Grumpy bridesmaids, crazy vicars and posh florists!

Been a weird few days, and it's all been wedding stuff.

The first thing was bridesmaid dress shopping on Saturday. Louize's 11 year old daughter, Helena, has agreed (along with my big sister Caroline and my best mate from high school, Kelly) to be bridesmaid. The 2 big girls were easy... I bought the dresses with shoes to match, told them they were wearing them and have since sent them off to have them tweaked to fit! Little consultation involved and both were (lucky for me) willing to bow to my demands. I have such wonderful friends! Helena on the other hand has been a little less easy to please... To cut a long story short we trudged around 2 huge shopping malls and ended up back in the shop we started in with the 3rd dress she tried on - mine and Louize's favourite choice. I'm sure she will come to love the dress, it's by no means hideous (I'm not mean), just not quite the fairy outfit she had imagined. So I've become evil Auntie Kat for the interim until she adjusts to the fact that it's my wedding and she will do as she is told. LOL! He day will come when she can do the exact same thing to her bridesmaids...

We met with our Vicar last night to discuss the service. He's a lovely man (retired teacher) but seems to go off on tangents about his daughters/sons/brothers/etc weddings (some I might add happened long before I was even born!!) when he's halfway through talking about something to do with ours. Very confusing and we had to pay real close attention, but this was made doubly hard sitting on a comfy chair in front of a roaring log fire with what seems like the onset of winter again outside! This aside I did enjoy "practising" some of the vows with Andrew... just hope we don't get the giggles like that on the day. So we know exactly where to stand/sit/walk as demonstrated through the wonderful "illustrations" with books, cups, coasters, pens and ribbons (I enjoyed this immensely, as I've been known to measure things with pillows and tissue boxes in the past - ask my mum!). Andrew thinks he's a mad old coot - which he is, but in a good way! He will only add to the fun of the day...

Today was a trip to the florist. Randomly plucked from a very small wedding fair a couple of weeks ago. Actually she was the only one there, she was free on our date, end of story! On my consultation today I discovered she had just finished flowers for Camilla Parker-Bowles (is she called that now - I lose track!). Whether she was just name dropping I don't know but I was still impressed!

Still, 9 weeks to go and counting...