countdown to a wedding

It has been a good day. What more can I say.... The saga is over. I have a dress. I can't believe its finally over. Neither can Giles. I've been driving him (and the rest of my mates) nuts for the past week. He sent me to the bridal salon with instructions to buy a dress or don't come home. He doesn't follow my belief that if something is worth spending money on you have to agonise over it for at least 2 weeks looking at as many examples of said purchase as possible. I see it as research. He sees it as bloody annoying.

But what a fantastic day to buy a dress - Valentine's day. If I believed in omens this would be one. So now I need to find all the right bits to go with it. But that will be the fun part! To veil or not to veil... That is the question!

So the dress is bought. Giles has started looking at suits. He saw a fab Paul Smith suit: navy blue with royal blue stripes. On paper it sounds hideous I know, but he looks amazing. The stripes are thin and close together so it just gives the suit some depth and makes it jump out at you. He does look good in blue... Must be the northern "I haven't seen the sun for 30 years" blue undertones in his skin that makes it work for him.

On a completely different note, we have some interest in our house (we thought it would be a really good idea to sell our house as we are trying to plan a trans-Atlantic wedding). The "potential buyer" is coming back tomorrow with his dad so fingers crossed for us!

Back to wedding type things... My friend are dropping like flies. I found out a few days again that my mate Lily is engaged!. I'm excited for her and the new fiancee I've never met (and she will be bringing him to my wedding, right Lily?!?!?). May she enjoy planning a wedding as much as I have. I think I'm going to convince her to blog her wedding because it would be hysterical. Definitely worth a bi-weekly post.

Well vats of wine are calling... Time to celebrate! (but what am I going to write about now... I need a new crisis!)

What a day its been! The dress I ordered to try on finally arrived today (2 days late) and I scampered down to the shop to try it on full of hope. Alas, it was not meant to be. Ladies, you know how you see a dress on the hanger and it is THE DRESS FOR YOU and then you put it on? It was like that... Only worse. It was the "nightmare dressing room" situation. It was just all wrong. I'm not sure if I'm more upset because the dress didn't work out or because the lady helping me was so sweet. She really is darling.

So, needless to say my afternoon wasn't the best. "Bag of nerves" was the best way to describe me. I went to my other appointment I had dragging my feet a bit and not a little worse for wear. Can I just say.. This shop is wonderful. I know... They want to sell you a dress because of the commission etc, etc, etc. But, you know what? I think the extra money is worth it. Especially since I'm doing the shopping partially on my own. I won't go into it again, but I had a fantastic time. I'd make a annual date out of it if I could. I've never felt so beautiful in my life. If you're getting married go to one of the fancy bridal salons just to see what its like. Its amazing. Just how I imagined it should be. I had a glass of wine (maybe two) and the salon was totally empty. I'm sure its how celebrities must feel when a shop closes down for them.

So yes, I'm pretty sure I've found the dress for me (planning on selling my organs to pay for it - anyone need a kidney?), but its a secret! I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise! Now I just need to find the accessories.....

So I went trying on dresses on Saturday (I know I promised to update you on Sunday, but I was feeling a bit "under the weather"). I must have tried on 15 different dresses. I even tried on a dress where the skirt was so big that it practically stood on its own!

Then, I tried on the most beautiful dress in the world. So cool. It was the combination of French catwalk and southern plantation. It was a dress you would create a wedding around. And then I found out it was the price of a small car. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I'm not too upset though. Giles wouldn't have liked it (it wasn't white - and yes, this is a big deal for some reason) and I would have been HOT HOT HOT. But I would have looked very "Couture"!

So after the dress trying, we had some lunch and some wine and off we went to the wedding fair. What can I say about a wedding fair? Men dressed in dinner jackets and women in wedding dresses. Everywhere you turned someone tried to grab you and put makeup on you/sign you up for a free holiday/show you the latest fill_in_the_blank. It was quite good really. We collected flyers, looked at rings and things, and sampled food (a chocolate fountain - superb!). And we watched the catwalk show drinking wine (notice the trend?). So all in all a successful day out in Manchester!

I'm hoping the dress I ordered to try will come in tomorrow because I need to make a decision PDQ. Otherwise potato sack here I come! (Do you thing anyone makes a couture potato sack?)