Those who know me and our wedding plans are aware that I (sorry - we) have sorted out much of the important items for our wedding. This leaves me free to spend quite a bit of time at home on d’internet looking at “stuff”. I have absolutely no idea how brides coped before the internet and WOL - there’s just so much information and advice available that sometimes your head will spin as the ideas rush through your mind…. Jordan Almonds or mints, calligraphy or thermography - it’s never ending…..

Anyway, I am one of the worst for idea hunting but I have found some fab stuff on the internet which I have bought with the old credit card and it’s been steadily building up in the study… there’s not much room for the wedding magazines at this rate!.

Mrs AG is responsible for my first purchase… a gorgeous photo album and matching guest book in handmade mulberry paper from a shop which sadly closed down last year so I can’t recommend it to you all… the two combined cost me the enormous sum of €45. I showed the album to our lovely photographer (more about him in a later diary entry) and he was rather impressed.

Then I was browsing through the online store on www.theknot.com - this is like mental torture because they don’t deliver to Ireland - like most US shops. However, I have a wonderful friend in New Hampshire & Eileen very kindly took the delivery & posted it on to me… a whole pile of wedding bubbles, a garter, a pressie for my Dad on the Big Day, table confetti etc. etc…. for about €60.

I’ve dealt with a shop called www.vistaprint.com before to buy return address labels for my mum & myself so I decided to get little stickers done up with a special thank you message for the bubbles and other assorted goodies… €12 for 200… a bargain!

Then it was time to visit www.confetti.co.uk - it’s a UK version of the Knot store - and they deliver to Ireland!!!!! Well this was so much fun - I already had a copy of the printed brochure which was in a UK wedding magazine so I had a fair idea of what I wanted - Russell got a quick glance at the pics before I started hammering the keyboard and the credit card. I wish I could pay a trip to their shop in London - then again, it’s probably better for all concerned that I don’t because we’d be bankrupt!!!! Confetti have every colour scheme under the sun catered for from candles to balloons so it’s just a question of what suits your theme.

We’re planning to have gold & ivory as the main colours… it’s pretty easy to get everything to tie in and it’s neutral enough to get past Russell!!! Therefore I bought gold & ivory heart shaped paper confetti, bags of gold marabou feathers (I was like a child throwing these around the sitting room), gold table cameras - with free processing in the UK, a pair of gorgeous wedding bears which we’re going to have as our cake toppers and gold pens for invitation writing - all for €110 which was great value. I/we plan to decorate our cake with the feathers & some of the confetti hearts… very different to the norm but also about €300 cheaper too!!!!

Finally, I was told by a fellow WOL bride about a company in Wales called www.celtmyth.com who have the most gorgeous unity candles… so off I went for a look and promptly ordered a fabulous set of candles and holder which was €65. The lovely people personalised the candles with our names and the date of our wedding… and the candle is gold & ivory - how coordinated is that?!

It’s definitely worth using the internet to source all your wedding needs - even just to give you some fresh inspiration…. not that I need any encouragement at this stage!!!

Speaking of inspiration, my fellow diarist (and wonderful friend) Terra got married last week. I managed to see her arrival at the church - half an hour late… ahem! - and she looked absolutely divine. I won’t spoil her glory but let’s just say that Miss T has set a very high standard for me to reach!!!!!!

Take care,

Aoife