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nicnol
Beginner October 2011

****nicnol's wedding report - 22nd October 2011****

nicnol, 18 of November of 2011 at 15:05 Posted on Planning 0 29

Drum roll please.......

I don’t know how well this will come across as I will be the first to admit my story telling skills are not the greatest, so I am hoping that the photo’s (all unedited) will make up for any boredom you may encounter in this report, and trust me this is a long one so be prepared!

Once upon a time in land far far away (hmmmm Kent!) a beautiful maiden (modest I know) prepares to marry her Prince Charming. The story below follows her days leading up to the nuptials, until the day she is whisked away to live happy ever after. Let us begin....

Wednesday 12th October (10 days to go)

My wedding planning it has to be said had been pretty plain sailing. With around 15 months to plan I took to the organising like water off a ducks back. I was reasonably calm and collective throughout the whole process, with only few mishaps along the way which were dealt with reasonably quickly and effectively (obviously after some moaning to Bridesmaids/colleagues/hairdresser etc.)

The day I went to try on my wedding dress though for the final time was anything but stress free! I had bought the dress 3 or 4 weeks after getting engaged on a complete impulse shopping trip. I live near Bluewater Shopping centre and they have a bridal shop where no appointments are needed and you can try dresses on as if you were browsing through a high street store. Perfect to find a style that suited me so that I could spend time looking for “The One” in a proper bridal store. Guess what? I found “The One” that day instead. I was apprehensive as had heard bad reviews about the place but caught up in the newly engaged high, I succumbed to my Mother’s cooing and allowed her to purchase the dress. Fast forward 14 months and there I was, standing in my dress after its alterations feeling deflated and wishing that I had listened to my instinct in the first place.

My only alteration was to have the dress shortened and it looked like it had been hacked at with a pair of garden shears. I didn’t know what to do. I will say that the assistant that was in that day was amazing. Calmed me down (while my Mum was having a major breakdown) and reassured me that it would be sorted and I would be taking the dress home that night. The seamstress looked at it with complete bewilderment to how it could’ve even have got in the state that it was, but told me to come back in an hour and it would all be rectified. One of the longest hours of my life was then spent idly walking around Bluewater wondering what I’d be coming back to!

Thankfully, I came back and it was rectified. No longer did I have bits of net hanging down and layers uneven. It looked wonderful. I argued for compensation obviously. While the shop assistant frantically tried to contact the manager there I was standing in the middle of a shop, in a busy shopping centre, slowly wilting under the neon light bulbs. I felt like I was cooking. All I could think of was that I better keep my arms up in case I got too sweaty and made the dress smell!

The shop assistant came back with first offer of compensation..... a handbag. I politely turned it down. The second offer (through conferring with the manager over the phone) was some jewellery. I’m not sure at what point she didn’t hear that I was getting married in 10days and would I not already be that organised? I was not budging. I wanted monetary compensation and that was final. It was at this point I will add I have now been standing in my dress for at least 30 minutes. So after insisting that she called the manager back so she could get me out of my dress to prevent first aid emergency on her hands, I sat and waited for offer number 3. I got £50. It was now 8.30pm. I had been there for 2 ½ hours and was slowly losing the will to live. £50 was better than nothing and in the grand scheme of things it didn’t matter. I had the dress. It fitted and I was getting married in 10 days.

Wednesday 19th October (3 days to go)

My last day at work had finally come round. I had been for the last 15months speaking about the wedding constantly. I was banned from discussing the wedding at some points. I had a countdown which I shared with everyone. I think they were secretly pleased it had finally come for me to leave!

I came into work to a wonderfully decorated desk and sprinkles in every possible place they could put them. I am still finding them randomly appearing on my desk, in shoes, handbags, you name it I bet I have a foil heart or champagne glass there!


Like wedding planning, work in the weeks leading up to the big day had been reasonably stress-free, until the last day. However my bosses were lovely and at 5pm I was told whatever was there could wait till tomorrow and someone else would sort it out! So with computers off, the champagne was out and I opened the 50ml bottle of Stoli vodka that I have had in my drawer for 3 years. Stressful days normally mean a threat from me to open the bottle to get me through the day, but it seemed a perfect time to toast my final day in the office as a Miss!

I had a lovely meal out with the girls from work where we went to a local Moroccan restaurant and even got up to join in with the belly dancing.

Thursday 20th October/Friday 21st October

So I had decided that on the Thursday I’d be up early and make a start on the housework so that I didn’t have to worry myself doing anything before/after honeymoon. I decided on sleeping in instead, as was nursing a small hangover from the prior evening’s celebrations.

I had a few more wedding related bits which were to visit the cake lady and inspect the cake (I cried when I saw it!), pick the suits up and then round to my Mum’s to make my favours.

We had decided on M&Ms in organza bags. We originally were looking into the personalised ones until OH told me that actually they were already personalised as M is the first letter of OH surname! Brilliant! I had purchased 24 treat bags of M&Ms and started on the task of filling 72 organza bags. Being a perfectionist (and an accountant), I decided that each bag should have an equal amount so I counted one bag and find 120 M&Ms. I then worked out that 40 M&Ms per favour worked perfectly. I think it took me 3 hours in the end to do everything and I also found out that not all bags have 120 M&Ms! Left over’s for Mum and I (who walked in while I was finishing the final bag!) to have as a treat with a cup of tea!


The rest of Thursday was pretty mundane and after my final zumba class I went home to spend my final night with OH.

I awoke Friday to take all the final bits over to the venue. We had a table plan, post box, favours, flip flop basket, order of services, table name cards, petals for tables, readings etc etc etc. It wasn’t until we were packing the car up that I realised how much stuff I had accumulated. I had been storing it all in Mum’s spare room and hadn't realised how much it had amassed to. OH was rather shocked at all the stuff and was convinced it wasn't all needed!

We ran through the final details with the venue co-ordinator then we had to quickly nip to OH’s office to drop his laptop off.

Off we go to the office (45minutes away) and as soon as he walks through the door people are asking questions and he decides to “quickly” check some bits on a job that he was running (OH is a project manager for Electrical Contractors). 30 minutes later I am dragging OH out of the office! I still haven’t eaten yet and I have my nail appointment at 2!

We drove back home and then had an argument as to what to eat. I wanted Nando’s, he wanted the cafe! We agreed on Nando’s and as we sat down to eat I think we both finally realised that tomorrow we were getting married. We sat looking at each other and giggling like we were on one of our first dates!

The time came for me to say goodbye to OH. It has to be said one of the weirdest goodbye’s I have ever had. We stood hugging in the middle of the car park. Neither one of us wanted to let go. The only way I could describe it at the time was as if we were breaking up after a brief affair. Or an awkward hug between a friend that you haven’t seen for ages. It was very strange. As soon as I saw him drive off though I had a lump in my throat, I wanted him back! I have stayed on my own many a time, been away for a fortnight without seeing him and have waved him off without a second glance as if it was the norm but it was then (and not that I haven’t known this before) but I was marrying the man of my dreams and I couldn’t be without him. It was a poignant moment for me and I told him after how I had felt and he had felt exactly the same.

So finishing off Friday, I went to have my nails done (mani & pedi-shellac) and then went to spend an hour with my bridesmaid (who lives near my Mum). Cup of tea and quick gossip my Mum picked me up (she lives around the corner) and off we went to hers.

The night was rather subdued. We had family staying with us from Spain so after I had a glass of wine, a chicken shish from the kebab and watched Idiot abroad with my Mum, I was off to bed at 10! My Mum however couldn't sleep. She was like a bag of nerves and said she was going to have another glass of wine and would probably fall asleep on the sofa!! I trotted off to bed, text OH to say good night and would see him tomorrow

29 replies

Latest activity by kathryn2010, 22 of November of 2011 at 14:01
  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Saturday 22nd October – THE BIG DAY!!!!

    So it had finally come round!

    I had a pretty restless night. I remember waking up as bright as a button to find out it was 2.50am! I fell back to sleep only to awake again at 4.15 and then 5.30am. At 6 am I couldn’t sleep anymore so got up! I went downstairs to find my Mum still awake on the sofa!! She had managed minimal sleep as she was so nervous! We sat down and watched some tv until about 7.30 when I got in the shower.

    The next hour or so was just me prancing around in my dressing gown with my wedding shoes on waiting for my sausage sandwich to be cooked and the hairdresser to turn up! I was relatively calm. I couldn’t believe that I was getting married and it felt like any other day.

    My friend M came at just after 9 as she was doing my makeup, closely followed by the hairdresser. After my hair was put into rollers my make up was started and the TOG turned up. Next to arrive was my bridesmaid ‘B’ and shortly after bridesmaid no.2 ‘N’.

    Now let me just bring you in a little more. My mum has a relatively small 3 bedroom house. At this moment in time we have my Mum, M doing makeup, TOG (who is a friend), TOG’s girlfriend L, B & N the bridesmaids, hairdresser plus 2 family members from Spain and not forgetting myself in all this. So in total 9 people! We definitely had to ensure that rooms were organised as we still had my Dad to come and the VOG!!

    So make up started and I have to say my friend done a fantastic job. She isn’t a professional but she does her make up so nice that I said she could do mine!



    While B was having her done, N was making sure that drinks were topped up (she’d had her own hair done at her hairdressers) , TOG was flashing away. Mum and Spain family were getting ready upstairs and everything was running smoothly. Flowers arrived and I couldn’t have asked for anything nicer.

    At the time of ordering I didn’t have a clue what I wanted and gave a brief spec of “Country style including ivory, purple and pink”. I didn’t know what flowers I wanted so I was thoroughly chuffed when they turned up!



    The clock was starting to tick now and it was just past 10.30am. I was adamant we had loads of time but I was forgetting that M was a guest at our wedding so she had to finish my make up sharpish (didn’t help with me getting up every 5 minutes to check that everyone was ok. I knew that my hair took about 40 minutes to put up. B’s hair still wasn’t blow-dried fully and we all had dresses with lace up backs, I was now starting to feel the time pressures.

    Makeup and hair were now being done together......time was ticking and I had been far too relaxed (actually I was still very relaxed, much to my Mum’s annoyance). VOG was 15minutes late and although I got my Mum to give him a call in case he was lost I still was maintaining and inner sense of peacefulness!

    VOG arrived as M left and then my Dad turned up! It was start to get a bit tight! BM’s were both busy doing their makeup and getting into their dresses and my hair was being finalised.



    It was now my turn to get into my dress. My TOG had been up taking those all important detail pictures (a few for you to look at)




    As I ventured upstairs I was expecting both BMs to be nearly finished ready to help my Mum lace me into my dress! I couldn’t have been more wrong! While one BM was being laced in by my Mum the other was lacing the other BM! I had to pull my Mum away to lace me up so Spanish family stepped in and everything was ticking over again. I was a bit sad that they couldn’t help me but not to worry as my Dad was on hand!

    One of the funniest moments at this time for me was getting into the dress. I had to step into it because of my hair and I was only wearing knickers and hold ups. Dad was holding one side of the dress, Mum the other and I’m standing practically naked! Not so bad in front of my Mum but I haven’t lived with my Dad for 10 years and I’m not sure who was blushing more!




    Just as the lacing was finished a knock at the door and my little pageboy (he is 2) had arrived. B his mum was thankfully nearly finished being laced into her BM dress as the next 15 minutes all I could hear was screaming, crying and “No Mummy” until he emerged looking so cute in his 3 piece suit!


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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    Loving your report so far Nicnol. Cant wait for the rest................. xxxx

    PS Congratulations! xx

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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    You look beautiful xxx

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  • Ali_G
    Beginner October 2012
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    More more!!

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    So we were all ready! At 12.45pm there was a knock at the door, the cars had arrived. Normally I would be happy that something was on time or even a little bit early but I wasn’t. My mum had booked the cars originally for 1pm (which was too early anyway) so I had asked her to put them back by 15 minutes. She’d forgotten and they had come 15 minutes early.

    I was adamant that I would not step foot in the car until 1.15 but the cars were blocking the road and people’s drives so I succumbed and got into the car at 1pm. I was hoping for a bit of traffic en-route so that I wasn’t there too early but no such luck. I arrived at 1.25pm. A whole 35minutes early!!! Half the guests hadn’t arrived yet and OH was standing outside the venue welcoming those guests that were arriving! Probably a good point to introduce H...here he (2nd from left) is with the boys!


    We managed to sit in the car for 10 minutes near the main entrance of the driveway but I hate waiting so quickly told the driver to hurry it along and I’d just have to be early. Obviously this caused some problems as I couldn’t go into the venue as people were wandering around in the bar area adjacent to the ceremony room so the registrar had to come to me. There were also times that I shouted at passersby not to look into the car! It did allow though some lovely shots in the car




    When I was finally allowed into the venue I had a small amount of time to have a chat with my Mum & Dad. Then my brother came along to be nosy. He also was adamant as an usher and brother of the Bride that he would not be sitting at the back and therefore was escorting one of the BMs down the aisle! I did have to laugh! More photo opportunities (me and my Mum, me and my brother)



    I then had the call that the registrar’s were waiting for me now and when I was ready I could go. I distinctly remember saying at this point “let’s get this show on the road”. I was getting impatient! Up until this point I had detached myself from the fact that it was me that was getting married. I don’t really know what I was thinking but I knew I was calm.......until the music started playing and I walked into the room. A wave of sheer panic passed through me and I don’t think I can describe the feeling. I think these pictures will show my complete and utter bewilderment/nervousness/anxiety




    As I reached H I was nearly in tears. This was not like me. I never show emotion and H normally refers to me as one of the least emotional people he knows unless it’s a sob story on x factor but as we both sat down I was still trying to keep my composure and squeezing H’s hand as if my life depended on it!

    When we stood to start our vows the fear had started to subside and I was finally smiling which was a good thing as god forbid what the video will look like if I hadn’t had a smile!



    The ceremony went without a hitch and after all the legal blurbs we were finally husband and wife.



    I will just add one of my favourite photo’s here. We are both looking at out other Usher who was giving us the thumbs up! I love this picture!


    So after a couple of glasses of Pimm’s, more photo’s and some chatter it was time for dinner.

    The reception room looked amazing. I loved my centrepieces and the cake was outstanding. Our dinner of Sausage and mash went down a treat and has been a hot topic since the wedding as each person was served 3 sausages. This proved too much for some so a few sausages ended up on other plates. The record I believe was 6 sausages eaten!



    The speeches were superb.

    Before they even started though, the guys all got their speeches out and compared number of pages. H’s was the longest, 3 pages! I told him at this point that his was meant to be concise and to the point haha!

    First off was my Dad. A warm and heartfelt speech with a tear here and there, he had the place in uproar!

    H was next. He had spent 3 or 4 nights perfecting his speech and had pre-warned me that i better cry! He was not disappointed. It was the point where he said that he wanted us to be that old couple that we’d seen at the seaside sharing fish and chips one day!

    The Best Man as always was last. We had had a few problems with appointing a best man at first. 2 of H’s mates turned him down for different reasons and H was a bit apprehensive when he asked N. Although friendly they wasn’t the best of mates but he did a sterling job and their friendship has become closer because of this. Obviously, only being friends for a few years or so, he didn’t have a wealth of knowledge to draw from to embarrass H. Unfortunately for H though he has a tendency to make a fool of himself on a regular occasion and his Mum also let slip a few howlers at my hen afternoon where the Best Man’s girlfriend was. So all in all he had plenty of ammunition to ruin H. Here are us laughing at one of the jokes.


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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    here here............................. ?

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    So dinner over, speeches over, cake cutting over, meant only one thing! Let the evening shenanigans begin!

    We were lucky enough to have a singer for the first hour of our reception and he sang Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin-esque music. My first dance was actually with my Dad as his favourite song cam on. Not that H minded. Our kiss to end our dance


    The “official” first dance was Fly Me To The Moon and although we never choreographed a routine we did ok. No shuffling, a few spins and even a reasonably impressive finale!




    After our singer had finished, the DJ started up. I would like to thank Cricket bride at this point as I stole her flip flop basket idea. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have been dancing all night and it made the night having everyone on the dancefloor! I did not move all night from the dancefloor and I danced with all and sundry! It was what I wanted and from that I thoroughly enjoyed my night more than having to run around chatting to everyone (BTW I managed to get this done throughout the drinks after the ceremony and throughout dinner, new arrivals came and chatted while I was on the dance floor!)

    We had an impromptu limbo at one point, fashioned with a couple of ties!


    Apparently this changed into skipping but I missed this.

    The end of the night drew to a close with everyone very merry and enjoying themselves!



    So that was it. For those of you have read this all, well done and a round of applause! I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it and reliving those memories. I have a memory book at home which I was bought and I intend to copy this report and writing it in there with the pictures from the day!

    A few N&P’s – HIB and Non-HIBs

    Lisa @ Lou Lou Belle Designs for my necklace, my side tiara and the BM’s hair accessories.

    Lee @ Raw Photography for my amazing pictures

    Pat @ Pat’s Cakes for my beautiful cake

    Sandra @ Gardenia Designs for the wonderful flowers

    And here are some more of my favourite pictures

    With my Mum & Dad


    Bridesmaids




    With my best mates


    Some more more of the happy couple!




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  • Red Baroness
    Beginner July 2012
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    Ahhhhh! Lovely! You both look so happy.

    I love your flowers. Does the colour that your roses were have a name? If I were to ask my florist for that what would I be asking for?

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  • Ali_G
    Beginner October 2012
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    You look so beautiful and the pictures are stunning!!! Congratulations Smiley smile

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Ah thanks RB!

    My bouquet (according to invoice from florist)

    10 Akito Ivory Roses, 6 Blue moon Roses, 5 Purple Lizzie, 3 Ivory Spray Roses, 8 Lilac freesia, Foliage Eucalyptus and Bear grass.

    BM's were

    8 Blue moon Roses, 3 purple Lizzie. 3 Ivory Spray Roses, 5 Lilac Freesia, Eucalyptus and Bear grass curls. Bound stems regular length with Purple Tulle and matching bow to finish.

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  • lisaloulou
    Beginner
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    Brilliant, brilliant report. Loved reading it and hoped you'd do one. Sounds like you had a fantastic day and was pretty chilled - I would have been a nervous wreck if I had to hang about the venue for 35 mins!! You look absolutley beautiful, as I knew you would! It's been a real pleasure getting to know you this past year (?) after making your accesories and I was so excited that your wedding was drawing close! I wish you and Mr M a happy future together! Love Lisa xx

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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    Love the photo of you and dad in the car, love the one of you and hubby looking straight at the camera, love the one of you both laughing and love the cake!!

    xxx

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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    Sorry, me again!! Love your report and pics. Congratulations and every happiness for your future together.

    Sally xxx

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Thanks Sally! That cake was bloody amazing and it tasted as good as it looked! These are only a small selection of the photo's, I have over 600!! It's so hard choosing one's for the album!

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Thanks Lisa! I still have some pictures to send over to you but trying to decide which one's showcase your pieces the best!

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  • Red Baroness
    Beginner July 2012
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    Lovely, thank you. I'll have to note that down!

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  • JennyH10
    Beginner May 2013
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    Lovely report and gorgeous photos! Congratulations ?

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  • knitting_vixen
    Beginner September 2011
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    Lovely report, enjoyed reading it on this Friday afternoon.

    Congratulations to both of you, looks like you had a lovely day.

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  • Rod
    Beginner
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    Beautiful.

    I so need to do my report...sitting at my desk with tears in my eyes at this xxx

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  • charlottelucy
    Beginner August 2012
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    Wow what beautiful photos you looked stunning congratulations x

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  • jojo2
    Beginner June 2012
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    Lovely report, really enjoyed it and the photo's too. Colours of BM dresses were stunning!

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  • Fergo
    Beginner December 2012
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    Great report!! Beautiful pics...congratulations.x

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  • J
    Beginner April 2012
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    Fantastic report and stunning pictures! Congratulations xx

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  • Random Name
    Random Name ·
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    Congratulations. You look soo happy

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Get busy with yours Mrs!!! It's so nice to do! x

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  • kathryn2010
    Beginner September 2015
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    I love your report. And you looked FAB!!!!!!!!!!! Can i be cheeky and ask where your dress is from?

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  • Mrs_imp
    Beginner June 2012
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    Congratulations, it looks as though you had a fab day and you looked beautiful. I really love your flowers!

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  • nicnol
    Beginner October 2011
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    Hi Kathryn - it's from a shop in Bluewater called Oriental Pearl. It's not a specific designer so can only assume it's their own design!

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  • kathryn2010
    Beginner September 2015
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    thanks hun its gorgeous ? xxxx

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