We've Postponed Our September Wedding.

Yes, you read that correct. We've postponed our wedding and here is the reason why...

Well, you can probably guess why we've postponed it. The awful C word? Exactly that.

I don't want to speak too negatively about what's going on in this crazy world right now, but this is life and unfortunately we've had to make a big decision and I feel like I should share what has been going on. It also helps me feel better getting things off my mind.

The past month has been one massive whirlwind, that's for sure. Liam and I have been through so many different emotions, we've received lots of different opinions and advice from friends and family too. There has also been lots of stress and many tears with it.

If you would've told me at the start of 2020 that in a few months time I'd be making a decision to cancel my wedding, I would've laughed, maybe even cried. Even though it feels like September is ages away, it is only 4 months away and things could go one way or another from now. I truly believe everything will have blown over by September but I also believe there will still be some restrictions in place. We had sat down multiple times and seriously thought about what was best for us to do. We were originally going to risk leaving our big day as it was and carry on as normal. But then we went into lockdown and our appointment to give notice of our marriage was cancelled and that's when it all felt a lot more real.

I hadn't even been for my first dress fitting or alteration, along with needing to get the bridesmaid dresses altered. Liam was still suit hunting and hadn't found any he liked for him and the groomsmen. Liam's stag do for the end of April was cancelled and mine at the end of May is still highly likely to also be cancelled. We agreed that everything was going to be one big rush by the time lockdown was going to be lifted.
We wanted to get married and celebrate our marriage as normal as possible. The main reason we made our decision is that Liam and I are very close to our families, so having them all around us and celebrating with us on our special day is so important to us both as well as their health. So we decided, if there's a possibility of large gatherings and/or vulnerable people not being allowed at weddings, we're not going ahead with ours.

When we first looked into moving our wedding with our venue, they were more than happy to help us, but they had limited dates for next year. After collecting around five possible new dates from our venue, we had to contact the suppliers that we already had booked for September to see what they could do. Most of them were very limited on dates and a few of them were already booked up for 2021, so this really made our final decision.
We were going to lose our photographer, cake maker and my hairstylist along with the deposits we had paid. We thought, if we leave it any longer, we're going to lose more suppliers and more money as well as finding it harder to get a new date and re-book new suppliers.

Even though we were extremely upset about the big decision we had made, all the excitement had suddenly come back knowing that we will definitely get our day, even if it is nine months later. So we looked at the positives; we can re-organise and plan our hen and stags again, everyone will be able to attend our wedding, we can definitely go away for our honeymoon and we can save up even more money to buy a house this year. Well, hopefully.

Of course we didn't have to postpone our wedding, but we truly made the decision that we thought was best for us. I haven't written this to scare any other brides/grooms of 2020 away. I wrote this to purely get everything off my mind and of course, to let all of you know because you've been following my wedding planning journey. Also, I think it will be interesting to look back on in years to come. Everyone has their own opinions and every couple is different and I think that needs to be respected.

The lead up to your wedding is meant to be a really exciting time and we just weren't feeling excited about it anymore. Since postponing, it's like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. I'm so glad to say that we are both really excited again and enjoying even more planning.
We're so lucky to have the most supportive friends and family too.
Here's to the 3rd of June 2021.

12 Things I've Learnt in 12 Months of Wedding Planning

I can't believe we've been engaged for a year already, it's just insane how quick that year has gone! On that note, there is only EIGHT months left until the big day and that actually scares me.

Here is what I've learnt in 12 months of planning our wedding...

Wedding Fayres aren't for me

We attended our first wedding fayre last year when we were newly engaged and WOW. It set my anxiety sky high. All we wanted to do was walk around and get ideas but people were constantly bugging us. Forcing cake in our faces and trying to sell the idea of having a tipi at our wedding. It was too much and ended up not staying long. Also, wedding fayres seem to always have the 'top' suppliers - photographers, cake makers, stationers etc, which are super expensive and booked up. So because we were on a budget, I'm glad I didn't fall in love with anything.

Facebook is your best friend

I have been loving Facebook for wedding bits. Firstly, people sell so much stuff on there, if you're looking for something in particular, you're bound to find it. And secondly, there are so many wedding and bride groups you can join. If you have any questions or need opinions, you can post them into the group and so many other brides-to-be or previous brides can comment and give you their opinions. I actually really enjoy spending time in these groups. Everyone's so lovely too!

People have opinions

I have received a lot of opinions, some quite rude, since I told people we had booked our wedding. People have their own opinions, so take their opinion into consideration but remember it's your day and if you don't like their ideas, you don't have to go ahead with them.

Shop around

This is very important because weddings aren't cheap. If you like something, shop around to find something similar that's a little cheaper. The worst thing to do is rush into buying stuff and then regret it at a later date.

Ask for help

You can't do everything by yourself, even if you want to. It just makes you stressed and sometimes, ideas from other people can be better than your own. People like to be involved in wedding planning as well. We asked my mother in-law to do the table decorations and centrepieces and she's so grateful that we asked. 

Use Planning Apps & Websites

Bridebook has been my number one planning app. From when you first download it up until your wedding date, it gives you a timeline of deadlines. It also has lists of venues and suppliers in your area too which are super helpful!

Know when to stop scrolling through Pinterest

I made this rule when I found my wedding dress. I have a board dedicated to wedding dresses and before my first shop, I was neverendingly looking at different dresses. After buying my dress, my Pinterest feed was still full of dresses, and of course, it makes you self doubt. There's a button you can press to hide certain things from your feed which is what I done. You can forever scroll through Pinterest and see all gorgeous and different centrepieces, but then you'll be forever changing your mind. So, once you have ideas set in stone, try to control what you see on socials.

Everything is SO bloody expensive!

I knew weddings were expensive but I didn't actually realise HOW expensive they are. We have done it on a budget but it's still a good ££££. So keep your finances in mind when thinking about wedding planning.

The table plan is hard work.

Some of Liams family don't get on, so it's been hard to choose who sits where. We also don't know who we'd like with us on our top table. I feel like this has been the biggest challenge so far.

Write everything down

We have neverending amounts of lists. From songs for the DJ, to how I'd like my invitations designed. Literally every idea that pops into my head for the wedding, I jot down or make a note of it in my phone.

You become very organised

We have a pretty little storage box that we keep all of our wedding documents and invoices in. I'm an organised person anyway but I'm even more organised than I've ever been. It also makes everything 100x easier when everything's together in the right place.

Remember that it's YOUR day

Of course, the most important thing to remember. I'm trying not to stress and overthink about silly little things. Like 'what if our guests aren't happy with this or that...', it's our day and we'll do it how we want to.

Can anyone else relate to any of these or have any more tips?

One Year Til We Get Married! & Updates...

We get married one year today and we are so ridiculously excited! I feel like the year is now going to fly by!

Also, I can't believe I haven't updated you guys about my wedding plans since APRIL. The past five months have suddenly flown and we have done so much!

In May, we booked our Hen and Stag dos! Liam will be jetting off to Benidorm and I'm hitting Magaluf! The girls have already started buying little bits and pieces for the hen do and it seems so much more real now. Liam's stag is at the end of April/early May and my hen is the end of May. I'll also be having a hen night here in the UK too, for the girls that couldn't make it.

I've found THE DRESS. I went dress shopping for the first time on the 7th July and it was the best experience ever. Twenty dresses later and constantly going back to the first dress I tried on, I said yes to that very first dress. There was no point in looking anywhere else because everything about it was perfect. It had the right amount of lace and sparkle etc. I can't go into too much detail because Liam reads my blog. Sorry, no hints here. Also, I have my veil and hair accessory too which is super exciting!

We haven't yet booked our honeymoon but we have been never-endingly looking at possible destinations. Because we wanted to have our honeymoon sooner rather than later after our wedding, which is in September, we are limited on destinations.
We bought our wedding rings last month! After months of searching trying to find the perfect rings, we got both of ours from Fraser Hart.

We have been searching high and low for the perfect bridesmaid dresses on a budget. It doesn't help that my sister who is Maid of Honour is fussy. So if you have any recommendations for sites, hit me up! We have also very recently booked our florist, cake maker and hairstylist.
Liam knows what suit he would like for him and the groomsmen but he doesn't know whether to hire them or buy them. I think he is going to look around and try them on at some point between now and October.

Phew. That was a long winded post wasn't it. I hope I haven't bored you to death. So, we have done quite a lot and to be honest, we really haven't got too much left to do now. Luckily we have had help from both of our families to ease stress which has been super helpful.

Four Wedding Blogs To Bookmark.

I have been reading so many wedding related blog posts getting tips and learning things I didn't even know! So, I thought that I'd share with you my four all time favourite blogs for wedding related content.

 I have been reading Corrie's blog for years and when she started writing her wedding planning blog posts, I was so excited for her! I'm even more so excited now I'm actually planning my own wedding. From the engagement to the honeymoon, I have read every single post. Her wedding photos are stunning too and I will definitely be passing them onto my photographer!

Leanne's blog is a very recent one I'm addicted to, AND it's pink & white! Leanne is currently still planning her wedding and it's great that I can plan along with her and see how far we both are and if I've missed anything. Her blog itself is just gorgeous and I can relate to many of her posts.

Again, Katie's blog is another recent that's now my fave to read. Katie is actually getting married in October this year, so exciting! Which means, she has literally written about everything you can think of to do with planning a wedding. Every wedding related post Katie writes, she includes a checklist of what she's done. Again, like Leanne's, I like to compare what we've both done and see if I've missed anything.

Like Corries blog, I have also been reading Jodie Melissa's blog for a long time too. With wedding DIY, updates, hauls and bridal makeup blog posts, each one has inspired me and given me ideas. She also has a YouTube channel which includes wedding videos too.

Can you recommend any more wedding blogs that I'd like? I'm all for getting in the wedding mood at the minute!

Enjoy Your Wedding Hauls Without Filling Your Home to Bursting!*

Source: unsplash.com

Organising your wedding can easily take over your life, with a million and one things to think about and plan. And controlling all the stuff you buy and collect for the big day can seriously drive you, and everyone around you, crazy. 

Some sort of organisation and storage system is vital. You need to know where everything is, what you already have and what you still need to get. And you need to know who is doing what and where everyone is in the planning and decision-making process. It’s a big job.

To make it a little easier, and help you get some perspective, here are a few planning and organising tips.

Delegate Tasks

Brides want the special day to be perfect, or as perfect as possible anyway. It’s a common trap to try and do it all yourself, from making gift lists to choosing the font for the invitations, to deciding on floral decorations… the decisions are endless.

If you can rope in a few friends or family members to act as planning partners or venue scouts, it can make everything a little bit easier. One very important part of delegating is having regular update meetings so everyone is aware of progress. Delegating doesn’t mean losing control. You can still have the final say, but it does mean a lot of legwork or initial searching for ideas gets done for you.

Make it easier for those helping with the planning by telling people exactly what you’re looking for. 

● Do you want ornate invitations or something clean and classical? 

● What’s your colour scheme? 

● City or country venue? 

● Formal or informal reception? 

● Type of transport for the bride or for guests between venues. 

Obviously, this is just a start. Trying to do it all yourself can be overwhelming.

Make Lists

Your first list could be a massive wish list for your ideal day. Let your dreams run riot and write everything down that you’d have in a perfect world. Starting from there, you can focus in on the closer details of what’s actually possible given your budget and any other restrictions.

The big wedding list gives you lots of headings and starting places for more specific lists. You soon realise it’s not enough to just decide you want wine with your wedding breakfast. You need to know how much, what type, and what you’ll offer as an alternative. Just about every item on the main list will need some detailed clarification.

Staying Organised

No matter how small, every single item contributes to the day as a whole. So everything needs looking after and cataloguing properly. Arm yourself with a few transparent storage boxes with lids to hold collections of items. These stack easily and safely, and you can see exactly what’s inside.

For every box, make a list of the contents and tape it onto the side. Duplicate the list to keep in a binder. If you add anything to the box, update your lists accordingly. If you have planning helpers, give them copies of any lists that relate to their tasks so they know where you’re up to.

Storing Items

As you’re likely to be collecting items over several months, it’s important to keep everything where you can find it, review your collection, add to it, or change things easily.

There are a few options:

● If your loft is clean and boarded, well-lit and damp free, it could be a possible storage area. Can you get up there easily, especially when carrying boxes?

● A spare room is also a possibility. Consider its other uses though, that might mean your wedding haul is damaged or things are lost or moved. If it’s a guest room, for instance, will you have to constantly rearrange things to accommodate guests or other family members?

● Self storage is a third option, and well worth serious consideration. A storage unit can provide a bespoke wedding area, with room for hanging rails and storage boxes. Everything stays in one place, and there’s no chance things will get muddled.

Wherever you store your wedding haul, try to avoid having small caches spread over several different areas if it’s at all possible. As the collection grows, it’s important to get an overall picture. You can make sure everything’s in keeping with your wedding theme, colours, and styles, and it’s reassuring and exciting to see your plans coming together in a physical form.

*This post is sponsored by Big Yellow Self Storage.*

Wedding Haul #1 - What I've Bought So Far + Update

Considering our wedding is still 17 months away, Liam and I have been insanely organised for it. Since my last wedding planning post, we have booked our videographer, hired a donut van, a photobooth, a fairy light backdrop, a chocolate fountain etc, transport and sent out save the dates! We have also bought so many little décor bits for the venue. I love watching wedding haul videos on YouTube so I thought I'd write about our purchases on the blog. 

I have always wanted personalised hangers for the bride squad. After searching the internet high and low, I found these ones on Etsy for such a reasonably good price at £4.99 each. I actually contacted the seller asking if she did package prices for bulk buys and luckily she did! I think these hangers are lovely for the girls to keep after the wedding too.

After being told there was a really good wedding section in Home Bargains, I of course popped in there on my day off work to have a nosey. I found this cards box which only cost around £3. It's actually a pop up box, it's so easy to put up and it's such a great size too! Another place I have been popping in recently is Hobbycraft. We have actually bought quite a few things from Hobbycraft including this wedding sign and Mr & Mrs table sign. You can hang them up which is what we'll do with the wedding ceremony sign but we'll probably have the Mr & Mrs sign just sitting on the top table in front of us.

The petals, table diamante confetti and the bride & groom chair signs are all from The Range. We're going to put the petals down either side of the aisle. These bride and groom chair signs look so pretty hanging on the back of chairs. I definitely want a photo of me and Liam sitting on our chairs with those signs hanging on the back of them on the day. 

After buying the bridesmaids champagne flutes, I realised I didn't actually get one for myself *face palm emoji.* So I hopped back onto Etsy and bought mine for £2.75 and it actually got delivered really quickly. This wishing jar from Hobbycraft was the first thing we bought when we were newly engaged. I can't remember how much it was but it was on sale at the time. I just thought that it was such a cute idea of leaving little messages as well as having a guestbook.

I had seen a blogger mention this guestbook on their blog and it's been bugging me for days because I cannot remember who it was. It's real leather and I just loved the style of it. I paid around £40 for it from a shop called Oh So Cherished on notonthehighstreet.com, which I don't think is too bad. 

However, I am now freaking out about the guestbook. There are so many pages and the pages themselves are so big! I just know the majority of people are going to write all on one page and there are going to be so many blank pages left in the book. I have been googling so many different ideas of what else the guests could do with it. Seriously though, the guestbook should be the least of my worries.

Hooray!! We have finally found our white lanterns for our centerpieces. We saw some in The Range which were £11 but we didn't want to spend that per lantern. So when we went to Essex, I drove to the IKEA down Lakeside and we found these lanterns for £7 each. So we wiped out half the shelf by taking the lanterns haha. We were so happy that we finally found some! My mother in law wanted to do our centrepieces, so she's going to get some white and pink flowers with those firefly lights and make them look all pretty.

Whilst we were in IKEA, I saw these little jam jars. I think they came in a pack of three and they were quite cheap. My original idea was to have them in front of the lanterns with the LED candle inside with a few flowers coming out of them. But when we got home and set them out, they didn't look right with the lantern. So we're now going to use them as sweet jars and put them on the tables instead.

That is all we've bought for our wedding for now. No doubt there will be a few more wedding hauls coming up. We could go on forever buying stuff haha. 

How To Plan Your Wedding On a Budget

Wedding planning is currently in full swing right now! I have been feeling super stressed recently and have loads of advice and tons of different suppliers circling in my brain. On average people spend between a whopping £15,000 and £20,000 on weddings in the UK, and Liam and I seriously did not want to spend that much money. Spending all of that money on just one day is beyond me! You can still have a beautiful wedding celebrating your love with your family and friends on a budget. Here are some tips I've learnt so far...

Having a wedding planning book has really helped with knowing what we need to do as and when. Along with a checklist, you can tick bits off as you go and then see what's next. It also gives you a 12 month timeline up until your wedding day so you know what to do each month. I also have an app called Bridebook which is great too! It's pretty much the same as my planning book but you can look at venues, cake makers etc in your area which is handy. It also has a countdown until the big day which is really exciting and I literally check it everyday haha. 

Write down everyone you'd like to invite and don't even think about the numbers. Once you've written everyone down, go through the list and decide who you'd like to invite for the whole day and who you'd like to invite for the evening. This will give you an idea on how many people will be attending and then you can look for venues with roughly the same number of guests. We have amended the numbers on our guest list so many times to try and keep it as cheap as possible. Like, does my cousin that I haven't seen or spoken to since I was 10 years old really need to be there? Most venues prices are per head or you can get packages. Our package included 40 guests for the day but we paid per head for an extra 16 people, and it still worked out cheaper than other venues we liked. 

Once you've got a rough idea of numbers of your guest list, you can start looking for venues. We wanted to spend between £3000 and £4000 on a venue. So, we had narrowed down our choices and only went to look around venues which we liked which were in our venue budget. Because, what's the point in going to look around a gorgeous venue and then it's well out of your budget? It's just a waste of time and a HUGE disappointment if you fall in love with it and can't afford it.

Facebook is your best friend. No, really. We have been googling photographers, videographers, cake makers etc etc etc for weeks and haven't found what we've been looking for at all. So, I posted a little status on a selling group in my city on Facebook for people to recommend me photographers and I got SO MANY responses, I actually had to disable the comments. We went through each recommendation and we found our wedding photographer that way and we had never even heard of her, neither did she come up on our google searches. Oh and she was so much cheaper than the recommended photographers that came up in our google results. You can get so much advice and recommended suppliers through Facebook, it has been so helpful!

Try and save money on décor. Liam and I have really been struggling on this part. We are currently trying to find centrepieces for our tables, but centrepieces which are at a reasonable price. We love the white lanterns with those firefly lights and flowers coming out of them. But £11 just for one lantern, works out expensive itself for six tables, nevermind the other little bits. So, we're just window shopping around at the moment. I mean, when are you ever going to need your centrepieces again? You could sell them after I suppose.

Instead of hiring separate suppliers, go through a company that does everything and get a package with them, it works out cheaper! So, instead of hiring a photobooth, a sweet cart, a doughnut wall etc all separate, find a company that does all of it for a package. We have found somewhere that does things like that as well as venue décor which is super helpful and it saves time looking around for other suppliers too.

This is all we've learnt so far. Have any of you got any tips on saving money for a wedding? 

Bridesmaid Proposal Boxes + Wedding Planning Update!

I haven't really been about lately, we've been so busy planning bits and bobs! I think the last time I mentioned anything to do with our wedding, was in my goals for the year ahead blog post. Since then, we have contacted and looked around SO many venues, I couldn't even count. I'm so pleased to say that we have chosen our venue and we have set a date for September 2020!! Yes, we had decided to get married next year instead of 2021 - how exciting!

Now, moving onto how I asked my bridesmaids...

I had recently asked the four most important girls in my life if they'd be a part of my big day! My two best friends and Liams sister as bridesmaids and my sister as maid of honour. I wanted to put together something quite personal and pretty, so I hopped onto Etsy! 

Firstly, I found these gorgeous white boxes with rose gold text - you can change the colour of the writing if you'd like to. They come flat packed in the post and you build them up yourself using the sticky adhesive tabs, (which was super easy!). When you close the box, the lid is magnetic, which keeps everything safe up until the wedding day. The white bow at the front gives it a really pretty touch too.

I found these gorgeous personalised champagne flutes on Etsy too! Again, I stuck with the rose gold theme. These were super affordable, they arrived so quickly and they're amazing quality! To add another little something to the box, I found some little pocket mirrors and personalised them by putting their names on - again, these are from Etsy. They're just a cute little keepsake and they came in their own little gift bags too.

I also got some 'will you be my bridesmaid' and 'will you be my maid of honour' cards and wrote my own little message on the back of each girls card.

Lastly, I bought a pack of 4 white frames from B&M for less than a fiver! I printed off my favourite photo of each of us and popped them in the frames. The white and pink tissue paper I bought from Card Factory for 99p each. The rose gold confetti I bought from Hobbycraft.

I had so much fun putting together these boxes and they look so cute, the girls were so happy with them!