Wedding Forum - My planning ( after wedding update )...

So less than a year to go now. Not a huge amount happening right now, although my fiancé has today paid the next instalment of the reception venue. I've been in touch with a bridal shop near where my future sister-in-law lives, to talk about the requirements for taking her to order her dress. It's a bit complicated as she has severe cerebral palsy, but it sounds like they will be fine to make the necessary alterations, and with her parents and my fiancé there we should be able to lift her out of the wheelchair in order to get the necessary measurements. When we were in London we went to explore Selfridges, and I loved the flowers hanging down around the escalators, so now I'm looking into hiring an arch that we can decorate to put in the church doorway, with flowers hanging off it. I might try to get my entrance music recorded soon, as that's something that I can be getting on with while H2B is busy with his preaching training.

Oh well. The Royal Mail attempted to deliver the parcel when no one was in, and I am now the proud owner of a "While You Were Out" card. I've decided to pay the £1.50 to have it redelivered to my nearest post office, so I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon. The reason is that you have to wait 48 hours before collection, and with the exception of Wednesday the collection centre is only open 8:30 - 1:30, which is no good for my working hours next week. Even on Saturday I'm busy all day, so I would have to wait until next Wednesday, and although there is no rush I'm just too excited and impatient to wait a week now I know that they're waiting for me. I thought of having it redelivered to my work address, but that wasn't an option either as it is in a different postcode area.

Sounds fab glad its sorted now can't wait to see pics :)

This is my bouquet.

And this is the posy that the flower girl will have, with a blue butterfly on it.

Love the bouquets huni, there are stunning!
x

Your bouquets are lovely x

Those flowers are lovely.

Have you had any more thoughts on entrance music? I walked into the church and down the aisle to Schubert's Ave Maria and this could work on piano and flute (I play both, just not at the same time) xx

My ring has gone to be reshaped. I miss it already, and was in two minds, but it wasn't fitting so well since I caught it on the door handle and it is insured. I've got to wait two weeks for it to come back.

:

Helps if I actually post the images. Doh!
Smiley_confused_ani:

Faure? Beautiful! Love it love it love it!

Yes the Faure. It was on ClassicFM and I thought "how did I not think of that?". I've been in love with it for ages.

We've registered with J Lewis for our gift list. We were ready to grab a scanner and get going but they say not to do it until eight to ten weeks before the wedding, as some lines can change. I can see why but it is very frustrating. We went round the shop anyway to get ideas for what we might like. I'm thinking a new satnav to replace the one which refuses to do anything anymore would be useful, and H2B wants to replace his stereo system. Any time from now on that I'm in town and bored I know where I will be.

Yay my engagement ring came back! It's as good as new. No sign of it being misshapen.

Well it's amazing how much can change in a week. I've been saving for a while, and had managed to save enough for six bridesmaid dresses. In the meantime, my close friend and landlady has been fighting for custody of her abusive ex's daughter, who desperately wants to stay with her and is scared of her father. She ran out of money to pay the barrister and couldn't get legal aid, so I took a deep breath, decided that the future of a 12 year old is more important than dresses, especially as if she was taken away I would only have five bridesmaids, and put the £1000 that I had saved towards the cost of the barrister, with the plan that I could put half the cost down in January when I was planning to by them, and the rest later. My landlady is also MOH and is able to make dresses to cut costs.

In the meantime, I was thinking I would still have the dress I had picked out for the three older bridesmaids, two in their thirties and one in her forties, and then have something different made for the younger ones, 12, 18 and 19, by MOH. I was looking at the website of the designer for ideas, and discovered that the dresses that I wanted for the older bridesmaids were no longer there. Cue panic and contacting the shop to see if the dress has already been discontinued so that I have to rethink, or whether it will be discontinued at the end of the year. I heard back; it has not been discontinued but will be, at the end of this month! I kicked myself as I could have held onto the money if I'd known and paid for them myself, then got cross with myself for even thinking that as a 12 year old is still more important. Then followed a call to check the price with the shop near one of my bridesmaids, and a visit to my nearest supplier to check the colour swatches, and a call to my parents to get money from the wedding fund which they still have. The result is that assuming my mum manages to pay the shops tomorrow as she has said she will, and assuming I can get measurements of one more person, three bridesmaids dresses will be ordered tomorrow, in the nick of time. Then I can breath again before I decide what I want to put the three younger girls in.

Other updates: I have a tiara and H2B's mum is working on the invites, which we have now agreed on. I'll post a photo of the tiara at some point. The lady who made it managed to incorporate the logo.

The invitations are done! We've put the last one into its envelope today. Not surprisingly our first definite responses are from the two sets of parents, and also my aunt. We knew that my grandparents would decline as they don't travel anymore; even within Northumberland is a struggle. My aunt's husband is also a no, as he has problems with his knee and can't cope with a long car or train journey.

Little while since I posted in here. Most invitations have gone now, there are just a few people who we haven't seen. Anyone we don't see before the end of February we'll message for postal addresses, apart from a few choir members where we'll say if they don't show up at choir they'll lose out. Sounds harsh but these are people who aren't consistent and might not come back, so if they're not in choir they don't fit the criteria for an invite. I've had a quote from a local jeweller to alter my great-grandmother's wedding ring, which is only £100. I'm starting to look at what I put the younger bridesmaids in, and also arrange a hair and make-up trial.

We've been really strict so that people don't get offended by thinking we like others more than them. Members of the two choirs that we are in are invited, but this far in advance if people seem to have left the choir they won't be invited, unless they would have been on the list anyway.

Eeeek exciting! Do you know what is planned?

Seven months today!

How lovely, that you are already friends with the vicar. Makes it even specialer, than when a stranger marries you :)

One of the bridesmaids dresses is in. It's the one for H2B's sister, who lives in Blyth. It's a tricky one to sort out, as she is severely disabled with cerebral palsy, so fittings are going to involve her being hoisted out of her wheelchair to be put in the dress. There will also need to be alterations, as she will need a hole to allow for her feeding tube. I think I'm probably going to ask H2B's mum to liaise with the shop and the Mews (where SIL2B lives). I'm hoping the lady from the shop might be willing to take the dress to the Mews to fit it there, unless the shop is fitted with a hoist.

Apparently that's what happened when she was a bridesmaid for her cousin's wedding, but these are different people. Worth asking.

I warned them in advance that there would need to be alterations, so that's fine. It's just a question of whether they would be prepared to visit Sarah at home to do the fitting, and what kind of facilities they have for wheelchair users. I know they are accessible, but they would need a hoist.