All the small things

I just had one of those lovely moments where the world seems to stop for a moment and you feel genuinely, gloriously happy. And all because of a piece of toast!

It's a pretty boring story as to why I haven't been eating (much) normal bread but that was the first piece of toast I have had in months. And it really was one of those lovely moments where you feel truly content and, dare I say this without sounding like a Disney film, but, well, alive!

I'm quite lucky that this happens to me quite often.

All the small things that, without fail, make me immensley happy, even if just for a moment.

1. Clearly, a piece of hot, buttered toast.

2. The smell in the laundry aisle in any supermarket. I always walk down it, no matter what, sniffing the air like some kind of dog!

3. Knowing that I have perfect nail varnish on.

4. Fairy-lights. There's just something magical about them.

5. Drinking a cup of Twinings tea out of my favourite bone china mug; I only ever use this mug on a Friday when I get in from work. Yes, I save the mug!

6. Getting a piece of post that looks exciting when I don't have a clue what it is.

7. Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer'.

8. What the stars look like when you're out in the countryside, away from any town.

9. Putting on my wedding tiara. Which I do, a lot.

10. Finding a treasure in a charity shop: cups & saucers, a childhood book, a glass cake stand. This is genuinely my new vice.


There are more, I know but for the moment, this is enough.

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours!

Well, I'm going to be brave and hope that someone actually reads my blog. I honestly didn't think anyone did but then I just figured out that there's a 'stats' bar thingy and I was shocked (and I mean shocked) at how many people have had a little-look-see!

So, feeling brave, I'm going to ask for a favour...which then allows me to do someone else a favour!

As you'll see from the photos, I created a moodboard of wedding ideas and a handwritten booklet for one of my friends. Well, I'd like to make one for someone I don't know so that I can get truly honest feedback as to whether I've captured the theme, the ideas and the dream of someone's celebration. Of course, it doesn't have to be a wedding; it could be any event, party or celebration.

If anyone is interested, just leave me a comment and we'll get right on it! x x

The key to happy guests!

Well, short but sweet - the best idea I've heard in ages, taken from another wedding blog (a real bride) but I cannot for the life of me think where!

Every guest has an old key (of course, prettied up with ribbon and tags). There is one birdcage, vintage box or other fabulous 'container'.

One of the keys opens the padlock that locks this 'box'.

And inside, is a prize! Champagne, chocolate, a voucher......the possibilities are endless.

I'm now scouring ebay for keys!

Piece of cake!

Right from the start, my mum and me wanted to make my wedding cake. I suppose this was because of the astronomical prices of wedding cakes, we like baking and it seems more personal.

This has meant much research, a little bit of baking and the fun part, tasting. But the ones we'd made so far didn't seem right. They were too dense, too sickly - I had visions of tipsy people throwing up into the posh hotel plant-pots! This is especially important as I'm serving the wedding cake as a dessert in the evening, not in the day.

But then my mum found the recipe for the 'most amazing cake ever'! And I'm calling it that because I held a taste-test at school in my office.............and that's what every single person who tried it called it!

Now, I thought it only fair to share so have tried to add a link just above this post. However, as my links never seem to work, I'll probably end up adding it in the comments box below!

The recipe is from the BBC Good Food website and has lots of helpful comments from other people at the bottom. I'm planning on having a fruit tier and then all the others as chocolate as it was so amazing and we're serving a lemon dessert in the day.

Honestly, the chocolate recipe is worth making for a birthday or other celebration as it's so delightful!

I'm off to eat the last piece (oh, OK, two pieces!).

Invitations, invitations, invitations!

They have been time-consuming, have made me realise just how imminent our wedding actually is and have been a joy to send off. Yes, our invitations!

And you know what? They are my biggest wedding bargain so far. As you'll see from the photo, they are good quality, simple and beautiful.

And they were from Ikea.

Yes, that's right: home of tiny wooden pencils, big yellow crinkly bags, Swedish meatballs and now, my wedding invitations!

I saw them one day last summer, thought they were beautiful and bought several packs as thank you cards. At the time, I remember thinking that they would be beautiful invites but due to the cheap price, felt that they wouldn't be good enough quality. Snob.

Then I got home, unwrapped them and realised just how lovely they were. They had no barcode anywhere, nothing to say where they were from (no, not being snobbish this time, just stylish).

Cue early get-up the very next day, a 50 mile trip, me almost running to the shelf (just in case someone else had had the same idea!) and relief when I realised that they were all still there. It was like some kind of upmarket version of 'Supermarket Sweep'; I was literally using my whole arm to swipe them into the trolley, just until no-one else could grab them and I could count them in peace!

And the most amazing thing - £45 for all of my day & evening invitations!I've been proud to send them off, what with their thick, pristine and pearly envelopes holding the delicate, raised design inside. I hope my guests will be as excited about the landing on the doormat as I was about posting them!

A hen do do do, push pineapple, shake the tree!

Well, the hen do train is finally a'rollin'! After what seems forever planning our wedding, with just 6 months to go now, it's beginning to really sink in that yes, we are actually going to be married and so I had really better sort out the bigger details instead of obsessing over drinks stirrers, lace-wrapped candles and fairy lights!

And even though Bridesmaid 1 has moved far away from me, she is still being fabulous enough to organise my hen do for me. Every hen do I have ever been on has been a raucous affair, one memorably involving an 'Inflatable Husband' we christened Johnny, who then got to have much more fun than we did (that's a whole other story!).

It's funny but I can't actually believe that I will be having my very own hen do and I can't possibly imagine what will happen on it (maybe it's better not to know in advance!). But one thing I have realised is that actually, it's as much part of the wedding as the Big Day itself....and I can't wait.

Wedding planning a-go-go!

It's been a long whil since I posted - mainly due to a promotion at work, generally forgetting I even had a blog, laziness etc.etc.

But one main reason is the fact that my feet don't seem to have touched the ground what with wedding rings, suits (Nightmare on Moss Bros Street), photographer-finding, hotel-traumas (now sorted, thankfully), ebay-bidding galore....

And now onto the invitations. The image is from my Save-the-Dates. There'll be more to come of the invites but also as soon as I begin the crafty DIY details.... x