wedding update

Thought it was about time for an update on how our wedding plans are all coming together as the day is now approaching at extremely high speed...only 6 weeks to go now (eek!) Firstly, above is a design incorporating elements of our invitations that my very clever sister created for us which has now been made into a stamp ready to decorate the paper bags for our candy buffet of old-fashioned sweets. I'm sure we'll also incorporate it into many other details of the day such as the menus. (Now having a mini panic that we haven't even thought about printing out the menus yet, or making place cards. Or sorted out a table plan...gulp).

We have however found a lady who makes very lovely and tasty cupcakes who will be creating our cupcake tower (which we've opted for instead of a traditional wedding cake), so I have been collecting inspiration images for her as to the kind of decoration and icing we'd like. Here are a few of my favourites cupcake inspiration pictures below- all images from Cupcake Land by ShamsD on flickr.

Small confession to make here- although I saw 'we' with regards to all matters of planning our wedding I have shamefully ploughed ahead and sidelined poor Curt on more than a couple of matters where my own personal ideas of taste and decoration have run away with me, combined with a flat panic that we now need to get things done as soon as possible which leaves no time for lengthy discussions or debates over alternative options. Which is really a load of rubbish as there is always time for making a joint decision, especially when it concerns such an important day as your wedding. And I am truly sorry for it. Smack on the hand for me! There'll be no more of that bridezilla behaviour here on in!

Anyhow, now I've got that off my chest, onto matters of the floral variety. I am making a trip back to my parents farm (the wedding venue) next week for a wedding related frenzy with my mother for five days where I'm hoping we'll manage to get some of the loose ends tied up. Chief priority is meeting with our floral designer and deciding what the heck we're going to do about flowers. Below are some images which caught my eye on a quick persusal of flickr.

Pretty display by cirasphotography

Gorgeous bouquet image from laura hanson

Another beautiful bouquet, this one from mamawolf111

One thing we can now tick off the list is sorting out the gift registry. This was really tricky for us because as I may have mentioned already, we are hoping to up sticks and leave the UK at some point next year (hopefully heading for Australia though this does seems a million miles away from actually being a reality right now). So, although to Curt's eternal dismay I reign supreme as the ultimate queen of clutter, I didn't seem wise to accumulate many more pots and pans or large items of furniture that we'd then have to ship overseas.

Our solution to this was to request monetary donations to our 'Making a New Life in Australia Fund' and for those friends and family members not keen or a little uneasy about the idea on writing us a cheque or handing over cash, which is of course totally understandable, we set up a small registry on the very lovely online site Not on the high street. Our wish list mainly consists of small(ish), decoorative items which shouldn't prove too much of a bother to take with us wherever we should end up. Here is a small selection of some of the pretty things that we chose.

Crown embellished milk jug and sugar pot

Children's Suitcases- cute storage idea

Wood & chalkboard herb planter

Set of enamel saucepans

Another exciting thing that we have recently sorted is our honeymoon. After literally months of deliberation (along the lines of, can we really afford a honeymoon right now?....If so, where should we go? etc..) we finally decided we will leave Lila in the hands of my wonderfully co-operative parents for a week, and two days after the wedding itself, head off to the beautiful island of Koh Samui off the southern coast of Thailand. We'd been throwing around destination ideas including the Maldives, Morocco and Bali but then came across the wonderful Centara Villas on Koh Samui and that pretty much had us sold.

I've been to Thailand before during my pre-University travels but Curt has never been so I'm really excited for him to experience it. Koh Samui can be a very busy, touristy place but we are staying on the quietest end of the island, away from all the hustle and bustle. According to the website, the villas "Cascade down a gentle hillside to the beach and oceanfront" and are "An idyllic vacation spot for the modern traveler seeking to get away from it all." Bring it on! Here are some pics below- if it does actually love up to these pictures then I will be one supremely excited newly-wed!