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

MsShopper

Hello again, May brides and grooms!

I've loved the flurry of posts we've had lately, so thought I'd bump us up again.

Cleverclogs, your ring is gorgeous! I'm on the look-out for something similar (ideally with princess-cut diamonds to match my engagement ring). I also love a bit of bling!

You're having your hen do the same weekend as mine - I can't wait! My sister and MOH are organising it, and I've said I'll leave the details up to them, aside from I wanted it to be in Brighton and not too pricey for people. They've found a lovely 5-bedroom holiday home that will fit all 15 (!!) of us, and works out at £95 per head from Friday-Monday (though we'll probably slope off hungover on Sunday afternoon).

clairus, your bouquet is amazing! That's one of the prettiest, most stylish I've seen - love it!

stationaryace, I had to laugh at your sister and the stripper question. My sis has been hinting at similar things (she calls it something rude but I'll put the acronym if anyone can work it out: CITF!). However, I'll admit I've put a ban on all such stuff, as I know it would just make me uncomfortable. I'd rather be drinking cocktails and dancing up a storm.

retepetsir, don't panic! We still have several months (a mantra I keep calming myself with!).

bride2be2012, sorry to hear you're having MIL stresses. Sounds like a nightmare! I do count my lucky stars that OH's mum is such a sweetie.

Olokia, John Lewis and Tiffany's - sounds heaven!!

As for me, well I've put together my pocketfold invite 'prototypes' (managed to get them to print on my home printer in the end, but it took so much time and ink that I'm glad we're getting them printed professionally!). Here's how they look (pics taken with my phone, so not great, sorry!): link

Assuming I can make it work, I'm going to put a 5cm 'belly band' of translucent vellum paper around the pocketfold, with a favourite quote of mine printed on it: "There is only one happiness in life. To love and be loved". I might also affix a single pearl bead or diamante on the front tip of the pocketfold flap, just to add a bit of detail. Let me know what you think!

Cleverclogs

Wow, your invites look amazing MsShopper! I can't believe you did them all yourself!!! We're having pocketfolds too - but we've cheated and got a design friend of my OH to design & print them for us. I'm waiting until we have a prototype to play with but I'm now looking for ideas on how to fix the pocketfold flap...

I had a very successful trip to Debenhams yesterday evening so I now have my bridal underwear, and we bought some lovely brooches as thank you gifts for the mums. All in the sale! And all looks much more expensive than it was!!!

I was notifed yesterday that my hen do has been booked and costed. With the additional note that all my hen do organisers are now on the same page with regards to a stripper and I have been told to be prepared...! Ominous. And as well as being mortified, I have a feeling I might also be terrified!!! :rotfl:

MrsErtasToBe

Hi all,

Well i am here to make you all feel so much better about yourselves! I am getting married on May 19th and we literally have NOTHING ready.

We only found out on 23rd December that we would be able to go ahead with the Wedding (due to various issues regarding religion and nationality, all fun and games!!) so it has been all systems go since then.

We have got the Church booked and i have chosen my bridesmaids. We have viewings at various venues set up for next week as well so hopefully that will be sorted very soon.

Things i dont have: A dress, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, suits for the men, wedding favours, cars, honeymoon and these are just what i can think of at the top of my head!

I have become a bit of a bridezilla at work, its all i can think about. Its good fun though.

All of your things look fantastic, i hope im going to be able to find some of the same magic. x

MsShopper

Thanks cleverclogs! You'll have to post pics of your prototype when you get yours. I'm a complete stationery addict, so this is definitely my favourite part of the process so far.

For sticking the pocketfold flap, I've ordered 13mm self-adhesive velcro 'dots' from eBay - in black, so they sort of blend in with the navy card.

Brooches - that's a lovely idea for mum gifts. I've been struggling to know what to get the parents. What are you getting the dads? I'd really like to get my lot something they'll use, rather than something posh and engraved that they'll put in a cupboard…

MrsErtasToBe, congratulations and welcome to the board! What kind of venues are you looking at? And what are your plans for getting the dress? I loved the first flurry of wedding planning, so I'm almost a bit envious of you!

MrsErtasToBe

Thanks so much MsShopper, i am loving these boards!

We have mainly been looking at barns, i really love them and we also have our eyes on one hotel that i have fallen in love with. We have a meeting with them next Saturday so we will see how that goes!

I really want a long strapless dress. I have seen one on a website that i have completely fallen in love with so we will see about that but i need to diet first!

I am having a lot of fun at the moment and my mum has been brilliant helping me out with it. It's very exciting and i am hoping that because its so close, im not even going to have time to get too stressed out! x

MsShopper

PS We went 'live' with our wedding website on Wednesday – with the details emailed to our guests with a slightly belated save the date (below). I've just checked and we've had 99 site visits already! I'm so excited!!

MrsErtasToBe

Oh wow! I would love to do a wedding website but would have no idea where to begin! Was it expensive?!

MsShopper

Glad to hear it's been so much fun MrsErtas. A barn wedding sounds lovely – that would've been my choice I think, if our budget allowed.

If you haven't already, check out the recent thread on wedding blogs. There are some beautiful barn weddings on places like ruffledblog. Lots of ideas for centrepieces and decor etc!

The wedding website was free - there are a few different options I think, but we used gettingmarried.co.uk. You use their templates and fill them with whatever info you want to tell your guests, and they can RSVP on there, answer polls such as 'suggest a song', and all sorts. The reaction from our friends and family this week has been fantastic.

Olokia

I am a software developer so I made my own wedding website. No one has mentioned anything about it though We did have quite a few site visitors though.

katini

Ladies I am panicking and could really do with your opinions on what to do.

I ordered my dress last March and it's due into the shop this month. I called the shop earlier to ask when exactly it would come in as I want to think about shoes etc. she said she couldn't tell me today but would call on Monday and asked me to get my order form out to give her the details. I did all that and got off the phone.

Then I noticed that one of the measurements on the form is wrong. They've put down bust 32,under bust 27, waist 31 and hips 37. I've never had a 31 inch waist- it was probably around 26 inches last year and is 27inches now. I am now panicking that they will have ordered me a dress that's far too big for me. She said on the phone earlier that they were all dealing with people and so couldn't discuss my dress today but now I'm panicking I wonder whether to just ignore that and go down there (it's nearby) and ask her exactly what size she ordered. On the day they were debating between an 8 and 10 but if they've followed that waist size to the letter it would make it at least a 14 which would drown me.

Any suggestions?