'London here we come!' - The Hen Weekend...

I cannot recommend a bloody good hen weekend enough to anyone getting married. It is an awesome way to de-stress, enjoy the girls and come back with a clear head.

For the previous couple of weeks I'd been getting extremely stressed out and worked up by a lot of things to do with the wedding and to be honest I couldn't wait for it all to be over. It got to the point where I didn't even want to go on my own hen weekend and was seriously thinking of calling it off - thank you hubstobe for talking me out of that one!

So, what happened...

I'm going to steal Kez's list of events and expand on them!

Imaginary friends & the gatecrashing lady our train journey - Kez was the only one boarding the train at Birmingham (the rest of us were getting on at Warwick Parkway) so had to pretend she had lots of imaginary friends so she could bag us two tables for the journey. There were seven of us so we piled our bags into one seat and took up the other seven, only for a lady to get on and insist she had that seat despite there being others nearby?!

Kirsty identifying Cox when she couldn't find Oli & Glee being their new song - the girls had arranged party games 'Guess Oli's body parts' and 'Mr & Mrs'. I however, managed to pick Kez's husband out a couple of times instead of Oli lol! I also found out that 'our' song according to Oli is Glee's 'Don't Stop Believing' despite our first dance bing to a Take That number?! BOYS!!

"Why are you Lebanese?" - Stoopid dance teacher. As we were having a Glee themed dance lesson the girls had arranged t-shirts like the cast wore in the 'Born this way' episode. Mine said 'Can't sing' - thank you for that one Lauren! Anyone who watches the show will know that Britney thought lesbains were Lebanese hence Lauren's t-shirt lol!

Don't stop believing/single ladies megamix requires a double vodka - we even managed to get a bit of the single ladies routine into it whoop whoop!

Short changing the taxi driver to Revolution - this bit I know nothing about?!

Cocktails, Elvis cocktails & the chilli shots (inc his & Lauren's 3!) - possibly the best bit of the evening, our cocktail lesson at revolution in Soho. Amazing fun, we were trollied by 7:30pm!! and there were chilli shots for those who lost each cocktail race - poor Lauren got 3 and informed us she had red pooh the next morning!

Shot train not working - poor Elvis, our cocktail teacher, was trying to impress us ladies with his shot train only for it to fail at the first glass!

Our fancy dress theme being über popular...oh and Friar tuck - possibly THE best fancy dress theme ever! London underground stations - I was Maida Vale. 

A few more highlights from the weekend...

£50 rickshaw rides & "the chase" - beat that rickshaw & take them out if you have to
Robbie Savage welcome & Kez's attempt to sneak in free
Weird oriental pole dancing & old grannies
"My Frangita" is for pleasure
£17.40 for 3 shots of vodka & 1 can of monster
Singing Pink songs to the taxi driver on the way home
KFC & no zinga towers!
Dolly getting the night of her life
Late night fag stop with Imo in pj's, OCD t-shirt, blazer & no shoes
Wasted by 7.30pm & in bed before midnight

I'll leave you all to wonder about these ones lol! 

 A HUGE thank you goes to Kez for her amazing organisational skills and for giving me an even better hen weekend than I could have imagined or planned myself. You are a star and I'm incredibly lucky to have such fabulous friends xx 

Celebrations & Smiles...

It's been a week of good things all round for us really (at long last things seem to be working out & heading in the right direction!)
It started on Monday with the news that I had got the transfer I had requested to another store, which in turn meant we can now rent our first proper home together...excited muchly!

The happy week ended with Oli's graduation ceremony at Coventry Cathedral on Thursday 24th November. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him and what he has managed to achieve.

For reasons I won't go in to, there were times when I thought we'd never get here and there were times when I thought he was giving up which is why these happy photos mean so much to me. It was a fabulous end to an awesome week - I only hope it continues! : )

All that's left for me to say is "Ol, I love you so much, I'm so very proud of you & I can't wait to be your wife!" xx

One, yes just ONE month to go!...

I can't quite believe I'm writing this but yep, there's just one month to go, four weeks on saturday until I get to marry my most favouritest man in the wholest, widest world!

So, what's left to do?

Not a lot at all to be honest! This last week we've paid for the car, the church and then the hotel at our 'final details' meeting today. The timings have been agreed for the running of the day and all that's left to do is enjoy the rest of the run up.

And then there's my hen weekend, this weekend in London and I can't wait to have a girly weekend full of fun & surprises (nice ones I hope lol!)

Until next time xx

Is it time for another update?...

It's been a while coming but I can actually see everything coming together now and it's exciting...so ridiculously exciting! So exciting, that if I think about it too much I start to feel sick, you know like you did as a kid before Christmas?!

Just me then? ; )

I've just spent this morning listing and sorting and listing and packing and listing everything. Yes, I'm a huge fan of lists as you may have already gathered, so much so that I'm going to share my updated "To Do..." list with you in a bit! You lucky lot!!

We now have boxes and boxes of stuff...24 to be precise. All neatly arranged into three piles - Church, Daytime & Evening. Hubstobe is going to think I've completely lost the plot when he gets home from work tonight lol.

So, the earlier mentioned updated "To Do..." list? It's here:


The Order of Service

• meet with vicar to finalise hymns, readings & Order of Service (21st Sept)
• order 10 extra blanks 
• order paper for inserts
• make up extras
• print inserts
• assemble them 

The Church

• give readers copies of their readings
• type up & print 'posh' copies for the day
• finish pew end decorations
• sort confetti bags & orders of service into baskets for 'bride' or 'groom'
• pay for church 

Daytime Reception

• decide on cupcake designs
• finalise and put names on table plan
• fill favour boxes
• print labels for favour boxes
• write names on placecards
• sort all bits into a box for each table
• make up pom poms for wall
• print photos for wall
• assemble 'bunting' for wall
• make up pom poms for vases on top table, cake table & guest book table
• paint stems on stars for above vases
• draw up layout of room and give to wedding co-ordinator
• buy ribbons for wall display
• buy pegs for wall display 
• make up pom poms for tables
• paint welcome sign 
• buy frames for welcome table
• print photos for welcome table
• print inserts for menu's and assemble them 
• buy decorations for reception xmas tree 

Evening Reception

• paint signs for dress up box
• type up 'instructions' for dress up box to go in frame
• buy a few more hats for dress up box
• put sweets into jars for candy store
• label jars
• sort items into separate boxes 
• find a dress up box
• pay for DJ
• paint frame for dress up box
• pegs for dress up 'smile' bunting 

Photographer

• arrange meeting to discuss ideas etc
• pay for photographer

Other Bits

• complete gift list at John Lewis
• make up H2B's waistcoat
• paint 'thank you' sign
• buy gifts for best man, ushers, bridesmaids, flower girl, parents & readers
• pay for car

See! There really isn't a lot left to do at all so, fingers crossed, the three days I have off work before the big day will hopefully be spent pampering and generally enjoying the excitement of the build up...I did say fingers crossed!!
; )

I'm feeling quite calm about it all now it's all been listed and sorted - if only you could see how anal I have been lol - so I can now look forward to the things we've got happening before the big day...

• supporting hubstobe in the Birkett Relay 6hr race at Silverstone
• bonfire night & fireworks (I'm such a kid!) 
• my hen weekend...woooohoooo!!!
• hubstobe's graduation ceremony
• christmas shopping

And on that note I'm off to write up my list for the reception co-ordinator : )
Until next time xx

2 MONTHS TO GO!...

Wowsers! There's just two months left to go before the big day! Really cannot wait to be a Mrs now : ) xx  

Time keeps ticking!...

After a couple of major panic sessions I feel like I'm back on track with everything...at last! The 'To Do' list is slowly but surely becoming smaller and to be completely honest - it wouldn't majorly affect the day if those things weren't completed.

The meeting with the vicar went well - all of our hymns, readings & music are sorted  - just waiting on him to agree the draft of our Order of Service and we can get those printed and made up. This is where I start getting frustrated...when I have to wait for other people before I can continue with what I need to do...impatient should be my middle name!!

All of our RSVP's have been returned with only one 'no'...which I'm amazed and incredibly honored at to be honest! So now to the table plan...
This has not been as problematic as I thought it would be, at all, we're very lucky in that we don;t have the usual 'oh they can't sit with so and so' and 'ooh they don't like each other really' so fingers crossed all of our guests will be happy with where they've been put!

My next task is to lose a stone before the wedding! I always thought that having to get into a wedding dress would be all the motivation I needed but it appears I was very wrong! All I want to do is eat - and not healthy stuff either. I'm craving sweets & chocolate all the time...what is wrong with me?! Will keep you posted with how I get on over the next few weeks though!

Until next time...
xx

Three months to go! : ) ...

It doesn't seem five minutes since I was writing the 'four months to go' post! Any way there's now just...

...months to go!!

Time for a quick update? Well, we're pretty much sorted! There's just a few little bits to make up, a few RSVPs to chase up and the table plan to sort & put together - can't wait for that one lol!

We went along to a wedding fair at the hotel last week which although was no use to us in terms of suppliers it was great to see the room properly set up for a wedding...very exciting!

The mini-moon in Edinburgh is paid for and we can't wait for a few days away together as Mr & Mrs.

The preparations for our hen & stag weekends are in full swing and the suspense is killing me, I'm not gonna lie! I love and hate surprises in equal measure!

I think that's all, we're having a wedding-free weekend this weekend...just lots of rugby and a bit of shopping...heaven! : ) xx

Things I've done before I'm 30...

I know, this has absolutely nothing to do with our wedding, however, it's quite a milestone in my life. I had got a list of things to do before I'm 30 and I'm fully aware that with just seven days left as a twenty-something the chances of me fitting it all in are pretty much nil!

So after tweeting pretty much this, a lovely fellow tweeting bride-to-be the @weddinghunter

 suggested I compile a 'things I've done BEFORE I'm 30' list starting with 'learnt to talk'. Fab idea I thought, so, I started my list, bear with me as it's only in the order it popped into my head and if you know me, you know that'll be no particular order lol!

So here goes...

• Learnt to talk
• Learnt to walk
• Learnt to read & write
• Visited various places on holidays...France, Devon, Cornwall, Canada & Australia
• Fell in love with Nando's
• Failed two driving tests - my project after the wedding!
• Went to my first football match Cov City v Man Utd aged 13 and fell in love with David Beckham...yep I still would ; )
• Learnt to knit - thank you Granny x
• Learnt to sew
• Achieved such high results in my Richmond Tests at Primary School that they moved me up a year (did anyone else do these?!)
• Achieved 9 GCSEs, one A, four B's & four C's a year early
• Achieved 2 A-Levels, two B's a year early
• Went on a rollercoaster, Nemesis and hated every second...I'm more than happy to hold the coats : )
• Went to Disneyland Paris and met Tigger...boing!!
• My first job was as a waitress while I was doing my A-levels
• My first full time job was at M&S as a customer assistant for my year out - I never did get to uni!
• I had a place at Staffordshire University to do a degree in Sports Journalism
• I moved stores to work in Visual Merchandising for M&S
• I moved stores again to become a Visual Merchandising Manager
• I now manage Menswear, Kidswear, Home & Visual Merchandising, as well as the Gift Shop at Xmas
• My little old Gift Shop has been NUMBER ONE in the business in terms of sales growth on the year for the last two years running!
• Fell even more in love with Krispy Kreme's...yummy!!
• Went to my first rugby match at Franklin's Gardens - Saints v Wasps and haven't stopped going or supporting Saints - you can't beat a pint of Guinness, a chicken & mushroom pie and a good game of rugby on a cold afternoon!
• Saw England v Barbarians at Twickenham
• Saw England v Wales in the six nations at Twickenham
• Took up scrapbooking
• Took up baking and have developed a love for creating cupcakes of all shapes, designs & sizes
• Went up Snowdon on a steam train
• Shared a lift with Toby Flood in a hotel in London
• Had dinner with Matt Milburn of Hollyoaks fame
• Fell in love with Take That & Mark Owen at the age of 11, I still am and I still would ; )
• Have seen Take That, Boyzone, Blue, Girls Aloud, Peter Andre, Sean McGuire, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Westlife, S Club 7, Wet Wet Wet and Pink in concert
• Started a collection of Disney DVDs
• Nearly blinded my brother...twice...once with polish, once with a bath pearl : s 
• Started a collection of the cars from Disney Cars
• Found some amazingly fabulous friends along the way...you know who you all are : )
• Went to see Glee Live, Matilda the musical and Joseph & the amazing technicolour dreamcoat
• Had a passenger ride in a Lotus Elise
• Went to countless motorsport events with the boy - my favourites being the old classic escorts, cortinas etc
• Saw Russell Howard live
• Learnt to swim
• Learnt to ride a bike with and without stabilisers
• Learnt to snowboard (of a fashion!) in Whistler
• Learnt to bodyboard in Adelaide
• Kissed a lot of frogs before I found my Prince ; )
• Aforementioned Prince asked me to marry him...eeek!
• Moved in with aforementioned Prince
• Have started a countdown to what I hope will be the best day of our lives
• Have started to practice my new signature : )
• I was photographed on the front cover of the local paper with the Queen when I was five

Well, there we go! My mind's gone a bit blank at the moment but I will add to this as and when I remember bits & pieces. It has made me feel a bit better about not achieving everything on my original to do before I'm 30 thirty list - think I might just compile a 'in this lifetime I would like to...' list instead.

Thank you @weddinghunter - you can also follow her trip up the aisle over on twitter at the link at the top of the page.

I'm off to enjoy the last days of my 20s! : ) xx 

Lazy sunday browsing...

Even though everything, and I mean everything, is now booked or decided on for our big day I still enjoy having a nose at all things wedding...usually on a lazy sunday afternoon. So, I thought I'd share a few of my findings with you...

I am in love with the etsy site - so many gorgeous things designed and created by hugely talented folk. My first sunday browse is by Dawn at Dawns Craft Store
She creates beautiful wooden & wire hangers for your wedding dress in a variety of colours, I've added a couple of pictures to show you...

you can have your new married name

or both of your names...love this!

little ones for your little ones - flowergirl hangers

 Aren't they gorgeous? I couldn't resist and have bought myself one that says 'kirsty loves oli' but you'll have to wait for our wedding pics to see mine! ; )




My second sunday browse is the gorgeous website for Angels Face Pettiskirts and features some really cute skirts that little flowergirls would look fab in. The range of colours is fantastic and prices start at £35 with free postage & packing, and they all come packaged in a gorgeous hat box!

 Imagine these with some sparkly converse...cute!




Check back next Sunday for some more wedding loveliness! 13 weeks & 6 days to go! xx

WOWSERS!...

I actually can't believe where time is going lately! But, I'm ridiculously excited to say it's now 100 days till the big day...whoopee!!

Everything's ticking along nicely now and coming together. I got my wedding ring back from being engraved today too - so I might have had to try it on again, just to make sure it still fits you see ; )

It's still perfect - H2B's grandma wrote on the envelope of our engagement card O + K = OK

so this is what I've had put inside my ring - I'm a sucker for soppy cute things!

Until next time... xx

Panic Stations...

Ok, I think Bridezilla has finally set in! With only 14 weeks to go this saturday I am starting to panic, and panic big time!

How are we going to get everything done?
How are we going to get it all to the venue?
How are we going to pay for everything?
What if it snows ridiculously so?
What if suppliers cancel at the last minute?
What if all of our decorations don't work when they're all together?
What if I break out in zits the night before?
What if everyone's too cold they end up being miserable?
What if noone enjoys themselves?
Have we got enough to keep everyone happy & entertained?
Have we got enough sweets for the candy store?
Are there enough props in the dress up box?

And it goes on, and on, and on, and on! Usually in the middle of the night - 2:30am seems to be my favourite panic time at the moment.

I know I'm probably not alone in feeling like this and every other bride to be has a glitch or two along the way but this is so out of character for me, yes I'm a bit of a worrier but I don't tend to go into a sheer panic as I seem to lately!

Deep down, I know that we've got enough to keep everyone happy & entertained with cute little details at different parts of the day. There's plenty of sweets to go round and there's enough props to choose from in our dress up box.
I know that our family & friends will help us get everything to the venue and I know that the decorations will work - one of my best friends and I tried them out at the hotel a couple of weeks ago.
And if it snows heavily H2B and I live close enough to get there on foot - and that's the most important bit! If our suppliers cancel at the last minute we have wedding insurance...that's what we took it out for!


So why am I still waking up in a sheer panic over it all?!
My mind boggles...
xx

Four months to go!...

O....M....actual G!

In just four months time I shall be a 'Mrs'!! I'm nervous, excited, scared, and I can't wait all at the same time!!
xx

A girl can never have too many shoes...

A girl can never have too many shoes, right?

And I'm totally living up to that on my wedding day with a choice of not one, not two, but three pairs of shoes to wear throughout the day! Yes, we are still getting married on a budget...these three pairs have cost less than some brides only pair!

Now, it's a winter wedding and we all know what the British weather is like, the ground is bound to be wet, soggy and probably a wee bit muddy so for my journey from the hotel to the church I shall mostly be wearing these...

These came from ebay for £18.
They're perfect for the cold and wet and also perfect for our theme of black, white & silver stars! Once I am at church I shall be slipping into something ever so slightly more 'bridal'...

These came from next for £30.
I hunted high and low for round toe shoes and found these in next, I plan on dying them afterwards so I can wear them again. I then finished them off with these on the bottom...

These also came from ebay for £2.
They're cute and will hopefully make for some nice photos. My final pair, and possibly my most favourite are these...

These came from schuh for £46.
I plan on wearing these for the evening so that I can be dancing in comfort for the entire night! And I LOVE them, they're even more sparkly in real life!

What do you think? xx

The FINAL draft of the 'TO DO' list...

I have a habit of writing lists and losing them lately so I figured if I put it on here I'd always know where it is and how much there is left to do.

I'm a bit (ok a lot) anal when it comes to lists, I make lists for EVERYTHING so I apologise now for the stupidly ridiculous detail I'm likely to go in to. However, in my defence I seem to have a brain like a sieve at the moment, so if you're one of our guests reading this, it's only because I want you to have as good a day as hopefully we will! ; )

Right then, the list...

The Order of Service

• meet with vicar to finalise hymns, readings & Order of Service (21st Sept)
• order 10 extra blanks 
• order paper for inserts
• make up extras
• print inserts
• assemble them 

The Church

• give readers copies of their readings
• type up & print 'posh' copies for the day
• finish pew end decorations
• sort confetti bags & orders of service into baskets for 'bride' or 'groom'
• pay for church 

Daytime Reception

• decide on cupcake designs
• finalise and put names on table plan
• fill favour boxes
• print labels for favour boxes
• write names on placecards
• sort all bits into a box for each table
• make up pom poms for wall
• print photos for wall
• assemble 'bunting' for wall
• make up pom poms for vases on top table, cake table & guest book table
• paint stems on stars for above vases
• draw up layout of room and give to wedding co-ordinator
• buy ribbons for wall display
• buy pegs for wall display 
• make up pom poms for tables
• paint welcome sign 
• buy frames for welcome table
• print photos for welcome table
• print inserts for menu's and assemble them 
• buy decorations for reception xmas tree 

Evening Reception

• paint signs for dress up box
• type up 'instructions' for dress up box to go in frame
• buy a few more hats for dress up box
• put sweets into jars for candy store
• label jars
• sort items into separate boxes 
• find a dress up box
• pay for DJ
• paint frame for dress up box
• popcorn
• pegs for dress up 'smile' bunting 

Photographer

• arrange meeting to discuss ideas etc
• pay for photographer

Other Bits

• complete gift list at John Lewis
• make up H2B's waistcoat
• paint 'thank you' sign
• buy gifts for best man, ushers, bridesmaids, flower girl, parents & readers
• pay for car

OMG! I think that's everything! I know exactly what I'm like though and I'll probably keep thinking of bits to add to it.
As we complete bits I will cross them off, and maybe throw in a couple of tutorials for the creative bits!

Oh well, 18 weeks today...

eeeek ; )

Never underestimate the power of Twitter...

Last week our wedding photographer sadly had to cancel due to serious health problems. Cue me going into panic mode, bridezilla rearing her ugly head and neither of us knowing where to start. Just when we thought everything was sorted and all that was left to do was count down until the big day arrives!

I hadn't even thought about asking twitter for help, I just used it to share the unfortunate situation. It was only when the lovely chocolate blush asked if I wanted her to retweet my original 'oh no our wedding photographer's canceled' tweet that I began to realise how much help twitter was!

Within as little as five minutes I had hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of 'friends' retweeting, photographers names being put forward and photographers asking if they could help. It got so manic that H2B had to physically take my phone off me at midnight and tell me to get some sleep...I just couldn't keep up with replying to everyone. I think I managed to thank everyone a couple of days later but apologies if I didn't...thank you!

Our photographer dilemma was sorted within two days, step forward Andy Baines of b72 imaging
He has well and truly come to our rescue and I can't thank him enough, his work is AMAZING and I'm so excited about what he's going to create for us on the day.

So, if you're ever looking for help or advice in any shape or form head on over to twitter, someone, somewhere, will know someone or know someone that knows someone who will be able to help.

I can now get back to counting down ; )

18 wks and 1 day...

I made the top 100!...

I've made the top 100 wedding tweeters this week! : )

Guess this officially means I bang on about weddings far too much lol, it's only because I'm excited!!

follow me @kirstickels 

5 MONTHS TO GO!

OK, I know I'm a few days late...three if we're going to be really precise, but I still want to shout about it lol! I cannot believe how fast time is going and don't know where it is going...but we're pretty much sorted and are both so looking forward to it now.

The RSVP's are rolling in at a steady pace now and all bar one have been yes's! It's so lovely that all of our closest friends want to share and be a part of our special day and it means such a lot to have them all there.

I'm off to make some more cakes for H2B and the rest of the boys in his formula student racing team...it's race weekend this weekend so fingers crossed it goes well for them they've all worked so hard and put in some ridiculous hours over the last month. I feel like I've only seen him in bed...and not like that either you rude lot ; )

Until next time...  

How our story began...

I know I'm not the first girl in the world to ever get married & I know I certainly won't be the last but I wanted to capture the excitement I'm feeling right now about everything, right from when we first met.

So, here's our story...

After a couple of failed relationships and a particularly nasty break up with my ex after six years I really thought I was doomed to the shelf at the ripe old age of 27. I had no idea where I was going to meet someone, let's face it, all I seemed to do was work and the only guys there could quite easily audition as extras in the Lord of the Rings!

So, after much deliberation with myself, I took the plunge and joined match.com. There, I've said it, I've admitted it to the world, I was one of those sad people that resorted to internet dating!

However, this did absolutely nothing for my self-confidence for a while, I'd log on daily to find new winks and then head on over to look at there profiles and ask myself...what?!...really???

Don't get me wrong, I am under no illusions at all, I am no supermodel, but some of these looked like they'd crawled out from under a rock that time forgot. I accept and completely agree that looks are by no means everything but you've got to find someone physically attractive to begin with, haven't you?

By this point I was ready to throw in the towel and give up on everything but for some reason I decided to take one last look at the lastest winks before I did. There, in my inbox, was a wink from crofty_00 and hey, he wasn't bad looking at all, quite god damn cute in fact! I decided to have a look at his profile and found we 'matched' on a long list of things. Something told me I needed to follow this one up, so I winked back and attached an email.

I have no idea now what I said in it but it must have worked ; )

I didn't know until much later on, but I could access all areas of match.com for free from my phone, poor old H2B had to pay to join for a month just to read my message...whoops!

I sent him my mobile number and didn't hear anything for a while and I guess I'd given up on him a bit. But then, I was a bridesmaid at my sister's wedding and feeling abit sorry for myself as I was on my own and decided to check my mobile for any messages or missed calls.

There, in my inbox, was a text from an unknown number. I can still remember it word for word...
         "Hi Kirsty, it's Oli off match. Hope you're ok and enjoying your sisters wedding. Hope to hear from you soon xx"
From then on we text a lot...a hell of a lot! He even changed his contract to get extra free texts lol! And I can't believe how patient he was. That first text was sent on the 7th of June and I didn't agree to a date until the 13th of August!!

We met for a drink in a bar in Leamington and I think from that night I knew he was quite special and definitely worth hanging on to.

I guess the rest is history, it's true, you do have to kiss a lot of frogs (some toads in my case!) before you find your prince but it's so worth it when you do find him!

Roll on December! : ) xx

Six months to go!...

Oh wowsers! Crikey! Blimey oh reilly! Jeez! Jeronimo!

I can't believe there's only six months to go...it doesn't seem five mins since we got engaged! Where does time go?

This week has been a really exciting one for us...

Firstly, we moved in together...exciting! It's so lovely to know that from now until forever I will be coming home to my gorgeous soon-to-be-husband. Cuddles on tap...yippee!

Secondly, we went through all of our wedding bits and logged everything...yes I'm a control freak with a weird organisational OCD lol! But I feel so much calmer and in control again now. Everything has been sorted into stacks of boxes...the church, the daytime, the evening and it's all lovingly labelled too...happy bride-to-be again.

And thirdly, and possibly the most exciting thing so far...we sent out our wedding invites. Woohoo, there's no going back, we're actually getting married and I can't wait! The response to our invites has been amazing and only added to our excitement. 

I probably did go a little over the top with them, but hey, I only intend on doing this once, I wanted them to be perfect! Right from the shiny silver padded envelope we sent them in, to the silver star confetti that falls out on opening, to the gorgeous cutemap by the lovely Sheree at cutemaps.co.uk to the cute little paperclips I lovingly bent into hearts to clip our extra bits together (very sore fingers afterwards but so worth it!)

I don't tend to like my own work very much but I'm incredibly proud of these and I actually love them! 

And now just to wait for our first official RSVP, let's hope it's a YES! ; ) xx

Can I hold it together?...

A few things have been worrying me about the big day recently and as it gets closer...yes I know there's still 199 days to go but they seem to be disappearing quicker & quicker the nearer we get to it.

And I'm starting to panic...about all sorts! The latest being the inevitable tears on the day. We've spent a lot of time carefully selecting the right readings with wording that means something to us but they make me cry. Seeing Oli in his tails makes me cry. The entrance music makes me cry. The thought that someone wants to spend the rest of their life with little old me makes me cry. All be it they are happy tears but they're still tears.

Two very good friends got married a couple of weeks ago and I know this was one of the bride's worries before hand but she did amazingly! I didn't! It was the most beautiful ceremony. As soon as I saw her coming down the aisle I got goosebumps and welled up and then when they said their vows...written by themselves that was it, I cried.

If I can't hold it together for our friends twenty minute civil ceremony how on earth am I going to hold it together for a whole hour in church?!

And then there's the dreams!

I've had three wedding dreams so far all of them not so nice! The first was ok-ish but my dress was the one Belle wears in Beauty & the Beast, hence I woke in a slight panic.

The second was slightly worse...we had two ceremonies (no I've no idea why either!) the first in a huge room where H2B had invited all of the people I don't like and not any of my friends, the second was the day after up this great big muddy hill that I'm climbing forever, my dress getting trashed in muddy puddles and caught on rocks. I can see H2B at the top but I just can't get to him so he gives up waiting and goes home!

The third and most recent was probably the most concerning lol! The hotel had lost my dress, they hadn't laid any of the tables out to how I had requested, it's 3pm and I'm still not in my dress, the wedding is at 12 noon, and the hotel staff are telling me that there's no point me going now as H2B gave up waiting for me ages ago. And I woke up screaming 'No! He'd never go without me! He would wait!'

I think if it carries on much longer I shall be being carted off to the asylum! I'd love to know what they all mean though...they're starting to disturb me ever so slightly!

If any of you can interpret dreams feel free to have a go at these ; ) xx

Seven months to go!...

In just seven months time I shall becoming a Mrs....*squeeal*! 

"Minimoon" mayhem!...

OMG! OMG! OMG! I am sooooo excited! *runs round room and sits back down again!*

H2B and I can't afford a honeymoon immediately after we get married so are asking for donations towards it alongside a small traditional gift list with John Lewis. However, we both have a week off after the wedding and thought it'd be really nice to get away for a few days while just chilling and enjoying being 'Mr & Mrs'. 

A few places had been thrown into the 'minimoon' ideas pot...namely Disneyland Paris, Paris, York, Edinburgh, London and various other UK locations before... 

...deciding on the beautiful city of Edinburgh for four days staying at the gorgeous Malmaison Hotel!

 Doesn't it look fabulous?

We're now looking into places to go & visit & eat while we're there. Just looking tonight I've found some fabulous looking places...

And perhaps one of the most exciting bits about it is that being December everywhere will be decked out & glistening with fairy lights ready for Christmas! My most favourite time of the year!

Doesn't it look magical? I can't wait!!

The best bit of all of it though was booking our flights...I had to book mine in my married name! *squueeeeal* : )

If any of you have any tips on where to go, what to see shout! xx

Congratulations Wills & Kate!...

WOW! What a beautiful wedding! I wasn't even sure if I was going to watch it to begin with but as the day got nearer I got more and more excited about it. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a bride to be or I just love a good love story and a wedding...probably a bit of all three!

I got quite emotional at one point when the reporter stated, "here is a young couple, in love, committing themselves to each other for the rest of their lives". I think this struck a chord with me and made me think about my other half and how we've chosen to do exactly that in a little over seven months time. And hand on heart I know I've made the best decision of my life in agreeing to marry Ol...I really cannot wait to be his wife!

What I love about Will & Kate is just that. They seem to genuinely love each other to bits and it was so lovely to see him tell her she looked beautiful as she stood beside him at the altar. And how amazing was THE DRESS? Kate looked stunning, nothing too huge, nothing too modern...she just looked fabulous and how calm was she?!

When she got out of the car her dad seemed to take an age getting out and round to her and I was thinking OMG she must be terrified with all those people but she just took it in her stride and waved & smiled at the crowds gathered to watch. I'm in a panic about walking down the aisle in front of 50 of our nearest & dearest so can't even begin to imagine how it must feel in front of millions! I only hope I can be half as calm as Kate was on her day.

And what I loved more than anything else was this...

FABULOUS! Yes, they're going to be King & Queen one day but they're still people who love to do normal things and have a laugh. This was such a lovely, personal thing to do on their very special day.

Congratulations Will & Kate! xx

BBQ, booze & bollywood...Kezrob's fab hen weekend!

Let me introduce Kezrob to you all...

I met Kez through my other half, he went to school with her very-soon-to-be-husband (2 weeks tomorrow...*squuueal*) so I've known her for nearly three years, but feels so much longer - in a very good way!! I was honoured to be invited along to her hen weekend last Friday/Saturday/Sunday and what a fab weekend it was!

I'd been looking forward to it for so long (work hasn't been great for a long time and I was in need of a break for my own sanity!) so I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations...how wrong was I?!

I was picked up from work on the Friday afternoon and three of us made our way to a beautiful huge house in Symonds Yat West. The views were out of this world, the sun was shining and it was hot...I'd have been happy to just sit there and do nothing for the next two days! Unfortunately the Asda delivery just didn't turn up on the friday evening...I know the bridesmaids who had put so much hard work into organising it were disappointed but they needn't have been it just meant we all dug into our extra supplies we'd bought and shared them out and got to know each other a bit better over a drink or two...ok five or six!

I went to bed feeling rather tipsy, thanks to Imo and her rather potent vodka, gin & lemonade cocktails, but excited about the day ahead of which Kez knew nothing about!

We woke to more sunshine on the Saturday morning and a trip to the local Kingstone Brewery we were apparently the first hen party they'd had visit! The beer was yummy (purchased a bottle for my h2b who was home finishing his dissertation) the sun was shining and the food laid on for us at lunchtime was amazing...fresh greek salads, homemade pittas, houmous, freshly bbq'd chicken kebabs and the bestest, bestest potato wedges I have had in my life...fact!

This was followed by a lazy afternoon sitting in the sunshine putting the world to rights over a cider slushy (yes that's right...cider on draught like a slush puppy...fabulous!) before returning to Holly Tree House for a yummy BBQ laid on by Kez's fabulous bridesmaids.

Sunday was perhaps my most favourite day of the weekend...a Bollywood dance lesson! I absolutely love dancing and being part of a group learning a dance so I was in my element! We'd all dressed up in sari's and fancy dress for the occasion too. We're all now frantically trying to rehearse so it's perfect for Kez's big day when we 'perform' at the reception!

It was a truly fantastic weekend, if my hen weekend is half as good as this I will be a very happy hen! Over to you Kez & Imo...no pressure! ; )

Jai-ho! xx

Silver Daisy's amazing bouquets!

I mentioned before in one of my previous posts the amazing service I'd received from smaller businesses when I first started planning our wedding. Ever since my stunningly beautiful bouquet arrived I've been meaning to feature the wonderful Gillian at Silver Daisy

I came across Silver Daisy in the very first wedding magazine I bought and immediately fell in love with the bouquet in the advert and the idea of being able to keep it forever.

I'm not sure why but I talked myself out of it for a while - what will everyone think if I have 'pretend' flowers? So, I got a few quotes from florists who, quite frankly, wanted to charge the earth for flowers that would simply die in a day or two. I didn't ask for anything fussy just a simple hand-tied posy of ivory roses for me and three ivory rose wrist corsages for my bridesmaids - the cheapest quote for my bouquet alone came back at £95! And although I was happy to pay this if this was the going rate I didn't love it as much as I loved Gillian's creations.

In January of this year I visited the Silver Daisy website again and finally decided that I was going to have to have one of these bouquets, no matter what! Nothing else was going to come close...however, Gillian had only gone and made it more difficult to decide by adding more gorgeous designs...dilemma!!
I decided to be practical about it, I didn't want anything too wide so I narrowed it down to my two favourites and emailed Gillian regarding their sizes. She couldn't have been more helpful and I decided on the 'Lilac & Lavender Daisy & Roses Bouquet' in black. Yes black, my bridesmaids are wearing black and have ivory flowers so I wanted to have the opposite to tie it all together.

And I'm so glad I did! It's quite simply STUNNING! Would you like to see a photo?...

Ok, I know this is teasing but I had to show you how beautifully packaged your bouquet arrives...I was squealing with excitement to open my box and find a hat box in my actual wedding colours and that was before I opened it and saw what was inside...

This is my ACTUAL bouquet and isn't it beautiful? I absolutely LOVE it and have to keep getting it out of it's box to have a peak...well December's a loooong time away!! And look at this...

Each bouquet comes with a blue crystal heart attached so you'll always have your 'something blue'!

After deciding on 'pretend' flowers for me I then decided that this would be a great idea for the bridesmaids too. I wanted them to wear wrist corsages so that they hadn't got to worry about carrying something all the time and it left them with two hands to sort my dress, veil etc when I get out the car at church. Real flowers can easily get damaged, squashed, knocked etc so I contacted Gillian again who was only too pleased to help. I ordered three of her ivory rose wrist corsages which she very kindly personalised for me with a black crystal bracelet and black swarovski crystals & ribbons...

Aren't they beautiful? I'm so pleased with them all and can't wait to show them off on the day.

If like me, you're looking for a bouquet to keep then I can highly recommend Gillian at Silver Daisy. She does all sorts from crystal bouquets to mini top hats, tiaras and corsages. The prices are extremely reasonable for the amount of work that goes into each beautifully created piece, they range from £10 for a single crystal flower up to £250 for a large drop bouquet but most of them come in at less than £100 and you've got them forever.

I asked Gillian if I could feature her on my blog, she very kindly said I could and sent me a few words, here's what she has to say...

"I started Silver-Daisy after my own wedding.   I was really disappointed with the lack of service some companies gave me once they had my money.   I combined my love of art and flowers together and the result was Silver-Daisy.   I wanted to create a customer experience that stood out from the competition and also provide unique products that were a bit different.

I love the reaction of my clients when they receive their finished order; it makes it worth all the hard work.  I hope to grow Silver-Daisy in the future without losing that personal touch, all too often companies forget that customer recommendation is the best advertisement you can get.

My aspirations for Silver-Daisy for the future are to continue to expand the range into some bridal outlets and then eventually to run my own shop."

To have a look at more of Gillian's wonderful creations visit her gallery and to see what bride to be's (including me!) have to say have a peak at the testimonials page.

I really can't thank Gillian enough for such beautiful flowers for our big day! Thank you! xx 

Hen Weekend Handover! : s

As you've probably gathered from my blog so far, I'm a bit of a control freak - well, I don't know if control freak are the right words?! I just hate things being up in the air and not sorted - I like to be organised!

So, I set about organising my own hen weekend. Yes, I know, it's not my job to do that but I wanted to know it was sorted and happening. Umm, maybe control freak are the right words lol!

I did a lot of research into ideas etc and I set about planning it. I got so far as booking the hotel and our Glee dancing lesson before finally accepting that I do actually have enough to do, plan & sort with our wedding day I don't actually need any more stress/worry. And I was worrying, I was worrying that what I'd chosen wouldn't please everyone else and no one would be having a good time.

I'm so lucky in that through my H2B I've met and become part of an amazing group of friends, there's ten of us, five couples, and it feels like I've known them and been part of it for ever. So I was thrilled when two of the girlies, Kez & Imo offered to take on the planning & organising of my weekend!

I have now officially handed it all over to them and am actually REALLY looking forward to it! All I know is that we're going here...

 and we're having a dance lesson in the theme of...

I know nothing else and I'm excited...so excited, that everything else is going to be a surprise. I didn't think I'd like this feeling but I actually LOVE it!

As long as there are no willies, L plates or veils I'll be a very happy hen! Thank you girlies! Love you both lots xx

Mr & Mrs Crofts' Candy Store...

Now all the 'big stuff' is sorted we've been busy thinking, designing and then creating all the little bits to add the final details to our big day.

Our latest creation is the sweet shop sign for Mr & Mrs Crofts' Candy Store! And I LOVE it! It's not very often that I actually love something I've created...I'm my own worst critic and H2B is always telling me I'm far too hard on myself! Not this time though and I'm very proud to show you this along with a bit of a tutorial so you can make one too!

To make it I used...

• A1 frame
• acrylic paints in turquoise, cerise, purple, orange & lime
• silver glitter card
• silver paper
• card in turquoise, cerise, purple, orange & lime
• pencil
• ruler
• silver permanent marker
• scissors

I started off by removing the board from the frame and marking out the stripes in random widths...

 Once this was all done (be patient - it does take a while but well worth it to get everything lined up correctly) I began to paint the stripes in our chosen colours in a completely random pattern. Our theme for the day is black, white & silver stars but for the evening we want a real party feel...

 Once I'd finished painting all the stripes I wasn't happy with the not so straight edges (yep I realise it's really hard to paint freehand straight edges but it wasn't the look I wanted - H2B said it made it look more authentic...I wasn't convinced!) So, I bought a broad silver permanent marker pen and using a ruler ruled off each stripe (top tip - make sure you wipe the ruler on a tissue in between each line otherwise it will mark your work) so it looked like this...

 I then set about sticking the letters to the big blue stripe across the middle...

 I made the letters by choosing a font I liked on the computer and then printing them off in the relevant sizes. I then traced them off onto silver glitter card and cut them all out by hand..long process but worth it! I then mounted these onto card in the co-ordinating colours and cut round them again. I finally mounted these again onto silver paper and cut round those to give the finished look.

And there you have it...our very own sweet shop sign!

What do you think?

Ooh and as I promised in an earlier post...

 The finished table plan!! I quite like this too! ; ) xx

Eight months to go...

The clue's in the title! ; ) Eight months today I shall be waking up a Miss and going to bed a Mrs! Excited doesn't even begin to cover how I feel!! xx

Cutting the cost but not the quality...

As I mentioned in previous posts, with H2B about to finish his final year of uni, we are getting married on a budget. And I think even if he was in full time work I still wouldn't want to be spending much more than we are on the Big Day. We would both much rather put that sort of money towards a house deposit.

So today's post is about stationary on a budget or rather making your own stationary. We're quite lucky in that I've always been 'arty farty' and 'creative' all through school and it's a hobby I've continued with by making cards & scrapbooking so I really am in my element at the moment with designing and creating our very own wedding stationary!! : )

I'm going to share with you exactly how much we've spent on every aspect of our wedding stationary and the suppliers we've used. And I'm going to treat you all to a sneaky peak at what I've created so far to show you just how much you can do with a relatively small amount of money!


The Costs...
Star Charms x 800                              £6.18
Silver/black ribbon x 30m                  £2.99
Black 5mm 0rganza ribbon x 60m     £2.58
Silver 25mm ribbon x 10m                 £2.38
Large star charms x 75                      £1.99
All of our ribbons & charms came from ebay - some suppliers in the UK and some from China. Admittedly they take a little bit longer to arrive from China but the money you save is worth the wait!

Black A4 card x 200                           £19.00
Silver A4 pearl paper x 100               £7.00
White card x 100                                FREE!
Pearl A4 paper for inserts                £27.81
Again, our black card & silver came from UK suppliers on ebay, the pearl paper for our inserts came from craft creations and the white A4 card came from H2B's mum (a retired teacher who was clearing out her cupboards at school ; ) handy!)

Order of Service blanks x 50            £11.60
Menu blanks x 15                              £2.00
Thank You blanks x 50                     £5.60
Place card blanks x 50                      £3.60
Invite blanks x 70                              £23.01
Thank You envelopes                        £3.20
Invite envelopes                                £5.90
Wording/star peel offs                      £15.61
All of the above came from Craft Creations and included all the little silver star stickers, the 'Order of Service', 'Wedding Invitation', 'Evening Invitation', 'Menu', 'Save the Date' and 'Thank You' wording stickers.

Perhaps the biggest 'extravagance' were the car photos, we needed LOTS and these cost us £40.00 in total. The 'Save the Date' lollipops came from a sweet shop on ebay and cost £6.99 for 50.

All in, our wedding stationary has cost us £187.44!

And this is what I've designed and created (with a bit of help from the other half!)...

My other half is car mad (currently finishing his degree in Motorsport Engineering) so it only seemed appropriate to use the car theme for our stationary. These are the only range of cards etc I've made that I've actually really loved! What do you think?

I've also made a lot of the decorations for our reception too; the bunting is to go along the front of the top table, our initials are to go on the top table...

We've carried our colour theme of black, white & silver stars right through our stationary & decorations and also continued the car theme through to our tables.

Our tables have all been named after retro film cars...I agreed as long as I could have 'Herbie' - I love old VW's! The table planner isn't finished yet...waiting for a frame to arrive and want to add some more bits to it - will post another pic once it's complete.

So there you have it, our range of 'budget' stationary! Making your own really is easy and doesn't have to cost a fortune. And, perhaps the best bit of all, if you do it together it's actually good fun!

Would love to hear any comments you have! xx