Whilst the rest of the family were eating their cake and drinking their tea and chatting to each other, I gave the bridesmaids their presents.

Somehow they had managed to squash themselves onto a sofa to drink their tea so it seemed the perfect opportunity to hand over their gifts and also to stop the questioning of what they needed for the next day. They all seemed to be pleased with the contents of their bags and, indeed, the bags themselves.

In fact, if you look carefully, on the arm of the sofa you can see the last minute additions I made to each bag: a bridal party survival kit, containing tissues, mints, safety pins, plasters, paracetamols and a nail file.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

We set off from London on the Thursday before the wedding with more things than I thought possible packed into M’s Dad’s car, including but not limited to boxes and boxes of crockery, wine, a picnic hamper and a barbecue to take on our honeymoon. M and I spent our last night together as single people crammed into the bottom bunk of a tiny bunk bed set at the cottages his parents had rented for the weekend.

And then it was the day before the wedding. We drove together to the wedding reception venue to meet the marquee men who were supposed to be erecting the marquee. Only there was no-one there. The place looked beautiful in the misty rain, but not exactly what we had been hoping for.

As we waited for the boys from the marquee company my flowers arrived. Sadly I did not have a camera to hand so I never got an image of the 100 white peonies all lying together in a box. We decanted them into a large bin of water, where they smelt gorgeous and I opened the first of many cards and presents we were handed that day: a photograph showing me at the first wedding I attended {my aunt and godmother’s} and a beautiful calligraphy print featuring some of the words from the reading she would be doing during the service the next day.

Eventually the marquee boys arrived and after some hitches involving problems which would have been solved by carrying out a site visit {eventually we realised that the marquee was never going to look like our quoted plan and so accepted an on-the-spot solution which although didn’t ruin the day, wasn’t quite what we had in mind} and some more involving vans and mud and then tractors, the marquees went up. Despite these issues and the fact our schedule was now 2 hours out, we managed to keep calm and did what all British people do in times of strife and rain: made cups of tea.

It was then off to the supermarket to purchase all the soft drinks and beer for the reception; a supermarket sweep style race round the nearest Sainsbury’s which we drove back to the reception venue and loaded into the marquee just in time for afternoon tea with all of our combined families, hosted by my grandparents. If it sounds like a mad rush, it really was. We had to be at the chapel for a rehearsal at 5pm and had hoped to get much of the table set up done before the rehearsal.

Yet at 4pm, the marquee had only just finished going up and the tables and chairs were still in stacks on the floor, dirty. Unwilling to forfeit the family get together/tea party we opted to leave the sorting out and we all piled upstairs into the holiday cottages to drink tea and eat ’granny sponge’ and, for the grannies and grandpas, meet for the very first time.

{All images by Alex, my sister’s boyfriend}

Before I begin telling the story that was our wedding, my favourite (so far) of the official wedding photos, taken as we were leaving the chapel.

{Image by Katie Thompson Photography}

And my favourite quotes (so far) from our guests: “it was the best wedding I have ever been to; it was just like an enormous house party” and “you know what made it so special, Rachel? It’s that its all handmade”.

I can hardly believe it.  A year after getting engaged, our wedding weekend is finally upon us. In about 30 minutes {literally, I am cutting it that fine} we will get in the car to travel to Devon to where we are getting married.

{All images from Author’s personal collection}

This week we have made elderflower cordial, picked and dried rose petals for confetti, made the bird cake toppers, labels for the napkins and packed for the honeymoon. And I have now run out of time. So I am keeping this short and sweet: see you on the other side.

One more week until the wedding! Whilst I am finishing a whole host of things I thought I would share with you some photos from my hen party last weekend.

I went with 16 friends to a house in Wales where we sunbathed beside the swimming pool, played games, had a 1920s style tea party and then went to the beach.

The bridesmaids dressed me in a neon pink veil,
My finger and toe nails were painted to match.
I was given a {handmade} garter
which was then removed from me before I was thrown in the pool…
We lay around in our bikinis all afternoon
and then changed into our 20s style outfits for the tea party.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

At just over two weeks out, things have suddenly got extremely busy. Still, at the weekend we found time to have a quick trial for the bouquets and buttonholes. We had confirmation that the farm grown peonies will be guaranteed for us, so I have ordered 100 white peonies to make 4 bouquets. I decided not to waste money on practising on peonies so I bought some carnations {as that is what we shall use for the buttonholes} and my almost mother-in-law and I made up a couple:

{Top left image by Michael Carr Photography; all other images from Author’s personal collection}

I have written before about the flowers so I won’t say too much more other than it was easier than I thought to make bouquets and the buttonholes. I bought some florists tape from e-bay which is green and papery and sort of sticks to itself. You simply wrap it round, overlapping the edges by half and then finish it off by making sure it is firmly stuck together. We used a bit of fluffy hedge material to go with the carnation for the buttonhole and a pearl headed pin to attach it to the lapel {or shirt, in the photo above}. For the bouquets, I trimmed the leaves off the stalks and bound them together in bunches of three, which I then grouped together to make a larger bouquet. I then wrapped ribbon round the green tape, in exactly the same way, pinning it with the pins at an angle so they remained in the stalks. On the day, I am aiming for something like the top left image for me, and something a little smaller for the bridesmaids.

Also at the weekend we finished and printed 105 orders of service. All we need to do now is pick the readings. I will share the photos of these after the event as I do not want to ruin the effect for the guests. Also to come whilst we are on our honeymoon will be posts about the bridesmaids presents, which for obvious reasons I am unable to share, and possibly a sneak peek of a wedding photo or two…

I am away on my hen party this weekend, so expect plenty of tea party photos next week. I am going with 16 of my girlfriends to a country cottage {in the grounds of a castle} and we are having a 1920/30s themed tea party with cucumber sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea and champagne. The weather forecast is for sunshine and I am very excited.

How are all of you other June brides doing?

{All images from Author’s personal collection*}

So, the table decorations for the reception and some mock-ups for you to see.

I didn’t happen to have a 5′6″ round table to hand so I had to use a slightly smaller one which I usually use for my laptop in the sitting room. It was so small in fact that I used one of the napkins in place of the tablecloth {which will be white} but I think you can get the idea.

The top photos are the centre-pieces, although I think we shall angle the feathers so one is visible from each angle as they shall be in the middle of the tables. They shall be accompanied by a selection of small vases and glasses with candles and tea lights and individual peonies.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I picked up my dress last Friday. Turns out that the dress I thought I didn’t like too much I like a whole lot better now it fits me properly. I thought I would make some kind of belt for the waist but when I tried it on with the silk ribbon I had dyed to match my shoes, I decided to cut myself some slack and just wear it as a ribbon. It still looks good but I don’t have to try and work out how to make a belt. With only a month left to go, I am all about cutting myself some slack and crossing things off my to-do list.

I was a bit worried that the alterations wouldn’t work and the dress still wouldn’t fit. As I am sure I’ve written before, I bought the dress one unseasonably hot day in July last summer in a charity shop in Southampton. Turns out when it’s really hot things seem to fit a bit better than they do when it a more normal temperature. I.e. the dress was too big. At least a dress size too big, more round the lower back. So I took it to an alterations lady (which turned into a bit of a saga involving missed appointments, extra fittings, wasted taxi journeys and a final collection in the rain outside Kings Cross railway station like some kind of drug deal. Literally cash for dress) and now I love it.

So much so that I took really bad photos in the mirror in the kitchen later that afternoon with my phone whilst M was out. Want to see one? It’s the best you’ll get for the next month!

{Read the rest of this entry…}

At 5 weeks to go until the wedding day, our to-do list still looks a little long. Thankfully, this afternoon we were able to cross off a big item from the list: choose and purchase wedding bands.

As I wrote before, my engagement ring was designed by M in conjunction with a rocks man and made by a craftsman in London’s Hatton Garden {the jewellery quarter of London since medieval times}. At the time I could only show you a very poor quality snap taken on the day we got engaged but here is a better photo:

{Image is of my ring via Duttson Rocks website}

So, we wanted our wedding bands to match my beautiful ring. We returned to the same craftsman, in his tiny studio, to discuss what we wanted. Our decision was very easy. We have opted for bands which match the band on the engagement ring but slightly wider at 3mm for mine and 5mm for M’s.

My ring was measured (and cleaned; it hasn’t looked so sparkly since M first gave it to me!) and then M’s finger was measured. A price was quoted and agreed and they will be ready next week. It couldn’t have been easier and I am so pleased that we have at last sorted them out. Really makes the wedding seem much nearer and real having ordered the rings.

What did you choose for your wedding band?  Was it an easy decision?

{All images from Author’s personal collection*}

As I mentioned last week, it has been rather busy in our household this week and wedding planning has very much taken a backseat. I did however find time to make a start on the bunting which we are using to decorate our marquee at the reception and thought you might like to see how it is turning out, as it is nowhere near finished. Clearly, we need much more than this!

I began by sending an e-mail to all the female family members and friends I could think of that might have hoarded scraps of fabric over the years and so far have received a bag of donations from my Mum, her sister, my Grandmothers, M’s Mum and other female friends. I also dug out my childhood material box and have utilised some of what I found in there too. The nice thing about this is that most of the fabric is offcuts of clothes or things people have made. In photo 3 you can see the remains of my Mum’s nightie that she wore when pregnant with me, a pink and white spotty dress I wore when I was little and the blue sprigged fabric which comprised my ‘wedding outfit’ as a child [a skirt and waistcoat which could be worn over a white blouse - it lasted for years as it could be let out - much more wear than a dress which I would have quickly outgrown]. The floral fabric under the number 6 is left over from a dress my Mum made for summer events, which she wore to my graduation. So a lot of history which I hope might spark some reminiscing at the wedding.

The bunting itself  is very easy to make - I made a triangle template (photo 1) and cut out the shapes from the fabric (some of which I had to sew together to create a piece large enough). I then sewed the two triangles together, insides out, and turned them into little triangular bags, which were then turned the right way out (photo 4) and ironed flat (photo 5). I then pinned them to a length of tape - this one is an old piece that Mum found which is why it is so short, the rest will be attached to 20m lengths - and then sewed them onto the tape. My stitching is not very straight but this was the first attempt (and I don’t think anyone will see when it is attached to the marquee). Photo 7 gives some idea of how it looks when it is laid out [please excuse our sofa].

So, white marquee with multi-coloured bunting and miss-matched crockery. Aside from the table decorations (which I will post about soon) these will be our only decorations. I hope it won’t look too sparse, rather English garden party. And the best bit? We can take them home and then we have ready made birthday party decorations for the future…

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*With the usual apologies for the poor quality snaps from my BlackBerry. I really must get a better camera when I have some money.