****2016 Brides**** 326 brides (and 3 grooms!) so far!

Aha I've done it yay! Thank you for your help :-)

Thanks for the kind welcomes.

A barge! I know! I still can't believe it myself!!

There will definitely be flashes as we get a bit more organised with everything.

Super excited, 1 more thing crossed off the list...

We have hired this

http://www.bigredbusco.co.uk/

We are going to get it to pick up my OH, best man etc as well as some of the guests and take them to the ceremony, it is then going to wait, take on chunk of the guests to the reception while we get some photos taken with family and wedding party, it will come back and then take the rest of us to the reception. The selling point was the champagne bar on there and as we are booking it so early we got a discount and they are not chargning us corkage. There are a few other little touches that they are doing like giving everyone an old fashioned bus ticket to keep, the "destination" sign will be our married name and there are lights and a sound system we can use.

Now, we do have one problem, I need to find a way for me to get to the ceremony, it's going to be about a 20 minute drive, due to the locations of everything it would not be possible for the bus to come and get me it would be a 40 minute round trip, so any suggestions on what I can use for a short period of time that will not cost me the earth. I did ask a couple of VW Camper van hire places, they could fit us all in the car at once, it would be 5/6 people, and despite it being a short period, and it could be hired out again for later in the day, we are having a 1pm wedding, they still wanted over £340, it's like £17 per minute of driving! At this rate i'll be taking a taxi ?

That sounds fab!

When I got married the first time, it was only a mile or so between the accommodation and the venue so I did order a minibus to do shuttle runs. 1st run to have groom included, then all the guests and finally me and my Bridesmaids.

Unfortunately it didn't turn up but for the sake of cost I'd not hesitate at using a cab for the journey as in reality you just need to get there and on the day 'arriving in style' is the last thing you're worried about.

I know what you are saying, and I totally understand, but my OH gets to ride in the bus (with the champagne) twice, so I wanted to do something a bit fun. Plus my dad and MOH would freak out if I said I was taking a taxi! I don't want the typical wedding cars they just don't do it for me, I just want something nice and if possible fun, is that too much to ask! ha, I'm chuffed I get to ride on the bus with our family and wedding party to the reception, that will be nice.

I just wanted to share with you ladies some of the adorable conversations I have with my last remaining set of grandparents. Grandma is 83 and (4' 9") and Granddad is 85.

When discussing the wedding reception my Granddad asked what canapés were. We explained to him and what was on offer, to which he asked if there was anything less fancy such as sausage rolls. He was joking but he won't like them bless him! We might have to get some in just for him. We also managed to establish that he would prefer one of the children's meal options (sausage, chips and beans) as opposed to the adult one. He's so lovely he can have that if he wants!

Grandma meanwhile has been practising her walking so that she can have a 'boogie' and keep up with the 'young ones'. We were also looking at outfits and shoes and everytime we saw one she liked she said, "Oh, I dig that!"

I have so much time for these two and love them so bloomin' much!

Been working on our wedding invites tonight :] really pleased with how they are turning out. The gift insert has been changed it now has the border piece on at the bottom. I still have a few things to tweak here and there but the layouts and fonts are going to stay as they are now.

Look forward to a sneaky flash LittleSnowflake!

I had a little brainwave earlier, I have fallen in love with a song that can be taken romantically:

Apocalyptica - Not Strong Enough

I like the lyrics!! Hopefully will have that at some point during our day - maybe first dance?? Who knows!

@HeavyMetalMaiden I love the song choice! For a while I wanted Hoobastank The Reason but if you really listen it's not first dance material!

@LittleSnowFlake They're lovely and you're so organised! I'm leaving all things like that to next summer. Should I be being more organised? What's everyone else doing on that front? Argh, panic!

MrsWendy2016, that is just amazing..grandparents rule!

@HeavyMetalMaiden i've not heard of that sone, will have a listen when I get home from work.

@LittleSnowFlake, did you make the pocket folds yourself or buy them? They are looking good ?

@MrsWendy2016, all our invites are sorted, I only need to print the inside part to stick in, but have to wait until we have sorted the final guest lists so I know how many of each to print. I'm just hoping the more orgainsed I/we are now, we can relax more the closer it gets, ha, lets see how that works out.

Those invite look fab.

Have no idea when to start my invites. Want to diy mine. Think I want to start soonish so I don't get stressed if they don't go right. I want to be super planned and get everything ready so I can chill about it all. Doubt that will happen.

why are diyers getting all your invite stuff from. I keep looking but I don't really know where I can get all the stuff I would need. Maybe I just don't know what I need haha.

It all depends what you are after, I got all ours from hobby craft (worked out about £25, including printing) and I got the below. They are totally different from LittleSnowFlakes, but they reflect us and our day (excuse the quality of the photo it's not that great and they do look better in person)

EDIT: Would like to add, I did start out trying the pocket folds, as there was so much information I wanted to give people about the day, but I ended up doing the above simpler invote as we created a wedding webiste and told people to look on their for the information. Just don't worry if you totally scrap a few ideas before you come to your final one.

@LittleSnowFlake I love them!!!

@ MrsWendy2016 Thank you! I'm trying to be organised ha! I think if I get all the time consuming bits out the way now or try and get them out the way, I shant have to rush nearer the time or panic if something isn't done/going right.

@ Jen-lou I purchased the pocketfolds pre done from http://www.cardandpockets.com they have lots of different styles as we were originally going to go for a square design, but OH much preferred the standard greetings card style.

@Jesikab4u Thanks, Ive heard someone mention the website PDA Card and Craft before some have got their invite stuff from there, mine were from the above website but be careful with that one if you ask for samples of colours/cards the postage is free, when you go ahead a place an order you have to account for shipping costs and then I got charged a fee from UPS for delivery :/ Pocketfold invites (a UK company) are also a good place to get invites and such from. And lastly there is also HobbyCraft (which the OH has banned me from).



^^^ What Jen-lou said. Our design when we started looked like this ..



@Stephanie104 Aww thank you!

Planning on having my first attempt this week, doubt they will look anywhere near that good! Will post some flashes if they aren't too bad...

16 July

Our first date was 16th July 2013

Got engaged 16th July 2014

Sky6925 welcome to the 16 July club, think there's about 5/6 (sorry had a few vinos and can't remember the correct count) of us now, well need a separate thread at this rate, ha.

Flash away. The good thing about doing it this early is there is planety of time to change your mind if you want to.

Do you just buy the card and print at home? Do you templates or use the free ones? 21 questions here lol.

Well, I created the design using word and publisher (and with a little help from some wonderfull hitchers) I printed a test one in work but printed the rest at home. What type of invite are you thinking of going for?

Bear in mind if you make them from scratch that they fit into an envelope, some of my first runs didnt, ha!

14th May 2016 feel free to add! I'm wishing the months away, but everyone is telling me the last year really swings around quick! My OH proposed to me on our 6 year anniversary .

I might be an October 2016 bride. We were going to be March 2017 but have discussed October now (with a gap before we go on honeymoon). Haven't booked a venue yet so the date isn't 'set' yet. Possibly thinking 1st October though

Tried my dress on tonight to show my mum (YES She finally asked!) and dad saw it too.
Despite dress wobbles last month I STILL love my dress! And mum does too now she's seen it with some shape on me and not just hanging off a coat hanger

Today I got my wedding dress my bridesmaid dresses and weddings rings. I absolutely love them all. My dress is ivory and gold in a French Renaissance style corset top and quite a full skirt with lots of lace and embroidery. got a diamond encrusted white gold band and plain white gold for hubby. Bridesmaid dresses are hot pink full length with a little bit of bling. I've done quite a bit now and think it's time to pay off chunks of our venue and decorator etc. going to be a boring wee while of just paying out but glad I've got a lot of my stuff. Mega excited!!!!xx

Today I got my wedding dress my bridesmaid dresses and weddings rings. I absolutely love them all. My dress is ivory and gold in a French Renaissance style corset top and quite a full skirt with lots of lace and embroidery. got a diamond encrusted white gold band and plain white gold for hubby. Bridesmaid dresses are hot pink full length with a little bit of bling. I've done quite a bit now and think it's time to pay off chunks of our venue and decorator etc. going to be a boring wee while of just paying out but glad I've got a lot of my stuff. Mega excited!!!!xx

Obviously so excited I posted twice oops xx

Oooh I forgot to say Welcome to the January club!

i have been playing around with word the last couple of days. i'm planing on just printing on card having different sizes for the rsvp etc... looks like i'm just going to be winging it lol.

lol i have been practicing mine 5x7 which i think may size of standard cards. i hope so anyway haha

Hello

Getting married - 24/08/2016 at Muddifords Court , Devon he proposed on 14/2/14 in Bournemouth (where I went to Uni and we met in my third year) . He had planned the weekend in Bournemouth since Dec '13 due to buying us tickets to see one of my favourite bands for a Xmas pressie but no idea how long he had planned to propose.

So far, we have booked the venue, met our photographer, spoke to the caterer who is currently drawing up the schedule and prices etc. furthermore, my mum is making the wedding cake, offered to make my dress although we need to discuss patterns etc (she lives in Isle of Wight so have to FaceTime a lot!!) & My mum and my aunty are also keen gardeners so I think that's the flowers sorted

I am looking forward to hearing about everyone's plans over the next two years

Morning ladies!

LS - your invites are beautiful! And I'm so glad you're feeling good about your dress again

futuremrsadamson - well done on getting so organised!

a big welcome to ********************@*****.***, lauren.sam16 (a triplet!) and sky6925 (we are now sextuplets!!) ? ? ?

Hello ladies! Please add me to your list, as we have set a date and booked a venue, woohoo! I'm joining I-go-by-many-names, pinkypoo85 and specialee85 and getting married on 13th August 2016!