Slight change of wedding plan

Yesterday Chris and I came to a decision about our wedding.

We've postponed it until next year.

I know.  You're probably thinking that it's quite a drastic measure?

Let me explain.

We got engaged and booked the wedding back in December.  Then we set about finding a house to buy which took longer than anticipated.  Then we found a house but the process of buying it also took longer than we thought it would.  We moved into the house in June and we're still getting into the swing of paying for it.

When Chris and I sat down and made our wedding to-do list we were crossing things off it that made us question if getting married this year was the right thing to do.  I had planned to have my hair put up and what flowers I'd be having in my bouquet.  But we had to cross both those things off the list in order to pay for food for the guests.  Also Chris was looking at ridiculously cheap suits and that's not right. 

It just felt wrong.  Do you know what I mean?  Every time I thought about or someone mentioned the wedding I just felt a sense of dread.  It wasn't going to be as we had planned and we were more sad about it than happy.  Obviously three weeks before your wedding a few nerves are okay but I tell you, it was making me feel sick just thinking about it.  I've even been off pudding and chocolate! 

The one thing we both knew was that we wanted to get married to each other but not in the way that we would have to in three weeks' time.  Also, we didn't want to look back on our wedding day and think 'That's not how we wanted it to be' just for the sake of waiting a little bit longer.

So Chris and I made the decision to postpone the wedding.  It was a difficult and upsetting thing to do but we both feel such relief.  The knot in my stomach is slowly undoing and I feel about a stone lighter.  Chris is happier too. We were both a little sad last night but this morning we feel a lot better about the situation.

Chris and I now have some breathing space and time to plan and budget to make our wedding the way we envisaged it back when we first got engaged and this time we won't have estate agents, train commutes and the whole new house thing encroaching on the wedding planning.

Many thanks to everyone who left such lovely comments on my last post.

Thank you for reading

Polka Dotty Interlude

At the end of my last post I told you I'd be back later with beads.

I didn't come back, did I?

I got sidetracked.

Our wedding is in about three weeks' time and my brain is all awhirl with wedding thoughts.  Chris and I sat down and wrote a to-do list on Monday and now we're setting about crossing things off that list.

As I've explained before, when I have things on my mind I find concentrating on beads quite a tricky task.  Yesterday all I could make was polka dot beads.  I think that the regularity and just-so-ness of them allows me to switch to bead autopilot and simultaneously think about wedding hair, wedding food and other wedding-related malarkey.

Even though our wedding is going to be a small one it's still stressing me out.  I seem to be in a constant bad mood at the moment and poor Chris never knows if he's going to come home and find a happy Laura or a whining snappy one.  It's a wonder that he still wants to marry me!

Please bear with me during this polka dotty interlude .....

Favourite Flowers

My little sister Emily is visiting for a few days which is lovely. We don't get to see each other much and it's fab to have her about the place. When she arrived on Tuesday she brought me a gorgeous bunch of bright red tulips - my favourite flowers.

Today we popped into Oxford to look for a bridesmaid dress for her. We found a couple of potential frocks but no purchase was made so that job is still on the wedding to-do list, as are many many other things ....

In bead news I have another set of polka dotty beads, this time in purple and spearmint.

I reckon this'll be the last polka dot set for the time being - I'm all dotted out!

Wedding Dress Success

I didn't expect to find my actual wedding dress yesterday ..... but I did! We were only going for a look-about but now it's hanging in my wardrobe all zipped up in a posh dress bag. I also got Robyn's bridesmaid dress which she looks gorgeous in.

The dress I bought was the second one that I tried on. As soon as I saw myself in the mirror I knew that it was the one for me. We did look in other shops but I kept comparing all the other dresses to the one I'd found and in the end we went back and I got it.

It's not kingfisher blue. In fact, it's not blue at all. I'm going to keep the colour a secret from Chris so that it's a surprise on the day which unfortunately that means I can't tell you what colour it is either as Chris does read my blog. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait until September to find out .....

Wedding Frippery-Faffiness

I made these yesterday.

I made even more of these this morning.

Then I promised myself 'normal' beadmaking time after lunch.

Nothing. Normal beadmaking batteries are flat.

Rubbish.

Now I'm off to look at houses on the interwebs and then I'm going to flick through a wedding magazine to look for dress ideas as Sally, Robyn and I are going for a wedding dress look-about tomorrow. The wedding isn't until September 24th (yep, that's right - the date is set and the register office is booked) but I need to get a dress sorted soon so we can decide what other colours and things we'd like. Emily and Robyn are being bridesmaids. Em gave me no choice in the matter - she just told me she was being one (I'm totally aware that her six-foot-tallness, gorgeous figure and stunning looks will show me up in any wedding photos but she's my little sis!) and how could I not have Robyn as a bridesmaid? When I asked her she said 'Of course I can do that for you, Auntie Laura!' which I thought was so sweet. I told her that one of the reasons I was asking her because no-one has ever asked me to be a bridesmaid. Good job really, I'd have probably kicked up a right stink about having to wear a dress.

Tell you what though, I can't believe the load of unnecessary wedding-related faffery that exists! I used to make wedding cracker favours yonks ago (fairly unnecessary) and we advertised in a couple of bridal magazines which I only ever glanced at but I seriously cannot believe some of the stuff you can buy for weddings. One thing I saw in my magazine was lavender-filled fabric hearts to hang on the back of the guests' chairs at the reception. Is this in case the guests smell? And at eight quid a piece that would work out at a mighty expensive chair-scenting gesture. Oh, and the price of wedding cakes! I saw a picture of one and I thought 'That's pretty!' and it nonchalantly said £630 next to the photo. What? It's a cake! I'm not a tightwad by any means but that's crazy money. And also how much are tiaras? Not that I would contemplate wearing one (I would look foolish and would feel even sillier) but I saw one priced at £200. Two. Hundred. Pounds.

Thank goodness Chris and I are agreed on a small wedding. All this house mortgage stuff is daunting enough on its own without needing to get another mortgage for the flipping wedding! Having looked at the magazine I am fully aware that I'm a bit of an unconventional bride-to-be (or 'b2b' as all the cool kids are saying) as I don't want any of this frippery-faffiness. All I would like is a nice day getting wed to my fella (or 'h2b', apparently), to spend the day with the people that we love, to wear a nice dress and to have some nice food. And pudding. ;o)

Finally!

Here's my engagement ring! It now fits perfectly and I can't stop looking at its spangly sparkliness. The ring is white gold with nineteen tiny diamonds. I know it's not your traditional solitaire but the minute Chris pointed it out in the jewellery shop window I knew that it was the engagement ring for me!

Engagement Ring

Well, Chris collected my engagement ring from the jewellers but it doesn't fit properly! It's too tight so we took it back on Saturday and they're going to sort it out so I should have it (and hopefully it'll fit this time) next time I see Chris.

Curse my big fingers .....

Wedding Q&A

So many of you have sent congratulatory emails and messages with regards to our engagement. We've received cards, flowers, chocolates and I've even been sent yarn to say congratulations! Thank you all very much indeed.

Along with those emails have come the inevitable wedding-related questions. Vik at Wild Fire Fibres just left a comment on my last post which encompasses virtually all of them. So here are her questions followed by my answers :

"Firstly a massive CONGRATULATIONS!!! Do you have a date yet? Dress ideas? Are you going to handmake some of the things for your wedding? Or are you just going to do it cheaply (like us) and whenever you get round to it (again, like us - been engaged 4 years!)? It's lovely to have a ring on isn't it :)"

Date
Yes, there is a date set. It's in September and I'll let you know the actual date when it's all been totally one hundred percent confirmed.

Dress
I haven't picked one yet but I know what colour it might be - kingfisher blue. Well, that's what I have in mind right at this moment. It could change. It won't be a 'proper' flouncy wedding dress. Again, I have a style in mind but I'm saying no more as Chris reads the blog and the finer dress details are staying secret until the day. He knows the colour I'm currently leaning towards but that's it.

Venue
Cambridge. It's going to be a register office do on a very small scale. There will be no reception or evening bash as such. We're still undecided - maybe we'll take our small wedding party out for a meal afterwards. The wedding will be small because neither of us want a big shindig. I've never ever wanted the big huge wedding thing and Chris certainly hasn't. I was shocked that he even proposed! So the wedding is going to be pretty unconventional, I guess.

Engagement Ring
Yes, there is one. Chris and I went to choose it on Saturday and again, it's not your traditional engagement ring. I don't actually have it on my finger as the jewellers are ordering the correct size in for me. There will be photos of the engagement ring as soon as I have it which should be in a couple of weeks.

So there you have it. In short, we're talking about a very small do without your usual wedding bells and whistles. The best wedding I've ever been to was the smallest, most unflashy thing you can imagine and it was just perfect. I hope ours will be too!