Hansley Beard

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~            ‘Help Yourself Sugar’                Candy Buffet

In our final blog about the Vintage Bridal Soiree, I wanted to show some of the wonderful photos by PH Weddings and Serendipity Photography of our delicious vintage style candy buffet that we designed especially for the event in our chosen colour-scheme of lemon, aqua and coral.

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

To serve the candy and desserts, we used items from our collection of apothecary jars, smaller jars and vintage cake stands. Sally at the Chimney House had suggested we use her glass table in the venue for the candy buffet so we picked out mainly clear glass jars and serving jars to match the table and a few pink!:

(Image by PH Weddings)

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

(Image by PH Weddings)

As the colours we had chosen were from a 1950s colour palette, we then looked at giving it a bit of a 1950s twist and sourced some extra serving items that were original 1950s plates and pyrex pots. Instead of using scoops we used vintage silver spoons:

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

We sourced different colour sweets to fit our colours theme, in different shades and contrasting tones ~ Lemon and Raspberry Bon Bons, Blackcurrant Dyna Sticks, Barley Sugars, Sherbert Pips, Chocolate Foil Balls, Flying Saucers, Tutti Fruti Candy Canes, Lemon and Rose Turkish Delight, Alphabet Letters, Candy Necklaces and Iron Bru Lollipops.

For the backdrop, we went with a ribbon theme in lemon, aqua and coral and thought these would look great hanging against the Chimney House’s brick walls. We also wanted to ‘write’ a message for the partakers of the candy buffet so we came up with a ‘vintage’ saying and used Circus Alphabet cards from Cox and Cox on the ribbon to spell it out:

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

We liaised with different suppliers to make some delicious tasty items to fit our theme and colourscheme ...

Blush Cupcakes made a variety of amazingly cool cupcakes in our three main colours ~ Lemon, rosehip and peppermint cupcakes, decorated with sweets and seaside rock:

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

(Image by PH Weddings)

(Image by PH Weddings)

Coco Catering made some lovely yellow and orange fondant fancies ...

(Image by PH Weddings)

(Image by Serendipity Photography )
... and milkshakes using ice-cream from Yee Kwan Ice Cream.

Love Candy Cakes made a wonderful wedding cake in our three colours with a vintage lace design:

(Image by PH Weddings)
(Rose supplied by Swallows and Damsons)

We asked Lucy Ledger Designs to create name labels to tie in with the colourscheme and fairground and circus theme:

(Image by Serendipity Photography )

(Image by PH Weddings)

(Image by PH Weddings)

Do get in touch if you’d like Hansley Beard to design your candy buffet or dessert bar to fit in with your wedding or party theme and colourscheme.

We also hire out our candy buffet jars and cake stands if you’re planning to do it yourself. Contact us via our website contact form.

Finally, I just wanted to say a big thank you to Rosa, Myrtle, Katy and Shannon for helping me on the night!

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Sun, 31 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Aqua, Candy Buffet, Candy Station, Catering, Circus, Dessert Bars, Fairground, Lemon, Photography, Vintage Cake, Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~          Pose for the Photobooth

We wanted the Vintage Bridal Soiree to be edgy and current whilst creating some new inspiring trends so we decided to use fresh colours from the 1950s such as aqua, lemon and coral.

We also wanted the Vintage Bridal Soiree to be a fun evening and wanted to include a photobooth concept. As we’d agreed to go with a circus and fairground theme, Laura from Little White Book offered to make a kissing booth for our event, which was absolutely amazing and one of the highlights of the evening!  Guests dressed up in hats, feather boas, scarves, shades and a whole range of other props from our prop collection at Hansley Beard and posed for photographer Helen from PH Weddings. Once again the Chimney House provided the perfect backdrop:

Wearing vintage dresses from our collection to match the colour theme, Katy and Shannon then posed for the camera:

Models: Katy Bangert and Shannon Alesayi

Photobooth Photography: PH Weddings

Kissing Booth: Little White Book
Props Hire: Hansley Beard
Colour Swatches from House Beautiful
Cupcakes by Blush Cupcakes

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Wed, 27 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Aqua, Circus, Coral, Dresses, Fairground, Lemon, Photobooth, Photography, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings

Party Decor Hire                   for a Ladies Hen Night

One of my brides from last year, Sara, contacted me recently to see if she could hire some of our decor items to jazz up the venue for her friend’s hen night in Sheffield. Here is Sara’s story about it, interspersed with some of her images of the night:

“My friend Sarah agreed to have a ‘hen night’ so long as it was only referred to as Ladies Night and that there was glamour, heels and cocktails. Silly games, L plates and such like were all banned!

I booked a table at the now very famous Milestone for some posh nosh before we moved on to a private venue for homemade cocktails and dancing. The party venue is a place often used by Sarah for small private parties so myself and some other friends really wanted it to look different, and make it special for Sarah as a surprise.

I remembered that Jenn has been busy getting lots of wedding and party decor and trimmings together for hire so asked if we could come take a peek at what she’d got. Jenn asked us to think of a theme we might like to try. As the venue is quite dark and looks great with candlelight we decided to go for a Middle Eastern theme of fabrics and candles, a Sex in The City 2 vibe.

When we got to Jenn’s studio she had picked out some amazing pieces for us. Brass plates, gorgeous deep red glasses that could hold tea lights, various sized lanterns, nets of fairy lights and fabrics.




We also had a good look at all the other wonderful vintage pieces in Jenn’s collection for future reference, and because it was fun to have a nosey round!

On the night, we decorated the venue in two hours and it certainly had the desired effect. Sarah loved it, so much so she wants to hire some pieces for her wedding reception.

The photo’s I took don’t really do it justice, but the main thing is how much enjoyment and wow factor it added to the night.

We also hired from Jenn a picture frame so we could take some silly pictures and everyone had lots of fun with that.




Thanks Jenn, and I’ll be back!”

Sara hired red tealight glasses, Moroccan lanterns, cream enamel lanterns, brass plates, fabrics and net lights. All available to hire from our Sheffield studio. Contact us for more details via our website contact form.

Posted Wed, 27 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Celebrations, Event Theming, Hen Night, Hire, Party, Venue Decor

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~ Fairground Food and Vintage Crockery Hire

In the third of our blogs about the Vintage Bridal Soiree event, we want to talk about food and vintage crockery hire ...

Blanche from Coco Catering suggested we integrate the authentic vintage wedding theme with some fairground and circus elements to give it a modern yet historical twist on vintage.

Guests were treated to Coco Catering’s fairground themed food of mini beef burgers with hot sweet pepper relish in a sesame bun, mini chickpea, coriander and feta burgers in a sesame bun and mini hot dogs with a choice of sauces.

“Coco Catering love working with clients who are passionate about food and want to make food a feature of their wedding” said Blanche, “The Vintage Bridal Soiree was a fantastic opportunity for us to be creative and demonstrate how couples can incorporate food into their wedding theme. Vintage themed weddings have become incredibly popular recently; as well as the traditional afternoon tea which has become very popular recently, couples have requested great British classics such as sausage and mash and pie and pea suppers or retro foods such as hot dogs and mini burgers. We have lots of ideas for wedding food on our website but we are always happy when clients approach us wanting bespoke menus.”

Blanche also went round with a specially made tray serving delicious sweet & salted popcorn:

(Images by Serendipity Photography)

... and served a delicious array of old-fashioned drinks ~ cloudy lemonade, ginger beer, cream soda, innovatively served in jam jars with straws ~ and toffee apple cocktail & candy floss cocktail, all served in beautiful vintage cups and saucers from our Hansley Beard Hire Collection:




(Images by PH Weddings)

(Image by Serendipity Photography)
The beautiful drinks signs were designed and produced by Lucy Ledger Designs.

We also displayed a selection of our other vintage crockery and glassware, all available to hire from our Sheffield studio:

(Image by PH Weddings)

(Image by Serendipity Photography)
Cupcakes by Blush Cupcakes and Bridal bouquet by Swallows and Damsons.

(Image by PH Weddings)

To add to our fairground theme, I also brought along a picture from my own mum and dad’s wedding trip to Blackpool in 1963!:

So, for delicious vintage inspired food for your wedding contact Blanche at Coco Catering. And if you’re looking to hire vintage crockery contact us at Hansley Beard via our website contact form.

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Sun, 17 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Catering, Circus, Vintage Crockery Hire, Vintage Styling, Vintage Weddings

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~          Vintage Weddings on Film!

When we were planning the vintage bridal soiree, we wanted to create something authentic that would reflect real vintage weddings from the past. The Chimney House’s in-built powerpoint projector meant we could be creative and display a showreel of images of weddings from the past.
The Chimney House’s mini cinema screen was also an opportunity not to be missed so we asked the Yorkshire Film Archive (YFA) if they could create a short film of some of their vintage Yorkshire weddings to showcase at our event.

(Image by Serenidipity Photography)
The film showed different weddings from between the 1920s and 1960s and highlighted what I’m always saying about weddings from the past – they were enjoying it and having a happy and joyous time, just like we do today! Thanks to the YFA for putting the film together for us. Here are a few stills from the film, also kindly supplied by the Yorkshire Film Archive:

Thanks also to Lucy Ledger Designs who created a old-fashioned caption board styled from old silent films for us to use in our showreel.

More Vintage Bridal Soiree news in the next few days ...

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Sun, 17 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Vintage Wedding Films

Vintage Bridal Soiree ~          The Showcase

On 30th September Sheffield’s first Vintage Bridal Soiree took place! We organised it along with Little White Book, Coco Catering and Swallows and Damsons. We all wanted to arrange a vintage wedding evening that was classy, elegant and fun! We chose the fabulous Chimney House because of its historical past and its beautiful red brick walls. We’d like to share here a selection of some of the wonderful event photos by Serendipity Photography.

More blog posts to follow in the next few days about the event, but for now, here’s what was happening upstairs.

Upstairs some of the most exclusive local Vintage wedding suppliers showed off their beautiful Vintage creations.
Bouquets and accessories made from Vintage jewellery by DC Bouquets:

Vintage style wedding cakes by Love Candy Cakes:


Vintage decor by Little White Book:


Vintage wedding photography by Serendipity Photography:

Vintage stationery designs by Lucy Ledger Designs:

The room was filled with a mixture of original vintage wedding dresses from The Vintage Pad, Little White Book and Hansley Beard, and stunning vintage style modern dresses from Sheffield’s bridal boutique, Choola:

Colourful flower arrangements by Swallows and Damsons also adorned the venue:


Guests were entertained with magic tricks by BZ Magic:

And Caricatures by Rich Smith Illustration:

All to a background of original gramophone music by It’s a Wind Up! Vintage 78 DJs:


... and Jazz with Emily West and Ryan Taylor:

Thanks to all these wonderful suppliers for being involved!
Ticket and raffle proceeds went to Sheffield Children’s Hospital so a big thank you also to all those below who donated raffle prizes:
• Millennium Galleries Cafe
• Cocoa
• Freshmans
• Swallows and Damsons
• Renaissance designer dress agency
• Azaad’s Kashmiri Restaurant
• Imogen’s Imagination
• Vanessa Boddye from Pampered
• Yee Kwan Ice Cream

More stories over the next few days about our Vintage Soiree!

Vintage Bridal Soiree – organised by Hansley Beard, Little White Book, Coco Catering & Swallows and Damsons

Posted Wed, 13 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Caricatures, Dresses, Flowers, Photography, Stationery, vintage stationery, Vintage Styling, Vintage Wedding Films, Wedding Fayres and Shows, Vintage Weddings

Autumn Wedding in Malvern

Most of the time we’re running around at weddings making sure things go smoothly for everyone else. But now and then we get to be at a wedding as a guest to enjoy the day, enjoy nice food and drink and have a wee dance! Last weekend Robert and I went to Malvern to witness the wedding of his godson Chris to Rachel. Being the 25th September the weather could have turned out either way but as luck would have it, it was the most beautiful day with a clear blue sky and the perfect setting for this autumn wedding of teal green and orange. I wanted to share some of our pictures here as the bride Rachel, of Dimond Photos, was one the brilliant photographers at our own wedding:











We wish Rachel and Chris a wonderful and happy life together!

Images by Jennie Beard

Posted Sat, 02 Oct, by Jennie Beard in Autumn Wedding