The Wedding Planners

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

When a Romance Editor Gets Engaged...

I was excited to hear about my editor, Joanne Carr, getting engaged. She'd mentioned her boyfriend before and he sounded very nice, but her engagement meant I could ask her to blog! Seriously, I want to thank Joanne for taking time out of her busy day to answer a few questions for us about her wedding planning experience thus far. Here's what she had to say:

Did you decide to go with a big wedding or a smaller one? Why?
We decided to go for a quite small wedding. We will have 60 guests for the whole event - from the actual ceremony through to the evening do. We are aiming for a generally informal, intimate feel to our wedding and felt that this would be the ideal amount of guests.

What has been the most difficult part of planning a wedding?
I still have a lot of planning to go and I am having so much fun at the moment – ask me again in a couple of months ☺

What has been your favorite part of planning your wedding?
So far, I have to say just the general chatting over ideas with my hubby-to-be and getting excited about the big day! We have come up with some crazy ideas and although we may not be following through with them (my groom will not be arriving in The A-Team van ☺) it is great that we are both involved and excited about the planning.

How will you make this wedding celebration uniquely yours? (And unusual or interesting touches you chose to go with)?
Hmm, well that would be giving the game away! What I can say is that we are having a hog roast and a barbeque as our ‘wedding breakfast’ – we want our guests to be wandering around, chatting with each other, enjoying the food and company, and a barbeque lends itself to that kind of informality. Plus, (much to my mum’s horror!) I get to have a burger on my wedding day - we joke and refer to it as ‘the bridal burger’!

We are not having a traditional wedding cake either, instead it is a cake made of cheese! We will tuck into it much later in the evening with bread and pickles – I just love cheese so this is my idea of heaven!

How many attendants do you have? Describe the dresses you've chosen (or would like to choose).
I am having one bridesmaid – my best, best friend who is like a sister to me and we’re yet to choose a dress. My groom is having two best men which should be fun as they are quite the double act!

Any favorite songs you’d like the wedding band to play?
We are having a DJ later in the evening and I haven’t decided on a play list yet, but I am banning YMCA by The Village People - it just makes me cringe!

If you could go anywhere you wanted to, describe your perfect honeymoon location.
There are so many beautiful places in the world I have yet been to so it is hard to pick one. In fact, we just cannot decide on where to go! I would one day love to visit the Australian outback though.

Have you received or requested any unique wedding gifts? What are they?
Not yet!

If a millionaire dropped by and offered to pay for the wedding of your dreams, what additions/changes would you make?
The only change I would make would be to pay for all the accommodation and travel for my guests, oh and to make it a free bar!

Have you chosen any interesting/different places for wedding photos?
There are some medieval stocks in the market place near to where we are getting married, so that could make for some interesting pictures!

A wedding is a bride's opportunity to act out a fairy tale for a day. What stands out as the most special part of your wedding?
I just cannot wait to be stood next to the man of my dreams and declare my love and commitment to him in front of everyone who matter most – you don’t get much more romantic than that!

Editor Joanne Carr has worked at Harlequin Mills & Boon for just over five years. She joined the company shortly after completing her MA in American Literature and as an avid reader of Mills & Boon romances it was like a dream come true! Joanne is currently managing the Modern Heat series, but like all of the UK editors, she acquires across every series.

In October this year, Joanne is getting married to her boyfriend of more than seven years. It is only fitting that he is pure hero material - he is a police officer for the Metropolitan Police! They live together, just a few miles from the Mills & Boon offices, along with their adorable, yet rather large, ginger and white tom cat.

All of us here at The Wedding Planners blog wish Joanne and her fiance the best with their wedding planning, ceremony and marriage! The Wedding Belles definitely see a happily ever after in their future!

Labels: brides, editor, guest blogging, HMB, planning