This week saw me doing the following:

• Book two photographers for our big day, one to shadow me in the morning of the wedding and one to shadow Katie. They will then combine to catalogue the day for us.
• Visit the videographer for the wedding, let him know what we did wanted recorded and what we didnt. Here I took some inspiration from the video’s he showed us as to what I didn’t want. The woman with the seventies style mullet helped considerably.
• Witnessed having our Banns read at the church where will be married.
• Sorted Katie’s passport so she can travel on our Honeymoon.
• Ordered and paid for Bride and Groom’s party gifts for the wedding day.

We still have to meet the vicar to finalise all the readings for the ceremony but it’s all coming to fruition. People are touting it as the wedding spectacular of the year, it’s just a day where I get to see the person I love smile and be her happiest for a day

This weekend has been fun, with myself and Katie running around the parishes making sure our upcoming wedding is all prepared for.

Attending church on Sunday, we stayed behind to confirm all was still OK for our wedding. We enquired about the confetti, whether they would ring the bells, who would infact be taking our service. That was all quickly dealt with and we were swiftly asked to fill in the form for the churches electoral roll. This should have been done a lot earlier but with the male vicar we had originally scheduled for our wedding having personal problems, we have been dealing with his wife (also a vicar) so there have been some delays in getting it all sorted. She will be taking the service which suits us much better.

So we are to be added to the electoral roll and next will be to make sure that our Banns are read. Because we have been attending the parish where we wish to be married for more than 6 months, we don’t need a wedding license and just need to make sure that they read the Banns before our actual wedding. What we didn’t realise was that we would also need to visit the parish in which we live (weird because the church we are marrying in is about a 10 minute walk away) in order to have the Banns read in the local parish. This required us to journey over to the vicarage, meet the vicar and then give him our details.

He then, in his infinite wisdom, mentions that because I have only been living at Katie’s for a short time, I may have to get the Banns read in my local parish before I moved, making it a third reading in as many weeks! We have to pay for each one of these readings and their certificates, weighing in at nearly £100 for the lot……that was not expected!

In summary though, we have got it all sorted and we are still on course to be married. It’s been a testing time and I think we will be glad when it’s down to the actual day as it’s been a tad stressful :).

Waking up stiff legged early Saturday morning, myself and Katie were in the mood to make as much use as the proposed good weather as possible. Woburn Safari Park was touted but I didn’t fancy spending the day in a car having monkeys pull off my wing mirror, we also thought about visiting Mountfitchet Castle but the response to that suggestion didn’t really have us literally jumping in the car to get there.

Then Katie suggested Margate, a place close to home but a place I had never been before. “Excellent” I pronounced and we set sail (in a Toyota Auris) for the sunny shores of Margate.

It took us roughly an hour and a half from Southend, driving slightly over the speed limit to get there before 11am. From what I had heard of Margate talking to people, it was a seaside town with lots of ice cream and sand, I was not surprised. Margate seems to have lost the attraction it once had, the amusements slowly being redeveloped into nightclubs, the seafront becoming home to more restaurants and bistro’s as the popularity of the slot machines wanes.

They still have their lovely beach, the raggedy donkeys taking the little’uns up and down the front. Margate still has it’s ice creams and it’s lovely gardens, things that I think myself and Katie appreciated more than the hundreds of local hoodlums in their tracksuits and faux Ugg boots.

We stayed until the early afternoon and then decided to head home, it was a lovely day and a nice chance to get more photos for the photo album.

On a wedding related note, we attended again yesterday and took communion. It looks as if the male vicar of our church may not be able to do our wedding as he is off sick with stress, so it looks as if his wife will be stepping into the bridge to marry us. This isn’t a bad thing, she is a lot more professional but her husband has the added humour factor of being the most tone deaf vicar I have ever heard. It’s not long now, I am so excited it’s untrue.

The wedding is fast approaching and it’s all hands to the pump to get it sorted. Invitations have finally landed after some hanging back on the order from the supplier, loads of RSVP’s coming back which bodes well attendance wise!

We have to make payments on the honeymoon, the photographer, the video guy who is doing a DVD of the wedding, the wedding cars, the food and venue. We still haven’t sorted what we will be doing on the wedding night accommodation wise, perhaps staying in a local hotel will be an idea.

Katie has been going great guns in her new job, securing a £6,800,000 contract in her second week (yes that’s million!), meaning she is the golden girl at the moment. Our house expectations have picked up with both of us earning a decent wage now, we are looking to get a three or four bed house instead of a pokey two bed flat we looked at the start of the year.

I can’t wait for the day of the wedding, I’m sure Katie is different but there are no nerves and there certainly won’t be on the day.

Shall I invite freaks and geeks from the internet? No chance!

I have had my Hyundai Coupe for a year now and this month my car tax has come up for renewal. Last week our Home Secretary announced his budget, punishing the more “polluting” vehicles. Guess what I was labelled…….a pollutant!

My car tax was quoted as being £300 on the renewal form for a year, very high but doable. The budget last week changed all that though, it went up to £400 for the year! A smack in the face for me, I will be doing my utmost to get a good deal for my car, trade it for a very economical smaller car……just what the government wants.

After declaring war on smoking, the amount of money they get from the tax concessions has considerably lowered. If we can’t tax smokers, lets tax the road users and pretend we are doing our bit for the environment!

It’s been an expensive weekend. I also bought our wedding rings ready for July and bought currency for our holiday. I need to win the lottery……..fast.