The Bits & Bobs

We're suddenly into September, right at the very beginning of Autumn.  Autumn and Winter are my absolute favourite seasons.  There is nothing that I don't love about wrapping up warm in big coats and long scarves, relaxing by the fire, dark nights and cold but sunny mornings.  The days are all-of-a-sudden beginning to look closer to how they'll look when we're getting married.

Once Halloween is over us we'll be launched straight into Christmas and I reckon that's when the nerves really will begin to kick in. I have decided to partake in Sober October for Macmillan Cancer Support this year (you can sponsor me here) in an effort to give something back to a good cause seeing as this year has been a pretty selfish one.  I'll be donating October's drinking money to Macmillan and encouraging friends and family to do the same, so please, dig deep for a good cause - it won't be easy for me to give up 4 weekends worth of Prosecco!

Once October is through we'll be onto my Hen Weekend in Edinburgh on 13th November and Michael's Stag Weekend on the 5th December at Todd's Leap.  Please cross your fingers/say a prayer/light a candle that Michael won't break any limbs that will stop us from going to New York - Bubble wrap at the ready! I'm getting slightly nervous about my Hen as it's been taken out of my control-freak hands by my friends.  They've told me that they've booked activities and have all sorts of bits and pieces sorted and it kills me to not be involved, but at the same time I'm really excited about it all!  They're all subtle as bricks though, sneaking around with their private "No Rachel Allowed" WhatsApp groups which they casually type in while I'm sitting right beside them (as someone who doesn't miss anything, if they think for one second that I'm not being equally as sneaky by reading over their shoulders then they're sadly mistaken haha!)

At this stage of the planning everything is broken down into little bits and pieces.  We don't have anything else to do with regards to our trip except packing and applying for our VISA waivers etc. I imagine we'll probably be in contact with Amber & Marley at some stage to firm up plans, even though it may well be very spur of the moment when we're there.  Right now my concern is getting everything we'll need over to New York.  We may end up with 2 large suitcases and 2 small ones which will be a pain to have to lug with us to Vegas too.  If there was such a thing as storage lockers in Newark Airport it would be ideal to store some of our stuff in until we get back from Vegas.  Little details like that need to be researched.

Most of our concentration right now is on the Reception.  Our box room is gradually turning into a wedding factory/storage area. I'm spending my lunch breaks scouring the internet for various items I have on my to-buy list and I'm spending far too much on all the fun little details.  It's addictive. I've spent more than I like to admit on photo frames from M&S and Next that I just had to have to go with our theme.  I've been super ambitious with some aspects, especially because we have such little time between arriving home from our trip and the Reception day but we have so many friends and family members offering to help us out - yay!  We'll need all the help we can get to pull this off.

Wedding planning for every bride alive right now is all about Pinterest.  Discussions with friends that are also getting married have uncovered  that we've all "pinned" many of the same ideas on our boards and we are going with very similar details, but thankfully quite different in their own ways. I guess similarities are just something we'll have to expect from each Pinterest inspired wedding, but I'm just so glad that Michael and I are going down a completely different route altogether than anyone else we know.  I think our plans are all just a lot more relaxed than most weddings.  We aren't fussing with a Top Table or seating plans, everyone can sit where they like and feel free to move around as they want.  We want our food to be simple and easy-going and our DJ's to take requests and to play lots of different genres (whilst steering away from Rock the Boat at all costs...)  The one thing that I do want is for people to arrive on time - we only have 6 hours in our Suite to party!

We're looking forward to heading back to the Malone Lodge Hotel closer to Christmas to firm up some of our details. Our wedding coordinator Lisa Marie has been so helpful, she can't do enough for us which is great to know that they're as keen to make our evening as special as possible even though we're not having a full wedding.  Nothing is too much trouble and we've discovered some really fab money-saving tips on décor, for example, instead of paying for a design company to supply and fit the fairy lights we wanted in the windows, the hotel have agreed to keep their fairy lights from Christmas in their windows free of charge - fab!  If you're ever passing nip in for a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, it's really a lovely hotel (and their coffee is to die for).

We'll likely send out our invitations at the end of October, though we have considered sending our invitations to those travelling from England a bit sooner so they can make any outstanding arrangements in good time.  We're finally going ring shopping this weekend and we'll hopefully get Michael sorted with a suit at some stage too.  We're getting there bit by bit...