Venue Hunting Leg 1: The Cotswolds

We travelled down to Mum and Dad's on a sunny Friday evening, had a yummy dinner (thanks Mum!) and then stayed up talking to Mum and Dad for a few hours. It was nice to talk to them about our wedding plans, let them know what sort of things we want and don't want and also to give them the opportunity to tell us their thoughts and expectations. I think by the end of the weekend, they both realised that it is going to be an expensive day for us but we want to do this right, to only compromise on the bits we need to, and that we will have something and somewhere special and that they will be a big part of that.

So Leg 1 started early Saturday morning with a visit to two Barns: both completely different - Cripps Barn and Kingscote Barn. Cripps Barn near Bibury is a gorgeous, rustic, traditional farm house barn, it had a great feel to it as soon as we walked in. Outside was a lit bonfire, cooking four whole lambs! It smelt amazing and I could really imagine myself there. The food sounded really nice and different and they don't charge corkage which means that we could pick and choose our own wines and bubbly for the day - a big advantage!

Kingscote Barn was completely different - still very pretty indeed, a beautiful Barn, very elegant, clean and modern, but it was this that put us off it a bit - it was almost too clean and modern for a barn - it lacked a bit of rustic-ness and charm. Still a possibility though as they do a great Winter Package.

What does everyone think about these two venues?  I've linked them to their websites - any comments gratefully received.

The other five venues we saw over the Friday and Saturday were just not right for one reason or another. Two of them looks stunning from the outside but quite old fashioned inside with gross carpets and just not right for us (seriously Emerald Green with white shields??!)  Another had the main reception room split into two parts so effectively, you'd be relegating half of your guests to a separate area which wasn't ideal.   One venue was so rude that we didn't even get as far as the function rooms so that one was out straight away.

So we've come away from Leg 1 with one definite possibility and one big maybe - not too bad really.

Onto Leg 2 - which is Surrey - we've seen two of these already and have another 3 to see on Saturday - then the following week is the final and third leg in Cambridgeshire and then it's decision time.

We're both really enjoying it so far, this weekend was great to drive through the Cotswolds in the sun and its all still very exciting.

Helen xx

Navy Blue and Hot Pink

Our Colour Scheme

We've decided on a Navy Blue and Hot Pink colour scheme for our wedding and I love it!  These colours will go really well with the grey suits for the men and white (obviously) as well.

There were a few reasons why we chose these two colours:

1) We wanted something a little bit different than the usual 'wedding' colours and these two really stood out, they are nice bright colours that reflect our personalities
2) I love pink!
3) They are remarkably similar to a certain football teams away colours....!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Now we have colours other things can start to take shape.  Rachael found two gorgeous Bridesmaid dresses for her and Vic - and they were in the sale so under budget!  They are not your typical bridesmaid dress which was also important to me so that they can wear them again afterwards.  The dresses fitted them both perfectly and they look gorgeous wearing them.  Teamed with a bright pink flowers they will look stunning!

Venue Search Update

We've seen two venues so far, both in Surrey:  Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking and Greyfriars House just outside Guildford.  Both venues were really interesting and both ticked our requirements of a 'different' kind of venue, rather than your chain hotel - working at The Ritz means that I'm not massively keen on a hotel wedding, unless the hotel is a little bit different.  We really want a venue with soul and character.

We're not sure that either venue is right for us just yet and have loads more to see so we'll keep searching and see what we come up with.  We want to get this booked up by mid September.  We're happy to define certain things like numbers and other elements by the venue so it's important that we get this right.

A date also means that we can start to source other suppliers like Photographer, Videographer, Florist and we can also book the church.  It also means that I can start counting down the days until I'm Mrs Elliott!

We've got a really busy Bank Holiday weekend back in Gloucestershire so I'll update after then.

Happy Friday!

Helen xx

Here Comes The Bride

I’m one of those girls who has dreamt about getting married probably since I was knew what a wedding was. I can specifically remember a discussion with my sisters when I was about six, where we discussed dresses, colour, shape, veil etc… We even used to play weddings and take it in turns to be the bride with tea towels on our heads! (I was usually the bride though – eldest child’s prerogative – or just bossy-ness!) So when Saturday 21st August – dress shopping day- approached, you can imagine how excited I was, coupled with massive expectations!

Rachael met me at 8:45 and I drove us to our first bridal store: Mamfii Bridal in Knaphill, Surrey. On a small digression, I felt it was really important for me to drive there. It’s the one part of the day that Tom can’t get involved with and therefore I wanted it to be about me and that meant driving too. I’ve not done a huge amount of driving since I passed in November last year, enough to become more confident but not a huge amount without Tom, so it was a big deal for me to drive Rachael and Victoria during the day and also to park the car too. I was really proud of myself for doing it and it was another one step on my journey of achievement in this area.

We arrived at Mamfii Bridal for my appointment and it was really surreal entering the shop, which was very white, pretty, and had lots of dresses lined up ready for me to try on.

Cheryl the lovely shop assistant came and sat with us and said:

‘So which one of you is The Bride?’

It still hadn’t really hit me that this was it – I was The Bride! It was my turn to try on these dresses and this meant that I was getting married – and to the most amazing man too!

Therefore I don’t think it was a big surprise that when I came out of the fitting room wearing the first of what must have been about thirty dresses that day, saw Victoria’s beaming face, that the tears started to fall, I couldn’t stop them.

My sisters were amazing, I just loved seeing their faces when I came out of the changing rooms, getting their opinions on elements of the dress and just spending some time with them was so nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Vic without Freddy and although I love him to death – it was nice to have her back for the morning as my sister rather than the mummy.

I can’t talk too much about the actual dresses here as currently my only follower is the one person who can’t know anything about it! Suffice to say that it was just amazing to try on lots of different styles, shapes, fits etc. I truly felt like a princess and I hope that the one that I eventually choose knocks Tom’s socks off!

The search is on...

Sooooo - where I'm up to so far... I've booked appointments with 18 different venues (Yes 18!!) We're looking in three locations - Stroud, Surrey and Cambridge. All three locations have pro's and cons so it's just a case of keeping an open mind and seeing what we like, what we can afford and the best thing for us and all our guests. I think that we are going to get married in Church so we have to coordinate that as well. We visited Denbies Vineyard in Dorking, Surrey on Saturday so the search has already begun. As we want to do it early next year the key things for us to book asap are the venue and then get my dress sorted out.

Saturday is dress shopping day, I'm having Rachael and Victoria as bridesmaids and also Tom's 7 year old niece Ellie. Freddy is going to be my Page Boy! We're going to three bridal shops, one in Knaphill Surrey - which is where Vic got her dress from, One in Walton and the other in Weybridge, you get an hour and basically try as many dresses on as possible. I have no idea what I want yet so going to try on lots of different styles and see what I like and what suits me. I seriously have to pinch myself when I think that I'm going to be a bride - its really quite overwhelming!

So that's kind of where we are at so far. We had a family engagement party at our house on Saturday and it was really nice to see everyone together, mum made us a cake and also instead of a normal bouquet of flowers she bought me an actual bridal bouquet - which was actually really scary (but very lovely indeed) I've been sent/given 6 bouquet's of flowers so far from friends and suppliers so I'm feeling extremely spoilt at the moment.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention before that when we arrived back from our holiday, our front door was decorated with loads of balloons and Happy Engagement banners - Kaz had sneakily done it on the day we came home.  A little embarrassing but hilarious and a really thoughtful touch.  We're starting to feel like mini celebrities - Thank you Karen!

Helen xxx

I'm engaged!!!!

It's day five of our holiday to Icmeler in Turkey and today I got engaged!!! (Cue lots of whooping and cheering, tears, smiles, shock, excitement, jumping up and down and more tears!)

We'd booked a boat trip and boarded it at 9:30am, it must have been the most humid and hot days so far, therefore I was really pleased when we set sail and the gorgeous sea breeze started to wash over us, I felt much better and settled onto my sun lounger to enjoy the start of the day as we sailed towards our first destination.

Our first stop was Paradise Island (I can't remember all the names of the Islands but will tell you the ones I do remember)

Paradise Island talked to us! The sounds of the Island were incredible as we approached the island. There is no other feeling like stepping off the boat into the refreshing sea, just wonderful. We swam around for a bit, checked out the fishes and then boarded again for destination two.

It's so peaceful in the water and Tom and I did some basic snorkeling in all of the bays, seeing a varying variety of different fish and underwater life. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would and would like to do some more.

The third place we stopped in was our lunch stop, we had a few hours on this Island and the crew lit a BBQ on the back of the boat and cooked us lunch. It was yummy; consisting of meats, pasta, salad, bread, chips - very tasty.

We had another stop before we docked in Amos Bay. I didn't notice at the time but as we approached the bay, Tom couldn't sit still, he was the only person not chilling out on their sun lounger. I had an ice-cream at this time so was quite oblivious! Arriving in Amos Bay, I got out into the water first, Tom checked with the Captain how long we had, 30 mins, and we decided to swim to a large set of rocks on the bay. I didn't notice that Tom was nervous but he tells me that he really was!

Amos Bay was already my favourite Bay. It was stunning. On our short journey to the rocks we saw some really nice fish - Tom thinks they were Jacks - but they were quite big, silver and disc shaped - very pretty.

We got to the rocks and Tom helped me up, we then spent a few moments taking in the view.

Then Tom turned (as much as he could on the slippy rocks!) and said to me just how beautiful Amos Bay was. I heartily agreed and said that it was perfect. He replied that there was only one problem with the Bay and that was that he didn't want Amos anymore. To which I, stupidly, replied 'Well what am I going to do then?'

Tom replied 'I love you so much in a way that I never knew was possible, so I want to ask you - will you marry me?'

And then I think I stopped breathing...

I stared at Tom for what seemed like eternity, tears rolling down my face and eventually I managed to get the words out 'Of course I will!'

'Well you need to say goodbye to Amos then' was Tom's reply. At this stage, the fact that I need to say goodbye because I would become an Elliott had not really hit me - that realisation didn't come until later!

After then we had to swim back to the boat in time, I don't know how I managed it as I was shaking so much, the euphoria mixed with shock had set in and we both couldn't stop smiling as we boarded the boat. We had some pictures taken and then we really had to say goodbye to Amos Bay - my favourite place ever and I was only there for half an hour. We'll go back some day maybe!

The feelings that I experienced for the rest of that day (and still experiencing now to be honest) are excitement, security, surreal, magnificent, happy and everything else in between. I'm going to be Mrs Thomas Elliott and I couldn't be happier!

We disembarked from the boat around 5 - feeling euphoric, very hot, a bit sunburn and sweaty but couldn't be happier. We headed straight back to our hotel for a cold shower and the lush air con! I called mum to tell her the great news (even though she already knew as Tom had been back the week before to seek my dad's approval)

We had booked an amazing restaurant called Cafe Del Mar for the evening - all part of Tom's well executed plan. I wore my new long black evening dress and diamond necklace. Tom had told me that he couldn't bring the ring as it wasn't insured - which I was totally fine about, in fact, a ring hadn't really crossed my mind at that stage.

Cafe Del Mar is a little way up from the bay of Icmeler so the views are incredible. We could see across to the route that we had travelled earlier that day and as we were dining, the sun was setting. It couldn't have been more romantic.



Sadly no Champagne in Turkey. so instead we chose a very nice bottle of chilled red, we had garlic bread and calamari to start and I followed that with a pepper steak and Tom had chicken schnitzel (not particularly interesting to anyone but I want to remember everything about that day!)

After the meal was over we began chatting about our forthcoming wedding and marriage. I can't remember how but the subject got round to rings and I think I was saying what I liked and disliked. It was at this point that Tom walked over to my side of the table and said 'Would you like it if the ring looked like this?'

He got down on one knee and kissed me.

My ring is absolutely perfect, it's so sparkly and stunning and exactly what I would have picked - even better in fact - I didn't realise there was so much to consider when it comes to diamonds and the best ones to purchase - Tom did so much research into this and I'm so proud to wear it on my finger so tell the world that I'm going to be his wife!

When I'd put the ring on my finger - a perfect fit! - Tom said that it was then that he got his first flutter, seeing it on my finger.

The lovely waiter brought us over a peach cocktail for us to enjoy and we drank that after our wine. Emotionally shattered, we took a stroll along the sea front and had a last drink in a very fun bar that we'd been to earlier on in the week. Sounds really funny to say but we watched a very bad Tina Turner tribute act and we just could not stop grinning like loons at each other.




I didn't want the day to ever end!

I'm the happiest girl in the world.

I can't wait to marry Tom!

... now the wedding to plan........!

Helen xx