I can't say "I Do" without these two.

I always knew at the back of my mind who I would want standing beside me when I marry Michael. However, when our plans changed and we decided to elope we both decided we weren't going to have all the traditional wedding "nonsense" - including a bridal party.  We weren't sure there was a point in "appointing" a bridal party when we were getting married on our own and they wouldn't be there.  As we continued to plan, it became evident that I needed (and wanted) a couple of my closest family and friends to help with plans, to bounce ideas off, to drag to bridal fairs, dress fittings and cake testings.  I also needed someone to be in charge of a bridal shower or Hen party of course! Planning a wedding is quite a girly thing to do and while Michael is really helpful and enthusiastic about the whole thing, I'm super conscious of boring the life out of him with bridetalk.

I later decided that I needed "sort of" bridesmaids to help me through the journey. Plus, the thinly disguised looks of disappointment on two particular little faces when I told them I wasn't having bridesmaids left me feeling guilty as sin...

It was a no brainer that I would have my sister, Laura.  She's the Tia to my Tamara. The sensible little sister that forever keeps me grounded when I get a little goofy and stupid, who shares the exact same sense of humour as me, who keeps a whole mental catalogue of the most ridiculous little memories of our childhood together. We have a sometimes extremely creepy "sista sista" (as we call it) brain link that only the 2 of us can vouch for. She knows me inside out while still managing to keep an air of mystery about herself. She's the "pretty sister" who carries herself with a level of class and sophistication (sans wine) that I've never quite managed and I need her to steer me in the right directions when it comes to wedding stuff. For sure. Even though she works unbelieveably hard and we don't see eachother as often as I'd like she's forever just a whatsapp away when I need to run something past her. I always feel ridiculously self-indulgent bombarding her with pictures of dresses and cakes and candles when she has a thousand more important things to worry about but she always responds with her honest opinion and to be honest, if Laura says "no" you can guarantee the idea will be scrapped immediately. If we were given a spare ticket to New York with us, I'd give it to Laura.

When Michael and I first began dating, I obviously indulged in the obligitory Facebook stalk of his friends and family. (We all do it, behave yourself.) And there was one family member that scared the living daylights right out of me.  The vampiric Miss Megan Archer. On our dates we used to walk past the shop that she worked in and I would beg Michael not to introduce us. I'd heard stories about her ripping mens hearts out and feeding them to her Jack Russell (only joking) but as Michael's ballsy little sister, I was petrified of her. I think all I wanted was for her to like me and it seemed like we were worlds apart personality-wise. This story always has the two of us in kinks nowadays - we couldn't have got on better.  It's rare that a day goes by where we haven't been in contact. In just a few years we've had some amazing ups and horrendous downs but I couldn't imagine not having her as part of this. She's as goofy as I am and our conversations about the wedding often escalate into the ridiculous (last week we were discussing how cool it would be to have Michael ride into the reception on a Polar Bear) but she's enthusiastic when I need her to be and happily accompanied us to the wedding fair, reveled in telling everyone she was a bridesmaid, let me use her back as a writing desk when filling in details forms as well as springing to action by offering to carry all the leaflets and books I was collecting as we went. Her ability to keep me excited about wedding stuff is much needed and appreciated. I'm really excited to be gaining another little sister.

So, keeping 'er casual as always, I just wanted to write a little card and a letter to both girls to ask them for their help throughout the planning process and to take the opportunity to let them know how much they mean to me. I had some silly pictures of us together printed on the front for banters sakes and wrote a letter inside. What's life without a little cheese, eh?