{The Wedding Diaries} 135 days to go until W-Day!

As the title states, there are only 135 wedding planning days to go until our very own big day! What with Christmas just round the corner, our wedding plans have taken a bit of a back seat so I thought I would use this post to update you all on our plans so far.

We have booked:

• A gorgeous barn to house our wedding in Canterbury, Kent

• Our super talented photographers – have you seen our pre-wedding shoot?
• Our daytime caterers. Tea and cake anyone?
• The evenings entertainment
• Fabulous floral talent

Other exciting things we have done:

• Bought my wedding dress
• Bought Dean’s suit
• Designed our wedding invitations and sent these to the printers this week
• Booked our honeymoon – We are off to Cuba!! 4 nights in Havana and then 11 nights by the sea… bliss!!
• Booked a lovely house near York for my hen weekend with my best girls… how gorgeous is this bedroom?!?!

• Bought my wedding ring. I most certainly didn’t want to take it off and can’t wait for the day I won’t have to.
• Met with the bar and decided on our wedding day drinks

The To-Do List

After Christmas, Dean and I will be setting aside 1 wedding planning night a week and this is sure to increase as we get ever closer. Here’s a sneak peek of our to do list at the moment! All the tasks are divided into category, i.e. Flowers, Food and Drink, Ceremony etc… and then each one is given a start date and a due date. This spreadsheet is so important in the wedding planning process. We have tabs for the budget, suppliers and payments, guest list, shopping list etc…

Are there any bride-to-be’s reading the blog? Do say hi and let me know how you’re getting on with the planning.

Love,
Louise xo

{The Wedding Diaries} Our Pre-Wedding Shoot

A couple of weekends ago Dean and I met Julia and Ian from Modern Photographic, our super talented wedding photographers, at South Bank in London for our pre-wedding shoot.

We started off at South Bank before heading over the Millenium Bridge to the Thomas Heatherwick Sculpture and then ending up at Love Lane for some of my favourite shots of the day.

At the end of the post is our proposal story as I realised that I have never actually written about it for the blog and seeing as it’s how it all started… it sure makes sense to

The Proposal

I’d mentioned to Dean more than a few times about getting married and after a while I gave up thinking that it wouldn’t happen… after all when we first met I must have told him countless times that I didn’t ever want to get married. A different story to now as a soon to be married Wedding Planner. So when he booked a city break to Turin for my birthday, I thought it was just that… for my birthday.

Two days before my birthday, Dean had planned for us to take a lift up a nearby mountain but when we got there it was closed. Dean was adamant that we would find another way to get up there but even the buses weren’t running. I told him it was fine and we would go the next day. Little did I know what he had planned. In the end he gave in and we visited a place called Lingotto, an old Fiat factory converted into a shopping centre and also one of the sites for the 2006 Winter Olympics. When walking back over the bridge, Dean got down on one knee and asked me to marry him… I was the happiest girl alive. And the reason it had to be on that day? Because he proposed with a ring that had the date 04.08.09 engraved on it – the day we got engaged.

Head on over to Julia and Ian’s blog to see some more photos from the day.

Louise xo

The Wedding Diaries – 24 weeks to go

Where is the time going? We have now gone past the 6 months to go mark and are heading very swiftly towards the 5 months mark. With this in mind, I thought it was time to start documenting these final months of wedding planning in a weekly / fortnightly countdown post.

As the title states, we have 24 weeks to go which is all very exciting. A couple of weeks ago, Dean and I went to have a look at wedding rings just to get an idea of what we like and more so for Dean to try some on as he doesn’t really wear jewellery and has never worn a ring before. We were slightly worried as he has huge knuckles and skinny fingers and we didn’t want to have to buy a larger wedding band only for it to have lots of movement. Luckily Dean found a lovely Palladium ring which fits perfectly AND goes over his knuckle… bless him. We haven’t bought it yet as we want to shop around BUT we did find ‘the one’ for me.

I don’t know about you but I certainly had ‘the one’ moment with my ring. It was twice the budget and different to what I had in mind but once it was on my finger, I didn’t want to take it off. After umming and ahhing about the cost, my gorgeous boy said it’s the only piece of jewellery you wear for a lifetime so it doesn’t matter if it costs a little more. I do love him so. We promptly put a deposit down there and then and the shop is looking after it until the week before the wedding. I have been back to the shop window to stare at it though

We have our pre-wedding shoot with our wonderful photographers, Modern Photographic, in London this weekend, so look out for the photos on the blog in the coming weeks.

And because I don’t like publishing a blog post without a picture, here is a photo of Dean and I when we won an engagement shoot with the lovely Liz from Eliza Claire Photography.

Much love,

Louise xo

The Wedding Diaries :: Cake Toppers

As we approach the 6 month mark, I have been thinking more and more about the little details such as Cake Toppers. I have come across so many cute Cake Toppers on my search that I just had to share them with you.

MilkTea on Etsy

Lollipop Workshop on Etsy

Cake Mates

Fancy making your own? This kit from Goosegrease on Etsy is perfect to get you started.

Goosegrease on Etsy

The Wedding Diaries :: The F Word

Dean and I have been engaged for over two years now and I still can’t bring myself to call him my fiancé. I don’t know why but I just can’t say the word out loud.

I’d thought about it a couple of times before getting engaged and always thought I’d like calling him my fiancé but now the ring is on my finger… nope… nothing… na da…. I just can’t say it. I still call Dean my boyfriend even though we live together, have a joint bank account, are preparing to buy our first house together and are getting married next April.

Some people don’t get it… when I introduce Dean as my boyfriend and they notice the ring on my finger… they say ‘Well he is not your boyfriend is he? He is your fiancé’. Erm, yep, that’s the one.

I have tried, really I have but I think I’ll just stick to calling him my boyfriend for now. After all, in 8 months time he will be my Husband. Now there’s one word I can’t wait to start using.

Dean and I at Glastonbury a few years ago

The Wedding Diaries :: Finding the One

Wedding Dress shopping for me happened two years before the wedding, yep TWO whole years before the big day. Now some may call this incredibly stupid, my fiancé included as those who know me well will know that I am a very indecisive person.

However, it was during one of my regular blog browsing sessions that I came across a dress that took my breath away so much so that I stupidly showed my husband to be. I then set about trying to find a stockist in Kent for this particular dress. After emailing the designer and phoning several wedding dress shops, I finally found a place that stocked the dress and made an appointment.

Two weeks later my mummy (she hates that I still call her that) and I set off to this particular shop for a mammoth trying on session. I tried several types of dresses on – lace, tulle, one shoulder, strapless, slinky, princess, short and long. It just so happened that this was the only appointment I made as I found ‘the one’. I have since experienced several dress wobbles which for me is part and parcel of buying a dress two years before the day and seeing so many gorgeous dresses on wedding blogs and in magazines but I am happy to say that I am very happy with my choice of dress and I can’t wait to wear it next April.

Now obviously you won’t get to see the chosen dress until after the wedding day but below are some of the dresses I tried on.

Victoria Jayne for Ronald Joyce – Savannah

Justin Alexander – 8465

Constantina – Diana

I can’t wait to share my chosen dress with you all.

Louise x

The Wedding Diaries :: Honeymoon Wardrobe

With less than 9 months to go until the wedding, our thoughts have turned to our honeymoon. We weren’t planning on going on a big honeymoon originally as we are also saving to buy our first home together but we soon realised that we wanted one last ‘all out’ holiday before settling down.

We are planning on doing a twin-centre honeymoon spending the first part of our honeymoon in a city and the remaining at an all inclusive resort by the beach. This does mean careful packing for both places. Now I will write about our honeymoon in a separate post as we haven’t actually booked it yet but that hasn’t stopped me making a few purchases in the sales.

First up comfy shoes… Havaiana Slim Flip Flops in Black and Havaiana Fit Sandles in Sand both from Rubber Sole.

The all important bag for my hand luggage… and a fan to keep me cool (more of a luxury than a necessity)… both from Accessorize.

And finally from my favourite online retailer ASOS, a 50′s Leopard Print Bikini , a 70′s Straw Floppy Hat and a Chiffon Beach Jumpsuit.

Do you like? What have you bought in the latest sales? Leave a comment below.

Louise x

P.S. The boy and I have been engaged for TWO WHOLE YEARS today! It has gone so quick.

The Wedding Diaries :: 10 months to go

I thought it was about time I did a post on our very own upcoming nuptials. It is now just under 10 months until our wedding day and I don’t know where the time has gone. I had planned to do a post every month from 12 months as well as more detailed posts in between but time has just slipped away from me. I have been so busy with client’s weddings, parties and photo shoots that our wedding has taken a back seat.

For those that don’t know, Mr Deano proposed to me back in August 2009 so we have been engaged for a long time and now 10 months is nothing in the grand scheme of things… cue me starting to panic… already!!! Now, I am fine when it comes to planning and styling weddings and events for my clients but when it comes to our own… I’m a mess!

Getting engaged over two and a half years before our wedding day has resulted in lots of colour and theme changes for our wedding. We have gone from wanting a Winter wedding (this didn’t last long) to a Spring wedding. From a purple and blue colour scheme to a mismatched colour scheme with the main colours yellow, pink and purple tying it together.

Me and Mr Deano – Photo Credit: Eliza Claire Photography

Our wedding planning journey has been relatively stress-free so far. Back in January 2010 (2 years and three months before the BIG DAY), we visited 2 wedding venues and booked the first we saw. In April 2010 I tried on 5 wedding dresses and bought the first one I tried on… see a theme here? Even after contacting numerous photographers (there are many talented wedding photographers out there), we met with one and yep… we booked them too. Apart from one venue wobble and quite a few dress wobbles, I have no regrets. I have since been back to the venue, tried my dress on again and I am very happy with the choices we have made. I know there are some people out there who would recommend we visited more venues, tried on more dresses and met with more photographers but it just felt right and I believe that if it feels right then just go with it.

Our Save the Dates arrived from the printers last week and we are sending these out to our lovely guests over the next week or so. When I am sure that they have all been received safe and sound, I will be sure to share them with you all.

Ooops, sorry for the long wordy post… I promise more frequent posting will result in more lovely pictures and less wording.

Until next time lovelies….

Louise xx

The Wedding Diaries :: An Engagement Shoot in Dungeness

Happy Tuesday and thank you for visiting this UK Wedding Blog. I am very excited to share this engagement shoot today because… It is with myself and Mr D.

Back in May, Rock n Roll Bride and Eliza Claire Photography were due to do a photoshoot in Dungeness but unfortunately had to postpone it. As you have to get permission to shoot in Dungeness, Eliza offered one lucky couple a complimentary photoshoot based on a first come, first served basis – all we had to do was be there on a certain date at a certain time.

I have been a fan of Eliza Claire’s blog for a while and was delighted to hear we were going to be doing the shoot.

We met Eliza down at Dungeness on a wet morning in May and although were both initially nervous in front of the camera, we had so much fun. I would highly recommend Eliza Claire Photography if you are looking for a wedding photographer, Eliza really made us feel at ease on the day.

Photography courtesy of Eliza Claire Photography.

Thank you so much to Eliza Claire Photography for a wonderful morning, wonderful photos and for letting me share these images on the Bow Occasions blog.

Much love,

Louise xx

The Wedding Diaries :: It’s a date!

Mr D and I got engaged last August, the 4th to be precise. He got down on one knee on the Olympic Bridge in Turin, Italy (it sounds more romantic than it was) and asked me to be his wife. That was nearly 9 months ago and wow, it has flown by!

It is now 1 year, 9 months and 25 days until the wedding. We are getting married on Friday 27th April 2012. Why that date in particular? The main reason we set the date for nearly 3 years down the line was so we can save for a wedding and a house. And April 27th? Well to be honest, no real reason, apart from the fact it was the last weekend in the off-peak season for our venue and we felt that there may be a chance (albeit a very small one) of a nice sunny day for a fraction of the cost. And if it rains? Well we have a lovely venue where no one will mind staying inside.