The Vintage Bridal Bouquet Etsy shop now has a whole fresh batch for you to choose from, with more coming soon (follow along on my brooch bouquet blog (handy if you use Tumblr), check in on the brooch bouquet page on Facebook, or keep an eye on my Twitter or Pinterest streams – I’ll be adding each new bouquet to all those as they are ‘born’, so pick whichever kind of update suits you – and let me know what you think of them, I’d love more feedback.

The brooch bouquet trend is gaining ever more fans and it was really flattering to be featured in the “Let’s Get Hitched” supplement that comes with the latest edition of Mollie Makes magazine, for lovers of all things handmade. The duck-egg blue number pictured in the article is still available in my Etsy shop – grab it while you can!

Old legends and history tell us that St Bridget struck a deal with St Patrick to change proposals around, allowing women to propose to men every four years; 29^th February!  It is said that this was to introduce a balance in the roles of both men and women, similar to how a Leap Day balances out the calendar.

So girls, now you have a proposal on your mind, how are you going to do it?  Here are a few ideas:

If you want to make a big proposal get together with your friends or family, cook your man’s favourite meal or book a fancy restaurant and scatter the table with some beautiful natural petals to set the ambience.  After enjoying a wonderful meal, make a dessert and write “will you marry me” around the dessert plate with chocolate – how romantic.

If you would prefer to make the proposal alone, go for a nice walk to calm your nerves, open a bottle of wine when you get home handing your man an envelope.  Set him some tasks to follow to eventually find a ring or message of proposal by asking him to follow a petal path to find clues.

For a more traditional proposal set out a bed of natural petal confetti for you to kneel on and pop the question down on one knee.

Years ago in many countries it was dictated that if a man should refuse a woman’s proposal on February 29^th he has to buy her 12 pairs of gloves.  This was so the woman could hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring.  Other traditions dictate that men refusing were expected to pay a penalty such as a gown or money.  If only those traditions still existed!

Get your petals ready now, in time for the 29^th.  Shropshire Petals have a large range of petals for you to choose from, pick and mix online to create your own unique mix of your and your partners’ favourite colours, to make your proposal even more special and memorable.

www.shropshirepetals.com

The events are the brainchild of Keeley Harris, who is an expert on all things vintage and who established Discover Vintage to promote fairs across the north of England in 2009 selling everything from quality clothes, shoes, handbags, jewellery, homeware and furniture.  Keeley also has a wonderful emporium in York.

After success with her first fairs, Keeley decided to launch a specialist wedding fair so that brides who love the look can find everything for their special day including: more than 400 wedding dresses; antique lace; 30′s and 40′s lingerie; classic suits; jewellery; hair and make up advice; cars; specialist entertainment; cakes; floral displays and decorations. We’re really looking forward to meeting some of the makers of these wonderful things.

The new brooch bouquets should provide a fitting addition to your vintage-inspired or influenced wedding day – this is their first outing to a fair so it will be fun to see what people think. Here’s a sneak preview of a couple of new designs that we’ve just created.

There’ll be lots of colour, as well as traditional ivory favourites, and they are all packed with drop-dead gorgeous pieces of jewellery, beads, buttons, feathers, lace and more.

No two bouquets are ever the same and each one takes many hours to create.  You’ll certainly stand out from the crowd.  Even better, you can keep them forever to pass on to the next generation!

The fairs are open from 11am – 4pm and the first one is in Harrogate on Sunday 19 February at The George Hotel.  We’ll also be at:

- Chester Guildhall on Sunday 11 March
- The Assembly, Leamington Spa on Sunday 25 March
- Chiswick Town Hall on Sunday 13 May

For further information, check out The Vintage Wedding Fair website.  Look forward to seeing you there!

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Andrea’s bouquet combined white anenomes, cream roses, freesias and heather in a hand tied posy, finished with pearls and cream lace.  She wore a stunning dress with lace bodice and a fabulous fur wrap.

Andrea wanted to create a sparkling, wintery theme for the dining room with plenty of candles.  Several of the tables were decorated with beech and twisted willow branches and finished off with hanging jars and votives.  We put arrangements of vintage coloured roses at the base of each centrepiece and further candles in stemmed glasses.

Photograph by: Adrian Gould / Borders Photographer

Andrea was keen to use a number of different accessories for the dining tables.  The long oval top table was set with two-tier candelabras.  They contained a mixture of small posies of flowers and candles.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

On other dining tables glass domes were used to hold the bridesmaids bouquets.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Andrea used pretty frames for her seating plan and we added small posies of flowers to add colour to the table.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

The room was finished off with sets of tall glass vases containing a myriad of twiglights to add warmth and sparkle to the outside of the room.

Adrian Gould / Borders Photographer

We wish Andrea and Iain every happiness in their married lives together.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Many thanks to Andrea and Iain (and  Sam at www.mirrorboxphotography.com) for allowing us to use their lovely images.  Also a big thank you Ralph Brooks at The Ednam House Hotel for allowing me to take images of the dining room during the set up.

Things got off to an early start in February last year with David and Niccie who came up from the Manchester area to celebrate their fabulous wedding weekend at Hoscote.

Hoscote also made the perfect location for Alison and Paul’s spring wedding.  All the spring flowers were out and we put lovely magnolia buds, beech twigs and small orchids in her natural bouquet.

www.dukestudios.co.uk

Hardeep and Ives married at Mellerstain in May.  A fabulous Sikh-Christian fusion wedding, there were beautiful saris in abundance!

www.parmindermatharu.com

Susan and David celebrated their special day (with more traditionally Scottish attire on show) at Mellerstain…

www.brianrobertsonphotography.com

… we couldn’t resist this shot of the bride dancing in more modern footwear!

www.brianrobertsonphotography.com

Nicola and Paul had a really lovely house party wedding at Hoscote in June. The garden was bursting with colour and a wonderful Barn Owl delivered their rings.

www.sheilascottphotography.com

Wendy and Bernie organised a two day wedding extravaganza at The Buccleuch Arms! An intimate wedding ceremony with closest friends and family and 100 guests for a party with Scottish dancers and local haggis the following day.

www.jimcarrollphotography.co.uk

Michelle and Johnny brought along a tandem to their wedding!

www.craigsandersphotography.com

And Michelle and Alan married in the beautiful St Andrews church in Kelso and then celebrated the rest of their day at Mellerstain.

www.jimcarrollphotography.co.uk

Candy and Anthony put their medical studies on hold while they also celebrated at Mellerstain.

www.dukestudios.co.uk

And it was great to welcome Jody and Simon up from London for their Civil Partnership at Hoscote.

www.malinwidstrand.com

Rachel and Jose Maria celebrated their Scottish/Argentinian wedding at Mellerstain and guests sang and swayed to Elvis songs during their humanist ceremony.

www.sheilascottphotography.com

Hilary and Barry celebrated their wedding at Hoscote in style, with Hilary wearing a gorgeous red dress.

Louise and Dan came all the way from Australia to celebrate their vows – we all wanted those fabulous yellow shoes!

www.paulraeburn.co.uk

Becky and Nick’s wedding was split between Mellerstain and Hoscote and was our final celebration for 2011.   Becky got her wish with a fairy-tale dusting of snow.

www.johnbanks-photography.co.uk

To all the Borders wedding venue couples whom we had the pleasure of meeting, and seeing married at one or more of our venues in 2011, a huge thanks for having us be part of your day, and the very best wishes for 2012 and beyond.