Erin Layla Garton finalises her Wedding Details!

Every bride and groom wants their wedding to stand out, whether it going crazy with the flowers, choosing a spectacular or different venue, or picking a theme that you can really go to town with, but remember it’s your wedding, YOUR being the operative word. As long as the day reflects you and your partner and everything that you are together that’s all that matters. James and I have always had a different style to our friends, sometimes I think that we were both born in the wrong era, we are both heavily into classic décor, vintage finishes and anything oldy worldy! So I was sure, with me being a DIY fanatic and both of us loving spending our time trawling antique shops and Ebay that our wedding was going to have lots of ­­­­intricate details personal to us. Below you will see a few DIY details personal to my wedding that I am working on. I have included simple instructions in case you want to achieve something similar.

Napkins

We are keeping our floral decorations really simple, they are going to be white but a variety of different flowers, because of this I was really worried that by having white flowers and white table linen it might not fit with our theme of vintage rustic chic. So I decided that to inject some colour onto our tables that I would make napkins out of different vintage floral looking fabrics. This has turned out to be quite time consuming but I really cannot wait to see them all finished and folded nicely on our tables.

5 easy steps to make your own napkins:

Step 1 – decide how big you want your napkins, mine with seam allowance are
Step 2 – draw lines on the wrong side of all four sides of your napkins, 2 thirds of your seam allowance in. I have allowed 3cm seam allowance so I am drawing lines 2 cm in.
Step 3 – Iron the outer edge of the fabric inwards so it runs level with your line, press down firmly with the iron
Step 4 - Now fold along the drawn line and press down.
Note – Do step 3 and 4 on opposite sides of the napkins first and then do the other 2 sides.
Step 5 – Sew a straight stitch along all four sides, making sure to keep as straight as possible and to sew on the fabric you have folded. After sewing all four sides snip of any lose threads, press the whole napkin flat, and voila you have yourself a napkin!

Decorated bottles

As James and I are doing our own flowers we also need something to put them in, we will be using some vases that we have collected, but we also wanted to bring something different to our centrepieces. So we have also been collecting vintage bottles, nice liquer bottles and then also just some plain glass bottles that we are decorating, because I love the vintage feel and look of lace and pearls, so that is exactly what I am going to use to cover my bottles.

Step by step guide to decorating bottles:

Step 1 - First find the type of bottles you want to cover, I used sparkling wine bottles and sparkling elderflower bottles, they both have that champagne look to them.
Step 2 – Remove all labels, and wash to get rid of all the residue. This may take some work depending on the labels, but soaking them in hot water with washing up liquid and scrubbing them with a scour pad I find always works. Then make sure you dry the bottle throughly.
Step 3 - Heat up your glue gun and get your pearls ready, I got my half pearls aftering seacrhing the net, make sure they are half pearls (domed on one side and flat on the other, there is no need to get hotfix ones). With my pearls I bought the majority in white or ivory but I also got some golds, silvers, lilacs, pinks and greens to give it some extra lift, I also bought them in a number of different sizes. And think of your design, I personally go with what I am feeling at the time.
Step 4 – Start glueing, just place a spot of glue on the bottle and then place your pearl on top and press down firmly so that it is securely in place. You will have glue strings across the top of your pearls but don’t worry.
Step 5 – Once all your pearls have been stuck on, take out a oft toothbrush and brush away all excess glue and glue strings, and then sit back and admire your work.
Note – you can use lots of amazing haberdashy items to decorate bottles, like pearls, ribbons or for an edgy look how about buttons, I used gather lace, see picture below. Happy decorating.

Introducing Erin Layla Garton, our brand new bridal blogger!

James and I met working in a club in Manchester, he was at University and I was at Dance College, I was 17 and he was 20 and we fell in love. After 7 and half years together, in which we have both changed careers quite a few times, relocated down to Reading and bought a house, he finally proposed on Christmas Day 2010. It really was the best day ever and to this day people are always commenting on how unique and different the proposal was. You see James didn’t have it easy, everyone kept asking him when he was going to pop the question and I kept wrecking every chance by always putting my big mouth in it. For example, we went to see Michael Buble for our 7 year anniversary and I made the comment to him and to friends,” ooh wouldn’t it be romantic if James proposed , whilst Michael is singing our song!”, well suffice to say it didn’t happen. Instead he waited till Christmas Day and it was perfect.

There was no getting down on one knee, which he knew I did not want, instead he arranged for us to stay in the front room of his dad’s house, in the Cotswold’s. We had already had a perfect Christmas Eve with great food, company and presents and that night we went to sleep on a blow up mattress in front a roaring fire, a gorgeous Christmas tree filled with fairy lights and snow filling up the windows and French doors. I then awoke on Christmas Day at about 5am and noticed something very different; there was something on my finger. You see I am a very heavy sleeper and because of this James was able to slip the ring on my finger without me even stirring, he then spent a very unsettled night keeping the fire going, trying to get little bits of sleep, keeping his nerves in check and also making sure I didn’t hit myself in the face with my hand. The funny thing is that I noticed straight away that I had a ring on my finger but it took about 30 seconds for me to able to focus properly and see that I had the ring of my dreams; A vintage inspired ring with a centre diamond and 28 more diamonds adorning the shoulders and band. It was designed by the exquisite Cry for the Moon jewellers in Guildford, with the all-important diamond being picked by James.

The Wedding.

So we set the date of May 12th 2012 for our wedding, which also happens to be our 9 year anniversary, after 9 years together we really didn’t want to start counting from year 0 again, plus we loved the added romance of getting married on the day we first got together. From there it was onto organising the rest of the day and boy was it stressful at first. We had it in our head that we only wanted to spend a certain amount of money on the venue, but everything we saw that came within our budget was either not what we were looking for or was for venue hire only and with added catering costs it took us well over our budget. So in the end we thought we would go on an inspiration trip to The National Wedding Show in Birmingham, and we are so glad we did. Thanks to The National Wedding Show we found our venue, photographer and tailor for the groom’s suit.

The Venue; is the stunning Wroxall Abbey Estate (http://www.wroxall.com/), where we managed to get a great deal due to our wedding not counting as in their peak season. The venue is just what we wanted, it has beautiful grounds and the inside as an old regal feel to it. What is great is that the whole wedding is taking place there, they have an onsite cathedral which is where our ceremony will be held and then we have hired out the mansion on an all exclusive basis meaning we have all 48 bedroom for our guests plus no-one else apart from the wedding party is allowed in the building, perfect seclusion for everyone to enjoy the day.

The photographers; are the wonderful Anna and Michael from Two of US (http://www.twoofus.eu/). One piece of advice I would give to couples visiting an event with so many stalls, is try and talk to as many people as possible (it may be exhausting but it’s definitely worth it), and if you don’t get to speak to everyone at least pick up leaflets, half of them you may throw in the bin but you will have some gems in there. James and I spoke to at least half a dozen photographers on the day, we asked the same questions to all and got a lot of different answers and a lot of variances in prices, by the end of the day we were exhausted and still didn’t quite feel that we had found our photographer. So at the end of the day there we were sitting in the demonstration area resting our tiring feet, where we saw a photographer stand that we hadn’t visited, we had actually passed it quite a few times in the day but we thought the photos were too good to be real and also looked way out of our price league but decided to get one more leaflet to add to our already huge pile to go through. That last leaflet turned out to be the photographer we went for, they were exactly what we were looking for, quirky, well shot and personal pictures, at a great price and to top it all off Anna, who we arranged to meet 3 days after the show, was so friendly and genuinely did it for the love of photography, we warmed to her instantly. We got an amazing package with more on offer than all the other photographers we saw and at an amazing price, including 2 photographers for the whole day, Anna who will follow me and get the brides perspective and Michael who will follow James to get the grooms and also he will be snapping away getting all the quirky action shots, 2 photo albums, full copyright, full photo editing and an additional shoot for the bride and groom after the wedding. This additional photo shoot is something we had never heard of before but apparently it is very popular in Europe. Instead of the bride and groom going off on the wedding day for an hour or so and missing the chance to mingle with friends and family at the drinks reception to have pictures taken, they only take you away for 20 mins and then the next day you get all dressed up again and go on a photo shoot to different locations to get some amazing pictures together. We already can’t wait to see the pictures and they haven’t even been taken yet.

The suit has been designed and made by specialist tailors Clements and Church (http://www.clementsandchurch.co.uk/). We were served by the owner Aaron, who could not have been more helpful, and boy does he know his stuff, his expertise really put James at ease, even when he was told he wore the wrong sized shirts. After trying on a few suits, we picked a stunning 3 piece with a difference; it really has that vintage look we were going for and just happens to be the first one we saw when we walked in. We were originally going to get one tailor-made for James, but in the end there was no point, the cut was so excellent, that an off the peg suit worked perfectly, with a few minor adjustments it will look like he has had one tailored made without the paying that extra cost. James then picked a stunning tie that incorporates our colour scheme and the same fabric will also be used for the back of the waistcoat, I really cannot wait to see James in it on our wedding day.

So you can see for James and I, a trip to the National Wedding Show was invaluable.

Now a year has passed since we started planning and we still have a lot to do. One thing I have not mentioned so far is that I am a full on DIY bride and I don’t just mean invites and décor, I am intending on going as far as making not only MY wedding dress but also my 6 bridesmaid dresses. On my blog posts you will be able to follow my progress during the next 3 and half months till my big day and I will be including simple instructions for my DIY ideas and progress pictures on my dress.

Choosing the Gift List - From our real life bride Sandy

Many of our friends have asked about what we would like as a present on our big day. All we really want is for the friends and family that we love to be there to celebrate our special day with us, but people are quite adamant that they want to get us something.

I guess in the past Brides and Grooms wouldn't have been living together before they were married which is why they'd ask for crockery, kitchen appliances and general homewares. However, Adam and I have lived together for 2 years and our house is pretty much set up with everything we need, and in most cases double as we both lived alone previously. We still have a box full of plates, pots, pans, glasses and utensils that hasn't been unpacked since Adam moved in!!!

We began looking at alternatives to the Traditional Gift Registry and both really liked the idea of guests contributing towards our Honeymoon. We are off to Florida just after the wedding and are planning on visiting the Themes Parks and hoping to swim with Dolphins too. All of this adds on to the cost of our honeymoon. I had a look on the internet at some websites where you can set up your own website for guests to contribute to the honeymoon. Now the idea of this I LOVE. I love the idea of writing down a list of things we want to do and places we want to visit whilst on honeymoon and guests donating to us having a fun time. The only down side of this is the charges that these websites incur. A lot of them charge a fee to set up the website, some are free, but then a percentage of the guests' donation is withheld and some charge a set up fee AND keep percentage of any donations. I am just not comfortable with our guests thinking they're contributing to our honeymoon but somebody else keeping some of the money.

Our Travel Agent, said guests could contribute directly through them, but the honeymoon had to be paid for before our invites had even been written! D'oh!

With all of this taken into consideration we have asked that if guests do want to give a gift to congratulate us and wish us luck, they donate money for our honeymoon. Neither of us are completely comfortable asking for money as we don't want guests to feel they're being judged on how much they give (even though we never would judge and their attendance is far more important than any gift), so we are going to have a postbox for any cards and guests can drop money in if they wish.
We've not mentioned this in the invitations we sent out as really don't want guests to feel obliged, but with people asking, we have mentioned it on the website we set up to give guests details such as accommodation and directions.

Angela Harkin chooses the all important wedding rings!

Whilst searching for wedding rings recently, I discovered that (a) John is far fussier than me and that (b) I love a bit of bling!

John is keen to wear a wedding ring but trying to find him something he actually liked was the hard bit. After perusing countless websites and looking in numerous shops for ideas, I thought we’d never find anything he liked. However, his (extremely long) search for something a bit alternative led us to finally find a brushed steel ring that is very unique and something that he will be happy wearing forever.

My problem, however, wasn’t that I couldn’t find a ring but that I found loads of rings that I loved! I initially thought I wanted a simple plain band but I was quickly allured by the twinkle of diamonds and felt like a kid in a sweet shop. So much sparkle, too much choice! It was difficult to whittle it down to just one ring.

That’s not usually like me. I’m usually quite demure with my jewellery, often preferring costume jewellery to really expensive stuff however finding my dream diamond wedding ring has changed all that.

As John keeps reminding me, his ring cost a fraction of mine. But, as I’ve told him a thousand times, your wedding ring is a symbol of never-ending love. It shows your commitment to one another and is a symbol of eternal devotion. It’s therefore worth the price tag!

Once the wedding is over, the dress has been put away and the honeymoon is a distant memory, the ring is the one thing I’ll still be wearing every day of my life … besides I’ve already seen a beautiful eternity ring that would compliment it perfectly…. I think John had better saving for the first anniversary gift!

Blogging bride Katherine Charles' last post before her Big Day!

Well, it is finally here – after 15 long months of planning, we are 1 week away from our big day! I am rather on cloud nine after having a fantastic last week at work being thoroughly spoilt with good wishes, presents and cards. I could certainly get used to this! But I mustn’t take my eye off the ball just yet – I have a to-do list as long as my arm.

Thre are lenty of last-minute things that still need doing, including the table plan, picking up the suits and dresses, as well as doing that DIY décor project I started about 6 months ago and didn’t want to leave until the last minute!

And now, after months of planning the venue, the food, the flowers and the music, it’s time to concentrate on us– so the next few days are filled with beautifying appointments and lovely shopping trips with my bridesmaids, as well as the obligatory groom’s haircut! There seem to be 2 pieces of advice that everyone is giving me as we get closer to the big day and that is to appreciate it all, as it all goes so fast but my cousins wife had the best bit of advice for me….enjoy the build-up as much as the day - and in 2 hours, when I leave work, I plan to do exactly that!

Angela Harkin discusses the Mother of the Bride outfit!

All parents want to make their children proud on their big day and my mum is no exception. In her quest for the perfect Mother of the Bride outfit, she has managed to buy two outfits! I also won’t be surprised if a third outfit is purchased before the big day.

So it’s fair to say that my mum is very indecisive. Early on this year, she saw a beautiful raspberry-coloured dress and, on a whim, thought it would be a good idea to get it, along with all the pricey accessories. Then a few months ago, once John and I had worked out what colours we were having at the wedding, she decided to look for something completely different in the shade of midnight blue - her reason being that she needed to find an outfit that would tie in with the wedding party.

Mother of the Bride outfits can be expensive and I know other MOTBs who have shelled out a small fortune on their outfits, some even spending a few hundred pounds more than was spent on the bridal gown.

I don’t think you have to spend a fortune to look fabulous and in the words of my mum, ‘accessories complete the look’. This was her excuse anyway, when splashing out on a very expensive and gorgeous pair of designer shoes and matching handbag.

To top it all off, there is also the head gear to think of. Gone are the days where every Mother of the Bride has to wear a hat. There are many alternatives like hair pins, hair bands and fascinators. My mum has two fascinators and (unsurprisingly) has her eye on another one so she will definitely have a stunning piece of headwear for the day.

I asked her the other day what she would do with the first outfit she bought and she just replied that a woman can never have too many dresses. Maybe she’ll take a leaf out of all the big celebrities’ books and change outfits half-way through the wedding day.

Sandy Gaggini blogs about the all important groomswear!

One of the most straightforward and simple decisions we've made so far in the wedding planning process has been deciding on the suits. It was important to me (as I think it should be) that Adam decided on his own suit. After all, it's his wedding too and I got to pick my dress so it's only fair really.

He'd started by looking at suit hire websites where you could completely customise the suit and had a good idea of what look he was after. I was really pleased that what Adam liked was exactly what I'd pictured him in.

When my Mum and I attended the National Wedding Show in September (Adam had wimped out ill) I thought this was a good chance to have a look at some suits. Unsurprisingly, the style of suit I liked in my head matched the style I liked on the manikins, I was just hoping that Adam would feel the same. I grabbed every suit brochure that was going and proudly presented them to a poorly Adam when I got home, along with some of the goodies I'd picked up!!

One company really appealed to us, with shops in Solihull, and further North (Adam's family are in Manchester). We visited the Solihull branch a couple of weekends ago. I was in two minds as to whether I was going to go. I wanted a surprise waiting for me at the end of the aisle, but Adam wanted my opinion. The lady who helped us was lovely and helpful, and not disimilar to the ladies who helped me when I was dress shopping. When Adam was dressed up I don't know which one of us had the biggest grin!

So the suit is now picked, we just need to get the groomsmen measured, one of which is yet to be asked to be an usher. The store also offer a self measurement service which may be useful as they don't have a branch as far south as Australia where the best man lives!

Katherine Charles tackles the table plan!

The table plan.....every single person I have spoken to has given me horror stories of this part of the wedding planning so unsurprisingly, I approached it with some trepidation! On a whim, I downloaded an iPad application to help me and it was a life saver! All I had to do was enter the guest details in and assign each guest a little cartoon character.....you can select gender, hair and skin colour to match your guest profile! Once everyone was entered, I set-up the appropriate table sizes and numbers and then it was a simple ‘drag and drop’ exercise. I know that all sounds very easy and for the most part I was pleasantly surprised!

Given the initial dramas concerned with the roles of our family at our wedding, I had envisaged this being something of a nightmare but we made a decision very early-on that we would not have a top table. Instead, we are having a table with just the two of us, with each of our bridal party effectively ‘hosting’ a table around the room. We made this decision for three reasons – firstly, we didn’t want the pain of choosing who was on the top table; secondly, we thought it would be nice for people to look around the room at different speakers during the speech and finally, and most importantly, we wanted to ensure some time together during the day to take it all in.

After all the effort that has gone into everything and all of the advice everyone has given us about enjoying every moment, we thought this would be the ideal opportunity to take a step back. Now we have a plan that we are really happy with and we know that everyone is seated with people that they can enjoy the day with, rather than being stuck in a ‘formal’ seating arrangement where they have to be on their best behaviour next to people they barely know!

Angela Harkin looks at the D.I.Y. elements of her Big Day!

I am a D.I.Y. Bride and not afraid to admit it!

Most brides are aware of the tight budget they have to stick to when planning their wedding so it is a good idea to try and do as much as you can by sourcing products and putting items together yourself.

I have already made some items myself and plan to do a few more things but at the back of my mind, I am very aware of making sure everything looks stylish. I don’t want the wedding to look cheap and tacky just because I’m saving a few pennies.

I am lucky to have a very artistic friend who has helped me with my ideas. I have gone to her several times explaining what I’d like to do and she always comes up with something even better than I envisaged. In fact, she helped make the table name tags which look amazing!

So what else are we doing ourselves? Well, we have made our own place settings as we wanted something different from the plain white ones the hotel is providing. We also plan to make our own orders of service as we can then tie them into our theme for the day. Our favours will be partly made by us - lottery tickets wrapped in a scroll with a poem for the adults and a goody bag for the children containing colouring book, crayons and a small toy. I have even gone as far as to make a personalised wedding activity book for the little ones. I’ve also made our very own personalised guestbook featuring caricatures of us which is a fun addition to the stationery.

It’s enjoyable creating things for the wedding and a great way to build up the excitement, not to mention a good excuse to get the wedding party together to help make items.

But the D.I.Y. list doesn’t stop there. We have thought about having a candy bar at the reception which will be easy to do - simply purchase different shaped jars and bowls then fill with various sweet treats.

I have also seen beautiful brooch bouquets online which are really expensive but I might have an attempt at making my own…with a little bit of help from my friends!

Sandy Gaggini adds the personal touch to her wedding favours

With just under 5 months to go until our big day, I feel the major things venue, dress, cake etc. are all in hand so can now focus my attention to the smaller details one of which being the wedding favours. Now I know traditionally you'd present guests with 5 sugared almonds representing fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness with the bitter almond combined with the sugar coating symbolising the bitter sweetness of a marriage but this doesnt seem very personal. To me, the favour should be a personal momento of the day we shared.

My first idea for favours were plantable seed paper that our guests could take home and plant and when it bloomed would be a nice reminder of the day. Whilst I still really love this idea, would our guests like it' and would they plant them or would they end up going dusty on a shelf? My second idea came off the back of the first although it's totally different. With us being on a budget, do I want to spend money on items that may be left on the tables, or perhaps taken home and just forgotten about? It seems a waste. I dont think it's uncommon now for weddings not to provide favours, so thats one option but I would like to have something guests can take away from the day and it doesn't matter what they do with it.

This was what got me thinking about charity favours. Wanting to keep it personal, my first stop was the Cancer Research website. My Dad and Grandpa both died of Cancer and I'll really miss them on my Wedding Day. Cancer Research offer personalised favour cards and a Cancer Research UK pin badge for your guests. I also contacted the RSPCA as Adam and myself love animals (we have 2 dogs, one of which is 6 months old and deaf, 2 cats, 2 leopard geckos and a bearded dragon) and asked if they offer a similar service as I couldn't see anything on their website. They do, and have the cutest pin badges. Nothing has been decided for certain yet but if we do go down the charity route then at least I know the money won't have been wasted.

Katherine Charles looks at bringing together your Big Day look!

Writing this blog post, I am fresh from my recent hair and make-up trial which just couldn’t have gone better. I feel like I have spent so many evenings trawling the internet for inspiration about hair and make-up ideas. I have been making a conscious effort to grow my hair but it just doesn’t seem to be growing quickly enough so all the styles that I liked, I was convinced wouldn’t work for my length. I copied a few pictures of styles and hoped my poor hairdresser would be able to understand what I wanted and create some magic! Luckily for me, with very little input from me, Gemma managed to transform my hair into something which was absolutely perfect. Finding a balance between a pretty romantic style, without it looking too simple was where I thought the challenge would be, but she really managed to create a striking look and even won me round to the benefits of hair extensions so I could create the perfect look I wanted!

Straight after my hair trial, I also had my make-up trial which was equally as successful....again, I had so few ideas to share that I was so glad that my talented make-up artist was able to create a look that is going to fit perfectly with our winter wedding.

Together, the look was just brilliant and I’d love to look like that every day! Even in my jeans and jumper, I felt like a princess so I can only imagine what it is going to feel like on the big day!

For the rest of my accessories, I have had some great buys, simply from keeping my eyes peeled while out shopping. I actually stumbled across my jewellery while in Marks & Spencers, just going to show that you don’t have to spend hundreds of pounds. I had seen similar jewellery in a wedding magazine and here was an exact replica for a fraction of the cost – result! Using this jewellery, I was also able to get a hair accessory made to match with some explanation of my jewellery and a questionable picture from me, Karen was able to match all the colours and create a unique hair decoration especially for me. I really hope that all these little experiences are going to result in my dream bridal look – I cannot wait to see it now! Only 63 days to go!

Blogging bride Angela Harkin finds the perfect bridesmaid dress!

Finding a bridesmaid dress can be more problematic than you think, or at least it was for me. I had the colour scheme and style in mind but hadn’t stopped to think if either of those things would actually suit my sister. Only once we went shopping, did I realise that her dress was going to be quite different to what I had envisaged.

It got me thinking that it must be so difficult for a bride with several bridesmaids. I mean, how on earth can you find one dress that suits all? It must be daunting and almost impossible. What may suit one girl could look awful on another. It would be even more worrying finding one dress to flatter ladies of very different shapes, sizes and ages.

At a recent wedding I went to, there were seven (yes, seven!) bridesmaids and each one had their own style of dress, all in different colours. The effect reminded me of a rainbow and I felt like it didn’t really have a visually-pleasing effect. I do think bridesmaids can wear different dresses and still create a unifying look however that bride took it one step too far.

I am lucky that I don’t have a big group of girls all trying to look good in the same dress. I initially encouraged my sister to find a dress that she would wear again rather than something she would wear once then keep in a wardrobe forever. After trying on what seemed like every dress in every shop, we finally decided that no dress in the high street seemed right. We decided to go back to the shop where I got my wedding dress to see if they could offer some inspiration. After trying on a few dresses, we finally found a dress that she and I both love. My thoughts of a knee-length, floaty number turned into a long, strapless and sparkly dress. The colour is perfect and will compliment my dress and the men’s outfits perfectly.

My two flower girls are going to wear simple tulle dresses that compliment my dress. With added accessories of a wand and sparkly hairband, I’m sure they’ll look every bit the princesses they want to be.

Sandy Gaggini looks at the world of wedding entertainment!

Choosing the entertainment for our big day is proving to be one of the most difficult decisions to make, which is probably the reason why we've been putting it off. With just over six months to go and our date coinciding with St Patrick's Day I think we need to pull our fingers out, sharpish.

As the wedding service itself is at a Church, the organist and choir are already providing musical entertainment there so that just leaves reception to sort out.

We definitley want a DJ, thats the one thing we're sure of, but the problem is choosing one. It feels you're reliant on either taking a total risk or relying on recommendations either from the venue or friends. It would just be nice to actually see the DJ in action before commiting. We are attending at least two weddings before our big day but geographically these aren't local to us and I'm sure there's plenty of brilliant DJs in the West Midlands, it's just going to be a case of finding one. If anyone has any recommendations... ;-)

Adam's sister is also getting married next year and pointed me in the direction of a website where you enter the details of your wedding and local DJs send you quotes. Adam's sister received a couple of quotes within a couple of hours of posting her details so it's worth a shot.

Since getting engaged we have only been to one wedding fayre (something I plan to rectify in the coming months!), and that was more coincidence than planning. It was when we were looking for a venue and looking at the hotel the fayre was being held in was more of a priority than the stands within the hotel. Wedding fayres should be a great way of finding local suppliers and entertainment for your wedding. When we went we did talk to a company that supplied DJs for venues and effectively had reserve DJs just incase the DJ you booked broke down or couldn't make it for whatever reason which I found quite reassuring as I am a little paranoid about things going wrong, suppliers failing to deliver etc.

Although we haven't booked the DJ yet, we have been thinking of songs we would like played at the reception and are wracking our brains for our first dance song. Adam and I have quite different tastes in music so it's not been easy. Our different musical tastes are one reason why we felt a Band wasn't really an option for us. We are also planning on asking guests for song requests when they RSVP so that we can put together our own wedding playlist and everyone will have at least one song they can get up and boogie to.

Obviously a DJ isn't the only type of entertainment you can chose from. We did talk to a magician at the wedding fayre but it wasn't for us.
As I've previously mentioned I still love the idea of a photobooth, which is as much entertainment as it is a photographic memory.

We just want everyone to have a fun yet relaxed time so we need to get attending more fayres and get our entertainment crossed off our To Do list!

Katherine Charles looks forward to her dream honeymoon!

Well, with only 100 days to go now until the big day, I think I am as equally excited about our honeymoon as I am about our wedding! It took us quite a while to decide where to go, primarily because we were trying to balance what we wanted with what the budget would allow! I think it’s fair to say we were very shocked with some of the quotes we received!

Of course, like everyone, we wanted to make this a memorable holiday; our first as man and wife and, for that reason, we wanted to pick a destination that gave us the opportunity to relax on the beach as well as do a bit of exploring and sightseeing. At first, we thought of doing what now seems to be a very popular choice – Dubai and on to the Maldives. I have to say it was incredibly enjoyable looking through all of the brochures at the amazing hotels on offer, next to crystal blue waters and golden sands – bliss!! Although we wanted to really splash out on a lovely honeymoon, we also didn’t want to start married life in debt so this idea was quickly shelved!

Our second option was to tie our honeymoon in with a visit to my fiancés brother in Australia. We played around with options to visit somewhere on the flight there, such as Thailand......we also considered visiting somewhere on the East Coast of Australia but as I had been there before, we also ruled that out as we wanted to find somewhere that was a new adventure for both of us.

And so it caught us by surprise one evening while watching “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” that we struck upon the perfect honeymoon destination......Hawaii! And so, on Boxing Day, we will be jetting off to Honolulu and spending 3 days staying near Waikiki Beach where we are going to do some sight-seeing, followed by 7 days of bliss lying on a beach in Maui – we simply cannot wait!!!

Fill out Bride and Groom’s wedding dress survey and win £100!

Fill out Bride and Groom’s wedding dress survey and win £100!

Off the peg, vintage, borrowed or bespoke? Bride and Groom want to know everything about the most exquisite dress you’ve ever owned – your wedding dress!

So to find out all your wedding dress essentials, they’ve put together a quick questionnaire and would love it if you could fill it out. It will only take a few minutes and your time would be very much appreciated.

And, as a thank you for your input, they’re giving away a £100 voucher of your choice to one lucky survey winner – now that’s a bonus!

Click here now to enter

Angela Harkin on planning the perfect hen do!

I’m unsure of what I want to do for my hen do but I know what I definitely don’t want!

Luckily the responsibility for arranging everything falls on my sister’s shoulders. As my one and only bridesmaid, she will have the problem of deciding how her younger, fussier sister would like to celebrate her last days of single life.

I’ve been on my fair share of hen parties and after a near-death experience and far too many drunken nights, with the obligatory oiled-up stripper, I want something classy for my hen night.

I asked my friends about hen nights and if they had been to any unusual ones. Dance lessons seemed to be a popular choice, from belly-dance, can-can or even pole dance lessons but that is just not my thing. I prefer to sit and listen to music than dance to it.

Mini-breaks are still popular but I do feel this can be a big commitment for people from getting time off work to getting the kids looked after, not to mention the cost involved.

I’d also heard of someone who took all her hens tank driving! I experienced a hen weekend where we all went white-water rafting however after my raft crashed into a bridge and I was plunged into freezing water in the middle of January (and thought I was going to drown!), I vowed never to do anything like that again. Adrenalin junkie I am not.

Another favourite is a luxury pamper session with treatments and massages combined with a leisurely champagne lunch. Now that sounds more my thing although most places can be pricey and I don’t want it to cost a fortune for all the ladies.

I do love cocktails (one of the reasons we chose our honeymoon hotel is for their fabulous mojito lounge) so this has inspired me to look into having a cocktail masterclass. There seems to be more and more places doing these and they seem reasonably priced. I mean, what woman doesn’t enjoy a cocktail? We’ll have a great time whilst telling ourselves we are learning a new and essential skill!

I was actually surprised to find out that more and more girls are going for small get-togethers where they have a room in a bar or hotel and can all get a chance to chat and laugh in privacy. This means if the celebrations get loud and wild (or, in my case, if my sister starts shrieking her favourite songs at the top of her voice!), we won’t be annoying anyone else. The important thing is I have a fun hen night that doesn’t cost the earth. I want everyone to have fun and let their hair down for a night.

Now, I’d better make sure my sister reads this so that there are no unexpected surprises.

Sandy Gaggini enjoys every moment of choosing her wedding cake!

I LOVE cake! So this was naturally one of the first things I started thinking about when myself and Adam got engaged. I was adamant I wanted a tower of cupcakes and to be honest I didn't think Adam would really mind what cake we had as long as it tasted good... I was wrong! Adam totally surprised me and was insistent that he wanted the traditional tiered cakes.

One thing you should know about me is that I can be quite stubborn, so although I'm not a Bridezilla (honestly I'm not) I do like things to happen the way I want them, I don't go crazy if they don't but I do sulk! I began looking on-line at gorgeous looking Wedding Cupcakes and showing them to Adam in the hopes that he'd change his mind. He agreed that they looked awesome but he wanted a cake that we could cut.

We had a look at and considered a giant cupcake as the top tier but decided it wasn't what either of us envisaged for our wedding cake. Eventually we came to a compromise, tiers of cupcakes with a traditional wedding cake for the top tier that we could cut. I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner!

One of the things I love about cupcakes is the fact that they are individual cakes, allowing for a bit of variety. You can have different colours, different flavours and different decorations. For example we go to our local Farmers Market every month and the lately there has been a stall there selling cupcakes, although if you're there at midday she only has a couple left! She has Chocolate Orange cupcakes, Oreo cupcakes, Earl Grey cupcakes, Lemon cupcakes and even ones that look 99s with the flake.

I think your Wedding Cake is as much about how it looks as it is how it tastes. I could make cakes that taste great but I'm not creative and they wouldn't look very impressive.

I started contacting a few cupcake bakeries. Most seem to have price bands depending on quantity and vary depending on flavours and how intricate the detail you want on each cupcake is. Something I hadn't considered was the cake stand and some (not all) charge for the use of the cupcake stand.

As I've said in a previous post, I'm learning that it definitely pays to know people in the Wedding Industry. My uncle is a postman and on his round he delivers to Juci Luci's Cupcake Factory! I like to imagine it's like Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory but with cupcakes... AWESOME!!!

I checked out her website (www.juicycupcakefactory.co.uk) and her facebook page (social media and the wedding industry is fantastic) and fell in love with her cakes.

I contacted Luci and she's been really helpful. As we're getting married a few miles away she is happy to set up the cakes for us - one thing less for us to organise on our big day! She doesn't charge for the stand as she believes it's only right that the cakes are beautifully displayed. We haven't had a tasting session yet although I have it on very good authority that the cakes taste delicious, and Luci has offered to come to us or is happy for us to go to her for a tasting session and to discuss flavours, colour schemes and decoration.

Luci has also just started making Bride and Groom decorations and they look amazing!

I cant wait to see, cut and most importantly eat our wedding cake!

Our blogging bride Angela Harkin looks at the wonderful world of wedding stationery!

Apparently every bride needs nine, yes nine, different types of stationery! Don’t believe me? Drum roll please… we need… (1) Save the Date cards, (2) Day Invitations, (3) Evening Invitations, (4) RSVPs, (5) Orders of Service, (6) Table Plans, (7) Place Cards, (8) Menus and, finally, (9) Thank You Cards! Now if you take the average-sized wedding of, say, 150 guests, the cost of envelopes alone will eat up a large chunk of your budget so it’s important to be savvy when it comes to stationery.

The most important piece of stationery is without a doubt, the invitations. When my H2B and I decided on our gig-inspired theme, we knew that our invitations had to reflect that. It’s the first thing our guests will see and we want people to get a sneak peek of what our wedding will be like. There are so many unique ideas for wedding invitations, from printed chocolate bars to ‘Wanted’ posters and even computer games emailed to guests. As much as I like the traditional embossed invitations covered in diamantes, I think it is much more fun to try and do something different and make sure no-one else will ever have the same as you. We initially thought about flyers, coasters and even CD’s with the wedding information on however as we scrawled the internet, we came upon Treefrog Graphics who had the perfect invitations for us – concert tickets! They are distinctive and have a perforated RSVP that people simply rip off and return – two cards in one!

So with our invitations and RSVPs out the way, we have now started looking at stationery for the big day. I heard recently of one wedding where the place cards were cookies with names iced on them which is a great idea and a tasty treat while people are listening to speeches. We, however, plan to have the image of cassettes printed onto card and we will write the names of guests across them – a little bit retro and fun. This same design will also be on the menus. As I mentioned in my previous blog, we are having a set-list instead of order of service and our table plan will be in the style of a festival poster. These are things we plan to make ourselves and although I’m not very creative, I have found it’s easy to design them on the computer.

As for Thank You Cards, well we haven’t got that far yet. We have been toying with the idea of CD’s of songs played at the wedding but we will decide that nearer the time.

We are aware that our theme is very much a vital part of our wedding and the stationery will be a key element but we also aren’t letting the costs spiral out of control – Microsoft Publisher is definitely a big help!

My tip for stationery would be to ask the wedding venue if they do any of them for you as this could save lots of time and money. Many hotels will provide and write place cards, menus and table plans at no extra cost, saving a small fortune.

And after booking our luxurious honeymoon the other day, maybe I should follow my own advice and call the hotel…

Katherine Charles shares how choosing your big day flowers can be easy and fun!

It’s probably fair to say that there is only one task that I was dreading organising in the run up to our wedding.....flowers! I don’t know the first thing about flowers – What are they called? When are they in season? What is likely to last for the whole day? Seriously, I didn’t have a clue... Actually, thinking about it, I probably still don’t. But I am certainly a little wiser and much more relaxed about the flowers for our wedding all thanks to Lavenders of London, who we have chosen to provide the flowers and bits of decor for our big day.

They couldn’t have been more helpful – they asked me questions about the venue, about the general theme of the day and about any ideas that I had. In terms of my ideas, I did lots of Google research about what flowers would be suitable for a winter wedding – of course, most of the research I did suggested we might like to opt for traditional red roses, in keeping with a Christmas wedding. But I don’t want that....we are trying to move away from the “obvious” Christmas theme; however, finding pictures did help me try and explain what I was looking for.

When we visited the Lavenders of London warehouse, my poor Fiance thought we would be there for days...there was literally every flower, candle and ribbon you could ask for! I, on the other hand, was in heaven!! After chatting through all of my ideas with them and purchasing some decor in keeping with my theme, we have now organised all of our flowers in one visit alone. It was such a relief to have someone take a weight off your shoulders...in that single visit, I have been able to organise my bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, all of the buttonholes and corsages as well as some extra special touches for centrepieces and venue design, although I will keep those under wraps for now ;)

Sandy Gaggini shares her tips for choosing the perfect photographer.

Along with the dress, the venue and of course the groom, one of the most important things to get right is the photographer.

Your wedding day is only going to happen once, there will only be one entrance at the ceremony, one first kiss as husband and wife, one first dance. There's no room for retakes so everything needs to be captured perfectly first time. With so many things going on on your big day you're going to miss things that happen that don't directly involve you, but hopefully your photographer will capture some of these moments. Your Wedding Album is going to be a massive reminder of your big day and something you can share with friends and family who were unable to attend and your children and grandchildren. That's how important these photos are!

I first started looking at photographers when I was looking at potential venues. I would google each potential venue and the phrase "wedding photography" to look at the different photo opportunities each venue could provide. We wanted a beautiful church and a gorgeous wedding reception venue that would look amazing in our photographs, and what better way to envisage the potential than looking at pictures from previous weddings. This also allowed me to scope out potential photographers, find styles that I liked, get an idea of how much they cost and just generally be nosey into complete strangers weddings!!!
I soon discovered that photgraphers are pretty pricey, and each photographer offers a different package so you should make sure you know exactly what is included for the price.

As somebody who doesn't really like posing for photographs the main pictures I was interested in were the natural ones where the people in the photos don't realise they're having their picture taken. I did stumble across one particular photographer who's posed photos I loved, Steven Gerrard, so creative and talented. Unfortunately his prices don't fit in with our budget.

As I am finding with a lot of this Wedding Planning malarkey it's as much who you know as what you know. An old school friend's sister has started her own Wedding Photography business. As soon as Adam and I announced our engagement my friend recommended we take a look at her sister's website and facebook page to consider her for our photographer.

When I looked at Katie Ingram's photos I thought she was was the perfect choice. Her pictures are stunning and really capture the moment. I love the unforced, natural photos that she takes, and for the posed ones, who better than someone I have known for several years to make me feel comfortable and relaxed. In Katie's own words "I like to show the joy and happiness in people from the day. It's a celebration and I embrace the happiness and capture it as well as I can."

Check out her work and I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I was. www.katieingram.co.uk

Other than the professional photos, I have quite a few friends who enjoy photography and am planning on getting copies of the photos they take on the day, and if our budget can stretch to it I would really like a photobooth to add a really fun element to the photography and allow guests to take a memento of the day home with them.