191 replies to this topic

[poppleminster]

I have a cunning plan. It involves being all high-tech and creating a thread appropriately entitled 'Poppleminsters Cunning Plans M'Lord'. Inside this gem of a thread will be photographs frustratingly taken badly by myself and put in some vague order with, if I am lucky, commentary as to what they are.

Let us start at the beginning. There can't be the wedding without the groom. Here he is, Ben, friend, lover, snugglepuffin-of-delight (I only put that in to annoy him) of Poppleminster aka Becky in the real world, you know the one that happens when you turn the computer off. Ben is one of that precious species 'groomititous nerdificerous', 'nerds' for short. There appear to be many nerds on bigday bride posts so they must be fairly popular nowadays, I personally recommend a good nerd to everyone. From their uncanny habit of being good at IT and having smelly feet to their ability to self-hypnotise at the mere mention of the words 'Dr Who', 'World of Warcraft' and 'Star Wars' along with the obligatory treacherous taste in music, we love them all

Here Ben can be seen logging onto his bigday account and dribbling as he searches for the latest wedding dress pictures and news of the latest bargains on ebay. Alternatively he may be checking his World of Warcraft account or checking out the reductions on play.com T shirts. I'll let you decide which you feel is most appropriate.

[poppleminster]

As with all weddings, people need to be invited. Here are a selection of the invites I have made so far. I dilike the idea of sending everyone the same invitation and have the attention span of a gnat so have made different types. The papers are velvet flocked to touch on some and I adore them. I haven't made all the insides or insert yet but am working on it. I've tried to make the invites match the people hence there are so many!

[poppleminster]

pics

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[poppleminster]

My save the date cards in the same velvet papers as the invites but with some added bling for good measure I also have made the same for lottery ticket holders but they are pockets instead of opening sideways.

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[Frogbitch]

Is it any surprise that I love the black and white ones!

[poppleminster]

Ok so we have a decision to get married and torture ourselves by having to stand up in public and mumble incoherently in front of far too many people and hope we don't feck up the lines or worse cry and ruin the eyeliner. Next we need a venue so here we found the Haldon Belvedere, a really strange mini castle / folly built on top of a hill with staggering views over the surrounding land and 360 degree gorgeousness. We had to book it because it has a spiral staircase. I NEED a spiral staircase to navigate in a giant meraingue dress and heels, obviously. Practical at every level, the wedding room is at the top and I walk in heels as well as a man in drag for the first time.

Without further ado...

[poppleminster]

Haldon Belvedere - the practical choice for impractical brides

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[poppleminster]

One dull and rainy day when Ben had been on a nightshift and the children were at school / nursery I found myself standing outside the wedding shop in town. Being failry large, I am a size 20/22 I was really worried about going in and finding no dresses in my size or that i'd look ugly in them all because I am so big. I don't have my mother around to come with me and having moved to the town 250 mile from anyone I know, I don't have friends locally that I know well enough to admit this to and ak to come with me. I took a deep breath and entered fearing the worst.

I think a wedding dress shop is as good as you identify with it. Inside was a permatanned woman of much make-up. I have no idea what she really looked like beneath the hairspray and slap but she was particularly not someone remotely like me. I should add, I ventured on this amazingly brave quest without pre-meditation so was wearing old jeans, trainers and a T shirt, a truly ancient old bra (the one that has long been grey having been washed with black things), and the most embarrassing knickers with a large picture of a dinosaur playing a guitar on the front and the word 'rockosaurus' on the arse. Not quite their usual customer I suspect. (thank to frogbitch for finding pics of my cringe-worthy knickers online so you can understand my acute embarrasment).

Big wedding dresses are not my thing. I'd look rubbish in one so this little expedition was purely to confirm to myself that I am a heffalump and there is no point in getting jealous of all the gorgeous dresses brides wear as they are for thin pretty people. I should wear the very nice but conservative dress I got cheap on ebay. Then, Mrs Permatan-slap-features found this and i've loved her ever since!

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[poppleminster]

This led to a new dilema. I couldn't afford the mega price tag. I checked the label, wrote down the designer and style (Ellis, on their current 2010 collection ). Came hone despondent that whilst I found something I felt beautiful in, I couldn't afford it. Then I checked ebay. It was being sold with appalling photos on there so had no bids and after emailing the seller to confirm it was the same dress, they kindly withdrew the auction and sold it to me for £150 including postage. I will eternally be grateful to them for thi as I LOVE my dress.

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[poppleminster]

I have my daughter Poppy as my bridesmaid and I found her this lovely dusky matt pink dress in the local hospice shop for £2 a few weeks ago. It has two roses missing so I am taking the two nearet to the zip at the back off and adjusting them to the spaces, otherwise it's perfect and just the right colour. The other dress is a bargain from BHS at £25 and looks naff in the photos but matches Poppy's dress perfectly. WIsh I could take decent pics!! I got hair accessories that exactly match her dress in almost identical roses to the ones on her dress for £1 each in Primark yesterday. Yay for charity shops and Primark

[poppleminster]

pink dresses for Poppy and myself when my dress gets too hot!

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[poppleminster]

Our theme is an ENid Blyton style day so we're asking all guests to bring a picnic to the Haldon Belvedere for before the wedding then i'll dash off and get changed into my dress and later on we are retiring for a true high tea - big whole cheeses, doorstep wedge bread, pickles, home-baked ham, proper english little cakes and biscuits and home made ginger beer! I have collected different teasets from charity shops so each table has a different colour theme. All are old teasets, mostly 1940's.

[Frogbitch]

Did you see that one of the wedding sites had a competition to win tea set hire?

[poppleminster]

These goodies need a clean up but are from the re-cycling centre. Yes, the place where poor employees have to urf throught the rubbish for anything re-cyclable! It's then sold by contract to steptoes who sell it in a big warehouse and the council get brownie points for being greenies. I LOVE this place, true junk heaven. Below are gisella graham gold pots with ceramic star tags, soda pops old glas bottles which will be filled with a single flower and used as decorations and the best enamel teapots ever begging to be cleaned and filled with cottage garden style flowers to match the general theme.

Also pictured are lace candle holders found for £1 each in the range and a load of copper and dark gold ones found again in that marvel, the recycling centre. Seriouly ladies and gent, you should check if your local council has one as you pay pennies and can get some amazing bits

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[poppleminster]

To keep the ginger beer... I found some of these fab bottle holders by Giella Graham at a flea market yeterday. They have a little blackboard on the side so I can chalk little hearts on them I need to get more bottles, the one in the photo is from traditional lemonade in Waitrose, at £1.75 a bottle I shall be treating the kids and re-using them for the ginger beer.

The other pic is the only bunting I have so far. I am rubbish at sewing so am going to have to bite the bullet and buy the rest as I cannot find it second hand anywhere.

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