Shropshire Wedding Venues

I am constantly inundated with excited couples trying to find their perfect wedding venue. It seems they come to me as I throw the style of wedding they want and tend to work in the style of venue that they are sniffing out.

Festival style, vintage, rustic, quirky weddings can of course be held in your average manor house, castle or stately home but the people who come to me often want something a little different and usually with a different budget in mind.

So here are my top 5 Quirky Shropshire Wedding Venues. Some without pictures as we like to keep them secret, but come through me and we can go and view them!

1. A field over looking Wenlock Edge! You can have the full festival wedding experience, set up a yurt such as Henry's gorgeous Yurtmaker.co.uk Yurts or how about a Stretch Tent from Freestretch.co.uk? Contact me for further details festoon@live.co.uk.

freestretch.co.uk tell Will Ruth sent you!

2. The Sun Inn at Leintwardine. Not strictly in Shropshire, just over the border in Herefordshire but very close to Ludlow and all that delicious foodie-ness. Rustic, parlous pub. Original flagstone floor, original wallpaper. Large eco-build extension on the back and vintage furniture. Oh yes and fantastic real ale! festoon@live.co.uk for further details

Festoon co-ordinates weddings at The Sun. festoon@live.co.uk

3. Wistanstow Village Hall. The largest village hall in the country apparently and it really is gorgeous. It includes a small field over looking incredible countryside, lots of parking and beautiful woodwork inside.

From Rock My Wedding

4. Wilderhope Manor is actually a youth hostel but has recently had a refurb and is now a brilliant combination of grand yet rustic. Remote enough to have a big knees up with gorgeous grounds and accomodation for guests on site yet close to Much Wenlock and Bridgnorth. Tents can also be erected outside.

Contact Wilderhope on 08453719149 or Wilderhope@yha.org.uk

5. A brand new use for a very old barn. Potiphar's Barn in Munslow is suitable for private dining, exhibitions and now for weddings with a custom made canopy extending the space out into the farmyard. Marvelously eccentric owners to top it off - you can hold something very magical here!

Available with or without ducks. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Potiphars-Barn/642098342579697?fref=photo 

 

 

 

Festoon provides hire items to make your wedding or event a gorgeous one. Festoon lights, fairy lights, vintage crockery, vintage vases, vintage jars & bottles, wood blocks, Ale bar, Gin bar, hog roast and much more. 

www.festoonsworld.tumblr.com 

Ruth x

The Fur Debate

I spent this summer dancing at festivals into the night and watching the sun rise. The reason I was able to do this? My rabbit fur coat. I was the only person who felt none of the evening chill after bright sunny days wearing very little and I sat watching the sun rise very happily.

The other thing I spent the whole summer doing was defending my reasons for wearing it. There were many looks of surprise 6 months ago when I first donned the coat however I have noticed recently a marked decrease of shock on observers faces. Maybe fur is being more widely worn or maybe I have just become less sensitive. Indeed the first time I wore it into town I came back in tears certain that the students behind me in Starbucks had slashed my fur as it was hanging off at my elbow. I was mistaken and the pellets had just come apart. However one designer shop in York  had anti fur protestors outside when they first brought in fur trimmed coats, so people are still as sensitive and passionate about the issue as they were 20 years ago.

Today's papers are full of people eating locally; sourcing their food and using the whole animal, so eating more economically has become a real social issue. We are all becoming well educated about farming. Vegetarianism isn't the only moral option. I eat meat; I wear leather, as do the majority of the British population. Why should I not wear animal fur that has been farmed to keep me warm, when those pigs were farmed to feed me? I see no moral difference between the two. Equally I strongly respect and agree with my many Vegan friends who are mostly Vegan for health and environmental reasons. After eating with my Vegan friend all weekend at one festival I felt alive and full of energy (despite the amount of alcohol consumed) and very well fed with beautiful food, but I still wore my coat and she did not blink an eyelid. She knows I eat meat, why should I not wear the natural fur from that rabbit stew?

My second argument which I feel equally strongly about is that I would much rather wear a natural fabric than a manufactured fabric any day. Silk, wool, cotton, fur all let your skin breathe and last much longer than any nylon. They do not irritate your skin. They keep you far warmer than any man made outfit I have ever worn. Ultimately they have been manufactured naturally. There has been no chemicals or carbon used or created and I can wear my natural fabrics with no worry of extra hormones being put into our environment.

Thirdly I wear Vintage furs. These are recycled and re worn. They have a history. They would have been the central piece of a woman’s wardrobe, the very expensive piece that would hopefully last a lifetime. They have, and now they are lasting another lifetime. I wear my fur with respect for not only the previous owner’s life whilst wearing it but also of the animals that created it. They probably lived short lives but now they are being appreciated for decades to come.

I feel a shift away from the Cruella De Ville, long finger-nailed, immoral bitchiness that was previously associated with fur wearers. Surely fur is the natural choice that I feel morally and environmentally assured to wear.

 Tilley's Vintage Furs.

This beautiful 1950’s rabbit Fur was brought second hand in the 60’s at London’s Portobello road, so has already given two women a few decades of wear. Now it can give a third modern woman the chance to love and appreciate the natural beauty of this piece £75 at http://www.tilleysvintage.etsy.com/