And so the journey begins...

After almost 8 years together Dan and I got engaged over Christmas – Christmas Day in fact. The proposal was perfect for us – no big romantic gestures, just the two of us (and Ross the dog) and of course the ring! It is perfect! Exactly the sort of ring I would have chosen for myself – dainty, elegant, slightly vintage looking and of course lots of diamonds! It is beautiful; I love it and cannot bear to be apart from it!

Any woman that has/is in my position will understand that trying to get your other half interested in the little details of your big day is harder then drawing blood from a stone. In fact I think I have had more useful conversations with Ross the dog, who is nearing the age of 13 (an OAP in dog years), is a little deaf and lets face it a dog (no matter how much I wish he could talk). I found my self getting a little impatient with the fact that Dan “doesn’t mind” if we have twine or ribbon on our invites or that he “cant really see the difference” between one type of font or the other. As he so eloquently put it “Ange, I only really care about the where, when, who’s there and what I am going to eat and drink”. It was at this point that I was very close to unleashing a side of me I never knew existed – Bridezilla Angela and that would not have gone down well this early in the engagement! It is for this reason that I decided to start this blog. I need to keep myself sane without spending a fortune on my phone bill explaining everything to my sister/best friends and without taking out my frustrations on Dan – who lets be honest has just given me the most amazing Christmas Present ever – diamonds and a wedding to plan!

So since Christmas and the inevitable engagement celebrations, we started looking at venues. Early on we both decided we didn’t want a church wedding, neither of us are religious and both of us wanted something less formal. For me ‘the where’ is really important. Where we would exchange our vows, the place where we have our first meal as a married couple, where we have our first dance and where we celebrate with all our loved ones had to be perfect, but neutral enough for us to put our stamp on it. I started researching venues and drew up a short list…Dan immediately ruled one out “Ange, its next to an old peoples home and there’s no parking” – well they didn’t say that on the website! I then rang the other two to arrange viewings, the first (and the one I had secretly set my heart on) didn’t quite do it for Dan and as much as I would love to make the day all about me, I can’t do that to Dan. It’s our day and he has to be as happy about everything as I am. That left our final one or it was back to hours of trawling the Internet to draw up another list. We went to the open day, spoke to a few of the preferred suppliers and had a good nose around the venue. We both walked back to the car in silence… “So, what do you think Dan?” “I really like it, you?” “I love it” “Lets think about it for a week and maybe go back in a couple of weeks time”

So we thought about it, still loved it, went back with my sister and Dan’s mum in tow and we loved it even more!! Another week or so goes by, we decide that is the venue for us. Another week or so goes by while we discuss dates…June? July? How about August? How do you pick one day out of all the days available to get married on? In the end we went for the date which gave us the most chance of having a nice sunny day – we are hoping to get married outside so the weather has a very important role to play at our wedding. And that was that Wedding Task ♯1 – set the date and book the venue complete…27 July 2013 – Winkworth Farm, Malmesbury.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

Feel free to comment, share or never read again.

Ange x