally I planned on having her re-work my Mum's veil into something for me, but a slight hiccup occurred in that actually, it was destroyed when my parent's house was flooded 10 years ago and we all just sort of forgot. So now I'm on to plan B, and just have to come up with something that Liv can make me that is new!
Photos copyright to Donna Craddock of ClickClick Bang Photography
Before Stu and I were engaged, we went to a fake festival, and we bumped into Donna of ClickClick Bang Photography. I introduced her to Stu as the woman who would photograph our wedding if we ever got married. I've met Donna a handful of times in person, but have followed her online for years, and consider her an internet friend. Her wedding photography really speaks to me. She has this ability to capture all those happy moments, but also has such vision that she uses the environment about her i ways most people couldn't even dream of. Your wedding photography will be something you look at for the rest of your lives, make sure you book a truly kick ass photographer like we have! We booked our wedding around Donna's availability. Be prepared to do that if you truly want the best.
Alivya V Free in Katmaren Clothing photographed by me.
I am incredibly lucky to have a Dad who is paying for my wedding dress for me. This meant I could do something all brides dream of... I could design my dress myself. And I knew the woman for the job was Kitty of Katmaren Clothing. I have been able to photograph Kitty's stunning designs on several occasions, and have always been blown away by their detailing and structure. She also happens to be Alivya's sister! When I started giving her my ideas, she ran away with them and has developed them into something that I just cannot wait to wear.
When I discovered that Celia was making incredible silver jewellery I was so excited. I went to secondary school with Celia then sort of lost contact with her, and rediscovered her when my company did a delivery to her house! So bizarre. She made me a truly stunning bangle for my birthday, and seemed the logical choice to make our wedding rings too! To be able to use someone local, who I've also known for about 16 years, is pretty damn awesome. It'll make our rings even more special.
I know we will be using other small businesses and individuals too, but these are the ones I can share! What are your favourite small companies?
One of the things that is really important to me about our wedding suppliers, is that wherever I can I want to use independent and small businesses. As someone who works for a small business, I know how important it is to buy local and indy. It can mean some extra expense because their products aren't being mass produced in factories, but the extra care and love they can give is worth it. Using indy supplies also means more uniqueness in your wedding! If you aren't buying off the high street, there is much less chance of someone you know having used similar in the wedding, or even the exact same thing.
Buying independent means you are supporting individuals, rather than giant, faceless corporations. It isn't someone dodging tax and paying fat cats, it is a family being able to pay their mortgage. It is someone paying all their bills on time. You are helping someone creative be able to support themselves, and that is bloody amazing.
So I'm going to share with you my suppliers! Many of these are people I know and love, and have been lucky enough to work with. Hell, one of them is even one of my bridesmaids too!
So not only is the gorgeous Liv one of my bridesmaid, she is also my hair and makeup artist on the big day itself! I have worked with her on many photoshoots and she is so so talented, and she also knows me well enough to make sure I look like me, just like the best possible version of me! Liv also happens to be an incredibly awesome milliner/accessories designer. Originally I planned on having her re-work my Mum's veil into something for me, but a slight hiccup occurred in that actually, it was destroyed when my parent's house was flooded 10 years ago and we all just sort of forgot. So now I'm on to plan B, and just have to come up with something that Liv can make me that is new!
Photos copyright to Donna Craddock of ClickClick Bang Photography
Before Stu and I were engaged, we went to a fake festival, and we bumped into Donna of ClickClick Bang Photography. I introduced her to Stu as the woman who would photograph our wedding if we ever got married. I've met Donna a handful of times in person, but have followed her online for years, and consider her an internet friend. Her wedding photography really speaks to me. She has this ability to capture all those happy moments, but also has such vision that she uses the environment about her i ways most people couldn't even dream of. Your wedding photography will be something you look at for the rest of your lives, make sure you book a truly kick ass photographer like we have! We booked our wedding around Donna's availability. Be prepared to do that if you truly want the best.
Alivya V Free in Katmaren Clothing photographed by me.
I am incredibly lucky to have a Dad who is paying for my wedding dress for me. This meant I could do something all brides dream of... I could design my dress myself. And I knew the woman for the job was Kitty of Katmaren Clothing. I have been able to photograph Kitty's stunning designs on several occasions, and have always been blown away by their detailing and structure. She also happens to be Alivya's sister! When I started giving her my ideas, she ran away with them and has developed them into something that I just cannot wait to wear.
When I discovered that Celia was making incredible silver jewellery I was so excited. I went to secondary school with Celia then sort of lost contact with her, and rediscovered her when my company did a delivery to her house! So bizarre. She made me a truly stunning bangle for my birthday, and seemed the logical choice to make our wedding rings too! To be able to use someone local, who I've also known for about 16 years, is pretty damn awesome. It'll make our rings even more special.
I know we will be using other small businesses and individuals too, but these are the ones I can share! What are your favourite small companies?
