Claire's Wedding Diary #11

June 2008:

So, nearly 17 weeks to go until the big day! I can’t believe I’m going to be a Mrs!
I’ve been practising my new signature which is very strange. I feel quite sad about the whole name change thing to be honest, a bit like I’m losing my own identity – strange I know but for 31 years I’ve been Claire Butler and all of a sudden I’ll become Claire Sullivan. A few people have suggested that I have a double barrelled name but I don’t think that sounds quite right considering the two surnames – a bit of a mouthfull. Also, with my business and my professional ‘life’ I feel that by changing my name it may be like starting again or cause some confusion. So, although I do feel proud to be taking my H2B’s surname and can’t wait to be known as Mrs. Claire Sullivan. For now, I’ll keep practising the new surname which at the moment just consists of a squiggle!!!
; – )

I’ve also finally decided on my choice of outfit for the big day! I decided on the last dress that I tried on during my last visit in May, yep, the dress that was over budget!!!! I couldn’t get the thought of it out of my head so I made another appointment with Kelly (who I’m sure will be fed up with seeing me ) and went back to see her with my aunt. I tried on a different dress which although was lovely, as they all are, still wasn’t quite right. I then put on ‘the one’ and instantly knew that I had to have it – I had a big cheesy grin on my face and butterflies in my tummy!!!  So without hesitation, but with my eyes closed as I handed my card over, I ordered it there and then!!!!!!! I’m so excited about it. I feel so completely different to how I felt when I tried on the first outfit. A lot of brides have told me that they all felt that they knew instantly when they tried on ‘the one’ and I somehow felt bit cheated that I didn’t feel like that when I ordered the first dress but now I know what they all mean as I’ve now had that experience. Although I do remember one bride called Emma who’s wedding I photographed a couple of years ago. Emma had exactly the same thoughts as me about her first dress except the difference is that she actually bought it and then realised she didn’t actually like the way she looked in it so she sold it on Ebay. She bought a second dress which she absolutely loved and looked stunning in!!! So, if you do have any wobbles about your chosen outfit please don’t leave it and hope you’ll change your mind – do something about it ASAP!
Apart from anything, it’s great fun trying on lots of beautiful wedding dresses!!

I keep reading in the bridal mags, luckily for me we get sent some as we advertise in a few, about starting a beauty routine at least 6 months before the day. I’ve always cleansed and moisturised so that won’t change but I’ve just recently bought a body brush which I swear is like a form of torture! It’s used to remove all the dead skin cells and encourage new fresh cells whilst fighting the dreaded cellulite!!! You use it on dry skin before showering or bathing!! it’s so scratchy it hurts and makes the skin go red and blotchy – which isn’t very attractive! We’ll see how it goes but I might just bin that idea, I’m a bit of a wimp and it hurts to much! I’m also going to book in for a monthly facial and massage from this month too, I love a back massage as I find it really relaxes and de-stresses. It also helps my back and shoulders because my camera kit, which I carry on my shoulder, weighs a ton therefore I suffer with back/shoulder aches and tension which is eased with massage…it’s also a little bit of ‘me’ time which I think all women deserve!

Not much else to report. We still have a few invites to send out and are waiting on quite a few RSVP’s to come back from guests – so if your one of guests reading this and you haven’t sent your RSVP back please do it NOW so we can start organising the table plan!!!!!!!! We did put a date on the invites for the replies to be sent back so they have a little while yet.

At the moment I feel like this is the calm before the storm because we can’t do anything at the moment apart from keeping tabs on the RSVP’s. I sometimes feel like I’m wasting time doing nothing when there is quite a bit to do but at the moment we can’t do anything.
I’m enjoying all the planning and build up to it which I think helps, my stress levels haven’t gone through the roof (yet) and my H2B’s stress levels are virtually zero!!!! The only thing he’s stressing about is whether they’ll be enough of our guests at our venue on the morning of our wedding to make a 5-a-side football team in order to make use of the football pitch for a quick game of football!!!!!!

Until next time….

x