Tempus Fugit (and all that jazz)

There are - according to a countdown on bridezilla.com - 55 days to go until we get hitched. On one hand, this is a bad thing, as I'm as impatient as an impatient woman. On the other hand, it's a good thing as there's still a few things to do. On another hand, most of it's sorted out and there certainly isn't enough to occupy fifty-five days' worth of weddingy activity. Ah. That makes three hands. It's a good job that my wedding dress has more than the normal number of sleeves.

Talking of the white tent dress, I got what some refer to as "THE CALL" to say that it had arrived at the shop. Luckily, my school holidays happen to have corresponded nicely with this event, so I headed off on Tuesday to assess the damage caused by my excessive eating and drinking. I took Ian, who is a colleague and a man with a good sense of style, as I have so much fashon sense that I think it's fine to wear odd socks and have been known to sport a thermal long-sleeve top under a t-shirt. Luckily, he approved of the choice, swooned over the footwear, and did the excited dance when looking at the tiaras: the omens bode well. Being a stumpy short-arse, I'd orered the dress in "stumpy short-arse length" (which basically knocks three inches off the hem length) and this, combined with the miraculous pull-it-all-in lace-up back, means that it needs no alterations at all. Rock and roll!!

Ian, my mum and the woman in the wedding-dress shop then got talking about jewellery and accessories - I was too busy swishing around the shop in my dress to pay much attention - and so it was decided for me that we should go necklace shopping that very afternoon. After healthy sandwiches and no jam doughnuts (curse my mother's attempts to keep me thin) we set off to Bewdley to find a small shop that did costume jewellrey, as recommended by the dress-shop woman. I'm still not convinced that we found the actual shop she was talking about, but we did track down two necklaces. After all, if I can have three arms I can certainly have two necks. The "wedding outfit" checklist seems to be completed. Phew - that's one less thing to faff about.

Another area that I've been contemplating is flowers. Way back in February I tried arranging flowers for the tables and somehow managed to succeed; my thoughts have since turned to my bunch (I refuse to use the word "bouquet" because that implies style, poncing and faffing - I just want something to hold so I have something to fiddle with during the service). I had walked over to Willington, a local village, and popped into the florists there on the off-chance. This florist does beautiful arrangements and bouquets and I thought that she would laugh scornfully at my feeble request for some gerberas in red, yellow and orange. However, ten minutes later, the woman there had agreed to make a suitable bunch, and charged me the grand total of fifteen squid. Bargain! I know that some people spend hundreds if not thousands on flowers, but I'm quite chuffed with what she's going to do. "Flower" checklist - nearly done.

This afternoon the team of chefs are visiting to look over the cooking facilities here at school. We went to our two local butchers' shops yesterday and now have 14 types of sausage in the fridge, waiting to be eaten at tonight's sausage testing. We've spent some time discussing condiments, sauces and gravy. All we need to do now is to run everything past the cooking powers that be, get their agreement and approval, and I can head off to the cash-and-carry to buy the stuff. "Wedding meal" checklist well under way to completion.

Rob's database wizardry seems to be standing the strain, and we've had many RSVPs back already. There are a few replies to chase, and some more invites to send out (ok, ok, we've fallen slightly behind on this one, no need to nag!), but it's mostly there. I wouldn't say that the "administration" checklist is complete, but it's looking far more organised that three weeks ago. We've had a fine selection of responses, many containing fishy quips, so the cream of the crop may well appear here at some point. Until then, I'm off to lurk through bridezilla.com to laugh at the neurotic women stressing about napkins.