The first step with our day invitations was to source pocketfolds. Through asking on the Wedding Ideas forum I discovered a website called Cards Cards Cards and I ordered 50 white pearlised 5" x 7" pocketfolds with matching envelope. The website has since folded (no pun intended!) So glad I ordered those 10 extras!!
I also had to source some purple card...which I liked...remember I'm quite fussy about purple (O_O；). I eventually tracked some down at The Range what a God send that store is!! The only snag was that the *only* card I could find in a purple that I *liked* was A1 in size!! To give you an idea of that... A1 is 23.4" x 33.1". I had given myself the task of having to chop all this down into the sizes that I needed. And with the invite backing, plus four inserts, I'd given myself one hell of a job!!
By the time I had bought the purple card and the pocket folds I had already designed the layout for the invitation and for the inserts, so I then meticulously measured everything and began to cut out with a craft knife. MISSION!!! But it was worth it, as I think they turned out great, and everyone complimented me on them （*＾＾）
So I present to you our (daytime) invitations:
I originally was going to tie them up with ribbon, but decided against it as was too bulky to post, and the ribbon would have got squished in the mail.
I made 40 invitations in all - took about 6 weeks to make - a lot longer than I thought it might!
I eventually tracked down some gorgeous swirly brushes which I think look fabbu! I had bought some little purple gemstone stickers which I didn't want to go to waste so added them strategically
We added four inserts as you can see in the picture below
Directions - speaks for itself - how to get to our venue with a map on the reverse (not pictured)
Information - our website (designed and coded by yours truly), accommodation info, taxi numbers, order of the day (what time we are eating), gift registry, confetti policy and RSVP details.
Photography - we created a Photobox account for our friends and family to upload their photographs from the wedding to. We used this insert to give instructions on how to do that.
RSVP - We used this to detail how they could RSVP to the wedding - online, by phone or by post. Originally it was going to be an RSVP card, but I couldn't find any envelopes to fit it!! Moral of that tale: find your envelopes first!!
I also DIY'd our evening invitations, table name cards, escort cards, menus, order of the day programme, candy buffet sign, wish jar sign, bathroom basket signs, CD covers (for people to take home and burn their images to if they don't have the internet) and post box.
TTFN xx
Now that the BM's dresses had been sorted *sigh of relief* the next step was to accesorise them all...
When looking for stuff for the girls, I had to always bear in mind I needed four of everything so cost was always a factor! Yes, I'd saved me a pretty penny on buying the dresses from a catalogue, but I wanted to try and keep everything within some sort of budget!
I started out by seeing these pretty necklaces (with matching bracelet) in my Avon brochure...
As I am an Avon rep, I was able to get these with a 25% discount, so they only cost me about £3 each - bargain!
Next came the handbag - another Avon find...
Two of these were free as I had them in my "stock box" of freebies that I was able to bag myself over the years - I had to buy two more from another Avon rep at the cost of about £5 for the two - bargain again!
Next was the fascinator...
Which I found at Dorothy Perkins for £7 each - a bargain in the fascinator world as the ones I saw elsewhere were £15 - £30 each!
Finally their shoes, which was agreed at the start they would pay for.
I had seen these shoes from Faith online, and thought they were lush - I loved the rounded toe (I hate pointy shoes with a passion!) and they would tie in with the black sash round the girl's dresses.
However, I found this picture yonks ago and while casually browsing through my mum's catalogue (again!) I saw a similar pair of shoes in Empire Stores. I was actually purchasing my own shoes at the time and saw them in black also. They wanted £30 a pair for them, but were doing a special offer of 3 for 2, making them just £20 each - bargain!! I ordered myself a pair in black too, and along with my BMs shoes - 6 pairs in total and making them all £20!
All that was left was to decide on the girl's hair and make up - I left that up to their discretion for their hair as they all have different colours and styles, but we all decided together to go with lilac/purple eyeshadow...from Avon, of course!...
and a pinky coloured lip gloss...
which my Chief Bridesmaid (and sister) would apply for everyone on the morning of the wedding.
Bridesmaid dresses, accessories, hair and make up.... DONE!
TTFN xx
Towards the end of Summer 2008, I went for my first try on of wedding dresses with my mum, we were browsing through all the dresses on the rack, including bridesmaid dresses and I pointed out the colour (hot pink) to her. I said how I wasn't sure I liked it any more and that I REALLY wanted to have purple. So she suggested looking in catalogues and on the high street as purple was going to be the colour for the winter season! Who knew that my mum was so bang on trend!
So I started scouring the high street online... Monsoon, Coast, M&S, Debenhams to name a few and in my mum's catalogues to. Lots of purple - but not the right purple, not the right length, not a suitable style that would suit all 4 BMs, not the right price - lots were still over £100... I was starting to panic now - typical me - 11 months to the wedding and already panicking!! (＞。≪) I thought I would never find "the dress" for my girls...
Then mum said, why don't you try Kaleidoscope? So I did and there, on the landing page of their website was this purple dress....
My eyes popped out of their sockets! It looked the right shade of purple, it looked nice and floaty and airy (ideal for a summer wedding), it had a similar bust style to the original dress we all picked out, it was available in all my BMs dress sizes and best of all it was only £65!!!
I sent a quick text to all my girls asking for dress sizes and that I'd found the dress. I ordered 4 straight away - and an additional one for myself - I loved it that much!!
So the wait was on for the dresses to arrive. I started worrying - what if they were nothing like the picture, what if they were horrible in real life... what if, what if, what if???
They came after about a week and I rallied the girls round to try them on - had to send one up north to my best friend who lives 200 miles away from me... but they all liked the dress, they all fit and need no alterations at all, the mission was complete and our wedding colour went from hot pink to PURPLE ＼（＾ ＾）／
TTFN xx
Purple has always been my favourite colour - I don't know why, or when the obsession started, but I always envisioned that purple would be "our colour" at the wedding... it didn't matter where the venue was - purple would be it. I was also very particular - it had to be purple, not lilac, and it had to be a certain colour of purple... I gave myself a challenge!!
Then I started to look for all things purple - with not much luck - I couldn't find the "right" colour purple... and so abandoned that and went for hot pink - because it was bold and vibrant and I kept seeing it in the magazines. I started the hunt for bridesmaid dresses and found this selection by Alfred Angelo:
And this one from ???? I can't remember where now, it was so long ago!
I phoned several stockists to arrange fittings for my 4 bridesmaids asking if they had any of the dresses in the hot pink so I could see what it looked like in "real life" I could only find one!! So off we all went and they tried them on.... although I was mis-told and they didn't have the dress that I preferred in the hot pink colour - but they did of another dress....
Here are 3 of my BMs in all their glory (excuse silly socks and bra straps!)
We then decided that the style best suited to all 4 girls was the silver dress on the left, but in the hot pink. However, this was also the most expensive dress at £150 PLUS alterations!!! With 4 BMs, I just couldn't afford that, nor justify the cost as it would be highly doubtful that they would wear them again!
So I started on the online hunt, even considered getting them shipped from the USA, but then panic over that set in - what if we got them and I ordered them in the wrong sizes, or if I didn't like them when they arrived....and what if I didn't really want hot pink...?
But the main thing was the cost - £600 plus alterations (up to £100 per dress!) was too too much... I had to start looking elsewhere...
TTFN xx
