Thought I would create a wedding planning diary as thought it would be nice to look back on one day :) also gives me somewhere I can go on and on about wedding-y stuff without boring the brains out of my family and friends!!
Me and my partner have been together since 27th Feb 2011 (and we 'went out' with each other when we were just young teenagers!) and have been engaged since 2nd March 2012.. We also moved in together on 28th March 2012.
We are getting married on 18th June 2016 in a country house hotel - we are having the whole day there and have exclusive use. It was the first and only venue we physically went to look at and we both fell in love with it on the spot. It is absolutely perfect for us - we wanted somewhere that was quite 'grand' but also intimate as during the day we are only inviting family (and 4 of my closest friends who are my bridesmaids). We will probably have about 50 day guests and a further 40 for the evening in total. The venue is B33chfi3ld Hous3 if anyone wants to have a nosey.
We showed our parents around a couple of weeks later and they all loved it. It was really nice because we have 4 lots of family between us (both sets of our parents are divorced, with 3 of them being re-married/re-partnered, it's just my mum who is single) and we are so lucky that they all get on with each other. We obviously don't get many chances for them all to be together, so it was just really lovely to spend that time with all of them together. :)
Things booked and sorted so far:
VENUE - Deposit paid of £1000. My parents are being amazing and have offered to pick up the remaining venue bill between them.
REGISTRAR - Booking fee paid of £35. About £450-£500 to pay 6 weeks before the wedding. Need to book to give notice in July when we both have time off work - further £35 each.
WEDDING INSURANCE - Paid in full @ £39.
COLOUR SCHEME & THEME - Pastel colours (blue, lilac, mint green, peach & yellow) with a vintage/rustic/county garden feel
DJ - Deposit paid of £50. Final balance of £425 payable 14 days before the wedding.
HARPIST - Deposit paid of £50. Final balance of £270 payable a week or so before the wedding.
MAGICIAN - Deposit paid of £100. Final balance of £395 payable any time before the wedding.
PHOTOGRAPHER - My dad has sorted this (he is a photographer himself, trust him completely!)
CAKE - Deposit paid of £50. 50% of the balance due 12 weeks before, remaining balance due 4 weeks before.
RINGS - Got both and paid in full. Total of £820.
MY SHOES - Paid in full @ £80
BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES - Got all 4 of them and paid in full. Total of £210.
HAIR & MAKE UP - £50 deposit paid.
HONEYMOON - £400 deposit paid. Balance payable by 16th March.
FAVOURS - Auntie saving baby food glass jars which we are going to fill with sweeties. Have bought material tops (in our different pastel colours), twine, keys to tie onto the twine and stickers for the jars. Just need to order sweeties and make them up. Probably spent about £20 in total on the materials for the favours.
INVITATIONS - Have designed my own on the comp. Materials bought to make them, just need to actually make them. Probably spent about £10 on materials and using the printer at work so no paper/ink costs.
Things to sort:
MY DRESS - My mum has offered to pay for this. Starting to look around June time this year - got appointments on 6th and 13th June.
GROOMS & GROOMSMEN SUITS - OH's mum has offered to pay for OH's suit. Think we are going to hire suits for the 2 best men and my dad, budgeting about £400 for these.
FLOWERS, BUTTONHOLES & CORSAGES - Seeking quotes at the moment. Thinking of making rose and gypsophila bouquets up myself to save myself lots of money.
CENTRE PIECES - Think we want bird cages with flower garlands weaving in and out of the bars, with pearls and rose petals scattered around the base.
TOP TABLE DECS - Looking at candelabras, Mr & Mrs signs, bunting, etc.
POST BOX - Want one of the vintage looking actual post boxes for the cards.
DIY PHOTO BOOTH - Will buy props from 3b@y and just use a digital camera or ask people to use their phones.
GUEST BOOK - Found, need to buy.
FLOWER GIRL DRESS & ACCESSORIES
SHOES FOR BRIDESMAIDS - Might wear their own/buy their own.
THANK YOU GIFTS
CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY PACKS
GROOMS BOX
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorTanyaS78
Aww glad you have found the perfect venue! Sounds like you will have a lovely day.
I have been to the National Wedding show a couple of times now and i love it! Ive got so many ideas from it. Youve got to watch the catwalk too, the dresses are beautiful!!
CommentAuthorFlossie
Booked a harpist yesterday.. another thing ticked off the list :-D xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
Sounds great!
We did the same with our venue. Looked at a few online then whilst out for a drive and some lunch decided to pay one a visit and they were more than happy to show us around and we both fell in love with it. We showed my parents around a month later and booked there and then. Didn't bother looking at any other venues :) Did you go and listen to Marie-France in the end? xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorWelshBrideBethan2015
Your doing well :) Sounds fab so far :)
Somehow always connected , finally became friends .
Friends became soul mates :)
Engaged 6th July 2013
<3 <3 Married my best friend 11/7/2015 <3 <3
Our photographer is now booked as well. Saw my dad last night who said he would sort out the photographer and he has booked us in :) dad seems to be very protective over the photography (as I mentioned in the original post, he is a photographer himself). I trust my dad completely with that and we will meet the photographer nearer the time to go over what we want in finer detail and to get to know him. :) I'm happy that we have one less thing to worry about to be honest!
Trying to sort out transport as we speak as well. Really want a VW Camper but put off by the high prices.. found out one of my bridesmaid's dad has one though so she is going to speak to him and see if we can borrow it for the day :D would pay all the fuel costs and give him extra as a thank you.. would also invite and his wife to the evening reception (if my bridesmaid felt comfortable with having her dad there haha).
We are going to sit back a bit now and not organise anything else until we have been to the National Wedding Show. We are going on holiday in September as well so will be nice to just have a couple of months away from wedding planning! xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
edited
Hi Lauren, may I ask which photographer you have gone with and how much are his packages? We're having a bit of trouble deciding who to book as some are charging the earth. Would it be possible to put some info on my wall? xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
You know what, I don't even know his name or how much he charges - my dad has literally dealt with it all himself without even consulting us haha. I can ask him though and let you know :) xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
Ok thanks that would be great, as long as you don't mind. I can't believe how many photographers we've researched but I like to keep my options open xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
Of course not, that's fine :) I'd be happy to recommend someone my dad trusts as a photographer himself.. what the price tag is like I have no idea, but definitely happy to get the details for you.
I'm glad we haven't had to do the research as can imagine how hard it can be choosing the right one.. and you never really know what is a good price and what is a rip off!!
What date are you getting married again? xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
I thought it was going to be easy finding a photographer but how wrong was I! It's the first thing I've stressed about lol. We are getting married 11.6.2016 the week before you :) xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
I guess it's hard to compare them because they all seem so good.. I think it would become easier once you meet with them and you can see if you actually like them in person or not.. it's important than you get on with them and that they understand exactly what you want etc. :)
Ahhh.. my dad did say he was already booked up the Saturday before and after ours :( xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
Yes that's exactly what I think. You need a good relationship with them. Aww that's a shame. Thank you anyway xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorScottishbride2016
Glad you have found your dream venue x
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
I have changed my username - was getting confused with the other MrsP2B on here and thought it was probably confusing for others as well haha xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
Have posted on your wall ;) xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
I replied.. I don't know if you get a notification of any sort.. xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
Have seen :) xx
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
My bridesmaid has spoken to her dad re. borrowing his camper van for the day and he said that's cool :) yaaaaaay xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorFlossie
Thinking about asking my dad if he would do a little engagement shoot for us.. though as we've been engaged for 2 and a half years now it would probably be more of a pre-wedding shoot haha. He's not going to be our photographer on the day but as he is a photographer I'm thinking we might as well take advantage of that! Would be lovely to have some nice pictures of us both - the only nice professional pictures we have of us were taken nearly 3 years ago at my auntie's wedding x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorElinor Claire
We got my dad to take some photos of us after we got engaged. Later h2b's parents did some photos to use on the invitations. It's nice to have some good ones. You can even use them in your stationery and on the day.
30th August 2014 was the best birthday ever.
It was the day that I became Mrs. Dixon.
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
Eeeek, I'm so happy/excited! We wanted to do our first dance as normal and then do something a little bit different to create a party atmosphere and get everyone up dancing. Sometimes I feel a bit awkward after a first dance as the guests don't really know what to do with themselves.
Last night h2b told me he was thinking about taking ballroom and latin classes without telling me so that he could surprise me on the big day (awwww) but he said now that I've said about this idea, he'd rather we go to classes together. I'm so excited that he wants to do this. Would mean the world to me to dance with him! :)
Want to get my bridesmaids involved as well as they are all dancers and we danced with each other at college. I want them to get all the guests up near the end of the routine as well so everyone can get up and join in and get the party started :)
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrsThomson2B
Your wedding sounds awesome we are date twins also x
CommentAuthorFlossie
Yay date twins!! :) x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorJessica29792
Aww Flossie, that is lovely that he is doing that for you! I bet it will get you even more excited for the wedding when you start going to classes with each other :) It is such a lovely gesture from him x
CommentAuthorFlossie
I looked around at some prices over the weekend and was shocked how expensive they are! £96 for 6 weeks! I'm going to try and teach him the basics myself at the moment but we will definitely look into going to classes together nearer the time. There is no point starting properly now as we definitely can't afford to keep that up for almost 2 years, so we would learn something just to forget it and then would be back at square one again anyway. xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorFlossie
Little bit gutted.. our venue are having a wedding fair next Sunday but it's the same day as my cousin's christening :( so excited for my cousin's christening and can't wait, but would have loved to have gone to the wedding fair. Booooooo.
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorAprilS61
Exciting about doing a dance!my OH would never do that lol. Shame about the fair and christening, take it the times are the same and you can't pop to one first?
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
Yeah, exactly the same.. Typical eh!! Both start at 12 and the wedding fair ends at 4pm. It takes about 30/40 mins to get there anyway so no way we would be able to pop in unfortunately. There's always their next one whenever that is.. don't know if they do them annually or more often x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorAprilS61
I'd love to do a dance but donk think I have it in me as we would both be embarrassed I think haha!
Typical! I think my venue has an open evening every two months on the first Tuesday or something like that, but not sure about actual wedding fairs there. X
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorFlossie
I'm quite a shy person really so I have no idea how I will actually feel about doing it nearer to the time! H2b is very outgoing.. even if it turns out he's not very good at it he will still have loads of fun and enjoy showing off anyway, haha.
I hope ours hold them more often! I have just tweeted them and asked so fingers crossed. Would be a great opportunity to meet all the local suppliers.. if they do it annually then we will probably already have most things sorted by the time they hold the next one x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorAprilS61
It's always a good excuse to go back to your venue though! We have everything booked but taking my cousin to see ours next month at their open evening :) x
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorFlossie
Very true! Thinking about booking a night there for h2b's birthday in Feb next year just as an excuse to go there again haha x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorprincesspixie
hi flossie just thought i'd pop in and see what you have planned as we are getting married on the same day :) i must admit i thought i was organized with having booked the venue, registrar, photographer and bought our centerpieces but you seem to have all sorts done, gonna bookmark this thread so will probably speak more often if thats ok xxx
Officially married my best friend 2/5/2015 (secretly)
Big wedding 18/06/2016
CommentAuthorKayleighS46
ooohhhh its so exciting reading other peoples wedding diary whose around the same sort of time that i'm getting married - i sometimes think i'm getting too over excited and carried away haha!!
1 thing i am annoyed about though is that in Bristol i cant book my registrar until 12 months before!!!! aaargghhh its making me so stressy what if i cant get the date!!! :(( xxx
Met 2013
Propsed 2014
Will Be Mrs Brookes 2016
always & forever xxx
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
Hi princesspixie! I've not done much more than you, you're doing fine! I'm scared to start buying centre pieces and decorative things at the mo as worried my taste might change.. we have ideas about everything though and have worked out what we like right now, but think we are just going to hold off at least until the new year before buying any bits like that in case we do have a change of heart about anything! Of course that's ok, look forward to talking to you more and finding out about your day!
To be honest, it's not THAT far away.. I imagine the time will absolutely fly by. Just think this time next year everything will be in full swing. Glad there are lots more 2016 brides appearing on here too :)
That's rubbish about the registrar Kayleigh. I'm really glad we could book ours so far in advance. Our venue actually wouldn't let us secure our date without having booked the registrar first - but I guess they knew that people could book the registrar so far in advance which is why they operate that policy. I'm sure you will get the date, it's nothing to worry or stress about! Just phone them on the earliest day you possibly can! xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
Aww shame about the wedding fayre being on the same day. Hope you have a lovely time at the christening. I can't wait for the new year so we can start planning properly and we can finally say we're getting married next year
Became Mrs Wade 06/08/2016
CommentAuthorFlossie
Oh wow that's actually a bit scary Mrs M!!
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorFlossie
Just been having a play about on the comp trying to design a wedding logo to go on our stationery.. Have added a photo in my albums if anyone would like to take a look and let me know your thoughts :) I know it's not perfect at the mo but will perfect it nearer the time.. just wondering what people's general opinions are of it. The lock and key is something personal to us.. I have a tattoo of a key and OH has the lock.. We are thinking of using actual locks and keys for the place names as well xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorAprilS61
I love it! Even better if it means something to you :) xx
Mr & Mrs Swan 04/04/15
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
That's lovely Flossie x
Became Mrs Wade 06/08/2016
CommentAuthorKatieH
Love it Flossie! x
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorFlossie
Thanks everyone! Quite chuffed with myself to be honest.. OH loves it too xx
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorFlossie
edited
Just come across a picture of 4 bridesmaids who are wearing the exact same colour that I want my 4 bridesmaids in.. Also love the actual dresses that they are wearing and have just found some very, very similar ones online! Wish the wedding was closer so I could go ahead and buy them.. too scared to do it now in case I change my mind!!
Have uploaded a pic to my albums. My little flower girl, who will be 2 and a bit, will be wearing white and yellow x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorKatieH
They are lovely Flossie x
Met in 2007
Started dating in 2009
Got engaged in 2014
Became Mrs Holme 11.06.16
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
They're gorgeous. Can you tell me where you found the similar ones please x
Became Mrs Wade 06/08/2016
CommentAuthorFlossie
I will post the link tomorrow if that's ok Mrs M. Have it saved on my comp at work. They are from China - don't know if that's something you would consider! X
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
Thanks Flossie. Yes it's a possibility if I can't find anything else :-) x
Became Mrs Wade 06/08/2016
CommentAuthorFlossie
Have just posted the link on your wall Mrs M :)
I think buying mine online is the best option.. finding dresses I like in the exact pastel shades I am looking for would probably be quite difficult looking in stores. Don't really want to get them from bridal shops either because of the price tag and I don't want them to look 'too formal' if you know what I mean. Think I will take a chance and hope for the best!! x
Happily married
18th June 2016
xx
CommentAuthorMrs M Wade
Thank you. I'd like something that bridesmaids could possibly wear again if they wanted too. I know what you mean about price tags in bridal shops they are soo expensive :( x