Dear Diary
I left you last month with our engagement party coming up in the next week or so, and I am happy to report that it went really well! It was wonderful having both of our families meet finally - as it is often so hard to co-ordinate it otherwise - and it was fabulous for us to be able to celebrate with all the family and friends that we love. Everyone got on well together, we got some nice photos and even a video of our speech and cake cutting which will be great to add to our wedding album as well.
During the past month Patrick and I have been trying to find a new reception venue, though we thought we had this sorted out pretty early on in the piece a couple of months ago, a few things happened and we weren’t too happy with the place that we had originally chosen! In fact, they didn’t even get back to us about finalising the booking! But that was sort of a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to look around at better, different places and we cast a wider net this time in terms of locations and even prices - since we were more savvy this time around about prices and venue hire and all of the other costs! - and we found the loveliest venue a couple of weekends ago, pencilled in our date, paid the deposit the next day and had our wedding date confirmed in writing! It feels wonderful to be able to say to people, yes, this is our wedding date and yes, we have confirmed the reception venue. That should get people off our backs about that! - a lot of people kept asking if we had found anywhere yet and stressing that time was of the essence, but we were relaxed about it and knew that stressing about it would just create more worry and anxiety, which nobody needs and which doesn’t help anything… check back with me in a few months time to see whether I still hold the same optimistic view… somehow I think it might be different?
This coming week Patrick and I are going to look at the suit hire places to organise the suits for him and his groomsmen, it would be great to start finalising some of those details at this stage. Also on the cards is looking at material and patterns for the bridesmaid’s dresses, and my dress… bridesmaids shoes and my shoes. I might be a little premature in terms of wedding checklists that I have seen online but we will have such a busy first half of the year - with me studying my graduate diploma - that I need to get things organised when we have the time. In saying that, Patrick and I are taking a wee weekend break next weekend to get away for a bit, hopefully the weather holds up and we can enjoy the sunshine on the beach! It’s always nice to spend time together, as I often feel that because we do not live together that though we spend a lot of time with each other, it is often in the company of others and sometimes we just want each other to ourselves and next weekend will be a great getaway to talk wedding plans and just relax for a couple of days.
I had my make up trial on the morning of our engagement party so as to make sure I had an occasion to show it off. My make up artist was absolutely lovely and did a great job - I’ve confirmed her for the wedding day and I have booked a trial with a hairdresser that she recommended and I have that coming up this Friday, so that’s something else to look forward to! Lots of little jobs are being ticked off our list of things to do which is great.
Patrick and I also organised our final budget, we know exactly how much most things are going to cost - apart from some things which we are in the stages of organising, such as the wedding cars and wedding rings - and who is paying for what. Both sets of our parents are contributing to the wedding and we are also paying for a sizeable amount, but our wedding has come in so close to our original budget that it is amazing! When we initially sat down and wrote our budget we were extremely naïve about wedding costs as we had obviously never had the experience to have the knowledge of likely prices. However, from that initial budget we have only come in three grand over it… which everyone thinks is wonderful and our parents are very pleased we don’t want a fifty thousand dollar wedding. Our wedding is going to be romantic, elegant and classic which is exactly what we wanted, and we don’t have to get a mortgage out to pay for it - even better!
Through our budget we managed to find the areas where we could save money and where we could allocate the big expenses such as the photographer and reception venue which is great because we can let each other know how we feel about the priority of certain things such as the cars, or matching shoes! Our wedding reception coordinator for example, does lovely flower arrangements on all of the guest tables according to our colours and specifications - and the cost is already included in our package price - which has meant we have saved one hundred and fifty dollars from our florist’s bill - which we can now spend on some disposable cameras for all the guests at the tables to take candid shots throughout the night
All in all, it has been another lovely month with my gorgeous fiance, we finished our pre-marriage course that we were undertaking through the Catholic Church - it is a prerequisite when getting married in one - and since we finalised the reception details it seems as if everything can actually get underway properly.
During this month we will celebrate our two year anniversary and hopefully go out for dinner or something special to mark the occasion but other than that I’ll check back with you next month and let you know how the dress planning is going, how the hunt for some inexpensive vintage wedding cars is travelling along and the results of our suit shopping as well as some other wedding planning adventures and mishaps.
Till next month,
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