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

stationaryace

plastic arrived, honeymoon flights bought (after watching the price increase by £10 everytime we blinked we eventually had to change our date - was not paying £300+ extra just because we had picked a date beforehand) and now OH is getting very excited looking at hire cars for our trip :cool:

caterers came back with a provisional menu that seemed to take all our requirements (no beef, no fish, light starter and sweet, not too meat heavy) and completely ignore every one! so now we are going to set our own menu, put that to the caterers and see if we can get a better menu without the price rocketing. on the plus side they included wine in the quote so at least we know how many bottles to budget for.

finishing the website this weekend so we can include this on the invites. Invites are being made next week, and possibly the week after. I saw photos of a brooch bouquet for the first time yesterday and really liked it so am contemplating doing one of these now - need to decide this weekend if its actually feasible...

oh and 4 months minus one day!

Olokia

stationaryace wrote: »

oh and 4 months minus one day!

4 months today. It's weird to think that tomorrow I will be in the 3 month and something time

MsShopper

Hello ladies! Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

bride2be - hope your OH's new job is going well, and good luck with your to do list. I decided to take my own advice last night and started a spreadsheet with every single task that needs to be done. It didn't seem that bad, until I realised that several of those tasks will take me a good day or so (eg constructing the favours). I'm trying to ignore the panicked feeling it gave me and just get on with ticking things off.

stationaryace, sounds like you're going great guns. Well done on booking your honeymoon flights. Me and OH still haven't decided what we're doing yet. Need to get on with that soon.

Our BM dresses arrived and they're gorgeous, but – eek! – the one for my MoH is massive on her, by at least a size or two! She swears she's not lost any weight, but I think she has. Which is fine, but I wish she'd have said she was hoping to slim down a bit. That said, she's trying to get pregnant at the moment, so actually the extra material could turn out to be a blessing. No idea what this will cost me in alterations though.

Aside from that, the next big thing for me to sort is printing and assembling the invites. I couldn't get my design to print properly on our inkjet printer at home, so we've decided to splash out and get PDA to print them – around £70 for invites plus three inserts (one of which is double-sided) x 70. That plus the cost of the card, pocketfolds and envelopes, and the total spend is around £120, or about £1.70 each. More than I wanted to pay, but as I've spent many hours designing them, I'm glad they're going to look the business.

Cleverclogs

Hi everyone, it sounds like you've all been very busy! I think the fact it's 'our' year has rubbed off on everyone!

I've been feeling very fed up after trying to finish my homemade bunting. I've been doing bits of sewing for the bunting over the last 9 months but it feels like FOREVER! I got a bit huffy over the weekend and stomped around the house regretting not just paying for some ready-made bunting and not learning how to use a bloomin' sewing machine. But I've nearly done 16m and there's only 8m left to go...! Once it's done, I swear I will seriously injure anyone who suggests I make bunting again!!!

Aside from bunting-gate, I feel quite in control at the moment (although this may change rapidly!). I've started Weightwatchers in the hope I can shed half a stone, and keep it off until the wedding! My wedding ring arrived just after Christmas and I am very happy with it. Not the standard plain band but I love a bit of sparkle! I think it was definitely worth splashing out on. What do you think?!!

MsShopper - my spreadsheet is my lifesaver. Plus I really like ticking off the things when they've been completed - it makes me feel like I've achieved something! I've got to have one of my bridesmaid's dresses altered too but at least it's too big and not too small. I think it's much easier to get them taken in as opposed to let out!

We are putting off planning our honeymoon until after the wedding (we're asking for travel vouchers instead of gifts) and instead going on a mini-moon to Paris for a few days after the wedding. But Clairus, your honeymoon sounds lovely. All my family on my dad's side is from Hong Kong and while I've never been, I'm desperate to go, so I'm very jealous!

Reading through the posts, I think we need some more pictures. I'd love to see what everyone has been working on!

clairus

Cleverclogs, the rings look lovely together, not long until you get to wear them properly!
Also, I can sympathise with the crafting misery, paper cranes are STILL to finish, might have another go this week.

So bridesmaids dresses: they all loved the dress, one needs swapping to a different size so we will have dresses sorted by this time tomorrow. I seem to be failing at links, but here is the dress BUT ours is a dark navy blue, not this brighter one.

Jobs this weekend for us as we are back in Liverpool:
Meet with priest to remind him about our wedding/sort out ceremony before he goes on a 3 month trip away
Make up trial/chat
Boys to look at suits

Also, going to a wedding fair this weekend, no need to, just a day out with the mums so might see some outfit shops for them.

Also, we definitely need more photos...I just need to learn how to post them! I shared this on another post, but my bouquet so far

My favourite part is the dinosaur brooch!

stationaryace

my sister called me today at 0835 and asked me to define "stripper".......:eek:

lordy only knows what she has planned in her crazy head but luckily my other bridesmaid is reigning her in - I gave her veto powers AND as I am HER CBM she knows any strippers found on my hen will also appear at hers 6 months later!

Cleverclogs - I really like your ring, it's so pretty. you have inspired me to actually go pick my own.

MsShopper - your favours look amazing. I could see me getting a little frustrated by the 50th favour.

Clarius - the dinosaur brooch is really cool.

retepetsir

I'm panicking a little now.... May 5th is the date and still have a lot to do .

The other half has her dress fitting/adjustment in March and I still need to decide on what I'm actually wearing. We're only having a small wedding (20 guests to ceremony) so people are wearing what they want (no 'best man' as such).

I didn't realise how pricey suit hire would be, Debenhams appears to be 'from' £85. I could buy a suit for not much more than that!

Still have to sort flowers, rings, decorations....arghhhh!

bride2be2012

agh, can I please just run off and hide until the wedding please??

OH's parents phoned last night. For about the past 3 months, every time they phone (about 2/3 times a week) the conversation revolves around 1) Has OH hired his kilt yet, as his mum wants all the men on their side of the family to be in the same tartan, and 2) if the venue turns out to be fully booked (we don't have exclusive use), where's the nearest Travelodge for them to stay??

First, OH hasn't hired his kilt yet, won't be until we get paid at the end of this month, they have been told this over and over. We don't care if people turn up in kilts, suits, jeans,or their bl***y pyjamas! And it's highly unlikely they'll all be in the same tartan, as some of them own their own kilts and won't want to be forking out for hiring something else. Others don't want to wear the kilt anyway, but doesn't stop MIL2B phoning around saying that WE want everyone the same!!

And two, if your that concerned about the venue being fully booked, why didn't you book your room months ago! Reason is MIL2B is the tightest person I know, and she is hoping she can pick up a bargain room elsewhere. Except she's left it too late, Travelodge rooms are only about £15 cheaper then our discounted venue rates, and by time she pays for taxis etc, she'll be better off at the venue!

And the car is in the garage, again, so there goes our honeymoon money...grrr....

sorry for ranting, but I feel a bit better now!

Cleverclogs

Oooh what a lovely brooch bouquet Clairus! I love that you've managed to work a dinosaur in there! And the bridesmaid dresses are lovely.
My concern at the moment is my youngest sister seems to be putting on quite a lot of weight (definitely food related not pregnancy related!), and I might end up having to shop around & try and find her dress in a larger size. Not sure how to address this subject in a nice way as trying to find a bigger dress is going to be hard, and I might end up having to buy different dresses for both bridesmaids - argh!

Haha stationaryace - that's hilarious! But surely there is only one way to define a stripper?!!
Have you all booked your hen dos? I delegated organising my hen do to my two best friends and my MOH. My only criteria was the appearance of willies and wine! I'm starting to realise this was probably quite dangerous but quite frankly, I'm sick of organising things! I know it's the first weekend in May, and includes both the Friday & Saturday nights. But that's about all I know!

And bridetobe don't get me started on the in-laws and accommodation. My MIL2B thought it would be appropriate to ring our hotel wedding co-ordinator 9 times in 4 hours to ensure she had a room booked, AFTER I had explicitly told her that we had booked a room for her (we've got 8 rooms on hold as part of our wedding package)!

retepetsir - we looked into suit hire a couple of months ago and did find that the high street was just short of £100 per person all in. There are some deals where you hire 4 or 5 & get one free. Another option is to go online. We got some fabric samples sent through from www.formallyyours.co.uk who were recommended on the forums and come in much cheaper (I think it's around £50ish). We were impressed with the quality of the fabrics and they deliver to you 7 days before the wedding, and arrange collection afterwards. We haven't decided which way to go yet, but this is definitely an option.

Olokia

My OH managed to get a morning suit from a place on the high street called Slaters for £77. Normal suits would have been cheaper.

I'm not really fussed about having a hen night. I will probably just do something with my two bridesmaids.

I can't wait until this weekend. I am going up to London to buy my ring from Tiffanys and choose my shoes at John Lewis. Then my OH and I are going to do our wedding gift list choosing at John Lewis as some people have already asked about the list.

The invitations have also been written. I only need to add an insert (wording tbc) to each one of them and then they can be sent.

Only 3 months, 3 weeks and 5 days to go. Starting to panic as there is loads to do.