Relative Newbie! Any Devon brides out there?

Writing it all out does make me feel a bit more organised! We have drawn up a calendar and have allocated ourselves 6-8 'tasks for each month, so think that is helping me to keep on top of things at the moment.

The bunting is taking much longer than I realised! I have got a good system going of I am cutting them all out and MIL is sewing them together, so just need to sew them all onto bias binding nearer the time!

Anyone else having guest list issues? This week I have had to deal with cousins (who we don't see alot!) complaining that their partners (who we have met a few times or not at all!) are not invited to the wedding. Then having grandparents telling us we have to invite them and that they will pay for them! It isn't a case of us not wanting to pay for them, we are already inviting over the number of people we can have, plus I don't want people I don't know there!

I only got engaged last week so nothing planned yet! We've got a 2 month old son so we can't afford to save at the moment

Ideally we'd like to do it in 2015/16 but were getting no help from anyone so were on a tight budget We have found a venue that interests us (Tavistock town hall) and as they're having a wedding fayre next week so were going to check it out

They charge £620 room hire (as we're having caterers so need the use of kitchen etc). We've also seen a caterer that we think will charge about £850 for hog roast, jacket spuds and mixed vegetables. We'd do wedding cake as desert (which ill make myself) and as we're hoping to have a late ceremony we can have the wedding breakfast at about 6 and then start the evening do at 8 with light nibbles about 9.30.

Im not sure how we could do it any cheaper?

Curvygirl, thank you, will give them a call!

I love hearing about everyone's plans! Vix you are so organised & that's the detail we liv=ke to hear! I so wanted the Oak Barn, it'll be fab! 2 weeks to go I'm in such a muddle but with 2 small kids it's impossible to sit quietly and work it all out. I think I've done all the big stuff anyway, church is sorted and food paid for. Longing to go shopping but don't know what for!

DM-2-B Churston is so pretty & what a lovely idea to do the train. Churston church was one of our options but we decided to head out to my family onthe moor!

I think I am nearly organised. Having a mini panic with hair as we weren't sure about the girl when I had my trial & she won't come to the house, so any suggestions for mobile hair in/around Brixham gratefully received!

Happy planning everyone!

I've just realised that I haven't been on here for a while. 69 days to go so starting to get real. I had my first dress fitting today and happy to say I still love it. I was getting worried as I haven't seen it for so long. Everything just about in place. Hair and make up trial next month. Just need to sort out a hrn do. I also want a 'posh' afternoon tea hen for family. I am looking at Bovey castle. Any other suggestions?

Annie K - Bovey Castle is lovely I'm not really a 'posh tea' person so have no idea where elso to suggest! I have 97 days to go now. We just went up town and bought my OH's wedding ring. Only 18 things left on my to do list - though I keep thinking of things to add.

Thanks DM-2-B. Where did you get your rings from?

Thanks DM-2-B. Where did you get your rings from?

I got mine from Argos! and my OH's from GW Pack in Tiverton. He needed titanium because he's a builder and it only cost £29

Wow ! bargain

Can anyone recommend a florist in Devon, particularly in the Exeter/East Devon/Torbay areas?

Hi Vix I am using The Floriade in Exmouth, the owner Clive is lovely and really enthusiastic about everything! May be worth a go? x

Ooo, brilliant will have to make an appointment. Always prefer to go off recommendations!

Well my venue use him all the time and he was recommended to me, so would say its worth checking out! I saw him and another florist - the first one I saw was so not interested in anything, didn't have any ideas and came across as not being bothered so binned them straight off!

Hope the Floriade works out for you

I went and saw Clive at The Floriade at the weekend, he was lovely! Just waiting for him to get back to me with a quote now, really hope he isn't too expensive!

Oh cool am so glad you liked him! My quote came in at £300 for my bouquet, three BM bouquets, 2 FG wands, 4 buttonholes and a long, low bouquet for the registrar table/top table. All with sparkly/pearly accents

Got my fingers crossed he is in your budget!

Curvygirl77 - how long did The Floriade take to get back to you with a quote? I saw them nearly 3 weeks ago and still haven't heard anything

Hi all!

Sorry, I've been MIA for what feels like ages. I have to admit I'd lost my wedding mojo, and I'm only just beginning to get it back. I'd bought a dress last year (a complete impulse purchase) from clearance stock, in a few sizes too small. I'm doing well on my weight loss, but I recently tried the dress on, and I don't think it's going to fit on my bust. Thankfully, the dress wasn't expensive.

I've now got an appointment with Se Marier in Exeter tomorrow (woo!). I'm very excited, but a little nervous.

CurvyGirl - we went to Jonathan Hawkes, and they were excellent, so thanks for posting about your experience! How are the Woodbury Park plans going? I need to get in touch with Lucy at some point soon to talk over menus etc (and scarily, it isn't long before we have to put down 50% of the remaining balance! eek!).

Hope your planning is all going well!

x

Hi girls,

Loved reading this thread, its always nice when you can relate to places. I expect a lot of you are actually married now since this thread started!

I am an east devon girl in Sidmouth. Wedding is July 5th 2014, and I am feeling FAR too organised! How is everyone else getting on?

xxx

Hi Vix, it wasn't too long I think about a week? I would give them a call just to jog their memory, its unusual for the delay to be so long. The mum of my assistant at work is working there now on a part time basis so I could ask her if you dont have any joy. Ah I feel a bit pants that one of my recommendations hasn't been up to standard sorry!

Superduff welcome back! Glad you found your mojo again So pleased Jonathon Hawkes worked for you, we went for the fitting for the BM, FOB and FOG a couple of weeks ago which was an awkward experience (not to do with the shop, just FOG being an arse!) And of course none of them have standard sizes so it was all a bit of a chore! I felt so sorry for the bloke who was dealing with us lol.

How exciting about dress trying tomorrow! Am sure you will find the dress of your dreams. Shame about your original choice but congrats on the weight loss.

PLans are well underway, we got our menu confirmed a wee while ago as we needed to include it in the invites. We only had to pay £1500 as our 90 days balance which was quite good, maybe it will be the same for you. I paid it a bit early to get it out of the way lol.

Just bumbling round doing bits and pieces now, waiting for the RSVPs to come back. Its a painful process isn't it!

Childhood - hows your plans going? How organised are you exactly lol! There are a few of us who have our big days coming up so any ideas/advice/help you want just yell and we will be happy to oblige!

Hope everyone else's plans are coming along well! xx

Hi Curvygirl -

Thanks a lot! I can't wait to see some wedding reports of places I know.

We have booked absolutely everything minus the car as we are waiting to see what we can afford for that. I have my dress (in fact I have my whole outfit!), boys have found their suits but they can't place the order just yet, I have made and sent out all of the save the dates. I have starting making invites, decorating jars with lace and hessian, got a crate and stencilled on lettering for our cards, stamping luggage labels for name places to tie to handmade heart shaped bird feeders which I have made a start on too.

I am slightly worried I will run out of things to do, but it is making the budget easier to manage as the least to pay later on is better. I want to have a few alterations made on my dress, so I am enjoying flicking through wedding mags to pick out the bits of dresses I would like to add to mine.

CG - that's a shame about the FOG. Thankfully I don't have that to contend with, although I am having issues with my dad at the moment (why is nothing simple!). We have out 90 days up at the end of next month, and I'm hoping to take 50% to Lucy when we go and sort menus. Can I just ask what else she has asked you to do when you sorted food? Did you go and see her? I don't really know what to do but I know time is running away really quickly (or at least it feels like it).

I need to get a list of what I need to do together and work out what is at the mercy of our budget. I also need a proper catch up through this post, as I imagine Bex is an OM now, and I missed that!

No worries, the quote arrived yesterday, £240 for my bouquet, 4 bridesmaids wrist corsages, 11 mens corsages and ladies corsages for our Mums Think we will be going ahead with them!

We are also using Jonathan Hawkes, we had all of the boys go in for their measurements last weekend, they all looked very smart, even if the groom and best man were trying to convince me they should have canes and top hats!

I have heard that my dress should be in at the end of the month, can't wait to go and have my first fitting!

All of our invitations are sent out now, just waiting to get RSVP's back now.

Still seems like so much to do!

Oh so glad Vix, and that sounds like quite a reasonable quote! Don't think we are going to regret going with Clive Nice to hear your OH and BM were pushing for canes and hats - at least mine weren't the only ones. Hope you stood firm lol

Thats well exciting about your dress! I bet you will be bouncing on the day

Superduff did you go with a set number of guests and a set menu ie the off peak package? If not then I think you may end up just paying £1500, I emailed Lucy to find out what my payment was going to be and she said it was only the £1500, everything else would be paid upon receipt of final numbers. Might be different for you though? Didn't really have anything else to go through with her, we were lucky and got the off peak package in a peak month with a few tweaks allowed. just had to confirm what we wanted and what we wanted for the kids menu. If you are having children there she will probably ask you to decide what the kids menu will be rather than give a choice. If i have any other dealings or anything comes to light I will let you know.

I just basically emailed her, asked what i needed to pay and what needed to be done. Tend to be a worrywort myself and have been slightly bombarding her with questions! I haven't had any face to face meetings with her at all - think that might happen nearer the time.

How did your dress hunt go? did Se Marier sort you out?

Of course Bex would be an OM - wonder how she got on?! We should try and arrange a meet really with all the devon brides/OMs.

Much love to my fellow devon brides! xx

Ah fab! I am worrying a bit too. I think it's partly coming back on here and seeing people being so organised, and all I am doing is wobbling on colour schemes and the like! Gah! But I think I shall follow your lead and drop her an email and ask when I need to start letting her know things.

What did you choose for your meals? We have the off peak package too, and I need to get my head back into the wedding pack to see what options we have.

Se Marier were really lovely - couldn't recommend them highly enough. They have some beautiful gowns in there. Having said that, I think I am going to go with a Sottero dress from Days of Grace. I'd have bought it from Se Marier if they were a Sottero stockist, but sadly they aren't. It was a really lovely experience though. They did tell me that I left it too late to order in, so I'd need to get one off the peg. That doesn't bother me too much, but I am kind of kicking myself for leaving it so long. Ah well! I found two stunning dresses, but have gone with the cheaper one, as it just makes more sense for us to do so.

I'm just going through our guest list (my old laptop died and lost ALL of my wedding stuff, and it's in the process of having the hard drive recovered), and it's kind of helpful starting from scratch. I do need to go through and do a new budget too, as that was lost as well.

147 days and counting :-)

I'm sorry, I haven't quite caught up on this thread, but what have you got left to do now? It must seem very exciting confirming things with WP!

We kept the main courses but changed the starters and desserts. Cost us a few quid extra per head but we got the menu we wanted I can highly recommend the roast beef from the mains, we went for a carvery for Mother's day and it was amazing! In fact the whole of the menu in the package is lovely - just didn't fancy some of the starters.

She is very helpful, as i have said I think I sent about 4 emails in one day - poor girl! Have eased off now though lol. At least you can start thinking about how much your next payment will be.

Can't wait to see your dress - you are going to give us a sneaky flash aren't you?! can't believe you lost everything - I would be in so much poo if my laptop crashed! We have started having RSVPs back so all the choices are on here, guest lists, song choices etc. HAve given up on the budget, no idea if I was keeping to it or not lol. I am saving a set amount a month and hoping that at the end of the day I have enough! Which is a scary state of mind

I have 94 days to go and I still have to:

Decide on ceremony music

Decide on FG/BM/Me hairstyles

Decide on ceremony music

Make list of photos for TOG

Get OH shoes (size 15 - nightmare to buy!)

And a lot of stuff that can't really be done for a few more months (table plan, sweetie table etc)

We went with our own wine in the end too - wasn't keen on the WP house wines so got what we wanted. Corkage is a little ridiculous but got a brilliant deal from Tesco so saved about £1.50 per person!

Hows it going with you? x

Hope everyone's planning is going well!

Can anyone recommend someone to do dress alterations to my bridesmaids dresses? Need one taking up and one taking in a little.

Hope everyone's planning is going well!

Can anyone recommend someone to do dress alterations to my bridesmaids dresses? Need one taking up and one taking in a little.

Are you near Tiverton? There is a lovely lady who works in Satin Touch - she took up my wedding dress and it only cost £30