Wedding Invitations - DIY Project

So the great wedding invite making weekend took place last week. After trying a few samples I finally narrowed it down to what I wanted and something that wasn't going to take forever.

I started by designing our own monogram through Word which was really easy actually, once I figured out the basics. I am using it throughout the wedding and hope that it just helps with making the day more us! After too many hours to count I had managed to address all the inserts, cut them to size and finish of the corners.

I worked quite hard at making a little production line with all the things on it that I would need and hours measuring bits of ribbon to add to the front but once they were all put together I was really happy with the final product.

Inserts Cut and ready to go in the cards

I added the ribbon to the front by cutting and measuring a long length of ribbon and then tying a knot ribbon through this once it was secured to the front of the card.

I really wanted to keep the fronts of the invites very simple, so after spending some time playing about with the computer I managed to get the words to print onto the front of the card. I used hearts that I had punched using a heart puncher from purple pearlised card and finished off with some diamante stick ons.

Inside of a finished invite

The finished product!

I must say I'm really happy with them, I think that they look really professional and hope that everyone feels the same. Let me know what you think?

6 Months today!

Image courtesy of Google Images

Well the title says it all! 6 Months today to our wedding day.

Excited.com!!!!

Paperwork, Paperwork

The time has come to think about starting the paperwork for our wedding. The Spanish are very strict on everything being dated withing 6 months of the wedding, so anyone planning your wedding in Spain bare this in mind.

We are having a full Catholic ceremony in Spain, which I have been informed is the easiest way to get married in Spain as Civil ceremonies are yet to be recognised. If you are wanting to get married in Spain outwith the Catholic church, you are recommended to get a civil ceremony either in your home country or you can also do this in Gibraltar.

So to start the religious side of the process we need:

Full Birth certificates Copy of Baptism certificate (some parish's may also require your confirmation certificate)

A place on the marriage preparation course

To arrange a meeting with our local parish priest to start to go through our freedom to marry information (Basically a meeting where you provide all of the above certificates to the priest so he can provide you with a freedom to marry certificate for the catholic church)

There is also a lot of legal aspects of planning the wedding that also need to be done but I will cover them in another post.

We have already met with our local parish priest who has started to look to begin the paperwork process with us, the meeting really consisted of him asking us about where we have lived previously (they need this to check out that you have not previously been married) our thoughts on marriage, why we wanted to get married in the church, how we will prepare for marriage, and taking our information to enrol for the marriage preparation course.

In Scotland the course of choice for the Catholic church is run by Scottish Marriage Care and is called FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study) it is an questionnaire which focus on the basic key elements of a successful marriage. You meet with a facilitator and complete the questionnaire separately and then you return as a couple a few weeks later to discuss the responses that were given. The facilitator will then help you to look at patterns in your responses, identify positives, discuss issues and raise awareness of important relationship topics. In total the sessions over the two periods should last around two hours, if required there is opportunity to have further sessions. I feel that this type of course is better than previous ones which were ran by priests themselves, who to be honest in my opinion are not best placed to provide guidance for marriage. Part of me is a little nervous but I am also happy to be completing it so that we can look at all aspects of our relationship (I suppose it's a bit like pre-marriage counselling)

Trip to Spain

Well this weekend was spent on our final viewing trip to Spain. One of the joys of planning a wedding abroad has been to get to go on a few weekend breaks!

This time the sun was shining and everything just looked so beautiful. I know I have put a few pictures on already of the venue and the church but I can't help but add some more in the sunshine.

The view up to the church, I just love the look and feel of Marbella's old town, so quaint!

The view that our guests will have, whilst we are eating dinner, bad news is the top table will have their back to it!

And the reception venue, we will be eating on the bottom terrace then move inside for the DJ.

We tasted our menu whilst we were there and really enjoyed it, I wanted a Spanish feel but nothing too far from the norm for the oldies! lol and thats what we feel we have managed to achieve.

I also had my hair and makeup trial which went really well and I can't wait for the day to see it all together with my dress.

So all in all a really good productive weekend (damped slightly by me being quite poorly)

We have all the major things sorted now, but the paperwork will be another story in itself!!

Shoes shoes shoes

Shoes, shoes, shoes, who doesn't love shoes?? Well me, sort of! Being very tall (5ft 10") I have been rather unfortunately cursed with size 9 heifers, oops I mean feet!

So after much looking around the Internet trying to find wedding shoes with not too big a heel - I really don't want to be much taller than I already am, I came across elegant steps who have quite a few of their range going up to a size 9. Yay!

I narrowed it down to a few pairs both of which heels were under 2 1/4 inches:

Paradox Pink - Plush

Image courtesy of bridalshoesuk

These ones where gorgeous and I would have loved to have them, but my feet which just a little too wide and I thought I would be falling out of them all day so they were a no go.

Paradox Pink - Dawn

Image courtesy of bridalshoesuk

These were really cute and made my feet look small (those of you with big feet will really appreciate how that made me feel!) so I settled on these.

Now being the awkward type that I am I also needed dyeable shoes as I really didn't want plain wedding shoes, I had always had it in my head I wanted a bit of colour and once the bridesmaid dresses where chosen I decided I wanted purple.

So once the decision was made which pair would hopefully see me through the day and not fall off half way up the aisle I sent them back to be dyed.

The company were great, they phoned me as soon as they received them back and talked me through the dyeing process. I had chosen the colour from a colour chart that I got from the company, they also custom dye to swatches that you send into them as well for those hard to get colours.

And this is the finished product which were waiting for me when I got home today. I'm very happy with them and they are a really good match for my Bridesmaid dress.

Hope you like them! I can't wait to see a spot of colour under my dress.

C xx

Honeymoon

Sirayane Boutique Hotel and Spa

There was some debate whether we should have a honeymoon or not seeing as we are travelling for the wedding. In my head I always wanted a honeymoon and never doubted that we would go on one and luckly my h2b felt the same. We have had a few frowns from other people that we are having a honeymoon on top of the wedding but as the saying goes 'it's our wedding'

So where to go? as we are going to Spain for a week a long haul holiday was really out of the question.

The logistics of planning a honeymoon have been quite difficult, I have had to consider that we will be travelling to Spain with all the wedding stuff and as we planning on going on honeymoon the day after returning to the UK from Spain (without returning to our house) the options of where we go (and how to pack for two separate holidays) has been a challenge in itself.

We looked at the possibility of going on a med cruise, but ruled that out as we cruised mexico last year and H2b wanted something different. Europe/Africa seemed to be a logically place to be going so that we could get somewhere within easy reach of the UK and hopefully somewhere that is still warm as the wedding is not until late October. We looked at Egypt but have been a few times so didn't think that it was 'special' enough for our honeymoon. That's when I stumbled across Marrakech! Only 4 hours from the UK and with average temperatures in October still in mid to late 20's, it fitted the bill perfectly.

We have booked a beautiful boutique hotel called Sirayane Boutique hotel and Spa, located just outside of the main medina of Marrakech, far enough away to have the tranquility that we are after but close enough to be able to visit the hustle and bustle of the medina and the famous marrakech markets. The hotel only has 28 bedrooms and looks amazing from the photos on their website. We have never been to Marrakech so felt that it would be perfect for that something different and plus the fact that it looks like an amazing place to see! We are both really excited.

I think that after the busy week for the wedding this will come as a welcome place to relax and enjoy our first week as husband and wife.

C xx

Unity Candle

This weeks project has been to work on our unity candle.

As part of our ceremony we will be lighting our unity candle and I really wanted one that was personal to us.

Off I went again on the great internet hunt to find one that we could use...... if you have never had the joy of researching these I think you would be amazed at the price that they are! For a unity candle and two taper candles with a stand the cheapest I could find was around £40 not including postage. For a candle????

There was no way that I was willing to pay that much for something that runs the risk of being left at the church if no one remembers to lift it (must put that on my list of Lisa the wedding planner!) and wasn't even what I really wanted.

Google images brought up some links to ones that people had managed to do themselves so that was my mind made up. The unity candle will be another project!

So off I went to the craft shop this morning, armed with the candle and my colour scheme to find matching ribbon and this is what I have come up with.

Again, excuse my photo quality!

I have designed the monogram myself and it will be on our inserts for the invites and also our menus too so I really felt it needed to feature on the candle if I could. The quote on the front is also on our Order of Services so I think it all ties in well.

On the back I have an Irish wedding saying, to keep in with our roots. The back of the ribbon needs tided up a bit to try and prevent the overlap, but thats tomorrows job!

C xx