Tag Archives: i’m getting married

OK, I admit it, I’ve been an absentee blogger

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No excuses really, other than, this week is always a heinously busy one in the year because it’s Ruby’s birthday, and then my birthday and those two things keep me really quite tied up (the former, moreso than the latter).

I’ve been lax, and I know it.  There are so many things I’ve been meaning to write about and participate in and just haven’t.  They all began to mount up and I got a bit lost.

But I’ll try now.

1) Barcelona.  What a stunningly beautiful place.  Infact, that’s all I am going to say on that, because it deserves it’s very own post and I will do it.  Maybe tonight, now that my Sky digital has packed in, I have no excuses.

2) Ruby’s birthday.  My daughter is two! TWO! Her party was very sweet.  Our family and close friends came to celebrate my girl’s special day, even in the rain.  She got a lot of lovely presents, she hated HATED being sung to, and I made a very tasty cake.  The only downer was that I was quite unwell throughout the entire day, and took my sorry self off to bed as soon as everyone had left.

3) The wedding plans.  We went to Southampton for a very brief fly by to meet with the vicar who is marrying us.  She’s a lovely warm lady called Frances, and I am chuffed to bits.  We talked for an hour or so about our plans, our move to Southampton, what we were hoping to get from marriage and the wedding itself.  Then she said a little prayer for us at the end, and it left me feeling warm and fuzzy.  We are by no means religious, but we’re having a church wedding because the church we’re marrying at is tied to the primary school we both attended and it’s sweet and perfect and just right.  Even though we are not practicing Christians, the way Frances spoke about the church and the families who attend and the social activities, made me really want to start going when we move.  We won’t be living in the parish but I think we’ll make the effort to go anyway.

After the meeting with Frances we went for a meal with my brother in law and his girlfriend, which was lovely.  And the following day I popped down to the florist to confirm bouquets and corsages.

Which brings us pretty much up to date.  I started potty training Ruby today.  Taking the slowly slowly approach, but she is now the proud owner of no less than 30 pairs of knickers.  When we are at home, she’ll be in them, when we are going out, she’ll be in a nappy.  When she tells me consistently that she needs the toilet before the event, then I’ll try her in knickers.  If anyone has some advice, then send it my way.  Only one accident today, but I know this is going to be a long and very messy process.

Is it too late to do the Gallery this week?  Told you I’d been lax!

The Gallery – The World We Live In (On Chesil Beach)

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Interesting theme this week.  Unlike last week, a photo didn’t immediately spring to mind, nothing I’d already taken really jumped at me.  And I spent a few days giving it a lot of thought before I figured out exactly what I was going to post for Tara Cain’s Gallery this week.

Chesil Beach, Dorset.  Part of the Jurassic Coast and a place I’ve been a little fascinated with since my GCSE Geography days.  The Fleet lagoon behind the spit, the sheer length of it, the way the pebbles increase in size the closer you get to the Isle of Portland.  It seemed a little magical to me, a little romantic.  And after I read On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, well, that was it, I had to go there.

When we finally did go there last summer, en route to Cornwall, it suddenly became even more romantic and even more magical than I’d previously imagined.  Because I got engaged on Chesil Beach.  We hauled our Phil & Ted’s buggy up the shingle, sat at the top of the bank in the sunshine with Ruby, looked out over the English Channel, smelt the lung-cleansingly fresh ozoney sea air, and right there, Ross asked me to marry him.

And without any hesitation whatsoever, I said yes.

I couldn’t resist posting more than one photo of Chesil Beach, because I think they all sum up just how gorgeous this place is.  We’ll definitely be visiting this part of the world again, especially now that it holds such significance for us both.

My Beautiful Beautiful Shoes

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I know he can’t see the dress, but is it bad luck for your husband-to-be to see your wedding shoes before the big day?  If it is, well then we are already doomed.  Because I can’t stop talking about my shoes, and I also can’t stop looking at them.  Every couple of days, I have to have a little peek-a-boo at them sitting there, pretty things, in their shoe box.

And the shoe box is not hidden away from Ross.  It’s sitting on a shelf in our bedroom, and even though I know he won’t be nearly as interested in them as I am, and certainly not interested enough to sneak sly little peeks, he was there when I picked them up from the post office, there when I excitedly ripped open the package, and it’s fair to say he’ll definitely be around when I break them in between now and July 24th.

As much as the National Wedding Show showed me exactly what I didn’t want in my wedding (a long fussy gown, a marzipan-slathered fruit cake, a hen night that involves a pink limousine) I did go home with some great ideas and even some concrete decisions made; a french netting veil, cheesecake of glory and shoes from Harriet Wilde.

You know when you see something, and that’s it, mind’s made up, won’t even bother looking at anything else, because how could anything else even come remotely close? Well, thats how I felt when I saw my shoes.  And the netting embellishment in turn helped me to make up my mind about my veil, which then helped me decide on gypsophila flowers in the table settings and my bouquet.  As odd as it may sound to say I’ve planned the look of my wedding around my shoes, it’s true – these beautiful shoes have really helped me out!

I’ve gone for Bella Ivory with the ivory netting, and aren’t they just the cutest shoes you ever did see?  I just adore the little puff of netting on the toe.  So ridiculously dainty.  The moment I slip my feet into them I instantly feel about ten times more girly and feminine.

And I can’t help but smile.

If you want your own pair (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) You can pick up the phone and have a chat with Ruth.  Because the only thing better than ordering pretty shoes, is ordering them from someone as nice as she is.

Anyone for cheesecake?

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We have an 8″ vanilla cheesecake that arrived this morning.  It’s a sample of our wedding cake and right now it’s defrosting in my fridge.

Cheesecake of Glory

Cheesecake of Glory

I saw the English Cheesecake Company at the National Wedding Show last November and that was it, I was sold. What could possibly be nicer than a vanilla and strawberry cheesecake at a July wedding?  I stopped looking at other cakes there and then and happily ticked it off my gargantuan list of Things To Organise.

So I called and ordered on Thursday, and it arrived this morning.  In dry ice, no less.  And can I just take a moment to remind you of your GCSE Chemistry lessons and that dry ice is cold.  Very very cold.  I’d go out on a limb and say it’s the coldest thing I’ve ever held.  Because in my excitement to get to my cake, I did not heed the warning and I picked up the bag of dry ice with my bare hands.  Ouch!

Always wear oven mitts when handling dry ice.

What I should have done.

It took a few seconds to register that my fingers were, infact, freezing, before I realised what I was doing.  Fortunately, an hour or so later, my hands are fine, pink and warmed up nicely.  And the dry ice has warmed up and dissipated.  That is a mistake I shan’t be making again.

I’ve already tasted my cake and let me tell you it’s melt-in-the-mouth amazing.  Creamy and delicious and a real pleasure to eat.  I know it’s going to go down a storm at my wedding this summer, especially with all those gorgeous strawberries piled up on top.  If you ever fancy a cheesecake, the English Cheesecake Company is without a doubt the place to get it.

Vivien to the rescue

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Over the last couple of weeks I’ve picked out (and bought) the dresses Megan and Katherine are going to wear as my Bridesmaids this summer.

I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have sorted that out, because it’s not been plain sailing, and out of all our wedding plans to date, that was the one thing that has caused me stress. Not quite sleepless nights (it takes a LOT to stop me from heading off to the land of nod each night) but certainly a fair bit of worry.

One of the very first things I decided after agreeing to become Ross’ wife was who I was going to ask to be my bridesmaids. My girls. My wing(wo)men. It was a no brainer. My sister and my bestie. Easy peasy! What hasn’t been so easy was picking out their dresses.

You see, I’m not wearing a traditional long gown. Without giving away too much (incase my husband-to-be reads this) my dress has somewhat of the fifties about it, as some of you have seen. And I needed something to reflect that for my bridesmaids.

So the search began. And I looked everywhere. I looked into getting something made from Light in the Box, but decided it was a little too risky, scoured the internet and the highstreet for dresses and just when I couldn’t find anything that was right, and in budget (because as much as I drool and swoon, there is nothing by Candy Anthony I can even remotely afford outside of my dreams), Vivien of Holloway came to my rescue. And I had a good feeling about Vivien. The kind of feeling you get when things are about to fall into place very nicely indeed.

So last week, Katherine (bestie) and I made the trip up to north London to the Holloway shop and as soon as we stepped through the door I knew we were on to a good thing The staff were helpful and friendly and the dresses, oh, the dresses. Just gorgeous! Pure retro glamour.

It didn’t take any time at all to find what we were looking for; a minty green halterneck swing dress with a colourful flowery print and matching bolero I’d seen on their website and even though I’m not going to be wearing it at my wedding, I tried it on anyway. All in the name of research ;-D

Within half an hour Kat’s dress was bagged up and paid for and yesterday I went back with Megan and picked up her dress, and the petticoats, and two sweet little belts which finish the look off rather smashingly, and now I can safely say that’s another thing done and ticked off my list. Big sighs of relief all round.

This is Katherine in her dress. Doesn’t she look gorgeous?