letter four

Dear SJ
I cant belive that i found someone as perfect as you so young in life you are my dreams come true.
I fell in love with you as soon as i met you and the feelings just got stronger and stronger and you make me so hapy. I cant wait till the day i marry you and we have a family together it will be perfect. Im all ready dreamming of watching you walk down the aisle towards me and of us saying our vows to each other.

I know  ere both broody and both want a child now but we cant until we have the money to support it and till were living together but i promise as soon as were married we will try our first try will be on our wedding night and we will keep trying till we succeed and i cant wait till we are married and then 9 months after when we finally are parents you will make a great mum and we will be able o give them everything they want if we wait to have the money.

Love from you  proud Fiance
Scott

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New Ebook!

Right I enjoyed writing my two poetry ebooks but now I’m going to start writing something a bit different. I’m going to to publish it exclusively on Kindle and hope to have it finished and launched on 14th February 2012.

What is it going to be about? It will be an autobiographical novel based upon my relationship with Scott (some people will know he is where I get the inspiration for some of my poems from) It will all be true events. The ebook will be used to raise money for our wedding.

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Dear Scott Letter #6

To my gorgeous, gorgeous fiancé,

I am so so glad I have you by my side supporting me! I don’t think I’d be making the decisions I am making today if I didn’t have you. I am so incredibly lucky.

Well my UCAS application is ready to be sent off, I’m paying for it all tomorrow and then I should start getting some offers over January, it might be sooner but I think January is the most optimistic. I’m really nervous.

In just over 12 days we’re going to be together! I can’t wait, I love being able to spend time together, if I can get an offer from Bournemouth or Southampton universities for next year then we will be able to spend a lot more time together!

I’m so tired, but the end of term is nearly here! – Unlike you I had to be at college for an extra week. I’ve actually got a lot done tonight, I’ve sorted out my UCAS application form and I’ve done my essay for business, I hope you’ve had a good evening too! I really enjoyed out chat earlier it was so good to see you smiling!

All my love, SJ xxxxxxxx

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Scott’s Christmas Present Clues

To my teddy bear – here’s a few clues for your presents.

Your surprise that isn’t a surprise anymore because I told you about it already so it’s okay for me to post a picture of it.

I decided to put a stocking together for you because you said to me that you stopped getting them, seeing as you are staying at mine this year and we all get them I didn’t want you to be the odd one out. Plus I thought it would cheer you up a bit!

 

 

The first present is a present within a present, I always get you a teddy when I buy you presents and I thought this one was quite cute! It even has a small sack so it’s holding a little present.

The clue for this present is you’ll enjoy it but I don’t think it will last very long with you… In fact I know it won’t!

 

 

 

This is one of the presents inside the stocking, I know you’ll enjoy this one but again it won’t last very long! It’s Christmas themed.

 

 

 

 

Another one of the presents inside the stocking. You have already seen this when you came to stay at mine, but you wouldn’t know it because they were gone within in seconds, so I know you’ll enjoy them.

 

 

 

Another present from inside your stocking! You asked for one of these ages ago as joke for your birthday, so really this is a bit of a joke present. But inside it is another little treat that I know you’ll enjoy!

 

 

 

This is yet another present from within your stocking! This can keep you company when we’re not together.

 

 

 

 

The last present from inside your stocking! It’s practical and will be easy for you to lose because it’s really small. – Hopefully you’ll put it to good use, you should do and it’ll stop you from complaining.

 

 

 

Here are the main presents from me. There is five of them and they’re all completely different!

 

 

 

 

 

 

You already know what this is because I showed you… But anyways we talked about getting matching ones, but I couldn’t find any that matched. I really hope it fits you…

 

 

 

I’ve never got you a present like this before, so I hope you like it. I think it’s really nice but everyone’s tastes are different when it comes to these things!

 

 

 

 

 

This one didn’t take too much thought because I’ve wanted a reason to get it for you for ages, so this is a great time! It goes with something I’ve already got you.

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if you’ll like this one at all. But I hope you do. It’s something to remind you of a really special time, and I know you really like a bit of it.

 

 

 

 

I know you’ll love this, because you love both aspects of it. It took me ages to find it in the shop. But I think you’ll love this one the most out of all the presents.

 

 

 

 

I know you think I’ve gone over the top, but I haven’t. You deserve these present especially after everything that’s happened recently. Hopefully when we have out mini Christmas on the 28th it’ll cheer you up a little bit!

Love you darling xxxxxx

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Dear Scott Letter #5

To my darling fiancé,

We’ve been together for 20 months now! The time has gone so quickly – I can’t believe we’ve been together for so long!

I'm really looking forward to you coming to stay now, it really will be amazing! I can’t wait for our mini Christmas – hopefully we can do it! I can’t wait to see you open your presents, I hope that you like them all.

I love you so much and I’m so lucky to have you!

All my love, SJ xxxxxxxxxxx

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Our Relationship, Our Journey

We’re going to start writing posts about our actual relationship day to day, including where we met, how we met, and so on.

Keep your eyes open for these!

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Letter three

Dear SJ
I cant belive we have known each other and been together such a short tie either i really feel like we have been together years not months. Meeting you was the best thing that has ever happend to me and I love you so so much i know you the person i want to spend the rest of my life with and i cant wait to celebrate new year engaged. These 20 months really have been the best months of my life and i know we can get through anything thrown our way because were just too strong to let anything tear us apart.

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Dear Scott Letter #4

Dear Scotty,

I can’t believe that we’ve only known each other for 2 and a half years. It feels like we’ve known each other so much longer than that, but even in that short time we’ve got to know each other so well and we’re so close. I know that I can talk to you about anything and that you’ll support me through everything. I hope that by now you would know that I’m going to be by your side supporting you through everything and doing all I can to help you achieve everything you want to. I never want to stand in your way of you doing anything you want to do.

It’s true that when you stop looking for love it finds you, that’s exactly what happened when you found me. I stopped looking for a relationship because I just kept getting hurt – and then I met you and everything changed.

I can’t believe on Tuesday it’ll be our 20 month anniversary. It definitely feels like we’ve been together for so much longer than 20 months!

I’m so glad that I have you by my side and not anyone else because I know I can trust you and that you’ll always be there for me no matter what.

There are so many things that I love about you and our relationship I don’t even think I could begin to explain them all – there is just too many (but it was your smile that definitely first caught my eye). I know I am definitely the luckiest girl in the world to have you by my side.

New year this year is going to be so special spending it with you again, this year is going to be even more special than last year because it’s our first new year as an engaged couple! I’m so excited about it and that we can spend it together again –It’s going to be amazing – it really is.

I can’t wait till we can have cuddles again. I’m still really upset about my dream last night. I can’t believe it, it felt so real… I dreamt we were talking all cuddled up and then fell asleep – it was that real that when I woke up this morning I rolled over and reached out to cuddle up with you but obviously you weren’t there. It actually really upset me.

I love it how we can be so serious but we can have so much fun together too, like we can mess around and have play fights, but then we can have our cuddles in front of a dvd and our little chats about the future too. I wouldn’t change anything about us at all, because every single bit of our relationship is so special to me.

I love you so much darling xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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letter number two

Dear SJ heres my second letter im sorry i didnt write it yesturday i was too tired. I know you were really worried about yesturday but at least im okay now and im glad that we got over all the problems we had last night and have gone all happy again. Because you are alot more beautiful when your happy compared to when your in a bad mood :) xxxxxxxxxxx

I really cant wait for new year baby and i cant wait to hold you in my arms and to kiss you again you really are a truely special part of my lifeand I love you forever and always <3 <3 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Love Scott

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Dear Scott Letter #3

To my gorgeous teddy bear,

I wish I could have a cuddle today… I couldn’t but you still made me smile even though I was in such a bad mood! – But there again you can always make me smile and make everything seem so much better. It’s one of the many reasons why  I want to marry you.

It’s been an up and down day today, I was so worried about you today I know how scared you must have been but you were so strong and I’m so proud of you for doing it on your own!

I have work tomorrow – I’d rather be spending the day talking to you! But I get paid so I’ll be able to finish my Christmas shopping on Monday after college coz I finish early and I’ll be able to get my ring back!!! I can’t wait to be able to actually wear it. I cant wait to get your presents all sorted and wrapped up, I love buying stuff for you.

I need to go to bed now while my medicine is actually working and sleep while I can,

Thank you for today, you’ve been amazing!

I love you xxxxxxxx

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my first letter

Dear SJ 
This is my first letter to you but i will definatly be writing you alot more.
You really are the most perfect fiance anyone could ask for :) your kind funny loving perfect caring and beautiful and i cant wait till our wedding day. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Our wedding planning is going really well mostly thanks to you but we do need another really conversation me thinks :) xxxxxxxx
and when im at yours we need to practise that dance so we have it perfect by our wedding :) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I love you
Scott

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Dear Scott Letter #2

My second letter for today, I thought I’d write it seeing as we haven’t been able to talk properly today and I’ll more than likely be in bed by the time you get back! – I’m tired at the moment, I blame it on this cold, but it is going.

It’s been a good and bad day, I got to speak to you on Skype first thing this morning which I didn’t expect to be able to do so that was really nice. I posted loads of new content on my online portfolio and turned my photos into products in our zazzle shop. But then things started to go downhill a bit, my cold got really bad and was making me feel really exhausted. I got an e-mail from my boss and I have definitely got the time off that you are staying and she has done my reference for the PGL job I have applied for, I just need my other two reference to get handed back and then I will find out if I’ve got any further with it and if they will or won’t offer me the job/ apprenticeship (but with me it’s more likely that they won’t because I usually get turned down with these things). We didn’t get to talk tonight, again, but it wasn’t your fault – hopefully we’ll get a proper conversation tomorrow. I’ve been feeling really down this evening, I don’t know why, everything has just really got to me. I need a cuddle and one of our talks.

I’m not looking forward to college tomorrow, especially ICT but I have managed to struggle my way through my Business essay… I don’t think I’ve got a decent grade on it though!

I’m so glad that we will definitely be spending new year together now! Work has confirmed my holiday so that we will have nearly a week together…. It won’t be long enough, it never is! I hate it when we have to say goodbye but when we see each other the first time after being apart for so long it’s amazing, when I first see you’re face and you pull me close to you it’s the best feeling in the world!

I’m so glad that we are engaged now, we’ve talked about it and talked about it but to finally actually be engaged is incredible! It’s so hard to explain how happy you make me and to know that the rest of my life will be with you is the best feeling I could ever have.

I walked down to our bridge today, it was weird going for that walk on my own but it felt good to be able to think back on all the memories we have and everything we have been through. It’ll be good to go down there again when you stay at new year we didn’t go on one of our walks when you were here for my 18th, so we definitely need to go on one at new year.

I also went down and took some photos of the church, some of them look pretty good but others came out a little bit blurry. I ended up coming home sooner than I wanted to because it was so cold.

There is so many things I want to write here but I don’t know how to say them.

I’ve put loads of stuff into our scrapbook, I’m making a page about your two nicknames (panda and teddy bear) and how you got them.

I hope your interview has gone well this evening, I know whatever the outcome you will have tried your best. – It’s the 1st December tomorrow which means you can start you advent calendar I got you (if you haven’t already eaten the chocolate out of it!) We should have a special advent calendar to countdown until we see each other.

I want to write more, well really I’d rather we were actually together right now, but it’s not long until we are, I just need to be patient (I just don’t want to be, I want you here right now!).

I love you, SJ xxxxxxxx

_{PS. Only 26 days until we’re together (27th December)}

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Dear Scott Letter #1

I haven’t written you a letter like this for quite a while, I remember writing them to you while you were in Nepal.

Well right now you are playing football, not really hard to guess and I’m about to go out and do some photography of the church down the road. My day has been quite productive I’ve added some more photos to my online portfolio blog and I have turned them into products in our zazzle shop. I’m really getting into all this photography stuff.

My time off at work has been approved so we will definitely be spending time together at new year! I’m really looking forward to it.

I spent ages today looking through all the pictures we’ve taken when we’ve spent time together – there are so many memories in each and every single one of them!

I love you,

SJ xxxxxxxx

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Love Letters

We’re going to start writing letters to each other through this blog.

I thought it would be nice to carry on the idea I had when Scott was in Nepal and I wrote him a letter virtually everyday. You can take a look at it here: http://dearscottwithlove.blogspot.com/

Scott will tag his letters ‘To Stacey’ and I’ll tag mine ‘To Scott’ and we’ll both tag them with ‘Love Letters’

So watch out for these appearing.

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The little things…

 

Things everyone needs to think about, confetti…

 

And Wedding cake toppers!

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The wedding dress

Seeing as me and my Dad are pretty good at sewing I have decided I will make my wedding dress with his help. By doing this I know that it will be exactly how I want it and could even end up saving us a bit of money which will be a bonus!

 

I have some ideas of what I want, not sleeveless, but not long sleeves. Quite a bit of beaded work. Long, floor length. – That’s how far I’ve got with my ideas so far.

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Perfect Wedding Reception Location!

I think I have found the perfect wedding reception location, I actually love it!

 

 

It’s The Manor Barn in Harlton – I really think it’s perfect for us… I hope Scott thinks the same.

 

Plus it’s a really reasonable price, and really gives us what we kept saying we wanted.

 

Take a look: http://www.themanorbarn.com/

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The wedding rings we want

I found these rings and we both like them – they aren’t fussy but they are really nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2036371/Trail/searchtext%3EWEDDING+RINGS.htm

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Cake Ideas

I found this cake while I was looking at wedding cakes on the internet.

 

I love the design of it as it’s simple but really symbolic.

 

I found it on this website, take a look:

http://www.jennifercakes.com/Wedding-cakes(1260921).htm

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Updated Budget

Venue costs	Budget
Venue hire - ceremony	£300
Venue hire - reception	£5000
Catering - food and drink	£5000
Wedding cake	£500
Total venue costs	£10,800
Outfits
Wedding dress - including fitting and alterations	£1000
Bridal accessories - veil, tiara, shoes, jewellery etc	£500
Bridal lingerie	£50
Bridesmaids outfits (including accessories)	£600
Groom's outfit (including shoes)	£500
Outfits for the groomsmen	£600
Hairdressing	£125
Make-up	£125
Total outfits cost	£3500
Wedding stationery
Stationery	£150
Postage	£20
Thank you cards	£100
Table plan and place cards	£100
Total wedding stationery	£370
Wedding suppliers
Photographer	£600
Videographer	-
Wedding Transport	£1000
Flowers	£600
Toastmaster	-
Fireworks	-
Entertainers	-
Total wedding suppliers	£2200
Music
Evening DJ	£300
Evening Band	-
Musicians/Band - daytime	-
CD's for ceremony music/background music	-
Total music cost	£300
Honeymoon
Honeymoon	£3500
Travel insurance	£140
Transport to/from airport	-
Currency	£200
First night accommodation	£200
Total honeymoon cost	£3940
Other
Wedding insurance	£100
Gifts to say thank you	£200
Notice of marriage/Banns	-
Marriage fees & licence	£100
Cake boxes (if you want to send cake on)	-
Favours	£200
Table decorations	£500
Guest book	£25
Wedding Rings	£500
Stag & Hen do	£300
Total other costs	£1925
Total Wedding Budget	£23,035

 

So after looking through our initial budget thoughts I have amended them slightly. As the total comes to £23,035 we should really aim to save £25,000 in stead of our original £21,000.

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location and the rings

Obviously one of the most important decisions to make when planning a wedding is where to have it and why. we both like the idea of having it in SJ's village church because that would make it really romantic and tradition and then we need to just think about where to have the reception. but we do have other ideas about locations to talk about as well.

SJ found three sets of rings to choose from so we will do that soon when she gets her internet back and can show me them and all in all were both really excited already about our big day and we know it will be perfect and that we will remember it forever it will be one of the best days of our lives.

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New Products!

  
Browse other gifts from Zazzle.

In our Zazzle shop we have a wide range of wedding and relationship related gifts and clothing which is always expanding!

Please take a look as all profits fropm our shop is going to be used to help us have the wedding of our dreams.



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List of venues in Cambridge

http://www.forbetterforworse.co.uk/towns/Cambridge/cambridgeshire.htm

A whole list of different venues to look into at a later date within the Cambridge area.

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Rectory Farm

A possible reception location if we were to having the wedding in Cambridge, it would make a lovely setting and would give us great photographs. Although the cost is very high.

http://www.rectoryweddings.net/



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Wedding in Scotland

I love this hotel inthe south of Scotland, it would make a lovely location for a wedding although if we were to have it there it would mean it would be a lot of travelling for the guests. We would also have to shange the date we plan to have the wedding to be earlier or later as you can only book it during the winter season.

http://www.winter-wedding-venues.co.uk/index.html

The cost is really high although it does cover nearly all of the expenses for the reception.

Something to think about...

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The guest list

For me the most important people to have at our wedding will be our families, followed by close friends. I would love to have the people from Kilve Court there as well although I'm not still in contact with everyone.

I think that we need to scale back the number of guests we invite to the ceremony to keep the costs down and then invite more to the evening reception.

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Online wedding software

The website says -

Seating Arrangement for Weddings is a free wedding planning tool that will help you to easily:

• Design the Floor Plan
• Manage the Guest List
• Manage Menu Options
• Track RSVPs
• Assign Seating
• Generate Guest List Reports
• Print the Floor Plan
• Print Place Cards
• Access your project from any computer
• Work on the same project from multiple locations
• Collaborate with others
• Share event information with others
• Automatically have your project backed up
• Find wedding and event professionals in your area
and much much more...

And the best part is that it's free!

So it's free, from the website it looks pretty basic however this isn't necessarily a bad thing by having a basic interface it means it is accessible by all, I'm going to sign up and see how it goes (it's free what can go wrong?)

Not having the internet at home at the moment could make using this online software difficult however I will have it back on monday so I can get stuck into looking at it properly then!

I'll keep you posted with my progress with it.

Source: http://www.seatingarrangement.com/

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Creating a website for your wedding

If you want to create a website for your wedding so that you're guests can find out more information take a look at the following link, you'll be surprised - you don't need to know how to code a website. Plus some of the host services are free!

Take a look: http://weddings.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/weddingwebsite_2.htm

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Questions for When Looking for Wedding Venues for Both Ceremony and Reception

•Do they own enough chairs for the ceremony, or will they need to be rented?

•Does the wedding venue have an entirely separate area for the ceremony? {It is not uncommon that while the guests are at the cocktail hour, the caterers will transform the ceremony room into the dining room and/or dance floor.)

•If not, how long does it typically take for the staff to change over the room?



Source: http://weddings.about.com/cs/weddinglocations/a/venuequestions.htm

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Questions for When Looking at Separate Wedding Reception Venues and Ceremony Locations

•How far is it from one location to the other?

•Do the two places have the same level of formality and a coordinating style?

•Do they both accommodate about the same number of guests?

•Does the wedding reception venue have any experience with weddings from your ceremony location?




Source: http://weddings.about.com/cs/weddinglocations/a/venuequestions.htm

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Questions to ask yourself when deciding on a wedding venue

•What's the decor like? Does it fit your style and wedding colors? Will you have to spend a lot of money on flowers and decorations to make it beautiful?

•Do they have an in-house caterer, and do you like that food? (While an in-house caterer can be easier and cheaper, sometimes the food is not as beautiful as the room. So make sure you taste it!) Do they have a limitation on which outside caterers you can use?

•Do they have adequate coat check and bathroom facilities?

•Is the wedding venue wheelchair accessible? If not, are there many stairs to climb? How close is the parking to the ceremony and reception rooms?
•What's the cancellation policy?

•Is there a payment schedule? What kind of deposits are required?

•Are there any hidden costs? (Before you sign the contract, read it carefully.)

•What are the overtime charges?

•Do they have a liquor license?

•Will they allow you to bring your own liquor? (This is usually cheaper, even with the customary corkage fee.)

•Is there room in the wedding venue for a band and/or dancing?

•Does the wedding venue already own a sound system with adequate speakers or will that need to be rented?

•Is there a space for the bride and groom to change and/or relax?

•Where will you take photographs? Is there a park nearby, or do the coordinators have recommended spots on the grounds?

•Who will be supervising and troubleshooting before the day of your wedding? Who will be supervising and troubleshooting on the day of your wedding? Can you meet them now?

•Where can your guests park? Are there extra fees for parking? Do they have valet parking?

•Is the wedding venue convenient to public transportation, especially in big cities? How long will it take your guests to get there?
•Especially in museums or private clubs, are there limitations on decorations? Do they limit food and drinks to only certain areas of the wedding venue?

•Are candles or other open flames allowed?


Source: http://weddings.about.com/cs/weddinglocations/a/venuequestions.htm

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Ways To Save Money

One way we maybe able to save money is I want to wear my Mum’s wedding dress as my Granny made it and obviously my Mum wore it on her wedding day. Depending on the condition of the dress and how well it fits it is quite likely I will wear it. So this will save us quite a considerable cost!

 

Something else I would like to do is make the invitations and place names ourselves because I think this will add more of a personal touch to the wedding.

 

We may need to look at reducing the number of people we invite the wedding as this will save us more money, especially with food and catering costs!

 

We could look at reducing the number of people in the wedding party such as the number of bridesmaids, ushers etc as this will reduce the cost of outfits and gifts.

 

We could think about having a cash bar for guests so that we don’t have to pay for everyone’s drinks.

 

Instead of hiring a videographer we could get family and friends to all video different aspects of the wedding and ask for copies of everything.

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First Dance Ideas Update

Scott and I discussed my idea of doing the the last dance from Dirty Dancing and we both want to do it as our first dance, but we also want to do a slow dance together. So we have decided that we would like to do the Dirty Dancing dance as our first dance and then have a slow dance together towards the end of the night with the backing track being one of our songs.

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More First Dance Ideas

I would love to do this as the first dance at our wedding! It would take a while to learn the routine but I think it would be funny to see all the guests reactions.

 

Plus I love the film Dirty Dancing and I’m sure the song (Time of my Life) will sum up the day!

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Raising Our Budget

We have decided to split the budget 50/50 which means Scott and I both need to raise £10,500 each over the next three years.

 

This then works out to needing to make £300 a month which is roughly £10 a day.

 

We have already implemented a donate button on this blog for anyone who is willing to donate to our wedding. I am trying to implement Adsense on this blog at the moment however this will take a few days to even know if we will be accepted or rejected.

 

We are both part of Swag Bucks which means we can get rewarded for our regular internet searches! If you’re interested in joining their scheme then sign up using by clicking on the image on the left.

 

We also have a wedding themed Zazzle shop which we are adding products to all the time: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/becomingmrscollins

 

I have a jar to save all of my loose change and is in my families kitchen so that my whole family can put their lose change in it too!

 

I have a part time job, although this doesn’t generate very much spare money all the spare money will be added to the wedding savings. I am looking at getting some part time bar work a couple of evenings a weeks. I can only have part time work at the moment as I am still at college – once I leave in June after my exams I plan to get a full time job so that our savings will increase dramatically.

 

I am also looking at selling all my belongings that I no longer want/ need – this will probably be done through Ebay.

 

If you have anymore Ideas please get in contact with us.

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Churches I’d Like To Get Married In

If I was to get married in the way my Dad and I were talking about last night it would be in the church in my village which is Harston All Saints Church – It’s a lovely church and I go bell ringing there so I know for definite we would be able to have the bells rung for our service.

It’s an old church as it was built around 1445 and has recently had some restoration work on the bell tower.

It’s big inside so we would be able to have the ceremony we want!

As you can see from this angle the Church has a nice approach by foot.

 

 

As you can see the inside of the Church would make a good setting for the ceremony as it is romantic and has a good feel about it.

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Useful Websites

http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/financial-planning/how-to-plan-a-wedding1.htm

This website is good for some general advice

http://www.nofreetime.com/

This site has been great for extensive information covering many topics and information related to planning a wedding

http://www.savingforawedding.com/

This is a great blog if you are looking for ways to reduce the cost of your wedding

http://www.youandyourwedding.co.uk/

The forum on this website is great and you can find loads of tips buried in them!

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More Ideas

After talking to my Dad about weddings today and really traditional weddings and how his and my Mum’s wedding was. He was telling me about how some traditional weddings the ceremony takes place in the Bride’s village church so for me that’s literally round the corner. This then had me thinking about if we were to do that where could we have the reception, I remembered my next door neighbours reception at Sheen Mill. It was really beautiful and romantic – it just made a perfect setting for a wedding reception.

http://www.sheenemill.co.uk/index.asp?id=1

I really like the idea of having a wedding like that but then it would be a long way for Scott’s family and friends to travel.

So many decisions…

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Order a Personalised Letter From Santa/ Father Christmas

You can now order a personalised letter from Santa for just £1.49!

Head over to http://becomingmrscollins.blogspot.com/p/buy-letter-from.html to order one now!

All profits will be used to help us achieve the perfect wedding!

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Songs Ideas for the First Dance

Taj Jackson – Think of You

This is one of our songs and would be good because it has a lot of meaning to us.

Ronan Keating feat. Bryan Adams – The Way You Make Me Feel

Scott dedicated this song to me on our first holiday together so it means a lot to me so for me this would be a great song for our first dance.

Jordin Sparks – Just for the Record

This song was one I showed Scott and he really liked it because it stopped him from worrying about loosing me. So this is another song that means a lot to us.

Westlife – When You Tell Me That You Love Me

This song always reminds me of Scott as it really says in the lyrics how much he means to me.

Leona Lewis – Whatever It Takes

This was our first ever song and it means a lot to use because it shows we really do get through everything together.

Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat – Lucky

This song would be great because Scott is my best friend and this song really explains what our relationship is like.

Michael Buble – Everything

This song we both like and says what we mean to each other.

Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron – Can I Have This Dance

Scott likes this song and would like to have it.

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Coming Soon…

Soon we will be offering Handmade Cards and personalised poems for sale.

Watch this space as these products will be appearing very soon!

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Our Shop

We now have a shop:

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/becomingmrscollins

Here we will be offering wedding related products shortly, any money you spend will be used to fund our wedding, so if you like our products or shop please share the above link!

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Some Big Decisions

Type of Ceremony

We decided that we want a traditional ceremony with mainly close friends and family. We really want to have church bells at the church so they can be played at the beginning and end of the ceremony.

Wedding Budget

We have decided the maximum we want to spend and want to be able to raise is £21,000 as we think this is more than enough to achieve the wedding we want to achieve.

Wedding Style/Theme

We know that we definitely want to have a big, traditional wedding and this will be the main focus for us. Scott has said that he wants us to be the main focus and for it to be slightly unique in some way.

Guests and Who to Invite

We have already decided the maximum number of people we would want to have at the ceremony is 100 and then 150 at the reception. We have already worked out that my family would account for 32 of the guests and Scott’s family will account for 21 of the guests.

We also worked out the numbers involved in our wedding party – in total at the moment we think it will come to 10 but some of these will be family and we’re sure to have missed some people out…

Do We Want Children There?

We have decided that we do because some of our relatives are children and we want them to be there so we won’t ban children.

What Are Our Priorities?

Scott summed this up – to get married.

Where Do We Want To Get Married?

One of the two locations we discussed earlier.

Are We Going To Organise It Ourselves?

Yes, because this will help to keep the costs down.

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Going well

Our first planning session yesturday went really well and we got quite abit done and came up with quite a few ideas we then started talking about what decisions we need to make. As you can see from the other posts SJ did alot of work and really made the planning easier. We are now trying to find ways to raise more money for our big day so if anyone has any ideas or would like to donate then either contact us or click on the donate button in our menu on the side of the page this will help our budget so we can have our perfect day. Hopefully we will do abit more planning today and will add more posts as the day goes on :D.

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Key Decisions

Before you do anything else, you need to decide on the following:

• Type of ceremony
• Wedding budget
• Style of wedding/theme
• Who to invite
• Whether you want children at your wedding
• What your priorities are
• Where to get married
• Whether you want to organise it yourself or enlist the help of a wedding planner

I found the above list on http://www.nofreetime.com/wedding-planning/key-decisions/default.aspx, I think these are going to be key areas to discuss for us so we know exactly what we want from our wedding.

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Our Budget

Venue costs	Budget	Actual
Venue hire - ceremony	£400
Venue hire - reception	£4,500
Catering - food and drink	£5,000
Wedding cake	£300
Total venue costs	£10,200
Outfits
Wedding dress - including fitting and alterations	£1,200
Bridal accessories - veil, tiara, shoes, jewellery etc	£150
Bridal lingerie	£25
Bridesmaids outfits (including accessories)	£200
Groom's outfit (including shoes)	£125
Outfits for the groomsmen	£200
Hairdressing	£100
Make-up	£75
Total outfits cost	£2,075
Wedding stationery
Stationery	£120
Postage	£20
Thank you cards	£120
Table plan and place cards	£20
Total wedding stationery	£280
Wedding suppliers
Photographer	£750
Videographer	-
Wedding Transport	£200
Flowers	£800
Toastmaster	£0
Fireworks	-
Entertainers	-
Total wedding suppliers	£1,750
Music
Evening DJ	£250
Evening Band	-
Musicians/Band - daytime	£250
CD's for ceremony music/background music	-
Total music cost	£500
Honeymoon
Honeymoon	£3,400
Travel insurance	£40
Transport to/from airport	-
Currency	£200
First night accommodation	£100
Total honeymoon cost	£3,740
Other
Wedding insurance	£70
Gifts to say thank you	£120
Notice of marriage/Banns	£60
Marriage fees & licence	£350
Cake boxes (if you want to send cake on)	-
Favours	£200
Table decorations	£200
Guest book	£15
Wedding Rings	£600
Stag & Hen do	£300
Total other costs	£1,915
Total Wedding Budget	£20,460

 

Seeing as Scott has had to go out this is our initial budget that I have amended from the one I found on the website. Obviously when Scott comes back we will have to look at it again together.

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Research into the Average Wedding Costs

Venue costs
Venue hire - ceremony	£400
Venue hire - reception	£2,500
Catering - food and drink	£5,000
Wedding cake	£300
Total venue costs	£8,200
Outfits
Wedding dress - including fitting and alterations	£1,200
Bridal accessories - veil, tiara, shoes, jewellery etc	£150
Bridal lingerie	£50
Bridesmaids outfits (including accessories)	£200
Groom's outfit (including shoes)	£50
Outfits for the groomsmen	£150
Hairdressing	£150
Make-up	£100
Total outfits cost	£2,050
Wedding stationery
Stationery	£120
Postage	£20
Thank you cards	£120
Table plan and place cards	£50
Total wedding stationery	£310
Wedding suppliers
Photographer	£750
Videographer	-
Wedding Transport	£200
Flowers	£800
Toastmaster	£350
Fireworks	-
Entertainers	-
Total wedding suppliers	£2,100
Music
Evening DJ	£250
Evening Band	-
Musicians/Band - daytime	£450
CD's for ceremony music/background music	-
	£700
Honeymoon
Honeymoon	£3,400
Travel insurance	£40
Transport to/from airport	-
Currency	£200
First night accommodation	£100
Total honeymoon cost	£3,740
Other
Wedding insurance	£70
Gifts to say thank you	£120
Notice of marriage/Banns	£60
Marriage fees & licence	£350
Cake boxes (if you want to send cake on)	-
Favours	£200
Table decorations	£200
Guest book	£30
Wedding Rings	£800
Engagement ring	£1,500
Stag & Hen do	£300
Total other costs	£3,630
Total Wedding Budget	£20,730

 

I found this on http://www.nofreetime.com/wedding-planning/wedding-budget/typical-wedding-budget.aspx so we will be able to amend this to what we think our costs will be. Although I think it’s definitely an eye opener to some of the sots we haven’t even thought about yet!

The website says that the above budget sheet is for – ‘The amounts mentioned are just a guide (for approx 100 guests) - actual costs will vary according to the size of guest list, number of attendants, length of wedding, when you get married and type and location of venue.’

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Our Initial Thoughts

The first time we have really talk about what we both want and it’s a good job we both want the same sort of things. So far our planning is going well, and we know what we want for quite a few things already.

We both want to have a big wedding with a traditional ceremony and for the reception to be a mix of traditional, modern and slightly unique. We want the more traditional aspects of having the first dance at the reception, I think the unique part will come from the actual decorations.

The first ideas we had for dates is Valentine’s day but then we started to think of dates more special to us this led us to the date we got together the 6th April. We know that we want to be finished university/ close to finishing which means it would need to be in 2016 or 2017. In the end we chose 2016. However the 6th in 2016 is on a Wednesday but we agreed our wedding will need to be on the weekend so we want to have it either on the 2nd or 9th April.

We have thought of a couple of places for our reception, the first we thought of was having it in Kilve Court as that is where we first met, however when we looked into it they didn’t have a church close by with working bells (this is important for us as we want to have the bells rung before and after the ceremony). So we then started to think of other places we would like I found Orchardleigh House & Estate which I thought would be a really romantic setting for our reception we both liked this place as we both like the idea of having the reception in an old building. Once we had discussed having our wedding in an old building we talked about having it in a Castle which led Scott to suggest having it in Alnwick Castle as he loves Harry Potter and that castle was the setting for the first few films, this would give us a unique setting and a romantic old building/ castle too.

Links for our two favourite locations so far:

http://www.orchardleigh.net/

http://www.alnwickcastle.com/

We have thought that the most we will spend is £25000 but that is the absolute maximum, the minimum we think it will cost is £15000.

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