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

Poppleminster

Yay and welcome. Don't worry, I pretend to be organised but i'm not really xxx

retepetsir

My fianc!e found her dress at the weekend, it was the first one she tried on! She tried another 9 but went back to her original choice, and apparently it was in the sale too so she's got her ideal dress within her budget! I'm obviously not allowed to know any of the details but I'm glad she's happy, it takes her mind off of the family issues we're having

bride2be2012

welcome stationeryace! Yes, I'm the same, appear organised but am not really!

MsShopper, still unsure if MIL2B will put in an appearance this weekend. We've not heard from her since she suggested it last week, well she has text OH a few times just asking how we are, but hasn't mentioned coming to visit - so fingers crossed I have escaped this time lol! Thing is, although she is hard work, we actually get on OK - its not like we cant stand the sight of each other or anything - she is just very hard work!

MsShopper

Welcome stationaryace - and congrats!

Good news about your OH's dress, retepetsir. I was amazed at how stressful the whole dress thing is (especially as I'm not exactly a girly girl!), so I'm sure it's a weight off her mind to have found something perfect.

bride2be, it's good you two get on. I've been lucky with my MIL2B too. I feel for some people though - you do hear some horror stories on this forum!

ruthybabs

Hi all wrote a great long post but it disappeared when I pressed the wrong key so I can't be bothered to type it again! Had a lovely break with H2B although was heart broken leaving him at the airport knowing it will be another month before he's back :-( It seems to get worse everytime he goes away! The tribe are home and I'm back to noise and chaos which helps though. My sister and SIL2B are both excited to be bridesmaids, so with my 3 dds that makes 5-bit bigger than planned, but still hopefully not too bad. Have found dresses for them and they have offered to pay too, although I declined and asked them just to pay for their shoes. Have ordered the dresses so will see if they look ok when they come as worried they might be a bit cheap looking (they are cheap dresses!)

Hello and welcome stationaryace you'll soon catch up, but we're probably not as organised as we appear! I know I'm not anyway. retepsir-I'm glad she has a dress, i'm sure it will be a relief.

I'm glad to see everyone's plans coming along x

Cleverclogs

Hi all, I haven't been on in a while but it looks like everyone is making good progress. Hello stationaryace!
I have bought the bridesmaid dresses on eBay. I'm still waiting for them to arrive and I have no idea if they will fit but they were so much cheaper than buying them new in the shop, that I took a chance! We will see if it pays off.
Currently I'm in total turmoil over our venue. We heard a few months ago that although our hotel was continuing to trade as usual, it's head office had gone into administration. All the hotels in the group are currently up for sale and depending on the outcome of the sale, we may have to wait until October to find out what's happening. We've paid a £500 holding deposit but as yet we haven't signed a contract (it offers us no protection & says the hotel is within its rights to make any changes as they see fit, and as it's got the Head Office letterhead on, I refuse to sign a contract with a company that has gone bust), and I am unable to secure wedding insurance until the sale has completed so we are not protected at all. We are trying to make the very difficult decision as to whether to lose our deposit and cut & run, or just sit it out and see what happens. I would hope they do find a buyer, but no-one seems able to reassure us that any new buyer will honour exisiting bookings at the agreed price. And my main concern is that any new buyer will put prices up (the venue is already over budget). We have a second choice venue lined up, but obviously dates are going quickly for next year, and we will have to change our wedding date. It's all very stressful but we're meeting with our venue wedding co-ordinator tomorrow to talk it through further. I think H2B is keen to stick it out, where I being the more risk-averse, am more inclined to move it. We haven't yet paid deposits on anything else but we were hoping to book all the big things this month. The planning is stressful enough without having to worry about what might happen in the next couple of months! I'm sure things will work out in the end, whatever we decide. It's just panic stations in our house at the moment!!! x

MsShopper

ruthybabs, that's happened to me on here too. It's so frustrating when you lose a good posting! But I love your new BM dresses - they will look very glam!

Cleverclogs, what a nightmare with your venue! October seems very far away to have to wait to hear what's happening.

I think I'd be like you and would want to find a replacement venue, while also working very hard to get the deposit out of the original venue. There must be some legalese you can throw at them in a formal letter - irrevocable breakdown in good faith that they can fulfil the original terms of the agreement type stuff?

bride2be2012

oh no cleverclogs, what a nightmare! I'd be tempted to look for another venue as well. Hope you get something sorted soon x

ruthybabs

What a nightmare Cleverclogs! I think I'd want something more definite too, even though patience may well pay off. As long as the hotel is trading as normal then any new owners should just take it over and continue with existing bookings etc. Have you tried calling to make an enquiry as a new bride to see if they'd accept a new booking, just to give you an idea of their position.
I agree with Msshopper too, Maybe a carefully worded letter would be a start, explaining stress at uncertainty and inability to confirm any other suppliers etc as well as concern about losing your deposit. They probably couldn't promise to honour your price or anything, but might release you from the booking and refund your deposit.
I'd be tempted to risk losing it and book the 2nd choice place then try every little trick to get deposit back.
Hope you get something sorted soon xx

Cleverclogs

Thanks everyone. All my OH & I seem to be doing at the mo is weighing up the pros & cons! We will try to get our deposit back. We also paid it on credit card so that might give us another route to pursue. I think both us feel we need some serious reassurance from our venue tomorrow as from what we can see, we won't really be losing anything by moving venue at this stage (the cost even if we lose our deposit works out the same) - bar our wedding date! And if we do decide to move, it's likely we'll be getting married in April so I'll have to join the brides in the April 2012 forum - and really step it up with the planning!!!