Jay will be marrying Tom on 24th November 2018 at Hyatt Churchill, London, UK. Click here to read all Jay’s planning posts to date.
THREE FACTS: Jay and Tom met on Tinder (Tinder For The Win!) (2) These two are planning a big fat Jew-ish wedding (Jay is Jewish, Tom is not) but in Jay’s words: “Tom was brought up in Edgware and has more of a love for chopped liver and bagels than I do!” (3) Jay is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor and Tom works at Facebook.
Enjoying Our Friends’ Weddings
Wedding life is all starting to feel very real now! We’ve had a very busy few months celebrating our friends’ weddings, both in the UK and abroad (but this has also allowed us to steal a few cheeky ideas and get lots of inspiration for our own wedding!).
Although each wedding has been completely different (and ours too being different from theirs) it is so nice sharing all these special times together!
We went to our last wedding of the summer last weekend, and my fiancé and I sat down at the end of the evening just observing the night and had a little moment of ‘oh my gosh, we are next!’ – the realisation kicked in and made it all the more exciting.
I had taken a little pause with wedding planning over the summer as I got myself quite organised before this time and wanted to relax and enjoy the fun over the summer. But now as we head into the start of September the countdown is on and wedding planning is back in action!
Image by Tom Archer Photography from Emma and Liam‘s wedding
Choosing Our Invitations
Our invitations are being sent out this week… eek! My mum had arranged a meeting with Michael from Simcha Invitations, and we were meeting at my flat.
When Michael buzzed on the door, I saw he had two big suitcases with him (I live two flights of stairs up, so was hoping this trip was going to be worthwhile!). After settling in, he started to take out large books of samples and explained how the process was going to work and to start gathering some ideas and inspiration together.
He handed me some small post-it notes and told me to start placing them on pages of samples that I liked. He told me to go crazy as he had had other brides like more than 50 designs.
We had gone through all of the books he had with him and I was yet to stick a sticker on anything…! I just couldn’t explain what I wanted nor had I seen the design yet, I was getting myself a little panicked as this was not the first stationery supplier I had met with.
Michael was amazing, and even managed to get my mum and I on the same page and within budget. He asked me questions and slowly piece by piece we were pulling together what would be my invitation and the rest of my stationery – he was so patient with us and made what had been quite stressful a great experience.
Our wedding is late November, so we wanted a wintery yet sophisticated style, I don’t want to give too much away as you never know who is reading this and the invitations will be imminently arriving through the post!
Image by Emily Harris Photography from Brett and Dakota‘s wedding
Our Stag & Hen Parties
To end the summer on a high, Tom and I have both just celebrated our stag and hen. Tom being … well Tom, went off on what he says will be his ‘last lads holiday’ to Las Vegas – six nights partying hard with nine of his lifelong friends!
After 24 hours, I receive a phone call and he says ‘had such an amazing night, but I am ready to come home now for a cuddle!’ I was secretly very happy, however much he was suffering from a terrible hangover.
Whilst he was away, I thought it was the perfect time for me too to be celebrating. I wanted a hen that everyone could come too, I am very close with my mum and sister and wanted it to be a great day for us all.
My mum, Mumma Hen, was truly amazing she really did outdo herself. She had decorated the whole house with balloons, plus a giant picture of Tom and she also made a collage of photos of both of us from when we were babies to now and made them into a frame of our initials, something I will now always cherish.
There were 33 of us in total, the sun shone for us we played lots of games in the garden and finished off with karaoke and dancing inside into the early hours of the morning. It was everything I could have wished for and more, it is so rare everyone gets together nowadays as we don’t all live close by and everyone is busy with work and life so when we do get together it is very special.
Image by David Grant Simpson Photography from Stephanie and Darren‘s wedding
Wedding Planning Mode
Having partied hard over the summer, I am now ready to get back into wedding mode. We have a meeting next week with our venue, The Hyatt Churchill, to start going through the finer details and then food tasting should soon follow (the only bit Tom and my dad are really looking forward too!). Then it will be finalising music and production with The Function Band, we have not really thought too much about our first dance song yet!!
I get to see my dress for the first time in a couple of weeks, after having it made by the fabulous Sharon Cunningham I am so excited to see the final piece, then we get to discuss the veil and shoes! Tom’s suit has also been tailor made, and is ready to be fitted.
His suit has been made by a tailor close to my family home which came highly recommended, called Anthony Formal Wear.
We will be waiting a little closer to the wedding to have his fitting, as Tom unfortunately had a little injury earlier this year and has had to have knee surgery (I am currently sitting in the hospital now writing this post!) so hopefully the swelling won’t take too long to go down, and he will be working hard over the next couple of months with his physio getting ready for all the Jewish dancing!
Less than 100 days to go now, let the real countdown begin!
Image by Shaun and Shannon Menary from Tema and Brad’s wedding (soon on STG)
Click here to read all Jay’s planning posts to date.
Jay & Tom’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Videography – Denee Motion
Band – Function Band
Flowers – Funky Flowers
Photography – Paul Toeman Photographers
Venue – The Hyatt Churchill Hotel
Bride’s dress – Sharon Cunningham
Invitation – Simcha Invitations
Groom’s suit – Anthony Formal Wear
