Pre Wedding Party ♥

We have booked our one year pre-wedding party! It may be a little unusual to do, but that's us all over really. One of our favourite restaurants is called 'Syriana' in Birmingham. It's not one that would probably spring to mind to go to as it's a little out the way and it is Syrian and Lebanese food which I would of never tried before. One day we just ended up going, and I expected it to be spicy (even though I love spicy food), and I can be fairly picky, although I'm open to try new things.

The restaurant inside is long and narrow, with pretty multicoloured lights and fabric drapes, really traditional for that side of the globe. The food however, is AMAZEBALLS! We go every one to two weeks we love it that much, and it's about £17.95 a head for a big mezze to start, with flatbreads and loads of different dips, then you choose your main, I have marinated chicken and rice, then you have sweet pastries called Bakalava's (or however you may spell it) to finish. 

The staff there are so hospitable, and we always have a good old chat with the owner and manager, as I think we are their most frequent and loyal customers! So we thought what better than to have it there. We have the whole second floor hired to ourselves, with the three courses per head for about 40 people. We are having it Aladdin themed to go with the look of the restaurant, and giving the people coming the option to dress up! We are having a belly dancer too so she can give us all some lessons, and having the jingly jangly belts to dance to their groovy choons! (Cheese!)

Being the bride, I'm opting for a white outfit! Here's what I'm thinking.

I am by NO means having my belly out - LOL - but I shall probably have a plain white long sleeved top with Bride to Be in diamantes on it. These are harem pants and are only £6.99 from Ebay. I'm not too sure if the jingly jangly belt comes with it though, but that's only about £2.80 on it's own anywho.

So it's something very different to do a year before the wedding, I can't wait! It will actually be 2 days less than a year because of it being on the Saturday - of course I'm not counting too much.

I'll keep you updated on that! 

Tilly xXx

Operation Wedding Dress #5 ♥

I haven't done a proper Operation Wedding Dress update since the 29th of August! Can you believe that? Slapped wrists pour moi! So I briefly mentioned in the last but one post that I had lost about 2 stone now, and in my last Operation Wedding Dress post I weighed 13st 6lbs, I am now 12st 6.5lbs so almost another stone since the last time we had a chinwag about it. I have lost 30.5lbs in total, or 2st 2.5lbs, and have gone from a size 18 - 20 to a comfortable 14. Obviously, we are on the brink of Christmas and it's going to be quite difficult to be as strict, and I am finding that already - bit of choccy here and there - but I feel like I can see a size 12 on the horizon, and that was something I could of never dreamed of before I started this.

My ultimate goal weight is 11st 1lb according to weight watchers. I think this next stone will be the hardest to shift, but I know in the new year I'm really going to try for it. My current goal in the meetings is 12st. We now have a dog, so we try and go for walks that are about 40 minutes long and I hope to build that up, and increase the pace to a jog, then a run, but we will see how that goes!

My BMI has lowered from my heaviest weight being 34.57, to now 28.09. Don't really know what it all does but I'm glad I'm now in the 20's at least. 2lb a week loss from now until Christmas would be really nice to achieve my 12st goal by then but who knows. It's nice to think hopefully this time next year I will have my wedding dress and it's all hunky dory.

Just thought I'd show you this brooch. It's from Primark and was £4.00, and I bought it to go in my hair for a ball I went to last weekend. I just think it's so pretty, and if your are looking for brooch's for a sparkly bouquet, this might be a good one without breaking the bank. I just attached it to my side bun with a load of grips.

Just another quickie, I have found a great website called Final Stitch through a lady that tweeted me it. It's a great forum for brides to be, where you can pop on photos, details about how you and your other half met, and a great site to get plenty of inspiration! My username is 'wicktilleth' if you fancy a scout round, I have a few pics on, and will keep updating as the next 17 months whizz by. I'm doing two posts today, I have more things to write about!!

Ooo Oooo and....the sweet cart and DJ are now Booked! I didn't think we were going to have a sweet cart, but it's a really tall one and fits great with the vintage theme. I can dress it up however I want, and we have chosen 12 different sweets that are unlimited all night. I also cheekily asked the company to throw in the candyfloss machine for an hour to which they have agreed! You don't ask, you don't get. So the deposit is down on that too, just got to think of all the songs we want the DJ to play over the next year as well! 

Tilly xXx

A Visit Up North ♥

This weekend we went up to the venue with Ed's sister and boyfriend, and went 'Glamping' while we were there. We stayed in these wooden Octolodges, which were really cute and cosy. It was all heated with plug sockets and a T.V., only downside was the toilet and shower block was a walk down a hill but that's what it's all about. Ed was walking down to it with me in his PJ's and decided it would be more fun to get to them by falling and sliding down the hill! I turned round and he was covered in mud, so the one positive about that, it gave us a right laugh. 

Here was a view from the lodge at about 8am. It was stunning with mist off the hills, and snow on the mountains, you forget that sights like this exist in England!

This was the view in the day. This is about 20 miles away from our venue.

If we ever go up to Kendal I always make sure I have a quick mooch in the charity shops, they seem to have bags more goodies than we do. I just go in with an open mind and see what I come out with. With the help of Ed's sister, we found this gorgeous vintage hand mirror, with an ivory sequined back. I'm not sure how old it is, but it's quite heavy and I think it is brass. I just thought it would look gorgeous as a little vintage prop somewhere in the room, and the design of it is very wedding like. A whole £2.00 it cost! Definite bargain.(Sorry for the rubbish pictures, I was in a rush!)

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I've been after two vintage suitcases for the wedding. One for the table plan (I'll explain how when I do it!) and one to put any cards we receive in. I've looked on Ebay and they are all around £50.00, or too far away to pick up, and they are so popular now as a shabby chic home accessory. We walked into this charity shop and there it was. Perfect. Dark brown, rectangular, tatty, with somebody's initals on. It's also great because I found it in Kendal, so just another little sentimental point to it. I had the whole shop trying to help me get into the thing though, it was so tightly shut no one could open it! I just thought I would risk it and have it anyway for £15.00. 

When I got home we sprayed some WD40 on the clasps and it popped open like magic. It's in decent condition inside, but it'll look great when it's newly lined with floral fabric etc! Just one more to find now.

Tilly xXx

Oh Hey Stranger! ♥

Well haven't I neglected this blog for a good old while? Both of them have gone down the pan really, sorry if anyone does read it! We have moved house and we are pretty busy at the moment, always something going on. We also get our new dog on Tuesday, a six year old Springer Spaniel called Milo, who we are taking in from our friends as they are also on the move. He's a big ball of fun and I can't wait to have him around, he will also be an asset to my weight loss I hope with all the walking.

Talking of weight loss, I have hit about 2 stone loss now. It hasn't even really felt too much of a struggle. Although some weeks it is tough as we are getting into these cold winter months. There's nothing better than sitting in front of the T.V. with Ed, doing a bit of crochet, and eating copious amounts of snacks. I love it, and this week it seems to have overtaken me a little. I hope to get back on track once I have Milo, and get this weekend over as we are Glamping and visiting the wedding venue.

At my heaviest, before I skydived, I was a horrendous 15st 4lbs and I can't believe I'm typing that really. I joined weight watchers at 14st 9lbs, as I lost a little bit for the skydive. I am now at 12st 9lbs and feel better already. After this bit of a bad patch I am hoping I'll get back on track, and if this picture is anything to go by, it should give me all the incentive I need.

March 2011            October 2012

So we are going up to Kendal this weekend to pay off another chunk of the cost. We are slowly but surely getting there. We are staying at a farm, in something called an Octolodge, like a luxury wooden hut with heating and a T.V. and everything. I'm looking forward to escaping for a couple of days, although I doubt it's going to do wonders for the diet living on crisps and pot noodles. 

Anywho, just a quick update, and I'll get back to the wedding posts when I have returned from Kendal!

Tilly xXx

The Wedding Cake Confessions ♥

If you read my previous post, you may know I have been worrying about the wedding cake! In that post, I put that we were thinking of buying three plain tiers from Marks and Spencers, and decorating it ourselves. Ed and I went into M&S over the weekend, and took a little look at the cakes. They had them in stock priced at £56.00 for the Large base tier, £40.00 for the middle and £10.00 for the top, which was tiny. We looked at the birthday cakes, and a similar cake the size of the medium tier, decorated as a birthday cake with intricate flowers etc, was £15.00! It is an absolute rip off, plus I really don't want to be an average joe with three white tiers. What suits some, doesn't suit others and I'm all about bringing the quirk to the table.

So, we put our heads together while we were in the shop and came up with an idea that suits us down to the ground.

You know these little guys? They are the yummiest of the yummy in my opinion! Our table names will all be after Parisian monuments as that is where we got engaged. So what better than French Fancies? They also go along with the vintage theme as they are vintage picnic-esque if that makes sense. 

We are both fans of French fancies, so we thought how could we turn it into a wedding cake. Then I remembered they do these...

Giant French Fancies! A Perfect tier topper, and the cake that we can cut. These retail at £8.00 - an ever so slight difference to the £300.00 for a shop made cake, and from the £106.00 for the plain one from Marks & Spencers.

The plan is to purchase an acrylic square cake stand, ideally with 5 tiers. The giant cake on the top, and all the normal French Fancies on the four other tiers. This is the cake stand, and is £24.99 on Ebay with free P&P, I shall link it under the image. The trouble is, the top tier is 6 inches wide, and I have no idea of the size of the giant French Fancy, so I am going to pop to Sainsbury's with my ruler, and make myself look like a mad woman. The average cost of a pack of 6 Fancies is about £1.00, with a hundred guests that's about £16.00, so maybe a few more for good measure. Say £30.00 for the entire cake, job DONE!

To pretty it up a little I may stick some of the sugar flowers mentioned in the previous post on the giant cake, and a few of the little ones, just to make it look more wedding like, but that's only an extra couple of pounds. 

And there is the quirky, budget-savvy wedding cake, sorted.

Tilly xXx

My Little Ebay Finds ♥

Being a DIY bride, I must spend hours upon hours sifting through Ebay. Pages and pages of items from sugar flowers to dresses. This blog should probably be called confessions of the Ebay bride, but hey ho! I thought I would just share with you a few items I have found that I am considering for the wedding, how much they are, and what I plan to do with them. I'll also pop the links below each image, so if you are planning your own celebration, you could get them yourself =) These are in no particular order, just whatever I pick out.

These organza bags are a total bargain, it's 50 for £1.79 or 100 for £3.19. I am torn between the nude colour and the pink. As well as favours which may possibly be teeny pots of home-made jam, I am going to have these organza bags dotted randomly on tables filled with mini eggs! It is Easter Good Friday on our wedding day, so I thought we have to involve it somewhere. This just means there's a subtle hint of Easter, mini eggs are nice pastel colours, so I could put five bags on each table, and then fill a bowl of mini eggs on the buffet table. The total cost would probably be less than a tenner for a pretty little Easter hint.

Update - I bought 50 nude bags for £1.79, wehey!

Organza Bags

This is some floral vintage style fabric I have found. It comes in a fat quarter bundle for £7.50 with £1.75 postage. These would be ideal for the top covers for the jam favours, and also to make some bunting. The fabric on the far right has the exact colours of my little sister's bridesmaid dress too! So I shall get two lots of these because I think they will look so pretty all around the tables on the jam lids, tied with some brown twine! I have already got the twine too, 4 rolls from the 99p store!

Vintage Fabric Bundle

These are the teeny Jam jars I keep waffling on about. They are so cute! You know the type when you go down for breakfast at a hotel, and they have these with Jam and marmalade? I think with them being small they add a bit of quirkyness to the favours, and with a nice sticker saying 'Spread the Love' on the front, perhaps with the date of our wedding, they will be super duper. The only slight issue is...I've never made Jam before! Where there's a Till, there's a way!

These are 100 Jam jars for £53.00, which I don't think is too bad really. I excited to see them filled with Jam, with their little floral hats on!

Mini Jam Jars

Cake. Cake, cake cake. I have a mini panic attack when I think about the cake. Scouting around online, cakes are round about £300.00 for a 3 tier cake. It's daylight robbery, I know a lot of intricate work goes into them, but it only gets eaten! I have been thinking about buying a cake base, just sponge already iced in 3 or 4 tiers, and decorate it myself. Risky I know, considering you can only really get it 14 days before, and I could mess it up, but we will see! I think it's worth a go, plus it will be personalised, even if it's crap.

These pretty sugar flowers are £3.99 for 100, and I could either dot them all over randomly, or do a pretty trail up the tiers. Ill have to design before I stick!

Sugar Flowers

That's enough jibberish for now, but at least you can see what I have been looking at. What do you think? Have you got any Ebay items to recommend? 

Tilly xXx

I am back ♥

Oh Hey! Long time no blog! What a few weeks it has been. Ed and I went to Cyprus for our holiday last week, I am missing it already! It was so lovely and hot, and all the guests we talked to seemed to be going to a wedding over there, or booking a wedding. We were thinking after all this talk, are we doing the right thing staying in the UK to tie the knot? After a 5 hour non - stop pool chat along with a few other hotel guests, and much thinking, I honestly think we are doing right by what we are doing. I know that all our guests can come, well more so than if it was in Cyprus, I can tailor the room to exactly how I want it, and if it rains then we will just have to have some romantic rainy pictures. 

Here we are over there. It's all about the giraffe sunnies!

If you have read the previous posts, you may know that I ordered my little sisters bridesmaid dress. Well it came, and my Mom took that big tacky bow off straight away and it made the world of difference. Where the bright pink ribbon is, I think we are going to cover it with a slightly duskier/lighter pink just to tone it down a little. I'm also going to try and get an underskirt to flare it out a little. It's a really cute dress though, different with a vintage feel which is what I really like on it. 

Here she is with it on, it's just the right size to grow into over the next 19 months for her, and she is holding one of the little posies I have been making. It's not quite finished, but we just took the photo so we could get the full effect.

I spotted another wedding dress on the land of Ebay yesterday, which is a gorgeous lace and taffeta dress. I really love it, it's so elegant but still holds that vintage touch with the shoulders. I have broad shoulders so I thought this would work well to tone them down but others have the opinion that it may accentuate them, any ideas?

I do still love the dress I have put on here as 'the one', I just love how classy this is. 

The lace up back detail is stunning, and this looks so nice with a long veil. I also have a tattoo on my right shoulder, so this would also tone that down a little if I was going to cover it. That's another post in itself that I'll talk about at a later date. 

I hope everyone is well, next post coming very soon! Ooo and P.S. I gained 4lb on holiday, I went to weight watchers yesterday. I think it may have been more than that though because we moved house on Saturday and I must of dropped a couple then! I am really disheartened actually, because the people that joined around the same time as me who I was running alongside with weight loss, are now a few lbs ahead of me. I really need to try and get it off!

Tilly xXx