Hi everybody,
Give that it's a year to the big day this Saturday coming, I thought I'd make a planning thread! So here goes...
After 5 year's of 'courting', 2 years of living in sin and many years of laughter and love, my gorgeous partner in crime proposed with a haribo ring (in a proper ring box!) on a Christmas Eve walk, in complete seclusion on a bridge overlooking a beautiful local lake. I of course said yes (and cried buckets) and we were lucky enough to spend Christmas sharing the news with family and friends, which was really special.
Unbeknownst to H2B his Christmas present was a mini-break to Rome, just two weeks later! Whilst on our little celebratory holiday we discussed where we'd like to get married, and having grown frustrated with the price of chain hotel packages in our area, we considered further afield, resulting in booking the Villa Grazioli in Frascati, overlooking Rome: 
and a civil ceremony in the stunning Palazzo Chigi in nearby Ariccia 
with 28 close family and friends joining us in Italia for the big day. We're both quite private people and take the commitment of marriage very seriously, so didn't want our vows to become too much of a spectator sport.
However we did want a way of celebrating our nuptials with everyone we knew back home, so agreed on booking exclusive use of a local AA rosette country pub that we always go to for graduations, birthdays etc called The Manners Arms, in Knipton. It was perfect for what we wanted; good food, good drink, nice and relaxed and plenty of room for dancing!
We managed to agree on a fab deal with them, for an Italian Antipasto themed buffet designed by us, half a bottle of wine a head, prosecco and rasberries on arrival and the accommodation of a massive cheese wedding cake to keep the munchies away.
Again we were both keen on a fairly understated, relaxed look so went for a blush pink theme with hints of mercury, ivory and light greens, for both Italy and the UK. We are fortunate enough to have found a fantastic and scarily efficient wedding planner in Rome who sourced a lovely florist for us, and for the UK we are planning on either using a wholesaler or local market, and then my mum and I (both keen gardeners) will be growing some of the roses and hydrangeas ourselves 
.
We are having sparklers for Italy for the end of the night which will hopefully be nice, and giant pastel pink balloons for the UK bash by the entrance and exits
and for the Italy and the UK our favours are Limoncello (hence the name!). In the case of Italy the wedding planner has ordered bottles from the original producers of limoncello, with our initials and wedding date on, and for the UK I'm making my own and doing mini bottles and tiny gift tags.
The wedding cakes for the UK and Italy will look fairly samey but my lovely mum has offered to make the UK cake, which will be really lovely, and she's done a couple of practice runs already, which nobody is complaining about! But hopefully both will look similar to this, with lace detailing and a fresh flower stopper:
Bridesmaids will be in a fairly simple, comfy chiffon style (see below) and the groom and ushers will be in navy 3 piece suits with blush linen ties. 
I have also ordered by beautiful wedding gown but given that H2B might have an inkling of my membership on here I don't dare show it off!!!!
Any feedback/ suggestions more than welcome 
