Roses...

So, I got me these very cheap foam roses from hobbycraft, they are white which is fine as I want bridesmaids to have mostly white bouquests, however I would like my bouquet to be mostly purple...so I bought me some inks and paints and had a little experiment...

Six tests, starting from the top and going clockwise:

1.Top touched in what was called 'Plum Purple ink, looks very pink! 

2.Totally painted in violet ink

3.Just dipped the tips in violet ink

 4.Hard to see but I bought some pearlescent white liquid acrylic which just added a tiny shimmer to the tips of he rose petals

5.Dipped in violet and plum ink

6.Pearlecent Purple liquid acrylic dippped

Button development, mostly white/cream buttons with the addition of some varied purple ones

Slightly off topic but I got a rather cool mini set of drawers to keep my buttons/flowers in :)

So, mock up of bridesmaid bouquet, 9 white roses, white organza surrounding, mostly white buttons with hints of purple and small extended silver filigree balls

Side view so you can see the silver beading flowers and organza/ribbon

A quick bouquet update...

So I was having a few issues getting the buttons to 'look right' in the bouquet, too tightly wound together and they overlapped and were difficult to see - loosen them out and they flopped aroung and the wire was all exposed. Anyhoo...saw some bouquets edges with roses and with buttons in the middle so had a go at this and it gives the bouquet a better structure and holds its shape more easily. Some photo's of my mock up...let me know what you think :)

Roses around the edge, alternating purple and white in my mock up as I didn't have enough of one colour to go all the way around - I think one colour of rose would look better.

The buttons all varying and gathered in the middle :) gone with just purple buttons here - still torn as to having a bouquet with mixed purple/white buttons or all purple for my bouquet and all white for the bridesmaids...

The purple roses are possibly a little too dark - also they are paper roses and are possibly a little flimsy/delicate - also the white roses are much sturdier and were actually a little cheaper to buy!(hoping I can get purple one of them or maybe dip-dye them purple!)

 

 

 

Next few photo's added as an after experiment...

 

 

Made some stems with silver beads on at a slightly longer length than the bead stems

Added the silver beads throughout the beads

 

Separated the roses, putting the purple at one side...

...and the white at the other!

This is just to give me an idea from either side of what a 'single colour' of rose.

Added some extra frill (not so keen on the extra frill) looks nice with all white roses

And nice with all purple (still a little dark)

And with the nice silver beads sticking up :)

 

Back to the Button Bouquet

So after reading many blogs and 'how to' guides on making button bouquets with varying instructions I have dived head first into playing with this craft.

After a dash to Hobbycraft for some wire and more buttons I have decided that although a lot of work it will be a million times cheaper than having actual flowers. I have spent just over £30 on buttons/wire/bouquet holders and fake flowers, And I should have enough to make AT LEAST mine and the bridesmaid bouquets, and shy of probably needing a little extra wire and ribbon, also the button holes and matching table decorations too.

So anyway here is what I have so far to work with and hat I've been trying out!

White Button selection - various shapes/sizes/shades of white (if there is such a thing as a shade of white!)

Purple Buttons...again various shapes/sizes and shades

Silver beads - I imagine having these on slightly longer stalks and then 'sparkling' a little higher than the buttons

Florist Wire - the white in the packs at set lengths, great to get all the 'button stalks' the same length

Little Ribbon Roses (In Purple and White) I love the idea of these sitting amongst the buttons and breaking them up a little - I am worried that the wire stalks may be a little short

Slightly larger foam roses - Again short stalks, and these are possibly not the best for the finished bouquet. But good to experiment with.

Even Bigger foam/paper roses in white and dark purple - add a lot of bult and more traditional 'floral' feel to the bouquest - also the buttonst are quite heavy, these are incredibly light.

Bouquet holder I bought with hideous 'doily' frill - good to have a base support though and they were super cheap.

Frill removed and weaved with ribbon - just an experiment to see what can be done.

Buttons on wire, 2/3 buttons per stalk with the wire twisted beneath

And the stems of buttons put together - there are 50 here, most blogs say 100 for a full button only bouquet, but if I am going to have the buttons between the larger/smaller roses I may not need that many.

Guests and prices

Trying to plan a budget seems sensible but somewhat fruitless...I have been trying so hard to put a price on things...just a guestimate so we have an 'aim' of what to save up for. It is so hard.

So far we have 42 guests for the main event, 37 adults and 5 children. However have a potential additional 48 guests (including 9 children) for the evening do. This seems daft...however the invites extend where when you invite on person you must then invite there partners and children. People neither me or Andrew have ever even met before...THEN we're expected to pay an additional amount (Averaging £10 per head) for all these people we've never met to pick at our buffet food!

Hmm...no easy solution.

Anyhoo...prices are so variant on what sort of thing you might want.

So I priced up the Durham uni room's (Joachim Room in Hilds and Bedes collage to get and idea.
((This is purely used for example!)

No charge for the room hire if guests have the wedding breakfast.

3 course meal = £30 pp (£15 for children)
Drinks for adults = £10 pp

Based on 37 aldults attending and 5 children:

£30 x 37 = £1110
£10 x 37 = £370
£15 x 5 = £75

Total = £1555

THEN £10,50 pp for evening buffet (adults only) even presuming out of the 90 invited that 80 come and don't count the children and base it on 70 guests...

£10.50 x 70 = £735

New Total = £2290

not including other wedding costs:
- photographer
- car
- wedding dress/accessories
- bridesmaid dresses/accessories
- suit hire
- flowers
- table decorations/room decorations
- evening entertainment
- the cost of the wedding ceremony itself
- room on the night for the bride/groom
- honeymoon

Even putting a ball park figure on how much we need to save is soooooooooooooo hard

...fingers crossed we win the lottery

The first wedding fair...

So today me and my mummy and my sister headed down to Darlington in seek of a wedding fair. We went in seeking ideas and inspiration. I thoroughly enjoyed it however it left more questions than it answered.

I tried cake, was given a rose, some toothpaste? soap? moisturiser? (Obviously the 'essentials' for brides-to-be' and a veritable smorgasbord of leaflets, business cads and facebook links.

Having been asked a few times about dates/venues 'already chosen' for said wedding I felt somewhat underprepared and un-organised...explaining multiple time we were still in the very early stages of planning.

So upon returning back we decided to sit and put more numbers to the wedding ceremony/evening do...with the up-most intention of having a (relatively) small ceremony/afternoon reception and offer up additional invites to friends/further flung relatives for the evening.

It has rather made my head spin...inviting people you really want there leads you inevitably to inviting people you possibly would not have invited but feel like you have to in order to avoid upsetting people or causing conflict.

So as it stands for the main event we have 13 or 15 people on Andrews side (once he decides!) and 28 on my side

Total 41 - 43 people to the ceremony/afternoon reception

Plus a potential 50 additional evening guests.

Which is just silly...we're now pushing 100 for total evening guests! That's and awful lot! However I do feel that not all my daytime guest would stick around for the evening, also that a lot of the invites for the evening are somewhat of a 'courtesy' - however there are evening guests I would really love to see. Also I have included peoples partners/children in the invites...and I doubt everyone would bring the family out with them.

So the wedding fair was enjoyable...and now I crave more...more fairs, more ideas...but manly just more cake <3

Venue Ideas county Durham styl-ie

Ok venues, there are so many and I end up folling links to a variety of web pages so decided to jot down the links as I go...

http://www.durham.gov.uk/pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=317

http://www.bramblescoffee.co.uk/#/afternoon-tea-durham/4560293286

http://www.newton-hall.com/docs/WeddingBrochure.pdf

http://www.ramsidehallhotel.co.uk/weddings/special-offers.aspx

http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotelwebsites/us/x/xvudm/xvudm_pdf/Hotel%20Wedding%20Information%202013%20(1).pdf

http://www.radissonblu.com/galleries/radisson/PDF/XVUZH/XVUZH-Wedding-Brochure.pdf

http://www.bowburnhallhotel.co.uk/weddings.html

http://www.crookhallgardens.co.uk/pages/lunch-and-teas.htm

http://www.hardwickhallhotel.co.uk/weddings/

http://test.lumleycastle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/LC-Wedding-Brochure-Inserts-.pdf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijjbtdap0hzaj0u/Manor%20House%20Hotel%20Inclusive%20Wedding%20Package%202013.pdf

http://www.nrm.org.uk/VenueHire/NRMYork/weddingsandprivateevents/weddingpackages.aspx

http://www.hallgarthmanorhotel.com/downloads/wedding_specials.pdf

http://www.rockliffehall.com/occasions/weddings/index.aspx

http://www.dur.ac.uk/event.durham/venues/colleges/durham.castle/weddings/

http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/event.durham/menus/DurhamCastleBanquetingMenu.pdf

http://www.pumahotels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Redworth-wedding-ipdf.pdf

musical talent...

So wedding music is normally so obvious/expected/cliché, I kind of like it that way if i'm honest! so anyhoo...brainstorming some ideas...here we are so far...


Billy Idol - White Wedding
 - I know...I know...! Its a terribly 80's choice and the lyrics are...well...

The Flaming Lips - Do you realize?
 - Not the most cheery lyrics but kinda upbeat in a melancholy sort of way

The Wannadies - You and me
 - For the most upbeat wedding ever!

The Ramones - Baby I Love You
 - It has violins in and everything

Wolfman Ft. Pete Doherty - For Lovers
 - I just personally love this song, even if it is no longer 'cool' to like Pete Doherty

Blur - Coffee and TV
 - Chosen purely for the line "take me away from this big bad world and agree to marry me"

Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love
 - Obviously had to consider The 'Boss'

Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla
 - A seemingly popular 'alternative' choice, and it does sound like good backdrop music

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
 - Inspired by Gavin and Stacey

Echo and the Bunnymen - Lips Like sugar
 - Suggested on another blog as a good song to cut the cake to!

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of your life)
 - Possibly more of a funeral song? but non the less in my personal fav's

Sixpence non the richer - Kiss Me
 - for some late 90's (I think it was the late 90's!) just good pop music

Kylie Minogue - All the lovers
 - Because Andrew loves this song (or possibly just the video with lots of semi-naked people in it!)

First week as 'engaged'

So I've been engaged for just over a week. And my head is spinning. Ideas, dresses, colours, venues, flowers, food, discos, music, guests...and the biggest headache of all...money.

Everyone has suggestions, questions, ideas, things they like, things they hate...I have actually already stopped sleeping and waking up thinking about something else. Crazy stuff.

We haven't even set an official 'date' yet. However I cannot deny that its nice to explore such things and come up with ideas.

So...Andrew bought me a funky little wedding planner (possibly just so I could write down all the rubbish spinning around in my head rather than pestering him with it!)

 

The book is well layed out and logical...and I have filled the first few pages with ideas and stuff...

 

 

 

As for the monies...well that's another thing altogether. It's gonna take a while to save. Even if we have a budget wedding we'll need a decent 'jumping off' point of savings...According to online blog's and magazines the average wedding costs £10,000 - £17,000 ...we definitely don't have that sort of money lying around. My car cost a fraction of this and took me 3 years to pay off :/

Anyway...in the idea of 'budget' and 'saving' we have opened a savings account just for wedding stuff...I will make my own bouquets/flower arrangements/table decorations/invites/wedding stationary. I am also contemplating altering my mum's wedding dress - see, savings already!

Colours so far I'm thinink black/white/purple/grey (no decision made yet) And the theme is possibly buttons/beads, as when searching for ideas I came across some AMAZING hand mage bouquets made of buttons and wire.

I couldn't resist so I had a go with some beads and buttons with wire of my own...

 

Obviously we're still at the 'ideas' stage...and I always look for an excuse to get a bit 'crafty' and 'arty' ...really enjoying playing with the ideas for these...and they are relatively easy and in-expensive to make. Also they will be unusual and individual - all big plus!

Final note a big big BIG thank you to my mummy and daddy who were kind enough to get us a lovely engagement card! xxx

 

 

Proposal

So, on the Friday 24th May 2012, on a blustery beach at Seaham, County Durham Me and Andrew got engaged.

Having just finished a late shift at work, we drove down the coast and shared fish and chips in the car...walked along the cold and windy beach, and Andrew even got down on one knee. Very romantic in a very 'British' way.

I of course said 'Yes' ...there was no strange cliff-hanger question mark over the answer!

The ring, although very non-traditional, seems to suit me much more than an 'ordinary' diamond ring (so damned common! Ha ha!) white gold with an amethyst and 2 tint diamond. I love it and nearly crashed my car because I was looking at the ring on my finger on my hand on the steering wheel rather than where I was going!

And so say hello to the future Mrs Sewell (sounds very strange!)