Eeeek! Has it really been so long since i've updated this? I guess I haven't really had all THAT much to write about... and work the past few weeks has been seriously busy and when we haven't been at work we've been blowing snotty noses and swallowing antibiotics.. We have all been struck down with the dreaded flu and chest infections that seem to have been sweeping the country!
I'm off for my dress altering next Saturday which is a bit daunting seeing as how i've felt too tired to bother going to the gym for the last couple of weeks! I've also been craving sweet stuff like you would not believe... which is so unlike me (and nope, i'm NOT preggers! LOL)... I guess my body just feels like it needs sugary stuff right now. I've just packed my gym kit though to head to the gym after work tomorrow and I plan to polish my halo off and be an angel on the fitness and food front for the next week!!
I'd been stressing alot about transporting my dress over from the UK. Our airline carrier (Virgin) won't allow dresses in dress bags in the cabin, and if 1 in 10,000 dresses get lost in transit because they have gone in the hold, then you can guarantee that mine would be THAT one!! I was actually losing sleep over it when I came across a post on another forum I use about a site company called The Empty Box Company that make Bridal Dress boxes in the same dimensions as cabin luggage so I ordered one... It was reasonably priced, arrived pretty quickly, looks beautiful and most importantly appears to be incredibly sturdy. The shop I bought my dress from have agreed to let me take the dress and the box in, and they will pack it for me... so thats once less thing I can fret about!
We'd orginally arranged to hire suits for the guys at Carolyn Allens... but had a change of plan a few days ago. I was starting to panic something would go wrong, i'd get the measurements wrong or DF wouldn't like them etc, so I called in at our local menswear shop a couple of days ago dragging DF kicking and screaming (It was his only day off and I had to tear him away from his book).. and we arranged hire through them. Again, they were really reasonably priced (Just short of £300 for nearly 3 weeks hire.. it would obviously be much less if we didn't need them for so long) and DF looked absolutely gorgeous in it!! We really are a jeans and t-shirt kind of couple, so seeing him all dressed in his suit for something other than a funeral had me REALLY excited!! He's 6'5 with a really nice build, so he can pretty much get away with wearing anything and he'll look good. He went for a black frock coat with matching trousers, claret coloured neckwear which is much wider than a tie, but not a cravat... It has a regular tie knot and I think the shop called them a scrunchie, and a silver waistcoat. DS is off for his fitting just a couple of weeks before we fly as he is currently having a bit of a growth spurt... Jeans he was bought for christmas are too short already, and he is loving the fact he only has a couple of inches to go until he is taller than me!!! My Dad is driving up here on Saturday to be measured for his... DS and Dad are going for the same suit as DF, as long as Dad doesn't look like a complete plonker in a frock coat... hes only about 5'8 so he might actually be a bit too short to pull it off, in which case Dad and DS will just opt for the regular dinner jackets.
(Am I boring you all yet?!)
I got an email from the place I have ordered the silk flowers for my Bridesmaid and the guys from yesterday to say they have posted them out, so I'm hoping that they arrive tomorrow with a bit of luck as I am desperate to see them so I can get some more ordered if I don't like them. To be honest, I really like fresh flowers but the flowers I ordered look really realistic, and I just want as much stuff as possible arranged before we go. I've also decided not to bother with favours for our guests in America... I had already planned on buying a more substantial kind of gift for our guests seeing as how they are our parents and kids so i've arranged to have them delivered to The Chefs Domaine to hand out during dinner. I think we are going to go with gift baskets for our folks tailored with stuff each person will like with some floral included for our Mums, and i've found a company online that make candy bouquets so thats what our kids are getting (Along with dental insurance!!!). We are, however, going to have a basket of favours for our guests to help themselves at our reception over here.... I'm just not entirely sure what they are going to be yet. I think I might have a mixture of different things... Some candles, some CD's, some candy and something else.
Our invites for our reception at home went out at the beginning of the week, and we've had a few RSVP's back already!

Myself and DF both live away from our families so we really appretiate the fact that everyone is willing to travel and pay hotel expenses to celebrate with us! The place we are having the reception isn't fancy by any stretch of the imagination and open bars are really really uncommon here in the UK... Guests all pay for their own drinks, particularly at evening receptions, so it was really important to us that our guests weren't having to pay over-inflated hotel bar prices. We're holding it at our local cricket club where the drinks are cheap! It holds about 120 people, and i've invited about 160! Eeeeek!! It has a snooker hall attatched though, and I know that most of the guys in our families who have been invited will wind up heading there most of the evening! We've hired a DJ who is going to do a mix of regular DJ'ing and also Karaoke (we both come from the kind of families who will get up and sing!) and i've decided to wear my dress for the reception but take some other clothes with me to change into later in the evening so I can have a good dance!!! We thought we had settled on music for our ceremony, but i'm having second thoughts now!! Its still up for discussion as to what we will finally settle on! We know U2 will be included as our recessional song, and The Style Council will feature somewhere... I just don't think i'm going to walk down the aisle to it... and I'm thinking I might have 'At Last' by Etta James instead... Oh decisions decisions!!! I'd kinda like 'You Got a Friend In Me' by Randy Newman included during our Unity Ceermony. I want to include our kids in the ceremony and this is the song I would sing to DS as he was falling asleep when he was a little boy!

We THINK our first dance is going to be to 'Slow Dancing' by Willie Nelson... although this will probably change a dozen times too! I've suddenly been struck with a disease which means I can't make a choice and stick to it! Aghhhhhhhhh!
I can't even begin to describe how helpful everyone at Disney has been when I've been planning things... So much so that i've started a really nice online friendship with one of the Disney employees who has helped me no end. I can't wait to meet her in person... We've discovered we're so alike its actually quite scary really! So not only have I gained tons of information, but i've managed to gain a friend too!
Its 7 weeks tomorrow until we fly... Oops, make that 7 weeks today now, and another 56 days until I marry my very best friend! The pair of us are beyond excited! Its been the last thing we talk about each night before we fall asleep, and it fills our conversation during our days! I've wrote my wedding vows but Mark still has to write his. We had planned on keeping them a secret from each other until the actual day, but I sobbed my way through writing them and ended up showing them to him as I figured we would just be way too emotional on the day if the pair of us didn't have some idea of what the other was going to say... and I just can't wait until March 20th when I can say them for real!!
Right, thats it for now... its after 1am and I have to be up in 5 hours for work! Oooops!
I hope all of your planning is going great! I have 4 days off next week, so with a bit of luck I will be able to sit at the computer and read through everyone elses plans!!
Christina
xxx