Measure for Measure

Saturday marked the first proper meeting with my ladies. J, L & S all got to finally meet one another properly & have a bit of girl bonding time. I was very excited!

Off we dashed in S's fabbity convertible (!) to our appointment with Dresses @ No 9. Oh yes... Me & my ladies were rolling in style!

We all got measured up for the dresses. Chatted for a full hour with Linda at Dresses @ No 9 about designs, ideas, flowers & fabric. My ladies are having a fifties circle design like mine but in a Cath Kidston-esque fabric (once Linda finds it). The two younger ladies are having a traditional halter neck whilst S is going for more of a bateau neckline like mine. She needs to stand out after all... She is the M.O.H!

We discussed the idea of three varying colours with mixed up petticoats to add some extra wow. And I truly cannot wait for the next step. However that bit doesn't come until November...

Oh well... Good things come to those who wait & as soon as Linda emails me with some fabric ideas, I shall be sure to share :-)

The other lull...

Whilst I may be out of one lull. I am, however, very deep in the weight-loss lull. I cannot seem to get past the 2 stone barrier. HELP! Where's Rosemary Connolly when you need her? Or better yet, a personal trainer.

Let's hope the holiday to Cornwall will sweep out the cobwebs & I shall come back fighting fit!

The Lull is Over!

What a lazy blogger I am. And for this I must sincerely apologise. I realise I haven't actually typed a word to you since May. And for this I apologise also.

I am rubbish... It's official!

But enough of the self-deprecation, 'GET ON WITH IT!' I hear you say. So here I go...

It's official: I am out of the lull. 'What lull?' I hear you ask. The wedding lull. That hazy period in the wedding planning where you really feel like you should have something to do. But you don't. And not for the lack of trying either. Days spent flicking through my diary to ensure I hadn't forgotten anything so far. Days of typing out rather articulate & witty emails to my wedding suppliers only to swiftly realise that they are very busy people & probably couldn't care less about my absent-minded rambling thoughts. Needless to say... I've been bored.

I can hear you saying I should have been busy updating this blooming blog if I was so bored. But what did I have to write? I had nothing to say. Well... Nothing interesting to say. I could have typed out one of those ever-interesting emails, like I almost sent to my various suppliers but there's a reason they went straight to the deleted folder - They were nonsense.

But I'm back! I'm back... I promise!

What a palaver!

I will sound like an absolute Bridezilla saying this but... what a palaver!

Finally got round to making an appointment with Linda for my first measurements to be taken (all of a sudden that chocolate biscuit doesn't look so tempting anymore). She said that I may as well bring along my maids for the first one so we can all be measured together. So here's where the fun began.

Everything so far has seemed to run smoothly (finger's crossed) until it comes to synchronising the diaries of 4 grown women (well, 3 grown women & the other's mother). It was a case of "I can do this date, but I can't do that" etc. etc. Until we finally got a date of Saturday 30th July. So this means that I really need to organise everything like two months in advance if I wish to get them all in the same room on the same day. But I suppose it is good that I learn this at an early stage?

Linda did say that she has hardly any brides that manage to get all their maids to one fitting at a time which only made me all the more determined to do it, lol!

I haven't really carried a diary since University (final project = aaarrrrgggh) as I usually write things on the kitchen calender; that way S can see them as well. But yesterday made me realise that a bride really does need to carry one around as trying to remember all the appointments in ones head is not an easy task.

The paperwork is ready

Woo Hoo! We picked up the marriage certificate last night. So now I have the official permission to get married - No-one objected. Yay us :-D

So know I just have to remember to get it posted off to the actual Registrar...

Gifts

Sue at work started a conversation about gifts today. She is getting married in September & was wondering what to buy her maids for a "thank you". She thinks she will just buy them all the same jewellry.

But it got me thinking again (as I have already started)... What to buy my lovely ladies...?

Hmmm....

The 'making it legal' part

So a couple of weeks ago, S & I bobbed along to our local registry office to "give notice" for our wedding. To those of you that aren't married, it's like the Bans in church. Basically, your names go up on the wall & the people of your town have about 2 weeks to object to your wedding before you receive the wedding license. In order to do this, you must be interviewed, seperately, by the Registrar.

Now, as we are getting married in Calderdale but live in Kirklees we had to do it slightly differently. It meant booking the Registrar through Calderdale Council for the actual ceremony but then giving notice with Kirklees Council. No-one warns you about all this before you say "Yes"!

Anyway... On the actual day, I went first. Was asked to show my passport; asked if I was married already, if I was known as a different name etc. all the security checks you would expect. If I knew S's D.O.B and his parents' names? It took about 10 minutes in all before S could go in. And guess what... He remembered everything except the wedding date, haha. Apparently the Registrar just giggled when he couldn't quite remember.

Still, it's not as bad as S's friend Scott who forgot his wife-to-be's full name when he met the Registrar! Or my friend's husband-to-be (who shall remain nameless) who forgot his fiancee's address EVEN THOUGH THEY LIVED TOGETHER & HAD JUST GIVEN HIS OWN ADDRESS WITHOUT HESITATION!

Men eh...?

Bridal Boot-Camp

For most of my life I have tried to lose weight. I have sometimes been successful but not often. This time however, I am in the correct frame of mind, I think. And I must be because I have lost a total of 19lbs as of yesterday, since Jan 14th.

I have had ups & downs along the weight-loss road in 2011 but overall I am losing what I set out to: A steady 1-2lbs a week.

And with the help of an online food diary and walking to work & back every day, I am managing just fine.

But this week I turned it up a notch in the hope of boosting my lust for a more slender frame (and smaller bridal gown). So this week I tried not one but two classes: Zumba & Pilates.

Zumba was so energetic, I don't think I have perspired that much for some time. It's basically a mix of aerobics & salsa dancing. But it makes for great fun & a fab way to burn those weekend calories when we go on a Monday evening. It's not on for the next two weeks due to the Bank Hols but make no mistake, I shall return for the next class!

If Zumba is high energy then consider Pilates at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Meant to concentrate on improving posture & flexibility, Pilates is very chilled. I felt I had worked out my muscles but without sweating my backside off. And the extra exercise of walking to the class & back helps too.

I could definitely feel that my muscles had had a workout the day after & I shall be going back next week for the next installment.

With a small class of only 6 it means the teacher has more time to help us to ensure we are moving, laying, stretching etc. in the right way. And I definitely found out my weak spots (namely my hips) and what to work on. I'll be a contortionist before I know it, he he.

Catch-Up

Right... Where are we up to?

I know it isn't the longest blog in the world but for those of you that care, I thought I would just see where I'm up to.

Weddings are very grand things to plan/execute so I just needed a quick catch-up; a check off list, if you will.

In order to keep the rambling going, I need to know that you know where I am at the moment. So...

The things I have organised thus far:

- My lovely dress design, with Mrs Linda Leigh-Davey at Dresses at No 9. And I cannot tell you how excited I am for that. The thought of wedding dress shopping never really did anything for me, but I tried it for my Mother's sake (bless her, she nearly cried) & it was ok. But the thought of having a dress made that is mine, all mine, makes me very giddy indeed. Nothing is happening on that front yet, as it doesn't need to. But she emails me a lot & is generally a blooming lovely lady - So I cannot wait for my first appointment in June!

- Got the photography sorted with the only photographer I could ever have at my wedding (despite the wandering looks at Emma Case): Mr Rob Booker. I met Rob while at University & he was a bloody talented photographer then. And I have him to thank for me finding Linda. His website contained a picture of a woman in a gorgeous dress & I just had to know who made it... And that lady was Linda. Anyway... We met up with Rob & he seemed to like all our thoughts on photography for the big day. And we know he will do an amazing job!

- The flowers. How I cannot wait for the flowers. A fellow bride at work said this was the bit she was dreading??! I don't think she is a flower person, as all she kept saying is "Well they just die" to which I replied "Well have something other than flowers then?" to which she looked very shocked & put out. She is a very traditional bride & cannot seem to get her head around alot of my ideas for our wedding. But I don't mind.

Anyway, I digress... The flowers are kindly being done by my good friend Anne-Marie (who also happens to be a fabbity amateur photographer - Check her out!). She is very like-minded & I know she will do a fabulous job. She constantly throws names at me that I have to google & then reply with "I like the pink one". Intelligent, I know...

- The bridesmaids are lucky enough to be having a bespoke dresses too. And you think I'm excited at the thought of having a dress made that is mine all mine? You should talk to the maids! This is the material picture that Linda sent me (the roll pulled out)...





I am so thoroughly thrilled at the thought of seeing my 3 beautiful grown-up maids in a floral 50s number, I cannot tell you. And my ladies are all very excited too :-D

- S & I have had a meeting with Sue at Tilly's Cakes about the fab idea we had for a cake. No three-tier-monstrosity for us... No No No! Think afternoon tea mixed with country fate & you're almost there. Cannot wait to finalise the plans for that one. And it may involve another cupcake sample if we're lucky.

- Myself, H & my maid-of-honour had a lovely meeting with Katie at Eccentric & English last week who had just the crockery we were looking for. Take a look at her website for pics & I am sure you will agree that we are going to be able to create some great tea-party/Alice-in-Wonderland/cricket-tea style centrepieces. I am thinking stacked up mismatched cups + pearl necklaces + teapots with flowers = Loveliness.

- The honeymoon destination... Don't get me started on that decision again. But we're happy now... We have finally decided on a Disneymoon for the two of us & I couldn't agree more. We followed our hearts & not our heads on that one. Now it's just a case of saving up for it!

- The legal bit, I'll go into that one in a minute.

- Ha! Almost forgot to mention probably the biggest thing of them all... The venue! How could I forget that I've booked that?! Holdsworth House in Halifax on Saturday 25th Feb 2012... That's where I'll be with my wonderful Hubby. As we got a sort of "package" deal with them, they will be sorting the food. We have the menus & have almost decided on the menu choices that we will offer. And it all looks super scrum-diddly-umpious if you ask me! But with them sorting the food, it means we don't have to worry about finding any caterors!

Erm... I think that's kind of it for now. So you're up to speed right?

Apologies

Good Morning Readers (all two of you)...
Can I just start with an apology. I have been made aware by both of you that I am a lazy blogger. This is true...
And for this, I apologise.