Matron of Honour in Training

So in case you’re wondering, I was, here is a description of what the Matron of Honour should be doing in the lead up to the wedding and on the wedding day itself.

In the lead up to the day

• Assist the Bride-to-be in her planning. Attend wedding shows and venue/supplier visits, help plan the wedding theme, wedding favors and table settings, assist in making and sending out invitations if required, and most importantly go wedding dress shopping with the Bride to be and give her your honest opinions (as gently as possible if necessary).
• Coordinate with the bridesmaids and bridal attendants.  You will get them all together and get them involved in your plans for the bridal shower or hen’s (bachelorette) party by delegating important tasks to each one of them.
• Ensure that all pre-parties including the engagement party and rehearsal dinner runs smoothly
• Host a bridal shower/hen’s party.  Planning and hosting the hen’s party is one of the highlights of the duty of the matron of honor.  You have to make this event a memorable one for the bride-to-be as this is her last big night out (or in) as a single woman.
• Attend the rehearsal dinner to help ensure everything is in order
• Prepare a speech for the bride and groom.

On the day

• Help the bride get dressed.  As the matron of honor, you have to be early during the big day to assist the bride and ensure she looks radiant and beautiful on her big day.
• Ensure that the reception decorations are all set accordingly as well as the flowers and dresses. Make sure everything goes according to plan and keep any stressful information away from the bride unless absolutely necessary.
• Ensure all the bridesmaids are present  and ready in time for the wedding
• Ensure that the guests are all comfortable and well-entertained
• Stay at the bride’s side most of the time to ensure she gets all the assistance she needs, from adjusting her veil, holding her bouquet, retouching her make-up, straightening her dress and any other little things.
• Sign the marriage licence
• Dance with the best man at the reception
• Organise the bridesmaids to open the wedding presents and note on cards what was given from whom
• Ensure the presents are taken from the venue and delivered to the newlywed’s home the next day

After the Big day

• Take care of the bride’s gown after the ceremony. This implies you should have it professionally cleaned, and store it correctly till she returns from the honeymoon.
• Help with the thank you cards

Well, turns out THAT time of the month arrived  this morning so seeing as I usually weigh anywhere up to 2kg heavier during this time I did myself a favour and decided to pass on the weigh in this week and leave it till next Friday. That may explain why I weighed in 300g heavier yesterday morning.

So I went to the gym as planned tonight and did pretty well

I actually ran/jogged 1.2km straight!!! I was so proud of myself and actually text hubby and mum to share, hehe. I kept telling myself there was only a little bit further to go, at first I was aiming for 1km and then when I got there I thought I can do this, I can make it to 1.2km and I did!

I wouldn’t go as far to say I like running but I could almost feel the fat burning up and THAT is a great incentive to keep chugging along

I love reading other people’s weight loss blogs, seeing their successes and how they cope through the tough times. I would find it hard however when it seemed that that same person that I could relate to at the beginning of their blogging changed into someone completely different. They suddenly become fully into going to the gym, eating as naturally as possible and most of all they suddenly LOVE running. I would find it hard to keep reading or finding inspiration in their blogs once they changed into that person as they no longer seemed like someone I could relate to.

Is it just my perception that they’ve changed or by losing the weight do they change into a a seemingly new person?

Will I?

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction

That’s what I’ve done this week. Self-sabotage. I am the saboteur. How did I do it? I went to the grocery store for milk and minced garlic. I got those AND a pack of pink iced buns because they were on special for 99c. Deal huh? Do you know what I told myself? Oh I’ll take them to work and share them…huh yeah right. I ate one on the way home from the supermarket and TWO on the way home from work this afternoon. I don’t know why I do this to myself, it’s not even like I’ve been making great progress!

This is really something I need to work on

It’s weigh in day tomorrow, I did a sneaky weigh in this morning and I’d gained 300 grams! Serves me right for being sneaky. I hope it’s a better result tomorrow.

I’ve been to the gym twice this week and I’m aiming to go tomorrow night too which will make it 3 nights, one up from last week.

At the gym on Monday I managed to do the following in 45 mins;

• Run – 0.8km in 7.41mins PLUS .41km in 4 mins = 1.21km!!!
• Cycle –  1.3km in 5 mins
• Plank – 2 x 20 secs
• Swiss Ball Sit-Ups – 45 reps
• Push Ups (knee position) – 3 x 15 reps
• Dips – 2 x 15 reps
• Burpees – 0
• Squat/Lunge Combo – 20

So I missed out on the Burpees but I did cycle a bit further and ran faster in the first 0.8km which meant my time was shorter and then ran another short distance I am proud of that! I kept saying in my mind “each step is further than last time” so I just did as much as I could knowing it was still an improvement..go me!

On Wednesday I cycled 2.72km in 10 mins on the same setting as I usually do. Along with some walking on the treadmill and some arm work on the weight machines.

Eating, well obviously that hasn’t been the greatest has it?  But as they say 80% is still better than 0% and I reckon I managed to be 80% “good”.

Ah well, onwards and upwards, well, downwards in the weight department hopefully!

Ta ta for now.

So this week we’ve been playing around with invitation designs and today we are trekking up to Markovina and Kumeu Valley Estate, one of which is set up for a wedding today which will be cool! The weather is beautiful too

On Tuesday night we looked at the papers she had found and the invitation designs she liked and narrowed it down to what she will use for the engagement party and what she’ll use for the wedding. These are the papers and invitations she’s been looking at…                           

Tomorrow night we are going to make mock ups of a couple of different designs, getting our craft on

Wedding venue breakdown…

Markovina

• Beautiful gardens with lots of different areas to take great photos – ponds, trees, red phone boxes, grape vines etc
• Reception area has a vine-covered “ceiling”
• Dance floor right in front of the top table with great light and disco ball set up and bubbles!
• Choice of ceremony spots
• Nice stone table and chair for signing the register
• Wet weather ceremony spot a good alternative
• Petanque courts for guests to play
• Plenty of shade especially over guest seating for ceremony

Downsides

• Saw a few bits of rubbish around the gardens
• One of the garden “props” is held together by a strap – making it not possible to use as a photo spot
• Rectangular tables only

Kumeu Valley Estate

• Lots of open grassed area
• Interesting shaped building with bell tower
• Lovely entrance way
• Top table can be located up on a stage
• Nice high ceiling
• Wedding coordinator has contacts with vineyards in the area for photo shoots
• Outside bar set up down by ceremony area
• Couches to the side of the reception area – good for older folk to sit down and chat

Downsides

• No shade over ceremony guest seating area
• Not too many photo spots on site
• Dance floor completely separate from tables – people can’t sit and watch the dancers
• Small bar access

Serena seemed to like both of them pretty equally so she may have a tough choice on her hands! Tomorrow we are heading out to Kariotahi Beach to view Castaways. I haven’t been there either so I’m looking forward to it!

It’s weigh  in Friday! Total weight loss this week is….800g. It’s good, I was initially disappointed at not seeing a weight under 82 which would have meant a 1kg or more loss but it’s not far off. If I keep this rate up of 800g a week I would reach my ultimate goal weight of 61.4kg towards the end of July…this year! When you look at it like that it’s not that hard is it?

I CAN do this!

Even if I went down to only losing 400g per week I would still reach ultimate goal weight in 52 weeks so this time next year and still in time for the wedding

Anyway back to my progress this week…

Monday and Tuesday started off well I ate well, I exercised both nights at the gym and drank a good amount of water. Wednesday was when it started to fall apart a bit. I had Subway for lunch which isn’t terrible it was a 6 inch Chicken Teriyaki on wheat bread with swiss cheese, lettuce, cucumber and carrot and the sweet onion sauce – no mayo! That’s always been my weakness in the past, having mayo on my subway. Anyway, the worst came when my aunty dropped in a bag of Willy Wonka red licorice and a couple of cans of red bull. I thought I could get away with only having a piece as a treat but you know how it goes, it’s there, it’s easy. Sigh.

I didn’t go to the gym Wednesday night but I did go for a walk to the park with mum and the boy. Thursday and Friday lunches were either non existent or eaten on the way home after work…not good I know. Something I need to work on.

It’s only the first week back and I haven’t had any takeaways and apart from the red licorice and a couple of pieces of cooking chocolate (not the nicest but I needed a choc hit, I did limit myself to only 2 pieces) last night I have done pretty well Staying positive about things that’s the key.

Did I tell you what I did at the gym on Tuesday? No? I booked in for a Power Plate session with a PT (personal trainer).

image from puremoves.com.au

Power Plate is supposed to have a lot of great benefits for weight loss as well as your general health. According to the website it can help increase muscle strength and tone, flexibility and balance. It also claims to increase blood circulation and metabolism, which of course we all know is the key to losing weight, is getting that metabolism sorted.

So that’s this week, it’s the weekend tomorrow which includes dinner out at my father in law’s, a BBQ I think so hopefully nothing bad!

Stay tuned for an update on the wedding planning