In fitness and in health

I turned 30 last week..... 30! I've had to face facts, my once toned teenage dancers body is no more, I've entered another decade and avoiding KFC isn't enough to make me look fit and streamlined on my wedding day.

Queue the wedding diet and a commitment to exercise! While I'm not too concerned about the numbers on the scale right now as I know post jaw-op those will drop dramatically, I am at serious risk of being 'skinny-fat'. Skinny fat is when your a small size clothes but after years on not exercising (3 for me) your are soft all over.

That's where our fitness commitment comes in. We've recently joined the new gym at Inanda Country Club (think quiet countryside, with wandering horses and polo games in the middle of Sandton) and have enlisted the help of our trusty personal trainer to kill the bingo wings, saddle bags and squidgy tummies! Some days I leave pleasantly stiff, letting me know my body has worked hard, other days (particularly leg days) I can't walk afterwards and was asked once (day 2 after a session) what foot operation I'd had.

Next steps

With less than 9 months till we say "I do" we are wrapping up all the big things. Meeting with my wedding dress designer (Kristen Master from Garnish Couture) on Wednesday, finalising music (hoping to get the Rocketeers to play for cocktail hour) and buying favours and decor.

To another week of wobbly legs, stiff arms and happy hearts

The Maczar bride

Its getting real......

After my last post, FH (Future Hubby) and I decided the focus on the end of year rush and leave the wedding details to 2014. With a venue, photographer, rough idea on dress and a suit we thought we were in a good space.

Then 2014 hit and I realized we only had 9 months to the wedding, thinking we still had time but should start working through a wedding checklist I used the online one linked to my Knot profile (haven't found an SA wedding site that is as useful) and saw all the items apparently 'overdue'. Thinking this was a tad dramatic I went about booking make up, marriage office, dj and setting up an appointment with the venue to discuss food, drinks, decor and flowers. The feedback was we were just in time and needed to book soon!

Making me look happy and fresh instead of exhausted!


Wanting to look flawless but still myself on the day I went about looking for make up artists, I followed magazine, friends and preferred suppliers suggestions. I discovered now that a 'value add' of some artists is they actually air brush your make up on. I'm not sure about anyone else but the thought of being spray painted with make up is rather off putting.



Based on photographs and reviews I narrowed it down to Sam Scarbourough and Janna Stone (Made up by Janna) both have facebook pages and websites and the photos are gorgeous. I personally decided to go with Janna, but don't think you could go wrong with either!

Saying I do



Neither FH and I are religious so the task of finding a marriage officer was quite tricky. There are several ministers that offer non-denominational services but I wanted to remove any religious aspect for the service and so went about finding someone to do a civil service for us.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be alternative or different and still want the traditional till death do us part vows, with some ugly crying on my behalf and FH looking embarrassed hoping I'll hold it together, but I felt hypocritical involving God when we are unsure of our views and aren't fans of organised religion.

The recommendation from our venue and the one I scoped out on the internet is Larne Trevor Hugo. He has various ways of incorporating Celtic elements to the service and as a proud member of a clan with our own tartan, rock and even Rob Roy's grave this appealed to me. He can also do our ANC so it is a one stop shop for getting legally married.



We're having a meet and greet tonight to be sure that we all get along and then hopefully that's one more task down.

Getting pimped



On my trip to London late last year, I invested in an Italian wool suit for FH that was on special at one of the tailors on Jermyn street. With that organised we planned to hire suits for the groomsmen a couple of months before the wedding. Thank goodness fate intervened. FH was buying a shirt and bow tie for a work function last weekend and because it was on our way home from our boxing class (will give details of that next time) we decided to pop into Wedding Suit and Hire on the cnr of William Nicol and Republic. It was on our way home and I had seen their stand at the bridal expo last year.

The staff were incredibly helpful and after watching another groom picking his duds we briefly chatted to them about when we should start looking. The consensus was we should have been already. Despite our wedding being 8.5 months away they were already getting bookings for October and if we didn't hurry might not have any suits to hire!

That is on the agenda for 2 weeks time and I'll let you know what we decide on.

Now its just to pay deposits and book our honeymoon.

xxx

The Maczar bride