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!!!