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