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So the week leading up to the wedding was extremely stressful but underlining that was excitement and maybe a bit of fear. Would it be the day I had always dreamed of, would all my plans come to fruition? Would the weather be good? All these questions were running through my head constantly, I suffer from insomnia so most of that week I didn’t sleep creating list after list of what needed to be done. One thing I will say I never doubted marrying Matt I just worried If I’d pull the day off or not.
I’d decorated a plain post box and guestbook that I ordered form eBay the week before. The menus and table names had been done the week before as well. Again hours of work; printing them on special paper, cutting them out, gluing them to purple backing board and adorning with gems and butterflies. This job was fun as my mum helped me. We had such a laugh with the glitter spray and gems. I think everything had gems on it in the end, I’d even sprayed our garden chairs with the gold glitter by accident, not sure it will come off. Me and mumma also laid out the table plan that day so I could see what the best design layout was.
On the Saturday before the wedding I tackled the table plan while Matt was out playing footie. I won’t lie ladies I was dreading it, it’s big and fiddly. Took me about two hours but I was over the moon with it. I went through pack after pack of glue dots and had to sharpen my pencil about ten times as I had to mark out where every table would go. Manic but lots of fun.
The best bit was Matt didn’t know I was doing it so when he got back from football and saw it he said wow that’s amazing. It was worth the two hours and back ache simply for that one comment.
On the Sunday I spent all day putting the ribbon and butterflies on the napkins. This was no easy feat. It involved folding 70 napkins so they all matched and in most cases unfolding and folding again until they were perfect. Then I had to hold them in place while I added the ribbon and adorned with a butterfly. Sounds easy but it took me about 5-7 hours. My back was killing me after but they looked brilliant. I then had to box them all up so they were ready to take to the Venue on Thursday.
Next job was filling the sweet bags all 120 of them with all the sweets we’d bought from Macro. The venue wouldn’t allow us to have a traditional sweet table because of the potential damage it could cause having sweets all over the marquee floor. Never one to take no for an answer I came up with a clever twist on the sweet table. I ordered 120 stickers with mine and Matt’s initials on them plus the date of the wedding. I bought 120 pink/white striped sweet bags as well as 120 clear food bags. This way by putting the sweets in the food bag first it would ensure they stayed fresh for our guests. So I had to put the 50 sweets we selected into the food bags first.
Thankfully Matt helped with this but it was a long process and a tempting one. All our favourite sweets lined up in front of us begging to be eaten. It took a lot of determination not to gorge on them but we were good and stuck to the task at hand. So clear bags filled, we then put the clear bags into the pink/white striped bags folded the top and sealed with the stickers. They looked brilliant but took up loads of room in our house. I’d also created a sign for the sweet table which I put in a frame. We bought a beautiful purple glass bowl and two purple glasses from Tesco home to go on the table as well. In these we put Mr. and Mrs. rock sweets and good old mini packs of love hearts. Who doesn’t love those. As the rock sweets and love hearts weren’t chewy it wasn’t an issue having them on the table.
Next job was filling the favour boxes with choccies. I had 70 to do and again this took a while because first I had to crush purple tissue paper to put in the boxes and then add the choccies. I’d also sorted out all the gifts that week so putting them in boxes/gift bags and labelling them ready to go to the venue on the Thursday.
My pier de resistance had to be the massive 70 x 50 inch picture I created and had printed.
I created the photo first and then had it printed by Photobox. I had to trim the edges a bit for it to fit in the frame but the final piece was stunning. It was a collage of me and Matt from babies up to now.
So with a house full of wedding stuff and bulging at the seams Thursday swiftly approached. We went to the Venue with two car loads of stuff ready to set the marquee up. First though we had to have our final planning meeting. It didn’t go as well as planned with a few tears but in the end all was well and we finally got access to the marquee.
It took the combined might of me, Matt, my mum and his mum to set it all up. The tables had already been set up with cutlery, table cloths, chair covers and chair swags. We’d ordered a purple swag for the top table as well as the cake table and they look wicked.
I’d also hired two crystal trees which needed to be set up. It was a nightmare. We had to buy two plain tables from Argos to put them on as they didn’t look right on the floor, they needed some height. We positioned them either side of the top table which the venue coordinator suggested. I positioned them and then stuck them to the tables with double sided tape and blu tac. I hid all this with fake ivy. Then I looped some battery operated fairy lights through the trees and finally added some big glittery purple butterflies to finish them off.
While I was battling with the trees the gang were putting all the table names/name place cards and napkins on the table. It was really tense because my stress levels were through the roof because the final planning meeting took a lot longer than we thought so we were rushing to get the marquee done. The gang bless them were in high spirits laughing away and having fun, it’s a shame I couldn’t have joined them but to be honest I was so stressed I don’t think I even smiled.
We left the sweets and favour boxes with the venue coordinator to put out the next day along with lots of scatter crystals. With the marquee done and on our way home I had a little time to reflect on the day before my mum and bridesmaid Serena came over to stay with me the night. Doing as much as I did for the wedding is a very very big job and isn’t to be taken lightly. You may think you can time it perfect but you simply can’t things often take longer than you realise and time really creeps up on you. I felt like it was all happening a bit fast and that I’d forgotten something. My mind was racing at dizzying speeds all the way home. I had no idea how the day would turn out I really didn’t, all my confidence had gone and I was just worried that I’d let everyone down.
When I got in Matt was already there so we spent a few precious moments together relaxing before we said our good byes. As always he lifted my mood and before he left I was laughing and giggling away like I always do in his company. It was strange though as we don’t spend nights away from each other so I was bit teary when he left. We agreed not to contact each other.
I remember him walking out the door and I shouted love you baby and he responded ‘Love you to bear see you at the altar’ It took my breath away that comment because his gorgeous eyes were sparkling and he had a big grin on his face.
It was obvious he was excited about the day and not stressing so I thought come on girl pull yourself together. You have dreamed of this moment since forever don’t let yourself spoil it. Taking a deep breath and with a little smile on my face from Matt’s comment I started prepping for my girls night with mum and Serena.
Don’t worry ladies my next post will be the big day part 1 hehehe 🙂
Photographs courtesy of John Thompson www.pureimagephotography.co.uk – best photographer ever, just wait until you see the actual wedding day pics hehehe
