We are getting some guests

All invitations where sent a couple of weeks ago, and now are the responses on their way. At the moment are we about 30 people, that is about the half of what we are expecting. We invited a bit more than 70 people but as always are there people who can't come.

All the planning is landing now as well. We have the menu ready and the drinks. We have a back-up if my flower project isn't successful. The DJ is booked and confirmed, the photographer is booked, just need to confirm as well as the car needs to be confirmed.
We have got confirmation about the priest and the cantor and will hopefully meet them next weekend. That weekend we will also meet with the hairdresser and the boarding kennel which will look after Jatsie during the wedding day. We will also meet with the pastry chef who will make our wedding cake. Ohhh I'm looking forward to that!! =)
Maybe we will be able to have a look at the ring as well.

The only thing that we don't have under control is my dress. I need to call the shop and ask when they expect it to arrive.

Happy Valentinesday

14th of February, half a meter with snow and -4 degrees Celsius. Do you know that it is just 6 months!! to our wedding? Just half a year, time flies. I hope the weather is a bit (or much) warmer in August and the snow is exchanged with lot of flowers instead!

I wonder if we still are on track with the wedding plans... let see

Eight months before
• Book the photographer - Check
• Book entertainment - Check, DJ booked
• Register - Hm, I think in Sweden this has to be done no sooner than 3 month before the wedding
• Purchase a dress - I'll go measuring on Tuesday and order it after that. Exciting!
• Start meeting caterers - We have met with Husby Säteri and they will fix most things for us, but we'll still have to decide on a menu and how much flowers they should help us with.
• Reserve block of hotel rooms for guests - Check
• Launch a wedding website - We have started one, but it isn't launched yet. We want to wait until we are ready to send the invitations.

Six to seven months before
• Purchase invitations and hire a calligrapher - We will make our invitations ourselves. But I haven't ordered the paper for this yet... guess it is time to get started!
• Plan your honeymoon - Check, we have more or less decided, waiting for travel agency to come back with price suggestion and availability.
• Meet with the officiant - This have to wait a couple of more months. We hope to be able to meet him (yes, it will be a guy, not the officiant I was talking about in another post. She was on vacation when our wedding is to be) in May or something like that.
• Send save-the-date cards - Check, done a long time ago ;)
• Book a florist - Not done yet, but we will visit one within a couple of weeks.
• Procure transportation - We have our plans ready, just need to contact them and say which time he is needed.
• Start composing a day-of timeline - This isn't on paper yet, but I think we will have to start doing this soon =)

I also need to add that it is high time to start looking around for seeds and bulbs for the wedding flowers. Even though it doesn't look like spring outside my window it is high time to start sowing!
Off I am to look in seed catalogs =)

DJ booked

Finally we got an answer from the DJ we have contacted regarding playing at our wedding. He was free the night of our wedding, but he is no more =)
We got the recommendation from Husby and after a look at his web page we decided to contact him. I think he will be a good choice who can play varied music at the party. And he fit into our budget as well! =)

Otherwise we are laying low with the wedding plans at the moment. We have been in contact with the goldsmith and her suggestion is within our budget. The only 'problem' as I see it is that she will turn my engagement ring into the wedding ring. I have been thinking about this and I think I would like two rings after all... I have some drawings of what it might be able to look like, so we will present them for her and see what she thinks. But it'll have to wait until next time we are there.

Sometimes it is not so fun to do the planning at a distance. Especially not if you want to do something NOW!

Husby Säteri

We also visited the 'castle' where we will have the reception. Susy showed us around and answered all our questions. Susy liked our choice of colors for the wedding and she had some great suggestions for the flowers and the table setting.
The castle was very nice inside and I hope we will have a wonderful reception here. Some pictures:

From the outside with all snowy glory



And some from the inside



Wall paintings in the entrance hall





We will be able to accommodate all guests in the houses around the castle so they don't come inside before the wedding. We will also have the whole castle to ourselves during the weekend.
Now we have to decide upon a menu for the reception... any suggestions??

Ring.. reception.. and flowers!

Yes, a lot has been done in just a couple of days. We are visiting my fiancé's parents and we have visit Husby, the castle where the reception will be, we have also visit the goldsmith and been to the florist.

The florist didn't have time for us =( not to book a time before Christmas either, so we need to find another weekend when they can talk to us. I'm a bit disappointed, I had hoped for a better welcome and more interest from their side, so we might go looking for another florist. We haven't decided yet though...

The welcome at Husby, the castle where we will have the reception, was very warm. I liked our contact very much and she was really helpful. The castle was very beautiful (some pictures will be shown here after Christmas) and we will have the whole place for ourselves the whole weekend. Very nice!
We have some suggestions for the menu from Husby, but we are not satisfied with them so we will sit down and create a menue ourselves which was absolutely ok with them. We also got two bottles of wine to try!

The goldsmith was a really nice girl, she made a couple of drawings of what could be done with the engagement ring that I have (see picture here). We liked one of her designs very much and she will give us a price for it before Christmas. I hope it isn't too much... our budget for the ring isn't that big.... and I liked what she showed us a lot. In the design she didn't create one more ring, but adds on my engagement ring, so I need to give it to her a couple of weeks and can't wear it until the wedding. Hm. I might have to get a new engagement ring ;)

Tomorrow will we go looking for a frockcoat to my fiancé and maybe find shoes to me as well...

Cake topper

My father called the other day and told me that he had fixed the cake topper. Hm, I wasn't aware that he was responsible for that! =)

Anyway, he has a very good friend, Kjell Engman, who is working at Kosta Boda making all sorts of glass sculptures and other glass pieces. Apparently he has made a bridal couple whom my father thinks should be on the wedding cake.
The couple is pretty nice in black and white glass.



I'm a bit worried though... the glass sculpture is 15 cm high and probably pretty heavy... will the cake cope with that?
Otherwise we will have to stand it on the side of the cake, but on the same table.

Toastmaster

Yes, our best friend and her fiancé have promised to be toast madam/master at our wedding! Thanks a lot! =)
They will help us coordinate the toasts during the dinner. They might also help us with the reception program... if we ask them nicely.

Guestlist and children

Most of the Save the date cards went with the post yesterday and today the phone has beeped more often than usual =) Lot of friends are surprised and whishes us good luck and looking forward to the wedding. I hope all of them will come, they have been carefully selected.
Our closest family (who already know our plans) won't have the save the date card until this weekend, when we are meeting them all for a birthday party.

I understand couples that get frustrated when it comes to the guest list. You want to share the wonderful day with everyone you know! But often the budget or the restriction of space for the reception is a problem.
In our case we can't invite more than 70 persons; the reception place won't fit in anymore. I have seen a lot of American weddings where the party has been outside in tents or just under a light canopy. This isn't very common in Sweden. Most weddings receptions are inside even in the summer and even though we thought about having the wedding in our garden, we quickly found out that the garden is way too small for so many people. It is a pity we won't be outside, but I think our 'castle' will be perfect =)

On our guest list are as many as 10 children from ages 0-11. I don't even like children... I hope it works out well. I rather spend my wedding day with my friends and their families then on my own, so all children are welcome. The older children will probably look really cute. Hopefully will we see a couple of princesses and maybe even a prince or two?

Now am I off to look through the wedding magazines I bought yesterday. I was in Stockholm for work and had time to source the bigger range of magazines.

Date decided

Just to let you know. We have decided a date for the wedding. It is so exciting and it feels like things are starting to get real. Nerves! =)

We have booked the church and the castle for the 14th of August 2010.
Still a lot can change and we still need to find the money to support this wedding, but the plans are getting really real.

Both I and my fiancé are excited and both spend time searching for information and talking about wedding details. I don't know about him, but my hardest time is to not tell everyone I meet about our plans. At the moment is it just his parents and brother and his wife and my parents who know. None of our friends are aware of it... yet.

I know we have to send out save the date cards soon, because our friends are living a very hectic life and need to be told asap so they can stop planning for something else on this date. Just need to set the budget (or find the way to fulfill the budget...)
I have started to look for designs for the invitations (I'll try to do them myself) but am struggling with the color theme. I know I'll have some dress with color in it but not what color. I have some clues though...

Looking for a church

Today have we been around looking for churches in the vicinity of my fiancé's hometown. The one closes to the place we want to have the reception is a big church in stone and pretty ordinary looking for a Swedish church. I think it is kind of boring and way too big for our 'small' wedding.

After that church we drove some miles to a lovely small stone church close to the sea and with a lovely old architecture. I'm sooo in love.
It was a pity the church wasn't open, so we could only look from the outside, but my fiancé has been inside many times and he thinks it is just the right size and very beautiful.
Here are some pictures from the outside:





The bell tower:


From across the bay:


Now we need to contact the parish to see if they allow us to wed in the church and when it is free. Then we need to contact the owners of the castle where we want to have the reception.
Yes, we hope to be on a castle =)
Here are some borrowed photos: