Veil arrived - but it didn't pass the test

My veil arrived.....but dear God it is super long....trailing along the ground behind me. I wanted one which just skimmed the floor. So make sure you measure before you buy....doh!

Thinking about......transport

I was having a look at costs for wedding cars this week - which is super expensive! I really don't even like big fancy cars - I'd really prefer something much less. So I'm thinking I will just go in my own car which looks a bit like this -

I think it will look sweet with a ribbon on it like this one....

Ordered my veil

While trying on dresses, it was recommended to me that I have a cathedral veil - it sounded like too much to me, but when it was on I quite liked it.

Shop price £150.....similar one on eBay £17.95

Arrives in 5-8 days - fingers crossed x

Nervously ordered my dress

The dress I absolutely love is the Philippa by Maggie Sottero.

I've tried it on twice and really love the shape it gives me. The price is around the £1,000 mark which I think is super expensive. I've found a similar one on ebay which can be made in China for £86. I figured it was worth a shot so have ordered one.

Can't wait for it to arrive, quite nervous about how it will actually turn out, but I've ordered a standard size which is a little smaller than my actual measmurements (which I'm hoping may just work out for me as it's a corset back.

The seller has fairly good feedback but has just recently started selling dresses so I'm a little nervous about the end result, but I guess I can always return it if it doesn't work......it would just be so great if it did though - watch this space! Dress will take about a month to arrive.

Humanist - check

Our venue recommended Humanist, Mandy Evans-Ewing. I read some great reviews for her online so was happy to go with her. Unfortunately she was unavailable for our date so we had to look for an alternative. I emailed quite a few and was surprised that almost half of them were already booked up!

I got a recommendation for Linda Britton and have read some great reviews on her too. So when she said she was available we snapped her up!

That's the first thing off the list :)

Planning begins

I've put together a quick list of all the bits and pieces I'll need to put in place:

Ceremony – we’re having a humanist ceremony – who to book? Readings, vows, rituals – lighting of candles / handfasting etc.
Dress – hoping to get one for a high street price, really don’t want to spend thousands on something I will wear just once, if Primark did bridal wear I’d be in there!
Invite list – getting it down on paper
Photographer & Videographer – need to research these
Colour – colour scheme for dresses and venue
Invitations – buy ready made or make my own?
Bouquet – traditional flowers, silk flowers or alternative – button bouquet?
Decoration – centrepieces, table names / numbers, place cards
Cake – high street option, have it made, use an alternative cake – stack of cheese?
Entertainment – something unusual or usual DJ?
Music – what to walk down the aisle to? First dance? Reception?
Transport – how to arrive?
Menus – what will we eat
Hair – something simple, but what?
Make up – probably do this myself as I don’t like wearing it heavy – likely to treat myself to some new purchases
Presents for bridal party – something personalised?
Favours – tempted not to have any, but I’ll keep it as the last thing on my list


The Nikah will be a much smaller affair, so for that the main thing to get will be the dress.

If anyone has any advise for any of the above, I'm grateful for any help :)

Lucky Friday 13th

Myself and H2B bought a place together on Friday 13th Novemeber. In the early hours of the morning, before we moved into our new place - a proposal was the last thing I was expecting, but that is when it came!

I choose my own engagement ring, a platinum gold ring with a small princess cut diamond. I'm not a huge jewellery person so I'm delighted with this dainty ring.

Living in the North East of England, I'm orignally from Ireland and my other half is originally from Pakistan, but brought up in Glasgow. We have booked the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel for our ceremony and reception - Easter Sunday 24th April. We will also be having a muslim wedding blessing - Nikah. This means two celebrations, two wedding dresses, two weddings - how lucky is that :)