poppleminster

I thought i'd start this in the week before to enjoy the build-up.

Wow what a shock to get an email confirming we could no longer use the wedding reception 9 days before the wedding. That was a bad, bad day. Lots of tears, tantrums and general loss of all enthusiasm for organising anything. If someone had offered me a ticket to Gretna Green that day, i'd have taken it in a flash..

After a lot of searching and telephone calls Ben's mum found an illusive little hall that appeared in only one blurry photo on the internet, could not be seen clearly by google sat images and had no reviews or indeed anything really about it anywhere. We went to see it and it is perfect! Even better than our original venue. A bit small but as a few guests have dropped out at the last minute, this works. A dear little village hall in a wonderful quaint village set right on the edge of Dartmoor. So what next...

We had to move the church blessing to the little church by the new hall. Not as easy as it sounds! The vicar had to contact our parish vicar and the vicar of the church that was doing it and after three days and lots of emails and tense calls, it is sorted. So we've moved the church, the hall and what about the bus?

Ah yes, the vintage bus. My special treat. That can't get down the lanes to the hall. Well it could get to the nearby village pub? So after calls to them, popping over to see them too, we have negotiated the collection and drop off to be their car park. They have been amazing and moved their bookings to ensure we get a room there on the fri and sat night. We are hoping to have drinkies there after the ceremony but the timings between the ceremony and church are tight! We'll see.

I've emailed everyone coming to let them know the change of venue and now need to monitor the replies to check they all let me know they have understood the change. Ugh.

SO now the week before the wedding.. time for me? hair? nails? shopping trip for new make-up? No chance. I am mostly in the kitchen cooking. Do not underestimate the work involved in a diy wedding. Even with the help of Ben's mum I am completely tied up doing stuff. I really must get my eyebrows sorted to avoid dodgy photos and a leg wax? forgot about that. Will have to buy razor blades! Magic knickers - I forgot them too.

Ah well. We shall get there. Probably about midnight on Friday! Everyone else is freaking out. I have booked our breakfast in for 0900 on the day; we meet the guests in the car park to get the bus at 0945. Easy right? Eat, chuck on dress and off we go. I can do my make-up and hair earlier. Apparently this is not a good plan. I am probably way too laid back. I'm marrying my man; what is there to worry about? We have a venue, we have the day before to decorate it, we have food, we have a place to sleep and we have cheese. Damn it, I forgot to check what time on friday the cheese is being delivered. Sigh. Another phone call...

I'm livid. I am beyond livid.

As you may know, we have had issues with the reception venue being double booked hence we compromised and agreed to not set up the day before but to employ two people to set the venue up for us whilst we are getting married. This in itself is very stressful.

It gets better.

I wake up this morning to an email saying the room where all the food was going is now a library so no food or drink in it! This means the food has to be in the main hall which I hated the idea of as the hall is already a tight fit.

On top of that, the storage facility can no longer be used so nothing can be kept there on the friday meaning all the food / crockery / decorations and everything has to be kept somewhere else the night before then collected by the two girls we hired and dragged over to the hall and set up but with access still from only 1215. It is not possible.

All my guests are booked in hotels next to the venue and there isn't anywhere else for miles.

So what do I do? I have to pull out but what next? I spent weeks finding the place. There was nowhere else. Nothing but stupid sports halls which I loathed. So my quaint village hall has turned into a complete nightmare. I am so angry and more than anything hurt that they seem to think this is ok.

I found a 3 night break glamping for 6 in a mongolian yurt for this weekend on ebay. Bargain at £75!

So... fri night, armed with a big pot of chilli and a duvet Ben is being sent off to:

http://www.greywillowyurts.co.uk/


It was that or the man organising it had just told people to come round and have a few beers after i'd kicked off over a previous plan. Really glad I booked it as the others are really pleased and they'll have so much fun. If more than six decide to go then I book the second one at the same price

The body of this is the length of my entire little finger. The bars in the cream fabric of my curtains are an inch long. This spider is bigger than any I can find record of in the UK. I've uploaded it to an identification site and will update with the news. I am so freaked out! The only spider similar in size I can find is a Wolf Spider or Hobo Spider. All the others look similar but are much smaller. I wont sleep tonight now!

Please do not look further if you are easily offended. Ben found this piccy and I couldn't help sharing it. Can you imagine? Poor woman!