02/03/2016

Ramblings of a bride-to-be

What have I learned so far since properly starting on the epic task that is wedding planning?

Well, apart from everything being so bloody expensive, it's how hard it is to make a decision.

I, like most girls, have had my wedding planned on Pinterest for years.  I knew the type of dress, the style of cake, the colour scheme, the flowers, and even down to the favours - I had it sussed.

Unfortunately, real life wedding planning isn't as easy as Pinterest - everything is so damn expensive and there are like 100s of companies and suppliers to sift through before you find the one.  There are things you expect to be expensive - your venue, the wedding dress etc - but other things have totally taken me aback.

A cake, for example.  If I was getting a nice, two-tiered sponge cake nicely decorated to a theme for a birthday, it would be somewhere between £50 and £100.  Mention it's for a wedding, and the cost is instantly tripled.

UHM, WHY?

If we hadn't already decided on our cake and were still in limbo, I'd be tempted to tell the cake maker it was for a birthday just to save money.

The wedding industry is a crazy place, I'm quickly learning that.

There's so much choice for everything and so much to take into account before making a decision.  Thankfully, we already knew who we wanted to do/supply a lot of things whether it be from recommendations or personal experience, but other things we are totally stumped.

We're also stuck on whether to try and make some bits ourselves to try and cut costs.  Favours is something we have decided to do ourselves because they're so easy to do.  I'd rather just give everyone a bag of pick 'n' mix sweets wrapped in cellophane and a cute bow and be done with it.

We're also designing/making our own stationery with the help of Tom's super talented cousin.  Apart from that, we're struggling with what we can make ourselves.  My mum is making us a cake (wouldn't be a family occasion without a Janey Babes special!) but there's nothing else I could physically think to do myself.

Except table centrepiece, which I'm really stuck on.  I am not creative in the slightest.  Actually, that's not true, I'm creative when it comes to ideas but I can't then put them into practice.  We know exactly what we want for our table centrepieces but finding a way to make/buy/sort them ourselves is proving tricky.

All the examples either look really obviously like someone has made them (which, without sounding snobby, I don't want) or look way too complicated.  My cousin made her own invitations etc. for her wedding and until she told me, I had no clue.  I thought they were professionally made they looked amazing!  And that's what I'd want stuff to look like if I made it.  Not like a child's school project (which is likely).

I feel like I need to take a trip to Country Baskets or The Range or Hobbycraft to get some ideas.  All that will happen then, though, is me coming out with all the gear but still no idea.  I'll end up with pipe cleaners and those googly felt eyes stuck to some shiny card and covered in glitter glue as our centrepiece.

I keep looking on notonthehighstreet but then I get carried away putting loads of s**t in my basket that we don't need like lawn games and hanging glass tea lights and oil burning candles.  I also find a lot of the stuff on there to be very expensive, but that might just be me being tight.

There's so much to plan and organise for a wedding.  It makes me glad we've given ourselves so much time to do ours.  I have no idea how the men on Don't Tell the Bride do it all in just three weeks!!!  You could give me three years and I'd still find a way to have a mental breakdown.

I have lists of lists of lists on my phone and in various notebooks scattered around the house and my handbag which I keep adding things to when I think of them.  There's so much to consider and organise I break into a cold sweat just thinking about it.

I do feel we are quite organised at the moment, though, with everything we've done so far.  If we've not committed to booking something we have in mind who we want to book and are just waiting to do it.

One thing I have no clue about is wedding insurance - what's the deal with that?  What kind of cover do you need? How much does it usually cost? Where do you even look?

I've had a gander at compare the meerkat and it's not something they seem to have branched into yet so I'm still none the wiser.  I was talking to my best friend the other day and hadn't even thought about wedding insurance until something she said about a fire or something breaking out at the venue days before and it all being off.

If any brides reading this know anything about wedding insurance please give me some pointers on what to do.

I felt pretty chilled about the whole thing when I started writing this, now it's progressed into the ramblings of a semi-stressed out bride-to-be!

As stressed as all the planning/organising/decision-making has the potential to make me, I know that I'm going to miss it all when it is done.  At the moment, every spare moment is spent looking at wedding things and planning/making things.  I wonder what we'll do when it's all over?

Oh yeah, that's right, Tom's got my womb booked out for the next decade - we'll have no time to miss wedding planning then!

You may also like: I can't believe we are getting married NEXT YEAR

No comments:

Post a Comment

SITE DESIGNED BY PRETTYWILDTHINGS