Your North West Wedding news and ideas from around the region

Fleurs&Ink has won Best Emerging Eco-Friendly Florist for 2023

Fleurs&Ink is a wedding florist offering designs across Lancashire, the South Lakes, and North Cheshire. Run by Abbey, Fleurs&Ink aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible by sourcing local and British flowers when possible. Abbey uses reusable and recyclable methods and materials to reduce the impact of Fleurs&Ink on everyday flowers, gifts, and weddings and events.

Fleurs&Ink has had an exciting year; the company was nominated at the North West Wedding Awards and won 'Best Emerging Eco-Friendly Florist 2023' at the Global Wedding Awards – congratulations! To celebrate, Abbey is releasing new styles of plinths, urns, and arch lighting for 2024, with plenty of options to choose from.

Weddings Wrapped 2023 - wedding special

With Spotify Wrapped 2023 having just dropped, Encore Musicians, the UK's largest musician bookings platform has analysed 2,300 song requests by newlyweds to see the most requested songs and artists for weddings in 2023. They also surveyed 1,000 of its customers and musicians to discover the UK's favourite and least favourite songs to hear at weddings. Although Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" ranked as the most common song for first dances, it also ranked as the second least popular song to hear at weddings with one in seven ranking it as their least favourite.

Could you have to pay inheritance tax on a wedding gift?

Before the big day comes around, whether you are a guest giving a present or contributing to the cost of the honeymoon, or perhaps a relative considering helping towards the cost of the wedding itself, you ought to consider the inheritance tax implications of making such gifts. James Mabey, partner at law firm Winckworth Sherwood advises on the inheritance tax implications of wedding gifts. In the UK, if you die within seven years of making a gift, inheritance tax may be payable on the value of the gift after your death. This is because gifts are considered to be part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes.

DJ Chris G has won a Highly Commended Award at The Wedding Industry Awards

DJ Chris G, a professional DJ, master of ceremonies, and lighting specialist, won the Highly Commended Award in the 'Best DJ in the North West' category at The Wedding Industry Awards. Based in Greater Manchester, Chris works with state-of-the-art equipment to create a spectacular setting for your event, which can include confetti canons, indoor fireworks, light-up backdrops, dancefloors, and more. Whether you're looking for bespoke lighting to match your theme or a starlit backdrop, Chris has something to suit.

Propress launches the MINI Clothes Steamer - perfecting for wedding dresses!

Professional and long-established British fabric steamer manufacturer, Propress, has unveiled the Propress MINI Handheld Clothes Steamer. A revolutionary product that combines over 40 years of steaming expertise with cutting-edge technology, the MINI allows users to say goodbye to the days of wrestling with an ironing board and hello to the future of garment care with beautifully crease-free clothes, whether at home, in the office, or on-the-go.

The Propress Mini Handheld Clothes Steamer (£110) is available in Arctic Grey, Idol Blue or Vintage Pink from the Propress website. It heats up in under a minute offering the convenience of crease-free clothes with a simple touch of a button. Its efficiency and ease of use make it a must-have for every fashion-savvy individual, plus it is versatile enough to treat various home fabrics from curtains to bedding, and is ideal for weddings or even hoteliers.

The Wild Boar offers a range of fun wedding experiences

Set in the leafy woodlands of the Gilpin Valley, The Wild Boar boasts 72 acres of private grounds and forest trails for you and your guests to enjoy. The extensive grounds and beautiful scenery provide a range of options for weddings with a difference.

The venue's Mad Pig Land Rover often features in photographs as you are driven to your chosen photo backdrop. You can also enjoy a falconry hawk walk in the woods or the venue's 'Wild Wedding' experiences, which include clay pigeon shooting, archery and axe throwing.

Winter wedding inspiration from leading wedding planner

Matthew Shaw, founder & creative director at sauveur. shares his winter wedding inspiration for those looking to tie the knot at this time of year. Winter weddings have grown hugely in popularity. The festive season can be a truly magical time of year to host a wedding and stand out from the crowd but it does bring its own set of considerations for the planning. Whilst the key areas of your wedding planning will be the same as a wedding in any other month, there are a few different elements to consider to create an incredible winter wedding celebration.

How to kick-start your wedding planning

Samantha Gilchrist, Co-Founder and CEO of the UK's largest wedding venue collection, The Gilchrist Collection, shares her top tips on how to kick-start your wedding plans, taking away any unnecessary stress and disappointment in preparation for that special day. Set a Date - possibly the most important aspect of planning as getting this date in the diary will allow you to move forward with your plans. When choosing a date, it's worth carrying out a simple checklist to help you nail that day down such as: Think if there is a time of year you both always wanted to get married in? A season you both love or a month that is special to you is a great starting point.

5 unique winter wedding trends for 2023

From décor inspired by the season's natural beauty to creative ways to keep your guests warm, wedding supply experts Aura Print have searched TikTok to bring you the top five quirky winter wedding trends for 2023.While traditional wedding fayre often includes champagne toasts and wine, a hot chocolate bar offers a warm, decadent, and customisable alternative for the colder months. As the evening progresses and temperatures drop, guests can enjoy a sweet treat to keep them going on the dance floor. For younger guests or for those who don't drink alcohol, a hot chocolate bar also provides a great non-alcoholic option. With over 112.7 million TikTok hashtag views, the hot chocolate wedding bar trend is set to take the winter wedding season by storm!

A more sustainable, ethical, and zero-waste approach to weddings

Reports suggest that 4,910 tonnes of unrecyclable plastic was used up and left behind at British weddings last year, with this in mind, 77 Diamonds has released a planning guide to promote a more sustainable, ethical, and zero-waste approach to weddings. Individually, one wedding can produce as much as 20kg of plastic waste. What's more, the black bags used to collect the rubbish are themselves potentially harmful. They can take as many as 90 years to break down under the ground. But it's not just plastic which has an impact. Food wastage is also a common theme for most weddings.

Find County Wedding Magazines on YouTube

We're never satisfied when it comes to providing our readers with enough wedspiration, which is why we've created our very own County Wedding Magazine YouTube channel! You'll find tons of big-day ideas, from venue tours to dream dresses, then take a peek behind the scenes of styled shoots featured in our titles past and present. We're adding more content all the time, so why not hit SUBSCRIBE so you never miss a thing? Simply head to YouTube and search for 'County Wedding Magazines' now

ACMAGIC has won Best Magician in the North West at The Wedding Industry Awards 2024

Andrew Cooper from ACMAGIC has won 'Best Magician in the North West' at The Wedding Industry Awards 2024 – congratulations! Andrew has been entertaining audiences for more than 10 years and has an impressive 25 years of experience in magic.

"The awards were voted for exclusively by my happy wedding clients, and I would like to dedicate this award to each and every one of them, as if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be where I am today," says Andrew. "I'd also like to give a shout out to all my amazing followers for supporting me on this amazing journey. When I started doing magic as my full-time job, I could only dream of being recognised as the best in the North West."

AI creates the ultimate first dance song

There are over 217,000 first dances in the UK every year (1,950,000 in the US) yet couples usually pick the same handful of songs. Have you ever wondered why tracks like Etta James' At Last and Just You And I by Tom Walker are so popular at weddings? And what makes them so timeless? Function Central, a platform for finding and hiring musicians and bands for events, have answered exactly that! By analysing the most popular first dance songs to find the top 10 that couples choose, they have used AI to create the world's ultimate first dance song based on their findings, showing couples that they can have a timeless first dance song that is unique to their wedding.

The Lowry Hotel was Manchester's first five-star hotel

The Lowry Hotel is situated on the banks of the River Irwell and was the city's first five-star hotel. Boasting floor-to-ceiling windows that provide lots of natural light and striking views across Manchester, the hotel has a romantic atmosphere and a modern blank canvas that can be transformed to suit any wedding.

Weddings take place in a variety of event spaces, depending on guest numbers. Intimate celebrations are held in the Private Dining Room, which has a private terrace overlooking the city, and the Grand Ballroom can be used for large nuptials of up to 280 of your nearest and dearest.

How to make your engagement ring shine for wedding day

Between shampoo, hairspray, moisturiser and hand cream – we can all agree that our beautiful engagement rings go through a lot on a daily basis. After all, many of us wear them every day without ever taking them off! But if your big day is just around the corner, it's crucial to keep your ring looking its best for those all-important wedding photos and to ensure your nearest and dearest see it in all its glory. With this in mind, experts at family-owned jewellers and diamond merchants, Chisholm Hunter, offer their specialist advice on how to get your ring gleaming before your big day... Max Brown, Retail Director at Chisholm Hunter, shares their top tips for ensuring your engagement ring is sparkling ahead of your wedding day: "If you want your precious jewellery to look its best on the big day, we recommend taking your ring to a professional jewellers for both ultrasonic and steam cleaning and using fine emery paper followed by a full polish to remove any surface scratching.

Venues for the perfect autumnal ceremony

New research conducted by ethical jewellery brand Sacet has revealed the top country wedding venues across the UK that would make the perfect location for an autumnal ceremony. By analysing a number of factors (including guest capacity, number of reviews, professionalism, quality of service and value for money) of over 30 wedding venues that offer barn, country and forest-style weddings in the UK, the top 10 were revealed. Brinsop Court Manor House and Barn, in Hereford, has been crowned the overall winner, with top ratings across all factors (quality of service, response time, professionalism, value for money flexibility and average rating). It also had the most number of reviews and can hold between 30 to 250 guests.

Parkdean Resort has noticed a 44 per cent increase in bookings

Parkdean Resort has noticed a 44 per cent increase in bookings, with the Lake District being one of the most popular regions in the UK for holidays. Perfect for family-moons or pre-wedding getaways, Parkdean Resort has a range of holiday parks across the UK for couples to choose from.

Xavier Vallee, the chief customer officer of Parkdean Resorts, said: "September bookings began to really take off in 2020 when aeroplanes couldn't, and with the recent Air Traffic Control issues denting people's faith once again in air travel, demand for our parks is continuing to soar."

Are these popular 2023 wedding song cursed?

Research from wedding entertainment providers Function Central shows couples are taking risks choosing songs for their weddings with shockingly high divorce rates. Function Central used existing data on the songs most likely to end in divorce to see whether couples were still taking risks by adding these songs to their upcoming nuptials. This data was then cross-referenced against existing wedding playlists of engaged couples to see whether couples were still choosing these songs for their weddings. The results were concerning for any superstitious couples worried about whether certain tracks were deemed bad luck for long lasting marriages.

The Ro Hotel has undergone a multi-million-pound refurbishment

Following a multi-million-pound refurbishment, the newly designed interiors at The Ro Hotel take inspiration from the lakes and surrounding countryside, with cool blues and turquoises complemented with accents of oranges, natural stone and traditional grey slate. Situated in the heart of Bowness, the venue's stately façade creates a welcoming atmosphere, combining the grandeur of a bygone age with all the conveniences of the modern day.

5 reasons couples fail at sticking to their wedding budget

With the cost of living on everyone's minds, budget expert Isabel Smith, offers some insight into how couples can set (and stick to!) their wedding budget. The number of couples who are going overbudget on their wedding is dropping, from around 2/3 in 2018 to somewhere around 50% this year. This may be due to savvier couples setting more realistic budgets, or people simply refusing spend a penny more than planned owing to future financial uncertainty, but either way, I am all for it! I've never been an advocate for getting in debt over your big day, no matter how special you want it to be.