One year on...

Just because I haven't updated this in a year, it doesn't mean I don't care!

Over the last two days I have been on a course for work, 'Construction Planning', if only I had been on that a year ago, I could have produced a full programme, found the critical path, analysed progress and alocated resources... OR, given that we spent some of this afternoon playing a (slightly irrelevent) board games that the course leader had invented, I could have spent the last year playing Monopoly. I am on a 'Commercial Awareness' course soon, if only I had these courses last year, would have been THE most precise wedding ever...

So anyway, this weekend was super-wedding-y:

Suits sorted (colour scheme against my advice, sensibly)

Make-up sorted

Meeting with the priest went well (despite me being incredibly and unjustifiably worried about him calling off the whole thing). I have had to speak to more priests than I have in my life this week. One from each of the parishes we have lived in since 16, and one for each of our birth certificates, then our local priest to see if we can attend a marriage prep course

Andjust to finish...

Current incarnation of my bouquet

That's everything sorted then...

So in the last week, what have I done?

• Stressed so much about the guestlist that I had a silent migraine (or rather, I am blaming the guest list)
• Asked 1/3 of my bridesmaids to be my bridesmaids, although I think an alternative title is required. After trawling the interwebs, in no particular order...Roadies, Support Staff, Bridal Ninjas,  Bridewranglers...
• Decided that a Brooch Bouquet >> Floral Bouquet (which means that my bridesmaids Ninjas will be asked to do some homework-finding about 200(?) brooches)

Kathryn has given me lots of ideas to consider (most of them involve dinosaurs, which is totally awesome) so once the venue is booked next month we can get to work deciding on 'themes', or rather what colour the napkins need to be.

Next job is discover everybody's secret skills.

The One Where Claire Goes To The Wedding Fair

So I went back home today to go to the local Wedding Fair with my mum and Andy's mum-I am now totally full of cake and generally overwhelmed by all the things which need* to be thought about. Also filled in about a million forms for junk mail/competition entries-will make a sticker with my details on if I go to one again!

We got 5 carrier bags full of information-in front of me there are now 2 carefully organised piles, one is the 'Stuff that may be useful one day' pile, the other is the 'What is this rubbish?' pile. 

The 'What is this rubbish?' pile is much bigger!

So we also went to drop in on one of our potential venues today, few more to visit before we think about thinking about somewhere.

It is the preliminary guest list that is causing me the most pain at them moment, between us we have 50+ cousin-y people on it! We need to strim it muchly...

*For need, read totally don't need

The very beginning...

Whoop-Andy proposed to me on 28th December, 2010.

It is all beginning to feel very real now-I have a ring on my finger, a draft guest list, a stack of wedding magazines and a ceremony venue sorted (but not a date yet...), but there is still a lot to do...

Next thing is to find the reception venue-there are at least 5 'standard-type' venues near-ish to the ceremony venue-it is all very exciting, or scary...


Then, in no particular order, food choices, music, dress, bridesmaids, transport, honeymoon, invitations...