Don't Tell The Bride

It's been a while since I posted anything up, sorry! Mad busy with college, my time management skills are non-existent. Anyway was watching Don't Tell The Bride on RTE last night, hilarious. I got some great ideas for the hen.
1. Have the hen in an all-you-can-eat Chinese.
2. Then go to a nightclub with nobody else in it.
Classic!

I actually entered that show in September when I first moved to Cork. It was advertised on daytime tv (yes Home and Away, Oprah, a few random episodes of Friends, Murder She Wrote or Escape to the Country, right up to Judge Judy at 4.30pm - love it!) and I decided to take the plunge by entering our names in to see what happened. They're offering €10,000, couldn't pass on that!

So the producer called me back about a week later and was really interested in us, asked me loads of questions. Of course, being as organised as we are and running such a tight ship, we had nothing arranged for the wedding so we were like a blank canvas for the tv people. It was great - thought I'd finally get to make my tv debut (apart from my stint on Nationwide at the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway a couple of years ago) but alas it wasn't to be.

When I told The Corkman about our impending tv appearance he nearly hit the roof! Refused point blank to do it. Muttered something about being too cool for school to go on it...spoilsport.

Oh well. Looks like so far Nationwide is still my only claim to fame. For now.

Leaving on a jet plane

So yesterday we went in to town to book our honeymoon yaay! This probably isn't something a bride-to-be should say but the honeymoon is the part I am by far the most excited about because I love travelling and I haven't been away in ages! (Well I got the bus to Galway a few months ago...does that count?)

Anyway we have provisionally booked our flights to Argentina and Patagonia!

Heading off in November this year so will have to start working on my bikini bod — am hoping to look like this:

Kim Kardashian

And Himself will no doubt be looking something along the lines of this:

Bradley Cooper

 We have both travelled a good bit — we met in Sri Lanka — and Himself was leaning towards Borneo for the honeymoon. However, anyone who know me will know that my body is a place of worship for mosquitos, bugs, insects whatever — they love me and I have developed an unhealthy paranoia about them wherever I go so Borneo was a no-no. Apparently Argentina and Patagonia will be fine at the time of year when we go so that's a relief. I will be staying well away from any mozzie-infested jungle that's for sure!

Can't wait to tuck into a few nice steaks and glasses of red wine in Buenos Aires before heading off to the Igazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.
Looks fab doesn't it?

Igazu Falls

We might take a boat trip to Montevideo and maybe even go up to Brazil if we've time. We're going to split the holiday between roughing it and luxury — it is our honeymoon after all so may as well milk the upgrades and champagne as much as possible!

Has anyone been to Argentina? I don't really know much about Patagonia but our travel agent said there are really cool glaciers there. Any recommendations or travel tips?!

Thanks for all your comments so far!

Hairy business

Bird's nest, cage or the natural look?

I don't know what to do with my hair for the wedding. My CB (Chief Bridesmaid aka Chief Whip) suggested I spruce up a boring old hair do with some classy accessories. I'd say I'd have a tough time holding my head up with the weight of all these in Look No 1:

Look No 1

Even though I am clearly the opposite of clear, pale skin and smooth, jet black hair (ie freckles and frizz) I'd say I could pull Look No 2 off not a bother...

Look No 2

If that doesn't work I could always just go au natural and go with the just-got-out-of-bed-look. Now that I see all three hairstyles I am convinced Number 3 is the one for me. Now if I could just find a good hairdresser....

Look No 3: The hairstyle I'm going for — this will be me making my speech!

Weekend wedding

Our wedding date is set for a Friday so once that's out of the way we can really let the hair down for the rest of the weekend. There's a special birthday on the Sunday which I think is also the date of the rugby world cup final...? So we will have a good long weekend with plenty to celebrate.

I'm wondering what we should do the night before? I suppose we should probably take it easy as it's going to be a long few days. I'm finished college in September so will be really taking it easy from then on!

Think it would be nice to have a music session the next day so if anyone has any instruments please bring them and help get the party going! Hopefully the weather will be nice so maybe we could have a barbeque or something. Any suggestions please send them here!

His last days of freedom (and mine — if us hens stopped clucking)

So, after a few weeks of himming and hawing the Stag of the Year has finally been booked!

My beloved and 40 — yes 40 — of his dearest companions are jetting off for a weekend of hijinx in Edinburgh.

I'm sure their days will be spent checking out all the tourist hotspots including Edingburgh Castle (right) and Edinburgh Dungeon (below).

Somehow I doubt it. I imagine the extent of their sight-seeing will entail a serious pub crawl and a brief look at the airport as they race to make their flight home. My only worry is that the Dearest Companions will shave off all of my beloved's lustrous locks (see picture in my Spot The Difference post).

The men are from Mars, women are from Venus thing struck me during the whole ten minutes it took for him to organise the Stag of the Year.  He booked his flights and then emailed or texted the invitees to let them know — job done.

Now us girls are an entirely different story. Over copious amounts of wine and after debating the pluses and minuses of every city, county and village from Belfast to Ballydehob, my Hens and I have yet to settle on a location for the mother of all hen parties ie mine! However, Co Clare is looking like a strong contender for the hape of fine Mayo, Cork and Tipp women due to rock up some time in September. Will keep you posted on this.

If anyone has any other suggestions of a great hen location (in Ireland — keepin' it local) or potential non life-threatening activities we could partake in please throw em down in the comments section below. Thanks!

Tomorrow, what to do the night before and the day after? May as well make a weekend of it!

Spot the Difference

The Corkman

Luke Kelly

Housekeeping!

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More news tomorrow on The Stag (apparently it's the stag to end all stags...) and my hen. I have a presentation in the morning eek so have to banish thoughts of the wedding for one night!
Thanks for all the comments, keep them coming!

The 20 most awkward wedding photos — ever [SLIDESHOW] | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

The 20 most awkward wedding photos — ever [SLIDESHOW] | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Will have an update on our photographer tomorrow but hopefully whoever we get won't make us pose like any of these pix!

Toe-tappin tunes

Apart from the dress one of the most important things about a wedding I think is the music. It can create such a lovely atmosphere throughout the day and with our old friend Mr Pianoman no doubt there'll be lots of variety on the day.

One weekend we went to Dublin to see a fairly upbeat jazzy-style band. They were really good but just didn't float our boat so it was back to square one. Then we found out about The Weightless Astronauts.
The Weightless Astronauts. They are really sound and played at Dee and Iomar's wedding a couple of years ago. DVD evidence from that night shows me up dancing on the chairs so think that's a good sign for any band! They also played at the Nurses' Ball in NUIG a couple of years ago and got rave reviews from all my nurse friends!

The Corkman wanted a band that would get people up dancing all night long so we went for The Weightless Astronauts, they seem like a bit of craic anyway. For some reason hubby-to-be got a bit obsessed with the song Down at the Red Rose Cafe. I think he wants it to be our first dance...

I know this is really cheesy but I love the lyrics in this and there are loads of different versions: The Way You Look Tonight. Votes please?!

I've looked online for good suggestions but they are all like Celine Dion or Whitney Houston which The Corkman would probably call off the wedding if I said I wanted them as our first dance... Would love to get something quirkyish and non-clichéd. Any ideas for us?!

The songs I really DON'T want are these crowd-pleasers:
Come On Eileen  and I Would Walk 500 Miles An Hour. They just annoy me — they remind me of sweaty oul fools leaping around at the teenage disco back in Castlebar circa 1997. Not good!

More on the music in my next post!

Four funky bridesmaids

So we still haven’t decided on a colour or style for the bridesmaids. Two are blonde and the other two are dark and all four have fairly sallow skin so plenty of colours will suit them.

We saw some nice ones in Debenhams like this: (just click on the link to view)

Black dress with patterened back 

and this:

Turquoise dress 

Something like this might be lovely because the wedding it will be autumn with the leaves changing colours, the colour of this dress would work well with that.

Green dress 

But we're not really into something like this!

Not up our alley!

None of them are too fussy about the style but we all agree no clingy material, everyone wants to be able to relax and enjoy the dinner! Some prefer short to long and others would rather straps instead of boob tubes.

We still haven’t looked anywhere else. I heard Coast have some nice dresses. Anyone know any other good shops for bridesmaids?

We are going to meet up some weekend during the summer, either in Dublin, London or Cork, and hopefully get the dresses then. It would be good if we had an idea first though so as not to put too much pressure on ourselves.

I’m having my two nieces as flower girls so they’ll be really cute. The older one will be nearly four and has promised to hold the younger one’s hand and mind her during the day, so cute! I’m sure we will pick up dresses easily enough for them in Next or Monsoon maybe? We will leave it until at least September to do that seeing as they grow so fast!

I suppose a colour scheme for the flowers will depend on the bridesmaids dresses. I quite like the idea of having a bunch of red roses but obviously we will have to wait and see what we come up with.  I know purple was a big colour last season, but not too sure about 2011.

Any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Location, location, location

This is a blog about our wedding that's planned for October 2011.  I'm hoping it will be a great way to organise everything in the run up to it, any feedback or suggestions will be taken on board!

We decided to have the wedding in Galway and after we booked the venue — the Meyrick Hotel in Eyre Square — we found out it's where my 87-year-old granny had her reception many years ago! The four-star hotel has a piano player in the lobby and Mr Pianoman said he will play anything we like during the champagne reception. Anyone have any suggestions or requests?!

The hotel also has a really cool roof-top jacuzzi and a spa so no doubt they will be put to good use over the weekend!

Weddings are all about the dress really. I got mine in January so can't wait to try it on again. It's being made in Holland and sent over in July! The best thing about it is it's not clingy so I will be able to have a fine big feed on the day and not be worrying about a big fat belly! I'd love to put up some pictures of it but it's probably better to keep it as a surprise! I'm totally loving this Vera Wang one though!

The room is fab — The Corkman loved the fact that it has dimmer lights — he's all about creating an atmosphere and knows way too much about candelabras and candle sconces for my liking! We thought loads of candles around the room would be lovely, might be a bit of a fire hazard though?! Being the cold creature that I am as long as the room is warm I'll be happy!

You can see the room, and some gorgeous dresses here.

Tomorrow — Four bridesmaids, four locations (London, Bristol, Dublin and Castlebar).