September 17th, 2010 — 3:37pm
I have a very busy weddingy-fied weekend ahead. Tonight is my first hen party! I’m excited and also slightly nervous given the fact that the organising has been left to the mischievous duo of Hayley and Suzie.
I vetoed any willies and general hen party tat during my London hen weekend, so they have decided to throw a separate party where it’ll be willies-a-g0-go!
Tomorrow I start the first in my course of facials in the run up to the wedding and then Sunday I’m going with my Mom to her personal shopper appointment to find her something wonderful to wear! Looking forward to all of it!
Lovely weekend links
Have a fab weekend everyone!!! xxx
Comment » | Some Things...
September 16th, 2010 — 3:40pm
Our second reading will be given by our friend Richard. Has and Richard have been friends since school and I met Richard at college when I met Has.
When ever they get together they both seem to dissolve into their own little crazy world that I just don’t get! Richard has been a great friend to both of us and it’s a real honour to have him read for us.
Love is…
Love is giving, not taking
Mending, not breaking
Trusting, believing
Never deceiving
Patiently bearing
And faithfully sharing
Each joy, every sorrow
Today and tomorrow
Love is kind, understanding
But never demanding
Love is constant, prevailing
It’s strength never ailing
A promise once spoken
For all time unbroken
Love’s time is forever
Comment » | Ceremony
September 16th, 2010 — 8:00am
Today is Purple and Pearl’s 1st birthday! Our first blogiversary if you will!
This time last year I made the decision to start up this little blog to record my journey as a bride-to-be. So much has happened in just 1 year, from the first post, to Has leaving for India and coming back home again! Suzie and Rob’s wedding where I had the honour of being a bridesmaid. In July we had our pre-wedding shoot, our invitations were sent out in August and I was even blogged about! Numerous DIY projects have been started and finished, there have been flaps and stresses, excitement and nice surprises
I’ve made some fantastic friends since starting this blog and truly get excited when my email tells me I have a new blog comment or someone mentions my name in a tweet. Half the time I still can’t believe people actually read what I have to say!
The next blog-year is going to be very, very interesting… I have a few plans and ideas up my sleeve – but first… I have a wedding to attend!
I want to say a huge-heart-felt-thank-you to every single person who reads Purple and Pearls and if you’ve just stumbled across my little purple world – Hi, won’t you stay a while?
4 comments » | My Journey
September 15th, 2010 — 3:28pm
Today was my first dress fitting.
I have to admit I was very nervous and almost dreading it. Finding my dream dress was a struggle from the word go. I detested dress shopping and really didn’t enjoy the whole experience. When I found my dress it was a huge relief, I’d worked myself up so much about finding the prefect dress that I was convinced I wouldn’t find one I was 100% completely in love with and I’d have to settle.
So as today loomed closer I started to question my decision. Did I love it as much as I thought I did, or did I just settle? I have pictures of my dress and for the last few weeks I have studied them assuring myself that I do still feel the same way.
When I arrived my dress was hanging up in the changing room. Even from looking at it on the hanger I knew I still loved it. I put it on with the help of the shop assistant and stared at myself whilst she did up the back. My waist looked tiny and I sparkled. I caught a glimpse of my smile in the mirror and knew I had the right dress on.
Purple shoes on, I walked out of the changing room and tried not to look at anyone directly for fear of crying! I stood in front of the full length mirror and twirled and smiled and sparkled.
The seamstress came over and said I would need to have around ½cm taken off the front of the dress. She spent ages pinning the bottom and asked me to walk around the shop to check the length, not that I minded I loved wearing it.
When it came time to take the dress off, we noticed that a few crystals and beads were missing and that there was also a little red mark. We pointed these out to the shop assistant and she said that it wasn’t a problem and that everything would be sorted.
This is where the story turns bad. When I came to organise my second fitting I noticed the standard price for alterations was £145. Not really believing they could charge me so much for ½cm from the hem I asked them about it only to be told it was the standard price and nothing could be done to change it. I have flat out refused to pay £145 for someone to adjust the hem, when in all honesty it is wearable at the length it is now.
As it stands now, the shop are going to replace the missing crystals, remove the mark and steam the dress ready for us to collect next week. It’s up to me now to decide whether it needs altering at all. I will have to take it to another seamstress anyway to add a bustle to the dress so I will probably get a second opinion.
It just infuriates me that they think they can get away with charging so much for a tiny alteration. I would have understood if I was having a lot of work done to the dress or something more complicated or delicate, but it seems an obscene amount of money for something quite straight forward.
I am now faced with the questions on where to store my dress, whether I do in fact have it altered and if so who can I get to do it. I am going to speak to the ladies at the store I bought my bridesmaid dresses from and seek their advice, I’m wondering whether their seamstress would be willing to help me out. Fingers Crossed.
2 comments » | Attire, My Journey
September 14th, 2010 — 12:12pm
I bought my dress.
Saturday 28th February 2009 was the date that I placed the order for my dress to be made. Saturday 28th February 2009 was the last time I had my dress on.
On the Friday 11th September 2009 I had a call to say my dress was in the shop, I went to see my beautiful dress and stared at her hanging up. It was then that I made an appointment for my first dress fitting. Wednesday 15th September 2010. Tomorrow.
The shop dress and the only one I’ve ever tried on is a completely different colour to the dress I have ordered. I’ve never ever actually tried on MY dress. Tomorrow I will try on my wedding dress for the first time ever and I’m so nervous! I know I still love it and I know it’s still “the one” but I can still feel butterflies in my belly when I think about putting it on.
I think the moment I put the dress on and stand in front of the mirror, it’s going to hit me as to just how close the wedding really is.
4 comments » | Attire, My Journey
September 13th, 2010 — 1:02pm
Had a very exciting call last week to say our bridesmaids dresses were in. So on Saturday me and Suzie drove over to Wedding Belles of Four Oaks to see them.
I was slightly nervous having only seen the dresses in red and also choosing the two shades of purple from tiny swatches, but I need not have worried. They’re beyond beautiful!
Sophie and Natalie are wearing the light shade on the left and Suzie and Hayley will be wearing the darker shade on the right
Despite not having made an appointment Melanie and Clare were more than happy to see us and help Suzie into the dress.
I think you’ll all agree Suzie looks amazing!
I absolutely love them and can’t wait to see all the girls in their dresses. The two shades of purple work so well together and thankfully the shoes we have look fab with the colours too. All seems a bit real now!
Comment » | Attire, Bridesmaids
September 13th, 2010 — 10:33am
With all the excitement I had completely forgotten to do my 2 month countdown to do list!
We have managed to sort out quite a lot since my last to do post. Invitations day and evening have been sent out.
We’ve booked our Dallas hotel plus quite a few honeymoon events. I’ve also created our honeymoon itinerary and bought our travel insurance. We had an evening tasting potential dishes at Nailcote Hall and finally decided on our menu.
We also managed to tick a few more things off our list including choosing and ordering the wedding party suits and I had my hair trial.
So for September…
- Finish the Chrysler Building Order of Services. I have quite a few cut out already but I now need to complete the actual booklet that goes inside. I’ve done the design it’s now just a matter of filling in the details.
- Have first dress fitting!!!!!!!!!
- Attend meeting with Nailcote Hall to discuss all the finer details including our menu choices, number of guests, how the day will run and to find out any questions we have.
- Arrange appointments for the bridesmaids to have their dresses fitted.
- Organise our table plan.
- Buy wedding underwear.
- Make up favour boxes and buy chocolates to go inside.
- Pay Registry Office!!!
- Confirm music, vows and readings.
- Chase outstanding evening RSVPs
We’re getting close now, things are starting to feel a little more real now. I think once I have my wedding dress on at my fitting it will really hit me!
Comment » | Countdown
September 12th, 2010 — 4:38pm
Just for fun, and to freak myself out a little…
I know the wedding is getting closer when…
- The journey time to and from work goes from a 20 minute commute to a hellish hour crawl, as the kids are back at school.
- The dark nights begin earlier and earlier every day.
- I have to start wearing my autumn coat.
- Friends start discussing details like how they will get to the venue.
- After saying “Hello” the next comment people usually make is “wow the wedding is close you must be really excited!”
- Realising there are only 2 more pay days before the wedding… yikes!
- Guests tell me they’ve sorted out their outfit.
- Supermarkets and shops are stocking up for Halloween and Christmas (Really! Tesco’s today had selection boxes!?)
- Our tour operator has sent us details through regarding time changes to our honeymoon flights and have pestered us for advanced customer information.
- My first hen party is just days away…!
- The due dates for full payment for our suppliers loom ever closer.
- I have my first dress fitting in 3 days.
- Has tells me he’s having wedding dreams.
- I’m buy birthday and Christmas presents in advance so it’s not a rush when we get back from honeymoon.
- My heart flutters when I think about walking down the aisle.
54 days
Comment » | Countdown
September 10th, 2010 — 5:12pm
I can’t believe how fast time is going and we are yet another week closer to the wedding! This week has been a mixture of ups and downs – I can’t believe Suzie found my shoes and I’m super excited about the bridesmaids dresses coming in too.
We’re going to a wedding tomorrow night, which means we only have 1 more wedding to attend before our own! Yikes! People are now starting to greet me by saying “Not long now, you must be really excited!” At the moment I think I’m in denial, No way is the wedding only 56 days away!
I have my very first dress fitting on Wednesday… ermm nervous! I haven’t yet tried on MY dress, so the nervous are creeping in, not sure why I know I still love it. I think it will all become real at that moment though.
Any way without further ado, lovely links!
If you haven’t seen this yet, be warned you’ll need tissues. This is absolutely beautiful, yet heart breaking at the same time. Found via A Cup of Jo
Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.
Have a fantastic weekend! xxxx
Comment » | Some Things...
September 10th, 2010 — 10:52am
Had a call yesterday from the very lovely Claire from Wedding Belles to say our bridesmaid dresses are in! She knew of my worries about picking the colours from two tiny swatches but she has assured me the two colours look great together!
I’m so excited to see them! We’ll hopefully be going to see them this weekend or next. Just to re-cap this is Hayley modelling the dress in red!
2 comments » | Attire, Bridesmaids
