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By Little Mummy, September 6, 2009 7:26 am

Congratulations to Becky from the Disney 7, she renewed her vows this weekend. Check out the crazy video

How she got her teenage boys to do that I’ll never know, they’re obviously made of good stuff, well done guys!

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By Little Mummy, August 23, 2009 3:08 am

It’s 11pm and my eyes are stinging, I started flagging at about 3pm. Wedding fairs (fayres?) are completely knackering. Today I accompanied my sister in law, mother in law, Aunty, and my sister in law’s mother in law to be….following me? My sister in law is getting married and this was her first (my second) wedding fair and we were out to gather some inspiration and ideas, we were treated to that, and a whole lot more

Our day started at 8.45am at waverley station, Edinburgh. We go to Glasgow about twice a year, once in the summer usually for holiday shopping and once at Christmas, eh, for shopping. We always go by train and we always have a ‘picnic’ on the train. Someone volunteers to buy the picnic and this morning was no different. As the train pulled away we tucked into muffins, croissants and bagels washed down with fresh juice and coffee, the snack trolley lady merely looked at us and then at our mini banquet and shuffled along.

Fed and watered we headed for the concert hall for ‘Scotland’s exclusive wedding event’. Half ten was approaching and I was chosen to step forth to try and enter the event, the others watched tentatively to see if I’d be stopped, I stepped inside and was quickly huckled back, these places are sticklers for timing, we waited til’ a blaring announcement made it clear we could enter.

We started out at one of the over two hundred stands where we scored some free cake. Most stands were offering something, discounts, leaflets, sweets and booze to the more unusual… eyelash extensions anyone? One of the oddest stands, or so I thought was the ‘dental care’ stand, apparently whitening and straightening are essential to a succesful marriage and spectacular wedding, who’d have known?

The live fashion show was definitely the highlight of the day. The show started with ‘scene 1′ an act called the ‘Stewart Reid Band’ a two man band made up of a middle aged vocalist that thinks he’s still 20 and a guitar playing geek with inward facing feet and an odd playing style (I’m no guitar expert but I’m not convinced he was actually playing at all) their rendition of an Al Green classic was bad but it was the more modern Killers track that, er, killed their afternoon. This was followed by a far better operatic pairing and some pretty dresses. Just as things were looking up they took a nose dive when two of the dress models decided to have a little sing song which come off like a rather odd karaoke. Then to make things worse the male models decided to rejoin them for a dance, their come hither sexual gestures were too much for me, I broke into tears of hilarity.

A few more dresses and then we were treated to an Irish dancing duo, which would have been pleasant enough until we realised that one of the (adult) dancers was wearing a thong and everytime she did a leap you could see her arse, nice. As if that wasn’t enough, um, entertainment a Stavros Flatley-a-like came leaping on with four mates, and got me to wondering who the hell books these acts? The show rounded off with indoor fireworks and a confetti explosion. I’m only sorry I didn’t have my flip camera with me

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By Little Mummy, May 28, 2009 6:48 am

The spa at the five star Grand Floridian resort.

Wedding carriage complete with wigged horsemen.

The Disney 7 on the beach in front of the wedding chapel.

Lunch at the Grand Floridian, strawberries, feta, leaves, strawberry vinaigrette and roast cashews.

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By Little Mummy, August 11, 2006 3:16 am

Wedding Stationery

Invitations (ceremony and evening), order of service, menu cards, place cards, thank-you cards. It all adds up.

I have one thing to say… Make Your Own! This is the single biggest way to save money on stationery.

Go to craft and wedding fairs where you will meet with suppliers, watch presentations, and most importantly get lots of ideas. These days there are plenty of craft shops with a variety of products and materials for all levels of competence.

If you’re a dab hand, buy some embossing equipment, fancy paper and create away.

If you’r not too hot, buy embellishments to stick directly onto cards. Pick up a cheap calligraphy set to write your cards and envelopes seal for that extra touch. This is one area to get the family involved, if there is someone who is particularly creative farm the work out to them (for a bottle of wine or two!).

If you really cannot stand the idea of ‘doing it yourself’ there are plenty of people providing this service on eBay for reasonable prices. Be sure to ask for a sample first, and order in plenty of time so if you aren’t happy there is plenty of time to sort it out.

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By Little Mummy, August 7, 2006 1:21 am

Contributors

Your next step is to deal with contributors, by which I mean mums, dads and anyonelse offering to pay for something or donating money to put towards the big day. I had the cars, cake, honeymoon, decorations and photographer covered by ‘contributors’. Very important point though, this step definitely comes after our first step (utilising Friends and Family) – you want the contributions to really make a difference.

If people have offered to pay for services already provided for free in step one, politely tell them and suggest an alternative contribution to the same value.

If you have a cash contribution you can add it to the budget. If the offer of a cash contribution comes after the budget has been set and worked to, use the money for a ‘luxurious extra’. Again, write this all down in your notebook and keep track of who is giving what, and what has been acquired or paid for.

Contributions should be just that. Never ask for a contribution, but do however clarify if someone has offered to help – they may be hanging back to see what is still required. Always thank your contributors not only in the speech but with a small gift to show your appreciation (more on this later).

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By Little Mummy, August 6, 2006 8:19 am

You can have the wedding of your dreams and it doesn’t have to cost anything like the exorbitant ‘average wedding’ figures you see in the magazines. Slash your bill to as little as two or three thousand pounds, or less depending on your contacts and where you live. I followed these basic steps and saved myself a fortune and still had the wedding of my dreams.

Write it down
Get yourself a ‘wedding notebook’. Write down your idea of a perfect (for you) wedding. Write which parts of the wedding are most important to you. For some it might be the food, some the dress. Then list those that are least important, like cars, decoration, DJ at the party. When you are following these steps keep this list in mind and spend money where it really matters to you and cut back (just a little bit) on the things that matter less. You should also write down your budget, and guestimate prices as you go along. Add 10% to all of your guestimates – just to be on the safe side

This article has gotten so large I have had to break it down into steps. I’ll publish one or two steps a day until we are finished. You should have a pretty comprehensive wedding plan in place by the end.

Here we go with Step 1…

Utilise Friends and Family

Get out that wedding notepad and write a list of family who can make or provide anything towards the wedding. For example, at my wedding my Dad provided the disco as he is a DJ. My Nan made my dress as she is a professional dress-maker.

Here’s a list in case you’re thinking no-one in your family could help. Also,don’t forget friends of friends, or your family’s contacts, it may not be free but you could get a good deal!

• Chaffeurs or people working in car hire
• Florists
• DJs and/or Sound Equipment Hire
• Hoteliers
• Jewellers
• Photographers
• Dress-makers
• Cake decoraters
• Kilt/Morning suit hire ie someone working in the business?
• Make-up artists, hairdressers, manicurists and beauty technicians
• Caterers
• Anyone who can provide champagne, gifts for attendants
• Other entertainment ie anyone who can pipe, plays in a band, a singer…or even kids entertainment, a clown, a magician.

This is a rough idea of what you are looking for. If you can’t think of any, write a list of your contacts and their professions. If nothing matches to what you need, ask them if they have any contacts who could help. I guarantee that eventually someone will know someone who could provide at least a couple of these services either for free if they are close family or at a discounted price.