Planning a wedding has lots of little details that you can overthink. I've used the BrideBook App through the planning process to make sure my organisation is second to none. Its a great place to look for suppliers, ask for quotes, get discounts and generally just keep on track with tasks.
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Originally, I'd envisaged lovely, real blooming flowers. Lots of green ferns and hanging ivy with pastel shades of beautiful carnations, peonies and roses. You name it, I was on board! Then I started contacted florists and it was radio silence...nothing. It was a bit demotivating at first. Two people of the six florists I ccontacted eventually got back to me. One quote was £1000+ and the other couldn't be specific about numbers without numerous consultations. I get it. It's difficult to estimate what your cost might be without knowing exactly what the buyer wants, especially when they're asking you more than 6 months before the wedding day.
I started considering artificial flowers. My first thought was that they might look a bit naff or cheap but the more I researched them, the more appealing they became. I mulled it over for a few weeks and just the thought of spending £1000 or more on flowers became quite a burden. Spending that much money on something which will ultimately just die after the day was a colossal waste. So silk artificial flowers it was!
I ordered two bridesmaid bouquets, three generic arrangements, a bridal bouquet and the groom and groomsmen's buttonholes from online wedding website JJs House. It saved a ton of money and they almost look as lovely as real flowers. I'm going to spray them with perfume before the big day to hopefully get them to smell a bit more floral! Keeping an open mind during wedding planning is something I've definitely learned to develop!
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The wedding rings were another thing Jay and I talked about. Jay had bought me a beautiful engagement ring from the Welsh gold jewellery makers, Clogau, and my dream was to get a matching wedding band but they were just so expensive. So I thought I could use a lovely existing ring I already owned to complement it. Then one day a couple of months ago I saw a competition on Clogau's official Facebook page to win a wedding ring of your choice. I entered, thinking nothing more of it. Then a week later I received a message to say I was the winner. It was an amazing feeling and I was so grateful. I now have a beautiful wedding ring which exactly matches the unique 18ct gold blend of my engagement ring.
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Jay wasn't really sure what kind of wedding band he wanted so we had a chat and I said I'd have a look for something. I found a beautiful silver band from a silversmith on Etsy. (I've used Etsy throughout for wedding purchases because I love the idea of supporting small local businesses instead of buying everything from gigantic profit companies like Amazon). The lady I bought Jay's ring from has a workshop just outside of St Andrews, the university town I went to in Scotland. The ring is hand engraved with oak leaves which we thought was a beautiful nod to his family name, Oakes.
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Our wedding journey is very much about us as a couple and our journey together and we want our wedding day not to be the end of our engagement, but the beginning of building our lives together. Part of that is honouring the respective families we belong to and also remembering our relatives who have died. I won't say much about it here because I want our guests who attend the wedding reception to be touched by the tributes we have planned but it will be a lovely part of our day, acknowledging those who cannot be with us physically.
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So there's big decisions and small decisions with planning a wedding, but don't get too carried away with the minutiae of it all. Keep in mind your vision for you both as a couple and let that guide what you want and how you want it. At the end of the day, your wedding is about you two as a couple.
Love Stephanie
(The Bride to Be!)
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