Wedfest Prep

This year has been crazy. I once read somewhere that moving house and getting married are 2 of the most stressful things to do in a lifetime. Well... we moved house in December last year, got married in May and then to add extra excitement to the mix, Harry and I both started new jobs after the wedding!

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since we tied the knot... We were married in my parent's village church in Leicestershire. Such a tiny and beautiful church, we weren't sure how we would get everyone in but we did! The reception was held in the field behind my parent's house that their neighbours very kindly lent to us... we hired a gorgeous tent poled marquee and made it our own. I never thought i'd get so attached to a massive tent but I did. What a loser. 

As we arrived in the village on the Monday, the marquee had already started to take shape and by Wednesday lunchtime it was up and ready to decorate.

The whole week was a bit of a blur. There was a big team of us getting things done from washing plates and glasses, making puddings/cakes, walking the pups, going back and forth to the fruit and flower markets... the list goes on. 

On Thursday the weather took a bad turn and I was getting a little stressed by everything. In fact, I had a full melt down with lots of tears... I was already knackered, the rain was pouring and everyone was getting in each others way. My darling middle brother saw me crying, laughed and told me that he'd had me pegged to cry a lot earlier in the week and was proud of me for lasting so long! My tears quickly dried up, we all had a giggle and a large glass of wine. 

Friday saw the rain dry up for most of the day and the cavalry arrived! More family members and the rest of my bridesmaids were there to help... HOORAH! I realised that I couldn't do everything by myself (as much as I had tried) so I delegated like I'd never delegated before. Flowers were arranged into my array of bottles I had collected, pom poms were poofed, glasses were polished, name tags put out and bunting was hung. 

My precious 108 metres of bunting that I spent many an hour making with the girls on wedding wine/craft nights. 

I popped down to the church to see the amazing flowers that my lovely grandma had arranged... 

and I practiced my poses for Saturday

After an exhausting few days, Harry left to go and stay at the lodge with his friends. The rest of us went to the local pub to celebrate my gorgeous Mum's Birthday along with her and Dad's Wedding Anniversary! It was such a lovely evening, I could hardly eat anything but the wine went down quite well. I headed back to the marquee with 2 of my bridesmaids, Grace and Ellie along with Ellie's boyfriend Greg to make the button holes for the boys. At 11pm at night. Well, the girls made them and Greg tested out the bar and the beer to check it was all in working order. Look at those happy faces! 

We cleaned up the mess and left the tent. Ellie and Greg went home whilst Grace and I went up to the house for some sleep. I think I finally dosed off at around 2am after writing a few to do lists on my phone for the morning... Eeeek it was all suddenly a bit real! 

To be continued...

3

Wedding Planning #1

So plans for our big day are well underway!

On the 24th May 2014 we will become hubby and wifey... We'll get married in the little church in my parent's village, followed by a marquee reception in the fields behind their house.

We have the church and marquee booked, the photographer is sorted and last week we met the Vicar. Harry was a bit scared, though he wouldn't admit it... but when he saw a 1970 Isle of Wight poster on the office wall and a full drum kit set up in the corner, he soon realised that Ian wasn't like most Vicars! We drove away from the meeting grinning like chumps, chatting about readings etc and the fact that he'd seen Jimi Hendrix play live one of the last times before he died... Surreal!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered our Save the Date cards. I'd used Social Print Studio before and was really pleased with their service. They're brilliant and although they're in the USA, they deliver really quickly to the UK and postage is free! As you may know by now I'm a massive Instagram nerd, so I chose a pic that I'd taken before of the church where we'll marry. I then used Elsie and Emma's A Beautiful Mess App to add the text. I was so chuffed when they arrived in the post!

back and front

I spent Sunday evening handwriting 100 of these little buggers and then posted them out this week. Exciting and one massive thing checked off the list. YES!

So now it's onto the next planning phase... decoration inspiration and general wedding fun. Pinterest can keep me amused for hours as can my favourite wedding blogs, but there is something about seeing things in the flesh and taking in all the fun first hand! That's when ideas, likes and dislikes really take shape.

This Sunday I'm taking my Maid of Honour to Winchester. We're going for breakfast and visiting the Hampshire Bridal Boot Sale and really can't wait! It's in Milner Hall, a former church and sounds really stunning.

I went to the last one at Swanmore back in February and it was wonderful. Those boot sale ladies certainly know how to pick a venue!

It's definitely not your traditional Wedding fair. The majority of the stalls are newlyweds selling on their pre-loved wedding items along with local businesses hosting stalls in keeping with the quirky concept of the day.

There's more info on their Facebook page here including opening times and seller information. Will you be heading to Winchester on Sunday? If so I'll see you there! 

0