Ladies, Let Me Introduce to You The Wedding Institute

Another treat directly from my inbox today... The Wedding Institute. This one's for the ladies (loving the acronym the W.I. there!) - a project created by the lovely wedding stationer Vicky Trainor and photographer Becky Mitchell, both established national and regional businesses in the creative and wedding market.

Vicky's email had me smiling from the start. "It's grim up north", she said. Looking out of my window this morning I have to agree... and yet the "do like to be beside the seaside" feel of the postcard Vicky sent to introduce The Wedding Institute makes me feel quite fond of my northern roots...

Over to Vicky to tell you what The Wedding Institute is all about and how YOU can get involved with one of their wonderful events...

"In January this year an exciting photo shoot took place in an old manor house in the coastal town of Saltburn by the Sea. A shoot that was to bring together a wealth of creative suppliers who work in the wedding industry, all from the North East/North Yorkshire area, all designers and specialists with a passion for working in creative and interesting ways.

The seed for this shoot was planted last summer when stationer Vicky Trainor met photographer Becky Mitchell at The Love My Dress blog Summer Soiree, held at The Baltic, Gateshead. They enthusiastically chatted about working on a project together to promote businesses in ‘The North’ who work in the wedding industry and the importance of working creatively and generating new ideas.

Vicky is a Textile Designer by trade and has a natural obsession (some may call it an addiction) with colour, pattern and anything floral and designed the shoot to be a wonderful layering of forties and fifties inspired palettes as well as a wonderful eclectic mix of varied eras, from Victorian to household glass of the seventies. Becky is influenced by period and vintage fashion based imagery and loves to introduce this inspiring angle to her work and wedding photography.

So after lots of research, emails, meetings, general twittering, they gathered a cluster of creative people together to be involved in this photoshoot and ‘Rigwood Manor’ was born….

The ‘Rigwood Manor’ photo shoot has already been published with great success, featuring on two highly regarded national blogs, Love My Dress and Brides Up North as well as the American online wedding magazine Utterly Engaged and will soon to feature on Australian blog Style & Bride. From a little local town to international recognition within a few months.

Their passion for promoting northern based artists, designers and makers is now continuing through the forming of ‘The Wedding Institute’ a very visual, community spirited and exciting event, a new twist on the wedding fair.

This first event is titled ‘The Wedding Institute @ The Village Hall’ and will take place on Sunday April 29th at Saltburn Community Hall (part of the old Victorian Theatre), North Yorkshire.

“A small intimate affair, we want you to come and ‘hang out’ with us and not just ‘visit’. We want you to leave with a refreshing cluster of new suppliers to help you with your styling and wedding planning. We would love for you to make new friends, to have fun, to laugh, to have a day out, to be totally immersed in the creativity and vintageness of organising your big day. We want to inspire you to allow your personality to come through into the styling of your day and for your wedding to be true to you and the love you have for each other”.

"A place where you can come and be inspired, escape with your imagination, take time to chat with suppliers, relax in our tea room at the heart of the exhibition, listen to live music, indulge in a 1950’s make-up session with our make-up artist or a pretty collection of ‘victory rolls’ styled in your hair by The Wedding Institute’s stylist”.

A stunning collection of hand-picked suppliers who are all from the North East/North Yorkshire area and are passionate about their own specialist field, a fun filled community who are thrilled to be part of The Wedding Institute. Photography, stationery, vintage wedding dresses alongside new vintage inspired wedding dresses, reception styling, bridesmaid dresses, floral styling, make up artist, hair stylist, music, china hire, jewelry we even have our own celebrant. We will also be joined for the day by Julia Braime the ‘Brides up North’ blogger herself who has lots of advice and would love to hear your plans and ideas regarding your wedding so far.

To attend the event you need to pre-register and purchase your tickets by visiting the registration page of their web site at www.theweddinginstitute.co.uk

If you do not have a PayPal account you can arrange the purchase of your tickets by emailing vicky at info@vickytrainor.co.uk or Becky at becky@beckymitchell.co.uk

Tickets are £3.00 per person (tickets are cheaper if arriving as a small group)

Vicky & Becky are already planning the second Wedding Institute event and are currently selecting vendors who offer “A tea cup of uniqueness and a slice of originality” They will also be planning their next photo shoot from September (to be launched in 2013) and this will involve a selection The Wedding Institute members.

So if you are planning your wedding, whether you are in the final stages or are recently engaged make sure you pop along to this exciting event. Doors open at 12 and close at 6pm.

In the mean time, in the approach to the 29th April, you can follow The Wedding Institute on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheWeddingInstitute and also follow their journey in postings on their blog at www.theweddinginstitute.co.uk

Check back on English Wedding Blog at 2pm for your chance to WIN tickets to The Wedding Institute - there'll be 5 up for grabs!

Vicky Trainor designs wed­ding sta­tionery — her site is well worth a nosey around! www.vickytrainor.co.uk and Becky Mitchell is a wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher with an eye for vin­tage love­li­ness…  www.beckymitchell.co.uk

Get in the mood with these Saltburn-by-the-Sea hol­i­day snaps on YouTube: