The Wedding Website

I whiled away an afternoon creating a wedding wesbite of which I am mightily chuffed. You know how in invitations, there's a bit of paper with directions, hotels, transport, ceremony details and a gift list!

This is all now included on my website. It may come across as a bit cheesy, but there's no denying, it's brilliant in its simplicity.

I've disabled the RSVP online facility, as I want people to send cards and write back their acceptance, but I've we'll have our gift list on there too.

This is the link ;- here and it has a password and everything (gladstone).

I think I love it rather!

Giving Our Notice

Today we had our meeting to give notice at the Registry Office in Stafford. I met Steve and we went along to the office which was very red velvet and dark furniture! I wouldn't like to get married there, but I suppose there are uglier places. My church is full of light and windows and to me and Steve, a much nicer place!

Anyway, it was amusing as whilst we waited, we looked at all the other notices on the walls. There were so many for everyone getting married in the town, and we noticed that hardly any were first time marriages for both partners.

We're obviously one of a kind!

We were called into the office of one Sue Fox, and she then talked to us about the ceremony, and then Steve was sent out whilst she asked me questions about his middle name, date of birth, occupation (which is difficult as he gives himself a new title daily!) and then I was sent out, and he was asked questions which he panicked about, but we passed the test!

Apparently this was a new thing brought in to combat unwelcome arranged marriages, but it was entertaining, and then we paid our £60 and left!

All done!

More Marquee News

198 days to go now and plans are still underway.

We went back to Littywood on Tuesday and the extension will be perfect. I was still very pleased with how the whole thing looked and the only hitch in the plan is details over the catering. They said we could take in our own caterers which was fine as we wanted Jenkinsons, but it seems they didn't mean drinks, and they normally provide all the wine etc.. and serve it themselves which seems silly when Jenkinsons bring all their waiters etc and there's no way we're going to pay corkage to two companies.

So they're deliberating and we'll have to wait for their estimate to come back.

As marquees go though, it'll be perfect, it's just dependant on the catering aspect.

Finishing Touches...

Well, my shoes arrived and they're fabulous! I've won one pair of clip on earrings so far on Ebay which I'll try on the bow to add glitz and glamour, and I've found a wonderful website called GlitzySecrets.com which have the most amazingly glamerous jewellery and I think I've found my hair comb, and possibly a load of other flashy jewels to wear too!

Look at this for a hair comb! It's just what I want, all crystals, no pearls, and stunning! It's called Vintage Dream and I can see why. I think it would be perfect for me.

I also rather liked these earrings, flashy but lovely at the same time! I had thought of a discreet little white gold heart locket which I've asked Steve for already, but I'm starting to change my mind after seeing what this site has to offer. It's so hard trying to decide on what look I'm going for, without having tried on my dress. I know one should go for something that one is comfortable with, rather than something crazy out there, but another bit of me thinks, I could get away with it, as there's an inner vintage goddess waiting to come out!! What would go best with my dress? Hmmm. Ponder ponder.

A Picture Tells A Thousand Words

I had an email today from the husband of a friend who used to work at the Uni with us.

He's offered to photograph our wedding day for free to build up his portfolio as he's trying to get into more 'official photography'.

It's a wonderful offer, and having looked on his website I'm really impressed. The photographs would mean a lot to me, and even though I'm not the most photogenic girl around, and Steve won't likely smile, he looks as though he'll do a wonderful reportage style which is informal enough for us both. You can see his website 'here'

We'll be having a pre-wedding shoot, and a meet up to discuss what we want, so I'm really pleased. Even though out budget is going to be shot on food and location, we can have a wonderful album of beautiful photos for free!

The Dress, the Dress!!!

The dress is ordered, bought and paid for! I cannot wait to try it on!

No going back now! It's worked out at £415 for the dress, and £45 for the postage and packaging. Not too bad. Now we just have to wait and see what happens with the import duty.

I also ordered a birdcage veil to play with from Ebay:

and then some shoes from Debenhams in the sale which weren't the perfectly lovely rose ones I'd seen previously, but were similar with bows, and which I thought i could maybe adapt to be sparkly, as I'm sort of thinking at the moment I may need extra sparkle with my outfit.

What do you think of sewing something vintagey onto the bow? Like two matching brooches, or something? I love the line and shape of the shoe and the bow is lovely too. Just needs some glitz! That's whats in my mind today anyhow. I've also been looking at my hair and whats going to go in it. I'm not sure about a side comb, or whether down hair will go with a birdcage veil, but maybe something like this hair comb to the right would be nice? I was thinking one for each side, and then I can remove the veil for later on, and eating, but retain the vintage sparkliness in my hair. Hmm. I need a hairdresser to trial this with, and discuss ideas with! I like the idea of a half up do, and then some little pins dotted around in it, and then accessorizing with a vintagey brooch on my waist line, and maybe adding a lavender colour ribbon if I need a splash of colour? Too many thoughts in my mind and not knowing how it will all look is stressing me out!!

Budget Budget

We decided to go backwards last night, my parents and me, and rather than looking at the cost of locations and food, see what else we needed to pay for so....

Honeymoon - We've allocated £2000
Dress - £700
Bridesmaids - £200 x 2
Pageboys - £60 for two - will look at hiring mini suits
Suits for the guys - £350 x 7 for Steve, Nick, Richard, Paul, Dad, Chris & Ed
Flowers - £400 for 9 buttonholes, 1 posy for me, 2 wrist corsages for S & A and some blooms for Church which will come to the reception with us. Then lots of free foliage for the marquee decoration.
Car - £300
Wine - Not sure yet, depends on corkage, and Dad wants to buy a barrel of bitter! Try saying that after a few pints!

Stuff we're doing ourselves which aren't massive savours, but hey, pennies make pounds -

Photography
Videography
Favours
Cakes
Stationary - Invites, RSVP cards, Menus, Order of Services, Place Names, Thank you cards.

So it does leave enough for £5000 for Littywood, and then about £4000 for food. Hmmm. Such big numbers, swimming in front of my eyes!

Buttons...

Oooh, look at these! How cute would these be on my favours? They're £1.25 for 3, so I'd need 70 so ..... sums sums & sums, if it were 70 / 3, then timesed by 1.25 it's about £29.00? Is that right? I got it to be about £58 last time. Hmmm. £29 would be much better than £58!

What I'd do would be to sew a butterfly on a felt heart, and then sew that onto the bag fabric and get 70 done before Christmas, then after I can get the lavender, add it to a gauze thing and stuff them :) Happy days!

Favours...

I was thinking about this last night again, or rather the thoughts were keeping me awake (I must try and switch off from weddings before bed, it's keeping me awake at night) and I was thinking I could make 70 little lavender bags for the ladies, and 70 little bags of homemade fudge for the men and kiddies could have a thorntons chocolate lolly. That would be quite cheap to do, and not too fiddly.

I'm going to the market on Saturday to look at fabric I think.

Littywood Costs

Well, Littywood have got back to us. And it's more expensive than anticipated to say the least! To have their marquee at the moment for 70 people, it will cost £2100. Any more than that (and you can sit 120 in there) would cost extra anyhow for extra tables and chairs etc...

For the extension of 9ft square it would be an extra £1800, and then on top there'd be more tables and chairs, and the toilets would cost an extra £400.

Steve practically had kittens as unfortunately he was there when Mum was telling me on the phone! He doesn't mind a wedding day, but he is minding a costly reception. I too would be gulping rather at the prospect of paying nearly £5000 pounds for a tent, and that doesn't even include food! But I know we can afford it with our budget and it would be the one splurge factor and we can cut costs everywhere else I'm sure.

Anyway, with it costing that much, it's put Trentham back on the decision list really, as if they would come down to £5000, it's all there sorted with loos and chandeliers and everything already.

The only question is, do I want a homely manor house where I can put out my bunting and it's pretty and tea on the lawn etc.... or Trentham where it is spectacular grounds but maybe a bit big and probably wouldn't suit my English garden tea party sort of thing.

Dad's calling Trentham today to enquire, but I think I'm still verging towards Littywood myself.

Let Them Eat Cake....

I looked again in cakes today. I’ve been wondering whether to go with a three tier one, for simplicity, but before I rule it out, I’ve decided to do some trial runs, so have bought some foil cups, and a few icing bits and bobs to ‘get the look’ and I’ll make a couple of batches as per instructions I’ve read online, and will try freezing them for a few days, then icing them and whether they defrost ok. If they do, then I will go with that idea, as a freezer full of fairy cakes, and defrosting them on the morning would be an ideal solution, or the day before maybe!

To be honest, I guess it’s more of the ‘look’ of the thing for me! I’ll then get a small top tier with a starburst ornament on it for cutting and fruit so people can choose. I think that’ll work. The towers I’ve seen so far look best with lots of different sorts, and different colours and toppings, but in a co-ordinated scheme. It’ll help with the informal approach too I think. Ooh, must start collecting fabric for bunting too!! Mental note to me….

THE..... dress...

I sat this morning and sent an email of my measurements to Dolly Couture for a Beveleywood dress. Mum measured me up on the Friday night, and determined to book something, I emailed them. They emailed back to say that I’d not said which colour I wanted, Ivory, White or Champagne, and I’d got some measurements wrong, so could I confirm, but at least I’m acting on something.
This dress has sleeves, and I thought I could see how they look, and remove them if necessary, but I think it would be a good way of hiding my ugly arms. Once all details are confirmed, they put a listing on Ebay for me, and I pay in full, and they work on it and send it to me. Possibly within 2 – 3 months J I’ll then find a birdcage veil on Ebay, and just try the look out methinks. It’s so exciting.

I also got the little colour samples in the post for the bridesmaids dresses, and one of them is perfect. I think it’s a lavender sort of colour. It’s not lilac, and it’s not purple, so that’s just what I want. The nameless colour! It will perfectly complement a silver grey suit and look very co-ordinated.