Today we welcome back Samantha and Simon to the Blog and it seems that the panic may have set in a little for Samantha. With ony 6 months to go the to do list is getting bigger and Samantha has found herself with a whole load of jobs to do. At the same time though she has also realised the importance of taking time off from wedding planning to spend with Simon to make sure their relationship still grows in the midst of all those wedding planning duties.
I always think it’s a good idea to have some ‘non wedding’ date nights when you are planning a wedding, other wise the wedding can consume you as a couple, you must never lose sight of why you are getting married, no matter how long that to do list gets!

I’ll pass the Blog over to Samantha………. 

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all ok.
This past month we’ve had a few exciting wedding deliveries, we’ve been stressed, we’ve been tired and we’ve been really really cold. Winter has well and truly kicked in, the thick tights (me not Simon), scarfs and hats are out and nice cosy wrapped up evenings are being enjoyed!
After I sent out my last blog, Simon and I sat down and had a bit of a chat. When was the last time we had done something just the two of us? What was the last conversation we had that didn’t involve the word wedding? We actually couldn’t remember.
So we decided to make sure we set aside one night a month where we go for a nice meal and try to have a nice day out now and again. It’s so important to spend time together. You can get completely lost in all of the planning and the spending and the blogs and the Pins, that you don’t realise your real life is kind of taking a bit of a back seat!
So we went for a gorgeous Mexican meal, had a day out at our wedding venue for a beautiful lunch (amazing chips!) had a few lazy Sundays, got all face painted for Halloween, let off some fireworks and we’ve been on a very successful shopping trip to Chester – it was all going well in our Month Just For Us plan, until… well, we kind of realised that the wedding wouldn’t sort itself!

Slow Down Please!

Time flies when you’re planning a wedding, it flies too flipping fast! I had planned that we’d do something when we got to the 6 months to go mark, have a ‘ooh not long now!’ meal maybe – but the 6 months to go mark came and went without me even realising. It snuck up on me, how I have no idea because I’ve been giving regular updates on how many months, weeks, days, hours and minutes from an app I found literally the minute we booked the wedding! So the next time I looked it said 5 months and 28 days. Nope, this can absolutely not be right! Reload, reload, reload…yep, it’s definitely correct. Somehow, somewhere, I’d lost a month. Cue panic, a quick ‘oh my god’ text to Simon (who text back something very similar!) and a quick run over the list of things I was absolutely convinced we would have done by the time we got to this stage in the planning.

Ordered Cake…Nope. Found Music/entertainment…Erm, not even looked. Bridesmaid’s dresses…MUST do after Christmas. Simon’s suit…It will be fine, it will be fine, it will be fine… Invitations…INVITATIONS!!!!! Oh god. And in my last blog I said that I was half way through doing my save the dates? Well I’m still only half way through doing my save the dates.

So the lazy Sundays are on the back seat again and our time is now spent panicking/searching for everything that we still need! And the save the dates will now serve as the place cards, so all is not lost there! (Thank goodness because I’m quite proud of them!)

Tonight we’ve been talking to my mum who has given us a few ideas about the cake, so feeling a little bit better about that now – thanks mum!xx
I don’t know where to start with the music. I know that a cheesy DJ playing Oops Upside Your Head while we’re all sat on the floor (Oh god the thought) is just NOT for us. Luckily, with most DJs these days, you can completely hijack the play list so that would have to be a must! I’d like something completely different, but with budget and I suppose time, it’s quite difficult to get something unique. I will keep you posted on our progress with that one! It might be a case of ‘everyone grab a musical instrument and bring your best singing voice’! That’d at least be memorable anyway.
Now, bridesmaids. That shouldn’t be too difficult, should it?! I’m not having a huge bridal party, as we’re having a small wedding, I have kept my bridesmaids to two and they are my gorgeous cousins Sian and Bethany. Sian will be 18 and Bethany will be 9, so completely different ages will mean completely different styles of dresses! I would love a gorgeous duck egg blue, not a traditional bridesmaid dress though. Something pretty that they could possibly wear again. If we can’t find that exact colour, as long as it fitted in with the pastel colour scheme and they liked it I’ll be happy.

(Photo source  - by Nadia Meli)

The thing that we’re really struggling with though is the invitations.
I wasn’t panicking at all until my work friend (and sounding board for all things wedding when no one else wants to listen!) Stacey popped an invitation to her reception on my desk, her ‘at home’ celebration (after an amazing Barbados wedding ceremony!) being the week before ours! So that night I went home pulling my hair out and we spent the whole evening scouring the internet for inspiration. I so wanted to make them myself, if time would stand still for me for just a little while I probably could, but I have a feeling that’s just not going to happen. We sent for a sample invitation from a company that I see advertised a lot, the pictures looked so good and when it came in the post it was presented so beautifully! I left it unopened until I got home, we both sat down ready to be wowed by this gorgeous little package, but we were so disappointed! It just wasn’t what we were expecting and I so wish it was. We’ve sent off for more samples, hoping to be able to personalise them, so watch this space! Next month I’ll either be extremely happy or even more stressed!
A funny thing happened though this week. I wondered into a shop on my lunch and decided to flick through Wedding Ideas magazine. I buy this mag every pay day as my little treat and thought I’d have a look a bit early to cheer me up. I opened the Facebook brides page and there staring back at me…was me! I’d commented on a status a little while ago and they’d printed it! So while I’m worrying about all of these little things I was reminded, by myself, that everything will fall into place.
It was like the Me from a few weeks ago had come back to give the Me this week some positive motivation!

A Little Box of Shoe Heaven

So I mentioned we had a few exciting wedding deliveries this month. 3 of these deliveries were gorgeous cake stands that I’d been eyeing up for a while on Amazon – I swear if this was an actual shop I would be there every day!
But the most exciting package I received was my wedding shoes!
I’ve never actually been a big fan of shoes, reason being I have weird narrow feet and they all fall off. Honestly, it’s ridiculous. So I assumed it was going to be near impossible for me to find any as they absolutely have to have a strap over the top of the foot. And the other problem being, I did not want traditional wedding shoes. After looking at so many websites, a million might be a bit of an exaggeration but it really felt like it, it was like I was banging my head against a brick wall. White or Ivory, diamantes or sparkles, satin or silk. It was the same shoe over and over again just with a little tweak here and there.
I had an image of what I wanted in my head, something different but still beautiful. Something that I loved, not a pair that I bought just because it would go with my dress and had ‘wedding shoe’ in the description. I jumped onto Pinterest, typed all sorts of things into the search box and almost instantly came across The Perfect Pair of Shoes. I kid you not; there was even a little tear. They were in America on a great sight called Modcloth (no Simon you will not be able to find them just by the name of the website – honestly he’s dying to know what everything looks like) I showed them to my best friend Lauren who said ‘Do It!’ and I showed them to my mum who loved them too. So after a couple more days of trying to understand the $ and £ conversation rate, I went for it and was sooo excited as I was typing all my details in….and it didn’t work. ‘It’s not a sign, it’s not a sign’.
I have never had better customer service in my life than on this website, honestly I clicked the help button and a little screen popped up with an actual person on the other end! She was so lovely and helped set everything up, stayed on the ‘line’ to make sure it all went through ok – and I even got a little discount because I didn’t get mad. Bonus! I honestly couldn’t recommend Modcloth enough, it might be a pain with the shipping and extra fees when it gets here but the stuff is great and obviously if there are any issues they’re happy to help.
I had my shoes delivered to my mum and dad’s house, thinking my dad would be there in the day. Nope, he had waited in all morning and when he left the house they decide to turn up. Typical. So I found out that they were being held at a delivery company that wasn’t too far from my work and called them to let them know I’d pick them up. In pure Samantha style, I just about managed to find my way there and then got myself stuck in the reception/waiting area. I don’t think I was actually supposed to be able to let myself in but someone had left the door open, which slammed behind me. There was no one about and I looked all over for a way to contact someone or escape – none of which was jumping out at me. I had my face pressed up against windows looking down corridors, scaling the walls for an ‘out’ button, which luckily I did eventually find. When I got out, I then couldn’t find a way back in and was stood out in the rain, until I pressed what looked like an intercom button and from the other end came a stifled giggle and a ‘hello?’. I couldn’t be embarrassed, I wanted my shoes! All in the name of presentable feet hey. And I’m pleased to say the shoes are absolutely gorgeous in real life and totally worth any entertainment I may have provided to the people who worked there.

(Shoes By www.clairepennphotography.com)

I’ve heard a lot of people laugh about brides wearing colourful/patterned/different shoes. But it’s like anything, if it’s your day why not do it your way? I’ve loved seeing photos of real brides wearing shoes that totally reflect their personality.
I’ve also decided to look for some wellies just in case the weather isn’t too great. I absolutely love wellies anyway – in fact I got stuck half way up Mount Snowdon in my lovely pair earlier this year when it was snowing, because I refused to wear anything else (backfired a little!) So I can’t wait to find them and the great thing is I can definitely wear them after the wedding! Having a pair of wellies will mean that even if it’s pouring down we can still go outside in the grounds and how cute will the photos be?!

I’ll leave you for another few weeks – hopefully I will have organized a few more things!
See you soon and happy planning

Lots of love
Samantha xx

 

The post Diary of a Boho Bride – Samantha and Simon, Entry 3: 6 Months To Go and Still So Much To Do appeared first on Boho Weddings™.