RMW Real Bride {Laura & Chris: Wedding Planning So Far...}

Just a quick note from me this lunchtime to welcome lovely Laura to Rock My Wedding, she's joining Emma and Vicky as one of our real Brides for 2017. Laura really tells it like it is and is a dab hand at blogging so I'm very excited to have her writing for RMW! I'll pass you over and let her introduce herself...

So I’m Laura and I’ve been engaged for a year. I feel like this is some sort of self-help meeting introduction, so let me state a random fact...I really like exotic birds. I blog over at tinytwisst.com and also run a YouTube channel. Now we have that out the way, I’m super excited to have been asked to contribute to Rock My Wedding and share some little truths of wedding planning over here, because I’m sure many of you are in the same boat as me! So let’s start at the beginning (a very good place to start...) my other half, Chris, proposed a year ago in the middle of the most beautiful woods. We had just been shooting an outfit post for my blog, so I was wearing a oversized green coat, floral skirt, wellies and the brightest orange lipstick I could find. I cried all of my makeup off and it was the best day of my life so far. Since then I have been wedding planning and let me tell you...I have learnt A LOT! So here are the top 5 things I have learnt so far, just to get us started.

1. Dress shopping is a little bit stressful. Sure, I enjoyed looking at all the pretty dresses but wow it’s overwhelming. You go in with a strict idea of what you’re after (thanks to the pinterest boards...) and it gets caught in a turmoil of opinions and options. The shop assistants make you try on dresses you’d never consider but then you end up actually liking them the most and BUYING ONE. It escalates quickly... 2. The last few months before your wedding is when you have to pay everyone and you wonder why you ordered so many extras that don’t really matter. You basically start to feel really poor. Harp player? Photo booth? Will anyone really notice them? Do I really need two pairs of shoes? 3. Name limbo is a thing. I’m currently caught between my ‘soon to be’ old name, and my new name. I’m not really sure who I am anymore or when I should update my expired driving license, how I go about changing ALL my bank details and don’t even get me started to designing my new signature! 4. Hand stamping my invites seemed really creative at the time...until I sat down and had to complete 100 of the damn things, letter by letter. It also makes you realise how many of your friends have really long names, 7 letters - seriously?! 5. It’s amazing how excited you become. I’m looking forward to that one day more than when my parents took me to Theme Parks, more than ANY of my birthdays and definitely more than when I got upgraded to VIP at a Britney Spears gig. Laura x {Tiny Twisst}