Hansley Beard Blog | Hansley Beard: Event Planning & Design

The Cusworth Project

In recent months we’ve been very busy working closely with Cusworth Hall and Park in Doncaster to develop a very special project called The Cusworth Project to help promote the unique heritage of the Hall and its facilities as a wedding venue.

The Cusworth Project involved over 23 of the region’s best wedding suppliers working alongside Cusworth’s museum curators to create creative items for a wedding photoshoot based on the museums collections.

I’ll be bringing you the full story in stages in coming weeks and featuring some of the suppliers in more detail, but for now here is the downloadable e-brochure explaining what we did and featuring some of the best images from the shoot.

The following suppliers were involved in the project:
www.hansleybeard.co.uk
www.jesspetrie.com
www.S6photography.co.uk
www.boutiquepaeony.co.uk
www.victoriamade.com
www.theenglishrosecakecompany.com
www.kate-beaumont.co.uk
www.whiteroombridal.co.uk
www.honeypieboutique.co.uk
www.philipjohnson.co.uk
www.jennedwards.co.uk
www.beau-hair.co.uk
www.absolutely-flawless.net
www.pure-enough.co.uk
www.ab-marquees.com
www.butlerstearoom.co.uk
www.campbellsflowers.co.uk
www.bonnyandclyde.co.uk
www.imogensimagination.co.uk
www.hatsandchampagne.com
www.lovebirdsmedia.tv
www.lizme.co.uk

Models: Grace Tebbutt, John Paul Javal, Katy Bangert, Adam Drake,
Felicity Hoy, Rachel Williams, Lucy Whitehouse

Table Image by S6 Photography

Posted Sat, 23 Feb, by Jennie Beard in Ceremonies, Weddings | 0 Comments

Check us out in the Chic Lifestyle magazine!

Posted Sat, 09 Jun, by Jennie Beard in Press | 0 Comments

Kate & James April wedding at The Maynard

Soon we will be bringing you some exquisite styling photos from one of the weddings we styled recently for Kate and James at The Maynard in Grindleford.

Before we do, we thought we’d share the links to all the other wonderful blogs their wedding has been featured on recently:

Jon from S6 Photography took the amazing photos. See his blog piece about it here.

Kate Gee from Hats & Champagne was the humanist celebrant who conducted their handfasting ceremony. Read all about that here and here.

Here’s the wedding featured on the Love my Dress blog.

Here’s their ‘first look’ animation also on Love my dress blog and put together by Jon from S6 Photography.

So much inspiration! So much beauty! So much love!

More beautifulness to come shortly…

Jennie x

Posted Sat, 26 May, by Jennie Beard in Blessings, Ceremonies, Spring Wedding, Venue Decor, Weddings | 0 Comments

Check us out in Mosaic Brides Magazine

We are featured in this Summer’s edition of Mosaic Brides. Check us out on page 23!

Mosaic Brides Summer 2012

Posted Thu, 24 May, by Jennie Beard in Press | 0 Comments

Say hello to our new Shop Studio in Sheffield!

You may or may not have noticed our absence from this blog for quite a while. Well, we’ve been really busy developing our business and creating our new shop/studio/office at 359 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield.

We’ll be spending the next month updating this website, adding new pages for our venue styling, hire services and sweet displays & dessert bars, and showcasing more images of some of the wonderful weddings and events we’ve worked on recently….

So, for the time being we wanted to give you a sneaky peak into our new shop…..

We have changed our name to Hansley Beard Events & Wedding Design Studio, as designing is what we do best ...

Based in Sheffield’s coolest Retro Antiques quarter and near Abbeydale Picture House, we’ve gone for a Victorian parlour meets French salon look for our new space.

It has been hard thinking of what to call it! Is it a shop? Is it a studio? Is it an office? We’ve decided it’s all three!

It’s a studio as it showcases my wedding and event design work including beautiful images from my previous weddings and events by amazing photographers and featuring some of Sheffield’s best suppliers.

Soon I’ll be sat in there with the sewing machine and crafty stuff making things I’m sure so it will be a busy working space.

It also showcases a selection of our vintage china and glassware available to hire as well as some of our quirky props (the rest is stored above the shop).

We’ll also be aiming to get the attention of passers-by with beautiful window displays.

It’s a shop as we will be gradually stocking and selling exclusive wedding and events decor items from specialist suppliers, specialising in items made from authentic vintage bits and pieces and items that aren’t readily available locally, but all with a modern twist and twang!

It’s my office as I’ll be sitting there with my laptop liaising with clients, doing emails and making calls! It’s also a place for you to come for consultations and meetings in a relaxed and vintage environment.

Our new desk features photos from our vintage wedding photo collection.

Over the Summer we’ll also be running a series of vintage crafty workshops, with a wedding or event theme, hosted by us with cake and tea in china, and taught by some of Sheffield’s up and coming creatives! These workshops will also be available for hen parties and small group parties.

At present we are open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (10.00am-5.30pm) but appointments are available at other times if it’s easier for you, including evenings.

The full address is 359 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, S7 1FS. We are next to the retro shops,Timewarp and The Pad.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

A big thanks to Jon from S6 Photography for these great photos.

Jennie x

~~~~~~~

Vintage Wedding Dress from The Vault, Abbeydale Road
Lace Tablecloths, Napkins and Favour bags by Linsey Taylor-Auad
Knitted Brooches by Myrtle Knits
Embroidered Place Names by Bloom Textiles

Photos on our shop wall showing our previous wedding and events feature:

Cakes and desserts by:
Victoria Made
Coco Catering
Flowers by:
Swallows & Damsons
Dresses by Danielle Lara Couture
By Photographers including:
S6 Photography
PH Weddings
Nicola Thompson Photography
Sophie Brooks Photography
Jerry Lampson
Dimond Photos
Bea Marshall

Posted Fri, 24 Feb, by Jennie Beard in Business news, Candy and Dessert Bars, Venue Decor | 0 Comments

Our new vintage unit opening at The Nichols Building!

It’s all go this week as we are launch our new ‘shopfront’ in Sheffield’s wonderful new Antiques, Art and Crafts Centre in the Nichols Building on Shalesmoor.

All are invited to the grand opening event this Thursday 21st July from 2pm-7pm including nibbles and cocktails served in Hansley Beard Vintage Crockery . The Lord Mayor will be officially opening the building at 4pm.

We have been planning to have a shop space for some time as so much of what we do is visual and we wanted to have somewhere where people could see examples of our candy and dessert bars, our styling and a sample of the crockery and props we hire out. Our hire stock is expanding all the time but we hope to bring out our new brochure and inventory of items very soon!

When the opportunity arose to rent a space in this new venture we decided that this would be a good next step and that as we love ‘vintage’ so much that we would also start selling vintage items ~
some are homewares and some are vintage and vintage-style decor items that can be sourced and used for vintage weddings and events.

If you can’t make it to the opening do pop in another time. There are a whole host of different units full of antiques, vintage items and clothes and art from some of Sheffield’s most talented and chicest suppliers and artists, as well as a lovely tearoom.
Opening times are:
Saturdays ~ 10-5pm
Sundays ~ 10-4pm
Closed Mondays
Tuesdays-Fridays ~11-6pm

Look forward to seeing you there sometime soon!

Check out the Nichols Building website or facebook page for more details.

More pictures coming soon!

Posted Tue, 19 Jul, by Jennie Beard in Candy Buffet, Decor items for sale, Dessert Bars, Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 16 Comments

The Wedding Exhibition at the Botanical Gardens

We are delighted to be involved in this Sunday’s Wedding Exhibition event at Sheffield’s beautiful Botanical Gardens. Organised by The Personal Event Company the event, from 11.00am-4.00pm, will include taster wedding ceremonies throughout the day as well the chance to see displays and demonstrations from some of Sheffield’s best wedding suppliers and venues.

We will be there with our new Retro Dessert and Candy Bar that we have been busy working on in colloboration with The Vintage Pad, Swallows and Damsons, Coco Catering and Victoria Made.

The tearoom will be serving drinks and cakes using vintage crockery from our hire collection.

Come and meet us if you can - we’ll try to save you a bag of sweets!

Entry is free but you can pre-register your interest here.

Posted Tue, 19 Jul, by Jennie Beard in Candy and Dessert Bars, Ceremonies, Wedding Fayres, Weddings | 24 Comments

Sheffield Town Hall Vintage Photoshoot Part 2: “Something Old” ~ Art-Deco Vintage Dessert Bar

A Hansley Beard vintage photoshoot wouldn’t have been complete without a Hansley Beard vintage dessert bar and candy buffet!

We decided to design it to fit the 1930s art deco theme of the shoot using our theme colours of white, silver, dark wood and a hint of purple. Here’s how we did it ...

We dressed two of the Town Hall tables with old-fashioned lace-trimmed linen and hand-made bunting from Bloom Textiles, made from old settee covers and blue and white print fabric to match the crockery:

The key is to build a table scene that is both practical and aesthetically pleasing, placing the tables against an appropriate backdrop. In the room we were dressing we chose to place the dessert bar against the stunning Victorian leaded window. The wooden windowsills provided further ‘table’ space to place more items and props.

We then set up our structure. We wanted to use the 1930s vintage suitcase as a table too and placed it as a feature at the back and placed the beautiful lace-themed cake from Victoria Made on it:

We added a label to ‘suit’ the occasion ~ made from a luggage label and old stationery fitings:

Further vintage props were an art-deco dressing table mirror, 1930s telephone, vintage books, art-deco clock and mini blue glass bottles:

Next we picked out vintage vessels that would fit the theme to display the delicious edibles ~ vintage clear glass cakestands, blue and white ware dishes and cups and saucers, glass apothecary jars and crystal glassware:

We sourced white and silver wrapped sweets for the jars and glassware ~ bon bons, mint imperials, marshmallows, silver chocolate foil balls, white drops and chocolate vintage buttons:

Victoria Made made blueberry tarts, white chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and purple macarons which we carefully displayed on our vintage vessels:

We used a beautiful wooden cupboard to display some of the cupcakes ...

... and added a minature blue and white ware tea set:

Coco Catering provided blueberry mouses and jellies:

We added sweets and chocolates already displayed in the right colour tins and containers:

Images of 1930s and 1940s weddings added to the theme:

Finally we added our finishing touches ...menu, ribbons and utensils:

For the menu we used a 1930s art deco wooden frame and typed a list of all the delicious items available on the dessert bar.

Finally the main point of the dessert bar! After wooing your guests with its glorious beauty it’s time to invite them to tuck in and eat away! Here are some more of the shots of our models tucking in:

If you are interestied in our dessert bar and candy buffet services, do get in touch with us at our Sheffield Studio. We offer a number of packages from bespoke designs to fit your theme, coloursheme and tastes to a hire package where you supply your own sweets and desserts and we supply the jars, props, serving vessels, wooden plinths and wooden/fabric backdrop stand (if required). We offer a free consultation to explore your ideas and requirements and can work with almost any theme!

Photographer: S6 Photography
Co-ordination, Concept & Styling, Vintage Wedding Design, Vintage Crockery and Prop Hire, Dessert Bar Design and Sweets, Vintage Dresses and Accessories: Jennie Beard from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Venue: Sheffield Town Hall
Models: Katy Bangert, Shannon Alesayi and Cecilia Charlesworth,
Wedding Dresses: Danielle Lara Couture
Hats and Veils: Danielle Lara Couture, Imogen’s Imagination, Hansley Beard
Table Plan and Napkin Holders: Jodi Arthur from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Flowers and Brides Bouquet: Swallows and Damsons
Cloth Bunting and Napkins: Bloom Textiles
Wedding Cake, Cupcakes, Meringues, Tarts, Macarons and Biscuits: Victoria Made
Mousses and Jellies: Coco Catering
Make-up and Hair: Shannon Leigh
Photoshoot Assistants: Jodi Arthur and Myrtle O’Connor from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design

Posted Sun, 15 May, by Jennie Beard in Candy Buffet, Candy Station, Catering, Dessert Bars, Photography, Themes, Vintage Cake, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 5 Comments

Sheffield Town Hall Vintage Photoshoot Part 1: “Something Blue” ~ Willow Ware your Wedding!

A few days ago we were honoured to have our recent Vintage photoshoot featured on the wonderfully inspirational blog Love my Dress. In the next few days I’d like to share with you some of the best photos from the shoot by the amazing Sheffield-based S6 Photography – some that were on Love my Dress and many more new and unseen images!

It all started with the colour blue! I always think that blue is a special colour. In fact so special that I realised that many of the weddings I have organised or styled have had an element of blue in them ~ “Something Old, Something Blue ...”.Before Queen Victoria’s wedding brides traditonally wore blue as a symbol of purity. Blue can light up a room if used correctly and yet retain its classic-ness and Georgian splendour. At Hansley Beard we have A LOT of vintage crockery that we hire out but amongst our favourite is our Blue and White ware – often called Willow.

Blue and white ware has been popular for centuries and pottery companies up and down this great land have produced hundreds of types of designs and vessels – sometimes sticking to the original Willow design and imagery and sometimes creating variations or copying earlier versions. In our Hire collection, we have blue and white ware dinner plates, side plates, cups and saucers, dishes, tureen dishes, turkey plates, milk jugs, sugar bowls, teapots, coffee pots…the list goes on!

For this shoot we wanted to dress a table for an intimate and small wedding breakfast and knew that Sheffield Town Hall had the perfect size committee tables to create this. Knowing they were wishing to promote their extra rooms and facilities for weddings and events and knowing that the venue smacked of vintage class and historical authenticity we asked if they’d be happy to host us.

We decided to mix the blue and white ware with whites, creams, art-deco browns and royal blue glass as well as a dash of purple to bring it all to life!

Place name cards from John Lewis were embellished with old stationery fittings that I’d retrieved when working in an Archive and guest names were typewritten on one of our old vintage typewriters.

My assistant Jodi made two types of napkin holders out of buttons and we asked Bloom Textiles to make us some napkins form old settee back covers.

We added in lots of linens and lace on the tables and touches of silverware and silver cutlery reminded us of our Sheffield roots.

Flowers were supplied by Swallows and Damsons and included hydrangeas, lilac, anemones, tulips, eucalyptus, gypsophilia ...

Thanks to all the wonderful vintage suppliers from Sheffield who contributed to this shoot. We all hope you find some beautiful blue inspiration and do get in touch if you want to willow ware your wedding!

In our next blog we’ll be showcasing our Art-Deco Dessert Bar and Candy Buffet from the shoot ...

Photographer: S6 Photography
Co-ordination, Concept & Styling, Vintage Wedding Design, Vintage Crockery and Prop Hire, Dessert Bar Design and Sweets, Vintage Dresses and Accessories: Jennie Beard from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Venue: Sheffield Town Hall
Models: Katy Bangert, Shannon Alesayi and Cecilia Charlesworth,
Wedding Dresses: Danielle Lara Couture
Hats and Veils: Danielle Lara Couture, Imogen’s Imagination, Hansley Beard
Table Plan and Napkin Holders: Jodi Arthur from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design
Flowers and Brides Bouquet: Swallows and Damsons
Cloth Bunting and Napkins: Bloom Textiles
Wedding Cake, Cupcakes, Meringues, Tarts, Macarons and Biscuits: Victoria Made
Mousses and Jellies: Coco Catering
Make-up and Hair: Shannon Leigh
Photoshoot Assistants: Jodi Arthur and Myrtle O’Connor from Hansley Beard Event Planning & Design

Posted Sat, 07 May, by Jennie Beard in Candy Buffet, Dessert Bars, Dresses, Photography, Royal Weddings, Suppliers, Themes, Vintage Accessories, Vintage Cake, Vintage Clothing , Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings | 3 Comments

Royal Weddings of the Past: Part 3

On Friday 9th June, 1961, The Daily Mail ran a special Souvenir Royal Wedding feature showing images from the previous day’s wedding of the Duke of Kent to Miss Katherine Worsley in York Minster titled the ‘Dazzling Duchess’.

Referring to the departure of the Bride from her home village:

‘The Queen was there. Almost all the Royal Family were there. The guest list was splattered with high-sounding European Royal names ... But country girl Katie Worsley looked more regal than them all as she walked up the aisle of York Minster on the arm of her father to marry the man she loves, the Young Duke of Kent. Her head was held high. Her veil floated from a little diamond coronet. And in her tight bodiced dress with its incredibly long sweeping train, she looked like a medieavel princess ...’

‘... she promised to obey, all the same. It had been announced that the couple would use the modern form of vows, which does not include the word “obey”. And the new form was printed in the order of service. There was a small smile on the face of the Archbishop of York, Dr Michael Ramsey, as he slipped in the vital word ... Why did Katie say “obey”? After the reception the Archbishop explained: “A few days ago a message reached me saying the bride had changed her mind, and that she now wanted the word included in the ceremony”.

‘Just 160 paces from the Altar to the door of the Minster ... But to the Duke of Kent and his bride it must seem the longest walk in the world. The eyes of the congregation and of millions of television viewers are on them ...’:

‘The Wedding Group picture for the Royal Album’:

‘Off got the Newlyweds: The new Duchess of Kent waves as she and her bridegroom drive from York Minster after the wedding’:

‘A piper plays, the bells chime and the gay Duke and his bride leave the Minster under a triumphal arch of swords’:

‘Back at Hovingham Hall, the Duchess turns to wave as dressers adjust the yards of train and veil’:

Finally, here’s an article talking about the huge success done by the BBC and the ITV on the TV footage of the wedding….

Back now to the 2011 BBC and ITV TV footage of the 2011 Royal Wedding ...and a huge congratulations to the new Princess Catherine and Prince William ...