Today on our blog we chat to some amazing wedding suppliers and industry friends who have chosen to use Patchwork wedding registry for their own celebrations. What is it about Patchwork that makes those in the know choose us? Read on to find out!
With thanks to our fabulous contributors, Louie of TH&TH, Justine of Holdfast Ceremonies, Hana Laurie Photography, Callie of StudioDine, Gabrielle & August of With Pride Weddings and Mercedes of 4Ya Party Weddings and Events.
As wedding suppliers yourselves, we’re interested to hear what kind of wedding you planned?
Louie: We planned an über grand event at a stately home – the beautiful Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire, made famous by Jane Austen who wrote about it in Northanger Abbey. It’s a really romantic venue, we married in the stunning Orangery overlooking the River Avon. Afterwards we made our way to the Georgian Stucco salon for our wedding breakfast where we dined on the most delicious duck I’ve ever tasted! I asked everyone to dress in their finery and they didn’t disappoint.
Callie: We knew we wanted a pretty relaxed day and that the most important thing was having all our friends and family there. Something less traditional and full of personality. Being a wedding stylist myself, I can’t pretend I didn’t feel the pressure right off the bat though. It was finally my opportunity to do everything exactly as I wanted. Obviously it had to be beautiful! But fun and colour were definitely priorities. Oh and the food. The food was very important. We chose Loft Studios which had the perfect casual, London vibe and sourced everything ourselves. A lot of work but so so worth it in the end.
Hana: A wedding of two halves. We both wanted a private, intimate ceremony – me so that it didn’t feel like work, and Tom because he gets a bit nervous sometimes. On our legal marriage day we walked to the register office with the dogs via a quick stop in our local. We were relaxed and joyful that day, and went to the pub for a slap up meal afterwards before spending the night alone in a shepherds hut with hot tub. Both of us were absolutely up for a mad party too, though, and the next day we threw an epic reception; we’ve got very specific aesthetic style together and went for blank/pink and iridescent rainbow vibes. We love our rock/metal and pop music and wanted to put on a complete circus for all our family and friends. We chose to use an incredible celebrant to bring the 2nd ceremony to life, and had temporary tattoos, no sit down meal, an icecream cart and a silent disco.
Mercedes: “Alex and I get married officially in August this year after getting the legal bit out of the way last year. Now we just need to decide if we want our Patchwork to fund our photographer or our honeymoon! Decisions, decisions!”
Why did you choose Patchwork for your gift registry?
Justine: “It was so exciting and refreshing to find Patchwork. We are super lucky to be in the position of not needing or wanting more ‘things’ and really wanted to head off people buying us stuff we didn’t need.” Patchwork’s ethics also played a part in why we chose it. It is unique in not only encouraging people to buy less ‘stuff’ but in really engaging with the climate crisis we all now find ourselves in. Giving 50% to organisations that are dedicated to creating a sustainable planet for everyone is extraordinary and it was a no-brainer to support this mission.”
Louie: “It felt like such a personal and fun way for those of our guests who wanted to give us a gift.”
Hana: “I shot a wedding before the pandemic of a couple who’d used Patchwork, and I was really impressed with the whole thing. It makes so much sense to me to be able to personalise your registry for things you actually want and need, while also being able to control the budget.”
Callie: “I knew from the moment I met you guys that we would use Patchwork for our wedding. Other than you being the dreamiest team and working with you previously, it just made so much sense. We loved that we could totally customise it to what we wanted and that we’d be giving back to environmental charities with our fee. A huge win-win.”
Gabrielle & August: “As a team of wedding planners and designers we specialize in finding sustainable, creative and experience-based outlets in the wedding world so that everyone can Wed With Pride! We recently celebrated our love story after several Covid-related postponements. One of the only good things that came out of the delay was meeting the incredible team at Patchwork! ”
Mercedes: “Alex and I have a big passion for the environment and doing our bit in our business and in our personal lives. It was a no-brainer when we found out that Patchwork give 50% of their fees to environmental charities, one of which we have supported ourselves in our business.”
What did you ask guests to contribute towards?
Louie: “We wanted to fund our honeymoon – we knew we wanted the trip of a lifetime, never to be repeated. We followed an itinerary inspired by The Grand Tour, taken by the nobility in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The trip allowed us to be immersed in culture but also have some relaxation mixed in. We had so many comments about the amusing items we added to our Patchwork registry – we added things like Ouzo shots for when we were partying in Mykonos, and Turkish Hammam for our Istanbul trip. It was so much more fun than asking for a teapot!”
Justine: “We have a sailing boat and decided to make the biggest, most challenging trip of our life so far, from Chichester to Spain or Portugal, for six weeks. We needed various safety items and, though staying places at anchor or in marinas is much cheaper than hotels, we still needed some help funding six weeks away. Friends and family helped fund a life raft (!), boring boat maintenance stuff, beers, coffees, ice creams and lunches, to a first month anniversary dinner, a whale watching trip, a scuba diving session and a picnic on a volcano!
Hana: “I’d had my house for 5 years at this point, so we didn’t need bath towels or cutlery, and instead asked for photo frames for the wedding photos we’d receive and experiences for our honeymoon. Thanks to our guests knowing what they were contributing towards, we were able to thank them directly for frames, beers, a posh lunch, a day out at XCaret in Cancun, Mexico and so many more experiences.”
Callie: “We decided to ask guests to contribute towards our honeymoon. We’ve lived together for years now, so we didn’t need gifts or any more ‘stuff’! We just wanted to have the best time away together in Italy.”
What was the best bit about using Patchwork?
Louie: “What made all of this (our honeymoon) even more special was knowing everyone we loved had made it possible – it was the most magical feeling. It was the best trip of our life!”
Justine: “Setting up our page was easy – and fun! Coming up with ways of helping us have a wonderful trip was entertaining and very simple. Once we’d launched there was always a squeal of delight in our house when we got a notification email to say that someone had donated to our honeymoon fund. And it mattered not whether it was a small or large amount.”
Hana: “The freedom to design and upload your own gift ideas was amazing. We uploaded photos of the accommodation we wanted to book, the restaurants/cuisine we might want to go to, the actual items we were asking for etc. It made it much more real, and much more personal – and when we then thanked those people they could see we really did do what we said we would!”
Callie: “It was just so easy and so much less icky than asking our guests for cold hard cash! Haha! We completely mapped out our trip on it from meals out to hotels and activities so there was a total range of things and prices. It was so fun seeing what people bought us too.”
Gabrielle & August: “We fully customized our Patchwork – including using gorgeous graphics and creating captions that sounded like us – before sharing it with our family and friends. We were proud to utilize Patchwork’s service, especially knowing that a portion of the Patchwork fee went towards Earth-friendly charities.”
Mercedes: “We love how flexible and unique Patchwork is. We have been living together as a blended family for over a year, we don’t need pots and pans! Patchwork allows us to choose something that is special to us that our family and friends would be happy to share with us.”
And what did your friends and family think?
Louie: “They just loved how easy it was and really liked that they got to buy us special experiences. And we loved that we could show our personality – we could really get ourselves across to our wedding guests.”
Justine: “Family and friends were delighted to be able to choose from a wide variety of ways to help us, big or small. We’ll be recommending it for sure!”
Hana: “Our friends and family were glad it was so easy to use, and to see what they were getting for us. I think they also appreciated that we were able to be so specific in our gratitude afterwards.”
Callie: “They loved it. We had so many compliments on how great of an idea it was, and found everyone loved being able to choose what they were contributing towards. It was lovely that we could send people updates throughout our trip too of things we were doing that they’d made possible. So many friends have gone on to use it for their weddings now too and we love being on the reverse, getting to choose for them!”
Gabrielle & August: “Our guests had such a fun time taking a peek into our honeymoon and life plans through our suggested contributions; we feel like we’ve taken them with us on our American roadtrip.”
More on our fabulous contributors….
Louie founder of bridal and bridesmaid dress brand TH&TH married Andy at Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire. They used Patchwork to invite guests to treat them to experiences on their incredible “grand tour” of Europe.
Humanist wedding celebrant Justine of Holdfast Ceremonies married Pete in the summer of 2022 and guests helped fund their East Atlantic sailing adventure!
Hampshire based alternative wedding photographer Hana married Tom at their local registry office and then the following day had a huge party at The Joneses Studio. Their Patchwork included option for friends and family to buy them anything from a massage in Mexico, to Mac ‘n’ Cheese at Mollie’s Diner!
Callie is founder of StudioDine – London based creative design studio and the destination for modern table styling. Callie married Sam at Loft Studios and invited guests to treat them to Aperitvo, pasta, cooking lessons and incredible accommodation on their Puglia honeymoon Patchwork.
Gabrielle & August are the couple behind With Pride Weddings – a Queer-led, Queer-focused wedding and events company that celebrates all! They wed at Greenwoods Hotel and their Patchwork registry offered options for guests to treat them to experiences on their American road trip.
Mercedes is founder of 4YaParty Weddings and Events who provide beautiful, eco-friendly venue decor and styling, and specialise in Rustic, Boho and Vintage styles. Mercedes & Alex are due to marry this year and have yet to decide what to include on their Patchwork!
Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your wedding and honeymoon stories, and for sharing with us why you think Patchwork is the best! Huge hugs from the Patchwork Team. If YOU’RE part of a super stylish couple who would like a unique, personal and not-available-anywhere-else registry for your guests to get excited about check us out here!
