Hello there fellow brides and wedding fanatics! Sorry it's been a while, truth is it's all pretty quiet just now on the wedding front and i didn't want to bore you.
Yes, be assured that somewhere in the midst of all the panic and mayhem which is the lead up to a wedding, will come a period of time when there isn't much going on at all! And let me tell you it's pretty nice to be able to relax for a bit before you enter into the final, mad furlong.
As always though the subject of weddings is never far away from our thoughts and our current topic of wedding deliberation and confusion is one of the few that all brides and grooms must decide together. One of the rare wedding decisions that the groom actually wants to have some in-put into (i lie of course as groomy is happy to go along with any of my decisions until he doesn't actually like one of them and then he sticks his oar in! on this basis i am informed, all decisions must be classed as joint), and inevitably there for, one of the most important.
Of course i'm talking about where to go for the honeymoon.
It's harder than i thought choosing one single place in the WORLD to go! After all the world is a BIG place and i could probably choose several hundred holiday destinations i'd love to see given an adequate budget and the time! But alas, neither budget, nor time is on our side here and a decision must be made. I know we are getting a week in Italy anyway (which would always be top of my very long list obviously), but i'm told that a honeymoon is pretty special and not to be missed for the memories and of course the romance element. So a further destination is required.
We started with high hopes of far-flung desitinations. Hawaii was up there for a while, quickly replaced by the Maldives. Then wedding stress began to kick in and the idea of travelling for more than an couple of hours to reach relaxation nirvana seemed a step too far. Perhaps another week in Italy then, or one of it's islands not too far away? But do we want a beach holiday, or a luxury countryside hotel? Will we be up to some sight-seeing or will a tan and a facial be the order of the day? And to throw another difficulty into the mix-should we book now or wait until the last minute in the hopes of a credit crunch holiday bargain? Decisions, decisions...
Currently we are googling. The world is a big place but i think i've viewed most of it's hotels at this point (not quite as many as there are wedding dresses but still quite a few)! And still we are not a step closer to making our decision. I guess it isn't too awful a choice to have to make and it's certainly more fun than some other parts involved in organising this wedding! And looking at pictures of all the places we may or may not end up is making me long to get to the warmth of the Amalfi Coast. I believe the weather is lovely there just now...
I'll let you know if we ever make a choice!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
13th March 2009-the hens they are a-clucking!
The hens are clucking and plans are in full swing! Against my better judgement obviously!
A hen party is one of those wedding traditions that just comes as part and parcel of the planning and cannot (i am reliably informed) be avoided. With visions of 'L' plates pinned to my best dress and chocolate willy straws i resisted for a long time, but eventually was forced to give in after much pressure from some over-exuberant hens.
And i'm glad i did because planning a night with all the girls in my life is actually loads of fun and it's another thing to look forward to in the run up to the wedding. We have a theme (i'm told this is the thing to do) and plenty to organise (might even take my mind off the wedding for a while!) and it's amazing how girls can bond over a bit of list writing and making plans!
Now, because i am getting married abroad i have found that this impacts quite heavily on what i can and can't do for my hen night. For example, the craze of the moment is to organise a hen party abroad. It isn't unusual to find girls heading away for a clubbing weekend in Newcastle or even a whole week of partying in Spain, but it's not easy to ask this of your hens when they are already forking out for a holiday in Italy to come and watch you swap vows. Especially in the midst of an (whisper) economic crisis.
What makes it even more comlicated for me is that i'm from the UK but live in Ireland, so where's the best place to have it? Who do i ask to fly? Do i go there/ do they come here? You can see the predicament!
So i've kept it simple. No big plans, no mass exodus to the costa's or such-like. Just a good-old fashioned girly night out. I'm fortunate enough that those who really count can make it, even though it will mean more flights and expense to them! I don't under estimate the effort made.
And to show my gratitude i will make absolutely sure that the cocktails are potent and the glasses kept always full, and i will do exactly as i am told on the night (within reason).
It's a while away yet so i'll keep you posted on the plans. But there will definately be cocktails involved...
In other news this week has seen a mass rush of flight bookings and i think pretty much all of those coming to the wedding have booked! It's a great feeling to know who will be there now, makes it really exciting. We can stop stressing and start making plans for what we hope will be a fantastic week!
A hen party is one of those wedding traditions that just comes as part and parcel of the planning and cannot (i am reliably informed) be avoided. With visions of 'L' plates pinned to my best dress and chocolate willy straws i resisted for a long time, but eventually was forced to give in after much pressure from some over-exuberant hens.
And i'm glad i did because planning a night with all the girls in my life is actually loads of fun and it's another thing to look forward to in the run up to the wedding. We have a theme (i'm told this is the thing to do) and plenty to organise (might even take my mind off the wedding for a while!) and it's amazing how girls can bond over a bit of list writing and making plans!
Now, because i am getting married abroad i have found that this impacts quite heavily on what i can and can't do for my hen night. For example, the craze of the moment is to organise a hen party abroad. It isn't unusual to find girls heading away for a clubbing weekend in Newcastle or even a whole week of partying in Spain, but it's not easy to ask this of your hens when they are already forking out for a holiday in Italy to come and watch you swap vows. Especially in the midst of an (whisper) economic crisis.
What makes it even more comlicated for me is that i'm from the UK but live in Ireland, so where's the best place to have it? Who do i ask to fly? Do i go there/ do they come here? You can see the predicament!
So i've kept it simple. No big plans, no mass exodus to the costa's or such-like. Just a good-old fashioned girly night out. I'm fortunate enough that those who really count can make it, even though it will mean more flights and expense to them! I don't under estimate the effort made.
And to show my gratitude i will make absolutely sure that the cocktails are potent and the glasses kept always full, and i will do exactly as i am told on the night (within reason).
It's a while away yet so i'll keep you posted on the plans. But there will definately be cocktails involved...
In other news this week has seen a mass rush of flight bookings and i think pretty much all of those coming to the wedding have booked! It's a great feeling to know who will be there now, makes it really exciting. We can stop stressing and start making plans for what we hope will be a fantastic week!
Friday, March 6, 2009
6th March-Wedding wobbles!
There is a phenomenon that exists among brides about which i was completely unaware until very recently, and even when it happened to me i thought that i must be the only one and it was all a result of me being mad!
It's something that none of us hear much about until we actually go through it because many brides deem it to be too shameful to speak of and therefore it is kept under wraps like some sordid little secret.
But i have vowed to be honest in this blog, and talk about what i'm really going through as a bride, to help others who find themselves in the same situations, and i think it is important to get this thing out in the open now, so that other brides, future brides, those who are reading this and going through the same thing, know that they are normal and they don't have to suffer in silence.
The name of this strange phenomenon? The Wedding Wobbles!
Yes, dear brides, since beginning with the planning of this wedding i have had more wobbles than i care to mention, and i don't mean of the thigh variety (although there is that too).
Now i want to be clear, i am not talking about the 'am i marrying the right bloke?' wobble. I have never once asked myself that, and i think if that's the kind of wobble you're having then i am the wrong person to offer advice.
No, i'm talking about the slightly less 'wobbly' wobbles like the one i have been going through all week, the 'did i choose the right dress?' wobble!
I won't lie. This week alone i have googled 1,236,525 wedding dresses. (Okay, a possible exaggeration, but some of them do come in a variety of colours from pearl to coffee so it's a ball-park figure). As i mentioned earlier in the week i was worried that because my dress isn't a 'wedding' dress i might be missing out on some kind of once-in-a-life-time experience (yet another wedding phenomenon). I thought it was just me, that i had been driven crazy by looking at white for so long, but it turns out i'm not alone.
Infact, after carrying out some major scientific research (amongst friends, past brides and various other women) i have discovered that this actually happens to most people! Some even go out and buy a second dress in the run up to the wedding because they have fallen out of love with the one they originally 'loved' the second they tried it on. Finding out that this was 'normal' (i use the term loosely-we are afterall, talking about brides here), i felt better, but began to wonder why this happens? I think the answer is staring us in the face. There is too bloody much to choose from!
How could we possibly be happy with the dress we have chosen when there are about ten million others out there? All this rubbish about finding 'the' dress can't be real, can it? When the odd's are that at least a couple of hundred of them have to look pretty good on you-if you had the time to try them all on that is!
So i've decided the answer is to simply stop looking! I have a dress i love. Of course if i keep comparing it to others i'm bound to find something better and more beautiful but i can only wear one on the day, and this one is 'me',... i think?!
So girls, my advice, should you want it, is to look at dresses (a good selection but perhaps not all of them)for a while, then pick one, then absolutely DO NOT look at another wedding dress again! Ever! It's just too confusing!
And it isn't just the dress you will wobble about, there are many, many other decisions over the course of time from booking to saying 'i do' which you will question. One of my first wobbles came shortly after booking when i began to wonder if marriage was a good idea at all! Did i really need to sign a piece of paper...blah, blah, blah! Loads of people don't bother getting married these days-what actually is the point? It lasted about a week until i realised that if anything 'bad' was to happen to me i wanted to be this man's wife first and i might as well do it now than 'last minute' and that sorted that one.
There are other things you will wobble about. Some brides i've heard about decided they hated their colour scheme weeks before the wedding, others change from big weddings to small, then sometimes big again! Just remember we're all going through it, it's 'normal' (again, loose).
I don't think i ever really took on board in the beginning how 'big' all this wedding stuff really is. I was blase about keeping it simple, not wanting a fuss, not getting swept along. But as time goes on, and even though i still want to keep it nice and relaxed and simple on the day, i am learning that it is a pretty big day in your life. Some take it more seriously than others-go all out and probably go through hell while planning it-but i have found out that it is a bigger thing than i perhaps thought it was. The decisions we make now will be ones that we look back on forever. We're creating memories right here and we want them to be good ones!
So remember girls, wedding wobbles are normal, just go with it and be confident in your own choices.
And remember, it'll all be over in a few months! Phew!
It's something that none of us hear much about until we actually go through it because many brides deem it to be too shameful to speak of and therefore it is kept under wraps like some sordid little secret.
But i have vowed to be honest in this blog, and talk about what i'm really going through as a bride, to help others who find themselves in the same situations, and i think it is important to get this thing out in the open now, so that other brides, future brides, those who are reading this and going through the same thing, know that they are normal and they don't have to suffer in silence.
The name of this strange phenomenon? The Wedding Wobbles!
Yes, dear brides, since beginning with the planning of this wedding i have had more wobbles than i care to mention, and i don't mean of the thigh variety (although there is that too).
Now i want to be clear, i am not talking about the 'am i marrying the right bloke?' wobble. I have never once asked myself that, and i think if that's the kind of wobble you're having then i am the wrong person to offer advice.
No, i'm talking about the slightly less 'wobbly' wobbles like the one i have been going through all week, the 'did i choose the right dress?' wobble!
I won't lie. This week alone i have googled 1,236,525 wedding dresses. (Okay, a possible exaggeration, but some of them do come in a variety of colours from pearl to coffee so it's a ball-park figure). As i mentioned earlier in the week i was worried that because my dress isn't a 'wedding' dress i might be missing out on some kind of once-in-a-life-time experience (yet another wedding phenomenon). I thought it was just me, that i had been driven crazy by looking at white for so long, but it turns out i'm not alone.
Infact, after carrying out some major scientific research (amongst friends, past brides and various other women) i have discovered that this actually happens to most people! Some even go out and buy a second dress in the run up to the wedding because they have fallen out of love with the one they originally 'loved' the second they tried it on. Finding out that this was 'normal' (i use the term loosely-we are afterall, talking about brides here), i felt better, but began to wonder why this happens? I think the answer is staring us in the face. There is too bloody much to choose from!
How could we possibly be happy with the dress we have chosen when there are about ten million others out there? All this rubbish about finding 'the' dress can't be real, can it? When the odd's are that at least a couple of hundred of them have to look pretty good on you-if you had the time to try them all on that is!
So i've decided the answer is to simply stop looking! I have a dress i love. Of course if i keep comparing it to others i'm bound to find something better and more beautiful but i can only wear one on the day, and this one is 'me',... i think?!
So girls, my advice, should you want it, is to look at dresses (a good selection but perhaps not all of them)for a while, then pick one, then absolutely DO NOT look at another wedding dress again! Ever! It's just too confusing!
And it isn't just the dress you will wobble about, there are many, many other decisions over the course of time from booking to saying 'i do' which you will question. One of my first wobbles came shortly after booking when i began to wonder if marriage was a good idea at all! Did i really need to sign a piece of paper...blah, blah, blah! Loads of people don't bother getting married these days-what actually is the point? It lasted about a week until i realised that if anything 'bad' was to happen to me i wanted to be this man's wife first and i might as well do it now than 'last minute' and that sorted that one.
There are other things you will wobble about. Some brides i've heard about decided they hated their colour scheme weeks before the wedding, others change from big weddings to small, then sometimes big again! Just remember we're all going through it, it's 'normal' (again, loose).
I don't think i ever really took on board in the beginning how 'big' all this wedding stuff really is. I was blase about keeping it simple, not wanting a fuss, not getting swept along. But as time goes on, and even though i still want to keep it nice and relaxed and simple on the day, i am learning that it is a pretty big day in your life. Some take it more seriously than others-go all out and probably go through hell while planning it-but i have found out that it is a bigger thing than i perhaps thought it was. The decisions we make now will be ones that we look back on forever. We're creating memories right here and we want them to be good ones!
So remember girls, wedding wobbles are normal, just go with it and be confident in your own choices.
And remember, it'll all be over in a few months! Phew!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
3rd March 2009-Bad times! Good times!
The weather has gone miserable again and my Italian sunshine still seems such a long way away! Between saving and dieting and our ever-depressing ecomony there seems little to smile about!
But i tell myself that i have so much to look forward to and even though it's hard to keep saving sometimes i also wonder how i'd feel if there was nothing to aim for? It's a pretty bad year to be getting married unless you're one of the mega-rich, but at the same time isn't it great to have something lovely taking place on what could otherwise be one of the worst years ever?
We worry about those who will attend the wedding-their finances are stretched to the limit in order to share our special day-and those who may no longer be able to because their financial situations have changed.
But we keep focused, glad to have something to aim towards, glad to know there is much to look forward to, and we know that when we look back on this period of our lives we will not think of 2009 as the year things went bad finacially, but as the year we got married instead, and that's pretty special isn't it?
I've heard friends talk about the time after their weddings when it seemed that all the effort they had spent in the planning was suddenly over, and there was no more to look forward to, and i wonder how that time will feel. I hope there will be some other adventure to begin, another plan to put into action, that will take up an equal amount of interest and energy. I suppose i'll just have to wait and see. One adventure at a time is more than enough for now!
I tried on my dress last weekend for the first time since buying it and i love it still, although i can't help but worry that i might feel i missed out on even trying a 'wedding dress', or even cheated my mother out of seeing me in one. Plus, having lost a bit of weight since then it is loose and hangs differently. I now have to decide which is more important-for the dress to fit perfectly, or to be thinner? I think i already know!!!! Afterall, the dress can always be taken in can't it?
But i tell myself that i have so much to look forward to and even though it's hard to keep saving sometimes i also wonder how i'd feel if there was nothing to aim for? It's a pretty bad year to be getting married unless you're one of the mega-rich, but at the same time isn't it great to have something lovely taking place on what could otherwise be one of the worst years ever?
We worry about those who will attend the wedding-their finances are stretched to the limit in order to share our special day-and those who may no longer be able to because their financial situations have changed.
But we keep focused, glad to have something to aim towards, glad to know there is much to look forward to, and we know that when we look back on this period of our lives we will not think of 2009 as the year things went bad finacially, but as the year we got married instead, and that's pretty special isn't it?
I've heard friends talk about the time after their weddings when it seemed that all the effort they had spent in the planning was suddenly over, and there was no more to look forward to, and i wonder how that time will feel. I hope there will be some other adventure to begin, another plan to put into action, that will take up an equal amount of interest and energy. I suppose i'll just have to wait and see. One adventure at a time is more than enough for now!
I tried on my dress last weekend for the first time since buying it and i love it still, although i can't help but worry that i might feel i missed out on even trying a 'wedding dress', or even cheated my mother out of seeing me in one. Plus, having lost a bit of weight since then it is loose and hangs differently. I now have to decide which is more important-for the dress to fit perfectly, or to be thinner? I think i already know!!!! Afterall, the dress can always be taken in can't it?
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