Our Valley Bride is giving us a little glimpse into how she is keeping it personal in the planning of her big day. Take it away Vicci.
Our Valley Bride
So here we are at blog number 4 with only 4 months left to our big day, and I have so many things I want to share with you that it’s proving extremely difficult for me to choose where to start. So here goes, today my lovely cwtchy people, I am going to share with you what ‘Keeping it Personal’ means to us.
‘Keeping it Personal’
So, as you may recall from an earlier blog, J and I had originally planned on a wedding faraway, in an exotic location, with our feet in the sand, and the main reason for this was how intimate and personal this would be. So when our plans took a slight diversion, we both agreed that we should still focus on keeping our day small [insert cough here] and personal. This is something that has remained with us (as much as possible!) through all of our planning (I’m sure I’ll explain the coughing soon).
The Venue Decision
As we had never discussed getting married in sunny Wales, the venue of choice could have proven very difficult, however childhood bridesmaid memories gave me the perfect idea. We needed a venue that could accommodate a small marriage ceremony with the flexibility to have a ‘big ol’ knees up’ afterwards. And the one I had in mind certainly placed a great big tick in that box.
So without further ado, we booked a visit to the venue, along with one other, and no sooner did we arrive and meet the amazing Elinor, we were cancelling the other venue viewing and securing a date at the beautiful Court Colman. Before we visited people had said to us that ‘you just know, you get that feeling’ and we sure did! Now you might think us to be hasty, but with the advice we were given in mind, both J and I had an amazing feeling from the venue, and the staff were so personable, friendly and excited to share our day, that there were no doubts in our minds – this was the ‘Personal Venue’ we were seeking! 
The Suppliers
Wanting to keep it personal has played a huge part here also. As a Treorchy born girl, I really want to capture the ‘Personal Friendly Family Feel’ that the Valleys has to offer. So with Jamie’s support we sourced, met with and are using a lot of Valley based or linked suppliers. Amongst those we have selected are loyal customers of my dad’s business, people I have worked with, people I went to school with or people who are based in or grew up in the Valleys. For me, this has made the whole experience of planning a wedding very relaxed, comfortable and fun. I am sure this may be the case with all suppliers, but each and every person we are using has been extremely accommodating, and cannot do enough for us, definitely adding that ‘Personal Touch’ we are after.
Getting to Know You
This is possibly one of the most important parts of the ‘Keeping it Personal’ jigsaw; ensuring that everyone involved in the Wedding really knows and feels comfortable with one another. So Jamie and I come up with some ideas on making this happen, first with our friends then with the family. 
Whilst Jamie and I spend a lot of time socialising with our friends and their partners, being from different areas, there were still a couple of people that hadn’t met, or spent a lot of time together (yep – even though Jamie and I have been together for 7 years!). Now for those of you who know Court Colman, you will be aware that they also have an award winning Indian restaurant at the back of the venue. As we and our friends love a curry, we arranged for all the bridesmaids, groomsmen and their partners to have a ‘get to know each other’ meal. What a fab idea and night this was; the girls had a chance to nosey around the venue and book rooms for the big day whilst having a girly gossip, the boys all got to bond over some beer and everyone got to know each other whilst eating some amazing food. 
So now for the family bonding, and on this occasion the female family bonding. At this point in time Jamie and I were contemplating what to get our mother’s for Mother’s Day. After a while and a few different options, your generic wine, flowers, chocolates etc. we came up with the idea of a Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea for my mam, Jamie’s mum, my Gran and Jamie’s sisters – plus it meant that I got to eat cake!!! A winner all round for sure! We went to Celtic Manor and had the most amazing afternoon tea that included lots of girly wedding chat, plenty of laughter and of course, cake! We left with full bellies, knowing a lot more about each other, and, you’ve guessed it, some cake in a box! 
It is at this stage that I need to share that on top of those mentioned above, we really have excelled ourselves in the ‘Getting to know you arena’, having a number of family meals, girly tea and cake catch ups, lad’s days out and couples catch ups. The wedding really has given us the perfect excuse to spend more time with our loved ones, not that we really needed one. 
