Today I had a little outing to a rather cool and trendy venue, The Gallery Soho, in which The EtsyUK team had put together a super sweet wedding event. It was a sneak preview of the EtsyWed event that is on tomorrow 11th May, especially for wedding press, bloggers and us Etsy sellers, including Beaubuttons shop.

We were treated to an insightful talk by Annabel of Love My Dress and Charlie from The Natural Wedding Company. Both of whom shared some of their wise wedding wisdom :)

Here are some of the pics from the day...

Fancy a bit of wedding inspiration? Head down to The Gallery Soho tomorrow for this lovely EtsyWed event. Don't forget, there is an exclusive 15% discount on featured suppliers to all brides who attend!!

Beaubuttons is very proud to be one of the chosen designers to have their handmade wedding item on display at this fabulous event organised by the lovely Etsy team. Click on the link above for all the details about the event. All those who attend will be offered an exclusive 15% DISCOUNT from our Etsy Shop!

Today was the announcement of the Wedding Industry Awards Regional Shortlist and I am extremely proud to announce that Beaubuttons has made it through this stage. For this I MUST thank all my lovely couples who were married this year for your wonderful votes and kind words... so Thank You!! 

Feast your eyes on this truely cute photo shoot by the wonderful Kat Forsyth Photography. It is full to the brim with adorable little flower girls and page boys! This shoot was the concept of Gwenda Wilkes from The Vintage Floral Design Company and features gorgeous outfits from Little Bevan.

For this shoot not only did I loan button creations but I also loaned my own two kids, Molly and Jack, as a little bridesmaid and page boy. It was such a fun day and I love that I can share this excitement of my business with my children. 

For this particular shoot pastels, tea parties and a vintage twist were the themes of the day. I created my Flower and Lace bouquet using heaps of soft pastel vintage buttons in creamy yellows, baby pinks and powdery blues and nestled amongst the buttons were some gorgeous floral china brooches which I adore to work with. The collar for this bouquet is a pale yellow with cream lace overlay petal style and the handle is bound in thick baby blue ribbon.

I must have a special mention to the fabulous cake designer Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Cake Emporium. The cake, designed around the idea of vintage buttons co-odinates perfectly with one of my pastel button bouquets!

Below are some more of the range created for this shoot, featuring my love heart button wand, pomander ball and sweetie influenced buttonhole. For a look at all the gorgeous images you can head on over to Whimiscal Wonderland Weddings which, excitingly, featured the whole shoot! :)

All the fabulous suppliers involved in this shoot...

Venue: The Secret Garden, Ashford, Kent — www.secretgardenkent.co.uk
Photographer: Kat Forsyth Photography — www.katforsyth.com
Models: Gwenda, Emma, Sophie, Nadia, Molly, Jack, Natasha, Paige, Zoe
Flowers & Styling: The Vintage Floral Design Co. — www.vintagefloraldesign.co.uk
Hair & Make-up Artist: Masterpiece by Carla Ramsey — www.carlahairandmakeup.co.uk
Bridesmaid Dresses, Accessories and Shoes: Little Bevan — www.littlebevan.co.uk
Wedding Dresses & Bridal Hair Accessories: Tiara & Tails Bridal Boutique --www.tiaraandtails.co.uk
Shoes: Emmy – www.emmyshoes.co.uk
Button Bouquets: Beaubuttons – www.beaubuttons.co.uk
Ceramic Flower Jewellery: Vintage Gems Jewellery — www.vintagegemsjewels.bigcartel.com
Vintage Cuff: Victoria Mary Vintage — www.victoriamaryvintage.com
Cakes: Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium — www.elizabethscakeemporium.com
Macarons: Anges de Sucre – www.angesdesucre.com
Vintage China & Garden Games: Teaspoon Events — www.teaspoonevents.co.uk
Bunting: Emma Bunting — www.emma-bunting.co.uk
Face Painting: Follies – www.follies.co.uk
Balloons: Party on the Hill — www.partyonthehill.co.uk
Confetti: Bespoke Confetti — www.bespoke-confetti.co.uk

When I first started Beaubuttons in the Spring of 2011 I had the pleasure of working with ace wedding photographer Bethan Of Haywood jones photography. 

Bethan has a wonderful talent for seeing beauty in a landscape that others may overlook. This translates beautifully in this shoot. An outdoor swimming pool, ramshackle, green water and peeling paint set the scene. Not sounding too inviting? Well take a look at some of the dreamy shots Bethan produced from the day!

Now not only did my bouquets get to be photographed that day, but yours truly was also popped in the spotlight! With a selection of nostalgic, original vintage wedding gowns I was dressed and set to work. I had the most fun I'd had in a long time! Bethan and her sister Syriol are great fun to work with and completely put me at ease.

Some more shots of the day... 

We were all very excited when the lovely Lou at Whimsical Wonderland Wedding asked to feature the shoot. You can see the whole feature here. I have some more wonderful shoots coming up over the summer and I may be donning a wedding dress again for one or two so watch this space!

I'd love to hear your comments!

One of the really fun parts of my job is that I get to work with some wonderful wedding industry people. I love to collaborate with other designers and photographers on inspiring bridal shoots. By the powers of Facebook I met one photographer, Sharon Cooper, who took a liking to my bouquets! Realising we lived relatively close we hatched a plan for a bight, retro bridal shoot.

The wonderful camper vans were the backdrop for this shoot and with the vibrant colours that the vans displayed I set to creating some suitably eye catching bouquets!  We were also lucky to have wonderful hair pieces from the great What Katy Did Next that coordinated perfectly with my bouquets.

We had two very different models, Flo and Tor, who looked equally fabulous in their Look Darling 50's style tea length wedding gowns and awesome make up by Katy Messer of Make Up By Katy. With Flo and her gorgeous blue hair I created a super retro rainbow themed button bouquet. This bouquet features heaps of multi coloured vintage buttons. From floral bakelites to rainbow glass buttons it is a really eclectic bouquet using many reclaimed buttons. Set in a soft tulle collar in shades of yellow, pink and blue and bound in brightly coloured ribbons.

Tor has a completely different vibe to Flo and this was represented in her styling and choice of bouquet. For this shoot I created my Tiffany Blue bouquet which is made from hundreds of vintage aqua, turquoise and pale blue buttons. It is set upon a cream lace ruffle collar and a soft velvet handle. Don't you just love that fur coat?! What a colour match!

We were very excited that the lovely Lou, creator of Whimsical Wonderland Weddings, wanted to feature the shoot which can be seen here! Looking forward to more fun shoots with Sharon in the future! Would be great to hear your thoughts on the shoot, do you find bridal shoots inspiring? What type of shoots would you like to see more of?

I'm often asked by brides and grooms whether I had a button bouquet for my own wedding. The answer? Of course I did! And did I make it myself? Yes (and I was my own worst customer at making decisions!) 

So on a very cold Decembers day of 2011 Scott and I Were married. Haywood Jones was our photographer and here I will share some of the lovely images she took. 

We chose Southfarm as we felt it lent itself well to a winters wedding. With a festive feel to the venue and my red shoes, this became the key colour for my bouquet. 

An eclectic mix of red vintage buttons were combined with peal accents and a large central snowflake brooch that matched my What Katy Did Next headband.  The bouquet was set upon a rich ivory lace ruffle collar with the handle bound in soft ivory velvet ribbon. I featured some sentimental items in my bouquet too as a special way to remember loved ones no longer with us.

With a matching bouquet for my daughter, mini bouquets for flower girls, buttonholes for the wedding party and wrist corsages for the bridesmaids I was pretty busy in the run up to the wedding! All worth it though and great gifts for close family and friends.

I now keep my bouquet in a pretty vintage coffee pot on the mantle piece, a lovely reminder of our wedding day. Thank you Bethan for your wonderful photography!

Today I will be sharing with you one of my real couples. Amanda and James were married back in November 2011 and were a wonderfully laid back pair to work with! Amanda is an old school friend, making it really special for me to design her bouquet. All photos are credit to the fabulous Peachey Photography.

With their honeymoon booked for a fabulous Las Vegas trip they were keen to have this reflected in Amanda's bouquet. From this idea was born my Lady Luck Bouquet! Amanda had a very relaxed approach to the design process and really allowed me to experiment and play around with unusual buttons.

Amanda had a fabulous oyster tone vintage frock from Elizabeth Avey which we based the main colour of the bouquet on. Highlighted with red, black and glistening rhinestones, then surrounded with soft, champagne tone feathers giving this bouquet a real show girl vibe! The mini dice, playing cards and casino influences complete this retro Vegas bouquet.
 James wore a slick black suit, diamant black tie and white shirt. He wanted a simple buttonhole that would compliment Amanda's oyster coloured bouquet. 

A massive thank you to Amanda and James and also to Peachey Photography for allowing me to share these wonderful images. I wish Amanda and James every happiness in their future together!

So what do you think? Is a Vegas themed bouquet something that would suit your wedding? Anyone planning a Las Vegas Wedding? I'd love to hear your feedback! 

Intros...
Always going to be the hardest post, where to start?

I guess introductions are polite? So here we go...
I'm Emma, owner of Beaubuttons.  Mother of two pretty spectacular children and wife to my wonderful husband.

About 2 years ago, along with my own engagement I fell in love with weddings, in all their many varieties! Since then my passion for creating unique alternative keepsake bouquets for fabulous brides and grooms has grown and grown.

I now find myself sat in my home studio surrounded by beautiful vintage buttons on a daily basis, and honestly... I couldn't be happier! I absolutely adore creating bespoke designs for individual tastes. I feel so blessed to have found a little pocket within this world in which I get to sit and create for hours.

I look forward to sharing my new designs, real couples, exciting news and other inspirational wedding ideas with you. Comments would make me smile even more! :)