Diary of a Boho Bride – Becki and Jonny, Entry 2: Getting Organised, Bridesmaid Dresses & Flower Mad or Just Mad?!

We welcome back Becki and Jonny to the Blog today, in the second of Becki’s diary entries. Last time Becki told us all about her ideas for a balloon release. A couple of months on and so many things have happened. Becki and Jonny have been very busy with their wedding planning and things have moved on in leaps and bounds. Today Becki is going t be telling us about what she has got sorted so far which includes bridesmaid’s outfits, and a whole host of DIY projects.

I’ll pass the Blog over to Becki………..

2013.. it’s the year I’ve been waiting for! It’s finally here! It’s been 12 years in the making everyone, so I’m gonna shout it from the rooftop…I AM GETTING MARRIED THIS YEAR!!! YES!!! Now that that’s out of my system I’ve got lots to tell you!

You might have seen in the Christmas update we said we’d try take a break from wedding planning to just enjoy Christmas? Yeah, well it didn’t quite go to plan, but in a really good way. We have achieved quite a lot in the last month or two considering that it’s a busy time of year. There’s nothing like the looming thought of the new year, the ACTUAL year you get married, being just around the corner to get you motivated into action.

For all my excitement with it being the year that we get married, I am also slightly panicking too.
We got engaged in October 2011 in Fuerteventura, the date was set whilst we were still on holiday and the venue was booked by December 2011! So to say we’ve had a whole year of wedding planning pass by already is slightly freaking me out right now!!

Everyone keeps saying to me, “you’ve got the majority sorted out anyway” and yes we’ve booked quite a few things already and yes I can physically see boxes of wedding stuff all around the house and i know there are lots of DIY projects decided on that are raring for action, but I don’t feel the slightest bit “sorted”
So I decided to buy a wedding planning folder, with pockets and pages of lists and stuff to try organise my head on where we are at right now with all the planning. A bit like an admin assistant for the mind, so hopefully I can start to feel a bit more in control. Yes, my name is Becki and I am apparently a control freak, who knew?

So are you ready for a whirlwind of an update?

We’ve booked a toastmaster, bought the bridesmaid dresses, shoes and bags, bought my wedding shoes YAY!, went to the Liverpool Wedding Show, made an appointment with a wedding ring company, booked the makeup artist and hairdresser and started a diet – me of course not Jonny.
Phew!

We had specifically decided to wait until this year to start looking for bridesmaid dresses because for the most part of 2012, one of my three bridesmaids was pregnant. So we were planning on shopping around sometime in the new year, but on a whim we took full advantage of the January sales and decided to buy 3 dresses from Coast, not only because they were such a great price, but because they looked absolutely beautiful and were exactly what we were hoping for.

The dresses arrived in between Christmas and New Year and eager to see what they were going to look like I asked the girls to try them on..
Ok everyone, picture the scene… it’s Christmas, everyone’s indulged a little and one of them is carrying a bit of baby weight after only just having had her baby 4 weeks before.. and there they are trying on dresses, how cruel am I? Thankfully there were no tears (unless you count the secret ones into their pillows at night – Joking!) and they all look absolutely fantastic! I have no photo’s to prove this yet as they strategically placed the baby in my arms to avoid me getting the camera out, cunning ridesmaids!!

So I am very happy with the massive ticks off of the to do list.

Now for the DIY/Creative bits.

You might have seen my tutorial on Jam Jar candle holders

Aswell as those I am making our own invitations, place cards, menu’s, table plan, CD favours, burlap bunting and flowers!

DIY Flowers

Now let me explain about the flowers, we decided long ago that although we love real flowers around the house, we feel that spending hundreds on flowers for one day is a bit of a waste for us. You may have just taken a sharp intake of breath there in horror at me, especially any florists reading this, because flowers can make the whole wedding look, feel and smell amazing and I do wholeheartedly agree. I’m honestly not a flower hater I promise, but it’s just a not a priority for us.

Fear not though, we shall not be flowerless!! Is that even a word?
Besides the fact that my bridesmaid nearly gave Jonny a heart attack when she said how much her flowers had cost for her wedding, we had pretty much already decided on birdcages with tealights for centrepieces by then so it felt right to us to not have any real flowers at all and on my quest for alternatives to the norm, I came across loads of photos and tutorials for making your own brooch bouquets.
They are everlasting, ours to keep forever and as I’m a hopeless romantic and secret hoarder I completely fell in love with the idea of it!

I have collected probably over a hundred brooches, beads and decorations for the bouquets, which will be placed in between the hydrangea petals for a bit of sparkle. The hydrangeas were white when we bought them, but I needed a creamy/vintage colour so I tea stained them!!

Yes you read that right, I tea stained my flowers haha! The less we talk about that the better, but here are a few photos of how ridiculous my project became!!

Do you remember the song Flowers In The Window by Travis.. no? Just me then! I’m hoping the general aroma of tea will have disappeared by the time we get to the wedding day!

Another big thing that is now on our to do list is to put together the music that we will be having during our wedding day. I think because music is such a big part of our lives it’s gonna be a major thing in setting the tone of our day and that will reflect not only our individual tastes but the ones we share as a couple. The songs that hold special meanings to us from our teenage years together to now. So because it’s so important to us, I’m gonna do a whole entire post on that so watch out for that soon.

Words of planning wisdom!

Finally, I just want to say a massive Congratulations to all the newly engaged couples so far this year and if I can give any words of wisdom from being in this wedding bubble for over a year now, it’s these little nuggets;

• Get on pinterest and set yourself up a moodboard. It’s so much easier to see how your ideas look and how they will all work together that way.
• If you are going to be a creative bride and do some DIY stuff, please use my hindsight, if you start something, try to finish it first before moving onto the next idea. I made the mistake of being all excited about all these tutorials and I ended up with quite a few projects on the go at the same time. It’s harder to get back to them once they are part completed and it’s so much better being entirely focused on just one of them than all 5 at the same!
• And finally but probably the most important one.  Make sure you plan your day, your way. Do not listen to Auntie Ethel who says you shouldn’t wear red lipstick and converse if that’s what you really want on your day. Learn quickly that you cannot please everyone and no matter what happens along the way, this is all about you as a couple and no one can take that away from you.

Happy Planning

Becki x

Thanks so much Becki. Wow hasn’t she been busy! I can’t wait to hear what she has been up to next time we catch up!. Next week its’ the turn of Laura with her second to last diary entry before her wedding in April!

(Bridesmaids shoes and bag – Dorothy Perkins, Dress – Coast)