Izzy's Vox Blog

I was going to have a suit made by Raja Fashions and so, last Thursday, Lindley and I went to my first appointment.  And didn't stay very long.  The advert and website said the suits were from £250.  We arrived and were informed they were from £400.  Um...?  I pointed out that that was rather more than we had been lead to expect and, after discussions in the other room, was given another material sample book and told that they could do £265 plus the waistcoat for £100.  At which point, the fact that I was in a hotel room with a large number of men I didn't know and about to have to strip off really hit me and I panicked and said I'd changed my mind.  It felt really, really uncomfortable.

As we wandered off into town in the direction of the bus, we passed Debenhams and Lindley spotted that they were advertising 30% off tailor made suits.  We popped in to have a look and these would have been about £210 plus £65 for a waistcoat, so we made an appointment.

Then we popped into Marks and Spencers on the way to Mum and Dad's on Saturday and I spotted my suit.  It's just the colour I wanted, is really nicely cut and looks really good on.  We bought the jacket and have ordered the trousers.  I may have to have the waist taken in a bit but since it was only £40, we'll still have saved loads.  I'm not making do, though.  We realised we'd gone up too many flights on the escalators and Lindley said she knew we'd buy it right then because I announced that my suit was vanishing into the distance behind us.

Suit by Autograph at Marks and Spencer

1 comment

Lindley emailed Cassandra, the Senior Chaplain at UWE, to ask if she'd be our celebrant and she's said she will :)  We met her because we were hanging around the Octagon a lot - we could make ourselves tea and it was quiet - and she's really nice and we chatted a few times.  We'd talked to her about gay friendly churches a bit, and she always has a rainbow ribbon on her door, so we were pretty sure the gay wedding thing wouldn't horrify her.  We need to talk to her about dates and things (*crosses fingers*) but it's very hopeful!

We went to Ikea and Tesco today to look at the Tesco's cakes and to look at candles and table decorations in Ikea.  While we were at Ikea, we had lunch and ended up talking about possible venues again and why I seem to be stuck thinking of venues as being close (or otherwise) to here when in all likelihood we'll be living on the other side of Bristol by this time next year.  I think it's because Portishead feels like home - even when I was actually living in Bristol, I was always here a lot because Nanna has always lived here and... it seems that wherever we are actually living, I would really like to be married here.  So, the upshot of that was that we're 99% decided on the Somerset Hall.  It's really quite cheap and they are totally flexible in what they'll let us do, it seems, including the candles that we really wanted!

We still have email conversations going on with the Hand Stadium in Clevedon and the Redland Quaker Meeting House but most likely we'll be at the Somerset Hall.

The Tesco cakes were a bit disappointing.  Not as big as the ones from Marks and Spencer and they would be ones taken from the supermarket shelves, whereas Marks and Spencer would make them to order.  That wouldn't make a huge difference, except that the ones on the shelves were a mess, where people had been picking them up and, as far as I could tell, turning them over and tipping them up, etc. etc.  They looked a bit battered, anyway.  So, it slightly more expensive but Marks and Spencer seem like the best bet, really.

Table decoration possibilities were all lovely but we're holding off a bit for the time being - fairly lights will be more plentiful and cheaper after Christmas anyway, and pastel colours are apparently out of fashion :)

Marks and Spencer Wedding Cakes

Traditional, 3-tier fruit cake - 74 Portions £49.50 (inc. dowels and pillars)
Would need to be decorated, top layer chocolate?  Can have a sponge layer, definitely.

Tesco also do iced fruit cakes in tiered sizes.  Would need to be decorated and would need dowels and pillars.

Large: £13.34
Medium: £9.48
Small: £5.79

So. Just when I thought the waiting for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was bad enough my wife found a 60 card starter Pokemon deck with Minun and Plusle that was designed to be split in two so that you could have two people start playing with only one deck of cards, thus halving the costy of getting me hooked. We are now, just two days later, the proud owners of not just that deck, but also the Jesse and James "ex Team Rocket Returns" theme decks and a Team Rocket booster pack (in which we got ex Rocket's Zapdos, eeee!). Lindley is also planning on having the twins send her deck and spares from home. Hee! I am hoping Kangaskan gets lost in the post, yes. It is really, really fab and I love it. I never thought it would be so much fun, but I actually think I might like it better than the GBA games.

Yay!  We're going to have a flower girl!  So cute, so cute, so cute!  My mother's cousin's daughter, I don't know what that works out to.  It's perfect because Liz (her mother) isn't just family, we've been friends for ages too and she got me started singing Gilbert and Sullivan and so yes.  Flower girl!

Iced Magic - Bristol Company

Pixie Dust Cakes - Portishead Company

The first, third and fourth pictures are from cakeflair.co.uk, I liked them, but the company is probably a bit far away.  The second is from Pixie Dust Cakes.  Not sure if the roses are real?

Sheer carnal lust? Maybe this really isn't intended for lesbians, as my response to putting it on was "AAAAARGH! I NEED TO TAKE IT OFF!" As I set to work with the soap, I was trying to work out what the smell reminded me of and I think it was some sort of medicated cream.

All I could smell was roses - it smelt like Body Shop tea rose, cost more and didn't last nearly as long. Meh.