I originally wasn’t going to write much about our wedding as 1) I’m not sure how exciting it is to read about someone’s wedding that you don’t know, and 2) well my blog has moved on slightly from its lifestyle blog days. But actually, I thought it might be quite nice to write a few things about the wedding, especially as it can then give me something to look back on when I’m feeling nostalgic.
So hello if you are new here, my name is Lisa, and I’m planning a wedding with my fiancé, Chris.
Chris and I got engaged in January 2021 during lockdown, in a shed in my parent’s back garden. It might not sound like the most romantic of proposals, but it was really quite special, and he used a Harry Potter book – so some strong bonus points there.
So with less than 365 days to go to the wedding, here’s how our planning has been going so far!
The Venue
When we first got engaged we wanted to go see all the wedding venues, however, we were deep into a lockdown with no idea when we were coming out again – which slightly complicated the wedding planning process.
We sort of had an idea of what type of venue we liked, and found rustic barn venues seemed to be our favourite. We then did a lot of online research and narrowed it down to two venues that did virtual tours on their websites, and one of them offered ‘virtual viewings’ through Whatsapp. After a Whatsapp video call we completely fell in love with the venue, and just knew we had to book Dodmoor House for our wedding venue.
As it was still lockdown, Dodmoor allowed us to reserve a date until we could go to an in-person viewing, where we could then officially book our wedding.
Fun fact – the other venue that we quite liked, I ended up applying for a job at and started working at a year later!
The Photographer
When it came to our wedding budget, we both agreed there were two things we wanted to spend good money on; our venue and our photographer. We were going to have our photos to remember the day forever, and so I wanted to find a good photographer whose style we loved.
Now Chris and I are both socially awkward humans and are terrible at posing for photos. So we quite quickly came to the decision that a documentary-style photographer is better suited for us. Our venue had a list of recommended suppliers which is where we started our research, and I also found Instagram a great place to find other photographers that I liked, and we made ourselves a list of photographers we liked that fit within our budget. I ended up completely falling in love with one photographer based on her website, and after a zoom call to get to know her better, we decided that Hannah Hall Photography was the right photographer for us. I’m in love with her style, and she also put up with a load of cheese-related puns from me, and I’m very excited for her to photograph our wedding.
The Food
The food was the next important step in our wedding planning, and we had absolutely no idea where to start with it. Our venue offers us to bring in outside caterers, which not all venues do, so it meant we had more options available to us.
With no idea where to start, we actually turned to the Eat & Explore MK Facebook group to get ideas about suppliers, and recommendations from others. Deciding on what food we wanted for the wedding I think has been the hardest part of wedding planning for us, as we are both big foodies, and it’s hard to narrow the choice down to one! We ended up booking Aaron from Chef Hat Home, who listened to our ideas and created us a bespoke menu for our wedding – which I’m very excited about!
The Bridal Party
When it came to picking my bridal party it was an easy decision for me, as I knew who I wanted to be my bridesmaids and flower girls before I even got engaged.
Of course, we wanted to make sure our kids were involved in our wedding, and our daughter Ivy was the first choice for my flower girl, and our son Reuben will be Chris’s best man. Ivy was just over 1-years-old when we got engaged so asking her was a little different from asking my other bridesmaids. Instead, I made her an embroidery hoop as a keepsake which is now hung in her bedroom. I asked three of my nieces to also join her as flower girls, making them cards to ask them.
When it came to asking my bridesmaids, I gave them personalised bridesmaid proposal biscuits from A Slice of Life, which they all loved and said yes!
The Flowers
Flowers I found really hard, especially as we were trying to do the rest of the wedding on a budget. I originally had great ideas of lots of beautiful flowers, but after a few quotes for my ideas and realising that didn’t fit in with our budget I had to have a rethink.
I then started to think about dried flowers after visiting someone’s house and seeing that they had this beautiful bouquet of dried flowers on display. I got in touch with Lucy at Boho Blooms, a local Milton Keyes business, and we met for a coffee to talk through my ideas. Lucy then took my idea and ran with it, giving me a bespoke quote of what she could create for me – and I’m so excited with her ideas!
The Dress
I actually thought I’d find dress shopping a lot harder than I did. I had absolutely no idea what style I wanted, so started looking for a dress 18 months before the wedding so I could give myself plenty of time to look around and hopefully find something at around 12 months before the wedding.
Well, I fell in love with the 7th dress I tried on and ended up ordering my dress 18 months before the wedding. It then came into the shop 13 months before the wedding and now is well hidden in a wardrobe at my parent’s house until it’s time to do my dress fittings. I’m obviously keeping details about the dress a secret until the big day, but I’m absolutely in love with it – and it’s true what they say, you know it’s the one once you try it on.
I was very nervous about wedding dress shopping, being plus-sized I was worried I’d end up with limited choices, or something that didn’t feel special, but I actually had the most amazing experience at Confetti and Curves Bridal in Bedfordshire where I found my dress. They had so many different styles in their plus-size range, and I didn’t feel any less special due to my size. It’s also worth mentioning I had an equally wonderful experience at About A Bride Plus Size in Bletchley, who were just as amazing and had a fantastic range of plus-sized wedding dresses.
And that’s kind of where we are with wedding planning so far. We have a few other things booked, and a few more to book – but we’re getting there! So far I’ve not found the wedding planning process stressful, we’re having great fun planning and coming up with ideas. I’m probably going to write up a few more posts about our wedding and the planning process as well as posting over on Instagram – I even have a wedding highlight on there!
