One Month To Go

ONE MONTH.

 

Today we're celebrating one final month before the biggest adventure of our lives. This has honestly been the quickest and best year so far and we're buzzing with excitement about our wedding day. This time last year I wasn't even expecting an Engagement let alone a wedding. There's still so much to do and sort out, we really need to get a move on - I think we're in denial right now and leaving everything to the last minute.  Either that or we're waiting patiently for Pay Day. That one seems more likely, actually.  Weddings are EXPENSIVE.  In case you didn’t already know that.  Also – 3000 blog views?  Say whaaat?

 

 

 

The Invitations

 Our invitations are all sent out - finally - and they look a little something like the above! I think they're much nicer in real life as they're printed on a shimmery luxury champagne card with gold and black ink.  We went with an Art Deco design to reflect the style of décor we've chosen for our Reception, as well as giving it a vintage New York feel.  I designed the invitations online and purchased them from a company in New York and they arrived in about 10 days after we placed the order. We sent out 2 versions of the invitations - immediate family received something a little different to these ones with an extra invitation to a champagne reception beforehand.  This is to give our (4 sets!) of parents and many, many siblings a chance to meet before the party starts.

 

The invitations were sent in plain white envelopes and sealed with a matching gold seal with our M&R monogram.  We had matching address labels printed, white labels with the gold design to match the bottom of the invites (and the background of my blog!) For those that we hand delivered, the seal read "Hand Delivered With Love".  We loved the idea of hand delivering them and enjoyed doing the rounds and sneaking around town in the dark slipping them through letterboxes.  Apartment buildings were our nemesis however...

 

To be honest, the invitations have been the most stressful part of the Reception planning.  Waiting for RSVP's has driven us to distraction as out of 100 invitations only 55 (so far)have actually logged on to let us know they'll be there.  We hope that all RSVP's will be logged before December begins so that we can let the hotel know our final numbers - we'll be strictly basing the numbers on the RSVP's so if someone forgets, they'll not be fed, ha!

 

We both liked the idea of having a wedding website so that we could keep our invitations really simple and guests could log on and find out further information if they wanted to.  I spent countless hours creating our website, designing it all from scratch and ensuring that it matched our invitations and it was tough work!  I thought it was a quick and simple way for people to register their RSVP's as it only takes a couple clicks and they're all uploaded to a handy database for Michael and I to access.  From the website you can book a hotel room, see directions to the hotel, check the dress code and all sorts of other features.  There is a guestbook where people can leave song requests for our DJ and an experience gift list where friends and family can contribute activities to our trip. 

 

We chose this type of guest list because Michael and I are lucky to have been living together for almost 4 years now and we already have everything we need in regards to the "usual" wedding gifts that are based around our home.  We genuinely don't expect gifts, but had lots of people kept asking us where our gift register was so we made one just in case!  We're so blown away and appreciative of those who have already bought us lovely gifts - it's so exciting getting emails from Zankyou letting us know who will be there - it makes it all very real and exciting!

Hen Weekend 13/11/15

I literally had the best Hen weekend!  I spent the whole weekend feeling completely spoilt, loved and lucky to have such lovely girls around me and so unbelievably grateful that they would go to such effort to give me such a good send off into married life.  Having everyone fly out to Edinburgh for me was just amazing and it'll be a weekend I'll always remember fondly. Thank you girls, from the bottom of my heart :)

We all met at the airport on Friday night - I was quite flustered from having to rush our cat for emergency surgery a couple hours before we were due to leave for the airport and I was concerned for both Shadow, and the flight-threatening storm 'Abigail' that was looming above our heads.  Once we were through Security (with Jemma well told off for attempting to smuggle a giant can of dry shampoo in her carry on) we settled into the bar and the girls immediately made sure that I had a glass of wine in front of me.  Once boarded, the lovely cabin crew gave me two free bottles of Prosecco to enjoy (I shared mine with Megan) and the 8 of us arrived in Edinburgh very merry and excited. 

Lucy, who I met in Australia and lives in England, travelled up to Edinburgh earlier in the day and we met her at the apartments which she had decorated for our arrival :)  She had put up Hen banners in all the rooms, balloons everywhere and had made cookies with Michael and I's faces on -  I was so shocked and pleased.  I had my own room, with a big comfy bed and some fun Hen bits and pieces laid out for me to wear.  All the girls had tartan sashes that said "Rachel's Hen Party" and mine read "Bride To Be - One Last Fling Before The Ring". The plan was to stay in the apartments and have a pyjama party as we didn't arrive until after 10pm but when we saw how central we were the plan quickly changed to heading to the nearest bar which happened to be a lovely cocktail bar just across the road.  We all piled around a big table and amazingly, the bar had a deck of Cards Against Humanity cards and I think we tried to play it, but everything got a bit hazy after the dirty shot Megan bought me...

The next day was filled with planned secret activities and I was so nervous about it but was really, really happy with their choices when they were finally revealed.  Caroline flew over on Saturday morning to join us which brought our group to an even 10.  We all went for lunch and drinks on the Royal Mile before walking down to The Edinburgh Dungeons where we were booked onto the tour - agh!  It was literally, without doubt, the scariest 90 minutes of my entire life.  I was petrified! God only knows how it's suitable for school children because at one stage I was curled up in my seat, fingers in my ears, eyes closed and blowing repeatedly into the whistle we were all wearing around our necks in sheer panic.  Never again!  But at the same time, I was so glad that I did it and it really was a good laugh in the end. The photographs are hilarious.

When we left the dungeons it was dark outside and raining cats and dogs.  We ran in the rain to The Hard Rock Café where the girls had arranged a Cocktail Masterclass! We were completely sober when we arrived, cold and wet to the bar but it didn't take long for us to get merry once our "tutor" started pouring the drinks.  I went first, and made my first Mojito - one of my favourites.  All 10 of us got to make a cocktail of our choice and then Megan and I got to go head-to-head in a competition to make our own signature cocktails.  Megan named hers "The Mayhem" and I named mine "The Bonarch" (her name was much better...) and in the end The Mayhem won but I was given the prize anyway HA.  My delight was short lived though because on our way back to the Apartments the rain made the bag that I was carrying my prize in so soggy that it dropped and smashed all over the street...... doh!!  The Hard Rock Café also provided a buffet dinner and the food was really, really good so we left very tipsy and very happy.

When we got back to the Apartments we threw some music on, poured some Prosecco and Raspberries and got to work drying ourselves off and getting ready to go out.  After a few drinking games we called 2 taxis and headed off to TigerLily which is pretty much the most glam bar I've ever been to. They made us all take our Hen gear off as we went in - spoilsports - but it was a nice spot.  There was a club underneath it called LuLu's which was also nice, but totally rammed.  We ended up staying out until after 3am which none of us usually have the stamina for in our old age - I honestly had a fantastic night singing and dancing with my best girl friends. 

The next morning was touch and go...thankfully we had a late check out and were able to stay in bed a bit longer before packing up and going for lunch.  Our flight home was at 4pm so we were at the airport for 2pm and had a drink at the bar to cure us.  The flight home was quick (if not a little turbulent) and Megan and I watched The Little Mermaid together for the duration of the 50 minute flight.  She was fab throughout the whole weekend and worked so hard to pull everything together - I'm excited for her to be my new sister :)

Everything from start to finish was exactly how a Hen Weekend should be, relaxed, fun and completely drama-free. I'm so grateful for my girls for planning such a perfect send off for me and I can't wait to return the favour when their time comes around.  Edinburgh is beautiful, even in the rain. I feel completely blessed.  Thank you, everyone x

Next Month.

 

 

We're now able to say the words "we're getting married next month."

 

AGH.