Hello ladies (& gents) of RMW! I cannot believe in just two short months I will be able to say "I get married THIS year!" This month I also get the pleasure of heading off to Paris to relive our engagement weekend and consume rather a lot of wine and cheese (that wedding diet sure is going well...) any Paris fans out there, please leave me tips of your favourite places to go, eat, drink and shop in the city.

As you might remember, Scott & I are quite frequent visitors but nothing beats personal recommendations of places to check out - so much better than some by-the-numbers guidebook. In return, I am more than happy to share some of my favourite spots to rest, play, drink, stroll and eat. I personally think Paris makes the most perfect pre-wedding break, elopement city, or honeymoon destination, so if you're looking for some inspiration, get in touch.

So wedding plans...are not really happening at the moment! In the beginning I totally attacked them with gusto, but now, deep in the middle stages of planning, I'm on a bit of a go slow. I don't really feel like there is much for me to do at the moment, although considering I am now 9 months out, I should probably get on with sorting out a dress for myself (more on that at a later date). I really do need to start thinking about any DIY projects that we might take on. I can't tell you how many real wedding reports I have read that recommend starting on the DIY early, as it always takes much longer than you think.

As you might remember, the key to our day is a laid back party with all of our favourites, so we don't want to go over the top on décor or details, however, I do love pretty...so there will be our little touches strewn throughout the day. I am also the world's biggest magpie, I was delirious with joy when I read this post on RMW on how to bring the bling to your wedding and now I am desperately trying to convince Scott that a glittery ("Scottish") stag is definitely going to form the centre point of our (glittery) cake table (for a cake that we may or may not have...)

I also want ALL OF THE CONFETTI. All of it. In glittery bags. Can anyone help me out with a realistic time frame for making this myself? I was thinking of creating enough so that we have one bag of confetti per attendee (so around 85...is that enough, or totally outrageously too much?!) What should I use to make the confetti? Or maybe it's not worth my time & I should just buy the confetti and make the bags?! Any advice you can give is greatly appreciated - especially if you have tackled something similar yourself and can tell me when I should be beginning this project (bearing in mind that I have a mischievous dog who thinks any crafting project is a great new game, so add approximately 27272827 hours for that).

This month actually marks Scott & I's four year anniversary, and charmingly, he is off on a stag do for the weekend, so I am having a girly sleepover with my favourite London-based ladies. I'm thinking this could be the perfect time to start off on some wedding projects and hopefully get the ball rolling on all sorts of creative joy.

Also...I don't have a colour scheme! Should I?! I don't want matchy matchy at all, but I do want some sort of cohesion. I can't tell you how many times I have been asked about what my colour scheme is, and I still don't honestly know. My interior designer bridesmaid, Lisa, told me that this will become clear to me as we go along, but if it has already, I haven't realised (I wish she lived down here & not in Scotland!)...I really need to make decisions on decoration for the Londesborough, so having a colour palette to play with would be a helpful starting point. Honestly, if I was throwing a party just for myself, the room would look like a glitter monster had vomited all over it and then rolled in flowers, however, Scott might not be down for this, so a little more thought is required!

If anyone has favourite Etsy, eBay or other suppliers that they can recommend for wedding décor and ideas then I would be forever grateful for your personal recommendations (yet again!) I really am beyond excited to get on with this part of the planning now, but working out where to start is proving a little difficult, and if anything is going to turn me into a stressy bride, I predict this will be it! I bet this is the stage in the planning process when many brides realise that a wedding planner is the most wonderful thing...

In order to give ourselves a bit of a break, Scott, Vinnie & I recently took ourselves off home to Scotland which was AMAZING! Being able to catch up with far away friends & family is the best thing ever, the only down side being that 9 short days is never enough time. Vinnie thoroughly enjoyed being pampered by my Mum and Dad (he got fed mince and tatties as a meal supplement for 3 days in a row, spoilt pooch), and is now sulking slightly at being back to normality in London. Being at home really reminded me that I would like to tie in as many subtle Scottish influences to our day as possible, because it really is the most beautiful.

This is also an area where I can't seem to find any inspiration, maybe because I'm too close to it, any interesting or unusual suggestions for how I can tie in my lovely motherland without too much of the cheese factor?

Until next time my lovelies,

Danielle xxx