So what have we been up to?

It's been over a month since posting...but there's good reason for that. Best friends getting married means you put your own plans on hold and focus on them for a while. Which has been marvellous fun! But now we're back to it.

Time for those invitations to get collected, written, posted, RSVP's collated, that sort of thing.

One tip re: invites - numbering the back of them so you know who has responded and who has not. That's if you're including the little card & SAE... Wouldn't bother with the SAE if some of the party are overseas however! Just an A and an E please Bob.

In other news... The fitness regime is going well/not well, depending on the mood of my little Wii fit board. I fluctuate. A lot. And it keeps asking me if I'd like to hear a fitness tip. No thank you, the last time I got a fitness tip I had to go into Smyths and buy a Wii...

So anyway, must stop fluctuation or stop going to weddings, hen parties, 30th birthday parties, dinners out, general birthdays, rugby weekends... Oh sod it. My dress fittings start next month, and if I don't mind my shape by now I never will. He's marrying me, and I'm not a perfect 10. I haven't been one since...since possibly when I *was* 10. Aww!

Tip - the Wii fit really does tone you up, it's quite fun...

I think I'm all set re: hair & make-up trials, happy with the plan of action on that. Must schedule a meeting with band and photographer to organise when we're going to run through stuff.

I ordered the wedding cake at the weekend. I don't like spending too much money on this wedding but I have to put up my hand and shamelessly say... I'm spending too much money on the wedding cake. Three tiers, three flavours. Yes I know I'm insane.

The honeymoon is booked - did I tell you that? We're also going to check out what jabs 'n' things we need coz we've decided to go Asian for 3+ weeks. That'll be fun!

Next up - wedding shoes. The best pal found some last month for her big day in one of my favourite shoe shops. When she gets back from Lune de Miel I might see if she can come with me for some inspiration. Or maybe just a coffee and a chat, coz I'm dying to see photos!

In other news again, there's some difficulty negotiating with the wedding venue in terms of accommodation costs. I think maybe I should have done this before we signed the contract. They won't budge and they're being fcukers about it, to the point where I want to scream. I have no intention of ripping off my family for this, and I'm also not going to supplement the price. They *have* to come down, this just isn't good enough. They are pricing themselves way too high and only giving us €20 off the regular (high) price. We were assured everything would be negotiable nearer the day and it's just not the case.

Warning to anyone about to sign - confirm all these little details now so you don't have this headache in 6 months' time!

We've also had the auld pre-marriage course since I last posted. It's really been a busy few weeks! It was a grand experience, chatting with someone about our relationship. Weird, but good overall. I'm glad we did it in a way, it confirms that we're on the right track. I'm pretty sure I would have been ok without it though... Still, he's happy. Handsome One's happiness = important too...

Right I better go, I'm sure there'll be more regular posting over the next couple of months as we run closer to the day itself. Good luck to any brides reading this. Get your Prozac in...

Turning it up a notch

Picking invitations - found 2 very similar invites from 2 different companies. Prices are a mile apart - for the convenience factor. 1/3 price = DIY jobbie. Thing is, I'm not the artiest craftiest person on the planet... Wonder if I can cut the ready-to-post chap's price in half... Hmmm...

Have made decision on wedding rings, ordering them tomorrow.

Make-Up & Hair Trials this weekend.

Wish people would get off my case trying to get other stuff done like buy shoes and underwear. Go away please, I will do all of these annoying things when I get to them. Now sod off. I refuse to stress about the little things.

I have such nice friends though. Ordering me to have a hen party and taking it on themselves to organise one. So kind... I'm very lucky :)

Getting there

With a few months to go we have firmed up on a few things...

Hair trial and make-up trials have been booked for the end of February.

We have met with the Registrar and now are officially Licenced To Wed.

Introduced sets of parents to the celebrant.

Far-away family members have booked flights.

We are running through some pre-marriage stuff soon, it's so funny the questions they ask. I must say, it took The Handsome One a while to figure out how to answer some of the more relationshippy questions. I had read them ages ago and had time to think about all the areas covered, so when it came to answering I was a bit more ok with things. I think the experience will bring us closer - it has happened to other couples we know so I'm sure it'll happen to us too. Makes sense; if the experience so far is anything to go by ;)

We have been to see the venue to ask them All The Questions. I got a big list of What To Ask from a good friend who got hitched last year. I think it must be like the beacon of the B2B - when it's another friend's turn I will pass the torch. We had to give the venue a bit of an ass-kicking actually. We're fairly laid back people but they gave us some thunderingly bad customer service before Christmas and hadn't improved since. No deposit receipt, no copy of the contract sent... There were other details but I won't go into them. Hence our need to visit! The Handsome One - who is usually wonderfully reserved - calmly sat them down and told them he hoped that would be the end of the poor service. I was so chuffed when he did that, I had packed my angry eyes going in there and just had to sit and watch him be the man. What a guy...

Have since heard that our back-up venue (I'm a nerd, I have to have a plan B!) is in financial difficulty so I really fricking hope we're not going to have to pop a marquee in St Stephen's Green for the shindig!

In other news... The photographer and car bits are researched and booked, the music is 90% booked for the whole day and now my next hurdle is the invitations.

Picking the stationary is the easy bit here folks, it's what to write on the damn thing that's causing the hiccoughs. See, we ain't sure about the setup for the day. We have an idea what we'd like but there's nobody to guide us on this. So we're hesitant to make a wrong turn here. We'll figure it out of course, it's not rocket science. It's just a little more difficult that I would have expected. Hurrumph.

I'm looking forward to choosing the cake. I like cake.