Wedfest - Part One

I woke up at 6am after a few hours sleep. It'd been a late one the night before and a hectic week as I mentioned in my previous post. I was shattered but my big day was finally here! I'd been checking the weather report all week, it didn't look too great but as I stood looking out to the garden and field from the kitchen, the sun was out and the birds were singing... had the Met Office got it wrong? I made a huge cup of tea, put my hoody and wellies on over my pyjamas and headed back to the marquee. 

I had quite a few last minute bits to do and only a couple of hours do them in as I was having my hair and makeup done at 9am. It was actually weirdly calming being in there on my own, pottering about, listening to music and thinking about the day ahead. I finished off the entrance way, put the guestbook out, checked name tags, cleaned up mess and made sure the bar was all ready. I was also being sneaky... I had been thinking about doing a speech for ages but I was so worried about crying that I hadn't told anyone just incase I bottled it. I made a deal with myself, if I kept it together during the service then I could totally manage a speech in front of everyone, so I jotted a few notes down and hid them under my chair for later. 

This is the only photo I took before heading back to the house. I was pretty chuffed with all of our efforts and couldn't wait for everyone to see it! 

The sun then went behind a cloud and the rain started. It then carried on for hours.

Our wonderful photographer Matt Horan arrived and started snapping away.

(The pictures featured from now on are from Matt)

Harry's lovely cousin Julie did my hair whilst the girls made me cups of tea and force fed me toast. I then had my make up done by Dimple, an old work colleague who worked her wonderful magic on my tired face. 

Matt then popped over to Foxton where Harry and the boys were all getting ready at the Lodge. My brothers went over to join them, have a beer and make sure their future Brother in law was ready for the big day! 

Back at the house everyone was getting ready... I waited though as didn't want to sit around in my dress, so I made everyone a drink and poured myself a very large one. 

It was then my turn...The girls were all ready and waiting to help me into my precious dress. 

My brothers came upstairs to see me followed by Dad... 

As we were all getting ready, the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped! 

My beautiful little Goddaughter arrived so we had some photos taken outside and then walked the 60 metres down the road to the church...

At this moment I started to cry. The build up of every little detail of the morning and what was about to happen suddenly hit me... My maid of honour was on hand with a tissue to save my makeup, my dad cracked a joke to snap me out of it, I took a few deep breaths and walked in to marry Harry. 

To be continued...

Wedfest Prep

This year has been crazy. I once read somewhere that moving house and getting married are 2 of the most stressful things to do in a lifetime. Well... we moved house in December last year, got married in May and then to add extra excitement to the mix, Harry and I both started new jobs after the wedding!

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since we tied the knot... We were married in my parent's village church in Leicestershire. Such a tiny and beautiful church, we weren't sure how we would get everyone in but we did! The reception was held in the field behind my parent's house that their neighbours very kindly lent to us... we hired a gorgeous tent poled marquee and made it our own. I never thought i'd get so attached to a massive tent but I did. What a loser. 

As we arrived in the village on the Monday, the marquee had already started to take shape and by Wednesday lunchtime it was up and ready to decorate.

The whole week was a bit of a blur. There was a big team of us getting things done from washing plates and glasses, making puddings/cakes, walking the pups, going back and forth to the fruit and flower markets... the list goes on. 

On Thursday the weather took a bad turn and I was getting a little stressed by everything. In fact, I had a full melt down with lots of tears... I was already knackered, the rain was pouring and everyone was getting in each others way. My darling middle brother saw me crying, laughed and told me that he'd had me pegged to cry a lot earlier in the week and was proud of me for lasting so long! My tears quickly dried up, we all had a giggle and a large glass of wine. 

Friday saw the rain dry up for most of the day and the cavalry arrived! More family members and the rest of my bridesmaids were there to help... HOORAH! I realised that I couldn't do everything by myself (as much as I had tried) so I delegated like I'd never delegated before. Flowers were arranged into my array of bottles I had collected, pom poms were poofed, glasses were polished, name tags put out and bunting was hung. 

My precious 108 metres of bunting that I spent many an hour making with the girls on wedding wine/craft nights. 

I popped down to the church to see the amazing flowers that my lovely grandma had arranged... 

and I practiced my poses for Saturday

After an exhausting few days, Harry left to go and stay at the lodge with his friends. The rest of us went to the local pub to celebrate my gorgeous Mum's Birthday along with her and Dad's Wedding Anniversary! It was such a lovely evening, I could hardly eat anything but the wine went down quite well. I headed back to the marquee with 2 of my bridesmaids, Grace and Ellie along with Ellie's boyfriend Greg to make the button holes for the boys. At 11pm at night. Well, the girls made them and Greg tested out the bar and the beer to check it was all in working order. Look at those happy faces! 

We cleaned up the mess and left the tent. Ellie and Greg went home whilst Grace and I went up to the house for some sleep. I think I finally dosed off at around 2am after writing a few to do lists on my phone for the morning... Eeeek it was all suddenly a bit real! 

To be continued...

I've been away...

After a break of 6 whole months I am back and as a MRS! I only went and got married!!

I have a few posts about the day coming up but in the meantime here's a sneaky peak at the most wonderful day I've ever had.

Three Oh!

Last week I said a fond farewell to my twenties... 10 whole years of ups, downs & amazing memories.

So here I am... 30 years old and getting married in 4 months. Yikes, I feel rather grown up! (*)

*most of the time

Lettering and Postcards

The last few months seem to have blended into one long one. Time has flown by at a ridiculous rate this year.... Definite sign of getting older isn't it?!

Back in September I started an evening class in Calligraphy. I've been wanting to learn for a long time and after meeting Betty in Florence back in January, I decided to book onto a course and I absolutely love it! 

On arrival I was given my name card beautifully handwritten by our teacher Mary Noble ... 

There is a lovely mix of people in the class and all at different levels. As a very beginner, I started off with lower case foundational hand. Once the concept of letter shapes and spacing was figured out I moved on to traditional Roman capitals a couple of weeks later and it was a real challenge. Spacing, sizing and lots of mistakes! 

First attempts

We are now coming towards the end of the term and I'm feeling much happier with my work. Last night I moved down a nib size and getting used to the spacing etc... A few others in the class were working on Christmas cards so after practicing with the smaller letters I wrote a little festive quote. It's not perfect and I've got a lot to learn but I'm already looking forward to next term!

In October we had a much needed holiday away with Harry's family. We stayed in a lovely villa in south Tenerife. The first day or so wasn't the greatest as I was in agony from a tooth infection... luckily the drugs kicked in very quickly so I could enjoy the rest of the week.

I'd definitely go away at this time of year again. After working a very busy Summer it gave us something to really look forward to. It was the perfect amount of relaxing, yummy food, sunshine, sleep and laughter. I even read 2 books in 4 days which for me is kind of a record. When I try and read at home I get through a couple of pages and fall into a coma. 

 

Are you planning a sunshine break anytime soon or do you tend to wait for the official Summer holidays? 

Greener with the scenery

Last weekend we drove up to Leicestershire to stay with my family and go to a Christening. Not just any Christening, but one where I became Godmother to the daughter of one of my best friends. Very proud and grown up moment!

Harry and I enjoyed some chill out time too which was well needed. We walked my parent's dog Boo across the fields, she hopped through the long wet grass and chased after us when she realised we had walked too far ahead.

I rocked my Hunter wellies that are 14 years old! They're rather tatty... the right one is actually duct taped up on the back of the calf and they haven't got much grip but they are so bloody comfy, I can't bring myself to get rid of them. Maybe I'll treat myself to some new ones for the big Three Ohh next year. 

We popped down to Foxton Locks on the way home from watching my little bro play Rugby... I've been a million times but I love it there, we sat outside with a little shandy, listened to the boats chug along and the watched sun go down. 

I love the Leicestershire countryside... don't get me wrong I adore living by the sea but coming back to the miles of green fields, smell of farmyards and lovely places like Foxton so close by I'm always really happy to be home.