Our Day by Design

Inspired* by Kirsty from a safe mooring , I thought my last post about our wedding should share the marriage advice given to us by our wedding guests. As you may remember the guest book had different questions for them to answer, one of which was 'Any advice for the Newlyweds?' We received lots of wonderful wisdom from our guests; some funny, some helpful, some we already followed and only a few that were really silly! Here is some of the fabulous advice: "Always listen to Gaynor" {sound advice from our very wise flowergirl} "May the best days of your past be the worst days of your future" {a perfect reminder that your wedding day shouldn't be the best day of your life; there is plenty more to come} "Be happy and treat life as an adventure to share together!" "Never let the sun go down on an argument" {and loads of other variations of this theme} "Keep a sense of humour" "Be best friends!" "Always remember t...

As you know we had our gift list with John Lewis . We were very lucky to receive the majority of the items on our list. We were also given a lot of John Lewis vouchers; half of which we used to buy the remainder of our list so we ended up with everything we chose. We had the delivery arranged for the Friday after we returned from honeymoon on the Wednesday as Graham was still going to be off work. When we were stuck on honeymoon my dad phoned to cancel the delivery for us. The first Saturday we could then rearrange for was the 29th May, when loads of boxes appeared at my parent’s house so we could store them in their garage until we could unpack them. Having lived together for three years before the wedding we already had a lot of everything. However most of it was fairly cheap from Ikea so we used our list to upgrade things like pots, pans, glasses, towels, bedding, bathroom accessories, bins and a new fancy Dyson ball vacuum! We also got a Wedgewood china dinner service and Robert ...

While the hotel were changing the room around for the evening, and the band were setting up on the stage, everyone moved into the bar area, and we were able to greet some of our evening guests who had arrived. Some of our day guests had brought the school photo with them and everyone was still trying to guess which ones were us! Some people signed the guest book, Grahams dad bought a massive round of drinks at the bar {which I seemed to miss} and our flowergirl Georgia put on her bridesmaid boppers from the hen night that she had brought with her! There was a famous football team staying in the hotel that night too so some of our guests went to find their favourite players and get photos taken with them! Since Grahams aunt & uncle had missed the family photo earlier, we got that side of the family together quickly and took a few photos, although for some reason Grahams parents or sister werent there. I also wanted to get one of me and my mum and dad too. No idea why we didnt thi...

To make sure we at least spoke to all of our guests we decided to have a receiving line as the guests were making their way into the ballroom for dinner. Although my sister, the best man and our flowergirl were also sitting at the top table, we just did the receiving line with our parents. There seemed to be quite a lot of hilarity! After they had spoken to each of us, the guests were able to look at the table plan then make their way into the ballroom to find their table. I'm really glad we did the receiving line as although it took a while, I loved being able to speak to everyone, especially the guests I didn't know as well, who I may not have spoken to later on. Then it was time for the piper to pipe in the top table... (All images by Craig & Eva Sanders )

Our final photos outside were Graham with all of the guests in kilts and me with all of my girls together. There were loads of guys in kilts as you would expect in Scotland, and even a couple of kids in kilts too! There are some normal, some silly and even some running shots! Then it was time for me and my girls to get some photos and again we had some normal and some silly which I think are some of my favourites! We took the last couple of shots just as the rain was starting, then we headed inside and I was finally able to get a drink! Then it wasn't long until the receiving line began... (All images by Craig & Eva Sanders )

We headed outside to start the photos, the first of which was the big guest group shot as we figured that afterwards everyone else who wasn't family or the bridal party go back inside and enjoy the canapes or go and check in to their rooms if they were staying. I thought we had communicated our request for everyone to be there beforehand but somehow we were missing some guests, mostly Grahams family! Anyway, we got some shots which all turned out great and I love how we can see everyone who was there. We were supposed to do our full family shots next but as some of grahams were missing we got all of my family together first then started on the other family photos we requested. First with our parents, then my parents & sister, Grahams parents & sister then Grahams grandparents. We also got individual ones with my parents then my sister, her fiance & my nephew, then with Grahams parents, then Grahams sister & her boyfriend followed by the grandparents. S o many of...

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...