Update: Every girl needs her mum

Hi guys,
It's been a long time since i've updated, and progress on the wedding planning has really slowed down this month, as we've been taking a break and focusing on Christmas instead: you can't assemble a tree and make mince pies by the thousand and buy and wrap a million presents whilst stressing about a wedding at the same time!But the cut outs for the photobooth are complete: here are pics of how they looked before I took them home, where my amazing dad and grandad are cutting the faces out and building frames around them so they stand up. I can't wait to get home for Christmas to see how they look (as well as because I can't wait to get home for Christmas!)

When I went home last month to visit my folks and take the cut outs up for their final creation, mum and I had three days of wedding planning and crafty fun. We choose the ribbon colours for the confetti cones (which mum is making herself) got some great inspiration for the reception, and went to Horncastle, a local antiques town, where we picked up lots of the remaining tea cups needed for the place settings, as well as tea pots for our floral arrangements on the tables, old fashioned vases, for the flowers in the bar area and cut glass bottles for our homemade vodka to sit in on the bar. We also got a giant goblet/vase which I loved, and which we will be using for the sweetie buffet:
It will brilliant to have the time with mum to talk non-stop about the wedding and make plans. My mum is ridiculously crafty (much more so than me) and it was great to hear all her ideas (and of course give her a big list of extra things to do!!!) It was a massive weight off my shoulders to know that my mum could craft half the ideas I could barely explain in my head (and didn't think they were crazy!) Like the title says: every girl needs her mum!

All in all it was a massively successful trip, and I can't believe I didn't write it up sooner!
Love, Tor xx

DIY Photobooth/guest book hybrid!

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! We've had a really busy time, with loads of amazing progress made, so I must keep writing these updates. My latest DIY project is currently in progress, and it's one i'm really proud of, so I just had to share its evolution so far:You know those things that have no name, those things you put your head through and have your picture taken when you go to the fair? Well we really wanted to have those for our wedding guest book. So much more interesting that a load of signatures! We intend to have one for the boys and one for the girls: An Alice and a Mad Hatter. The painting of the alice is complete, whilst the hatter is still a work in progress. The final picture is the finished Alice:
We took 6 ft by 2 ft thick gauge MDF boards, and painted them pale pink then left them to dry. Then it was time to get creative and draw on the Alice with pencil. Once I was happy with the drawing I painted in the block colours, one colour at a time. Again, this was left to dry. Then came the trickiest bit of this crazily simple process: creating the block cartoon effect by going around the painting in a thick black marker pen. Simples!

The Hatter has had his background painted, and is just waiting for me to get creative with my paints and pencils! At the weekend both boards will be making a trip to Lincolnshire, where Daddy and Grandad Fabfrocks will be cutting out their faces and building them A frames so that they stand up independantly, and safely.

Without sounding to vain, i'm really pleased with how this one has turned out. I just hope the Mad Hatter looks as good when i've finished him!

Love, Tor xx

Guest book/Photo album/Keepsake box: Done!

I've been looking for the gift box/photo album/keepsake box set for ages, but haven't seen anything I wanted: I didn't want something with "wedding" embellished across the front. Then I toyed with something Alice themed, but didn't want something that garish to sit on my coffee table for all eternity.

Tonight Mike and I popped into Paperchase to check out the Christmas stuff (which I always absolutely love!) and I saw this and fell in love. Silver leather with flocking embossing: what's not to like?! It's very simple, and very chic, which is just what you want in something you're going to keep forever. It's more surprisingly sophisticated than I expected I would like but in the flesh it's lovely: the grain of the leather is stunning!

On the subject of Paperchase, this is the display they had behind the tills: milk bottles with pages torn from books wrapped inside as scrolls. I thought it looked really effective, and if I have any nooks and crannies at the venue that need filling this would be a cheap but eyecatching way of doing it!

Love, Tor xx

It's the little things...

Hi guys,
I've been quiet, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! I've had lots of new ideas over the past couple of weeks, including handing out our 'drink me' bottles of booze at the entrance to the venue (instead of putting them on the table) so that guests have to "drink and shrink" to get in, just like Alice did! I've also had a great idea for a photo guest book that's quite ambitious, and involves building a head-in-hole photobooth, similar to the kind you would find at a fair!

Unfortunately, i've also been busy, so no new big decisions have been made, no more vendors chosen. Instead i've been busying myself with little projects, so that I feel like i'm achieving something towards the wedding, without overwhelming myself!

Today i've been working on the labels for the sweet jars, to go on the sweetie buffet:

They're exactly what I wanted: personalised with our names and date, vintage looking, and still inkeeping with the wonderland theme. I've only made four so far, but now I have the template ready they won't take long to finish off! Next job is to go to ikea and buy the jars to stick them on....

Love, Tor x

More crafting: Hen 'do presents!

I know I haven't posted for ages, but that doesn't mean I haven't been getting busy with the wedding preparation! Today I finished the first batch of presents for my hens on my hen do: I decided to make them personalised Alice in Wonderland necklaces in homemade pouches. It seemed like a much nicer present to keep than a straw shaped like a willy!!

I used charms from a company called My Vintage Charms: one is shaped like a stopped clock, and one is shaped like a tea cup. The bottles (similar to the Alice "drink me" bottles) were from ebay, and each one has the hens name written on it on a scroll in the middle, and inside each scroll is a personalised note. The ribbon I used is the same ribbon I am using for the bows on my Thank You cards. And here are the little pouches:

These were shockingly easy to make: I made little pouches out of blue felt, cut hearts out of red felt and secured them to the pouches with a cute shiny button! I then stamped the names onto labels and used the same blue ribbon as before to tie them to the tops of the bags - easy peasy!

My next projects for the hen do are to make candles inside teacups (i'm assured this is easier than it sounds!) and to research some personalised cotton bags to put all the trinkets into!

Love, Tor xx

Brooch bouquet progress update

I'm really excited about the progress we've made on the brooch bouquet; so far we have around 40 brooches wired up like flowers, and I think we only need another 25 or so before I have enough to completely make the bouquet!

I've started putting it together already, just to get an idea of the shape and size. I'm crazy pleased with how it's looking, and think it's definitely comparable to the professionally made ones that i'm modelling it on. The top picture shows how it's looking so far, the bottom picture are the loose brooches I have left to add in. Although actually they aren't just brooches: i've also used scarf rings (that's what the stopped clock is - very Alice in Wonderland!) rings, clip on earrings - anything that had a solid base to hold the wire really!!

I was hoping to spend £1 or less per brooch and complete the make for £75, but haven't ended up anywhere near target: including the ones I didn't buy for myself (because everyone has been great at donating/buying brooches for me!) I think the overall cost will be somewhere between £150 - £200. As my mum pointed out though, the average fresh flower bridal bouquet costs about £150, and this way I get to keep all the brooches and have the amazing, unusual bouquet of my dreams!

I'm definitely not disappointed about going over budget, and can't wait to get it finished and show you guys!

Love, Tor xx

Potential ceremony reading?

I know it's a little unusual, but everytime I read A Lovely Lovestory by Edward Monkton I think of me and Mike (he is the moody dinosaur and I am the shopaholic dinosaur!!) For the ceremony we are having one religious reading and two non-religious ones, and we're thinking of using this as one of the non-religious ones. Its meaningful without being too soppy and over-sentimental, which isn't very "us". What do you think??

" The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.

Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.

I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny.
He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.

I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice.
She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.

But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
He is also overly fond of things.
Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?

But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on shopping.
Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?

I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.

I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm.
And the world is a beautiful place."