I've said it before and I am going to say it again, we are very lucky in the fact that we get to promote and work with some of the coolest suppliers in the wedding industry here at Festival Brides. Our directory houses a plethora of awesome suppliers that have been hand picked for their individual style, creativity and quirky take on weddings and those pretty little adverts you see to the right of your screen right now, well they too have been vetted because they all have a certain je ne sais quoi about them and that's not just because of the products or services they offer. No, it's more than that......

Most of the suppliers that you see on our festival pages have started up their own businesses from scratch and that sort of motivation, passion and patience ALWAYS leads to a service that is incomparable when it comes to weddings. You know that if you book a Festival Brides recommended supplier, you are going to work with people that are so incredibly passionate about what they do that they will go the extra mile to ensure your wedding day is everything you want it to be and more. After all, if they don't, it's their reputation and business that will suffer.

The Poppy Trading Company, who hire unique vintage furniture and mix matched wooden chairs, are one of those suppliers that we know always goes the extra mile which is why we have asked them to do a little Q&A for us so you can get to know the person behind the advert and more about the services they offer.

Lovely People.........meet Oliver, founder of The Poppy Trading Company.

Well, I'm Oliver, and I run The Poppy Trading Company. I live in a little (very little!) house in Staffordshire with Poppy the Golden retriever (yes, THE Poppy - think we love that dog too much)! and my beautiful, ever patient and understanding wife Charlotte.

We got married last April, and we're expecting our first baby in June, so if you email me around the 27 ^th and don't get a reply, please don't get mad, I'm most likely close to passing out in the delivery suite!

I love reading, gardening, American Football, walking the pooch, summer BBQ's and a glass of red wine on a cold evening. I hate hate hate early mornings, the M1 and (English) football!

Much like my furniture, my taste in music is seriously eclectic. I'm just as happy with Kerrang as I am with Classic FM, but if I could go to any music festival, it'd have to be CountryFest in the US. I LOVE contemporary country music (much to the amusement of most of the people I work with), so America's biggest country music festival would be fantastic! Plus I've always wanted an excuse to wear a 10-gallon cowboy hat.

Before Poppy Trading came about, I was a crisp salesman...... yep, you read that correctly - my job was to cold call businesses, and try to sell them crisps. You can't make this stuff up. Thank god I lost that job eventually and so was forced to figure out what I wanted to do before we ran out of money! It just so happened that by this time, me and Char were engaged and were in the early stages of planning our own wedding. We had our heart set on mismatched wooden chairs, but couldn't find them anywhere to hire, so we started buying them. Realising that there was a gap in the market, Poppy Trading was born. I definitely won't be going back to selling crisps.

So, you know that feeling when you've gone to a beautiful venue, the setting is perfect, the ceremony room is perfect, the gardens are perfect, you can visualise the decorations, the table plans, the bunting, everything! And then.... you see the furniture. Pah! Drab, boring banqueting chairs, the same ones you see in every venue in the country. We've always hated that for such a personal, bespoke day such as your wedding, until now, you've never had much say in your choice of furniture. Nothing spoils a theme more than clunky metal framed, padded icky banqueting chairs!

We give you the chance to change that with our range of wonderfully eclectic, vintage mismatched chairs. Available to hire all year round, they add a dash of colour, style and quirkiness to your wedding day. Couple them with our rustic wooden tables, and throw in a couple of vintage armchairs and a comfy antique sofa, and you have something we think is pretty cool and unique.

We have over 350 chairs, tables for 150, and plenty of plush, vintage and antique style armchairs, coffee tables and comfy sofas for those who've partied too hard and need a sit down!

Well as I've said, I've been through the sometimes traumatic process of planning a wedding, and I know its flippin stressful at times! So I always try to eliminate as much of the hassle from our side of things as possible. We'll arrange a time for delivery way in advance, and liaise with your venue as much as possible, so that if you have a lot on your plate getting ready for the big day we won't need to bother you. And 9 times out of 10, we'll do our best to deliver to you a day or 2 in advance so that you can check that off your to-do list early and not have to worry about it.

And if you want to be picky (and hey, it's your right to be as picky as you want, it's your day) then that's just fine - tell us what you want and we'll do our very best to make it happen! In the past we've had all sorts of requests, from the simple (no blue chairs please) to the not so simple (can you certify your tables kosher by any chance?) and as long as we're able, we're always more than happy to help.

That one's easy - go with your heart and not your head. You've got your whole life ahead of you to make sensible choices, but you're only planning your dream wedding once. So if you want Fish and Chips from a chip van for your wedding breakfast, go for it. Giant balloons instead of flowers as you and your bridesmaids walk down the isle - brilliant, why not? Pizza, Candy Floss and a Mr Whippy for evening guests - yes please! (And maybe, just maybe, mismatched chairs for your guests to sit on!!!??)

Not everyone may agree with your choices - and you've probably guessed, but they were all things we did for our wedding, and our parents certainly didn't share our vision of the perfect wedding! But if that's what you want, that's exactly what you should have.

What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about???

If you would like to read more about what The Poppy Trading Company has to offer or you would like to book their quirky vintage furniture for your wedding, please visit their website or email Oliver (and tell him we sent you!)

Enjoy your Tuesday peeps.

Big Love

Festival Brides xxx