Diary Of A Last Minute Bride!

Posted on: 19/02/2012

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At the start of this year, I explained that in 2012 we’ll be following some real life brides all the way from rock to frock. Today, let’s meet the first of our fabulous girls, Donna from Newcastle Upon Tyne, who is going to share her journey up the aisle – in just 20 weeks!  And we’ll be with her every step of the way of the whirlwind process!

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Let’s meet Donna.

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Hello Brides Up North!  I’m Donna, and I can’t wait to share my wedding planning mission with you! I always imagined I’d be a last-minute bride as I don’t like to plan things super far in advance and I think it would freak me out if I had too much time on my hands to make those all-important decisions about flowers, the dress, caterers, who to invite, the venue, photographers, oh my gosh the list is endless!

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So, that’s partly why me and my fiancé Chris have decided to give ourselves just 20 weeks (I know!) to plan our wedding.

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I’ll be writing a series of blog posts to chart my progress, to help any other brides out there doing the same thing, and to provide some entertainment for the rest of you as I get progressively more and more stressed out!

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I’m also the full-time wedding coordinator and marketing manager for the Apartment Group, which own As You Like It, Florita’s bar, Mr Lynch and Baby Lynch in Newcastle, and we’ve just opened Liberty Brown bar and restaurant in Sunderland. Plus we’re launching Newton Hall in Northumberland, which is opening this April after a multi-million pound refurbishment, so I’m manic planning lots of other people’s weddings, but not yet my own!

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However it does at least mean that I’ve already got the venue sorted as I too want to wed at Newton Hall, and I do have a good contact book for florists, photographers and the like so there are some advantages to being a wedding planner!

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.Photograph by Image Newcastle

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But before we jump straight in, so you can get to know me a bit better, I’ll tell you a bit about me and the fiancé, Chris.

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My best pal Lauren was sick of me moaning about going on dodgy dates, so she decided to send me on a blind date with a colleague and friend of hers, little did I know that this ‘blind date’ would end up being my future husband!

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We hit it off straight away, Chris is amazing, we moved in together within six months, and a month later on our first holiday together in Mexico, I found out I was pregnant! It was a total shock – and we were just two days into an all-inclusive holiday, so I was gutted to miss out on making the most of the bar!

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Despite the initial shock, we soon got used to the idea of becoming a Mum and Dad, and on Christmas day when I was 7 months pregnant, Chris popped the question. He hung the ring box on a bauble on the Christmas tree and waited for me to spot it while we were opening our presents. He’d even asked my dad’s permission, so my folks were in on it too – I’m amazed my mum had managed not to blurt it out beforehand!

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In February 2010 we had our beautiful little girl Layla Hope, who took up pretty much all of our time for the first 18 months of her being around so planning a wedding was the last thing on our minds.

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As I’ve worked for As You Like It in Jesmond for the last few years, I’d always wanted to get married there, having overseen a number of fab weddings there. But working on Newton Hall, and overseeing the huge refurbishment of the listed Georgian manor house, it started tempting me to consider it for our own wedding. One of my pals Julie, who’s also our interior designer, got married there in October (in the bits of the Hall that were already completed!) and Chris and I knew that was where we wanted to tie the knot too.

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Julie’s wedding was just amazing – they had loads of gorgeous pictures on the big sandy stretch of beach at the bottom of estate, even though it was in October! And the hall itself was magical, so we fell in love with it. Plus we all had a three-day party staying over in the hotel rooms, which was so much fun!

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So far, all I’ve booked is the venue and the date – we’re on for May 26^th, and I’ve decided on my 11 bridesmaids (yes I know crazy) – including Lauren, our best pal who got us together and is now the godmother to Layla, and our friends Scott & Korinne of Scott Spock Photography are going to be our photographers on the day, who are totally amazing and I would recommend them to anyone.

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I’m hooked on having an old Hollywood Glamour theme to the wedding, so I’ll be looking into that for one of my blog posts, and next week I’m making the all-important decision of choosing my wedding dress.

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Stay tuned!

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Love, Donna x

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images supplied by Donna, Image Newcastle and Scott Spock Photography

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