To get a garter or not

I have never been a huge fan of garters and always thought I wouldnt have one on my wedding day!
I didnt the first time I got married so why would I this time was the way I thought.
The whole "tradition" of the groom taking it off with his teeth with the crowd of guests watching sent shivers down my spine in all honestly and it is something neither of us wanted to do, so decided not too!

UNTIL that is I was doing one of my many searchs on facebook and came across a company called "Truly I do" who specialises in handmaking made to measure garters and other bits and bobs!
https://www.facebook.com/TrulyIDo

Her work is in a word amazing and I found myself going through her photos and instead of going "nope I dont like that" I found myself going "oooo I like that" or "I love that"
And I started thinking about how I would have one IF I decided to have one
I then came across her "in progress" album and fell in love with this

The pearls and beads on this made it look stunning and the colour made it look very vintage which is perfect for my theme.
So I messaged her to see how much are garter using it would cost and after talking for a little while she said she was going to her suppliers soon to get more stock and she would pick up some Ivory lace that had some pearls and beads already attached to see what I thought!

We then discussed different laces and things and decided to go for a 3 layer one and NO BIG BOW as I quite frackly HATE them.
2 layers........

3 layers option 1

 The 2 layers just looked too plain so we thought another layer was needed. The 3 layer above was more like it but I didnt like the straight edge of the top layer as I thought it didnt really go with the scalloped edges of the other two layers so decided to go with this.........

Next up was what to go on it and as the big bow was out i started looking on a site I use and found this

PERFECT now all we had to do was wait for it to turn up and honestly I dont know who was more excited about it turning up lol me or her!
After running after the postman ;-) for a few days to see if he had a parcel it finally turned up and my garter was complete and on its way to me!

I can honestly say everything from start to finish was amazing the service, the quality of the finished product and the lady herself were second to none and as a girl who was dead set against having a garter I am truly stunned at how in love with it I am and cant wait to wear it on my wedding day (but I am NOT throwing it at the wedding nor is the h2b taking it off with his teeth in front of everybody, although he might do that later that night in private hehehe).

What Ive been up to in April!

Ok so I relised Ive not updated this in awhile so thought I better!

Well Ive been busy with the kids mainly this month (April) as I had parents evening and some personal developments in my oldest daughters life so been quite busy with them.

But Ive done a few wedding bits inbetween including wearing in my shoes which are even more stunning in person.

Ive also received our wedding memory box from a place called caris creations which is on facebook and WOW is all I can say about this, Helen, the owner is FANTASTIC so you must check the page out

It also has our wedding date on the back and its HUGE! I LOVE IT
Next I have received our tag holder for our guest book tree

SO thats what Ive been up to in April :-)
This month I will be paying off my napkin rings and glass charms so should be getting them soon as well as the boxes to put them in which I will need to decorate so will add pics of those soon!

Photo's!

Ok so the 3 main things to us for the day are....
                        1, The venue
                        2, The rings
                        3. The photos

So because of this I have looked at LOADS of photographers over the last few month's.
Because it is one of our top 3 we didnt really have a budget for this (naughty I know but hay they last the rest of our lifes dont they).
So we saw some at £199 and some at £700 and some were £1300 and we even saw some at £2000 that we loved!
We havent actually booked one yet but we know who we want so just need to find the deposit and we are away hehe.
So anyway I thought I would do this blog about some of the amzing photographers Ive come across and share there work and some photo's Ive come across that I LOVE!
First up is the first one I came across alllll the months ago that we did actually pay a part deposit to (this was back when we had our very first date). Emma Shaw is a fantastic photographer and has a style that we love, she did a family shoot for us in a local park just after our son was born so our first "family" shoot and they turned out amazinly! Here's her website............

http://www.littleflowersphotography.co.uk/

Next we saw a local photographer who again did a family shoot for us the following year. We discovered while there that he does a set package for weddings which at the time was £700 (gone up now tho) and h2b thought this was brillant, I wasnt so sure tho as I wanted a more relaxed feel and his work seemed too staged for me if that makes sence? He is a FANTASTIC photographer tho so heres his website......

http://www.discoveryphotographicstudio.com/

So next we have a lady whose work I came across as a friend used her for her wedding and WOW is all I can say about her work, truely amazing and shes won a few awards too hehehe But as shes in scotland she a bit too far away for us :-( Heres Her work tho.............

 http://www.karenmcgowranphotography.co.uk/

And that brings me to the last of the photographers I want to show you and who we are thinking of using as I love love love her style!! I have actually booked two shoots with her this summer for my girls birthdays as they will be 10 and 13 so they wanted pictures with their friends to celebrate (anything to get them to have their photo taken lol) so I'll blog about the results when they are done. Till then heres her website...............

http://www.summerlovephotography.co.uk/

Ok so there are my top four photographers Ive come across, what do you think???

 I thought I'd leave you with these photo's to show you the sort of things I like.....some are a bit unusual but I think they are all FUN and thats what I hope will come from our day! :D

                                                           The romance of this one is stunning

                               My girls will be wearing red shoes and Black dresses thanks to this pic ;-)

                                LOVE the way this couple showed off her blue "I do" stickers hehehe

           The lighting on this picture I love and it really make's the picture look more fairytale I think!

                                        LOVE this one so unique and right up H2Bs street hehehe

             We shall be leaving to a sparkler arch, fitting as we are getting married near bonfire night
                                                            All my men will have red socks

                                                           The sky on these ones is STUNNING!
                                                       and how cute is that little girl peeking out!

                                                                        How fab is this? ;-)

                                     I would love a red underskirt but unsure as I have blue shoes

                                            I'm not having a veil but love the romance of this

Shoeeeeeesss

Ok so I'm not really a shoe girl to be honest I'm more of a boot's kinda girl!
So when it came to shoes and what I wanted I knew I wanted something simple and not too high but that was it thats all I knew!

I started looking and came across some shoes from the rainbow club shoe company that I quite liked but was still unsure of so I carried on looking!

http://www.1stforweddingshoes.co.uk/acatalog/Nicole-Rainbow.html

Then I came across some lacey ones

http://www.1stforweddingshoes.co.uk/acatalog/Rainbow-Club-Melanie-Wedding-Shoes.html

Which again were stunning but still not QUITE me!

Then I came across these.............

Now these, THESE are ME!!!!
So of course I had to have them hehehe

A couple of months later tho I also came across these, ops

WOW WOW WOW!!

These would defiantly give me a wow factor for the wedding and would look FAB in photo's AND they were half price in my size :-)  I'm not a garter person so was wondering how to bring blue into the wedding so this is my answer!
A bit of creeping with h2b and talking to the lady who agreed I could pay in installments and these lil beauties are ALLLLLLLL mine! They should be winging there way to my feet next month when I pay the last bit off and to be honest I CAN NOT WAIT :-)

http://www.wedding-studio.co.uk/

Ok so Ive done ALOT of research now into all things weddings and Ive found a few WONDERFUL people who do amazing work.
So I thought my next few blogs would be a kind of showcase for each of these great people and their businesses.

So first up is http://www.wedding-studio.co.uk/ and a lady called Geraldine!
Now this lady comes from the lake district and it was thank's to a friend that I came across her.
A friend who is getting married in the lake district and this lady was a possiable surpplier of hers.
At the time Geraldine didnt travel and to say I was jealous is an understatement :-(
I "befriended" her on facebook and when she posted things like the centre pieces in my last blog I wished she covered my area.
She also does other things like chair covers and custom makes each one useing loads of matrial per chair which gives effects like these

 So yep I was pretty jealous that she didnt cover my area as I hadnt and still havent found anyone that does work that even comes close to her work!
Then christmas happened and because of all the interest Geraldine had had she went UK WIDE!!

OMG I found my chair cover lady and anything else I decided I HAD to have that she does lol

BUT as my date is so far away I was unable to book as she couldnt garentee her prices because of the rise in the cost of fabics between now and then, so I STILL couldnt book her :-(
A few weeks later tho she got back to me and said I wasnt the only 2015 enquiry (I knew I wasnt the only mad bride to be out there hehehe) so she would be happy to help me .....................YAYYYYY!

She cost's a little more then most but I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for and if her pictures are anything to go by I'll be getting a million times more then what I'll be paying, so well worth it in my book!

Now all I need to do is find the deposit and I will have an AMAZING lady who does amazing work at our wedding.
                                              HAPPY HAILEY hehehe

Choosing the colours and theme

Ok so we have the date and we have the venue, next up on our list was what colours and if we wanted a theme to the day?

I saw this dress
and that pretty much decided our colours for me :-)
Depp red and Ivory it was............................But a family members comment of
                                                             "red isnt really you is it"
got me to thinking that they were right so I thought of changing the colours but I really wanted this dress. In the end I decided to add a colour into the mix instead and we had red, ivory and black (I'm ALWAYS in black).
But again I changed my mind as I kept looking at dresses and found loads that I liked (will do another blog about that lol) so I slightly changed things and did black, ivory and red roses instead as our colours/theme!


Have you noticed how people are never happy about your colours being your theme tho??? So when people ask I tend to say our "theme" is.........

                                                A classic modern romance with a vintage twist!

Now that this was decided I got to thinking of centre pieces.
I like all the modern centre pieces you can get these days with the huge martini glasses filled with lights and roses, the tall lily vases with the ostrich feathers coming out of them or even the fish bowls with roses in them

But I LOVEEEEEEEEE the stunning vintage centre pieces using cups and saucers

And the more un-usual centre pieces like this stunning one using a handbag of all things

(Please check out http://www.wedding-studio.co.uk/ for more stunning centre pieces like the last two pictures and also my next blog on this lovely lady)

So after seeing all these things I needed to decide what I wanted .............but how???
Well I want a modern feel with a vintage twist so I'm having black tall lily vases then I'm going to somehow add a vintage feel to using red roses???
I might have to ask Geraldine (the lady who did the last two pictures) to work her magic for me here tho because I'm stuck on how to do this!
So be sure to come back to read how when Ive worked it all out!  

The venue hunt is on.

Now that we are having the wedding back in the uk we needed to think of where to have the wedding!
This being my second marriage I knew it would be hard to get married in a church again and I personally wouldnt feel married if we got married at the local reg office (NOTHING wrong with them and I think they can be fab, Its just not for me) so the perfect venue hunt was on!

One saturday morning we got in the car and off we went!
We went back to look at Orton Hall
http://www.bestwestern.co.uk/Hotels/Orton-Hall-Hotel-And-Spa-Peterborough-83354/Hotel-Info/Default.aspx but decided against it in the end as our new date didnt receive the best of welcomes!

We then drove over to the Sibson Inn                                                            which was lovely on the outside but as it was closed on a saturday we decided to come back another day!

Next on our list was The Bell

This one was lovely two rooms and a outside bit JUST for our wedding but it was nearly all our budget without anything else :-(

So next up was  The Bull Hotel
http://www.peterborobullhotel.com/ which again was BEAUTIFUL but being smack bang in the middle of town we didnt think this was practical for our guests especially with parking :-(

Last on our list was one that I had seen on facebook and was about half hour away which we were unsure of for our out of town  guests but we decided to take alook around anyway at Barndale Hall
http://www.barnsdalehotel.co.uk/weddings-c3.html................I fell in love with the building on sight :-) BUT at nearly double our budget this just wasnt going to be so we drove away before I could cry lol

On our way out of here tho we spotted a smaller more country look hotel the other side of the road that we decided to pop into on the off chance!!
We went in spoke to the reception about our date and asked them what they did for weddings??
When we told them rough numbers they took us to their top barn and this is VERY similar to what greeted us

To say we were both lost for words is an understatement!!
We walked in and went WOW at the same time :-)
This ladies and gentlemen is the one, this is our wedding venue, roll on
                           
                                 sunday 1st november 2015 at 2pm at Barnsdale Lodge, Oakham!

The TO DO list.................OMG!

So after FINALLY settling on a date that won't change NO MATTER WHAT we then had to think about everything else!

So thanks to ukbride.co.uk I found this to do list.....................

*To Do As Soon As Possible:*

+Tell everyone the exciting news
+Decide whether you and your Fiancé would like a religious or civil ceremony
+Set a provisional date+If you opt for religious organise a meeting with your minister/priest/rabbi
+If you opt for civil book the ceremony venue or registry office
+Check legal requirements regarding marriage certificates and other requirements such as Banns/Notice
+Set a realistic budget, and decide between yourselves and parents who will pay for what
+Choose your Maid/Matron of Honour, Best Man and other attendants (make sure they’re available and willing)
+Compile a provisional guest list to get a rough idea of numbers
+Discuss ceremony and reception venue options and arrange to view them
+At least make a provisional booking of any favourite venues, you don’t want them getting snapped up while you’re still deciding
+Once you’ve decided on a venue make a decision about timings
+Once you’re happy with venue and timings pay the deposits required
+Decide (with Fiancé) colour schemes and possible themes you might like
+If you want to hire a professional wedding planner now is the time to do so
+Send out save the dates if you are planning to

*8 - 10 Months Before*

+Shop for your wedding dress - remember you’ll need plenty of time for alterations and custom designs
+Once your dress is chosen shop for accessories and shoes
+Research and book your photographer
+Organize wedding insurance
+Book Bridal suite for your wedding night
+Discuss menu options and drinks packages with your caterer/reception venue. Arrange a tasting appointment
+Book your band/DJ/live entertainment
+Order your wedding cake, make sure you have fun having a tasting session first
+Start thinking about your Honeymoon destination
+Discuss your wedding flower ideas with a florist
+Book transport to and from your venues (remembering transport for parents and attendants too)

*6-8 Months Before:*

+Begin your beauty and personal health regime
+Confirm your menu and drink choices with caterer
+If you’re having a religious ceremony discuss readings and music with your minister/priest/rabbi
+Order your wedding stationary
+Decide on flower choices and book your florist
+Book your Honeymoon and confirm first night bridal suite booking
+Find out if you need Visas, inoculations or any other course of medication (example: malaria tablets) for your honeymoon

*4-6 Months Before:*

+Book a consultation with your hairdresser to discuss possible styles
+Remind your Fiancé to get his and his attendants outfirs
+Choose gifts for attendants
+Confirm your order of service and have it printed
+Compile a gift list if you’re having one
+Choose and order wedding favours
+Start to plan your rehearsal dinner and tot up number of guests
+Choose your wedding rings
+Start thinking about make up plans
+Discuss possible Hen night plans

*2-4 Months Before:*

+Send out Invitations, venue/accommodation details and directions, menu choices, gift lists and any other information for your guests. Or you can choose to send out an information pack once guests confirm their attendance.
 +Keep an updated list of acceptances and refusals
+Make sure that any accommodation has been booked for family members where applicable
+If you’re having a religious ceremony book a time and date for a rehearsal
+Check your Fiancé and his attendants are on track for the day and outfits have been ordered
+Book beauty treatments such as: fake tan, nails waxing etc
+Purchase any new make up needed OR book make up artist
+If you’re choosing to do a speech start writing your ideas down now
+Discuss special requests and play list choices with your DJ or band including first dance choice
+Write or choose your wedding vows

*1-2 Months:*

+Contact any guests you have not had an RSVP from
+Confirm final guest numbers and other details with your reception venue and/or caterers.
+Have your final trial with your hairdresser before the big day
+Arrange a final fitting for your wedding dress preferably taking one or two of your attendants with you, they’ll need to learn how to help you into your dress for the big day
+Try your dress on with all your accessories so you know how it will look and if you are missing anything
+Draw up a seating plan for guests
+Finalise your speech details and practice it.
+Re-confirm bookings for suppliers and deliveries to the venue eg cake and flowers
+Order your honeymoon currency
+Make a list of must have shots for your photographer and let photographer know
+If you’re changing your surname write to banks doctor inland revenue and any other official bodies you need to, to give them notice
+Wear in your wedding shoes a little by wearing them around the house

*2 Weeks Before:*

+Have your final haircut and colour before the wedding
+Attend your rehearsal dinner
+Have the hen and stag parties!!! ENJOY!

*1 Week Before:*

+Church/Venue rehearsal
+Start to pack for honeymoon
+Check tickets, passports and any other travel requirements
+Go through any last minute details with your attendants, venue and suppliers

*The Day Before:*

+Attend your beauty treatment appointments
+Arrange for luggage and any other necessary items to be sent to reception/first night venue
+Help decorate reception venue if necessary
+Have a relaxing evening and head to bed early to be nice and refreshed in the morning

*YOUR BIG DAY!!!!!!*

+Get up nice and early, so that you give yourself plenty of time to relax and get ready without having a mad rush.
+Make sure you eat breakfast, your nerves might tell you you’re not hungry but you’ll feel better with something in your stomach and you don’t want to faint at the ceremony
+Have your hair and make up done
+Get dressed with the help of your attendants
+The Mother of the Bride and Bridesmaids leave first, followed by the Bride and her Father

Now it’s time to make your entrance. Enjoy your day xXx

AND I WENT OFF TO CRY IN THE CORNER!!!!! OMG WHAT A LIST!

After pulling myself together Matt and I went through the whole list and got rid of all the bit's that didnt apply to us and it actually STARTED to look doable considering the time frame............PHEW!!!
We then tried to work out exactly what we wanted from the day, who we wanted there and how much we could save within the time frame we had and from all of this we managed to get a pretty good personal to do list that actually looks pretty fab :-)
So I know what I'm doing......................now's the time to find out how to do what and where from!

Starting to plan!

So after being engaged a couple of month's we finally got around to thinking about WHEN to get married???
We decided that we were'nt that bothered about a particular date to get married so we left that up to the girls, the eldest picked the date and the youngest picked the month and then we picked the year........29th April 2011 was OUR date!!!! So we had just over ten months to plan....doable! :-)
So we had the date and we had the venue.........Orton hall in peterborough! So we were all good to go.

YEAH RIGHT!

Well as I'm here now you've prob guessed that this didnt happen!
This is because the royal wedding happened on the same day and we decided that we would follow my dream instead and get married in disney florida at their wedding pavillion!

So our second date of 15th - 20th may 2012 (have to be in the country 3 days before you can get married there, so the actual wedding date was 17th may) and the venue were again sorted!

BUT

Yep you guessed it, this isnt gonna happen either!
We had a few family members that werent very happy with this arrangement and one even said
"been there done that don't really want to do it again"!!!
Even tho the done that was the paris disney land.......WHOLE different experiance in my opinion BUT we decided if the main family members we wanted to share our day with werent going to bother then we would rather get married closer to home so ther could all be there to share the day!

SO plan C, number 3 what ever you want to call it is

                                Sunday 1st November 2015!

WHY this date?
Well we worked out everything we wanted and how much it would all cost and if we wanted to have EVERYTHING then it would take time to save for it.
We then worked out how much we could save each month without being skint all the time ............. we thought 2015 would be ideal!

So Next on our list of things to do was get idea's and that's when I came across my life saver

http://www.ukbride.co.uk/

The ladies on here are AMAZING!
If I'm stuck on idea's, not sure what things will look like with what, boring/annoying my family n friends with all the wedding talk or even if I want a good ole moan then this is the perfect plave to be.
Everyone is so helpful and you get at least 3 different ideas, opinions that you might not have thought of, which will make your idea even more amazing or get inspiration for something that you had never even heard of before!

So my planning had officially begun.........bring it on!

The......ermm.....proposal??

Well we had been together 22 month's or there about's and ALOT had been going on in our lives.
Here's a brief run down for you nosey ppl like me ;-)
The girls were getting used to this man who mummy was spending time with and both got on really well with him, which was fantastic! I had fallen pregnant quite early on but it turned out not to be but we carried on and I put a brave face on for the kids plus I had to work where I was in constant contact with the public so had to smile alot, being a mummy and a full time manager can be hard when dealing with hardships but being a women you carry on and get through it.
So I was carrying on being "brave" when 6-7 month's later I found out I was pregnant again and gave birth to our gorjus son on september 10th, 2009 (my eldest was relived as he was due on her birthday, 15th september). So quite a hectic (nearly) 2 years really!

So back to the proposal!
Pay day in November came and Matt turn's round and say's he's going shopping for my christmas present and would take our son to give me some piece (was the weekend so the girls were at their dads).
I LOVED my "ME" day lol.

So the next day we had a little falling out and I have no idea what it was about now lol (so silly I can't even remember mean's it was his fault.....right? lol)
All I remember is going round banging things in a right grump locking doors and walking up the stairs to bed by myself as he had already "ran" up the stairs leaving me to do it all................maybe that was what the falling out was about? lol
I got to our room and the light was off and he was in bed already so I said something like "well I can't see in the dark so the lights going on and tough if it hurts your eyes" as I switch on the light!
And when I do what do I see..................a ring box on my pillow and Matt grinning like a cheshire cat!

Hmmmm HOW can I stay mad at that?

I smile and start to say something, not sure what, but he interupts and says
"your moody as am I sometimes, shut up and marry me"
lol well what else could I say but "YES" :D

So there it is not the greatest, most romantic of them all but it suited us hehehe
He later told me the ring was calling him all day and there was NO WAY he would have been able to wait until christmas day ......awww bless him!
The ring is perfect, it's a square solitaire, white gold ring that was very similar to one we had been looking at together a few months before but is even better because he picked it :-)
So 14th November 2009 I OFFICIALLY became Matt's fiance

The story of how we met!

Ok so I've stolen this from our wedding website but if your gonna do a blog about wedding planning your gonna need to know how the couple met.......right?

So here's how we met, short and sweet ;-)

Our story

Well I personally wasn't looking for another relationship after all I was going through a divorce so I joined a web-site to chat to ppl in my area because with 2 kids I didnt get out much. One of these ppl turned out to be Matt and we got on really well.

http://www.ukchatterbox.co.uk/

We talked for at least 3 months online.
Then one night we both ended up going out with our respective work collegues and as we were going to the same place we decided we would meet up and say hello in person. So while I had a group of at least 20 ppl with me, Matt walks in ALONE
I knew it was him by his picture on his profile. He later tells me he was so nervous he took 15 minuets to realise he still had on his jacket.
We texted each other in the bar area for at least 5 mins but it took me telling him to look up for him to finally notice me and the rest as they say is history :-)
Nearly 4 years later we have become a family and have added to it with a gorjus little boy.

SO there it is, how we met.................another relationship started all because of the good ole internet :-)
Gone are the days of meeting the boy next door or the drunk one in the nightclub etc, now it's all about the words ppl write online to get a date lol

If you want to read our wedding website your more then welcome, more the merrier as they say lol
Here's the link

http://www.mywedding.com/haileyandmatt/index.html

Starting a blog

Well after several attempts of TRYING to start a blog I think I've finally managed to do......something???
Let's hope it's the right something and a blog might magically appear!

So why did I want to start a blog??
Well mainly so I can put all my wedding ideas in one place without having to worry about what family members will see them,
The second reason is because as I come across ideas or surrppliers or just things I like, I tend to share these on my facebook profile and well let's just say if you have me on facebook you'll see that I look for idea's quite a lot lol so instead of annoying my friends and family who are not getting married or who are not in the business themselves I thought a blog was an ideal place to share and annoy you lot with my ideas instead ;-)
and the other reason is because I was never any good at a diary so wondered how I would go doing a blog.......a more.....grown up version of a diary I suppose?
So let's see how it goes shall we!

Wish me luck!