Anniversary

Today is our first wedding anniversary. Yey!

Yesterday we made the heart-shaped chocolate cake and ate some (nom!). James took a photo before we ate it though so I will try to obtain that for your viewage.

This morning I have made the marinade for the pork and it is now infusing! I started to read the recipe and realised that I was supposed to marinade overnight. Never mind! We will have to go out later to buy some string to wrap the roll of pork in. I realised that we only have “multi-purpose twine” which looks a bit plasticy. Don’t want to experience a Bridget Jones style garden twine food disaster!

In a bit I intend to make some (hopefully) delicious Canadian-style pancakes for James to remind him of our wonderful honeymoon in Toronto where we feasted on pancakes at brunch several times. Then for dinner later we will have the pork with some potatoes and cauli. The potatoes are organic but the cauli isn’t, however it was supporting local business because i bought it from the green-grocers rather than Tesco. The man in the wine shop helped me select a bottle of wine suitable for drinkage with pork dishes to go with the meal.

Sadly the weather is a bit pants today but i’m sure we’ll still be able to go out and have some fun around the place this afternoon. Excellent!

Lovely Weekend Ahead (hopefully)

As mentioned yesterday, I have found this week quite a strain. I have been feeling rather icky after last weekend’s seizure. Sometimes the effects are more sustained than other times.

This weekend however is going to be splendid. I have booked this afternoon off work and plan to do a few things. Firstly I will go home and gather a shopping list of the ingredients I need to make excellent anniversary foods, such as heart-shaped chocolate raspberry cake and roast loin of pork with special roast potatoes. Then (after watching Neighbours and probably eating Supernoodles for lunch) I will head into town to purchase as many of said ingredients from local shops with local produce! I will visit Magdalen Road and use the butchers, bakers, fish mongers and deli there and will pick up my organic vegetable box from The Bran Tub health shop provided by Rod and Ben’s Organic Seasonal Foods. This is the first time I have ordered from Rod and Ben’s. I thought I would give it a try following good reports from people such as Becky who use similar (but not the same) services. I also have a couple of parcels to pick up from the parcel place.

Later I am hoping to pop into The Mount Radford pub to bid farewell to a work colleague who will be greatly missed. Often i’m fairly indifferent about people who come and go at work but not this time. Good luck Helen.

Wow so many things have happened!

As you can see it’s been quite a long time since i’ve been able to update the weblog. So many things have happened!

Firstly, of course, James and I got married on 17th September 2005. Pictures from the wedding are available here:

http://wedding.jamesoff.net/pics

Pictures from our honeymoon in Canada also available there. I have written a detailed account of our honeymoon (the decent for public viewing bits!) which i will add later on.

I have now been in work at Devon County Council for over 1 year! I’m glad i stuck with it despite it being difficult at the beginning.

Coming up in the next few weeks:
My birthday…hopefully people can come to the celebrations.
Hopefully visiting Becky in Bristol to see her new place.
Thanksgiving in Loughborough with Andi - must sort out accommodation.
Hopefully visiting Jed and Rose at their house in Canterbury. Woot!

Dress Fitting

Yesterday I went to the dress shop and had my first proper wedding dress fitting. It was so exciting! They have pinned it up loads and have quite a bit of changes to make. I’ll be really impressed if they manage to do all of it without it ending up looking strange! I’m sure it’ll be ok in the end.

i can’t really say too much about it of course because it’s all supposed to be secret!!

Decorations

Decorations have been purchased and have mostly been delivered. I have entrusted the decorating to the groomsmen with detailed instructions. I’m sure they will do a sterling job on the day….you hear that…a STERLING JOB boys! :)

Dress Fitting

This weekend my parents are coming to visit mainly because I am due for my first proper wedding dress fitting on Saturday and I thought it best to have Mum present. Hopefully it won’t be too harrowing.

I’m supposed to have my underwear all sorted ready for the fitting but I totally haven’t done that. I suppose I should go shopping sometime this week after work to try and find the right under dress garments. The woman in the shop is nice but brusque so I don’t want to enrage her with my incorrect underpants.

Also at the weekend Becky is visiting Dave so I thought this an excellent opportunity to take her to the bridesmaid shop for a quick and hopefully last fitting to check that the alterations they have made for her dress aren’t totally off the wall. I doubt that Rose will need to have another shop fitting as they were only altering the skirt length for hers but for Becky’s they were doing some other alterations too so it’s best to check they are right. I will then be taking the dresses back to the flat ready for the wedding. Wheee!

Stephanie’s dress is currently in production after her fitting last Saturday. They pinned her into the cotton one and are going to use that as a template to make it in the silk. Sooo exciting. It looked a bit odd with it being entirely pinned together but you could still tell that the final version will be tremendous.

OoooOoo!!! So much excitement!!

My wonderful bridesmaids have informed me of secret happenings and how I must keep one weekend free. It’s so exciting! So many mysteries. First the honeymoon and now this. Heheh!

Waist Coats

Last Saturday the boys all came down to Exeter to be fitted for their waistcoats. It all went really well and we had lunch afterwards then everyone said goodbye. Promptly followed by everyone changing their minds about what waist coat they want! hehehe.

Luckily the shop has kindly changed the order with no problems and everything is back on track. Everyone should look wonderful.

Bridesmaids

Wow, well into the weekend already and this is the first opportunity to write about the weekend.

Last weekend was great. I started by taking the day off work on Friday (pre-booked of course) and spent the whole day doing a proper clean of the place. The kitchen was in dire need of sanitising! Mum arrived in the afternoon.

Then on Saturday, Rose (& Jed) arrived, followed by Katrina and Stephanie. We met Becky on our way to the bridesmaid dress shop (Feathers of Isca). The girls had their measurements taken and Becky and Rose managed to try on some dresses that were there in their size. There were several different shapes of skirt that they could try to go with the chosen top. They just so happened to choose the same one even though it would have been fine if they had wanted different ones. The looked absolutely amazing. I’m really looking forward to the wedding now having seen how great they look. Everyone will think they look so beautiful! I felt the first real feeling of butterflys when i saw them in the dresses - the nerves are starting already! Argh!

In the evening, Katrina and Stephanie had to go home, and Becky went with Dave to a party, so the rest of us had chinese take-away and watched tv. Everyone was pretty tired though, especially Jed and Rose as they set off at about 5am to arrive, so we didn’t stay up too late.

On Sunday we just chilled out and then Mum and I went to church in the evening.

On the Monday morning, mum just managed to take a delivery for me before having to go for the train - it was the sweety fillings for the wedding favour crackers! Yippee! How exciting…I wish we didn’t have to wait so long now!

Mum and I confirmed the desired invitation designs etc and she is going to confirm with dad the correct wording to go on them. Then they shall be ordered and sent out ASAP! Woot!

String Quartet

Finally i’ve managed to book a string quartet for the wedding as well. Am very pleased - that’s virtually the last thing!

Only things left now really is the florist. Everything else is underway and appointments are set etc. Yey!

Photographer

Yey! Just confirmed photographer booking! We had to put the form through the letter box on Saturday because they weren’t open. I just needed to check they received it to set my mind at rest!

Having the band, cars and the photographer sorted is great as they are notoriously the worst things to book!

Finally things feel a bit more sorted

Well last night I talked to my mum and dad on the phone for literally hours and we managed to come to some agreements about a few things.

We’ve booked the band for the wedding. They are called Dance On and i’ve paid the deposit for them. They aren’t cheap but they should be lots of fun as they can do old songs and new ones. I haven’t yet booked a string quartet as all the professional ones through agents seem to be extortionate. Instead i have emailed Exeter School to see whether they have any pupils who might be interested in doing something like that for some extra cash and a bit of experience. I did a few things like that with my school when i was in the choir.

Today we were due to meet the car man at 10am. Unfortunately when i woke up it was 10.30am! What an idiot - set the alarm for 9pm! I blamed james for not making a contingency plan based on my incompetence! hahaha! I rang the guy and apologised and he laughed and said something about us “young-uns” and late nights. Anyway we made it there and saw the cars so have booked to have his Rolls Royce.

We then went on to Kay Foster photography. Very nice lady but a little more expensive than the other people we’ve seen. James helped her out with some computer problems (i think this stuff follows him around!) and she said in repayment she’d give us one free photo LOL. Anyway we decided that the first photographer we saw, Evoke, were the best so we have sent them the deposit and i will ring them on Monday morning to confirm the booking.

This afternoon we went to a number of Florists and got price lists. Some do standard lists and others said they didn’t do specific price lists as they price every wedding differently. That makes it difficult to decide who to go with!

Later James and I both went for a consultation with Clinique to get skin care products to improve our skin ready for the wedding. Quite an expensive trip but hopefully it’ll be worth it come the wedding day. I don’t want to have to pile on the make-up to hide all my horrible spots on the day! She picked out some man-products to improve James’ skin as well so he’s happy.

We then went on to several jewellers and couldn’t find what we liked until we got to Goldsmiths. That’s where James bought the ring he got me 3 Birthdays ago (wow is it that long!) and it seems to be the only shop which sells things we like and could not be considered “bling”. Most of the other jewellers do seem to be bling-havens now *sigh*. So we bought James’ wedding ring and mine is on order as they didn’t have the right size. Yippee!

Popped into a hairdressers on South Street to see what they could do for the wedding day and basically i didn’t like them much. You get a lot of places like that that sneer at you because you don’t look “like you just stepped out of a salon” at all times. I could see her thoughts going something like “someone’s marrying you?”Might go down to my usual salon in the Harlequin centre - i just thought one nearer to the flat might reduce the chance of hair-message walking home.

Most things are now being dealt with in one way or another so it’s all coming together and hopefully i can rest my mind again soonish!

More photographers

Met with another photographer last night - Quay Studios. They are very competent as well and i’m quite torn between them and Evoke photography. They did seem to specialise on more informal photographs however - even their formal ones were more on the informal side. James is leaning more towards the Evoke people and they seem equally as competent so i’d be happy with that. One more person still to see on Saturday though so no final decisions as of yet!
Quay Studios also had a Rolls Royce which seemed very lovely. I sat in it and tested the bounciness of the seats etc. It was a very clean car and he said that he kept it really clean to make sure the wedding dress didn’t get any marks on it. He said some people who hire out cars do not realise the importance of keeping the car clean for that very reason! I suppose he has a point. I will check out the cleanliness of the cars we are going to see tomorrow.

Have called an entertainment agency called 1311 Events (odd name i know!) and they are doing their best to find us a string quartet and a band for the reception. I hope they can help because this is proving to be the most stressful thing of all at the moment.

Have enquired at the shop for the men to go and have their clothes fitting. Apparently appointments cannot be made but they gave some good advice on the phone about not leaving it too long etc. Most of the boys are coming down on 26th Feb, the weekend after the bridesmaids are down. Have to get in touch with Matthew my brother though to make sure he can come as well. Then there’s dad to sort out with his waistcoat issue. I’m sure it’ll all come together though!

Hen Night

Girls, please indicate your availability for the Hen Night on the wedding forum (click the link to the Wedding website at the top right hand corner of this page) or send me an email if you prefer.

Further wedding arrangements

Things are moving on day by day.

Just met with the lady who is doing our cake. She seems very competent indeed and knows her cakes. We have ordered one that is both fruit cake and sponge so that James can enjoy the cake as well! It’s going to be well yummy and in the colour scheme of the wedding. Other than that you will just have to wait and see!

Met with Evoke Photography last night. They seem very competent indeed and are holding our wedding date for one week in case we decide to have them. I think the photographer is therefore as good as booked because if the other 3 people are equal or worse, we will go with them for sure. Have further meetings with 3 more photographers - 2 on Thursday evening and one Saturday lunchtime.

Called the man with the cars last night. We are going to visit his farm on Saturday to see his Jaguar and Rolls Royce. Hopefully one will be suitable.

Popped into Val’s Florist on Magdalen Road and got a wedding flowers price list. Pretty pricey but i haven’t seen any other price lists so she might be just the same as anyone else for all i know.

Called John Lewis and arranged to pop up there a week on Saturday to compile the gift list. Very exciting indeed! Even though you are supposed to only do the list 10 weeks before the wedding, they said they didn’t mind us doing it 8 months before hehe! Wow 8 months doesn’t sound very long does it!

Spoken with Bex and Rose about the hen night and had some cool ideas. I think we will do something at my house and get someone in to do a cosmetics party of some sort so we can all have facials and make-overs. We can drink lots of champagne (or soft drinks) and have some yummy food. Sounds fun to me!

Now got to find out who can come and do hair and make-up for us girls on the day. Maybe some of the salons in town will do home visits. Will check it out.

English Rose Photography

They were very rude and arrogant on the phone to both me and my mother. Don’t go near them with a barge pole!

And a friend who actually used them for their wedding said that they were horrible people too!

Band

Just forgot as well…

The band i wanted seems to be booked up until well into 2006! Boo!

Everything Wedding!

So many things have been happening.

Firstly, James’ parents and my parents met last weekend and we all had a nice time eating at the Southgate and testing their food. I showed them the room and they seemed to approve.

My parents and I met with Niki, the wedding coordinator at the Southgate and we confirmed the drinks and menu that we wanted plus a few other arrangements. We indicated approximately how many rooms at the hotel we would require.

We managed to find some perfect bridesmaid dresses for the girls and they are coming to be fitted for them on the 19th February.

I feel like i have rung about 100 different photographers and have plumped for appointments with four different people, starting this evening. Got a few lectures from people i rang about how they’d been booked up for literally years for that date which really wasn’t very motivational!

Arranged with a lady from work to meet about her making the wedding cake tomorrow.

Mum has sent me samples of invitations so James and i have picked the one we like best.

Mum has been trying to find out about car people and i’m ringing someone when i get home this afternoon.

I’m researching florists on Saturday - probably by going into the shops i’ve seen around the centre of Exeter.

Went to see the Vicar last Saturday and confirmed with him the hymns we want and the format of the service. Told him who was doing the prayers and readings and arranged a time for the rehearsal (the night before at 7.30pm, bridesmaids and groomsmen to attend).

Going to look for rings and things with James probably this Saturday.

James is planning a surprise honeymoon!

Trying to find out about hair and make-up people but they appear to be secret. Might buy a new devon wedding directory to see whether there are further adverts.

Joining the gym across the road this afternoon to make sure i don’t gain weight and bust out of my wedding dress on the day!

Phew!

Bridesmaid Dresses Part 2

Popped into the shop yesterday - Feathers of Isca and booked in the bridesmaids to be measured and stuff on February 19th at 3pm! Be there or be ….without a dress, oh bridesmaids!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Today, Mum, Celia and I went shopping for bridesmaid dress ideas. We’ve found something that we think will be good. They will order the ones for Becky and Rose and make a smaller one themselves for Stephanie which will exactly match! Wonderful!