My Handmade Wedding: A Crafter's Guide to Making Your Big Day Perfect

Wedding Special - August 2016

This book is packed with over 20 tried and tested projects, from a range of stationery designs, candle favours, wedding cakes, ring pillows and veils, to lanterns bunting and paper flowers. The book is full of beautiful wedding photographs, which show the reader exactly how the projects work in a real wedding setting. Readers might want to recreate the author Marrianne's wedding exactly, or simply picks and choose elements they love to personalise on their big day.

Flowers are in abundance in Mercer's (Button Jewellery) collection of wedding-themed crafts that are based on items she created for her own festive event held in an English country village. Projects are organized by where they fit within the wedding, allowing couples to easily find projects for a specific occasion (e.g., leaving the ceremony). The chapter on stationery covers invitations, save-the-date cards, and the order of service, with suggestions for developing a style, choosing materials and ornamentation, and producing them in bulk. Several types of announcements are included, from a casual design of a hand-drawn bunting to a more traditional look decorated with lace and ribbon. The Wedding Party chapter features an array of options for using paper flowers in corsages, bouquets, and boutonnieres, with instructions for crafting flowers from paper, fabric, and organza. The Ceremony covers decor for during the event, and The Reception highlights both indoor and outdoor options, plus directions for homemade candles as wedding favors and a DIY fondant-covered cake. Casual and staged photos show many of the projects in action at Mercer's own wedding-a personal touch that adds further appeal. VERDICT Couples with a taste for cheery, floral wedding decor will appreciate Mercer's creativity-and her hints for planning are ideal for crafty types.

A fabulous little book with some brilliant inexpensive make for your big day. There is a fair few projects in here I will use for our wedding, especially the paper flowers picture on the front page. Unlike many similar books most of these can be done by a novice. Would recommend. All in all fabulous wedding book!

Have just received this book and had to sit and read it from cover to cover. It details a bride's journey through the planning and execution of a lovely handmade wedding. Great ideas from Save the Date notices to decorating the church, the hall and the outside spaces and everything inbetween. Truly inspirational and a book that I will be using as a crafter, not only for weddings but also for any party occasion. This book is a great read (makes you feel part of the wedding), has clear and easy tutorials to follow, and has a mass of other ideas and helpful hints.

I loved this book, crammed full of to make your wedding very special and unique. All of the projects within the book are achievable I thought for beginners, just follow the easy instructions and you can't go wrong. I also find a lot of the ideas were transferable to other events, my 7 year old I made a lot of the for her birthday which she loved doing. A great book for an individual wedding or indeed any girly party.

June/July 2016

Whether you're looking to inject a little colour into a blank space, give your wedding a personal touch or simply save a little cash, this handy guide is packed with tips for how to make various elements of your wedding by hand. Graphic designer Marrianne Mercer went all-out, making stationery, decorations, paper flowers, confetti, cakes, favours and more for her village hall wedding. While she acknowledges that not everyone will be keen to handcraft quite as much as she did her time plans and chartzs are really helpful for those wondering how best to organise their time. Marrianne's tips throughout the book also offer helpful snippets of advice, taken from her own experience, and are sure to help those who are new to event planning and crafting.

From the very first page until the last,this book is bursting with helpful tips,planning and lovely crafty makes. Full of easy to follow instructions for items like paper flowers, home made rose confetti, bunting and many other items. Your special day will be extra special if you use this book. It makes me want to get married again. You will find you come back to this book again and again as many of the makes could be used for parties of all ages. I give this book 10/10

From start to finish this book oozes warmth and sentiment as the author shares with you not only the designs and step by step guides on how she made many items she used for her wedding but also beautiful pictures from the day to accompany them. I have taken from it some great ideas and the templates provided are extremely useful.

Very informative book .Takes you step by step to making all your own wedding sundries....Lots of good ideas.. Could have shown a few more different styles tho to give a wider range of themes ..on the whole it covered all the basics

since attending a vintage themed wedding I always envisioned my wedding to be similar. the book is great with ideas on decorating the venue and you can always change the colours used to what you like. I really like the pages of making paper flowers as I especially love flowers and real ones are costly! I am looking forward to using this book for my own wedding soon as well as lending it out to friends for their weddings.

Have just received this book and had to sit and read it from cover to cover. It details a bride's journey through the planning and execution of a lovely handmade wedding. Great ideas from Save the Date notices to decorating the church, the hall and the outside spaces and everything inbetween. Truly inspirational and a book that I will be using as a crafter, not only for weddings but also for any party occasion. This book is a great read (makes you feel part of the wedding), has clear and easy tutorials to follow, and has a mass of other ideas and helpful hints.

A great book that is full of ideas. Many of which would never have occurred to me. Clear and concise in instructions and bright colourful pictures. I wish I had had this book before I got married! But I do now have SO many different things to make for my sisters in laws wedding! Wonderful personal touches.

This inspirational book charts the journey of author Marrianne Mercer as she went on an 8-month journey, planning and creating her own wedding. Full of loads of crafty tips and ideas for aking everything from the invitations, to the flowers, veil, confetti, cake and decorations saving the couple big bucks for the future, rather than spending it all on one day. Even if you are not getting married, this book still gives you a whole host of ideas that can be used for any occasion. We particularly fell in love with ths story behind this book and the process Marrianne went through to create her day.

Content
128 pages:
Marrianne Mercer's sharing of everything to do with her own `handmade' wedding. From the pleases right through to the thank yous. Marrianne incorporates her experience of pre planning and the enjoyable undertaking of what was, largely, a DIY wedding. The writing conveys an idea, it is a feature style presentation. Content falls under 9 main headings ; introduction, Planning the Wedding, The Stationery, The Wedding Party, The Ceremony, The Reception, After The Honeymoon, Templates, Index

Range of information 8/10
Marrianne decides at the planning stage which items she is crafting and which outlay will be shop brought. With a quick flick through the pages readers will see that project ideas are for stationery items in a chosen theme, wearable accessories including paper flowers; natural confetti in paper cones, all of the spacial decorations within the venues hosting both the ceremony and reception; tableware and table top decorations, wedding favours and the wedding cake. Some computer software experience required for the production of wedding invitations, the Order of Service, place settings, and thank you notes. etc. Crafts do not include dressmaking, though some basic sewing skills are required and sewing machine know how to make bunting, other than that projects are mainly 2D paper crafts, and there is a candle making project and a wedding cake project too

Quality of information 9/10

It'd be easy to guess Marrianne is a graphic designer she has her mind focusing on print production and likes to play with typography fonts. When you see the suggestions she presents for stationery design options she is willingly passing on a few tricks of the trade, the Stationery chapter covers 8 pages. What you need for each project is set out at the start of each new project and the materials for almost all of the crafting are widely available from craft suppliers/retailers of this ilk. There are lots of lists and tips to help. If instructions are followed closely everything should be achievable as long as each project is equipped properly. Includes 4 pages of Templates at the back (actual sized)

Layout 8/10

Paperback cover with 9 or so of the projects displayed as a collage on the front and back. Book measures 260 mm x 204 mm (H X W) approx. Feature style presentation using a mix of text, photography, b/w illustration, diagrams, coloured charts etc. Fonts are sometimes fine, sometimes bold. 9 main headings under which various subheadings fall.

Photography/Illustration 9/10
Stage by stage of the making is well illustrated using photographic images, as is the photographic displaying of end results, pieces appear in real life wedding shots of the big day. B/W illustration, tips appear in circles of different colours dotted around. Pages packed with photography, from demonstrating step by step working to full paged images.

Conclusion

Not only is Marrianne the star and the subject of the book, (not meaning to put hubby, Dave in the shade of course), but she is also the book's editorial creator, so this book is unique in many ways. The couple definitely saved themselves money by not using the `off the shelf' products and services of others, but in this case, the idea behind the wedding really was for it to be less staged and more original and personal in a contributory sense for Marrianne. Arguably, those who may be considering home crafting their preparations for a wedding, or any other life event comes to that, may well be doing it for the same reasons as Marrianne but will more likely be courting the idea because 1. they are working within a tight budget, and/or, 2. they would prefer to have a `green' wedding. There is very little re using and up cycling of found materials going on in Marrianne's `what you need list', as, even though she is not brand specific, she is predominately a shopper who likes to make things, this is what comes across. Marrianne's designs were not only season led, but were very much commercial led too. It is obvious that she really celebrates bright and colourful design, but if it is all a bit too garish for ones taste then materials can be swapped for something more muted, naturalistic or eco-friendly, the ideas can still serve as a good base guid

Want to get married but feel daunted by the cost; do you want a more personal touch to your wedding? This is the go-to book for the crafter who wants to put their own spin on their special day and save money. What's not to like?

The book gets off to a great start by getting the prospective bride (and groom) to ask each other a few questions. When is the wedding going to be? How much are you going to make yourself? Where do you want to hold it? There are ideas for lists to make, priorities to work out and lots of tips about time, budgeting, logistics and making choices. The rest of the book is divided into sections bursting with ideas on various aspects of the big day from stationery to the party, ceremony, reception and after the honeymoon. The contents list is a help as each of these sections contains lots of subsections so you can easily get to the right part. There are lots of projects in here too, mostly with photographic steps so you can make your own stationery, paper flowers, paper pompoms, ring pillow, non-littering confetti, bunting, vases, lanterns and cake decorations (plus cake). This is a wonderfully bright book with nice glossy pages full of photos of the author's own wedding showing the items in situ. If you like making flowers from paper, fabric, and fondant icing, this is also the book for you as there are lots of gaily colored blooms from gerberas to daisies. Many of the ideas in here would be useful for other events such as garden parties, birthdays and other celebrations. In the last chapter, there are even helpful ideas about recouping money, thank you letters, and CD photos presentation; I don't think there is anything that has not been thought of! I wondered before opening the book how something this involved was going to be doable but it is, and of course, you can do as much or as little as you like for your own wedding. I firmly recommend this book to anybody who is getting married and likes making things.

Love the lay out of this book, easy on the eye and draws you straight to the info at a glance, especially like the time planner and the master list, also the pop up tips in each section were helpful, favourite section was the paper flowers, overall a lovely book beginners to crafting will find it very useful but a delight for the more experienced too, could be a nice gift !

Wow! I've just received an early copy of an amazing new book from my publishers as they know both of my sons are getting married this year. It's 'My Handmade Wedding' by Marrianne Mercer. I wanted to see this publication as the story behind it is incredible. I met the beautiful author while I was at head office last week when working on my own new book. This wedding book contains every detail you need to know when planning a wedding, with stunning ideas for decorations, even down to the wedding cake and buttonholes. It's incredible. Turning the pages has been not only a treat but a real eye-opener on what can be achieved with a little imagination. Even if you aren't into home made decorations, this book covers details that will help all brides and grooms, such as planning photography sites in advance so that you are well prepared to capture the best memories of your big day. It even suggests some unusual shots. I loved the idea of thinking about where there could be a confetti shot, as some churches don't allow it. There are really lovely pieces of personal input from this bride, the author, loved her big day and she is thoughtfully putting the whole experience into a book so that other young couples face their big day with advise that is stunningly and warmly written. This bride's parents must be so proud! Not only getting married, but from the very beginning of her married life, she is helping others. How wonderful is that! I'm going to read the book from start to finish, as it also holds great ideas for decorating for other occasions too. So if you know anyone who is getting married, please look out for My Handmade Wedding by Marrianne Mercer, it's a beautiful book and the author deserves credit for it. It's brilliant! Well done Marianne!

Whether you're looking to inject a
little colour into a blank space, give
your wedding a personal touch or
simply save a little cash, this handy
guide is packed with tips for how
to make various elements of your
wedding by hand. Graphic Designer
Marianne Mercer went all-out, making
stationery, decorations, paper flowers, confetti, cakes, favours and more for her
village hall wedding. While she acknowledges that not everyone will be keen to
handcraft quite as much as she did, her time plans and charts are really helpful
for those wondering how best to organise their time. Marianne's tips throughout
the book also offer helpful snippets of advice, taken from her own experience,
and are sure to help those who are new to event planning and crafting.

Marrianne (Maz) Mercer studied at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University to gain a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising in 2005. From there she moved back to Kent to start her career as a graphic designer. She now works as a designer for a book publisher and enjoys making handmade beaded jewellery at weekends.