Happy Monday! Reflections...

Howdy all! Hope you all had a great weekend.

So I've been thinking how to start wedding recaps and what format to take. A lot of people tend to do chronologically recaps but I've been thinking that I want to switch it up a little and focus on themes. Themes around things I've learnt and things I want to pass onto those coming up behind.

So Enter...Reflections which will be the series over the next fortnight or so where I will fill you on my wedding learns, hints and tips. Things I would do again, things I wouldn't and things I wish we did.

Aside from being late, I have no major regrets. The day was wonderful and we will always remember it as our day. I will be completely honest but at the same time put things into perspective.

If there is anything in particular you would like me to recap about or cover, please drop me a line in comments and I will do my best to include it, if not already included.

Have a great week!

Happy Monday! Showers, invites and guest bloggers

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

The weather here in England right now is HOT HOT HOT! If it continues, I can’t imagine what it will be like next month for the wedding!

This weekend the lovely ladies at my old church, threw me a Bridal Shower, which was so lovely. It was held at my friend/wedding coordinator’s house Alex, {who was a wonderful host btw}. I will talk more about it in another post, but I had a really great afternoon, seeing all my old church friends and they gave me lots of great advice and tips. Thank you women of Calvary International Church.

Our invitations are finally out and RSVPs are starting to roll in already! Yes – after 24 hours!  Oh the wonders of technology and super-efficient guests! It’s all about online RSVP folks.

I also chose my bolero and it is being shipped this week. You will have to wait until the big day to see which one I decided on!

Guest Poster

I would like to re-introduce to you my friend, Mrs O.

You might remember her from the Real Wedding feature I did a couple of months back. She is going to be helping me with blogging duties running up to the wedding.

Being a recent bride herself she is going to bring tips, advice and discussion about planning your wedding and life ‘on the other side’. Hope you enjoy her posts here, every Monday.

For the rest of the week, I will be…

- telling you all about my lovely Bridal Shower

- talking about cultural differences

- showing you the invites themselves

- answering a reader question about partner vs family

and keeping you up to date with all the wedding planning shenanigans.

I will leave you with a teaser picture from Saturday, which is of my lovely cake made by Pastor’s wife. It even had our wedding monogram on it and was very tasty {even though I probably shouldn’t be eating cake right now}!

Have a great week all!

p.s. Congratulations to Cupcake Wedding, who got married this weekend!

32 days and counting!!!!

Happy Monday! Productive…

Don’t you just love productive weekends!

This weekend we…

Spoke to the Rev at the church about our service

Paid our deposit on our venue

Decided on where we are going to hold our Thanksgiving service on Sunday

Sorted out the grooms attire {they will look dashing!}

Saw the first look of the bridesmaid dresses which are being made {thanks sis, the wonders of blackberry messenger}

Chose our gele for the ase-obi

Measured our fingers for our wedding rings

Productive or what!

After lots of to-ing and fro-ing with our printer {aka Dad}, our invites go to print on Tuesday. Really pleased with how they’re shaping up.

How was your weekend?

Happy Monday! Progress…

Thank you for all your lovely comments of support in response to last Monday's post.

Drum roll please...we have a venue!

Stats:

Available on the 26th June: CHECK!

Capacity: 600 - CHECK!

Location: Manchester {parents are happy} - CHECK!

Outside catering allowed: CHECK!

On site parking: CHECK!

Within budget: CHECK!, CHECK!, CHECK!

To good to be true?

Maybe so, but like I've said in previous posts, no venue is perfect but this place ticks a lot of boxes and given the fact that we're 9 weeks away, we're lucky to have found somewhere this suitable.

Bit of background:

The place we have chosen is a 20th century, Grade II listed building which is going through restoration and renovation to be converted into an events venue. Parts of it have been modernised while still retaining its original features.

A lot of the work has been done already but it is not fully 'complete', which is where its 'non-perfectness' comes in.

On viewing last Saturday {my parents saw it earlier in the week}, I spoke to the owner who advised that what was left to do was mainly painting, laying new flooring in some areas, completing the kitchen and generally cleaning up the place, post renovation. I won't lie, this did give us cause for concern but he has assured us that everything will be completed before June.

My mum and Aunty have said that they will be on their case throughout to ensure that everything is done to our satisfaction and it will be in the contract as well. The good thing is that the owner recognises that if they do this event well, more bookings are sure to follow from people in our community, as there are not a lot of big venues in Manchester.

So where is this place you ask?

For fear of wedding crashers all I can say for now is that it is in Manchester. I will provide full disclosure and pictures AFTER the wedding. Of course our guests will know very soon!

In other news, mum and I picked out the ankara for the ase-obi {traditional 'uniform' – for an idea of what ase-obi looks like, see pics below}. I’m looking forward to all the new traditional outfits that Mr E and I will acquire over the next couple of months. I can see it now, we’re going to be one of those coordinated outfit  couples!

Anyway it’s good to know that we’re finally making progress….60 days to go.

Picture credits: (1) Facebook, (2 & 3) Unknown

Happy Monday! Tension

Woosaa!!! Breathe Chichi breathe…

Who knew wedding planning could be so wahalious {is that even a word}!

You start to think you’re making progress, then something comes at you that just sends you two steps back.

Last week was a flurry of calls, internet searches, site visits and fabulous friends dropping me texts, tweets and calls about potential venues for our wedding reception. We must have contacted every large venue in Birmingham and Manchester {if you want the list, let me know!} and in the process discovered some places we didn't even know existed, which I'm sure will prove useful for future reference.

Mr E and I saw some pretty awful places last week. Awful I tell you. Awful! Places which you soon realised why they were still available when you went to view them. We also spoke to some places who seemed to think that they were the bees knees and wanted stupid prices. One venue we visited even decided to add an extra £1000 to the hire price when we said we didn’t need their bar!

Repeat after me: we.are.not.made.of.money.

We have our preferences but have been willing to be flexible if the right place comes along. Capacity, food options and price are key factors. Every venue has its pros and its cons and you won't get a place that has everything. Guest experience is also really important to us. We want people to come, be blessed and have a good time. We don't want to have to worry about lack of food, extra seating, Aunty and Uncle getting lost on route etc etc. But at the same time we have to realistic and practical.

My two favourite phrases of last week:

When asking if they had a room available for the 26th June.

This year?!

When asking about capacity?

Is it an Asian wedding?

Apparently people don’t look for venues three months before a wedding and the only people who have big weddings are Asians! Hmmm!

Don’t mind me…the great venue hunt is getting warmer…well hot actually. We may have found a hidden gem.

I have also finished designing the wedding monograms, invitations and the guest list is all complete. We will also be setting up our gift registry this week as well!

Anyway, I hope you’re all good and had great weekends.

Here’s to a productive week!

p.s. Congrats to Stacey over at Thoughts of an All Consumed Bride who got married last Friday. She and hubby are currently sunning themselves Down Under! Hope over to her blog and wish her some newlywed love!

Happy Monday! Roundup

Alas Monday is upon once again. It’s amazing how quickly the week seems to go these days. The great venue hunt continues and I thank you all for your advice and tips. I am confident by God’s grace we will close this deal by the end of the week. Have put together our wedding timeline, its amazing how much time you think you have – not true at all. Any tips on what projects to work on first would be appreciated. Mr E has been great, really getting involved and I value his opinion a lot!

This last week we have discovered that we have a lot of talented friends, people who have stepped up to offer their services to help with the wedding. Ever.so.grateful!

The sun has been out, a lot recently, so much so that I've had to dig out my sunglasses - yay. I even ventured out today without a coat! Bring on summer. I don't know what it is, but everyone seems to be much happier when the sun is out!

Calling all foodies - I need your recipes! I'm on the lookout for some new and interesting meals. It been a while since I did an 'In my kitchen' post and I'm desperate to get out of my rice - pasta – potato - chicken rut. Do you have any great recipes for meals I could try? I love anything spicy and they can be from any culture or country. Willing to try anything once and as ever Mr E will play the faithful guinea pig.  I will report back on his verdict with pictures of how my version turns out. 

Feel free to send me any of your favourites {sweet and savoury} to info@fromnowtillido.com or just drop a note to say hi! Love hearing from you guys.

Hope all is well - have a wonderful week!

Happy Monday! So we set a date...

For followers of my blog you will know that we had to postpone our wedding last August. While it was a tough couple of months, God has used this time to teach us a whole lot of valuable lessons. He is faithful, He has it all under control and his timing is perfect {Ecc 3:1}.

I'm delighted to announce that we now have a new wedding date!

Mr E and I will tying the knot on June 26th 2010.

12 weeks from now we say our vows in front of our family and friends. It's all very exciting and there is lots to do but I thank God that everything is finally coming together.

You may remember this post, well we now have option B, with a few enhancements. Fundamentally we have been given the opportunity and responsibility to organise the church wedding ourselves. My dad's words,

'this will be your first project together and we should allow you to do it'. 

This is huge turnaround and very liberating. Both parents have said they will not offer any unsolicited advice but are there if we need them and will be praying for us.

82 days and counting...

Happy Monday! Growing Pains

Growth does not come without pain. {My wisdom tooth is growing, so I can testify this first hand!}

Growth will stretch you. It will frustrate you. It may even upset you but it is necessary to move you from point A to point B.

Look at babies and how quickly they grow. However it is needed in order for them to reach adulthood. God wants us to grow too.

Are you growing, today?

Facts about growth:
- To grow something needs to die. You need to let go and say goodbye to certain things in order to move into the new thing that God has for you.
- It is inconvenient. Growth will force you to make changes, lose some friends, give up some old habits. Pretty much things we won't want to do.
- To grow we must stand the pressure of hard work. Growth and laziness do not go hand in hand.

- It is 'kaizen' - continuous improvement, a change for the better.
- Like the green shoots that force their way through the concrete pavements - growth will move everything in its path to achieve its goal.

Don't be afraid to grow...who's knows what you will become.

Here's to a great week!

Happy Monday! Oneness

 

'The true goal of marriage is not happiness but oneness. Jesus taught, 'So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.' Happiness is a by-product. However, seeking oneness is costly. It involves sacrifice of the ego, so human pride is crushed until it has no life of its own anymore’.

The above quote is by Dr Glenn Knecht from Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda and was something I came across this weekend in my daily reading.

God’s blueprint for marriage is two becoming one, so by default ‘as we assert this unity in different practical ways, our marriage gets stronger and stronger’.

Yay or nay?

Genesis 2:24-25 talks about it very clearly:

That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.

Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.

The nakedness talked about above, while a physical state, also refers to a mental state. They were both naked with each other and were not concerned about it. They had no secrets, they shared everything. All was out in the open and ‘and they were not ashamed’. What an awesome benchmark of oneness!

In the early part of our courtship Mr E gave me the password to his Yahoo email account. His words ‘we are together now, I have nothing to hide’. I was taken aback! I couldn’t believe that he would want to make himself so vulnerable to me. I turned around and offered my Facebook account! Pathetic I know, but baby steps right! I wasn’t ready to give my email info, not because I had anything to hide, but because I wasn’t ready for that level of oneness and didn’t deem it necessary at the time.

How wrong was my thinking! Two don’t become one the moment you reach the altar. The road to oneness starts long before you say ‘I Do’. It is these practical steps which reaffirm the choice to become one and strengthen your relationship.

Very often one thinks that there needs to be a back up plan, a get out clause {not out of the relationship, but out of the situation}, in case it doesn’t work out, so will not fully embrace it e.g. giving my Facebook info rather than my Gmail. I’m was holding back, ‘just in case’ and that is not how it should be.

Oneness is about jumping in head first, being willing to take the risk, willing to lose everything. It will challenge who you are, force and encourage you to let go of self and look at ‘we’, rather than ‘me’.

It is not easy but the rewards are great and ‘because one doesn’t become two, then it is secure and lasts for a lifetime. Out from this security of love and commitment, love, joy and peace easily grow’.

What practical steps have you taken in your relationship to achieve oneness, was it easy and what lessons did you learn?

p.s. Mr E now has access to my Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook, amongst other things – you get the picture!

Picture Credit {New Jerusalem Jewellery}

Quotes Credit {Foundations for Freedom}

Happy Monday! I love my momma!

So yesterday was Mother’s day here in the UK and I spent Sunday with my mum {and some of my siblings}!

I made Sunday lunch and it was nice to catch up and have a bit of girly chat, as we don’t always see each other as often as we’d like.

I love my mum – love her loads. She has made so many sacrifices for me, been there through thick and thin, offered advice and guidance at the right time and genuinely been my best friend. We haven’t always seen eye to eye on certain things, but our relationship has evolved over the years into one of mutual love and respect.

Her love for me is selfless and unconditional and I am so grateful for that.

There are so many things I would love to do for her if I had the opportunity {or money} and I definitely don’t tell her enough how much I appreciate her and what she means to me.

So Mum…I love you. I love you dearly and thank you for making me the woman I am today. Thank you for always believing in me and always encouraging me to reach higher heights.

Thank you for holding my hand as I make this huge transition from woman to wife, for welcoming Mr E into our family and treating him as if he were your own son. Thank you.

I look forward to being a mum myself one day and know that if I can be half the mother to my children, you are to me, they will be totally blessed!

Your advice, prayers and love will forever be appreciated.

Happy Mother’s Day!

p.s. To all my friends who have become mothers in the last year, I hope you had a wonderful first mother’s day too.

xoxo

What one thing are you thankful to your mother for?

Happy Monday! Connecting.

Thanks for all the lovely feedback on my first Real Wedding on From Now Till I Do, I know Mel is chuffed to bits by all your comment love.

I love weddings especially those of people I get to know and its always great to see all the hard work come together. I want to feature more of them, so if you got married in the last 12 months and want to feature your wedding on this site, along with any advice you want to share, please drop me a line at:

fromnowtillido {at} yahoo {dot} com

Congratulations to my fellow blog sista, Ebonee Monique on Becoming His Mrs, who got married last Friday. Ebonee is a diy queen and some of her projects are down on my list of must-haves. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything came together on her big day.

This weekend Mr E and I spent time reconnecting. We both felt that we wanted to spend some time away from the TV, internet and life's issues and just reconnect with each other. We went out to a local tourist attraction and just walked around in the cool spring breeze and talked. We reflected on our relationship, how far we have come and how much we are looking forward to the next stage. It's those moments when you're together, away from the hustle and bustle, that you can really think. Let me tell you - its good to reconnect!

FYI - I am loving the fact that Spring is on her way, I wake up every day and the sun is shining gloriously!

Speaking of connecting...
From Now Till I do is now on Twitter, please feel free to follow me @fromnowtillido to get updates and resources on life, love and marriage.

I'm also taking questions at formspring -  if you have anything burning you just have to know, please ask away.

Finally, to ensure that you never miss a post you can stay up to date by either 'following' me {see right}, subscribing in reader or subscribing by email.

Have a great week people!

Happy Monday! Parental Control

 

Honour your father and mother! For this is the first commandment with a promise’. Ephesians 6:2

At what point does the line become blurred? Obviously we should always respect our parents, but should we let them dictate everything we do?

Planning our wedding for instance, my dad said to me, right at the beginning of the whole process :

‘You have three options:

Option A – run of to Gretna Green, get married and then come back and tell us

Option B – Organise your wedding yourself, let us know the date, send us an invitation and we will turn up.

Option C – We all work together to plan and organise the wedding, following all our traditions.’

I chose option C, which subtly read ‘I will run the show unilaterally’.

However I did not pick up on this at the time.

Right about now, I know it’s harsh, but I wish I had taken option B as Option C isn’t really working out right now and it’s incredibly frustrating.

I know that parental input is important – the day is all about family and is a big deal for them too BUT surely the couple should be allowed to ‘design the plan’, have the lion’s share of say about the when and the where, especially when they are making most of the financial contribution. {Sigh}

Those of you who have planned your weddings or are planning it, how much parental control did/do your parents have? Anyone else belong to the same club?

Photo by Faramarz Hashemi

Happy Monday! Commitment vs Love

‘Commitment keeps you safe when you fall out of love’.

So many people call it quits at the slightest sign that the love is gone or they just don’t feel the same way anymore. The sad thing is that this is a very normal stage in every successful relationship.

What is love anyway? Love is a verb, love is a choice.

For those of you here in the UK who watch Neighbours, you will have seen Libby tell Dan last week, that their marriage is over. She just doesn’t feel the same way about him anymore.

Do you think that supposed falling out of love, is enough reason to walk away from a marriage?

{Image source}

Happy Tuesday! Pancakes!

Hey folks! Yeh I know, I missed my Happy Monday post yesterday but I was on a bit of long weekend break.

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day. Mine was a quiet one, where I visited my folks with Mr E.

As promised this week I will be posting my favourite love links from readers and across the blogsphere. So look out for that.

Today I have just finished munching down several pancakes! Yup today is Pancake Day here in the UK, which means tomorrow is the beginning of Lent – 40 days until Easter.

So in good old fashion Lent tradition, how many of you will be giving something up for next 40 days?

{Photo credit}

Happy Monday! Working on the wedding

The weekend is over already! Hope you had a good one!

This weekend I spent some time working on our wedding invitations. I started them about 8 months ago and they truly are a labour of love. They are being designed in Photoshop, which for a Publisher girl is tough! But I want to challenge myself and use a ‘proper’ software, as my dad would say and I am definitely learning lots. All the artwork has come from iStock and I plan to use the same ‘theme’ throughout all the printed material. Once they leave to go out to guests, I will post on here so you can see the design.

My next design project is the programs. Anyone who is familiar with Photoshop, your advice here would be most welcome. Is this the best software to design it in? There will be several pages with a mixture of text and images. Publisher is calling me! Not sure which route is the best to take.

On a separate note, our Certificate of Approval arrived last week from the Home Office. I briefly wrote about it in an earlier post and back in November we took the decision to apply for one, seeing as it was free and it would potentially widen our options with churches in case when we finalised our new date, our original church was not available.

Look out for Getting Married 101 {UK Edition} Part Deux, which will explain all. You can read Part One here.

 Valentines Day is only a week away - don’t forget to share your stories of love!

Happy Monday! Share your stories of love!

Well can you believe it, we're in February already. Where did January go!

February is the month of...

I thought it would be great this month to share stories of love. Stories of love to encourage and inspire others. Could be how you met your other half, could be a story of an act of love from someone you know, anything.

Send your stories of love here or send me a link to your blog and I will post during Valentine's week.

Let's celebrate love.

Some love-spiration for you!

Genesis 29:20

So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

Proverbs 15:17

A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.

Proverbs 30:18-19

There are three things that amaze me—

no, four things that I don’t understand:

how an eagle glides through the sky,

how a snake slithers on a rock,

how a ship navigates the ocean,

how a man loves a woman

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

{image source}

Happy Monday! Girl in the Mirror.

{source}

I've been thinking a lot lately about self image and self esteem and how sometimes as women we can struggle with both. Magazines and television bombard us with images of how we should look, what we should wear, what kind of wedding we should have and it can be all to easy to start to draw comparisons and feel inferior. However when you think that 95% of the images are not even real, it does make you wonder, why do we waste our time feeling this way.

Verses like 1 Peter 3:3-4 are great, because they remind us of the kind of beauty we should be striving for and help put things into perspective.

'Don't depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special.'

This is the kind of beauty I want to have.

I've started to collect verses from the Bible which provide encouragement for those times when I forgot.

Verses like:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:7

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

Is it wonderful to know we are held in such high regard!

Ladies, share your favourite verses and lets remind each other of who we are in Christ.

Happy Monday!

Good morning all! Hope all is well.

Do you ever have those moments when you meet someone new and you start chatting. You don't know them. They don't you. You don't know their history. They don't know yours. They start sharing. You're surprised by their openness. They give you pearls of wisdom. The advice couldn't have come at a better time. You realise that you have just had a divine appointment.

That is what happened yesterday at church with Mr E and I. This guy who we had never met before started talking to us after church. He shared with us about how he was divorced and wished it wasn't so. He wanted to fix things, but his ex-wife had now got remarried and all hopes of reconciliation appeared to be gone. We could tell he was still hurting from the situation, but through his experience he wanted to impart some wisdom to us, so that we didn't make the same mistakes. We were both really touched by his openness with us.

'Always communicate. Talk about anything. Talk about everything. If something irritates you, talk about it. Otherwise, like an open wound it will grow into something bigger and turn ugly. If you can't sort out the issue, seek help. This is where we let ourselves down. We both were not willing to resolve the issues'.

'Money is one of the biggest causes of arguments for couples. If you're in debt, get out of it. If you're not, don't get in to it. If you're given the opportunity to purchase something on credit, just walk away from it, if you can't afford to pay for it right there and then. Debt just makes life harder, especially when the kids come as you spend your time wondering each month, whether you're gonna make it. Trust me I know'.

Both were timely reminders.

This week on 'From Now Till I Do' {upcoming posts}....

- Living Wisely
- The role of a husband {and wife}
- The list
- In My Kitchen

Have a blessed week!

xoxo

Happy Monday!

Good morning Readers!

Hope you're all good and had a great weekend. I know I did. Can you believe we're already through week one of 2010 already! How are your resolutions shaping up?

Did my first bit of entertaining on Saturday which was fun. Made a version of fried rice and chicken which Mr E's Aunt taught me over the New Year holidays. Was really pleased with how it turned out - I will try and get the 'recipe' up soon. I say 'recipe' as I didn't really follow specific instructions per se, more of tips she gave.

This week I have some great posts coming up, be sure to check them out:

- Ingredients for a Happy New Year
- There are three people in this relationship
- One year off
- Wedding planning update
- New Year: New Me update

Have a great week all!

xoxo