I do - my wedding blog

We went to my boss's wedding reception at the weekend. It was a lovely evening with a very lively dance floor. The bride was wearing a dress from Candy Anthony (so jealous) with a red petticoat. There were (very yummy) cupcakes, gramophones, and plenty of free drink on hand.

This week has been tough. A friend of ours passed away this week. He got married to his long term girlfriend just 10 days before, after realising that they would regret it if they didn't. The wedding was a small affair arranged in 6 days with just family in attendance, but it was a happy, simple day full of love. It kind of adjusts your priorities a bit...

This post from A Practical Wedding is just great. I hope to feel exactly like this after my wedding.

I ended up watching the film Confetti on Sunday night, which was quite funny. It was always one I said I'd get round to watching, starring as it does a number of funny British comedy actors. It is about three couples competing for a magazine 'Most original wedding of the year' contest. The three weddings are themed tennis, musicals and naturist! I then ended up watching Four weddings on Living last night. This was the same thing but real life. Four couples competed, except the weddings didn't have to be original, they just had to be rated by the other brides. Plenty of ideas of what not to do! Obviously they are going to pick ones which make more interesting TV, but they were all a little odd

I have been a bridesmaid 4 times, twice as a child and twice now I'm a bit more grown up. From these and other weddings I have attended plus others which I have heard about, I have learned a few things about hosting one: Timing seems to be crucial but don't panic if it starts slipping - as long as your guests are happy it's fine Keep the champagne (or cheaper alternative) flowing at the drinks reception, especially if it is going on for a while. One glass will not keep them going Keep going with the day even if it is not exactly to your plan, chances are no-one else is noticing Book vendors based on recommendations Make sure your photographer knows which pictures are most important to you Enjoy yourself I'm going to try and add to this list, I know there must be more...

Image via Wikipedia I realised I still had not blogged about the hen night I helped to organise (with one of the other bridesmaids) for my best friend. We went to Ladies' day on the Grand National weekend at Ascot racecourse, which was a good excuse for dressing up. I wish I had made more of an effort rather than just pulling on an old dress I had, as some girls had really gone to town! If you ever wanted to know who buys those ridiculously high heels and those dresses that only just cover the bare essentials, look no further than Liverpool (no offence to anyone from there, I think it is the culture of the event rather than the people). We had a 'picnic' on the train on the way up from London, which included buck's fizz - a great way to start the day. The horse racing was quite good fun and we all got in the spirit of it, betting huge amounts (ok, 1 or 2 pounds) on horses and exclaiming when we lost! The bride to be was the only real winner, gaining about 50 on one race...

As previously mentioned, I was asked by my best friend to be her bridesmaid and I've been away in Scotland for the wedding this weekend. It was such a lovely day; the bride looked beautiful, the ceremony had everyone choked up and the weather stayed sunny and dry. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and there weren't any major disasters (our vintage car wouldn't start to get us to the reception, but no worries, we made it). It was great to have everyone from university back together again for the first time in 5 years too. It was also a very educational experience, but I'll do more on that at some point. Overall, our planning has actually taken 2 steps back with the only things we thought we had organised now undone (the music we wanted was used at this one so we would look like we were copying, and they had the photographer we were planning to use who, it turns out, can't do our date).

I picked up the bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding today. The weather was filthy, and I had to go Christmas shopping after, so I'm surprised it is not more crushed! I had to take a picture to send to her as she has not seen them yet. It fits really well so I don't know if I'll need any major alterations, however the wedding is still 4 months away, and I've been eating like there's going to be a shortage recently (what with being stressed at work and eating out a lot for various reasons), so maybe not at my slimmest! The colour combination works really well; the base colour 'raisin' is a soft purply-bronze, while the pink trim brings out the pink in the base colour. It will be a good colour to suit all three bridesmaids who are all have very different complexions. I wasn't exactly sure what it was going to be like and am very pleased with it. We are getting shoes dyed to match from the Rainbow club as it would be impossible to get any the sam...

I was out with my friend who is also getting married (much sooner than we are) and I am going to be her bridesmaid. I'm helping to sort out her hen night, but that's a whole other story. Anyway, we were also out with another girl and I didn't realise how much we were talking weddings, it was only pointed out to us after she had gone. Oops! We'll have to watch out for that, I don't want to get a rep! We were mainly chatting about the details, such as our shoes which we are having custom coloured by Rainbow Club . I haven't tried the dress on yet, so I'm not sure which shoes to go for. The dress is going to be like this one from Alfred Angelo , I think. I've been told the colour (raisin) is actually darker than it appears on screen. Can't wait to try it on!