We have been very, very busy! Since our last post the following things have happened...we had our rings designed and now have them, Darren's got his suit and shoes,we found a venue dresser, we chose a florist, and picked a caterer.... And as if that wasn't enough... we finally decided the motorhome debate!!!
We managed to get a really, really good deal on an "A" class (huge 32 foot!) motorhome! So as long as we manage to successfully save the funds, we're getting our first choice vehicle.
This trip means so much to us.. especially after recent events.... that we have started selling some of our treasured possessions on ebay, after all it is just stuff and the memories and images that come from the wedding and honeymoon will be with us forever!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Life's really strange, beautiful.....and a bit cruel.
Those of you who know us personally will already know this, twelve days ago Darren's Dad had a massive heart attack and died. It's such a horrible thing to happen, sudden death is so cruel, especially for those left behind. It really makes you aware of just how all those cliches are true... seize the moment, you never know the minute and so on...
I've been busy being grateful that both my parents brushes with illness have turned out ok, well so far anyway (still keeping my fingers crossed for that situation!). I thought we would make this a happy year for both families, unfortunately it's now been tinged with a sadness that we didn't expect or want.
But I know that Norman (Darren's Dad) wouldn't have wanted us to allow ourselves too much sadness, he was so pleased that we were marrying, so happy for us to try and achieve our dream honeymoon.
So even though we've discussed postponing the whole thing, Darren (and it has to be his decision, it was his Dad.) has decided that we go on with our plans.
I can't tell you how proud of him I am, there aren't words good enough to describe how I feel. He has been an absolute rock for his family, even when I can see it in his eyes he just wants to sit in a room and let his grief take over. And once the organising and legal stuff is over I'm sure he will, but I know that my boy also wants to get on with his life and do what we both believe is the point of us being here.... laughing every day, and appreciating the little wonders and beautiful moments that we get to have together, in other words to live life and love it.
Jane xx
I've been busy being grateful that both my parents brushes with illness have turned out ok, well so far anyway (still keeping my fingers crossed for that situation!). I thought we would make this a happy year for both families, unfortunately it's now been tinged with a sadness that we didn't expect or want.
But I know that Norman (Darren's Dad) wouldn't have wanted us to allow ourselves too much sadness, he was so pleased that we were marrying, so happy for us to try and achieve our dream honeymoon.
So even though we've discussed postponing the whole thing, Darren (and it has to be his decision, it was his Dad.) has decided that we go on with our plans.
I can't tell you how proud of him I am, there aren't words good enough to describe how I feel. He has been an absolute rock for his family, even when I can see it in his eyes he just wants to sit in a room and let his grief take over. And once the organising and legal stuff is over I'm sure he will, but I know that my boy also wants to get on with his life and do what we both believe is the point of us being here.... laughing every day, and appreciating the little wonders and beautiful moments that we get to have together, in other words to live life and love it.
Jane xx
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Bleurrrggh!!!!
Why,Why Why, when you take time off work to do wedding stuff does your body decide to rebel and get a stinking, nasty cold!!!! Everytime in the last six months that I've taken even a couple of days off to do some arranging I get the sniffles which turns into the cold from hell in a few hours....
And surprise, surprise... this weekend I'm not working for four whole days and I'm coughing, spluttering and croaking all over the place...
This weekend is supposed to be wedding rings, we're going to see the woman who's making our rings (hopefully!) and I have the first, of what I expect will be many, wedding meeting with my mum and best friend. And all I want to do is go to bed!!!
To say I'm not impressed with my immune system is an understatement, it's messing with me, letting me be fit and healthy when it's my job I'm at, but as soon as I try to spend some normal daytime hours doing wedding stuff, it finds a cold virus which no-one else around me has, and leaves me miserable and snotty!!!
So, BLEURRRGGH! and pass the tissues......
Jane xx
And surprise, surprise... this weekend I'm not working for four whole days and I'm coughing, spluttering and croaking all over the place...
This weekend is supposed to be wedding rings, we're going to see the woman who's making our rings (hopefully!) and I have the first, of what I expect will be many, wedding meeting with my mum and best friend. And all I want to do is go to bed!!!
To say I'm not impressed with my immune system is an understatement, it's messing with me, letting me be fit and healthy when it's my job I'm at, but as soon as I try to spend some normal daytime hours doing wedding stuff, it finds a cold virus which no-one else around me has, and leaves me miserable and snotty!!!
So, BLEURRRGGH! and pass the tissues......
Jane xx
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Size IS important......
So we travelled all the way to Cannock in Staffordshire today to try and solve the "what size motorhome debate" which has been raging for months now!
Cost is obviously the biggest decider, but it is a once in a life time thing and after some clever re-jigging of the itinery we think we might be able to afford a bigger one.... motorhome, that is...We've always pictured us doing this trip in an "A" class (click here to see one), with big windows to get the full benefit of the scenery we're going to drive through.
But for some reason most motorhome renters in the USA only rent this type..... in the smaller sizes. So it's either a 30 foot beast or something that has an overhang that blocks out the sky when you look out of the windscreen!! Believe me, I have scoured the internet for the last year looking to see if we could find a company that rents the smaller "A" classes that you can get in the UK and Europe but it's no good there aren't any... although if someone out there knows better and can point us in the right direction I'd be grateful if they got in touch!!
So back to today's trip to Cannock.... we drove for an hour and twenty minutes to get to this place where we had seen both types last year but had only really looked at the A class. We jumped out of Blob all excited that we were finally going to sort this once and for all.... only to find... nothing!!! I suppose it's because it's the middle of winter, but all they had were the European ones and a couple of A classes!!!!!! AAARRRGH!!
So the agonising continues.... big beast that we're worried we might not be able to drive(park) or the nippy one that we don't get the views in...
HELP!!!
Jane xx
Cost is obviously the biggest decider, but it is a once in a life time thing and after some clever re-jigging of the itinery we think we might be able to afford a bigger one.... motorhome, that is...We've always pictured us doing this trip in an "A" class (click here to see one), with big windows to get the full benefit of the scenery we're going to drive through.
But for some reason most motorhome renters in the USA only rent this type..... in the smaller sizes. So it's either a 30 foot beast or something that has an overhang that blocks out the sky when you look out of the windscreen!! Believe me, I have scoured the internet for the last year looking to see if we could find a company that rents the smaller "A" classes that you can get in the UK and Europe but it's no good there aren't any... although if someone out there knows better and can point us in the right direction I'd be grateful if they got in touch!!So back to today's trip to Cannock.... we drove for an hour and twenty minutes to get to this place where we had seen both types last year but had only really looked at the A class. We jumped out of Blob all excited that we were finally going to sort this once and for all.... only to find... nothing!!! I suppose it's because it's the middle of winter, but all they had were the European ones and a couple of A classes!!!!!! AAARRRGH!!
So the agonising continues.... big beast that we're worried we might not be able to drive(park) or the nippy one that we don't get the views in...
HELP!!!
Jane xx
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
We got a photographer.... YAY!!!
After months of trawling website after website trying to find a wedding photographer, we've finally booked one. I admit we're really fussy, and on a really tight budget, so we've struggled with the "price" versus "style" argument for months.
The photography is possibly the most important thing we'll buy for the day. It's the one thing apart from our rings that'll actually be with us forever. That'll remind us of every detail from the wedding. So it's important that it looks the way we want it to and reflects who we are.
We saw the photographers we eventually booked at a wedding show in Birmingham last year and really loved their work. But to us their fee seemed a little out of our range, little did we know that to get even close to their standard we would need to look at photographers that were in the "silly" money range!!!
So we left the decision until we knew that the date and venue was definate.... then after another quick emailing and phoning session we had to admit that we would have to bite the bullet and accept that what we wanted was gonna be in the higher price range and that the photographer we saw at Birmingham would be booked already..... So we contacted the more expensive ones and got quotes... but we knew that although they were beautiful images we just couldn't justify the money, not on our budget, so finally today we chanced a phone call to the photographers from the Birmingham Show and amazingly they're available.... and actually not unreasonable in the price area! And the deal they're offering is flexible and allows us to get exactly the sort of coverage we want.So the deposit is paid.... and that's one less thing to worry about!!!
you can see their website here
Jane xx
The photography is possibly the most important thing we'll buy for the day. It's the one thing apart from our rings that'll actually be with us forever. That'll remind us of every detail from the wedding. So it's important that it looks the way we want it to and reflects who we are.
We saw the photographers we eventually booked at a wedding show in Birmingham last year and really loved their work. But to us their fee seemed a little out of our range, little did we know that to get even close to their standard we would need to look at photographers that were in the "silly" money range!!!
So we left the decision until we knew that the date and venue was definate.... then after another quick emailing and phoning session we had to admit that we would have to bite the bullet and accept that what we wanted was gonna be in the higher price range and that the photographer we saw at Birmingham would be booked already..... So we contacted the more expensive ones and got quotes... but we knew that although they were beautiful images we just couldn't justify the money, not on our budget, so finally today we chanced a phone call to the photographers from the Birmingham Show and amazingly they're available.... and actually not unreasonable in the price area! And the deal they're offering is flexible and allows us to get exactly the sort of coverage we want.So the deposit is paid.... and that's one less thing to worry about!!!
you can see their website here
Jane xx
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Wedding Gift website goes live...
So the "gift us our honeymoon" website has gone live.. ..
We've been together just over eleven years and we have most of the stuff we need ....although if anyone wanted to give us a big flat screen TV then we wouldn't complain!....but to be honest as far as traditional setting up home stuff we've got almost everything we need or want.
The one thing we love to do together more than anything in the world, is travelling with our cameras in our beautiful Smart car "Blob". We've always dreamed of travelling across the USA in a car/motorhome and when we got Blob 3 years ago doing it in him became an even bigger dream. Unfortunately the reality and logistics of trying to get him over there and and the support we would need make it vitually impossible.
Then when Darren proposed last year and we started thinking of what to do for a honeymoon, we realised that we could ask people to help us achieve our original dream. From New York to San Francisco in a motorhome, visiting some of the places we've always wanted to see....
So we tried to work out the best way to allow people to help us do this, we realised that as quite a few of our friends live outside the UK that a website might be the way to go...
So the idea of www.ouramericanhoneymoon.com was born. And after lots of time grappling with Dreamweaver (we have 3 other websites but still haven't mastered it!!!) it's gone live..So here's hoping that those that want to buy us a wedding gift find it easy to use, that was our main goal, to make it easy for people to understand why we want to do it, how we plan to do it and how their gift will help.
We are worried that people will think we're being cheeky, but we hope that our friends, family and others will understand why we're doing it this way. It just seems that it's no more cheeky than having a gift list at some expensive store. We've also given the option for someone to give as little or as much as they want or can afford! (we've worked it out to approx £1 a mile, and every mile counts!!!)
This week the big wedding thing that has to be sorted is the catering... we're torn between a tapas style table buffet and a straight "help yourself" buffet. So we need to pin down the 2 caterers we're considering to a menu and a quote this week and I'm working a 48.5 hour week, so expect some very short and possibly bad-tempered posts this week!!
Jane xx
We've been together just over eleven years and we have most of the stuff we need ....although if anyone wanted to give us a big flat screen TV then we wouldn't complain!....but to be honest as far as traditional setting up home stuff we've got almost everything we need or want.
The one thing we love to do together more than anything in the world, is travelling with our cameras in our beautiful Smart car "Blob". We've always dreamed of travelling across the USA in a car/motorhome and when we got Blob 3 years ago doing it in him became an even bigger dream. Unfortunately the reality and logistics of trying to get him over there and and the support we would need make it vitually impossible.
Then when Darren proposed last year and we started thinking of what to do for a honeymoon, we realised that we could ask people to help us achieve our original dream. From New York to San Francisco in a motorhome, visiting some of the places we've always wanted to see....
So we tried to work out the best way to allow people to help us do this, we realised that as quite a few of our friends live outside the UK that a website might be the way to go...
So the idea of www.ouramericanhoneymoon.com was born. And after lots of time grappling with Dreamweaver (we have 3 other websites but still haven't mastered it!!!) it's gone live..So here's hoping that those that want to buy us a wedding gift find it easy to use, that was our main goal, to make it easy for people to understand why we want to do it, how we plan to do it and how their gift will help.
We are worried that people will think we're being cheeky, but we hope that our friends, family and others will understand why we're doing it this way. It just seems that it's no more cheeky than having a gift list at some expensive store. We've also given the option for someone to give as little or as much as they want or can afford! (we've worked it out to approx £1 a mile, and every mile counts!!!)
This week the big wedding thing that has to be sorted is the catering... we're torn between a tapas style table buffet and a straight "help yourself" buffet. So we need to pin down the 2 caterers we're considering to a menu and a quote this week and I'm working a 48.5 hour week, so expect some very short and possibly bad-tempered posts this week!!
Jane xx
So it's happening then...
So we've got the venue money, my dress is sorted (thanks baby brother!), the wine and transport sorted (love you mum and dad) and I have a fantastic mother-in-law to be, who is gifting her time to keep my house tidy. This will allow me to do as much overtime as my body and mind can cope with!! It would appear that the wedding that would only happen if hell froze over, is happening!
So I guess it's officially time to panic!!!
Although to be honest the one thing we don't want to happen with this wedding, is any stress! We're the sort of people that if things go wrong we'll just end up in a pile giggling... Not that anyone I work with would recognise that Jane, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and control freak in work!!!!
So I hope you enjoy reading this blog...
Jane & Darren xx
So I guess it's officially time to panic!!!
Although to be honest the one thing we don't want to happen with this wedding, is any stress! We're the sort of people that if things go wrong we'll just end up in a pile giggling... Not that anyone I work with would recognise that Jane, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and control freak in work!!!!
So I hope you enjoy reading this blog...
Jane & Darren xx
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