June wedding? Roll out the peonies.

The peony is the classic wedding flower: indulgent, romantic and terribly thirsty

Peonies are sensitive souls, flowering for 4-6 weeks between May and July. However June is their big moment, so if you’re planning for June nuptials the peony is within your grasp. Yay. In fact, what with global warming and the early onset of Spring, peonies could even work for an April or May wedding. Double yay. Post-a-rose is already advertising the arrival of its peony season, starting mid April. Triple yay.

Post a rose's pink peony & green alcimilla robustica bouquet

Indeed, June is a good bet for an environmentally-friendly wedding, as you can source home-grown English peonies and avoid flying out hothouse flowers. The rest of the year you might be better settling with David Austin St Cecilia roses, which are basically like longer-lasting, counterfeit peonies and can be sourced from the UK.

David Austin St Cecilia rose - the counterfeit peony

If you’re full of beans or bridal ambition, you could even grown your own. Or not, because that would, on second thoughts, be a ridiculous and highly stressful plan.

Which peony?

Sarah Bernhardt, Sarah Bernhardt and maybe a couple of stems of Sarah Bernhardt? All the florists advise using this one as it’s big, pink and fluffy, just like your dreams. And it’s perfick for cutting.

Sarah Bernhardt peonies - the ideal peony for cutting

Peonies come in all the romantic hues - red, pink and white

Making it all about the peony

For the clever bride, you can think backwards and make your wedding iconography all about the peony. Then everyone will assume you have terribly joined-up thinking, not that you’re just retro-fitting the flower that happens to be in season into your wedding.

Luckily the peony seems to be the motif du jour amongst the trendy bridal magazines.

The classic peony invitation - by Papeterie

And if you want to go matchy-matchy mad, you could even have peony stamps.

Personalisable peony stamps from Zazzle

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Another recession-defying wedding theme: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland: the perfect Credit Crunch wedding theme

So, here’s the secret. If your wedding isn’t being planned by The World’s Leading Wedding Planner with a diploma in Co-ordinating Colours, and is rather more of the budget variety, the Alice in Wonderland theme could be for you. It excuses all sorts of ridiculous randomness, wonky home-made cakes, mismatching decorations and strange behaviour. In fact, it encourages it.

Courtesy of Bridalcheek

Here’s a few requirements to keep the Cheshire cat grinning and the Mad Hatter sipping:

1. Croquet.

Croquet with flamingoes as mallets and hedgehogs as balls

2. Wonky wedding cake. Get a friend to make one and encourage her to wonk it up.

3. Top hats. The more ridiculous and ill-fitting the better.

4. Eat me, drink me signs. These can be adapted for any situation throughout your venue. Drive me, follow me, avoid me, wee inside me etc.

5. Ornate tea cups for your very own Mad Hatter’s tea party. Indeed, add a tea party flavour to your canapes with tiny sandwiches and mini scones.

6. Whimsical nonsense such as stopped clocks.

Ushers with stripey socks: a must for all serious Lewis Carroll fans.

7. Nonsensical readings such as:

The Bat
Lewis Carroll

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat
How I wonder what you’re at!
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea-tray in the sky.

By Style Me Pretty

8. Hallucinogenic drugs. Then you can have all the experiences dear Alice had.

Anne Hathaway as the Alice in Wonderland bride's muse

9. Roses. No need to paint them red. That’s officially When A Theme Goes Too Far.

10. Playing Cards as favours. If you do favours, which I don’t. Though if you do, that’s fine too.

Save the date (and some money)

What is this Save The Date thing that has suddenly become de rigeur? In my mind, just another way to rip off young, insecure couples. However, there are as ever cheap ways of doing it:

1. Use the phone. It’s a nice way to catch up with people. And if you don’t have their number in your mobile, should you really be inviting them?

2. Take inspiration from all over, then design your own. Ooh look at these…

Save the date

Or look at this Save The Date Flickr Gallery.

Keep it simple, like this card from minted.com

3. Just send out the invites really early.

4. Send a postcard and save on envelopes. Clever.

By Turtle Julian

5. Star yourselves. Make yourselves the stars of your own save the date cards.

Courtesy of A Cup of Jo

Invitations without the invoice

1. Create a Facebook event. Yay.

2. Email a pdf of your invite. Then you can fill your invites with as many colours and flourishes as your heart desires.

2. Illustrate it yourself, if you’re half decent with a pencil.

Illustration by Liam Stevens

3. Send a postcard with a handwritten personalised note to each guest.

4. Use online stationery companies, like MyGatsby (a tasteful US company), Friends Invited (a less tasteful but cheap UK company), VistaPrint or Printed4U (UK based).

You need to trawl through some dodgy designs to find anything decent. This quick example is from Printed4U at £50 for 60.

5. Steal inspiration from everywhere then design your own. Look high, then spend low. Try Bumblebee Press, Smock Paper, Sweetbeets and Twig & Fig.

Smock Paper

6. Embrace arts and crafts. Make your own from lots of templates following instructions here. Warning: some are quite dodgy.

Make your own Calla Lily invite