The Wedding Dress
Posted on September 10, 2007 in the The Wedding Look category
I have ordered my Wedding dress!!! Yay!!! The most important decision has been made so I can now relax and start stressing about the other details. I’m not going to write too much about it as my fiancee Dave reads this and I don’t want him to know anything about it, all he needs to do is settle the bill when it arrives….hehehe
Wedding Plans at a standstill
Posted on September 8, 2007 in the General Wedding Plans category
I know I haven’t been updating as regularly now, thats because nothing has been happening with our wedding plans. We have only just decided that we are having the Banquet and Civil Ceremony in Nottingham. There is a slight hiccup as my parents are not that keen on having the wedding so far away. They are contemplating having another banquet in Birmingham as they know their friends will not travel that far and Birmingham is alot closer. The thought of this has been giving me and Dave a headache……….stress. I kinda agree with my parents on this, If we have it in Nottingham I don’t think half of their friends will turn up, then again they might prove me wrong. I know that our wedding will be a small one, I doubt we’re even going to have 20 tables.
We only have just over 6 months to plan our wedding and I am not freaking out just yet as my cousin managed to plan her wedding in under 4 months and my sister is doing well with her wedding plans. I think she only started planning 2 months ago even though she is getting married on October 2nd. I know I get things done when there’s a deadline, just watch me work LOL
My sister’s Hen night - Pad Thai & Indi Bar
Posted on September 6, 2007 in the Real Weddings category
It was a successful night, we managed to get my sister drunk, she was tired from waking up at 8am to go to Essex that day so she fell asleep when we got to the bar. LOL Can’t believe she missed half of her hen night. Anyway my job is done, now I have the next task to do, The Wedding Door games, I’m going to rope in the other bridesmaids to help me aswell.
The Hen
Me, Paige, Marina & Anne
Me, Helen & Mary
Michelle, Paige, Pauline, Helen, Thoi & Anne
Helen & the stripper
All the girls - Pauline, Anne, Paige, Michelle, Lee, Helen, Thoi, Me, Kim, Mary & Marina
When Helen fell asleep
Wedding in March or May
Posted on August 31, 2007 in the General Wedding Plans category
Another change in our Wedding plans, Dave has now said that we should get married in May, well his Dad said that March would be cold and wet, May has less chance of rain and it is warmer. So Dave cannot make his mind up, I don’t mind which month we get married in, if it was upto me I’d get married next month. Dave on the other hand would like the weather to be nice, I would like that too but no one can predict the weather in 7 months time.
Lets look at the past weather for March and May in the Midlands
March 2007
Average Temp 6.8°C
Rainfall 55.3mmMarch 2006
Average Temp 4.5°C
Rainfall 77.5mmMarch 2005
Average Temp 6.8°C
Rainfall 47.6mmMay 2007
Average Temp 11.5°C
Rainfall 110.8mmMay 2006
Average Temp 12.0°C
Rainfall 104.4mmMay 2005
Average Temp 11.1°C
Rainfall 38.2mm
Information from http://www.metoffice.gov.uk
So what does this tell us?? Well it seems like March is colder but May is wetter (except in 2005 when it was alot drier). Why don’t we just pick June then?? Its a more safer bet but thats like 10 months away. I can wait but I can’t control the weather. What would you prefer to have a rainy wedding or a cold wedding??
Wonder what else Dave will change next mmmmm MAYBE THE BRIDE????
Wedding Banquet - Birmingham Vs Nottingham
Posted on August 30, 2007 in the Wedding Venues category
Dave has now changed his mind about where we’re having our Wedding Banquet. We were originally going to have it in Birmingham, probably China Court but now he has suggested we have it in Nottingham - Mr Man’s, as its closer for his Dad. I have no problems with either city but we really need to decide ASAP so we can look for new venues for our Civil Ceremony.
Pros and Cons of having the Banquet in Nottingham
pro ;
1. closer location for Dave’s dad and nan
2. …………….I actually can’t think of any more advantages
cons ;
1. More travelling time in the car cos Dave has to come from Nottingham to Worcester then back to Nottingham.
2. My granny will have to sit in the car for longer and I’m not sure how she can deal with 1hr 30 mins drive.
3. My parents friends might not be able to make it cos they are all from Nottingham and they might not want to drive that far.
We’re still in ‘talks’ at the moment so we haven’t made any final decisions as yet. Dave showed me some pictures of his friend’s wedding which took place at Mr Man’s and I was not that impressed. I told Dave to take me to the restaurant so I can see it with my own eyes. My only reservation was that it didn’t look as nice as China Court, even though China Court isn’t the best but for chinese weddings it has a nice red wall with a gold dragon at the back which is great for pictures. Mr Man’s doesn’t have that at all, from the pictures all they had was a red plastic sheet which they hung on the wall and it didn’t look good to be honest.
Visiting Billesley Manor & Ettington Park Part II
Posted on August 22, 2007 in the Wedding Venues category
Ettington Park
32 miles from Worcester
43 miles to Birmingham
This venue is alot further away but if its worth it, we would sacrifice our sleep to make sure we wake up in time to get to this venue.
The front
The Long Gallery which is located on the 2nd floor. Its quite a dark room but can hold 96 people for a ceremony
The unusual ceiling in the Long Gallery
The South Room - which also holds upto 96 people for a Civil Ceremony but it is much brighter
The Library - which was set up for a wedding the next day. It holds 60 people and the room is very bright. If we held our ceremony here, we would also be getting the seat covers and red carpet too.
The Courtyard
The Gardens
Conclusion - We liked the rooms in this venue more than Billesley Manor but the gardens weren’t as nice. We still have other venues to visit before we make our final decision but so far this is the first choice.
Visiting Billesley Manor & Ettington Park Part I
Posted on August 22, 2007 in the Wedding Venues category
We went to visit 2 venues last week for our Civil Wedding. They are both in Warwickshire which is abit further than we’d like to travel but we want our wedding to take place somewhere nicer than the normal Registry Office. I took quite a few pictures but I won’t put them all here.
Billesley Manor
22.7 miles from Worcester
26 miles to Birmingham
The Front
The Entrance
The Great Hall - The biggest room in the hotel which has the license to hold Civil Ceremonies but as you can see it is quite a dark room.
The Great Hall also has a balcony which your guests can go to watch the Ceremony
The Library - A smaller room but theres abit more light, still quite dark though
The Side of the hotel
The fountain - which wasn’t switched on but the lady did say it would be on if we held our wedding here
Hunny waiting for me to go into the gardens
The amazing gardens based on Alice in Wonderland
Nice place for pictures maybe
Conclusion - We both liked the gardens but the rooms were too dark for us. We are still keeping this venue on the list but at the moment it won’t be our first choice
Color theme for bridesmaids dresses
Posted on August 18, 2007 in the The Wedding Look category
I’m stuck, I really don’t know what color I want my bridesmaids dresses to be. They will have to match the best men’s suits aswell. I am torn between Champagne or Green?
I also like this maize color
Hmmmmm what to do, I still have some time to decide (I think!)
Chinese Wedding Door Games
Posted on August 17, 2007 in the Chinese Wedding Traditions category
I have to organise the Wedding Door Games for my sisters wedding in October. I have come up with a few ideas but I think I need to be abit more evil.
So all the guys come to the house in the morning, all the gee mui’s are stood behind the door. We wait for them to ring the bell but we don’t answer, all we do is slip a piece of paper through the door and ask for £9999.99 or something along those lines. Then we wait for them to ring again. When we open the door, I will explain that if you don’t wait to pay that amount then you have to do the tasks that we have planned and for everyone that you complete, we will subract £100.
1. Pick one guy to brush their teeth with wasabi
2. Eat a banana from someones crotch
3. Put lipstick on and kiss someone for 10 seconds
4. Wear a baby’s bib whilst someone feeds you baby food
5. Wear a bright pink thong
6. Sing a love song
7. All stand in a line and pass a chilli along using mouths only
8. Wear a bra on your head
9. Wax somesone chest
10. Drink a mug of super strong cold coffee
and if thats not enough, theres one more task for the groom to do before we let him up to the bride. We block him on the middle of the stairs and make him read out this………
‘ I, Long promise to worship Helen forever and ever. I promise to not rush her when she is putting on her make up and getting ready, instead I will wait patiently and smile at her. I will let her go online every night for unlimited minutes or hours. Everyday I will make her a cup of tea when she wakes up and when she finishes work I will massage her feet for 10 minutes every night and not complain about the smell. Helen you mean the world to me I cannot live without you.’
Then we let him get his bride to be. I don’t know if we have time to do all 10 games but we have to be vicious and not let them time waste.
I found a clip on Youtube which I think I may copy the idea for game 7, instead of the chilli, use seaweed. It looks more fun.
Update on the search for a venue
Posted on August 13, 2007 in the Wedding Venues category
After a few days of me moaning to Dave about looking for a suitable venue, we finally found time to sit down together and search for a venue. We narrowed it down to 6 so far.
Highbury Hall in Mosely, Birmingham
Himley Hall in Dudley
The Nash in Kempsey
The Elms in Worcester
Ettingham Park Hotel in Warwickshire
Billesley Manor in Warwickshire
Dave has composed a speadsheet which we’ve filled in with the distance from Worcester to the Venue and from the venue to Birmingham City Centre. We have also stated what we like about each place so its getting abit more technical now, not just pen and paper LOL.
I rang 3 venues on Friday to see if we could go and view the venues on tuesday as we’re going down to Birmingham that day anyway. I rang Highbury Hall and explained that I was looking for a suitable venue for our Civil Wedding and if it was possible to just have the ceremony without the reception. She told me that the venue is for exclusive hire use only. So that one is off the list.
I then decided to ring the ones that I liked the look of, so I rang Himley Hall and they said it would be possible to just have the Civil Ceremony there and that we can view the venue between 2-5 weekdays apart from Monday. Success!
I also rang Ettingham Park and Billesley Manor and made 2 appointments to go and view it on tuesday. I would be great if we could and view Himley Hall too but I think that would be too ambitious so we’ll leave that for another day unless I fall in love with one of the 2 other venues, then the search will be over.
Himley Hall - I can’t find a decent picture online so this will have to do
Ettingham Park
Billesley Manor
Billesley Manor - Dave wasn’t too keen on this venue until he saw this picture of the rounded shaped hedges LOL
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