Belle Bride Hollie C – Guest Welcome Packs and Shopping!

wedding guest welcome packs

A busy and nerve-wracking month!

Well as I sit down to write this blog, its deadline day for our RSVP’s. One tip I read some time ago was to put a deadline date for RSVP’s on your invites as this will encourage people to respond in a timely fashion. Inevitably there’s always a few that slip through but by this point not that many.

And you know what? Waiting for RSVP’s to come back is much more nerve-wracking than I expected!

Choosing to go to France for our wedding inevitably means that some of the invited guest list won’t be able to make it. We’ve known that all along and we certainly don’t underestimate the effort and expense involved for those people who have decided to join us.

But nevertheless it’s been a nerve-wracking affair and every time an RSVP card has been on the doormat as I arrive home or every time there’s an email in the “wedding inbox”I have felt genuinely nervous.

When we started planning, we toyed with having a party in the UK when we got back to give us the opportunity to celebrate with those people who couldn’t make it to France.

But as we got further on we decided against it, partly frown to cost and partly because we felt we didn’t want the extra fuss.

What waiting for RSVP’s has made us think about though, is how important it is to us to make sure that all of our guests have a brilliant time as a thank you for the effort they have made to join us.

So as the various responses have come in we’ve been thinking about little details to help make the day more enjoyable; everything from a small “welcome pack”for guests to help them make the most of Chamonix, to food and drink, entertainment on the day and wedding favours.

wedding sparklers

There’s A LOT of ideas out there, and it would be easy to spend a fortune, so we’ve been putting ourselves in our guests shoes and thinking about all the weddings and events we’ve been to over the years; what we liked and didn’t like as well as what we really appreciated as a guest – especially when it comes to things like, food, drinks and favours.

It’s still a work in progress but we’ve got a few ideas and it’ll definitely be something we discuss with Monica, our wedding planner over the next few weeks.

wedding guest activities

So what else have we been up to this month?

Mat has been suit shopping, and as it stands, he has a favourite in mind but wants to look at a couple more before making a final decision. Reading Belle Bride, Green Loving Girl’s latest post on her fiancé Barry shopping for his suit, we both thought the advice about having two shirts in case of hot weather (and potential sweat patches) was a great idea so that’s something for Mat to have a think about.

The other major thing we’ve ticked off the list is Wedding Rings. And I have to say, although this wasn’t necessarily nerve-wracking, it was a tricky process.

Mat sorted his ring pretty early on, as he always knew he wanted a simple band, and after shopping round at a few different shops we also managed to get it at a really good price.

When it came to mine though, it was definitely more of a marathon than a sprint, especially when you think we first started looking at rings way back in October!

Originally, I too wanted a plain band, nice and simple and nothing that would clash with my engagement ring. However, the more I tried on, and the more diamond set rings I tried on, the more I preferred the diamonds.

diamonds are a girls best friend

I knew I wanted a fairly wide band and I also knew that I much preferred the square and rectangular shaped diamonds that I’d tried to round ones, so then it became about finding a ring with the right shape diamonds and the right width of band so that it didn’t overpower my engagement ring.

We started with the high street chain shops, and although we saw some gorgeous rings, they were all much of a muchness, so we then started looking for smaller independent jewellers, which is how we came across the shop where Mat’s ring is from – Henry D Johnstone.

Christopher at Henry D Johnstone, was such a great help, incredibly patient (despite my indecisiveness) and more than happy to order in other styles of rings for me to try on based on styles I’d seen elsewhere as well as my own likes / dislikes.

We did actually place an order for a ring with Christopher but after sleeping on it, I changed my mind and so we headed out again to a few different jewellers we hadn’t yet tried.

In the end, my final choice came down to that “butterflies in the tummy”feeling as we saw a ring in another shop that after so many rings in so many shops, made both of us stop in our tracks and say wow! So pretty hot off the press I’m pleased to say that my final choice of ring is now ordered and I’m so excited for Mat to put it on my finger come August 1st.

It’s so funny how that “butterflies feeling”has played such a big part in our planning so far.

And if I were to give any advice on ring shopping it would be not to settle for a ring that you’re not happy with, you’re going to wear it every day for the rest of your life so if you’re gut tells you it’s not the right one, it probably isn’t, even if you wake up feeling like that the morning after placing an order!

A bientôt

Hollie xx

If you are looking for ideas and inspiration on planning your wedding in France, don’t forget you can catch up with Hollie C and fellow Belle Bride Fiona and you can find all the Belle Brides past and present here.

Alternatively see more Chamonix weddings here.

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1 Comment

  • Hi Hollie, Glad we could help with the groom’s outfit 🙂
    I know exactly what you mean re-wedding rings too as I had a similar journey finding mine! But really pleased with the one I found in the end. I’ve had to put it away as I kept wanting to try it on, it’s so pretty!
    will be keeping an eye for your post re wedding guests packs, as we want to look into those too. Were definitely feeling extra pressure too as like you our guests are all making such a big effort to travel there!
    Bisous x