Thursday 10 January 2019

6 Months Until I Say I Do

It is now 2019 and I can officially say I am getting married this year! I will be honest and say I feel a bit mixed about it, obviously, I am excited and can't wait to eventually marry Lee after being together for so long and it will be nice to have the same surname as my children. However, knowing that the wedding is so close I am also feeling slightly panicked if I am honest as I feel like I still have so much to do, plan and pay for. I have been so laid back with the whole wedding planning process and now I am kind of regretting that. 

busy b wedding planner and county wedding magazine


How is the wedding planning going?

Honestly, we have not done anything at all wedding-related since October, we put it all on the back burner until the new year and now it is the new year and I feel a bit overwhelmed. The thing that I think doesn't help is that I was in a lot of wedding-related groups on Facebook and everyone on there seems so organised, people who are getting married a long time after me have invites sent out, everything paid off and organised and it was making me feel a bit stressed, so I unfollowed all the groups. 

I have been planning this wedding for about 18 months now, we booked the venue two years in advance and because we booked it so far in advance we felt like we had ages, so did not really do any wedding planning. We probably are on track with most things though so I am trying not to worry too much as so many people book weddings just six months in advance. 

What have we planned?

So far we have the venue booked, we actually booked this back in June 2017, pretty much as soon as we got engaged. My dad very kindly paid the venue hire for us as a wedding gift so that's all paid for although we do still have all the catering and drinks to pay for. We had a menu tasting at the venue back in October and have picked a three-course sit down meal for the wedding breakfast, we have also picked drinks and the evening food, just need to pay it all off now as that is the biggest expense for our wedding. 

The registrar is booked and we have given notice of marriage at the local registry office, we need to meet them again in a few months and pick our vows (I had no idea that was even a thing, I thought everyone said the same thing!) and get our song choices approved (again this was something I had not even thought about). We have to pay a further £450 for the registrar to come to our venue and marry us too. 

I have paid a deposit for a photographer and videographer although I still need to meet them both and discuss the day and go through all the details and of course, pay the balances off those. We have a DJ booked but again I still need to meet him and pay the balance off that too. We have the cake and wedding favours booked, the other half's mam is kindly paying for our cake as a wedding gift but we still need to decide on flavours. 

I have booked some decor bits for the venue but one of the other half's friends is kindly doing all the chairs and a lot of the room decor for us as they have a business doing it so I just need to decide on colours etc. We have a florist booked and we have decided on buttonholes and my bouquet, which I can't wait to see and I am hoping I can put it on my mam's grave after the wedding as she loved flowers. 

I have my dress and it is all paid off, it is still at the bridal shop as I have my first dress fitting in April as it is too long and I am hoping to lose a bit of weight. I have the bridesmaid dress and Jacob has his outfit and I have an appointment at the bridal shop to look for Sophia a flower girl dress in a few weeks time. 

I have provisionally booked hair and make-up but I still need to have trials and all that kind of thing and I have no idea how I want my hair. 

What is still to do?

We have so much still to do, we need to finalise the guest list as the other half hasn't decided who to invite. We are limited on numbers as the ceremony room is fairly small and only sits about 45 people, however, we can invite a lot more to the evening. I still need to find wedding stationery and really need to get a move on with sending invitations out in case people need to book time off work or arrange childcare/accommodation etc. 

I need to settle on chair sash colours, which sounds so trivial but I am struggling on which ones to pick as there are so many nice ones! I also need to pick centrepieces and little decor bits and bobs such as table plans, guest books, confetti etc. 

I need to find some wedding shoes, which is proving far more difficult then I imagined it would be. We also need to shop for our wedding rings, the other half and all the groomsmen need to go suit shopping. We have to pick music, which again is proving difficult as we don't have a special first dance song really. 

We need to meet all of our suppliers and of course, pay everything off too. 

There are probably loads of other things I have missed, it is all the little bits I keep forgetting. Oh and hen and stag parties need to be arranged too, the other half has kind of planned his with his best man but I have no idea what I am doing for my hen, probably a night out on the town - although I feel too old for that now I am in my 30s. 

So that is where we are at with wedding planning at the moment, most of the big stuff is sorted and booked. I think I will feel a bit better once we get invites sent out and start getting it all paid off and ticking all the little jobs off the ever-growing to-do list. 

Oh and a honeymoon still needs to be sorted, we are not sure if we will go away late this year or next year as we want to go somewhere a little bit special, so far it is between Greece and Mexico. We can't book anything yet as we don't know if the teen will be coming with us or not, as she will be 17 and off to work or college, so its all a bit up in the air at the moment. If we don't get a honeymoon booked for this year we were thinking of booking a mini-moon or seeing if we could get a cheapish last minute holiday abroad somewhere with the children and then booking a nice honeymoon for our one year anniversary. So many options and decisions to be made when you have children. 

If you are married how did you find wedding planning? I would love to know in the comments below. 


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17 comments

  1. Ah I LOVED wedding planning - it was a good way to spend my maternity leave with Harry. I promise it will all come together in the end x

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    1. I hope so! I can't believe you planned it on maternity leave with a tiny baby, you will have to give me your tips! xx

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  2. Ooh exciting! I loved planning our wedding, I really missed it once it was over.

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    1. It is so nice having it to look forward to but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all at the moment xx

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  3. I found the wedding planning fun but a bit stressful. I had a wedding planner so that took most of the pressure of. Enjoy planning yours.

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    1. Thank you, I have a wedding coordinator but I am so fussy I like picking bits myself, its the decor stressing me out at the moment lol x

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  4. Oh wow that is SO exciting! I am so jealous, I;'d love to do it all again, even though I've done it twice, haha!

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    1. You could always renew your vows, somewhere hot would be amazing! lol x

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  5. Ooo how exciting for you hun, I bet you are super excited. So many exciting memories to make xx

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  6. How exciting, I loved planning my wedding although I would have prefered it now with pinterest and so many fab ideas........just waiting for my daughter to get engaged

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    1. So many amazing ideas on Pinterest and Facebook groups x

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  7. Reading this took me right back to when I was organising my wedding. It's all consuming isn't it. Sounds like you have a good idea of what needs to be done and I'm sure it will all come together

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    1. It really is, it is all the little bits that are taking so much time too xx

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  8. Oh wow how exciting and such a lovely thing to look forward to in 2019!! I'm sure your big day will go wonderfully and can't wait to read about it

    Laura x

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  9. This is so exciting, I can’t wait to hear all about the run-up and the big day itself 😍😍😍

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