Earlier this week, we were going through the mountains of paperwork in the spare room looking for bank statements, when, amongst all the old magazines, degree essays and piles of receipts, I came across a school exercise book.

Not that interesting, granted, but as I flicked through I saw the back few pages were completely dedicated to the great loves in my life. Well the ones from my fifth form anyway.

Alongside the usual 'Gemma Loves Chris' and 'GH 4 CS' doodles, as well as various others - I also found it necessary to document the love lives of all my friends - the 16-year-old me had practiced my signature... as Gemma Strong. Just in case my new boyfriend of about three weeks and I ever decided to marry.

In my defence I would like to think I intuitively knew Chris was the one for me, rather than face the possibility my behaviour was a little creepy!

So you see, having made some minor adjustments to my earlier attempts, this is one aspect of married life I am all over. And rather than being freaked out - well maybe a little - Chris seemed quite touched by my adolescent efforts. In fact he even chose a favourite.

With the dress and the venue both found, it dawned on Chris and I this week we should probably think about actually inviting people to the wedding. Announcing the date on Facebook doesn't count.

Priding ourselves on our organisation, we wanted to send out 'Save the date' cards to everyone ahead of the actual invites, which would follow with accommodation details, maps, and all that kind of thing.

So that was my next project, and I searched high and low for cards that were 'us' - not too formal but which didn't look like something a five-year-old had knocked up. Nothing jumped out so I got Lisa on the case as well. Still no luck.

Last night Chris and I sat down after work and searched online together. Bearing in mind most people want these type of cards in bulk, there really aren't many options on the market. It seems that magnets are the way forward, which was an idea I was warming to, but one that Chris immediately ruled out.

We came across a website which offered a create-your-own postcards service so we spent about an hour having a go at that. Actually an hour might be generous; we uploaded a photo and wrote maybe ten words of text.

Having previewed the finished product a few times and repeatedly jiggled the wording up and down, we hit the checkout button. You see while we liked it, we obviously didn't love it, a fact that became evident when it came to paying... we didn't want to. Closing the tab we agreed to sleep on it and finish tomorrow.

With the morning, also came our senses. Well his at least. As Chris headed out the door this morning, he said: "You know, I was thinking. Maybe we should just do invitations. We can still send them out soon and then forward on further details nearer the time."

And that I think is what we are going to do. It will save us a good £80 - not including postage - and I am excited to get going with the invites, despite the fact most of my friends say its one of the worst parts of organising a wedding. So now we have some brand new stationary decisions to make. Chris is thrilled!

The most extraordinary thing happened to me yesterday. At 5.30pm I walked into my second ever bridal shop and re-emerged three hours later considerably poorer but very very happy. Yes, I did it - I bought my wedding dress. Just like that.

This trip was not meant to include buying of any description - it was an exercise in window shopping, and there weren't even that many dresses I liked. There was a lot of lace, and I do mean a lot, and, Laura and I agreed, quite a few of the gowns were for, what I would describe as, the more mature lady.

But we found eight lovely dresses, and I put on my (borrowed) white heels and the underskirt ready for a few more hours of dress-up. It was number six. I loved it when she pulled it out of its bag, and loved it even more once it was on. A temporary refitting later, courtesy of some big bulldog clips, and an extravagantly long veil awkwardly pinned in my hair, and I was in heaven.

By this point, I had already established this shop was considerably cheaper than the first, guaranteeing me extra brownie points with the groom! So, obviously still wearing the dress - it took a while to coax me out of it - we asked about the price. It was around £700 less than all the rest. £700! And not only that, the dress also comes with two wedding bands.

And then came the catch. Oh come on, of course there would be a catch! There is only enough material for one more of these dresses to be made, the lady told us. So if anyone comes in and orders it, then that is that, no more. (To all the cynics out there, yes this is in fact true!)

Just my luck. I was in complete and utter turmoil. Could I really be so frivolous and spontaneous as to just buy it there and then? It was only my second shop and it was a lot of money to be putting down on such a spur of the moment decision. So I said I would think about it.

I promptly called Chris, who tried his best to offer advice on a dress he had never seen while my moods rapidly switched between ecstasy and anguish. No real help there. So Laura suggested I have night's sleep and if I decided I wanted it, to go back the next morning before work. Back we went to the shop (again) to tell the lady the plan. We were halfway home before I stopped in my tracks, turned to Laura and told her we were going back.

As we walked through the shop door for the third and final time that evening, I gave the lady a smile, and her exact words were 'Hallelujah'. A quick strip-off for measurements and a (painful) swipe of my card and it was done. And because I was so pleased with how much I had just saved I threw in the underskirt and the over-the-top veil too!!

There have been moments today when my big purchase slips my mind, and then I have that wonderful feeling when I remember it again. So despite my cynicism when it came to the 'you'll know it when you have it on' speech, it seems that, for me at least, that really was the case.

This week I have mostly been thinking about flowers. Admittedly this is not a subject I am overly interested in - I am a girl who can appreciate a good bunch as much as the next, particularly one that smells nice, but I am completely clueless when it comes to anything other than colours... a bit like cars really.

No, the only reason I have bouquets on the brain is because we had Chris' middle brother and his girlfriend come to stay this weekend. A brief conversation with Vicky made me realise that, despite my smugness when it comes to organising the wedding, there are girls out there who have given the whole process considerably more thought than I have.

Without hesitation, Vicky could name the ideal flowers - as well as her final two choices of venues - for her wedding, which put me a bit to shame I guess.

I have had plenty of time to prepare for my own wedding, and lets be honest I whinged enough about it. And for someone who answered the question 'what would you most like to happen to you in 2009' with the answer 'I want to get married', I am embarrassingly unprepared.

Perhaps I can blame Chris... the reason I am clueless is because I was put on hold for so long that I lost interest. But that really wouldn't be true. Everyone has a different passion when it comes to their wedding day, and mine is not the flowers...it's the dress. As long as that is perfect, everything else will fall into place.

Luckily for me, I have an amazing flower lady waiting to advise me at Bickleigh. And thank goodness. While I pride myself to some extent on my inherent good taste, I am not sure that anyone who doesn't know their fuchsias from their freesias should be left in charge of floral décor of any description!

So here I am sat back in the office looking considerably browner after a week-long holiday in Egypt with Chris - a holiday that was well deserved in my opinion!

It was a very spur of the moment booking that I prompted (read forced!) when I realised our constant tiredness was because it had been two years since we last went away. And with that in mind, I decided upon rule number one of our marriage one night while we were sipping cocktails under the stars - we will be going away on holiday every year, without fail. Particularly if Chris wants an easier home life.

We were originally planning to go on our first long haul trip to a tropical paradise many miles away. But the year crept up on us again and we realised that, what with wedding commitments, we just couldn't afford the time. So a week in Egypt it was. (Admittedly the fact that we will be having what Chris described as "the holiday of all holidays" next year helped soften the blow.)

We had a lovely time - I learnt how to snorkel without hyper-ventilating (previous experiences have proved I have difficulty grasping the concept of underwater breathing) and spent most of the time in and out of the sea or the pool, which to Chris' delight featured a pretty good water slide.

There was one incident in particular that not only brought home my increasing age - no, I am not whinging about being 25, I know that is not old! - and my soon-to-be married status. One evening we wandered into the resort's 'nightclub' where we stood around watching our fellow Brits dance around (you know them as soon as they hit the dance floor!) when a young blonde of about 16 shimmied into our line of vision.

And weirdly I felt some kind of rivalry with a girl who had a good ten years on me. Why? I was reminded of nights out with my friend Cheryse where we would spend hours dancing around in mini dresses and heels trying to catch the eyes of boys in the near vicinity - Cheryse never has trouble turning heads so it was easy to ride on her wave!

Perhaps this was some kind of realisation on my part that my younger, more hedonistic days, were behind me? Anyway, the feeling didn't last long. Turning back to look at Chris I realised I really have had quite enough of all that and I genuinely won't miss the single life - for the most part anyway!

There are so many highlights when it comes to planning a wedding - well your own at least! - but there is one that stands out as a personal favourite for Chris and I, the menu tasting.

In truth there isn't much we are looking forward to at the moment as much as we are pulling up a chair to try some of the mouth-watering offerings cooked up especially for us by the castle's chef, all washed down with a variety of wines. Tough life!

To begin with I had visions of us spending the weekend down in Devon together so we could see a bit more of the area and do extra research - I still have not located a makeup artist, hairdresser or masseuse for before the wedding... ok the last one is a little whimsical! - but it's funny how many people want to share in the chance to eat free food!

So it will no doubt be a mini party again heading down the A303 to Bickleigh when we go for our visit. Like most things, I suppose, the more people sampling the better.

Either way, I cannot wait! Chris and I pretty much know what we want anyway - although the sample menus have provided tempting alternatives. So what with the dress hunt underway and our first meeting and food tasting round the corner, it really does feels like we are well on our way to planning our perfect day.