The Little Touches

It’s All in the Details

Every bride spends hours and hours pouring over the tiny details in her wedding: the colour of the chair sashes, the twinkly flowers on the table names, the diamante scatters across the table – it all has to match and coordinate.

The logo’d photographs were taken by Clive Blair and they are utterly amazing!

My poor husband was dragged from Hobby Craft to Confetti, from wedding shop to flower shop to make sure that we coordinated all our tiny details.

My bridal shoes are probably one of the tiny touches that no one really saw, so here they are! I bought them in 2007 from China, they were custom made and I even designed them myself!

And my tiara, one of my favourite pieces from the wedding. I think I’ll keep it forever and wear it when I feel sad just to cheer myself up. It’s so beautiful!

Days to Go: 18

The Countdown Continues

It has been quite a while since my last blog post because we have been so busy! I have a rather busy job as well, so trying to do that and prepare for the wedding is making me super busy!

Picture from spaweekblog.com/tag/bridal/

(The post it notes are so so so true! My colleagues know! lol)

So many things have been done! It’s really exciting!

I can’t believe that it’s only 18 days away! I’m so excited,  I’m going to pop!

H2b and I have been a rather excited team, tackling all our tasks together. H2b is taking over from me when I need to do my day job and we’re working together to see what needs to be done, which is really nice.

It’s a very strange feeling to think I’m going to be a married woman in a few days! I mean, nothing will really change, except my name and my legal status, but it seems like such a huge thing to be married.

We have got loads of tasks for the wedding done….

Letters of Love

Fun Photo Wedding Gifts

I was reading a Hitched.co.uk twitter post by Fran (not me). I thought I would repost as it’s a very cool wedding gift! Alphabet photography!

If you are buying for a couple who have lived together for a while, or for a couple who didn’t give a wedding list, this would be a really nice idea. Often, guests feel uncomfortable giving money as a gift, this would be a fantastic alternative. (Even if they did give a wedding list this seems really special gift.)

The picture frame was spotted at The National Wedding show in London and Fran thought it was one of the most unique exhibitors she’d seen. I definitely think it’s a really unique idea however I’ve found at least two different companies that offer this service when I googled the idea.

The idea is that they take photos of objects everywhere, in architecture, in nature, in anything you can think of and use those pictures to make words. It’s very effective and a bit quirky, really unique.

This photo above is from Alphabet Photography. Their website says, ‘The Alphabet Photography team is proud to provide superior customer service and high quality craftsmanship.’ Their website seems fairly user friendly and I easily chose the pictures I wanted. If I didn’t like the pictures that appeared in the picture then I could click on each letter to change the picture. I thought that was a really nice idea.

This picture would set me back £45, which is an average price for a wedding gift. You can make all sorts of different words, and they offer different materials such as letters, posters and inspirational pictures.

The other company I found that provides this service is the  Letter Art Company. On their website, they say ‘An amazing gift concept that uses pictures of real world objects that resemble letters of the alphabet; Combining them to create truly unique, personalised gifts.’ They offer letter graphs, frames, mounts and custom framed letter art. A very similar service to Alphabet Photography, they ask you to type in a word and they will find pictures to match the letters in that word.

Like alphabet Photography, they offer to let you change the photos that it generates by clicking on the picture you want to change, and you probably will want to change the pictures.  It came out quite nicely, a similar standard to that from Alphabet Photography.

This picture would again cost me £45.

Personally I think this is a fantastic idea for a gift, not just for a wedding but for a Christening or a birthday. Wonderfully unique, which ever company you use as they are both very user friendly, you would find a lovely gift for anyone!

Gifts the Bride and Groom Can Give

picture from Wedding Guru website

If you prefer money or gifts for your wedding gifts, it's still typical for the bride and groom to present gifts to the people who have helped in their wedding. 

Traditionally, the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom receive gifts, usually of flowers, and the bridesmaids receive gifts, sometimes jewellery. The mothers are presented with their flowers during the groom's speech and the bridesmaids may be given their gifts while preparing in the morning or during the groom's speech. 

Thing is, my h2b's mother is coming from Hong Kong and she won't want to carry some flowers all the way back to Hong Kong, so I thought it might be nice to buy her a Swarovski brooch. But then, if I buy my MIL a brooch I think I should get my mother a brooch as well! So, my mothers of the bride and groom will receive a small bunch of flowers and a small piece of jewellery. My father has been incredibly supportive both financially and with advice in the wedding that I'd like to buy him a gift too. I've spotted this gift which I thought was pretty cool considering that Dad is a gardener. And something like this for my FIL. It's not traditional to buy the fathers a gift but as my father has been so involved in the wedding I think it would be a crime not to get him anything. My best friend booked and paid for a weekend away at a posh hotel for the parents to go on together. That's only a good idea if your parents get along with your h2b's parents as well as hers do.

Typically, brides will buy their bridesmaids some jewellery, a necklace or a bracelet, all identical to wear on the wedding day. I'm going to this farm to buy my gifts for my bridesmaids. I saw Julia Usher who makes the jewellery at two wedding fayres and I thought the jewellery and the tiaras (which I'm also going to get) were just amazing.
However, my best friend, who got married last summer, gave us some wonderful gifts of picture frames and chocolates during the groom's speech. If you have an idea of something wonderful you'd like to buy your bridesmaids then do that instead. Or as well. 

Groomsmen don't always have gifts, however if they have made an effort for your wedding and been there for you when you need them it might be reasonable to buy them a gift. We are giving our groomsmen a gift from the personalised momento company. Our groomsmen are really involved in h2b's stag do and are helping around with the wedding so we want to show them we appreciate their time. 


Whomever you choose to buy gifts for, remember to buy them something they will use again when your wedding is over.

Beyond Excited

My wedding is 14 months away, but it's predominant in my  mind. I was trying to work out why. Of course, it's going to be an amazing day and there's a lot to organise, but why is it so exciting? My fiancé and I have been together for almost 8 years, engaged for 18 months, and although I'm very excited to become Mrs Wong (and as I'm a teacher the kids will be calling me Mrs Wong quite a bit) it really is just one day, and what will change really? 


Here are the reasons I came up with as to why I'm so excited, and why you should be too! 

• You get to be the main attraction, the centre of attention:
  I'm not a huge fan of being the centre of attention, not all the time, but when it's something special like your birthday or a promotion, it's nice to be the centre of attention, and weddings count too! All that planning and time and stress you've put in are finally worth it!
  
• Taking his Surname
  That's if you are taking his surname, but I'm looking forward to taking his name so much! His surname is a lot more interesting than mine and it'll be lots of fun! It's not very feminist of me to look forward to changing my name, but it's a little special thing that I think is really nice.
  
• Breaking the Dress Diet!
  Although you'll be very proud of all the weight you've lost, how you've avoided carbs and fat for the last year and spent every waking moment at the gym, finally.... Finally! You can eat a big main meal and have a pudding and then eat cake after it!
  
• Seeing your man all dressed up!
  If your hubby-to-be is like mine, he doesn't get dressed up very often. The chance to see him all dressed up in a proper wedding suit looking suave with his hair done is just wonderful! I'm looking forward to that!
  
• Match Making
  Arranging your seating plan meant that you could seat your gorgeous single friends together, and who knows what might happen? Looking forward to the reception and all the fun it may bring is another fun part of planning your big day, and something else to look forward to!
  
• The Dress
  Many women want to be a princess for a day, and most of us don't get many opportunities to dress up nicely. In my job, there's not much point dressing up nice unless I want paint, playdough, sick and other unmentionables all over my clothes so this one day is a chance for me to dress up and look completely beautiful (I hope). And the dress: my one chance to wear a princess dress and have a princess day.
  
• The First Dance
  After all the practising and rehearsing and changing the song this way and that way, it's finally time to show all your guests your first dance. I'm especially looking forward to my wedding dance because we're starting dance lessons in October so we will have worked really hard on it. I have two left feet and don't want to let my dance guru fiancé down, and I am excited to see everyone's reactions!
  
• The Reception
  A big party with all your friends and family! What could be more fun! All the music you personally enjoy, everyone being merry and a bit tipsy and celebrating your marriage to the man of your dreams! I can't think of a more enjoyable party! I'm really looking forward to that!
  
• The Honeymoon
  I've told fiancé I don't want to know anything about the honeymoon, I want it to be a complete surprise, all I want him to tell me is what kind of clothes I need to pack!  You may think I'm utterly insane but I'm taking over the wedding planning, it'll be good for him to have something that's his and he can decide about. I'm so looking forward to it because I know nothing about it. It'll be amazing! 

All in all, my excitement is fairly understandable. There is so much to look forward to! If your bride harks on a bit too much about the wedding, talking about dresses and invites and cars and orders of service, then give her some leeway, because now you know why she's so excited! 

Confetti the Shop

Much has been in the news about shops going bust since we entered the recession. One of those shops was Confetti, a wedding supplier. I think they are fab and I was really disappointed when their shop closed down in Birmingham. Now that I have some wedding savings saved up, I was going to spend a lot of it on favours at Confetti. I was delighted when I found the website was still going. 

Hobby Craft

You can order online!


I was looking for wedding favours. I'd been to Hobby Craft, willing to make the favours myself. There's some beautiful ideas from Hobby Craft but not everyone has the time to sit and make wedding favours for 100 guests!


I was on the Confetti website, looking at comparing prices, and I found the favour boxes I wanted in the colours I wanted them for half their regular price! Confetti often do sales or discounts so it's worth keeping your eyes open for a good bargain. I ordered the boxes right there on the spot. I wanted to do a mix of boxes and bags, so that not everyone gets the same wedding favour. I bought the bags from Hobby Craft but I bought the boxes from Confetti. When they arrived, they were absolutely fantastic! 

The favours for my wedding.

The boxes I ordered were already assembled with the ribbons on them and they cost less than it would have to buy the boxes unassembled and the ribbon separately. Like I say, they were reduced so I got quite a bargain! 


One of the features I like on the Confetti website is that you can search by colour scheme. My colour is lilac, as you can see from the ribbons on the boxes I ordered and I was able to look up other items that were along the same colours. 


If you're into photography as much as I am, Confetti has a good deal on disposable cameras for the tables. (Actually, the way I'm going for my wedding, I'm thinking of putting so many things on the tables there won't be any room for the food!) Often disposable cameras don't turn up a lot of good photos, but for me I wouldn't want to miss out on a spontaneous photo that really captures the mood of the day.

Bubbles!

I also like the idea of bubbles on the tables. Not sure how many adults are into bubbles, but if you have a few children at your wedding they will be entertained by a bottle of bubbles. I was at a christening recently and the children were all captivated by bubbles. it's a fantastic way to keep kids entertained during a long day. 


A increasingly popular trend in recent weddings are tea lights on the tables. When the lights go down, while the venue are preparing the evening tables, the little candles are lit and set a really wonderful atmosphere for the evening. I've included a photo from my best friend's wedding that my fiancé took to demonstrate how effective tea lights can be. 

My best friend's wedding

I'm also including a link to Confetti's special offers. I found the boxes I'm using just by chance in the special offers section of the website so I think it's worth a look to see if something you really want for your wedding is available there. 


I'm not on commission for Confetti, but I see a good idea and I think that, bride to bride, we could really benefit from using a service that provides so much at a reasonable price. Weddings cost so much, if you can get a bargain anywhere I think it's best to pass on those tips. 


If you have any money saving tips, please leave a comment and I will blog about it.