hydrangea update #3

Ok, I know these are usually boring, but I promise this one is pretty!! Any of you lovely people heard of freecycle? its an amazing way of getting things for free that you need and other people don't want. Anyway, I posted on there a while ago about wanting hydrangea heads to dry for the table centres, and today I went and cut these lovelies. I got about 20 heads, but I left plenty on the plant, i'm hoping she'l let me back later in the year to take more! They are so dreamy, like clouds of candyfloss. except one had an earwig in it. So theyre hanging in the garage to dry. I can't wait to see if this works. I really don't know how many I need per wreath, but thats what these are for I s'pose, trial runs and all that...

evening entertainment.

board games at a wedding! :D what a fantastic idea! because I think you all know by now I'm not what you might call the biggest fan of dancing...

via A Practical Wedding photo by the couples friends.

via a practical wedding, photos, not sure, please correct me if you know?

This is definately an idea I'm considering, I think it would make people feel far more comfortable about sitting around rather than feeling they have to dance. Opinions?

Umbrella love

It's probably just because of the rain, but I'm still loving the idea of cute umbrellas at the wedding...

vintage umbrella photo by Jenny Jimenez via A Perfect Wedding

I love all the different umbrellas in this shot, they look so cute together!

heart shaped umbrella photo by David Mcneil from Tea and Whimsys engagement shoot

I've waxed lyrical about my love for rosalies heart shaped umbrella before, but I just adore it.

rainbow umbrella shot by Jen Huang via Snippet and Ink

And I just love the rainbow golf umbrella, its obviously the most practical option, but really, practicality isn't always my strong suit. strangely, since I've actually got round to writing this post, its not raining. But isn't that just the way.

happy days.

Thank you thank you thank you you lovely peoples. It has become quite strangely reassuring and exciting to come on here to find lovely comments from of you :), and to find that my number of followers jumped by almost 50% today (from 3, to 5 I might add. it wasn't a massive jump!). I'm greatly enjoying finding more blogs to read, and I'm equally enjoying the increased freedom on here now that I've relaxed my self imposed rules on subject matter for my blog.

Anyway, on the wedding front, the little things happening in the next few weeks are:

tomorrow, meeting up with sister in law to be as she's offered to make the cake. I'm not sure she's realised how much I love cake, but I'm sure she soon will! Anyway, she's dug out all the baking tins she was given by a friend - lots apparently - so that we can have a look through and see what might work. On the cake front, we decided fairly early on having had a quote that shocked me for cake, to buy a basic one from M&S and tie ribbon or lace round it, and instead to spend the money on a couple of beautiful individual cake stands that we could keep for ever and be able to say 'we had our wedding cake on that' in 50 years time. More on them another day I feel.

In a couple of weeks we are going to stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Shropshire. We have an ulterior motive for this visit, in that we hope to be able to ask one of them to perform part of our ceremony. In the mean time, until I go, I want to read through the different wedding services. I believe there are 3 versions of the same service that are still legally binding, and I have a feeling that I will prefer one of the older ones. Then just to convince the vicar. ha! good luck on that one...

lastly, because I have no idea how you all find these lovely pictures you post each day, I leave you with a picture of my older cat, Benny, who I found in my wardrobe this morning, amongst my dresses...

money rears its ugly head.

Theres been some wedding dilemmas going on chez us overnight. We started tackling the problem of entertainment the other day. This is the part that scares us most (or at least me) because we are not party throwers extraordinaire, and dancing is like a phobia to me. I got this fear from my dad I think. I don't want to be like this, I'd love to shake my booty like beyonce (and I've got plenty booty to shake) but I a) don't have the confidence, and were someone to drag me out onto the dancefloor, I would actually just sit down in the middle of the floor. Its irrational I know, but that's what I'm like. Its not exactly what James would say was his favourite pastime. Please don't think we are complete losers, (especially you Peonies since you have to spend the day here!) we just like relaxed funtime drinks and eats, rather than mad dancing.


That's rather why we liked our reception venue, there isn't a prescribed dance floor, waiting yawningly for us to get up onto it. We do, however, totally realise that as my family are travelling from the other end of the country, we can't just tell them to sod off at 7pm. (that and we wouldn't get to stay in the hotel after!) So in my mind it looks rather like a sort of jazz club, with some relaxed music playing from a 3-piece in the corner, with a few people dancing away (that aren't me!) and other people sitting around chatting and enjoying themselves.


I contacted - and by contacted i mean looked for in costas every day for a month, and then ran into him on the street when I had given up hope - a friend who used to do live music nights at the pub I worked in, to see if he could do anything akin to what we'd been hoping for, and he can, it turns out. In fact he suggested it before I'd had time to say it myself.


Then I had one of my day to day panics - its my favourite pastime - that the venue might not be able to have live entertainment. I don't know why I had this panic, it was fairly stupid thinking about it, but still. The basic response I got was that if you're not having a marquee (we weren't) then music is usually played on a hifi. er, no thank you. So we thought we'd go for a marquee. Then my mum audibly baulked at the word marquee this morning. So I had another panic, and rang the venue again. She was right to baulk. have you ever contemplated hiring one of them?! I'm in the wrong job. seriously. Which i could have told you anyway, but that's another story. At a ball park figure, it worked out more to hire a fully decked out marquee than it is to hire out the entire hotel for the night, and feed 70 guests, and to stay there, and have breakfast the next morning?!?! WHAT? I need to get me some tents.

So we're not having a marquee. If any of you have actually got to this point, I'm sure you'll be sighing an audible sigh of release on behalf of my mother, who I'm sure you'd like to know has escaped that heart attack the idea of a marquee was close to giving her. We must have sounded like really naive idiots for thinking they were an affordable addition to a wedding, ( I might add that these are stunning gorgeous fully heated draped carpeted marquees, but still) but for about 12 hours, we were happy with this idea because it meant we could invite more friends to the evening reception. That ideas been scrapped though, and potentially replaced with just inviting those friends and others to a party at home after the wedding (if I wasn't a partyer before I will be after this friggin wedding). i do sort of like the idea of a party though, as it gives me the chance to do all those DIY decorations that it annoys me I can't do for the wedding itself.

Back to the band. When I spoke to the venue lady this morning, during the conversation where I tried to keep my cool while being quoted redonkulous amounts for tents, she also let me know that it is possible to have the band in the bar room, dependant on numbers. So we're sort of back to where we started now. we can have a band, we don't have to have a marquee. whoop de doo. seriously. thats 24 hours of panic and worry I needn't have had...

a very tart tart.

This evening I turned these...

Into this:

...a very zingy lemony tart tart. I cheated on the pastry bit, (I havn't mastered pastry yet) so I just had to make the lemon curd for the filling. yum. It was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe, but I can't find a link online. night night.

branching out.

So, after a lot of deliberation (well, a few hours), a bit of poking from Hannah, and a bit of blog envy, I might open this blog up a bit. I started this blog because I wanted to be able to talk about my wedding without boring the hind legs off my bridesmaids and hubby to be, but now I'm finding that I want to be able to talk about other things that I find, or do, and its frustrating that I feel it has to be wedding related. I still intend to start up another blog at some point, because like I said in the comments on my previous post, I don't think I want potential clients and customers to be able to read all the personal details of planning my wedding, or my day to day life on what should be a professional blog. But for now, I think I'm going to put it all in here. Partly because I can't yet decide on a blog name for my 'official' blog, and partly because I'm not yet ready to start writing it. then later on, in a month, maybe 3, maybe 6, when I start another blog, I'll decide what goes in what blog, and any of you who are reading this (anyone?) can decide whether you want another blog on your lists. So I'm sorry if this annoys you, but bloggings also a personal (public) thing right? There will still be weddingness here, with out a doubt, I'm still getting married after all! But I've been scared of seeming rather one sided to you all, there is far more that I'm interested in, worry about, like to look at, than, say, wedding flowers. ( I do love me some wedding flowers though).

So...heres the highlights of the weekend that I wanted to share with you. Yesterday I went (with a dear friend and bridesmaid) to Potfest in the park. its not as drug fuelled as you may imagine, in fact its not at all drug fuelled. Its one of two festivals by the same name, run by the same people, which celebrate and promote local, national, and international ceramic artists, in the beautiful settings of a country house.

See?:

Hutton in the Forest.

ceramics by Janet Halligan

teapots by: Virginia Graham

platters by: Charlotte and Sigerd Bohmer (no website unfortunately)

These last bowls almost made me cry with their prettyness. Seriously. We were planning to go back today, James and I, but the weather was so rubbish we didn't. I was hoping that I would get one of these, but it was not to be. They were so lovely. Ho hum. When we were there though, we met one of our college tutors who was exhibiting there, he told us about the walled garden at the back of the house (does that really count as a house? it had turrets. also I wanted to get married there.) so we went for a wander in there too, which was lovely.

See?:

All in all, a lovely morning was had. I just wish I'd had the money to buy the things I loved there. Thy weren't even expensive, I'm just uber skint. And I just found out that the one thing I did buy, a really cute tiny tile with a blue bird on, was made literally two villages away from my parents home! Phew, did that go ok?

p.s. on a technical note, why will blogger not allow me to drag my photos down through my post now, when it used to? I have to move it down bit by bit now, its irritating as hell, and I don't think I've done anything to change it. Or do all you clever people out there have some different way of doing things?

apologies.

sorry I'm not being very evident at the moment. I'm still here, commenting and enjoying other blogs, but I'm not feeling very weddingy so theres not much to post about. I'm having a fairly rubbish week, and the wedding has sort of taken a back burner in my mind. We have been playing around with the invitations, so I'll post about that soon, but I've been busy creating instead, because I'm getting really sick of not doing what I want to with my life. I may start another blog soon, a sort of everything else blog where I can post about my work, but I'll tell you all when I start that up. Speak soon :) xx

p.s. every time I post about being non-weddingy, about 4 wedding posts appear in my head, so I'll probably be back sooner than I think!

etsy arrivals :)

I realised that I never showed you the things I bought from etsy when they arrived. So here they are:

They're certainly all very pretty, I'll be honest though, inches do become bigger in my head than they really are, I think. So these may not get used quite the way I imagined. The idea for the guest book is still there though. The heart shaped doilies though, now they are gorgeous. so gorgeous I decided they warranted their own photo. I love them. I really want to get on and make this idea become real, I'm just scared to fold the doilies. that and I dont have any card yet. but when I do, you'll be the first to know!


And I think I might have found a lovely thing to hold them all in once its done...

letter organiser from yaneshops on etsy...as usual!

I've actually seen a couple on etsy, but I'm going to keep one to myself for the moment, I can't really afford this right now, even though its not expensive, the recession and that holiday last week are hitting my wallet a bit at the moment. what do you think? I'm loving hearing from you all, keep the comments coming (as long as they're nice!).

yay!

Thank you so much, Hannah of seeds and stitches! you would not believe how happy this made me, to be given an award! I really don't feel particularily worthy of it, having only been blogging for a month or so, and because I write appalingly but thank you so much!

Apparently I am allowed to bask in the blog lovin glory, but I've quietly (no-one in the real world knows I blog) done that for several hours now, so I'll continue to the next option of passing it on. I only have a small list of blogs I'm following at the moment, so I'll be super selective :)

Favourite blogs:

Accordions and Lace - just wonderful. she really makes me feel like shes letting me into her life with every post

Tea and Whimsy - because her wedding will be wonderful, and its been a joy to see her planning

(I blogged about both of these lovely ladies just the other day too, I'm not stalking I promise!)

iDIY - I only just discovered this properly, and my weddings already benefiting from it!

Peonies and Polaroids - IMHO this woman should be a writer. But I'm glad she isn't, because then she wouldn't be photographing my wedding! Go read her blog - but then, you probably all already do!

EDIT: see hannah, what happens when you give an award to a dummy like me? I forget to tell my awardees what to do with it?! anyway, either you can just enjoy the blog loving I gave you, or pass it on to any blogs you love yourself.

And if she hadn't passed it to me, I'd pass this award to Seeds and Stitches - she took a crocheted blanket camping, and has named her veg patch for Gods sake. what more do you need?! Thank you Hannah, you made my day :D

DIY #2

Remember the linen I said I bought while I was in Edinburgh? well the little pile on top of the photo with the rosebuds on are a set of 4 linen hankies. Did I say all of this already? I don't remember, so I'll say it again. I was thinking I could embroider each bridesmaids name on their hankie and pop it in their bag with some other things. So for once I thought I'd start a projct straight away rather than letting it sit in a box for a year. However, as my embroidery skills are generally mediocre, I wasn't going to put needle to linen straight away, I thought I should practice first, and heres the result.

Its a bit scratchy in places, but overall not bad? I think I might make the thread thinner for the real thing, I used some embroidery thread I had lying around to try this out, those ones where they come 6 threads together, I used 3 together for this so I'm going to take it down to 2 for the real thing. For anyone who wants to know, I printed off the name in a font I liked (scriptina - free from dafont ) pinned it to the back of the fabric once it was stretched in the hoop and traced it with one of those fabric pens that disappear after 24 hours, and then used back stitch to sew it. It wasn't rocket science but I'm quite pleased!

May you grow old together...

Every post I've thought about writing over the past few days has seemed rather trivial. The reason for this is that I've just realised (I'm slow, I know) that two of my favourite bloggers are much closer to their DATE than me, and are actually, properly getting married soon. I know this isn't my fault in any way, I just feel that posting about bits of lace, and flowery thoughts isn't really important. So I thought instead, I'd just send out my own personal early congratulations to them both. Tea and Whimsy and Accordions and lace are two very together ladies who have put so much thought and emotion and love into their weddings, that I know they will be just wonderful. I can't wait to see the pictures and news from your big day's - for A&L its 2 weeks away, T&W about 6 - and I just wanted to wish you both all the best. I hope married life brings you each much happiness!

p.s. trivial posts about lace will return, I promise!

Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt.

I just found this on Etsy. how amazingly beautiful is it? useless, in Cumbrian weather terms, but bea-uti-ful. yum. shockingly lovely.

parasol: lado on etsy

hydrangea update #2

The slowest, most boring update in the world, but I started so I'll finish. One bush is now almost entirely open. And oddly, two different shades. this photo, both heads are on the same bush, some a vivid electric blue, while some are lilac.

Unfortunately (for the wedding, not for the garden) some of the bushes seem to be lacecap hydrangeas, like the one below. pretty, but not useful.

So thats where I'm at. that and lusting after crazy cat ladys pinky red hydrangeas over the road. Now I'm on decent terms with her (she was feeding my cats for quite a while, even once she knew they weren't strays - I'm stupidly protective of my boys) I'm considering asking her if I can dead head her hydrangeas later in the year. last year they went an amazing red colour.

Mainly I'm just posting this so I can show of the pretty photos the new camera is capable of taking! I know no-one except me cares about the hydrangeas...honest...

Almost forgot...

Its so much easier to come home, when you have this to come home to :)

I'm baa-aaack...

We've eaten lots, drunk more coffee than I care to remember, and walked for miles. Thanks for your recommendations, we've been on wedding research trips, climbed very high monuments, meandered round the botanic gardens, met old friends, and I've shopped my little socks off.

I spent about an hour in a barnados vintage shop on the Grassmarket (thanks Peonies for the tip:)) going through a hamper of linens and lace talking to the lovely lady in there. I came out with this lot:

Most of its just because it was pretty. One or two of them, with pretty bits of embroidery on, I thought I could sew into pinnies with cute front pockets on, but the reason its on my wedding blog (yeah, I know I don't always talk about my wedding, but meh) is because I found this sweet set of four linen hankies with rosebuds embroidered on them. I thought I might embroider the bridesmaids names on them or something and put them in their bags maybe... (this list of DIY projects grows by the day!) and maybe do the fourth one for Mum. even if I don't, they'd be nice stocking filler one year...or another pinny...

I also went in Paperchase. Oh what a mistake. I can't cope with stationary shops, they're an addiction to me. I deliberated over my purchase in there for 2 days. I bought a linen covered photo album as a potential wedding album. The package we have with lillian and leonard is digital only, so we get lots of images, not in an album (which we like, this isn't a bad thing - before we were getting not so many pictures in an album) so I suddenly realised that I get to pick an album of my very own :) - I like photo albums. Cue looking at all those silvery shiny sparkly covers with 'wedding' and horseshoes and love hearts on the front.

No.

So I bought this.

I deliberated over these for quite a while like I said. they had different sizes and shapes and colours. I was very tempted by the purple, but like James said, the linen colour is more weddingy, and I might hate purple in 20 years. so I went with linen. The size was sort of decided for me by the shop, who only had it in A4 in the type of page I wanted, but it was cheaper than the massive square one, so I'm down with that. Like I think I said before, I want to do a sort of guest book thats incorporated afterwards into this album, so hopefully I can put messages from my aunt, next to a picture of my aunt - for example - So I wanted large enough pages that I could mess around with the layouts, and so that we can print up some of the images larger too if we want to. I actually had to ring my mum about this album, I must have sounded like such an idiot in the shop:

me: 'is it mad that I want to buy a photo album for the wedding 15 months in advance?'

mum:'no...'

me:' its just so pretty and nice and doesn't have horseshoes on. Do you think I should?'

mum: 'you're a big girl now, you can make this decision yourself'

me:'ok.....'

Seriously.

In my defence, its really pretty, and if I find an even better one before the wedding i can use this for my first babys album or something - now thats preparation.

Finally, we went to the shop in Morningside that I've been talking to about paper for the stationary. I expected James to do what he usually does when I enter a shop, and stand in the corner only offering opinions when expressly asked. but no, he offered them! he got involved, he took card of shelves and showed me it. I've had several sample packs from them - basically they sell papers and card, including a wide range of recycled papers, and ribbons, and tools, and envelopes, either just a sheets, or they do kits of stationary designs. They will cut/print for you, and the guy was generally the nicest most helpful person ever in a shop. So we ummed and ahhed for quite a while, picked up envelopes and put them down and so on. A groom came in who had apparently been in the day before doing what we were doing then, looked at us, and told us that he had spent 3 hours choosing theirs. That scared me. So we hurried up. We bought some card in cream and a sort of burgundy colour, a lovely insert paper which is apparently made in a bucket in india, so no two batches are ever the same (it was this fact that convinced us just to buy enough sheets there and then - he said he would return it anytime in the future if we didn't use it!!)and some envelopes in both colours.

We're going to make up some trial invites etc in the two colours to see what we like more. I was so chuffed James got in on this, he'd not been bothered before, but its hard to see paper online, so the shop was great. I can't recommend them highly enough, the service was great. If you're wanting to make your stationary yourself, give them a call.

So thats my trip to edinburgh in a weddingy nutshell. I had a wonderful break, but I'm glad to be back. more tomorrow I think.

me myself and I.

sorry I'm not being very communicative at the moment. theres a lot of things suddenly going on around me, and I'm taking my time to sort it all out in my head. These aren't bad things, in fact in the long run they're really good things, its just a shock to me right now. I'm not really able to talk about it yet, as its not my news to tell, so I have to keep schtum til the weekend at least. I also understand that not many of you will probably care, as despite posting lots of things that I like on here, and personal ideas, I've not given you anything of myself, which I think I should maybe rectify now. I don't know where to start, and I don't want to turn this into a diary entry, so I'll just tell you random things which come to mind about me.
I'm an only child.
I like cookery and home improvement programmes (Hugh fearnley-whittingstall might actually be an idol of mine)
We're trying to grow some of our own vegetables this year.
My cats are my babies :) until I have real babies :)
I love weaving because of the pattern, repetition and watching a cloth being created in front of me. But I hate my current apathy towards it all.
I could eat pudding all day long.
I'm keeping a scrapbook of pictures and samples for decorating our house with.
I hardly drink at all, but I love a pear cider. One gets me happily drunk.
I cry when I think about walking up the aisle to the altar.
Only one person in the real world knows I'm blogging.
I love pistachio and tiramisu ice cream when I'm in Italy.
I literally CANNOT wait for the new harry potter movie.
Last week I tried to care for a baby sparrow we found in the garden.
I like my steak rare.

Anything else? Answers on a postcard - the comments box will do - if you want more from me.

summer jollies.

picture: martin burns on flickr

ok, I'm not 'off' my wedding, I just don't have anything to report at the moment. We are, however, taking a much needed break to Edinburgh starting sunday. any (reasonable) suggestions welcomed, for places to visit/eat/drink/do in the centre ish of the city. I have some old college friends who we're hopefully going to meet up with, I can't wait! We havn't been for a couple of years, which is stupid since we live so close, so we're hoping the restaurants we went to last time are still there! We found a lovely teeny tiny mexican in the old town, and Howies near the grassmarket possibly gave me the best meal I've ever eaten in my life. I wanted to go to the zoo, see the baby pygmy hippo thats just been introduced to the world, but its £14 EACH to get in?! so thats maybe off the cards. anyway, any ideas welcomed, and I'll tell you what I got up to when I get back. in the meantime, there may be more posts, I just don't know!

pretty plate.

How cute is this plate? just another reason for a gift list...

plate: thebrickkiln

the fatal etsy addiction aka bridesmaids presents.

I don't have money, but oh how I wish I did. Every day i find more beauties on etsy. And then I found etsy wedding. *ouf* , how dangerous that blog is. its like having a personal etsy shopper. I've found so much on there that I love, my favourites list gets longer by the day. I think I've found presents for all my bridesmaids (not that I can afford to get them yet...) I've been looking at pearls, because its so hard to match to their dress colour, and I want to get them something jewellery related to give them to wear. I'm debating whether to get them different presents, or all the same. I'm toying now with the idea of different because I'm finding so many sweet necklaces and such. I really like the mismatched look thats doing the rounds, but all my girls have got the same dress now. Its also a high street dress so I'm terrified (literally, I am going to have nightmares about this nearer the time) that a guest will turn up in the same dress, but its highly unlikely(isn't it? please tell me it is). To combat this, we decided that we have to make them look as similar as possible outfit wise, so that they don't look like 3 guests in the same dress. Not identical, because these 3 girls are so very different that they will all make it look individual anyway, but similar. Same shoes, (or at least same style and colour), and a wrap the same(which two people have challenged me to weave myself. argh). so I think the jewellery can be different? at least then I can get them each something that reflects their personalities and style more. these are the contenders I've found so far:

pearl necklace and earrings: weddingjewels

carrie necklace: erinkeys love song necklace: kgarnerdesigns

necklace and earrings :beadsinthebelfry peapod earrings: sudlow
(sold separately)

bracelet and earrings: bumbershootdesigns

I'm addicted. not only to etsy, but to pearls. thats ok right?! I know I've posted the peapods before, but I just love them. I think they're adorable.

And how scrummy is this locket?!
just in general... I can't believe the work in it.

locket : mstevensondesigns
since this post became rather longer than I expected, Ill post on my own jewellery thoughts tomorrow....

blah blah blah

yeah, I was right, I've hit that quiet point. At least until all those lovely things I bought off etsy arrive and I can fiddle with doilies and lace for a while. I wanted to tell you all about my plans for my dress, but i'm afraid of sounding like a bit of a pretentious idiot (also a lot of the photos of dresses that I like I can't use in here), I want to tell you more about me, in an effort to seem less weddingly 1 dimensional, but when I start writing it comes out wrong, so I don't have anything to write basically. So, instead, i'll leave you with a photo of my cats.

(please don't think me a grumpy sod!)

here comes the sun(dress)

I bought this sundress yesterday:

picture: H&M

It might actually be the best £12 I've ever invested. I feel like I'm wearing nothing. its fantastic in this heat. Even Carlisle gets the sun sometimes.

big bookings, big smiles.

Several weddingy things have happened in the last week that I'm excited about, All the big things seem to be falling into place, I think I'm about to hit that lull that everyone talks about, where having booked all the major parts of the wedding, its just pottering and fiddling for quite a while until I reach the year mark.

Firstly, I confirmed with the venue for our reception. Cumbria, for all its beauty, seems a bit short on interesting venues for wedding receptions. Its largely a choice of country hotels, even when you get into the Lakes itself, and most of these now market themselves as wedding venues, meaning that the prices are exorbitantly expensive. We didn't want to actually go out into the lakes to get married, while its nearby, and stunningly beautiful, it seems to be becoming a cliche. When we first got engaged we had to decide which end of the country to get married in - I'm a southerner who moved up here for college, and he's a cumbrian through and through - I'd always imagined that I would marry in my parish church, but when it came to it, I didn't want to plan my wedding remotely, and we wanted to see the church we got married in for the rest of our lives, have our children christened in it, and so on.

So a little hotel it is. It only has 11 bedrooms, so we have sole use, which means I get breakfast too :) Neither of us had ever been there before, despite it being about 5 miles from our house, and it looks over the Eden valley. Its a small venue, which limits our guest list for the day to 70, and we can invite 30 more in the evening. We wanted a small wedding, we're not crazy partyers, to be honest the Evening reception is still the biggest stumbling block I have, so we liked the fact that the venue was forcing us to make that choice. Anyway, it looks like this:

pictures from: Crosby Lodge

The other major thing we've booked is the photographer. In one of my first posts I mentioned my photographers, but we've changed quite suddenly at the last minute. I have no regrets about this, in fact I can't stop grinning, and I wouldn't have found them were it not for the blogging community. Heres a couple of their photos:

photos by: Lillian and Leonard

So yes, Peonies and the Boy, or Lillian and Leonard in their official capacity are going to be our photographers! Suddenly, I love living in Carlisle, because we're really close to Glasgow! Peonies has already been delightful to work with, coping with my Mum giving her the wrong year for the wedding, and me asking lots of stupid questions, and what I'm finding really wonderful is that I know she'll record all the little details for me, and that their style is so unobtrusive. J and I are quite camera shy, I love taking photos, although I'm rubbish at it, but I always look like a complete idiot when I'm in front of the camera. We were both a bit nervous of being very posed, doing grooms running up the road pictures etc, so we both really love their background style. Thank you Peonies!!

Lastly, thank you all for the lovely comments you've been leaving me, its nice to know people are actually reading the ramblings I leave here, please keep talking to me!

etsy buys...#2 - for a guestbook

I can see this becoming a regular post unfortunately for my wallet...

I've bought some red heart shaped doilies (wierd, I know) to make little teensy weensy envelopes from for a sort of guest book thing I'm imagining will work, and is so far entirely etsy bought. Here goes. hopefully (in my mind...) I can make envelopes from these doilies...

doilies from : pinkgrapefruitstyle

...Using this tutorial at Martha Stewarts, then (hopefully) fill it with this card I bought last week from etsy that I mentioned in this post a while ago - are you following so far? - ...

card from: tripletrouble

...So that eventually they look something similar to these cards below, which I'm also buying a pack of in case mine don't work, and so that if they do, it has a sort of mismatched look to it all...

envelope sets from: pookybutt

...Then I'll put the cards out in a couple of boxes around the room, so that if anyone wants to leave us guest booky sort of messages, they can, and they're more private because they're in envelopes. Am I mad?