Our Mad Men wedding

I wasn't born in the '60s, my parents weren't married in the '60s, and I've never really loved the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Ditto my husband-to-be. So why pick the 1960s as the theme for our wedding?

'D448' by Alfred Sung

Well, it probably comes down to two things: falling in love with some beautiful bridesmaid dresses that look like they were made for Audrey Hepburn, along with me finally finding out what all the fuss was regarding Mad Men. Talk about amazing hair, outfits and, let's face it, Joan Holloway's general magnificence.

So we have a theme, great! However, I soon realised that bringing 1960s style into a tightly budgeted wedding set mainly in an early 20th century hotel building in Birmingham has its challenges.

When I first started looking for inspiration online, the few 1960s-inspired weddings I found had some amazing, stand-out touches, like being held at a retro recording studio or having a 1960s-era scooter as the wedding car. It seemed to me that all our location and budget could manage, bar the bridesmaid dresses, was hiring a 1960s limousine. Nice, but it's no powder blue Vespa...

As time (and research) went on, however, I realised we could bring in the styling through a variety of other ways, namely:

• I used 1960s-era fonts in our stationery:

Honey Script (based on 1950s/1960s font Filmotype Honey)

and Eloquent (based on 1960s typeface Pistilli Roman):

• We've hired The Vintage Salon to give the bridesmaids and me Mad Men-inspired hairstyles:

• I'm having a 1950s/1960s-inspired wedding dress made:

• The men aren't in 1960s clothing as such, but instead of old-fashioned cravats, cumberbunds and the like, they've got smart grey suits:

• Finally, instead of a guest book and bog-standard white cardboard 'postbox', we'll have a 1960s vintage typewriter and suitcase. Okay, not the most original of ideas, particularly since the whole 1950s/1960s wedding styling seems to have really taken off. (The wedding blogs are now full of them!) But at least we've made an effort to add a bit of the era to our elegant-but-neutral venue. I haven't found a pic of exactly how I'd like this to look, but it'll be something similar to this:

So there you have it: Mad Men styling through our stationery, outfits, hair and a little bit of venue styling. Oh, and not forgetting that 1960s limousine!

With all that sorted, the only thing left to wonder is: will any of the guests notice?

Time waits for no bride

Two months today.

TWO months today.

Two MONTHS today!

I honestly can't quite believe it.

On the one hand, the months of wedding planning alongside a full-on, full-time job have been, frankly, stressful. It can be hard to remember what life was even like before I had this giant task on my hands. (As you'll see, I'm often still saying me/my/I because, as helpful as H2B has been more recently, he's still a passenger in this whole journey. I am most definitely the driver.)

On the other hand, the time has flown by. It doesn't feel like almost a year. I mean, I still can't make up my mind on things like bridesmaids accessories and favours, for heaven's sake! Surely those things should be clear in my head by now?

Still, indecision has been a constant theme of my wedding planning experience, so I shouldn't be surprised. Besides, I'm enjoying picking out the fun stuff, now that we finally have the money for the reception saved up. Pay days are now for wedding spending instead of saving. Heaven! Though I must be driving our receptionist at work potty with all the eBay, BHS and Debenhams deliveries that keep arriving.

Shopping heaven aside, it really is getting all a bit too real for my comfort levels. Picking out readings and processional music. Going to dress fittings. Getting RSVPs through the door every other day. (By the way, call me simple, but I'm loving that my carefully designed postcards are actually being used as real, stamped postcards. Stylish and functional, oh yes.)

I guess what I'm saying is that this wedding really has taken on a life of its own. It's out there, it's happening, and we have countless guests and suppliers to answer to. There's no going back now.

Not that I want to. It's not that. It just links back to one of my first points. I can't really remember what life was like before all this. Whatever will I do with myself when it's all said and done?

Too busy to be a bride-to-be!

Sorry for the radio silence, folks.

I really do want to write my blog. It's less than three months to go until the big day, and I want to continue noting what I'm up to and how I've been feeling. Believe me, I have plenty of material!

But work has gone, in a word, mental. Stressful doesn't even cover it. And it's made me realise I was already operating with a baseline level of stress from the wedding, because my brain is waaaay more overloaded than it would be normally. As a result, I just don't have the time or energy to write a proper post just now.

So, partly as a stop-gap and partly as a reminder to myself for later, here are some key words of weddingness to sum up the last few weeks (and hint at some of my stresses!):

• Printer ruined our invites
• Priest made a horrible comment
• Diet = one step forward, two steps back, one step forward... ad infinitum
• Wedding envy returned
• Sick and tired of having no money!

I think that's it for now. Promise I'll be back as soon as I can. x