I have been realising alot lately how soon the wedding actually is (1 month 2 weeks 5 days), but also about things like make-up, flowers, photographers, the Fiancé's suit, hair and the reception itself. On Sunday we spent a manic, horrid morning fighting our way through the metro centre, once Europe's biggest shopping centre. It was hellish, but getting there early made it more tolerable. We managed to find the Fiancé a gorgeous suit, it suits him wonderfully and is very summery. We found him shoes too, something I'd also been worreting about.

But this weekend I managed to get nearly everything sorted, thanks to my mother, who helped tremendously with the planning of it all. My mother came up to visit for the weekend which took a load off my shoulders and meant there was someone I could discuss the wedding fripperies with. We had lots of time to prepare wedding stuff, get our thoughts down on paper and make sensible decisions. Another choice we had to make was the venue itself. The staff at the original venue didn't seem to be that bothered whether we came or not. I had visions of turning up on the day, only to be told that we weren't expected, which for a bride on her big day isn't really acceptable. They didn't send us a menu, despite promising us that they would on more than one occasion, and if one tried to phone them at any time, the manager that we needed to speak to would not be around. We had a look around for other places that we liked the look of, and not finding them to our satisfaction, went back to my original (and preferred) idea of having the reception here, at home. The only problem about having it here was catering it for ourselves, but the food we have chosen is simple, easy food to prepare, local summery food, and a BBQ in the garden.

The plan will be to have gazebos in the back yard, and then on the lawn in the back garden itself. Homemade bunting will line the yard and garden, with tea-lights and lanterns strung throughout. Tables full of summery food, decorated beautifully will sit under the gazebos and music will serenade us through the afternoon into the evening and as long as we like. This is how I'd really wanted the reception to be, and hopefully it will be absolutely perfect.

Another problem were the flowers, I had absolutely no idea what to have, or whom would do them. Fate took care of this one; a drive to our local farm shop which is usually open on bank-holidays but was closed on this one, prompted us to drive to our garden centre instead. We found a florist there who does the most gorgeous wedding bouquets possible. Not only is she really friendly and approachable, but also very knowledgeable about what colours and style of flowers would go with my rather 'unique' dress. The dress itself is a deep aubergine colour, a high-waisted 1920's affair, it suits open, blousy flowers and deep, rich colours. So having a good long talk about what I wanted, I ran back to her with the dress so that she could see the colour for herself, and arranged the flowers for me, my hair, a corsage for the mothers and lots for the gazebos and tables, all in-keeping with the colours of my bouquet. That was a weight off my mind, and made planning the rest alot easier.

As for hair and makeup, like the rest of the wedding it'll be done by myself/ my mother, and will be very natural. We're going for a soft pre-raphaelite look, gentle curls around the face and a lose ponytail/plait with seed pearls running through my hair and thin loose ribbons holding it all together. I am so glad we've got it mostly sorted, it's been a real worry, and with such little time to go, it needed to be sorted. Now (fingers crossed) it's as sorted as we can make it at this point in time, I'm less worried. I can go back to getting a better night's sleep - I was so exhausted last night I was in bed at 9pm and wide-awake at 6am, ready for the next challenge...

Which would be the mice, well, a mouse I suppose - I don't know how many there are. We have a hole in the kitchen wall, left by some lazy past-residents, leaving us with a slug problem (not a problem if the kitchen is kept warm) and now a mouse problem. This means a trip to the local DIY centre to get some bricks and cement, to block the hole up before a mouse moves in and demands squatters' rights! But for now I'm not letting anything rain on my parade, not mice, not holes in walls and definitely not rain (thankfully it's sunny!).