Etsy

As the end of the year draws near, I am so delighted to welcome one of our Belle Brides to the Blog, as Hollie C is asking Respondez S'il vous plait ! In this months post, Hollie is also asking for your advice when it comes to wedding films. We didn't have a wedding film and you can see my thoughts in the comments below - but do let Hollie know your thoughts, yes or no to a wedding film?

But time to catch up with Hollie: "Where has this year gone? I can't believe that it's almost Christmas, which means that we're almost into 2015, which in turn means I'll be able to say "I'm getting married this year"EEK!!

This last month in particular has been quite a busy one for wedding planning as not only have we begun wedding ring shopping but we've also been considering music, videographers, initial plans for the Hen and Stag do's and most importantly getting our invites finalised!

You might remember the blog I wrote earlier in the year about wedding invites [http://www.frenchweddingstyle.com/hollie-c-wedding-invites-and-websites/] and it's funny because so much has changed since then with the shenanigans we've been through with our original venue, so it made me smile re-reading it.

We had sincerely hoped to have sent our invites out much earlier than this to give people enough time to plan but the difficulties we've had with our venue have meant obvious delays, but now we're over that hurdle, I'm pleased to say that we're back on track and by the time you read this all of the invites should have gone out.

So here's a sneaky peak of the front of our invites:

We thought in the meantime it would be worth sending all of our guests a "Save the Date" email including a link to our wedding website with details of travel arrangements and accommodation for Chamonix.

As I said in my earlier post, I would highly recommend putting together a wedding website, as there is so much information that your guests will need to know so on a very practical level it means that you can keep your invites simple focusing on the main event without having to try and incorporate lots of extra sections. And of course the added bonus of a simpler invite is of course less cost, which any bride on budget will be glad to hear.

And speaking of budget, that's another really great reason to set up a website and that is that most of them are free to use - hurrah!

Sending the Save the Date email turned out to be quite a nerve-racking process but after a couple of test sends we set it up and pressed send. I genuinely felt nervous sending it, and it's funny how a simple email can suddenly make the whole thing seem so much more real.

But we've already heard back from some of our guests who are getting excited about the trip, so in turn that's making us feel really excited - eeek!

So as well as the invites, we've also been thinking about some more of the details for our day including whether or not to have a videographer?

We already have our destination wedding photographer sorted - the wonderful Tarah Coonan but we had never really planned to have a videographer.

After watching a few videos of weddings from potential videographers, I can see the appeal, it's like starring in your own movie; the emotion of the ceremony, heartfelt words from family members and guests all against a backdrop of the couple's favourite love songs, it does give you that 'movie' feel, and I love the idea of having a video record of the day to pass down to generations to come.

But unfortunately, we don't have infinite funds and between Mat and I we're trying to weigh up the value of having a videographer because if we do hire one, it would likely mean sacrificing something else.

So I'd be really interested to know from other Brides / Brides to be, what your thoughts are on a wedding video? Did you / are you planning to have one? If you didn't have one, do you feel as though you missed out on anything? And if you did have one, did it turn out as well as you'd hoped?

So all in all it's been a busy few weeks, and although both Mat and I are looking forward to a nice break over the festive period, it feels great to be edging closer to our big day!

Joyeux noel! xx

If you are looking for ideas and inspiration on planning your wedding in France, don't forget you can catch up with Hollie C and fellow Belle Bride Fiona and you can find all the Belle Brides past and present here.