My sister and I then picked up my cousin Charlotte and off we went.  The drive there wasn’t too bad at all, we left at about 12.30pm and got there at 4pm!  After unpacking we settled down in Ma Garrita’s Bar with a pitcher of Woo Woo!  We were quite peckish too as we hadn’t had lunch so we shared a garlic bread pizza and chips – nice and healthy!

My friend Nicky who used to work at Universal was next to arrive which was quite handy as Charlotte and my sister decided to move on to Malibu cocktails next so Nicky joined me with the Woo Woo’s!

Jo & Juliette were next to arrive so I showed them to their room – only remembering afterwards that I was banned from that room as my sister had put some hen goodies in there for the Saturday night.  Luckily I somehow didn’t notice them!!

The GT girls were next to arrive (Shelle, Lynsey, Jacqui & Vicky), and then finally my other cousin Vicki arrived.

I specifically chose Ma Garrita’s Bar for us all to meet in because it served a selection of light snacks and bites all the way through till the early hours of the morning – perfect as everyone was arriving at different times.  More food and cocktails were ordered, with Vicky even managing to get a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu!!

We were all aware that we had to be up at 7am the next day though so none of us went to bed too late!

On Saturday morning after having breakfast we made our way to the monorail to take us into the park where we received our first perk of the day – myself and my two bridesmaids got to sit up the front with the driver!!

By staying in the hotel we got early entry into the park but not all the rides were open early – of the ones we wanted to go on only Nemesis and Oblivion were open.  We went straight to Nemesis first of all but by the time we had finished it was almost 10am so we decided to walk over to Thirteen and get in the queue.  Unfortunately by the time we got there it was gone 10am so we had a fairly long queue, but probably only about an hour.  After that one it was over to Rita – my worst ride!  I always go on it but it is definitely not one that I enjoy!  After Rita we went on Air, then the Haunted House, and then onto Hex.

After Hex a few of us went on Oblivion, and then finally the last ride we went on was The Runaway Train.  The queue was deceptive, if we had known how long it was we probably wouldn’t have joined it but by the time we noticed we had already been queuing for a while so we thought we might as well carry on!  The guy on the tannoy was really funny, as each train left he would say in quite a suggestive way ‘Choooo choooo’ (you really had to be there!) and so when it was finally our turn we all shouted it back at him!

We finally left the park at about 6pm and got to sit in the front of the monorail with the driver again!  Once back at the hotel, Theo had arrived – yay!  She also used to work at Universal and so had been nattering away with Nicky who had left the park a little earlier.

The table was booked for 8pm in The Secret Garden restaurant and it had been decorated beautifully by Shelle and my sister – my bridesmaids.  Lots of red (the wedding colour theme) and sparkly things!  Oh and bubbles too!

They had arranged for a game where everyone bought me a present and I had to guess who had bought it.  We did this for Jacqui’s hen weekend and so I must have dropped enough hints about how much I enjoyed it!  Some of the presents were hilarious; Vicky’s in particular – carrots and potatoes!!  (We both love our vegetable patches!)

I was also given a beautiful photo book which everyone contributed too, I burst into tears when I opened it, it was just so lovely.  And I do love photo books!

After dinner we retired to an area with a fabulous huge chair where I perched for our second game – Mr & Mrs!  Unbeknown to me Shelle and my sister had asked Martin 20 questions and I had to guess his answers!  And for every question that I got right I got to open a present!  The person asking the question would get the present if I got the question wrong so no pressure!!!!!!  Luckily I got every question right, or more or less right anyway!  One of the photos was an excellent red afro wig and red sunglasses – I would have worn them for longer if it wasn’t for the wig making me really hot!!  I also got some temporary tattoos so started dishing them out – it was very amusing the next morning seeing everyone with their tattoos still on!  Unfortunately mine came off pretty quickly!

Most people started heading off to bed around midnight, I think I stayed up until 2am, leaving Nicky, Vicky and Theo propping up the bar until about 3am!!

On Sunday everyone had planned to go in the Splash Landings pool at 9am for an hour or so before the spa at 10.30am – but everyone was too hungover!  I wasn’t, but didn’t really fancy going in the pool on my own!  But as it was, it wasn’t open that early anyway!  After breakfast we all checked out and then headed over to the spa.

It was amazing; they had a swimming pool, a hot tub, a laconium room, an aromatic crystal steam room, a sauna, a multi sensory shower, a meditation room and effervescent footbaths – and we had it all to ourselves!  Well, for a few hours anyway, then a few other people started filtering in but on the whole it was really quiet, it was bliss!  A few of us had treatments, I had an invigorating body exfoliation, but the majority just relaxed in the meditation room, or on the sun loungers.

We had use of the spa until 3pm but a few people wanted to head back early to see their families and so by 2pm I think we were all out.  A few of us had lunch in the Alton Towers hotel and then that was that, weekend over.

Charlotte, my sister and I left at about 2.45pm and were home by 6pm – again, not a bad drive!

I had such a good time over the weekend, and judging by the photos I think everyone else did too!  Some of the girls hadn’t met each other before but everyone got on really well with each other.  Everyone really made an effort too, from the dress code for Saturday night, down to the guess who presents.

And of course an extra special thank you has to go to my amazing bridesmaids who organised the activities for Saturday night really well.

Chooooo chooooo!

On Saturday we had to go to the doctors to get our jabs for the honeymoon (off to Kenya for a week long safari and then a week on the beach in Mombasa!), then we went to the jewellers to try on our rings before they are finished completely, and then I left my h2b at home whilst I went for another hair & make-up trial!  This time it was at my hairdressers and it was so much better.  Only one of my bridesmaids had the trial with me and it took about 3 hours in total.  On the day it shouldn’t take that much longer either as there will be 3 girls working on us so there won’t be any time wasted hanging around waiting.

Then that evening when I got back we went through this long list of songs I had been compiling for the wedding.  Think we’re almost there!!!  About 90% decided on the song that I walk down the aisle to, it is beautiful but I could be swayed by another two!  I wonder if I can walk up and down a few times to different songs??  

Myself and my bridesmaids had our hair & make-up trial a few weeks ago but I am a bit unsure so we are having another one, with my hairdresser this time, in a few weeks time.  I don’t think it was the girls fault who did it the first time – it’s just that it was only her doing the hair AND make-up for three girls.  It took forever and it was just a trial!  I dread to think how long it would have taken on the day.  I then spoke to my hairdresser a little later and she said that if they did it there would be 3 of them working on us, so it’d be a lot quicker!

Have sent out our wedding invites too, it’s so exciting getting the replies back!  Only had a couple of people saying they can’t make it so far, and they were to the evening reception.

Had a panic when our DJ rang up to say there was a possibility he couldn’t work at our wedding after all – he’d been shortlisted to the remaining 200 out of 100,000 for the TV show “The Apprentice” and the filming would clash with our wedding!  I was so torn, we love the show so would have been great to see him on it but then it would have meant he wasn’t at our wedding!  However it looks like we’re okay, although what an achievement to be shortlisted to the remaining 200 out of 100,000 applicants!!

Also off to the printers on Friday to order our invites – very excited about that!!!!!!!

Also went back to Couture Pour Homme at the weekend so that my Dad and nephew could get measured up for their suits.  I was banished outside but it was a sunny day so I didn’t mind!  My nephew will be almost 15 years old by the time we get married and is growing up so fast, I can’t wait to see him in a suit!  Although he will be taller than me, tsch!  In the last couple of months he has really shot up.

We’ve finally decided on where to stay the night of the wedding – we were planning on staying at The Tea House in the grounds of Layer Marney but have changed our minds and are now staying at a hotel nearby called Five Lakes.  I’ll be staying there the night before with my bridesmaids, and then the night of the wedding with my h2b, obviously!

The hotel is really nice so we are going to make full use of it the following day and relax in the spa and probably have some lunch there too!  A few of our friends have already booked up rooms too so it’ll be great to have a chat over breakfast and compare stories and sore heads from the night before!

We also went to a Bouquet Garni open day at Layer Marney Tower.  We had been sent a time slot and so thought that we had an actual appointment to sit down and talk about our menu but unfortunately it really was just an open day.  We got to try lots of the canapés though which was really good – they were all so tasty!  We have now made an actual appointment ourselves to go back next month to firm up the menu.

Started designing our wedding invites too – this is the fun stuff!

Also went back to Couture Pour Homme to pay the final amount and as my h2b’s jacket was ready he tried that on too.  I averted my eyes – don’t want to ruin the surprise on the big day!  Although talking of surprises apparently the guy making the suits has a surprise for my h2b??  Should be interesting to see what that turns out to be!

Oh and also finally, my h2b has organised his stag weekend – he’s going to Oktoberfest!

I tried on my dress before taking it away and absolutely love it!  I still loved it just as much as before, and as this time I was actually trying on the correct size and not a size 18 (!) it looked even better!

Really pleased we’ve got our honeymoon booked too – a 7 night safari in Kenya followed by 7 days on the beach in Mombasa.  Bliss!!  My h2b has also changed some of the details of the beach part so once we hit Mombasa I won’t have a clue what is happening!

On Sunday there was a wedding fayre at Layer Marney so we popped along to that – and was one of the first through the door so we got a free bottle of bubbly too, result!  It was lovely to walk around the venue again, cannot wait to go back in 9 months time!

We went back to our florist once she had ordered in the vases etc for our table decorations and they look lovely, we are so excited about them, they should hopefully look really nice.

Also been looking into our honeymoon some more.  We’ve managed to narrow it down to about three possibilities, it’s just so hard to choose!  One thing we have decided though is that it will be ordered though Virgin.  The service we have had from them when doing our research has been amazing.

And I think that is about it at the moment!  Hopefully picking up my wedding dress in a week or two, and when I do I’ll be having a grand trying on session with my bridesmaids in their dresses too!

Then today the plan was to go to three wedding fairs – well, I say that was the plan, my h2b rather cunningly had work to do in the morning and by the time he was ready to go out we only had enough time to go to one wedding fair, hmmm…  But it was a good wedding fair, spoke to a few interesting people and picked up some more ideas…

Also received the quote from the florist, very reasonable!  We’re going to go back at the end of the month to see a trial run, so to speak, of the table decorations we like.  Starting to get very excited, only just over a year to go!

Oh yes, and also booking up the hen weekend at the end of the month!!!!!