All tied up

I love this ribbon from Cox & Cox.

If it wasn't £14 for 2m I would be all over it! There's not even a knock off version on Ebay. I had it in mind for tying around favour boxes.

Dresses, dresses, dresses!

I've just booked my first appointment to go and try on wedding dresses. It's not until 13th July, though. I could've gone sooner but she's getting new styles in at the end of June so I said I'd wait.

I'm both excited and worried. What if I look hideous in everything?

I spent yesterday being driven around - by the mother-in-law and father-in-law to be - trying to find fabric shops after I had a reply from the seamstress about the bridesmaids dresses. I am definitely going with this one

The fabrics she said I have to look at are chiffon (what the dress in the pic is), georgette, crepe de chine, crepe or a very soft satin (though I doubt I will subject my bridesmaids to a clingy satin). She correctly predicted that I might not know these fabrics very well so I'm going to see her on Wednesday morning to see some samples. I also need to ask about linings as she didn't mention how much fabric I would need for that. She's also making the men's tie things (do I mean a cravat?) and some wraps for the bridesmaids. However, the fabrics she's mentioned all seem very sheer. Too sheer for the ties?! I'll ask her on Wednesday.

Back of hair

Mother-in-law to be just sent me the photo she took of the back of my hair when I had it done last weekend. Such pretty curls. So sad they dropped out!

Hair Raising

I thought a friend's party last night would be a good opportunity to try out a mobile hairdresser. She curled my hair entirely with straighteners and some spray! It was the first time I'd ever had it curled. My hair is notorious for not being able to hold a curl. I felt a bit poodle-like to begin with but that's partly because I'm not used to having curly hair. My hair ended up fairly short with the curls so I would've needed to make sure it was no shorter than my current length if at the time of the wedding if I went with this style. It did look good and felt really neat and tight at the beginning of the night. However, within about an hour, the bottom layer of curls was starting to drop and by the end of the night the front was dropping out too. Although it lasted an evening without too much worry about the curl drop, I doubt that it would last the day AND evening of the wedding. It's no fault of the hairdresser, just my heavy hair. Next time, I think I'll try a pin-up. An "up-do" would probably work better with a veil anyway.

Pictures for evidence...

Chair Covers

I'd like to have chair covers in the marquee (the service I'm not bothered about because, essentially, we're only in there for 20 minutes and the chairs are that close packed they bows would get in the way) so we went to see a lady about a chair. Whilst there is no denying that Simply Bows and Chair Covers can offer us a very pretty set up, the price was just too much. She had some lovely sash colours and a different style of tying them but by the time you factor in her putting them on, the sashes, the runners (which if taken out of the total cost only save you £40), 70 chair covers and the little brooches she puts on the back it was getting to stupid money. Also, any stains they can't remove incur the full cost of a replacement cover.

The venue offers them but they didn't have the right colour sash. I suppose there's the idea we could provide the sashes ourselves.

Pretty Sleeves

I get annoyed when prices aren't available like for this dress.
Still, the sleeves are pretty (though not long enough to cover the parts of my arms I don't like) and it has the button detail on the back that I seem to be drawn towards.

Table Decoration

We went to a Wedding Fayre back in February and a florist had placed flowers inside a decorative birdcage. Such a pretty idea. This woman was very expensive and Simon already knows a florist (a customer of his) where all my flowers for sucking up purposes have come from so I think if we went with the idea I would hire them. It looks like you can get some decent ones from around £5-£8 depending on size. Of course, the flowers would be on top of that...though I quite like them with Ivy.

The candles are pretty, too. However, I'm thinking that wouldn't make as much impact for a daytime wedding breakfast as it would for an evening soiree. Our marquee is very light and airy!