sharing the vision

I love wedding planning, I always knew I would. I couldn't be more excited about how wonderfully all the details are coming together. I would love it if Andy could still be here with me for it all, e-mails, pictures, websites and phoneaclls just aren't enough. I also would love it if our family and friends were all close so could be even more involved.......however, it is the was it is. We want our families to be involved in the details, and our friends so that everyone can share in all the fun and excitement of planning. That's why we're really looking forward to launching our wedding website soon so everyone can be involved and "capture the vision' as we keep joking about. The website is an engagement gift from Nigel, Beth and their kids and we are really looking forward to using it.

Until that is sorted I thought I would post about all the things that are working out.......

We actually have quite a lot sorted and planned but some of it we're still waiting for finalconfirmation on so some big details will have to wait for another post.

I have chosen my wedding dress and I love it so much. Today I picked up some shoes I had ordered in town and then went to the bridal shop to just check them next to the dress. I was so excited because I got to visit my dress again, (well, not exactly mine, mine is being custom made to measure somewhere in London I guess but the sample that is very like mine) Everytime I see it I love it more and every time I look at other dresses in magazines I am just more sure that mine is jst so perfect for me. It has a little bit of coloured detail in it which I have swatches of and those swatches go EVERYWHERE with me in a little silver box. This has been so useful because it means that everything is co-ordinating. I have been amazed by how well we have found tones that match. I am really excited about all the bridesmaind, juniopr bridesmaid, candle lighter and flower girl dresses and how well they all tone in together, especially as they are not all from the same place.

Yesterday I got to take my niece Megan shopping for her outfit and we are both so excited because swe think we bought the perfect outfit for her. It was really fun spending that time with her, we got our hands massaged and went for coffee a couple of times. Meg is 13 and is growing up so fast, it was like shopping with a friend which was cool. We also ran into a great jazz band, we loved their sound and style and talked to them for quite a while (they were playing the bandstand in the New Orleans section of the Trafford Centre) They promised me a good discount so I'll have to follow through on that in the next couple of weeks.

While Andy was here we got Tonnes done and I LOVED doing it together. He is my favourite person to make decisions with (which is a very good thing) I love discussing with him and finding things we are both excited about. He has such great taste (even if he didn't know there was more than one shade of white) and I enjoy that he gets so excited about the things too and that we persist together till we find the best option.

We met a photographer with my parents and spent time looking through her work. We all loved her style and approach to wedding photography and would be so excited to have her be a part of our day. Her name is Camille Wesser (she has a website). We spent time up at Capernwray Hall, talking with Graiah and Ellen and planning all the details of how we want the wedding to go, food, decoration etc. We also registered which was a lot more fun than we expected. It was great, even, just to see what we like and what our 'style' is as a couple.

We spent quite a bit of time designing what we want our invitations to look like and shopping around for the best papers and things. I have had a very busy week since Andy left, makeing some headway with those. LOTS and LOTS of measureing, slicing, sticking, cutting, I am really excited about our invitations, all 100 (or so) of them and I can't wait to mail them out. I'll put some pictures up.

There is so much to do but I'm loving it all, from colour matching crocs to thinking about wedding cars. I get to share my excitement with all my 2-3 year olds at work.......all the little girls want to buy me lots of princess dresses for my wedding and are all making plans to marry their brothers or their little boy friends "tomorrow."