# Done... I 'AM' Mrs K!!



## aly888

:happydance::happydance:

Been engaged for a little over three years now but I've been putting off any "serious" planning until we had our venues sorted, and as of last Tuesday, they are sorted :yipee: 

So now begins the mad panic...someone, please, tell me what I gotta do??? :lol:


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## Eve

:happydance: Congratulations! I haven't a clue what to do either lol... just started my planning, heck I don't even have a set date yet :haha:


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## aly888

Our date has been set ages. People couldn't understand why we hadn't started planning yet :lol: I seriously don't know what to do first now. I know I'm gonna forget something :/


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## Eve

lol Me too! We've been engaged since 2006/July and I have just started! 
I have never realized how much there was to wedding planning lol!


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## KittieB

Congratulations! We've been engaged for a while now and have only just chosen a date and venue! I've been told the next thing to book after the venue is the photographer... good luck!


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## aly888

Oh really?? Eek. Not even looked at photographers!!

Already had out first major mishap. Our ceremony venue have applied for a government grant for some major remodelling and we won't know if they've been successful until end of this year!! We have a back up, but this venue is our dream venue, and as selfish as it is, I really hope they don't get the grant :lol:


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## Eve

I had a photographer lined up but she stopped doing weddings :( I don't think she will make an exception for me either, which sucks! 

Hope you get to have your wedding at your dream venue hun! x


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## aly888

So planning on doin the save the date cards this weekend. Or at least a irat draft of them. But when should you send them out?? Is it a year before, or 6 months, or what? Helllp :(


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## KittieB

aly888 said:


> So planning on doin the save the date cards this weekend. Or at least a irat draft of them. But when should you send them out?? Is it a year before, or 6 months, or what? Helllp :(

I think it's a year, but I'm not 100% sure


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## Eve

I have no idea, but a year sounds good to me, especially for those who would have to travel :)


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## aly888

Why can I not get into the swing of this??? I have a billion ideas whirring around in my head but there always seems to be 'something' making me put it off. Like now, I am on holiday, so I've been putting the planning off until after the holiday. And before this I had been putting it off until we'd booked the venue. I just need a good kick up the bum and get going!!! :( And some less flakey BMs :(


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## MissMummy2Be

First Congrats on starting to plan :D hope all is well and if you are still stuck on what you need to do i have a list on my wedding planning thread on here if you would like it :D


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## aly888

thank you thank you thank you!!!

totally stolen this from your journal now :lol:



MissMummy2Be said:


> *To Do List*
> Dress - *Done*
> Bridesmaid dresses &#8211; *1 done, 1 having hers made - both chosen individual dresses*
> Flower Girl Dress -
> Groom suit &#8211;
> Groomsmen suits &#8211;
> Flower girl basket -
> Ring cushion/box - *MIL making*
> Veil, Tiara, Hair piece -*Veil done*
> Jewellry - *Necklace done, need earrings*
> Shoes -
> Rings -
> Garter -
> Sexy lingerie -
> Cufflinks/shoes for groom -
> Fragrances -
> 
> Ceremony location - *Done*
> Reception location - *Done*
> Registrar - *Done*
> Photographer &#8211;*Done*
> DJ/Band -
> Cake - *provisionally done*
> Hair -
> Makeup -
> Flowers - *MIL doing*
> Accommodation night before and night of -
> Cars -
> Figure out guest list - *Done*
> Save the dates - *Done*
> Invitations -
> Place cards -
> Seating chart -
> Menu -
> Thank you cards -
> 
> Decorations for ceremony -
> Centerpieces for reception - *in progress*
> Decorations for reception -
> Car decorations -
> Guestbook and pen - *Included with the photographer*
> Confetti -
> Cake topper -
> Kids entertainment for reception -
> Bon bons/favours -
> Photo props IE parasols -
> Bridemaids survival kits - *Ongoing*
> 
> Music for ceremony/reception - *Ongoing*
> Dance lessons -
> Write speeches/Vows -
> Readings/Poems for ceremony -
> Photo locations -
> Ask people to be MC/Do readings/Give you away -
> Gifts (BM's/GM's/Parents) -
> Hens/Stag night -
> Dress alterations -
> Honeymoon &#8211;
> Honey moon lingerie & clothes &#8211;
> List of all vendors phone numbers - give a copy to MOH &#8211;
> Emergency bag &#8211;
> Get nails done -
> A BRAZILLIAN &#8211;
> Tan -
> 
> *Bridal Party*
> MOH - *Done -*
> Best Man -*Done*
> BM - *Done*
> GM - *done*

 
sooooooo, yeah, I've got LOTS to do! haha :wacko:


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## MissMummy2Be

aly888 said:


> thank you thank you thank you!!!
> 
> totally stolen this from your journal now :lol:
> 
> sooooooo, yeah, I've got LOTS to do! haha

No problem :D hope it helps hehe


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## aly888

I think the next thing is to finalise our guest list. Once that is done we can plan and send save the date cards and start agreeing times and things with the venues. eek!


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## aly888

Just went completely against what the MIL "told" me to do and have ordered some 'Save the Date' cards :lol: She can shove that up her arse and deal with it (of course I wont actually tell her i've done it though coz I am a teeny bit scared of her :rofl:)!!

This is where you all tell me STD cards are not the 'done thing' anymore and none of you are doing them.....?


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## MadameJ

Dinner be silly STD to me are important. Some folk need to book days off a year in advance so it's a very useful thing. I'm doing them,doing wee magnets so that folk can pop them on their fridges and will remind them not to go booking holidays then(wedding is September so it can be a popular time for holidays)

Ps don't let anyone try and dictate what you should or shouldn't do,it's your day so it's your choice:thumbup:


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## MissMummy2Be

we are having them and we are sending them out one to one and a half years before our wedding i think they are something people should do even more so if you have people who have to travel to get there because they will need to book time of work make travel arrangement's find somewhere to stay ect. we are sending ours out so early as a family member of mine has to see lots of doctors and some times is booked in for a year before she sees them


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## aly888

Oh gosh, MadameJ, you can expect a lot of ranty "MIL" posts in this journal. She's an interferring cow :lol:

I'm so glad you two are doing them. I was gonna send them just under a year before the wedding. my brother and SIL live in Sweden and my friends like their holidays so to me, it was quite an important thing. But MIL says "I've never received anything like that...are you sure they even exist...dont waste your time, just tell people to their faces!!!" :rolleyes:

Iv been a bit sneaky. Iv ordered business cards from vista print as the STD cards. 250 cards for £5 (including postage)!! Gonna get some blank greeting cards, print our own image on the front, and send them out like that. Depending on price, was going to get some of that magnetic sheet stuff you can buy and cut that up to turn the business cards into magnets :thumbup: that way they can either pin in to a notice board or whack it on their fridge :)

DIY FTW :lol:


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## MissMummy2Be

aly888 said:


> Oh gosh, MadameJ, you can expect a lot of ranty "MIL" posts in this journal. She's an interferring cow :lol:
> 
> I'm so glad you two are doing them. I was gonna send them just under a year before the wedding (so after May 24th this year). Our wedding is a Friday plus my brother and SIL live in Sweden and my friends like their holidays so to me, it was quite an important thing. But MIL says "I've never received anything like that...are you sure they even exist...dont waste your time, just tell people to their faces!!!" :rolleyes:
> 
> Iv been a bit sneaky. Iv ordered business cards from vista print as the STD cards. 250 cards for £5 (including postage)!! Gonna get some blank greeting cards, print our own image on the front, and send them out like that. Depending on price, was going to get some of that magnetic sheet stuff you can buy and cut that up to turn the business cards into magnets :thumbup: that way they can either pin in to a notice board or whack it on their fridge :)
> 
> DIY FTW :lol:

Tell people to there face haha was she going to pay for the travel to Sweden so you could tell your brother to his face as well lol sorry i just found that bit a little funny. my mum came up with a grate idea for ours as we are sending them out that early she said to do a calender and on each month put like 10 months to go until our wedding :D but im not sure what we will do just yet :D


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## aly888

Well my 'save the date' cards arrived :muaha:

Will try and get a pic up later x


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## Eve

I don't even want to think about the guest list... Ugh


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## aly888

we finalised ours today :happydance: In a bit of a tiz about registrar fees now though coz I seriously underbudgeted on them!! didn't realise they were so expensive just for having your wedding somewhere other than the registry office :wacko:


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## BButterflies

:wave:

Hey Aly! I am gettign married a few months after you so planning is at a similar stage atm. We are getting married on the 31st August, and I have no idea what I will need to get done between now and then or when! 

Who knew it would actually be so much hard work!

I am also definitely doing save the date cards, they are the done thing!


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## aly888

Heyyyy how are ya chick? My WTT journal took a proper nose dive. Fingers crossed this one doesn't do the same. Haha

Ooh yay for 2013 weddings :happydance: Steal the list I stol. It's really useful as a tick list. Everytime I complete something I edit the post so it's marked off the list :) 

In wedding news, need to see how my bouquet is going to work and finish these STD cards. Iv had a plan for the cake topper too, but again depends how arty I can (be bothered to) be :lol: in my head it looks great. In reality it'd probably look cack. Lol xx


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## Amy-Lea

Update more, missy. Xx


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## Eve

I'm still at nothing lol... I need $$ to book the venue and I need to book someone to marry us.. hell I don't even know how to do that LOL then need to get sh*t going! I feel like I do not have enough time in the day anymore to plan anything lol


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## aly888

I'm flipping out. Still no idea where we are actually getting married. If we cant have our chosen venue (due to renovations) then is it really worth shelling out for a ceremony at our reception venue? Don't mind spending the £££'s for our dream venue but I don't feel right spending the same for not our dream venue iykwim? So the toss up now is do we save the cash and just get married in the registry office (really not what we wanted to do) and just go somewhere local for nice photographs, or still spend the money and have it all in one place (the reception venue)?! *headache*
Of course, there is still a (slim) chance that we might be able to have our dream venue :shrug:

The next stress is booking the registrar! My local council website is shite. Shite for everything!! It gives no real answers. I think I'll be calling them tomorrow to find out what the deal is :lol:


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## aly888

.


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## aly888

Hi y'all :)
We think we've settled on a ceremony venue now. Just need to meet with them to go over the finer details etc and then we can confirm our booking with the registrar/give notice :happydance:
As you'll see from my to do list further up I still haven't got much further with anything else, but it's getting there. Waiting for some samples to arrive for invites etc and had an idea for the wedding cake that I need to test out. Really need to get cracking on the bouquet though!

Had a baby shower yesterday for a girl at work, and iv been earmarked as the next one to be pregnant...before the wedding :wacko:


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## aly888

And iv ordered some different STD cards :lol: I am so indecisive, plus, the wedding website has changed so needed to update that bit. Will post a picture when they arrive :thumbup:


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## aly888

Ceremony venue booked
Reception venue booked
Registrar booked

Even if everything else gets forgotten, at least we'll have somewhere to get married and someone to marry us, which is all I care about :happydance:


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## aly888

Our STD cards (which still haven't been sent out)

.

Still not done anything else. Now I know why people pay other people to do all their wedding planning for them :lol: Trying to get DF to start looking at suits...he's not playing ball though :(


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## Jemma_x

They are lovely hun


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## aly888

Kinda feel like the planning has stalled :( really struggling with a photographer. Don't know if I'm being too fussy or what, but the only ones I like are totally out of price range :(
Did anyone else have this when choosing photographer? I don't know what to do. Feel like we shouldn't compromise on photos but also can't afford to go all out on them like I want to :cry:


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## aly888

Found a photographer :happydance: This is his website here Matt Heath
Feel so much better knowing that all the biggies are nearly sorted. Want to get rings next but we can't agree on style :dohh: Do they have to match?

Quite liking how the "to do" list at the beginning of this journal is starting to fill up to :)


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## aly888

Went to meet with the photographer this afternoon. He is perfect. So happy :)

Then went to the future in laws and they gave me a list of people that we "should" invite. Theyve already been verbally inviting people so we kinda have no choice but to invite them now. Is that normal?? How to I tell them to 'eff off' politely!? :dohh:


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## Lauren25

Ohh just seen your journal now, seen as though we seem to follow each other around Im deffo stalking :haha:

My MIL tried to say that her friends were invited and she had told them and they were so excited etc etc, I told her out right no, she then went through OH who said yes to 'save a argument with her' which caused a massive one with us! They next time she brought it up I said no way, they can come to the evening (anyone's basically invited haha) and OH backed me up! Just put your foot down seriously, or say that it's full to capacity or something! :)


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## aly888

Haha what is it with in-laws? My parents wouldn't dream of inviting their friends without asking me first, and even if they did I'd still say no. Just bugs me coz they know that we're trying to keep numbers low and they try to tell us where else to cut corners etc (according to them we don't "need" a photographer :wacko:). Gah. Stuck with them I guess :lol:


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## aly888

Contract from the photographer is through. Just to sign it and send it back with our deposit and that's that booked and sorted :)
Trying to sort bridesmaid dresses but it's harrrrd. One BM is currently in Marbella and the other is always so busy. Might just tell them what dresses they have to wear. Maybe this is why BMs don't choose their own dresses traditionally :lol: 

Can't believe how quick it's going. Eek


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## perfect plan

Congrats! My wedding date is literally the day after yours!


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## aly888

.


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## perfect plan

aly888 said:


> perfect plan said:
> 
> 
> Congrats! My wedding date is literally the day after yours!
> 
> Thank you :)
> 
> It's my brothers birthday on the 25th. I'm already in enough trouble as it is having it the day before. Haha.
> How's your planning going? xClick to expand...

Everything is going really smoothly so far, i have got some things already and others are in the pipeline to get but all in all its been pretty stress free. I know all this is likely to change when i get closer to the day.


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## aly888

.


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## aly888

So, how much would I love a small win on the lottery around about now? :lol: I just want to know that everything is paid and done and ready. I can't handle this stress :hissy:

Meeting my MOH tonight to talk weddingy-stuff and throw ideas around. Shes super organised so hoping she kicks me into gear to get stuff done :)


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## aly888

The meeting with my MOH was successful. She's a bit organised. I love her :lol: So now, the centre pieces are decided. Yay. But when I suggested them to MIL (who's offered to do them for us) she decided that she wants us to have something more elaborate!! And now she's ignoring my emails about it. Charming :shrug:

Rings still not decided. Insurance still not bought. Trying to convince OH to sort his suits out but he's being bloody useless (as usual). I don't know what to do next...with money!! OH has just bought a spangly new printer for work which we're gonna use to print invites. Might print those and then just store them until closer the date :lol: What else...?


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## aly888

Oh, but missy moo gets the govt nursery funding from Jan so we're going to use the extra cash we save to go towards the wedding. That's gonna help us massively. Money stresses me out. We have the money in savings but that's for things like house improvements or moving house. I don't want to touch it, but OH is using it as a 'fail safe' :/


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## Lauren25

Im stealing your to do list :haha: hope you don't mind :)


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## aly888

Lauren25 said:


> Im stealing your to do list :haha: hope you don't mind :)

Steal away. I stole it from another B2B anyway. Haha! I've added and removed some things that do or don't apply to me too. It's very useful. Just wish it was on my phone so I could update it easier. Lol x


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## aly888

:wacko::wacko:


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## Mellie1988

Helllloooo, found you!! Stalking :D

Looks like you have got everything pretty much sorted, well done you! Will deff be stealing the to do list I think hehe!! 

x x


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## aly888

It's a fab to do list. Must pay credit to the bride I stole it from :lol:

I do notttt have everythin sorted. It's actually quite scary how much there is still to do :wacko: But once you've got the biggies done everythin else feels easier. Kinda

I'm looking at hairstyles now. Effort! xx


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## Lauren25

Hairstyles are so difficult, well they are for me because I haven't got a clue what will actually suit me and I won't be having my trial til just a month or so before the wedding!

Do you know if you want it up or down ?


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## aly888

I think I want it down. But with it down there is more chance of it looking 'bedraggled' by the end of the day = bad pics. Lol!! I dont know. I don't even know what colour I want my hair. Haha x

Bought one of my BMs dresses today...that's another thing to tick off the list :thumbup: Seriously low on cash flow at the moment though. Have rinsed all the wedding savings and Christmas is restricting monthly funds!! Stress


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## aly888

Think I've had a hair idea...but not sure how well it will "last"!! Have any of you seen the latest VO5 'express yourself' advert with the ultra glossy curls look? I looove it, but not sure how well it'll fair up from 11am to 11pm ?

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/6D39367B-47A7-43CB-95DC-BD8CFEDA2443-1441-000001B9ED44CE56.jpg


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## Lauren25

I answered on your other thread :)


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## aly888

Stress :hissy:


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## Lauren25

aly888 said:


> Stress :hissy:

Hope your okay, anything we can help with :)


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## aly888

Lauren25 said:


> aly888 said:
> 
> 
> Stress :hissy:
> 
> Hope your okay, anything we can help with :)Click to expand...

Just everything and not knowing what to do next!! My current stress is my bridesmaids bracelets. I've nearly finished making them but now don't think they'll be suitable for the wedding. And I need to find a way to fasten them because at the moment they just look awful :(
How the heck do people do wedding planning as a career. It's madness!!


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## Mellie1988

:hugs: get a nice cup of tea and chill out hun, restart this afternoon maybe? 

Aren't you good doing things yourself, I haven't a creative bone in my body, everything will be shop bought lol!

x


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## Lauren25

I agree with Mellie, take a step back from it all!
Have you got a picture of your bracelets or what you've done so far? I remember seeing the picture of what you were aiming for and they looked fab!

I got really like this (not knowing what to do) a few weeks ago! I still am in a way, I'm okay sorting big obvious things but trying to think of little bits like decoration I just can't get my head round! It helped me writing a list of what we've done already and what's sorted rather than focusing on what needs to be done :)


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## aly888

Thanks girls. I'll post a pic of the bracelets later so you can see what I've got so far. Deffo not wedding worthy though so I'll re-think that one an just throw these into their 'thank you' boxes I think :)

I'm just trying to do little bits now coz I find those easier than the big bits. Lol! I bought the labels for our place names yesterday, and found somewhere that does lovely wedding signs. Just need to decide which way around our names should be; 'Alyson & Alex' or 'Alex & Alyson'?!! :wacko: It's the bigger things like centre pieces, table plan, entertainment etc that's driving me bonkers. Lol x


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## Lauren25

aly888 said:


> Thanks girls. I'll post a pic of the bracelets later so you can see what I've got so far. Deffo not wedding worthy though so I'll re-think that one an just throw these into their 'thank you' boxes I think :)
> 
> I'm just trying to do little bits now coz I find those easier than the big bits. Lol! I bought the labels for our place names yesterday, and found somewhere that does lovely wedding signs. Just need to decide which way around our names should be; 'Alyson & Alex' or 'Alex & Alyson'?!! :wacko: It's the bigger things like centre pieces, table plan, entertainment etc that's driving me bonkers. Lol x

That's a good Idea if you don't think they are suitable!
I think it's really hard knowing what to do and when and those guides you see are never any help and they don't include alot of things!
I wondered about our Names too, I would always write OH first but it seems that all I can find wedding wise the females brides name goes first!
Table plan :wacko: I have no clue about either!
Entertainment is another thing I worry about, we're just having a DJ in the evening and a photobooth but in the day I feel like everyone's going to be bored and waiting around, I'm trying to think of little things people can do Inbetween things like ceremony and meal then meal and evening reception!


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## aly888

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/6279A8DE-F7A7-4EDA-A798-EEFCA368BE2D-8634-00000C54D52537C2.jpg

That's one of the bracelets. Need to find an alternative to the knots but can't find a crimp bead big enough so was thinking just wrapping silver wire around it??

I've got a rough idea on table plan. Think it's just going to be the usual picture frame type one with mini bunting across it for the tables. I'm going to be making that too though. To buy it people on eBay are asking £50+, but you can buy an old picture with a nice frame for £15 and do it yourself :)
We've not got any proper day entertainment. We've got a couple of garden games an will have picnic blankets out for people. Just have to hope its nice weather!! For the evening my friend has said she'll do a DJ set but I need to get all the equipment etc which is stressing me out. For the rest of it I think I'll just have a play list on. Which means buying loads of music that I don't have :wacko: Sooooo much to do!!

One of my bridesmaids dresses arrived last week too and it's too short. She has to ask her mums friend if she'll add a layer of chiffon in to make it longer. But I might roll that in with getting my dress altered too to keep costs down a touch maybe.


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## aly888

https://pics.boards.weddingbee.com/38173.Candle_tree.jpg.resize

I love this centrepiece. I've been looking at how to recreate it. The blog where this came from said she just collected sticks from near-by woods etc but I have a feeling she was in America which has very different trees to us. So I'm stuck. Again :dohh: I wish I didn't keep changing my mind about centrepieces!!


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## kezza2012

aly888 said:


> https://pics.boards.weddingbee.com/38173.Candle_tree.jpg.resize
> 
> I love this centrepiece. I've been looking at how to recreate it. The blog where this came from said she just collected sticks from near-by woods etc but I have a feeling she was in America which has very different trees to us. So I'm stuck. Again :dohh: I wish I didn't keep changing my mind about centrepieces!!

that centrepiece is gorgeous!! i love it


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## Mellie1988

Omg that centre piece is gorgeous!! 

x


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## aly888

It is a bit special isn't it. Just gonna be a lotttt of work :dohh:


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## kezza2012

aly888 said:


> It is a bit special isn't it. Just gonna be a lotttt of work :dohh:

All the hard work will be worth it tho, it really is gorgeous :)


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## aly888

:hissy: our venue has no PA system!! That means we have to find extra money to hire the equipment now :gun: I give up. I want a quiet reception anyway. Lol


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## MissMummyMoo

How am I not subscribed to this?! :wacko: 8 months?! No way! That's mental ... I remember when it was 2 years away :lol: I'm now a religious stalker! :flower: x


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## aly888

:yipee::yipee: you got your BFP!!!! Congratulations sweetie :wohoo:


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## aly888

OH and his groomsmen are going to try on suits on Tuesday...should I be worried?? :lol:


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## Mellie1988

A little maybe :lol: I'm dreading OH going getting his...I think I will be sending his mum with them :rofl: she has abit more sense than OH does, he will just say oh yeah that one there 

X


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## Lauren25

Ohh no about the PA system, how much will one of them set you back then? Try not to worry youve got plenty of time :)

As for the suits you know i went with my OH :haha: all id do is if you have ideas let him know and colours, make sure he knows the colours :rofl:


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## aly888

I may have sorted the PA system. One of my besties brothers deals with that sort of stuff all the time and he's arranged a deal for me for a full 500w system with setup and a sound engineer for £90!! Total bargain. I was looking at £120 just for 'dry hire' (set it up yourself etc) of a 250w system which we just wouldn't have had time for :wacko:

I'm gonna send him armed with ideas and colours. There's three of them and the colour scheme is purple/blue/teal so might ask them (tell them) to have one colour each :thumbup: And am I right in thinking our dads need matching suits too??


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## aly888

And I'm quite happy with his best man and groomsman. They will force him to try on suits properly :)


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## MissMummyMoo

Thanks hun. 

As for the grooms men I'd send them with a photo of what they need to look for :lol: I couldn't have let OH choose ... I'd dread to think what he would have come back with x


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## aly888

Ooo err, you're all scaring me now. Is it not the norm to let the man choose his suit?? :wacko: think I need to get some pics together of what is (and more importantly 'isn't') acceptable :haha: xx


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## MissMummyMoo

If you trust your OH to choose let him go ... but I wouldn't trust mine :lol: he has no fashion/colour co-ordination sense at ALL! :haha

Yeah just compile him a collage of what to look for roughly :thumbup: x


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## aly888

I don't trust him. He'd get married in his work gear if he wasn't given any direction. Luckily his best man is pretty good at that stuff, sort of. Oh god, what am I doing :lol: They'll be fine. I'm expecting regular text updates whilst they are at the suit shop on Tuesday. If not I'll be in a right panic


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## MissMummyMoo

If you don't like what they choose go in and change the order to the suits you like :haha: my OH wouldn't have noticed if I done that :lol: x


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## aly888

:rofl:


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## aly888

Today's the day :cry: iv sent text messages to him and his usher detailing the style and colour that he's allowed to have. It's all in their hands now. Eek


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## MissMummyMoo

Awww bless you hun!! I'm sure he'll do a good job! :flower: x


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## Lauren25

aly888 said:


> Today's the day :cry: iv sent text messages to him and his usher detailing the style and colour that he's allowed to have. It's all in their hands now. Eek

Hope he gets on well and listened to what you said haha.
Are you getting to see what they have chose or not ?


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## aly888

He chose tails :wacko: I don't like them. And his usher looks like a pullbearer in them!!! but what can I say??? He has no say in my outfit or my bridesmaids outfits so should I have a say in his? :shrug: They just are not in keeping with the 'relaxed easy going' wedding that we're going for :nope: And the only reason we're going for 'informal' is for his sake!! Help?


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## MissMummyMoo

:hugs: hun. I've no idea what to suggest. I don't like tails either but I knew Chris wouldn't choose them coz he's a short arse and would look like a plank. Could you maybe just mention to him that you don't like him and see what he says x


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## Lauren25

:hugs:
I know it won't make the situation any better but I love tails and that's what we've gone for!
Have you said to him that you don't like tails ?

Ohh I don't know what to say :( was he happy with his choice?

Are they hired or brought?


----------



## aly888

Thanks girls.

Kel, he's not tall either. Well, he's not short but he's shorter than me, as are both his groomsmen. 

They're only going to be hired. The place they went to today looks nice and the suit material was gorgeous, but they want £405 just for their three suits, then we have our Dads on top!!

I told him afterwards that I don't like tails. I stupidly sent him a picture of the kind of thing they should be going for so they just walked in and held up the picture :dohh: But my picture wasn't a tailcoat :brat: 

I dunno, think I'm just being selfish. I think the thing that makes it look worse than it is is that they've gone for waistcoats in the same colour. I've told him if he's going for a tailcoat then he needs a contrasting coloured waistcoat. Might help. Lol


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## Lauren25

Tehe if it makes you feel better again, my OH and 2 of his ushers are small and when he tried on the tail coat it looked fab, didnt make him look short at all! I think the key is to have a decent well fitted suit and I won't look bad!

Also we are having matching grey waistcoats to the rest of the suits :rofl: everything you don't like tehe but that's the look we love :)

What did he say when you said you didn't like them?

If they are hired could he not go back and change his mind?

Wow at the price I thought ours were pricey at £100 a suit and the groom going free :haha:


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## aly888

Haha, your OH can probably pull off the 'smart' look. My OH literally LIVES in either his work gear (he's a mechanic) or joggers (when he's at home). His idea of 'smart' is to put on a pair of jeans with just a little bit of fraying at the bottoms :dohh: And his GMs aren't much better. His BM is all tattooed and stretched ears and rarely takes his cap off and his usher is just scruffy

I'm in a bad mood with him tonight anyway so when I said I wasn't keen on a tailcoat he just shrugged. He didn't try anything else on whilst he was there either :/ He hasn't hired them yet. He knows better than to make any firm decisions without consulting me first :muaha: I just feel like a mega bitch telling him what to wear :(


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## Lauren25

:rofl:

Ohh that's good then!
No you shouldn't feel bad, I didn't even let me OH go on his own, I had completely in my head what I wanted them to wear and when I'd say it to OH he hated the sound of it!
We went and he tried it on and loved it, but he would have never picked it!

I'd go back with him and get him to try and a few different bits just to see, if he still prefers what he chose then I guess there might have to be a bit of give and take but he might prefer something you get him to try!!


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## aly888

So, I've calmed down, and discussed the "issue" with my friend at work, and I'm warming to the tailcoats :lol: I don't want him to go for a light waistcoat because chances are, being a May wedding, that he'll only wear the coat for the ceremony and then it'll be waistcoat for the rest of the day. And the dark waistcoat looks fit ;) And i've decided the jacket only didn't look "great" because it was too big for him. It should look better when he has one that fits him. So I'm letting him have whatever he wants. Aren't I such a lovely wife? :rofl:


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## MissMummyMoo

You certainly are :haha: I went with mine and basically choose for them :haha: x


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## aly888

:dohh: I keep mentally spending money we don't have!!
I've decided that since we're paying for my our Dads suits then I want to put some money towards my mums outfit too. I mentioned it to her the other night and she told me off, but I'm just as stubborn as her so she's getting it whether she wants it or not

Might be buying my ring this weekend. Just want to be able to tick something off the list. Lol! And need to give OH a kick up the bum for his ring!

Aaaaand need to decide what to do for hen do :wacko: actually have no idea! Help?


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## aly888

Some I like:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yy_j_FPSods/TextOKVvLxI/AAAAAAAAAOw/oMug-I7irkc/s1600/bridal-hairstyles.jpg

https://wedding-pictures-02.onewed.com/30566/wedding-hair-makeup-inspiration-2012-met-ball-vintage-inspired__full-carousel.jpg

https://bridalmusings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/jones_diprieto_kamee_june_photography_IMG2503briandphiledit_low.jpg
(the blonde one, not the brunette bob ;) )

https://www.fashionsplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Long-Vintage-Waves-Hairstyle-1.jpg

But don't know how any of these would work with a veil :wacko:​


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## MissMummyMoo

I really like the first one! :thumbup:

As for the hen do. No idea! I was greedy and had 2 :haha: one was a trip to Alton Towers the other was a surprise by my MOH which was a river boat cruise then on to the town (which I didn't end up doing as I had a headache :lol: ) x


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## aly888

I like the first and last the best I think. Might need some hair extensions though. Lol

I want two too. Well, actually more like three :lol: I want one with my closest girls (BMs and sisters and best friends etc) where we go away and do something (like Lauren is going to London for a show). Then I want one local where all my girls and I go out on the town nearby. Then I want one with my mum and MOH where we go for a mini spa break just before the wedding :thumbup: Is that greedy? Haha
Just need to decide what the 'going away' one should be :/ xx


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## MissMummyMoo

Not greedy at all. I'd have had more if I could have :haha: no idea where to go away to. You should come up my way :winkwink: stay in a posh hotel and go the metro shopping too :) a nice girly weekend away :) x


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## aly888

I was just looking at weekends in Manchester actually. The Hen Heaven website lets you choose a bunch of 'activities' for lots of cities and they put it all together for you. I'm sure they do one your way too ;) I'm sure it'd be cheaper if we planned it all ourselves though :lol: At least I've got some ideas now :) xx


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## MissMummyMoo

I think a weekend with activities would be great. Although you do need to squeeze some shopping in :winkwink: :haha: x


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## aly888

But my girlies are all sooo different. It's going to be hard to keep them all pleased, and shopping is not the way to do it :lol: Plus shopping is probably the fastest way to blow £££ that I don't/won't have. Haha
I was looking at a treetop adventure type thing (or similar, depending on where we are), afternoon tea or cocktail making class, a meal out, and maybe a cabaret club in the evening. And a stay overnight of course :thumbup:


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## kezza2012

aly888 said:


> But my girlies are all sooo different. It's going to be hard to keep them all pleased, and shopping is not the way to do it :lol: Plus shopping is probably the fastest way to blow £££ that I don't/won't have. Haha
> I was looking at a treetop adventure type thing (or similar, depending on where we are), afternoon tea or cocktail making class, a meal out, and maybe a cabaret club in the evening. And a stay overnight of course :thumbup:

The cocktail making class is so much fun.. Me and a group of friends done one on a mates birthday weekend in may.. U drink what you make..needless to say we all got a little drunk lol


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## kezza2012

The bloke who was running ours gave us forfiets.. If we spilt anything while making the drinks we had to do a chilli flavoured shot.. Lol


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## Lauren25

I love the second and last hair!

Go for it with your Hen do's! I was going to have 2 but I've invited everyone to London and everyone bar 4 people are coming so I thought there's no point because them 4 probs wouldn't even come if it was at home!!

I've been to Liverpool a few times and love it there, also love Manchester! And as you know I'm going to London, apart from them I don't really know anywhere but I can really recommend Liverpool and Manchester!

I went on different websites for hen weekends to get ideas for things to do, but I'm finding its cheaper to do it separate (so is OH for his stag do abroad) I think it depends what you want to do!

The cocktail making class is something I've thought about too, one of my friends done it on another Hen Weekend and she said it was great and like Kezza2012 said they all came out rather tipsy!

I'm finding it hard trying to include everyone too as mine is mainly family and 2 of my close friends! There are 18 of us, 10 'young ones' and 8 'older' ones e.g mum, MIL and Aunties but everyone keeps saying to me do what i want, people need to realise its your weekend!!


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## aly888

My friend did the cocktail class on her hen do. My LO was just 6 months and I was a fat mess, and it was the first time I'd had anything to drink in about 2 years :haha: but it was brill. And the food afterwards was pretty tasty so we could include that as our meal. 

I wasn't going to invite my mum/MIL. Should I be? it would not be their thing at all. But if I do the spa day they'd be there then, so that'd be ok wouldn't it?


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## Lauren25

aly888 said:


> My friend did the cocktail class on her hen do. My LO was just 6 months and I was a fat mess, and it was the first time I'd had anything to drink in about 2 years :haha: but it was brill. And the food afterwards was pretty tasty so we could include that as our meal.
> 
> I wasn't going to invite my mum/MIL. Should I be? it would not be their thing at all. But if I do the spa day they'd be there then, so that'd be ok wouldn't it?

Yes of course that would be fine :)
I'm only inviting family cause I don't have many friends :haha:
A lot of people don't do anything Witt their families so if your doing a spa I'm sure they'd enjoy that!


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## MissMummyMoo

I didn't invite mine on either of my hen do's :lol: don't worry about it. Just plan a spa day with them instead. I wouldn't invite my mum to one of those as she's not that type of mum but I would invite my MIL x


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## aly888

Aahh good. I didn't wanna invite them on my girlie weekend away :lol:
I've been looking at costs of things and actually, hen dos are effing expensive :dohh: Might have to reconsider a few options maybe. Or do something closer to home. I don't know :(

I ordered my wedding ring today though :happydance: Should be available to collect next week hopefully!! One less thing to worry about x


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## Lauren25

They really are expensive once you add everything up, but then it's not like you have hen do's all the time so if you want to do something or go somewhere then go for it :)

:happydance: yaaayyyy for getting your wedding ring, what's it like ?


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## aly888

Yeah I know. I don't know. Not feeling it at the moment :( The hen do, that is!

It's just a plain white gold 2mm band. I don't wear any jewellery ever really (rarely even wear my engagement ring :haha:) so definitely didn't want anything big or flashy. And it was cheap :lol: x


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## Lauren25

I was like that for ages, I was like I can't even imagine my hen do but then I just got the desire to look into it, now I'm booking the tickets and sorting the hotel but apart from that I can't be bothered to sort anything else :haha:

Sounds lovely, I'm dreading sorting my ring, I've got to have mine made to fit with my engagement ring but I have no clue :(


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## aly888

I didn't even think about how it will fit with my engagement ring :wacko: What's your ring like? I know you can get wedding rings that are wishbone shaped or will it have to interlock with your engament ring?

I think I need to bully my BMs into doing more for my hen do. At the moment they are just waiting for me to tell them what I plan to do :lol:
I was also thinking, my hen party will be made up of people who have never realy met before, so was going to make a FB group and invite them all in. At least give them the option to talk to each other. And then they'll know they're all invited (and therefore to save money if they need to)! Good/bad idea??


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## aly888

Oh, I just looked at your engagement ring...I see your dilemma. Haha x


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## Lauren25

Haha yes it's the shape of my ring! I'm hoping to go to the jewellery quarters in Birmingham to have it made as I've heard from lots of people they are quite reasonable there!

The Facebook group is exactly what I've done, I also find it easier if I'm chasing people up to put a message on there etc.
I'm finding it hard with my MOH because she's said she'll sort it all but sadly her Husband passed away a few months ago after being given 8 weeks to live and they go married in that time so I feel bad asking her to help and do wedding things incase certain things upset her so I find myself not even though I want her too!
I'd just ask if they have any ideas and then they might offer their help :)


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## aly888

Oh no :( how sad for your friend! I'd find it hard to ask too. Im sure she'll get more involved as it gets closer to the date. Especially with your LO on the way.

I just need to decide exactly who I do/don't invite then. I don't want to invite someone who I later change my mind about, and I don't want to not invite someone only to ask them later and make them feel like an after thought :wacko: This is hard!!


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## Lauren25

Yes pick wisely haha! I still haven't booked my tickets because one of my friends is messing around getting the money to me and my cousins just told me my auntie doesn't know if she's coming so they are both being told that if I don't have the money by 2moro night then I'm not booking them a ticket!

I've never known something to cause so much stress and hassle, the wedding planning is easy compared with this! Good luck hehe :haha:


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## aly888

Well I did it. I invited the 9 who I would love to be there and sent them all invites, most accepted right away, one is a 'maybe' (but understandable as she'll have a 6 week old babba by that point), one mentioned it to me off Facebook and said she'd "check her diary" (for next APRIL????) and the last hasn't even responded. So now in pissed off :rolleyes: I said in the intro thing that I am not expecting everyone to accept and will not be devestated if anyone declines, but if they're not coming then they need to just say so that I can start planning numbers etc :brat::brat:

I've come to a stand still on my to do list too. Partly because I've lost inspiration (is there such a thing as 'bridal block'? :lol:) and partly because I've ran out of money in the wedding fund pot. I've got loads of things I need to make, but the thought of designing them, printing them, cutting them, constructing them really puts me off :dohh:


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## MissMummyMoo

The ones you haven't heard from I just would book without them. Tell them that you assumed they weren't going as you had no reply and had to get on with the booking. I hate people that do that!! It winds me up!! X


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## aly888

But how long do I leave it? I only made the FB group/event on Wednesday. Need to give them a chance, or do I? :lol:


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## Mellie1988

I'd put up a reminder on the group on say tues/weds that u need answers by Friday maybe?? 

X


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## MissMummyMoo

I'd give them till Wednesday. A week is sufficient. I would probably send a group message out today asking people to reply by Wednesday then close the event lol x


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## aly888

Haha, the last person literally accepted the request an hour ago, so I'm happy :happydance: I updated the event with what the ideas are so far so I don't know if that influenced/prompted her, but I don't care as long as she's there :)


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## Lauren25

Aww that's great news, glad Everyone accepted!
The worst part for my was people saying yes then when it came to it, one of my friends kept saying she was getting the money then started ignoring me, then I had an auntie who was making up excuses not to come even though she said she would! I always knew when asking for money would be who would actually come!

What are your ideas you've got?


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## aly888

Yeah I expect at least one (the one who wanted to check her diary first) will mess me around when it comes to paying up. I'm sure a couple of the others will too, but I'll just set my MOH on them :lol: So far the plan is to go to Manchester, do a Go Ape type thing in the morning, out for lunch somewhere, then a cocktail making class in the afternoon and a cabaret show in the evening. It'll mean 2 nights away and about £180-£200pp, but I've already warned them its gonna be expensive and for them to start saving (for those that need to save). Fingers crossed!!


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## Mellie1988

Sounds fab!! Can't wait till time comes for me to book hen night :D exciting!!! 

X x


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## aly888

Went to collect my ring today...didn't like it :lol: so i'm still ringless!! I thought I wanted a plain band, but I tried on a few different sizes (widths) and none looked right. Then I tried on a crossover type one and loved it. Well, loved the look, not that particular ring. So back on the hunt!! Grr


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## Lauren25

aly888 said:


> Went to collect my ring today...didn't like it :lol: so i'm still ringless!! I thought I wanted a plain band, but I tried on a few different sizes (widths) and none looked right. Then I tried on a crossover type one and loved it. Well, loved the look, not that particular ring. So back on the hunt!! Grr

Haha aww your not, atleast you know exactly what your looking for now :)


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## MummyToAmberx

8months will soon be 4! 

Can't believe the speed this goes over. I got a bridal set for my rings x


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## aly888

I know!!! Scary 

Well I've found a ring. Three times the cost of the original ring, but OH has said to go for it anyway :wacko: So I'm torn! 

And my favour tags finally arrived today. Just need to get some ink and stamp them up :thumbup: And I've had an idea for the flower girl "basket" (thank you Martha Stewart :lol:) so I'm back on a roll I think :yipee:

Just need to win Euromillions (£95MILLION JACKPOT!!!) on Friday now. Haha


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## Lauren25

Have you got a picture, I wanna see :)
Well if your OH has said yes I'd go for it!! Do you think you'll be able to afford it or do you think it will make you struggle with everything else ?

Haha well if you win you know where I am :haha:


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## MummyToAmberx

Ahh i'll reword 6 will be 3 in no time :haha:

Hows the planning going have you got much left to do? x


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## aly888

Bridesmaid gifts:
Three of their gifts arrived today. Really need to get the boxes to put them in soon just to keep them all together, but don't know what size I'll need yet :/ Don't want to go too big and make them look empty. But don't want to go too small either!!

Rings:
Think we're going to order the ring this weekend :happydance:

Accommodation (night before):
Pretty sure I'm going to get ready at my dads house. A, it's free and B, there's a lot more space than at the reception hotel. I'll have to work around everything else (ie, seeing my mum before the ceremony and overseeing the reception decorations)

Centrepieces:
:grr::grr::hissy::hissy::grr::grr::brat::brat:


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## Lauren25

:happydance: yaaayyyy you sound like your back in to the swing of things with your planning!

You'll work out seeing your Mum, it will all fit into place some how! Will your bridesmaids be getting ready with you on the day of the wedding?

Haha what are your thoughts on your centrepieces now?


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## aly888

I'd like my bridesmaids to get ready with me really. Bit of last minute gossiping and panicking :lol: But I can't afford for us to all have our hair/make-up done. I'll discuss it with them. Let them decide

I'll work my mum into it somehow too. Don't know how yet, but I will. Even if she comes to my dads for 20 minutes beforehand. They get on, but it'll just be awkward, you know?


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## aly888

Quite a successful day today..

Bought an ink pad so I can start stamping up our place name cards. I'll start those tonight (after I've done my 30 day shred) because im too impatient to just sit on them now I know if got it all. 

Bought another wedding ring :lol: with any luck I'll actually like this one!

Made a decent start on my flower girls' "basket". I'll show you a pic once it's done :thumbup: I still don't know what's going in it though. I don't think it'll be flowers though!

And I'm committed to the centrepieces now :lol: coz I've just spent £45 on supplies. So no going back. We are having the bunches of branches with tealights hanging off them. Fingers crossed. Haha

And OH got a letter from the tax man yesterday with a lovely £3k tax rebate :happydance: but he says he's already 'allocated' the money :gun: but, ther'es plenty of time for me to change (force) his decision. Haha


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## MissMummyMoo

:happydance: for the rebate! Lucky you (I mean OH :lol: ) I would persuade OH anout what to allocate it too as well :haha: X


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## aly888

It's coz he knew he was getting it. He went self employed in March so he was able to 'cancel out' a huge chunk of his employed earnings from that year meaning he's got basically all of his tax back :lol: good for us, not so good for the tax man! Haha


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## aly888

This is the closest I can find to how my ring looks. Mine is slightly different in that the cross is a bit wider and there are 13 diamonds so the band goes further around the ring a bit. But this is the general style: :happydance:

https://bestengagementrings.uk.net/images/ernestjones/6751652.jpg


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## Lauren25

That's what I'm doing with my bridesmaids, well they are having their hair down and curled with Straightners which one of my bridesmaids is going to do, then I've told them if they want their make up doing they have to pay themselves!

I'm sure it won't be awkward if they get on, it's your wedding day so they'll all be focusing on you :)

Yaaayyyyy for the tax rebate, you deffo need to get your hands on some of that :haha:

I can't wait to see your flower girl basket!

The ring is lush and I like it has 13 diamonds, after all your getting married in 2013 :D

Do you feel your back on a role now? :)


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## aly888

That's what I might say to them. They have both paid towards their dresses (which they're both keeping afterwards) so i'm sure they won't mind paying if they want make-up doing too. Thank you :)

The flower girl basket isn't actually a basket. It's easier to show you a picture though once its done rather than explain it. Should get it done when Missy naps in a bit. 

I didn't get any of the name tags done last night either :lol: was waaaay too tired. May e tonight

And I'd never even thought of the 13 diamonds/2013 thing. Trust you to make a connection :lol: all I could think was "unlucky 13"!!!

Definitely on a roll again. If I can just get my hands on that money....:muaha:


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## MissMummyMoo

My BM's paid for their own hair ... but we have a family friend who is a hairdresser who coincidentally was also my BM and she offered to do everyone's hair for £10 each which was lovely. I used to be a body shop consultant so I asked my old manager if she could do the make up of the BM's and she said that she could for £5 each however they all cancelled that last minute but they did pay for their hairs done x


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## aly888

The flower girl basket:

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/E47B4D3E-5C0D-4F7A-8E5D-5053395C6BB8-20502-00001FF6F9337335.jpg

Some of the knots need sorting, and ignore the stuff inside the jar, but basically that's it :) I just don't know what to put in it now :wacko:

PS - please also ignore the state of my living room, and the fact it's an instagram photo. I took the photo through the app. Sorry. Lol


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## aly888

Which way???

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/42AEB79A-3001-4961-A477-8F5B0B457C5E-20502-000020114B778E3A.jpg

:wacko:


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## Lauren25

It's the first thing that came into my head, maybe because all I keep hearing is bad things about getting married in 2013 :haha:

Love love love the flower girl basket, it is so cute and different, she'll be making a statement all on her own :)

Ermm if you can get the circle to fit perfectly over the circle I'd go that way if not I'd do with with the circle showing! Looks good both ways tbf!


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## aly888

:huh: there's three different attempts. One with the circle over the hole (or at least should be) and trimmed down, then two with the points over the hole, one with frills and the other straight edged. Which one did you mean? I was thinking I might change the stamped 'hole' into a heart or something :shrug: it'll be a massive chore to cut them all down to size :wacko: but if that's what looks best then that's what'll have to be done!!


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## aly888

Major stressing about the hen do. People saying they can't afford to etc so trying to find cheaper ways. Might have to bring it closer to home :( But there really is nowhere around here that's really any good!! I don't know what to dooooo :hissy:


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## Lauren25

Ohh I can't pick between the shape, did you decide?

Ohhhhhh :( how many people have said they can't afford it? Me personally I think it's your hen weekend and you should do what you want to do, you shouldn't have to please everyone, they have a lot of time to save, it's not like its next month! But then I guess if its a big chunk of people then that's different!


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## aly888

I thought that at first, that I should just do what I want to do, but then I'd rather lose an activity than have to lose a friend. I was shocked at who has said they can't afford it tbh. Of all the invited friends, she is one with the least dependencies (no kids, no mortgage/rent etc). I'm now looking for something a bit closer to home instead so we'll see

Nope, not decided on the tags :wacko: they are only the backs of the place names so I think I'm gonna go for the one that requires least effort :lol: which is the bottom one. No cutting required. Then I'll just turn the circle into a heart or something :shrug:


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## lozzy21

I like the bottom tag, not sure why though!


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## aly888

Oh I don't know what to do with the tags. I tried the 'heart' thing and it looks horrific, so that's out the question :wacko:

I've just spent all afternoon (and all my battery life) putting together a different hen weekend idea...I've just pitched it to the girls...now let's see which one pisses on my bonfire first this time :lol::lol: The idea this time (stolen from you, Lauren) is to do the tree top thing close to home, then all travel down to London together, see a show, come back and stay in a BnB/rented house, then home. With the show it still works out kinda expensive, but not AS expensive. And as its not a set package those who don't want to, or can't, do the tree top adventure won't have to pay for it. It might end up just me clambering about in the tree tops but hey ho :haha:


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## Lauren25

Just stick to how they are, i think they look fab!

Ohh i really hope they go with this way and no1 makes an excuse this time! Thats what im doing though, saying ill be doing this this and this but if people dont want to do certain things im not going to make them! I think that makes life easier for everyone! Keep us up to date with what they say :)


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## MummyToAmberx

Oh wow what an amazing flower girl basket! x


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## aly888

So my wedding ring totally arrived today and I completely left it at work :hissy::hissy: I couldn't stop looking at it. I LOVE it. I just wanted to get married today so that I can wear it forever :lol: it's perfect!

As for hen do, I've decided I'm just going to say 'this is what we're doing...who's in?'. CBA with trying to please everyone. It's never gonna happen :wacko: Now I just need to decide for certain what I want to do!!


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## Lauren25

Aww I'm so happy you love your ring :) I can't wait til we sort ours!!

Sadly I think it's the only option when it comes to it, I'm a very I like to please people type of person but I just think you end up making things worse by trying to please everyone! I keep having people suggest different things to me and one even said we could do see the show and then go for dinner and then the next day people could do what they want like if they wanted to go shopping etc, I thought I want a night out I NEVER have a night out so for my hen weekend I deffo want to and I just thought I'm not just going on a little shopping trip to London for people to do what they want its a hen weekend!!

What are you thinking now for your hen do?


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## aly888

I've laid down my cards now. I've told them the plan and asked them who's in and who's out...one person (my BM) has replied. Another friend has posted a comment that it's going to cost more than I've said, as if I've just plucked random prices from thin air :grr: And another friend (the one who has said she can't afford much) has posted on her Facebook today that she's had a lovely time visiting the science museum, going to see a 3D IMAX movie, going out for dinner, and going to the theatre yesterday, all just because she had a day off, but she can't "afford" my hen do in 6 months time!!!?? :nope:


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## Lauren25

Ohh what have you decided on ?
Has anyone else replied yet?

Ahhhh that drives me crazy, when people say they can't afford something when it's obvious they can!

I think the hen do is a million times harder to sort than the wedding itself haha!


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## MissMummyMoo

Basically she doesn't like what you've planned to do but why lie saying that you can't afford, why doesn't she just say oh I'm sorry I don't like that activity so I'll give it a miss :grr: X


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## MummyToAmberx

Oh my so called friends say that about cost too, another reason why can't be bothered with the stress of doing whole hen. 
I don't even think my bridesmaid even cares to be honest. 

Great news that your ring arrived, are you uploaded a photo? :)


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## aly888

Exactly. I've asked people to say either yes or no, and so far I've only had 1 yes :hissy: I just need to know. It's not hard. Lol

There's so much I want to get done but i've put a ban on wedding spending :lol: It's my LOs birthday in December and we're having a party for her in the new year so need to pay for all that first, then the wedding is back at the top of my list. Haha. So what can I do in the meantime that costs nothing....??

Edit: going to put my 'to do' list at the top of each page (I have 50 posts per page so might not be at the tops of your pages :lol:) so I can keep it updated easier. This isn't up to date. I've just copied it from page 1. I'll update tomorrow :)



> *To Do List*
> Dress - *Done*
> Bridesmaid dresses &#8211; *1 done, 1 having hers made - both chosen individual dresses*
> Flower Girl Dress - *Cardigan done. Dress from Monsoon*
> Groom suit &#8211;
> Groomsmen suits &#8211;
> Flower girl basket - *Nearly done...needs contents and handle*
> Ring cushion/box - *MIL making ring cushion *
> Veil, Tiara, Hair piece -*Veil done*
> Jewellry - *Necklace done, need earrings, bracelet?*
> Shoes -
> Rings - *mine done. Need engagement ring replating*
> Garter -
> Sexy lingerie -
> Cufflinks/shoes for groom -
> Fragrances -
> 
> Ceremony location - *Done*
> Reception location - *Done*
> Registrar - *Done*
> Photographer &#8211;*Done*
> DJ/Band -
> Cake - *Done. Step mum is making*
> Hair -
> Makeup -
> Flowers - *MIL doing/paying*
> Accommodation night before and night of -*My dads the night before.*
> Cars -
> Figure out guest list - *Done*
> Save the dates - *Done*
> Invitations - *Started*
> Place cards - *Started*
> Seating chart -
> Menu -
> Thank you cards -
> 
> Decorations for ceremony -
> Centerpieces for reception - *in progress*
> Decorations for reception -
> Car decorations -
> Guestbook and pen - *Included with the photographer*
> Confetti -
> Cake topper -
> Kids entertainment for reception -
> Bon bons/favours -
> Photo props IE parasols -
> Bridemaids survival kits - *Ongoing*
> 
> Music for ceremony/reception - *Ongoing*
> Dance lessons -
> Write speeches/Vows -
> Readings/Poems for ceremony -
> Photo locations -
> Ask people to be MC/Do readings/Give you away -
> Gifts (BM's/GM's/Parents) -
> Hens/Stag night -
> Dress alterations -
> Honeymoon &#8211; *Done*
> Honey moon lingerie & clothes &#8211;
> List of all vendors phone numbers - give a copy to MOH &#8211;
> Emergency bag &#8211;
> Get nails done -
> A BRAZILLIAN &#8211;
> Tan -
> 
> *Bridal Party*
> MOH - *Done -*
> Best Man -*Done*
> BM - *Done*
> GM - *done*


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## aly888

Oops, totally just bought two more wedding items :dohh: I blame the eBay/Etsy app for everything. Haha


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## Lauren25

Haha that lasted long! What did you get?
Do you find etsy reasonable? Every time I look I find it quite expensive but all I ever see is people saying they find right bargains on there!


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## MissMummyMoo

:rofl: your as bad as me ... £10 says you buy something weddingy before LO's birthday :haha: x


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## aly888

Hmm, I guess it comes down to you personally as to whether Etsy is priced well or not. Personally I am happy to pay a 'premium' to have something that's hand-made and more likely to be a one off over something that's mass produced and in shops all over the country/world. Not that there is anything wrong with mass produced, but I'd just expect it to be cheaper, iykwim? I've got a few of my BMs thank you gifts off Etsy :thumbup:
And Kel, almost certainly will buy something else weddingy before then :lol: Got a good few weeks to go yet. Haha! Today's purchases were the outers for the invites and some pieces for the men's buttonholes :)


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## aly888

First draft of the invites done...
 



Attached Files:







InvitesDraft.jpg
File size: 36.3 KB
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## MissMummyMoo

Wow! They're beautiful hun :D x


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## Lauren25

Ohh yea I agree with you, I'm more than happy to pay a bit extra for something a bit different and unusual! Ill have to have another look, I think I might just been looking in the wrong places haha!

LOVE the invites, they look beautiful! High standards getting married at Buckingham Palace I have to say :haha:


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## aly888

Haha, well you know, gotta set your standards high :p

Yeah keep looking. Don't forget it changes a lot too so although there not won something you're after one day it might be there the following week :thumbup: I only buy specific items off it though. As in, if I know I want something hand made. I don't shop there for the sake of it.


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## aly888

Latest arrival...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/93467BDC-A347-4700-8DB2-64ED3386B7BF-28178-00002C0C115C6295.jpg

:smug:


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## Lauren25

Ohh I like! Do they stand for anything ?


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## aly888

They are the first name initials of me, OH, his best man and usher and my MOH and bridesmaid. Not in that order :thumbup: 

I was in sainsburys earlier and they are selling 'decorative twigs' for £4 a bunch. They are glittered too which will add a bit of sparkle, but I'm still not sure :wacko: I feel like i'm throwing money at this centrepiece idea and not getting anywhere with it!! It's stressing me oouuutttttt!!!!


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## aly888

MIL doesn't like the flower girl 'basket'. Shock! :rolleyes:


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## MissMummyMoo

Sod her its YOUR wedding :lol: x


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## aly888

She doesn't like the colour scheme, the STDs, the centre pieces, my bouquet, the cake choice, and now the flower girl basket :rolleyes: I don't really know what she's expecting. I think she wants us to have a standard, straight out of the mould traditional wedding. Obviously there is nothing wrong with traditional weddings, but I'm trying to add a personal touch that reflects us and she doesn't like any of it :wacko: She's doing my head in!!!


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## MissMummyMoo

I wouldn't tell her about anything to do with the wedding if all she's going to do is criticise everything you do!! I was quite lucky that my MIL stayed out of it ... she got a lot more involved with SIL's wedding than mine thankfully :haha: x


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## CatStorey

Your flower girl basket is stunning! I love it! 

Sod your MIL, just don't tell her anything else. 

I'm so lucky my MIL lives in another country :)


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## Lauren25

Ohh god is she one of them!! Tell her to mind her own :)
That's like my FIL when we said the colour scheme he was like Errr that's disgusting they pink and turquoise don't go together, I asked him if he'd ever seen them 2 colours together and he said NO!!
I think some people have their own ideas in there head how they want YOUR wedding to be!

As for the twigs I don't really know, I'm the least creative person going so I don't really have any advice!


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## aly888

On the outside our wedding is going to be very traditional. There are just a few details here and there that add a little element of 'obscure' and it's those bits she doesn't like! 
As for centrepieces, she knows my plans for them yet she keeps talking to me about floral centrepieces as if I've never mentioned anything otherwise :dohh: I have to include her though because she's offered to pay for the flowers (BMs bouquets!!). Bah

And whilst I'm on the subject of centrepieces, I actually think I'm giving up on the candle tree idea anyway :( just everything I try looks naff. So unless the florist can do them, I'll have to think of an alternative :cry:

Plan for today...finish the invites


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## aly888

Well I got further on the invites. By no means finished though. And I've just bought three pairs of shoes :wacko: I think they might all be too high though so will have to wait and see if I like any and if they're suitable. Is there any way I can shrink 2 inches before the big day??? :lol:


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## MummyToAmberx

aly888 said:


> First draft of the invites done...

Ooo very nice! Our range has a peacock feather on too x


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## Lauren25

How much more do you have left to do with the invites now?
Ohh I wanna see your shoes, how exciting!


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## KittieB

Love your planning thread! Your wedding is going to be beautiful!

Would love to see photos of your invites :) when are you sending them out?


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## aly888

MummyToAmberx said:


> aly888 said:
> 
> 
> First draft of the invites done...
> 
> Ooo very nice! Our range has a peacock feather on too xClick to expand...

Our whole theme is centred around peacocks. But it doesn't make much sense now. The reason we chose that is because the ceremony venue we were going to have has peacocks roaming the grounds, but that venue is closed all o next year so we had to find somewhere else. But we loosely kept the peacock theme. That's why I've put the feather on the invites :)


Lauren25 said:


> How much more do you have left to do with the invites now?
> Ohh I wanna see your shoes, how exciting!

Well I changed the fonts on the front page for something a bit more interesting and I've started the 'accommodation/travel' page and the 'timeline' page. Just need to sort the layout and find a little poem about gift registry :) 
I'll post a pic of the shoes later and you can all tell me your favourites


KittieB said:


> Love your planning thread! Your wedding is going to be beautiful!
> 
> Would love to see photos of your invites :) when are you sending them out?

thank you :)

I'm still designing the invites at the moment. Our invites are little booklet style invites so need four pages in total. Once I've finished them we probably won't print them until closer the date so they don't get lost/ruined. As for sending them out, probably 6-8 weeks before the wedding :thumbup: Gives plenty of people time to RSVP then (although I imagine I'll have to chase a lot of them anyway!)


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## aly888

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/B4C00229-AF11-4C3D-B088-31FD0639A735-30991-00003124CA31B302.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/7EC7A5BB-40DD-4967-9559-41E1382DF465-30991-00003124C3091E2C.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/E13594C6-6D8E-4945-8218-E8E7DC1C70FD-30991-00003124BD41BFDB.jpg

I'm not exactly in love with any of them, but then I don't think I'll ever be in love with a low heel :lol: I'd need some funky shoe clips for the white pair (and not sure on the toe), I would never wear the silver pair ever again, and I don't really like the lace pair much at all :shrug: but there isn't much choice really. I don't even want "white" shoes. I want blue one :haha:


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## MissMummyMoo

Well get blue ones! :lol: you don't have to have white! X


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## aly888

I can't find any I like with low enough heel :wacko: it'd seem the only low blue heels are ones that you'd wear to work :/


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## Lauren25

You haven't got much left with your invites them, your well on your way :)

The first shoes are nice and would be really nice with a shoe clip!
The second ones, are they from next ? I'm not a fan of silver shoes but i seen these in Next or ones very like them and they are really nice!
I'm not a fan of the third ones!

What shade of blue are you looking for ? Ill have a little look for you and see what I can find :)


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## aly888

They're all from Next. I'm most tempted by the first ones out of all of them :thumbup: I really want vibrant blue shoes, like a peacock blue. But all the ones I find are all sky scraper heels (which I don't have an issue with but my OH is only little :lol:)


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## KittieB

I'll have a look out for blue shoes for you too :) have you tried places like New Look, Dorothy Perkins etc? I'm going to really struggle to find shoes. I want them to be flat because my OH is only a couple of inches taller than me, and I have size 9 feet... which is a nightmare! Hope you find the perfect shoes soon


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## aly888

Yep, tried them all. New Look, Topshop, Next, Clarkes :wacko:, Dotty P, loads of online places...even eBay!
OH is actually fractionally shorter than me (I'm over 5'10) so no matter what I will be taller than him, just don't want to be 'too' much taller. That, and my dress is only long enough for a couple of inches of heel :lol: I'm size 8 so I sympathise on the shoe nightmare scenario. So many shops class a Euro41 as a UK8 when it's actually a UK7.5 :hissy:


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## aly888

Invites are done :happydance::happydance::happydance:
Well, the insides are done. I've still got to do the outers and then stitch them all together, but the hard bit is done :thumbup: I can always rope my BMs into helping me put them all together :)


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## Lauren25

I had a quick search and couldn't find much but how about getting a pair from somewhere like Rainbow Club where they dye the shoes! I don't think they are exactly cheap but maybe worth it if its something you really want!!

https://www.rainbowclub.co.uk/the-colour-studio/choose-your-colour/

Woohoo the invites were quickly finished! You must be well on your way now with ticking things off your to do list!


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## aly888

Wow yeah, they're too expensive. I've had some other ideas on the shoes front. Just waiting for an email ;)

Done quickly? I've not written the names out or anything. I've literally just designed the pages ready for printing. First page is the one I showed you the other day, second page is the 'menus' for the guests to choose from, third page is address and map of the venue and the address of our wedding website again, and the last page is this poem:



> In a wedding invitation,
> You usually find some lists,
> For venues, menus and hotels,
> And also for the gifts
> 
> But this one is unusual,
> It comes in a different way,
> As we're not asking for presents,
> But for something else today
> 
> Now please don't think we're selfish,
> Or that this comes from greed,
> But we've lived together for a while,
> So there's not that much we need
> 
> We would appreciate help though,
> To send us on our way,
> And allow us to have our honeymoon,
> In a land quite far away
> 
> So now the point of all this rhyme,
> The thing that we would like,
> Isn't towels, toasters or microwaves,
> But pounds and pence alike
> 
> And now you know the reason,
> Behind this cheeky accord,
> Please help to give us memories,
> Of a dream honeymoon abroad

But we've tweaked it in a few places :thumbup: The actual invites still need printing and cutting and folding and 'stitching' together, and made out to each guest. Far from finished, but the design is done, and it means I can order the RSVP cards now :)


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## aly888

Just quickly folded and stamped up the 'cover' of an invite...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/CD04C831-FCF1-48D0-8923-7C7AFE0FB64C-31445-0000318C31C20391.jpg


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## Lauren25

Yea I seems only the other day you were saying you hadn't done much with them!
That poem is fab! And I LOVE the outside with the little stamp, looks great!

Ohh cant wait to hear about your shoes now :happydance:


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## aly888

Haha, yeah, I have done them in a few days I guess (started them on Wednesday) but I spent a couple of hours at a time doing them. Probably taken me 4-5 solid hours in total :wacko: Inagine how much that'd cost if I asked a designer to design them? Admittedly they'd look better but still. So far I've spent £20 on them (for 50 invites and envelopes, stamps, and ink! The stamps have been the most expensive!!)

Still waiting for an email back about the shoes. Probably won't get a response on a Sunday :lol: but if it does come to something then that's going to be another secret surprise I'm afraid (along with my brooch bouquet :thumbup:)


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## CatStorey

Love you poem! And good luck with the shoes......I have my fingers crossed :) 

I have been looking around online also, my oh was asking me yesterday why all of a sudden I want a pair of blue shoes, lol! 

MY oh is exactly the same height as me so I am going for flats. Haven't found anything I like yet (that is in my budget!). I want sparkly shoes but they are all really pricey :(


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## aly888

:rofl: bless your OH. Thank you for looking for me though :)

I've had an email back about the shoes :wacko: This idea might be on hold for a while. Haha


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## Lauren25

That is so cheap! I wish I would have the time to make our ourself! I'm deffo going to do the order of the day ourselves and I thinking of having mad libs which ill do myself so them bits ill save some money on :)

Ohh I so want to know about your shoes haha, ill have to wait and see what you decide :)


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## aly888

The shoes are back on :happydance: I've gone to someone else coz the first lady wasn't exactly very welcoming with my request :/ and this second person is cheaper. Just have to find the right shoes!!

Doing it yourself is the best way to make sure it all ties in. I'm doing the invites, the table names, the place names, the seating plan, the order of the day cards, the madlibs and the 'I spy' photo cards. No way would I have been able to find somewhere who does it all without paying a fortune :wacko: And it means you have total control over the wording etc :thumbup:


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## Lauren25

:happydance: how exciting, can't wait to see them!!

I know, going to actual companies they charge sooooo much! We got our save the dates from EBay and will get the matching Day invites and RSVPs! So they weren't exactly cheap but a hell of a lot cheaper than going to a proper company!!


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## aly888

Ha, so true. If it wasn't such a saturated market we'd do well to set up our own 'stationary' company :lol: We got out STDs off Vistaprint, so they actually don't match, but I plan to get the RSVPs from there too (I don't have to worry about cutting them and gettin envelopes then) but I'll upload our design onto them :thumbup:

I'm so excited for my shoes :happydance: I think that's gonna be the hardest secret to keep. Haha


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## aly888

Been looking at hairstyles again today (coz it costs me nothing :lol:) and I've come up with these...completely different to my last lot :wacko:

https://bridalmusings.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Demichignonviaidoityourselfviamarthastewart.jpg

https://styles101.homestead.com/UpdoPictures/ccbbig.jpg

https://stylolinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bf054a7ad85fa32c_Half_Up_Half_Down_Wedding_Hairstyles_A.jpg

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MLsUDCEBtk/TnHoBOdEzeI/AAAAAAAAAuU/9pUZZLtvyFY/s640/Una%2526Christopher+%2528843%2529.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/0376B4D0-2908-4F44-98CA-A45DC26C98E1-33293-0000348EE1A38736.jpg

But I like curls like one of these....

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/69A646AB-11C0-4937-AB3C-77AAFC26A076-33293-0000348EDB5A21CF.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/D5E4CE26-6A37-489B-9A97-425CB10A7AD2-33293-0000348E8888AEEB.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/B7AAD4F5-FF46-4FAB-BDAF-7E27CF8FD8AD-33293-0000348E80F9635A.jpg


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## Lauren25

Our evening invites wont match the rest as there won't be that many people extra at night and most of them will be just being told, e.g. OHs football team will just have an open invite if they want to come or not, some people will just be told on facebook etc so I'm not spending the money on them :haha:
We'd be rolling in it, some of the prices of invites in wedding magazines are like £5 per invite :wacko:

LOVE the hair, espesh the first one and the forth one and I agree the curls in the last couple of pictures are really nice! Are you doing your hair yourself or getting someone to do it ?


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## aly888

Fourth is my favourite too, apart from the curls! I think if I do go for that style then I'll do it myself/get a BM to help. Not spending out loads of money for essentially someone to just curl my hair :wacko: the money I save on having my hair done I'll use to buy extensions so that I have even thicker curls (like the last 2 pics)

We're not doing evening invites either. Well, not like the day invites. Just gonna print it on a piece of paper and won't ask for RSVP or anything. Cutting corners, saving pennies :thumbup:


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## KittieB

That is exactly how I'm having my hair! I love the 4th and the 5th! I'm worried about how the curls will stay in though, my hair doesn't normally take well to curls


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## MissMummyMoo

I live the fourth too. I had no idea how to make curls like that! I'm going to be experimenting next time I wash my hair :haha: x


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## aly888

KittieB, if you use enough and the right products they should hold ok :thumbup:

Kel, I'm not sure how well that curlin technique works if you've got straight hair. It's more to 'enhance' a natural wave. I 'curl' my hair in a similar way but by twisting it into a bun :thumbup: not sure I've got the patients to keep curling it whilst having it hung down over my shoulders. Haha


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## Lauren25

Good thinking about using the money to get extensions!
I agree with you that I think that way is for already curly hair! I think you'd have to curl it and then do that!
Do you know if your having anything in your hair yet, tiara etc ?


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## aly888

Well I've got a veil so that's the reason for wanting the small bit on top being pulled back, otherwise I don't know how it'd stay in :wacko: but don't know whether to have a slide/clip or tiara (like picture 5)


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## Lauren25

Yea a veil would sit better with it pulled back a bit!
It does look really nice with the tiara in that picture!
What's your veil like, long, short ?


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## aly888

It's two tier finger tip length. Just plain :)


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## CatStorey

I love the hair with the bow in :) So pretty! I tried growing my hair for a year so I could have hair like that at my wedding. But once it got past a certain length it was awful and really knotty, so I cut it all off!

Your right , you will need a bit pulled back to clip the veil in. Will look stuning x


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## aly888

Haha my hair is a state. I stupidly bleached it back in April/May and it's been so brittle ever since. Length wise it's ok, I just need to keep trimming the ends though to keep them 'fresh'...shame I hate going to the hairdressers :/


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## aly888

I bit the bullet yesterday and went into a florists to talk 'flowers'! I showed her my centrepiece dream and she wasn't phased by it at all. Said they can do it :happydance::happydance: but MIL has given me a "Wedding Flowers" magazine for me to look through and draw inspiration from, apparently :rolleyes: We are meeting on Wednesday to discuss the outcome...I'm physching myself up for it already. Haha


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## Lauren25

Aww that is such great news about the centrepieces!
Haha good luck!
Have you got any pictures of how you want the flowers or colours etc yet?


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## aly888

I've turned the corner down on a couple of pages that I like the look of, but nothing that I've gone 'ohmygosh I want that', if you know what I mean?? I dunno. In some ways I wish I'd just said to MIL 'do what you want' but then I know I don't want that. Haha
I'm dreading Wednesday. I don't react well to her turning her nose up at my ideas. She always puts up so much resistance and I want her to just say 'yep, ok, let's do that' :wacko:


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## Lauren25

I thought I was like that too, I didn't think I could be bothered to sort the flowers, just wanted someone else to sort them, even looked to see if there were places online I could just buy ready made ones from but then once I sat down and just cut out what I liked from a magazine it showed me that nearly all the pictures were the same kind of style, colours etc and that made me want to sort them!

Stand your ground and have what you want, I know the feeling so well though of just wanting to go yea whatever do what you want!


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## aly888

I showed OH the styles of flowers I liked, and he doesn't like them :dohh: I can see this being a long drawn out process. Haha! I've also learnt that we don't seem to be getting a choice in florists. MIL seems to have already decided that her hairdressers mum is going to do all the flowers. And MIL wants me to show her my ideas and then leave it all down to her to organise. To say I'm 'nervous' would be an understatement :lol: The last thing I want is to be disappointed by the flowers on the day. Or is that really selfish and ungrateful? :wacko:

Meeting with my BMs on Wednesday evening too. Partly for recovery from the MIL, partly to discuss hen do. Pretty sure no-one wants to go along with my hen do suggestion so we've got to throw some cheaper ideas around :rolleyes: I've reached the point of not caring about that now. I'll be happy to not have one :lol:

Haven't done anything weddingy for a few days now. Will take inspiration from Lauren and write a short list of things that can be done:

My bouquet - needs completing
Invites - Print a test print
Name cards - finish stamping 
Favours - design the 'scrolls'
Order of the day - decide how and design

I'd like to have my bouquet finished before the end of the year, and the table place cards will only take an evening. The rest is computer based, which is time consuming. Which is probably why I've not done it yet. Haha


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## aly888

And so much for 'no more wedding buys until the new year'...earlier today we bought OHs ring and this evening I snapped up a bargain pair of earrings for me..

His ring (he finally found one he liked!!):

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/93A4F1B9-4125-49AC-B0D8-24F117FF66AD-2380-0000031D4424B6DA.jpg

And the earrings - Dower & Hall sterling silver and freshwater pearl drop. Reduced in the Amazon Black Friday deals from £120 to £28!!!! Even if I don't like them for the wedding, I don't mind for only £28 :lol:

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/9A8B0D15-D52B-4605-9B17-95BB13736AD6-2380-0000031D48EF5CDB.jpg


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## MissMummyMoo

Told you you wouldn't last :haha: 

They're beautiful hun and much nicer at the bargain price lol x


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## aly888

I somehow got a week ahead of myself. I'm not meeting my BMs this Wednesday afterall :lol: So I'll have to go through 'MIL recovery' by myself :brat:


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## Lauren25

Love the ring, where is it from if you don't mind me asking, going to show it to OH!
Earrings are beautiful to, and such a bargain!

Ohh Noway, you'll just have to keep hold of it all to tell them and of course let it all out to us :haha:


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## KittieB

Love the ring! It looks very similar to the one my OH wants. He likes the matt finish and he wants a palladium ring. The earrings are gorgeous too... and what a bargain!

You can go through the MIL recovery with us :flower:


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## CatStorey

Ooooh, I love your oh's ring, and your earnings are beautiful!


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## aly888

The ring is off Amazon too :thumbup: I'll let you know what it's like when it arrives. KittieB, they do some Palladium rings on Amazon but most are Titanium like this one. OH didn't want a gold (or white gold) ring because he owns a garage and is very hands on. A gold ring would have got damaged easily. Plus he won't be wearing it most of the time so needed something that would stand up to being chucked about :rolleyes:

I'm seriously dreading tomorrow :lol: OH has pep talked me already because he knows I'm not looking forward to it. I think I'll spend this evening online with OH looking for things we like/don't like. More emphasis on the things we don't like (because that's everything MIL does like. Haha)


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## Lauren25

Have you got the link to the ring? I've just been looking for OH to try and get an idea of what we likes! I don't know to get his from wherever I get mine made or get his separately!

Good thinking with getting what you like and don't like! Bring up your OH too if she goes on about something you don't like say your OH doesn't like that and you agree with him!

There's always someone that likes to step in the way of things isn't there :haha:


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## aly888

I just searched for 'men's brushed ring' and loads of different styles come up :thumbup: This wasn't OHs first choice but it was my first choice so he got talked into it :rofl: It helped that his favourite wasn't available in his size. Haha!!

I use OH as my defence a lot. MIL just thinks I'm making it up or that I've told him to say things :dohh: For instance, MIL wants us to to give DD a fringe. Neither of us like fringes, but OH is particularly against them. MIL was showing my pictures of little girls with fringes the other day (even though we've told her before that we don't like them) to try and convince me to give LO one for the wedding. I told her its not happening, but she kept going on, so I told her that even if she did crack me she'd never crack OH. She actually said to me 'oh yeah, as if he cares what hair L has' :shock::shock: Needless to say, OH put her straight last week when she brought up the fringes AGAIN :dohh:


----------



## aly888

And now you can see why I'm dreading the flower meeting tomorrow :dohh::lol:


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## aly888

OH went or a suit fitting today....no word from him yet. No news is good news, right?


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## MissMummyMoo

:haha: did you choose the suits before? X


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## aly888

Only kind of. We agreed he was having dark grey tailcoat with matching colour waistcoat and his groomsmen were having the same but with light grey waistcoats. His Dad went along too though and he gives an oompa loompa a run for his money on height stakes so hoping he hasn't gone for tails. Lol


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## Lauren25

Ohh my word your MIL sounds delightful :haha: can't believe the fringe thing!!
Haha I asked my OH what kind of ring he'd like and he just said completely plain, then I showed him one like you've got for your OH and he liked that (which I love) so we will see!

Any news on the suit shopping yet?
:rofl: or let's hope if he does he doesn't look that bad in it hahaha!


----------



## aly888

OH is home, but hasn't shown me pics yet. His Best man has been messaging me though and he likes the choices and has confirmed they've put a deposit down. But wrong that I'm getting all this info from the best man and not directly from my OH :rolleyes:


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## aly888

TOTAL BRIDEZILLAAAAAA MOMENT

so, OH showed me his suits. Lovely. But despite our conversation in the morning (OH in dark waistcoat matching the jacket and everyone else in a lighter grey waistcoat) he for some reason decided on a SILVER patterned waistcoat :wacko: Now I know what you're thinking. He doesn't get a say in what I wear so why should I tell him what to wear. Well, that's because I'm right and he's wrong :lol:

Anyway, getting to the Bridezilla moment...I went into town today to do a couple of errands and whilst I was there I just "popped" into the suit hire place, you know, to have a look in person. Well, once in there, and once I was chatting to the girl on the counter, I was informed that I could 'change' their order without telling the boys. And then when it came to it they could just tell him that they didn't have the silver one in his size :muaha: They were so lovely there, but also very naughty for telling me to do that :lol: I must have sounded bonkers to the staff though, going in and changing everything they'd decided yesterday. Haha!

The good news though was that the flowers meeting with MIL wasn't as painful as I expected. And she is going to embrace our centrepiece idea and take away the stress for me :happydance: The bad news is my MOH was expecting me and my BM at her this evening :dohh: but we've sorted that now. Haha

And that's my day. Has been very productive all in all :)​


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## MissMummyMoo

OMG :rofl: that is SOOOOOO something I would have done too :lol: I love how the assistants TOLD you to do it :haha:

Glad that the MIL wasn't TOO bad! X


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## aly888

She actually did. She said that her OH refused the wear pink so she changed his order without telling him :rofl::rofl: she showed me her wedding pics too for some ideas of how the groom can stand out etc. She was really lovely. The poor lad was just looking at me like I was nuts :lol: but he was right there chiming in when we were talking about changing the order. Haha


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## Lauren25

This is possibly the best thing I've ever heard :rofl: how funny! When my cousin got married where they had the suits from they wouldn't sort it without the bride being there, they obviously know most men will get it wrong hahaha!!

That's great news it went well with MiL and she's agreed about the centrepieces, I bet that's a massive weight off your mind!


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## CatStorey

Thats hilarious!! I just love that she TOLD you to change them :) Are you going to do it!?

So glad the flowers went well! And great your MIL has embraced you Centre Piece idea. Yay!! 

xxx


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## aly888

OH has already whinged about me not liking his choice in waist coat :( Think I'm going to give in and let him choose whatever he wants, as much as it will pain me on the day!

I'm not counting my chickens yet. I'm sure MIL has "embraced" the idea for now but there is still plenty of time for her to change her mind :lol: Time will tell


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## Lauren25

Ohh no has he :( I'm so glad I went with my OH and I was the one sorting it, I told him we would try on my idea and try on his, he tried mine on first and loved it and didnt even want to try on his idea :happydance: :haha:

Haha well fingers crossed she doesn't change her mind, embarrassing it sounds like a massive step forward with her though haha.


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## aly888

OHs ring and my earrings turned up today:happydance::happydance: Well actually they turned up last week but I was out so they've been at the post office. Lol! His ring is soooo light (as in 'weight') being titanium so he'll be pleased with that, I think :/ And my earring are gorgeous. Need to try them on with my dress and a quick hair do though to see how they look on :thumbup:

No word from the MIL yet on the flowers. Gonna leave her to it. Nervous! 

And I 'think' we've come to a compromise on the suits :lol: All the men will wear the same colour waistcoat, then either they'll all wear teal cravats but OH with an ivory hanky, or OH might wear an ivory cravat too. He does look good in the teal

Going back a bit, those shoes I ordered from Next were no good. The plain ivory one were uncomfortable as hell. I shoul have read the reviews because they all say it :dohh: So back on the hunt. I have seen a lovely purple pair in Clarkes but they would not allow for my shoe idea I've got, so dont know. Will discuss options with the bridesmaids on Wednesday :happydance: Watch this space. Lol

In the new year I need to:

- visit reception venue with list of questions and to sort out food options, timings etc
- finish invites and get them printed and put together
- try and do my hair myself, and if that fails, find a hairdresser


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## Lauren25

Yaaayyyy for the earrings and ring coming, and glad you like them :)

Aww glad you compromised on the suits, at least you'll both be happy now!!

Have you decided about your shoes yet? Can we see the purple ones ?


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## CatStorey

Yay!! Glad your earrings and the ring are perfect. Such a relief I am sure and another thing to tick of the list :) 

And good to hear you managed to compromise on the suits. It must be so hard when you have to coordinate lots of people. My weddings a month today and my OH hasn't even looked at suits yet.......help! 

I also want to see the shoes!! 

xxx


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## aly888

Omg CatStorey, I'd be screwing if we were that close and no suits sorted :lol: But there is a slight chance I'm a control freak. Haha

So the ring...was massively too big :wacko: Need to send it back and order a different size, but we measured him and everything beforehand so no idea how we got it wrong, or even what size he needs!!

Still dont know about shoes. I showed my BMs on Wednesday and my secret idea got a better reaction that the Clarkes ones, but the Clarkes ones are cheaper :shrug: I'll link you to the Clarkes shoes...Shoesies


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## Lauren25

That's strange with the ring, I suppose you'll just have to give it a guess!

The clarkes shoes are lovely, what's your feelings between them and your other idea ?


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## aly888

We measured his finger on a proper ring sizer and we did measure, and order, correctly. We compared the ring they sent us to the ring sizer and they seem to have sent us one which is 3 sizes too big :wacko: I've emailed them and they are going to exchange it :happydance:

I really like my shoe idea, presuming it works. In some ways I feel like just getting the Clarkes ones and being happy knowing they're done and sorted. But then will I always be wishing I'd gone with my secret shoes?


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## Lauren25

I think you will regret not doing your idea if you don't do it plus I think you should do it cause I really wanna see :haha:
How are your plans coming along ?


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## aly888

I've given up on the shoes at the moment. Need to have a break from them :lol:

In other news...the MIL!!!! Or more to the point, the MIL and centrepieces :wacko: I knew it wouldn't take long. She's decided she can't/won't do our chosen centrepiece (the branch idea) so as an "alternative" she's suggest 'three shiny balloons tied together, reflecting the surrounding lights and twinkling elegantly' :shock::shock: Now, I have nothing against balloons, but in the theme of our wedding (vintage garden party with soft pastels and delicate lace) I REALLY can't see how balloons will fit in!!!!!!! Am I unreasonable? Tell me if I am. Coz MIL is making me feel like a right ungrateful cow :lol: I entertained the idea a bit and looked at potential options before saying no. Her response? "well I'll just buy them anyway so we can see..." :dohh:


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## MummyToAmberx

Is your MIL helping out a lot? 

OH's parents have no involvement in our planning. 
I bought my shoes beginning of the year but now going to sell them as to high, have no idea where to look. 

Hows things going?


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## aly888

My MIL offered to do the flowers from the very start. Her garden is amazing and her house is like a florists so I was happy with that. But she is a difficult person to reason with, and so am I, so we don't make the best team :lol:


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## aly888

Right, Christmas is over, New Year soon, need to get my LOs party out the way then I nee to start making serious movements on the wedding planning!! Not enough time in the day :lol:

My priority list is as follows:

Meet with venues to discuss things (food choices etc)
Finalise invites
Finalise music plans (need out own PA systems etc and sort play list)
CARS - OH is supposed to be sorting those :wacko:

The first three I want sorted by mid Feb, so only 6 weeks. Eek. But if I don't then I'm not leaving much time to get all the other things done. A lot of things rely on the outcomes from meeting with the venues so really need to get those sorted!!

Oh this is stressful :dohh:


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## aly888

Oh yeah, and I really need to start making an effort towards losing weight... :wacko:


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## Lauren25

Hope you had a fab Christmas!

Your plan of things sounds great, how much do you have left after these things, big things little things ?

Eeekkkk don't talk about loosing weight, our new babies due in just over 4 weeks and its making me very sad that I only have 4 weeks left of being a pig :haha: do you have a weight loss plan or goal, I really don't even know where to start :)


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## aly888

I did thank you. Hope you did too? 

Those things are the biggest things to solve. But I still have looooads to do. I've been thinking of centerpieces again today and think I've come up with an idea that we like and that MIL shouldn't mind doing either. Meeting with her on Wednesday to discuss. Again!

I bought two flower girl dresses in the monsoon sale today too so hopefully one of them looks good on her, and bought this clutch and these shoes too...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/51635422-73A9-4594-99C8-FC3866DB4D87-5624-00000845F1EA366A.jpg

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/62C42963-D6F1-4F43-8034-52FCE9E534D3-5624-00000845ECE126CD.jpg

And if I like those shoes when they get here then the previous shoe idea is off!! But the small things are slowly coming together.

As for weightloss...not a clue :lol: I can't do diets. The best I can do is crash diet so need to save that for just before the wedding. But going to start using the gym at work. I've told OH he has to be home a decent time at least once a week so I can use it. But no proper plan, no

Can't believe how close you are. That's gone so quick!! Are you all ready? Have you got all the wedding bits done that you wanted to have done? xx


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## Lauren25

Good! Bit of a dramatic time for us, OH got appendicitis just before Christmas so ended up being rushed to hospital and have to stay for 4 nights but he was out for Christmas so it's just been a very chilled on for us!

You'll have to let us know how your new centrepiece idea goes down with MIL!

Love the bag and shoes, are they from Monsoon too? Which flower girl dresses did you order?

Haha I have no clue about weight loss either, I've never had to diet or loose weight before, even after I had Bobby I ended up being really poorly and loosing all my baby weight plus a hell of a lot more so I didn't even need to then! I'm dreading it, mine and OHs eating habits are shocking at the minute!

I know it's flown by! I don't know if I have haha, I don't even know where I'm at the minute at all, can't think what I've done and what needs doing! Deffo need to sit down and work things out!


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## aly888

Oh no, your poor OH. Hope he is ok now?

The bag is from Debenhams and the shoes are from Faith. But I've got a bad feeling they are going to be too high. Any excuse to try the dress on again :lol:

These are the dresses:
Ida Pleated Dress

Estella Lace Dress

I've never tried to lose weight before. Not properly. The most I've done is a crash diet just before a weekend away or something. I didn't get back to pre-pregnancy weight until I went back to work after L but since changing jobs I've piled it back on :( I've only got a stone to lose but it's so hard when you don't have any discipline :lol:

I'm sure you've got more done than you think. Are all the biggies done? x


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## Lauren25

Yea he's much better, just getting his strength back etc!

They are both really nice, you'll have to let us know when they arrive! And if you keep the shoes do we get to know your old idea? Haha!

Aww both the dresses are gorgeous, I bet the hard but will be choosing!

I think I have all the big bits done, it's just all the little bits now which is what I'm not good at!


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## aly888

So all my parcels arrived :) I now have a small bag/purse for the day, shoes (height permitting. Need to try on my dress AGAIN. Such a tragedy :lol:), the table confetti (and if throwing confetti is allowed then we'll use it for that too probably), and Madam has her flower girl dress :happydance: well, technically she has two until I can decide which one to keep :dohh:

I have also emailed both the venues. The ceremony venue is closed until 15th Jan so I can't sort anything with them until then. The reception venue is closed until the 7th Jan (today!) but I've arranged with them to visit this Sunday. That's the more important one so I'm happy about that :)

And I emailed a hair stylist last night...it all started so well :lol: She is already doing my MOHs hair (she does vintage hairstyles) so I wanted a price for doing us both (my other BM won't want vintage style). Well, the trial is £25. Bargain...I thought! Until I asked how much to do it...£125 (plus £25 charge to travel to my dads house which is 20 mins out of town, plus £25 to do my MOHs hair) :wacko::wacko: £175 on hair!??! And that's not including my other BM. I just don't think I can justify that :nope:​


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## Lauren25

:happydance: when do you get to try your dress on again then? I am soooo jealous, I think after babies here I'm just going to go to the shop to have a try on so i can remember it!

Wow that seems a lot for hair, but saying that I don't even know what mines going to cost, I forgot to ask that but saying that I haven't sorted it properly yet! Have you seen any prices anywhere else for wedding hair to compare it too?


----------



## aly888

I don't know. Need to try it on soonish though otherwise it'll be too late to return them if they're no good. 

I think that is a bit steep. When I asked at the hairdressers the other day they also have a £25 call out charge. Their trial is more expensive though and their prices were 'starting from' prices so I can expect to at least triple that :lol: I don't know what to do. I don't want to put the pressure on my sisters or bridesmaids either though :shrug: plus I need to buy extensions so that bumps the cost up even more to more like £165!!! For hair!!!! Lol. I think I'd rather have someone do my makeup than my hair too (it was always one or the other) so I might DIY my hair and get someone in to do makeup instead.


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## Lauren25

Are you still planning on having your hair like the pictures you put up before?
I think if you are with some practice you'd be able to do it yourself!

I just messaged my Mum as she's going to our hairdressers at the weekend to ask when I need to book and how much etc as I won't be there for a while and here's hoping they don't say how much you've been quoted!

Could you get your bridesmaids to help you if you don't it yourself aswel?!


----------



## Smile181c

I know I'm incredibly late but stalking :flower:


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## aly888

Hey Chloe!! Is the planning all a go now? :happydance:

I "told" my bridesmaid the other night that she has to do it :lol: We're gonna have a few practice go's but at least it isn't going to cost me each time we do. Haha

Need to get a move on and decide on which dress I want for Missy. I think I like the white/lace one the most but want OH to have a say too. 

And hen do........What. A. Stress!!! :hissy:


----------



## Smile181c

It definitely is :) I've revived my journal lol

What is your secret shoe idea by the way? Lol

And that quote is definitely too steep for hair! Luckily my uncles gf is a hairdresser so I'm gonna see if I can rope her into doing it :haha: my sister is a beautician so she can do my makeup!


----------



## Lauren25

Good thinking! I had a quick look round last night to see what the prices are like where I'm from for hair and nowhere had prices so ill let you know what they tell my Mum at the hairdressers 2moro! I'm really dreading it being a lot :(

What's been going on with your hen do then?


----------



## aly888

Secret shoe idea is nearly out of the window. Still need to try these shoes on with my dress but I love love love them. If they are a good height then I'll tell you what my idea was. 

I thought it was steep. Especially as she's a 'one man band' type jobby. I'd expect those prices from a full on salon! Not saying she's not worth that price. I just can't afford it!!

The hen do is stressy. We've finally decided what we're doing but now we've got to the point of asking for money aaaaand no-one can afford it :hissy: not like I'm asking for all the money. I'm asking for £45 each. And they've known since November!! :brat::brat:


----------



## Lauren25

I know what you mean, I'm hoping the one my hairdresser has chose from the salon is the one I'm thinking it is cause she's still a junior and learning hairdressing but she's really good at putting hair up so I'm hoping her prices reflect what she's not a qualified hairdresser yet!

What have you finally decided on doing for your Hen Do then?
Getting money is the worst ever! I booked our hotel before Xmas as the prices kept rising every day and told them they need to pay by end of January! I reminded them the other day but there's still half of them who haven't paid! Thankfully that's the last I'm having to do with my Hen weekend my MOH is taking over, it's more stressful than the wedding planning :haha:


----------



## aly888

Deffo more stressful. I've given them until end of Jan but I can't book until I've got at least some of the money in. I don't have that kind of money spare. And don't want to take it out of wedding budget :nope: but so far no-one has paid!!

We are going to London, having a mooch, going to All Star Lanes for food and bowling then to the theatre to see Matilda. Then we are coming home the same night and all crashing at my MOHs house for a PJ day and cooked breakfast on the Sunday. Can't wait :happydance:


----------



## Lauren25

Also you don't want to risk paying and not getting the money off people, then it's not fair on you as you'll end up loosing the money! I got my Mum to pay for the hotel on her credit card so the bill isn't in yet and also we booked a few rooms at slightly higher rate that can be canceled and you get your money back just in case! So difficult though!

Ohh wow that sounds like so much fun! I just googled All Star Lanes as I hadn't heard of it before and it looks amazing, I bet that will be a great laugh :) when are you planning on going ?


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## aly888

We've changed the order of the day so we'll go to London, mooch, go see a matinee show of Matilda then on to All Star Lanes afterwards coz one of the girls can't make the theatre


----------



## aly888

Went to the reception venue today with the MIL to ask a few questions and go over some details...MIL drove me insane!! She was asking questions like "can we bring our own food" and questioning me over when to throw confetti!!! I just wished she'd stayed at home :hissy: But I got a lot of answers and have finalised the timings of the day so I can get on and finish the invites now :) but I do need more Pom Poms. Haha

As for hen do, I don't think we can do matinee so my friend who can't come just can't come. There are no available seats for the afternoon performance. And at the rate the money is coming in (ie, it's not!) then there won't be seats for the evening either!!! Stress


----------



## Lauren25

:happydance: so glad you got everything sorted with the venue and it means you can move on with your invites! I can't wait til we go!
I just replied to your thread about your MIL I really don't know how you put up with her :haha:

That was my problem with tickets, things like that get booked so quickly but I don't think most people understand that! It will come to the stage where you'll have to say if I don't have the money but x date then I'm booking it anyway cause you'll end up with nothing to do!


----------



## Mummy May

Ohhh I found you lol! My hairdresser told me I should expect to pay between £25 and £35 to have my hair done for the wedding, and thats coming from one of the top salons in town!! So she is having a blimmin giraffe. xx


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## aly888

Welcome along :thumbup: 
Really?? That's far more reasonable. I'm deffo not going with this woman. At the moment my BM is doing it, but we'll see closer the time how money is. 

As for the hen do, I will be buying them soon. I have no choice :nope: but I'm not gonna tell them I've got them otherwise they might hold off even longer for paying me back :lol:


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## aly888

Tickets are booked!!! The stress of getting the money/not getting the money was too much for me :lol: So I just had to book them. Plus the plans are now set in stone. Can't get a refund so everyone who's said they're coming had better come and no-one best change their mind about the order of the day! Bridezillaaaaaa

Latest wedding day stress though is bunting...why is bunting so expensive??!?


----------



## Mummy May

Bunting is expensive, but very easy to make cheaply if you have a sewing machine/ know someone with one :) I'm decorating my entire venue with it and I've got my mother on the case to make me a load - otherwise it would cost me a fortune!! xx


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## aly888

I don't think I'll have the time to make my own :wacko: I've found a woman on eBay who sells 40ft for £8.50, so 5 of those is just £42.50, which I will most likely go for. Then I'll just tie/stitch them together to make one continuous length :thumbup: cheaper than hiring...cheapest place for hiring it was £90, plus £25 postage, and a £60 deposit that would be refunded after they got it back and inspected it :wacko::wacko:


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## Mummy May

ooh that is actually quite good! Have you got a link for her? I like to have weddingy things saved in my ebay :) eep! xx


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## aly888

Hmm. Just tried posting but apparently my post needs approving by a moderator :wacko: It must be because of the link I used...
The sellers name on eBay is heirloombunting


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## aly888

Heirloombunting

^^ that might take you to the mobile site


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## Mummy May

Thankyou :) Got it! Thats mega cheap - going to speak to mother bear coz it may not even be worth her time if i can buy it that cheaply xx


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## Lauren25

Wow that is really cheap!
There's a couple I found on eBay or not too bad of a price but nowhere near as cheap as that!
If you go to other places they charge about £20 for a little string of it, really don't know why it's so expensive!

Glad you got the tickets booked for the show! You getting excited for it now you've booked it ?


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## aly888

I know. I wasn't sure if I was reading it wrong or what but the price is unbelievable!! I'm skint since buying the tickets but next month I think I'll buy it :thumbup:

Yeah I'm major excited!! I've got another hen do to sort with work friends yet though. But that'll just be a meal and a piss up in MK or something. Haha. Cheap and cheerful :)


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## emyandpotato

I don't know if you're still struggling with it but I just came across these and thought they might give you some inspiration! 

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/vintagebridalbouquets


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## Lauren25

How exciting, nothing wrong with a cheap and cheerful night, I think they always end up being the best :haha:

Are you still doing something with the Mums?


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## aly888

Thanks emy. They all seem to be over flowers though. I tried that the first few times and I didn't like it :nope:

I don't think so. I don't think I could handle a day with my MIL and my mum in the same room together. I'd rather just spend the day with my mum :lol: plus I dont think I can afford it!!


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## emyandpotato

Oh sorry I forgot you said that! How are you actually getting them in to the right shape by the way? I'm intrigued!


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## aly888

That's the issue I'm having :lol:


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## aly888

Mini update...

I've bought my garter (see other thread). Just hoping when it arrives it doesn't cut into my chubby thigh and make it look like a string of sausages :lol: if it does then I'll just modify it a bit. Or diet. But more than likely modify it. Haha

I am watching an old painting on eBay at the moment for the sake of the frame. That will go towards making my table plan (yes the dreaded seating plan!!). And I'm watching a few easels too but they seem to go for more than I'm willing to spend :/

And I tried on those shoes (from ages ago...I decided that even if they were too high for the dress then I would keep them regardless :lol:) with the dress and try are still a good height :thumbup: I don't fit in the dress at all now though. This bootcamp thing I'm doing had better work otherwise I'll be on a starvation diet for the three weeks running up to the day :haha:


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## Lauren25

I was shocked at the price of easels when I looked at them before, them seem to go for what seems silly money! Thankfully our hotel has one for us to use :)

I'm sure it will work, especially when you have something to do it for, gives you that extra push!


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## Mummy May

I didn't blimmin think of an easel did I! I might just pull down one of their pictures and hang mine up :rofl: xx


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## aly888

I didn't win either the easels or the painting :dohh: I'll keep looking. There's no major rush on that. Yet!

Seating plan tonight...must stop putting it off...does anyone have any good tips? :lol:


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## Lauren25

I'm sure something else will come up :)

I replied about your seating plan in your other thread, hope its going well :)


----------



## Mummy May

I've got a good tip - BAN your MIL from your wedding lol! Much easier :) 
But seriously, how did you get on with it? xx


----------



## aly888

Well, I've done my first draft seating plan :happydance: and by 'first draft' I mean, everyone has a seat. Haha!! I'm sure there will be plenty more drafts to come :wacko:

Also, I emailed the reception venue with a couple of questions just after I visited last week - got no response. So I emailed again on Saturday (in case the message got lost) and this time I got a reply telling me they'd flag my email for the owner (who's organising our wedding) - still no response! Now I know they've got a big event on this Friday. Do I email again or wait until after the event?! Either way, I'm pissed that he's not replied!!


----------



## Lauren25

:happydance: yaaayyy for everyone having a seat!

That's a bit rude of them not getting back to you! I'd email them again if its already been since Saturday! No matter if they have an event on they should still atleast say they have your message but won't be able to reply til the weekend or something!


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah i would be annoyed that they haven't replied either, I was annoyed at my venue last week for not getting back to me within like 2 days when I was to be their first wedding booking. I felt we should have been quite high up in their priorities but hey! were sorted now. If you get nothing, maybe give them a call? I'm keeping a running list of questions I keep thinking of for my venue so I can just bombard them when I have enough :D xx


----------



## aly888

Still no reply from the venue :gun::gun:

My garter arrived yesterday (actually arrived few days ago but the post office were looking after it for me :lol:) and I'm slightly disappointed actually. It's beautiful (and fits!) but I was expecting it to be wider :shrug: oh well, no-ones going to see it anyway. Haha

Going to try and finish the design for my invites this weekend and MIL wants to finally arrange a visit with her florist. It's stressing me out that she's leaving it so last minute :wacko: 

I need to find some lovely brooches for the mothers too (instead of croisages). Been looking on Etsy and NOTH.com but not found anything perfect yet. I want them all similar style but not the same, if you know what I mean!?


----------



## aly888

And an update on my 'to do' list...not sure if much has changed:



> To do (wedding):
> &#10060;Dress - Done
> &#10060;Bridesmaid dresses &#8211; 1 done, 1 having hers made
> &#10060;Flower Girl Dress - Monsoon dress - Done
> &#10060;Groom/Groomsmen suits -
> &#11093;Flower girl basket - done, just need contents and handle
> &#10060;Ring cushion/box - MIL making cushion
> &#10060;Veil, Hair piece - Veil done
> &#10060;Jewellery - Necklace (Grandmas), earrings - Done
> &#10060;Shoes - Done
> &#10060;bag/purse - Done
> &#10060;Rings - Done
> &#10060;Garter - Done
> &#10060;Underwear - Done
> &#11093;Cufflinks/shoes for groom -
> &#11093;Fragrances - DKNY Summer, Armani Code
> 
> &#10060;Ceremony location - Done
> &#10060;Reception location - Done
> &#10060;Registrar - Done
> &#10060;Photographer &#8211;Done
> &#11093;DJ/Band - Provisionally done - Chloe to do a set
> &#10060;Cake - done (Sally)
> &#11093;Hair - DIY? Need extensions
> &#11093;Makeup - DIY
> &#10060;Flowers - Baby's breath bouquets for the bridesmaids - MIL doing
> &#10060;Buttonholes - Done
> &#11093;Accommodation night before and night of - Dads night before, Mill hotel night of
> &#11093;Cars -
> &#10060;Figure out guest list - Done
> &#10060;Save the dates - Done
> &#11093;Invitations - in progress
> &#11093;Place cards - Price tags around lotto scrolls/favours
> &#11093;Seating chart - Old style picture frame/mirror from Matalan/Wilko
> &#11093; I Spy 'picture' cards/mad-libs (done) *-*
> &#10060;Menu - N/A
> &#11093;Thank you cards - Busy Bees on Facebook*
> &#11093;Order of the Day booklets -*
> &#11093;Basket of self addressed CDs for photographs - Case/envelopes bought
> &#11093;Sweetie Buffet -*
> 
> &#10060;Decorations for ceremony - N/A
> &#10060;Centrepieces for reception - in progress - MIL doing
> &#11093;Decorations for reception - bunting, picnic blankets, pom poms*
> &#11093;Car decorations - 'just married' window sticker and ribbon?*
> &#10060;Guestbook - madlibs
> &#11093;Confetti - natural petals + cones
> &#10060;Cake topper - ???
> &#10060;Kids entertainment - Garden games (still need Limbo)
> &#11093;Favours - Lotto tickets in scrolls (scrolls done)
> &#11093;Children's activity packs -
> &#11093;Bridemaids survival kits - Ongoing
> 
> &#11093;Music for ceremony/reception - Ongoing
> &#11093;Write speeches/Vows -
> &#11093;Readings/Poems for ceremony -
> &#11093;Photo locations -
> &#11093;Ask people to be MC/Do readings/Give you away -
> &#11093;Gifts (BM's/GM's/Parents) -*in progress
> &#10060;Hens/Stag night - Done (hen)
> &#11093;Dress alterations -
> &#10060;Honeymoon &#8211; booked
> &#11093;List of all vendors phone numbers (give a copy to MOH) &#8211;
> &#11093;Emergency bag &#8211;
> &#11093;Get nails done -
> &#11093;A BRAZILLIAN &#8211;
> &#11093;Tan -
> 
> Bridal Party
> &#10060;MOH - Done -*
> &#10060;Best Man -Done
> &#10060;BM - Done
> &#10060;GM - done


----------



## aly888

Feels quite good seeing all those &#10060;'s :happydance: most of the things outstanding are just 'organisational' stuff, ie, not much left to buy. Woohoo...and 'eeek' at the same time!! Haha


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## Lauren25

Ohh good luck with arranging the florist visit with MIL, hope it goes well whenever it is :)

Love love love the idea of the brooches, sounds lovely! Ill have a look later see if I can help!

Wow your to do list is looking fab, you are deffo well on your way now, you've got most things done or sorted!


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## aly888

I think most things are under control now. I emailed the venue again today and got a reply straight away. Had a mini conversation with them so I'm happy again. It means the music/entertainment for the day is sorted (had to check something with the venue first) so can tick that off too :happydance: deffo going to sort invites tonight/tomorrow I think and I've found a pretty good website where there are a load of customisable printable invites/stationary and wedding signs. I think I'll just get my evening invites off there as I'm not that fussed by evening invites :thumbup:


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## Lauren25

Glad they finally got back to you and were able to help with what you needed!
How's the invites going ?
I've been on that website before, it looks fab for printable things!


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## aly888

So the invites didn't get done. Shock! But I'll do them today...maybe :lol:


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## Mummy May

That sounds like me... except I'm usually like ''the ironing didn't get done... but look at all this wedding stuff'' haha! To be fair I can't stand/sit for very long anymore as my bloody pelvis kills! Have to lie on my bed :rofl: xx/


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## Lauren25

:haha: did you get round to them today or are they put off for another day?


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## MummyToAmberx

Hello

How are you doing? x


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## aly888

Nope I did them :smug: although I'll be starting a new thread about them in a minute for some help with wording :lol:

Hi MTA :) How is your planning going? x


----------



## MummyToAmberx

aly888 said:


> Nope I did them :smug: although I'll be starting a new thread about them in a minute for some help with wording :lol:
> 
> Hi MTA :) How is your planning going? x

I see seems to be coming along great for you! How many days to go?
Everything is going fine thanks x


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## aly888

Don't know how long left. The countdown was stressing me out. Haha

Went to Dunelm earlier (to get a duvet for Missy) and ended up buying 7 picture frames to use for our table numbers. They were reduced down to £1.99 so was a bit of a bargain. I just hope we don't have more than 7 tables now. Haha

OH wants a sweetie buffet, but doesn't want the cost attached to it :dohh: I don't think he realises how expensive they add up to be. I've been trying to find cheapo containers/jars but that still look nice/vintage and it's not happening. Any suggestions? Lol


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## Mummy May

YES! I bought lots of little vintage glass bowls from car boots for £1 or £2 each and they look fab... I currently have apples in 2 of mine but sweets would look good in them xx


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## aly888

Thank you Mummy May. I think that's pretty much what we're gonna do, except we are going to ask family to lend the dishes :thumbup: I went back to Dunelm though (I know, addict! It's not even that close to where we live :lol:) and bought three huge glass jars (two big ones and one even bigger one) with glass lids. They were reduced to £7.49 each, even though the large one was meant to be £9.99 but they had stickered it up wrong :smug: so I think those with bowls etc should give a nice bit of variation


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## Lauren25

Ohh sounds like you got some bargains from Dunelm, I always forget about there!
Also you might find some on eBay, lots of people buy them all for their weddings then sell them on on eBay! Most are collection only though so it would depend if there were any close to you or not!


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## aly888

I've been looking on eBay but not seen anything yet and I'm too impatient to wait :lol: plus if family can lend them then it costs us nothing :)


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## Lauren25

Very true, borrowing will deffo save you some money :)


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## aly888

Practically the end of the month and 4 out of the 6 'hens' that are coming to the theatre are still yet to pay...grrrr!!


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## lozzy21

Try ikea for your jars!


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## Lauren25

Have they said anything to you about paying or just avoiding it?
I've asked to have hotel money but the end of January and still haven't had it off everyone even though they've known for 6 weeks! Nightmare!


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## aly888

I had a look at Ikea too. I want something more vintage looking than Ikea though. 

I've only asked for money for the theatre tickets. It's a good job I booked them already otherwise who knows what seats we would have got. Theyve known since new year. A few of them said they can't pay til pay day. And a couple have just avoided it!! Grr


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## lozzy21

Any way you could age them a bit or decorate them with ribbon or something?


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## Lauren25

Do they know you've booked them already or not ?
Hen Do's are seriously the hardest things to organise, I rather do the wedding 10 times over :haha:


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## aly888

Lauren25 said:


> Do they know you've booked them already or not ?
> Hen Do's are seriously the hardest things to organise, I rather do the wedding 10 times over :haha:

They do now, yeah. I hadn't told them until last night though. I've had another payment so just three left to get, but it's money out of the wedding budget and £150 goes a long way :hissy::hissy: 
You're not wrong. It should not be this difficult!!!


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## Lauren25

I know what you mean, my Mum payed for the hotel on her credit card, I've given them to the end of the month so when it goes over that ill blackmail with its my Mums money and she now has to pay her bill, you owe her haha!

It really shouldn't! I wish I left it all to my MOH but I thought I was being sensible sorting the important things, show tickets, hotel and then train tickets!

Lets hope the others get it to you quick knowing you've paid for it!


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## Mummy May

I won't be booking a thing till they have all given me their money :D Well BM won't anyways :) I think I've learned a thing or 2 from the experiences you are both having. Saying that, I'm not doing London and a show (and I very much understand why you had to book! just people are a nightmare). Hopefully you will get sorted soon xx


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## 4magpies

Here to stalk you.... xxx


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## aly888

I've come up against a brick wall again. I hate times like these. I don't know what to do next :wacko::wacko::shrug:


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## aly888

Well I bit the bullet and bought the bunting :thumbup: all 200ft of it!!! I have been going through the 'to do' list in an attempt to kick start my planning again and that seemed like the easiest thing to do. Haha! Next things I want finalised are the flowers and the cars...two things that are in the hands of other people :wacko: not that I'm controlling or anything. Haha


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## lozzy21

I dunno if i could put things in the hands of others! Your braver than me lol


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## Mummy May

And me, Were not letting others have a hand in our wedding. Mainly because they're too effin nosey and everyone would end up knowing our plans! XX


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## aly888

The flowers are only in MIL hands because she offered to do them. And the cars I left to OH thinking it's something he'd want to do... :wacko: They are the two remaining biggies though. Once I've printed the invites and put them together the only things left are finishing touches really :thumbup: and with four months to spare! Woo. That means I can focus on my hen do's now :)


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## aly888

RSVP cards, envelope seals and address labels arrived today :thumbup:
The RSVPs are really basic (and quite small) but they will do the job. Didn't see the point in spending ££'s on bits of paper that some people may not even use...
This is them...I've given us more than enough time to chase people if they've not replied by April :lol: But I'd rather know numbers months in advance than be leaving it to last couple of weeks. Haha

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/53354A92-D944-4756-9AD5-648A4228E803-7383-00000AF838B6D676.jpg


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## lozzy21

There good, simple but affective!


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## Mummy May

Yeah I need to sort some out really, thinking about getting the lady who did my STD's to do them haha xx


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## Lauren25

Ohh you'll have to let us know what the bunting is like!

The RSVPs look fab, they match your invites really well!
I've done the same with a reply date on ours too, I know ill need to chase most people so I've given enough time to do that!


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## aly888

Oh, bunting arrived on Tuesday, and some more decs and a few BMs gifts arrived today. I think the wedding fund it drained too though. Haha!! The bunting is perfect. I can't believe how cheap it was!! It's gonna make such a difference to the venue :)


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## Mummy May

Was it the ebay bunting? Because I wanted to see if someone bought some before I did just to check quality haha xx


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## aly888

Yep the eBay stuff. It's only single sided (it says that in the listing too) which is fine for us as we are using it around the edge of the marquee. I'll take a pic for you later :thumbup:


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## Mummy May

Thankyou :) xx


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## aly888

Sorry mummy may, I will get a picture for you. I just keep forgetting

Another meeting with the MIL today to discuss flowers. Bored of it tbh :/


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## Mummy May

Haven't you already told her what you want... or is she just trying to make you change your mind ;) ahhh that woman is a dream! Good Luck!! xx


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## Lauren25

Ohh gosh good luck with the MIL again :haha:


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## aly888

I had to raise my voice at MIL a few times today. And, believe it or not, she brought the top table saga up AGAIN!!!!! She had been online to search how best to have the top table etc and was trying to tell me how to seat people. By that point I was already at the end of my tether so I've told her the plan is done and she's at the top table so just let it be. If she mentions it again I'm gonna flip :lol: As for flowers, I think it's done. Don't know what flowers I'm actually having but the centrepieces are chosen and that's what was stressing me out the most. Didn't dare tell MIL that I had chosen them about a week ago though :haha: I wanted to hear what the florist thought of the idea first and she loved it, so MIL couldn't turn her nose up then. Ha, I win!! Haha


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## Mummy May

Glad you just got her told - she probably didn't listen though right! lol! I dread to think what she is going to be like on the actual day, I would be keeping away from her!! Yeyyy for the flowers being sorted :) You can't have much left to do now?! xx


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## aly888

I think if she starts on the day then she'll get told by FIL before either OH or I have to say anything. FIL is quite good at reading the situation. He can see when one of the other of us are getting stressed and he tends to step in. He just hasn't had the chance up until now because she always speaks to us on our own :rolleyes: If anyone dare rile me on my wedding day then they best be prepared for it, because I (nor my MOH, or my Mum :lol:) will go down quietly. Haha


----------



## Lauren25

Glad you finally got the flowers sorted, bet that's a weight off your mind!
Ohh well at least your FIL will step in when he's there!
And your Mum sounds like mine :haha: I said I worried about something happening or kicking off and my Mum was like hell no will she let that happen haha!


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## aly888

Well FIL didn't step in :wacko: We all (me, OH, MIL and FIL) went over to my Dad and step-mums house on Friday evening as a get together to establish where we all were. Anyway, whilst we were there MIL kept going back to her 'spare seats' thing and all these people she wants to invite...and FIL joined in :hissy: They were talking as though these people already have invites. My dad kept saying that we should only invite who we want to invite etc but they weren't getting the hint! I swear my parents broke down once in laws left. They are angry and frustrated for me. Haha!!

So that was a horrific evening. And then MIL came over to our house yesterday to carry it on and offered to pay for the extra people. Last night we emailed them a list of people who are getting invites from OHs side (they wanted our full guest list!!!) and we point blank said we don't want anyone else and we aren't substiting people either....we've not had a reply yet :lol:


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## Mummy May

At this point I would have got mad, and shouted (or OH would have) because she is just not bloody listening to anything you are saying to her - and if its making me mad, it must be driving you wild! If she tries it again (even after the guest list!) just say to her that its nothing to do with the cost - you just don't want these people there, therefore they aren't invited! xx


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## aly888

I had a reply (well, two actually. One from MIL and one from FIL :dohh:)

We said in the email that it wasn't just the cost aspect (she offered to pay for her guests) but it didn't work...

FIL replied to "remind us" about two people we had 'forgotten' and then proceeded to give us their addresses etc. 
MIL replied to say she wanted her friend there who has known OH all his life etc etc blah blah blah, and also OHs godmother (I didn't know OH had a godmother. I asked him and he didn't know he did either...she's obviously a huge part of his life!!). When MIL came over to the house her words were exactly this..."I understand that you want your friends there but unfortunately weddings are to be used for showing off to family etc, so you need to accommodate them"!! So, basically, she wants us to bin off our friends in favour for hers :wacko:

Nothing we say actually goes in. My step-mum is so angry for us. She offered to ring MIL and say something but it would have just fallen on deaf ears again :nope: I just feel like every time we give them what they want they just go ahead and demand more!!


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## Mummy May

You are both going to have to go round there and tell them both NO FUCKING WAY - probably not that politely. It isn't their wedding and they don't get a say in guests. My god I want to punch her! I'm so sorry they are making this so difficult for you. huggss xxx


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## Lauren25

I really can't believe her and I can't believe your FIL has now joined in!
My MIL tried the paying for her friends to come thing and I told her straight even though when she said it to OH he basically agreed I told her no way! Thankfully I have the kind of relationship with my MIL though where I can tell her!

Would she not feel embarrassed at all if your step mum rang her and said to her about it?

She needs to be told if she doesn't stop then she will be uninvited, easier said than done though!


----------



## Mummy May

Here, give me her number! I will tell her lol! xx


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## aly888

Mummy May said:


> Here, give me her number! I will tell her lol! xx

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

The thing is, my dad and stepmum as good as said that they were being unreasonable when we all met last week. She's intolerable. One minute she is agreeing and saying we need to keep costs down then in the next breath she completely contradicts herself :wacko: OH can't be bothered with the fight anymore. We're giving them the three people they keep going on about the most and hoping that non-attendence from other guests helps balance out the numbers. 

Watch this space. I'm sure it won't be long before the next ridiculous demand comes along :rolleyes:


----------



## aly888

Someone give me a kick up the bum please? :lol:

Aiming to get invites printed in the next week, then I need to enlist the help I my bridesmaids to put them all together :wacko: Then get them sent out ASAP coz the RSVP date is fast approaching!! That's the next big thing to get done I think. Quite scary really

MIL and I discussed flowers again yesterday. I think we're mostly agreed now. But hopefully I'll be having the discussions with the florist because MIL just does not get the style at all. We are all going to go down to a huge wholesalers near us nearer the time to choose the exact flowers that she'll be using. 

We 'think' we've sorted the wedding car. Nothing is set in stone yet though. 

I need a practice run on my hair with my bridesmaid. 

We need to decide on music

And the reception venue want to see me....

Still so much to do that requires time out of the house which is what I am in short supply of with OH working so late each night :wacko: I think I'm going to need some babysitters over the next few months. Haha


----------



## aly888

And table names, we were toying with the idea of naming each table after a place we will be going to on our honeymoon but we've decided to just stick with numbers with the top table being table '10'! ;)


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## Mummy May

Kicking!! The sooner you print your invites the sooner you can get them out eep! Seems like its all systems go now. Glad your MIL has stopped being (so much) of a witch now, I would have done her in by now :rofl: xxx


----------



## Smile181c

Just caught up! Your MIL is something else!! I don't know how she hasn't got a slap so far :haha:


----------



## Lauren25

Haha at least you know what you need to do, it just sounds like you need to find the time to do it :)

When are you planning on sending the invites out ?


----------



## aly888

Need to send them ASAP. I wanted them out by end of Feb....:blush:
I did a practice print today, and ordered all the paper so when that arrives its all a go!

I bought another two of my bridesmaids gifts today too. I am gonna have to make do with all I've got now though otherwise I'll get carried away :lol: Still need to think of some cheapie parents gifts. Might just get them a cheap bottle of sparkles each :shrug:


----------



## pink23

aly my wedding is june and invites are just going out oops. only a small wedding so thats my excuse lolxx


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## aly888

Ah well, if people can't come then it just saves us some money :lol:


----------



## Mummy May

aly888 said:


> Ah well, if people can't come then it just saves us some money :lol:

No it won't, you will then have spare places for your MIL's friends :rofl: :rofl: xx


----------



## aly888

Mummy May said:


> aly888 said:
> 
> 
> Ah well, if people can't come then it just saves us some money :lol:
> 
> No it won't, you will then have spare places for your MIL's friends :rofl: :rofl: xxClick to expand...

:shock: over my dead body. I'm not telling her anything about the RSVPs :lol::lol:


----------



## Mummy May

Don't tell her anything about anything lovely :) xx


----------



## aly888

Bought my wedding day fragrance yesterday. It's Armani Code so nothing special, but I wanted something new that I'd never worn before. Now I've just got to make sure I don't use it between now and the wedding day :lol:

Got an appointment at the venue again on Monday. Not really sure what we're going in for but he rang me and asked me to go in :wacko: so long as he's not telling us that we can't have our reception there then it'll be fine. Haha

Honeymoon needs paying by end of this month. Registrar payment must be due quite soon too but I think they go up in March so will wait until they've sent us the new price! 

Printing invites today (finally) and will post those next week. I'll put a pic up once they're done :thumbup: Fingers crossed they actually work out how I imagine them. Haha

Almost all done, with time to spare. That makes me happy!!


----------



## Mummy May

Well done :) I think I need to print my own inserts but have absolutely no idea how to go about it without wasting loads of paper. Xx


----------



## 4magpies

Well done for getting lots done. 

You just reminded I need to call my registrar and change my ceremony time. 

xx


----------



## Lauren25

You sound like your doing great!

Can't wait to see the invites all done :)

Do you have anything else to do or are you all done ?


----------



## aly888

Still got little bits to do. Still getting gifts together for bridesmaids etc and got lots of printing to do (children's activity packs, signage etc). And we have to buy the sweets for the sweetie buffet. But all the 'major' things are done.

My brother has agreed to drive us (siblings aren't invited to the ceremony so he'll just drive us there then go back to our Dads where he is staying) so we need to book the car. 

I've got to do the seating chart, but I'm not overly fussed about that now if I'm honest. I'll just make up some bunting themed one I think to match the bunting we'll have up.

I've found a beautiful evening dress, but I'm holding out because the budget is better spent elsewhere at the moment.

Got to get favours (scratchcards) but can't really do that until we've had RSVPs
And we've got to sort everything such as music, speeches, vowes etc, but none of that costs money so it's ok. Haha

Need to chat with our 'entertainment' provider too. Becca's (4magpies) brother is being amazing and sorting it all out for us. Just need to run a couple things by him

And need to arrange our 'engagement' shoot with our photographer. Hopefully the weather picks up soon

Ok, so still seems like lots to do :lol: but in terms of making decisions etc that's all largely done. I just need to put everything together now. This is when I need to be organised. This is when being an organised person would come in handy. Haha!!


----------



## aly888

Invites are printed. I'm cutting them all to size tomorrow then one of my bridesmaids is coming over on Wednesday and helping me put them all together. I'm off work Thursday an Friday too so will definitely have them posted by the end of the week :happydance::happydance:

Off to the reception venue today....taking my stepmum with me this time because I may have murdered my MIL if she came. I've not even told her I'm going. Haha!!!


----------



## Mummy May

Ooh have fun at your venue :) and high 5 on not telling MIL haha she was dreadful last time wasn't she. I wanna do my invites!!! I might do them anyways even though its a bit early! Xx


----------



## Lauren25

Yaaayyy for sending out invites this week :happydance:

And have fun at your venue, especially without your MIL :haha:


----------



## aly888

Went really well at the venue today. Much better than last time. Chose our wine (I do not advise wine tasting on empty stomach :lol:) and sorted everything except numbers :thumbup: I'm properly excited again. Haha!!

Need to arrange to meet with the ceremony venue again, just to discuss room layout etc really. But I can do that closer to the time I think :shrug: 

And my Dad finally gave me my Christmas present from my Grandma, so I've got an extra £100 to play with. Well, I say 'extra', really that is already spent. Lol


----------



## aly888

FINALLY made some decent progress on my bouquet last night. Need to borrow a glue gun though just to set a few in place (they are sneaky little things that like to shift about). Plus once it's glued that'll be it, no changing my mind again. And that's what I need :lol:


----------



## EmmyReece

I can't wait to see your invites, you've inspired me to get cracking with ours

I can't get over how mush hassle you've had from your MIL, and I thought mine was bad :wacko:


----------



## aly888

Invites still aren't finished :wacko: I've just trimmed them all. Am now folding them and tomorrow evening my bridesmaid is coming over. We HAVE to have them finished by tomorrow!!!!!


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## Lauren25

I'm sure having your bridesmaid come over will help you with finishing the invites, can't wait to see them!

:happydance: yaaayyy for your bouquet too! It sounds fab!


----------



## aly888

I glued my bouquet the other night so no going back on that now :lol: not sure how well the glue will hold though. Fingers crossed it doesn't all fall apart on the day :haha: Might get a cheap artificial bouquet as an emergency back up. Haha

Invites are all done (pics are in the seperate thread) so just need to drive around hand delivering them all. 

Have found the thank you gifts I want to get for the parents but OH says they're too expensive :wacko: I disagree though so I'll work on that. Haha


----------



## Mummy May

What are you buying his Mum? Lol! I hope its nothing really good :D xx


----------



## aly888

It's just those picture frames I linked to on your Confetti thread :thumbup: Nothing much at all if you ask me but he reckons too expensive :wacko:


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah I don't think that's expensive either! Get him told hahaha xx


----------



## MummyToAmberx

How many days to go now? xx


----------



## aly888

I think he thinks I want to buy one for each of the parents (6 in total!!) but I just want to do mother of the bride, father of the bride and mother of the groom :shrug: Although I do also want to get them bouquets of flowers and some champagne...so I guess it soon adds up :lol:


----------



## aly888

MummyToAmberx said:


> How many days to go now? xx

I don't know :wacko: I had to get rid of my ticker thing coz it made me anxious seeing it every day!! I'm much happier not knowing how little time I've got left :lol:


----------



## aly888

Oh yes, and last night I suddenly had a panic about my makeup :wacko: I'm now starting to think I'm going to need a MUA on the day. I'm worried that I'm going to get all panicky and stressed out that it's not going right and who needs that on their wedding day!!? :lol: So....where do I start looking for a MUA??!


----------



## MummyToAmberx

aly888 said:


> MummyToAmberx said:
> 
> 
> How many days to go now? xx
> 
> I don't know :wacko: I had to get rid of my ticker thing coz it made me anxious seeing it every day!! I'm much happier not knowing how little time I've got left :lol:Click to expand...

Oh right, okay :)


----------



## Lauren25

That's why I decided to get someone to do my make up, I didn't trust myself on the day to do it!

All I did was type in to google 'wedding make up artist in xxx' I clicked on the top one and loved the look she done in the pictures, but to compare I went down the google search compared their work and also compared prices! Nothing compared to this woman and she was actually the cheapest from the ones I looked at!


----------



## aly888

I emailed someone yesterday about wedding makeup...no reply yet :wacko: But I've fallen in loooove with another, but she's a lot more. I'm trying to weigh up whether it's worth the money or not!!


----------



## candeur

I emailed loads of make up artists and about 80% didn't reply! So bad!
I got one because it came to less than me buying all the nice make up tbh, and I didn't want the stress of it going wrong.
Either way you stress though, because I couldn't sleep last night worrying about whether the make up artist does a good or bad job or doesn't do it how I like it etc etc... I think its safe to say, no matter what decision you make when planning a wedding, stress and worry will be involved lol x


----------



## aly888

I emailed the one I love this evening (literally 11.09pm!!) and I've just had a reply :) !!! But she's booked already :(


----------



## candeur

Oh no way! It's good of her to reply and let you know so quickly though.


----------



## Mummy May

You lot are making me bloody panic now :rofl: xx


----------



## aly888

I was impressed with how quick she replied actually. Anyone else would probably have ignored me :lol: Still no reply off the first lady :/ I'm still in two minds about it though. Like you say, a MUA is about the same as buying all the makeup yourself anyway. But at the same time, it's a good excuse to treat myself to some decent makeup ;)


----------



## Lauren25

I think you have to do what your happy with with your make up!
I thought about doing my own but then decided that it would take a lot of practice and I didn't think I'd be able to do it any good, I also said to myself that if there's going to be one time I am going to have a make up artist it's going to be my wedding!

That's me personally though :)


----------



## EmmyReece

It's totally up to you as to whether you go for a mua or not

I hate other people doing my make up as I always feel awkward saying if I don't like it, so I decided to do my own, and it works out fab as I get to keep the makeup and get lots of use out of it :D


----------



## aly888

I think I'm going to DIY it. Looking for a MUA that I like is proving stressful :lol: I don't want anything 'different' on the day anyway. Pretty much just my usual look but need it to last longer. So I'll buy some decent base products and go from there.
My tan is coming along nicely too so the more tan I've got the less makeup I need (I have really uneven skin tone when it's ghostly white!!)


----------



## aly888

Oh my, the MIL....I told her today that the invites have been sent, she replied with "is it too late to invite S? She can always just sit with N and she woul love to be there"!! 

:grr::grr::grr: 

I told you she doesn't let up...


----------



## EmmyReece

:wacko: tough luck to her lol, the invites have gone out :haha:

If you google about things that you want to try, read reviews off people who have similar skin types to you and you should be able to get an idea of whether something will work well for you or not :)


----------



## Mummy May

Yes it is too bloody late PISS OFF!!! How do you stand it?! Xx


----------



## aly888

I've just ignored her...I'll speak to OH tonight. If HE wants this person to be there then we'll invite her. But we've spoken about it before and he's always said no in order to save costs :shrug:

Edit to add my 'to do' list...


> To do (wedding):
> &#10060;Dress - Done
> &#10060;Bridesmaid dresses &#8211; 1 done, other being made
> &#11093;Evening dress - ?
> &#10060;Flower Girl Dress - Done
> &#10060;Groom/Groomsmen suits - Done
> &#11093;Flower girl basket - No idea anymore
> &#10060;Ring cushion/box - MIL making cushion
> &#10060;Veil, Hair piece -Veil done, no hair piece maybe?
> &#10060;Jewellery - Done
> &#10060;Shoes - Done
> &#10060;bag/purse - Done
> &#10060;Rings - Done
> &#10060;Garter - Done
> &#10060;Underwear - Maybe done?
> &#11093;Cufflinks (Done)/shoes for groom
> &#10060;Fragrance - Done
> 
> &#10060;Ceremony location - Done
> &#10060;Reception location - Done
> &#10060;Registrar - Done
> &#10060;Photographer &#8211;Done
> &#10060;DJ/Band - Done
> &#10060;Cake - Done
> &#11093;Hair -
> &#11093;Makeup - DIY
> &#11093;Bouquet - in progress
> &#10060;Flowers - MIL doing
> &#10060;Buttonholes - MIL in charge of :wacko:
> &#10060;Accommodation night before and night of - Dads night before, hotel night of
> &#11093;Cars - Neal
> &#10060;Figure out guest list - Done
> &#10060;Save the dates - Done
> &#10060;Invitations - DONE!!!!!!
> &#10060;Place cards - Done - need writing
> &#10060;Table numbers - Done
> &#11093;Seating chart -
> &#11093; I Spy 'picture' cards/mad-libs (done) + pens -*
> &#10060;Menu - N/A
> &#11093;Thank you cards -
> &#11093;Basket of self addressed CDs for photographs - cases (done) + discs
> &#11093;Sweetie Buffet - Jars (done) + sweets + scoops/tongues
> 
> &#10060;Decorations for ceremony - N/A
> &#10060;Centrepieces for reception - in progress - MIL doing
> &#10060;Decorations for reception - Done
> &#11093;Car decorations -
> &#10060;Guestbook - Done
> &#11093;Confetti - natural petals (done) + cones (printable)
> &#10060;Cake topper - ??? Not needed
> &#10060;Kids entertainment - Garden games
> &#11093;Favours - Lotto tickets in scrolls (scrolls done)
> &#11093;Children's activity packs -
> &#11093;Bridemaids survival kits - Ongoing
> 
> &#11093;Music for ceremony/reception - Ongoing
> &#11093;Write speeches/Vows -
> &#10068;Readings/Poems for ceremony -
> &#11093;Photo locations -
> &#10068;Ask people to be MC/Do readings/Give you away -
> &#11093;Gifts (BM's/GM's/Parents) -
> &#10060;Hens/Stag night - Done
> &#11093;Dress alterations -
> &#10060;Honeymoon &#8211; Done
> &#11093;List of all vendors phone numbers (give a copy to MOH) &#8211;
> &#11093;Emergency bag &#8211;
> &#11093;Get nails done -
> &#11093;A BRAZILLIAN &#8211;
> &#11093;Tan - in progress ;)
> 
> Bridal Party
> &#10060;MOH - Done
> &#10060;Best Man -Done
> &#10060;BM - Done
> &#10060;GM - done


----------



## aly888

I've spoken to OH. He's really not bothered whether this woman is there or not so I think we are extending an invite to her too. I'm really starting to resent the in-laws for insisting all these people come when there are people who I really want there but can't invite :nope:

But on a better note, I've bought a few things from Smashbox to try out and see what difference they make day to day. So i think I'm going back to my original DIY plan for makeup on the day

Edit to add: I can't believe this journal has reached 400 posts :wacko: I waffle a lot :lol: I've added an up to date 'to do' list at the top of this page (I don't know if it shows at the top of your page :shrug:) because I have no idea when or where the last update was. Haha! But yeah, not much left to sort. Even some of the things that are still &#11093;'s are partly done :happydance:


----------



## EmmyReece

Well if you want someone else there, but not this person your mil is wanting, then invite the person that you want. It is yours and oh's wedding after all :hugs:


----------



## Mummy May

Oh Emmy, this woman is a nightmare, I think its probably easier for Aly to just let her I want to say well done on not killing her though Aly :) if you really aren't bothered though then I wouldn't invite her. I know its hard with your MIL though. Xx


----------



## aly888

Emmy, I wish it was that easy :lol: We can't afford to have these extra people, but MIL is saying she's gonna pay for her brothers therefore we can afford to have these extra people that she wants :wacko: Originally she didn't even want us to invite one of her brothers and instead 'give' his seat to one of her friends.
She's on another planet, I swear!


----------



## Mummy May

Ermmmm your to do list is awesome! Consider it stolen lol! Are you having a bag - I noticed that on your list lol! I saw one about 6 weeks ago and loved it and haven't seen another since that I love that much - it was only £20 from New Look, do you think I should just get it or hold out ? Xx


----------



## aly888

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to get one or not but I saw one in Debenhams when I was looking for bridesmaids gifts and figured I may as well get it. It was only £25 or something in the sale. Even if I don't use it it's not exactly cost me a fortune. But I will have somewhere to keep my lipgloss on the day :lol: Not to mention tissues and whatever I may need for LO!


----------



## aly888

There is a picture somewhere in this journal :haha: I'll see if I can find it...


----------



## Mummy May

I've just found the bag on ebay for a fiver brand new :D xx


----------



## aly888

Bargain!!! Get it. You dont have to use it. I'm very much the type of person to think 'I'd rather have something and not need it than not have something and need it' :thumbup:


----------



## Lauren25

Ohh my word, your MIL really never gives up does She! I think I'd have to tell her if its that important that this person is there then she will have to give up her invite for them :haha: 

What happened to the flower girl basket ? I remember you done it before but you've put you don't know anymore ?


----------



## aly888

Yeah, MIL said its not suitable for a little girl and looks like a string vest. And who am I to argue with her :lol: Plus MIL is insistent that she (our LO) carries this flipping ring cushion!!
Anyone would think MIL didn't get her own wedding, but no, she's had two of her own. She just wants this one too!!!!


----------



## Lauren25

Ohh my word, how do you not throttle Her!!

:rofl: she obviously wants a third haha!


----------



## aly888

My smashbox goodies turned up today so will have a play with them tomorrow and see how they survive a day at work. If they can survive a working day then they should cope with a wedding day :lol:

Had such a productive day today. I went to see my maid of honour this afternoon (just got back) and we've sorted the itinerary for both the hen do and the wedding day (as in, what time to get taxis and start hair etc etc). I'm far more relaxed :) 

Have had a few RSVP's too. People have already started dropping out (not 'dropping out' but not able to make it) so at this rate I'll probably want to invite MILs extra guests in order to make up the numbers. Haha! But in all seriousness, the seating plan will need a good shuffle (I've planned for plus ones but I know certain people won't have any plus ones) and hopefully I can remove a table too, saving on a centrepiece :thumbup:

And speaking of centrepieces, the florist emailed an example of the top table 'arrangement' and I love it. She's totally on the same wavelength as me. About time I spoke to someone who understood my ideas. Lol


----------



## emyandpotato

Ooh what makeup did you get? I need to find a powder and foundation, so gonna go spend an obscene amount in Selfridges tomorrow. That's great news about the centrepiece! What flowers are you having for them?


----------



## xemmax

Ahh even though it's crap that people can't make it, bonus that it will save you money :haha:


----------



## Lauren25

Whatever you do don't tell your MIL some people can't make it :haha:


----------



## aly888

:rofl::rofl: I won't be!!

It's just smashbox makeup so not too expensive. I or the 'try it' kit to see what the photo finish face primer and eyelid primers were like before buying full size, got a new blush (which I needed anyway) and the eye beam double-ended brightener/highlighter :thumbup: deffo using the primer tomorrow, and maybe the highlighter. Don't want to over do it for work though :lol: oh, and got a free sample of the photo finish primer too, so I've got double the amount. Lol


----------



## emyandpotato

I got some of that exact primer free with a magazine the other day and did the same thing as you and tried it out as I would with my wedding makeup to see how it lasted. I really didn't like it! Don't know if my skin is weird but it just made my foundation seem more obvious :wacko: Googled what primer is best and it said Aloe Vera is great, so I tried it and it's actually amazing! So gonna be sticking to that :haha:


----------



## aly888

Ooh, I've got Aloe Vera gel so I'll try that too. I've got enough of this primer to not have to buy a full sized one if I did like it so that's good. As well as a lip gloss, a mascara and a waterproof eyeliner (very handy!)

Also, whilst we're on the subject, aloe Vera gel is excellent for de-puffing your eyes if you're tired. I put it on each night for a few nights before an 'event' and it makes my eyes feel fresher. I love it :lol:


----------



## emyandpotato

I wish depuffing my eyes was the issue I have! I have the world's worst dark circles under my eyes. It's not from lack of sleep either, it's genetic, I've always had them. Rory has them but he looks cute, and my sister has them but she's model thin so she pulls off the heroin chic look, whereas I just look frumpy :dohh: I use MAC to cover the black rings but then I'm left with a line where the bags are that I can't get rid of. Thinking of trying Touche Eclat? I dunno though, it's so expensive for it not to be amazing. Or maybe matte powder would be better?! Camera flash only seems to accentuate them.


See what I mean? And that's with makeup caked on. Sorry, I am ruined your thread :blush:


----------



## aly888

You don't have any dark circles!!! That's your bone structure!!!
I actually do have dark circles but that IS because of lack of sleep. The best thing I've found to cover them is my Clinique under eye concealer. But it goes on thick :nope: I'm not a fan of those under eye brighteners and things. But I've never tried the Touché Eclait so can't comment on that one!
I also have 'bags'. It's like my cheeks have a crease where my cheekbones should be :lol: but I've always had that.

So, verdict on the makeup today...
Putting it on over the primer was very different. I'm sure I used more too for some reason. You could see the difference for sure, but not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. 
The blusher I LOVE!!! I don't think I'll swap from this now. It's gorgeous.
24minutes into the working day I got a compliment from someone at work who said "I don't know what's different but you look very pretty today" :happydance: So that's a good start. Haha


----------



## emyandpotato

Definitely a good start! Primer is just weird isn't it? Especially when you're nto used to it. Makes you feel caked in makeup. 

If it's my bone structure I have the dumbest bone structure ever! I have the porkiest cheeks and double chin and then I'm skinny under my eyes? Pfft.


----------



## Mummy May

Did you say you can buy tester size of the primer Aly? Xx


----------



## aly888

Haha, bones have a lot to answer for. Mine suck!! 

I wear primer on a night out or for an occasion, but not for everyday life, and certainly not for work :lol: I wouldn't say I feel 'caked' but definitely more than I wear day to day. But then, I guess on the wedding day I will be wearing more anyway :shrug:

MM, I bought the 'try it kit'. It's got sample sizes of the primer, lid primer, lip gloss, waterproof eyeliner, and a mascara. I've not tried the lid primer yet but if I was to wear one I would probably wear the urban decay one :) Try a google search. There might be a voucher code for a free sample. Worth a shot I guess x


----------



## Mummy May

You have just reminded me that I've got a few Urban Decay samples :D xx


----------



## aly888

Today was the ultimate test for the makeup...a full day at work, with sunbed session AND bootcamp...the results? Well, up until bootcamp everything was pretty much still in place. After bootcamp, not much survived, but there is definitely still some clinging on. Normally I'm bare faced by the end of it so credit where credit is due :thumbup:

In other news, I'm paying for the honeymoon tonight :happydance::happydance: but at the same time :wacko::grr:
I've been stressing over hair/makeup again too. But today a girl at work said her sister (who I also sort of work with) does makeup for her friends etc so I'm gonna message her tomorrow about it. At least coz I know her I can tell her if she's done a shit job :haha:
Need to get evening invites out too...need to print evening invites first!!

Those of you with flower girls, where are/have you got their shoes from? I don't know where to start. Don't want to spend £££'s because she'll only wear them the once :lol:

Need to try my dress on too. I've lost inches with this bootcamp (this week was week 11...can't believe I've stuck with it!!) and I don't want to go too far meaning its hanging off me. I've not even thought about alterations or where to have them done so I'd like to get away with not needing them.


----------



## Mummy May

Have you tried Debenhams/Next/H&M etc for kids shoes? Might be worth a peek :) ohh and John Lewis do weddingy stuFf now too! Well done on the weight loss, ell off the wagon (damn mini eggs cakes) need to get back on it!! Xxx


----------



## aly888

I'm stuffing my face over Easter weekend then that's it for me and chocolate. It's off the menu until after the wedding!!! I can barely do 24 hours without chocolate so j have no idea how I'm going to survive MONTHS without it :wacko: but it's gotta be done!

Didn't think of H&M etc. I'll look later. Thank you :) xx


----------



## Lauren25

Well done on the weight loss that's great :)

Flower girl shoes I was going to go for some from Next, they have quite a few nice pairs 

https://www.next.co.uk/search?w=Shoes&af=gender:youngergirls&cnt=200

But I was in Tesco today and they have some nice pairs too

https://www.clothingattesco.com/occasion-shop/all-kids-occasionwear/icat/all-kids-occasion/#esp_pg=3


----------



## 4magpies

I have the smash box lid primer its great.

Well done at sticking with the boot camp.

I am having someone do my hair and make up as I am crap! Haha.

x


----------



## EmmyReece

Try next for flowergirl shoes, but try and get the from the sale if possible to save a bit of money. Or debenhams might be worth a try too :D


----------



## aly888

:happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance::wohoo::wohoo::wohoo::happydance::happydance::happydance::happydance::wohoo::wohoo::wohoo:

...my SIL isn't coming to the wedding!! :yipee: She's a childminder and she won't take the day off. I'm so glad she came up with a lame excuse to not be there because we (OH more than me) really don't want her there. Dead chuffed 

But that is even more seats that won't be filled now...and MIL has already started pushing for her friend S again :dohh: She mentioned it earlier and even put on the 'hurt feelings' voice and everything. Haha


----------



## EmmyReece

:happydance: brilliant news about sil

though not so brilliant about mil starting about her friends again :dohh:


----------



## Lauren25

Great news about SIL :happydance:

Love that your MIL has a hurt feelings voice :haha:


----------



## aly888

We're just ignoring MILs requests. OH has outwardly said that he doesn't really want this woman at the meal because we can't afford 'extras' so next time she asks I'm gonna steer her in OHs direction :haha:

I've not got any weddingy things to update with :shrug: I want a nice vintage hair clip for my hair but no idea where to look. Don't want to spend £££s because I'll never wear it again after the wedding. I'll probably browse on Etsy later
Other than that, I've pretty much run out of things to do :wacko: I need to get the evening invites out so I suppose I should print those. I need to buy more paper though because my day invites used up more than I expected :blush: I have to do that at in-laws though and I'm avoiding them at the moment. Haha

Still having a flap over hair/makeup. MIL seems to think I'm having her hairdresser do my hair, despite me telling her I can't afford to get someone in. She was talking about it again yesterday and "reminded me" that I've not formally booked her yet :wacko: I told her again that I'm not using her...she didn't listen :dohh:


----------



## aly888

Oh yeah, bought a few pairs of shoes online for OH last night so hopefully he likes a pair of those when they arrive, and also got a pair of shoes for LO, but I'm not so sure of them. Will wait and see how they look in person :)


----------



## Lauren25

Did you find a hair clip ?

When are you planning on sending out your evening invites? I really can't work out when to send them out!

Haha tell your MIL you'll have the hairdresser if she pays for it :lol:

Where did you get your LO's shoes from ?


----------



## aly888

Not even looked for a clip yet :lol: My BM is coming over tomorrow night and we're going to practice the hairstyle...eep

No idea when to send them...got to print them first :wacko: which reminds me, I need to buy paper/envelopes!

They are from Next. I've got to collect them from store...just effort! Not sure how well they'll go with her dress :shrug:


----------



## Lauren25

How did the hair practice go with your BM?

Which ones did you pick from Next? There's a few pairs I like from there but can't decide which I like more :)


----------



## aly888

Hair went ok. We are having another practice closer to the day (after I've had my hair cut AGAIN!!) though because we forgot to time how long it took us. Haha!!

The shoes are the 'chop-out crepe shoes' in white. I wasn't that sure on them when I saw them on the web, but they are so much nicer in person, so we're keeping them. 
OH didn't like his shoes though :rolleyes:


----------



## EmmyReece

Ahhh typical man not liking any of the shoes :dohh: hopefully it won't take you too long to find some that he does like

Sounds like a good plan with timing how long it takes, hopefully you remember next time, though it does sound like something I would probably forget to do


----------



## aly888

I think I'm just gonna buy him a few different types and make him try them all on. I let him choose these first ones and he chose ugly ones :lol: I told him that's why they were uncomfortable. Haha!!

The curls lasted a really long time in my hair, which bodes really well for the actual day. We just need to work out our timing :dohh:


----------



## Lauren25

Haha best way, that way you'll like them and he'll have a choice!

Thats a real good sign that the curls stayed in! How did you have it, like one of the pictures you put up before?


----------



## lozzy21

Your luckly curls stay in your hair, they just fall out of mine. Did you take a picture?


----------



## aly888

Well we only curled it, just to see how it looked and if it would hold up. On the next trial she's gonna do the curls with thicker sections to A) make it quicker, and B) make them smoother.

Just got her to send the pic she took...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/CC87FF7D-DC34-46E3-9FDD-42031133FA53-14410-0000160DE1CBE245.jpg

I am getting my hair cut in May to have some layer put in the ends. At the moment it's cut straight across which I never usually have. The layers should sort the ends out. 

I'm gonna order like ALL the men's shoes from Next and make him try them all on :lol: there has to be at least one pair he likes. Haha


----------



## Mummy May

Your hair is really pretty :) xx


----------



## EmmyReece

Love how your hair looks :D

Sounds like a good plan for buying shoes from next and then letting him choose :thumbup: At least that way you can return the ones that he doesn't like


----------



## aly888

Exactly my thought. Next requires no upfront cost so in gonna order a load of them rather than him choosing one pair, having them delivered, deciding he doesn't like them, returning them just to start the cycle all over again :lol: I want him to have laced shoes, but he wants slip-ons....I think this is probably going to be another argument like the colour of his waistcoat :haha:

My hair will probably be darker than it is in the picture on the day. I went blonde last year but I'm thinking of putting some darker colours through when I have it cut just to make it look more natural. The flash also makes it look brighter than it is so it shouldn't take much


----------



## aly888

Bit of progress to report....

I _THINK_ we may have our ceremony music :yipee::yipee: I've been at an absolute loss about it since we started planning but today I just wanted to sit down and get it done (with a little help from the 'search' option to look at old threads :lol:)

Also ordered more parchment paper to print the evening invites :thumbup: 
Took OHs shoes back, so will order new ones tonight...

AND i've thought about what I'd like Missy to carry down the aisle (other than the ring pillow, I mean :rolleyes:). I really like those "here comes the bride" signs that someone posted in their journal, I just hasn't found one 'right' for our style. So now I'm thinking just get a slate heart and write the message ourselves, except write "Daddy, here comes Mummy" or "Daddy, here comes your bride"...not that 'Daddy' will notice either on the day :lol:


----------



## EmmyReece

:happydance: brilliant that you've sorted your ceremony music :D

Ahhhhh I love those slate hearts, and "Daddy, here comes your bride" sounds soooooooo cute :cloud9:


----------



## aly888

Well, I say sorted...a couple of the songs have more than one version so need to decide between us which we prefer. But then it's done :lol:

I've found a heart on eBay for £4 so gonna go for that. Didn't want a wooden one (that's painted with chalkboard paint) otherwise i'd have literally thousands to choose from!!


----------



## aly888

And PS - all my posts are from my phone so if I ever sound stupid or have ridiculous words in the middle of sentences it's because Apple think they know better than I do about what I'm trying to say :haha::haha:


----------



## EmmyReece

:rofl: I've never actually noticed any spelling mistakes off you

Ahhhhhh I hated that when searching for our ceremony music, the amount of versions that come up is unbelievable


----------



## Lauren25

Your hair looks lovely :)

Next have lots of nice mens shoes, so you should hopefully find a pair you both like, OHs are from there!!

Do we get to know your music or is it a surprise? I need to sort ours, we give notice a week Monday so im waiting til then so we know how many we need etc!!

I LOVE them signs, im going to get Bobby one even though hes not walking down the aisle, i just think it will make a super cute picture him holding it :cloud9:


----------



## aly888

CEREMONY MUSIC:
Seating music:
Clair De Lune - Claude Debussy
-Or-
Orchestral Suite No3 in D Major - Alessio Bax

To enter to:
At Last - Etta James/Beyonce

To sign the Register to:
I'll be there - Jackson 4/Mariah Carey
-Or-
Lovesong - Adele

To leave to:
Stand By Me - Ben E King

So yeah, not completely decided, but these should be the choices. The 'leave to' song may change because I'm not 100% on that, but so far it's a favourite :)

The first shoes he chose were from Next. They have some really lovely ones and he chose the plainest ones available. Lol. I was so glad they were uncomfortable for him!


----------



## aly888

Been looking at readings too...is it weird if the bride has a reading? Does it have to be from someone else?


----------



## EmmyReece

I don't think it's weird, there's actually a reading from the bride's perspective that we're putting on our order of service as it had a part in about our labrador attacking the neighbour :rofl:

Absolutely love your song choices :cloud9:


----------



## aly888

Haha, is that the Pam Ayres reading? That's a very popular one I think. I've found a couple I like that aren't too long and aren't soppy etc. I'll run them past my bridesmaids I think 

So, I 'spent' £500 on shoes for OH this morning (don't do it last night because I was in bed by 8pm :wacko:). They should be here tomorrow...all 11 pairs!! That's his job tomorrow night. Haha


----------



## EmmyReece

Yep it's the Pam Ayres one I absolutely love it :happydance:


----------



## Mummy May

:rofl: I would love to see the face of the person packing your order!! Xx


----------



## aly888

Mummy May said:


> :rofl: I would love to see the face of the person packing your order!! Xx

:rofl::rofl: Like I've got some kind of men's shoe fetish!! Haha


----------



## aly888

Well all the shoes are here...and do you think he's tried a single pair on yet?? :grr:

I need a new list :lol: I need a list of what is left to settle (in terms of money) so that I can tick them off as we go. I like lists. I'll be sad to delete them all once I've finished with them :lol:

I handed out invites to people at work today. Some people were really chuffed to get one :wacko: As if I wouldn't invite them!!! One girl who I really wanted to be there can't come though and shes gutted :(


----------



## EmmyReece

:rofl: he needs to get trying on so you can return the ones that he doesn't like

That's lovely that people at work are so happy that you've invited them, though it's a shame about the girl who can't come :(


----------



## Lauren25

Has he tried on them shoes yet ? Haha!

I love it when people are shocked they get invited!


----------



## aly888

Yeah he tried them last night. He didn't have a choice :muaha: Now he can't choose between two pairs...the two most expensive pairs :dohh:

And speaking of expensive...oops :blush:

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/D4729BB0-BA1F-4E71-8B5E-8EEB27DCDE15-20234-00001E2A8B7B538D.jpg

Would have been bloody cheaper just to book a MUA!!


----------



## EmmyReece

Yes but think of the value per use, at least you'll be able to use it all again after the wedding :happydance:


----------



## Lauren25

Haha well at least he's picked some!

Ohh lovely, what did you get then ?


----------



## Mummy May

Ooh yummy! I love nice make up, I'm not even going to ask what you spent coz I know how much the brushes alone would cost hahaha! My OH always picks the most expensive shoes in Next too... We always buy his proper shoes there lol! I too am a lover of lists, I usually like to do a few drafts too! You don't have to get rid of them, just find new things you need lists for :D xxx


----------



## aly888

He decided on THE most expensive pair :rolleyes: I was hoping he'd choose a £25 pair but nope, he's just spent £70 of the wedding budget on a pair of shoes he'll only wear once. But I guess I can allow it seeing I've spent much more than that on a dress I'll only wear once :lol:

God yes!! The brushes were the most expensive. I'm taking the foundation back though. By the time I'd got home I didn't like the way the foundation had 'set' on my face so I'm not wasting money on that. And it was foundation that I needed the most :dohh: I want to go to an Estée Lauder counter next. 

Still so much to do and I can't fathome how I'm going to fit it all in :wacko: The inlaws go on holiday on Monday for three weeks too which means we don't have them to look after LO at all :( I think I need to kick OH into action and get him coming home at decent times. He won't like that. Haha


----------



## EmmyReece

Double wear light is meant to be really good for photographing and feels nice on the skin according to the reviews I've read, it might be worth getting a sample of it?


----------



## aly888

I'm worried over the SPF though :shrug: I'll be gutted if I spend £££ on a foundation just for it to ghost me out with a flash. This Bobbi Brown one has SPF 15 and the sales assistant assured me it wasn't a problem, but I'm not convinced! 
I don't have time to sample them all. This is so hard :wacko:


----------



## xemmax

Just caught up, oh my god I have hair envy! Is that your natural colour? It's so thick and long and beautiful, I'm so jealous :haha: 

We're struggling on music too, what did you pick in the end? The slate heart sounds like a cute idea although be careful as we have heart shaped slate placemats and they are really sharp :wacko: went to a wedding at the weekend and the flower girl had a white 'here comes the bride' sign, it was so cute, I'd never seen them before!

I have pretty much stuck to MAC Studio Fix for the last 8ish years and that has SPF 15 but it doesn't white me out on photos, so I'm sure there must be others that don't too!


----------



## aly888

Haha, thanks. It's not my natural colour though, no. Its come out a lot lighter in the photo because of the flash but I am a sort of dark blonde colour naturally but I have a LOT of blonde highlights in (that I'll hopefully tone down before the day). It is all my hair though...I have a lot of hair :lol: Hairdressers always comment on it. One hairdresser once said I've got a lot (as in quantity) of hair strands, and that also the strands themselves were thick. I hate it :lol:

I'm still waiting for the heart to arrive :wacko: feels like I bought it ages ago, but maybe I didn't. If its got sharp edges ill have to get OH to try and smooth them somehow :shrug:

I'm getting such mixed reviews on SPF foundations. It would seem a lot of MUA use SPF products, but then others say you shouldn't :wacko: I nearly just bought one online but chickened out. Haha! I'm going to go into town and go to a counter on Monday I think. I neeeeed a foundation! And hope Bobbi Brown take this one back


----------



## EmmyReece

The Estee Lauder double wear light doesn't have spf in that I know of, I might be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure I've seen reviews that people have gone for it because of that reason xx


----------



## EmmyReece

:dohh: apparently it has an spf of 10 :(


----------



## aly888

Ooookaaay, I'm braving it and I'm going to share my ugly mug with you all :lol:

So last night, OH and I had a child free night (woo) so we went out. I decided to use the occasion to do my hair/makeup...here are the results...
This is me all fully made up. Now I know the camera takes makeup off you again but I look like I'm barely wearing any (and those dark circles!!!) considering in person I looked like a drag queen almost :lol: I felt overly made up, but if that's how much I need to wear for it to even show up in pics then what choice do I have? (ignore my arm...I had to pull my hair back. I'm not throwing a 'Vogue' :haha:)

*gone*

And does my face match my chest?? That's my biggest concern, especially when I think how much chest/shoulder is going to be on show. I'm really worried that my face is going to be a different colour!!

This is how it looks in artificial light...still doesn't show up very well when I think how much I had on :wacko:

*gone*

And ignore the face in this one, but I've curled my hair twice now and both times I've preferred the 'softness' the curls have after I've slept on them...

*gone*

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/A5526D61-8AB7-48DF-9A1A-65C0F74B3E4C-101-0000000A8693A5C5.jpg

This is how they looked last night...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/C98580F0-05DD-4F30-BAAA-BE3869DEF398-101-000000082EA7146C.jpg

In pictures they look better 'just done', but in person I prefer them 'slept on' :shrug:


----------



## aly888

Waaahhh!!! picture overload. These are coming down again before the end of the night :wacko:


----------



## EmmyReece

I think you look stunning hun ... you're going to hate me though as I have another bobbi brown product to recommend :blush: - their light peach corrector. It is amazing!!! The only thing that even remotely covers my dark circles :happydance:


----------



## EmmyReece

I got too excited and pressed post reply too quickly :dohh:

Yeah it looks to me like your face matches your chest :)

I actually like the curls better when they've been slept on too, they definitely look a lot softer :D


----------



## xemmax

You're so pretty! Love love love your hair slept on. Why doesn't this happen to my hair? I wake up with some kind of sweaty Afro every morning.

I think your face colour looks fine but it is hard to tell on pictures. Do you not wear much make up day to day?


----------



## aly888

She used the corrector on me and it did cover my circles, for sure, but it also creased up by the time I was home. And for £38 (for the corrector and concealer) I was glad I gave that a miss :lol:

The 'slept on' curls take off some of the pressure on the morning too :thumbup: Always a bonus. Haha


----------



## aly888

I don't wear a lot of foundation day to day. In summer I usually don't even wear foundation at all. But I do wear heavy eye make up and a decent amount of bronzer and blush (by decent I mean noticeable, not hooker-esque :lol:)


----------



## aly888

And thank you ladies. I obviously hate how I look and am dreading the photos on the day, and I don't take compliments at all well :blush:


----------



## EmmyReece

collections 2000 concealer is meant to be good and that's super cheap, oh and putting eyeshadow primer underneath your eye can help too 

I think the piccies were brilliant and you're seriously going to knock your oh's socks off when you walk down the aisle :hugs:


----------



## Mummy May

I think your chest looks the same colour but obviously if you were made right up that might not be the case in real life lol! Have you looked at Clinique or Clarins? I use their products and love them all :D ohh and a lot of people swear by Benefit too for weddings! Check them out :) xxx


----------



## aly888

See I've not heard good things about Benefit for weddings :lol: I use Clinique for their face care stuff but not a fan of their makeup :shrug: I bought some more Smashbox things last night so waiting until those turn up. Still no foundation. That's my task for tomorrow :lol:


----------



## Lauren25

Ohhhh how pretty are you, im so jealous!!

Your make up deffo matches for chest!

And i cant believe your hair goes like that after being slept on, it looks so good!!


----------



## aly888

Haha, what's the betting that on the morning of the wedding I wake up with my hair in a ginormous Afro :haha: That picture is after a shower too (obviously showered with my hair tied up) so I'm impressed at how well the curls stay in :thumbup:

Lauren, can you still see the pics? I thought I had deleted the face ones :wacko:


----------



## EmmyReece

Do you have a Nars counter near you? Apparently their Sheer Glow foundation is good too (can you tell I've tried as many as possible in the last year :rofl: ), I think it's what Nic from Pixiwoo wore on her wedding day xx

https://www.avonconnects.co.uk/blog...e-up-by-nic-haste-one-half-of-pixiwoo-sisters


----------



## aly888

I actually was looking at the NARS matte foundation until the reviews on Makeup Alley weren't very favourable :haha: And I don't think I've got a counter near me to try it out. Didn't want to risk it :nope: x


----------



## aly888

Nope, my nearest are London, London, London, Liverpool and Paris!!!! :lol:


----------



## EmmyReece

:dohh: that's a shame

what about a mac counter? their foundations are meant to be good, maybe their face and body foundation? or clinique might be worth a try.

:rofl: I'm trying to think of as many suggestions as possible

How long have you got Aly, I can't remember your wedding date off the top of my head


----------



## Lauren25

Haha no sorry i seen them last night but didnt get chance to reply! Theyve deffo gone dont worry :)


----------



## aly888

Oh phew :lol:

Thanks Emmy :) I'm going to be super cheeky tomorrow and go to all the counters in our department stores and try and blag as many samples as possible. We only have two decent department stores in Bedford but I've got my second Bobbi Brown appointment in a week and that's MK and there are loads to choose from :)

On a lighter note, it's the first of my hen do's next weekend :wacko::wacko: scary!! Few people have dropped out of certain parts of the day for various reasons, but still looking forward to it. OH leaves for his stag weekend on Friday too...


----------



## EmmyReece

:happydance: hope you have a brilliant time

If you just blag it and say you have sensitive skin and need to try the foundation before you commit to buying a big bottle they should be fine.


----------



## Lauren25

Ohh not long now until your Hen, how exciting!
What's your OH doing for his ?


----------



## aly888

He's going to Centre Parcs for lots of lad activities :wacko: He's deffo not the loud party type so they are going to have beers and BBQs (if the weather holds out for them) and do quad biking and stuff. As long as he doesn't come back with any broken bones then I'll be happy :lol:


----------



## EmmyReece

fingers crossed he doesn't come back with any injuries :)


----------



## aly888

Bleurgh, not a good day :nope: One of my sisters has messaged to say she probably won't be able to make this weekend because her dissertation wasn't as good as she planned. It's due on Monday so she's gotta work her arse off to try and get it done in time :nope: 
Abdnive just received my brothers RSVP back. My SIL isn't coming :happydance: but he's put 'x4 children' on it, which to me sounds like my SILs kids are coming :wacko: These children A) weren't invited, B) don't even live with my brother and SIL, and C) will/should be in school on the day!!! I've asked people before and I'm apparently not being unreasonable by not inviting them, but I don't want to put my brother in an awkward position :shrug:


----------



## EmmyReece

You're definitely not being unreasonable. I think it's a cheek that they've even been put on the rsvp when they weren't invited in the first place :grr:

:nope: that's a shame about your sister, I hope she manages to get enough work done on it so that she can join you :hugs:


----------



## aly888

I'm hoping she does but at the same time I don't want her to rush it or stress about getting it done just so she can be there :nope:

I don't know what to do about my brother. Do I just keep quiet and let them come? Or do I say something, knowing it will only cause another bitch fit from my nutcase SIL?


----------



## xemmax

That's really out of order, do people actually RSVP and add people on themselves? I would explain numbers are tight so you can't accommodate them.

Such a shame about your sister, I can totally identify with her though, my dissertation has eaten up my social life. Hopefully she'll be able to get it done through and still go!


----------



## Lauren25

Ohh yes deffo fingers crossed for no broken bones haha.
That's a shame about your sister, lets hope she can get it done on time so she can come :)

Ohh how tough about your brothers step kids, I don't understand why he would bring them if their Mums not going! Would you feel comfortable saying something or not ?


----------



## Mummy May

I would be saying no way... But I'm a cow haha! If you haven't accomodated for them already though I would say something, because they weren't invited anyways. Poor you, your inlaws are mental! Xx


----------



## aly888

Haha Mummy May, I should point out that this SIL is no relation to the MIL. Not that you'd think it :lol:

Well, I didn't get very far with the foundation hunt...I got into town and got a phonecall from nursery saying LO had fallen and bitten her lip. They said it wasn't bad and it was up to me if I wanted to get her so of course I went to get her...and we've been in hospital since 4pm yesterday!! She's bitten it so bad that she had to go into surgery this morning. She's conked out on the ward now and I am utterly shattered :nope: But on a positive note, I can't remember the last meal I had so if I've not lost weight from this ill be pissed :haha:


----------



## EmmyReece

Ohhhh no :nope: hope she's doing ok, poor Lana :( :hugs:


----------



## Mummy May

Awwh poor thing! How awful! I noticed she wasn't related to her but she's still a weird in law haha :rofl: xx


----------



## aly888

We're home. Wish I could just go climb straight into my bed. Lol!! It was a total through and through so she's got a lip full of stitches, bless her. 
As long as nothing else happens between now and the wedding then I'll be happy :lol: Although I've got an extra day off work tomorrow so might get some wedding things done if I've got anything left I can do from home :shrug:

Ha, yeah I don't think me and 'in laws' get on very well :lol: although my other SIL is utterly lovely, so it cant be me. Haha!!


----------



## EmmyReece

And the nursery said it wasn't that bad :wacko: Glad you're home now :hugs:


----------



## Lauren25

Awwww bless her how horrible, must have been a fright for all!
Glad she's home now and it sounds like you need a serious rest!


----------



## aly888

So, wedding update...not much to report :lol:

We have our hen/stags this weekend. On Monday we have our 'engagement' shoot at our ceremony venue, and we still haven't made an appointment to see the registrar :wacko:

My florist emailed on Monday and asked if she could 'borrow' one of my centrepiece things so she can make one up and take to a wedding fayre she's got this weekend :happydance: I'm hoping that's a good sign that it's something she doesn't think many people will have seen before. Plus it gives her a good chance to practice. 

On Monday before LO had her accident I managed to get to the Clarins and Benefit counters. Clarins were really lovely and helpful. Benefit, I'm not so sure. She 'colour matched' me ON TOP of the makeup I was already wearing, then went ahead and took all my makeup off without asking/telling me first. Then after applying foundation and powder, she started with the under eye concealer :wacko: So the fact that she was doing everything wrong kinda put me off a bit. I did buy their eyebrow powder though but only because I've been wanting some for a while. I did get samples from both counters...just not had a chance to test them!

ETA: I also got the collection 2000 concealer to give that a try :thumbup: but again, because of everything that happened I can't even find where I've put it let alone even able to try it :dohh:


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah that Benefit lady sounds like she doesn't have a clue! I can't believe she colour matched on top of make up :rofl: I LOVE clarins lol! Their make up just feels lovely on my skin. xx


----------



## EmmyReece

:wacko: the Benefit lady sounds totally clueless to me too, though I'm glad you got some samples to try.

:happydance: that's brilliant that your florist is going to be doing a mock up of your centrepieces to take to a wedding fayre, and as you say, brilliant that she can have a practice :D


----------



## aly888

The registrar is booked :thumbup: but only because I got called away from work to pick Missy up because now she's poorly sick on top of having a busted lip :nope: So I have another afternoon at home, and no doubt tomorrow too

But, whilst I was at work, I had one of the parents gifts delivered. We are getting them personalised photo frames. I just got the one (for MIL) at the moment because I didn't want to buy them all to find out they were crap. But they are really nice!! :thumbup:


----------



## Mummy May

Yeyy for them being good, the ones from Confetti? Poor little baby, hope she gets better soon bless her, Mummy cuddles always help :) xx


----------



## lozzy21

What a tool :rofl: Even i know what order to put things on in.


----------



## aly888

No, we didn't get the confetti ones in the end. Found cheaper ones on eBay :lol: They engrave the top, the bottom, and the back in your choice of font. The only downside is that they are white frames when I would have preferred natural wood. But they aren't going in my house so it's fine :haha:

I know Lozzy. As soon as she did it I was like "this is your JOB!!! You should know better" :lol:


----------



## Lauren25

That benefit woman sounds useless, how on earth to you colour match over make up!!!

Great news about the florist wanting to show off your centrepieces, must be good :lol:

Aww bless Lana, hope she gets better soon! How is her lip ?


----------



## aly888

I don't know. I think she's got a mild infection in it too now :wacko:

I'm excited to see the pictures she takes. And nervous at the same time :lol: What I'd I don't like it? Eep


----------



## Mummy May

If you don't like them then its not too late to change them :) don't panic woman xx


----------



## aly888

The prospect of having to change my centrepieces again scares the living daylights out of me :haha:


----------



## EmmyReece

If you don't like it then you do have time to make some tweaks or even put your heads together to try and come up with something new :hugs:


----------



## Lauren25

Aww bless her shes been in the wars hasnt she!!

Your only thinking like that about your centrepieces because they took so long to sort and get right and they were such a battle with MIL haha, theyll be fine im sure :)


----------



## Mummy May

If you do end up changing, don't mention a word to the devil in law hahahaha xxx


----------



## aly888

Just dropping in from my hen weekend...we're currently all sat under blankets/duvets in our PJs watching Ferres Buellers Day Off and drinking bucks fizz whilst my MOH prepares a huge fry up :lol:

RSVPs have flown in in the last two days too. Such a relief. Wasn't looking forward to chasing people up. 

So excited. It's all coming together :happydance:


----------



## EmmyReece

:happydance: hope you're having a wonderful weekend


----------



## Lauren25

Hope you're having a great weekend :)
Can't wait to hear all about it!!


----------



## aly888

Such a perfect weekend. Matilda the musical is AMAZING!!!! And I bought a fabulous vintage bag whilst we mooched in London. It was brilliant. Just wish more people had made it :nope: BUT, I should be having another one, local to home, which will be my meal out and drinks and dancing one with the work girls :happydance:


----------



## Lauren25

Aww glad you had such a good time :)
How many of you went in the end?

Ohh another one to look forward too now :happydance:


----------



## Mummy May

Woo hoo for 2 hen parties! Glad you had a great time :) xx


----------



## xemmax

Aww that sounds like fun! I'm glad you had a good time :) when's your other one?


----------



## aly888

Next one is in a few weeks :happydance:

We have our 'engagement' shoot today...it's normal to be stressing over what to wear, right? :lol: I've got to find some clothes for OH too. His wardrobe isnt exactly brilliant as he refuses to wear anything 'fashionable' :rolleyes:

And after our photoshoot we are going to the registrar to pay our monies and choose our declaration etc. We probably should have already chosen but I just mentioned it to OH and he was like 'I dunno...what are the options' :dohh: So we'll probably be deciding that in the car on the way over. Haha


----------



## Lauren25

Deffo sounds normal to me, let us know how you get on!

Haha you sound like us, ive told OH that we are sitting down tonight seen as though hes off work and we are sorting it all!! 

Hope you manage to pick them before you get there haha :)


----------



## aly888

Pre-wedding shoot was fantastic!! Was super windy at our location so he really struggled to work with what was available as I could only face a certain direction without getting engulfed in my hair :lol: But it was so much less awkward than I thought itd be. He was brilliant. And OH liked him too :happydance: Bit nervous about seeing the photos now though. He'll only work on a few that are the best then I think we choose the one we want so at least I don't have to see any awful ones. Haha

An we chose our declarations and contracting words in the carpark outside the registry office :rofl: We had chosen the "I am" and the "I take you" options but when we were in there the lady convinced us to have one of the longer declarations. Otherwise our ceremony would have been about 5 sentences and all done :lol: I feel like I want a reading or extra vowes now to pad it out a bit :shrug: We've got time if we wanted to change anything so I'll speak to OH tonight about it


----------



## EmmyReece

Ohhhh readings might be a good idea, espescially considering the amount of money you pay for the ceremony we should definitely get our money worth :D

Glad the shoot went well today :happydance:


----------



## aly888

Tell me about it...£500 we've paid the council so we can marry. My friend in Wales pays £350 :wacko:

My florist sent me a pic of our buttonholes too. She made one up for the wedding fayre she displayed at and said it got the most comments out of everything on her table. I absolutely love them...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/24A3743E-8B39-4216-8C13-0FDD475F0C61-3865-0000043FD3360450.jpg

She wants to meet one evening to show me the centrepieces and bridesmaids bouquets but I'm so busy this week :nope:


----------



## Lauren25

Glad the pre wedding shoot went well and glad you felt comfortable with it all :)

I don't know what to do about the vows, the less I say the better but then like you I don't want it over and done with really quickly, tough one!

Ohh wow how beautiful are the buttonholes, are you pleased with them?


----------



## aly888

I love them. They are exactly what I imagined!

We were the same with our ceremony...the quicker the better :lol: But thinking about it I would quite like to say a bit more to OH other than "I take you to be my husband" and plonking a ring on his finger :lol: I'm going to do a quick google now for some vow suggestions and see if I can tempt him. Haha


----------



## xemmax

Your buttonholes are amazing! I really want peacock feather buttonholes too with wildflowers but convincing OH is proving difficult :haha:
Glad your shoot went well :)


----------



## candeur

Ohhhh those buttonholes are amazing! Never seen anything like that before.

Can't believe you have to pay £500 in England!! That's absolutely shocking, I thought £350 was bad!
I'm in the same boat and umming and ahhing over vows, we went through our options yesterday and we've picked pretty much the shortest of everything and left all the optional bits out, so now I am thinking it'll be over in 5minutes and it'll be nice to make it a bit more personal, but saying that me and OH are both really bad with saying soppy stuff to each other so wed prob end up laughing all the way through it. Whenever we say I love you there's always a but your a pain in the ass at the end and id probably end up having to stick an insult at the end of my vows lol


----------



## aly888

xemmax said:


> Your buttonholes are amazing! I really want peacock feather buttonholes too with wildflowers but convincing OH is proving difficult :haha:
> Glad your shoot went well :)

Our whole theme is 'peacock' so luckily it wasn't difficult to convince my OH :lol: I've known from the start that I wanted them to wear peacock feathers, much to my MILs dismay! The scrabble pieces (with their initials) came from the quirky vintage part of our theme...and the gyps is because my BMs are having gyps bouquets :thumbup: 



candeur said:


> Ohhhh those buttonholes are amazing! Never seen anything like that before.
> 
> Can't believe you have to pay £500 in England!! That's absolutely shocking, I thought £350 was bad!
> I'm in the same boat and umming and ahhing over vows, we went through our options yesterday and we've picked pretty much the shortest of everything and left all the optional bits out, so now I am thinking it'll be over in 5minutes and it'll be nice to make it a bit more personal, but saying that me and OH are both really bad with saying soppy stuff to each other so wed prob end up laughing all the way through it. Whenever we say I love you there's always a but your a pain in the ass at the end and id probably end up having to stick an insult at the end of my vows lol

I did a search online for some examples and actually there are some pretty good ones. We've found a few that we like that aren't soppy but are more as promises to each other. We aren't a soppy couple at all which is why a reading wasn't right for us. But the vows can be whatever you want. 
I'll try and find the website that I found. I did it on my laptop and I'm on my phone now so I make no promises :lol:

I don't know if it's £500 all over England. I guess being the council they can charge whatever prices they want :wacko: And it means it could vary. But I don't know! Still ridiculous. If we ha got married at the registry office it would have only been £150...so £300+ just for the registrar to travel out for an hour!!


----------



## EmmyReece

That's crazy money :wacko: I didn't realise they charged that much :o

:happydance: your buttonholes are stunning


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## kmbabycrazy

Your buttonholes are absolutely stunning xx


----------



## aly888

Had another wedding nightmare last night :wacko: getting nervous now!!! Eep


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## Lauren25

Ohh no :hugs: what happened in it?


----------



## aly888

I can't remember now. Something to do with something not turning up or being booked for the wrong day :wacko:

I tried my dress on again last night...it doesn't fit :hissy: I'm now having a mad panic and desperately weighing up my options. And totally stressing out. This is no fun!!!! Everything is going wrong :cry:


----------



## Lauren25

Ohh how horrible, I'm dreading having another one they are not nice!

Ohh no how much does it not fit by? What dates your wedding again ?


----------



## xemmax

Oh god hope that's the last of the nightmares! How close are you to fitting into your dress? Don't stress, everything will come together!


----------



## aly888

Well it does up. It's a button back though so I have no give or take. I either fit it or I don't. We had to pull the corset so tight to get the buttons done up. It was so uncomfortable. And my back fat had a fold in it down the middle. And I had serious overhang :hissy::hissy::hissy: I think for it to be 'comfortable' I need to lose half a stone minimum...for it to fit properly I think I need to lose a whole stone, but then I risk looking ill!!
It was sold to me as a size 10, but if that's a size 10 then the rest of my wardrobe is wrong :lol: 

I don't know what to do. OH reckons I can lose the weight but what if I don't?? :shrug:


----------



## EmmyReece

Could you get a seamstress to change it to a lace up back at all and maybe put in a modesty panel? that would give you a bit of give with it :hugs:


----------



## aly888

EmmyReece said:


> Could you get a seamstress to change it to a lace up back at all and maybe put in a modesty panel? that would give you a bit of give with it :hugs:

You know I hadn't even thought of that :dohh: That's such a good idea. Thank you!


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## EmmyReece

:hugs: hopefully it won't be too much hassle and cost


----------



## aly888

I'm going to look into having the back fastening changed. But I'm also gonna try and work my arse off to lose the weight, because that's free :lol: Just been to work to use the gym AND I'm refusing carbs with tonight's dinner...having an extra helping of broccoli instead. I dont even like brocolli! Dedicated :haha: This will last approx 2 days. Haha


----------



## aly888

So to take my mind off the dress issue last night I decided we needed to finalise our song choices for the ceremony...so we sat last night and I forced OH to listen to the 'shortlist' of songs and we are finally agreed. All apart from which version of 'At last' we should have, Etta James or Beyonce?! :wacko: But at least we know what songs we are having. 
We are having major issues with our 'first dance' song though. OH agrees that "our song" isn't suitable as a first dance song (even though it's often used as first dances :shrug:) but we don't know what to have instead!! 
And father/daughter dance...please can I have suggestions of what you guys are using, if you are having a father/daughter dance??


----------



## EmmyReece

I'm not having a father/daughter dance song, but if Dad was still alive we would have probably had something by Morrissey, not sure what, but Dad was a massive fan. Maybe you could try and choose someone who your Dad is a fan of?

First dance song I'm REALLY not sure :wacko: I seriously need to start getting a shortlist of songs together too :dohh:


----------



## aly888

I've been looking at my Dads music actually. I think I need to enlist the help of my stepmum on this one. I don't know if I even want a father/daughter dance :wacko:


----------



## EmmyReece

You could ask for one of his favourite songs to be played and then ask if he wants to dance, so it's not an official father daughter dance?


----------



## aly888

Successful wedding stuff day...

Went into town to find a hair clip for me for the day, came home with a hair clip for me, hair clips for LO, an evening dress, evening shoes (Foms :lol:), and presents for the day for LO (she's been going on about a Hello Kitty bag she's seen or ages so I got her that and some Hello Kitty stationary and bracelet). We'll give it to her during the speeches when we do all the other gifts so she's included, otherwise everyone on the top table will have a gift but her :nope:

Also booked the wedding car. Well, booked the rental car that my brother will be using whilst over here :haha: Muuuch cheaper than hiring a car, and it means my brother and his family have transport, which they wouldn't have done otherwise. 

Oh, and got some wood for the seating plan...it dawned on me today that we an actually start that now, and the place names. So guess what I'm doing tonight. Lol


----------



## lozzy21

My aunt got her dress years before they got married and fell pregnant. She was 7 months by the time they got married. She had an elasticated pannel put in the back with ribbons to look like the elastic was a modisty panel with a lace up back. Unless you knew you would not have been able to tell.


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## Lauren25

I'm not having a father/daughter dance it's not me and my Dad at all!

You've had a busy day, sounds like you got some good things :)

Ohh no not the seating plan, we done ours before we sent out invites and that's had to go in he bin as some people can't come, there were a few girlfriends we forgot about etc! I'm dreading re doing it so good luck :lol:


----------



## Mummy May

I'm not having a father/daughter dance either - but I'm not even being given away hahaha! Yey for succesful wedding shopping - I think its the best :) eeps!! Xx


----------



## aly888

I might drop the father/daughter dance then. I'll ask my stepmum what she thinks. Thanks girls. 

Lauren, the seating plan is done thank goodness, just need to make the table plan. We've also managed to get it down to 6 tables (before it was 7 with only 5 people on one of the tables!!) so that's one less centrepiece to pay for :lol: I'm dreading writing out all the place names. I ended up doing nothing last night. Lol


----------



## aly888

Went to ceremony venue today to finalise EVERYTHING!! Whoop, that's that sorted. Just have to get the music to them and all will be done. Oh, and pay them :lol: But they aren't asking for that. We don't technically have to pay that until the day itself :wacko:
On a completely non-wedding related note, when I went to the venue today I was greeted by a woman I instantly recognised, but didn't want to say anything incase I was wrong. So when I was speaking to the co-ordinater I asked if the woman's name was 'Hannah', which it was...turns out she was who I thought she was. She was my physiotherapist last year/beginning of this year :wacko::wacko: Her parents own the venue so her and her brother manage it and she does physio part-time :lol: Very random. Haha

Diet is going ok. Until I was told today the sweet potato is NOT allowed on a low carb diet :dohh: Hope to go to the gym tonight if the OH gets home at a sociable hour :thumbup: And, thanks to Emmy, I've got a seamstress who can do the amendments for me (from button to lace up) and says it'll only take a couple of days so I can leave it to almost the last minute before deciding :happydance: No idea on cost though!

Rambling now...I need to go use this energy...OH needs to come home so I can put it to good use...on the treadmill :haha::haha:


----------



## Lauren25

:happydance: yaayyyy for finalising everything, bet that's a bit of a weight of your shoulders! And how strange about that woman, the things you find out hey!

Great news about your dress too, takes a bit of the stress away from the dieting at least :)


----------



## Mummy May

Wooooo for finalising!! Does it seem more real now? How long do you have left? I'm a carb monster lol could never let them go but my diet is still going well :) atleast you have time to try to diet to maybe get back in your dress but its good that it wouldn't take long if not :) xxx


----------



## EmmyReece

So pleased you can get the back changed on the dress :hugs: Try and get a price estimate off her so that you're not stumped with a big bill closer to the wedding 

:happydance: yay for finalising things. I seriously can't wait to get to that stage :D


----------



## aly888

Don't get too excited girls, that was only the ceremony venue. I've still got to make an appointment with the reception venue to finalise details there :wacko: That's when it'll feel real.

Diet is still going well. Mummy May, I LIVE for carbs too so I have no idea how I'm coping with this, but when you have a dress to fit into I guess anything is possible :lol:
I'm going to the gym too. Went on Sunday and went again last night (at 10pm!!) then got bootcamp on Thursdays. This is proper. Haha


----------



## EmmyReece

You're doing brilliantly with food and exercise :happydance:

:rofl: even if it is just the reception venue, it's still something with finalised details :D


----------



## Lauren25

Going to the gym at 10pm wow you are dedicated :D


----------



## Mellie1988

Eeeeek not long now!! So exciting :D 


X


----------



## aly888

:happydance::happydance:


----------



## aly888

Oh my gosh, I've not shown you my new teeth!!! They're still wonky as fook but for a quick fix before the wedding (and only £150 once he put the discount on :happydance:) I really couldn't be happier...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/9C8714C1-07E5-4818-A6DC-76F34126D522-1553-0000028B49A0C005.jpg

The top picture doesn't show how bad they actually are/were. The two teeth either side of my front teeth are set further back so in photos I look all bucktoothed or like I'm missing the teeth completely :wacko: Now I won't be worried about smiling on the day. So happy!!


----------



## aly888

And on the wedding side of things, nothing else to report. I've lost 6lbs since last Sunday so well on my way to fitting into the dress. Not expecting to lose as much this week though. We will see. 

MUST make a start on table plan etc. I keep putting it off :blush:


----------



## kmbabycrazy

Well done that's a brilliant loss and the teeth look fab. I wish I could afford to get mine fixed!!


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah that's a brilliant loss! Your teeth look fab! To me your old teeth don't look bad but I know its just how you feel about them. Xx


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## Lauren25

Well done on the weight loss and your teeth look great! Id love to have your before teeth, they are a million times better than mine haha


----------



## aly888

I caved in last night. I'm PMTing and gettin stressed at OH so I tucked into a Lindt bunny that we still have left over from Easter :blush: But I'm going to the gym this afternoon and I'm being strict with my eating today!!

Trying to find some vintage material for our table plan. I've been looking on eBay but not found the 'right' pattern yet. Don't know where else to look :shrug:

My brother is annoying me too. I think I mentioned a while back that he RSVP'd as him + 4 children...well I need to him clarify so I can obviously make sure the favours and table plan etc are all right and my numbers and things. My mum thinks that maybe it's not him and 4 kids but him during the day then my SIL and the 2 boys will join him for the evening do. But he's ignoring all my texts etc :grr:


----------



## emyandpotato

It's more expensive but try Laura Ashley/Cath Kidson. Or put their names in to Ebay. Your teeth look great!


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## aly888

Thank you

I have seen some lovely Laura Ashley fabric actually but I don't want to be spending too much :nope: I guess you get what you pay for. Sometimes I wonder if I'm puttin too much effort into things which are actually pretty insignificant :shrug:


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## Tasha

No you're not. All these details are what will make the day yours and unique x


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## aly888

But it's just the table plan. MIL doesn't even think we need a table plan :shrug:

Have had major family dramas this weekend. My brother finally explained his RSVP...he is coming in the day then my SIL is coming down at 6.30 (an hour before the evening starts) to drop all four of her kids off (two of them are my brothers step children who don't actually live with them!) and then SIL is off out for the weekend with her friends. She isn't coming to the wedding, but she expects us to entertain her kids for her!!? And not only that, the two younger children are 4 and 2, so why would they even consider dropping them off at 6.30pm an option???! I said to my brother that why don't the younger two join him for the day then SIL can pick them up (since she doesn't want to be there) but apparently that's not possible because they have nursery that day :wacko::wacko: I'm so sick to my back teeth of them (her) and their stupid games and demands. Iv got no choice now but to tell my brother that when he's needed for babysitting duties then he will just have to leave, because OH doesn't want the other two children there and neither of us want two tired toddlers there. Even our own LO is leaving at about 8ish and my friend is having her toddler picked up at 7 because its their bedtimes and they'll be tired!!

I know that all sounds really selfish and in reality, it's just an extra two children, but I just really resent that our wedding day is being used as a drop off point when SIL can't even be bothered to come!!


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## Tasha

Hahaha, well your MIL is insane so her opinion doesnt count for much :haha: I've only been to weddings with table plans and in my family if there wasnt one then people would probably drag chairs from one table to another so they can sit with who they want :haha:

:shock: it just gets worse doesnt it? I cant believe they think that would be okay, especially given that SIL can go out any time but you get one wedding, which they have known about for ages. I dont think it is selfish at all a) you didnt invite them and b) they are little and will be tired especially after a day at nursery.


----------



## aly888

I'm waiting until tomorrow when my brother should be back at work until I message him and tell him once and for all that the kids aren't coming. If my SIL wasn't such a self centred cow then she would surely do the decent thing and tell him that he can go to the wedding, enjoy himself, and she'll stay home with the kids. But as it is, she will twist it and make it so that I'm the bad guy leaving no choice for my brother :rolleyes:


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## Tasha

I just dount understand why she would do that. You dont have much luck with inlaws do you?


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## Mummy May

Yeah I would do that too, is yours a child free wedding? I can't remember! Even so, I think the kids should be in bed after a certain time, hence it being pointless them coming even if you wanted them to. SIL sounds like a bitch though, what's her problem? Xx


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## Lauren25

Im the same as you, so many things i keep thinking why am i wanting it to be so perfect, i bet people wont even notice!

Good luck with your brother, deffo stick your ground, its really not fair what they are doing!! I dont understand why youd want to have your tired children there anyway if you had the choice, we have to cause everyone will be at the wedding but id love to have had someone to take them hope at bedtime!!


----------



## aly888

It's not a child free wedding, no, but common sense kinda says don't turn up at 7pm with your 2 year old :haha: 
I'm messaging him today...I'm ready for round 2. Haha!
My SIL is just awful. She's a vile woman. We haven't spoken for about 6 months and she made my brother choose between her and our mum!!!! :wacko: So my brother hasn't spoken to out mum in about 4 months...and they live opposite each other :nope: None of our family like her. She treats my brother like a piece of crap :nope:

BUT on a lighter note...photographer is fully paid :happydance: Just need to confirm with him what formal shots we want. Need to email the registry office too with our updated song choices and vow choices. And I need to get my hair cut!!! Lol


----------



## Tasha

I hope round two goes okay.

Yay for the photographer being paid off, its all coming together :dance:


----------



## EmmyReece

Fantastic that you've got the photographer paid off :happydance:

Hope it goes well with your brother. This woman sounds like a right nasty piece of work :grr:


----------



## aly888

And I've just booked for my hair cut this PM :happydance: I haven't dare look at my bank balance since before my hen do :haha: I am dreading it. I've spent a small fortune this month and I've not paid the nursery yet :wacko:

I've just text my brother...I'll keep you all posted!

About to email the photographer with our 'formal' choices too....

And I'm slightly freaking out a bit (ok, a lot) that IM GETTING MARRIED SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## pink23

Wow you've had so much going on aly hope it will settle soon. Hope your all ok xx


----------



## aly888

Thanks Faye :kiss:

So, because I'm an excellent procrastinator, and because I'm putting off emailing/calling the registry office, I decided that a better use of my time would be to draw on the photo frames we are using for our table numbers :lol: This is the first quick one...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/43EC0A58-14A8-433D-A356-2F037646255C-14631-000003CB17492154.jpg

Can't decide to do each one differently or all the same? Don't even know what else to draw on the others (if I go for different things) but I can't very well leave them blank now I've done one :haha: I can't do anymore now anyway because a certain little lady has confiscated my pencil :rolleyes: But I'll spend more time on the others


----------



## xemmax

Ok I just caught up - well done on the weight loss, your teeth look amazing and the picture frame looks really good! I think different ones would look cute... maybe some with just a single peacock feather?

Did your brother reply? Sorry you're having to go through family drama, your SIL sounds like a total dick.


----------



## aly888

Haha thanks. Yes, SIL is a dick. We don't even think my brothers youngest son is his (and my brother has his doubts too because we've discussed it before :wacko:). I just wish she would disappear and leave my brother and the boys to get on with their lives :nope:

No reply from him yet...hoping he replies in his lunch break :shrug:

I've not lost any weight since I dropped into the 9stone range. It's so hard :hissy: But I'm due on any day now and I usually gain just before so I'm trying not to stress too much. 

And I thought about doing single feathers, but they are super hard to draw :lol: I've just scribbled a swirly attempt on a bit of paper that looks ok, but I'm not sure. My 'fine liner' isn't as fine as it needs to be, as you can tell from the peacock drawing :lol:


----------



## Mummy May

Okay I own one of those photo frames but forgot where I bought it lol! Refresh my mind ;) I like your doodles! I'm totally crap at anything like that so I'm quite impressed :D xx


----------



## aly888

They're from Dunelm Mill. I got them in the sale for £2 each or something. Lol! And thank you. The only problem with drawing all over them is I can't re-use them or sell them on :dohh:


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah but you could put fun photos from the wedding in them and dot them around your house :) xx


----------



## Lauren25

How did it go with your brother ?

Your frames look so good, very talented, wish I could go things like that haha!


----------



## Mummy May

Yeah I've been wondering about your brother too! Xx


----------



## aly888

He didn't reply...I'd forgotten about him actually. I suppose I'll message him again...*sigh*


----------



## aly888

Actually, changed my mind (that didn't take long). I'm not messaging him. He has said it's just him in the day then that's all I'm planning for. I told him in the text that be can leave at 6.30 when his wife dumps her kids on him. That's not me being unreasonable, it's her being selfish. And I swear to god she better not try and speak to me when she drops them off...:grr:


----------



## Tasha

How rude of him not to reply :nope: but I agree dont message him.


----------



## Mummy May

Planning just for him in the day is a good move but dya think he actually will just leave at half 6? She really is a nob, what's her beef? Lol xx


----------



## aly888

Still no word from my brother :rolleyes: Oh well

Spoke to the guy sorting our music etc for us the other night....he's only gone and bloomin' broken two of his fingers. But like properly shattered them!! He was waiting for another operation to have them fixed (couldn't do what they wanted to do in the first op) and luckily that was done today. He says he'll be fine for the wedding day but talk about stressing me out. Haha

Meet with the reception venue tomorrow to finalise numbers and choices and timings etc. I probably should write it all down before I go :lol:

Not lost any weight this week. Not a single pound. I'm so stressed out!!! I've been dieting and exercising and not lost anything. HOW is that even possible??! :hissy:

Got some fabric for the table plan. Just need OH to cut some wood for me!! 

And ordered 250 paper doilies to make confetti cones with :haha: Don't worry, I'm not making 250 cones. Haha!!

Erm, that's about it on the wedding front. 

Sorted my works 'hen' night too. Can't wait :happydance:


----------



## aly888

Just sent our final music and vows choices to the registrar!!! Now let's just hope we don't change our mind between now and then :haha:


----------



## Mummy May

Maybe you've turned fat to muscle with all your exercising :) xx


----------



## aly888

Not that quickly I don't think :nope:


----------



## Tasha

The weight will be water retention. It happens when you first start working out, next week or the week after you will see a bigger difference. Also make sure you are having rest days so say up to four/five times a week you exercis or your muscles cant repair and again this will make them retain water.


----------



## aly888

Oh gosh, I'm not exercising that often :lol: I do need to drink more water actually so water retention sounds about right. But I didn't think it would make this much difference :nope: Trying the dress on again tomorrow night to see what my options are


----------



## Tasha

Yes, it would make loads of difference, I really struggle with water but for have been slowly increase and this week for the first time in my life I have managed 2l of water or more every day. You can see a difference in my tummy, so much so that my husband (who is a typical man and notices nothing) and my kids see a difference. Remember 1l of water weighs 2.2lb so if you're retaining then it will make a huge difference on your weight loss.

Also you need to be eating about an hour before and after, even something like a banana.


----------



## kmbabycrazy

It does make that much difference. By drinking the right amount of water you can lose 5lbs from correcting water retention x


----------



## aly888

Thanks girls. I honestly didn't realise it could affect your weight by so much! I best get started on the water... :)

Went to the reception venue this evening. All sorted with the room layout, the decorations, the timings, the set up/take down plans, all the "what happens if's" that we could think of :lol: and most importantly, the bill :gun: He gave me the final amount, which I didn't think was too bad. Then he rang me after I'd left to say he'd forgotten to include another £400 :wacko: So actually it is as bad as I thought. But at least it's not worse. Haha ha..ha? :cry:


----------



## Lauren25

Sounds great you got everything finalised, we are going tomorrow morning to do the same!

Ohh I bet you thought you were getting a bit of a deal for a minute, I guess at least it's not more than what you were expecting!


----------



## aly888

So the reception cost has gone up again :/ I'm going to argue over some of the costs a bit see if we can't get them down a bit. He's charging for 'toasting drinks' for the 8 children (all under 5) that we've got going as well as a few other things :wacko:

But on a positive note, I met with the florist at the flower wholesalers this afternoon and chose the flowers I like and that she thinks will work :happydance: Just have to hope they are still all in season by the time she comes to do them, but we've chosen quite a selection so won't matter if a couple of things aren't available :thumbup:

Need to finish the photo frames for the table numbers. I'll probably do that one evening this week. Maybe


----------



## aly888

Done more...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/819EF5AE-4385-45BE-B5FD-D9E95467DAD1-933-00000108489AC819.jpg

Run out of ideas now... :/


----------



## aly888

Finished! 

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/9B76F90A-DB52-44C1-B01E-5D81808C1FD8-933-0000011871056F54.jpg

The first 'feather' one is deffo going on the old folks table :haha::haha:


----------



## kmbabycrazy

They look great, well done you x


----------



## Mummy May

They're fab! I'm quite jealous lol! I feel like having a similar idea now! Xx


----------



## Lauren25

Wow they look so good!!


----------



## aly888

Not got a lot to report. Not done anything weddingy lately, but I did leave those frames out within reach of little hands and she's drawn all over one of them :dohh: It was the crappest of them all though so not too bothered :lol:
One of my bridesmaids is coming over tonight so hopefully we can blast through a few things :thumbup:


----------



## EmmyReece

:dohh: that's a shame about the frame, though thankfully it's the worst one.

hope you manage to get quite a bit done tonight with your bridesmaid.


----------



## Mummy May

I would put it out anyways :D


----------



## Lauren25

Aww bless her, Bobby done the same when I left the evening invites out, they still got sent :haha:

Hope you get lots done tonight :)


----------



## GypsyDancer

Lauren25 said:


> Aww bless her, Bobby done the same when I left the evening invites out, they still got sent :haha:
> 
> Hope you get lots done tonight :)

Little devils arent they!
I printed some mock invites for my little boy to "decorate" for me so he didnt ruin my realy ones! :haha:


----------



## aly888

GypsyDancer said:


> Lauren25 said:
> 
> 
> Aww bless her, Bobby done the same when I left the evening invites out, they still got sent :haha:
> 
> Hope you get lots done tonight :)
> 
> Little devils arent they!
> I printed some mock invites for my little boy to "decorate" for me so he didnt ruin my realy ones! :haha:Click to expand...

Haha that's such a good idea! Thankfully it was only pencil she has drawn on them with so I will just take a rubber to it. It doesn't rub off completely but I can get the worst of it off hopefully. 

Bridesmaid was over last night. We didn't get half the things done we wanted to get done :lol: spent too much time gossiping!! Oops 
But we did get some confetti cones made...

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/41D4F37A-D77F-44E5-AD87-3B0CDDF881DC-1516-00000115D37C7F4C.jpg

They took a lot longer to make than we thought and were a lot more fiddly than we thought they would be, but they look pretty good (considering they are just paper doilies, tissue paper and pritt stick :haha:). And we came to the conclusion that this wedding is completely non-mass produced. Not a single thing has been "store bought". Everything has been hand made and bodged together from the invites, to the place names, the favours cards and the confetti cones :happydance: Im quite proud of that :)


----------



## EmmyReece

Those confetti cones look fab :happydance:


----------



## aly888

Today's achievement...lol

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/EF3F612A-46B7-422D-9AAD-CDEC6DB32F73-2366-000001B536BCFAC9.jpg


----------



## GypsyDancer

aly888 said:


> Today's achievement...lol
> 
> https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/EF3F612A-46B7-422D-9AAD-CDEC6DB32F73-2366-000001B536BCFAC9.jpg

Love this idea! Did you make it yourself? Does your OH know about the sign?
I saw on pinterest another idea that said to write a little note, to give to the bridesmaid or pageboy to pass to the groom just before you walk down the isle, something like "i love you, see you in a minute" or something like that, think i might get my toddler to do that for me on our day x


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## xemmax

Oh wow I absolutely love the confetti cones! I am using doilies for them too hopefully (along with my invites/save the dates, you seem to be able to make anything out of doilies!) but didn't think to use tissue paper like that, I may have to copy you I hope you don't mind :haha:


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## aly888

GypsyDancer said:


> aly888 said:
> 
> 
> Today's achievement...lol
> 
> https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/EF3F612A-46B7-422D-9AAD-CDEC6DB32F73-2366-000001B536BCFAC9.jpg
> 
> Love this idea! Did you make it yourself? Does your OH know about the sign?
> I saw on pinterest another idea that said to write a little note, to give to the bridesmaid or pageboy to pass to the groom just before you walk down the isle, something like "i love you, see you in a minute" or something like that, think i might get my toddler to do that for me on our day xClick to expand...

I bought the slate heart off eBay a while ago and then I finally got around to writing on it today. I'm keeping it secret from OH (and everyone else) to give him a smile on the day :) And I was going to do the note thing too :thumbup: I have two reasons behind the note though. First one being the obvious, that its super cute, and the second being that I can tell LO to "take the note to Daddy" to make sure she actually walks all the way down the aisle :haha:



xemmax said:


> Oh wow I absolutely love the confetti cones! I am using doilies for them too hopefully (along with my invites/save the dates, you seem to be able to make anything out of doilies!) but didn't think to use tissue paper like that, I may have to copy you I hope you don't mind :haha:

Feel free. The doilies I got are the biggest I could find. Once rolled, a reasonable amount of confetti filled it to the top so we needed something to keep it all in. The cones are in a wicker basket so it would have all fallen out if we hadn't contained it with the tissue paper. And tissue paper is cheap as chips :thumbup:


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## Lauren25

Wow the confetti cones looks so good!!

And the sign is amazing, what a good idea to do it yourself!!


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## kmbabycrazy

I love the sign, I saw one on pinterest where the flower girl and page boy were both holding it and it said "This is your last chance to run" haha.


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## aly888

kmbabycrazy said:


> I love the sign, I saw one on pinterest where the flower girl and page boy were both holding it and it said "This is your last chance to run" haha.

:rofl::rofl: That's brilliant. I love that. I might rub this one out and change it to that. Haha


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## kmbabycrazy

aly888 said:


> kmbabycrazy said:
> 
> 
> I love the sign, I saw one on pinterest where the flower girl and page boy were both holding it and it said "This is your last chance to run" haha.
> 
> :rofl::rofl: That's brilliant. I love that. I might rub this one out and change it to that. HahaClick to expand...

I know, I love it, I am contemplating doing a sign with it on for lily lol


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## EmmyReece

kmbabycrazy said:


> I love the sign, I saw one on pinterest where the flower girl and page boy were both holding it and it said "This is your last chance to run" haha.

omg :rofl: I love it, think I may be nicking this idea too :blush:


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## Mummy May

I think I need to have that. I might do a double sided one. Its quite hilarious!! Xx


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## aly888

Bridesmaid came over last night and we got a load of the stationary done. I spent all afternoon printing then last night was all about the cutting :lol: And I've done the kids activity books, which I had been putting off, but they're done now so that takes a weight off my mind. 

Next on the agenda...FINISH my bouquet!!!!


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## EmmyReece

:happydance: you're so organised


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## Lauren25

Well done on getting all them bits done yesterday!!

How much do you have left to do on your bouquet ?


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## aly888

I don't know really. I've not had it out for a few months :wacko: Im hoping I can get away with just a couple more little bits to it but we will see :shrug:

I don't feel organised Emmy :lol:


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## aly888

Oh yeah, and I'm off out tonight with my office from work as my final 'send off' into the married world :lol: And then I've got to come home and dye my hair! Haha. Rock and roll :lol:


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## EmmyReece

:rofl: what colour are you goin?


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## Lauren25

Have a good night (and I don't mean dying your hair :haha:)

How long left now ?


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## aly888

Wellll, last year I went blonde, and since then I've been leaving it to grow out back to my natural colour. Just after Xmas I dyed it darker and managed to accidentally bodge an 'ombré' style :lol: but as the dye faded the line between 'blonde' and 'natural' became more obvious again. So, last week I dyed it dark blonde (my natural colour) but because bottle dyes are essentially shit, the blonde ends ended up with a green tinge to them. Bottle dyes have green dye in them! When I dyed it dark after Xmas my hairdresser told me she could tell it was DIY because of the green tinge. But it was sooo discreet no-one could notice. But this time because the dye wasn't as dark a colour, the green was way more obvious...oops!
So, with not wanting green hair for my wedding, I decided to go red (red counteracts green), so now, I have a head full of light auburn hair :happydance:


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## Mummy May

Have you got a pic of your bouquet so far? Xx


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## EmmyReece

Ohhhhh I bet that looks really nice :D


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## aly888

We did it!!!

Was easily one of the best days of my life. It was such an amazing day and I am truly overwhelmed by the generosity and well wishes from all our friends and family. 

The day went (almost) perfectly. Started with my LO sleeping in when I was relying on her to have me up early :lol: I did all my own hair and makeup which I was so glad about. The photographer was fantastic. He took test shots of my face so I could see how my makeup looked on screen and whether I needed to apply more etc. He was fab.

I then got a phone call (which my MOH took for me coz I was applying eye shadow :lol:) in the morning from the guy doing all our music set up to say he didn't have a mixer we needed. Que me huffing and puffing and barking instructions at my MOH to ring OH to get him to collect one off a sound a lighting company who are next door to his workshop (this company don't do weddings...they do things like Leeds and Reading festival!!). We were already borrowing two CDJs and some lighting off them so thankfully they were fine with a mixer too. Phew. Thank goodness my husband gets on with his work neighbours :lol:

After that the rest of the morning was fine. OH got me a beautiful necklace as my gift and I felt bad not wearing it, but I had decided at the beginning that I was wearing a necklace that used to be my grandmas :(
I then turned up at the venue early, and the OH turned up late, so we ended up arriving at the same time :haha: My brother was driving me and my dad (we ended up in a lovely Mercedes ML350 in the end which was better than the BMW 5 series I was expecting...much easier to get into :lol:) so we made him drive around the side and wait 5 minutes whilst my MOH shouted at OH and got him smuggled away. Haha
The ceremony was perfect. My mum made me cry. I was fine until we turned to walk out and I saw her bawling :rolleyes: 
The weather was pants, but the ceremony venue people were fantastic and they rearranged their bar area (despite being open to the public for lunches!!) so that we could have our formal photos inside in front of their fireplace :thumbup: 

When we arrived at the reception venue everything was amazing. It looked fantastic. It was still pissing down with rain though so our 'slow paced and relaxed' day that was meant to be filled with garden games and more family photos turned into everyone being crammed into the marquee trying to keep warm :lol: And then the heating broke!! My MOH was straight on it and the venue again were fantastic and got it fixed (after two emergency engineers and a replacement unit!). 

Oh, and remember the drama with my brother and my nephews? And he didn't/wouldn't reply to my texts and messages? Yeah, so, we'd planned for it to be just him, and 10 minutes after we arrived he announced that his two boys were being dropped off in 10 minutes :wacko: Ok, not a problem. We told him there are no seats for them and he was fine with that. Then, shock horror, the SIL dropped them off dressed in just their casual jeans, t-shirts and trainers...well, I just flipped. I got my new husband to tell him to call my SIL and get her back to pick them up. My brother couldnt/wouldnt so he took the boys and loaded them into the car and was going to leave without so much as a word to me!!!!! My dad stopped him and I told my brother a few home truths :lol: In the end the three of them stayed :thumbup:

Erm, other minor dramas...I forgot my 'flats' but luckily had packed socks into my bridesmaids survival kits so I stole one of them back and was in socks most of the early evening. I put my heels back on though in the late evening when I changed into my party dress :happydance: And I didn't wear my garter :hissy: After all that stressing over wanting one that I liked and wasn't satin etc and I forgot to even put it on. Haha! And I forgot to give my mum her corsage thingy so had to make an emergency phone call to my brother who was still at my dads, but because he was at my dads he wouldn't answer the phone, but I kept ringing and he got the hint so I got him to bring it to the reception venue :lol: Then told him off for being late because he should have already left by that time anyway. Haha

But anyway, after that, all was fantastic. We didn't choose our first dance song until about an hour before we actually danced to it :lol: and I hadn't told my dad that we were having a father/daughter dance and I had chosen a song by one of his favourite bands so he was chuffed to bits with that :blush:

The whole evening ended at about midnight. We had some cracking music. Having my friend DJ was without a doubt the best option because I had complete control over the playlist...there was a bit of effing and jeffing in there that I worried about but I justified it with "I'm the bride...I'll do what I want" :haha: I am absolutely shattered. My HUSBAND is absolutely shattered. My feet are absolutely broken. But I'd do it all again if I could :cloud9::cloud9::cloud9:

https://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p507/hotpics2012/D342AE9F-B73B-459E-A1E1-81151845FA8D-4325-000003DB79E75052.jpg


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## aly888

Oh and the 'wed-libs' were sooo funny to read this morning. Those of you who are doing them will not regret it, I promise. 
And for the kids, as a last minute decision I decided to give the age 3+ kids a disposable camera each...they went mad for it. I've never seen a group of kids so excited and preoccupied by the simplest of thing...the cameras are all full of pictures of the kids taking pictures because they kept standing in front of each other to take photos at the same time :lol: But it kept them happy. Haha


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## Tasha

Sounds amazing, sorry there was some drama. You look so beautiful :cloud9:


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## Mummy May

Firstly woooo congratulations Mrs K! How amazing! I was sure your wedding was further away. It all sounds so amazing and there wasn't too much drama! How was MIL? Xxx


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## EmmyReece

I seriously thought you had longer too :dohh: sorry about the little bits of drama during the day, but am glad it was still one of the best days of your life

But ohhhh gosh you looked amazing, soooooo pretty :D

Now I'm off to google what "wed-libs" are :rofl:


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## aly888

Lol Emmy, "wed-libs" are the wedding madlibs. I know a few of us were doing them. Lauren definitely is, and I think Laura (Laura&Faith) is too. They are so funny. I knew our friends would make the most of them. Haha

Thanks girls. I felt pretty amazing on the day too if I'm honest :lol:

MIL drove me nutty. From the very second I walked into the ceremony venue she was calling over the balcony (I was downstairs in the bar and the upstairs has a mezzanine) to ask if I had the ring pillow :dohh: Then all day she just kept hassling me and asking me questions. She couldn't just go with it. I was quite rude to her really but I just wanted to enjoy my day :shrug:


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## Mummy May

Did you swear at her? If not, well done! I quite hate my MIL at the month, I wanna spit in her face and that's vile but that's how I feel about her recently! I'm having the mad libs too - did you get the free printables that me and lauren are having? Xx


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## EmmyReece

How on earth did you not tell her where to go??? :grr:


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## emyandpotato

Wow she sounds so ridiculous and childish. My MIL is driving me to insanity right now but if she tried it on my wedding day I think I would murder her. Did you use the ring pillow in the end?


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## aly888

Oh I wasn't outwardly rude to her. I just kept ignoring her or if I saw her heading my way I would turn and walk away or grab someone to talk to :lol: We did use the ring pillow but didn't have LO carry it. She carried the sign and the best man had the pillow. I don't think that's what MIL had in mind but tough. 
Seriously girls, don't let MILs (or anyone) try and ruin your day. It's YOUR day and you will be forgiven for not putting up with any crap. There will be so many people for you to give your attentions to that if anyone is being a nuisance you can pretty successfully ignore them. 

MummyMay, I did my own, of course :lol: I haven't got a picture of them but I've got a couple of spare ones that I rescued from the day. I will take a picture (and of the 'I Spy' on the back) and post it later :)


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## Lauren25

I think you done very well with your MIL, if i had to put up with her i think i would have went up to the balcony and pushed her off :rofl:

Cant wait to do the mad libs now, i hope people take part!!


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