Remember you're a Womble...

We were looking at cake toppers for the wedding cake and darling beardy man complained that they were all too soppy and not at all suitable. I was feeling a bit creative, so I decided to make our own, and to make them as Wombles*.

 

When I told Mom that I'd made Wombles she didn't understand why and said we'd have to explain. So explanation coming up:

Darling beardy man likes to make things, particularly cars, and likes to find as many bits as possible for free or very cheap. His habit of reusing other people's rubbish led to him getting the nickname 'Womble', and so when I met the group of friends who use that nickname, some of them were calling me Mrs Womble.

The cake toppers meant I could also let darling beardy man wear the orange overalls he'd been threatening without him actually wearing the orange overalls!

* Womble: (1) fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways; (2) darling beardy man.

Legally speaking

Our final set of banns was completed on Sunday, meaning that from a legal point of view we can get married!

We didn't manage to get to hear any of them being read aside from the very first ones two months ago - it's been a pretty drawn out process - but we have the pieces of paper to say they've been done and no one objected.

All that's left to do now is to give those to Andy, the vicar at Aston, before he can marry us.

This time next month...

The finishing touch

Charlotte, who made my engagement ring, has also made our wedding rings for us. They're silver, with a hammered finish, and the dent in the top of my ring is so my engagement ring will fit next to it without riding up or leaving a funny gap between the two.

We wanted to get the rings engraved  inside with our names and our wedding date, but Charlotte doesn't do engraving and the people she asked near her couldn't do it on anything as narrow as my ring. I asked a few jewellers and found one that could do it, but it would take six weeks and they'd have to send it away. At that point the wedding was about eight weeks away, so that was pushing it a bit.

I asked my parents if they could ask around shops near them. H Samuel said they could do it, but then changed their mind when they saw the rings weren't hallmarked. Mom went to Beaverbrooks after that and they said they could do the engraving, it was take 10 days, and there was no problem with them not being hallmarked.

We got the rings back last week and they look absolutely lovely.

Beaverbrooks
58 The Parade, Gracechurch Shopping Centre, Sutton Coldfield, B72 1PH
t: 0121 354 6796
w: www.beaverbrooks.co.uk

Advice for caterers...

A word of advice to any caterers thinking of catering a wedding:

If the bride's father is vegetarian, make sure you have a good veggie menu.

Our caterer seems to be okay now, but we had a bit of a struggle trying to persuade him that we needed more than a jacket spud as a veggie option for the evening while the non-veggies are tucking into a hog roast.

I was on the verge of asking my parents for his phone number and going a bit bridezilla on him, along the lines of "This is my wedding and you have to feed my dad or we're taking our business elsewhere!"

His eventual proffered veggie option - pizza - is acceptable, but something like a bean burger or butternut squash burger would have been much better.

Something borrowed...

For my something borrowed I turned to my sister-in-law, because I knew she had a pile of really pretty tiaras and hair pins hiding away in her bathroom from her wedding. When I went round to see her a few days after the engagement I had fund looking through her box and trying on different bits and pieces.

To start with a found a very pretty tiara, but when I was looking at it again a few weeks ago I noticed that half of it was silver and half gold - it looked as if the gold plating had rubbed off. It was still very pretty, but I wasn't sure about wearing it, especially as I'd found another tiara when I was looking around for various wedding bits.

I asked sister-in-law to bring her box of bits with her this weekend when I had my hair trial, and I found some very pretty hair pins that reminded me of snowflakes - just right for a winter wedding! I haven't shared anything else about the wedding outfit, but since this is something borrowed I feel as if I can, because it's already been seen before.

So without revealing any details about my hair, these are the hair pins - my 'something borrowed'.

Finally a decision!

I had a hair trial this weekend and finally decided what I'm going to do with my hair! I'm not giving away any secrets here, because darling beardy man saw my poodle look when I'd taken the style out afterwards, but I'm having curls.

Here are a few pictures for your entertainment, taken by Jenny, who managed to capture a particularly fetching picture (see the third pic).

 

The hairdresser, whose name I think is Jane, was lovely and got exactly what I was trying to explain with the first attempt. We just had to make a few little tweaks to the first style she tried to make it perfect.

We booked in an appointment for the wedding day, and she even offered to come in earlier if I wanted to get it done before the 9am opening time. She was so lovely and made me feel so relaxed, I'm looking forward to going back again on the big day.

Woodberry Hair & Beauty Ltd
196 Reddicap Heath Road, Sutton Coldfield, B75 7ET
t: 0121 311 2891

Finding a reception venue - part 2

The church centre at Aston was suggested as a reception venue pretty early on, and is an ideal space for a ceilidh, but because we had thought we wanted a sit down three course meal for the wedding breakfast, we weren't sure if it would work. The church centre is not the prettiest venue either, being a fairly typical 1980s hall with painted walls, a textured ceiling and strip fluorescent lights.

However, after deciding against Penns Hall we came back to the idea of the church centre, especially when Mom and Dad mentioned that there was a lady at the church who could decorate it beautifully so that it looked like we were in a marquee.

The idea had so many plus points - why go somewhere else when there's a venue right next to the church?; people who aren't local won't have to find another venue; we can have more people there so people who have travelled won't have to worry about finding somewhere to kick their heels for three hours before the evening do; even though the centre isn't licensed, people are welcome to bring in their own drinks; the cost was much less even if it meant hiring in a separate caterer and having to do a bit more work; and there's lots of outdoor space at the centre for kids to run around.

We still haven't been able to find very good pictures of the marquee-like setup, but we're quite happy with the idea of the church centre now, and even with having to find a caterer, it's still worked out cheaper (and catered for more people) than going to a hotel or restaurant for a wedding breakfast.

Finding a reception venue - part 1

When we were looking around for a reception venue we knew we wanted somewhere where ideally we could have a ceilidh in the evening, and it had to be somewhere that would cater for vegetarians, because my dad is a veggie.

While we were deliberating, darling beardy man's parents booked their hotel rooms for the wedding weekend at Penns Hall Hotel. (It's technically Ramada Sutton Coldfield now, but it's also been known as Crossroads Motel for those of you who remember the 1970s...) His mum made enquiries about the hotel's wedding reception facilities.

My dad then went to investigate and was shown the suggested room for 70 people, with tables laid out, chair covers, subtle lighting and catering available for a three course lunch. Dad said it looked nice, it sounded pretty good and the menus looked tasty, with veggie options available.

We did have slight reservations because we really wanted a hog roast and ceilidh in the evening, and we weren't sure if the hotel would be able to cater a hog roast, or if the room would be okay for a ceilidh with more than 70 people there - our guest list was quite long! There was also the added problem that quite a lot of our guests would be travelling some distance to get to the wedding. We wouldn't neccessarily want them at the breakfast but would want them at the evening, but they might want to travel back home earlier because they'd have the distance to travel.

The problem was resolved when we went to see the room that Penns Hall was offering. It had its own entrance straight off the car park, which immediately caused a few worries. We're going to have quite a lot of children at the reception and so ideally we wanted somewhere where they could go and run around and burn off some energy. The car park isn't an ideal place for them to do that, and there wasn't any other outdoor space for them to go.

Another issue was that while the room was well-lit and did just about have the space we wanted, there was no natural light at all, aside from a fire exit which led out into a tiny courtyard.

Given the cost of the package (over £2,000), the space restriction and the worries about children, we decided that Penns Hall probably wasn't going to be a suitable venue.

As an aside, although the function room wasn't particularly suitable, we have booked a bridal suite at the hotel overlooking the lake, and that looks absoluttely lovely.

Ramada Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield
Penns Lane, Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, B76 1LH
e: enquiries@ramadasuttonhotel.co.uk
t: 0121 351 3111
w: www.ramadasuttonhotel.co.uk

It's getting closer!

A marriage, not just a wedding

Because we're getting married in the Church of England, we have to do marriage preparation with a minister. We didn't want to have to travel to Birmingham for a session with the vicar at Aston, but the pastor at our church was happy to do some sessions with us instead.

We had our first session last night using the Marriage Preparation Course, which was produced by the same church that started the Alpha course. The session lasted about an hour and a half and involved watching a DVD of the course leaders Nicky and Sila Lee talking about various issues, then time to discuss things with each other. Pastor Ken didn't take part in the discussions and was really just there if we had any questions.

The five sessions cover all sorts of issues, from communication (what we looked at last night) and commitment to conflict resolution and sex. At the end of each session there's 'homework', which is really just a few things to talk about with each other related to what was covered in the session.

The session was different to what I expected, and I had problems concentrating to start with because Nicky Lee looks and talks so much like Kevin McCloud (of Channel 4 Grand Designs' fame), but it was useful and interesting, and it did give us an excuse to just sit and talk together as a couple about coupley/relationship things. I'm quite looking forward to the rest of the course.