The Refinery, St Andrews Square, Edinburgh

Matthew and I decided on 2020 as the year we would get married (although now 2021), which meant our engagement would be at least 2.5 years long, so we decided to celebrate with an engagement party. I absolutely loved planning this party, it was more like a mini-wedding to be honest! I made a lot of DIY decor that I sourced from eBay, including our DIY photobooth and dessert table. If you're currently on the fence about whether or not to have an engagement party... DO IT! This was, hands down, one of the best nights of my life and I love looking back at all the photos. Having all of our family and friends in one place was so special and I didn't stop smiling the entire night.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on an engagement party. We found a bar that would give us free hire with a minimum spend - the minimum was £1000 which we easily knew we'd hit with 50 guests, especially as this included the food we were providing them. Food and a welcome glass of champagne was our biggest expense but you don't have to provide this, guests don't expect it. Our photographer was found through an amateurs Facebook photography group, he only charged us £50 for 2 hours and sent us over 150 photos as he was looking to build up his portfolio. This is a brilliant way to find event photographers on a really tight budget. There are so many photos we would never have had if it wasn't for hiring Jacob!

Saturday 16th May 2020

Mr + Mrs Roberts & Carson (she won't be taking Ken's last name... she's too iconic)

Family Home Backyard, Prestwick, Scotland

We met in 1961 while filming a television commercial together. It was love at first sight. It was initially quite hard to be together as I (Barbie) was pursuing careers as a professional ballerina, a flight attendant, a registered nurse and a singer; but we made it work. 

We stuck to a classic theme, clean and simple. Black, white and gold appeared to be the signature colours of the big day. The bridesmaids dresses matched with the Bride, though the dress material varied, the bride tribe all had matching gold satin belts. 

We love personalised bridal jackets and think they look so cool in wedding photos, or even worn on hen dos, and given the weather they’re actually quite practical for UK brides! If you love them too, you’ll probably have discovered they’re not cheap. As beautiful as they are, it’s not always practical for brides to spend £200-£300 on an extra like that. We’ve put together a guide below for everything you need to make your own custom bridal jacket without breaking the budget, with customisation options starting from just £10. If you're not the DIY type then scroll to the bottom of this article where we've rounded up our favourite affordable professional jacket customised, all under £65. 

We wanted to start our Real Weddings edit with the 2020 couples who had to postpone and celebrate their wedding day in lockdown. It may not have been the day they’d imagined or been planning for years, but that didn’t stop these brides and grooms from making the most of their special day. Of course, no guests were allowed but that’s what Zoom is for! We asked the Instagram bridal community to share how they marked the occasion. Meet the brides who celebrated their wedding days in quarantine from a social distance... 

 

Original Date: 09.04.20 

New Date: 31.03.21  

This lovely bride Emily has a wedding Instagram filled with ideas for postponed brides! We love the photos from her ‘would be’ wedding date.  "Our friends and family surprised us with a virtual wedding party on the evening of our non-wedding! It meant we got to cut our amazing cake in front of everyone!"

"We bought each other promise rings and gave them to each other on what should have been our wedding day. We both wear them on our right hand but it's a nice reminder that we're still getting married even if it's a year later!" They also filled their house with flowers similar to what would have been their wedding flowers.

"We had a go at making our evening menu DISCO FRIES!" Don't they look delish? Emily recommends that other brides and grooms pour themselves a glass of bubbly and have a go at making their wedding menu. 

We wanted to post this advice on our blog straightaway as we know how many couples have sadly been affected by this and may find this helpful. Please note from this moment on we will be focusing on POSITIVITY ONLY!

Having to postpone your wedding because of a global pandemic isn't exactly a common occurrence, so there's no handbook for brides to consult. That is exactly why we've put this post together with all of the key things you need to consider and do when it comes to postponing your wedding. It is impossible to know when 2020 weddings will be able to go ahead again, or what restrictions will be in place. 2021 dates are filling up fast as more brides are taking the decision into their own hands. Tiffany and I both made the difficult decision to postpone our September 2020 weddings until 2021, so we wanted to offer some advice on the process. 

For those who have already made the decision to postpone I would highly recommend Blossoms and Blush Digital Postponement Planner – it's FREE to print it yourself. It even contains email templates for suppliers with all of the key questions you should be asking. Visit @blossomsandblush on Instagram to get your copy. 

If you are currently undecided about postponing your wedding it's important to know your options for Plan B. Finding out your supplier's availability for 2021 may help with your decision, if there's lots of availability you might decide to wait longer or if there is scarce availability you might decide to act now. Some venues may even allow you to pencil in a 2021 date until it becomes clear as whether or not your original date can go ahead later in the year. We've outlined some steps below which may help with making your decision.