Logging Off...

So we're getting close now and my time is a little... under pressure... 

Sorry if I haven't been engaging much on the comments side these past few weeks. It's been manic. 

Guests have started arriving - literally landing in from overseas.  Planes Trains & Automobiles here we go. 

Thanks for listening/reading... Good luck to any B2B's out there; I hope you experience goes well!

See you on the other side...

Dress Fitting and Whatnot

The dress fittings have commenced. I've been ordered to purchase shoes and unmentionable underthings to ensure all the remaining wobbly bits are secure. Honestly, it's like a military operation. Good friends all signing up to come with me for these horrific experiences, although part of me knows that it's just to point and laugh (for if you cannot laugh at your friends....well where's the fun in that?!)

It's funny, I don't know why everyone wants to be a part of all these annoying things so much. I don't enjoy them terribly much (not liking my shape may have something to do with it but I'll have to suck it up [and in] and just accept that I am this shape and that's that) and I'm wondering why there is so much enthusiasm to attend avec moi?

I don't disrespect them enough to ask, I just find it interesting. If a little puzzling.

My good (recently married) friends have warned me about this. In the last 2 months leading up to The Event, apparently your life turns into a series of to-do lists which you scratch off and amend every half of every day. It's true! All of it. Lists, lists, lists. Even Handsome One has some. He was NEVER a list sort of guy at home (had many at work I believe) and now he's in a panic if he loses the small piece of scrap paper that he wrote many important things on. Panic does something to his memory too, because he can never remember what he wrote on it. It's so funny! Writing things down manages to aid my memory, which is handy.

After much hilarity looking at wedding candle TAT (if you're bored, do google them, they can be so tacky and amusing, I find it v.funny) we've had the sensible chat with the vicar and are going to just use normal candles in his lovely candelabra-yokie. Apparently the good lady who does the church flowers puts some nice fleurs around the candles and makes them look all purty. Suits us!! Yes indeedie, let someone else worry about them... It's the symbolism that's important to us, nothing else. I likes the vicar. He be sensible and whatnot.

When I say normal candles I mean something like this...


The Handsome One is sorting some stuff out for us this week. If I get involved in any more of the problem solving I may just start shouting at someone. I never - ever - wanted to turn into a Bridezilla and thankfully thus far I don't think I'm getting there. In fact some married-friends are wondering why I'm not kicking up more of a holy stink about certain venue related things. The truth is, it's not that important. What's important is that my family have their flights booked and they're coming over (I LOVED getting those emails with landing time details, so exciting), what's important is that we have our rings, and a date with a vicar. If the walls fall down during dinner it'll make a great story for the grandkids.

That said, I'm very, very glad that my Handsome man is going to sort a few things out and not take and crap from anyone. He's not opening a discussion, he said, he is just going to insist upon a few things. Calmly.

Hero.

A Plague!

Email inbox - full of unresolved questions from suppliers regarding minute details

SMS inbox - full of messages asking (a) if we have a wedding list [no] and (b) what the accommodation situation is for the night of the party

Office line - constantly ringing from work and non-work peeps asking about wedding related things

Dreams - full of wedding related themes

Before I fall asleep - wedding related anxiety, asking questions in my head, running through to-do lists

Remember at the start of this blog, 15 months ago, I said I didn't want a wedding?

FORFCUKSAKE!

Who was I kidding. This is bliss!* Wonderful, seriously, who wouldn't want the stress. Turns out, even though I no longer have time to play sports or plan a diet (eating on the hoof is the WORST for me), turns out you burn calories in a direct correlation to the size of the knot in your stomach.

Cool.

* denotes sarcasm

Wedding Update

Moving into the final countdown now...

We sent out the invitations - and took some amusing photographs of us fighting with the postbox to get them in/out again. Now all we have to do is wait for the RSVP's to come flooding in.

We've also sent out a list of B&B's and Guesthouses around the area where people from Far Far Away can maybe stay.

I wish I was more organised but it's all a higgledy piggledy mess at the moment. Work is crazy busy, especially since people have realised I'll be taking a month off during the summer, so they're all running into me to ensure their stuff gets done... Understandable I suppose. I should be pleased they've realised this far in advance!

The dress has arrived and fittings will commence next week. The suit is almost ready. Now for the shoes...

Latest debacle is The Mothers' outfits. Mother-in-law to-be seems to be super-prepared but my own is a little less so. She's a bit more stylish than most mums so the standard Mother-of-the-Bride fare doesn't really swing it for her. The rest aren't special enough. Oh the challenges! Mum's fab looking so quite possibly going to look better than me on the day, no surprises there - if you knew us, that is. I'm a lump of a daughter and she's teeny tiny. I take after my dad, oh well!

My witness's dress is all ready to go as far as I know, so things are moving along. I'm pretty sick of talking about it and working on it but there's not much time for much else at the moment. It's either that or work!

We'll have to meet the florist soon and go through what we would like. My witness chose her own dress and it's quite a contrast to mine so we'll have to think about what will work for us both. And the buttonholes.

So much for not wanting the traditional wedding, this thing has turned into a circus. A circus I tell you! I was warned... But it's still a bit disappointing. Word is out that we haven't invited all the cousins, so I think there are a few aunties and uncles with noses out of joint. We've a big family and we wanted a small wedding! You do the math... I barely see them from one end of the year to another so I didn't think they would be expecting an invitation to include their children, whom I have not seen in 10 years. I don't think that's unreasonable! I've had to leave friends off the list to keep it small and random family people kick up stink? Hmm.

As my lovely witness often suggests... "lick it, stick it, and mail it to someone who gives a sh!t."

Sorry - do I sound fed up? I'm not really. Just jaded.

Yes ok, maybe a little...

The Handsome One said last night, as we were covered in pritt stick and ribbons..."I didn't realise it was going to be so much work..." Like yes dear, what did you think I was trying to avoid by suggesting an elopement?! It may be a selfish solution but who cares...it's our wedding... Oh that it were an option...

Flee I tell you! FLEE to another land far far away to get hitched to the one you love. Let it all be just about your love for each other and let nobody interfere with that. Let no detail of ribbons or flowers get in the way of your committment to another human being.

Unless you want it to of course!

But if you're just in love and just want to be married, please take it from someone who knows...it's not worth it. You won't please everyone, you WILL end up a ball of stress because all the things that you worry might go wrong probably will, and at the end of the day the result will be the same: you will end up married to the man of your dreams. Does it really matter what way the day is once you achieve that objective?

Temporary Panic Sets In...and Out again

I seem to be cruising along just fine in the run up to the last couple of months to this day out. I think maybe it's because I tap into the to-do list almost every day and get emails from various suppliers to make sure we're all on track.

I do update The Handsome One about this - also on a daily basis - but I think perhaps it just goes over his head.

Why?

Well...because this weekend he was hell bent on spending time "on the wedding" and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what he meant. All the appointments have been made, for fittings and adjustments and collections and viewings and checks and all that sort of thing. I was *sure* we were on course!

He sat, at my laptop, for about an hour and a half going through the budget, the to-do list, the running order for the 3 days (wedding-eve prep, wedding-day fun, post-wedding responsibilities...), the "who's paying for what" list - everything. I asked - only twice - "whatcha doin?" to try to figure out what he was at but in the end just wandered off and left him to it.

90 mins later he meanders into the kitchen (where I was left to prepare dinner - again!) and gives me a big hug. There was genuine relief in that hug. I think he just wanted to see where we were at, and was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was on track and running as smoothly as it can under venue circumstances. Even the safety nets and plan B's are in place at the moment; I've contingency coming out my ears.

So back to it.

...what's next for today...?

January. Yikes!

A friend gave me a bit of a shock at the weekend. She told me how many months (correction: how few) months we have left 'til our respective weddings. Quite the jolt I needed to get me into gear.

My witness is getting her own dress, and her hunt has begun in earnest. All sorts of colour options cropping up, with a little (welcome!) direction from my mum.

Future mother-in-law and my mum herself have started searching for outfits - and all being terribly polite to one another about colours and styles and "oh no dear, you go first" - it's all awfully nice.

Venue people are being a pain in the backside, but I won't get started on that because if I do I will just get annoyed. We chose a quiet restaurant for the party and since they got the deposit they have become...less than accommodating. Which is alarming, so we will not go into detail!

Have booked a DJ for the entire day, we will be toetapping from dinner until the wee small hours. The Handsome One and I are very much focussed on the word party in the phrase wedding party so hopefully everyone will enjoy themselves.

Just looking for invitations now, there are so many to choose from. Can't decide who to go for, although Lantz seem to be on everyone's list and I have heard some bad reviews, so unless they have the most amazing selection ever I might give them a miss. Something simple and hassle-free is all we're looking for. Another friend jokingly asked if I would like to see her brochure on Releasing Doves on the day. HA! Oh my god what will people think of next.

Coo. Coo. I will poo on you. Coo. Coo. Coo.

We have set up our meeting with the marriage registration people and will be getting that out of the way in the next couple of weeks. Will have to dig out a copy of my birth certificate (did you know they can go out of date?! Who knew! "Yes, I know I was born some time ago and I know I have a small piece of paper to prove it but as you can see it's out of date, so I must not really exist...oooh I'm a ghost...") - I asked my dad where mine might possibly be and he just burst out laughing. So yeah, getting a copy organised! By the way there IS a charge for getting a marriage licence, it costs frickin' €150 for them to rubber stamp us in 3 seconds and tell us we're good to go. Needs must I understand, but really? Just call it a wedding tax and be done with it!

We're looking into our Lune de Miel which is awfully exciting, we're thinking a city break or two and a week/ten days somewhere hot and boring with little to do but relax with new partner in crime. No longer will we be betrothed! Ha!

This seems like a long engagement doesn't it? But I quite like it...

Photographer is also booked, he seems quite nice. He's not big on staged photos but likes the idea of melting into the background and snapping away at people having a good time. Sounds perfect for the kind of day we're hoping to have. Still undecided about the video element.

We've looked at wedding rings, have some ideas on what's going to go where - might get mine made, which would be super fun. I can't believe the good value at getting exactly what you want if you just look hard enough... Thankfully The Handsome One is very easy to please on this front. Plain & simple is the key!

So I think that's all the main stuff really. We still have to look at flowers but I'm waiting for a sample of the dress material from Hilda which is taking a while. She assures me it'll be here soon...

Ass Kicking

So, I have just been given a virtual kick up the rear end by me ma, who is fed up with me not speaking of or doing anything about our day out next year. She is worried that we won't get what we want and that's a valid argument, only we have no specific wishlist.

If one of his churches isn't available, that's cool, we'll go to another and see if they're free. Or we'll get married later/earlier that same day. Oooh, wouldn't a really old style "wedding breakfast" be fun, instead of hanging around worrying about hair, make-up and nails until 2pm?!

I certainly think so. Plus, not going with the regid timetable set out by a hotel who churns out weekly wedding parties like they're on a production line, means that we can be flexible around everything on the day. Oh goodie!

I'm interested in everything in reverse, actually. I'm looking at invitations and placecards and rings and cakes, when I have no details to print on the invitation, no tables for the placecards and no party to have the cake at yet, haha!! I'm just a little bit nuts I think. Oh well. Thank goodness he likes the crazy.



Moral of this post: ass-kicking duly noted, will be actioned presently. Those wedding planner folder thingies my lovely friends got me almost a year ago will be dusted off this evening. Yes Mum!

Alternative Wedding Ideas

Wedding invitation:
Creativity and patience - this is the result!




Going down the aisle:
Oh how embarrassing, not on your LIFE!! I couldn't do it if I couldn't dance...and I can't, so I won't...




First Dance:
From Dirty Dancing, now this is class!




Guests havin' a bop: Now an MJ tribute...




And now for some cake:

I love being engaged

Sshhh, don't say that too loudly, it's a bit of a taboo. Can't be saying it out loud at all in fact, in case my non-partnered-up friends hear me and take offence or judge me or think I'm being mean to them.

I'm quite sensitive about that actually. I recoiled in horror at the weekend when one of my old pals just kept going on and on and on about her wedding plans, when you could see sad eyes on a few heads around her. Girls who've been in recent breakups or have those long term boyfriends who just can't commit. In one way I know the other B2B wants to talk about it but in another... You wouldn't go on and on about how great your mum was if a friend had recently lost hers would you? Hmmm. Maybe that's a bad comparison but that's how I feel about it.

Secretly...I've always had this romantic notion that a long engagement would be wonderful. The pre-engagement era is nice, you're very close as a couple and it's lovely and you might even live together! But engagement is just the business. It feels different. Talking to a good friend who had been with her beau a long time and finally bought a ring, she kept saying "why didn't we do this years ago?" It feels great. Once we're married it'll be all grown up stuff so I'm privately quite content with the long run up to this day-long-party business.

I love being engaged! It's such a nice time in life. The excitement, the expectation, the sparkle... Went to a wedding recently, my first as a fiancée. It was nice, different, I'm not sure how to describe it. I felt more excited for the bride and could see and understand the true sparkle in her eyes. She glowed! Just genuine happiness all over her face, it was magical.

My favourite photograph of the day is one where the bride is hugging the groom from behind, resting her head on his back and he is standing there with his arms hugging hers. They look so peaceful and content, they had no idea I was taking the snap and were just relaxing at the edge of the party, taking it all in. I hope to have lots of quiet beautiful moments like that when we have our special day.

For the moment, I will just keep enjoying the engagement and keep my twinklie happy thoughts to myself.

This is bril

Sorry I haven't been here in a while, truth be told I've had nada to write about - been doing no wedding planning of late, but playing bridesmaid rather than B2B.

But this post is worthy of a mention, lots of points I wholeheartedly agree with, particularly those on first dances & speeches!

Have a read of what Nutty Cow has to say!