Read all about our final bride to be Sandy Gaggini's wedding plans!

Hi! I'm Sandy and will be regularly posting my blog on here!

I'd say I'm quite a relaxed and calm bride-to-be, definitely haven't turned into Bridezilla... Yet!!! I've been watching Don't Tell the Bride and if these guys can plan a wedding in a matter of weeks then I'm confident we'll do fine!

I never really thought of myself getting married so the wedding planning process is very new and I'm starting completely from scratch with no pre-existing thoughts or ideas.

My fiance, Adam and I got engaged Boxing Day. We live in Birmingham but Adam is originally from Manchester and so had spent Christmas day with his Family up north and I'd spent Christmas with my Mum in the Midlands. We'd exchanged presents but had decided to keep one present back to open together! I unwrapped what I thought was just a Christmas present in front of a glowing Halogen heater as the boiler had packed in with the cold weather. It was a total surprise, an engagement ring that Adam had chosen all by himself and he popped the question! All I'd bought him was the Toy Story trilogy box set! I love the ring! Its modern and untraditional looking. I couldn't have chosen better!

The wedding is booked for March 17th 2012, St Patrick's day, but not a St Patrick day theme and neither of us is Irish!!! We're getting married at a beautiful Roman Catholic Church and the Reception is at a Golf Club.

Invitations, Wedding Car and Photographer are sorted, and I am currently in the process of Wedding Dress shopping! Fun fun fun!

I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

Introducing Angela Harkin our second bride to be!

Bridezilla? Me? No way! I think I’m in the unique position where my H2B is probably more demanding about our wedding than me!

My Groomzilla is my lovely John, who I met 3½ years ago. After whisking me off to Rome last October and getting down on one knee in front of the Trevi Fountain (and an audience of over a thousand tourists!), we returned to our hotel to be welcomed by a bottle of champagne on ice in the rooftop terrace. Little did we know that this trip would help us set the scene for our wedding plans and within a fortnight of returning home, we had our wedding booked at the Gailes Hotel, simply because it had a rooftop terrace! We’re a bit impulsive and believe fate has a hand in everything so our wedding is no different.

With just over a year to go until the big day (2nd July 2012), there is so much to think about….I mean, with so many choices out there nowadays, I really don’t know how we’re going to make decisions. We’ve recently been looking at cakes and that in itself has taken far too much of my time (and destroyed my waistline!).

Everyone seems to have a theme these days and we can’t be any different so our shared love of music and going to gigs will feature heavily in the wedding along with my love of stars (my one and only Bridezilla moment – let’s hope it doesn’t rear its head again!). We need to find something for my ten year old son, Ethan, to do at the wedding (apart from singing Tinie Tempah songs at the ceremony – as he requested last week!)

This will be my second wedding (but the most important!) and we don’t want it to be a small affair. We want it to be unique to us and hopefully, with all our ideas, it’ll be unforgettable for us and our guests. We want to enjoy the big day and I want John to enjoy being a Groomzilla!

Bring on the fun!

Meet Katherine Charles, our first blogging bride!

I am definitely one of those girls who has dreamed about getting married since I was little. Interestingly, I never thought about the big white meringue dress or all the sparkly jewellery, I was just always excited about the thought of having all my friends and family celebrating together. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to be surprised with a proposal from my (then) boyfriend David, back in September 2010.

We were on a road-trip down the west-coast of America and, up until that point, had had the most amazing holiday, seeing so many great things. Friends had joked to us before we went that we would come back engaged and, although I wasn’t expecting it, it had crossed my mind! I thought that if he was going to propose, he would do so while we were in Palm Springs at a very romantic hotel, however nothing happened. I wasn’t disappointed as we had only been together a short amount of time so I didn’t think any more of it. Little did I know, just 2 days later (on the 1 year anniversary of our first date), he would surprise me by getting down on one knee at the Grand Canyon. This was always set to be an amazing trip, as we had planned a sunset champagne picnic after flying over the Canyon in a helicopter – however, being proposed to made it absolutely unforgettable. I remember being so excited flying back to Las Vegas and couldn’t wait to phone home and tell my Mum! After that, we waited to tell everyone until we got back home a couple of days after...although I was allowed to buy a wedding magazine at the airport!

So, 9 months later, we are well underway with our wedding planning. We both love Christmas and decided to be a little different and opt for a winter wedding, so we are getting married on December 16^th at Rivervale Barn in Hampshire. We are planning to have about 90 people to the day for a civil-ceremony, drinks reception and sit-down meal, followed by an evening reception where we will have an additional 40-50 guests. I have found the most gorgeous dress which I absolutely love and we have also organised the men’s suits (we will be having 2 ushers and 2 best men) and the bridesmaids dresses (I am having 4 bridesmaids) simply because 3 of them have/are emigrating to Australia before December (luckily they are coming back for the big day!). There is still lots to do...sorting out the food and drink, hair and make-up, flowers/decor and the smaller details like fittings, favours and thank you gifts, amongst other things.

My parents are divorced so my biggest challenge has been keeping everyone happy! To save any arguments, I am doing a few things the ‘non-traditional’ way, so I am having my Mum give me away and both my Dad and my Step-Dad delivering speeches. As my husband-to-be couldn’t choose his best man, he is having 2 of his closest friends and his brother will be our MC. We really wanted to involve our close family as much as possible. I am so excited about creating a really rustic feel at our gorgeous venue with lots of candles, ivy and glitzy Christmas accessories! Only 192 days to go (but who’s counting?!)...

Over the moon – now the hard work starts!

Wow what a weekend! The National Wedding Show really lived up to its hype; there was just so much inspiration all in one place. I am really glad we pushed the boat out and booked the VIP tickets as we were spoilt rotten! My mum and sister came with me and we started the day with a glass of bubbly in the VIP lounge before hitting the show.

Thankfully I wore my flat shoes as we spent nearly six hours perusing what was on offer! We started at the Catwalk, which was so glamorous – where we had VIP reserved seats. The best thing about the catwalk show was that it wasn’t just for the brides, Mum got loads of inspiration for her outfit and also my sister and I loved one of the bridesmaids dress styles. I even spotted a gorgeous suit for Dave and his groom’s party!

Dave asked me to gather ideas for our honeymoon – which was great fun. There was such a mix of exhibitors from stunning boutique hotels in the UK such as Kanika Hotels and Resorts in Cyprus to far afield adventures from Kuoni at Travel Designers and Luxuryholidaysdirect.com. We have both agreed to splash out on the honeymoon, making it into a maxi-moon. We have both arranged to have a month off work and make it a once in a lifetime experience. Top locations on the list are Dubai, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

I also chose some great favours from Chocolatelilly – cake pops! They are bright colours and so much fun; I think our guests will love them.

Jenny xx

If, like Jenny you want a bit of A-list treatment and glamour - why not treat yourself to a VIP ticket to the National Wedding Show, Birmingham NEC on 4th – 6th March, available to buy on the website www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk

The National Wedding Show features a number of top quality venues and planners for abroad weddings. For a full list see our exhibitor list online at www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk

Over the moon – now the hard work starts!

I think it is finally beginning to sink in that we are ENGAGED! I still have a massive grin on my face when I look down and my sparkly finger adornment.

We held a party in our favourite restaurant (just what our friends needed as a January blues pick-me-up) and officially asked my bridesmaids – Dave’s sister and my two best friends. Dave also confirmed with his best man, Mark.

We have also set a provisional date of August 27th 2011 – so now the hunt for a location/venue is on. I suggested to Dave that we wait until after the National Wedding Show, so we will have a lot more ideas of where to book. It is now only three weeks away. I am so excited and can’t wait to be a VIP for the day!

I have to admit – I am a bit wedding obsessed and keep my eye out for inspiration everywhere I go. I even went into B&Q the other day to pick up some colour charts. As we are having a summer wedding, we want a vibrant colour scheme – honeysuckle seems to be a popular colour trend for this year and I think it would really suit my bridesmaids.

Jenny xx

If, like Jenny you want a bit of A-list treatment and glamour - why not treat yourself to a VIP ticket to the National Wedding Show available to buy on the website www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk or call the ticket hotline on 0844 581 1404

The National Wedding Show features a number of top quality venues and planners for abroad weddings – click here to see our full exhibitor list for the London and Birmingham show

Over the moon – now the hard work starts!

When my lovely fiancé, Dave, popped the question on Christmas day – I could not have been more surprised OR happier. We had a lovely morning together in our new home and planned to visit my mum for a family lunch. Little did I know, as he opened the Champagne for a bucks fizz with breakfast, that small boxed shaped present wrapped up neatly beneath the tree was in fact the most gorgeous diamond ring!

Having the chance to celebrate with my family that day over lunch made it really special and I can’t thank Dave enough for being so thoughtful.

As soon as Boxing Day came, I dashed to the shop for a stack of wedding magazines – and found out just what I had in store for the next months of planning the perfect nuptials. Neither of us want a long engagement so it looks like there will be some hard work involved, but I am sure we will love every minute of it.

Of course, I instantly booked VIP tickets to the National Wedding Show in spring for me, mum and my sister Kirsty, I can’t think of a better place to start looking for inspiration. Especially for my dress as Dave will not be coming with us.

Of course second thing on our to-do list is to choose a location…we both love the sun and go on holiday whenever we can, so are brainstorming foreign locations where we can have a wedding and honeymoon all in one. It will also mean our guests get some sunshine and fun out of it too.

Jenny xx

If, like Jenny you want a bit of A-list treatment and glamour - why not treat yourself to a VIP ticket to the National Wedding Show available to buy on the websitewww.nationalweddingshow.co.uk

The National Wedding Show features a number of top quality venues and planners for abroad weddings, visit www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk to see the full exhibitor list

Our Bridal Coach Michele Paradise offers her top tips for ensuring you both look and feel fabulous on your big day

-Always get your feet measured before buying your wedding shoes. Your feet have changed since the age of 6!

-Always buy new shoes in the afternoon or early evening when your feet are at their largest. Feet swell during the day.

-Cover new shoes with cut off tights, wear them everyday for 15/30 mins to break them in at least a month before the wedding.

-Before the photo shake out your hands, gently place them on your hip or bouquet so that they look beautiful, not like a claw!

-In photos, stand at an angle with one foot slightly in front of the other. If feet are together you will look flat and wide.

-Perfection doesn't exist so stop striving for the perfect wedding. Celebrate, have fun, eat, laugh and enjoy the ride!

-Wearing a veil makes you feel different and requires a bit of practice. So put one on and practice now. It will pay off!

-Clean, shaped eyebrows open the eyes and create a wider eye they look better in the photos and you look rested and relaxed.

-Choose a creamy white dress so that it doesn't create glare when photographed and it's kinder to the skin tone.

-Don't follow make up trends for your bridal make up. Stick to a classic look and your photos will be timeless.

-In photos don't keep both arms entirely straight, bend one or both to create space between the arm and body.

-In photos rest most of your weight on one foot or the other. This looks less posey and gives a slight slimming effect.

-Focus on what you want to happen on your wedding day, not what you don't want to happen. You get what you wish for.

-When walking up the aisle please, please, please look up at your guests and your fiancé. Smile and they will smile back at you.

You can attend Michele's Bridal Coaching sessions at the show to hear more top tips for looking and feeling great on your big day. For more info click here