DIY Bride
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Bride To B Diaries: DIY Bride Lets Others Help Out

Weddings are all about bring families together, all helping out and pulling together. Today our DIY Bride talks about what happens when you don’t let others help out. Over to you Jess.

Our DIY Bride

Bride To B Diaries: DIY Bride Lets Others Help Out The Benefits Of Allowing Others To Help Out.

The wedding is within view and there is still so much to do! Thankfully I have some very special people who are rallying around me.

When I started planning and making stuff for the wedding I was quite literally doing it all myself. I knew what I wanted and I had the time (how foolish was I?!) – Why would I ask anyone to help?

Mum “Can I help with that?”

Me “No its fine, I have it sorted”

Mum “I’ll pay for that”

Me “It’s ok, we can afford it”

There were similar conversations with my husband to be, my lovely Maid of Honour and my Dad. I am Wonder Woman, I can do it all by myself – right? BIG RED BUZZER – WRONG ANSWER!

A couple of things happened in quick succession:

  • My mum and I had a falling out about how I wasn’t allowing her to be involved at all.
  • I visited the caterers and realised I had not considered the evening food decorations which I most definitely did not have time to sort out.
  • An article came up on my wedding app about how 2 in 5 mothers do not feel involved in their daughters’ weddings. (This came up the day I had the falling out with Mum) Bride To B Diaries: DIY Bride Lets Others Help Out (Mum and Jess are friends again.)

How did I miss this? It was obvious – it wasn’t about others interfering or about me admitting defeat. My wedding, like most, is about more than just the one day. The excitement of the lead up to the big day is just as important. The special people in my life just wanted to be included.

Now:

  • My husband to be is sorting out the wedding music, playlists and PA system.
  • Mum and Andy (Mum’s boyfriend) helped with table decorations.
  • Mum and Andy’s mum made the bunting.
  • Dad is sorting the decorations for the evening food – Street Style MexicanJ.
  • Sharlene (Maid of Honour) helped with the jar decorations.

Bride To B Diaries: DIY Bride Lets Others Help Out Sharlene is also going to be making my wedding cake, my bouquet and helping with the button holes, Mum and Andy’s mum are making the serviettes, Mum is sorting the hen celebrations (Next blog!) and Dad is sourcing the evening cutlery, crockery and glasses.

This leaves me with 9 weeks to finish my wedding dress (I have started it ….. yesterday!), finishing touches to Sharlene’s and Mum’s dresses, table plan and finalising arrangements. Oh, and get in shape! Gym – here I come!

Suddenly it all seems so much more possible, I may even be able to get some sleep in there somewhere ;)

I am so grateful to the wonderful friends and family I have around me. They are the ones who will make the wedding day Super Special for Rod and I. All it took was a stern talking to from my mum.

Motto of the story…Let others in and don’t be so stubborn. You will be surprised and awed with the amazing things your family and friends can do. #HiddenTalents

Until next time lovely ladies…. Jx Bride To B Diaries: DIY Bride Lets Others Help Out

Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

Wedding favours are a brilliant way to bring in something very personal to your wedding. Our beautiful DIY Bride tells us all about how she decided on her fabulous favours.

Our DIY Bride

Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

Fabulous Favours

This month is all about favours.

Wedding Favours have been a custom for centuries and is common worldwide as expression of thanks to guests for attending. Giving a sweet treat was a symbol of prosperity and almonds were considered lucky. This eventually led to the traditional favour of sugared almonds. Now people give all sorts of wedding favours from chocolates to soap. Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

I knew I wanted to make my own favours. I was thinking about chocolate truffles (I make them every year for Christmas presents) but they are a big time commitment and I’m a little short of that atm. Then I thought ‘my bread maker can make jam – I could give little pots of jam’. However, with the afternoon tea style wedding breakfast I realised that to give anything sweet was not going to be special. (I have ordered lots of cake for the afternoon tea!)

This left me in a predicament. What was I going to give my guests? Even Google was not being its usual helpful self!

A couple of weeks later whilst watering my house plants I had an eureka moment. Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

Plants…. I could give my guests baby plants, in little pots tied up with ribbon. My Money Plant – AKA. Miss Money Penny, was trying to sprout new plants. I could give baby money plants to my guests. According to Chinese Feng Shui they bring wealth and good fortune. (We can only hope!) Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

BOOM! With the idea in the bag it was really easy to sort. I bought some small plastic pots from Amazon and a bag of earth and started planting. The pots will be covered with hessian and lace and topped off with a pretty painted humming bird and a label to say what the plant is all about.

I love these plants, plus they were cheap to make and really personal. They have another 3 months to grow before the big day. I am (a) hoping they do not die and (b) bring me some fortune in the meantime as all of our money is going on the wedding! :) Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

If you want to give this a go – I have a few tips:

  1. The plants took longer to grow than I thought they would. So plant early.
  2. Plant more than you need – I have lost a couple along the way.
  3. Choose a plant that is seasonal to your wedding or is an all-round grower.
  4. Don’t rule out the garden centre – you can get some lovely small plants there that would work really well. It was my back up plan if growing my own did not work. Bride To Be Diaries: Our DIY Brides Fabulous Favours

I just hope everyone will like them now.

Take care. Jess x

I love these. So personal and something that will last for ever. Can you keep me one? If you missed the last post from Jess click here . ~ Kate

Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations

Planning not all rainbows and unicorns. There are some really hard decisions to make and I like Jess, who to invite became a massive political debate in our house. Today our DIY Bride Jess tackles invitations and goes through the mine field of the guest list.

Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations

I am officially behind schedule!

According to Lady Marry (wedding app) I have 135 days until I become Mrs Hughes and I have completed 27 of the 62 wedding tasks. (Give me 5 minutes whilst I get the hyperventilating under control….)

The invitee list has been the conundrum this month, along with getting the invites completed and sent. Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations

Who to invite and who not to invite?

No matter what people tell you about how it’s your day and you should invite who you want, you still feel like you ‘should’ invite the extended family and friends that you hardly ever see. Our wedding ceremony is small and we are very limited on numbers. However, it has been the evening celebrations which has provided the conundrum. It started with:

‘You can’t invite one without inviting the others’

‘She invited you to her wedding, you should invite her to yours’

‘They will get upset if you don’t invite them too’

Before we knew it our invitee list for the evening was over 80 people! We wouldn’t be able to fit everyone into the marquee! We would be relying on the ‘they won’t come anyway’ invitees to bring the numbers down!

It was whilst making the invites that I came to my senses. Why was I doing this? Our wedding was always meant to be small and intimate. It will be different from the other weddings we have attended and that suits us just fine. A big wedding party is great, but it was not what we envisaged for our special day. Crossing people off the list feels brutal. It wasn’t because we didn’t want them to come, we just had to draw the line further back.

Ok, so the invites…..

I went to CwtchFest2016 in April (amazing day) and met a lovely lady who makes laser engraved wooden invites. Wooden invites – how cool is that! So I took her details home to think it through. In the end it was the same as my decision to make my own wedding dress. I’m the DIY Bride, of course I would make my own invites! Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations

I had a half formed idea of how I wanted the invites to look and with the help of google decided on little booklets (8 x 12cms). Using a pretty watercolour of a blossom tree for the background, each page contained different details of the day: names, invite, agenda, menu, location etc. Each page was printed & trimmed, covers made from pink and blue card and everything sewn together (I will literally turn to my sewing machine for everything). Final step was to add a paper binding and some ribbon. Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations

Now that they are all completed, I am really happy with how the invites turned out. They just took a LOT longer that I thought they would. Task 28 of 62 – check.

My advice to anyone trying to put together their invitee list:

Set a limit of places that:

  1. Fits in with your style of wedding
  2. Fits in with what is practical for the venue
  3. Stick to it!

Until next time ….. Au revoir J

Bride To Be Diaries: DIY Bride Jess Tackles Invitations I love all the personal touches that Jess is making. If you have missed any of  our DIY Brides past posts you can find them here . ~ Kate

DIY Bride Jess: Making Her Flowers

There are no hard and fast rules about weddings these days and Our DIY Bride Jess tells us how she got on making her flowers for the wedding. I love the idea of origami flowers and they are perfect for those of you who suffer hay fever and the best part is that you can do them months ahead. With out further ado I give you Jess. ~ Kate

It has been a month since my last blog when I told you all about Rod and I. During this last month I have made a lot of origami flowers (will explain further in just a minute); started my wedding dress; confirmed with my photographer regarding the timings, photo styling etc. and I bought tickets for my mum and I to attend Cwtchfest Wedding Festival on April 17th at Glanusk Estate (Super excited about this! If you have bought your ticket – will see you there! If not – there is still time! Get your tickets here .)

So, the origami flowers – they have filled quite literally every spare moment this month. At the expense of working on my wedding dress. However, I am pleased to say that they are now finished! DIY Bride Jess: Making Her Flowers

Why origami flowers? OK, so……..

I decided quite early on that I wanted wild flowers at my wedding. However my soon to be husband – Rod gets hay fever, therefore I knew that the quantity of flowers would need to be kept to a minimum. This left me with a dilemma – how will I decorate the venue instead?  I have chosen a few options, one of which is origami flowers.

After deciding this I was faced with another dilemma – how to make origami flowers? I printed out images of old maps and blossom trees onto paper and turned to YouTube for inspiration. I watched over 20 different videos (not exaggerating) and became more and more frustrated with each one! They were all so difficult! How on earth was I supposed to do this? With each video I tried to follow I ended up with a screwed up piece of paper – it was an impossible task! How did the people in those videos manage to make it look so easy? Huh? How?! ARRRRHHHH!!!! DIY Bride Jess: Making Her Flowers

I finally found one video that I managed to follow. As I approached the end of the first flower I realised I was in with a chance of this one actually looking like a flower – it was a break through! The second flower folded well, and the third, fourth, fifth. Before I knew it I had 10 origami flowers. (When I say before I knew it, I mean hours later!) The flowers looked great but they were all the same, I needed more variety.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqIxVK5mRcM]

The second flower I found was the lotus flower. I was on a roll! Two flowers that were easy to fold. The great thing about the lotus flower was that it were quicker to fold.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl-lM8cPRfU]

I very quickly decided that I wanted three different types of origami flowers (pending I could find another design that was easy enough for me to fold). So the hunt for the third design was on. I liked the idea of roses, lots of YouTube videos and screwed up pieces of paper later I conceded defeat. This third design nonsense was not going to work out!

One afternoon whilst Googling ‘Wedding Stuff’ I found a blog post on paper roses. They were not strictly origami as the flowers were twisted instead of folded. They were so pretty I knew I wanted to give them a go. The first attempt did not end well! Not one to give up at the first hurdle I turned once again to YouTube. I had been twisting the paper the wrong way – right then, lets’ give this another go. BOOM! It worked. The third design was in the bag!!!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIjtrC12NuU]

I printed more paper with various designs in all sorts of colours. I printed the paper double sided to provide a contrast of colour when folded.

Mum came to stay over one night in order to help make the flowers. We also thought (in our infinite wisdom) that we should try a couple of different bottles of prosecco as we had yet to decide on which one to serve at the wedding. After much chatting, laughing and 3 bottles of prosecco later it was not a pretty sight! We hadn’t even gotten the paper out, let alone made any flowers! I blame mum, she was a bad influence. She blames me – she says I was too easily led! Ha ha! DIY Bride Jess: Making Her Flowers

A month on and I am pleased to announce that the origami flowers are finished! (I am expected a big round of applause here) They took a long time to finish and in truth I am not sure I will ever feel I have enough but I cannot justify any more time making any more. The flowers will be combined with wild flowers and foliage for the table centre pieces and to decorate the ceremony area. I am also going to use them for the female corsages. I am just hoping that the image of how it looks in my head will come through in reality! As I progress through the upcoming blogs I am sure you will see the origami flowers again as I put together the centre pieces etc.

I have put together three videos showing how to make each of the origami flowers. Hope you find the videos helpful. J

Until next time. Ciao x

DIY Bride Jess: Making Her Flowers How lovely are these? They are so so stunning! I love something a little different.  Jess is one clever lady! Who else cant wait to see the actual wedding dress? I couldn’t handle the pressure! ~Kate

Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

I have a real treat for all you brides attempting a little bit of DIY for your wedding! Today’s bride to be is making so many things for her wedding…..but are there any of you attempting to make your own wedding dress….GULP!!!! How could we not ask this beautiful lady not to share her planning adventures with all of you! Introducing our DIY Bride Jess…Enjoy.
Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess Rod and I met just over 13 years ago at University in Liverpool, we were 20 years old. It took what felt like months to make our feelings known to one another. In reality it was 2 weeks. The 24th September will be our wedding day and the 14th anniversary of our first date. Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

Writing this blog has given me cause to reflect back on the last 13 years, for marriage is a commitment people have been making to one another for centuries. (Although not always for love!)

We have had our share ups and downs just like everyone else and it hasn’t always been strawberries and cream. However, no one else has made me laugh so much, made me feel so special or accepted me for who I am than Rod. Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

We are both 34 years old (although I am 6 weeks older!). We moved to Swansea 6 years ago to be closer to the surf. We both love doing sports like surfing, running, cycling, yoga… the list goes on. Rod is a support worker on a mental health ward and I am a business manager for a local engineering company. In addition to the sport we both like to be creative in our spare time. Rod plays guitar and writes his own music. I am always working on some kind of arts and crafts or sewing project. Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

What else can I say about Rod…? I love the fact that he makes me laugh so much, and he is musical, intelligent and handsome too of course! If there is one thing I could change about him it would be his stubbornness, and that he doesn’t listen to me. (Ok, that’s two things!) Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

What does he say about me? I’m kind, intelligent, artistic and beautiful. (Isn’t he nice!)

The one thing he would change? I always take on too much (like planning a whole wedding!)

2016 will be all about the wedding for me and for Rod I suspect it will be ignoring the mania as much as possible. He has already told me that I’m a ‘Bridezilla’! Ha – I’m just getting into my stride! Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

I am planning on doing a lot myself for the wedding including the bridal gown, decorations, button holes, favours, flowers…. the list goes on. I may have bitten off more than I can chew this time though! (Don’t tell Rod)

With just over 9 months to go until the big day I shall post regular updates on how it’s all going, including the ups and melt-downs!

Take care

Jess x

Introducing Our DIY Bride Jess

I don’t know if i would be brave enough to attempt the dress but I can’t wait to hear all about it. I made loads of bits for my wedding and all my guests really appreciated the effort. If you are looking for some inspiration why not join us at Cwtchfest . Hurry hurry hurry….buy your much sort after tickets here !!! ~ Kate

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