So today was one of the best days of wedding planning ever. Everything is pretty much back on track, in fact, it’s so much further ahead than it was! Long story short, we officially have our new venue (with alterations to suit us), we've sorted our wedding cake, and the biggie is… we have wedding rings!
So as most of you will know from my previous blog post, unfortunately we lost our original venue. I'm not going to linger on that because it’s still upsetting for me, so if you do want to know more about it then check out the post before this one, as it explains exactly what happened. But everything happens for a reason, and the further into planning we get, the more I'm starting to believe that it was a good thing for us. We had loads of stuff that we wanted to finalise with Fiona (our amazing wedding coordinator at Milton Hill) before we signed the contract and paid the deposit, so we arranged to meet her this morning before heading up to Birmingham to go ring shopping. And as this is a bit of a trek, we decided to stay at Anthony's parents’ house last night.
Kate (Anthony's mum) is one of the best bakers that I've ever met, and we had
previously asked her to make the wedding cake, but topics of conversation moved on and I don’t think any of us knew where we stood, Kate included! So we took the opportunity to talk it through with her; it's so important to us that it won’t stop her enjoying the day due to stress, but at the same time, we'd love for her to be such an important part of our day. So we went through a book she had, we reassured her that we don’t want a fancy cake, just something simple with three tiers, each a different flavour. She's agreed that it's doable,
and we found a few cakes that we liked the look of; this one was our main inspiration and I'm sure the finished product will look very similar to this, but without any flowers on the cake, and loads around the base of the cake stand. It's nice to finally have an idea of what our cake will look like, and it really does mean the world that Kate will be making it!
So this morning we left with smiles on our faces and a whole host of questions for Fiona, and for the first time, I got a warm feeling when we got to Milton Hill; I think its finally hitting me that it's our wedding venue, and its so beautiful! Fiona was amazing (again), she moved our buffet room free of charge to another room that we preferred (and has easier access to the bar!), which means we will also have room to put some small entertainment pieces in for the guests (keeping that quiet for now though!) We smoothed out a few other details, during which time I was reassured that 3 months before the wedding, we go through a 100 question document (anyone who knows me will know how much my eyes lit up at that prospect!) Before we knew it, we’d signed the contract and paid the deposit, and once again, we have a wedding venue. We feel so much more prepared than we did with the previous venue, the rooms are nicer – it’s all just a lot better!
So again, we set off with smiles! We had Disney blaring in the car all the way
to Birmingham, and arrived with spirit high. It was a long journey, but so worth it; Newey's was where Anthony bought my engagement ring from, and I’ve always loved the idea of getting the rings from the same place. And having been there myself, I cannot fault it. Every single item of jewellery was gorgeous, and it really didn’t take long at all to find the sort of rings we wanted. I originally wanted a ring like the one on the right, but having tried it with my engagement ring, it just didn’t work; the dip in the ring wasn’t big enough. Then I found this one, and I loved it instantly! Anthony was just as keen, which has always been important to me.
He actually took longer than me to choose his ring! The first ring was too thick, the next too thin... he’s actually got a custom made one which is between two sizes of thickness. Both of us have gone with platinum to match my engagement ring, and both rings are significantly under budget – we didn’t even have to haggle!
I also want to give a shout out to the lady who served us; unfortunately we didn’t get her name, but she was so incredible. She sized both our fingers correctly just by looking at them (and then measured to confirm), she was honest with her opinions, she listened and suggested amazing rings, and managed to create exactly what we wanted. The company also clearly value loyalty; both of us got a reduction on our wedding bands because my engagement ring came from there, and they also resized my engagement ring for free! My finger no longer looks like it’s about to explode (though the sizing is totally my fault!
I told Anthony what size to get year after year, but didn’t consider that my finger might be bigger since I was 18 and have grown 2 dress sizes...). I cannot recommend this company enough, if you're looking for any sort of jewellery then check them out!
It has been the best day, I genuinely think it’s been my favourite part of the planning so far! I cannot wait to have that ring on my finger for the rest of my life.
That’s all for now, and it may be a while until the next post, as we’ve not got anything major to book in the next few weeks. But as soon as we hit the next wedding milestone, you'll be some of the first to know!
See you then!
X
