****2017 Brides****Currently 166 Brides and 1 Groom****

Slink, that menu sounds delicious. We don't get to choose ours until February ☹️

We gave notice today, so all official now! A major item ticked off the list!

Wooo date twin We went a couple of weeks to our venue to see it when its dressed up....

Cant believe its a year to go! ❤️ I remember when this thread was created in Jan 2015.

Hello to all the other new brides/grooms. ?

I havent been on here a while as been busy buying and decorating a house. Need to get on the wedding planning- have ideas, but need to book some suppliers. I feel much less planned than most of the brides on this thread!

Emma_lou1 we gave notice this week too. It feels real then doesn't it! I was quite nervous, don't know why and I really didn't need to be!

I've also ticked off posting the save the date cards and booked a photographer. I'm just waiting to hear back from a string quartet we'd like to book and then I'm going to relax until after our holiday. Over the next 6 weeks we've got 3 birthdays, me, my mum, H2B and 2 weeks in Greece. I will then aim to get some post holiday lard shifted (and a bit of pre holiday lard) and then I'll think of dresses. I'm going for off the peg so timing isn't so essential. I'm also keen to see if some of the evening gowns for the festive season might be appropriate. Who knows.

Wow guys, I go offline for a couple of days and everything happens!!

MadamRed - what an amazing itinerary! I want pics afterwards!

Slink - sounds like a brilliant menu I'm really fussy but would enjoy all that food

Everybody who has given notice - how real does it now feel?! We have ours just before we came away on holiday

Had 3 missed calls today from the Bridal store - I'm assuming they were calling to tell me my veil has now arrived, woo

Hope everyone's wedding planning is going well, got my birthday coming up (a week tomorrow!) and seeing my besties the weekend after so planning will be on hold until after that

A year today!! So excited ???

Hi slink, I'm in a similar position to you although my mum already had cancer when oh proposed. It can be hard and you need to cut yourself some slack if there are times you feel like you are putting your needs first. Ithink my brother is a little annoyed that I didn't book our wedding to be closer - just in case, especially as we've been told that my mum's cancer is not curable. However we've been told repeatedly that at the moment it is manageable. I know some members of my family think I'm a bit heartless aabout it all, there's defintely a pattern of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a tendency to make a saint of my mum. I find it hard. I love her as she is - not some idealised version of her now that she has cancer! I'm a pragmatic person by nature and I won't borrow trouble. Yes my mum is ill with something that can;t be cured. but she's had diabetes for 15 years and that can;t be cured, and without treatment would be fatal. I've been beating myself up at times, accusing myself of being a bridezilla and putting my own needs first, when really I've been doing perfectly normal things that in normal circumstances wouldn't even warrant a raised eyebrow.

And on the subject of cars, we've hired a vintage self drive Jag. OH is going to collect it and drive to the venue, and my dad will collect it from there and drive me in. when i was little my grandad died and the family lost their jobs. the only thing they salvaged was his XJS and my dad used to drive it as a wedding car. I probably made his life more difficult by crying, begging and pleading to go with him every week. I couldn't get a white one like we had but it's the same make and model and has the cool wheels that i remember. It's less that £400 for 3 drivers and we pick it up in Leeds sat morning and return it Sun night. So oh and i can go for a drive on sunday!

Ugh, why do hotels have to be so difficult?! I was going to block book a load of rooms at a cheap hotel and lay on a coach both way, to make it easier for my guests as we're getting married at a venue with a very limited number of rooms. So far, I have two options, both similar prices, both willing to hold 30 rooms for me:

Travelodge - can confirm early check-in for 10 rooms, with the possibility of increasing that nearer the time. BUT early check-in is £10 extra and there is no restaurant onsite, so my guests can't get their hangover-curing full English in the morning.

Premier Inn - can't confirm early check-in for any of the rooms until nearer the date. BUT have a restaurant onsite, so guests can have a proper breakfast the following day and also have the option of late check-out.

The check-in times for both hotels are 2pm or 3pm. My ceremony starts at 2pm, and we have things going on through the day so there won't really be time for all of my guests to trek 15minutes+ each way across town to check-in. There are a number of B&Bs nearer, but they are more expensive and too small for me to secure a block of rooms for all of the guests who are likely to want to stay. I'm still waiting for the coach company to confirm its terms and conditions before I book that, but really I need to make a decision soon. Do I:

a) Book one of the hotels above (they are both on a free cancellation basis until 6 weeks before the date) and book the coach?

b) As above, but tell my guests they will need to arrange how they manage check-in?

c) Leave accommodation and transport up to my guests? (which risks me being charged £100 per hour if they haven't left the premises within 20minutes of the reception ending)

d) Leave accommodation up to my guests, but get the ushers to circulate after the meal and arrange taxis for people if necessary? (still a risk of being charged, but at least if the taxis are booked earlier there's less risk of them not turning up)

Presumably they will only have overnight bags madam red. Can they get late check in if not? Can they take the bags with them on the coach and leave them somewhere at the venue till they leave if no early check in available. Or possibly the hotel have somewhere they can leave the bags? Or if they are driving to the hotel leave bags in their car.

I'd go with b and c. Book some rooms but tell people what the check in times are. The hotel are probably able to store luggage so people will just need to dump their stuff at reception and sort it later. But I'd want breakfast in the morning - I love a hotel breakfast when I'm hungover haha!

But you can leave it up to people to sort themselves out. I would just make them aware that they have to be out in time for the venue or these is a charge.

I'm surprised by the charge though - are you sure they will enforce it? Is it just there to deter people from hanging about drinking after the wedding?

When is everyone giving notice? I've just rang to book ours and they wanted us to do it next month!? That seemed bonkers to me. My fiance is working away until September in France so I've booked an appointment for September, but even that seems super early to me. We're getting married June 2017.

Katiepoppy, you've summed up the emotions there. Everything has progressed very quickly and the situation now is she might not be well enough to come and if she is it will be a case that my step dad brings her for the ceremony and they leave again. My OH keeps saying "she'll be there don't worry" but he's not seen her for weeks and while he's listening I don't think he's taking in how bad it actually is.

MadamRed I'd book a group of rooms and leave it to people to sort out. As someone else said the hotel will probably have some kind of luggage storage. Just make sure there isn't a latest check in. I would want breakfast though, I'm not even a real person until I've eaten after a night of drinking.

I don't know when we'll give notice. Probably later in the year. Our registry office is such a pain to get hold of I just can't be bothered trying to contact them now since I don't actually have to!

I had thought of luggage storage and late check-in at the hotel, but it would mean people checking in at well after midnight when most of them will be quite drunk so probably not the best idea. Not worried about lack of take-up at the hotel, but I don't want to book a coach and then find that barely anyone takes it up. I might book the hotel rooms at Premier Inn (for brekkie!) and leave booking the coach until nearer the time or let the ushers sort out taxis. I'm pretty sure the venue will charge us if guests don't leave the premises promptly, based on the discussions we've had with them about other parts of the contract.

FutureMrsCC, we gave notice in May, but we had to fit it in during school holidays.

We gave notice today! We're getting married in June 2017. So exciting! OH was in there for ages & I was getting worried that something had gone wrong - turns out he was in there having a good old chat with the registrar about camping & showing each other photos of trailer tents... ?

So exciting though - it definitely felt very real! Had a few days off work this week & last too so been ploughing ahead with making bunting & other DIY so there's less to worry about nearer the time.

Hi Everyone ?

Just joined today! we get married 8th July 2017.

Forgive the silly question, ill feel like a wally when I get the answer but what do you mean by "giving notice"!

have a happy planning day everyone

xxx

Not a silly question - I didn't know all the ins & outs when I got engaged either! ? Congrats & welcome by the way.

It works differently if you're getting married in a church, but for a registry office wedding, or when a registrar is coming to your venue to marry you, you have to attend the registry office to prove you are who you say you are, that the relationship is a legal one (i.e. not a 'sham' marriage for visa purposes etc I think!), & then notice gets pinned up somewhere for a month that you intend to get married, I think so people can dispute it if they really want to / have reason to. We're not getting married in the county we live in, so we had to make an appointment to go to our local registry office to show our passports etc. Then a bit of paper will get put up on a noticeboard at another registry office with our names on telling the world where & when we intend to get married.

The first step would be to book your registrar for the date & time you want, & then they'll give you the details of where & when you need to go to give notice.

Nothing is a silly question, I promise! ?

Just sharing my excitement - one year today we will be getting married ? I'm too excited to wait haha!

Yay! Welcome and congratulations!!

You have to give notice at the Registry Office if you are getting married in a civil ceremony as opposed to a Church. It's like having the Banns read at Church.

Basically, you go in, have a chat and then your "Application to marry" is posted in the Registry Office for 28 days. During this time, people can view it and raise any objections.

Once you've booked your Registrar for the ceremony, you should get a little pack (we did anyway) which explains everything

x

Take care of yourself slink xx On a more happy subject, my friend is making me some crocheted flower garlands for my tables. kind of like this:

Ooo I love it, so fresh and pretty

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on here. We are getting married on 21st October 2017. We have a venue booked and a few things sorted but just collecting ideas at the moment

Hi all,

Your plans all sound amazing. Yesterday was our one year to go! I can't believe that I now have less than a year to go. I have just posted a little flash to mark the occasion!

I have booked our appointment to give notice in August but I'm going to have to cancel it as I now have a new job which starts on 1st August and I now have to work on the day of our appointment. Can you book appointments at the weekends does anyone know?

I haven't done much else besides arranged for a lady to come over next week to discuss making our wedding invitations. We want to send them out after xmas x

Hi everyone! ?

We get married on 24th October 2017. So excited! We have a few things sorted and some other plans in the making. Family life has got so hectic that we're a bit behind with inspiration and planning.

I've been so wrapped up in making invites and finding the right shape favour boxes in the right shade of purple, I'd completely forgotten that we still need to give notice and do the 'legal bit'!! Ooops!

Thanks for the timely reminders fellow '17ers... I've now ordered a replacement birth certificate in readiness and given OH a kick up the rear to find his divorce papers! ?

FutureMrsSmith our registry office do Saturday appointments but they charge more for them.

I'm having wobbles about our invites. Were going to order some quite plain ones as OH said no to anything with any type of pattern but I want something that reflects our meadow flower theme more. I'm also looking at where to get signs for the day.

We have our engagement shoot in just over a week. I have no idea what to wear. I think OH will want to wear his suit so I'd have to dress up to match.

Okay thanks. I just tried to change our appointment online but it won't let me and now I have to call them.

Where are you having your engagement shoot? We need to book ours! X

Hello ladies! Not had much chance to join in the wedding chat in recent weeks - missed it! How's everyone's plans progressing?

Since I was last on we've booked our florist, cake maker & honeymoon - so exciting!! Next on my list is to start looking at invitations - hoping to send around October time.

Were going to go to our local park which will give us some great green landscapes but there's also some beautiful buildings around so we should get a mixture of shots. We also spend a lot of time there so it means a lot us.

Pointless post really but booked out honeymoon today and also met with the florist so starting to make some progress! Also one of my best friends got engaged a couple of weeks ago so quite nice to have some to talk to about wedding ideas!

Hello you lovely lot! I hope you are all well!

Making our appointment to give notice tomorrow yay! I've also been very busy crafting away. Finally finished the invites, just need to print address' on the envelopes. Table numbers have been made. Block letters for the top table have been glitterfied! Currently in the middle of revamping our wedding post box. I've also bought all our table decorations and centre pieces - minus flowers! Just keeping it very simple with flowers in vases and scatter crystals on the tables. I must download photo bucket so I can do a flash. Picked our menu for the wedding breakfast. Wedding website is almost complete, just need to add a couple of pictures of our children. Fmil is making our cake and we have agreed on how I want it to look, yay to 5 tiers!!

Still struggling to to find new bridesmaid dresses. Still struggling to justify spending out on hair and make up when I'm more than capable of doing it myself, and also would feel more comfortable doing it myself.

Life is is pretty hectic atm as we are having our kitchen done. Trying to diet without a kitchen to cook in is a nightmare. There is only so much salad I can eat! Roll on it being finished, this week hopefully, so I can get back on plan. Trying on the dress again on 13th August and will put down the deposit too!

Where are you going on your honeymoon?! Xx

New York, Toronto and Barbados, very random mixture! Got to say being given champagne when booking honeymoon is definitely my cup of tea!