Sunday 20 December 2009

progress

Well, the photographer has been booked!!

I met with a really nice one that's quite local - http://www.unique-photography.co.uk/

The guy, Joe, was really nice, not too fussy in terms of what he does, but not too chilled that I thought he was going to have to be told exactly what to do!! Only thing is that he is over our budget by about £150, but then, if he gives us what we want and how we want it, then its worth it!! I discussed it with h2b, and he say yes!! Am really relieved now we have the big 3 booked - cars, venue and photographer!!

Oh, and h2b also booked the registrar, so the ceremony is booked for 2.30pm on the 13.8.11!!!! Very exciting - can barely contain myself!!!

On a bit of a down note though - have not stuck to my diet for the last 2 weeks due to colds (i go rid of one, then 3 days later, i have another one!) so have been comfort eating....

Also, have been looking at wedding dresses online, and nothing has took my breath away except one by Alfred Angelo, which my local bridal shops don't stock, and its now not even on his website!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!

Hopefully my mood will life when i get rid of this snotty and sore nose, then I will probably love every dress I see!!!!

The perils of being a bride to be!!! But i love it!!

Friday 11 December 2009

Photographers and wedding cars..

Well, its been a while since I blogged, but that's because I haven't done much in terms of wedding lately!!

However, I have had a couple of appointments with photographer's!! The first one was with a husband and wife couple...

They seemed OK, if a little posh, but the wife was OK. Things were going well, I was most impressed with their work, their style and albums and the fact that they were totally flexible in what I wanted and l asked. We began talking about the venue, and they asked me if we had looked at a certain hotel, which we had. I replied that we had indeed, but found the price too out of our budget at 8K, not including drinks. To this, the husband then said, 'oh right, well, if that was out of your budget, then we will be too..'....... WTF????

So, I quickly assessed how I should play this - I could go, 'you're right, I wont waste your time' and leave, or I could be unfazed and let them go through their 'sell'..... I chose the latter!!!

They proceeded to give it the full power of sell - telling me what, how etc etc, I played the role like a star, nodding, agreeing, mildly disagreeing, saying what I would and wouldn't want etc..

Then they told me how much the prices would start from - £1800 to over 2K!!!

They were right, it is out of our budget.... but so far I haven't confirmed with them yet.....

The second photographer was much cheaper...

When I first met him, h2b wasn't in, and the photographer proceeded to tell me what he did, how he did it and what he thought. He also told what I would and wouldn't be doing on the day...... hmmm, and there was me thinking it was our day......

H2b then arrived, and we all had a discussion together.... the photographer then left, and hb was quite impressed. I told him what the photographer had been saying prior to his arrival, but h2b thinks he was just over passionate and enthusiastic....

Hmm, but is it right that a photographer tells you not to look at any of your relatives as you walk back down the aisle after the ceremony? Or that I should have as many bridesmaids, flower girls, page boys etc as possible as it makes a better photograph? Or that the groom party should have 1 best man and at least 2 ushers and that they should all be wearing the same?? Or that I should wear a bold colour as I had 'strong features' and would be able to carry it off?? (WTF?? Strong features - whats that mean??), but that my dress couldn't be too silky or shiny???

Hmmmm....

Anyhoo, we have a further 2 photographers to see - one Sunday and hopefully another one Thursday so we should have chosen one by next Friday!!

On another note - I have booked my cars - well, sent the form off and waiting for them to tell me how to put the deposit down?

My car is this one:
http://www.premiercarriage.co.uk/transport/classic-cars/1962-rolls-royce-silver-cloud-ii/

The MOH will be travelling in this:

http://www.premiercarriage.co.uk/transport/classic-cars/rolls-royce-silver-shadow-ii-2/

Exciting eh????

Of course, I am still making the invites - I have done the wording for the inserts, just waiting for h2b to book the registrar so can confirm the time!

Think that about all for now!!

Monday 30 November 2009

WOO HOOO!!


Saw Financial advisor this evening....

Things didnt go according to how we would of hoped in that there is probably little chance of us getting a remortgage.... but h2b and i discussed it, and we have figured out a way to get married without it....

It requires some considerable planning and forward thinking, but we have come up with plans and failsafe's so its all go!!

So much so that we booked and paid the deposit on our venue!!!!!!!!!

This is the venue above!!!

Am totally chuffed and shed a few tears of joy!!!

Am looking forward to getting stuck in on the planning!

I know its going to be hard, and that I will be tightening my belt a great deal, as well as tightening up my diet, but its all going to be worth it!! Am so totally chuffed!!!

xxxxxxx

Day of reckoning??!!

Well, today is the day that we go and have a chat with our financial advisor to see if we can afford to get married......

I have a suspicion that we wont be able to do what we want to do, although h2b says he is 'quietly confident' that we will get the green light. Myself, I am not so optimistic.....

I am sure that if we cant, we will find another way to afford to get married, but whether its how we want is another matter. Don't get me wrong, its not like we are splurging, or wanting to spend outrageously, but even the simplest of weddings costs an arm and a leg these days. Myself and h2b are quite savvy when it comes to money and getting a good deal, and we are continuing that with our wedding,so we are not going to be spending stupid amounts of money, but we want a day we will be happy with, and that people will enjoy.

Lets hope the FA gives us the green light later...... maybe he will feel sympathy as I have a stinking cold, and he will show us mercy........... unlikely, but who knows!!

Will let you know the outcome.......

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Dark thoughts and worries.....

Oh dear, today is not a good day!!
Have woken up with dark thoughts and black worries!!

My mum retires this week, my dad is already medically retired due to a knackered knee, and in the job that I do, I see and hear all manner of horror stories where by people have retired, then become very ill after their retirement as they are not keeping themselves active both physically and mentally, and they have no purpose (not saying that work is a purpose to live, but you know what I mean)....
My parents have plans for their retirement, and are looking forward to it....

I am worried something will happen to my folks now.... I know thats ridiculous, we cant predict the future, but......

I am sure these thoughts are just related to the fact that we have an appointment with the financial advisor on monday to see if we can afford to remortgage so we can get married. H2B thinks that there wont be a problem with this, and we will be able to, but I am not so sure.

If we cant get the money, we wont be able to get married, which is why I havent gone full tilt into the wedding preparations (even though h2b already thinks I have - he aint seen nothin' yet!). I cant stand the thought of not knowing, and I am petrified that the longer we leave it, the more likely it is someone will take out date and venue!!!

I guess we all have days like this when things seem more negative and unlikely than others, and I know there is nothing I can do about it till next week, but I feel really down. Still, am sure I will be ok soon enough, then hopefully I will laugh and wonder what on earth I was worried about!

Monday 23 November 2009

Progress...

Not a bad weekend... we had a family celebration so h2b managed to tear himself away from work for a bit!

Also managed to have a quick chat to parents, Aunty and h2b about various wedding bits!!

Parents have offered us a lot of money to help with the wedding, but its coming from their retirement money, so I didn't want to accept the full amount and appear ungrateful. I came up with asking them to pay for the wedding cars as a first instance, with the proviso that if we needed more money, then we would ask them to help. I am hoping that we wont need to, as it was our choice to get married, and mum and dad have done so much for us that I felt mean taking their money off them. I hope I managed to explain why, without offending them. I don't want them to feel that they are not involved or included as they are, I just don't want them to use all their retirement money on our wedding. Still, I think they were happy with paying for the cars - that will probably come to about £500 anyway, which is less than they offered, but still a hefty sum.... with the option of giving us more if needed.... hopefully everyone is happy!!

My Aunty has agreed to make our wedding cake, and bless her, will not accept a penny for it!! She is going to make a 3 tier one - bottom tier will be fruit, top 2 will be Madeira as neither of us like fruit cake!! H2B and I have decided to have a spray of flowers on the cake rather than a bride and groom, so I think that will look lovely!!

H2b and my dad have talked about the suits for the wedding, and they are planning on going to look at some/ get fitted in January.. that way we can probably save some in the sales, and we have enough time to send them over to Ireland for the best man & usher to try on... result!! H2b is a little concerned though as dad keeps threatening to wear lime green check suit.. LOL!!

We have also agreed on table names... obv we will have the top table as it is, but the others will be names after famous romantic couples, and we will have their pictures and quotes around them. Should stop any bickering as to who is more important in terms of table numbers anyway!!!

Well, that's all for now, off to make more invites and research the couples!!

bye all
xxx

Saturday 21 November 2009

Invites....

I have decided to make our wedding invites as although I am not the most artistic of people, with the stuff thats available now, and the fact that I have a good eye for colour, I thought I would give it a bash. It would also save us a fortune, and also be much more personal!

So... i drew up some ideas, showed them to h2b and we settled on a design.

Basically, we have a ribbon along the crease of the card, then a banner at the top, then 2 doves holding 3 cream roses with a small charm hanging from the stem of the roses.
So far I have made 8, and am pretty pleased with them so far. Ok, so they might not look uber professional, but they are personal, and have character, so its all good!!

I shall put some coloured card on the inside, with cream paper over that with the text on it, so I think it will look quite pretty. Once they are finished, I will put them up for you to see....

All we need to do then is to decide who we need to invite....... joy!!

Friday 20 November 2009

the venues

We decided a few saturdays ago to go venue hunting....

We made a list of potential places and decided to go visit 5 of them. We hated one on sight, ruled out another once they told us their ridiculous criteria, and eliminated another one, as although it was lovely, was too modern for what we wanted......

It left us with 2 choices, which there was very little to choose between them.

I liked one in particular, TCH (abbrviated to prevent any bad luck as not confirmed yet!) and another one TLPH (againm just in case).
We liked aspects of both, each had their own qualities and so, it basically would come down to which was going to be cheaper.

We had quotes and TCH was more expensive.... I was gutted, but tried not to let it show. I then contacted TCH and said it was unlikely they would be our venue as their opposition had come in with a lower price.... to which they then lowered their price and threw in some extras for free, which meant they were lower in price and better value....

After discussing thei with h2b, he was still undecided, and wanted to see both venues dressed for a wedding. However, neither venue had a wedding on until Dec/ Jan, and I was worried we would lose the venue..... I tried to remain neutral, and was torturing eveyone at work with my dilemma..

I want it to be 'our' wedding, not 'my' wedding, and did not think it appropriate to tell h2b that i really wanted TCH and sway his decision.... i was in agony for weeks...

Anyway, we had my folks over the other evening, and when they were there, h2b pipes up that he wants TCH!!! The one I want!!

I was shockedm happy and a little bit cross!! I had been on tenterhooks trying not to sway him, and alll along he wanted the same one i do!! Yes!!

We are off to see the financial adviser on the 30th of this month to see if we can get a remortgage to finance our wedding, and if we get the ok, we can put the deposit down.. then i can tell you lovely people where we are getting hitched!!!

Fingers crossed it doesnt get booked before then.......... and the FA say yes!!!

more soon..
xxx

The engagement


I guess i better start from the beginning eh???

Right, well, a few weeks ago, my other half and I went on a short break to the Isle of Wight...

We decided to visit Osbourne House one day, and set off. Other half was acting a bit strange, but I never though much of it....

We looked around some of the house, then decided to go and look at the gardens. There are lovely fountains there, and we went down to the biggest one ... (see above)

There was a family there, so we obliging took a photo of them all on their camera, then they did the same. Other half seemed a bit twitchy, and edgy.....

Anyway, the family drifted away, and I was looking at something to the right.. when i turned to the left to ask other half something, there he was, on bended knee, flashing a jewellery box.....

'I was hoping........... would you....... will you......... I would like...' he stammered,
I then burst into tears and said a soggy 'yes' to which he then started to cry and shakily put the ring on my finger!!!!

After about 5 mins when we had composed ourselves, he admitted he had been petrified and had rehearsed how he wanted to propose, but got overwhelmed by nerves and forgot what he wanted to say!!!

The ring was chosen by himself, with only 2 conditions - i dont like yellow gold, and i didnt want anything large (we had a discussion months before about the possiblity of getting married) and he chose a lovely ring - white gold, with a rope like twist and a diamond set into the twist! Its lovely,and i have had many compliments on it!!

We phoned both sets of parents.. ish (more on that in a future blog..) who were overjoyed!! Let the wedding plans begin...

Oh, andapparently he had asked my dad's permission back in July!! How he kept it secret for so long, i have no idea!! xx

Welcome..

Hello folks,
This is my blog, which will cover the planning, execution and aftermath of my wedding!!

My husband to be (h2b) thinks its ages away, and keeps getting cross when i keep harping on about it! Figured best way to get around that, and to prevent others getting sick of my talking about it, i would so a blog, that way, i can talk to my hearts content, thrash out ideas, and generally be uber wedding-y and if you dont want to read, well, you dont have to!!

We aim to get married in August 2011, so this will be a fairly short term blog...
enjoy, and by all means participate!!

love

Bride 2 B
xxx