About Us

Welcome to Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. Just what do we do? Well we are here to help make wedding planning a breeze.

Whimsical Wonderland Weddings is a friendly, welcoming and inclusive UK wedding ideas blog and wedding directory featuring inspirational, creative and joy filled real weddings. We are passionate about incredible photography and film making, beautiful real stories and connecting utterly brilliant suppliers with awesome and really lovely couples.

You will also find wedding planning tips, DIY tutorials, inspirational editorials and much more within our pages, use our brilliant search function and menus to browse to your hearts content.

Whimsical Wonderland Weddings was founded by Louise Baltruschat Hollis in April 2010, whilst planning her own wedding day. From personal musings and a place bookmark her wedding finds, it grew into a resource followed by couples. When devastatingly Lou and her fiancé decided to cancel their wedding 6 weeks before hand (due to health problems), she could not bear to say goodbye to Whimsical Wonderland Weddings and the community she had established. So she continued in her quest to assist and inspire other couples and to promote the amazing UK wedding industry.

Images by Alexa Loy Photography

Louise Baltruschat Hollis

Founder + Director

Whimsical Wonderland Weddings totally transformed my life. You see, back in April 2010 I was on maternity leave from a part time cleaning job, having graduated two years previously from my local university with a Marketing degree. I wasn’t on the career path I’d hoped, due to crippling anxiety and agoraphobia. However I had a beautiful 6 month old baby boy and my wonderful fiancé G by my side. We’d been engaged for just shy of two years and we decided to start planning a budget wedding. Being what felt like trapped indoors, I turned to the internet. I found a whole online community of really lovely planning couples and starting discovering remarkable suppliers. I became hooked by the wedding industry, the friends I was making and the emergence of online blogging. So I decided to start journalling my own wedding plans for fun. Little did I know, this single decision would bring me confidence, independence and a sense of belonging.

Images by Alexa Loy Photography

I am a 30-something mama of two little boys, A and W and together with my husband G and our Maine Coon cat Eva, we live in a little village in Bedfordshire. I am now the director of Whimsical Wonderland Weddings Ltd and I still have to pinch myself when I say that. Everyday I get to work in my wonderful loft office in our home, whilst singing along to acoustic tunes or film soundtracks on Spotify. Don’t get me wrong I still have my ups and downs, but I am very content with the life we’ve crafted together.

We bought our 1930s house, which we hope will be our long term home, in October 2016 and have been working away ever since renovating it. It really has been a labour of love. I have an affinity with the outdoors and one of the reasons we fell in love with our house was due to it’s 200ft garden, which I am often tending too. I am currently planning cottage garden flower beds and an allotment, which I hope will be bursting with produce in the autumn.

Images by Alexa Loy Photography

I love going for long walks, have recently discovered jogging and hope to take up Pilates in the not to distant future. Most evenings are spent with G watching way too many reality TV series, fantasy box sets, dramas and films. I also love to read trilogy series (hello Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent, His Dark Materials and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to name a few), whilst soaking in a steaming hot bubble bath.

I have an eclectic style and I am not worried if loved ones don’t quite like the same things I do. I just try to stay true to who I am and what makes my heart sing. Rainbows, chocolate and finding a complete bargain, always puts a smile on my face. I adore making things and hope to get back into crochet and crafting once our home is all finished. I have kept a diary since I was a teenager and find writing cathartic, this is what must have sparked my love of blogging.

These features document some key moments in my life;

The Team

Making Everything possible

Rachel

Part Time Admin & Feature Writer

Hi, lovely to meet you! I’m Rachel and I’m a wedding and events planner living in London with my boyfriend James. I moved to London after uni 6 years ago and have worked in the events industry ever since. A year ago, I set up my own business planning weddings, so it’s fair to say the wedding world is what gets me up in the morning!

I love hearing all about real weddings and seeing the personal touches that couples include to make them unique. I can’t wait to work with Lou on a blog that is such a source of inspiration for so many people out there.

Valentina

Weekly Feature Writer

Hi, it’s so lovely to meet you! My name is Val, I’m 30 years old and live in London with my wonderful husband James (and a fluffball Pomeranian puppy we’re about to welcome to our home!). I’m originally from Rome, in Italy, where my family still lives; I grew up travelling between New York, Italy, and Brazil, before making a home in the UK just over 12 years ago. After careers that have taken me from Astrophysics labs, to the big top tent of a circus, and even to an investment bank, I’ve finally found my home in the wedding industry, where I now work as a full-time wedding planner and stylist. For me, this is the most personal and rewarding pursuit of beauty of happiness, and the answer to questions I didn’t even know I was asking. Working in this industry means doing more of what I love, it means using all my different skills towards a happy purpose, and it means meeting awesome people like you. I particularly LOVE weddings that are playful and full of personality, and that tell stories in beautifully creative and unconventional ways. I can’t wait to be a part of the awesome Whimsical Wonderlands team, and share lots of gorgeous inspiration with all of you!

 

 

Sara Jane

Planning Expert

Sara Jane is an award-winning wedding planner and creative director of Weddings by Sara Jane, a luxury, boutique wedding planning company based in London/Kent. Sara works with clients all over the world to design and plan weddings across the UK.

Suzanne Randell

Florist Expert

Flowers by Suzanne Randell is multi-award winning business run by Suzy who specialises in mostly weddings based in Bedfordshire. A former art student and having studied Textile Design in Sussex – she decided to change her career path to flowers.

Suzy is currently buying more British flowers to sell to brides; planting bee-friendly flowers with flowering herbs and redecorating her home studio.

Suzy’s long term ambitions are to ride in a hot air balloon and visit New York. Suzy now has three part time florists working for her over the busy summer months, and having been a florist for over 15 years, she has many years experience which she would love to share with you!

Catherine Bailey

Beauty & Make Up Expert

Catherine Bailey is a bridal and fashion make-up artist who trained at the prestigious London School of Beauty & Make-up. She is based in Reigate in Surrey, and covers weddings in London and Surrey.