Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Hearing our banns being read on Sunday 19th December in St Mary's Buckden was a really special moment for me and Tom.  It was very strange and surreal, weird and wonderful to hear our names being read out and for them to say a little prayer for us as we prepare for marriage.  I'm not too sure how but it took the 'realness' to another level again.

It's now just over two months until the wedding and it really is coming up quickly.  Things have really quietened down now until January, when the final planning will start.

We had a lovely weekend with our mums and dads and mums and dads - to be!  Despite being the snowiest day of the year (and maybe the coldest too!) Mum and Dad drove up to stay with Tom's mum and dad, they came up to see South Farm, visit some of mum's family, spend some time with Tom's mum and dad and then to hear our banns on the Sunday.

I'm sure that mum and dad loved South Farm, it feels very familiar and homely to me and Tom now and it was good to show them round so that they know where they are on the wedding day and can help direct people if they need help.  A wedding was taking place that afternoon so we got to see it set up again for another wedding which is always useful.  Here are some pictures of our gorgeous venue in the snow!

In the evening, Ann had cooked us all a delicious roast pork dinner, and we'd taken up the weddings wines for everyone to try as well.  It was quite a nice moment for me to see our families eating together and we chatted about lots of different things - wedding and non wedding related.

On Sunday we all headed out in the snow to St Mary's - it looks stunningly beautiful in the snow and everyone was so welcoming to us being the visitors.  I got to light the advent candles and our banns were so special.  Mum was crying and I felt very emotional hearing them.  Goodness knows what we're going to be like on the actual day! 

So now my thoughts turn to Christmas and the New Year.  We've got mum and dad coming to ours on Christmas Eve and then Victoria and family coming over in the afternoon.  We'll all go to Rachael's on Boxing Day.  I really can't wait to have a bit of a break, spend some time relaxing and enjoying my families company.

There are a few bits that we're planning to do over the break, we've got to sort out the music for the reception and coffee drinks, go through our engagement photo shoot to decide which images we'd like to use.  Finally we have to pay South Farm - so a very merry Christmas from them!!

January sees us enter into the final stages of planning and I can't wait!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas - Here's to the most fabulous 2011!

Mrs Elliott to Be!

xxxxxx

Ho Ho Ho!

It's been a fairly quiet couple of weeks wedding wise for us as we're kind of now in that limbo stage between the big things all being booked and we're not quite ready to do the detailed sections as we're waiting for things like numbers.

It looks like we're going to be able to have a nice non-wedding related Christmas which is what I'd hoped for, mum and dad are coming to our house and we're cooking for the first time on Christmas day.  It's the first year that Tom is not going to be with his family this year and it's going to be quite strange with just mum, dad and us two - but we're starting our own traditions as we're going to be a new family of two next year, so it will be really nice to do it this way this year.

Wedding wise - we're just sorting out final payments which is very scary but will be nice to get it out of the way.  We're also really enjoying all the RSVP's coming in - it's so exciting to hear that people are looking forward to coming!  Other things that we've got to sort out before the end of the year is men's suits, finalise all the wedding wine and Champagne (which we've VERY much enjoyed doing and almost there with!)  We're also going to spend some time over Christmas sorting out music, table plans and guest book.

We've also set up a little gift list for those of you that might want to contribute instead of giving us money.

Click below

Helen and Tom's Gift List - 30527

In other news, my passport arrived on the weekend and it was quite a surreal, yet special moment for me - despite the most hideous picture (may give Tom second thoughts it's that bad!!) seeing my new name in print and all official was just another thing that makes this lovely journey even more real for me and Mrs Helen Carissa Elliott is getting closer and closer.

Come January it will be all go again I think as we'll then be starting to come onto our supplier's radars and we can get the fiddlly bits finalised.

Under 11 weeks to go now, we'll soon be on the 10 week countdown!

Love

Mrs Elliott to be

xx

Just back from the Post Office...

Invitations - Done!

Please come everyone...

xxx

Kissing and Tasting

We had a gorgeous wedding filled Saturday which started with an early Macdonalds breakfast (note to self: This will not help you looked toned and beautiful in your wedding dress!) and then drove, in the absolutely freeeezing weather to Hampton Court Palace for our Engagement photo shoot with our Best Main: Iain and his photograph buddy Greg.

 

Iain is an extremely good photographer, he has all the kit and has done lots of photographic work for a variety of different clients.  He'd never done this before and him and Greg are looking into doing weddings professionally so we were more than happy to be guinea pigs.

 

We chose Hampton Court Palace as it's a beautiful location and it's also somewhere we went to fairly early on in our relationship with Mum and Dad.  Tom's mum and dad used to bring him there lots as a child and I'm really interested in Kings and Queens of England - so it was the perfect location for us. 

 

I'll give you photos later but suffice to say that it was so much fun!  We took several changes of clothing and just messed around.  I was quite nervous at first as it's a strange feeling to have a camera pointing at you the whole time and kissing and hugging in front of it - but it didn't take too long to relax and start to enjoy the experience (kissing and hugging Tom for hours isn't too much of a chore actually!)

 

Iain and Greg did a GREAT job - we've had a sneak peak at some of the photos and they are amazing, I'm really happy with them and it will be so lovely to keep them for the future.

 

In the evening Iain and Jenny and our neighbours Rob and Heather came over for a wedding wine tasting evening.  At our tasting night, we bought a selection of their reds and bubbly so that we can decide on what to drink for the meal, reception and toasting drinks.  We'd also bought a selection from various supermarkets so that we could decide if we wanted to pay corkage and bring in our own choices.

 

The results were really surprising and we've now decided on our bubbly selection - the reds need a little bit more trialing but I don't think that will be too difficult for us at all!   I think we're almost there with the whites too so that's another tick on my list.

 

Helen xx