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Black and white image of Patchwork couple Liz and Jack standing close together with Liz's veil swirled above them, they are kissing
Gift IdeasPatchwork Couples

An Intimate Barn Wedding and a Year of Dates

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

Patchwork Couple Liz & Jack have lived in Ealing for the last 4 years, but originally, are both from the Portsmouth area of the South Coast. They met when they both went home for New Year’s Eve in 2014. Liz says “I got so drunk that I didn’t make it to midnight! But luckily, I had made an impression on Jack and he asked me out on a date back in London. We also coincidentally both work in TV and everybody always assumes that’s how we met, but as fate would have it, it was just right place, right time.” Six and half years later and they have finally tied the knot, despite Covid trying to derail their plans. They join us on the blog to talk about their small but perfectly formed wedding day, a surprise first dance and their date night gift registry Patchwork!

How did you get engaged?

Liz: We eventually got engaged in Richmond Park on the 17th of Feb 2019. I say eventually, because it turned out Jack had made many plans to propose in the months previous, but various things happened which meant it didn’t feel like the right time. We have an ottoman bed, and I was sleeping 2 feet away from the ring for months! Completely unaware. It was a very special moment though when it did happen, it was a beautiful fresh winter day and we had sat down in a really private part of the woodlands, I couldn’t quite believe it was happening but at the same time, I could sort of feel it. Jack was very nervous!

Ah that’s lovely. And what kind of wedding did you plan?

Liz: We planned many, many versions of our wedding, and covid ruined most of them… But we actually managed to get a wedding that was pretty close to our original plan. It was a barn wedding in West Sussex, with the ceremony and reception all in the same place. We had planned to have 100 guests, we had 15. We couldn’t have our reception due to restrictions but we still had a lovely meal after the ceremony, speeches and a first dance.

Jack: When people ask about our wedding now, I always say I wouldn’t change it. It was perfect, even though it wasn’t what we had planned. I only had to make a speech in front of a handful of people, so it was a win for me.

So what’s the story behind your first dance?

Liz: So we did have a first dance – but (due to restrictions) only we were allowed to dance. It was outside in the courtyard and everyone had sparklers, so it was really special. We had originally planned to have an acoustic version of one of our favourite songs played by a band, but as we ended up not having the band, we couldn’t decide on a song for ages. Then, a week before the wedding, it came to me. But I didn’t tell Jack, so he had no clue what song was going to be played!

Jack: Back story – for our whole relationship Liz has made it explicitly clear that she hates Oasis, and our house has been an Oasis free zone for years. I’m not a mega fan or anything, but I didn’t mind them and quite liked playing songs on the guitar.

Liz: So, I thought, what better way of showing Jack how much I love him than to have our first dance to Wonderwall! And now, when I hear the song, I absolutely love it, it’s actually a really romantic song! But it’s still the only Oasis song allowed…

Love that. So, what was your favourite part of the day overall?

Liz: I think we can both say our favourite part was when the ceremony was over and we walked out to our friends and family throwing confetti. It was a relief that we had managed to get married after all the stress of trying to plan during the pandemic, and now we could finally enjoy the day.

Why did you decide to choose Patchwork for your gift registry?

Liz: A friend had used Patchwork and I had always thought it was a great idea. We have enough things and felt like a traditional registry was just asking for things with no real reason. It also felt more polite that just asking for cash! This way, our friends and family could see what we liked doing as a couple and be a part of that, whether that be date nights, dinners, gigs, or trips away.

Patchwork honeymoon fund "A Year of Dates" in iPad

What did you want to ask guests to contribute towards and why?

Jack: We asked for contributions towards our honeymoon, which was at San Luis spa resort in South Tyrol, Italy. So we added things like spa treatments, dinner, drinks. Liz: The scenery at San Luis was breath-taking. We had our own private lodge with hot tub, steam room, all set around a lake. All the food was delicious, organic and seasonal. The staff were incredible – proper 5-star treatment. Being so high up in the mountains, everything just felt clean! It felt like the perfect retreat after the madness of organising the wedding and all the stresses we had come through. Jack: We then added to our Patchwork a variety of experiences and date nights we could enjoy doing in London. Again, things like dinner, drinks, trips to the cinema, gigs. All activities we enjoy doing as a couple.

What was the best bit about using Patchwork?

Liz: It was easy to set up and once it was done, we didn’t really have to think about it. It also allowed friends and family to leave a note which was a really lovely touch. Jack: Everyone seemed to navigate it fine. We didn’t have any complaints and I think people found it easier than having to decide on a specific item.

How have you spent the gift money you received via your Patchwork?

Liz: We spent a lot of the money on experiences on our Italian honeymoon, but we still have some left, as we couldn’t really have many date nights during the first 6 months of our marriage! But now things have opened up again, we’ve had an amazing lunch at the Shard (for our dinner with a view), been to a few festivals and have booked a weekend away to Chewton Glen.

Thanks so much Liz and Jack for sharing these gorgeous words and photos of your wedding day. If you’ve been inspired to set up a gift registry for a Year of Date Nights or a Honeymoon to Italy, why not get started? Or browse 100s of other gift registry ideas and choose your perfect gifts and experiences.

Finally here are some of the amazing wedding suppliers that made Liz and Jack’s day extra special:

Photographer: Danni Beach

Dress: Rosamund by Maggie Sottero, bought at Proposals of Chichester

Suits: DKNY, bought at Moss Bros

Makeup: Georgina Chambers

Venue & Catering: Upwaltham Barns

Florist: Rococo Florist

Honeymoon: San Luis Lodges, South Tyrol, Italy

p.s. you can listen to Liz and Jack’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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Bride Tash and Groom David stand by river Thames with Tower Bridge and The Shard behind. David wears a dark suit and Tash a simple ivory satin dress and they are linking fingers and facing each other
Patchwork CouplesWedding Planning

A London Wedding and a Lake District Honeymoon

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

Tash and David met in London where they both live. They had an amazing (and unusual!) first date. David took Tash to the Hunterian Museum which is part of the Royal College of Surgeons. Tash says ‘it includes lots of things in jars, specimens and oddities – A very bold move! We then walked around Central London for about eight hours just talking and laughing. We’ve now been together for five years.’ We chat to Tash about their gorgeous London wedding and Lake District honeymoon, made extra special with honeymoon gifts via Patchwork from family and friends.

How did you get engaged?

We got engaged in Sicily last year. We climbed some cliffs on the beachfront in Cefalu until we were away from everyone just as the sun was setting.

What kind of wedding did you plan?

We didn’t really know what the wedding would look like at all so we wanted to keep everything relaxed and just went with the flow! We found this gorgeous pub called The Dickens Inn on St Katharine Docks in London where we live and just thought it was perfect. It’s informal, fun but felt elegant and lovely. Luckily we didn’t have to postpone and restrictions were eased in time. It was the first time everyone could get together in so long, so it was fabulous just having a bit of a reunion as well.

Did you have a first dance?

We didn’t have a first dance; instead we had a first karaoke song which involved David serenading me with Kiss from a Rose by Seal. Definitely an iconic moment, it’s the first thing that comes up when we mention the wedding with our guests!!

What was your favourite part of the day?

Our favourite part of the day was probably the aforementioned love song! We also had a massive cheese wedding cake and pizza for the evening which was a winner.

Why did you choose Patchwork for your gift registry?

We were going to The Lake District for our honeymoon for a bit of a food and walking tour and thought there’s so much to do there; wouldn’t it be nice to ask for activities so our friends and family could give us more of a ‘gift’ rather than just an amount of money. We found Patchwork online and we loved the look of it all.

What did you ask guests to contribute towards?

The Lake District has some of the best restaurants in the country and we really wanted to experience those so we asked for a fancy dinner contribution, afternoon tea (David had never had one before and thoroughly enjoyed!) cocktails and champagne which everyone very kindly helped us out on. Also, it’s pretty rainy there so we asked for new waterproofs and sturdy walking shoes (very glad we did!!)

What were your favourite Patchwork features?

The best bit about Patchwork was the personable touches – we were able to write our own descriptions and made it a bit fun and silly but we enjoyed doing it. Also our friends and family could write their own messages on both our Patchwork publicly and on their own contributions which was lovely to see pop up every now and again in the run up to the wedding.

What did your friends and family think?

They loved it, it was definitely a talking point and everyone enjoyed our silly entries. They said it was really creative and a nice change from a traditional registry or just giving a cash contribution.

You honeymooned in the Lake District. Would you recommend your trip to other couples?

Yes definitely! The Lake District is the most beautiful place full of wonderful sights and has some incredible restaurants and hotels. We had an amazing time relaxing after the wedding and spending time just us in such beautiful surroundings. We went to dinner at Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, enjoyed lots of cocktails, stayed in some lovely hotels, had a spa day and even did a few wine pairings at dinner (might as well go all out on your honeymoon!) We also did a few hikes, and a twelve mile walk around Windermere. Standing on top of Silver How and seeing the view below was just glorious. We also went out on Lake Windermere and drove a boat ourselves (with moderate success!)

Thank you so much Tash and David for sharing such beautiful words and photos of your day. If you’ve been inspired to set up a honeymoon fund you can find our Love in the Lakes template here, or browse 100s more honeymoon, mini-moon and staycation destinations here! In the unlikely event we don’t have your destination you can create your own from scratch (and please tell us what we’re missing and we’ll get on the case and make one!)

Finally, here are some of the amazing wedding suppliers that made Tash and David’s day extra special:

Venue and catering: The Dickens Inn, St Katharine Docks

Photographer: Natalie J Weddings

Dress: Charlie Brear

Florist: Botanique

Make up: Emma McGreevy

Hair: Bethany Alden

Cheese Cake: Froth & Rind

Karaoke: Rock-Box Entertainment

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Kerry and Leah hold hands and are smiling as guests shower them with confetti
Patchwork Couples

Classic and colourful Farnham Castle wedding

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

Kerry (they/them) and Leah(she/her) have been together for 4 years. They met at work, when Leah interviewed Kerry for a role at Royal Caribbean Cruises. Over time, lots of travelling across the world on crazy ship adventures and the best holidays, they fell in love with each other, and went from best friends to forever. Kerry says: “It’s been a journey! But we wouldn’t have it any other way and we’ve proved to all the haters that we are a gorgeous couple – even if I say so myself!” Their wedding at Farnham Castle in Surrey was a vibrant mix of classic and colourful and Kerry says it was “the absolute best, we literally had the greatest day ever”.

How did you get engaged?

Kerry: One of the first things Leah bought me was a Silent Pool glass and their gin has been a huge part of our story, we’ve visited their distillery a lot!! So it seemed fitting that it was part of our engagement story. I planned it out that our friend had ‘won’ 4 tickets to the distillery tour, so off we went. Little did Leah know I had set the whole thing up.

We had our tour with their amazing staff, (the gin tasting definitely helped with my nerves!) At the end we all bought a drink and headed down to the pool to enjoy our well deserved gin. All of a sudden, a member of the Silent Pool team came down with a box for Leah. She opened it and out popped a balloon with a message asking her to marry me and she said “yes”. One knee in the gravel wearing a Jurassic Park Bum Bag on my waist, (she still said yes!) We celebrated with everyone at the distillery, more gin and a lovely meal out. We actually went back the day before we got married for a drink and they’d set us up a lovely area to celebrate in, which was cute!

What kind of wedding did you plan?

We wanted a mix of classic and colourful so booked Farnham Castle. The team there blew us away with the welcome and service when we went to visit (not always easy to get as a non-straight couple) so we knew it had to be there. The building and gardens are just beautiful. From then we knew we wanted lots of colour and lots of fun, so we brought it in. Colourful balloon garlands, 6 massive pink, blue and green balloons and our personalised Mx and Mrs white ones. We had lovely bright flowers and amazing neon pink hoops!

We even walked down the aisle to the Jurassic Park theme tune and had a dinosaur or two make an appearance at the end of the night (was it me? Maybe ? I love them!) We added in some extra spice with some smoke bombs in our photos…we just wanted all the colour and the smiles.

How did Covid affect your wedding day plans?

We spent the past year worrying about what would happen with restrictions, then about a week before our wedding they changed the rules and we had to go by Stage 3 restrictions. It was obviously a lot better than some people had, but we had to ask some of our guests not to come anymore which felt horrible. We had to advise guests to wear masks, sit down when eating or drinking and no dancing. The castle’s service was second to none and it felt very normal and we thank them for that. Luckily the weather was beautiful so we managed to be outside lots meaning no masks!

Overall, the last year or so taught us that however things turn out, to be grateful and be happy.

Did you have a first dance?

We were allowed a first dance – and although it was slightly awkward as no-one was allowed to join us, we made the most of it. We danced to Symphony by Clean Bandit which is always our happy place song. The band we had played it acoustically and it was beautiful, everyone was waving in their chairs, clapping and showing us all the feels, it was very emotional.

What was your favourite part of the day?

For me, standing at the top of the aisle watching Leah walk towards me in her beautiful dress just looking absolutely stunning was the ultimate moment. She was walking towards me to be with me forever, that’s a big walk. We had an incredible celebrant called Sarah Powell which meant we got to do a really personalised ceremony. We wrote letters to each other that we sealed in a box as part of this to be opened in 5 years. Leah’s uncle read an excellent piece that he wrote and two of our best friends dressed as our Fairy Godmothers to share their story of us. It was amazing!

Overall though, the fact that we got to see 80 of our friends and family all in one place together at the most important day of our lives meant the absolute world and will always be such a special moment for us.

Why did you choose Patchwork for your wedding registry?

We met Patchwork at The Un-Wedding Show in London in 2019 and knew we had to use your platform, it gave us a chance to make sure we didn’t end up with 3 sets of the same cutlery from people. Which of course we would have loved, (we’re not ungrateful people haha). But we just loved the look of it and the vibe, it matched what we were after. The team are easy to contact and quick to come back to you, it’s like working on a project with your friends. Everyone I mention Patchwork to loves it and always asks me to show them it so you are doing great things!!

Patchwork wedding gift list Kitchen Fund in an iPad

What did you invite guests to contribute towards?

Originally we had a really cool honeymoon page set up, we were going on a cruise (we love a cruise – you should try it.) We included ideas for treats, trips and extras such as moonlit dinners and scooter hire. Everybody raved about how lovely it was. I played with the wording a lot to add a bit of quirkiness, and when Covid hit, we were able to flip it round so quickly. We had just moved from our lush flat in Reigate to a house with a garden, and as we didn’t know what was going to happen with travel we decided to go a bit old school and ask for some lovely bits for the house. It was lovely as people have been so generous it’s enabled us to get some really nice stuff and save some for future plans – little babies are on the agenda…

What did your friends and family think?

It was so easy to use yet looked amazing, all of our guests said they’d never seen anything like it, it felt really different and not like we were just asking people to put cash in a bank, they felt they had specific things they had contributed towards and we are able to thank them for putting towards a nice barbecue, or that beautiful mirror.

What are the plans for the gift money you collected with Patchwork?

We have already purchased a beaut of a BBQ so we can get friends over to share the delights of charcoal roasted (and probably burnt!) food with us, along with some gorgeous furniture to sit on. We have some gift money towards a trip so we’re looking at what we can plan for later in the year. Maybe a cheeky long weekend in the sun somewhere…. excited for that! Then the rest we will be doing up our beautiful home with, we got gifts towards a lush mixer too as Leah is an avid baker.

Thank you Kerry & Leah for sharing such happy words and photos of your day and very kind words about Patchwork too! If you’ve been inspired to set up a Patchwork gift registry check out our wedding gift ideas or honeymoon fund templates and start making your own! See below for a list of the suppliers that made Kerry & Leah’s day extra amazing:

Venue and Catering: Farnham Castle, Farnham, Surrey

Celebrant: Sarah Powell

Photographer: Vicki White

Ballons: Bubblegum Balloons

Leah’s dress: Anna Bridal

Neon pink stand: Vowed And Amazed

Entertainment: Karizma Band and guitarist James Mclean

p.s listen to Kerry & Leah’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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Peter & Katie standing in front of surf boards at their wedding - Australia
Patchwork Couples

An event stylist’s Australian beach wedding and party weekend

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

Today on the blog we meet gorgeous couple Peter & Katie and hear about their beautiful beach wedding in Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia. We are super excited to share with you not only their amazing surf-themed party extravaganza, but the HAPPIEST, MOST FUN FILLED wedding video we’ve ever seen. You REALLY don’t want to miss it.

Peter is from Germany, and Katie is from England, but they’ve both lived in Sydney for the last 11 years. Katie tells us they both love the sunshine, ocean, surfing and the outdoor lifestyle too much to return to Europe! They met just over three years ago and have had a very fun few years of hanging out with great friends, exploring Australia in their van, and going on pretty cool adventures.

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

How did you get engaged?

Peter proposed to me on a trip to WA, on the beach in Margaret River. My family were arriving a day later for a holiday so it was lovely to celebrate with them too!

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl
Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What kind of wedding did you plan?

We had a whole weekend with 100 of our friends and their kids for our beach wedding down on the South Coast of NSW. It is a very special venue which feels like you’re on a secret deserted island. You and your guests are the only ones there – there is a mix of gorgeous cabins and glamping tents. We had a Friday night BBQ + drinks on the beach, Saturday brekkie, followed by a fancy dress surf competition, chill time and then our ceremony in the afternoon overlooking the beach, followed by drinks, dinner and dancing. Sunday was hungover brekkie, paddle boarding, kayaking etc and then home. All in all very casual and very fun!

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl
Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

How did Covid affect your beach wedding plans?

Our family and friends overseas devastatingly couldn’t make it. My dad did an amazing speech on video which we played to everyone and our family and friends did an amazing collaboration video. We also live streamed our ceremony to everyone back home!

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl
Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What was your first dance?

We didn’t have one! After a year of no-one being able to dance, as soon as the music started, everyone exploded onto the dance floor and bounced up and down with such incredible energy for hours!! It was insane to see.

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl
Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What was your favourite part of the day?

Literally all of it. But the ceremony was so special, I’ve never felt such strong emotions all at once to walk up the aisle and see Peter. The speeches were amazing, the dancing, and the surf comp!

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What made you choose Patchwork for your gift registry?

I found you on insta, I think someone was recommending you guys! And it felt like the coolest gifting site I’d seen by far. It was so easy to use, and looks really good! It’s also probably the easiest way to ask for money, which we found very awkward! Our friends and family all loved it, it made it a bit of fun!

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What did you invite guests to contribute towards on your Patchwork?

We are big believers in experiences rather than material possessions. Due to covid, everything is so unknown so we couldn’t be too specific, just an idea of what we’d like to do. So we asked our friends to contribute to things like a drink, dinner, massage, skinny dip etc

Photo credit: Mitch Pohl
Photo credit: Mitch Pohl

What are your honeymoon plans?

As the borders are still closed around Australia, we have decided to make the most of it and travel up the coast in our van for about 5 weeks! We can have some pretty cool adventures all the way up like sailing the Whitsunday Islands, diving at Great Barrier Reef, surfing amazing deserted beaches and hiking in the rainforest. We can’t wait!

Thanks so much Peter and Katie for sharing your stunning beach wedding with us and huge congratulations from us all at Patchwork!! If you’ve been inspired to start your honeymoon fund check out our gorgeous easy-to-customise templates and get planning! We’ve also got loads of ideas for exciting and alternative wedding gift registries. If you’d like any inspiration for styling your own wedding, Katie runs an event styling business based in Sydney called With Smee. Check them out for brilliant inspiration for your weddings or parties!

Design concept and styling – With Smee
Katie & Peter would like to say a special thanks to the following suppliers for making their day extra amazing:

Matakata Tipi for the awesome tipi
Married by Todd for being the coolest celebrant there is
Mitch Pohl for epic photography
The Wilds Sydney for truly stunning flowers
Soft Launch and Georgia Draws a House for beautiful signage design and booklets
The Cove Jervis Bay for the most perfect wedding venue
The Vintage Stylus for the banging tunes + energy on the dance floor
Rabbit & Co Caterers for delicious food
Meet Mabel for awesome cocktails
Carte Blanche Bride for her beautiful dress by Laure de Sagazan
Kate McCoy for her gorgeous rings
P Johnson for Peter’s suit

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vintage floral sofa with pendant light hanging over and plants around
Wedding Planning

7 tips for planning an eco-friendly wedding

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

We asked Sheridan Roberts at HeadBox, the fastest growing venue finding platform in the UK and Ireland, to give us a rundown of the top 7 tips for planning an eco-friendly wedding. Read on for Sheridan’s simple, practical and sustainable ideas in this guest posted article.

In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to be unaware of your carbon footprint. That’s why more and more couples are seeking out new ways to be more socially responsible when it comes to planning a wedding.

Research from EventMB and MeetGreen shows that the average attendee at a typical event can discard up to 1.89kg of waste, of which 1.16kg goes into landfill. For a wedding with a large number of guests, this amount of waste adds up and can have a severe impact on the environment.

In 2018, there were over 220,000 weddings in England and Wales alone (according to the Office of National Statistics) and with the average guest list hovering at just over 100 it’s fair to say that couples are in need of inspiration to ensure they are planning an eco-friendly event.

These tips on how to plan a more eco-friendly wedding will not only tick all the right boxes when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint but will ensure you don’t miss out on all the special details you’ve dreamed of. As an added bonus, they may even help you keep your costs down!

Start with your venue

Without a doubt, the most important part of planning a wedding is finding the perfect venue, a venue that will provide a sensational backdrop for your special day, that will wow your guests and provide them all with special memories.

The venue is understandably something you won’t want to compromise on and luckily, in most cases, you won’t have to. But there are certainly ways to reduce your impact starting with travel.

The travel your guests undertake to attend your wedding is by far the biggest contributor when it comes to carbon emissions. If possible, opt for a venue that is close by or if travel is unavoidable, why not offer guests the opportunity to offset their travel as part of your invite? Companies such as myclimate.com offer the opportunity to offset emissions for air travel and car travel and could be a fun and unique alternative to a gift list.

The venue itself will have a significant impact on your carbon footprint. Contrary to popular belief, marquees, tents and any other temporary structures are likely to be worse for the environment.

Steer towards renowned wedding venues which are home to reusable technology, recycling facilities and are far less reliant on unsustainable resources. Many eco-wedding venues will have literature about their sustainable practices ready for you to read should you request them.

Image courtesy of Olio

Food for thought

The next major factor to address is catering. Over the past 3 years, HeadBox has been involved in organising some truly amazing events and so you don’t need to tell us that the success of any event can be defined by the food and drink on offer.

But where there is food, there is going to be surplus food, and where there is surplus food there is waste. This is not only a waste of food but also a waste of energy and money. The risk of trying to get the exact right amount of food for your guests is high – no one wants guests going unfed – but there are options to reduce food waste.

At HeadBox, we partner with OLIO, a mobile app for food-sharing that aims to reduce food waste by connecting people so surplus food can be shared and not thrown away. This is a no brainer! It ensures you don’t need to worry about running out of food for your guests but also takes away the guilt of throwing so much food away at the end of the day.

Invites by Deabill & Quince

Digitize on the day

Invites = paper, menus = paper, order of service = paper…paper, paper, PAPER. Weddings involve a lot of paper so why not consider e-Invites or using screens at the venue to display the order of service? If you don’t want to cut down on paper, make sure you recycle as much as you can. You can even include a gentle nudge to ‘recycle’ on your invite.

There are plenty of ways that your venue can help you to cut down on the vast amount of paper you use, but it’s all about asking the right questions. Do they have screens available to display the order of service or seating plans? Can lights be used to point people in the right direction? You could even use a digital guestbook, allowing your loved ones to take a picture and sign the image rather than writing in a book.

But, if you are dead-set on using paper for these elements, there are still a couple of things you can do for the environment. Using recycled paper is an obvious solution and even include a gentle reminder on the invitation to recycle your invite. After all, every little helps!

Image featuring design by @miasylviaa

Less light

Tying in with the idea of digitizing your event as much as possible is the idea of reducing your energy output completely. Of course, your theme determines the lighting at your wedding and will really set the mood of the event. But, too much lighting can be a large drain in terms of electricity usage.

The most obvious way of ensuring your lighting conforms to your eco-friendly wedding objectives is to have a daytime wedding or even go one step further and host your big day outdoors when you will be free of lighting altogether. Natural daylight can be fantastic in bringing out colours and really make the occasion bright and vibrant. Of course, this isn’t always possible so if you do choose to stay indoors then make the most of energy-saving lightbulbs, you can even throw light around the room by using mirrors, the options are endless!

Image by Electric Daisy Flower Farm

Fun with florals

When it comes to flowers, go seasonal, go fresh, go local! Some couples can end up spending thousands on floristry and perhaps that’s understandable. After all, what is a wedding without flowers? But, inevitably the flowers will get thrown away.

You can take the sustainable route and save money by avoiding out-of-season flowers and opting instead for organic floristry. Choose potted plants over Oasis, speak to your florist about what flowers are in season and therefore easier to get hold of, and even think about where you can source your flowers locally, the further your florist has to travel to source what you need the better for the environment.

flat deposit wedding gift fund patchwork

The Wishlist

As generous as it is for your guests to lavish you with items that fill up your gift table and provide you with wonderful momentums of your special day, inevitably some of those gifts will be unwanted gifts which can be a waste for you and detrimental for the environment.

But, the good news is this is easily remedied by using an alternative gift registry such as Patchwork. This innovative and stylish platform allows you to show friends and family the things you really want, and all funds go direct to you to spend when and how you like. Whether it’s contributions towards a honeymoon, a future home or project, or a year of date nights – with Patchwork the only limit is your imagination! Check out their gorgeous templates for eco-friendly wedding gift inspiration with zero waste.

Recycle, recycle, recycle

Recycling has been a common theme throughout this article and seems a pretty obvious way to finish, but it’s worth stressing once more the importance of recycling. Perhaps even more important is stressing that you shouldn’t compromise on any elements of your eco-friendly wedding. This is the biggest day of your life so if you want to use out-of-season flowers do so, and if you want to send paper invites do so, but whatever you do there is an opportunity to recycle.

Flowers don’t need to be discarded, there are organisations who will pick them up and donate them to great causes or you could even gift them to your service staff. Of course, if you’re using potted plants the obvious next step is to re-pot them!

Sheridan Roberts is a Senior Event Manager at HeadBox, the fastest growing Event Tech brand in the UK and Ireland. Our purpose is to bring people and spaces together to make brilliant things happen, everywhere.

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Patchwork Couple Katie and Matt's Soho wedding London
Patchwork CouplesWedding Planning

Patchwork Couple: A Soho Wedding and Ski Honeymoon Funded by Friends

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

We’ve been SO looking forward to hearing Katie of Crux London, tell us about her dreamy engagement to husband Matt, and their joyous and colourful London Soho wedding. We know you’re going to love reading this, so we’ll get straight to it and let Katie tell all about their celebrations. Oh and their French ski honeymoon, funded by family and friends with a little help from Patchwork…

Patchwork Couple Katie and Matt kissing on their wedding day

How did you get engaged?

We got engaged during our best date ever! We were on holiday in Maiori Italy on the Amalfi Coast. Earlier that day we were on a boat trip coming home back from Positano, I was asleep, resting on his shoulder. I suddenly felt this huge rush of love. I looked at him and said “did you feel that?” -!?!. Little did I know that he was rehearsing what he was going to say to me at dinner later that night. Earlier on in the holiday I suggested we treat each other to a surprise evening. He said it was a great idea “I’ll do Wednesday” – and I said “I’ll do Thursday”.

So, on Wednesday night and he basically took me to a castle jutting out of the coastline. It was an open air restaurant with a huge chandelier and grand piano. WOWA. The sky was pink opal coloured. We sat down and I was like “this is the most incredible place we had ever been!” We chatted about how happy and lucky we were and briefly talked about killer bees…!?! Suddenly fireworks started shooting out over the sea from the cliff right by us. I was like “OK THIS IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST DATE WE HAVE EVER HAD”. He then brought out an Oval Yellow Diamond, my favorite!. One knee, tears, family calls, more tears – the restaurant must have thought he was breaking up with me. It was the greatest day of my life!

Katie getting ready for her Soho wedding to Matt

Tell us about the ring!

Well being a jeweller myself I had very fixed ideas of what I wanted down to the exact shade of yellow diamond and setting. Luckily my bestie is a jeweller so she’s had notes of exactly what I wanted for the past…. 10 years ha! Jewellery is so much more than jewellery to me. The way Matt proposed just gave this yellow diamond a heart. It’s my sunshine diamond. When I look at it it transports me back to that incredible moment. Kirstie and Matt made the most jawdropingly beautiful ring together.

Soho wedding - Patchwork Couple Katie and Matt
Close up of flowers on table at Soho wedding reception

What kind of wedding did you plan?

Colourful and Easy (if weddings can be easy)

We got married at L’escargot, in Soho (the ceremony room overlooked Cheapskates where we had our first kiss) No one has had their wedding there before so it felt really special. I stayed over at Kettners the night before and morning of. Our wedding night was at The Ned and I have to say it was such a dream day. No traveling around, I got to focus purely on Matt and our friends and family.

Soho wedding Katie and Matt
Soho wedding Katie and Matt

What was your first dance?

Aretha Franklin, “You send me” and then a surprise uni megamix created by our friends.

Bride coming downstairs in a confetti shower

What was your favourite part of the day?

OMG. Possibly when we made the twirling staircase turn into a snowglobe of flowers. The confetti was made by my MoH Kirstie, her mum passed away in the lead up to our wedding. Kirstie saved and dried all the flowers to make confetti for me. It was the most wonderful present. Those petals mean so much to me. It was a really precious moment with everyone we love.

Patchwork ski honeymoon fund in iPad

Why did you choose Patchwork for your honeymoon fund?

I discovered Patchwork at Most curious wedding fair! – Loved the idea and felt like it was just the easiest thing ever! It was nicely designed and I loved that it linked up to paypal. Our friends and family loved it too!

view of ski slopes and blue sky - ski honeymoon

What did you invite guests to contribute to and why?

We asked for contributions that we could put towards a ski trip! Each patch had a value £25, £50, £100, £200. At that stage we didn’t know where we wanted to go so this was a nice and easy way to ask for help towards honeymoon dreaming.

Patchwork Couple Katie and Matt toasting on honeymoon
Patchwork Couple Katie and Matt on ski honeymoon

How did it feel when you set off on your honeymoon?

IT FELT AMAZING. CAN PATCHWORK HELP FUND EVERY HOLIDAY PLEASE?!! We had a week in Devon, then a week in France Skiing. We are both self employed and couldn’t get our heads round taking a longer break. But now with covid I wish we stayed away for longer! We wanted to do something we knew we would never be able to save for ourselves. We are pros at city breaks and beachy European holidays so skiing felt like something special we could experience together. Oh and après ski!!!!

Would you recommend your honeymoon to other couples?

Yes, do it! Ski, eat loads of cheese and wine. Répéter! AVOID BLACK RUNS.

Thank you so much Katie and Matt for letting us share in these amazing wedding memories and absolutely gorgeous photos! Congratulations again from all of us at Patchwork.

If you’ve been inspired to create your own Patchwork honeymoon fund, browse our 100s of readymade templates or get creative and build your own page from scratch.

Here are some of the amazing suppliers who helped make Katie & Matt’s Soho wedding even more special:

Photographer : Jessica Williams Photography

Shoes: Loeffler Randall

Dress and flower girl dresses: Bebbington Bridal bespoke wedding dresses

Make-up : Amy George Makeup

Hair : Hershesons

Earrings : Crux London

Engagement Ring : Kirstie MacLaren Jewellery (My bestie & MoH)

Sparkle Wall: Mariel Osborn

Flowers bought 3 days before : New Covent Garden Flower Market

Ceremony flowers and bouquet : Pulteney Bridge Flowers

Large Gold Disco Ball : Mirrorballpaul

Videographer : Thomas Wootton

Location (Ceremony, Reception, Party!!!) : L’sescargot, Soho, London

Brides house : Jacobean Suite, Ketteners, Soho, London

Grooms house : The Groucho Club

Wedding Night London : The Ned, London

Honeymoon part 1 – Devon : A friend gave us his key to his family holiday home in Devon for the week after our big day. Thanks Tom!

Honeymoon part 2 – Bath : A weekend in Bath after Devon, No 15 Great Pulteney

Honeymoon part 3 – France: Résidence Club MMV Le Cœur des Loges

P.s. you can listen to Katie and Matt’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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Gay couple groom and groom on wedding day, sitting and holding hands
Patchwork Couples

Patchwork Couple: Glamorous London Wedding & Magical Honeymoon to India

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

Matt and Kris met through Twitter, but really hit it off over a conversation about Eurovision! Kris says “I think we both instantly knew that we had similar interests – Matt was at Eurovision in Kiev at the time having spent a few weeks travelling through Eastern Europe, and I was currently on a UK tour with a singer. Within a few weeks, we were inseparable.” Matt is originally from St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, and Kris is from Maldon, Essex, but they now call London home. We chat to them about their stylish London wedding and magical honeymoon to India, made even better with generous gift list contributions from family and friends.

How did you get engaged?

In keeping with our love for travel, Matt proposed in New York only 4 months after we met. We were both actually there for work, but Matt took the day off on a whim and we took the ferry out to Governors Island where we were completely alone, and Matt popped the question! It turns out he had been planning this since very early on in our relationship. I woke up to him measuring my ring finger one morning, and turns out he had collected the ring whilst in New York and had been carrying it with him all the time, waiting for the right moment!

Groom getting ready with wedding party around him
Groom and groom at wedding reception table

What kind of wedding did you plan?

From the outset we knew we wanted to keep the ceremony small, and London based, so that we could have a big party in the evening and all of our friends could join. We had both made our lives in London and made our “friends for life” so it seemed odd to travel out of the city we call home to have a wedding that people may struggle to come to. It was a priority that the important members of our families (from all over the world) would be able to join us, and of course they were happy to make the effort to travel into London! We wanted to be quite traditional, but also being a same-sex wedding, we knew we could make our own traditions and have something quite fun!

Groom and groom on wedding day in London Street
Groom and groom at evening wedding reception with guests in background

What was your first dance?

Our first dance was an acoustic version of “Symphony” by Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson. I’m a musician so we called in as many favours as we could on the day, so it was sung by a good friend of mine. We had a live band play and even a string quartet! Matt is a very good dancer too, so we had even lightly choreographed it and involved both our parents, before the music picked up for the final chorus and we got everybody up dancing! It was spectacular!

Black and white image of groom and groom and wedding party - formal shot

What was your favourite part of the day?

Seeing everybody in the same room was really the best part of the day. Never again will we get everybody from both sides of our families, as well as all our friends in the same room, so that was really special. So many people had made such an effort, and having them sharing their love was everything we could have asked for!

Why did you choose a Patchwork honeymoon fund for your gift list?

We wanted to find a way to include our guests in our honeymoon that wasn’t just them giving us some money. As travel enthusiasts, we had already planned our perfect trip and so we were really able to tailor our gift list to our trip. The Patchwork gift list allowed us to include options for people to contribute towards hotel stays, restaurants, monument visits and day trips we had already picked out. We were then able to thank our guests personally by posting on social media with pictures of what we had been up to and showing them what their gift money was spent on. It also meant that different budgets were easily looked after – some friends were able to club together to buy a big experience and others could purchase a couple of smaller items if they wanted to.

Patchwork Couple on honeymoon in India riding camels
Patchwork Couple on honeymoon in India in front of Taj Mahal

What was the best bit about using Patchwork?

Patchwork was the best gift list we found for its personalisation, and the website was super simple to use. Even the most technophobe family members found it easy! They also enjoyed seeing what we were planning on doing and then feeling like they were part of the fun! We cannot recommend it enough!

Patchwork Couple on honeymoon in India with elephants

How did it feel to set off on your honeymoon?

Matt and I like to travel a lot, but having everybody chip in made it so much more perfect. We have both lived in London for a long time, and so we didn’t need a normal John Lewis wedding gift list of lovely presents for our house! We already had everything we needed, and people were asking what they could offer us. Having people contribute towards our honeymoon was the perfect option, as it meant we could really travel in style, and afford to do everything that we might not have been able to do, considering we were away for a month!

Patchwork Couple on honeymoon in India in tuk-tuk

Would you recommend your trip to other couples?

We travelled to India for our honeymoon. We wanted to go somewhere that felt magical and substantial enough for a honeymoon, as well as somewhere we could spend a chunk of time. Having a full month off meant we could travel through Rajasthan, Mumbai, Kerala and Goa – there’s still plenty that we didn’t see and would go back in a flash! It was also important to us that our honeymoon should be somewhere that was LGBT+ friendly, and some of the tropical destinations we wanted to travel to were not. India was super friendly, and has open arms to all of its travellers – we had a fantastic time.

Thank you so much Kris and Matt for sharing your gorgeous wedding and honeymoon photos and memories with us!

If you’ve been inspired to create your own honeymoon fund patchwork we have templates covering destinations from Argentina to Zanzibar and everywhere in between. It’s easy to get started with one of our beautiful readymade templates, or if you’re feeling super creative, you can build your own from scratch.

Kris and Matt planned their itinerary in India based on a few travel guides and then booked their honeymoon accommodation through AirBnB, booking.com and privately. They even set up a blog so you can see more of the amazing journeys they’ve had together!

If you’re looking for some amazing suppliers, here are some of those who made Kris and Matt’s day even more special:

Cake: Etoile Bakery

Venue: One Whitehall Place

Flowers: Floral Design House

Photographer: Libby Christensen

Videographer: Michael Tsim

p.s listen to Kris and Matt’s first dance on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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Close up portrait of bride and groom smiling at each other in doorway in sunshine
Patchwork Couples

Patchwork Couple: A Yorkshire Wedding and a Colombian Honeymoon Adventure

by Rosie Hurwitz
written by Rosie Hurwitz

The rain didn’t spoil this stunning Yorkshire wedding! Self-employed musician Tom, and university counsellor Anne, live in Leeds, where Tom is born and bred. They’ve been together for 8 years after originally meeting while travelling in China in 2010. Anne took the plunge and moved from her home in the Netherlands to the UK in 2012 and has not looked back since. Well OK, she admits she does miss home at times! They both love to travel and are interested in exploring different cultures, cuisines and the natural world. We chat to them about their Yorkshire wedding and month long Colombian honeymoon adventure.

How did you get engaged?

We had a very nice Christmas Eve dinner at Tom’s parents’ place and decided to go out for a walk afterwards. Tom had chosen the place previously – an old bandstand on the edge of a nearby park. We walked there through the woods in the dark, and when we finally arrived we were unfortunately not alone, as a small group of young people were already there, celebrating the occasion by sharing some ‘herbal’ cigarettes… so it was time for Plan B. Fortunately this was the area Tom grew up in so we deviated slightly and walked to a nice little pond which was very pretty in the moonlight. Tom gave me my early Christmas pressie, and asked in the traditional manner – ‘Shall we?’ – to which I replied… ‘Ok.’ (Jokes. I said ‘yes please’!)

Wedding breakfast tables set with natural decor, logs and tea lights

Quite an eventful proposal! And then, what kind of wedding did you plan?

We wanted to have a small wedding originally, but as these things tend to do it rapidly snowballed. I have a large family with several aunties and uncles on both sides and millions of cousins… so the numbers gradually got bigger and bigger! As we had lots of international guests, some of whom had never visited the UK before, we decided to get married in a typical Yorkshire location and ended up settling on Standedge Visitors Centre in Marsden, West Yorks – a stunning converted storage warehouse on the canal up in the Pennines. We decorated the venue ourselves with help from our amazing family and friends and had an absolutely incredible (and very wet!) wedding day.

What was your first dance?

We danced to Eva Cassidy’s Songbird – performed by Katie and the Northern House Motown Band.

What was your favourite part of the day?

Tom: It was seeing Anne for the first time walking down the aisle in her stunning Morilee dress, closely followed by my brother Laurence’s outrageous best man speech.

Anne: Arriving by boat in the torrential rain was both surreal and hilarious fun! And seeing Tom crying his eyes out was also fun. Pie and Mash provided by Hinchliffe’s farm (a very last-minute rescue job! Thanks guys!) was perfect! But I think what takes the prize is looking across the room and seeing everyone you love in one place there to celebrate with you, an absolute one-off experience which is very difficult to put into words.

What made you choose Patchwork?

We felt quite strongly that we did not want people to buy us any ‘stuff’ as we have pretty much everything we need here at home. However, as we love to travel so much we had our hearts set on an epic adventure honeymoon – Patchwork gave us the opportunity to invite our guests to contribute to this, and also for us to document our experiences with photos and share them with everyone.

What did you ask guests to contribute towards?

We invited our guests to contribute towards our honeymoon in Colombia. People funded specific honeymoon experiences and adventures, such as a cruise around the Cartagena bay, a dinosaur bones cycling tour, and a coffee farm experience.

woman on honeymoon in Colombia, picking leaves
Couple on honeymoon in Colombia

What were some of the highlights of your honeymoon?

We spent a month travelling around Colombia, really learning a lot about this previously mysterious country. It felt like several holidays combined into one as each destination we visited felt so very different and unique. The cities were vibrant and occasionally chaotic! The mountainous coffee and cacao growing areas were stunning, sleepy and with beautifully preserved Spanish colonial architecture. And we swam in the Caribbean Sea, ate lobster on beautiful white beaches, as well as hiking through the jungles of the national parks. Perhaps the absolute highlight though was finding that we had an entire hotel to ourselves – and not just any hotel, the most stunning and luxurious Hacienda style accommodation in the whole of Colombia! The Hacienda Buenavista, Quindio.

Man on honeymoon in Colombia having cocktails on beach

How did you feel when you set off on your travels knowing everyone had chipped in to make it happen?

We thought of our guests and our contributors at almost every turn. Because of them we were able to travel in business class for the first (and probably only!) time in our lives. We were able to stay at beautiful hotels and resorts such as the above, and we were able to go on incredible adventures over a really good long holiday. They really made it a dream come true for us, so it was very special to be able to share it all with them.

What was the best bit about Patchwork?

The best thing about using Patchwork was being able to share our experiences on the honeymoon with our guests, and for them to feel that they were a part of our adventure. It was also very easy to set up and use, and it was great that you could set all the prices for contributions so that no one would feel left out. Our family and friends loved it and a lot of them have said that they would use this service too.

Finally, would you recommend your trip to other honeymooners?

Absolutely! In particular Colombia’s coffee region and the city of Medellin. Barichara and Villa de Leyva further east were also stunning.

Thanks so much Anne and Tom for letting us share in your gorgeous celebrations. Congratulations from Team Patchwork!

If you’ve been inspired to create your own Patchwork honeymoon fund, browse our 100s of readymade templates or get creative and  build your own page from scratch.

Anne & Tom booked everything independently, with accommodation mostly booked through Booking.com. They had a little help from Jack’s Flight Club who alerted them to some really good value Business Class flights on Lufthansa.

Below are some of the other suppliers that made their day amazing:

Wedding Venue: Standedge Visitors Centre

Photographer: Jo Boulton with editing by Claire Basiuk

Anne’s Dress: Morilee

Band: Northern House Motown Band

Catering: Hinchliffe’s farm

P.s. listen to Anne & Tom’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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Patchwork LovesWedding Planning

The women positive media, events and wedding inspiration

by Ismay Ozga
written by Ismay Ozga

The wedding industry is, more often than not, targeted at women as the ones with the purchasing power. However, a lot of it is done in really archaic stereotypical ways. The assumptions that you’ll be dieting for your wedding dress, or that you’re wearing a dress in the first place! The assumption that you’ll be taking your partner’s name, or that you can only propose to your partner on one specific day every 4 years…the list goes on. If all you see is the mainstream wedding coverage, it can seem a pretty alienating place. BUT DON’T WORRY! That isn’t the whole of the industry. Of course with five feminist women running Patchwork alternative wedding registry we can promise you that you’ll only find positive posts that celebrate and empower women on our blog and across our social media. But today we thought we’d share a few of our favourite independent media and events brands that will make you feel good and fill your wedding planning journey with love and power every step of the way.

Catalyst Wedding Co.

Catalyst Wedding Co. offer wedding inspiration and advice, all – most importantly – with an intersectional feminist lens. Their entire MO is to increase the representation of diverse couples in the media, and to ‘engage in critical dialogue about love, marriage, and weddings.’ Those critical conversations don’t mean anything unless they bring in race, religion, gender, sexuality, class, body size, and more into the frame, and the team do so in such an incredible way. We love every single one of their posts!

Dancing With Her

Dancing With Her is a magazine, directory and blog celebrating LGBTQ+ women in love. Though they ship worldwide, they’re an Australian-founded outlet – and you know what they say about those Aussies and their impeccable style! They’ve created a community of ‘women who love women to celebrate their love the way they’ve dreamt of doing’ – and that is what it’s all about, is it not?

Nu Bride

Nu Bride is the brainchild of diversity campaigner Nova Reid. As a black woman, she found it really hard to find representation in the mainstream media when she got engaged – and so she created her own. Nu Bride is multi-award-winning – and rightly so! – and is one of our favourite resources for truly representative inspiration and advice. Last year Nova launched Nu Bride: The Show, the ground-breaking first inclusive wedding show, and this year she’s gone on stage as a TedX speaker. We’re in awe.

Rock n Roll Bride

Kat’s been championing alternative weddings since 2007, when she founded her blog based on her own experience as a bride planning a wedding that was anything but cookie cutter. Whilst still sharing extraordinary and unique wedding inspiration – and now with a bimonthly magazine under her belt too – she also uses her platform to call out the bull**** diatribe that a lot of the big platforms blurt out.

The Un-Wedding

The clue is in the name! Whereas nowadays weddings are a firm focus on love and a celebration of equality, their roots are in the patriarchy. This still filters through sometimes in terms of traditions, which is why Mel’s motto is to make new ones. We love this approach – picking only the ones that mean something to you, and creating new ones that resonate too. (They have a wedding show coming up too, which we’ll be at – grab your tickets here!)

A Most Curious Wedding Fair

A Most Curious Wedding Fair are all about supporting the indie businesses: the artisans, the makers, the movers and the shakers. They’ve the go-to wedding fair for couples looking for something different; a curation of suppliers who are pushing boundaries to create alternative weddings that really feel like you, and who want to work with you to create magic. We regularly refer to them for exceptional inspiration, know-how and know-who. Plus, they promise never to put diet shakes in their goody bag!

The Wedding Collective

We’re proud members of The Wedding Collective, a directory connecting couples with modern, creative suppliers who revel in creating authentic wedding days. We love that they don’t buy in to the usual tropes, instead focussing on what really matters: excellent design and an excellent spouse. What else do you even need, really?

Restless Magazine

Restless Magazine are relatively new, but the waves they’ve made in that short time are sizable and seismic. Curating articles focused at ‘women who give a damn’ (errr, that’s us!) they cover loads of really interesting topics. In particular, we’ve loved a load of great pieces from Alice Snape on her thoughts on marriage as a modern woman. We’re looking forward to more with this modern lens!

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Patchwork LovesWedding Planning

10 amazing women wedding suppliers you need

by Ismay Ozga
written by Ismay Ozga

As feminist founders one of the reasons we started Patchwork was because we were shocked that wedding gift lists are so outdated. As women the idea of celebrating our weddings with new pots and pans is just offensive. After all it’s 2020 not 1950. Patchwork is all about inspiring and empowering couples to think beyond the kitchen sink. To dream big by providing a way for friends and family to collectively contribute towards the one thing they really want as a wedding gift. Whether that’s an adventure honeymoon, a patch of woodland, joint tattoos, a new life in a yurt in Spain. The good news is there are loads of amazing women-founded businesses. They’re using creativity to challenge and change the wedding industry for the better. So today we’re celebrating 10 women who are not only fabulous wedding suppliers but also feminist heroes. Read on….

Sam Ham Design

@samhamdesign

Sam Ham Design’s wedding ring collection – as well as her other pieces of delicious jewellery – are feminist masterpieces. She describes her designs as “Demanding recognition forged on strength of character rather than on expectations of gender”. This gets a room full of applause from us, frankly! Her wedding and engagement collection comprises seven individual rings. Any of which can fit together seamlessly to represent the two equal halves of a wedding coming together.

Katie The Celebrant

@katiethecelebrant @lexflemingphoto

Though we adore weddings, we don’t like the patriarchy and all the outdated traditions it brings with it. That’s why we love Katie The Celebrant’s approach to celebrancy, where there’s no template. It’s just a couple in love and a story to be told. This frees you up for a granny flowergirl, a dog ring bearer and mid-ceremony karaoke – if you so wish. And this also means that there’s no vows of servitude and no precedent of being given away. As Katie is a Humanist Celebrant, a portion of her fees go back to Humanists UK. A charity who were instrumental in a lot of incredible campaigning such as equal marriage and abortion laws. Finally, if that hasn’t convinced you that she’s a feminist wedding supplier of dreams, she also does speech writing workshops for brides, because she wants to encourage more women to use their voice. An icon.

Parrot and Pineapple

@parrotnpineapple

Rowan is, in her own words, ‘a certified snowflake feminist’, which is just how we like our wedding suppliers. As well as specialising in colourful, fun-loving, informal wedding photography, she also provides loads of support for feminist couples who are looking for ways to navigate the wedding planning process in an empowering way. She promises never to feed into the Princess complex. This means she’ll never automatically assume that you want to be treated as Princess on your wedding day. However, if you do want to be, then that’s a-ok too! And we’re not ones to dismiss Bridezillas, weddings can be stressful and your emotions are valid.

The Feconomy

@thefeconomy

Pip and Tara set up The Feconomy to support and champion female-founded food businesses. In a time where we’re all being encouraged to be more thoughtful with our purchases and where they’re coming from, supporting female-founded businesses is a really important move to make. Their food spreads are vistas of retro deliciousness, with 1970s-inspired styling and recipes, created by them and exclusively made from ingredients from companies founded by womxn. Imagine how much greater cocktail hour is when you knew that each and every canape is supporting a woman in business?

Joyce Connor

@joyceconnormakeup @robgardnerphotography1

We met the lovely Joyce via Nu Bride: The Wedding Show last year and love her approach to bridal make-up – enhancing natural beauty, rather than trying to cover it up or change anything. It’s a firm Patchwork belief that you should feel like yourself on your wedding day – a more jazzy, dressed-up version maybe, but still authentically you. She also runs workshops for the cancer charity Look Good Feel Better, because she’s a total legend.

Alice Gabb

@alicegabb

Sure, you could fall in love with Alice for countless reasons – her exceptional vintage wardrobe, impeccable hair, and excellent taste in London coffee shops are a few – but the main things we love her for are her incredible handlettering and banner making. When we say her banners make excellent statement pieces for your wedding decor, we mean statements quite literally: as each banner is custom-made, they can display whatever message you like. Messages around values, morality and belonging are particularly loved, as the inspiration for the banners came from involvement in a Women’s March in America a few years ago. They also tick eco-credentials boxes too, as they’re made from vintage fabrics, and can be reused as home decor when the day is over. Yes please!

Strength and Stem

@strengthandstem

What’s better than gorgeous flowers? May seem like a rhetorical question, but in actual fact there is something better: gorgeous flowers that also empower disadvantaged women. Strength and Stem is a social enterprise created to empower women who’ve been victims of human trafficking by teaching them skills within the floristry industry. By working with them on your wedding arrangements, you’re not only getting gorgeous florals, but also supporting women – double win!

Heart Aflutter Bridal Boutique

@heart_aflutter

Heart Aflutter are winning the bridal game in every conceivable way. Firstly, they carry a curated selection of only independent designers, meaning your dress would never be mass-made (and therefore mass-thrown away once the season ends!); secondly, said independent designers are paving the way with exciting, non-traditional designs; thirdly, they carry sizes between 8 and 22, making it a super inclusive shopping experience (as they all should be).

Alice and Rosa

@aliceandrosa

We love the growing trend for statement cakes – as in cakes that actually make a statement. Favourites include pretty much most of all the messages iced on to cakes made by US based The Sweet Feminist and right now we are also loving this boob cake by the London based and always-excellent Alice and Rosa. Why not use your wedding cake and some sweet, sweet icing skills to make a statement?

Gettin’ Hitched Rocks

@gettinhitchedrocks

Gettin’ Hitched Rocks create modern wedding stationery sets that match their swanky wedding websites (yes, you read correctly: we live in the future). Mell and her team also have loads of fab resources for couples who want to ‘stay whelmed’ during their wedding planning journey – aka staying sane and enjoying it, whilst not caving to traditions that mean nothing to you. They also have excellent gender-neutral stationery, such as their fab “Will you be my mate of honour?” cards.

There are of course so many amazing women working in the wedding industry, we’d love to hear from you who else we should know about!

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