Wedding Forum - WE DID IT! RECAP with Student Photographer...

OK so I thought I should start one f these so I can keep up to date with what I need to do...

History:
We met whilst we were both working at Macky D's in 2007, he was a student, I had 2 jobs, we both started in the September but we only ever said "hi" each shift, nothing more then March 24th my ex came in with a bag of Haribo for me, I was mean, I took the sweets and promptly started handing them out to the staff and kicked him out as we were closing and he wasnt there to buy anything. Enter mine and Deans first conversation.... Dean was washing up and I went to offer him some Haribo, he had wet hands, said he would but with wet hands and smiled, so I said "excuse the fingers" and promptly shoved some Haribo in his mouth. He bit my finger the second time and asked how I was getting home. After explaining to him I only lived a 7minute walk away he insisted on driving or walking me home as at that time of night he didnt like any girl walking home alone through dark alleys and underpasses. I finally gave in and then invited him in to watch a film our conversation had ended up with and we fell asleep on the sofa. in the morning i looked up at him, he looked down at me, then he kissed me.... in May went went on our first holiday together to Run To The Sun festival, in June I broke up with him, the following day we found I was pregnant with our first child. I'm against abortion and he promised to stand by me no matter what I decide to do but was relieived when I told him I was keeping the child. In September 2007 he proposed to me on camera in the drive through just after I finished work (he had come to walk me home) he had already got a new job and left college. In February we had our son after Dean was asked to choose "mother or child we cant save both" - he didnt choose! We both survived. A number of house moves, job changes & another son later and he broke the engagement off 2011 due to a number of reasons including stress (family problems resulting in the loss of 2 of my family members, a broken family, a 3yr old that was throwing up everyday due to stress etc). It just got too much, we were still together just no longer engaged.

Before the engagement ended, my grandparents offered to buy the cake (they dont know it ended) Dean had designed some wedding rings and we paid over £1000 for them, I got my dress, and I had started making the wedding invites and post box.

A week or two ago I fell over nothing and snapped the engagement ring bought for Dean (I was wearing it as it still meant something to me). I the ring replaced for free as it was Tungsten and therefore obviously faulty considering it snapped having hit the ground once. I had a conversation with a mutual friend of ours regarding the ring that had broken and all he had to say was "did it occur to you that it was just on the wrong person?". well see this got me thinking.... and with the help of some of the ladies on this forum I wrote a poem.

On valentines this year I prepared a 3 course meal, I laid the table, bought a few valentines gifts such as £land cufflinks that match the design of our rings, a photo frame with a poem and photo of the two of us, body popping candy and a bell that says "ring for s3x". The table was laid out with black and red table cloths, a black candelabra with red candle sticks, a red strawberry smelling candle, a clear glass bowl filled with water with red hearts in the bottom and floating candles spelling "love", cutlery, crockery, placemats, heart shaped flutes, pulling crackers, wine and a book holder, the poem I wrote was blacked on to black card and faced away fro us on the book holder so Dean could not read it early, then infront of the poem but still on the book holder was the menu.

When it was time for dessert I removed the menu, turned the poem round and placed his engagement ring in its open box infront of the poem. upon reading the poem for the fist time dean burst out laughing...

The Poem:

You've seen me at my worst
I've seen you cry
You've helped me loads
I've wondered why

You broke it off
And I've been lost
Thinking you
Didn't give a toss

Our rings were delivered
But mine didn't fit
So you told me to
Get a re-fit

Now I know
You love me so
And all I want
Is our love to grow

You need a ring
I've got the dress
We're both broke
And life is a mess

Together we'll manage
We'll make it you'll see
So say my love
That you'll marry me?

We'll share our name
With our boy's
And have some fun
With bedroom toys

Now I'm sure you'll understand why he burst out laughing. The last verse made him forget the question! So I told him to read it again but stop before the last verse... So he did... but then he burst out laughing saying he did stop but he remembered the last verse! He promptly picked up the bell and rang it.... consequently I smiled and told him it must be broken hehe.... anyway... He said YES! Now here I am 3 days later writing my first wedding diary!

I will edit this post once I have found/taken pictures of the stuff I currently have for the wedding, and any ideas I come up with that I have found since.... but so far

Dress including hoop = £695 (Local wedding Dress Shop)

Personally designed Rings = £1032.96 (company a bit like smooch but cheaper for what we wanted)

Matching cufflinks = £1

DIY Wedding Stationary = £20 (Colemans Stationers)

DIY Post Box = £3 (Random Cardboard box & hinges, Padlock £land)

Cake = Grandparents
Deans Name Change (so he's double-barrelled like the boys then I take his name, cheaper) = £30
Notices = £70
Registry Office (yet to decide which one out of two) = £89 - £174
Makeup = Free - DIY
Hair = Free - DIY
Nails = Free - DIY
flowers = £10 - DIY

Off to find pictures of it all so far...

everything looks amazing - your flowers are excellent, very clever there girl :).

for tiaras I'm liking 3 and 4

with this dress...

Both are short Bridesmaids who wear both heels and flats regularly


Forum Poll

I went for 3 on the shoes, I am also short and wear both heels and flats regularly, but wearing the 1st ones all day would kill me! And maxi dresses on short people really need to be worn with heels so number 2 was no no for me for that reason, so I went for the one inbetween! lol xxx

I love your flowers how did you make them? Great poem x

So glad it went well on Valentine's Day! I went for tiara number 4 and shoes number 3. I love your boots! Xx

If you were a bridesmaid and the bride and groom were on a tight budget would you be willing to pay £16 for an entire outfit (includes dress, shoes & hair accessories) if you liked the outfit, and all items in the outfit could be worn again & not just for the wedding, the outfit would actually cost £24 but the bride will pay £8. So for 2 Bridesmaids the outfits cost £48 for both, so each bridesmaid a the bride would pay a total of £16 each...
Remember this includes:
Dress
Shoes
Hair Accessories

Forum Poll

i have not asked the bridesmaids their opinion on this yet....

I love the bridesmaid dress. Where did you find it?

Just unrestricted my page & I'd love the link

accepted & thanks

Ok today I think I will be searching for a design I like for my inserts, I found some on Vista but figure it would be cheaper to find the design & do it myself.... 10 for £4.58 plus postage? No thanks! I will find the design, download, and do it myself....

First to stop the kids from screeching at eachother before I go deaf, and to get the youngest to Preschool!

Good luck with your bouquet :)

gosh, youre so organised!! i love your colour theme

Eldest gets to view his school for first time in 20minutes and hes already spilt his breakfast all over me!

Todays list:
View school
load office back onto laptop
youngest to preschool
buy more perm markers
finish flowers
design inserts

Ok so I managed to do all but two of my flowers now, so tomorrow is to finish those two then sort the stems out. I have now done all button holes and my Bridesmaids flowers!

so tomorrow.... Office onto lappytop & design inserts... this keeps getting put back and looks like it may be put back some more once i have designed them as im almost out of printer ink!!!!

You're doing really well with your planning and DIY! Xx

Everything is really coming along. On first hearing that Katya and her Hubby 2 be were engaged ((AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!)) I was completely thrilled.. COMPLETELY!! Just to make that clear, they are PERFECT for each other. Got to help with the flower arranging this evening and they are gorgeous in my opinion. Can't wait to see what else is to come. Congratulations again my lovely.

So, for the polls..
1. Tiara choice number 4..
2. Shoes choice number 1..
3. I LOVE THE BRIDESMAID DRESSES AND GORGEOUS WEDDING DRESS KATYA WILL BE WEARING!!!
Here's hoping my boobs will look fab ;) x x x

I think I like the button holes the best, but they are all lovely x

Yay!!! :)

Awwww what lovely grandparents you have :) xxx

I think if they're offering you should accept unless you know that they can't afford it. They wouldn't offer unless they really wanted to do it.

Link on my wall for Masonic Hall Lovely Leesa

Just ordered Tiara Number 4 for myself thanks ladies, this was my favourite too!

Also ordered hair accessories for my bridesmaids too! Will post a pick once they arrive and have shown Lovely Leesa. As she will be the one wearing these accessories I think its only fair I show her first...

Ooooh coolies, Have you tried that water gel/crystals stuff that you can use for plants you just add water and they swell up, and then you can use food colouring to get the exact colour you wanted, I tried it with blue and it worked a treat.

Yea, I got them a few years ago because I'd seen them at a wedding fair in black but I didn't catch what they were called, but I searched online and found water crystals for plants lol, still worked though with the food colouring before I found out they did them in different colours.

Our florist is using them in some huge martini glasses with a display of flowers and the gel in the bottom in black or blue!