The Wedding Planner becomes the Bride: My Hollywood Dreams Dress

Hello and happy Sunday to you. Did you like this morning's real wedding? They just keep getting better and better don't they.

If you read the blog last Sunday you will remember that I told you all about me creating my own Wedding Dress and that today I would be revealing all. Finally the wait is over for you.

But before I show you I want to tell you about when I saw it for the first time. We got married in February so I chose my dress in April and went through two stages of a calico before the wonderful white creation arrived late November.

I have to say I was beyond excited to see it, to the point where the suspense was in fact nearly killing me. I didn't have a wobble as such but I think when you don't have a photograph to keep looking at its a lot harder. When it did arrive in store I was there the following day. I couldn't concentrate at work on the Friday and I was totally beside myself. If you have got round to this in your plans yet you will know exactly what I mean.

By this point I may add I done most of the planning and I was just about embarking on making my order of services and place cards etc which was going to be keeping me busy through December and over Christmas. I only had my bouquet style and flowers to choose, the suits to order and had yet to have my hair and make up trial. So there was enough to have kept me going. But until I got to the dress shop that morning I still didn't feel like it was me that was getting married.

A lot of people become Wedding Planners through the love of planning their own wedding. Which by the way I can completely 100% understand as it is just amazing. But as I was one before we got married I must say I tackled some parts with that head on rather than being just a Bride. My experience of course came in handy with everything so I would much rather have had it this way round!

But this feeling all changed when I saw my dress.

I was a bit mean to my mum I made her wait to see it. She would never get that moment again after all. I wanted it to have that wow impact and to be fair I wanted her to have it more because so much of the planning process was taken away from her - we weren't going around all the wedding fayres looking for suppliers so a bit of the fun was taken out of it. The dress though would be the one thing because of course I had never tried it all on before.

I went into the dressing room and I am not joking when I say that it filled the room! The train was the longest thing I had ever ever seen. I immediately cried and sent my sister for a tissue. As I am writing this I am actually filling up just remembering!

It wasn't finished as my flowers and straps weren't on yet but it was just fabulous. I couldn't believe it was mine! My wedding dress after all these years, I was the one getting married and I would be finally Ben's wife.
So Julie the lovely lady there got me in it after I stopped blubbering and then I got my shoes and tiara and veil on and walked out to show my mum. I carefully walked out and she did the required gasp, hand to chest and tears were flowing. I couldn't have asked for anymore.

When I looked in the mirror I couldn't believe how beautiful it looked, I looked ok but did have tear stains through my make up so it could have gone better. My train was breathtaking and long enough even for me.

Here are some pictures of the day I tried my dress on for the first time plus some more later on in the process. I had two further appointments to add straps and flowers on before picking it up the Tuesday before the big day. All in all I made 7 trips to my dress shop from the designer day to the calico to taking it home. Wonderful memories of it all.

So as you can see I am not joking when I say I nearly filled the whole shop!



Got a dress story to tell - I'd love to hear all about it email me at blissweddings@outlook.com

Love Katie x

The Maids Edition: Keeping those maids under control!

We can all vouch for what women are like. We can get out of control, we can be dramatic and we can be highly opinionated. Yes that's right, we can be class A Bitches (Sorry).

When it comes to your Bridesmaids it is important that all is well across the group. Depending on who you have chosen and how well you get on with them individually and they in turn with the rest of the group you may need some bonding sessions and also ground rules.

You know by now that where possible I like to share my experience and also now my personal journey through my Bride Eyes. This is something whereby, despite it being the best time of your life, add in the stress of all you have to do in general for work, home etc plus then all the wedding commitments. To be blunt, you could really do without having Bridesmaid drama.

From my own experience I have to say my Bridesmaids were amazing. However, things come up in day to day life that mean unfortunately your wedding is not the world to them. It is of course to you. My Sister and Mum lived and breathed every day for a whole year my wedding. It was all we talked about. I sometimes got a bit cross when they didn't come back to me on certain things - a bit Bridezilla I know!

So what do you do?

I would say where possible and if appropriate get everyone together for coffee and cake or cocktails and nibbles. This allows one night dedicated to getting things sorted. Mine came from different walks in my life so they really didn't know each other and they are playing a huge part in the biggest day of your life - they need to all feel equal and important.

Give the "Head of Bridesmaids" the task of planning your hen party or bridal shower - they will all be involved and step up to the plate. She can delegate out allowing you to focus on other things.

Set up Wedding Dates with them so you can spend quality time together. Its not practical to get everyone together all the time and I am sure they would love it.

I would try to find a balance between remembering that the wedding isn't their every thought but also that they do have a job to do. The do have a commitment to you, one you expect them to uphold. Make sure that between you, realistic tasks are taken on by that person - this will in turn prevent any upset from either side.

Overall I am sure all will be wonderful!

Do you have any advice to add? I would love to hear from you; email blissweddings@outlook.com

Love Katie x

The Wedding Planner becomes the Bride: The Elements of my Hollywood Dreams Dress

As promised here is the post you have been waiting for! The one where I divulge my Wedding Dress. Firstly I shall share with you the blog post from my wedding blog which I wrote a few days after we made the decision. I like to do this so you can see that all my feelings and emotions and all my wedding troubles are just the same as you or any other Bride. I shall then share with you the images of the dress or dresses as you will soon see.

Stop Press I have found the Dress! - 05/06/13 - 2:00pm

After what feels like an age of searching, I have chosen my dress. Mamma Sue and R Kid in tow we spent a very long time scouring some of the North Wests best dress shops. We have now seen our fair share of dresses from lace to bling and everything in between. We have also seen some uber-digusting ones which people would never have in a sane mind so we did quite a lot of skipping past.

With Sophie being everso helpful picking out dresses she likes and saying 'Mum, i found mine' watch out Owain. And my darling Mother who has pulled an array of facial expressions, many which I have never seen before, the head shaking 'No', to the 'ermmmmmm' its ok, to the 'hell-to-the-O' face that's a contender.

I did have a clear idea as to what I wanted when we first booked the wedding but seeing as its now a Church the game is upped. On our first trip out we saw some lovely ones but we didnt take the plunge then but we did think it was between 2. In my years of dreaming about getting married there was one designer that I had always loved and in this dream I would be swishing it around. So, it would have been rude to have not at least gone for a look....wouldn't it.

Sophie doesn't like this bit because she was in Spain, but me and Mum went to Cheshire Brides in Frodsham and there was a designer day on so we requested 6 dresses to be brought to the store for a dress fest! Most people know I love bling, sparkle and shiny things so I was in my element, my eyes couldn't get enough. But, I also love expensive things don't I Mum?.

My dress is going to be special, not only because its mine but because it is a combination of three dresses. Couture Darling. So you won't be finding my dress on no peg sister! It was a bit tough narrowing it down to the bits of the dresses I wanted and there was a lot of folding over to try and see the skirt of one, the top of another. But I finally decided what I wanted with a few extra bits *A-hem, extra train*.

Mum treated me to a Costa Coffee whilst we deliberated and rang Dad to ask if I can have it. Dad said something along the lines of 'Is she happy with it, is it what she wants? Then OK then'. *Wipes a Tear*
With that we signed on the dotted line and have a few more trips over to Cheshire Brides to get it just right.

So it is going to be EPIC. Although I haven't got it yet I know it is going to be amazing and everything I wanted, so thank you Mum and Dad for getting me the dress of my dreams.

The Uber Happy Bride to Be. x


So the three dresses which my Katie Couture Special Hollywood Dreams Dress is made of are:

The bodice of my dress is from Collette. I didn't want the low backline nor the skirt - oh what a DIVA Katie! I also didn't want the shoestring /spaghetti straps so I would be having them removed. Double Diva Alert!



The beading continued all around the back too.



The skirt is from a dress called Sienna. I was a bit naughty as I asked for an extra 2 metres on the train...




The little something special I wanted was the organza flower from the beautiful dress called Rebecca. One of my best friends is called Rebecca so she was made up! You should just be about able to make them out.



Next Week (Sorry) I will tell you about when I saw my dress for the first time and then journey until I brought the beauty home. Pictures will of course be included!

See you next week.

Love Katie x

The Wedding Planner becomes the Bride: My nearly Ronald Joyce dress

Hello once again. Did you like this morning's Real Wedding? I thought you might.

Today I will embark on what was nearly my Ronald Joyce dress. Like most other Brides the dress was the thing I was most looking forward to getting down to. You may well be mistaken as until I said it to people they thought the opposite. When you have worked in the wedding industry and seen all that I have seen, choosing your own wedding dress is difficult. I would look at a dress and think it was lovely then remember something about it being similar to someone elses. I know that no-one else will have seen it but that was not the point.

I knew what sort of dress I wanted, I wanted a princess dress. Lace is beautiful but just not me, I did always say that should a stunning lace dress cross my path I could be completely swayed. I went to a Bridal Shop in Bolton near where I live and I found some lovely dresses in this particular shop. The other thing which my dress needed to have was sparkle. I love everything that glitters and sparkles and I think that everyone thought I was going to have a full on bling fest for a dress. I have always said that I have glitter in my blood and I do really believe that to be true.

So today I will show you my two dresses which I had narrowed it down to in this particular shop. I call this post my nearly Ronald Joyce dress because in the end I didn't go for either after what was weeks of debating. Next week I will show you what did happen and I can't wait to share it with you!

The Maids Edition: Choosing the right dresses for your Bridesmaids

Choosing your Bridesmaid dresses is no mean feat. There are a few things that you need to bear in mind when making your shortlist. The easiest thing to do is to take it step by step as I see it. So here we go.

Firstly we need to start with some questions - grab a pen and paper and make some notes as you go. Draw a table and make columns for each Bridesmaid and fill in the answers. Beware : Honesty required.

Age
Hair Colour
Skin Tone
Body Shape
Height (Petite, Regular, Tall)

You could give consideration to what colour they like wearing or what really suits them.

Lastly - are they particularly self conscious about a particular part of their body. This could be anything from their arms to a birth mark. You should know them well enough to be able to answer this.

The trick is not to give them what they want BUT to try and find a colour, cut and style which can be tailored to suit them all.

For my Wedding I had 2 blonde, 3 brunette and a red head. 2 were younger so they had different dresses to the adults. I chose floor length because I have never been a Bridesmaid and I always wanted to walk down the aisle and swish my dress and then scoop it up when outside (I didn't say I wasn't weird!). One of my bridesmaids had a baby a couple of years ago and she felt self conscious about her tummy, one was big busted so she wanted her dress to flatter her and not draw too much attention. I chose dresses from Monsoon and at first I took my Chief Bridesmaid (my sister) and my mum along. She loved it and it was the go ahead I needed. I showed the others the dresses online and then went with them to the store to try them on. I really wanted to make sure they liked them and whilst I would go with the majority, I didn't want to upset them.



What would I recommend?

I would certainly recommend you taking your chief bridesmaid / maid of honour with you to show her the shortlist of dresses. Be it high street or from a boutique you can adjust dresses accordingly but you need another opinion. You should also delicately go through the list you create above.

I would go in with as much time as possible. It could well be that the dresses are only available part of the year (high street moreso) and once they have all tried on get them ordered / bought! I very nearly lost out with mine.

You should look after the dresses for safe keeping - it could well be they would like to loose a few pounds for your wedding so they should keep trying it on so they feel comfortable.

A couple of months before encourage them to start underwear shopping - this can take longer than you think. Take the dress with you so you can double check it is the right purchase.

If in doubt make them get the bigger size! Accept nothing less. Its better for it to fit there and then than for them to promise they will fit into on the day. You can always get it taken in.


Lastly, remember that you don't have to get them to all wear the same dress. There are many companies which do the same colours with different necklines, straps, lengths so whatever you do - do NOT panic.


I would love to hear your thoughts on this - please get in touch blissweddings@outlook.com

Love Katie x

The Wedding Planner becomes the Bride: Our Planning Vows

Hello...

Today on the personal post I have an entry from 13th June 2013 which is called Our Planning Vows. I blogged the whole way through my planning process and intend by the end of this year to have created a Wedding Journal so that I have all that wonderfulness in one place. I am incredibly proud of my wedding blog and used it to air everything I felt throughout the 10 months I was planning our wedding. More of course will follow over the coming weeks and months (just so I can relive it again!).

I was very aware of the task I was about to take on having been in the planning business since 2010. Although no-one at my work knew about my alter ego, my friends and family did and I more than anyone couldn't have anything let me down. I also knew that then in turn with the added pressure on me, after all you will know there is a huge amount already, that there was a potential for me to be stressed out just as much as the next Bride. Some people become a Bridezilla and whilst I knew it would never be that bad - having the insider information my need for control and perfection would be a huge problem.

I am not a control freak - to my mum who may or may not read this - I am NOT, I don't care what you say. We also didn't have the biggest budget so I did have to put some ideas to the side and try to make do without them - trust me it is a lot worse when you have been to as many as me and have organised some rather elaborate affairs.

When I wrote this i was so incredibly exited and I want you to see through my words that yours too doesn't have to get you down - somethings are unavoidable but maybe you should write something funny like me and stick them on the fridge so that when you feel like pulling your hair out because he doesn't agree you can refer to them!.

Our Planning Vows: 13th June 2013. 

I have seen quite a lot of things which make it sound like every Bride becomes this crazy woman who the Groom doesn't want to marry. Isn't it obvious to not let it ruin your life when it is supposed to be the start of a new part of your life? I think it is crazy when you read things like - "Keep one night a week free from Wedding Talk". With a year to plan I couldn't think of anything worse than talking to Ben about it for 365 days!

Whilst the whole Bridezilla thing could never be the case with me, would it Ben?? I am going to set some Planning Vows to stick too and I will also include some for Ben.

So I Katie...

• I will let you have a say
• I promise not to bore you
• I will do the majority of the organising and planning, so you don't have too - phew!
• I promise to keep my dress a secret even though it is killing me
• I will try to be patient for the 7th February
• I promise to not put you in a Pink Suit, a splash of pink only
• I will try not to cry too much despite being an emotional wreck
• I promise to not force you to do anything
• I will make a good case for everything
• I promise not hide any plans from you but if you chose to not to read between the lines that's not my fault

And you Ben...

• Will be diplomatic when you think it is a horrific idea
• Promise to remember this is one day event and therefore it is a good idea
• Will remember that is a one day event and that I want it, therefore it is a good idea
• Promise to let me be creative
• Will let me have pink as much as I want
• Promise to add the necessary "awwww" that's cute when required, without a hint.
• Will still catch the spiders as they have nothing to do with the Wedding.
• Finally, promise to get excited about sparkly things!

Not a Bridezilla in sight if we stick to them or in fact any male input: Result!

The Wedding Planner becomes the Bride: The Bliss Weddings Proposal.

Today we have the tale of The Bliss Weddings Proposal. One the 29th July 2007 I Katie said Yes to marrying Ben.

Once again this extract is taken from my Wedding Blog so here we go.

The proposal...

Maybe not the most romantic story this website will have ever seen but here we go...

Ben promised me we would get engaged before my 21st Birthday and me being me, I was on countdown. So, having booked our holiday for the September to Tunisia, I merely suggested to Ben that my 21st Birthday was on the horizon and reminded him of his promise. I can't fully remember how the conversation went so we will skip to the interesting and also important bit...

We went shopping to have a look at engagement rings- there was no point really, as all my friends will know, I had my ring picked out from being with Ben for a few months! So we went looking anyway and at Ernest Jones in Manchester we tried on a couple of rings.

I am not sure how it happened, I promise I didnt spike his morning brew, but the next thing I know the ring (the ring I had wanted for years) was in a box and it was paid for. This was on the promise that it would be given to me on Ben's terms in the not so distant future (my terms).

So we went to the Bulls Head- not for a carvery, way before they brought that rubbish in - and had some lunch. All the while this little green bag was in my bag. It was a very weird lunch.

Anyway we got back to Ben's Parents and they were away at Auntie Ethel's in Norfolk as it was her Birthday and Ben said something like come on give me the ring you are not having it now.

I reluctantly handed it over and the started to open it and I went mad, saying how he was so mean for doing that to me! He said in a little cheesy voice whilst opening the box 'Will you Marry Me?' I said I am not saying anything until its real. He said 'OK' and closed the box and then asked me again adding 'this is real'.

I said 'Yes' in a very dramatic voice thinking he was still half joking and then he went to put the ring on my finger. I realised he wasn't joking when i noticed he was crying (Sorry Ben, needed to put that in for effect, by in my defence, it is completely true).

To this day I don't think I have ever been so excited, happy and pleased as I was when that ring was on my finger for keeps.

So it wasn't down on bended knee or in a glass of champagne it was in the corner of the Carole & Sonny's back room near the chair but it was perfect, just the two of us in a place we call home and of course my sparkly 12 diamonds. xxx

The Wedding Planner becomes The Bride: How me and Ben met

Welcome to my new readers, hello to those who have returned. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Something which I want to do on the blog is to talk about my story. No, no, not to bore you all -  my life isn't completely fabulous or particularly more exciting than others to be honest. But I do believe everyone has a story to tell and this is my blog so...quite frankly I will!

To tell my story, I do need to rewind 10 and a half years now. Me and my wonderful Ben met on the off-chance on a night out. I may as well reveal my age - I am now 27 so yes we were 17 when I met him. He is older than me, not that he looks it but he is now the grand old age of 36.

We met in a night club Sol Viva in Bury. This is somewhat a bit of a legend (being the only night club there apart from Siberia who no-one dared go to) Sol Viva. Two words which you associate with Bury. Sticky floor also springs to mind.

I am sure you will agree a tourist delight (picture below), a beautiful addition to the Bury landscape.

Regardless of how much I shudder, this was indeed the haunt to be in Bury for many a moon. Those over the age of 30 will remember it as the Roxy and many reading this will have had a flashback or two probably at hearing the name.

With an over 25 room, an RnB room and a minion room there was choice of music and dare I say it individuals, the oldies, the groovers and the druggies respectively.

In all seriousness, me and Ben met in Sol Viva, I am not ashamed to admit it but I do hope people don't think any less of us. Ben was in the Over 25 room (sorry Ben) and I naturally was busting the moves in the RnB room (Shabba). Anyway I got in to the oldies room and a half cut Ben and friends were in there.

Fast forward a few hours as it all gets a bit messy and the last dance of the night comes on and its Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing which to clarify is my favourite film ever and one of my favourite songs. Patrick Swayze is also amazing as Jonny. I nailed it / killed it with dancing and singing depending on who answers the question.

I managed to write my number down in eyeliner (classy) #allhailrimmel on the back of a bus ticket (also classy) and gave it to Ben and the rest is history.

Ben even then was someone who lost everything - something which is a daily occurrence in our house with the wallet, the phone, the keys, the pass for work, the belt. Lets just say he was the same then too. So he had no phone. He did a couple of weeks later get a Nokia 3310 - rock out and then text me to ask if I fancied meeting up. 

Of course I did, I was apprehensive as compared to me he felt like an old man at 25 but I soon realised that he was just adorable. I knew very early on that he was a keeper. 

So me and Ben as a tribute to the glorious start to our relationship had that song as the last dance at our Wedding. 

Love Katie x