Of Bridesmaid Dresses and Wedding Licenses

I know, I know - I haven't updated for ages, but I have been crazy busy at work. Deepest apologies, and to make it up to you, I will show you  picture of the bridesmaid dress that we have finally decided on!

From the front

From the back

Pretty, right? They don't come with the belts, so I'm going to tell the bridesmaids that they if they want to wear a belt, they can choose their own black one. That way they all have the same dress, but there is a little bit of individuality coming through with the belts. They also don't come with the underskirt, but we are going to wait until the girls try them on to see if they actually need one. My mum says she could make the underskirts if we decide we want them (which we probably will).

I love this dress! I love the 50's style, the colour, the halter neck, sweetheart neckline, everything. I especially love the price! This dress is available from this eBay shop for only £34.99.

Now all we need to do is order them! I really want to order them now, because I'm impatient like that, but I know at least one of the bridesmaids wants to wait a few months because she is planning on losing weight. I might have to demand the dresses be ordered soon though, because I will constantly be worrying that the dresses will sell out and be unavailable by the time we get around the actually buying them!

I will be asking the girls to wear black shoes on the day, but I don't mind what kind, and they certainly don't need to match or anything. I will also need to speak to the girls about their hair, as I don't necessarily want them to have matching styles, but I'd like to either all have their hair up, or all have it down. 

The other very exciting thing that Karl and I did since the last post, was go down to the registry office to give notice of marriage! They will display the notice for 15 days, in which time anyone can raise objections, and then on the 16th day, our marriage license will be issued and be valid for a year. It's nice to get all the legal formalities out of the way, it makes everything feel a lot more real!
It was really simple to give notice, just lots of repeating our names and addresses, and confirming that neither of us had ever been married before. We had a few issues with the fact that Karl doesn't have a passport yet, so had to take his birth certificate and a parents birth certificate. However, the only parent he is on contact with (his dad) is not actually named on the birth certificate (long story!). Luckily, the registrar took pity on bus and let us off with just Karl's paperwork. Unfortunately, she didn't let us off the fee - £33.50 each!

Chalk board speech bubbles

I think I have mentioned before how much we want some chalk board speech bubbles to use as props in our DIY photo booth. I love the idea of them, and the fact that they will hopefully  help us to get some hilarious pictures!

Here's a few examples:

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Anyway, I had definitely decided that I wanted something like this for our photo booth, but when I looked into buying them, I could only find them for £30 - which is way more than I was willing to pay! To be honest, when I actually thought about it, I wasn't really willing to spend much at all on these - I'm a skinflint like that!

Anyway, I mentioned to my dad (who is quite handy with a saw) that I would be eternally grateful if he'd have a go at making me something along these lines. I believe his response at the time was "Hmmm? Oh yeah, OK" or something equally as non-committal

So imagine my surprise when a week or so later, he announced that he'd made them for me!

Speech bubble

Thought bubble

and handles on the back to hold them with

How amazing are they? All I need to do is give them a few coats of black board paint and they're ready to go! I am so excited to have these - together with the mustaches they will be brilliant in the photo booth! I think I'm looking forward to the photo booth pictures more than our actual wedding pictures!

And of course, the fact that they were free is an extra bonus. I've been thinking that we could hang them on our wall after the wedding and use them as notice boards, to write reminders and notes on.

In other news, I plan to order my wedding dress very soon! And I should probably get started on the invitations soon too. Exciting times!

Damson Vodka favours - nearly done!

You may remember a while ago, I made damson vodka to use as our favours, which we will serve in test tube shots. Well that was about 4 months ago, so it was time to get around to straining the damsons out of the vodka!

Last time I showed you the vodka, it looked like this:

Day 1

Day 2

After 4 months, it looked like this:

Beautiful! So the next step was to strain the fruit out...

...and taste, to see if it needed more sugar.

It tasted gorgeous! Very strong, but then it is neat vodka. I added a little bit more sugar, then returned it to the bottle to sit, where it will only improve in taste and consistency, until we need it.

So there you have it! Our damson vodka favours are basically done - all that's left is to put the vodka into the test tubes, which we'll do just before the wedding.

Oh, I meant to say - I have used a plastic bottle, since it was the only one big enough I could find, but the experts so that you should use a glass one to stop the plastic taking any of the smell or taste away from the drink. Personally, I'm not that much of a snob about alcohol, so I wasn't too bothered (and I refused to buy a huge glass jar just for this purpose!) but if you have glass bottles big enough, you might as well use them.

Now I have to think of something to do with a load of vodka soaked damsons - I've heard about people drying them to use in cakes, or eating them in their porridge. Even dipping them in chocolate!

A little gift from my future Father In Law

Karl went to see his dad today, and returned with a present for us! Don't you just love unexpected gifts?!

Anyway, here's what my Father in Law to be had made for us...

An 'Our Wedding' cut out photo frame! Isn't it cute?
It has a wooden frame, which is painted a sort of matt silver (in the photo it's still wrapped in the black plastic, becuase I dont want it to get scratched or dirty before we have a chance to even use it!). The cut out board bit is cream, with a black layer in between, so that the edges of the letters are sort of staggered, if that makes sense? Sort of a 3D effect. 

I'm really excited to get wedding photos to put in this! I think it will look really lovely, and it's something a bit different than just having the pictures in a regualr frame.

Lovely FIL2b had it made especially for us, when he went away at New Year. Isn't that so sweet of him? It's a bit weird too, as I was just thinking the other day about getting some nice frames to put pictures in after the wedding! This is exactly the sort of thing that I would have wanted to try and DIY, but I don't think it would have turned out half as nice if i'd attempted it myself!

Thank-You FIL2b!

7 months today!

Did you know that today is the 6th of January? Of course you did. But did you also realise that that means that it is exactly 7 months today to our wedding?! Holy crap!


The problem with the 6 or 7 month mark, is that it seems like a really long time and a really short amount of time, all at once. It's a bit weird actually - when I think about it, it seems like the wedding is still so far away. But when I think about all the things that need to be done, it doesn't seem like enough time! I really am going to have to pull my finger out and get some more stuff sorted soon!

Another thing that has happened recently is that I've started to feel all emotional whenever I see weddings on tv or in films - even when it's not a soppy ceremony moment! For example, the below clip from Glee makes me get a little bit choked up, and it is the single most cheerful wedding entrance I've ever seen!

**NOTE** This clip is from Season 2, so if you live in the UK, where it hasn't aired yet, be warned that it contains spoilers!



Isn't that amazing! I wish we had Glee clubs in the UK (and that I knew people in one!)

Anyway, if this clip got me teary eyed, you can imagine what it does to me when a film of programme shows a really emotional wedding ceremony! It's even worse when I stumble across people's wedding videos online (not in a creepy stalker way - I mean when they have posted them on blogs and things!). I nearly always end up teary eyed, and I don't even know the couple! God help me when I have to attend my sisters and my friends weddings!

Incidently, I love the song from the clip - I'm off the find a way to use it on our wedding website!

Photo Booth Props

My amazing friend, Sam, bought me a present today....

Oh yes! A pack of fake mustaches! She knows me so well...
These little beauties are going to be the star attraction on my Photo booth prop table. I plan to attach thin wooden stick to them and then let the guests go wild. I couldn't resist a little practice shot though...

Attractive, yes? In reality, the stick will be much thinner. This paintbrush was the only thing I could find to use at the time!

 I also picked up this fairy wing headband thingy to use as a prop - purely because it was cute, and only 99p.

A while ago, Sam also bought me this set of comedy false teeth to use as Photo Booth props:

I'm not sure if they will work though - there is the hygiene aspect to consider. We couldnt just leave the teeth out for people to use, since after the first person has used them, no-one else will want to have them in their mouths! I did consider having sterilising wipes or something but I think it would end up being too much bother. What I might do though, is hand out one set each to a few key people for a couple of photos, rather than leaving them for eveyone.

I'm going to be on the hunt for more props for the next few months. I'm hoping for some interesting hats, funky glasses, and maybe one or two masks. I'm still planning to make some 'Smiles on sticks' and also some chalkboard speech bubbles.

I'm so excited to see how the photo booth pictures turn out!

The Veil!

So my very lovely big sister bought me my veil as a Christmas gift - isn't that nice of her? Anywho, it is a white, single tier, fingertip length with scattered crystals. And it is beautiful! It needs to be steamed, but I'll show you some pics anyway...

Closeup - you cant really see in this photo, but it has tiny crystals scattered all over it.

Me wearing the veil.

I'm so happy with my veil! I love that it's single tier, so it's very thin and delicate, and not at all poofy. And the scattered crystals give that extra something. It is a tiny bit longer than I expected it to be, but I actually love the length now. I think it's short enough that I wont trip over it or anything, but long enough to get some nice "veil blowing in the breeze" shots like this:

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 Isn't that gorgeous? Of course that will completely depend on there being a strong enough breeze, but I can dream anyway.

 In case you're interested, the veil was from Deity Bridal which is a website that offers a ton of different lengths, tiers, styles etc of veils for bargain prices. I have never understood why a single piece of netting attached to a comb would cost over £200 - but that's what I saw in some bridal shops! Crazy stuff!

I have not quite decided whether I'll be wearing the veil attached to the top or the back of my head - but I'm leaning towards thre back. I think it will work better with the hair style. At some point soon I'm going to get my hairdresser, Mark, to give me a hair trial using the veil and this headband that I bought a few days ago.

That's pretty, right? I'd been looking at headbands for ages and had been lusting after several on the Glitzy Secrets website. I particulary liked the ones with crystal flowers on the side, but they were about £40 each! As far as I'm concerned, that is a ridiculous amount to pay for a headband, especially since I hardly ever wear headbands, and would probably never wear that one again!
Then I was in town the other day and Mark (my hairdresser) found this lovely little headband in some random shop, for only....wait for it....£3! Bargain or what?! I love it, but i'm not sure if it will work with the hairstyle and/or veil. If it doesn't, it's not he end of the world as I've only spent £3 and it's small and simple enough to wear anywhere!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I know I have been rubbish at posting recently, but I thought it was appropriate to post today, just to remind everyone that....

We're getting married this year!!!

That's crazy! Where has the time gone? Anyway, congratualtions to any other couples who are getting married in 2011 - how exciting is it to finally be able to say "this year" instead of "next year" when your asked about the wedding date?!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too - I certainly did, as my lovely sister bought me my veil as my Christmas present! I will upload photos soon, I promise.

I'm so excited for 2011 - I feel like it's ok to start doing things for the wedding now, since it is officially "this year". I think we will start making the invitations soon, and probably buy my wedding dress. Exciting times coming up!