The Bride & The Bouquet

I need to share this amazing, beautiful, stunning bouquet. It has gorgeous classic colours with added bling.. it has my name written all over it and I can't wait to start hunting for brooches to add to my bouquet for the big day.



Please share your beautiful bouquets pictures and ideas with me..

T xx

Will You Be My Bridesmaid??

Following my 'Bridesmaids - Now it's the brides turn to pop the question!' post, the cards from Zazzle arrived.. and they are fantastic. I've never used Zazzle before and I didn't know what to expect of their quality. I'll tell you what, I am looking forward to using them again. Although I personalised the cards myself when I read them back I got all teary.. happy tears of course and I can't wait to send them off to my Bridesmaids and lovely Mother.

While getting lost in my research for the perfect gift to give my bridesmaids to be and mother I came across these other cute ideas.

A DIY Gift Box

 

Personalised wine or champagne bottle

Bridesmaid vest top

 

Personlised Clothes Hanger

Ring Pop Box

Cute stationery ideas

Message In A Bottle

I'd love to hear about or see your ideas..

T xx

Top Tips For Newly Engaged Couples

Here is a list of 7 tips that newly engaged couples can start working on, whether your wedding is in 2 months or 2 years this list makes a great starting point.

Top tips for newly engaged couples | Gallery Story | National Wedding Show.

Wedding guru Kate Smallwood offers helpful advice on how to plan your big day

1. Tell the world

You’ve just got engaged - so shout it from the rooftops! Think about how you’re going to tell your nearest and dearest, and decide whether or not to have an engagement party.

2. Set your budget

Work out what you can afford to spend on your big day, allocate roughly what you’re going to set aside for each element and stick to it. Remember - it doesn’t matter whether you have £10,000 or £100,000. Fabulous weddings can be created no matter what you spend and going in to debt is NOT romantic.

3. Write an initial guest list

Before you can book anything, you need to know how many guests you’d like to invite. Sit down together and make a list. Chances are, your first list will be long and you’ll need to cut it down a little!

4. Make a date

You’ve said ‘yes’, now you need to decide when you’re going to say ‘I do’. Consider whether you’d like a summer or winter wedding and try to avoid key dates like bank holidays, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day - suppliers may be more expensive, and guests may have other plans.

5. Choose your engagement ring

Unless your fiancé has bravely chosen your ring already, you’ll probably be planning to shop together. Stick to your budget, do your homework and have a good idea of what you’d like before you splash the cash.

6. Find your venue

As soon as you have an idea of your guest list, start looking for ceremony and reception venues. Decide whether you’d like a civil or religious ceremony and get hunting.

7. Choose your helpers

You’re planning a wedding and you’ll need a little support along the way. Ushers, best man and bridesmaids are key, so think about who you’d like to share the experience with and pop the question.

Is there anything else you would add to the list??

T xx

Bridesmaids - Now it's the brides turn to pop the question!

Breaking the big news to friends and family is so exciting and great fun but there are some more important questions to be asked and big news to be broken! Choosing your bridesmaids and popping the question to them can be more then just a phone call or chat over coffee, why not make it a fun, exciting moment for all of you?

I knew I wanted my two beautiful younger sisters to be my bridesmaids and I have two gorgeous girlfriends I couldn't imagine our special day without . One of my girlfriends lives here in London with me and the other is in Australia. I have shared and experienced different times and parts of my life with each of them and they are both equally very close to my heart.   I am asking my fiance's niece to be the flower girl, my Aunty's son to be the page boy and my darling Mother to give me away.

Instead of asking the girls over coffee, drinks or skype I have bought some vest tops with the label Bridesmaid and one for my Mum which says Brides Mother. I played with the idea of buying iron ons and attempted a DIY but when I found these bad boys on Ebay I immediately went for the purchase button.

I also found some lovely cards compliments of Zazzle.co.uk to accompany the gifts which I could personalise with my own words. The inside of the cards read:

The day, the dress
The bride, the groom
The joy, the tears
Will all come so soon

Professing true love
To my husband-to-be
With family and friends
All watching me

I hope the sun will
Be shining down
Keep your fingers crossed
That I'll fit in my gown
But there's one more thing
That there needs to be
And that's to have you
Standing with me!

Will you be my Bridesmaid?

And I even put a photo on the back all for the price of £1.45 per card.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid Card

 For my Mum I chose a 'Will you be my Bridesmaid' card and personalised it to read 'Will you.. give me away to the man of my dreams?'. I also said.. 'You have always been a very special part of my life and I can't imagine my wedding day without you there beside me. With all my love..'

 'Will you give me away' Card - £1.55 for Notecard or £2.15 for Greeting Card

I'm yet to send my proposals to the girls and my Mum, unfortunately I won't get to see 4 of their reactions seeing as they are in different countries but I can't wait to see the look on my bridesmaid to be in London's face.

It's all very exciting.. enjoy getting creative with your Bridesmaid proposals!

T x

The Proposal!!

On Christmas Eve of the year 2012 my gorgeous boyfriend (now fiance) got down on one knee and popped the famous question.

The Magical Moment!!

Yes that's right, he actually got me to take a photo of this unforgettable moment.

I'm not the easiest person to surprise and he even had to stop me from googling what I assumed was a Christmas Eve trail walk in Ashridge Forest, since the trail walk no longer existed. But I can honestly say the last thing I expected when we were both feeling under the weather, attempting a walk in the rain and wearing muddy welly's.. was a proposal. Best surprise ever!

The Story

We had driven to my fiance's parents house the night before Christmas Eve so we could wake up there and head into the forest for the supposed Christmas trail. We were not feeling too well, a bit stuffy and sniffy and his parents were acting a bit more crazy then usual but I just put that down to not feeling great. Unknown to me, Andy was desperately trying to get me out of the house so that (if I said yes) we could come back and skype with  my family in Australia before they went to sleep. My Mum had been kept in the dark but my Step Father was in the know since F had called to ask his permission a few weeks earlier.

So we head off in the car, dressed in muddy welly's and a big, warm puffer jacket, glad to be out of the crazy house and out into the fresh air. When we arrive at the forest I see a small house type of building at which a group of people with Santa hats were sitting and (as I assumed) eating mince pies and sipping hot drinks. Andy is just nodding and smiling along at my naivety, he points out that our trail walk starts down the path to the right.. and so we trod through the muddy wet grass with me none the wiser.

With no idea where we were actually going or what he was going to do, as the path was turning into a bend Andy stopped in front of the beautiful tree (as pictured), handed me the umbrella and declared he needed to wee (totally romantic, I know). As he disappeared behind the gorgeous tree I took my camera out to take a photo of the clearing and that is when he reappeared, spoiling the view of the photo I was trying to take. He then says to me 'What would you say if I said we weren't going on the trail walk?', not having a properly functioning brain and confusing me further my fiance, who hates having his photo taken then says 'Take a photo of this', and proceeds to get down on one knee. By this point I think my heart has stopped but I manage to take the photo anyway. Then my brain and voice kicks in 'What do you mean? What are you doing?!', Andy starts to walk towards me and proclaims 'I'm asking you to marry me!' and then for the second time gets down on his knee in the mud again. After a few more confused seconds or what felt like minutes I started screaming 'OF COURSE OF COURSE' and then my beautiful ring was slipped on my finger.



Back at the house my now in-laws, had wishfully prepared champagne. So that left us one thing to do.. Celebrate! We skyped my Aussie family and broke the news, they did shots, we drank champagne.. then we drank more champagne when the in-laws arrived back home.

Skyping with the Mother and Father of the bride.

Nothing prepares you for how amazing it feels to get engaged to the one you love, the excitement you feel when you break the news, show people the ring, tell them your proposal story and of course getting to use the word 'Fiance'. It rolls off your tongue and melts in your mouth like an amazing Malteser Bunny!



Now.. let the planning begin!!

T xx