Although my wedding is quite far off at the moment it is slowly creeping up on me so I thought I would create a planning diary to help me keep track. I also have a spreadsheet and list after list but I am on here pretty much everyday so I thought it would be good to keep track on here, plus then I always know where it is, I have lost so many lists!
Me and my H2B are getting married on 14th May 2016, we have been together for 5 years, we have been living together for a year and a half and we have been engaged since Christmas day 2013.
We are on quite a bit of a budget, trying to keep it to around £2500 if possible, so we are having an evening only wedding. Getting married at 4.30pm in our local registry office, as neither of us are religious so we didn't really want a church, then we are going on to our venue which is a gorgeous lakeside centre, it is actually a watersports centre but during the afternoon/night there is a bar/ restaurant and a function room (where we will be), there are also 10 bedrooms, 1 of which we will book for the wedding night. It is a special venue to me because it is right by the beach where I spent most of my childhood and it is 5 minutes from my parent's house (where I grew up). We hadn't actually decided on a date or a venue when we went to view but I have loved it since it was built a few years ago, H2B wasn't sure but when we had a look he loved it as much as I do, we booked it there and then. It is only a small venue but it is perfect for our small intimate wedding (40 ceremony guests and 70 evening).
I have everything planned out and pretty much know everything that we are having and who we are going to book for each thing, we just need to get it all done! I am trying to get as much of the little things done as soon as possible so that we can spread out the cost of things easier :)
The things I have booked/ decided on so far are:
Venue - £120 deposit paid Photographer - £70 deposit paid Colour scheme - lilac & white Flowers - put my order in and £40 deposit paid - OH's mum said she will pick up final bill Invitations - making myself, card bought & draft of a design done Favours - lilac organza bags bought for £4, will fill with 2 lilac heart chocolates Shoes - paid in full £22.50 - managed to get them in half price sale! Hair - booked for me, 3 BM's and my mum - mum is paying for hers and sister's (BM) Flower girl dress - Bought and paid for - £25 DJ - £50 deposit paid, remaining due 14 days before wedding Registry office - £20 paid for provisional booking of room, giving notice after May 2015 Bridesmaid dresses - 4 bought and paid in full - £110 for all Cake - booked, will be £150 which OH's uncle is paying for Make up - booked, having my trial in Jan/ Feb 16 Dress - bought and paid for
Things still to book/ buy:
Suits - H2B is sorting this, we are only paying for his suit though, best man is buying his own Jewellery - need bracelet and earrings Car - found but need to view and book Rings - need to buy Centrepieces - flowers bought but fish bowls need to be bought Honeymoon - 2 weeks in Sorrento needs booking
If anybody notices anything I have missed please let me know I would really appreciate it :)
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorAprilS61
You're not behind at all! Enjoy the upcoming festivities and start doing little things next year! To say your to-do list is only short, even doing one thing a month would give you plenty of time x
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorFlossie
You are definitely not behind! You've got loads done and still have pleeeenty of time to sort the rest xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
edited
Booked my DJ last night! Good news is he has given us a £50 discount and he doesn't need any money until next year! So it frees up a bit for other things as well as being a relief that it's booked!
Also just won a wedding guestbook on the bay for 99p! Woop! Wasn't really looking for one but how could I refuse that price?!
Getting little inexpensive things each month so that we don't have everything to pay at once and have made a start on our savings which is a big thing for us because we usually have no spare money :)
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Fab news :)
We're trying to buy little bits and bobs as we go as well from our own money, not our savings. Hopefully everything we save will cover the big things that need paying off in bulk later on and we won't need to use it for any little bits :) definitely the best way to do it x
Yeah that's what we are doing, well me at the moment as H2B has no idea what we need haha! But things that aren't very expensive there's no point taking money from the wedding savings, might as well just use my own x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorAprilS61
That's what we did, I paid for the things that needed to be bought and OH started on the savings. Now we have everything we need and we're up to £2100 in savings as ive been putting more money into the savings too. Still a bit more to go but were getting there! The very first things I bought was a cake topper and placeards ha! X
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
edited
I've bought a post box today for our cards - another bargain, £5!
Wow we have nowhere near how much we need actually saved up! I know we have a way to go yet but not having it and knowing how much we have got to go is horrible! Makes me worry that we will never get there x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorJennK
Fab bargain with the post box, we're still pondering what to do for the post box. H2b has a big idea but not sure if it can be pulled off!
Our perfect day - 08.08.15 <3
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Give it a try and if it doesn't work at least then you will know :) I wasn't sure whether to have one but seeing as it was so cheap I couldn't refuse, it is just a plain one though so I need to find somewhere that sells good quality ribbon to decorate it with x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorAprilS61
I still worry we won't have enough when it needs to be paid by, I think it's a normal thing. I think as I bought more stuff I was worrying about saving, but then once I'd bought it all I could focus on the savings as much as OH was. x
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Yeah I think I will be ok once we have bought everything it's just trying to save and buy things to spread the cost. OH is rubbish at saving too so I feel like I'm doing it myself most of the time, hoping it will hit him sometime soon that we can't have the wedding without saving! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
We have the same worries! For us, it's not that we're bad savers, but things seem to have a habit of 'surprising' us shall we say - like having to move house twice in the past year for example. So by the time we are back on track with our finances, something like that crops up and we seem to end up back at square one again. Neither of us earn a lot so at the end of the month we don't have a lot spare, so it's hard to imagine we will be able to save enough (and time is going much faster than I anticipated)!! But we will get there, as will you and all of us on here :)
A huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders as my parents are being amazing and his parents have said they would like to help out with things if they can afford to as well, though I think we still need to save at least £6k. We probably have just under £2k at the mo and when we counted our savings jar the other week we found we had managed to save over £500 in just 2 months which was a lovely surprise. Most of it is made up of OH's tips that go straight in the jar! x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Yeah we have had the same sort of situation, we had to move unexpectedly but that was before we were even wedding planning, still getting back on track now. Then H2B's motorbike got stolen so we have had to sort him out with a new one and now we have Christmas, although nobody is expecting much we still have to get people some things! As well as that neither of us earn much at all and have hardly anything left at the end of the month so we can't afford to save much.
Like you luckily my parents are helping out a lot but even with that help we are still worrying we won't get there! We will though but the thought that we won't never leaves my head! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
I know exactly where you are coming from. It's scary booking things knowing that at the moment you can't afford them, knowing you HAVE to save that money in order to pay it all off. Scary stuff being a grown up :(
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
edited
Had my flowers booked for a while but I put my order in yesterday, so excited!!
I am having foam flowers so I can keep them, my bouquet is going to be lilac and white and bridesmaids will have full white. I have also ordered H2B, my dad, my mum and best man's buttonholes but I managed to get OH's and mum's for free with an offer they have on at the moment :) total cost for all of them is £144, bargain!!
This is something like what mine will look like.
flowers
Can't wait to see them when they are done!
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Aww so pretttyyyy :-)
Could you let me know who you have ordered through please? I will probably have foam flowers too x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
edited
It's a lady on FB, I will pop a link on your wall, she's got a shop by me but delivers all over. Her bouquets are gorgeous x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Thank you :-) just having a nosey now.. She has done some amazing ones! Will definitely be speaking to her in the new year xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Got the photos back from our engagement shoot, I was so nervous before but we really enjoyed it in the end! These are some of my favourites :) there is over 200 so it was so hard to pick a favourite haha but I love these :)
Link to the edited photos is on my wall if anybody wants to have a look :)
DSC_0652.JPG
DSC_0650.JPG
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
I've had a nosey.. they are lovely! You have some fab pics there! Been on a bit of a liking spree on FB hehe x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Thank you :) I love them, it's so nice to have some good photos of us haha! They look so much better without the watermark too :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
I love how natural they look :) I've added you as a friend on FB as well btw, hope you don't mind, you don't have to accept if you don't want to :)
I might ask my dad if he can do a very late engagement shoot for us next year, he's not doing our wedding photography but he is photographer. Nice to have pics like that :)
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
It's good having somebody else take photos of you and giving you a bit of a guidance as to how to stand etc, we had no idea on the first few but then we got some ideas flowing and they turned out really good :) Don't mind at all! Will be nice to have somebody who is also wedding planning on FB haha!
I would recommend doing it, I feel so much better about having somebody taking photos of us all day at the wedding now and they are good to just keep :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
I think I will ask him :) obviously we wouldn't have to pay either so that's a bonus lol. I like the cold weather look as well so might ask him to do it early 2015.. or maybe when/if it snows, that would be amazing!
They would be really nice put on a canvas or something.. put a few around the house :) xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Ours was included in our package so technically it was free haha :) we had a lovely day for ours, it was lovely and sunny and not that cold even though it's December, was so glad it didn't rain! Picture in the snow would be amazing, fingers crossed it does for you!
I was hoping we would have our photos back in enough time for me to get a canvas done for OH for Christmas but it was just a little bit too late. I am still going to get a few done though :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
The weather looked great for you! I love that it was a nice day but you can still see it was cold as you are in coats etc. it looks really effective I think :) x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorAprilS61
Flowers look lovely and your photos from the shoot are gorgeous! I'm a bit more excited for ours now in feb! X
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Thank you :) it is so much fun when you get into it, ours lasted almost 2 hours and we didn't even realise! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorAprilS61
Oh wow! I am of course naturally nervous! X
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
I was so nervous and we were both so awkward at first but once you get into it and the photographer gets some ideas for shots it's fine :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Back on with the planning now that Christmas is over! Ordering some little bits today, just ordered a MR & Mrs sign for the top table and looking at cake toppers but need to ask OH's opinion later on :)
FIL told us over Christmas that he wants to give us £100 a month from this month until the wedding :) we are so grateful for this as we know he doesn't have much money and we aren't able to save much more than that a month at the moment, so it will help out a lot :)
Sorting out the rest of the big things over the next few months, although not sure what else there is apart from my dress and the ceremony but can't do that until May! Then focusing on paying things off towards the end of the year :) fingers crossed this means there won't be too much stress for me lol!
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Yay exciting!!! I wanna start buying bits and bobs like that now but got a lot to pay for over the next few months - car tax, MOT and service, electricity bill, OH's birthday... think come March/April we will start buying those bits and start storing them away :)
Aww that's so nice of your FIL, lifts a weight off your shoulders doesn't it :) x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorJennK
Aw yay what a nice surprise from FIL :)
Our perfect day - 08.08.15 <3
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
I know he has been saying he wants to help us out but we were telling him no because we know he isn't in a position to do that and he is in and out of work at the moment, but he won't take no for an answer, so it is very helpful :)
I was going to wait to buy things but I keep seeing bargains so I have to get them! Like the sign was only £5.50 :) April is mine and OH's birthdays so we want to get things out of the way before then and then around June we will pick things up again when we should be able to save a bit more :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
The more you get now, the less you have to worry about nearer the time! You're not really going to notice the small things, but if you leave them all until the last min then all the small things add up to one big thing.. much better to spread the cost :) x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
That's exactly what I'm thinking! Plus I have the money there so why not :) I am just hoping I don't forget what I've bought nearer the time and buy it again haha! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Haha.. lists and spreadsheets are your friend!! x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorJennK
It does make it feel more real when you start receiving bits and bobs in the post, you will end up like me and have a spare room full of bubbles, personalized hangers, pens in the right colours, tea lights and tea light holders in the right colours, decorations to hang from the ceiling, flower girl dress and accessories, 3 pairs of shoes....etc etc! :)
Our perfect day - 08.08.15 <3
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
In our spare room we have 2 sets of empty chest of drawers so obviously they have become my place to store everything, only have a few things so far but there's still time to fill them haha!
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Ordered organza bags for my favours, decided to just do a bag with 2 or 3 chocolates in to keep it simple :)
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Can't go wrong with that Emma :) if someone doesn't like the chocs then at least it's not much money wasted. Think chocs/sweets are always the safest bet and works out cheap per head as well x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Yeah that's my thinking, also because we are having an evening only we need more than we would if we gave them out at the wedding breakfast. Works out around £30 for the bags and chocs so not too bad at all :) x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
We're having dolly mixtures or jelly beans in our favours as don't want to have choc incase it's warm (fingers crossed) x
Became Mrs Wade 06/08/2016
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Ooooh didn't think of that haha! I was deciding between chocs and mints so maybe I'll re-think! Although my wedding is May so we might be ok haha! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Oooh I like the idea of mints as well x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
I wasn't sure because I thought it might be too much like after dinner mints from a restaurant, but they might go down well! x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
I think it's a nice idea.. I always love getting those at a restaurant :) it's something I hadn't thought of myself but I really like that x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsEmmaP
Maybe I will have a look at them, I'm sure I could get them to match my colour scheme too and it might be better for older guests that don't want chocs x
Got together on 14th March 2010
Got engaged on 25th December 2013
Became Mrs P on 14th May 2016 - best day ever!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Maybe you could do a mint and a chocolate together :)