Every weekend should be a bank holiday, yes it should

Finally, this countdown to our wedding day is starting to feel real; 4 days people!

I think now that the shopping is done and the craft is finished the pre-drinks and family time should begin!

So this weekend yes i'll collect some ordered stuff (must not forget to collect the cake, serious) and attend a wedding rehearsal, but then I'm going to relax. I'm thinking lie-ins, pilates, Netflix, park with my niece and some good old-fashioned family time. The planning is done. There's nothing I could change that would make a difference and it'd only stress everybody out. So, to the relaxing weekend! Happy bank holiday!

(Oh, I've gotta move house this weekend. Forgot. Well i'll relax around that minor detail). 

Engagement Shoot

Just the title of this post makes me feel a little edgy. I'm not photogenic and not even a selfie girl so having an entire shoot dedicated to Matt and I made both of us nervous to say the least. You know the couples who take regular photos of themselves to share on Facebook? Yup, we're not one of them.

To get around the fear, I booked it at a beautiful Abbey owned by English Heritage which isn't too far from our village. It was a bright sunny day and the Abbey was teeming with families and even a couple of other photographers. We love the photos Alisa took for us! We really enjoyed the shoot and will definitely do more of this in the future (you know, for special occasions, not as a casual weekend activity!).  If you're local to Hampshire, check out her Facebook page here for some more stunning pics (of more photogenic people, ha!).

Here are a few of our favourites from the day! 

 A huge thank you to Alisa and we're even excited about our wedding photos now!

Engagement is yours not hers

via

When we got engaged weeks before Christmas kicked off we were elated and anxious at the same time. Why anxious? Because we didn't want to steal the Christmas spotlight for others, especially those in our family. There were toasts to our engagement and future together but we didn't push it. We weren't the reason for the season after all.

So planning got pushed until after the New Year. This suited me especially because I found the whole adjustment period i.e. being a girlfriend to being a fiance, particularly stressful. See, I don't cope well with change in my life at all. Going on holiday? Stress. Change to daily routine? Stress. So naturally becoming a fiance and faced with lots of well meaning comments such as "let the planning begin, you won't know what's hit you!" didn't go down too well. On the outside I was smiling, on the inside I was wanting to crawl into the nearest hole. When we were together as a couple and enjoying our relationship as we did before, and without we had without constant comments from others I was fine. The holidays didn't give much couple time to us though.

Into middle of January and after really seeking God's peace on the change and I'm starting to really look forward to the whole shebang and elopement is quickly disappearing from my mind. We've started to get quotes from venues and some nights I toss and turn with excitement about it all.

I guess the lesson here is that your engagement is yours. It's your emotions, your plans, will go at your speed and will be best shared between you, your partner and God. Don't be sucked into a make believe world of what you "should" be feeling and "should" be doing at any particular time. Reading other blogs has both helped and hindered in this regard: I love reading about what others have done for their weddings though often only positive emotions are written about and none of the stress, anxiety and nerves are laid down.

And don't get me started on the battle of budget vs. dreams (read: Pinterest)!

Do you have any wedding planning tips for me?

Our proposal story

Every girl wants to share her proposal story with anybody who'll listen!

We had planned to visit Hyde Park Winter Wonderland this year (because we missed it last year) and take a day off work for a Christmas date day. December 11th was settled on, tickets for the ferris wheel were booked and off we went!

Paddington Trail - find a Paddington and donate to the charity who sponsors it. This guy was in Carnaby Street.

We started on Oxford Street where we checked out the Christmas lights and then wandered down to Tottenham Court Road to eat delicious Korean food for lunch. When we arrived at the entrance to Hyde Park it was bitterly cold and the wind was something fierce! He suggested a walk around the park before entering the fairground and I thought, "Erm...okay but it's really cold and the fair is right there and I really really want to ride the ferris wheel right now!". Thought not said, that part is important!

Our walk took us down to the Serpentine where he suggested we sit on a bench together overlooking the pond. Too many birds. I'm scared of birds so I suggested we keep walking. Little did I know but I just ruined proposal number one!

As is always the way I needed the toilet when there wasn't one anywhere near where we were. We went on a hunt and eventually found a public bathroom. Afterwards I started to walk back towards the entrance to the fairground and he tried to get me to walk the other way to a secluded garden. I still hadn't cottoned on so ruined proposal number two!

We were metres away from the fairground entrance when he grabbed my hand and led me off in the other direction. I just wanted to ride the ferris wheel ya'know! As we walked the other way he told me he wanted to find a quiet place to talk. Oh. My. Word. I suddenly got it. Instead of keeping quiet and going with the flow I whittered on about any subject that came to my head. I was so nervous. 

My man did what he affectionately now refers to as his "love preamble" and then got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I said yes of course! 

Just to the left of the pathway intersection is where he proposed.

I finally got to ride the ferris wheel as an engaged woman. We then went to the ski lodge and drank mulled wine together, enjoying those first couple of hours of our engagement as a secret between ourselves.  

We Instagrammed this photo but didn't tell anybody it was our first photo togteher as an engaged couple. 

Christmas, love and shiny things

Merry Christmas friends! I know I have been quiet here but that's because my life was flipped upside-down on December 11th when my man asked me to marry him! Above is the picture we used to tell friends (well, those I hadn't already told in person, which was most!). Proposal story post will follow soon I promise. January will see the start of our wedding planning!

This Christmas has been very busy and the next three days will be a whirlwind of family, food and (hopefully) great (relaxing too) times. I'm hoping you have a relaxing and blessed Christmas time with loved ones!