5 Things I Have Learnt Since Getting Engaged About Weddings

Hey you guys!
Regular followers will know that something exciting happened to me back in July. My long-suffering partner David of 20 years asked me to marry him!! Of course, I said “Hell Yes!”  We had taken our first holiday without the children and decided to visit our family and friends in Corfu whilst sunning ourselves all inclusive. It literally was the perfect day, our actual 20 year anniversary, we took a bus trip to Benitses our favourite place.  Drinking ice-cold beers on the beach, snorkelling and finding sea glass treasures, a gorgeous lunch followed by an early evening siesta. As it was our anniversary I was of course expecting to exchange gifts, I just wasn’t expecting mine to be ring shaped! My engagement ring belonged to David’s Grandmother and its beautiful. There were lots of tears. We video called the children, the girls were both excited, Charlie more bewildered and confused (nothing new there then!). We had celebratory drinks followed by dinner with his father and more celebratory cocktails into the early morning. I never wanted the day to end. It was perfect 😍💍
David and Joanne getting engaged

However, the thing is after 20 years and 3 children together, neither of us really want a big wedding, plus to be fair I think most people thought we were already married anyway!  But now we are home and starting to think about how this wedding thing will actually go ….. I’ve noticed a few things!

5 Things I Have Learnt Since Getting Engaged About Weddings:

  1. Cannot Stop Googling – Wedding Stuff: Literally, every day there’s a new shop to scroll through from stunning dresses at Bombshell HQ to how to make compostable confetti! I didn’t know I wanted a denim jacket with BRIDE on the back until I saw one! Now it’s all I think about!  My Facebook AD feeds are filled with wonderful dresses, for me, for mum, for David’s mum, the girls oh so many dresses and magnificent cakes! It’s overwhelming!
  2. As Soon As You Add The Word Wedding Expect To Pay 150% More: Not even kidding you!  Most days the shop next door has some old pallet stacked up from deliveries with a big old sign saying FREE but a splash of paint, some stencilling or maybe vinyl lettering, few fake flowers glued on for good measure and you have yourself a rustic themed order of ceremony! At the mere cost of £40 – £80! Let’s not even talk about the wedding cake prices!
  3. Bridezilla Moments: WOWZERS it’s so easy to get caught up in the wedding hype. Facebook groups, Pinterest Boards, people asking you all the time. At one point (like a week after getting engaged) David had to have a word …. how did our small intimate family wedding turn into hiring a vineyard? It’s really important to ensure you don’t get swept up in the idea or other peoples ideas, be clear about what you both want (and don’t want) but also how much you are prepared to pay/spend on your wedding.
  4. We Like More People Than We Thought: When we first started discussing invites we easily went from 30-60 and then started reconsidering.  The actual ceremony isn’t something we want to share with lots of people (does that sound odd? It feels odd saying it?!) but at the same time doing it twice (a legal wedding and a fake one – which everyone seems to be doing) feels like a waste of money?
  5. Everyone Has An Opinion: I have to keep reminding myself it’s actually “our” day (best include David’s ideas and suggestions!)  Even Megan at a mere 13 years old has exact ideas about what is cool and what is not. People also keep asking me if they can have certain roles in the wedding, many I have no idea what that means and thus pretty sure I don’t actually need one of those!?

5 Things I Have Learnt Since Getting Engaged About Weddings

But after all that I am so EXCITED about planning a wedding and actually getting married to David.  So any ideas, suggestions etc … do hit me up!



This post complies with my Disclosure Policy.

Found this useful wondering how you can show me your appreciation? Well, there are some ways you can say thanks and support my website: ➡

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2 Comments

  1. September 23, 2021 / 8:48 pm

    Congratulations! All of your statements are so true! I’ve been a wedding coordinator for 8 years and just got married in April! If you need some advice or want to vent, head on over to the blog we probably have something for you! CreativelyDreamEvents.com

  2. Helen Copson
    September 28, 2021 / 8:22 am

    I love this! Congratulations. And all those things are SO true! Hope you have a lovely day.