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!