Rustic Wedding Stylist Blog | The White Emporium

Life in Pink…

8th January 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Happy Friday all! I hope you have all settled back well into the routine!

As I have been browsing the numerous blogs, Pinterest and Instagram this week I have been falling in love with the soft muted tones of pale pink! Now I am not a pink girl, I don’t own a single pink item of clothing and there is no pink in my house, but I think this effortless palette is to die for!

Display soft pink peonies in glass decanters and vintage bottles (I am obsessed) and mix with pastel candles and candle sticks for a beautiful tablescape. Flower crowns are the toast of the 2016 wedding season and I love the idea of a delicate heather crown, simple and understated, it is a shame you can’t wear one to work.

This soft pink works amazing when teamed with muted pastel colours, gold hints and bunches of greenery for a real modern vibe. Why not jazz up a naked cake with hundreds and thousands. Amazing!

If you are in need of some colour inspiration I suggest heading over to www.loveprintstudio.blogspot.co.uk you can get lost for hours trawling their beautiful mood boards.

Images from various sources

Whoever said pale pink was a dull palette?

Have a lovely weekend all!

Gem xxx

The White Emporium

2015 starting as we mean to go on….

30th December 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

As 2015 is in it’s final throngs, it’s time to get a little reflective and look back at the highs and lows of The White Emporiums first wedding season. I would be lying if I said it had been all plain sailing and smiles. There have been tears, tantrums and the odd dark moment when I have contemplated chucking it all in, but at the end of the day this is what I love, and I am so proud of how far this year has taken me and my little business.

Like many small businesses just starting out I am still working a full time job to pay my bills, life is a constant juggling act, there is always something that needs to be done and even when I get a brief few minutes to sit down my mind constantly races and I’m racked with guilt about the mounting to do list I should be slogging through. I think some of my friendships have suffered, whilst friends meet for coffee I am running round charity shops or firing off emails. Lazy Sundays are a thing of the past, now on Sundays I scrub jam jars and endlessly pack away hire items, would I change anything – No. One day I will be able to cut hours down and push more time into The White Emporium, it will be a day full of excitement but ultimately fear, on the one hand I will be following my dream but on the other hand cutting my ties to my relatively safe but demanding full time job. Am I nervous about this prospect yes, but I am so excited I lay awake dreaming about how I can grow the business and pack full the extra time I will have! I am very fortunate that I have a very supportive family and importantly a husband, he understands my drive and he can see it working, we have made it a rule that every Friday and Sunday night is our time, no laptops and emails. For anyone starting out I would recommend the same, yes it is constant hard work but if you don’t have anyone to share the good times with whats the point. I often talk about The White Emporium as a we (not an I), it really is a team effort behind the scenes, I have friends and family who keep me sane and lend a hand, I have a husband who does my heavy lifting and the occasional wedding fair support and most importantly I have super mum who is a shit hot florist on the side and is real back bone to what I do.

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Photo by Summer Lily Studio Photography

That’s enough of the lows here are the highs – I have a brand spanking new website! It is a million times more user friendly and will properly enable me to share and promote the work I do to you lovely lot. I am so pleased with the work the lovely Jack did on the site and I can’t wait to get firing out emails to everyone I know getting them to have a look.

The White Emporium is in the finals of a regional wedding competition! Words a year ago I could have only dreamed about typing! I’m keeping everything crossed and praying to the wedding gods that we win.

I have been involved in some amazing photoshoots this year with a super talented bunch of local suppliers and we have been featured in some pretty amazing places, Rock My Wedding http://www.rockmywedding.co.uk/bridal-inspiration-from-camber-sands/ Whimsical Wonderland Weddings http://whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com/2015/11/romantic-boho-woodland-metallic-copper-wedding-ideas.html and your Herts and Beds Bridal. Next year there will be more shoots and they are getting bigger and better.

Photo from Sarah Brookes Photography

Most importantly I have got to meet so many amazing couples and to be part of their special day is like recreating my big day all over again. The White Emporium has been so well received and supported by my lovely couples, I couldn’t have done it without them. A huge thank you to all of you!

Image from Chic-type.com

So onto 2016 – here are The White Emporiums New Years resolutions – To get more organised, sometimes my desk reflects my head – a messy jumble of ideas and to do lists. To build on my customer relationships. To add more lovely product to The White Emporiums range and to grow the styling service I offer. To make sure there is a blog post every week – you guys are allowed to email me if I fail in this!

So here’s to jumping excitedly into 2016!

Thank you for all your love and support in 2015 you all rock!

Gem

The White Emporium xxx

What’s going to Rock 2016!

27th December 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

So as everyone sits in a mince pie induced coma in their brand new Christmas pj’s here’s a little evening reading to keep you entertained. Scarily 2016 is only a few more sleeps away so what better way to welcome the new year than to highlight a few of the key wedding trends for the upcoming season.

1 – First on our list are oversized bouquets – filled full of luscious greenery, statement blooms and tied with strands of ribbons, hand tied bouquets got a whole lot more jaw dropping. Straight from the styled photoshoots these bouquets pair perfectly with a vintage inspired dress guaranteed to help make an impact and add that additional wow factor to your photos.

Oversized Bouquets – Images from various sources

2 – Next up its time to start thinking out of the box for your welcome drinks, get crafty and reflect your personality with decadent cocktails, get creative with White Russians and Porn Star Martinis (my absolute new found favourite, the passion fruit counts as one of your 5 a day right?). Adorn with herbs, fruits and berries, rim glasses with sugar or glitter and pour into vintage glasses or modern copper highballs. Display on trays filled with flowers, surrounded by candles for a breath taking welcome drinks tablescape. Can’t decide on one cocktail why not allow guests to mix up their own, what better way to get your guests stuck into your day.

Decadent Cocktails – Photos from various sources.

3 – 2016 is the year of the doughnut, personally I’m not a fan unless filled with jam but I love the idea! Ditch the traditional wedding cake and serve guests mountains of mini doughnuts instead. A new take on the favour provide each guest with their own little box of batter Krispy Crème style! Alternatively get a bit retro and fill paper cones full of mini doughnuts as an alternative to canapés.

Doughnuts – Photos from various sources

4 – It may be the penultimate but it’s my favourite – breath taking lighting (don’t pack away your Christmas lights just yet). String barns full of festoon lights, fill rooms full of candles and string fairy lights from tree’s. Less definitely is not more where lights are concerned in 2016 . I love the idea of festoon strung back drops and dance floors canopied with lanterns and fairy lights and that hanging light topped table scape is to die for!

Lighting

5 – Is a look at one of the new colour palettes for the season and it’ time to get a little dark and moody. Greys, midnight navys and indigos provide a moody breath-taking base with which to contrast golds and coppers against.

Dark Palettes, photos from various sources.

Drop us an email for ways we can help you incorporate the above trends.

Happy New Year to you all and I will see you in 2016!

Love Gem xxx

The White Emporium

Copper Crazy

21st December 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I have found myself with a spare few minutes! Crazy I know! So here is a short but sweet blog!

I have realised I have gone a little copper crazy in the images I have been liking and pinning so thought I should put them to good use and show you lovely lot what I have been drooling over.

I don’t think there is currently such a thing as too much copper!

Have a look at the below mood board and judge for yourself, I especially love the use of copper pots and candlesticks as table centers

Hope this provides a little bright inspiration into this dull and wet day!

Love Gem

The White Emporium xxx

Turning 1!

20th September 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Yesterday The White Emporium turned a whole whooping 1! I am not sure where this year has flown to but it has been a whirlwind of emails, weddings, styled shoots and endless tidying!

I love The White Emporium and everything it is growing into but it has consumed my life, my nearly every waking thought is about weddings. My spare time is spent cleaning, writing emails and pestering people, would I change it for the world…. No! I am sure my feelings are shared by everyone struggling to start their own business, especially those working 2 jobs. That is enough of the negatives, here are all the positives and there are lots!

This year I have been lucky enough to meet so many amazing and talented suppliers, some I have already worked with on shoots and more I plan to work with in the next year. They have taught me a lot and have offered so many pearls of wisdom.

Next are the lovely couples I get to work with, all the hard work is rewarded when you see their beaming smiles, that feeling of accomplishment will never get boring.

I have also learnt so many lessons, a lot through trial and error but with every wedding I do I feel The White Emporium improves along with the service we offer. I don’t think in this job I will ever stop learning and that is one of the best things about it.

Unexpected success… our little hand drawn maps have gone from strength to strength, they were never intended to be part of our range and I am so glad I was convinced to offer them as part of the range. I love drawing and in the past year my maps have travelled from London to Italy with many Bedford destinations in between.

So what will happen in the next year… watch out for The White Emporium gracing the pages of some of the UKS biggest blogs! This is so super exciting but I don’t want to spoil the shoot reveals to much, so watch this space! We will be adding into the collection with some more rustic and unique props from our hit list. Keep an eye on our website, this will be evolving and growing and I promise I will get better at a regular blog post!

Of all the things I have learnt, the most important is ‘there are just not enough hours in the day!’ But there never will be, there always be to much to do and far to little time, I have many more late nights ahead of me! I need to try and stop beating myself up about the things I don’t have time to do and realise all I can do is my best.

Finally thank you to my friends, family, likes and followers for all your love and support. Especially the hubby whose life and home The White Emporium also consumes. I could not have survived this first year without you all!

So here is to the next part of the adventure and turning 2!

Love Gemma

The White Emporium xxx

Dreamy Backdrops

13th August 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

It is with great embarrassment I am writing this opening sentence! Eeekkk we have not blogged in nearly 2 months! Where has that time gone? We have good reason… we have hit our first wedding season hard and so far it has been a success, although I massively underestimated how many hours running this little gem would take up! No complaints from me though 🙂

So today’s blog is all about dreamy back drops, I have been collecting a lot of images over the past few months and I just can’t get enough! These will be incorporated into a lot of the styling projects we are working on over the next couple of months. I am getting crafty and hopefully will be able to offer out some of the below ideas to brides to hire in a few months time.

A lot of the images have been grabbed of blogs and instagram so unfortunately I don’t have image credits for all of them but I wanted to share them all with you as they are just so beautiful.

Backdrops are so functional and look amazing at the end of an aisle, as a frame for the newlyweds or as the perfect photo background. Plus most of the are super cost effective and if you are a little crafty can be created by hand.

Here’s a little selection of inspiration from my back drop scrap book…

I hope you found a little spark of inspiration from these images, backdrops and arbors are key trends for the next wedding season. The great thing is they can be made personalised just to you, by adding in your flowers and your own unique touch. My personal favourites are the fabric frames set in the woods, how dreamy to be married in your own little woodland wonderland. I am also head over heels for dream catchers at the moment, keep an eye on this blog for how we will be using these in an exciting shoot we are collaborating on.

Have a lovely weekend!

Gem xxx

Image list from top left to right:

1 – Unknown. 2 – Unknown. 3 – Bridalmusings.com. 4 – Inspiredbyloveevents (instagram). 5 – weddingpartyapp.com. 6 – wanthatwedding.co.uk. 7 – costalvirginiamag.com. 8 – bridalmusing.com. 9 – rusticweddingchic.com. 10 – wanthatwedding.co.uk. 11 – tiedbowblog.wordpress.com. 12 – ruffledblog.com

Spring Country Wedding Styled Shoot

12th June 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Oooppps been a month since our last blog post! Life at The White Emporium has been non stop and manic but in a good way so please forgive us for the absence.

But we have something below certainly worth waiting for!

A couple of weeks ago we took part in another styled wedding shoot with a band of amazing wedding photographers. The look was a summer country wedding, the feel was fresh and airy. There was crispness in the styling with only white flowers contrasting against beautiful greenery and eucalyptus, the only real use of colour came from gold highlights in the invites and styling accessories. May sees an abundance of Cow Parsley which makes for a dreamy back drop.

The table was dressed with vintage linen and accessorized with brass candlesticks and glass tealights. I love the idea of stand out plates, (I wish I had thought of interesting plates for my own wedding plain white just looks so boring now!) so we found some beautiful gold rimmed, dinner and side plates, you can create some really beautiful table settings with a few simple touches and we tied a few sprigs of greenery in with the knife and fork.

The second look saw the bride and groom heading to a vintage picnic complete with crates and slate boards. This idea can easily be translated into a cheese table or why not have welcome drinks in a picnic setting.

At The White Emporium we have a wide selection of chalk boards and love nothing better than a good love quote. Don’t miss these below!

Check out the beautiful striped cake, i love this idea what a way to make a unexpected impact and how amazing do the flowers look on top!

Finally the group of lovely photographers whose photos are below are super talented, they all have a slightly different style to their technique make sure you hope over to their websites for full photos don’t forget to check out all the other suppliers below who worked on this beautiful shoot!

Credits:

Photography: www.summerlilystudio.com

http://www.sungblue.com/

http://www.nikkismoments.com/

**Also Laura Mutz

Hair: www.updosbynatasha.co.uk

Make Up: www.facebook.com/makeupbymackenziekate

Flowers: Wood View Floral Designs – lesleymutz@hotmail.co.uk

Cake: www.icakeyou.co.uk

Stationery: www.karleegould.co.uk/

Accessories: www.somethingnewsomethingblue.co.uk

Love Gemma

The White Emporium xxx

Coming Soon Table Runners…

15th May 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

We have a very long list of goodies that we are busy hunting and sourcing, but we also are busy creating hand made items that are available to rent and buy.
One such item that will hopefully be gracing The white Emporiums pages soon are table runners. Perfect for adding colour into rooms and enhancing table centres. The mood board below shows the look and vibe we are after. We are looking to create a relaxed atmosphere with a fresh bohemian feel. The muted tones sit perfectly with blues, pastels and corals. Mix with Mercury votives and simple glass bottles for a clean, effortless look.
For a real vintage look we are looking to use faded florals and grey ticking stripes. Our ultimate favourites are the broader Normandy and Padstow stripes.
Now it’s just a case of trying to source the perfect fabric and we can get sewing!
So keep your eye out on the website for the new additions. We already have a few ideas up our sleeve for how we can style them into some forthcoming photoshoots.

Have you thought about using table runners for your big day?

Love
Gemma
The White Emporium xxx

Bunting Love….

29th April 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I am a dab hand with a sewing machine and bunting is one of my favourite things to make. It is such a versatile way to add colour and height into a room.

Weddings are getting more and more creative and the decoration more unique and colourful with every issue of Brides Magazine you pick up. So I thought I would share with you my top 5 favourite alternative bunting ideas.

In at number 5 – Lace and crochet bunting (did I mention we stock lace bunting)

Watch the light fall beautifully through the dainty lace fabrics. Crochet doilies and the more traditional lace triangle flags are a must have for summer weddings. Perfect for woodland blessings and old barns.

Found in the littleweddinghelper

Found on ETSY

Closely following behind at number 4 is bunting made from pine cones and ribbon. Effortlessly rustic and simple, it is a great for those who love the idea of a DIY wedding. I love the idea of mixing this with rag bunting which you can never have enough of!

No 3 – Photo Bunting! This can be incorporated in so many ways. why not make garlands adorned with images of you growing up as a child surrounded by all your friends and family. Or use it as part of a guest book, hire a Polaroid camera and encourage guests to snap away and then add the Polaroid onto the bunting. It will serve as a great time line for how the night evolves.

Image found on bespoke bride

No 2 is Big, Bright and beautiful flower garlands. String carnations ( a relatively in expensive flower) across your venue and watch the colours pop! Or string them vertically to create a sumptuous back drop.

Image found on Hello May

And my all time Summer 2015 bunting idea is…. Lampshades! A key trend for SS15 is bringing the inside out, perfect for creating a unique area. I love how the image below shows them strung from trees, imagine a relaxed seating area below and you instantly have the most sought after wedding vibe!

Image from the wedding community

We have some photo shoots coming up and hopefully we will try and include some of these beautiful ideas.

You can’t beat a bit of Wednesday hump day inspiration!

Love

Gemma xxx

The White Emporium

Rustic Bar Inspiration

10th April 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I hope I’m not the only person that as soon as the sun shines I want to grab a drink and head outdoors put my feet up and soak up the warmth. So with this in mind this weeks blog post is a little bit of home made rustic bar inspiration. Wedding season is just around the corner and what better way to create something truly unique and personal than with your own home made bar. You can play it as safe or as adventurous as you like, incorporate your favourite tipples, why not create your own signature cocktail and serve it in glass drinks dispensers, (have I mentioned before we have those :-)!)

One for the guys and the height of coolness, create your own whisky bar with glass decanters, silver trays and sparkling tumblers, brass candlesticks would help make an awesome back drop. Serve along side the finest cigars, imagine sipping your drink as the sun sets with your nearest and dearest around you reflecting on your perfect day.

Feeling super adventurous? Then create a whole bar from scratch, (you may need the help of someone with carpentry skills). Grab a hammer and get handy with some wooden pallets, the beers can be displayed and kept cool in metal buckets and wheel barrows, wooden crates (we have those to) can be used to create shelves and create height in your display, use the designs of the spirit bottles to your advantage and turn them into a feature weaving your flowers in between them to create an almost living space. ( I am getting far to excited!)

No bar would be complete without a sign, I love the deep south inspired iron light up ones that have become so popular, they make such an impact and would make sure every guest knew where the bar was. Being a sparkle magpie I love the glitter signs, which would be easy to create yourself and adding to our hire range this week we have a cork BAR sign, perfect for the rustic feel!

So I hope this has inspired you not just if you are a bride but if you planning a party, I will certainly be incorporating some of these ideas in the events I am planning this year!

See you next week!

Love Gemma

The White Emporium xxx