Image by www.honeyandthemoon.co.uk

De Local Love.

As I am writing this, I am munching very happily on two pieces of cake. One is filled with lemon curd. The second with sweet icing and damson jam. Both are the completely home made works of my marvellous mum. Having a strong background in feeding hungry teenagers and with the WI, my mum decided that she couldn't bear to have someone else make her own daughter's wedding cake. So after researching 'naked wedding cakes', my mum has been trialling various different Victoria Sponge recipes. And from the taste of this damson jam sponge, I think she's cracked it.

I mildly digress from the subject of this entry. The Wedding Invite Saga.

We started planning these weeks, nay MONTHS ago. But for one reason or another (classic Rosie and Elliot), they kept getting delayed.

Once we'd decided on the words, I made a wild promise that I was going to type them up on my typewriter. This would be cheaper and more home made - how quaint I thought.

I don't think I realised quite how tricky this was going to be. We chose recycled Kraft card, which meant that if any mistake was made, tip-ex was useless. I'd also insisted that all the text was centred... It's not as easy as a click on your tool bar. This means counting the spaces and letters in a sentence to ensure that everything is absolutely in the middle. Picture the scene: one very red-faced Rosie, swearing savagely as a slip of the finger ends in another torn up invite. Poor Elliot...

Anyway, this was a temporary issue, which was absolutely saved by Nigel at Mail Boxes Etc. in Andover, Hampshire. Quotes from other London-based printers had been astronomically priced, but Nigel said that he could try photocopying a template that I would create on my typewriter, and see how it went. And he did such an amazing job!

These are the inserts - RSVP card, directions, accommodation and present list. We're chuffed with how they've turned out, and a huge thanks to Nigel at Mail Box Etc. for being so patient and helpful. We've got them sorted now and are due to go out... tomorrow!

In other news, in my last entry, I was feeling The Dress Pressure. Big time. The first one I bought from eBay, did make me look a lot like Princess Leia/Ophelia/something from a horror movie. But you know what? A week after writing that entry, I found it. It's bang on the most blooming perfect dress I could have hoped for. It's a 1960s vintage silk dress originally from Harrods, bought from eBay.

The most lovely and talented seamstress, Sui Sui (again from Andover - it really is the place to go), spent a huge amount of time on it, giving it a good nip and tuck. I tried it on with my mum and grandmother last weekend, and I couldn't be any happier. I feel very lucky indeed.

I know eBay and hard-typewriting-labour isn't for everyone. And I completely understand that the Big Day is different for every bride, but I really would urge anyone who is on a budget to not rush. It's so easy to splurge on things that you might look back on and question. (I know, I bought 10 decorative budgies in Tiger Tiger last week.) Anyway, research is key. And once you've cracked it, you really have that feeling that you've got something unique to you.