I cannot believe that I’m going to be getting married this year – Aaron and I have been together for ten and a half years and it’s something I’ve been waiting a REALLY long time for (many hints over the years – I’m not going to deny it lol), so it was inevitable that once we got engaged that I would be doing everything at supersonic speed, within a month of getting home from Thailand, we’d booked the church and reception, I’d found the bridesmaid dresses and everything started to come together.
That was over a year ago now and we’re now just over four months away from the day and it’s starting to hit me that this is actually happening! I’ve been getting all of the decorations ready, made our invites for the day (I’ve still got to finish the reception ones!), have made some centre pieces and flower bouquets for the bridesmaids using some artificial flowers (I’ll be damned if I’m spending £90+ for a small bloody bouquet!), in addition to loads of other random bits and bobs. Make sure to check out my post on some of the things I’ve been doing to save money on our big day here.
I started to write this post a while back and didn’t really know where I was going with it, but on Friday I woke from a wedding nightmare -(yes people, I’m actually having nightmares about the day going to shit – which I’ve heard is quite normal!), which is when I started thinking to myself “Right Gaby, you’ve got a big old event to plan and better start getting everything in order”.
It’s funny, but on the Friday evening I received an email from the girl at our venue asking about numbers for the reception and if we could book in a meeting to chat about it all as it’s not too long now! I sat there thinking about who I’d invited so far for the meal and how I still needed to do a proper table plan, panicking about sitting the wrong people together and stressing about the whole thing. I then started asking Aaron about who we were going to be inviting to the reception as we hadn’t planned any of it out, to which he replied “Gaby, it’s bloody Friday evening and you’re asking me this now?!” – uh yeah, when the hell else am I going to ask?!
So I started to make a list of names and writing up a couple of things which I still needed to do in my wedding planner (thank you Auntie Sheri, it’s been a bloody god send!); finish lining the bridesmaid dresses, sort out the dresses for the flower girls, get Aaron to get his bloody suit sorted so that we can get our nephew his little suit as our page boy, buy some chair covers for the venue (I’ll be damned if I’m spending £300+ to hire some poxy chairs when they already have them there), among various other little bits I’ve still got left to do.
Later on the following day, I was chatting to Aaron’s mum about the table plans as Aaron asked where so-and-so was going to be sitting, when she said to me “Gaby, why don’t you just let everyone pick a table to sit at, then let that be that?” I sat there thinking about it and realised it wasn’t a bloody bad idea! We’re having a hog roast style buffet, so it’s not like everyone’s going to be having a set menu, so why stress myself out about it? It’s our wedding after all!
When I got home that night, I emailed the venue to confirm the number we had so far, the church to ask about when we could meet to talk about the ceremony and the church in our parish to check they’d received our banns forms (we’re getting married outside of our parish so they need to be read in both – let me know in the comments if you’d like a whole post on what I’ve learnt about weddings, the lingo and unexpected costs of getting married). I then decided to head on over to Facebook to share my thoughts, asking if we were mental in thinking about not doing a seating plan.
And boy did people have some opinions on the matter! I didn’t really think I’d get much of a response, but there was a mixture of; you MUST do a seating plan, I wish I’d done it, Asian weddings don’t have seating plans so I wouldn’t worry about it and it’s yours and Aaron’s day, do whatever you want!
And do you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to let the parents sit with us at the top table and everyone else can decide where they want to go (provided the venue don’t mind lol!)
bride to bemoney savingseating plansweddingwedding money savingwedding planningwedding seating planswedding stress
Such a lovely post to read, I never really know the stress of weddings but this has opened my eyes! And tbh do you girl, let people sit where they want its your day, just relax xx
Super stressful, but I haven’t turned into bridezilla yet 😉 and thank you, hope I can help others realise you shouldn’t worry about anyone else! Xx
Wedding planning is stressful stuff, I feel ya girl!
We decided to do ours abroad, takes most of the hassle out of everything, now I can’t wait for the big day to come! (May 6th)
Oh and the wedding nightmares are ridiculous aren’t they. I’ve actually woken up crying and stressing from nightmares about the silliest things
Yeah I’ll bet! We did debate it but wanted to be at home – I think a lot of people are excited we’re finally doing it 😂 and we’re the 26th of May! I haven’t been crying yet, but can imagine it’s not far off 😂
How exciting that you don’t have long to go! I can imagine planning a wedding is quite stressful and there always seem to be things that pop up that you didn’t even know about before planning a wedding.. It can all get soo expensive too, it’s mad. It’s all worth it though to marry the person you want to be with for the rest of your life 🙂 xo
Char | http://www.charslittleblog.co.uk
Exactly!! I’m trying not to get hung up on the small stuff because that’s what it’s all about after all! Xx
Oh my gosh, I’ve spent years dreaming about planning my wedding, I think I’d be a proper Monica Geller… but this has kind of put me off I’m not gonna lie haha. I think the biggest stress for me would be the invite list, I’d want quite a small wedding and I think so many people would be offended without an invite! But like you said, it’s YOUR day and you decide what you want 🙂 I can’t wait to see pictures and what your dress is like, I bet it’s going to be a beautiful day!
Alice Xx
http://www.blacktulipbeauty.co.uk
Ahh I’m feeling a bit Monica at the mo not gunna lie 😂😂 and I wouldn’t let it put you off! It’s as expensive as you make it and I think guest list/seating plan is the most stressful, but you end up being pretty savage when you need to be 😉 xxx
Ahhh this is all so exciting! I can’t wait until it all comes together for you. I actually think your idea of no seating plan other than the top table could be really cool, I think people will like being able to choose where to sit! It’ll be years until I even think about marriage most likely, but I’ve had a Pinterest board of ideas for ages! x
Alice http://www.accordingtoalicex.com
Thank you! And I’m so excited for it all to happen – I also had a secret board for dresses for a few years before we got engaged 😉 😂 xx
I never knew you were engaged! Congrats, how bloody exciting! <3
Ahh thank you! Yeah we’ve been engaged for just over a year now – cannot wait for the wedding! Xx
This is such an exciting time for you. Wow you really did hit the floor running. I hope that it is the wedding of your dreams and i cant wait to see the pictures
Thank you and yeah I know 😂😂 this wedding has been a long time coming, so no time for delay 😂
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I remember planning my wedding over a decade ago. The main thing to remember is this is about you two. There are no “rules”. Whatever is most convenient and makes things easier for you two is ideal. I actually find a lot of good guidance in the Bible. Not just for planning the wedding but for helping me to build a happy marriage after the wedding is over. Here’s a link to the website that has a lot of information on topics couples face everyday. https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/#?insight%5Bsearch_id%5D=73352c65-047a-475d-b7dd-4fad69ecc71c&insight%5Bsearch_result_index%5D=8
Thank you Heather! It’s definitely something I’m coming to realise the closer the day gets! ❤️