Whats in a wedding

I'm not talking about whats in a wedding in the poetic sense of the word, like whats in a marriage. I'm talking about what it takes to arrange a wedding.

Rhys and I got engaged in November last year. Neither of us really wanted a long engagement and we decided to book the wedding for the following year. We contacted the vicar and they had a slot for us in June. So 7 months away.

Fine I thought. I've been thinking about what I want for my wedding day for years now, so it was just a matter of booking it all. I can do that.

After asking some amazing women to be my bridesmaids, I started with the dress. I've heard that some places can take around 6 months to get the dress you want made, so the following week I made an appointment at a bridal shop and I was lucky enough to fall in love with a beautiful dress.

We have always wanted our wedding reception on our farm. We had considered hiring a marquee, but after much deliberation we have decided to have the wedding in our barn. This will take a bit of work. Not more than a couple of months ago the cows called this barn home. So pressure washer, here we come! Also, we need to dress the barn to make it pretty. This means flooring, tables, chairs, a bar and so on. This will all be done over the next few months and I refuse to stress about it. Its Rhys' domain and I trust him to make it amazing.

The catering is something I struggled with. I wanted a specific company to cater for the day, but when I contacted them they don't come as far as us so we aren't able to have them. It took me ages to find someone else who I liked the look of, but I finally did and thankfully they have availability on our wedding day! Phew!

I asked my friend who runs a coffee and cake shop if I was able to convince them to make my cake. And I'm glad to say that they agreed.

I wanted a photographer that someone I knew had used and I liked the style of. We met the photographer that my cousin used on her wedding day at a wedding fayre, and the package that she offered us was fantastic. We booked her then and there. This is such an important part of any wedding I'm sure. You will always have your photos to look back on, and you want them to be perfect.

My flowers were easy. I knew exactly what I wanted. My florist will be doing mine and my bridesmaids bouquets. For the buttonholes, centerpieces and church flowers I have a secret weapon up my sleeve. My beautiful cousin ( who is also my bridesmaid) has recently gained a floristry qualification, and is happy to help! Thank goodness!

Wedding insurance is something I've only just got round to. I should really have done this straight away but for some reason it kept slipping my mind. I know of a wedding that had to be rearranged due to the venue closing down completely. It was so lucky that they had wedding insurance or they would have lost a lot of money.

We still have alot to do. We have saved a lot of money because we have done a lot ourselves. Me and my bridesmaids have almost finished making our invitations, we will be making the centerpieces and all of the decorations.

This is a bit long now so Ill leave it there. No doubt as time goes on the next few months I'll have some updates, but so far I'm still feeling relaxed.......so far......