Vintage Crockery

{Image from Author's personal collection}

Vintage cake plate used as a dinner plate
Vintage tea plate, cup and saucer from 3 different sets
a knife and fork for a hog roast, salads, rolls and stuffing
tea cup and saucer for a refreshing cup of tea
a starched white napkin to lay over the lap
tied with a custom dyed blue silk ribbon to match the bride's shoes.

Project 'Bunt' & Job Centres

{Image from Author's personal collection}

So here is 'project bunt' as it became known in all it's full and final glory despite the bad photo.

Other diy projects were relegated to the back burner this morning: I had to make a short trip to the job centre.

I do not like job centres. They are patronising. It is humiliating. You feel a failure {even though you know you're not}. You get sent on compulsory CV enhancement courses for professionals. You must sign on at 12.16 precisely otherwise your payment might be delayed {although you might not get anything at all, because you have a partner, and the application has to go to Glasgow, and if your temp job pays more than an average of £60 a week over 5 weeks, well, they reckon that's full time work, so you don't get any money at all} Still, an enlightening experience.

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Anyone want any wedding planning doing instead? My rates are really reasonable... or some advertising. Those are even more reasonable. E-mail me if you're interested.

Shaping Up

If the wedding magazines are to be believed, I should have spent the past three or so months grooming in preparation for the wedding day.

Have I? Well, no, not really. I have been trying to get back in shape, post operation, by doing some yoga at home and, recently, at the gym {free trial} but I am in reasonably ok shape anyway, being a size 8-10 (US 4-6).

On the day I will be having my make-up done by a good friend of mine who is a professional make-up artist and also the manager of an excellent brand of make-up at a well known London department shop. I have been to see her at work several times and experimented with various colours and so forth. Fizz and I met in the desert in Morocco so we have a shared travel past along with a love of Nars cosmetics. We still need to have the final consultation/trial but I know I am in good hands.

I have decided however that on the day I am not going to see a hairdresser. I rarely get my hair cut and my last set of highlights have grown out. I have never really had a hugely well paid job and what little money I have had has gone on clothes and shoes and socialising rather than haircuts. I have also had two rather bad experiences regarding hairdressers and big events which has rather put me off involving one on a day when I don't really want any extra stresses.

{The first was when I booked a wash & blow dry before a ball I organised as I was setting up in the day and didn't have time to go home and change. The offered various things and then tried to charge me at least twice what I'd been quoted. And it looked terrible. At least I thought it did. Everyone else said it looked very nice. But I didn't believe them... The second was before another wedding when I asked for one thing and got another. Granted the situation was a little different and included language barriers and illness, but it put me off. Again, everyone said it looked nice. But I didn't like it.}

I am going to visit a hairdresser in the week after the hen party {perhaps the one that Marie recommended - sorry unable to look up links today, will come back and add later} and if I get some more temping work will try and get it highlighted too. If I don't have the money though it can't happen.

I am also going to try and have a wax, a pedicure and a manicure plus my eyebrows threaded in the week before the wedding if, again, I have the money. Otherwise I shall do my own pedicure, forgo the wax and pluck my own eyebrows. I will do my best to have the manicure regardless as everyone looks at the bride's hands and I have only ever had one other manicure {the day after we got engaged}.

Skin wise, I have been trying to remember to wash my make-up off every night before bed. M and I use a Liz Earle hot polish cleanser which is unisex and very effective but I have also bought a facial exfoliator (which is used twice a week) to try and reduce bumpy skin round my jawline. I have also been using a Moroccan hammam soap and mitt to try and help the rest of my skin look less dull {it improves blood circulation too, which is supposed to help you feel less tired}.

And finally, I decided it was time for a new fragrance. I have used the same Elizabeth Arden Green Tea since, well, forever. The last bottle M bought me for my 21st and there is a teeny tiny bit left. He offered to buy me a new one for a new stage in life and so I chose the new Chloe eau de toilette {which came with a lovely new make-up bag and mini perfume and body lotion too}. I have been wearing it for nights out and dinners and so on to get used to the new 'me' before the wedding!

My list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter...

...but we seem to be getting things done. My mother has done excellent work with logistics ensuring people can get too and from the reception. I just wish some of the guests would RSVP {in any form, we are beyond caring now whether it is done officially or not} to make her life easier.

My hen party is next week and everything has been paid for and the tea party finalised. I cannot wait to eat the sandwiches, cakes, scones, cupcakes and little bite sized pieces of chocolately goodness that are planned for the top tier of the cake stands. I just need to finish off my outfit and all the last minute logistics but I am really looking forward to it.

This weekend we are going away. To stay with M's parents. M is playing in a golf tournament. I am going to print and collate 100 orders of service which as yet have not been finalised, checked by the vicar or approved by my mother. I foresee a long afternoon tomorrow trying to get it all done in time for printing.

This week I am going to finish the bridesmaids' presents, jewellery and my hair piece for the reception. I have decided to make a hybrid headband style thing from the silk flowers, merry widow veiling and a peacock feather or two. I plan to sew it to a hairband and hope for the best. I must also make the BoyBird and the napkin labels.

We then have to buy M his shirt and BestMan's tie. I think these are chosen, they just need purchasing. Speaking of purchasing, we also now have to pay all the final amounts to the various companies. It's scary seeing so much money leave our bank accounts.

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The advice I have for anyone one month out from their wedding is this: take some time out for yourself. Do something else, think about something else. Delegate. Cross some things off the list which no longer seem important. Get things done so you're not rushed in the last week. Pack for your honeymoon in advance.

The advice I have for anyone further back in the planning process is this: time flies. The wedding seems ages away and there seems to be lots of time. And then there isn't. Get things sorted early. Delegate early (but remind later on, so things don't get forgotten). Set a metaphorical deadline for getting diy and projects finished. You will over run. You will not want to be making whatever it is 2 weeks before the wedding. enjoy the planning process.

Champagne and ice cream

We took the weekend off.

Four weeks out and we did nothing. Well, nothing to do with the wedding, at any rate. In fact, we took a whole weekend for ourselves. And it felt good.

On Friday, we went out to dinner with a client of M's and drank vintage champagne and Australian Riesling. Wine and roast chicken at an old favourite byo restaurant in Kensington. Afterwards, M took me for gelato and coffee. We ate pistachio ice cream and drank macchiato {her} and espresso {him} pretending we were back in Florence, but actually listening to the torrential rain.

On Saturday we did no housework or washing or anything else and went to the gym all afternoon. Well, we were on the way to the gym when we passed a pub which appealed as they sold fishfinger sandwiches {her} and the football was on {him}. We passed away a pleasant couple of hours having a leisurely sit down with the papers and then another few hours in the gym before dressing and heading to a blogging friend's for supper. Which was heavenly. Great food, great conversation, great evening. Taxi home {extra cost to us £10: moonwalkers caused an enormous traffic jam around Parliament Square and along the Embankment}.

On Sunday again we headed for the gym and I did an hour and a half 'dynamic' yoga class, which turned out to be just, well, yoga. Nothing exciting about it, nothing dynamic about lots and lots of leg and tummy exercises {which my body is protesting strongly about today}. M did rather a lot of running and cycling and some kind of cross training thing because Liverpool were playing and he wanted to watch the game and the TVs on the machines play the football.

We then got the bus home, all the way across London, because, for once, we didn't need or want to be anywhere by a specific time. I don't know why people bother with the tourist buses, there are plenty of routes where a front seat on the top deck will show you everything you wanted to see of London and much more besides. It was a real treat to sit with M, drinking take-away coffee, and just chatting and watching the world.

Of course yesterday evening and today there was washing up to be done and bathrooms to be cleaned and wedding arrangements to make. But a little time off, away from life, away from planning and (dare I say it) away from our friends*, made all the difference.

*Wouldn't want this to become a permanent state of affairs by any means...

My Dress (again)

My Elizabeth Anne Designs column this week...

I picked up my dress last Friday. Turns out that the dress I thought I didn’t like too much I like a whole lot better now it fits me properly. I thought I would make some kind of belt for the waist but when I tried it on with the silk ribbon I had dyed to match my shoes, I decided to cut myself some slack and just wear it as a ribbon. It still looks good but I don’t have to try and work out how to make a belt. With only a month left to go, I am all about cutting myself some slack and crossing things off my to-do list.

I was a bit worried that the alterations wouldn’t work and the dress still wouldn’t fit. As I am sure I’ve written before, I bought the dress one unseasonably hot day in July last summer in a charity shop in Southampton. Turns out when it’s really hot things seem to fit a bit better than they do when it a more normal temperature. I.e. the dress was too big. At least a dress size too big, more round the lower back. So I took it to an alterations lady (which turned into a bit of a saga involving missed appointments, extra fittings, wasted taxi journeys and a final collection in the rain outside Kings Cross railway station like some kind of drug deal. Literally cash for dress) and now I love it.

So much so that I took really bad photos in the mirror in the kitchen later that afternoon with my phone whilst M was out. Want to see one? It’s the best you’ll get for the next month!

{Photos from Author’s personal collection}

I tried it on again on Sunday when my sisters came to stay. Just before they had a secret meeting with my almost sister-in-law about my hen party. I loved it so much that my sister took some photos of me in it in the garden. My neighbour popped his head over the fence to admire the dress and ask me when the big day was. Even with my veil just a piece of fabric {albeit the softest of soft silk tulle} pinned to my head, it looked good. Not sure I can be bothered making it into a veil when 2 kirby grips will do the job just fine. But I probably will. Just in case.

Just need to get some invisible knickers to wear underneath as the pair {mine are without the embroidery} I bought for later on that evening are too visible through the dress. And maybe a pedicure.

Good Luck Marie-Eve

Today is the day that my good {blogging} friend Marie-Eve gets married. Good luck my darling and hope that blossom or not you have a fantastic day. Can't wait to see the photos and hear about it when you are back from your honeymoon.

Good luck and congratulations!

xx