Trials

I can't really post any pictures on this blog entry as this past weekend has been all about trials for my look on the big day.

I traveled up to Buckden on Friday evening and went straight to a gorgeous little beauty salon called Equilibrium for my fake tan trial - i've had other tans before but never a spray one and it was rather funny standing there in a pair of paper knickers getting into all sorts of funny positions.  The girl that's doing all my beauty treatments is really sweet and i'm sure we'll have a good giggle through all the beauty procedures leading up to the wedding.  The tan looks really good, it's five days later and still lasting so far.  I've got to be careful with my thumbs and hands next time but other than that, it was a sucess.

The weekend was really lovely with Ann and Tony, we're all a lot more relaxed and less stressed about everything now, so it was good just to enjoy their company and chat through lots of different things, it's really coming down to logistics and finer details now so we've got to be organised.  I was really good this weekend and refrained from anything un-healthy and still no alcohol!  (it was worth it though when I stepped on the scales on Monday morning, finally the weight is coming off!)

Saturday was an early start to the hairdressers, this was another thing I was a little aprehensive over, not knowing if the hairdressers were any good.  I just had to pick one at random really.  I was very plesently surprised.  She was so nice, everything she trialled on me looked good and I had even had trouble deciding on which style to go with.  We chatted about all sorts and got on really well.  On the morning of the wedding we even get a selection of fruit, bubbles and pastries so can't be bad!  I can't tell you what hairstyle i've finally gone for - I guess you'll all see that on the day!

In the afternoon Tom's old schoolfriend Sam came over for my make up trial.  Sam has done really well in her career and is now a make up artist to the stars.  I felt very special whilst getting my make up done and was extremely pleased with the results - I can't talk much about it but even Tony (Tom's dad) said that I looked beautiful so that made me smile!  Mum is also having her make up done on the day so it will be something nice we can have done together.

Then finally on Sunday morning, we travelled to see Fay and her mum Kim to chat through flowers.  They reassured us when they took control of the conversation and wrote down everything that we'd requested, gave us advise on what will and wont work and nothing seemed to phase them.  We're keeping the flowers quite classic as it's what we both seemed to gravitate to and I really can't wait to see them on the day.  Its a funny thing really because it's the one thing that you don't really have much idea of before the morning of the wedding - you just have to trust someone to understand your ideas.  Fingers crossed it will all be fine - and if it's not then I don't think I'll be too bothered.

We've finalised all the bits now for South Farm, We're in the process of doing the rest of the stationary and tableplan.  Tom's stag is on Saturday and mine the following (YAY!!) We now need to begin to think about finalising the finer details with the videographer/photographer and DJ, Tom's got to get shoes, We've still got a few gifts to buy, we're now thinking about lots of cheese!! and hopefully my dress is coming in next week (YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!)

Both Tom and I are starting to get a little bit nervous now, in a really good way but still that little wash of anxiety in your tummy happens every now and then and at the funniest things.  With only 5 weeks to go it's probably the most normal thing to happen and actually I'm beginning to enjoy the little feelings as its telling me that it's real and happening SOON!

Love Helen (Mrs E to be)

xxx

P.s Writing Mrs E to be reminded me of a bit of a moment I had at work last week, when during a meeting, the lady had to write down in her notes 'nb will be Mrs Helen Elliott from March onwards' - a very strange moment but I am now starting to 'become' that person (that might not make sense to anyone but me - but I know what I mean!!)

xxx

It's a marriage as well as a wedding

It's the most fantastic feeling when others around you start thinking about your wedding and making plans around it.  I think now that Christmas is over and it's 2011, people are now starting to plan.

 

We've had all of our RSVP's back now and lots of our friends and families have booked their hotels and are now thinking about outfits, accessories and plans for the day.

 

It's Tom's stag next weekend and my hen the following and it's then that we've really entered into the wedding as the celebrations will have begun.  I simply can't wait to see what my sisters have got planned and in store for me, many of my friends have just stopped talking to me about it, in case they let the cat out of the bag.  I know that it will be an incredibly special weekend and that a lot of time and effort has gone into the planning and for that I am incredibly humbled and thankful!  - BRING IT ON!!

 

I'm not one of those girls that gets stressed about their other half's going out and will certainly not be worried about his Stag do (the official one in London or the unofficial one in France)  I trust him implicitly, he's a big boy, knows what he's doing and I just want him to have a blast, get hideously drunk, enjoy himself and spend time with his family and friends.  Although I will say this:  Tom - there will be no sympathy on Sunday and anything you can do - I can and WILL do better!!!

 

In the last few weeks we've done a bit more organising, received our guest book last night which looks beautiful.  We've booked our rehearsal, which will be 1pm on Friday 25th Feb.  I've booked in for a very expensive eyebrow shape. (I'm currently growing out my stupid hairy eyebrows so will just have to bear it for another six weeks!)  We've made some progress on the table plan, flowers and planning documents and we're on schedule for those to be finished in time.  Tom's now bought his shirt and just has shoes to buy.  We've got all the elements of our favours and just have to make them and we've also got almost everything ready for our table centres too. 

 

I have about 7 or 8 things I'm waiting on delivery for - we're getting to know our postman and Royal Mail delivery office really well!

 

Last weekend was really special as it was Freddy's naming day and first birthday and we had a lovely day at Foxhill's where the ceremony and party was held.  Mum and Dad came to stay and we also went to hear our penultimate set of banns being read at St Peter's in Hersham. Rachael and John came too and it was another nice moment for us, not as emotional as in St Mary's but still special all the same.  Sunday afternoon saw us and about 20, 5 year olds attend Max's football party.  It was hilarious watching them all chase after the ball!  So a really busy weekend.

 

The nice but serious bit

I now want to, and need to spend more focus on Tom and our marriage. It's easy to get swept up in the organisation and I have been getting overly stressed about everything being right and perfect.  It sounds silly but it's important to me to have some time to reflect, enjoy and ponder, on the fact that we're getting married, and at the end of the wedding day, we'll love each other to death and will be together forever and this is what counts; not the matching napkins or the tableplan or even the fancy dress and honeymoon, it's the fact that we'll be Mr and Mrs Elliott and this means the world to me.  I'll make sure that I do everything in my power to ensure that the day runs as smooth as possible but on the actual day, I honestly won't care if something goes wrong or is not quite as i'd planned.  The most important thing is that me and Tom show the world that we are in love and prove to everyone who loves us just how much we mean to each other.

 

and on that note I will say ttfn!

 

Helen xx

New Year.....

Where to start!?

 

I think in my head I'd been thinking - the wedding is next year, after Christmas, got to get through Christmas and New Year first.... and it felt like such a long countdown to my Christmas holiday - that I didn't realise that as soon as the 27th came around, that there was eight weeks until our wedding!!  When the clocks chimed midnight on Friday 31st December, it was a magical and, if I'm honest, pretty scary moment, as it meant that I'm getting married THIS YEAR, and not just this year but NEXT MONTH!!

 

Christmas and New Year were lots of fun, quite different this year as we held Christmas Day at our house and spend New Year's Eve with a Chinese and bottle of wine, it was so nice just to have 10 days off work, I didn't have to be anywhere or do anything in particular so it was really lovely and relaxing. 

 

During the holidays we've done lots and lots, I'm really pleased with us both!  We've sorted out our play lists for the reception drinks and during coffee, for those of you that know Tom and Me's musical taste's then you'll know that it could be quite an interesting mix!  I had lots of fun doing these play lists, it's nice to go through old music collections, lots of songs brought back lovely memories for us both.

 

We also finalised the table plans and whose sitting where.  This was not as bad as some bridal chat would have you believe.  There were a couple of ways we could go with this plan; sit families together and group my side with my side and Tom's with Tom's - or mix it up a little so Aunties and Uncles and friends mix together.  I won't tell you what we've gone for, but I do hope that you'll all be sat at fun tables and enjoy whoever you are sat with - and if you don't?  Well it's only a couple of hours and then you never have to talk to them again!

 

Other things we've completed - I've booked all my beauty treatments, arranged to see the florist, collected Tom's ring, had our travel jabs, kept track of all the RSVP's (thank you everyone!!)  we've sorted out a couple of gifts for people, ordered bits for the table centres, completed our guest book which looks AMAZING - very excited about this!  We've bought all of the wines and bubbly for the reception, and, probably most importantly, paid for the reception!

 

Another very important thing that me and Tom have begun is a proper hard-core health and beauty routine.  We've been exercising every other day since 27th December, had a really great run outdoors (yes outdoors!) around where we live and we're eating a lot less and a lot healthier.  I've given up alcohol until my Hen do on 29th January and we've bought some nice day and night face creams so that our skin will be peachy soft!  In one way it seems crazy that it takes a wedding day to really kick start us both (although being truthful we've actually done really well in 2010 for being healthy) I'm adamant that I'm not going to stop after the wedding and once I'm married.  Although I am going to completely stuff my face with food and drink on honeymoon!

 

So, we have just over seven weeks to go and 50 days!  Things we have left to do:  Final stationary and print, finalising numbers, table plan and names, coordinating the table centres and what we'll need to take to the various bits of the day, final planning documents to South Farm, co-ordinating times and details with all the suppliers..... and then it's really really the final countdown.

 

The next few weeks are very busy.  We have my gorgeous Nephew's naming ceremony on Saturday which I'm really looking forward to, it will be a very special day as it's his birthday too - seriously where did that year go!  We also have Max's football party on Sunday afternoon, which will be fun, although I've told Ellie that we don't have to play with the smelly boys!  Mum and Dad are also coming with us to St Peter's in Hersham to hear our penultimate banns being read and then our church quota just leaves one more service for us to attend!

 

The following week we're going back to Buckden to meet the florist, I'm having my hair trial and my make up trial and testing my fake tan!

 

Happy 2011!

 

Helen xxx

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