Finally after much searching I found my wedding shoes. It was quite difficult as most at pointy or open at the front. But finally got them and cheaper than expected

My advice?

Look in all the shops that sell any kind of shoes. All of them, even places like Next and John Lewis. You may be surprised with what you find.

Yesterday we also received the part of the stuff we are going to use to make our table centre pieces. It’s a lot more fun doing it ourselves and I thing it’s really going to work.  Russ tried it last night and success!!!

It’s all coming into shape

It has been a nightmare to find a bridesmaid dress that I like. If there was actually one I like it would be the wrong colour, or too expensive. I’ve been through every shop available, online, all of them. Finally I found one! Well within budget, the right colour, the perfect shape. Only it was by catalogue so no idea if it was really what it seemed to be or if the fabric was nice enough.

Well Sophie ordered one to try, we went visit this weekend, and… !!!!!!!!!!!!! It is even better than I thought! The shape and colour are perfect and the fabric is much better than the very expensive ones I saw. So today I ordered the other two and we will see if the sizes are good. If not we can always send them back. So happy! And so jealous! I have to buy one for myself!

So got what I wanted: a beautiful dress that they can wear again, comfortable and within budget. That and the jewellery will be my gifts to the bridesmaids Still searching but have a pretty good idea about what I will get. The shoes, I’ll leave it up to them. Having very sensitive feet I know how much comfort is important so they can choose whatever they like. Make up and hair, well they can talk to each other and see if they want to have them the same or not.

It was a fantastic weekend. I had some appointments to try on wedding dresses and Sophie, Sue (Russ’s mum) and I had so much fun! The conclusion was that The One is still The One! Tried it on again and the feeling was the same. The others don’t even compare.

We then carried on, all of us girls, to town to search for shoes and accessories (while the boys went shopping for groceries and baked some nice pastries). Didn’t find the shoes but found my jewellery :D. It is gorgeous and so cheap as well, special price. I even got two sets to have a choice on the day all below budget. It was a great weekend and we girls had a lot of fun. Should do it again soon!

So on an English wedding, the bride is supposed to have bridesmaids to help her with everything necessary. So instead of a godmother and godfather as in Portugal, I could choose several bridesmaids.

Unlike Russ, who set up a romantic scene to ask Johnno to be his best man, I just informed them selected few:’By the way you are going to be my bridesmaid, just thought I should inform you.’ No chance for a ‘No’

So they are (in alphabetic order):

Jemma: Although we’ve only met 2 years ago, she has been my best friend in this country, someone reliable, and my shoulder to cry on and my company for the crazy girly moments. She is even more organised than me

Sophie: Russ’s sister. Unfortunately I don’t know Sophie as much as the previous but I hope that can change. She was 16 when I met her and she immediately impressed me with her maturity, intelligence and,most of all, kindness. As she grows and I get to know her better, she keeps surprising me as she is turning into a fantastic young woman. And she is funny too. I say that she has Russ’s sense of humor but she is actually funny

Vanda: What can I say about Vanda? I’ve known her for more than a decade and we’ve been through so much from university to holidays, to so many moments together. She has been there for my bad and also for my good times. For all occasion she is a friend I cherish beyond words. I just wish she was here with me

I don’t think I could ask for better bridesmaids then these 3 young ladies. And I know I can count on them just as they can count on me (L)

So yesterday Jemma and I went hunting for wedding dresses. She had booked appointments in two shops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The one in the morning was a very posh shop so we decided to dress up to it including high heels (big mistake). The afternoon one was a normal shop, the kind where I can actually afford to buy something.

We parked miles away from the first shop because we are cheap and the parking was free, and we walked there only to almost be blown away by the wind. It turns out that the lady was actually very nice and she knew what she was doing. She didn’t pressure me at all to buy anything and showed me dresses that were right for my body shape and the cheapest in the shop

Jemma took lots of pictures and I felt like a princess. The dresses were absolutely beautiful! There was one that the lady convinced me to try on and… It is The One! Oh my, it fitted beautifully and made me slim and gorgeous! There is only one problem. At £1100 it is way above the budget we agreed for the dress

We then went for lunch at Wagamamas (2 for 1 because we are cheap), back to the car and to the next shop. We walked miles in the rain on high heels and my feet are still killing me.

The next shop was small and a bit chavvy. The woman was horrible! Very rude. Didn’t like it at all. She didn’t even let Jemma take pictures except for my favourite one. In the end there were two that I liked very much. At around £700 the are a lot more affordable. But they are not The One. Every time I look at the pictures and see that dress, it makes me want to cry because I love it so much! I even dreamt about it. I wish I could put a picture here but Russ can’t see the dress.

Jemma was fantastic, really helped me a lot and got me into the spirit

I just wish Vanda could be here as well…

There is only one problem: Just close family from Russ’s side there are about 80 of them. Adding friends and my family there are close to 120 guest! Our budget is so small, especially considering that I might not even have a job at the time, that it is almost certain we won’t be able to have a proper sit down reception.

We already started asking for prices and our fears are confirmed. In order to have so many guest, the only possibility might be having a cerimony and a party with no food or maybe just a simple small buffet

We will go up to Derby in a couple of weeks and look at venues – we are shortlisting them already – and we hope we can keep the plan as it is and invite everyone.

Sophie and Russ’s mum are compiling a list of family – names, contacts and birthday, which is a big help!I already had Bridezilla moments but to be perfectly honest, so far I’m really having a good time ;-). I like organising

It’s all so exciting!