Take a look...

So I've been working on the invitations...they are coming along ok I think. Here's some for you to look at: 

 

I definitely underestimated the amount of material I needed...back to hobbycraft tomorrow - yay!!

I move to Brighton in just under 3 weeks. Wow!!!! There seems so much to do between now and then. Where to start?? Think I'll just get back to doing some more invites haha...20 down, 110 to go. Ouch.

Not one wedding cake...lots of cakes!

I saw this idea a while ago and loved it!

I will say no more =]

22 days until Christmas!!!

Wanna come to our wedding?

So yea, I decided that I would make our invites myself.

I reckon its going to be a lot more work than I initially think but hey, bring on the challenge =] And in all honesty I'm really wanting to be doing something practical towards the wedding...I've actually been making these long strings of beads. 

I have absolutely no idea what we're going to use them for but they are beautiful! Maybe we could involve them in the table decorations somehow? Anyway, I bought the wedding invite material today with mum - we had a really good time together.

Here's what I have in mind:

I like the colours of the first lot but the style of the black and red ones. I'll create a mixture of the two and post pictures up in a few days when I've done a few. Wow, I sound very optimistic!

Save the date

I can't believe we've been engaged for 3 months already! That's crazy!!

Here are our 'Save the Date' cards:

We're going to send them out in December along with Christmas cards.

MY DRESS!!!!!

I've ordered THE dress!!! I can't believe it happened that quickly! Charlotte was in Swindon for a few days and we decided to go wedding dress shopping for a bit of fun. We went into this adorable and posh looking wedding shop near Victoria Park...it was pretty much just rows of beautiful white; I didn't have a clue where to start! I told the lady in there about the wedding colour scheme etc and she brought a couple of dresses for me to try on. The first was really plain, the second was literally like a spanish flamenco dancers dress (it would have been awesome if it had not made me look ridiculous lol) and the third was oh-my-goodness-I-have-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful. Now I get what girls mean when they say "I just knew it was the dress" - It was so perfect!! I wish I could go into more detail, it would kinda spoil the surprise for Stephen if I did :] Scary thing is, due to it being made, I don't get it until April/May 2009! I want it now!!...but then, if I did have it now I know I'd be trying it on all the time and probably end up tripping up in it and making a mess of it. Talking of tripping up, I should probably be looking out for some shoes to wear with the dress. I really want to wear blue shoes. Here is my dream pair:

Emilio Pucci's. Only 4.5 inch heels ;)

Our style

Stephen and I definitely do not do things the traditional way. This wedding is going to shout that statement pretty loud. We were shopping with Ben, Steve's best man, the other day and found the perfect groom and best man suits. Here's an idea of what they looked like: 

Completely the style of the wedding.

We're going to purchase them in the new year when I move to Brighton (still seems ages away, but we're getting there!). I would love Stephen to wear one of those cool trilby or fedora hats but he's not really buying the idea. Shame ;) The skinny turquoise tie is brilliant. I'm just not sure whether to have a turquoise handkerchief or pink flower for the buttonhole? A pink hanky perhaps...? 

The dress verdict

So the bridesmaid dresses came...2 yes, 1 no and 1 maybe. They suit Zoe and Ki down to the ground. They definitely do not suit Char! And I think Vicki would love to wear blue :) So, lets find a couple of blue dresses in a different style for Char and Vicks. Here's a couple of really nice ones I have found 

 

Deck the wedding day with...what??

Here are some flower/bouquet ideas I have from florists:

  

I'm really not a big flower person so I'm looking for something simple and easy. I don't want flowers to be the main decorations at the ceremony/reception. I am obsessed with fairy lights so am really looking forward to incorporating them into the scheme of things!

I really like the idea of decorative sculptures or pillars of some sort? Gooooogle here I come.

Ice sculptures? Lol.

Bridesmaids

I'm not sure why I decided to look for bridesmaid dresses first, but I did and here's what I found. 

I LOVE them!!! They are so different. 

The girls really like them, but we'll have to see what they look like on. I have ordered a couple in Zoe and Ki's sizes. They are quite a lot taller than Char and Vicks so I think the dresses will suit them better. I'm hoping to have them by the time Char comes to visit so she can see what she thinks. I'm playing with the idea of having 2 bridesmaids in silver/grey and 2 in turquois but I'm not sure yet. We'll see what the outcome is after we have the grey dresses. 

Hopefully they will be carrying pink flowers and wearing turquoise shoes & accessories. 

I have found the cutest blue shoes...they are perfect! 

I love the idea of them having flowers in their hair also. I'm still getting used to the fact that I can pretty much do whatever I want when it comes to this wedding! I always thought there was some sort of set plan or scheme which everyone did...think I was wrong on that one! The world is my oyster. Maybe I should look out for a blue or pink wedding dress...?! 

   

Location

We've decided to have the reception at Citycoast church in Brighton. That's the church we'll be getting married in. Its brilliant mainly down to the fact that we can do (pretty much) whatever we want with the rooms we have and we will be able to take as long as we need with the setting up of things. We provisionally we're going to have the wedding reception in the ballroom at the Thistle hotel...it was beautiful but after looking at their menu and discovering what we would be able to do with the room we decided it really wasn't us. We have been offered the best catering service ever through a friend who runs a hotel in Swindon and have thought of a brilliant way to organize the reception rooms at the church. A big plus for all of you who will be traveling from Swindon, Bath, Wales, Australia (and wherever else!) is that you will only need to find one venue in Brighton and one parking spot :] I cannot wait to get the place ready for the wedding - its going to be sooo beautiful!!!

Mission: Wedding

We've been engaged for two whole weeks!! Think its about time I start officially planning the wedding. Its funny how, before I met Stephen, I never even thought about 'my dream wedding'...most of my girl friends have had theirs sorted since they were about 12. I'm thinking I have a LOT of catching up to do.

I haven't had to think twice about the colour scheme - turquoise, silver and pink. Ok, I know I've decided that before thinking of all the practicalities...but hey, I'm sure we'll make it work! I guess I will be back here soon with what I find =)

I have started a wedding scrap book! I've cut up so many magazines and used up so much paper - been great fun! Here's a couple of pictures of my effort *drumroll please*.........

A bit of history

Ok, so we both met October 2007 over a weekend youth conference in London. We had noticed each other a couple of times over the course of the weekend and spent a total of about 5 minutes talking to each other on the last evening. Neither of us were in any way looking for that someone special, so the fact that we noticed someone came as a surprise. Stephen left the conference on a high (yes, the conference was good...but hey, he'd met me!) and I left rather confused as to why I could not get this person out of my head! We got in touch via a social networking website and started sending messages and emails back and forth. It was not long until we both realized that this was something much bigger than just a casual acquaintance. I remember staying up long into the night composing book-length emails and then everyday anxiously waiting for a reply. We had exchanged mobile numbers and we're calling each other on a regular basis. We had become best friends, but neither of us we're happy leaving it there.

On the night of December 15th 2007 I sent Stephen a text message asking him if "this was just friends" and if it wasn't, what we're we going to do about it?! He called me about 10 minutes later and laid it all out - it was pretty obvious that we we're more than friends, that he really wanted to and believed that we should be more than friends and asked me if I felt the same way (...how awkward would it have been if I hadn't?!). Obviously, I felt exactly the same way. We could not have planned to meet each other if we had tried! God definitely had His hand on us and had impressively worked everything out without us having to do a thing. 

It took me about 5 days from that date to realize that this was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It wasn't based on anything in the physical - I had seen Stephen's heart and it was that which I fell in love with. I remember a conversation we had one evening in which we discussed it. The fact that we were partners for life went almost unsaid - it was so obvious! We met up in January 2008 and many times after. Living in two different cities and having completely different schedules is very challenging but it made our relationship stronger. 

The evening before my birthday Stephen proposed (06/07/2008). We we're in Brighton and he drove me up to the Dyke (the highest point in the city). We we're the only people up there. The view was incredible. 

We went for a short walk but it began to pour with rain. We ran back to the car and Stephen told me he wanted to give me my birthday present. He got the gift out of the book (while in the car) and then got down on one knee in the back of the car, said the most wonderful speech and then presented me with the ring and asked me to marry him. (I so wish I had recorded it somehow...I was so overwhelmed that I don't remember much of what was said - sorry Steve!) Everything was so perfect! I had told him I wanted a really personal proposal, nothing public or showy, and he did SUCH a great job!! 

I am moving to Brighton at the beginning of January 2009 (so soon now!). We are looking forward to getting all the finer details of the wedding sorted. Lots has already been done - we've found the wedding gear (dress etc) and booked the church and reception (which are probably going to be held in the same building - Citycoast Church). It going to be really great seeing more of each other...feels like we've waited a long time, but at the end of the day we would never want to go back and have things happen a different way. God's done a pretty good job of it all so far and we are completely trusting Him with the rest =)