Today’s post is somewhat of a personal one but hopefully those of you also in the mist of planning your own wedding will be able to take something from it, what that is however I’m not entirely sure! As most of you probably already know I am currently planning my own wedding & now have just under two months until the big day!! I know not long at all! (eeek!!) I haven’t really documented our journey so far (well I have a pin board, but who doesn’t??) as in I don’t have a wedding scrap book and have been pretty slack with downloading one of those ‘count down’ apps so this post is mainly for me to have something written down, evidence of our journey for me to look back on once the day has past. So with that in mind, please bare with me as there isn’t really a set format to any of this or a particular order it is merely me sharing a few thoughts on our wedding planning journey so far, which some of you may be able to relate to.

Without a doubt I would say one of our hardest decisions throughout this whole process has been deciding on a venue & I am 99% sure that Steve would agree (I shall ask him tonight for confirmation). You may find this surprising & people often said ‘you must have worked at lots of lovely venues so will have loads of ideas for where you want to get married’. Yes this is very true, I have indeed been lucky enough to work at lots of gorgeous venues however if anything this made our decision even harder! This paired with the fact that what we wanted didn’t really fit with the majority of venues within the Kent/Surrey/Sussex area. So what was it we wanted? Well when we were at the early stages of planning (I must add this wasn’t until 6 months after we got engaged in October 2014 as I wanted time to allow it all to sink in & enjoy being engaged) we of course sat down and discussed the type of day that we both envisaged. A key thing for both of us was that we wanted to have a relaxed and informal day. This ruled out a number of venues which personally we thought were a bit more formal & not really ‘us’ such as stately homes. We also wanted a venue where we could have the ceremony and reception all in one place. So when we started looking for more informal style venues we found that a lot of these tended to be barn type spaces which wasn’t what we were after either, I know difficult pair aren’t we?! I was quite conscious  too that I didn’t want to get married anywhere where I had done a wedding working on the flowers as naturally I wanted to differentiate my own wedding day from work, which I think is totally understandable. So, where did this leave us? Well we started thinking that we may have a late Autumn city wedding (we started looking at venues around Easter time last year) and we did look at some really unique venues two of which were the West Reservoir Centre and the other was the Dead Doll’s House and although we loved the uniqueness of both of them neither of us could imagine getting married in either of those venues, so it was back to the drawing board. Then I came across the stunning Pale & Interesting in Sussex and I was blown away, Steve wasn’t on board quite so much but I was in love! However the venue capacity was a big issue for us as with both of us having a fairly large size family we knew we would be looking to have at least 85 people to the day so I decided to be sensible (what came over me I have no idea!) and not to go and view it as I was worried I would fall even more in love & would then be in a predicament with the guest list which looking back now I think was totally the right thing to do. Our continued search took us to Whitstable, a place I have fond memories of growing up as a child with my mum & dad having a caravan down the road in Herne Bay. It is somewhere we still very much like to visit as a family and walk Maisy along the beach front (our family dog). Originally we visited the Beacon House again I think I was drawn to the ‘New England’ style exterior of the house much like I was with Pale and Interesting. We loved it when we looked around & it ticked a lot of boxes; relaxed, informal and was also great that we could stay in the rooms & use them to get ready etc. however we were yet again faced with the same problem, capacity numbers! At one point we did even contemplate having the ceremony with just immediate family & grandparents but when it came down to it we just simply couldn’t get married without everyone we loved there. Then we found…. East Quay Venue  and our search was over. It had everything we wanted; informal, relaxed & everything in one place, and it wasn’t a barn. As soon as we looked round it just felt right! We love that we are getting married right next to the seaside & the venue has so much character too which we adore with the exposed brickwork & fish tank there is something almost a bit quirky about the place.

A hands down highlight for me with the wedding planning has to be, wedding dress shopping! Cherished memories looking for the perfect gown with my mum & sister, the anticipation each time I went into the changing room, would this next one be ‘the one’. Now I don’t want to write to much about this in case I give anything away but what I will say is my dress is NOTHING like what I expected it would be! Did any of you find this? As my sister says ‘the dress finds you’ and I have to say I think this is very true. It was actually my mum that suggested I tried on what ended up being ‘the’ dress & I agreed to please her initially as I wasn’t entirely sure when I saw it on the hanger but when I tried it on well, all three of us started crying!! I really didn’t expect us all to have such strong emotions but it was the only dress where I had that ‘I’m actually getting married feeling.’ The girls at Frou Frou have been absolutely amazing with a few tweaks and adjustments being added along the way and I can’t wait to go back in a couple of weeks for my final fitting!!

Yes, but what about the flowers?? I hear you say 😉 Well from the moment we booked East Quay I have had a vision in my mind for the decor & I just can’t wait to see it all come together on the day. Steve & I very much decided to let the venue guide us in terms of what we chose for the colours and decor. Again I don’t want to give to much away but the wonderfully talented Becky Lord created our invites (below) and have very much set the tone for our day. Steve and I have different takes on what were calling the overall styling, mine is beach luxe and Steve has come up with beach chic! You guys can decide which you prefer… Flower wise, well of COURSE there will be flowers and there will also be oodles of foliage, this girl is all about the foliage 😉 our colour scheme is made up of greys, silvers, blues with hints of blush pink however I’m not sticking to this too rigidly with the flowers. You maybe surprised to know that I haven’t actually yet got a definitive list of the exact flowers I will be using, I know right a florist who hasn’t chosen her own wedding flowers yet?! The truth is I love so many different varieties (fickle florist!) that it’s rather difficult to choose! There are a few that I would like such as lilacs, tulips and I would most definitely like to incorporate some of the stunning cloni ranunculus but I am also going to see what catch’s my eye, sometimes that’s how the best combinations are created on impulse (in my opinion). I do know that mine & my sister’s bouquet is going to be finished with Kate Cullen’s gorgeous hand died silk ribbons….. lushness!

(Image via the Kate Cullen website)

One thing about working in the wedding industry which has made mine and Steve’s job one hell of a lot easier is already knowing this incredible bunch of suppliers that we have working on our wedding. Which has made me realise that searching for your wedding suppliers must be an extremely tricky task if you don’t work in the wedding industry already & I would like to say hats off to you! I honestly feel we may have struggled had I not been lucky enough to have already worked with these amazing people; Rebecca Douglas, Ignite Films, Becky Lord, Bellaboo and Beau, Frou Frou, Pudding Bridge and Bridal Beauty by Emma Smisson we feel so so lucky to have you all working your magic for our wedding.

I think that’s all from me for now, I’m sure I shall do a post wedding day feature too & will tell you all about our day. PS the wedding dreams started last week too, the ones where you wake up on the morning & haven’t organised a thing!! Do you or did you have them too?

Would love to hear your wedding plans, what have you loved planning the most so far?