I am a Mrs!

After the years of plotting, planning and Googling, I am now officially married.

Everyone had warned us how quickly time would fly by on the day and it was so true! The morning preparations went by in a blur. It was an absolute hive of activity. There was a make up artist, photographer, florist, neighbours, bridesmaids, family and friends fluttering around the place!

The night before, I (along with one of the other bridesmaids) slept a grand total of three hours. I was so excited and wondering how the day would unveil. I ended up getting up at 5am and pottering about til the rest of the house woke up. My Dad had organised for hot breakfast food to be brought to the house whilst we were at the hairdressers getting our 'dos done.

In the middle of all the madness, I even made time to vote! On the way back from the hairdressers with my veil fastened to my head, I trotted to the local voting centre with my Chief Bridesmaid in tow to help keep my veil off the ground. Got a few strange looks, but it was my constitutional duty, wedding day or no!

Before I knew it, we were all heading to the venue which was an hours drive away. It was only then the nerves started to hit! We chose a Chrysler 300c from Blue Ribbon, which was one of the most comfortable cars I've ever traveled in (even better when there's a Champagne accompaniment, but more about that later!)

The lovely wedding car

The running joke for most weddings is how late the Bride is going to be. I was ready to get wed at 1pm, on schedule. By the time we got pics taken and the Piper (Yes! There was a Piper, and he was awesome! It was a huge surprise and made the day even more special. I'm half Scottish, so it was very important for me to have my heritage play a part on the day) had played a few tunes to signal my impending arrival, we were ready and waiting to go into the ceremony room.

The Piper playing us into the Reception

I was a little weepy when I saw our Page boy decked out in his kilt, but I kept it together. (Surprisingly!) Here's a little secret about me. I am a softie. An out and out softie. I cry at Disney movies, soppy TV ads, a moving song, and weddings. I bawl at them all! So there was a lot of  people waiting in the room for my waterworks moment.

And it didn't happen!

I didn't cry during the ceremony at all. Little misty eyed yes, but no tears!

Instead it was my lovely new husband that got emotional. And I'm dying to see all the photos!

The Sylvanian Family wedding on the ceremony table

Our Zombie wedding couple, also on the ceremony table!

The Bridal party walked into Hoppípola, one of our favourite songs. It was only when I heard the opening bars of the song that it really hit that this was real and happening right now! We had opted for a Spiritualist ceremony and everyone came up to us afterwards and said it was absolutely beautiful. Our solemniser, Miriam did such a beautiful job in creating the ceremony and letting our personalities shine through, including a spontaneous high 5, a reading about dinosaurs and Sylvanian families and Lego decor.

Spontaneous High 5 FTW!

Little snap of our ring cushion

 After meeting up and chatting with our guests, we headed to the Japanese Gardens to get our photos taken with the Wedding party. We also had a fingerprint tree, a Lego wall, mulled cider and lots of mini scones and biscuits for our guests to enjoy whilst we were out gallivanting.Thankfully the weather seemed to work in our favour for the most part, so we made the most of it! On the way back, my new husband and I were ferried back to the hotel with champagne in the car before getting showered with confetti by our excited family and friends!

Confetti! All over the place!

The Lego Wall.. No naughty words on these ones!

By then, we were famished and ready to eat! We were escorted into the room by the Piper and after some kickass speeches from our Best Man Lady, both Dads, Mr. Ree and myself, the manging commenced! The food went down really well and there was lots of empty plates heading back to the kitchen, which is the best compliment in my book!

Wedding cake noms!

My talented sister-in-law made our cake for us, which was an array of champagne and strawberry cupcakes with a beautiful sponge cake on top. She had also created our wedding favours which were origami cranes, each holding a card with a poem she had written about the day and forget me not seeds for our guests to bring home and plant. It was such a lovely touch, and something which we hope everyone enjoyed.

One of the beautiful cranes

After all the dining and chatting, we all gathered in the lobby and bar, grabbing our inflatable Batman who had dutifully waited at the Reception desk for his big moment. After all the meeting and greeting, it was only fair that he should partake in some of the fun!

Batman on the dancefloor. He lost his head 5 times but still kept going! The trooper.

Mr. Ree's sisters (My new sisters-in-law) ushered us into the room where we had a surprise waiting for us! They had secretly put together a sweet table and even more nerdy cupcakes! The table was heaving with jars filled with fizzy saucers, jellies, marshmallows and so many more yummy treats! It went down a storm with the kids, and big kids alike! Later on we had lots of tea and coffee served with traditional Scottish shortbread. Needless to say, our guests were on a total sugar high!

Two big kids attacking the sweet table!

Just two of the wedding cupcakes on the sweet table - More pics as we get them!

A last minute purchase was some inflatable musical instruments. I found a company on eBay which were wonderful to deal with so we ordered some guitars, saxophones, banjos and microphones. Everybody had so much fun with them, which was great to see! There was a mix of kids with saxophones, grown men hopping around with guitars and karaoke fans warbling into the microphones. A must have for parties and weddings alike methinks.

The one element of the day that everyone was absolutely blown away by, was the band, Full Moon Boogie Band. They. Were. AWESOME! From the moment they started playing to their encore, the dance floor was never empty! When Batman was airborne and being danced with, they even broke out this tune, much to everyone's amusement. How can you not "Na-na-na-naaah!" along with it?

There was dancing til the wee hours, before whoever was still standing headed to the resident's bar for a traditional sing-song. By that point, shoes had been kicked off, cupcakes had been stashed in handbags and jackets had been discarded. By that point, I'd almost been awake for 24 hours, so it wasn't long before I could hear bed calling me!

A blurry pic of some musical instruments enthusiasts

All in all, we had an absolute ball! You hear Brides and Grooms look back on their wedding day and say it was the best day of their lives. So I won't say that. But it was definitely the best day of our lives so far! Mere days after our wonderful wedding day, we went Honeymooning with Mickey Mouse. But more on that next time!

I've planned a wedding, alongside my new husband. Will I stop looking at wedding things online and sniffling over wedding TV shows? Probably not. Watch this space!

Invites, Envelopes and Stamps, oh my!

Time is officially racing by at warp speed! We are mere weeks away from the wedding and this is quite possibly they busiest September of our lives!

This month alone, we have our engagement photoshoot, meeting with our solemniser to plan our wedding ceremony, Hens and Stags, Fittings, Hair and Make up trials and probably lots more besides!

A few months back I wrote a blog about wedding invitations. So it's only fair that I show you a little sneak preview of what we sent out to our guests. Ta-da!

Photo shamelessly nicked from Sue Fitzpatrick

We didn't want to go down the traditional wedding stamp route as the one for this year just made me cringe. The couple just look so awkward.

You're fooling no one, lads!

I know that most people probably wouldn't even look at the stamp, but you become completely enraptured in the little details for your wedding day. With this in mind, we scouted the An Post website trying to find something a little more 'us'. We then popped into the GPO to see what was available. Because we're such literary fans and enjoy films, including horror, how could we resist these bad boys?

 

We had been warned by couples who had trotted down the wedding planning route that in time, we would argue about something wedding related. Never in a million years did I think it would be over envelopes.

ENVELOPES!

I don't think I'd ever looked twice at most envelopes. But in my mind, only cream ones would do. Mr. Ree pointed out my previous opinion on envelopes, but now I had a colour scheme to erm.. defend? In the middle of our argument I stopped mid-sentence and said "We are fighting over envelopes." It was at that point, I knew that the wedding planning had taken over.

We laughed about it, now referred to as 'Envelopegate' and got it sorted. But it will go down in history as the most ridiculous argument we've ever had!

So what's next Chez Ree? We've to sort out our wedding ceremony next and finalise choices across the board. No-one ever said planning a wedding was easy!

Make and do inspiration

I have the greatest of respect for brides and grooms who inject creativity into their wedding day with DIY projects. So you can only imagine my excitement when I came across this project on Offbeat Bride 

Shaving Cream lanterns. I couldn't believe my eyes! I'm not the most competent DIY and craft enthusiast, but I could definitely give it a bash! All you need is shaving foam and food colouring. Swirl it up and then dip whatever you want to tie dye into it. Easy peasy.. I think!

For the full list of pics from this particular bride's project, click here.

Here's a tutorial I found online. It's about using shaving foam to decorate Easter Eggs, but it can be used on all sorts of textiles and surfaces.

Will I be able to use it for something to do with the wedding? Watch this space!

Paperwork, Invitations and Attire, oh my!

We have officially been flat out here chez Ree. The WEDDING DAY is looming, well not looming exactly but it's fast approaching!

Friends of ours had advised us to get all the small jobs done as even they will stress you out closer to D-Day. This has now left me in the position of comparing swatches, trying to decide between wooden or paper boxes and Google has been completely exhausted with wedding related searches. (Sorry Google!)

If Google was a cat

Last week we registered our intent to marry, so the State is aware that we're intending on having our nuptials in Ireland. (With Alpacas! But more about that later)

I was convinced that I would forget something when we went to meet the registrar. Even though they had kindly sent us out a letter with a checklist, I still got my long suffering parents to rifle through the family files until the right birth cert was found. (Who knew there was more than one type of birth certificate? I didn't!)

After we had all the correct paperwork, off we went to the Registrar's office (and somehow managing not the 'stray' into the Science Gallery!) We then went upstairs to wait with some other couples. While we were waiting to go in, a couple were called forward and a third man joined them. It set my mind racing! When did plural marriage become legal in Ireland? How did I miss this? How modern and risqué! Mr. Ree was quick to burst my bubble and point out it was probably a translator. Even still, people watching and creating wild back stories for people will continue to be a hobby.

The Registrar we met with was lovely and very helpful. She went through our paperwork and wanted to check that we were in no way related. We assured her that we were definitely not swimming in each other's gene pools. She took photocopies of our passports (which contains the most horrific picture of me. Seriously!) All in all, the whole process took about 10-15 minutes and was relatively painless. For a list of all the bare necessities, click here.

It's all real now!

A very good friend of ours has also agreed to make the invitations for us. We went to a Wedding Fair earlier in the year and hadn't been blown away with the selection. I have never had any particular affinity with doves, flowers or birdcages* before, so I didn't see the point in including them in our wedding day. Cue an email of video game imagery, cartoons and toys being sent to our pal, and to his credit he didn't flinch. Probably because he knows what nerdy things we're into. With some wedding suppliers we have dealt with, they're not sure how to deal with more 'specialised' requests and tried to steer us down the more traditional routes. Needless to say, we didn't go down those garden paths.

* As an aside, I always thought the symbolism behind a birdcage and linking it with a wedding was bizarre. Wedding doesn't equal entrapment surely? Or perhaps I'm overthinking this..

The last thing we need to work out is what everyone is wearing on the day. I have to hold my hands up and admit it's the one can I've been kicking down the road. I'm at the point where I don't mind what the bridesmaids wear, as long as they're comfortable. Ditto the lads, but the only rule I have is: No gold, and no pink! Although I've been asked by guests if there are colours they're not allowed to wear. I find it shocking that some brides tell their guests what the can and can't wear. The mind boggles! Needless to say, I quickly quashed the questions (Mm.. Q alliterations!) regarding colour schemes. I think the only way I could be upset is if someone wore a big flouncy wedding dress, tiara and arrived in a carriage. I have my gúna almost a year now and I'm pretty sure no one will be wearing the same outfit. If there is, I'm not getting changed!

For more up to date wedding related giddiness, check me out on Twitter @LisaOree

I can totally understand why there are wedding planners in the world...

With less than five months to go til the wedding day, the reality is beginning to hit.

We've been booked into our hotel for a menu tasting, have to finalise wedding invitations and been 'confirming' things. It really doesn't seem like that long ago since I brought home a shitload* of wedding magazines and we started making lists of venues we liked. I'm glad that we organised some key aspects of our wedding shortly after engaged as I feel like I'm running out of steam!

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the wedding planning. But it's trying to allocate time to do it. When I'm in 'getting shit done' mode, I'm on fire! But then there are the duvet days, when I just want to stay in my onesie all day and just veg out on the couch. These are the days that I sometimes wish I had a wedding planner.

In my mind's eye, the wedding planner is like the grown up's version of a Fairy Godmother. She is knowledgeable, sage and completely calm. She wouldn't be getting frustrated if she couldn't find the right type of flowers and stuff (It's not happened to me yet either, but watch this space!)

Nobody gonna mess with the Fairy Godmother!

It's funny, but when I first started picking out things that I liked and putting it into a wedding folder, I could see why people enter into the career as a wedding planner. It's an exciting time, creativity is rife and there are all kinds of possibilities laid out on the table.

When you have those initial decisions made and deposits are put down there's always a little niggling feeling of doubt. No matter how much you feel like this is the right decision for you both. Is the colour scheme going to work out? (Apparently colours can be 'seasonal' - who knew?!) What food will suit everyone? Sweet Jesus what if the dress doesn't fit?!

You could easily worry yourself into a nervous wreck, but I have to catch myself and do this to myself - mentally speaking!

A wedding is one day. One. Is anyone really going to notice or care if there is no apparent colour scheme, or if steak isn't on the menu, or if I'm sporting bingo wings you could perform a flying squirrel leap with? After all, a dog marriage is for life. I don't think I'll look back and sweat the small stuff.

So even though I have my days of "I really should get cracking on ~random wedding task~" I don't know that I would happily give the reins over to someone who doesn't know all my quirks and in-jokes. Until then, we'll just keep on trucking, we're very nearly there!


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