# Joining you all (and my wedding planning journal) NEED HELP LAST POST!!!



## stardust599

Helllooo

I'm just going to ramble on in here as a place to keep all my thoughts and hopefully a few people will chip in with some advice. Let me introduce myself first.

I'm 21 in a few months, I have a lovely little daughter who is almost 6months. I have been with my OH for almost 3years and he has just turned 30. We live in a little town in Scotland. We've had our ups and downs but we've come out a stronger, secure, happy couple and we both want to be together forever and a proper family (and I also want the same surname as Macy lol -actually OH told me it would be cheaper just to change my name by deed poll, how romantic!!).

OH asked me to marry him a few weeks ago - not with a ring cos we've just moved house and can't afford it until the end of the month when we are going to pick it together (I wanted a surprise but he doesn't listen)!! We've told our close family and have been planning little bits and pieces. If all goes to plan, OH has just started a new job and should have much higher earnings (yay!), we should have paid off a few loose ends of debt and repaid my Nana for my car by the start of Winter this year and can then book a date for September 2012 or April 2013 if things don't quite go to plan.

We've picked the venue - it's at the ruins of a place called "Sweetheart Abbey" - it's a beautiful place we both visited as kids even though we're from different areas and it has a romantic story attached too. It's be outdoors though so hope it's not cold or rainy!

I have no idea how to plan a wedding and don't have anyone to help me.

We plan to make/do everything ourselfs - from the food, decorating the venue, invites etc. so we can make it an extra special day! We don't have much money but will get by with help from family and friends, I have no idea what sort of budget is realistic so we are just going to plan things and get a better idea! We plan to have 50guests at the ceremony and 2-300 at the reception so I think that's a medium/big wedding - see I'm clueless!!

I barely know where to start but our ceremony venue is £895 which includes -

Hire of wedding venue - Minister - Scottish Piper - Wedding car - Brides bouquet - Grooms buttonhole - Locally made wedding cake - Photographer

So far the only other thing I've worked out I'll need is my dress haha.

I've picked out a few dresses but not quite sure which I'll go for yet, I'm very thin (too thin actually, I should try and put weight on before the wedding) and short too so I don't know what'll suit me. If I'm brave enough I might put some pics of me up so you can all help me pick a dress I'd suit! I'd love a white dress. Here's a few I've seen -

https://www.lightinthebox.com/A-Lin...ss-with-Draped-and-Bow--WGY0136-_p118998.html

https://www.lightinthebox.com/Side-...ses-with-Beaded-Applique--HSX030-_p21207.html

https://www.lightinthebox.com/A-lin...-Chiffon-Wedding-Dress---WSW0320-_p57031.html

https://www.lightinthebox.com/Sheat...n-Satin-Wedding-Dress--FSY02279-_p152977.html

https://www.lightinthebox.com/A-lin...n-Organza-Wedding-Dress--WSM0458-_p67044.html

https://www.lightinthebox.com/A-lin...-draped-Wedding-Dress--WSM04149-_p142456.html 

The list goes on and on lol
xx


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## booflebump

Welcome to Brides! You will find a lot of help and support from the girls in here :hugs:


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## krissie1234uk

Ooooh your venue sounds lovely! I love that in Scotland you can get married outside. You can't in England which I was gutted about at first. 

You have also got an amazing deal for the venue. I can't believe you get all that for £900!! How great is that.

With regards to the dresses, I think the best thing you can do is try them on. What I initially loved on a photo just didn't suit me at all. You can sometimes find great deals on store samples in bridal shops (I did!) or maybe find a place that specialises in less expensive gowns. I'm sure you'll find somewhere to buy one. I know a few ladies have ordered online, so they will be able to speak to you about that.


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## Tiff

That's very true! I had my heart set on a dress that had lots of pick ups on it, and when I tried it on it was very "meh". I didn't like the mermaid/trumpet style dresses, but when I one of those on it did amazing things for my figure! :thumbup:


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## honeybee2

Hello and welcome!!!!!

You got all that for £900, inc the photographer? WOW! Deal of the year I rekon!!!

The venue sounds lovely and all the dresses you have posted look lovely. If your too skinny (lucky!!!!) then try dresses that are very fitting! You will look fantastic!! 

The best thing right now is to book your venue and put a deposit down. Other things will come in time.

Good luck on the planning hunny! xx


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## twiggy56

:wave:Welcome to b&b! (the bride & beyond version not the baby & bump version! :haha:)

Out of all those dresses i like the 1st one best! Its lovely!

You remind me of myself a little bit...im also from a small town in scotland, i was 21 when my OH was 31!

Advice i would give is go look in other girls' journals, when i was trying to put together a list i looked at the journals of the girls that were really close to their dates..helped me feel id got everything!

:flower:


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## stardust599

Thanks girl. I have been having a peek at other journals, going to stalk some!!! Just going to make a huge list of everything to do step by step now - I'm OCD about it so I have to plan it down to every last detail!!

With the dresses, there's a few local fancy wedding shops so I'm going to go and try on some and pick out the best styles that suit me and then have something made to order for me online, so excited!!!

Here's the link to the packages if anyone else wants to get married in Scotland lol, It's £795 for up to 10 guests but we'll be having 50, I need to find out if we have to provide our own seats for that many!!

https://www.gretnaweddings.net/castle_wedding_venues.htm

List coming up next, thanks for all the encouragement - me and OH were planning a few things last night again. Getting my ring at the weekend hopefully - bit disappointed that OH didn't just wait until he had one and surprised me, men!!!

xx


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## Tiff

:happydance: I like to be super organized as well. Excited to see your list!


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## stardust599

I think I thought of everything - there really isn't that much now that I think about it, the package covers quite a bit!! Here we go -


*Wedding Planning Checklist*

*Beforehand/Misc*
Open a wedding bank account
Pick date
Buy wedding dress and accessories, plan hair + make-up etc.
Pick bestman & bridesmaids
Bestman/bridesmaid outfits
Flowergirl outfit
Make day + evening guestlists
Plan/design invitations
Choose & buy rings
Buy present for Bridemaids/Bestman/Parents

*The Ceremony*
Arrange Venue _(picked, just got to book when date decided)_
Minister _included_
Scottish Piper _included_
Wedding car _included_
Brides bouquet _included_
Grooms buttonhole _included_
Wedding cake _included_
Photographer_included_
Flowergirl/bridesmaid flowers
Transport to Reception for day guests as quite far away
Arrange meal for afterwards

*The Reception*
Arrange Venue _emailed hall for details_
Arrange transport for guests _me and OH from different areas so will need to arrange transport depending on who's home town we have it in_
Arrange photographer + video _student photographer_
Flower arrangement for entrance
Sort decorations _doing myself - will buy online and decorate after ceremony before evening guests arrive_
Plan buffet _doing myself with help from close family_
Arrange DJ
Wedding favours

*Think about Honeymoon!*


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## stardust599

*The Dresses *

Me - White with navy blue sash 
I want this one, just sent them a message to see if they can do the sash in blue
https://www.lightinthebox.com/A-Lin...ed-and-Bow--WGY0136-_p118998.html#bof_reviews

Bridesmaids - Navy blue with white sash, but not sure if it'll look daft and I should just go plain Navy Blue (maybe having the bridesmaids holding white flowers?)

Flowergirl - White pretty dress with blue belt I think (something like this)-
https://www.babysazoo.co.uk/acatalog/White_and_Pink_Baby_Dress_with_Headband__M38c_.html#aM38c

Mother of the bride -Can someone help me with this? Is it supposed to be same colour as the bridemaids???

xx


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## booflebump

Mother of the bride can have anything they like. Having a complimenting colour to the bridesmaids is nice, but not essential x


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## stardust599

Thanks, I want her to stand out and look different from the Bridesmaids but co-ordinate too, actually I don't think she'll wear a dress so hopefully a matching formal trousers and top x


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## Tiff

My mother's style of gown matches mine in the sense that both are mermaid style, but the two dresses are totally different. Our colours are Black and White with a bit of Red, and I told my Mother to pick whatever she wants that she feels good in. She ended up going with a metallic eggplant colour, it suits her perfectly. :cloud9:


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## honeybee2

Mine is wearing black- but that was coincidence! I bought her a gorgeous coast black cocktail dress last year for her awards ceremony and I said to save money and because she wore it once and cost me a small fortune that she just wear it again. Problem done. It does match the colour but she is having colourful accessories too, like a hat and a pashmina to match. 
Your mum doesnt have to match hun xx


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## stardust599

Thanks girls, I think I'll let her choose her own outfit - I trust her enough to know that she'll pick something nice that doesn't clash lol. Got a reply back from the hall I wanted to hire, it's only £80 and seats 200 but I'm not sure if I want to go ahead and book it or not. I need to decide now as already there are only 2 Saturdays left in September 2012 - it's a really popular place for wedding receptions here. I don't know whether to book it or if I want somewhere more formal xx


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## honeybee2

have another quick look around- how much is the deposit for the hall? Is it small enough to loose if you find somewhere more formal? xx


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## stardust599

I have to pay the full price of 80, i think we could afford to lose that though. but we don't have the money to put down the deposit on the ceremony venue yet so i can't pick the date :-(

I think we'll just have to let it go, we're on a really tight budget anyway so I want to concentrate on having the perfect ceremony and the reception comes second. Think we'll get on with planning the ceremony and think about the reception in another month or two xx


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## Tiff

Do whatever it is you need to do hun! Very smart to stay on budget for sure.


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## Kayley

wow those dresses are amazing value! £124? seriously! They are really pretty too. The 3rd dress would be stunning if you wee getting married abroad!


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## stardust599

I know Kayley, they're from China though so got to be careful, I've heard good things about LightintheBox though so I'm gna take the chance!!

Well Tiff, my Mum pointed out the obvious to me today - that I've got to take the 50 people from the ceremony for a meal afterwards at at least £20 a head!!! So there goes my budget, I completely forgot about the meal lol.

Need to have a re-think now!! xx


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## Kayley

£20 a head is really good! That would only work out as £1000 for 50 people!


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