RAF Wedding

Hi Jenilee,

I've got no advice I'm afraid but just wanted to say hello and welcome

Hiya!

Welcome to the forum!

My H2B is in the Army, we do the long distance thing during the week so he only comes home on weekends. Its a bit of a pain trying to organise appointments, trying to cram everything in to one day. I keep him updated with ideas/photos on text so he doesnt feel like im taking over haha.

We are getting married on 12th July 2014

xx

Hi Beanie-lou ?

thank you very much for your lovely welcome. How are your plans coming along?

Hi Natalie

We have yet to live too far apart (and hopefully after the wedding me and my son will be following in marred quarters wherever h2b gets posted). but I can completely understand where your coming from with having to do a lot of planning and then updating the other half through txts. OH is deploying to Afghan in April so is spending most of his time away training. ☹️

How far have you got with your planning?!?

xx

Hi, my OH is always away too, one military thing or another lol I see him about 10 weeks a year but as he wants to be involved in the planning we live our life on Skype. It's the way forward, he's a few hours ahead but it all works out. I worry about what it's going to be like when he comes home for good!

Can i ask how old you are?

We've been engaged since Sept , finally, after 7 years lol.

We've got most of the big things booked like the venue, photographer, florist,wall drapes and ive actually already got my dress (it was fate, i couldnt let it go haha). So now im just looking at all the small details and trying to get ideas on finishing touches before i really have to make a decision!

Have you done much?

xx

Forces weddings are awesome

This made me chuckle

Gorgeous photos! x

Natilie - I'm 29. We got engaged in Oct and instantly began planning!

I have found an amazing dress from an American designer and there will be 2 shops in the UK getting it in within the next month so cannot wait to try it on! We have found our venue and decided on our date 2 weeks ago but have yet to book. The venue will be an amazing wedding gift from my parents so waiting to arrange a date so that they can come and have a look round and pay the deposit.

I already know what colour scheme I want and alot of the finer details. Its just now finding the correct suppliers.

We are wanting to give RAF Charity pib padges as favours so that is the next port of call for me.

And the all important cake design. I am a cake baker and my friends seem to think I'm mad doing my own cake but I think I would be mad paying someone else to do it. I just need to decide, design and practice a mock cake so I can be happy and put the thought out of my mind quickly and tick it off of the list.

OH will be wearing he's No:1's but as I will be changing after the first dance he also wants to change into a more relaxed suit for the evening. Is your man going full throttle with uniform?!?

AlyJ - Is your OH Posted abroad permanently?!? It must be really hard. When's your wedding?!?

OOOO What dress is it? Sounds special!

Thats amazing that your parents are contributing so much, my mum has bought my dress, and is buying our flowers(inc centrepieces) and cake. My dad has offered money nearer the time, but we are budgeting as if we are paying for everything ourselves so we are definitly covered cost wise!

I think the pin badge idea is lovely. I was originally going to have poppy seeds in little bottles as favour, but the seeds are tiny so would need a lot to even half fill the bottles, uber expensive!! Plus, ive read somewhere its illegal to grow certain types because of the opium lol. Dont want to be known as a drug pusher so will probably reconsider haha.

Im not sure if he'll still be in the Army when we actually get married, what with the redundancies etc so i dont know what he'll be wearing. I have a feeling hes leaning more towards a slim fit suit though. Im not too bothered what he wears, as long as he turns up lol.

What sort of colours are you thinking of?

xx

Hi, and welcome!

I was very nearly an army wife, ha ha. We planned it as an army wedding and after a lot of messing around from the army, H decided he wanted to leave, so we had to make a few changes! We had to cancel the Number 1s we'd organised for him and order him a normal wedding suit instead, we had no ushers as we were going to get all the army guys in number 2s, and then couldn't afford to get them all suits instead, so just had none (other than my bro!) and H left the army 2 days before the wedding in the end!

So if you need any advice I may be able to help. Hubby & I have been together nearly 4 years, he was in the army that whole time until we got married 3 months ago.

You're lucky you haven't had to do the distance thing yet. When we got together H was an hour away and after 5 months got posted to Germany, he was there until he left, so all my planning was done without him. He came home every 2 or 3 weeks through the planning but the only thing he really had input on was the venue, food choices and the suits!

Also not sure if the RAF are the same as the army in the way that they are SO last minute, they put the 4 army lads we had coming on exercise over our wedding weekend, and only told them 3 days before, so we had 4 people at £60 a head not come thanks to the bloody army! Make sure you have a stand-by list of guests to bump up in case things like this happen! They also decided it was a possibility Hubby could go to Canada for a month at the end of September, meaning he would be away for our wedding date, which is one of the things that pushed him to apply to leave. Glad he's out the forces now!

Hope you enjoy your planning and hopefully you don't have any problems like we did!

More here:

http://chrisgilesphotography.co.uk

I'm not canvassing either, I'm already booked then and get married a few weeks before

The designer's website is called Jasminebridal.com and its from her Couture line. Its ref: T152017 on their site if you fancied a peek. All feedback greatly appreciated. My dress must cover my back as have a 9.5" scar down one shoulder shortly to be matched on the other so I'm not wanting to have scars on show but don't want a shawl etc. in addition to the dress.

We where so shocked when my parents offered to pay for the venue. I didn't feel at first I could take them up on their offer but my dad has grounded me down constantly until I caved in at Christmas and agreed to it. Even though we will have Afghan money on his return I really don't want to be silly and throw the lot into a wedding. I would rather save a lot of it to start a 'Mortgage Fund' as I'm not sure he will stay in the RAF forever and want to be able to set ourselves up when the time comes to leave.

He He Natalie - I'm not sure a drugs bust will go down well for the memories of your big day, but...... It would also make for an amazing conversation starter for each and every guest for the rest of their lives :-)

Natalee - OH work mate had booked their wedding nearly 2 years before hand and he was having quite a lot of work lads supporting him on his big day. It just so happened that it fell during the Olympics where the OH's reg were doing security for 3 weeks. The Groom was granted the leave but had to get wed without his bestman, 4 ushers. I think it was 16 guests in total (inc their partners). This is one of the reasons for my OH not wanting many work mates there.

I'm going for a bight (Apple type) green and a splash of Royal Blue to tie in the OH's uniform. How about you Natatie. is there anything your stuck on with the planning?!? I have gone through so many planning lists through web, books, mags etc but still panicked that there's going to be something huge I'll miss. Ha, I think my OCD will not fair too well during this process :-)

xx

Hiya im a soon to be Army wife too, well 2014

Ooooo, me me me!!

I will be an RAF wife in March this year! Very excited about it. OH will be wearing his No 1's for the ceremony and photos, adn then getting changed into No 5's. Looking forward to the guard of honour!!

Glad to see there are some other forces wives (to be) on here :o)

Jenilee - where are you/OH based or what does he do? Just wondering if you were near by or had any mutual 'RAF friends!'

xxx

Chris - Where are you or shall I ask which areas you cover? the pics you have put on here a lovely.

Nadine - When in 2014 you getting married? and are you going full hog with uniforms, arm themed stationary etc?

Lum86 - OH is based at Wittering - He's just Regiment doing his Ground Signaller training now ready for his next tour. I'm luckily just down the road from him in Peterborough. Where about are you?!?

xx

My OH is Regimwnt too. We're in Honington at the moment but OH was at Wittering on 3 squadron until May this year! I really like Wittering, and Stamford is lovely. Would be quite happy to go back there) or anywhere other than here!

Will you be moving in to quarters when you're married?

We've just been allocated ours. Actually really looking forward to living on camp :o)

Where abouts are you getting married?

Hi all,

Nice to see so many soon-to-be Forces wives! My OH is in the Navy (hard to even type that without thinking of the Village People song!). He's wearing his No 1's for the ceremony then getting changed into the mess undress (I'm sure that's what he calls it...) basically the uniform jacket but with a kilt since we're Scottish. He and his work mates are going to look so smart! I went to my first military wedding last year and it was great! Really looking forward to the sword arch too!

Getting married in May 13 so not long to go...

J

What a very little world it is. Not only is the OH 3 Squ but he's at Honington right now on a training week! He he he :-)

Were considering quarters but need to weigh a few things up before making a decision. Were going to get married at Orton Hall in Peterborough. Fell in love with the place the first night we sat down to do some internet research!!!

Are you marrying around Honington area?!?

xx

Wow, small world. I imagine our OH's probably know each other then! Has he been there long? Do you know which flight he's on?

I dont often come across that many RAF Reg people, most non military people have never heard of it and assume if you're in the RAF you're a pilot!

We're getting married over in the Cotswolds as I'm from around there. Has certainly made things difficult though trying to arrange the wedding from Suffolk!

xx

Hi Jinglebride.

I think my wedding will be the first military wedding I would of been too! Don't think any of my OH's mates have any weddings coming up.

Are you all ready or still a million and one things to do?!?

I wish we were having a Sword Arch but as trying to keep numbers down there's not many people from OH work being invited. Maybe I go bump of some family members, humm that would free up space on the guest list :-)

xx

Oh no I can imagine. I'm going to have to do a lot of the planning beginnings of booking things on my own as he goes on tour for 6 months in April. Not looking forward to that.

He won't know what's hit him (or our bank account) if I'm left with too many decisions and he's out of contact for 2/3 weeks at a time!!!! he he he

I bet the Cotwolds are an amazing backdrop for a wedding!!!!!

Are you all sorted for the big day now?!?

xx

At least it'll give you something to focus on while he's on tour and keep you busy. Plus, a good excuse for making all the decisions and choosing all the stuff you want!!

Ha ha ha! to be fair he has given most of the created side to me already but wants me to run it passed him first just in case I go 'crazy' over the top. :-)

Forgot to put in last message he's normally on B flight, but is attached to Comms Op whilst he's training.

I am glad I have something to keep my mind busy whilst he's on tour. We wasn't together when they were over there last time so can't even imagine how hard it is.

Are you around Honington with your OH or has there always been a distance?

xx

Ahhh. My OH was OC A Flt, but would probably still know him!

We've only been together since he got posted to Honington. When he was at Wittering I was living and wokring in Portsmouth, so most weekends involved a lovely 6 hour round trip for one of us apart from when he wasn on tour!! We decided that whatever his next posting was I would relocate too, and it ended up being here! Its definately a lot harder being a military girlfriend than a military wife, at least in terms of support etc. Thats one of the reasons i'm looking forward to moving on to camp, as it'll be so much easier to get to meet the other wives and make friends with people!

Hi Jenilee, I'm based in Sussex but tbh one minute I'm in Ireland, the next Cambridge... the wedding blogs keep me well traveled.

Problem is if you do get married between the 22nd of May and the 14th of June I can't do a thing for anyone as I'm getting married on the 24th May and have a booking for the 14th June 2014...I'm also under STRICT instruction no wedding bookings between those days ?

It was a lovely day, Matt is a Submariner and as you can imagine away for ages at a time, some 200+ people, they had Wedding Olympics, egg and spoon, spin around on the spot and run towards a tree (nobody was hurt)...it got messy towards the end though...

If any of you ladies would like to see the full gallery please either message me via hitched or my website and I'll let you see all 816 of them.

I've not had the chance to meet many wives or girlfriends so far either. There's a lot of different things being put together for us whilst their on tour so should get to know more people then. I don't often go to stay on base as he's room is always damn cold. My parents have my son once a week for me so OH is at mine most of the time anyway.

You'll have to ask him if he knows Tweed. I think he's friend Shrubb is on A flight but might be getting that mixed up too. I'm always getting it all mixed up and think there should be a handbook for families as he's forever through abbreviations at me!! :-)

xx

I love Forces weddings. One of my brides was VERY stressed before her wedding as her future Husband was due back two days before they were due to be married.

One thing which was very sweet is they put a collection tub next to the guest book with photos of all his friends that he'd lost. Brought a tear to many eyes!

My OH has literally just got in from work and said he was just with all of the 3 sqn guys down at honington today! What is your OH's name? xx

Thankfully my OH hasn't lost anyone from his regiment but what a lovely and respectful idea.

I want RAF charity pin badges as our wedding favours as I think I would like a contribution of my wedding to go towards all the well worth aspects of their charity.