Tigerlily loves to champion clients who add individual touches to their weddings and with the rise of the “chiconomy trend” there is no better time for clients to get out there and learn new skills to add the wow factor to their wedding.

I have been fortunate to have worked and trained with the super talented Marianne Jonhson from Sweetpea Floral Design and attended one of her hand-tied bouquets masterclass workshops early this year.

For those of you wanting to be creative you will totally love the workshop, they are relaxed, informative and loads of fun and allow you to unleash your creative side.

I came away with lots of new skills and loved Marianne’s fresh and innovated approach to floral design.

So if you are thinking of making your own flowers for your wedding, Marianne is running a series of workshops in Angel Islington at the Candid Arts Gallery on Sunday the 16th August and Sunday the 6th of September.

The hand-tied bouquet masterclass or dinner party master class costs £65 this includes, all flowers equipment, refreshments and delicious cupcakes from the infamous Primrose Bakery.

To book your place on this workshop go to the Sweetpea Floral Design Website

Enjoy!

As a planner you are always planning for every eventuality at weddings; my emergency case is packed with ingenious ideas from entertaining little ones to adding finishing wedding design touches.

I am always working with clients to equip those guests who have children with entertainment for the ceremony, so they can all enjoy this time.

One of my recent brides had lots of  under twos at her wedding – where sitting still and being quite only happens when they are asleep!

With this in mind we hatched a plan; finger puppets – easy and cheap to make, lots of colour and we can create a few different designs to hold their interest during the ceremony.

Felted finger puppets are really popular and there are many designs to choose from such as animals or Disney characters depending how crafty you are feeling.

Also there are many websites like Free Kids Crafts that have great templates that you can use.

 Tools and Materials

1. Felt in assorted colours
2. Scissors
3. Craft glue
4. Finger puppet template
5. Needle and thread/ yarn
6. Embellishments, wiggly eyes, sequins, feathers, wool and so on

 Technique

1. Print out the template
2. Place template on top of felt and trace around the outline on 2 pieces of felt for a front and back of the puppet
3. Carefully cut around outline to get your finger puppet outline shapes
4. Stitch around the edges of the felt, leaving the straight end, in which you insert your finger, open. Turn felt inside out
5. Depending on your design and ages of children you can glue or sew on your embellishments to finish your finger puppet design

For another great set of templates and “how to” fact sheet go to Jo Ann Stores.

If you want to cheat and buy a finger puppet craft kit go to the Early Learning Centre their ranges start from £3.50.

Happy crafting!

The latest edition of Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine has hit the magazine shelves in the UK.

I love the feature on pop up weddings and back yard weddings, this catchy tag originates from pop up bars that have been very fashionable in London over the last year.

The clever peeps at Martha Stewart have also updated the DIY section on the website, it has lots of creative ideas for wedding design, so make sure you take a peek.

Back in early April this year I started outlining a DIY bridal workshop for Tigerlily brides to make their own wedding favors. Whilst I was planning the initial concepts I came across  The Make Lounge  a fabulous company offering contemporary craft workshops in Islington. Of course you can imagine my glee as I had found the perfect venue, I contacted Jennifer Pirtle the owner and got a meeting in the diary for me to discuss my ideas and to define the concept and projects that we would be able to offer working in a partnership project.

I am pleased to announce the first DIY bride workshop will be on the 20th September in association with The Make Lounge, I will be posting further information in regards to the project outlines and how you can book a place for this workshop.

I am so exitcited to be working with Jennifer on this exicting project, it is going to be so much fun.

However in the interim for those brides that do not have time to attend these workshops I will be running a series of blogs for DIY brides with “how to projects” so you can still add your own personal touches to your wedding.

Photo Credits: The Make Lounge