Alternatives to a veil

Whilst a veil may be traditional they are certainly not compulsory. It all depends on the style of your dress and how formal/informal your wedding is.

Just because you dont go for a veil, doesn’t mean you need to miss out on headgear all together though. There are some great alternative (and budget!) options

Dahlia fashion in london have some gorgeous vintage headbands that would set off an informal boho/retro dress beautifully

gorgeous headbands from http://www.dahliafashion.co.uk

Or, for a more informal trendy wedding, why not try a birdcage veil, like these from Lily Bella (starting at a very reasonable £14.99)

gorgeously stylish- from http://www.lilybella.co.uk

Personally, my dress had enough detail, so I just went for a combination of flowers

Sometimes a few flowers or a clip is just right

Sweet rainbow colour!

I am completely in love with this rainbow cake idea from sweetapolita.com . Originally for a child’s birthday I can see so many applications to the plan: A fun themed wedding cake, that has a colourful surprise when you cut it? Maybe just one tier of rainbow colour? Why not get guests to ‘doodle’ on or sign the cake before you cut it?

from http://sweetapolita.com

Or maybe, as a twist on the ‘sweet table’ or cupcake trend you could do ‘decorate your own’ cupcakes? I can see plates of multicoloured cupcakes, covered in white icing, and a whole load of writing icing tubes and sprinkles at tables…

Ask guests to take polaroids of their cakes before eating- and collect them on a board for a twist on the traditional guestbook. Oh yes, the possibilities are endless

Anyway- these colourful pics should be enough to inspire your creative juices!

How can you use this idea?

Clowning around

The clown theme

 

So, having decided to go with a fun, circus/clown feel to our wedding, we booked an entertainer from Froggle Parties to wander around the tables.

Dressed in a typical froggle outfit, Ben our entertainer did a sterling job making children of all ages (including the very grown up ones) smile.

From bubbles to balloon hats, the guests had lots of fun, and combined with our red nose favours the entertainment provided some great photo opportunities too!

Froggle: http://www.froggleparties.com

One of my friends, a mum of three said it was “The most child friendly” wedding she’s been too- and was worried the kids would expect all weddings to come complete with clown and comedy swords!

I’d initially thought the entertainer would just be there to keep the kids happy, but actually the way it worked out he ended up keeping everyone happy- and the end result was just as good as having a magician or more ‘grown up’ performer for our guests and really cemented the joyful feel of the day. Very good value for money!

…and noses are red too

which isn’t a comment about colds or alcoholics!

We decided that rather than go for sugared almonds or other kinds of overpriced table favours, we wanted to do something charity related. But a little piece of paper saying “a donation has been made in your name” whilst commendable,  somehow didn’t feel majorly fun.

The solution?

we did something ‘funny for money’ and raided our local Sainsburys for 150 red nose day noses (bought before the March deadline).

We put them into stylish balloon weight boxes (cheaper than ‘official’ favour boxes) along with some colourful pots of bubbles and the all important map to the boat.

On the outside- a nicely presented wedding favour. On the inside- a little box of fun! They provided much laughter and photo opportunities as well as being a charity donation towards a good cause.

Easier to pull off when your other half is a clown- but it could work at any circus themed/carnival wedding.

"something funny for money"

Roses are red…

And if you’re on a budget, and a little bit crafty- they can be wooden too!

Whilst I do adore fresh flowers, I’m also a little bit allergic and asthmatic, and we were on a tight budget, so, as I blogged about before the wedding, I decided to make my own floral decorations/bouquets from wooden roses.

The roses can be bought from numerous suppliers on ebay in a whole range of crazy colours. Unless you are after thousands, they tend to average at around £10-£15 for 100-200 stems.

I bought 100 red, 50 ivory/cream, 50 yellow and 50 blue stems, along with some grasses, ribbon, floristry pins and tape.

I started off making my bouquet and found the wire stems of the wooden roses very easy to manipulate into shape. I went for a small tear-drop shape, and worked on the principle of 3s (which is something I’d read about in flower arranging articles- basically putting three roses at the centre, and working out from there, adding three of each colour as I went.)

I added some curled grasses, secured it with green floristry tape and covered the handle in organza ribbon before adding some pearl headed pins to the centre of some of the roses for added ‘bridal’ effect.  The resulting flowers were bright, fun and looked really nice in photos 🙂

I almost wish I hadn’t thrown them to the single ladies at the end of the night!!

I made button holes using the same flowers, and combined colours to make a bunch for the lectern in church. The remaining stems were wound around archways or put into vases for the reception.

One of the best buys of the whole wedding I think!

Photograph taken by Jonathan Self; all rights reserved 2011. http://www.jonathanself.co.uk

The budget wedding dress

As I posted a few months ago, I took the plunge and ordered a dress online, which I then got customised by a local seamstress  in Putney, as well as getting the normal alterations you would expect (taking up length).

The total cost of the gown including delivery was £230 and I paid £200 for the alterations and customisation (including a lovely wrap which was made from the excess material). This was amazingly good value given the volume of material involved and the fact that my seamstress was taking up 4 layers of material when she altered the length.

Normal wedding dress alterations apparently come in at around £150, so for essentially £50 extra I got a totally customised gown- Awesome!

The proof of the dressing is, in the wearing, however- so without further ado here’s an unofficial snap:

the final creation!

I now pronounce you

Man and wife!

Man and wife!!

So, the lack of blogging over the last few weeks has been because on 16th April myself and My lovely man finally said ‘I will’ infront of our friends and family and before God.

We’ve been chilling out (Everyone had said we’d need a break after the stress of organising the wedding, but I didn’t realise HOW tired we’d be, so the last two weeks R&R were so appreciated) and remembering the wonderful colourful joyful occassion that was our wedding.

There’s so much to tell- and lots of things that I couldn’t blog about before, because they were a surprise, so now I’ll be continue the blog with snippets, reviews, photos and and some further top tips.

Not got our official pics yet, but when we do, I’ll post pics of the dresses/flowers so that you  can see how the plans all turned out.

The day was truly amazing- and I’ll tell you more about that in due course but I still maintain that the marriage is the most exciting (and important) bit.

Right now, I’m sitting in my new house, the bank holiday sunshine is streaming in through the window, and my new husband just brought me breakfast in bed. We’ve spent the last few days making our home, and enjoying living together for the first time. We have had the odd disagreement, and our car just broke down for the 4th time in the space of a few weeks (I wouldn’t want to paint an unrealistic picture of wedded bliss), but we’ve grown together even in the last few weeks and I cant really describe how right and natural it feels to be his wife.

The glamour/fun and excitement of the wedding is a great memory, but the reality of travelling through life with my best friend by my side is starting to sink in- and I’m so so so excited (and overjoyed) about that journey!

Wedding prep and marriage prep

 

For the last month, my hubby to be and I have been attending a ‘marriage preparation’ course. Preparing for the marriage, is in my view much more important than preparing for the day- since the day is over in 24 hours, whereas the marriage is for a lifetime.

We’re attending the one run by our church, St Helen’s, but faith aside, many now believe that doing marriage courses really help set the right foundations and protect your future marriage from the outset.  Mostly, I think because any course worth its weight will address the expectations that both sides have before tying the knot.

We did a hugely detailed ‘expectations survey’ before starting our marriage prep, and whilst it was good chance to talk through some big issues (money/ children/ sex etc) we had already discussed most of it in the course of our relationship. However, such discussions are essential- in her book ” The art of Marriage” Catherine Blyth notes that many modern couples today have not properly discussed such big things as children and finances before they walk down the aisle! Crazy- if you ask me!

The main thing I will take away from our course though, is that when you get married, you are marrying a wonderful, but imperfect person, and that you yourself are not perfect either. To put it bluntly- we are both two sinners, who are trying to forge a life together.  As such, the pattern of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation (that incidently is at the heart of the christian faith) is essential for anyone wanting a lasting marriage. That, and the remembering of the vows that glue us together more than even love itself.

“I made a mistake” “I was wrong” “I’m sorry” “I forgive you” “I love you” are some of the most essential words in any relationship- especially marriage, and I suspect we will be saying them many times over the coming years.

French cruise and bargain booze

A spot of celebratory french fizz

Some would say that a dash over the channel for cheap wine isn’t worth it any more because the exchange rate isn’t what it used to be. However, when we were investigating buying the wine for our afternoon reception, it definately looked like you could still make a significant saving- especially if your wine superstore pays for your ferry crossing!

We pre-ordered £300 worth of wine and fizz from the Calais wine superstore, they paid for our crossing from Dover, and today we went to France and got all the wine for the wedding. Although we had preordered some things, it was with the understanding we’d be able to taste their wines and change our minds about what we wanted, so long as we still spent over £200.

It was a gloriously sunny day in France too, which topped up our vitamin D stores nicely!

Tasting the wines was essential. (And because we were both sharing the drive, we did a lot of swilling and spitting- very attractive!)

In the end, we hated the Echo Falls wines we had pre-ordered (which costs around £6 a bottle in the UK and only £2 per bottle in Calais) but fell in love with two ‘premium’ wines by a fairly new chilean brand “Gran Tierra” . We saved a good £4-£5 on each bottle by buying from the French wine store compared to UK retail prices. Multiply that up by 60 bottles and even though the Euro exchange rate is not so great, that’s a saving of almost £300 on the table wine alone. We then got some really nice tasting french fizz and saved a further £4 per bottle, making over £400 worth of savings. Not to be sniffed at, and definitely worth the trip.

The ring that means the most

What could mean more?

Its the moment many ladies dream of- when in a suitably romantic location (under a streetlamp in my case) the man of your dreams drops to one knee, tells you he loves you with all his heart and produces a sparkly ring- hoping that you will agree to spend the rest of your life with him.

In my case, the girl said  ‘yes’ the ring went on the finger and from that moment on, I had a visable reminder of that agreement and that in just a few months time, I will be fully promising to be a wife- til death do us part.

On the tube, at work, out shopping, the sparkles remind me of my man, of the blessing of our relationship and  of the promises to wed that we have made. That’s the beauty of a ring-unlike necklaces or earrings which are more of an outward adornment, you catch sight of it yourself all the time- and it becomes not just jewellry, but an inward reminder too.

In a month’s time, I’ll be adding a  second ring to that finger- a sign to myself and the world of the even bigger promises I’ll make on my wedding day. The vows we take before God during the ceremony are serious- and, as was mentioned at a recent marriage prep session we went to, will glue us together. I’m in the process of learning those vows- not so that I can recite them on the day, but rather so I can remember them throughout my marriage.  The ring on my finger will symbolise both my love for my husband, and the promises that we have made, and be a constant reminder of those as I walk through life.

My diamond and platinum engagement ring is easily worth 5 times the amount of my wedding ring, but its the wedding ring that will ultimately be more valuable to me- because what it symoblises is a greater promise, of greater worth.

All very well and good- but would it shock you to know that on  my other ring finger I wear a ring that will always be even more valuable to me than either my wedding or engagement rings?

What could be more valuable than promising a lifetime to another?

I bought the other ‘mystery’ ring myself, in a secondhand jewellers in Fulham a few years ago, it has a tiny point diamond in, and it set me back the grand total of £28.

The reason I bought it, was that I had been totally struck by how the promises of God to us far outway any human promise or relationship. I had gone through a tough time, and I had been drawn to meditating and studying on the amazing promises of God in the bible. They are numerous, but include:

To love us,

To never leave or forsake us

To make all things work for the good of those who love him

To prepare a place for us in heaven

To call us children, and as such we can call him Father

To, through Christ, remove our sins from us- as far as the East is from the west.

I memorised some of these promises and used the symbolism of the ring to help remind me of the deep commitment and love of my creator.

Indeed, God’s promises to his people are described as a covenant- the most unbreakable and serious of promises. And, unlike marriage- these are eternal rather than just lifelong.

So thats why this ring is more valuable. whilst one sparkly finger reminds me of a wonderful man who has won me for a lifetime, the smaller, humbler ring reminds me of a passionate loving father, who has, through his son, won me for eternity.