Our Day by Design

Yesterday we went for lunch at our reception venue with two of my bridesmaids, Helen & Lucy, as well as their fiance's and Lucy's new baby Emily. L-R: Nick, Helen, Emily, Lucy, Sam & Me The food was lovely as usual and was great to all spend the day together. Lucy & Helen had not seen the house so they were also able to take a look at the ballroom. We were also able to take a look at one of the accessible bedrooms so we could make sure it will be suitable for my aunt.

We had a lovely visit to Sheffield last weekend to visit Grahams sister Hazel & her boyfriend Jake. I had been so busy last year with studying that I hadn't visited their new house. We took the afternoon off on Friday so we could arrive in time for dinner and a nice glass of wine. We spent Saturday shopping at Meadowhall shopping centre before heading home to change before going out for a lovely Indian for dinner and a few drinks in the pub. The weather was fantastic on Sunday so we had a wander round some boutique shops before having a late lunch then heading home. L-R: Graham, Jake & Hazel We haven't got any plans to head back down any time this year, and I will be visiting my sister and my new niece or nephew in London the next time they come up to Scotland. So the next time I see them will be in Manchester airport at the end of November for our trip to Florida! Cant wait {less than 3 months to go!} but I have plenty to look forward too before then including a hen ni...

...another 2.5lbs lost! Current Weight [29.08.09] - 10st 0.5lb Total Loss = 34lbs Yippee, just 0.5lb to go to get to my 10st goal! {Only 1lb to get to 2 and a half stone lost!}

The lovely Gee from Seven Weddings sent me the link to a very cool piece of wall art that has a similar design to the stamp we are going to use on our invites. Cow Parsley Wall Art Image from Graham and Green I would love to have one of these in our garden {if we had one and didn't live in a 2nd floor flat!} I also found a couple of slighter cheaper alternatives but I still prefer the Graham and Green one. L-R: Cow Parsley Tealight Holder Screen; Cow Parsley Wall Art (Images from Beth Stevens ) p.s Since the blogger photo upload process is so rubbish and always ruins the post spacing and layout etc, I'm now hosting my photos on Flickr and just dragging & dropping them into each post. Although it may not work all the time depending on the picture size etc, its so much easier and quicker! I got the brilliant tip from Heather at Heather Drive on this post .

...and one is almost the perfect colour! As I noted in my post about the save the date cards, I had a bit of an issue with the original purple card I used for them - the shop we got it from stopped making it and weren't going to be getting anymore in and I couldn't find it anywhere else. I contacted them and they even offered to search for the card if I sent a sample, which I did on the 21st April, but they didn't have any left. By then I had already decided that the card was too thick for me to make them into the pocketfold invites I wanted so it wasn't too much of an issue. So the search begun for the same colour but a thinner card elsewhere and when I couldn't find any in the shops, I decided to try online on recommendation of friend, and found lots of flat pocketfolds. I ordered loads of samples of pocketfold invitations in every shade of purple I could find {see above} on 2 different UK websites { PDA & Pocketfold Invites } back in June. They all arrived ...

...no official weigh-in; We spent the weekend in Sheffield visiting Grahams sister and her boyfriend. I didn't use their home scales yesterday either! Probably wise since I never really follow the points plan when we are away and I'm sure the Indian on Saturday night wont have helped either!

Although I really like the holly blossom stamp we used on the save the date cards, I wasn't sure if it would be big enough for the invites. I have been searching for alternatives for a while with either the same or a similar flower {possibly a dandelion or allium}. I do still plan to use the original stamp in the invites, probably on the information sheet or the RSVP card to tie everything together. I looked at one stamp from Paper Source & another one from Stampin' Up , but didn't think they were quite right as they weren't too much bigger than the one I originally had. L-R: Allium Stamp; Stamp from Pocket Silhouettes set (Images from here & here ) Then I came across the stamp below from the Unity Stamp Company , that I thought would be perfect as its the same type of image as the original stamp. Linden Branch Stamp (Image from here ) I ordered it back on the 30th July, along with the other stamp below which I just liked and would be good for maybe a birthd...

I often stalk our photographers blog as I like to see any other weddings and its good to get an idea of the type of shots they do. I really like the one below that I found today and since I'm also going to have a full length veil {only 1 layer though, not 2}, I hope we can get a shot like this: (Image from here ) Here are another couple of veil images from their blog {& one of more cool letters which we definitely need}: (Image from here ) (Image from here ) (Image from here )

How cool are these letters from POSH Graffiti . I saw them on a wedding report on the You and Your Wedding forum. Love; Just Married; Let Them Eat Cake! (Images from here ) I think they are fab and would really like to use them somewhere. I'm thinking a large G & G for either the cake or guestbook table, a bit like the ones that Heather from We Met in a Bar had: (Image from here ) We could even have our wedding date in the medium sized letters but at least the G & G could then be used in our living room or bedroom afterwards. It would be good to paint the G's purple with the black or white &. I also absolutely love Christmas decorations {I collect a new decoration from everywhere I go at any time of the year, think searching around Krakow at Easter!} so I'm considering getting the mini black letters to spell MERRY CHRISTMAS, which would look fab on our new black shelves in our hall against the lighter wall behind, or they could even be painted red. Christma...

Yesterday morning we went to the wedding open day at our reception venue . They hold them a couple of times a year when they allow people to come and look at the rooms set up for either an actual ceremony or wedding breakfast, depending on what is taking place that day. It wasn't like a wedding fair when there are suppliers and examples of layouts etc but you saw the actual wedding preparations. Obviously you aren't able to wander round the tables when the staff / florists are laying stuff out but you are able to look from the open doors at the end. They did let me take a couple of pictures of the ballroom we are having our reception in {since we had already booked the venue}, just so we could remember how many tables they had set up. The wedding below was set for 112 people which is more than we will have and I was relieved to see it didn't look cramped at all and at the same time, no table seemed to be too far away from the top table in the centre. They had 9 guest tables...

...another 1.5lbs lost! Current Weight [15.08.09] - 10st 3lbs Total Loss = 31.5lbs

I have been considering joining Twitter for a while now. I keep seeing everyone else's twitter updates and I feel like I may be missing out on something! Would you recommend it?

I am finally getting round to posting about my first DIY project, our Save the Date cards! Most of them have now been sent or given to our day guests. I just have a couple more to post this week after getting the last few addresses from mum. {Excuse all the smudgyness in the pictures, I wanted to make sure no names or addresses were shown!} To make the cards I used the following: Card - Dark purple card that we found at the Paper Mill ; Paper - Sparkling White Iridescent paper from the Folio range at Paper State { Hobbycraft }; Overlay - Marble Transmarque translucent paper also from the Folio range at Paper State {Hobbycraft}; Stamp - Holly Blossoms rubber stamp from the Decorative Blossoms set by Hero Arts { Ebay }; Ink - Violet Versacolor ink from Tsukineko {Hobbycraft}; Tools - Making Memories Instant Setter with the Slot Punch attachment {Ebay}; Ribbon - Purple & white ribbon from Kate's Paperie ; Stamp - Custom 'Made by Gaynor' barcode stamp from Mirrama...

My Grandparents {mum's mum & dad} got married. While we were searching through mum's old photos for their wedding pics, pics of my aunt's wedding and pics of when I was a bridesmaid {another post still to come}, we came across my Granny & Grandads wedding pictures. I thought it would be great to share as a follow on from my parents then my aunt & uncle's wedding pictures. Don't they both look wonderful and so happy. Granny had such a massive bouquet too! It contained sweet peas, as did my mums, so I'm considering having some in my bouquet as well. They only had 8 photos in their small album but it has been lovely looking through them all and scanning them onto the computer to keep for the future. Sadly, both my Granny & Grandad, as well as my Nana {dads mum}, are no longer alive so they wont be able to see me getting married. L-R: Granny & her Dad; Bridal Party L-R: Grandads dad, sister Rena, best man & brother Pat, Grandad, Granny, he...

...a busy weekend. I had a lovely day yesterday with Grahams sister Hazel, one of my bridesmaids, then with Grahams family, a baby and friends. We started off at Rachel Scott with my mum, Hazel and Graham & Hazels mum, Rosemary, where Hazel tried on the bridesmaid dress that the other girls tried on before . She loved it and both mums agreed it looked fantastic on her and was a great choice. We were able to take another peek at the same dress in the colour we want which helped them visualise what they will look like. So the decision is made and I made an appointment on the 31st of October for Ashleigh to get measured since she will be up in Edinburgh for her baby's christening. The other girls that live here will probably be measured at the same time too. Hazel got her measurements taken yesterday in case she isn't up again before we need to order. I couldn't resist trying on my dress again so that I could let Hazel & Rosemary have a look and get an idea of how the ...

...another 0lbs lost! I stayed the same which is better than any gain! Current Weight [08.08.09] - 10st 4.5lbs Total Loss = 30lbs

The first wedding I ever attended was my aunt's (mums sister), when I was just one and a half, in June 1983. They just celebrated their silver wedding anniversary last June so have now been married for 26 years. Don't they look so happy, my aunt looks beautiful and my uncle very smart. I think she still has the tiara she wore. My aunt Janice & uncle Willie Me & my mum, one of the 3 bridesmaids Not sure how impressed I was! Until i found something to play with! I wasn't allowed to go to the church, they must have thought I would be too much trouble, but I went to meet them outside and went to the reception afterwards. My mum still has the dress I wore! I'm not sure if I really knew what was going on but I obviously thought wearing my granddad's top hat was a much better idea! Apparently I used to like putting things on my head, quite often the tea cosy! Me with the Tea Cosy in our caravan! (and a Polaroid too which I love)

As an update to my post here , both babies have now arrived! Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited! My friend Angela had a baby boy on Monday morning called Jack. I'm delighted for her and her husband Dave and looking forward to meeting the new arrival in September. Then best friend and bridesmaid Lucy was induced on Tuesday and a baby girl called Emily this evening. I'm so so so happy and excited for both her and her fiance Sam and cant wait to visit! Congratulations to both mummy's and daddy's ! Hopefully we get to visit Lucy, Sam & Emily soon so I will have to get shopping! Now its only 5 weeks until my sister is due which I'm sure will fly by and I cant wait to be an auntie! Then think that's all the babies for a while!

I think we have now finalised the guest list! Our numbers are pretty much as we thought; it works out at 103 in total for the day list so as we were aiming {and had budgeted} for 100, we should be fine as some relatives and friends from overseas will probably not be able to make it. I'm sure there might be a few additions later on but we are happy with it at the moment. We are then going to have another 52 coming to the evening reception. This figure will probably change in the next few months but we have plenty time until we are planning to send the invites out {probably going to send them out in January 2010 so we miss the Christmas post and everyone will get them in the year of the wedding - good idea from bridesmaid Helen!}. I was working on it on Monday night since we have had an old list with millions of scribbles on it for ages! At the same time I was noting down all our savings so far as well as all the deposits and payments that have been made to date!

As my sister is about to have her first baby {5 weeks to go!}, I decided to make some baby announcements for them. My mum took them down to London with her yesterday and I didn't want to post the pictures until after she had seen them herself. I made 12 cards for them and obviously can make more if they need them {I have kept one of each design for my files too so I can remember how I did them in the future}. I got the original idea, while searching for baby announcements, from this post on the blog Helen's Stampin Station . Helen is also a fellow Edinburgh resident and I must remember that in future if I ever want to order any Stampin' Up stuff. I thought they would be perfect and neutral since they don't know what they are having yet and I wanted to make them in plenty time. I kept the same layout, just used a different card, ink, background stamps and ribbon. I also made them a bit smaller. I made 2 variations of the cards, one with a giraffe and one with a teddy be...