Bride Diaries - Vol. 6 - Zoe Hardman

Happy Saturday brides! I'm going to hazard a guess that it's another busy, wedding planning day ahead for you? Make sure the prosecco is in the fridge for when you return home. This morning I am bringing you another one of our June bride diary entires and this comes from Zoe Hardman. This blog entry is slightly different to others that we have seen before, Zoe has told us about the stationary she's bought for her big day - or rather, made, or bought.

Zoe told us that from the day she booked her wedding, she was excited about the stationary! Zoe is a craft fanatic and often makes trips to hobby craft or the range to make gifts for her friends and to put around her home. Her theme is elegent, with a hint of rose gold, blush and flowers. She instantaneously knew she wanted to be a DIY bride and she used pinterest alot to inspire her, however, she quickly realised that there was alot more to it than she first initally thought. 

Zoe began to browse the web for instruments and materials to start her wedding DIY. She told us that even though she had scoured the internet, she couldn't find the correct materials that suited her theme. She had found some watercolour, floral printed invites that were the style she was wanting, however, she knew that this is not something that would be replicated easily. Zoe also had the job of ensuring that all guests had a wedding breakfast menu, which has a choice of four starters, mains and desserts. Very rapidly, she realised that she had her work cut out for her and everything that she had looked at as a possibility was way out of her budget. She was back to the drawing board. 

After Zoe having her heart set on making lots of her own stationary but not being able to find anything which matches her theme, she decided to take the plunge and order four or five samples. She used Etsy and Ebay as her main two sources of resources and ended up spending around £20-£30 in samples. She found that the cheaper ones, which remained in her budget, weren't up to the standard and quality in which she was looking for. Eventually, she found some on Instagram that were lovely watercolour, floral print; however, her husband-to-be didn't like them, and for £6 an invite this was extortionate. Considering that Zoe wanted to make them herself, she wanted to try and keep costs down so decided to keep looking.

Zoe started letting it all get to her and started to feel a bit down about it all, and although it's normal for wedding planning to cause a bit of stress and aggrovation, a bride should never feel down about her wedding and wedding plans. Until one day, Zoe was sat scrolling down Facebook, as you do, and she came across a page who offered exactly what she had been looking for. From then on, she enjoyed every little bit of ordering the remainder of her stationary. Although, ordering the invitiations rather than making them still didn't come without complications. She ended up ordering separate childrens menu's for the guests with families however when she recieved them, none of them were labelled to include children's menu's!!! Arghhhh! This resulted in Zoe having to so very carefully open up the ones which needed children's menu's and place them inside. Zoe told us she was that careful and precise that she felt as though she was performing surgery.   

After everything, they were exactly what she wanted and a thousand times more! Zoe told us that a few people think she's mad that she is so excited over them but she told us that stationary isn't just invitations. There's also the place cards, table numbers, table plan, order of service and any signs! She wants everything to be matching and everything flowing from beginning to end. Finally, she felt like she was achieving her vision. 

If Zoe could give you bride's one bit of advice, she would reccommend thinking about whether or not you want to give youself the challenge of trying to create everything yourself. There are people out there who do it for a living and you can tell them exactly what you want and within a short period of time, you recieve your order. 

Who knew that wedding stationary could be so stressful? Well, we did as we are part of the stationary industry haha! But all you new bride to be's who haven't got to the stationary stage yet, don't ever underestimate how stressful it can be. 

We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and get lots ticked off of your to-do list!! Don't forget the confetti.