Well lovelies, it is the hour it is the time and it is shutter candy time, however this shutter candy comes with a side order of interview as today we are featuring some of the gorgeous wedding styling of Jennifer Sue Weddings.   So, you enjoy some treats for the eyes and we’ll let Jennifer talk you through her beautiful work and we hope this gives you some fabulous decor ideas for your own big day!

I’m Jennifer of Jennifer Sue Weddings and I have been styling weddings and other fashion/interior projects for nearly 4 years. Having given up my role as Head of Display at Nicole Farhi, I began to style events for friends and family and it snowballed from there. I had so much fun putting it all together that I started looking into offering my services.　For me, the look of a wedding is an extension of a great window display or a theatrical backdrop; with a theme and colour palette alongside a wealth of detail. Styling a room adds drama, mood, colour, elegance or softness into often plain and bare surroundings. All these add personality that is unique to the couple – effectively a window into their life together.

Couples generally have ideas of how their day will look. They have seen images in magazines and blogs or want to use their favourite colour and incorporate it into a scheme. My role is to sift through all the ideas to bring a cohesive look together. Once I have viewed the venue I can see what is needed to bring it to life. I work out places to hang ceiling decorations or lighting, and gauge what sort of furniture the venue has to offer. When outside items are required I turn to the many hire companies who offer a great choice of furniture, lighting, linens and vases.

My passion is handmade and DIY elements, such as handwritten menus and place names inscribed on old card, tied with string. I often scour the local car boot fairs to find antiques and vintage items for display. With many events under my belt, I now have a great collection of old books, lace and postcards to dip into. Indeed, one of my favourite weddings was when I styled a vintage tea party at Buxted Park Hotel in the orangerie. The bride and I collected all the crockery and vases from car boot sales and junk shops. The place names were little cards tied to vintage keys; these were then attached with a ribbon onto each tea cup. We had flowers in birdcages and teapots and antique glass vases with butterflies dressed through them. I also used lace and pearls to add extra detail around the centrepiece. To cap things off, the weather was beautiful and the bridal party looked stunning, captured beautifully by the photography of Lisa Devlin and Annamarie Stepney.

I’m always looking at the latest trends and styles, and for 2011 we need look no further than at top wedding dress designers such as David Fielden, Temperley, Jenny Packham, Ian Stewart and Rosa Clara. Their current collections are full of drama, Hollywood glamour and vintage chic, with details such as lace, embellishment, frills and fabric roses.　Their dresses inspire the overall decoration for the wedding.

My four key styles this summer are Hollywood glamour, bold brights with natural homemade elements, vintage tea party and rustic woodland.

1) Hollywood glamour with a touch of vintage is perfect for a hotel setting.　In the past few weeks I have used luxe fabrics for covering tables and hired in gold Chiavari banqueting chairs. I’ve then incorporated cut crystal glass vases set against show-stopping and ‘over the top’ displays of flowers and lighting, using chandeliers and light curtains. Colours such as white, cream, gold, silver, peach and lavender are very much the order of the day.

2) Bold brights with handmade rustic touches are also in vogue – perfect for a garden party or barn.　You can add to these wooden trestle tables and folding chairs, bales of straw, bright bunting and lanterns. I also like to use vases of all colours and sizes with a mass of messy bright flowers. For the tables, patterned fabrics as runners over natural linen cloths are proving popular. Again, handmade details such as menus written in chalk on a blackboard and, for nametags, the use of old string and luggage tags really complete the look.

3) Mad Hatter tea parties are another of the current trends – ideal for gardens and marquees. For this, wooden mismatched chairs with coloured cloths on tables work well. For the ceiling, or even hung from trees, muted bunting or strings of paper pom-poms mixed with fairy lights perfectly compliment the Alice In Wonderland style. I would then hire in vintage crockery for tea and cakes; and the tea pots and jugs would be filled with mixed fluffy flowers, pinks, soft greens and creams.

4) The last of the current trends is the rustic woodland wedding. Often set in a barn, stylists like to use natural earthy tones in the linens, layered over with hessian runners. This is complimented by a centerpiece of jam jars of picked wild flowers on top of wooden boards. Adding fruit to the table. Skewered with name tags, accentuates the rustic feel.

The best thing about my job is when the bride walks into the reception after months of planning, having spent all morning locked away in her room getting ready, and just exclaims, ‘wow it’s beautiful!’ They normally visualise how it will look but seeing it as a finished project invariably blows them away.

Massive thanks to Jennifer for the design ideas, and inspirations… PLUS: Don’t forget to see more of Jennifer’s work on her website