Types of Wedding Cakes

Chocolate Wedding Cakes

Elegant Wedding Cakes

Ribbon Wedding Cakes

White & Blue Wedding Cakes

Flower Wedding Cakes

Simple Wedding Cakes

Shoot the Shoot, Jane Austen style...

There are so many photographs from the fabulous Jane Austen inspired shoot that we're undoubtedly going to have a few more blogs from all this material. The fact we have a lead photographer and a 'Shoot the Shoot' photographer automatically doubles the work of course!

We were very lucky to have the lovely Nicky Chadwick as our 'Shoot the Shoot' photographer for this event and wow, did she take some fantastic pictures. We love them!

The whole reasoning behind the 'Shoot the Shoot' is to allow people the opportunity to step behind the scenes with us and experience a little more of what we actually see. I love the relaxed and intimate feel that you get from these natural pictures.

Whilst we had two gorgeous models on the shoot, it's not difficult to see who the real star of the show was - Ben, an absolutely magnificent racehorse now used for eventing. I think everybody on the shoot fell in love with him, even just a little bit, and with these stunning pictures taken by Nicky, it's very easy to see why. Isn't he just beautiful - and doesn't he just know it?!

It's the details that often make the difference in a shoot, and we are renowned for being rather particular about those details! Hence, our bridal model for this shoot needed to be comfortable on a horse. Of course, being comfortable wasn't enough for us and we booked Anastasia, the current Miss York, who is not only beautiful, but an accomplished showjumper and horsewoman. As a result, we have gorgeous pictures with her in motion..... captured so well by Joe Dodsworth, lead photographer, and Nicky.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing a little bit of our world, thanks to the fabulously talented Nicky Chadwick. There's more to come from both photographers, so watch this space!

Venue - Newby Hall www.newbyhall.com
Lead Photographer - Joe Dodsworth - www.joedodsworth.co.uk
Shoot the Shoot Photographer - Nicky Chadwick - www.nickychadwickphotography.co.uk
Hair and Make-Up - Alison Clegg, Beauty Call - www.beautycall.co.uk
Bridalwear - Plush Boutique - www.plushweddingboutique.com
Flowers - Lucy MacNicoll - www.lucymacnicoll-flowers.com
Military Uniform - Dress Circle of York
Models - Anastasia Smith and Chris Johnstone
Ben provided courtesy of Noel Wilson Racing Stables
Design and styling - The Wedding Affair - www.theweddingaffair.co.uk

More Swoons from Nicky Chadwick Photography...

Oh my word! Not only are these fabulous pictures by Nicky Chadwick totally swoonsome, but they have been sat waiting to be blogged for far too long. Sorry Nicky! We've been a bit overwhelmed with all the amazing pictures that came out of this Jane Austen inspired shoot at Newby Hall and combine that with manic wedding season and squeezing in a much needed but unexpected break, the blogging has shamefully fallen by the wayside a little.

Being completely honest, waiting this long to blog them hasn't done them justice! They are truly gorgeous and deserve to be shared with our brides and fellow industry colleagues instead of being kept under wraps in our office!

I've said many times before that a picture speaks a thousand words and this is most definitely the case again. I hate to use words unnecessarily. Yes, it makes my job easier to not have to write much but it's not about that. It's about appreciating the fabulousness of this shoot and the talent of all those involved, but especially Nicky Chadwick. So please just enjoy these gorgeous pictures.....

The gorgeous dress and jewellery are from Plush www.plushweddingboutique.com, hair and make-up by Alison Clegg of Beauty Call www.beautycall.co.uk and the authentic uniform is from Dress Circle of York. Flowers are from the very talented Lucy of Lucy MacNicoll Flowers www.lucymacnicoll-flowers.com We'd like to thank our gorgeous models, Chris and Anastasia, and also Noel Wilson Racing Stables and Katy, for bringing along the true star of the show - Ben.



Last but not least, huge Wedding Affair thanks go to the Compton family of Newby Hall for allowing us to use their stunning venue (www.newbyhall.com) and also to Lucy Wright, their fabulous wedding co-ordinator.

Wedding Trend: Candy Stations!

If you are anything like me, you can't get enough sweet stuff! For me, especially chocolate. So I am loving this new trend of candy stations at weddings.

You can even save money on your wedding cake by having a really small cake for decorative purposes. Or--GASP!--not have a real wedding cake at all and have a decorative only cake. You could save a lot of money by doing this.
Whether you choose to make your cake mini or just decide you want a candy station in addition to the cake, choose candy and decorations that compliment your overall wedding decor.

Here are some sample candy stations to get you inspired.

(Grrr... sorry, did I make your tummy grumble too?!)

Freedom

Every summer we celebrate our independence, our freedom. We make lots of noise by shooting off fireworks and invite great crowds of people to watch us do it. To make sure we remember we’re free we created a holiday called the Fourth of July, less we forget.

Forgetting seems to be a popular way of life. So many people live their lives in a perpetual state of forgetfulness. We’re reminded once a year to be thankful, to give gifts, to send cards, to say “I love you”, to remember our mother and our father.

OK. So we get busy and forget things. But it appears to me that what we’re forgetting is what really matters and what we actually fill our days with is insignificant.

Let’s go back to the original thought of freedom. How free are you? What is freedom anyway? I’m talking about true freedom on the inside like the freedom of a small child. Think about it. When a child is hungry it eats. When a child has had enough to eat it stops eating.

The fact that you may have been slaving away all day to prepare their food is not in their consciousness. As a result, they feel no guilt. They’re full, they stop. Sure we could try to force them to “have a little more, its good for you.” They know it isn’t.

My son and 2 of his friends created the Fun Cult. The three of them were all full adults at the time and realized how seldom people felt free enough to simply play. All games have rules so they made up 3 rules which were: 1, have fun. 2, if your fun is getting in the way of someone else’s fun go have your fun somewhere else. 3, safety. They were adamant about the order. Fun first.

You may worry about what people are going to say if you’re going around being free and having fun all the time. Speaking from experience, I’ll tell you what people will say. They’ll say, “I wish I could do that.”

Being free and living a life of freedom is a state of mind. It has nothing to do with money, job, position, health, wealth or family ties. It has nothing to do with education or lack of one or the 3 r’s – reading, riting, rithmetic.

I’ll tell you what freedom is not. Freedom is not ugly, boring, hurtful, hateful, gory, garish or unkind. Freedom is not putting yourself down and not putting anyone else down either. Freedom is taking care of yourself, loving yourself just as you are, bumps, warts, bags and sags.

Freedom is lifting up, dancing in the rain, laughing at the clouds, spinning in circles if you want to spin in circles. Freedom is being truthful with kindness. Freedom is taking turns which means that sometimes you do come first. Freedom is sharing without short changing yourself.

Freedom starts with me. Same as everything else in my world. When I let myself be free it also gives you permission to be free. When you’re free you give permission for her to be free. When she’s free she gives permission for him to be free. When he and she and them and those are free, well, we’re talking the whole world here aren’t we. And to think it all started with me being free. Who knew?

'Beware of fainting fits. Beware of swoons....' Jane Austen inspired shoot at Newby Hall

When we decided to do a photoshoot at the stunning Newby Hall in preparation of our October wedding fair, we looked to its history for our inspiration. For those who don't already know, an adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park was filmed there a few years ago and there we found our answer - a Jane Austen inspired shoot. Perfect!

As always, before each shoot, a mood board is produced that allows us to show everyone involved exactly what we have in mind. This mood board did feature Rupert Penry Jones (a rather handsome actor for those not in the know!) but as he was unavailable, we had the next best thing. Be still our beating hearts - the picture above introduces you to our male model, Chris. Doesn't he look fantastic in his military uniform?

Anastasia, our beautiful female model, has just been crowned Miss York and as this blog post is being written, is competing in the Miss England finals. Good luck to her. Not only is she stunningly gorgeous, she is an accomplished horse rider... which brings us to our final star of the show.....

Anyone who knows us is aware that we do everything possible to make our shoots authentic - and fabulous. As Newby Hall was open to the public on the day of the shoot we had to scale down our props. So we reduced the number of items but increased the size - meet Ben, a handsome 17hh racehorse who is now used for eventing. He certainly captured our hearts on the shoot.

Proof that our beautiful model can ride too... stunning. We think this would be a fantastic way to arrive for your wedding!

As with all of our photoshoots, the entire crew had a great day with lots of laughs behind the scenes and despite the serene looks on our model's faces in this shot, Ben completely gave the game away! Love this shot!

How fabulous are these shots with the black cloak? Anastasia looks amazing.....

The photographs in this blog are courtesy of the very lovely Joe Dodsworth www.joedodsworth.co.uk. The gorgeous dress and jewellery are from Plush www.plushweddingboutique.com, hair and make-up by Alison Clegg of Beauty Call www.beautycall.co.uk and the authentic uniform is from Dress Circle of York. Flowers are from the very talented Lucy of Lucy MacNicoll Flowers www.lucymacnicoll-flowers.com

We'd like to thank our gorgeous models, Chris and Anastasia, and also Noel Wilson Racing Stables and Katy, for bringing along the star of the show - Ben.

Last but not least, huge Wedding Affair thanks go to the Compton family of Newby Hall for allowing us to use their stunning venue (www.newbyhall.com) and also to Lucy Wright, their fabulous wedding co-ordinator. Nothing was too much for her on the day, even when we drew a crowd with the visitors (and a stray American tourist or two dashing off the coach to take pictures!).

As with all our photoshoots, we had a 'Shoot the Shoot' by the fabulous Nicky Chadwick Photography www.nickychadwickphotography.co.uk Watch out for part two of the blog, showing you some of her fantastic pictures. You're going to love them!