9

May

2014

Diary of a Boho Bride – Alison and Joe, Entry 7: 4 Weeks To Go!

diary of a boho bride

Today is another sad day on the blog as we wave goodbye to Alison and Joe who are getting married in 4 weeks time. Just as it was sad saying goodbye to Samantha last week, it is equally sad saying goodbye to Alison. It has been lovely having her on the blog and covering her wedding planning story, I hope you have all found it interesting. She will be back in a few weeks though to give us her full bridal report, I can’t wait to see the photos!
Today is all about those last-minute jobs, what’s left to do and what has been going on over the last few weeks, including those all important stag and hen dos.
I’d like to wish both Alison and Joe a very happy wedding day and a long and beautiful marriage together. xxxx

Joe and Alison

I’ll pass you over to Alison………..

Well, just four weeks to go. Arrgh! I can’t actually believe that this will be my last blog post. Time is going so so quickly. There’s been lots going on but at the same time I’m kind of thinking I should be doing more. I can’t quite work out if there is lots to do or not! Joe very nearly had to jet off to India for three works with work which I was really really hoping wouldn’t happen. Luckily the trip has been postponed – but it still means he may have to go not long after the wedding L At least we have our honeymoon together in August to look forward to.

So, what’s been happening?

 

Stag and Hen dos!

Joe went to Budapest a few weeks ago and I was very relieved to have him back in one piece. It sounds like they had a great time (although Joe might say that the “rather large” stripper that his friends sorted out maybe wasn’t the highlight.) I still don’t really understand why, when it comes to stag dos, that strippers are a necessity. This involved a quite lengthy discussion about the whole thing a few months back. I’m told it’s all just for a laugh – I suppose men and women must just have different ideas of a good night out! I’m just relieved the whole thing is done and that he had a great time but still came back intact and with both eyebrows etc. I think the stag do can be quite a worrying time for a bride to be! They also enjoyed a beer bike, shooting range and spa – so they did take in a bit of culture too…

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I went to Bath on my hen do and had a really great time. After being so stressed recently it was just what I needed. We had a nice tea on the Friday night with a few drinks and then on the Saturday a nice little country walk followed by a few hours in the spa and then a night out in Bath in the evening. My sister had bought us all mini top hats and feather boas to co-ordinate us all. We had such a fab time and I realised how lucky I was to have friends and family willing to travel all that way to make such a great weekend. I was even looked after having a few too many drinks – taking off my makeup, getting me undressed and feeding me Pringles in bed.

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Flower update

I mentioned last time that the prices for the flowers were more than we were wanting to pay. Helen has since got back to me with an alternative quote after finding some different suppliers so we are really happy with that. We have chosen to get our flowers for the marquee from her but place them there ourselves as we have had plenty of offers of help. I do see the value in paying for flowers and think they will add the detail to the venue etc but I’m glad that I asked about a cheaper alternative. I think if you get a quote from a supplier that’s more than you had planned for it’s always worth speaking to them to see what they can sort out. I do love a bargain but I feel it’s a bit wrong to try to get costs down when using small local businesses just because you either haven’t budgeted enough, or like us, just don’t really want to spend that much money on a particular thing. I felt a lot more comfortable asking what alternatives there were to bring the cost down by making different choices rather than simply saying I want that but don’t want to pay for it!

 

Hair and makeup

I had my hair and makeup trial at the weekend. I was really pleased with my hair and so glad that I decided to get it done professionally. I really don’t want the stress of my hair not doing what I want it to do on what will be probably the most photographed day of my life haha. I had my makeup trial after my hair so that I could see the two together. I’m not a massive make-up wearer – probably because I’m not really too sure what should go where and what colour it should be. I had a quick look on pinterest and grabbed a few images to take with me. Kate, the make-up artist was lovely and being the first time I have ever had my make-up done professionally I felt surprisingly at ease. I don’t think I had given it enough thought though and the pictures I went along with probably weren’t what I really wanted. To be honest, I don’t think I really knew what I wanted. I’ve since given it a bit more thought and have arranged to go back for another trial. I would prefer to pay again and make sure I am happy with how it will look.

 

Bridesmaid dresses

My mum has made a start on altering the bridesmaid dresses. We bought them from Debenhams last year and are adding in extra netting ourselves. I say “ourselves” – I mean my mum – I just “oversee”! Everything seems a lot more real now the dresses are coming to life. They came with a black glittery belt so we just need to replace them with something cream – possibly ribbon, with a bow to match my dress. We also need to check that the flower girl dresses fit my nieces still as they seem to grow every day! We have planned in a fitting day for a few weeks time.

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Still to do

We still have things to do and now being at the four week mark makes it seem like there’s no time left. In the scale of the whole countdown four weeks is nothing but four weeks is still four weeks – plenty of time to do the last bits of D.I.Y. and details etc. We still have the order of service booklets to do. All readings etc have been selected and we just need to get the text ok’d by the vicar and then printed. We still need to decide on favours. We have different ideas for this but still not decided on anything. If we don’t get round to doing anything then it’s not going to affect the day – I’m sure we will get something together over the next few weeks though. We are nearly there with numbers – we just need to confirm last few guests and then let our caterer and bar know the numbers. We can then get onto the seating plan. We’ve had another go at this and it’s getting better each time we try!

I’d also like to reiterate what Sam said last week “Do what will make you happy”. Don’t just do what people expect of you. People seem to have their own ideas of weddings and what they should be. What you should eat. How the day should go. How things should be organised. I think things have changed over the years though and taking a different approach is much more the ‘done thing’. We want a relaxed day. We aren’t the sort of couple to be bothered about how the napkins are folded…

 

And so, it’s goodbye…

So we’d just like to say thank you to Kelly for giving us the opportunity to share our journey. It has been a great experience as it has made us think about what we are doing and why. It will also be nice looking back on our diary entries and reliving the ups and downs! I will be back soon on the married side to share our day as Mrs Boote and I’ll also be back checking out all the other Boho Brides’ journeys. Good luck to all of you – especially Sam for tomorrow!!

 

Miss Alison Brown

xx

 

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Comments

    Claire

    Good luck Kelly! Thank you for reminding brides-to-be to have the wedding that THEY want, no matter what other people want or expect. It’s the couples big day, so they’re memories are the most important :)

    Reply

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