Phew - that was a close call! The weekend just gone we were snapping away at our first wedding of the year at The Italian Villa in Compton Acres, Poole. It was so mild without even the suggestion of a breeze. It was easy enough to wander through the wonderful grounds and gardens for photography opportunities without a coat. The bride even ditched her shrug! And now, here I am thinking how awful it is that I’m going to have to go to the Post Office in a bit as the snow falls so hard it’s quickly covering those treacherous pavements.

Mention the idea of a winter wedding and the prospect of photographing in the snow, and most have commented that “it would be wonderful! A white wedding!”. But I should remind you that we’re not in Lapland. It’s rarely ever even and quickly turns to a kind of grey, brownish slush. I’m not convinced - so, I’m thanking my lucky stars.

I promise to post on our recent Compton Acres wedding (hopefully next week), just as soon as the bride and groom have had a chance to see them. I always think it’s a bit rude to post them up to the public whilst the couple are away on honeymoon. It’s bad enough spotting pictures of yourself after a night out on Facebook, let alone your wedding photos!

Anyway, until then, there’s something else I wanted to share with you. I’ve become a bit of an Etsy addict. I’ve twigged that it’s the perfect place for wedding couples looking to kit their wedding up to the max without taking out another mortgage.

If you’ve never heard of Etsy before log on to www.etsy.com. Like a sleaker more sophisticated Ebay, Etsy is a hub for creatives to buy and sell handmade items. Take a look at the menu on the left-hand side and you will notice that there’s an entire wedding section! At the time of posting there were over 27690 wedding items spreading over 1310 pages! That’s a lot of wedding stuff.

So, take a hunt through and you will find all sorts of handmade treats. These are nothing like hotch-potch Blue Peter jobs - the quality of the items are astounding! A quick browse through threw up everything from a unique bridal pill-box veil, wedding wall monograms, a gorgeous fur wrap, custom wedding invitations, a nifty wedding guest card file and really sweet wedding cake toppers.

Go have a look! But just as a suggestion, set aside at least an hour for browsing time.

Emma - BB