Operation Wedding Dress #5 ♥

I haven't done a proper Operation Wedding Dress update since the 29th of August! Can you believe that? Slapped wrists pour moi! So I briefly mentioned in the last but one post that I had lost about 2 stone now, and in my last Operation Wedding Dress post I weighed 13st 6lbs, I am now 12st 6.5lbs so almost another stone since the last time we had a chinwag about it. I have lost 30.5lbs in total, or 2st 2.5lbs, and have gone from a size 18 - 20 to a comfortable 14. Obviously, we are on the brink of Christmas and it's going to be quite difficult to be as strict, and I am finding that already - bit of choccy here and there - but I feel like I can see a size 12 on the horizon, and that was something I could of never dreamed of before I started this.

My ultimate goal weight is 11st 1lb according to weight watchers. I think this next stone will be the hardest to shift, but I know in the new year I'm really going to try for it. My current goal in the meetings is 12st. We now have a dog, so we try and go for walks that are about 40 minutes long and I hope to build that up, and increase the pace to a jog, then a run, but we will see how that goes!

My BMI has lowered from my heaviest weight being 34.57, to now 28.09. Don't really know what it all does but I'm glad I'm now in the 20's at least. 2lb a week loss from now until Christmas would be really nice to achieve my 12st goal by then but who knows. It's nice to think hopefully this time next year I will have my wedding dress and it's all hunky dory.

Just thought I'd show you this brooch. It's from Primark and was £4.00, and I bought it to go in my hair for a ball I went to last weekend. I just think it's so pretty, and if your are looking for brooch's for a sparkly bouquet, this might be a good one without breaking the bank. I just attached it to my side bun with a load of grips.

Just another quickie, I have found a great website called Final Stitch through a lady that tweeted me it. It's a great forum for brides to be, where you can pop on photos, details about how you and your other half met, and a great site to get plenty of inspiration! My username is 'wicktilleth' if you fancy a scout round, I have a few pics on, and will keep updating as the next 17 months whizz by. I'm doing two posts today, I have more things to write about!!

Ooo Oooo and....the sweet cart and DJ are now Booked! I didn't think we were going to have a sweet cart, but it's a really tall one and fits great with the vintage theme. I can dress it up however I want, and we have chosen 12 different sweets that are unlimited all night. I also cheekily asked the company to throw in the candyfloss machine for an hour to which they have agreed! You don't ask, you don't get. So the deposit is down on that too, just got to think of all the songs we want the DJ to play over the next year as well! 

Tilly xXx

A Visit Up North ♥

This weekend we went up to the venue with Ed's sister and boyfriend, and went 'Glamping' while we were there. We stayed in these wooden Octolodges, which were really cute and cosy. It was all heated with plug sockets and a T.V., only downside was the toilet and shower block was a walk down a hill but that's what it's all about. Ed was walking down to it with me in his PJ's and decided it would be more fun to get to them by falling and sliding down the hill! I turned round and he was covered in mud, so the one positive about that, it gave us a right laugh. 

Here was a view from the lodge at about 8am. It was stunning with mist off the hills, and snow on the mountains, you forget that sights like this exist in England!

This was the view in the day. This is about 20 miles away from our venue.

If we ever go up to Kendal I always make sure I have a quick mooch in the charity shops, they seem to have bags more goodies than we do. I just go in with an open mind and see what I come out with. With the help of Ed's sister, we found this gorgeous vintage hand mirror, with an ivory sequined back. I'm not sure how old it is, but it's quite heavy and I think it is brass. I just thought it would look gorgeous as a little vintage prop somewhere in the room, and the design of it is very wedding like. A whole £2.00 it cost! Definite bargain.(Sorry for the rubbish pictures, I was in a rush!)

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I've been after two vintage suitcases for the wedding. One for the table plan (I'll explain how when I do it!) and one to put any cards we receive in. I've looked on Ebay and they are all around £50.00, or too far away to pick up, and they are so popular now as a shabby chic home accessory. We walked into this charity shop and there it was. Perfect. Dark brown, rectangular, tatty, with somebody's initals on. It's also great because I found it in Kendal, so just another little sentimental point to it. I had the whole shop trying to help me get into the thing though, it was so tightly shut no one could open it! I just thought I would risk it and have it anyway for £15.00. 

When I got home we sprayed some WD40 on the clasps and it popped open like magic. It's in decent condition inside, but it'll look great when it's newly lined with floral fabric etc! Just one more to find now.

Tilly xXx

I am back ♥

Oh Hey! Long time no blog! What a few weeks it has been. Ed and I went to Cyprus for our holiday last week, I am missing it already! It was so lovely and hot, and all the guests we talked to seemed to be going to a wedding over there, or booking a wedding. We were thinking after all this talk, are we doing the right thing staying in the UK to tie the knot? After a 5 hour non - stop pool chat along with a few other hotel guests, and much thinking, I honestly think we are doing right by what we are doing. I know that all our guests can come, well more so than if it was in Cyprus, I can tailor the room to exactly how I want it, and if it rains then we will just have to have some romantic rainy pictures. 

Here we are over there. It's all about the giraffe sunnies!

If you have read the previous posts, you may know that I ordered my little sisters bridesmaid dress. Well it came, and my Mom took that big tacky bow off straight away and it made the world of difference. Where the bright pink ribbon is, I think we are going to cover it with a slightly duskier/lighter pink just to tone it down a little. I'm also going to try and get an underskirt to flare it out a little. It's a really cute dress though, different with a vintage feel which is what I really like on it. 

Here she is with it on, it's just the right size to grow into over the next 19 months for her, and she is holding one of the little posies I have been making. It's not quite finished, but we just took the photo so we could get the full effect.

I spotted another wedding dress on the land of Ebay yesterday, which is a gorgeous lace and taffeta dress. I really love it, it's so elegant but still holds that vintage touch with the shoulders. I have broad shoulders so I thought this would work well to tone them down but others have the opinion that it may accentuate them, any ideas?

I do still love the dress I have put on here as 'the one', I just love how classy this is. 

The lace up back detail is stunning, and this looks so nice with a long veil. I also have a tattoo on my right shoulder, so this would also tone that down a little if I was going to cover it. That's another post in itself that I'll talk about at a later date. 

I hope everyone is well, next post coming very soon! Ooo and P.S. I gained 4lb on holiday, I went to weight watchers yesterday. I think it may have been more than that though because we moved house on Saturday and I must of dropped a couple then! I am really disheartened actually, because the people that joined around the same time as me who I was running alongside with weight loss, are now a few lbs ahead of me. I really need to try and get it off!

Tilly xXx

Making a little Posie Bouquet ♥

After yesterday's post, I was itching to get started on having a go at making a bouquet. I just really wanted to see what it would look like. I hadn't really got suitable brooches to put in it, so I just thought I'd see how it would turn out anyhow. My Mom and I popped down to Hobbycraft (a big craft store in the UK), and we found lots of goodies that could be turned into some pretty creations.

My Mom kindly treated me to all the bits and bobs to have a go with. I have been looking at real floral bouquets this morning, and they appear to be typically £50.00 or more! Daylight robbery yet again. I just can't justify it just to chuck them away. We got enough supplies to make two little Bridesmaid posies, and that came to just under £30.00 for two! I think they will be a nice keepsake for the girls if they wanted to keep them.

So to make them, we got: 

4 Bunches of artificial vintage coloured roses

3 Bunches of diamanté roses / sprigs

Floristry Tape and Floristry wire

Tools needed were scissors, and round nosed pliers if you are going to use brooches. Also, weight watchers chocolate brownie pudding top left - not optional =D

I began to assemble the flowers randomly so there were different colours mixed up. I then loosely wrapped one of the stem wires around all of the stems to keep them in place. It takes a bit of pushing and pulling to get them at the same level but it's worth it! 

I then added some diamanté roses and sprigs to complete it, just wrapping their wires around the base stems of the flowers. To secure, I just wrapped the floristry tape all around the stems to neaten it up. I have ribbon to wrap around the stem base, but it kept on gathering up as I wrapped it around. I'm now thinking of wrapping them in the thick brown vintage looking string - you know the stuff? And then adding the ribbon as a bow at the top. I'll show you once I have got the string.

This is a photo of it in daylight. I think it has turned out quite pretty, and I'm now thinking I may actually use this. I haven't fully assembled the other one, and that is one flower less than this so I might pop a brooch in it. I'm going to go back to Hobbycraft when I return off my holidays and grab the rest of these flowers, because I think I better get them before the Christmas stock starts invading. It will be great to have these done in advance, definitely one less thing to worry about. I've also got to figure out how to do the buttonholes, as they will have to match. I think Hobbycraft will have nothing left by the time I'm finished!

So there we go, a little bouquet for a fraction of the price, and something to keep forever. We're doin' the DIY!

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear! 

Tilly xXx

The Brooch Bouquet ♥

Because our wedding shall be taking place approximately 150 miles from our home, the flowers are the one thing I tend to worry about. As I previously worked in a hotel, seeing sometimes four weddings in a week, the couples were local and they came in early in the morning with the beautiful bouquets and buttonholes. By the time they came to check in at about 3 or 4pm before the meal, the flowers had all wilted, gained the brown edging on the petals, and well just fell to bits really. Also, they are extremely expensive and what for? To chuck away the next day, brill.

Image Sourced from Google Images

So they never look so great by the end of the day and personally, I don't particularly have the money to waste on something to chuck in the bin. Someone I used to know said that she had made her bouquets herself with artificial flowers, but I must admit I turned my nose up at it. Now however, seeing these brooch bouquets and now that I'm in the position of buying them, I'm actually thinking it might be a pretty good idea.

I have a couple of brooches already that my great Nan gave me, and there's plenty of charity shops around that I could grab some from. 

Image sourced from Google Images 

Looking around at certain websites that actually sell these brooch bouquets, they are literally around the £300 mark and above and beyond. Daylight robbery! There's no way I'd spend that, and after all this IS a DIY wedding. So I watched a couple of tutorials on Youtube, and it looks pretty easy to be honest. I think I'm going to give it a go to see if I can actually do it, and make a couple of home decorations as we move into our new house next month. I can really see how much it might cost then, and if I do have the patience. 

Image sourced from Pinterest

They look so gorgeously vintage, and they are so different. I could do mini versions for the bridesmaids too. It may save the worry of the flowers keeping nice, I can make them well in advance, it could become an heirloom to my kids so I could keep it, and there's no wilting around here! I could spray a bit of perfume on it too, just for effect ;p 

I'm going to have a little wonder around HobbyCraft this evening just to see what's about. Although it is still early with 20 months to go until the wedding, Christmas is going to come faster than we think, and then it will be January with only 15 months to go. I think it may flash before my eyes, so I just want to be prepared!

Have you had a brooch bouquet? Or do you prefer real flowers?

Tilly xXx

Little Bridesmaid Dress ♥

I have just purchased my first actual item for the big day. I know, I'm mad but better to do it now so I can pay for things gradually and steadily. So, I've been having a scout round for a bridesmaid dress for my little sister, who will be 8 at the time of the wedding. I wasn't looking for something to neccessarily match the adult bridesmaids, but something that is individual and follows with the vintage theme. After not much scouting really, I came across this gorgeous little dress, that seemed to tick all the right boxes. 

There were three of a similar design, so my Mom showed my little sister which one she liked best and she chose this one! She has good taste! However, we are going to alter it I think because that it one HUGE bow. I love the fabric and everything about it, that is flouncy but not too over the top, which is why we shall probably remove that particular bow. We shall see anyway when it arrives.

How much was it then? Well this blog is all about DIY, bargains and thrift, and it was on Ebay from a Hong Kong shop, so a brand new dress for £11.99, with £3.99 P&P. Ooo we do love a bargain. That is why I have bought it so early, I'd well and truely kick myself if it had been taken off.

This is the back of the dress.

It's so girly and floral OoO I just love it. I think with a nice tousled uppy downy hair do, with some little rosebud clips subtly in it, it would look so pretty.

For example!

So that's that sorted, and little Lucy loves it!

Tilly xXx

Bridal Shoes & Bridesmaid Dresses ♥

It's never too early to start thinking about the aesthetics of your wedding! At least, I don't think so...

So I always have a mooch around the bridal sections in Debenhams whenever I'm passing, or a sneaky look in a few shoe shops around Birmingham. I'm not particularly a shoe person; they aren't an item I gravitate towards if I'm out shopping really. However, I have been briefly thinking about the style of shoes I'd like for my wedding day. I'm not a big spender as you may have gathered, and I'd love a pair that are a bit 'wow' under the dress.

My initial thoughts were to go for something turquoise to match my hair if the dress was long enough, but I don't want it to look totally nuts. In Birmingham, I went into Kurt Geiger for the first time, and have fell head over heels (like what I did there?) for these badboys!

They are called 'Guess' by Carvela, and are currently on sale from £120.00 to £49.00, but they don't have my size! I did see them in the shop and they were lovely but I couldn't justify spending even the £49.00. I've since been back in and the buggers have gone. I just love them, the crystals are clear, but multicoloured in the light, and the base colour is a grey, dusky pink. I just love them, and I think if they were available online now at my size I would honestly get them. They do have alternate colours in Kurt Geiger, but they are at full price, so I'm keeping my eyes firmly peeled over the next year.

As for Bridesmaid dresses, my immediate thought was that they will be floor length, as I'm not a fan of short bridesmaids dresses, they look so much more classy long (because you know, I'm full of class ;) ). I just think they look pretty, and I feel better in a long dress so that's that. I also am thinking of a one shoulder dress, because I don't want my girls feeling uncomfortable or irritable due to their dress. 

I particularly like these dresses, they are the three main colours in our theme and they are available in all of those colours. They are around £75.00 each which is a little on the pricey side I guess, but for a custom made dress it's not too bad. I have no idea what colour to choose, unless I have one of each...

I love the material, they are one shouldered and have lovely beading detail under the bust. They fit the bill, but it's still early days, and I guess I have to consult the ladies who shall actually be wearing them!

Tilly xXx

Wedding Dresses ♥

Now the venue has been chosen, and the theme is on the right track, my head has been full of what to do next. With just over 20 months to go, it gives me plenty of time to decide on a wedding dress. It is probably one of the most exciting parts of it and I think I plan to buy it around 6 to 8 months before. I really want to shift some weight first, as I'm no spring chicken and I'm a real foodie, which unfortunately shows the minute I put an M&M near my lips. It is a big issue for me, but I can't seem to combat it at the minute for some reason. I think it's all getting in the right frame of mind, trouble is a meal out is something my Fiancé and I really enjoy doing, when really it's lethal. More on that another day.

So after scouring through a million wedding magazines, and pages among the net, I have finally came up with a wedding dress style I like. I want to keep it along with the vintage theme, have something different with plenty of lace. I'm not a fan of these generic satin dresses, when I'm watching 'Don't Tell the Bride', they all look the same. Other people look really nice in them when they are on, but they are just not for me. 

I plan to buy my wedding dress off Ebay. They have some amazing designs, and at phenomenal prices for a custom made fit. Of course, I shall still go and try some on to get an idea of what suits me, but once a bargain hunter, always a bargain hunter. Here are some I have found and loved.

I would prefer something with shoulder straps or some way of holding up the dress rather than the 'boob tube' style. I don't fancy hoiking it up all day. Also I'm pretty broad shouldered, so I'd prefer to take the edge off that too. These are two however, that I loved anyway without shoulder straps.

My favourite at the moment is this dress here. It's different, has side shoulder straps, and abundance of lace with a vintage feel to it still. I absolutely love it, and all for a hundred pounds. I understand it's risky, but I'd rather pay fifty quid to get it altered than another two grand to have a designer label put in the back. That still looks amazing to me, and although it might not be to everyone's taste, it's just what I'm after. The only trouble is with Ebay, dresses like this come and go so I have to scour it everyday to see what is still there. We shall see nearer to the time, but this is certainly a contender if it would still be there. 

Have you bought wedding or bridesmaid dresses off Ebay? I'd love to know!

Thanks for reading,

Tilly xXx

Theme - The Beginning Mood Board ♥

Now we've got the venue, and a good idea of what it looks like, we can start building up theme ideas. I can picture little bit's and bob's to go here and there, and what to use to decorate the venue. As for our theme, I love vintage-ness! I am a big fan of quirky, pretty, Parisian Vintage, so that is what I'm aiming to go for. Obviously, everyone has unique tastes, so it's great to sift through websites like Pinterest to pick and personalise little ideas from each image. 

Think Lace, Taffeta and Peonies, oh and not to mention La Tour Eiffel. Suitcases, birdcages, candles, bunting, mason jars, ribbon fairy lights, bows, pearls - are just some of the things that have me inspired. 

So this gives you a general theme on our wedding. The three main colours being a pastel turquoise (to correspond with my hair!), a pastel pink and a light gold/champagne colour. I didn't particularly just want to stick with a general colour because it makes it harder to get items to correspond, or dresses to match etc. Especially when I am getting a lot of things from Ebay, where the exact colours differ, so it makes things a little more lenient when it comes to colour matching.

Do you like the vintage theme, or had it for your own wedding? I'd love to know! The only thing I'm worried about is shifting so much stuff, especially the flowers, 150 miles up the road the day before! Any tips would be handy! Thanks for reading!

Tilly xXx