I would like to thank all the people who write to me wishing me good luck and include some of the letters here.
Stacie Lewis

---

Hi Stacie. I proposed to my fiance on 29th February and we're looking at setting a date for 2002 - I thought it was headache enough to be getting engaged in Y2K!! Pity about your family problems ... they'll sort it out when they realise that you are just going to get wed anyway, whatever they decide ... keep ignoring and smiling hey!! I mailed mainly to suggest why doesn't Gareth take your name ? Or is he a real traditionalist? My best pal's husband took her name, Whilst it isn't usual it's a thought for having a family name ... plus yours has got an interesting history and imagine having to explain away the name change on a genealogy chart!! Best Wishes for August Cath 15 March 2000 Hi stacie, I've just started reading your diary - It's great, and I am currently travelling down the same road as you! Yes I'm getting married this year - 26th August to be precise. I am fortunate to say that be both live in the same country, which does make things less complicated, particularly for making arrangements. God - theres just so much to think of! When we decided to get married if I knew then what I knew now I would have probably started arrangements two years ago!!!! Theres the church, the reception, - the sit down meal, evening buffet, flowers transport, invitations, and the big task of choosing bridesmaids, ushers best man etc. to name but few things... Its so easy to forget the real purpose of a wedding! & what it actually means, when society clouds your judgement for THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT! How many bridesmaids are you having I dont recall you mentioning it? also how will the structure of your day be? for example I am getting married at 4.30, sit down meal for immediate family and close friends after the ceremony and evening buffet reception with a disco int he evening for everyone we know! Best luck with all of your plans I would love to hear from you Jo Essex. 3 March 2000 dear stacie, oh thank god! i'm from texas and my fiance is from yorkshire. we live together here in kentucky. we're at a total loss to plan the wedding - between the visa issues (both mine and his) and the dilemma over transporting financially strapped loved ones to whatever destination we choose, whatever my colors are is the last thing on my mind. i have to ask, how did you choose the u.s. over the u.k.? has anything more been mentioned about having two small ceremonies? we had thought to have two weddings - one here and one in england - but the general feeling on both sides of the fam was that this would be disappointingly "unromantic." the concept of having two anniversary dates seems beyond comprehension. we might not have much choice however - mark's visa is up in july, and we might need to do a quick civil ceremony to get his visa extended until we are ready to leave the states. the i.n.s has not answered our inquiry into the matter yet. mark starts school at napier university in edinburgh in march 2001, but i can't really quit my job until about december 2000. we're thinking about being married in england in spring of 2001. kudos to you and gareth for managing to be apart - mark and i could never handle that much distance. or afford regular visits home! i assume you are on a student visa - or can you work in england as a fiance? how long does the visa go before you have to be married? i do hope you have a minute for some advice. i just wasn't prepared for all the extras that go into planning a wedding to a "foreign national" as mark is classified by the state dept... best regards, leigh 11th jan 2000 Hello Stacie. My name is Lisa and I got married Sep 1998 in Luton (30 Miles North of London) As you asked in one of your episodes - Toad in the Hole with mashed potato is my favourite. Anyway - I write because I have two things that went very well at my wedding and thought you might like to know about it. FOOD - We had some caterers from Staffordshire (near Manchester) who travelled all the way down to Luton (about 180miles) and did my Bar-b-Que. & Buffet, they said if it rained they could deal with it and were so professional we hardly knew they were there, except when they offered us the wine. RECEPTION - My Swiss Auntie in Law suggested a game to play in the evening and it was the ultimate ice breaker!!. I called it PINK & BLUE -basically you think of lots (and I mean lots) of couples e.g. Hillary and Bill Clinton, Mickey and Minney etc and put them on stickers coloured Pink and Blue -Everyone puts on a sticker and you ask them to find their partner. -Play something silly YMCA, Grease etc... -Dance with your partner. Had a lovely day My bridesmaids where in Bottle green (which made flower choice very simple) Funny, I spent a lot of time in denial too. Have a lovely day Lisa Hawkswell Bedfordshire 3rd Jan 2000 Hi Stacie, I've really enjoyed your web-site and I think it has a lot of great things to offer. I'm going through my own present dilemma trying to decide exactly what colour scheme I would like myself although the pressure isn't on, as it seems to be in your case, it's getting time to finalize my decision so that I can get on with the endearing task of coordinating the rest of the "show". I liked your choice of colours very much...I think that bold colours tend to create too much chaos and lack the simple elegance of muter tones. I am going for rosier tones accented by the palest aquamarine. I'm looking for fabric that catches the light but isn't too showy...do you have any ideas? Also, the relaxed candidness of your diary has brought me to the point of asking you a somewhat personal yet standard question for young brides...are you having cold feet? I know my fiancee is the right guy and like you I'm actually beginning to enjoy this whole process of creating the most amazing day of my life but there are a few times when I've awakened in the middle of the night thinking, "Oh my God!!! This is really happening. Is it going to work? How will I get through EVERYTHING that needs to be done!!! You are lucky that Gareth is interested in participating fully in this process...my fiancee's work has required that he spend another three months in Prague and our wedding is in August!!!! He is definitely helping me along as much as he can via e-mail, fax and who knows whatever we can come up with to communicate our ideas. We will be moving to London after the wedding so that he can begin a new position with his firm. I ,on the other hand will be the new kid on the block, so to speak, and am curious as to what you went through during your transition. Aidan Ripley 14 December 1999 Hi Stacie First off I think you keeping the word updated on how your life is going with wedding plans and all of the following is a really great idea. It is nice to hear from a "regular" and hear about you struggles and concerns. I am 19 years old, have been engaged for 4 months and will be getting married August 12, 2000 in a small town called Merritt, British Columbia Canada. I will graduate from my Hotel & Resort Program in April. I am currently living with my fiance, Jonathan. I guess the biggest difference that I found with your planning and mine is that mine is all done. I know it might sound wierd, but like you mentioned in one of your writings, you had to hurry plans up a little bit because so many people are getting married in the year 2000. I found the same thing. I actually never clued in that I was getting married in such a busy year until my dad brought it to my attention. We started looking into renting reception sites, caterers, disc jockies, marriage comminisioners,etc, and realized that a lot of our options were already booked for the summer of 2000. So as of today, Thursday, November 18, 1999 I have everything booked except for the final decission on a photohrapher. I have chosen sage green, pearl white, and silver as my colors. Like you said they are very nice (but low key). All my other plans are going really well. Being so young, I have been very lucky to have such incredible support from all of my family as well as Jonathan's family. Please keep writing in your entrees, and I hope you get the size of wedding you want, and hopefully you can invite some of your closest friends. Happy Planning!!! Keri Scollon 18 November 1999 Hi Stacie, Funny, I am a teacher, trying to plan my wedding while teaching 3-8 graders Spanish. I frequently do not have time to plan for my wedding, which by the way is July 1,2000, which is why I enjoyed your comments about ignoring your responsibilities of a wedding planner.. My fiance and I met in a wedding in Chicago- we were both in the wedding, adn walked down the isle together, but he lived in New York City, adn I in San Francisco. 1 year later we lived together after he moved here to SF. And now, I am frantically trying to find an officiate, a band, and a decent bride's maid's dress! I wish you the best of luck. You have a lot to contend with over there. Been there often, my father's family lives in England, many in London. We visited in July of this year. If you find any great sites for looking at wedding stuff- particularly good-loking, comfortable wedding shoes! keep me in mind! :-) take care- Detroit is missing you more than you are it- life there is just the same it always was... and look at yours now! Whales for the weekend! Jennifer 16 November 1999 Hi Stacie, My name is Gerry. I saw your diary in the weddings.co.uk web page and I must say that I immediately felt that I had to write to you even before reading all your entry. I live in Hong Kong and my fiance is British too, from Derby. And we're planning to get married next year in January. I have been trying to find similar cases as Martin and myself, and was really pleased to come across your Diary. I will be leaving HK too after we're married, leaving all my family, friends and home to join the man of my dreams. It is both hard and scary, but what can I say? We're in love and we want to be together. I know what you mean about working a relationship when both parties are on different time zones, it's not as hard as people might think if you want something to work our, but at the same time not easy. A lot of people think that coming from a city like Hong Kong, and moving to Derby, is crazy. Martin and I met on the Net. Yes, it can work too. He proposed to me last Easter and the last time we were together was in July. I wanted to spend my birthday with him, but it was also the saddest birthday I've ever had since I had to go back to home on the same day. I'm also an Editorial Assistant here for a business magazine, I found it interesting that we have that in common too. Anyway, I better let you go. If you have time, maybe you would like to visit our web page. It's constantly under construction but we promised to keep it up dated as much as possible: http://www.lozzo.cwc.net/cyberlove/ Congratulations on your engagement, and I hope that all works our wonderfully with you wedding. - Gerry - 5 November 1999 Dear Stacie Have just started to read your diary, good stuff! Am intrigued to find out your choice of colours (actulally I thought brown and maroon whoudl be a bold but novel choice) as its a topic which I am struggling with given U am dark, muy fiancces is fair, and the reception room is very RED!!!, and we get married in MARCH (aaahhhhh) What do you think are the deciding factors? like you I never thought I'd be asking this kind of stuff , but I guess it happens to us all!!! Good luck witht the PGCE - the few weeks are always the toughest. Regular teachers hardly do any lesson preparation!!!!! I should know - my fiancee teaches economics!! Regards Soo Rose Manchester 29 October 1999 Hi Stacie, I feel pretty weird sending this email to you. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone as an American trying to plan a wedding in Britain. I am a New Yorker who moved to England in late August. I just got engaged 2 weeks ago and am already fed up with trying to please everyone. I hope that it all works out for you. Good Luck Kathryn 18 October 1999