memories Archives - The White Emporium

This is Me…

1st April 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I have had a whole load of new Instagram and Facebook followers which I am totally over the moon about, thank you so much for following my little adventure into building The White Emporium. So I thought it was about time I introduced the woman behind the venture.

This is me!

For those of you who don’t know my name is Gemma and I am a not long 30, head strong, compulsive doodler, slightly crazy cat lady, who is attempting to take on the Bedfordshire wedding industry.

The White Emporium was born after my own wedding back in August 2014. I loved every moment of organising my own wedding, everything on the day was either made or sourced by myself and to say I was in my element was an understatement. I am not going to lie the wedding took over my life, our house resembled a scene from ‘The Secret Life of Hoarders’ and I roped in anyone and everyone to help with sticking, sanding and cutting. I had invested so much of my time and my energy into this one day, so when it was over I couldn’t bare the thought of having to give it all up. So not only on my wedding day did I marry the most perfect man I also started a new adventure all on my own.

Behind the scenes on a shoot!

I have always been very determined and after (not to sound soppy) a realisation of my own mortality a few years ago, I promised the big guy upstairs that if everything worked out I would start my own business. So here I am! Officially a business woman and owner – with a business account! Yes I often feel out of my depth and sometimes panicked by what I have started, but most of the time I am excited and constantly driven to keep building The White Emporium. However all is not easy, I still work full time to pay the bills, I often get up ridiculously early and work late with my very unhelpful cat for company, I struggle to balance my time and those closest to me suffer from the zero free time I have. The love I have for those closest to me is immense and I couldn’t be where I am without them, their support and encouragement is ridiculous and you soon learn who your true friends are when they understand why you are locked in your house painting blackboards all weekend!

An early morning start, still in the P.J s with my unhelpful cat!

It is amazing to sit back and see where The White Emporium has come over the past 18 months. I am lucky enough to have meet some pretty awesome local suppliers and together we have created stunning photoshoots that have been featured in local and national blogs and magazines. I am in my element on a styled shoot and love the planning and setting up of the different looks. I have also had the pleasure of working with some beautiful couples, these are the people that I get up for and every wedding I am involved with I get that same feeling of excitement I had on own big day. Back in January I had all my hard work rewarded when I won ‘The One To watch’ Award at the Four Counties Wedding Awards, it was great to be noticed as a newcomer to the wedding industry and what an amazing way to start what promises to be a action packed 2016!

I only went and won an award!!!

So what is The White Emporium about? Well it’s about creating weddings that are truly unique and personal to each couple. I don’t believe in the ordinary, I believe in out-of-the-box thinking and quirky touches. Weddings shouldn’t be about a rigid, structured day and a conveyor belt of brides, it should be all about the couple who are starting on a new chapter together and a wedding should reflect this and most importantly their personalities.

In a nutshell this is me and The White Emporium. For more information and to get in touch head over to the Contact page. Make sure you follow The White Emporium on Pinterest for everything we love and inspired by. Instagram for behind the scenes and Facebook for updates. Also don’t forget to follow this blog for more ramblings on weddings, I promise it isn’t always so wet!

Happy Friday Campers!!!

Gem xxx

The White Emporium

A few little tips for your big day…

29th January 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

I get asked all the time for a few words of advice for someone’s big day and would I have changed anything about my own wedding.

Well the honest answer is I wouldn’t have changed a thing! Not to sound cliché but I loved my wedding and I would do it all again, however I do have one regret!

So here are my pearly gems…

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Photo From Two-D Photography

One it’s your wedding, do it your way! If you don’t want a colour scheme don’t have one. If you want a simple dress have one. If you want to break with tradition and have a stone baked pizza van instead of a wedding breakfast do it! Hopefully this is the only time you are ever going to get married so do it your way, as long as your wedding shouts personality and reflects the couple you are then who cares what people think, your day will be beautiful.

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Photo From Two-D Photography

Secondly take a time out. Everyone will tell you this but your day does honestly fly past at a trillion miles an hour! It is very easy to get wrapped up in the moment, talking to guests, posing for photos. It can actually happen that you spend less time with you husband than any normal day. So take a 5 minute time out with your new hubby, take yourself away from the bustle and have a little chat and listen. Spend a few moments absorbing the laughter and sounds of everyone having a great time, appreciate what you have achieved and the actual reason that you got married and that’s because you love each other.

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Photo From Two-D Photography

So here is my one regret and the only amendment I would make to my day… a videographer, or at least someone to record the speeches. If I am honest we forgot about it, we were too concerned with the other small details and it never crossed our mind to ask a guest to do the honours, we just presumed someone would. But unfortunately no one did. I always thought I would remember the speeches, sadly I don’t. I was so involved in the moment, concentrating so much on what everyone was saying that now it is such a blur. I don’t remember our guests laughing or crying and in the few snippets of video I have seen the guests were in absolute hysterics, all of which I never appreciated. We were lucky that our photographer created a small 10minute snippet of our day, but I wish I had more. I wish I could see peoples reactions as I entered the church, hear the laughter during our best mans jokes and seeing the proud faces of our parents during our first dance. So even if you can’t afford a videographer ask a guest to record what they can, you will have memories but nothing can beat seeing it all again.

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Photo From Two-D Photography

But most importantly of all enjoy it! Don’t get stressed with the details of the day, it’s going to be awesome no matter what happens, your only going to do it once so sit back and enjoy the ride!

Love

Gem xxx

The White Emporium

Flower Love

20th February 2015 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Feeling a little nostalgic today, so was taking a trip down memory lane and found the inspiration board for my wedding flowers. I loved my flowers and I still love these images. I wanted the vintage colours but contrasted them with the bold pops of colour like the bright pink, deep purple and corn flower blue. If I do say so myself they looked pretty amazing! (I know very modest). I was lucky that The White Emporiums number one fan (my mum) has a natural talent for flower arranging, she translated my ideas for the venue and church beautifully, everywhere you looked there was a little floral display. Fortunately my florist Elaine was also on the same wave length and the bouquets and buttons holes fitted in perfectly with the venue displays.

Flowers by my very talented mum x

Flowers by my very talented mum x

Flowers by my very talented mum x

Flowers by my very talented mum x

Bouquet by Elaine

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Bouquet by Elaine

Hopefully this board of lovely colour will brighten up your day, my little trip down memory lane has put a smile on my face.

P.S – If you need a little flower inspiration head To Liberty’s of London the florist there is amazing!

My wedding bouquets were created by Elaine at http://www.elainesturges.co.uk/

Photos by Two-D: http://www.two-d.co.uk/

Happy Flower Planning!

Love Gemma

The White Emporium xxx

Not as easy as it seems…

19th September 2014 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Everyone wants to preserve all the precious memories from their day and your bouquet is no different. I was desperate to keep my bouquet as beautiful as possible, the most simplest and easiest method I thought was to press it. As I child I had collected flowers and pressed them in books and it had always worked, it seemed so simple. What could go wrong? I started with about 50 flowers pressed between tissue paper under heavy books and went away on honeymoon for 2 weeks- mistake number 1. To press flowers you need to change the paper every couple of days. Ooopps! When I checked on them on my return, half were moldy, so in the bin they went- I then learnt of my second fatal mistake, don’t press whole roses! It just doesn’t work! Luckily I had separated the petals off a couple of rose heads and they were still in tact! Phew! So I changed all the paper and re- positioned my remaining flowers, a week later I checked on them again. Again about half were moldy, so in the bin they went and I learnt of my final fatal error – it is vital to make sure each petal is spaced out and they are not on top of one another, else guess what? They go moldy! So from 50 flowers I am now down to 10, but I am quietly confident these last few will survive. The plants that worked the best were the greenery, separated rose petals and the smaller delicate flowers. To make matters worse when I visited one of my bridesmaids in the week there was her bouquet hanging beautifully from the stairs, drying out wonderfully!