Okay, so as of 13th June it has been a year since my OH and I were engaged. First thing we organised was the venue. We live in Dundee and visited quite a few both in and out of the city. In the end it came down to two, Huntingtower Hotel and Fingask Castle, both in nearby Perth. Took nearly two months to decide and in the end we went with what we could afford and not necessarily what was cheaper.. So Fingask won mostly down to it's topiary which fits in with our theme. We will have full run of the venue and their pavilion as well as they are happy for us to do what we like. Lawn games and a bouncy castle is a must on our wish list as we are big kids at heart and I also have about 13 nieces and nephews (both related and through close friends) :D

I bought my Wedding Dress as well which was the first shop and second dress I tried on so very happy and couldn't believe it fit like a glove. Was X Sample sale and a mystery as the designer details are missing so no idea who made it.

The next thing was photographer, this is a big deal for us as we don't just was something traditional but something different and quirky and after a lot of searching again we found a fantastic Polish couple who live in Edinburgh and have worked at our venue of choice 3 times already and have fantastic work and turn bad weather into an asset to be used beautifully in a picture.

My OH dealt with the caterer after finding them at a wedding event at the venue and found their canapés delicious, we booked an appointment with them for a tasting and was pleasantly surprised they didn't just give us samples but a full on carvery meal as well which tasted magnificent! Originally we were planning a hog roast but the business changed hands and all of a sudden they were wanting to add on fee's for some rather stupid things. So a carvery is what we're going for :D

We've also booked our Humanist Celebrant. My OH is atheist whereas I am agnostic so a religious ceremony is out of the question. Neither of us wanted a registry office wedding either. We met our celebrant, Gary, through another wedding fair held here in Dundee and discovered he was the same person who presided over our friends wedding and couldn't wait to discuss ours with him! During our chat we felt very relaxed and had a good laugh so again, very confident in our choice.

Recently my best friend/sister who is Matron of Honour came up from my home town of Portsmouth with her family for 8 days so I can finally meet my now 6 month old nephew as well as meet the other two BM's. Between us we also came to a decision regarding one of my BM's being promoted to Maid of Honour as she has been a major help and also being the local one is doing a lot of the organising which my bestie cannot be here to do. My bestie is also the one giving me away since neither of my parents are in my life. Got loads of ideas of how we're going to be putting across the Wonderland side of things from a "magic looking glass" which looks normal one moment until you step close and suddenly you see the table plan, tree centre pieces with wooden sign posts showing character names, flamingo croquet, signposts everywhere, photo booth with Wonderland Props, Tea cup place settings, chess board dance floor. We've also found a place to get a Frog Waiter prop from the sweetie bar :D So excited!

Less than 14months now :D

Here is some pics of our save a dates which I made myself using inks and parcel tags and a custom stamp we sent out as well as ideas.

Thanks, we're just wanting a fun relaxing day. One of the things that we really didn't want is a formal sit down meal so after ceremony we're having canapés as the starter during the cocktail hour and while pictures are being taken, then a carvery meal with 3/4 different meats. No dessert because we're having a sweetie table with a chocolate fountain and some additional canapés.

Forgot to mention as well that last week had all my BM's together for a shop around for dresses, this was the first time all three met each other and they had a loads of fun dressing up as they are similar but slightly different shapes so we wrapped up with an idea of what style suits them all and also got flower girls dress too though it's a bit big for her at the moment.

wow all looks and sounds fab :) Well done on winning comp :)

I started that way but tbh I stopped .... I really need to start comps again lol good luck for others you have entered :)

Thanks Tanya :) Wasn't as happy with them until I got feedback from everyone. Only my eldest aunt didn't approve because she really doesn't feel black has a place at a wedding.

Wow how amazing your wedding seems! Can't wait to see all your ideas come to life over the coming months!! :)

Possible candidate for wedding dress but planning on getting it in a dusky pink.

Also, on a unrelated but related note... my 1 year old daughter has mad hatter tea party bedding, curtains, and other bedroom accessories from the designer J, and has a light up white bunny! I am determined to pass on my love of Alice in Wonderland! Haha x

Thanks Jessica, yeah I have a HUGE pinterest board for my wedding theme. Got loads of ideas. Wish I could link it to this but hey ho. I love Alice in Wonderland so much so that I swear my first girl would be called Alice lol. I have a few pictures on my page if you want to have a peek.

I love Disney as well and we're having a Mickey/Mini mouse cake toppper. Got my ideas already for the wedding invites which will be brightly coloured compared to the save a dates but will still go out in black envelopes.

Just had a look through your photo's and the ideas are lovely! I like the table runner idea with the trees in the middle, very suiting! Do you know what you are going to do for the table numbers? x

Have to say I have seen your theme recently in a wedding mag and from your pics yours look better than the way the mag had made up the day lol x

I am sure it will all come together in the way that you want it :) It is an amazing theme and there is so much that you can do with it, you won't be stuck for ideas. And it will look stunning on the day. I actually saw on an advertisement today on facebook a mickey annd minnie mouse cake. It had about four tiers and was covered in gold etched icing with a famous Disney quote on, I can't think at the moment what the quote said though. I immediately thought of you though when I saw it haha! x

We haven't been to Disney world yet, can't wait until our daughter is old enough that we can take her and she will enjoy it! I also want to visit the Harry Potter world in Orlando and the Harry Potter studio's near London! There is no such thing as being too old! x

I got told by my friend that if we are to go to Disney land Florida we should probably wait until our daughter is about 7 so that she can understand it and take full advantage of the things available there. I don't think my h2b would ever go to the one in France as he doesn't like France... He has never been but he doesn't like it! He also said to me that he wouldn't take me to the harry potter studios down south because he doesn't like London :p he doesn't like a lot of places, can you tell?

There is no shame in it! It is great to act like a child every once in a while :) it keeps you young at heart and in mind!Is it very expensive to go there? Including flights and everything. My h2b was saying that our friend who lives in America (our best woman) wanted us to fly over to go on a cruise with them but after looking at the flights it would have meant that we would be spending about four grand at least! x

Ah well, that sounds really good. It sounds like you will be able to have an amazing honeymoon! We don't have much room for movement with our income at the moment which is partly why our wedding has been booked for April 2017, we also want our daughter to be old enough that she will listen to us when we say we want her to be flower girl and what she needs to do for it. But thats also why our dream honeymoon of travelling to Eastern Asia (either China or Japan) is out of the question. We probably will barely have enough to go abroad at all but fingers crossed. I am hoping once we are both earning more though that we will be able to take our daughter to Disney Land Florida x

Had a wonderful afternoon in a bridal shop today, turned out the sales assistant use to work with my OH and a few friends of ours so had a nice chat with her and she was fantastic at being honest with me about what she feels suits me and listening to my gripes on my body, I had so much fun and before I knew it nearly THREE HOURS had passed! I can't count how many dresses I tried on but narrowed it down to three in that store I really liked. First here is the wildcard she threw in, a really nice fishtail called Beautiful by Enzoani

and finally the one I REALLY liked... bordering on Loving because I don't want to commit just yet until next weeks appointment. But yeah, I put this dress on twice and I loved moving around in it.

There is also a big coincidence with this one... my favourite Disney song which I sing to myself all the time and use as my 'go to' lullaby to sing my nieces and nephews to sleep is Once upon a Dream... so yeah you guessed it... say Hi to Alfred Angelo's "Sleeping Beeauty" :)

I just LOVED the purple detailing on it and if I was to go for this dress I asked the assistant if the lacing in the back can be in the same colour of purple which she said they would be happy to speak to the designer about asking for additional fabric to make the lacing for the corset back!

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Oh wow Victoria! I love them all! The sleeping beauty is definitely you though! :D

That sleeping beauty dress looks amazing on you Victoria! Is that the one you are wanting to get? The type of dress I want is similar to the first one you put up only I want a bit of a longer train on it and either strapless or with cap sleeves or off the shoulder straps x

Flossie: I had an idea of what I wanted, something with a dropped waist and a layered skirt and generally quite simple but yeah these were a surprise. The Belle dress is just a little too much bling for me to handle though but I really liked the detailing on the SB dress as it was a bit of fun on the dress.
Jessica: The first one I put up did have a good train behind it but just can't see it in the picture. I'm not going to say I want to get it but it's a definite contender and I have been checking with the OH if we can afford it :)

Technically I have a dress I bought a long while ago but I have really fallen out of love with it, I bought it on impulse and when I went to see it again back in June I felt horrible because I was disappointed in it and after a while of making myself feel like that OH said I needed to go and find a different dress if it was making me that way. Only spent £250 on the original dress so it's not a huge loss but will stick on the Bay. Been searching properly now for a couple of weeks.

Yeah, you know that if you aren't beaming every time you see your dress and you don't have that giddy feeling that it isn't the right one. At least your h2b has agreed that you needed a new dress. You need to feel special on your day so you need to be happy with every detail! I hope you find something you really love very soon :) x

Oh wow Victoria, they look really amazing! Love them x

your wedding sounds like its going to be fantastic. Well done with the detailing, perfect! Love the ideas