Wedding Season

Baby Tuxedo Set - H&M

My Cousin is getting married in May and we are travelling to Newcastle to celebrate with them.  This year, not only do I need a lovely outfit for my post pregnancy/breastfeeding body, but I get to pick out something lovely for Noah.

As he is growing so quickly at the moment I didn't want to spend loads on an outfit, as he really will only get one wear out of it.

I am so pleased with this fantastic little set from H&M at £7.99! What a bargain and so totally cute!

Getting Excited For Paris

G and I will be celebrating our 1 year Wedding Anniversary on the 4th May.  As a surprise G has booked for us to go to Disneyland Paris for the weekend.  I am so super excited, because not only will it bring back memories of our honeymoon in Disney World Florida, but we will hopefully get to pop in to the romance capital for a few hours.

I'm getting super excited about our weekend away and have been planning my wardrobe and having a look through the exiting things we could see when we pop into the city.  

I found this brill blog, Hip Paris, that has given me some inspiration.  After finding the brill markets in London the other weekend I like the idea of finding places that aren't too commercial when I visit a new city.  It's nice to find things that showcase the city for what it really is, not about the touristy attractions that everyone sees.

I love the idea of visiting the Love Lock Bridge, especially as it is a romantic anniversary trip.  The idea of adding our little padlock is exciting.

I'm also super excited by the fashion and am trying to pack cool looking outfits for the trip...you can't go to Paris and not think about your fashion for the weekend!  I found this fab boho bag on Boden that would be perfect for carrying bits around, and also am definitely needing to invest in some breton stripe tops before we head off!

Paris seems all about the stripes, scarves and big bags.  Eeeek I'm so excited.

Boho Bag, Boden

Stripes and scarves are a must for Paris

Fab outfit idea - not sure I'm quite trendy enough to pull this off

I Feel So Fat

I don't know if many of you know this, but I studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Uni.  I loooove getting creative and drawing but I rarely have time now. I think that's maybe why I love the blog so much, it gives me a way to release my creativity without taking up loads of time and getting the place all messy.

One of the projects I did as part of my degree was an illustrated book on how I felt about myself.  I have ups and downs about being bigger and at the moment I can certainly say I'm on a big fat down.  I've put on loads of weight since the wedding and don't feel very cool or sexy.  

I had done so well to loose so much weight before the wedding, I was even feeling like a normal size person for the first time ever.

I found this book yesterday hidden on the book shelf and it made me realise that although I think I am fat and blobby, there are still some beautiful things that can come out of it!

Hope you enjoy the illustrations x

However, note to self: stop being so lazy and eat less cake and pastry!

2013 Favourites

2013 has seen its fair share of ups and downs but some of my highlights of this year have been:

• Appreciating the love from the women in my life at my HenDo
• Marrying my gorgeous Fiance G on May 4th
• Honeymooning in Florida
• Gaining some fantastic friends, Harriet and Ellis
• Learning how to make jam
• Improving my pie making ability
• Discovering nail transfers
• Learning how to make paper pompoms
• Discovering 'The Simple Things' Magazine
• Learning to love red wine
• Visiting Scotland for the first time
• New borns and being asked to be God Parents

Stunning Wedding photography by Sara Reeve

Honeymooning on the Disney Boardwalk, Florida

Sunset nails for they fantastic sunny days this Summer

Tootsy - the new addition to Mum and Dads -
inherited from my fantastic uncle who we lost this year

Homemade Guacamole - How tasty you are!

Late Summer days hanging with Bean at the parents farm

Appreciating the taste of Scottish whiskey in Edinburgh in August

Favourite dress from Jojo Maman Bebe

Borough Market - Treating Bean to a weekend in London to Celebrate her 30th

Long days out with new friends

The new cafe that has opened around the corner from home - Marmalade

Wedding Tip - Confetti

I have so many things that I want to share about my wedding that I was pleased with.  Being an Event Manager I really enjoyed the whole planning process and being engaged for 22 months meant that we had a lot time to think about the details and how everything would run.

Something that has always bothered me about weddings is the chaos that surrounds the confetti throwing.  No one seems to remember to bring it, no one is ever sure when to throw it or where to stand, and the pictures never look great as most people have missed the one and only photo op!

Something that was important to me at our wedding was to avoid all of the elements and make sure that the confetti was coordinated.

We provided all of our guests with theme related bags of confetti.  This was cheap as we bought a bulk load of bags and confetti on Amazon.  

We asked everyone not to throw anything at the Church and wait until they got to the reception venue (my parents home).

The toastmaster asked everyone to line up down the drive and as we walked through everyone threw their confetti.  This meant that we had loads of shots taken my our fantastic photographer Sara Reeve, everyone knew what they were doing, and everyone had plenty of confetti to throw.

TOP TIP: Think about your confetti opportunity, ask close friends to make sure they bring enough or provide everyone with some, and make sure you have talked this through with your photographer.

Photography by Sara Reeve

Life as a Wife...

Photobooth from MCH Photobooths was perfect.
They provided double copies so the guests could take one, and we could keep one. Such a wonderful idea.  We have a lovely album full of memories.

{4th August}

It was 3 months ago that I walked down the aisle in St Mary's Church towards G to become his wife.  It most definitely still feels very strange when I call him my husband - it feels a bit like I'm telling a lie!  But it does feel nice.  

There is something about having a husband that makes you feel more secure.  I think we actually see each other less now than before we got married, but I have heard a lot of my newly wed friends say this.  I think it is because you know that the other person is going to be there when you come home, no matter what.  And you know what you will be spending the rest of your life with this person, so what does it matter if you spend a few days apart.

I am desperately missing planning the wedding.  We were engaged for nearly 2 years and I loved every minute of planning our wedding.  I can definitely say that I feel a bit lost now that it's all over.

We had a very DIY wedding.  Not necessarily to cut costs, but just because we wanted to put everything we were into it and really make it feel like 'us', rather than just a wedding.  We made bunting, designed the invitations, packed up 100 bags of confetti, made the table plan, and favours.  It was so lovely seeing all of our hard work put into place on the day.

Here are some of my favourite pictures on the day...

In the Wedding Ceremony just after we had been pronounced husband and wife.

We used this ampersand which normally hangs on our living room wall.
Props are a really good idea for the photographs if you don't want that formal, stuffy look.

G noticed this old red phone box across the green from the church and it adds a fun element to the pictures.
Our photographer was a fine artist before she started on weddings, which meant she took the most beautiful, inspired, unique pictures.
Love this one that she took through my veil.

We had our guests create two lines down either side of the drive, meaning we could walk through the confetti, giving people a chance to throw loads and we got some really lovely shots.
This was one of my most favourite things of the day.

We decanted confetti from its original containers into these sweetie bags and placed them in a picnic basket - keeping everything on the seaside theme.

This one is one of my favourites.  It's so different and in an age where iphones play such a big part in our lives it seemed very appropriate.

Frame of mind

{18th July 2013}

I have always loved the way that you can group pictures together on a wall in a collage.  I think if you get it right it just makes a wall pop.  The above image is the collage wall that I have at my parents house, I was firs inspired to do this about 5 years ago after seeing the idea in a changing room in Monsoon.  It used to look so good, and over time I have taken frames away and it has diminished.  I to get this looking beautiful again so that I am inspired when I return home.

The main plan is to also create a collage wall in our living room for our wedding items.  We have the letters 'N' '&' and 'G' and a gorgeous coordinates print that my sister bought us as our engagement present which will fit perfectly on a collage wall.

Now for some of the collage walls that I am taking as inspiration....

Collage wall in Blackbird Tea Rooms, Brighton