Here are a few questions you might want to ask your venue - Does it serve fair-trade tea or coffee? Does it use local suppliers? Is the food organic, especially the meat?  Can they supply organic wines? Do they recycle? Do they have an environmental policy? Remember if you ask and the next couple asks then maybe we can get some venues to change their own policies.

The average meal travels 22,000 miles to reach your plate (source: the live earth) with each ingredient; meat, fish, vegetables, spices, eggs, milk, fruit, grains all being driven or flown from where its grown to where its cooked, burning up fuel on the way. So using local produce can really bring down the carbon footprint of your wedding and supports local businesses.

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I’m delighted to be part of the organisation team for the UK’s 1st Green Wedding Show along with fellow Yorkshire wedding suppliers Olivia Brabbs photography & Weddings & Wellies.  The event will be held on Sunday 19th October 1-4pm in Norristhorpe and is set to blow the traditional wedding fair format out of the water!  The afternoon will
have an action packed timetable including an eco-couture showcase, local produce samples & pints of black sheep, hay rides and organic make-overs - as well as the opportunity to chat with some of Yorkshire’s best green innovators.  The ticket price also includes a fair-trade afternoon tea served on vintage china in one of PapaKata’s amazing teepee tents.  All proceeds from the event will go to Radio Aire’s Cash for Kids Charity so as well as grabbing lots of eco-chic wedding tips you’ll be supporting a fantastic cause in the process.

For further information and ticket sales please visit our website or email hello@lovelygrenweddings.co.uk.

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When you think of a honeymoon, what do you think of? A safari in Africa, the deserted beaches of the Maldives or a boutique European city break? Traditionally the honeymoon was a bridal tour - going to visit all those people who couldn’t come to the wedding, now we see it as a holiday of a lifetime - which is not a bad thing but does this have to include a long haul carbon emitting flight?

There are so many fantastic holidays in the UK that range from full on boutique glamour, to rustic eco-lodges, to an activity or volunteering holiday. My last holiday was in Edinburgh - a beautiful and atmospheric city - and we stayed in a great small boutique hotel. But would I want to spend my honeymoon there? Is the expectations of others that makes us go abroad, or do we all want to relax and be waiting on after the stress of the wedding organising?

After all isn’t the real reason to have a honeymoon about spending time together and we could really do that anywhere in the world - your thoughts are much appreciated.

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Image:Olivia Brabbs

Okay, so I know that everyone has a dream in their head about how their wedding day will be. And I’m pretty sure that rain doesn’t come into it! But don’t despair with the weather forecast looking less than sunny, here are a few tips on how to make a rainy wedding day your dream day:

1. You can’t control the weather - so don’t let it rule your day. Just be prepared for a bit of rain and enjoy it. Be like a kid - run in the rain, have your photos in the rain and smile throughout it all. It may not be how you pictured it but you’ll have great fun!

2. Any photographer will tell you that bright sunny days are a nightmare to shoot in and those strong shadows just aren’t flattering. Rainy days have a beautiful soft light all of their own which will really flatter you in the photos! And those dramatic clouds in the sky will look great in those big sweeping wedding shots.

3. Umbrellas are no longer a fashion faux pas. Just get yourself a fabulous wedding brolly. Plumo are doing some great pagoda shaped umbrellas that i just love - at £20 you can’t go wrong! Storm in a tea cup do beautiful bella wedding umbrellas in four different colours, a bit pricier but well worth a look. Or go for a fashion look, I love this picture of the polka dot brolly bride with the see through umbrella so you can see the bride! They have similiar ones at brollies galore. And with the weather the way it is at the moment it will be a great sustainable purchase!

4. Rainy weddings are lucky! I don’t who said it but who cares. If it rains just keep thinking hey, this is so lucky!

So enjoy your wedding day even if the sun refuses to shine, you still will!

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Leah Wood’s marriage to Jack McDonald caused a bit of a media frenzy with all its A-list celebrity guests. I’m not usually into celebrity weddings but I was really interested to find out that Leah Wood’s dress was vintage 1930’s, and it really does look like a one off unusual design. The detailing on the top of the dress is really beautiful and I love the slits in the sleeve.

The dress code for the wedding was vintage, which is a great idea. And the theme for the wedding was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I know themed weddings aren’t for everyone but I love them, especially colour themes - making everyone come in red and black or green and purple - I think it makes the photographs look fab!

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Organising a wedding is a big task, especially co-ordinating everyone and all your wedding suppliers. And then your wedding dress isn’t ready at your fitting and those relatives from Australia turn up unannounced and then the dog eats your bouquet! A lot of things can get you stressed. Here is a really simple technique to keep you calm and collected throughout. Firstly clear your mind by concentrating on your breathing. Start taking deep breaths and counting to 7 on an in breath and 11 on an out breath. The trick to make sure your out breath is longer than the in breath. Do this for a couple of minutes and you will begin to feel more relaxed. Then you can get things into perspective - things may go wrong but the focus of the day is on you as a couple so don’t let something small get in the way of your enjoyment! And if that fails open a bottle of wine!

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I love Elderflowers and my grandad used to make the most amazing Elderflower wine. Like most traditional English Fruit Wines it was quite sweet and you drank it in sherry-type glasses rather than wine glasses. I think this was mainly to do with the strength of the stuff! He made all types of fruit wines, using whatever was left over on the farm, from rhubarb to pear.

I was reminded of this when watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall make elderflower champagne on River Cottage Spring last night - how fab would it be to toast your marriage with a completely authentic english drink. And at this time of year elderflowers are everywhere, the picture above was taken of some growing wild in our local park, so just think of that low carbon footprint! I’m going to try and make some, I’ll let you know how it goes, it looks pretty simple (famous last words!) but having never made wine before it could all go horribly wrong! If you are feeling brave there is the recipe on rivercottage.net but I’m going to follow the recipe on a blog called www.catstripe.co.uk It could be a great thing to do with friends and family before the wedding and think how proud everyone would feel to be drinking their own wine at your wedding reception - although you would have to okay this with the wedding venue. It might be good to have a contingency plan just in case! For sellers of fruit wines in the UK see:

www.yorkshirecountrywines.co.uk www.thesussexwinecompany.co.uk or www.pennardorganicwines.co.uk

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I’m sure many of you have picked up on the trend that is Trash the Dress - it seems to have been getting quite a bit of press coverage at the moment with several photographers across the UK offering it as an additional service to their wedding clients. The concept comes from America and is basically about being allowed to let yourself go in your wedding dress after the formalities of the big day. I do personally feel that there’s nothing wrong with that and in fact did a shoot for a fab wedding venue near Leeds (Weddings and Wellies) where a couple enjoyed dressing up in their full kit for a shoot on the farm! I know that our model bride really loved the opportunity to put on her dress again but apart from a tiny mud stain, the dress was be totally set and ready for someone else to enjoy in the future after a quick clean.

The big concern from a green perspective is how far you take things - there have been shoots where girls have layed around Ophelia style in streams, rolled around in mud, had food fights and I’ve heard rumour of dresses been set alight (bride not still in the dress I hasten to add!). One of the biggest green issues with your dress has to be a consideration of both where it came from but then also what happens to it after the big day. The trend for buying second hand dresses is becoming more and more popular particularly when a donation to a charity such as Oxfam has the double benefit of raising some cash for a good cause but also that lovely feeling of being able to pass on a bit of happiness to another lovely bride to be. Purposefully destroying a dress for the kicks just isn’t green savvy.

I’d love to hear some of your opinions on the issue - do you think this is something that would ever catch on seriously in the UK or is just another hyped up marketing ploy? I’m always happy to offer a post-wedding shoot for newly weds - this can be for various reasons such as they got married abroad or they were let down by their actual photographer (always hate hearing about those ones!) but would never encourage or market a trash the dress service…. Be warned … The danger is if this American trend is let through the door then it gives scope for another big trend to infiltrate- the removal of the brides garter in full public view by the groom’s teeth- eek!

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For those not in the know I’m currently a member of the bride to be gang with the big day set for this September! So as well as chatting about all things photography I’d love the opportunity to share some of my planning experiences with you. So to start - the all important ring hunt….. I’m not a big bling girl and the idea of a status rock to waggle in people’s faces really isn’t me. And being determined to keep our wedding as green as possible we were also keen that the ring wouldn’t be something flown in from across the other side of the world with a nice big conflict diamond stuck on the middle for good measure.

We had an initial attempt in Leeds but everything was just too blingtastic so a chilled out trip to York was planned which was when we discovered the gem that is Porta Dextra - a gorgeous collection of jewellery & crafts from British designers with super friendly and helpful owners who totally understood our search for something simple. After lots of trying on I decided on a really lovely band with a diddy bit of bling set in the centre. After initial dealings with shop staff with the sales skills of an Apprentice contestant it was lovely to get back to good honest personal service. We did look at the option for vintage jewellery but everything was just a bit too flash for me - I did love the idea of a ring with it’s own history though. Another important decision has been to just have one band to act as both engagement and wedding ring - why go for two when one will do!  As with all things wedding the best advice I can give is stick to what you know you love and represents your personality and style and you won’t go wrong!  Happy ring shopping to all other brides to be out there… Over and out - Bridezilla Brabbs x

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  I love vintage but I know its not everyone’s cup of tea! My mum can never understand why I would want to wear something that had been worn by someone else! But to me, vintage clothing is just more unusual - you’ll never find anyone else wearing the same dress as you - and it shows how badly clothes are made these days. Vintage dresses just ooze attention to detail! So imagine my delight at finding www.vintagedress.co.uk. Just some of their styles are shown above and I thought for wedding dresses their prices were really good. I love the first 1950’s one - I want it!  And its a great way to know that your dress is unique, chic and green!

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