Any first-timers due December and want to come on and chat?

[mopsytop]

I just found out, am due December. First baby. No clue about anything! But pretty excited!

Thanks everyone :)

MOpsy Howz your sickness? mine seems to of stopped which is good :)

Will need wedding planning tips and how to keep the budget as low as possible but have a lovely elegant wedding x

Sick on and off. Some days fine, other days really nauseous but don't get sick, other days puke up everything! Can't figure out a rhythm and doesn't appear to be triggered by what I eat. Feel fairly okay today apart from exhaustion.

How many people do you think you'll have at your wedding? I had a very small one, which meant it could be really beautiful venue, food and drink but not too expensive. No way could have had the venue if had had a higher no. of guests (only about 25 guests). It's so exciting doing the planning! Treat yourself to a few bride mags and get some ideas - lots of the stuff in them is way over the top (and a waste of money IMO) but they are still good for ideas and for the excitement as well!

Well hopefully will wear off by middle of 2nd trimester.

I have a really large family and will be hard not inviting them all to the day ceremony IYKWIM without a big backlash. Although thinking of just inviting aunts & uncles to the day and cousins to the evening as don't just want family at the ceremony want room for our friends too. I'm the blacksheep on one side anyway so not to bothered about that.

Yeah I know what you mean. I avoided it by only inviting siblings and noone else! But if I had invited even one aunt or cousin I would have had to have all. Which would have meant minimum 100 people wedding I'd say at least but probs more! It would have been fun too, as I love all of them and they are brilliant fun but I had my heart set on a tiny do.

My sis is getting married though with over 100 and has found a nice location that is totally affordable so it can definitely be done! And I got my dress in Monsoon, totally gorgeous and it saved me a bomb (they do a wedding range). More high street stores do dresses now and you can find some gorgeous ones.

Otherwise, I made my own cake (don't know if that's supposed to be bad luck but I couldn't care less for superstitions like that!), my own invitations also and my own service booklets for the day. Lots of little things like that are real money savers.

I'll try and make most of the bits myself and get my BIL to make our cake. A friend will be our photographer, I can make my flowers. I'll make my invitations. We are going to married in a hotel/goodwood house/manor barn, just need to find a good deal. Guessing we need to think about guest list numbers first.

So what do I do first - have no clue!

Yeah actually forgot that, I had my brother take the pics. They were fab as well.

I think first of all make a rough plan with your partner about who you want to invite so you have an idea about numbers before you look at venues. It can actually be a tricky issue, who to invite and who not, so I think it's a good thing to talk about at first. Also, decide on what type of wedding you want - church + venue, or get married and have reception in same place? That also helps to know what kind of venue you can choose. Then you can look up venues and price them and maybe visit some. And that can help decide what kind of food you want, like a hog roast, or sit down meal or whatever. Those are the main decisions I think. All the other stuff, colours and flowers and that are incidental.

For me the service was one of the most important bits, it took ages to find music for it and a poem for the reading (civil services you are not allowed any hint of religion at all which makes choosing readings hard!).

Hope that helps! So exciting though, enjoy it!

Darcies - are you going to get married with bump or afterwards?

Congrats Darcies so exciting I got married three months ago and also did alot of things ourselves like catering etc and managed to have the most amazing day.
First choose a date, then guest list, then venue. You can also look online for inspirational ideas on invites to decor and all sorts of things. Its so much fun wish I could do mine again was definatly the best day of my life so far.

Shame mopsy hope you feel better soon, my nausea and headaches seemed to be better this week but the nausea came back on friday night. Also so exhausted get tired from walking up our stairs. I keep having to remind myself that Im not sick only pregnant.
Dont worry girls also felt really down this week and feeling so unsexy at the moment, plus my skin has gone awol hope its starts getting better in the 2nd trimester. Looks like I have acne all over my chest its terrible!!!

Oh well I suppose the bundle of joy at the end of it all is well worth it!!!

Hope you all feel better soon and im sure everyones scans will all be great, I know its so easy to stress about the bean and the heartbeat but I keep telling myself that 1000s of women do this all the time.

Zam August 2012 is the focus at the moment

We're having a civil service as don't want to marry in a church

Oooh loads of time to prepare. And the bean will be a baby - you will have such fun choosing the outfit for it! Cute!

yep so will need all the help and tips to keep the cost down along the way please.

Hi how is everyone today? I am feeling really sick but not been sick. Wish I was actually, it is horrible while it lasts but feel better afterwards. Can't wait for this period of nausea, exhaustion etc. to end!

Hope you all have a good week!

Morning all!! I managed to have a better night's sleep last night so feel a bit more alive again which is good! Felt soooo sick last night though - the closest I have come yet to actually being sick! mopsy I too will be so glad to get into the 2nd trimester and get some more energy!! My SIL was saying to focus on the good thing about being so tired - that all my energy is going into forming the little beans body, organs etc as by 12-13weeks the bean will be fully formed and then all it does is grow in size which is why our energy levels perk up again!

darcies we managed to do our wedding in 2007 for £10k total with 300 guests at the service and 200 for a sit down meal reception and paying for our honeymoon in Italy too!! I made all of the stationary - invitations, orders of service etc, hunted around for bargains as much as possible (ie bridesmaid dresses from BHS when they had 20% off sale on!), my DH family are West Indian so we had asian food for the reception which everyone loved and only worked out at £6/person for a 3 course meal (we got profiteroles and fruit platters from Costco for dessert). We were married in a large modern church and used their buidling for the reception as well so didn't have to pay for the venue. I did have to organise hire of tables and cutlery and crockery which was a bit of a hassle but it did keep the costs down. Our splurge was paying for a professional photographer but that's just because I love good photos. Oh, and we had a florist but kept the flowers to a minimum. Cake was from M&S with small floral decoration on top and I added ribbons! I thoroughly enjoyed planning it all though it was hard work!! Probably worth getting as much done as you can before little one arrives as you might be a bit distracted then enjoy though!!

Blue £10k we can't afford that. Struggling to know where we will find £7k from, so want it to be as cheap as possible. trouble is we don't want a church wedding so having it at a hotel is going to cost a little more. Will do all the stationary myself. Favours we want as little pic n mix boxes/bags. Won't need cars as we're already under one roof. Our very good friend who is a professional photographer will take photos all day for free . Ebay for things. limiting bridesmaids etc. I know DP is thinking that we have a baby on the way too. but I still have most stuff from having DD so won't be expensive. aaaarrrggghhh

darcies we only managed to scrape the £10k together through saving hard and contributions from parents, lots of my friends spend £15k+ which I think is crazy on one day!!! I think you should be able to do it for a lot cheaper by buying carefully, pulling in as many favours from friends as possible and I'm sure quite a few hotels have offers on at the moment due to the credit crunch so you will hopefully be able to get a good deal somewhere. Another trick could be to choose a friday rather than a saturday as venues etc are often cheaper then. The main thing is to make it your day and for you and your DP to enjoy it!!

Have you got your scan coming up soon or is it still a little way off?

3 weeks to go. Seeing that 2 other ladies have suffered MMC makes me nervous as feel alright apart from feeling shattered.

darcies me too...I've only got to wait until Thursday for mine but had consoled myself that I must be fine as no cramps or bleeding, but done some research on mmc and now trying not to worry! I'm also feeling pretty well apart from being totally shattered! All we can do is wait I guess though!

I think because I have no cramps or bleeding that must be a good thing. However, I refuse to research as I'll only scare myself and i'm only 9weeks so anything could happen in the next 3weeks, just FX everythings alright and that the BT I had before I went on holiday showed my HCG levels as being great for a healthy pregnancy at that stage. Seeing my MW on monday and will be 10 weeks so am going to see if she will try and listen for a heartbeat.

Blue hope your scan goes okay and you can see the beans heartbeat and moving around.

Trying to take my mind off it with wedding stuff hehe

Darcies and Blue I am having the exact same worries! 3 weeks to go for me. Feels like forever.

Darcies, Blue & Mopsy I am right there with you ladies with how you feel. I think feeling slightly better has unsettled me a bit.

I too have been upset to read that some ladies have had sad news at their scans so I am apprehensive about the scan now. Just want to know one way or another - just praying everything ok.

3 weeks today til the scan -

darcies when I got married 18 months ago we hardly had any money, most of what we had came from family helping us out but we still only had about 4k. For a start I got mine and my bridesmaid dresses from Debenhams, mine was £100 and the bridesmaids dresses were £90 each but we went for evening dresses they chose so they didn't mind going halves on. I had friends do the photography, flowers and help me out with the favours.

I booked a white "black" cab to go to the town hall which is where we got married but I would really really recommend checking out your local register offices. We didn't and found out that nearby Rushcliffe registrars was beautiful with gorgeous gardens. Registrars charge a fortune if they come out to marry you - far more than in a registry office!

We only invited very close family and friends to the wedding and meal but then saved the speeches and cake cutting for the evening do where we invited everyone (buffet being soo much cheaper than a wedding breakfast) If you do get married at a hotel and have it for your reception you could reuse your floral decorations from the wedding as centrepieces for your reception. Hope this helps?x

Hi ladies still suffering badly with ms & nausea first thing & at random other times. Not actually been sick for a day or two a banana as soon as I wake up works better for me that Ginger biscuits!

darcies what area do live in? R u town or country? Some village halls r licensed and r v competative. Don't assume they r Nissan huts, sone r converted school houses and historic buildings. We had our reception at Batcombe hall in Somerset. Being in control of our own catering & not paying corkage saved a fortune. There are other non hotel options such as sport and golf clubs, schools that can be more competitive and flexible than hotels.

Ladies awaiting your scans, im there with u, 7th june can't come quick enough. Also still nervous about my early scan dating me so much less pregnant than I thought.

Ratty i am the same since they have put me back by 10 days all i can think of is that i should be 12 weeks but it has stopped growing as much and that there is something wrong we are going to be insane with worry by the time December runs round.

I am worried that's going to happen to me, but I am very sure of the first day of last period. I suppose I could have ovulated later than I thought though. won't find out for another 3 weeks anyway I guess so no point worrying now!

I have had the horrible retching without being actually sick several times today, I hate it nearly worse than vomiting!

Evening all.

We don't want a registry office wedding. Not really any barns around although Goodwood hotel seems a bargain at the moment so want to look further into that.

Bex Will be trying to do everything ourselves and use the likes of debenhams, ebay and friends to keep costs down.

Mopsy your scan is around same time as mine FX we will both be fine :)