Who knew picking a wedding dress would be so difficult!

So I took last Friday off work so J and I could get the guys suits sorted out for the wedding - a big thank you to Danielle who suggested Balmoral Dress Hire - they had the perfect suit, just what we had in mind, plus they were a fabulous price! Focus Formal in Bangor had given me a quote of £100 per suit, which would have been £600 total for suit hire! Balmoral have a great deal on all their suits - £59 for a three piece suit of your choice plus shirt and cuffs, and you get an extra 10% off when you pay in full! It's a wee bit further to travel for fittings and collection than Focus is, but worth it for the brilliant value. They were also really fast and we had our suits sorted and deposit paid within 40 minutes.

After that it was on to mortgages... and an appointment with a mortgage adviser at our bank - Ulster Bank. They are totally useless for mortgages! I would avoid them at all costs and we will be changing both our accounts! Definitely wish we would have taken that free £100 per account with Halifax last summer when Ulster Bank caused all that trouble!

The consultation was a total shambles... firstly we were running late because of the traffic coming out of Belfast, so phoned to let them know we would be around 10 minutes late... we phoned the branch but were put through to a call centre who then said they would send the message to the branch... apparently they never did that, so we were left to wait for another 15 minutes after arriving while the consultant finished some other work that she had started doing! Then the whole thing really went into shambles... and we still think she was calculating wrongly... she kept using J's gross income but my net income... apparently that's how its done if you are self employed? It all seemed a bit odd and unorganised. We are planning to speak with an independent adviser we know through a family member, so hopefully that will sort things out, as at least we know they know what they are doing!

After all that I was too tired and annoyed to cook, so we had a chippy... very bad for the wedding diet! Luckily I still had 1/4 of the peppered shepherds pie in the fridge, so I heated it up and had it with a handful of chippy chips, while Turf had a sausage and J had a hot dog.

Saturday was Wedding Dress shopping day! We had booked an appointment with Pronuptia Bridal in Belfast and I was hoping that protests wouldn't disrupt my wedding dress shopping! Luckily they didn't. I had brought my mum and my aunt along and we made a bit of a day of it. The consultation started with me picking out 6 dresses I liked and trying them on, I then explained to the consultant what I liked about each one and what I didn't, she then suggested different dresses based on this and we came up with three beautiful ones that I liked. I loved the bodice of one in particular and the skirt of another... now just to find a dress that has them both in the one dress!

I phoned J on the way home from the bridal consultation and asked him to put the Oh So Lean chicken, ham and stuffing pie in the oven because I was starving! Of course, when I arrived home it was still sitting uncooked in the fridge, so it was a chinese takeaway that night, which is definitely not on the wedding diet - it was delicious though!

Sunday was another busy day for us... we went wedding band shopping! I have already picked mine out, as it was quite difficult to get a band thin enough to fit under my engagement ring, but J hadn't had a proper look yet. It was a bit disastrous (but totally hilarious) at first as J got the ring sizer stuck on his finger and he had to use hand sanitizer gel to help remove it... I laughed... a lot :)

In the end he opted to have two different metals and designs ordered into the store and we will go try them again when they arrive.

We had a lovely, and very synful, dinner at my mum and dads last night - roast chicken, stuffing, sprouts, colcannon, roast parsnips and gravy - a big Sunday splurge, but oh so worth it! My dad sure can cook!

The Oh So Lean sausages and bacon have been devoured, both the curry flavoured sausages and the pork and leek ones were eaten for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday along with a slice of thick bacon! Tonight we will be having the Oh So Lean burgers with fried eggs, onions, beans and nimble bread and I will cook up the pie to have it for lunches for the rest of the week. We split a tub of the carbonara on Sunday for lunch - delicious! I still have the speed curry left, which will do another dinner during the week. Hopefully that will last us through to the weekend again and I'll put another order in with Oh So Lean to collect in Bangor next week. I think I will add an extra three pots to the order though as the sauces are so handy to make up a quick dinner without starting to make a free one from scratch - the pepper sauce is my favourite! I think I'll also order the mixed meat pack for £6.99 and freeze it, as the sausages don't last long with J around!

Delicious!

This morning Turf decided he would eat the top of J's lighter... the little metal u-shaped bit that easily pops off when he gets his paws on it. J threatened him with the slipper... so of course he ran in to me and jumped on my knee... the cheeky scamp! I had a look to make sure he didn't have it in his mouth while J hunted the living room floor for it... but there was no sign... we think he may have swallowed it, the little devil! J is off work today, so he will be keeping an eye on him to see if he passes it, or if he's hidden it somewhere in the living room for chewing later! If neither happens, no doubt I'll be bringing the scamp into the office tomorrow and if nothing happens then, then it'll be off to the vet! What a cheeky boy!