Two Months Til I Become A Wife

Dearest blog,



It has been awhile since I updated you.

Quite a lot has happened in the interim.

If you recall, the last time we spoke I mentioned how quite a few things still needed doing, namely in the areas that I assigned L (my sweetheart fiance) to cover.

I'm happy to report that I gave L some very strict deadlines and they worked a treat.

I told him he had to have our Honeymoon booked before Christmas day or I would be SUPER PISSED!
And it worked. Obviously.

So the Honeymoon is all sorted, yay!

He also booked the transport since we last spoke (ooooh, a limo), and now he is working on making a few decortaion-y things for the Reception.


I'm gonna be honest with you, writing a blog about wedding planning has not been as easy as I initially thought it'd be.


A lot of my wedding planning happens over the course of a long time, for example, usually L and I would do a very small amount every few days.

It has been nice having such a long time to plan.

I can't believe we've been engaged for over ten months. It feels like forever.


I received my wedding dress since we last spoke.

The woman at the store told me not to lose any weight, HA! As if I could.



I re-joined the gym and have been TRYING to go three times a week.

I will hopefully be able to stick to that for the next two months.

I'm not worried about not fitting in the dress, it's more to do with dealing with my stress levels/frustrations.

I'm more frustrated than anything else.



I feel better now that I have moved into the house L and I will live in as a married couple (he is staying with his Mum until The Big Day, gotta keep things above board), but I still get frustrated.


Mainly its with people.

I have found the last year a very trying time between me and certain people.

I have done a lot of soul-searching. Realizing who my real friends are.

I've realized I kinda hate social media, but its almost impossible to live in this society without it, ugh!



I barely blog anymore because I just can't be bothered.

I worry about what I'll do when I don't have this wedding to plan.


L and I are going to paint his bedroom (our eventual bedroom) because the walls are a weird green colour and it clashes with EVERYTHING!

I'm happy that we bought me a fruit bowl and right now its filled with nectarines and mandarins- yum!



We have confirmed numbers for the wedding and I have written out the seating chart and place card name-tag thingys. They look pretty great, in my humble opinion.


L and I have planned this wedding almost 100% by ourselves, sadly my Bridesmaids have not had much to do, mainly because I decided to do it all myself (my choice, not theirs!)
But its probably for the best because they are both UNBELIEVABLY BUSY!


I do get a bit sad when I plan by myself.

L helps me a lot but its not at all how I imagined it.


My maid of honour hasn't gotten her dress-hem fixed because Christchurch is crazy expensive and when she tried coming to Dunedin her car broke down!!!!!!
I know she'll get it done though so I try not to worry.



Further more, L and I are finalizing the ceremony, words and what-not.

We both got very very confused when we initially tried to do it so we had to go back to the Minister/Pastor/Dude and ask him to explain it to us.

Hahahaha! Such fun.


I've also been emailing all the vendors and confirming when things need to be paid by, it helps me feel like things are under control.

Which they are.


We also went out on Boxing Day and bought A LOT of sparkling grape and apple juice for the Reception, we looked like crazy people!



But anyway.


Planning is going well, as I'm sure you can see.

It's only two months away, and it is very exciting but also getting very real and is a bit scary.

I cannot wait to marry my wonderful fiance, he is my bestest friend in the whole wide world and it'll be awesome to share our lives together even more than we already are!!!!!


I don't know when I will next update this blog.


Like I said, I find it hard to write sometimes.

Most of the time.


Hahahaa.


But I'll try.





Thanks again for reading!

Here are some pictures:

DAYS TIL THE WEDDING: 60

August Update

Hello lovely people,

Apologies for my lack of writing lately.

I've been waiting for my friend Aimee to send me some snaps from the engagement party.
I don't have them yet but I'm certain I'll have them before my next entry.



So I figured an update was in order.

I originally started this blog so I could read it later and follow my planning process.


Unlike some brides I've heard of, I am planning all the time.
And I am NOT leaving it to the last minute.

I plan at least a little bit every few days, and the wedding is forever plaguing my mind.
I mean, not plaguing, happily-filling!

Yes, that sounds better.



So since my last entry, my parents came to visit L and I and we had our engagement party.

The party was a lot of fun.


It was basically "The Staggered Party That Wasn't Very Staggered"


Our plan was to have people pop in and leave between the five hours that the party was on.



Some people did this.

Most people did not.



It was actually really sweet how long some people stayed.


Though I'm an introvert and I found all the socializing UTTERLY EXHAUSTING, it also made me feel like the cat's pajamas.
Many warm fuzzies in my heart that day.

What awesome friends and family L and I have!

I will put up some pictures when I get them from Aimee.




Furthermore, my mother accompanied to the wedding dress store, along with Aimee, and they both saw me in my dress.

It wasn't like what you see in the movies.

My mother didn't get all teary and give me a hug.

She didn't say, in an emotional voice: "My daughter is getting married"

She told me there was a mole on my back, and that I should probably get it looked at.
She also advised me to start doing sit-ups to flatten my belly.
Eventually she agreed that I looked nice.

Ah parents.


The wedding dress was all paid for so that's one more thing off the list!


My bridesmaids dresses were also ordered sometime before the engagement party.
We went with simple blue floor length gowns.

I ended up ordering them from Light in the Box, the same place L's sister got her bridesmaids dresses from.


Earlier this week, THEY ARRIVED!


They looked tiny, and I actually started stressing that they wouldn't fit the girls.

This is the first time I really ever stressed about anything since L and I got engaged and I had such a horrific time trying to book wedding venues.


My mind was flying. I had to phone my bridesmaids and talk to them about it.


They assured me everything would be okay.


I decided I would send their dresses to them regardless.


Oh, in case I never mentioned, both my bridesmaids live outside Dunedin.

One is in Christchurch, the other is in Auckland.



Both L's groomsmen are in Dunedin.

So unfair.



Anyway, so I fastposted the dresses to the girls and I was informed the next day that the dresses did, in fact, fit them.

APART from the armhole, which is tiny.

But in the grand scheme of things, I think that is easily fixed.


Since we paid extra to get the dresses custom made to the girls' measurements I would have been pretty devastated if they didn't fit right.

But lo and behold, they do.



All is right with the world.



This weekend L and I are going to go look at suits.

We've also written out thank-you cards for all the people who got us engagement presents so we'll have to start getting those out.


We've only handed out two thirds of the wedding invitations as well so we need to get onto that sooner rather than later.


Phew!


It sure is a busy time.



L still hasn't done the jobs I delegated to him: booking honeymoon accommodation and wedding day transport.

Hopefully he does it before my next entry.

One can only hope.








DAYS TIL THE WEDDING: 198

Wedding Expo Woes

So a couple of days ago I went to my very first, and hopefully my very last, wedding expo.





When I saw the note in the newspaper advertising the Expo I got EXCITED!
Ooooooh a thing for engaged couples to go to!!!!!!!!
I was expecting great things.



When L and I turned up to the Expo, I noticed it was in the same building that hosted a medical conference my Mum and Dad had been to. I came to visit them and walked around and collected free samples with my Mum (one of the biggest perks of being the offspring of a doctor).
So anyway, when I walked into the Glenroy, I couldn't help but feel like this Expo I had been so excited about didn't look as big and flashy as I thought it would be.


There was only one of the three of Dunedin's bridal stores, House of Kavina. As I am wedding dress shopping in less than a month I chatted to the lady standing there. She told me to book a "consult" at the store before I come in. Hmm okay, I can do that.
I wish the other two bridal stores had been there as I would have liked to look at some of their dresses and talked to someone there too.


But whatever. I carried on.


While L and I were wandering around looking at different stands, I continually felt like I was being harassed by all the various reception venue people.



As I have already stated, L and I booked our reception over a year in advance. It was one of the first things we did. Having to hear every other person tell us we should have our reception with them became quite frustrating.
"I already have a reception venue, sorry" I would tell every spokeperson who tried to sell me their venue.
They would ask (demand) when the wedding was. Once I answered this they would try to make me answer a bunch of questions that would eventually lead them to tell me that I should have my reception at their venue. DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!!!!

There was also a fashion show at the Expo. Little tarts paraded around in bridesmaids dresses and later one a bunch of the House of Kavina dresses as well.
I may have narrowed my eyes at them a few times. It seems unfair that they get to model beautiful wedding dresses, especially because I may end up buying one of those dresses. WHO KNOWS!!!!





But anyway. There was also a singing group called 'The Foxy Tones' who basically just sang karaoke to background music. They weren't bad.
I would love to be in a band that played at weddings. That would be SO MUCH FUN!
If only I had friends who also wanted to do this.
Oh well, maybe one day.


The highlight of the Expo was going into the PHOTO BOOTH!
Such fun!
L and I want to hopefully maybe potentially get a photo booth after experiencing the fun of one of them!
Since there won't be any dancing, I figure it'll be a good way to entertain guests after the food and speeches.

In conclusion, I'm glad I won't have to go to another Wedding Expo.

Now I can say I've "Been There, Done That".

There is another Expo in Dunedin in August but I shan't be going.

Once you've seen one you've really seen them all.

I told L when we were walking out that an Expo like that would have been a lot more helpful if we had gone before or right after we had gotten engaged.

We're too onto it, so the things all those people were peddling didn't interest us, as we had already made all our own arrangements.


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In case you were wondering...
The wedding invitations are coming along nicely.
I have emailed our cake people and we are one step closer to sorting that out.
Hopefully we are getting some cupcakes of the cake flavours we want to try soon.
That'll be fun.

ALSO! This weekend L and I are gonna go look at vases/candle-holders/jars and also ribbons.
We are getting stuff done.
I am yet to feel any stress (which is a massive relief thus far).






DAYS TIL THE WEDDING: 256