Well, hello there! How are you all doing? I am back after the Summer holidays and there’s a lot to update you on wedding wise, so I’ll get right into it!
For previous updates click here and here.
PARTY VENUE:
We finally found a venue for our party! Thank goodness, because at one stage we thought we were never going to find anywhere and we’d end up in a village hall! We found a barn about 45 mins away from us and it is just perfect. It’s a “proper” barn and looks completely original with all its beams exposed which is just what we wanted. It’s in the middle of a country park, but only 5 minutes away from a town with lots of hotels for guests so we definitely lucked out! When you’re at the barn, it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere, but you drive out and you’re by a big supermarket!
It feels so nice having a venue actually booked and paid for! Until then I had loose ideas of how I wanted to decorate for the party, but I couldn’t go too far into the process because I didn’t know about table shapes, sizes and what would look good in the barn. Now though? It’s all got a bit mad!
Mum’s making table runners, I’ve ordered fairy lights, garlands, vases, log slices for the dessert table… I’ve also been collecting jars, got table numbers and spray paint so I can paint everything gold (well, not everything… I don’t want it to be too much) and started making confetti for the tables- we’re going for a sort of magical, wintery theme. Dark green, gold and bits of wood all married together with leaf garlands, pine cones and sprinkles of glitter about the place 😀
FOOD FOR THE PARTY:
As I just said above, we’re having a dessert table. I mean, it wouldn’t be my wedding if there wasn’t cake! I’m making brownies, cookies and cupcakes and we also might buy some Krispy Kreme doughnuts too! There will be a whole table of desserts and then a section of it will be pick and mix with retro sweets and cute little polka dot sweet bags!
For the main meal, we were undecided until recently. Years ago I was like “I want chips at my wedding because I bloody love chips” but then it looked like we were going to go the buffet route… then we gave it some more thought, did a bit more research and decided “screw it, we’re having a fish and chip van” so yes, I am having chips at my wedding and I cannot wait!
Another reason we picked the van is because it means we don’t have to buy cutlery and plates etc. only for the desserts, so that saves some money and some time because obviously I would have to find plates that matched the theme if we were to have them in the barn and I don’t have time to spend days looking for plates.
The last few weeks have been SO fun and exiting. I’m really enjoying the decorating/food phase of the planning process and even more so knowing that no judgmental people will be there, so we can do what we want without fear of some idiots bitching about how we have or haven’t decorated and the fact we’re “only” having fish and chips. I’ve got two words for people like that; the last word being “off”.
BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES:
My girls finally have their dresses (well they’re being made right now!) it took me sooooooooo long to decide on a dress. I thought I’d found it a few months back, but then I looked at the new in section the other week and found the most perfect, beautiful dress. Both girls loved it too, so we measured them and ordered the dresses! I can’t wait to have them here and see them in the flesh!
I always thought I’d want my bridesmaids to have different necklines to my dress, but when it came to choosing, that didn’t even cross my mind and it turned out the dresses have the same neckline as my dress. I think they will look amazing all together on the day!
WEDDING RINGS:
Mr AN had a week off work last week, so we made an appointment at a jewelers in Hatton Garden (in London for those of you not in the UK!) to go and look at some rings to have them made. Good news – we both found rings and they are being made as I type this!!
For once, I was the easy one! I tried on loads of rings, but it ended up being the second ring I tried on that I just kept going back too. It was just stunning and looked perfect with my engagement ring! I’ve gone for a diamond band, but knew Mr AN wanted a plain band; he turned out to be the difficult one haha!!! He spent ages trying on different shapes and thicknesses of band, I thought he’d almost settled on a completely flat ring, but then randomly he picked up the traditional court, tried it on and decided that was the one…. then he was flitting between a 5mm and 6mm for so long I forget what he actually picked!!!
PARTY INVITES AND PAPERWORK:
It’s now only 5 months to go, so we have to start sorting the paperwork needed to get married abroad. This is the boring, confusing part, but without it we can’t get married, so it’s a necessary evil! We have to have official documents from a solicitor, have them stamped to make them official… then send them out to Lapland. Reading through the paperwork though? They way they word these things is SO confusing!!!!
Final update for today; our party invites arrived! I’ve spent weeks designing the whole set to match the wedding invites and ordered them to be printed last week. They arrived on Saturday and they look great!! I have to start putting them into sets and writing out people’s addresses which I’m not looking forward too as it will take ages! We got a stamp for the RSVP envelope with our address, so that’s easy, but writing out everyone’s address to send them is going to take AGES!!!
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you today! It’s been a busy couple of months and things are moving fast! I’ll be back with more updates soon!
Images from Pexel
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
