Our Day by Design

Since all of the invite supplies I ordered arrived before we left for the Cotswolds, I managed to make some progress on the first bits of our invitations. Invite supplies as they arrived I started by folding then sticking all of the pre-cut and pre-scored pocketfolds, with some help from my dad {note how the rest of the family managed to find other things to do like holding the baby or watching TV while we were busy!} Before we started I had counted the pocketfolds and discovered that instead of the 60 I ordered, there were only 43! Everything else had been correct so it must have just been a small oversight from the company. I called and they were really sorry and got the rest made really quickly. We were only around an hour and a half from the shop so we just went to pick them up as I really wanted to get them done that week. Once they were complete, I also folded the gatefolds for the evening invites. In total we did 62 of the pocketfolds and 35 of the gatefolds, which should be m...

Following our lovely week in the Cotswolds we returned home on Saturday evening. I spent the rest of the evening with bridesmaids Lucy and Karen-Louise then we went to the wedding fair at our reception venue yesterday. We went with very specific objectives in mind which were to book the florist, the chair covers and look at cakes. We had a very productive hour and managed to accomplish each item which was great and it takes care of the major remaining items on our list. The florist we booked is Val Hamilton , whose arrangements we had previously seen at the last wedding fair and open day we attended at Norton House and really liked, especially the tall table centres. The arrangements she was showing yesterday were also really nice and she had plenty of examples of bouquets to look at as well. As she doesn't have a shop, and only concentrates on wedding flowers, she is able to keep her prices reasonable and it means that any appointments can also be made at weekends or in the evenin...

Another quick post before I disappear for week. How cool is this Acrylic Diamond Ring from byAMT . (Image from here ) I first saw it on Conversation Pieces and thought it was a great alternative. It would also be good if you were going somewhere you couldn't or didn't want to take your actual engagement ring. I am a big fan of acrylic / clear things and when we moved into our flat a couple of years ago I managed to persuade Graham to get the acrylic nest of tables from Habitat which I loved and still do.

All of the card & envelopes I ordered for our invitations on Monday night arrived at my work yesterday and I'm really pleased with it all. It came in a massive box which I should have taken a picture of but totally forgot. I will remember to take pictures of all the supplies before I start making them up. All we are waiting for is the ribbon which had to be ordered from the manufacturer. The pocketfolds are pre-cut and pre-scored, so I just need to fold and stick the pockets and the gatefolds for the evening invites just need to be folded. Then I will cut out the different sizes of white paper I need for the invite & inserts before I can start the printing and assembling. I am taking my paper trimmer, cutting mat & glue tape away with me as I think I should have time in the evenings to make some progress! While the backing for the main invite is pre-cut already, I also need to trim the backing for the RSVP cards as they didn't quite have the square size I wanted. T...

I mentioned before that I loved Lego growing up so when I saw this real wedding on With This Ring , I had to share. The groom was involved with all of the wedding planning and managed to include Lego since its one of his favourite things. More images can be seen on the photographers blog here . (All images from Caroline Tran via With This Ring ) The Lego cufflinks are just like the ones I got for Graham and my Dad for a novelty gift. I never thought about adding Lego figures to them but how funny would that be, even if completely impractical. Don't really think they would go with the jackets that all the men are wearing with their kilts but they could be a funny gift for the best man and ushers to wear some other time!

Start Weight [17.01.09] - 12st 6.5lbs Weeks 1 to 12 - Total Loss = 15.5lbs: W1 [24.01.09] -3.5lbs W2 [31.01.09] -4lbs W3 [07.02.09] No Weigh In (A winter wedding) W4 [14.02.09] -2lbs {5% goal} W5 [21.02.09] No WI (SECC Wedding Show) W6 [28.02.09] -3lbs W7 [07.03.09] -1.5lbs W8 [14.03.09] -0.5lbs W9 [21.03.09] -1lb W10 [28.03.09] No WI (Visiting sister in London) W11 [04.04.09] No WI (Stay at reception venue, 1 year to go!) W12 [11.04.09] No WI (Easter weekend in Wales) Weeks 13 to 24 - Total Loss = 9.5lbs: W13 [18.04.09] -1lb W14 [25.04.09] No WI (Wedding dress shopping) W15 [02.05.09] No WI (Wedding dress shopping) W16 [09.05.09] -5lbs {10% goal} W17 [16.05.09] -0.5lbs W18 [23.05.09] +1.5lbs (aaaagh first gain!) W19 [30.05.09] -2lbs W20 [06.06.09] -0.5lb W21 [13.06.09] No WI (Ordered my dress) W22 [20.06.09] -1.5lbs W23 [27.06.09] No WI (Visiting sister in London to celebrate engagement) W24 [04.07.09] -0.5lb Weeks 25 to 36 - Total Loss = 8.5lbs: W25 [11.07.09] -1.5lbs W26 [18....

After church today we had coffee with my aunt and some of my parents friends before going to my flowergirl, Georgia's, house, to let her try on the dress I bought her. It fits really well, the length is perfect and there is still a little bit of room in case she grows any more before April. Both Georgia and her mum really liked the dress as well. Although I mentioned replacing the sash with purple ribbon, we are also going to try dying the sash {minus the flowers} purple, to see how it turns out. If its not suitable we will just stick to the ribbon plan. Its good to have another item off the list! I also finally made a mock-up of the main part of our invitations on Friday night. They turned out as planned and I really like them so now I'm going to order all of the supplies we need. There are few bits of wording that need changed but other than than I'm really happy with them. On our way back home this afternoon I popped in to Hobbycraft to check the colour and buy 1m of th...

...another 1lb lost to make it to goal! Current Weight [10.10.09] - 10st Total Loss = 34.5lbs Yippee, I'm so happy I finally managed to get to my goal weight of 10st! Perfect timing since I got measured for my dress on Thursday. I am now officially a Weight Watchers Gold Member and I got my gold key and certificate from my leader, who was also super excited that I had reached my target. She said she had almost wrote out the certificate last night as she was sure I would do it but thought it might jinx it! Being a gold member means I don't have to pay to attend meetings anymore {which I will continue to do with mum}, as long as I don't put any more than 5lbs back on! There is a maintenance plan in my gold member pack which explains how you can maintain your weight but I think I'm going to continue to follow my normal plan for a while longer, mainly to make sure I stay the same, but it also will give me more flexibility, especially with all the holidays coming up until Ch...

We had a wonderful time at the wedding of my friends Stacey & Andrew last Friday. I work with both of them so I knew both the bride and groom and I had met lots of Stacey's family and friends at her hen night back in September. The bride had made all of the bridesmaids dresses and the stationery herself which definitely kept her busy right up until the night before the big day but was a lovely personal touch. Her Granddad had also made the cake. All of the men were in kilts, which is common for a Scottish wedding and most of the male guests were also in kilts, including Graham, which I always think looks so smart. I was glad to see they had a mixture of tartans within the bridal party as that it is also what Graham is planning to do. I liked that the bridesmaids, while they wore the same dresses and carried the same flowers, had different hair styles, depending on what they preferred and suited them. I'm definitely going to let my bridesmaids decide what they would like t...

I bought a dress for my flowergirl, Georgia tonight! After my appointment at the dress shop, me & mum went along to John Lewis to have a quick look at the bridesmaids dresses they had. I had seen a dress I really liked there a while ago and kept meaning to get round to going back to have a look, before they disappeared. We couldn't see any at first but then noticed the reduced to clear rack at the back with only a few left on it! Luckily they had some of the one I liked and it was reduced to half price, only £30! I wasn't entirely sure what size to go for as she is only 10, but quite tall. Turns out they only had 10-11 or 12-13 left anyway. I thought the 10-11 would be too small for her height at the moment so decided just to get the bigger size. Hopefully it does fit her, but if it doesn't, we could either get it altered or return it. It seemed stupid not to get it at such a good price, in case they sold out soon, and at least with John Lewis, even sale items are retu...

I went to get measured for my wedding dress today. Although I had already decided on the dress and paid for half, I opted to wait until I had lost the weight I wanted, before I got measured! Since I'm only 1lb away from my original goal, I pretty much managed it which was fab! It didn't take long, then we had a look at the designers size chart to see which size I should get. I was right in the middle of 2 main sizes but luckily the designer, Sassi Holfold, is a British designer who makes all her dresses at her studio in England, so I am able to get the odd size in between! I did consider going for the smaller size as it was only really an inch and a bit tight in the waist and hips, but didn't want to feel pressured to lose much more weight since I'm happy at the moment. The shop owner did point out that with the style of the dress {dont want to give too much away}, I will definitely want it to fit perfectly, without looking like its too tight! Obviously it will need to...

I ordered even more samples from PDA last week! Although I did say I had ordered enough samples & was ready to start the invites, or at least the mock-ups, I had been toying with the idea of a backing patterned paper or card for a while. I couldn't find any patterned paper which looked right with the other colours so I decided I needed a plain backing card in a different colour, preferably grey. I was able to use the swatch pack I ordered last time to decide which colours to try and I ordered two different greys in different sizes to see what would look best with the pocketfolds & gatefolds. PDA Colorplan Card - Col29 Dark Grey {the one I prefer on the left} & Col50 Smoke in front of Col25 Amethyst I think I prefer the darker grey in the larger size so I'm definitely going to start the mock-ups soon so I can get everything ordered. Dark grey backing card inside the amethyst gatefold I also got another gatefold card sample, this time a square, as another option for ...

I made this card for my friends whose wedding we were at on Friday. I wasn't really sure where I was going with it when I started it but quite like how it turned out and loved the splash of colour from the pink!

More birthday cards, I did say I had loads of birthdays in September but I promise these are the last for a while! The first one was for my friend from school, Jenna. I missed her birthday party as it was last weekend when I was down in London but Graham went so I managed to get her card to her. My new nephew has the same birthday so next year I will have even more cards to make! The other card was for Grahams Grandpa who was 80. I also missed his birthday dinner last weekend but everyone had a lovely time. I managed to try some more backgrounds on these cards and more faux stitching, as well as my new buttons! Hope they both liked them.

Yikes only 6 months to go! I bet its going to fly by! In the last month I booked the make-up company, ordered samples of backing cards for the invites, spoke briefly to the hairdressers about when we can book & when I will have my hair trial and ordered our G & G wooden letters! I also got my engagement ring re-sized and I picked it up this afternoon. Apart from that its been a really exciting time with the late arrival of my gorgeous nephew Enzo. Not to mention reaching a couple of milestones, our 1 year engaged anniversary and 100 posts! So next month is definitely the invite mock-ups, getting me then the bridesmaids measured for our dresses, spending a week in the Cotswolds with my family {only 2 weeks to go}, a wedding fair at our venue where we hope to sort the cake, flowers and chair covers, then little Enzo's christening. Sounds like we are going to be super busy! I would also like to get our wedding rings ordered and start thinking about the hymns and readings for ...

...no official weigh-in; We were at my friends wedding up in Perth yesterday and we stayed overnight!

I mentioned before about wanting to get some wooden letters with our first initials, G & G, to put on either the cake or guestbook table. Although I loved the POSH Graffiti ones I found, on further inspection it turns out they are not designed to be free standing, although some do, and they are mainly designed to be hung or to be leaned against something. I had also already decided that the largest letters at 23cm tall {& 21cm wide for the G's} would be far too big for the table and that the smaller 12cm ones would be more suitable, if only they could stand! Rather than taking the chance that they wouldn't stand up, I started looking for alternatives. I managed to find some wooden letters that Making Memories made for Target on good old EBay. I ordered 2 G's and an & sign today so hopefully they will be suitable. Each letter is 5" {12.7cm} tall and flat on the bottom, which should make them stand up. They are just plain white which means they can be easil...