I've now been to two wedding shows and I may have got a favourite out of those two. I first went to the Designer Wedding Show in Battersea. Great location and venue, very expensive sandwiches and drinks and no free champagne, which I always think is a downer when pitching a 'posh' wedding show. There's no goody bag and only a few of the stalls were that relevant.
I think when you go to these 'top-tier' shows, you have to remember that unless you are rolling in money, people like the photographers etc are not going to be affordable. It's great to get ideas, but at the same time, that's what magazines are for. I think you have to see what suppliers are going beforehand and then go and chat to the ones you are serious about. I spent far too long talking to a stationery vendor that I was never going to buy from!
Saying that, I was surprised by a vendor who I had never heard of but who did lovely head wear and veils and got to try one on (well, several) so that was really exciting. However, the catwalk show wasn't great - too bright and too loud - and none of the dresses looked tempting. I also don't think you could try any on - I think they were just for display.
The same was true at the Luxury Wedding Show but here, the catwalk was accompanied by a free glasses of champagne, the lights weren't directed on you and the dresses were interesting and gorgeous. They had a few similar vendors to the Designer show but I saw new faces and tried some delicious cake, something that had been sorely missing from the first show!
There was also an excellent goody bag, with OPI nail polish, Elemis body cream, Dermalogica face cream, Pearl Drops toothpaste, L'Oreal hairspray and a Gu bar, as well as samples. I really enjoyed this one, even though I took most of it with a pinch of salt. I'm excited about the bun fight that will be the National Wedding Show. Any tips? Go early or late?
Friday, 28 October 2011
Friday, 7 October 2011
First wedding show
I'm off to the Designer Wedding Show tomorrow with Future Husband and my mother, who is mostly looking foward to the champagne. She's already in a flap because she doesn't know what she is going to wear and she is apparently too fat for everything. Bear in mind she is the same size as me and I'm the one who has to fit into a wedding dress, I think she has it easy!
I'm really not sure what to expect at a wedding show. I'm anticipating lots of suppliers and coming away with a lot of contact details, but I think we are fairly certain on a number of things we want to do so I don't know how persuasive they will be. I'm also fairly wary of the tag 'designer' because I would like my wedding to be personal and comfortable with some nice touches and not at all designer! So we shall see.
Anyone lurking out there have any tips for going round a wedding show?
I'm really not sure what to expect at a wedding show. I'm anticipating lots of suppliers and coming away with a lot of contact details, but I think we are fairly certain on a number of things we want to do so I don't know how persuasive they will be. I'm also fairly wary of the tag 'designer' because I would like my wedding to be personal and comfortable with some nice touches and not at all designer! So we shall see.
Anyone lurking out there have any tips for going round a wedding show?
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Heavy burden
So, I am trying to lose 3 stone (45lbs or thereabouts) by July next year so I can go wedding dress shopping without feeling like a blob.
This is very fucking hard.
Now, not to be all middle-class problems about my life (I'm well aware I have a very blessed life in pretty much all respects), but I have always struggled with my weight. I was a rounded child that lost all the puppy fat and still thought she was fat when I was a size 10/12 (that's a US 6/8). Gradually over the years, the weight has crept on and I never did anything about it. If I could tell 20 year-old-me one thing, it wouldn't be 'don't waste your tears over that person' or 'don't choose that job', it would be 'get down a gym and quit smoking or you'll struggle later in life'.
My mother (bless her) has also always struggled with her weight. To make sure I 'never had her problems', she refused pastry, cream, bacon, butter, full fat or sugar puddings and myriad other evils at our dining table growing up. I have never been one of those people who has to have something sweet after dinner. I've never eaten a huge amount. But I like my food, I like my food cooked in butter and juices, I like to eat out, and I love love love to drink.
So I cut back on what I was eating. I've tried not to eat carbs at lunch and dinner because they make me sleepy, so I kept up with that. I eat porridge for breakfast and salads or soups for lunch. I eat salads or chicken casseroles for dinner. I attempt to eat Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese) if and when we go out. And I all but stopped drinking during the week. This is on top of my new regime of going to Pilates once a week, seeing my trainer once a week and going to Zumba classes twice a week (hopefully going up to three when my back problem can cope).
I keep a food diary and send it to my personal trainer (told you it was a middle-class whinge). And now she wants me to give up booze totally.
I actively look forward to my 3-4 glasses of wine a week. I love wine. I love the taste. I love the smell. I love how it feels decadent on my tongue.
I honestly cried when she said she didn't think I'd see any weight loss without stopping drinking. I'd rather give up cheese and chocolate than booze. I gave up booze once before and didn't lose a single pound. So I'm feeling very depressed and put out that all of my changes and effort appear to count for nothing unless I give up everything I like. I can't even keep one fucking treat while I sweat and cry and go to bed hungry and ignore that other people are shovelling awesome-looking food in their mouths.
I compromised and said I'd quit drinking after our engagement party in two weeks. I'm sure when I get into it, it won't be that bad. I'm sure I can cope with it for a while. It will do me good, and hey, with that and my exercise and diet, this time it might just work for me and I'll go to Cuba in December looking svelte.
But I just feel a bit like I've been kicked while I'm still down, you know?
This is very fucking hard.
Now, not to be all middle-class problems about my life (I'm well aware I have a very blessed life in pretty much all respects), but I have always struggled with my weight. I was a rounded child that lost all the puppy fat and still thought she was fat when I was a size 10/12 (that's a US 6/8). Gradually over the years, the weight has crept on and I never did anything about it. If I could tell 20 year-old-me one thing, it wouldn't be 'don't waste your tears over that person' or 'don't choose that job', it would be 'get down a gym and quit smoking or you'll struggle later in life'.
My mother (bless her) has also always struggled with her weight. To make sure I 'never had her problems', she refused pastry, cream, bacon, butter, full fat or sugar puddings and myriad other evils at our dining table growing up. I have never been one of those people who has to have something sweet after dinner. I've never eaten a huge amount. But I like my food, I like my food cooked in butter and juices, I like to eat out, and I love love love to drink.
So I cut back on what I was eating. I've tried not to eat carbs at lunch and dinner because they make me sleepy, so I kept up with that. I eat porridge for breakfast and salads or soups for lunch. I eat salads or chicken casseroles for dinner. I attempt to eat Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese) if and when we go out. And I all but stopped drinking during the week. This is on top of my new regime of going to Pilates once a week, seeing my trainer once a week and going to Zumba classes twice a week (hopefully going up to three when my back problem can cope).
I keep a food diary and send it to my personal trainer (told you it was a middle-class whinge). And now she wants me to give up booze totally.
I actively look forward to my 3-4 glasses of wine a week. I love wine. I love the taste. I love the smell. I love how it feels decadent on my tongue.
I honestly cried when she said she didn't think I'd see any weight loss without stopping drinking. I'd rather give up cheese and chocolate than booze. I gave up booze once before and didn't lose a single pound. So I'm feeling very depressed and put out that all of my changes and effort appear to count for nothing unless I give up everything I like. I can't even keep one fucking treat while I sweat and cry and go to bed hungry and ignore that other people are shovelling awesome-looking food in their mouths.
I compromised and said I'd quit drinking after our engagement party in two weeks. I'm sure when I get into it, it won't be that bad. I'm sure I can cope with it for a while. It will do me good, and hey, with that and my exercise and diet, this time it might just work for me and I'll go to Cuba in December looking svelte.
But I just feel a bit like I've been kicked while I'm still down, you know?
Monday, 26 September 2011
Worries
I am convinced somewhere along the way my mother is going to send me a card similar to this.
Friday, 23 September 2011
Not for me
If I see another article on how to get the Vintage look for your wedding, I'm going to scream. Vintage is everywhere, sometimes real Vintage and sometimes fake Vintage, but it all involves birdcages and tea cups. And peonies and pink and green. I am so bored of the Vintage theme, I really am. It's now too easy to do. Everyone is doing it. Can we have a new trend now?
Or to go to the other extreme, there is the punk, modern pin-up hipster trend which is the second most common theme - more prevalent on the internet than in magazines. Edgy and cool, you have to have non-traditional parents or balls of steel to have this - looks fantastic and is so not us.
The third major theme seems to be Tiffany blue. Seriously.
What about the brides that don't fit into these themes? I want something less romantic and twee than Vintage but less kitsch and more traditional than hipster. I do not want Tiffany blue, unless they sponsor my wedding.
Oh, I know that sometimes there will be a feature on a beach-themed wedding, or one with a peacock theme, but come on: their must be more inventive ideas than this? What about a movies/Hollywood theme? Or a global/travelling theme? Or a Storybook love theme? Or modern fairytale? Or burlesque? Or a circus theme? So much fun stuff, so little makes it into the pages of the magazines in the shops. Such a shame.
Or to go to the other extreme, there is the punk, modern pin-up hipster trend which is the second most common theme - more prevalent on the internet than in magazines. Edgy and cool, you have to have non-traditional parents or balls of steel to have this - looks fantastic and is so not us.
The third major theme seems to be Tiffany blue. Seriously.
What about the brides that don't fit into these themes? I want something less romantic and twee than Vintage but less kitsch and more traditional than hipster. I do not want Tiffany blue, unless they sponsor my wedding.
Oh, I know that sometimes there will be a feature on a beach-themed wedding, or one with a peacock theme, but come on: their must be more inventive ideas than this? What about a movies/Hollywood theme? Or a global/travelling theme? Or a Storybook love theme? Or modern fairytale? Or burlesque? Or a circus theme? So much fun stuff, so little makes it into the pages of the magazines in the shops. Such a shame.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Mrs Blobby in a Dress
While we're on the topic of wedding dresses, I have a confession: I am not at all excited or thrilled at the prospect of The Dress TM. There is a very good reason for this and then another, smaller reason.
The main reason: I am fat. I am five foot three and I'm a UK size 16. I have a prominent belly and I don't look very good in clothes. I have very low self-esteem. I am now exercising at least four times a week and am on a strict diet, and the idea is to lose at least 45 lbs before I start shopping. So I can't get excited about wedding dresses, because a) if I tried it on now I wouldn't look very good and I would cry and b) when I think about dresses, I think about muscle pain, being unable to breathe and salads.
You can see how this a downer.
Oh, and I'm not slagging women who are size 16 and higher and proud - you go and be proud. Full figured women can be gorgeous. I am not one of those women. I am not curvy, or full-figured - I do not go in at any point. I look like someone who should be a size 12-14 and has eaten too much because that is exactly what I am. The shortness doesn't help either. I'm like an apple with dumpy legs.
The smaller reason is that when I think about structured gowns, my lungs get worried. I don't want a lot of structure digging into my rib cage. I want to be able to breathe and eat on my wedding day. Beading makes me worry about scratching the inside of my upper arms, as this is what happens when I wear anything beaded, and lace makes me simply itchy all over. I generally dislike all decoration that traditionally goes on wedding dresses. Plus, white and ivory are not my colours. I have seen maybe two dresses I like and that's it.
So it's going to take a few months before I can get excited about wedding dresses, and I fear the actual shopping for them. I don't want the beading and lace that covers 90% of wedding dresses and so either my shopping will take minutes or months. Not an appealing prospect!
The main reason: I am fat. I am five foot three and I'm a UK size 16. I have a prominent belly and I don't look very good in clothes. I have very low self-esteem. I am now exercising at least four times a week and am on a strict diet, and the idea is to lose at least 45 lbs before I start shopping. So I can't get excited about wedding dresses, because a) if I tried it on now I wouldn't look very good and I would cry and b) when I think about dresses, I think about muscle pain, being unable to breathe and salads.
You can see how this a downer.
Oh, and I'm not slagging women who are size 16 and higher and proud - you go and be proud. Full figured women can be gorgeous. I am not one of those women. I am not curvy, or full-figured - I do not go in at any point. I look like someone who should be a size 12-14 and has eaten too much because that is exactly what I am. The shortness doesn't help either. I'm like an apple with dumpy legs.
The smaller reason is that when I think about structured gowns, my lungs get worried. I don't want a lot of structure digging into my rib cage. I want to be able to breathe and eat on my wedding day. Beading makes me worry about scratching the inside of my upper arms, as this is what happens when I wear anything beaded, and lace makes me simply itchy all over. I generally dislike all decoration that traditionally goes on wedding dresses. Plus, white and ivory are not my colours. I have seen maybe two dresses I like and that's it.
So it's going to take a few months before I can get excited about wedding dresses, and I fear the actual shopping for them. I don't want the beading and lace that covers 90% of wedding dresses and so either my shopping will take minutes or months. Not an appealing prospect!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Movie weddings
Having a mosey around the internetz to see if I can spot any dress styles I like and I come across the following: two slide shows on movie and TV weddings.
It strikes me that most wedding dresses in movies and TV are either hideous or blah - the same no-sleeve dress with beading. I think the only one I'm drawn to is Anne Hathaway's in Bride Wars. Of course, the likelihood of me a) affording and b) fitting into a Vera Wang are slim to none, but oh well!
It strikes me that most wedding dresses in movies and TV are either hideous or blah - the same no-sleeve dress with beading. I think the only one I'm drawn to is Anne Hathaway's in Bride Wars. Of course, the likelihood of me a) affording and b) fitting into a Vera Wang are slim to none, but oh well!
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