Yay Yay Yay

Four. Months. Today. That is all I have to say.

The Journey Continues...

I thought I'd start with a favourite photo for me to remember my amazing engagement holiday.... no real reason except for that!

After a bit of a wedding lull, which was actually quite refreshing and gave us some time out, we've got back into it a bit more in the last few days, its becoming easier now that the big decisions are made, although still lots of fiddly bits to sort out and decide - but these are the good decisions like how many diamonds I'd like on my wedding band and what dessert we'd like to have!

Reality is starting to hit now and I'm getting really excited about the actual day.  I'm getting used to becoming Mrs Elliott - although that still looks very weird in print!  I'm walking myself through the day and many things are giving me big butterflies.  When my school friends booked their accommodation and when people talk about travelling up to the venue and what they are going to wear; it's really making me believe that this is actually happening and I'm getting married!  Its such a lovely, nerve-wracking, exciting, poo-in-my-pants scary feeling!

We've chosen the ties for the Groomsman which are really stylish,  We've got a good idea about what wedding rings we'd both like and we're moving forward with our invitations now ready for send out late November/early December. 

Tom is going to sort out the honeymoon details, as this is something that I would like to hand over to him and trust that he'll choose us somewhere fantastic, which I know he will.  He did an unbelievable job with the engagement so I know I'm in safe hands (Tom - no pressure!)  It's going to be so amazing just to get away from it all for a couple of weeks and totally relax as newly weds.  I'm going to change my passport before we go so that I can travel as Mrs Elliott - I can't wait!

We have our menu tasting on my birthday!  The venue have a really cool way of doing menu tastings as they invite everyone who is having a wedding in the next 6 months to the venue for an evening, where the barn is set up for a wedding so you can see what it will look like, decorated etc.  They then lay out lots of different dishes from canapes, starters to mains and desserts for us to look at and try.  The wine flows freely and you can buy any other wines on their list for half price to try at a later date.   They have warned us not to eat much beforehand as its a massive feast.  I can't wait for this birthday treat - very original this year.

Helen xxx

Woooooooooooowwwwoooh - my planning is on fire.....

We are on fire at the moment, with regards to planning that is! All the important things are booked or in progress - I think! My dress is being made as we speak, it’s going well and the clock is ticking away. Less than five months to go until our big day!

I got a beautiful invitation through the post yesterday from Rachael and Victoria for my Hen Party - I don't know any more details as I've just handed it over to them and left myself in their hands; I cannot wait!  It will be really nice to spend some girly time with my friends and family.

I've become the haggling queen and I don't think that me and Tom have booked anything yet without asking for a discount or added value and we've got some absolute bargains - It really is true that as soon as you say the W word that prices are just hiked up for some reason.  Asking for a discount isn't as bad as I thought it would be and Tom has given me some good tips on things to say and do.

We've found a lovely florist that will do the majority of our flowers.  Everyone seems to think that it's hilarious that I want a giant white pouffy ball bigger than my head.... but that's what I'd like and apparently as I'm the bride - that's what I can get!  Our flowers are going to be hot pink gerberas and white roses, we're not too sure in what combination yet but it's a definite work in progress.  Hair and Make up is also sorted.  Tom's found me one of his old school friends; Sam, who is a make up artist to the stars - I've had to cut down on hair budget to afford her but she looks great and I want my make up to last all day so hopefully she'll be good.

We went back to the Church and to the Venue and it reconfirmed our decisions; they are both so beautiful and its going to be magical spending our wedding day at them.  We tried some of their delicious canapes and had a chat to some of the staff at South Farm, everyone was really friendly.  We had a look round the cottages and the bridal suite took my breath away - gorgeous!

So left to do now:  Honeymoon, Men's suits, Rings, Flower girl dress, lingerie and honeymoon outfits, (of course!) Gift List, Invitations and then the fiddly organisational bits which can mostly be done in January - we are well and truly getting there.....

The nightmares have also begun!  Anyone who’s been through a wedding of their own will know what I mean. I can only imagine they’re going to get worse too! Others have been having them to apparently:  Vic told me that she dreamt that Tom's mobile rang during the ceremony and she got told off when she had a go at him for answering it - hilarious!

Love Helen xx

No Going Back Now!

I've just returned from the Post Office where I paid and posted out some very special deliveries for our special family and friends.  It was a really nice moment, and I pushed the beautiful envelopes into the post box with a big smile on my face!  Lets hope they all arrive safely and the date is noted in everyones calendars.

Me and Tom have now spend quite a few hours going through all the bits and bobs - at this stage some key decisions have to be made and we seem to have a lot of admin and fiddly bits to confirm/sort out.  Its fun in stages but not so fun in others as it involves lots of reading and talking through and differences in opinions and I guess this bit is the tricky bit and after this we can concentrate on the more fun aspects.

Tom's been great though, I think at times my inner Bridezilla comes out and if I find that difficult to deal with then Tom has no chance!  I often think that Grooms get overlooked in this process and they are taught to say 'whatever you want dear' and I absolutely don't want that.  Hopefully there will be lots of little 'Tom touches' as well as 'Helen' ones too.  We're learning how each other makes key decisions and, just like buying a house, we differ quite a lot, but I also think we complement each other too.

We went to Sandown Wedding fair on Sunday with Karen and Ellie - it was really nice to see Ellie (and Karen!) so excited about different things and also really enjoyable to get them involved too.  We had lots of tastings of cake and chocolate fountains, saw a wonderful fashion show.  Ellie took round a little notepad and pen and even noted down a few dresses that she liked too - what an organised little flower girl she's going to be!

I'm now on the search for a good florist and hair and make up artist/s - seems to be a tricky process as how do I know if they are good or not when I'm not from that area - have to do a little bit more research on that one.

Another bit of lovely news is that the Amos family have booked their cottage for the wedding weekend!  It's where I will wake up on the morning of the wedding and rather than an impersonal hotel, we decided to try and find a cottage that we could rent for the seven of us (and Fred) so that we could relax all together the night before and do things the way that we wanted.

After much trawling (seven is a difficult number!) Rachael found this little gem for us: White House Cottage - a very cute cottage sleeping eight with a lounge, kitchen, four bedrooms with a family room and a nice outside area.  It looks perfect and will be really special to spend that time there with my family before the wedding and getting ready with them in the morning.

We're going back to South Farm this weekend as it's their open day.  It will be great to see the venue again now it's all booked and we can hopefully chat through some other bits with them too.  I'm also hoping to meet a florist there and also go to Church on the Sunday so that we can begin to form a little relationship with them which I think is important before the wedding.

Helen xx 

... and the winner is....

Drum roll please.....

 

Saturday 26th February, 2011 will be the date that I become Mrs Elliott and marry my wonderful and gorgeous fiance Tom!

 

We'll be married at 1pm in St Mary's Church, Buckden and have the reception at the glorious South Farm in Royston, South Cambridgeshire.  The venue really was part of my fairy-tale, with the rustic barn and the elegant house, stunning views and grounds and a great attitude to food and wine that was a must for us.

 

After a long few weeks of planning and a total of 21 venues in total it feels really good to have a date and a countdown to work towards. As you can see from the top of this blog - there is a countdown calendar which is currently at 155 days!!! and that does not sound long!

 

We've also main a few big decisions about photography and videography.  We found the most wonderful videographers ever - Gorgeous Film Productions - their videos look amazing and we're really excited at having them shoot our wedding day.  They will be providing us with a day of filming and then also 'stills' from their repertoire from the day for us to make into photographs.  We will have a photographer for a few hours during the drinks reception to take a selection of 'set' shots which leaves us the rest of the day to enjoy ourselves!  We've got a few excellent photographers amongst our guests so feel that we will have a really nice selection of photos throughout the day, without having to compromise on a videographer too.

 

Our DJ is also confirmed,  we've been told he is a great DJ for our evening reception.  For all our guests reading this - if you have any particular song requests then please comment below so that I can ensure that you are ALL up on the dance floor shaking it like a Polaroid picture!  Yes there will be Take That, Bon Jovi and a bit of Justin, you know what we are both like people!!

 

So now there feels like a plan in place, I already seem to be a bit embroiled in paperwork and admin but we've got a main chunk of the suppliers booked now and its beginning to take shape.

 

This weekend we're off to a Surrey wedding fair with my chief flower-girl and Karen, it will be good to take a look at some more suppliers, maybe get a few ideas and will be really nice to spend some time with everyone.

 

I think that's all to update you on for now.

 

Helen xxx

The Last Leg: Cambridgeshire

The third and last leg of our venue search was in Cambridgeshire and we had seven of them to see including a 'mystery' venue that Tom's mum and dad sorted out for us.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and had a lovely evening with Ann and Tony, some sparkling red wine, steak and lots of cheese - a great start to the weekend.  We chatted lots about the wedding and it was a really enjoyable evening.

Up early on Saturday morning to see the first batch.  We started with Hinchingbrooke House; Tom's old school.  It's a beautiful Tudor country house and homed Queen Elizabeth I, Richard and Oliver Cromwell and The Earl of Sandwich - well if it's good enough for them then it's good enough for the Elliott/Amos Wedding!

There was one problem and that was whether Tom could get over the fact that it was his school.  He was worried that throughout the day he's be distracted by memories - the place where we'd have the evening buffet was where he took his Maths A Level for example and it's hard to get past that fact I think.  So we put this to one side to make a decision on it once we'd visited everywhere.

Next up was Bassmead Manor, a rustic barn really near to Tom's mum and dads - I had high hopes for this, having really liked Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire but we felt let down by it to be honest.  The actual barn was gorgeous, a good shape and size but the gentleman showing us around really wasn't interested.  Basically they just hire you the barn and expect you to do everything else - which is fine, but would leave me feeling nervous and just not in control.  They also didn't have a bar licence for the evening which would mean we'd have to pay for all the guests food and drink - all day and night.  With our guests that may turn out to be costly! - so that one was out.

We then had a meeting with Revered Ally Barrett in the afternoon.  She is a really nice, a bit scatty, but friendly and approachable vicar.  I say approachable because when you are going for tea with the vicar you are never too sure what it's going to be like.  Was she going to grill us on our religious preferences?  Ask us why we don't attend church regularly?  Preach to us about the importance of marriage etc.. We didn't really know what to expect.  So we were a little bit relieved when she was really lovely - talked us through the marriage service, what we need to do next, we chatted about hymns and readings and music and it was a very pleasant hour.  She's penciled us in for the dates we requested and we'll take it from there.

The Old Bridge hotel at Huntingdon was our last venue visit of the day - better than I thought being a hotel but not right for us.

We had a lovely evening with Dave and Kim, they got married in July this year so it was great to catch up with them, get their thoughts on their special day and advice on the run up to our day.  They looked so happy as Mr and Mrs Sacker and it was very exciting to think that we'll be next!

Sunday came and was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for driving round Cambridgeshire.  South Farm in South Cambridge was our first visit and we were in for a treat!  A privately owned, beautifully restored country house and barn.  A working farm since the 19th Century, South Farm is a little bit different.  It really had the WOW factor as we drove up to the venue.  They grow, rear and catch, harvest vegetables, fruit, eggs and poultry, geese and pigs from their fertile gardens and paddocks, monster trout from the lake, and game from the surrounding estate!  Its a complete little gem and we both adored it!

I won't mention too much because we haven't decided yet but it's very high on our lists.  We left, veggie bag in tow, (how cool!) feeling very excited!

We still had three venues left to see.  Ann and Tony's mystery venue turned out to be one of the hotels that had cancelled on me earlier in the week and they had managed to get us in to have a look.  We saw this and another hotel and, although they were both lovely venues, I think it confirmed me and Tom's decision that we just wanted somewhere a bit different.

The last place we saw was Kimbolton Castle - another stunning country house!  For us however, it was a bit too school like, unlike Hinchingbrooke it was a bit too formal and school-esque.  Although how cool would it be to get married in a castle!!

So that concludes our venue search!  For us there are two clear leaders and now me and Tom have to sit down, glass of wine in hand preferably, and go through numbers and options - then we can finally book and have a date!

Helen xxx

The One

Don't want to say anymore really except that i've found my dress!  I went back with my mother in law-to-be on Saturday and she agreed that it was the one.

I love it so much, it's beautiful and I really hope that Tom likes it too.

I can't wait to wear it on my wedding day!

Wedding Dress: Done

Helen xx