May 2012 Brides (and Grooms) + Diary of a 2012 Bride

Belfastme

thanks ruth nice to speak to someone who has been there. Love the dress and bridesmaid dresses very nice. Its my second wedding to so Im looking a dress similar to that. i also seen one on ebay but am so wary about ordering it

ruthybabs

bride 2 b - have you tried these? http://www.weddingcarsscotland.biz/ still a distance from you but seems they travel. I knew Tynemouth was hours away, but presume many of the people who turn up will have come from all over.

Thanks for your kind thoughts on dresses, going to bite the bullet and order I think. Found a similar dress in tesco for my youngest dd with a bow on the front which echoes what the big girls picked, so that's the 3 girls sorted, and for under £60. Just need to sort out shoes next year and something for my ds, but that will come.

Found some fabulous silk flowers today too on a market stall of all places. Look amazingly real and just what I wanted. Going to go back and buy them in the next few weeks, find some sparkly bits, feathers ribbon and florists tape and that's all my flowers done for under £60. Extremely proud of how MSE I'm being upto now. However, part of me keeps thinking that it leaves more money for frivolities! Can even do them early and store in a box at MIL's or somewhere until they're needed-got decorations, stationary, cake and maybe food to do in the last few weeks so anything that can be sorted is definitely a bonus!

ruthybabs

Hi girls, we're all very quiet, especially compared to some months! Really excited to hear all your ideas and how things are going, so wondered if anyone had any updates?

H2B is back in the country next week so we can have the official engagement thing and finally tell our families etc ( only my DDs and sister know upto now, although I think MIL2B suspects).

I have a file of stuff for us to look through like some crazed bridezilla! (I'm not-I promise!) But upto now he really wants to be involved in choosing everything. We have 3 venues to visit and then we can book somewhere and choose the food we want. Everything else will slot into place (hopefully) after that. We have an appointment to give notice with the registrar too, so things will really start moving for us.

So where are we all upto? Hope the planning is going well xxxx

MsShopper

Hi ruthybabs!

Bet you can't wait to reveal the big news. It's such an exciting time!

And you read my mind - I was just thinking about adding to post to this thread. The June and July girls are putting us to shame!

My planning hasn't moved on much further (church, hotel, band and photographer booked), apart from I decided on the BM dresses. I didn't plan it this way, but I seem to be veering towards a '60s retro theme (in a chic way not a cheesy way!). The typography I picked for our stationery (still in progress on my Mac) is very '60s (think Bewitched, the TV series) and the BM dresses I like are quite '60s/Jackie O style, like this one:



Not sure how I can bring this style/vibe elsewhere in the day though. Any ideas welcome!

ruthybabs

Msshopper - love those dresses! Are they black?

A sixties theme should be pretty easy...plenty of inspiration around for Audrey Hepburn/Jacqui O type of thing and all of that is so classy, not like the cheesy fancy dress 60s thing.

Will put my thinking cap on!

Music is the immediate idea that springs to mind, you could have an amazing soundtrack for the day. How exciting!

MsShopper

Thanks! They're in 'midnight' - a dark navy (I hope), which is my colour scheme along with silver. I'm going to head to a bridal shop with my BMs next month to take a look at them in person.

I wondered about music, but we've already booked the band - an Irish/covers band that do a mix of Irish trad/pop and more mainstream/modern (my family's Irish and H2B's is English). But they do some 60s stuff as part of that, like the Beatles and Van Morrision, so I could ask them to make sure they include plenty of that. Good thinking, thanks!

How about you? Have you thought about colour schemes/themes?

Olokia

I was thinking about posting but wasn't sure what to say.

The only two major suppliers we need to choose now are the photographer and music.

I think we have chosen the photographer, just need to contact her and ask if she wouldn't mind doing a wedding. The music is a little harder. My OH has his heart set on having a band. We contacted all the bands we could find and the cheapest one is £500 (a friend), with the majority being about £1000. Only contacted one DJ and he cost £350.... If we were having lots of guests then we could probably justify the cost of the £500 band but we are only have 50. Also my MIL has hinted that about 20 of the guests (her family) will probably leave as soon as the meal has finished because we are having the wedding sooo early (1pm) and her family will not want to be sociable for such long hours :mad::mad::mad:. I had an argument with her because she was insisting the wedding had to be at 4pm. I got my own way in the end.:j

Sorry got off track, so anyway 30 people for a £500 is too much money to spend so I will have to carry on looking at DJs.

I really want a 3 tier cheesecake wedding cake but it is sent frozen and I'm worried that it won't taste as nice or it might not unfreeze in time or there is no where to store a defrosting cheesecake. Probably will go with a 3 tier cake with chocolate sponge, vanilla sponge and fruit cake and ask my guests beforehand what flavour they will like and try to match up the required amounts with the 3 tier sizes. Just a bit worried, that only 1 person will choose a flavour and mess up the sizes. Or I can choose the sizes and then the hotel can put the plates of cake out and people choose the plate themselves.

Lol I guess I had things to say after all

MsShopper

Hi Olokia, sorry to hear your MIL's family are such party poopers. It's a celebration, for heaven's sake! That said, it might just be her being a pain, and on the day most of them will stay cos they're enjoying themselves! 1pm is a perfectly fine time to have the wedding - well done you for sticking to your guns.

Although..... if you do think they will disappear after dinner, maybe you could invite more people to your evening do and take full advantage of the music on offer, whether that's a band or DJ?

I don't have any advice on cheesecakes, sorry, but I wouldn't worry too much about your guests' perferences of flavour. Go with what you and your OH love, I'd say. Everyone loves cake, and they'll be just happy to have a slice.

ruthybabs

Olokia, if you want a cheesecake - have one! It's your day after all. As for the inlaws, well done for standing your ground over the timings. If they choose to leave early there's not a lot you can do about it I guess, and it's probably better than them sitting there with a face on. Invite more friends in the evening and enjoy your band or disco. They might surprise themselves (and you!) by staying late and really enjoying it.

Ms Shopper, I love the midnight/silver colour theme-it's similar to what I have planned although I think we may go for a more navy than midnight. I have my heart set on a boat for the reception now so have kind of planned a whole nautical thing in my head. It's a bit presumptuous and things might change as H2B hasn't seen the function suite there yet, although he loves the idea of the boat too. (He grew up on the riverbank and at the seaside and ran off on a fishing trawler when he was 14, so they're kind of in his blood. I just think it's cool and kind of quirky, which given that we are going "cheap and cheerful" on so much, it's something a bit more original than a function room in a working man's club.) Anyway we're going to see it together next week so fingers crossed he's as enchanted as I am!

Otherwise, we may end up with fuschia pink or something entirely different as that is what my teenage DDs want for their dresses!

Aaaagh! Just want H2B home so I can make some final decisions!!!!!

Ordered save the dates today, as nearly everybody will have to travel and will need to book hotels so as we have a confirmed date that is something at least that i can do. We can send them out when H2B returns as they should have been delivered by then.

I also attempted starting one of those wedding website thingies, but i lost the will to live with it! Maybe I'll ask the kids! x

MsShopper

Love the idea of a boat for the reception! That's really original. I bet you could weave some lovely nautical details into the day as well, and have tons of fun with it. I hope your H2B loves it!

I've done a wedding website too - took me ages (and I still have some bits to finish) but I've really enjoyed doing it. I bet your children would love to pitch in.

And one upside of putting together the site is it helped me figure out some of the more practical details, like transport, parking, timings etc. My OH was a bit sceptical (he thought having a website was a bit OTT) but now he's seen it he's pretty impressed, ha!