The Pastel Pirate wedding blog!

Honeymoon catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

So this is the reason why I haven't posted for a while, honeymoon! Our first stop was Las Vegas, somewhere we've visited before and I’ve always wanted to go back.

After a very long journey we were rewarded with an amazing room, our suite had both a huge bath and shower, 3 TVs, a lounge and 2 rooms, all with a view of the strip! I've never stayed somewhere so good in all my life (and probably never will again!)

When we arrived it was quite late so we just grabbed something from the food court before going to watch the Bellagio fountains.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast at Caesars palace (where we caught Michelle Heaton in the queue in front of us haha) we went to the pool for a few hours, and got severely burnt! Margarita's helped me out though haha.

We visited a wine and cheese 'hideaway' for lunch and then to look around the Bellagio conservatory, it’s so pretty! We had tapas for dinner, our favourite kind of food!

We had a Rivera type breakfast overlooking the pool the next morning and then spent the morning at an aquarium and after to a bar for alcoholic slushie.

Our lunch that day was a build your own burger bar- I went sooo overboard, especially as they had a build your own milkshake option! We went to the bodies’ exhibition after where we got to handle a real brain! Of course after that the natural option was to visit a tequila bar haha. That night I got to do something I’ve always wanted too, order room service! It was soo fancy!

Our reason for our room service night was we had a super early 5am start due to a Grand Canyon day trip. We got to see some amazing views of the canyon; it was a tiring day but so worth it. That night we got home, went out for an Italian and then straight to bed!

The next morning we went for a buffet and I’m never very good at them, I go so over the top and then have to give up haha. It didn't help that I was a bit nervous because after we went to the gun range! Actually turns out the nerves were pointless because I'm AMAZING at shooting! I have the worst hand-eye co-ordination so was naturally expecting to be bad but actually, I got aim!

Lunch after was a place famous for their sundaes, we shared a deep fried Oreo sundae (yeah it was sickly) but decided to have our own frozen hot chocolates, we didn't realise how big they would be!

Our day continued with cocktails and as we were so stuffed from lunch we skipped the dinner and went for more cocktails! That night we went to Zumanity, the kinky cirque de soleil show, it was so funny!

Breakfast the next morning was sitting out overlooking the strip eating gruyere and ham crepes. We had a wonder around that morning going to the pearl factory where I opened an oyster and got a pearl out and we went to the oxygen bar where we also got a massage while hooked up.

After we had our vow renewal! Typical Vegas style baby!!!

Our celebratory lunch was at a place called the sugar factory; they had amazing cocktails based on sweets. After we went to the CSI experience where you get to solve a crime, that’s when I was in my element! We actually went for another cocktail night instead of dinner and finished the night going to a comedy club.

The next day we actually went for a 'healthy' breakfast, we went to a restaurant in a spa and I had peanut butter and banana sandwich haha. We went for a gondola ride at the Venetian, our hotel, and then did some gambling. The boy lost all our money but don't worry I won it back!

We had a buffet lunch (with unlimited champagne!) and then went to the dolphin habitat and the tiger sanctuary.

That night we had the boy's fave dinner, we went to a fancy steakhouse and he had waygu beef steak, I'm not a steak fan but I tried some and wow it was gorgeous. We then went to see Penn and Teller, the magicians, who were brilliant and we got photos after!

Our last day in Vegas was made the most of, we went to a typical American diner for breakfast and then went up to the Stratosphere hotel, and they have rides that go off the side of the 1200 foot hotel. The boy left me to go on my own! We had a delicious tapas meal for dinner and went to a cocktail lounge before catching our stretch limo to the airport!

I'll post something soon about the New York leg of our trip!

xx

Midweek catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Things are a bit hectic at the moment with honeymoon preparation, work and post wedding tidying but I’m hoping to have more time to blog after the honeymoon! We went up to Manchester last weekend to see my beautiful Besty Beth and her partner Matt. We went out for dinner, drinks and a night out and it was lovely to have a catch up before we went away.

I thought my first Easter as a wife should go down with a bang so I did an Easter egg hunt for the hubby; I hid 50 eggs over the house! It was so much fun haha, it took me right back to being a child. I might start this as an Easter tradition!

It’s been cold but bright this week so the boy and I have been taking full advantage by taking some walks around the lake. It’s always one of my favourite things to just have time the two of us without the distraction of TV/ laptops/ washing up.

I caught up with my other friend Alia (ex bridesmaid) for a midweek lunch at Giraffe where I allowed myself to get fully in the spring mood with some strawberry cider.

And yesterday the boy and I had a date night at the cinema to go see Side effects, however as I write this before I’ve actually gone....I’m hoping it was good!!

I'm married!!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

So it’s over and wow, what a day. I have to say the day was better than I could have even imagined it. Once we get our photos I’ll give you a full update and talk through!

On the Monday we whisked ourselves off to London for a minimoon, it was so perfect. We had a fancy PJ day all Monday, we were so tired from the wedding so we opened champagne, a box of chocolates and then nibbled in our posh hotel hehe.

Monday night we went out for possibly the best dinner we've ever had, Clos Maggiore, it was just beautiful from start to finish with an impressive wine list (94 pages!!) and amazing staff. It was really romantic; we were sat right by a roaring fireplace.

The next morning we were up for breakfast at the Delaunay which was super yummy and then off to London Aquarium for a few hours. We went to see Mousetrap for a matinee and then had a bite to eat in Covent Garden; it really was a perfect little break.

I hit the ground running with post wedding preparations as I spent Wednesday night writing out all our thank you cards, Thursday night emptying all our boxes of decorations and putting everything away and then we went out Friday night for dinner as it was one of the boys friends birthday. We can start the honeymoon planning too, excited!!

My wedding diary: 1 day to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

My new place cards!

Oh wow the time is crazy right now! I've already entered my 'Zen' state, whatever goes wrong now I’ve just kinda of accepted I have to shrug my shoulders and let it go. My job has been stressing me out but I realised I had no option but to soldier through it. Then I fell down the stairs right onto my back, I’m on painkillers and I had some phsyio and I’m just going to put up with the pain.

A box of wedding stuff went missing containing our place cards for the head table and our candles for the cake. I went out and got new place cards, small bottles of alcohol thanks to Vom Fass, however at first I was pretty upset about the cake candles. We've cut our losses and decided to just use some long thin candles; it’s not worth letting it stress me out!

So let’s work on what I’ve done since the last catch up:

My mum did our fingerprint board for us! This is going to be for our guests to create a masterpiece for our home on hehe.

We paid off the venue, the photographer and the cake! What a relief!

I made our chalkboard runner! This is what will be used when we walk down the aisle, written on it is the lyrics to the song I’m walking down the aisle too, 'Anti D' by the Wombats. I also spent some time planning on who was walking down the aisle and when!

I put together a timings spreadsheet for the day. In 10 minute slots I now know the plan from first to last thing. I also contacted all of the attendants to let them know all kind of information about when, where, how they need to be at places. No one has an excuse for not turning up on time haha.

We're having a big dinner tonight with about 20 members of family and I realised I didn't have a new dress. I looked all over Topshop, Miss Selfridge, River Island, H&M, New Look, Dorothy Perkins and ended up finding a gorgeous dress in...Primark! Its cream so I feel quite bridal!

Can you believe it but this week I was still chasing RSVPs! We needed answers because my mum’s doing the seating plan and she obviously needed to know. Luckily all guests are now accounted for and my mum has made the plan for us!

I made up some reservation signs for the ceremony room. There are some family members that need reservations because they want a front row seat (Nan’s and parents), the people walking down the aisle need seats to get into obviously and the people who are doing readings need aisle seats.

We made some signs for the toilet using baby pictures, embarrassing ones of course!

We planned some things for our London Minimoon, we're only going for an overnight stay but I still can't wait for a night away with my new husband!!!!

I started wearing my wedding shoes around the house to wear them in hehe.

I tried on my wedding dress...and thought it was a bit snug! Cue an emergency trip to Marks and Sparks for some shapewear haha, now I should be all sucked in.

We got our order of service printed out. I just need to hand these over to my brother, the usher, to hand out.

I photographed all the things that need to go on the table, then boxed everything up and sent it over to the venue. It’s lovely having a clear lounge again hehe.

My mum made our cake; she wanted to surprise us with the cake that we'll be cutting so she's been working on a top secret cake. I know it’s iced, decorated and she's taken it to the venue already.

We put together some ad lib cards for our guest table. Guests will fill them in and drop them in a memory capsule for us to open on our one year anniversary!

We spent a night sorting out the fortune tellers. The boy was cutting, I was folding. We worked for what seemed like an eternity and when we did the last one I threw my arms out in celebration....and knocked lemonade all over them! We saved half though haha.

I worked on a few signs, signs needed for the tables to explain things and signs to direct people to the photo booth etc.

We had our final meeting with the venue where we went over EVERYTHING; got any questions I had out the way and left with me feeling generally better about the whole thing haha.

So what's left?

Well this morning I’ve gone to the hairdressers to get my hair and nails done all ready. I'll then be coming back to pack my bags, pick up the cake pops and go over to the venue. We need to sort out the final payment for the entertainment as that is due on the day and I still have a few details to go through with them too but that’s it! I OWNED that list! Although the post wedding list is still quite long......

My wedding diary: 2 weeks to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I have attacked the list this week with such gusto! Here's a rundown of what we've done:

The boy has completed the playlist. Even though we have a band in the evening the music throughout the meal and ceremony is being played through the hotel system which will be linked to our iPod so the boy had the task of downloading all the music and putting it on the iPod, it took a bit of nagging but it’s done now!

We have contacted both the registrar and our photographer to go through all final details. It’s been reassuring to get the timings, the details all down and sorted. I now feel like I might actually know how I’m getting married haha.

For the day before the wedding I’ve booked in my haircut, a hair tint with some multi tonal bits to make my hair look glossier and a manicure and pedicure. I'm looking forward to having a bit of a pampering session and a few hours breather that weekend haha.

We've booked dinner for the night before the wedding too. We had quite a few people staying at the hotel the night before so we thought it would be nice to all get together for a quiet dinner, I can imagine myself being quite nervous/ excited at that time and once again I may need to have a forced breather. It turns out that we have 21 people staying the night before so we're having a rather big dinner haha.

The boy has his shoes haha, he has been dragging his feet (haha pun!) a bit about it but a successful nag meant I can now rest assured he won't be walking down the aisle in his socks.

I've ordered some macarons for the cake table which I’ll be picking up the day before, I do love my macarons!

I reviewed our gift list, it turns out we've had about 60 items brought so far! We have such generous gifts; I actually had to add a few items because there was much more brought for us than I thought!

I have been focusing a lot on attendant’s gifts this week too. Sophie, my little female usher, has got a boxful of sweets and the boys have got cigars. I didn't really know too much about cigars but I read some online reviews and decided to go for a Cuban cigar, Romeo and Juliet, which I thought added a kind of romantic edge (we'll forget the whole killing themselves thing). I brought cigars for my brother, both dads, the best man and the boy.

I got a gorgeous felt bouquet from Jennifer Rae and it came with yellow ribbon around the base which was lovely but when I was in Hobbycraft last week I saw a pastel blue ribbon that had 'You are my sunshine' embroidered in it. This was a song my Nan used to sing to me allll the time, we even played it at her funeral, so I thought it would be a perfect little reminder of her on the day and I wrapped it around my bouquet instead of the yellow ribbon.

I got some cards from Slice of Pie for some of the attendants and the boy for the morning of the wedding, the designs were just too cute for me to ignore!

We got an email listing of the room bookings from our hotel venue. I wanted to know who was staying because I've made gift bags for all the guests. I'm going to give them to the hotel manager to leave in the rooms for people. We've included a bottle of wine, a bottle of radox bath stuff, some hot chocolate, some mini chocolate, a door hanger and a postcard of the wedding venue from about 100 years ago! All I’m saying is I would be pretty impressed with these bags if I was receiving one haha.

Remember my skulls? Well this week I did some retouching of them and added some chalk decoration. The skulls that are acting as table numbers I kept quite plain, mainly because I didn't want to mess them up. There are going to be skulls as decoration in the bar area as well and I got a bit more creative with their decoration.

There were a few more decoration pieces that I worked on this week as well, just small things to pull the decorations together really.

So last week the list was at 82 and now it’s at 64!! Take that you damn list!!

Sunday catch up

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Margarita!!!

Well considering that it's so close to the wedding I’ve been able to slip in a few relaxing nights this week. My future sister in law took me to TGI Fridays for dinner on Thursday night which was lovely, we ate so much! We had a few cocktails too, TGI's do a skinny cocktail range and there’s an absolute gorgeous blackberry margarita! I had a few hehe.

The boy and I at pre cinema drinks

On the Friday night the boy decided to treat me to the cinema, he was in one of those moods when he just really wanted to go and I got a text while at work saying he had booked tickets to go see 'I give it a year' that night. I knew he chose the film because we both love Stephen Merchant but I wasn't sure how good the film was going to be. Well I’m reporting that I’m pleasantly surprised and it had several laugh out loud moments.

Hummus night :D

Then last night the boy and I had a lovely night in, with pesto hummus (YUMMY!!!!!) and DVDs and it was just so nice, we haven't done that for an unbelievable amount of time really. It was nice because it was my last day off before the wedding, EEEEK!!

My hen weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

View from the hotel room

So I had my hen do last weekend! I so do love my girlies! We all met at the station on Friday afternoon and trained over to Brighton where we checked into our hotel, the Royal Albion, right on the seafront facing the pier. The original plan was to go over to Komedia for a comedy night and meal but I messed up and booked the tickets for Saturday night, instead of Friday. We got a partial refund and even though originally I felt a bit disappointed and annoyed at myself we were soon laughing over wine at Strada.

Strada fpr dinner, you have to wonder what Stacey was showing Anna and Vicky to get this reaction!

Out for drinks, Anna looks so creepy!

We went for a few drinks afterwards and when we got back one of my party, Kayleigh, decided to run herself a bath...and then fall asleep. Queue flood damage that ruined about 6 rooms in the hotel! Of course Kayleigh had to pay quite a lot of money in damages but it’s quite rock n roll to ruin a hotel right...well maybe not by running a bath.

Alia and Beth, two of my bridesmaids

On the Saturday we got up and went out for shopping and coffee. We went and then had lunch at Bohemia which was amazing and we got cocktails there as well, they were so strong they were like paint stripper haha. My bridesmaid Alia travelled from London to join us for lunch although she wasn’t able to stay for the whole day.

Exploding cocktails!

Vicky, my bridesmaid and myself

We then went to a burlesque dance class. I was quite lucky I suppose in that I experienced only one hen prank the whole time and that was everyone did the class in leggings and a t shirt...I did it in shorts and stockings. The instructor made me sit in the middle of the room as well with everyone staring at me. The worst part was that the class was held in the Hilton hotel and the conference room it was being held in was right across reception from the toilets we had to change...pretty sure everyone thought I was a hooker. It was a laugh though and we got taught the Thriller and Single ladies dances as well as burlesque.

Beth

Grace

Kylie

Anna

Me!

Then we went for our night out at the Proud Cabaret. Oh wow what a night. We all dressed up 50's style and the venue was gorgeous too. We had a three course meal followed by a burlesque show and then the venue transformed into a club. Many cocktails were consumed.

From L-R Anna, Stacey, Grace, Kylie, Vicky, Me, Laura, Beth and Kayleigh

Burlesque!

On the Sunday everyone needed to get back quite early, we went for a gorgeous brunch at a little cafe and then everyone went back but Beth and I spent the day in Brighton going on the pier, the rides, shopping and having Sunday dinner.

All in all a lovely weekend with some beautiful girlies!!! The boy had his stag as well; they went to Nottingham for some paintballing and a night out. He came back in one piece but with some beasty bruises haha.

My wedding diary- 3 weeks to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I have to admit that since our move in November the wedding has seemed like nothing but a pain in the arse. It felt like timing wise it was so inconvenient because with the move then Christmas it was suddenly there and it left me stressed. This week was the first week where the stress has calmed a bit and I’m excited. Not really for the wedding, that’s still proving a ballache, but I’m just so excited to be married to the boy. I cannot wait to call him my husband and its making everyday brighter! So what’s the status of the list now?

Well I booked all the time off work for the wedding and honeymoon. It may seem a bit late to some but actually I’ve been fighting for this time off for months, it isn't easy to get holiday when you're a carer. I'm working right up to the wedding and I’ve got 2 days off afterwards but it’s something and I’m going to enjoy it with my new husband...and count down the days until I can have 3 weeks off for the honeymoon!

Speaking of honeymoons we paid ours off! Such a big relief, I remember when booking it up in August how worried I was about paying it off but it’s done and that’s another big expense we can now put behind us.

I've been picking up some presents for people who have helped us with the wedding. My friend Rima is doing us a reading and I’ve got her a gift of my 3 favourite books although I won't share them here, in case she reads! I also got my Nan a bookmark from Vicky Trainer as a thank you for some of the DIY touches she's helped with.

I put together a 'little white book' too. This is a book of all the contact details of the bridal party and all the suppliers. Very handy and something I’ll be giving to all the bridesmaids on the day of the wedding!

We also had our hen and stag do's but I’m going to post about that tomorrow!

P.S I have now got the to-do list down to 82 items, it was 116 last week!!!

My catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:38:00 +0000

What with all the wedding planning going on (more about that in tomorrow’s post) and my hen do (more about that Thursday!) I’ve had a fairly low key week otherwise. I went for lunch with my bridesmaid Alia which was lovely although I did get a parking ticket because we spent so long chattering, totally worth it though!

I've been continuing with my physio, I’ve had three sessions now and I can really see a marked improvement with my back pain so that’s positive. My physio wants to get a few more sessions in before the wedding so there’s no worry about me getting back pain on the day!

I went puppy training with Maisie, my parent’s puppy. She was such a well behaved pup, especially compared to the others there. There was a gorgeous but boisterous Dalmatian, a cute cockerpoo who didn't know much and a frikkin mental westie but Maisie, the tiniest by far, spent the whole lesson sat like a good girl by my side. I was so proud!

My sunday catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Well let’s just say I’ve not done a very good job of cutting down on the food pre wedding! Here's a roundup of some of the bits I’ve been eating:

I had the boy’s parents around for dinner. For starter I made asparagus bread, for the main I did a chicken and sweetcorn rice bake and for dessert a chocolate fridge cake. It all went down really well!

I celebrated Chinese New year in the only way I knew how!

For Valentines I cooked a beast of a meal! We had ham and cheese balls (in my cake pop maker!), a manchego and chorizo puff and prawns with asparagus. I cooked so much because I couldn't decide what to do! We went for a really long walk before dessert, which was layered chocolate mousse.

I had a work friend around and I cooked Corn risotto with bacon followed by a strawberry mug pie which was delicious!

I had my good friend Rima around for raspberry and white chocolate bread and butter pudding (with brioche though!). It was actually amazing if I do say so myself! She brought some homemade beetroot hummus and pitta as well so we had a lovely little lunch.

Hannah my partner in crime

I also went on a night out yesterday, it was a friend’s birthday and we went for pub golf. It was pretty deadly. If you don't know the rules of pub golf here they are:

Each pub is a hole, and as such it has a par and a specified drink, and may have a water hazard (where you can't lose the toilet). Your score is the number of mouthfuls for the drink. The par and the drink are specified on the scorecard for each hole.

I have to say I downed several pints in just two gulps, that’s not something to be proud of but I’m very competitive! The next morning there was only ever going to be one solution to how I was feeling:

What else have I been doing apart from eating myself stupid?
We dog sat both Ruby, whom we had over new years, and my parents puppy Maisie.

I've started going physio as my back problems have become really bad, there’s been progress but bloody hell physio is painful!

I finished reading my book, Lolita, I've been reading it for ages because I’ve been so busy but finally got it finished! Whoop!

My wedding diary: 4 weeks to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 11:42:00 +0000

Ok I do feel like I’m taking that list down but at not quite the pace I want! My favourite thing I did this week was buy all our sweets! We needed quite a lot of sweets as we're not having a sweet table but sweets at EVERY table. We had a trip to Costo and brought 6 cases of flying saucers and 2 cases of strawberry bon bons. I then went on Amazon and brought candy necklaces and double lollipops. The boy is insisting we take a trip to the supermarket at some point to get party rings (his favourite) and I might oblige, at least they fit into the pastel colour scheme hehe.

The boys have their suits! See this is what happens when you trust the boy with a job, it gets done SUPER late. I have to admit I’ve been tearing my hair out a bit with this one but it’s all sorted now. I don't really know much, I know the suits are grey but what kind of suits, ties etc is being kept secret from me. All I know is the boy, my dad, the boys dad, the best man and my brother (an usher) have gone and rented the suits so I’m looking forward to having the grand reveal!

I've been putting together 'bridesmaid’s survival kits' which I have to kind of keep secret because the bridesmaids might read this but I’m very pleased with them! I'll give them to the bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding or possibly the night before.

I've also got a few mini jobs sorted, for example I got some pretty floral napkins for the cake table, I sorted out my outfits for my hen do (next weekend!!!) and we paid our flower deposit. It does feel so nice getting a deposit paid off! The to do list currently stands at 116 items, hmmmm.

My wedding diary: 5 weeks to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Ok I have to say it’s seriously freaking me out how little time I have left to go!!! The to do list still stands at 121 unfortunately, a few things got crossed off...and then a few more got added on! Ok so what have I done in the last week?

The Vegas wedding has been booked! On the 15th April at 1pm the boy and I will be walking down the aisle of the Little White Wedding chapel. It’s the same that Ross and Rachel got married in during friends and has seen real life ceremonies such as Joan Collins, Slash, Judy Garland, Britney Spears, Frank Sinatra and more! I'm super excited. I've been in a pretty honeymoon mood actually this week and have been booking us up shows and things like that. Thinking the more things we can book up now the less we have to worry about getting money to bring away with us! You know how I said that I brought my Vegas dress last week? Well I picked out a shirt for the boy. It’s a vintage denim shirt with skull collar tips, it looks so good!

I tried on my dress again this week. I haven't tried it on for about 3 months for fear of confronting weight gain. Well I got into the dress which was something haha. I do feel it’s a bit tight for me to feel comfortable in at the moment but I should only need to lose a few pounds I’m hoping, if all else fails I’m going to have to spanx it up! Trying on the dress made me question my jewellery choices as well. My previous decision was just to wear a small crystal pendent my Nan had given me once however this latest trying on session made me change my mind and now I’ve gone for a big pearl collar! I ended up ordering about 6 necklaces from Asos to just try on with the dress but i fell in love with this one, and just £18! Bet that’s made you curious about my dress haha.

I had a bridesmaid’s night in and we went over everything. We discussed their shoe options, what they plan to do with their hair, what kind of handbags their bringing, any problems with their dresses (one of my bridesmaids is currently getting her dress altered and another can't quite get into hers), the hen do and we also went over the timings for the day. It was a good opportunity for them to all meet again and also for me to answer any questions they had. It also threw up for me a few things to think about (like what’s happening with the aisle walk?!) so overall very productive!

I brought all my wedding make up this week too! I managed to collect £45 worth of boots points and was ready to spend them this week. I ended up buying myself:

Collection Fix me up long lasting make up fixer (to make sure my make up lasts all day)

Eylure ready to wear false eyelashes (I'm super bad at applying fake eyelashes so thought maybe these pre-glued ones might make the job a bit easier)

Bourjois eyeshadow- shade 15 (a lovely pink shade)

Scandaleyes waterproof kohl eyeliner from Rimmel (goes on well, stays on well and waterproof= perfect!)

Million lashes waterproof mascara from L’Oreal

Lumi Magique pure light primer from L’Oreal

Eyeshadow primer from Urban Decay

Skin cream to powder foundation from Urban Decay in 'Illusion'

Fine one one by Benefit (my favourite buy! This is an amazing blusher for the cheeks but it also doubles up for the lips, seriously amazing, is shaded so that just one swipe does all your contouring for you!)

I'm going to have to put them all away now so I don’t use them before the wedding hehe.

My catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

View from the treetops

I've had a lovely week filled with lots and lots of food! At the weekend I had my bridesmaid Beth visiting from Manchester. We're both trying to watch our weight a bit pre wedding so I brought lots and lots of fresh fruit for us to enjoy and on Saturday morning we went on a lovely long walk around Salcey Forest which has a walkway that takes you above the trees, rather lovely!

After our walk we went to Most Marvellous, a lovely vintage shop in Northampton, where we spoilt all our hard work with the best white chocolate and banana cake, it was amazing!!!

I ended up buying 12 cute vintage plates, a vintage dress, a book and a decorative platter...for £12! What a bargain! That night we ended up going out for my friend Kayleighs birthday. Kayleigh had also just moved into a brand new home so it was a bit of a joint housewarming thing too. Sunday we just chilled out and then I had all the bridesmaids around for a Sunday dinner!

On Friday night I also held a dinner party for my parents. It was the first chance we've had chance to do something with them since moving in.

I started off with an avocado and chickpea salad which i found on Tasty kitchen.

the main meal was a prawn and feta pasta from Annies Eats and for my dessert I made a raspberry ripple cake from a recipe from the Lipstick Loves blog! Instead of apricot jam i actually used cranberry jam, it was yum!

Everything went down so well and the night was a success, lots of prosecco was drunk!

Can you tell the wedding diet isn't going too well? Haha I also went to Living room with the boy, my bridesmaid Vicky and her partner where I had a 3 course meal and about a million cocktails so that day was also a bit of a naughty day too hehe

Oops......

My wedding diary: 6 weeks to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:27:00 +0000

I have to say I’m feeling pretty productive on the wedding at the moment, hopefully there are going to be weekly updates to how I’m getting on! So what have I been working on at the moment? Well although the details of the actual thing haven't been sorted I brought my dress for our vowel renewal in Vegas on our honeymoon hehe. We're doing it for fun so I wasn't looking at an overly crazy bride type dress.

At first I thought about getting a white dress because my actual wedding dress isn’t white but then decided against it. I toyed with a vintage dress but couldn’t find any that I particularly loved and then I found the above Hellbunny dress which I adored. It’s one of my favourite styles and covered in skulls (which I adore obviously) and flamingos which is a little running joke because I was so obsessed with being a flamingo when I was younger I used to spend all my time standing on one foot, even today when I’m standing up I often perch on one foot haha.

Sourced from http://somethingturquoise.com/2011/09/02/diy-easy-seating-chart/

Even at this late stage there have been guest list troubles. I thought with the RSVP's returned and the final number given to our venue that was one thing I could put behind me but alas it wasn’t to be. There was some miscommunication between us and the parents about which guests were day and which were evening that caused some upset and a few people wanting to bring last minute plus ones, fine for the evening but an impossibility to the ceremony due to us having filled our room allowance. There were a few tears and tantrums but things seemed to have worked themselves out now.

With the final guest list I’ve started to have a play around with seating plans. I've gone with the technique of writing everyone’s name on a post it which you can then move onto paper circles. It’s been a bit hard, mainly because both parents have expressed a desire to mix up the tables a bit so that people integrate more rather than just sit with the people they know. It can be hard judging who is going to get on, who's a similar age etc but I’m pretty happy with what we've come up with so far.

The boy's stag do planning is in progress. He will be having it the same weekend as my hen, I put in a polite request to the best man as every other weekend in Feb I’m working and I really don't want to be working when the boy is away enjoying himself, I’m a sourpuss like that. The best man has asked for my help to put something together so we're working on that at the moment but keeping everything under wraps so the boy doesn't find out hehe.

I got in contact with the entertainment this week to sort out all the timings of the day. It works out that the evening guests will be arriving at half 7, have some time to talk and then the band will do their first set from 8.30pm-9.30pm after which the evening buffet will be served. The band will then do their second set from 10.30pm-11.30pm.

For the guests that are staying at the hotel I wanted to put together an arrival gift bag for them. When I saw these labels on Citlali I loved them! I got in contact and we managed to create some matching door hangers as well so I’m extremely pleased with them!

I've started to focus a bit on looks. After every bath I’ve made sure I’ve slathered myself in body butter and I’ve started using Dermologica daily microfoliant which is just brilliant, my skin feels so soft. I had my hair cut this week too, I’m just going to have one more trim before the big day so my hair should be nice and healthy.

Oh and my to do list has gone from 147 items to 121, thats productive i'd say!

Sunday catch up

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:18:00 +0000

I have had an up and down week really! Only one down but quite a big one, I had a car crash! I went into the back of someone (when they braked for no reason at all!!!!). My back has been killing me ever since, in early December the boy and I had someone go into the back of us so having never been in an accident before my backs had to endure two in the space of a month! The cars pretty messed up on the bonnet and bumper but luckily it’s all superficial and still runs, thank god!

Some good things have been going on though. The boy and I have fitted in a few date nights. We went to see Les Miserable at the cinema, we've seen the stage show which was brilliant but wasn't sure what to expect from the screen adaptation as some of the reviews said the singing was ropey. I had to agree the singing wasn’t the greatest standards in areas but I thought the acting more than made up for it, we were able to get sucked into the story by miniscule facial features I could never see on stage so I loved it. The snow has been a bit of a pain, I’ve had to continue to work even during the worst of it (and I drive about 800 miles a week!!!) but it has meant some lovely snugly nights in with comfort food and blankets. We went to the living room as well for a midweek dinner which was delicious! It was the day I’d crashed the car so I really needed that cocktail!

Yesterday my bridesmaid Vicky and I went to London for the day. We started off at Camden Market where we had camel burgers and deep fried mars bar, I love the kind of food you can find on Camden market!!

We then went to the ice bar but I’m a bit disappointed because I was feeling really unwell that morning and so I decided to have some juice instead of a cocktail, that was annoying anyway because its £16 entry so to have juice felt a bit of a rip off but then I started feeling really unwell...and was sick in my cape! Embarrassing!!

However once I’d been sick I did feel better so we went to Madame Tussauds and then the V&A for the Hollywood costume exhibition which was AMAZING!

Jack Sparrow!

THAT Marilyn Monroe dress!

We ended up having a lovely dinner at Rocca and then having some wine at Gordon’s Wine bar, the oldest wine bar in the UK before heading home, it was such a nice day (minus the sickness hehe)

My wedding diary: 2 months to go!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Clos Maggiore

Ok so it’s less than two months to the wedding now, freaking out much??? I count 147 things on my 'to do' list, enough to give me a stroke I think! It’s just been so hard trying to find the time to do anything! So what have I been doing recently? Well mostly chasing up rsvps, a boring ass job!

We've booked a minimoon to London! We can't get much time off work after the wedding due to having to book time for the honeymoon (which is a few weeks after the wedding) yet if we get married on the Sunday we hardly want to return to work on the Monday. We've got the Monday and Tuesday booked off work so we wanted to go somewhere close just for the Monday night so we've booked a night at The hide, a boutique hotel in London. We've also booked tickets to see Agatha Christies, Mousetrap for a Tuesday matinee and we plan to have a romantic dinner at Clos Maggiore, voted the most romantic restaurant in London. It will be a lovely little trip!

Speaking to lovely trips I’ve organised my hen do! I know most brides don't organise their own hen do but my bridesmaids are useless with that kinda thing haha. I've chosen Brighton! There are going to be 10 of us and so far we've booked two nights to stay in the Brighton Albion hotel. Our itinerary is going to go a bit as followed: On the Friday we arrive by train and then head to Komedia for a comedy night. On the Saturday we'll have a chocolaty break at Choccywoccydoodahfollowed by some kind of activity (yet to be decided). On the Saturday night we're going to go to the Proud Cabaret, we'll have dinner followed by a burlesque show and then a club. On the Sunday we're going to have brunch at a 50's American diner then watch a movie at the old Duke of York cinema before heading home. I cannot wait!!

I've brought some wedding underwear too! When we went to Somerset earlier on this month we stopped on the way back at Bicester Village and I got some D&G underwear and some La Perla underwear. I haven't tried on my dress in a while (I’m avoiding it due to a bit of extra xmas weight) so I’m not sure if I’m going to wear it on the day or put it away for the honeymoon or something but it was nice to treat myself to some fancy underwear.

I've brought all the bits and pieces I need to put together my chalkboard runner! I got the idea from Bridal musings and I think it looks fantastic, apart from a pedestal of flowers we're having no ceremony decoration so this will bring 'us' into the ceremony. Our aisle is 9.5 metres long so I had to buy about 6 rolls of the chalkboard roll but I’m looking forward to seeing it set up!

Hopefully I’ll be able to report soon that the 'to do' list has reduced!
xxx

Sunday catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Our lovely hotel view

Inside wells cathedral

Why hello there! I didn’t become any better with these updates did I? I just work so many hours and then my weekends off I flit off! So where have I flitted off for my last two weekends? The first weekend the boy and I went to Somerset! It was suuuuuccch a lovely weekend away, we checked into this adorable B&B in acres of land and we were the only hotel guests. We had no mobile signal either, so peaceful.

Inside the cave

Scrabble night

We went to the Wookey Hole caves in the daytime which was magical and had a lovely lunch before, with some Somerset cider of course! We then went to a farm shop and stocked right up on Somerset cider and cheese hehe. We had the whole guest lounge to ourselves back at the hotel so we had a games night with scrabble and monopoly, it was so relaxing. The next day we looked around Wells, the smallest city in the UK, with a very pretty cathedral!

Asparagus and duck egg!

Alchemist cocktails

We then went up to Manchester to celebrate my bridesmaids Beth’s birthday! In the morning I treated her to a pedicure and manicure and then we had lunch out at Grill on the Alley. I had duck egg and asparagus followed by chicken. We then went to Alchemist, a cocktail place I had always wanted to visit when I lived there. We had bubblegum daiquiris!

Hehe love how the boy is looking at me like i'm crazy

For Beth’s birthday we went for a night out with lots of friends, lots of drink and lots of dancing commenced. We had the best hangover cure on Sunday though. We went to Pond for Tapas, the best tapas I’ve ever known and a place we love and between the four of us had 16 dishes haha. We ate every last morsel it was so delicious!

My soup and scone

Candy sushi

Aside from that I had my bridesmaid Vicky around for dinner. I made Pesto Parmesan sconeswith chicken and brie soup followed by candy sushi! It was delicious if I do say so myself and perfect for this winter weather we've been having.

My house!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I really thought it was time to share some pics of our new house; after all we've been in about a month now! There are still a few bits here and there I want to sort out but I’m pretty happy with how things have shaped up in the short time we've been here.

Our hallway

Our already dirty mat haha

Our pretty front door :)

Our kitchen/ diner

Pretty dining room table (yes i took these pictures in december)

I worked very hard on these chairs, each one i painted a different pastel colour with different chair covers but they look so cute now.

Our kitchen, i finally found a place for my ukelele!

Pretty canisters hehe

I love having windowsills to show off all my pictures

Our lounge

We always wanted a corner sofa. Our lounge is simple with different shades of grey

As i said i took these pictures in December although we still have our Christmas tree up because we don't want to leave a big empty gap in the room haha

Again making good use of the windowsills since i can't have that many photos on the wall

A cute lilttle wooden table which i added my own crystal knob to

Bathroom

My bathroom theme- Parisian chic so lots of pretty bottles!

Yay i finally have a bathtub

I had to take this mirror with me, i dragged it back from France when i fell in love with it when i was about 11 years old.

Over the door towel rails- amazing idea when you realise you don't have room for an actual towel rail!

Our Bedroom

London was a bit of a theme for our bedroom as you see

These were plain wooden cabinets that i painted a gorgeous redcurrant colour

My simple side, jewellery box and picture of Norman Wisdom hehe

Love the windowsills

Lots of built in wardrobe space

Our little canvas

Guest bedroom (my favourite room!!!)

Pretty floral bedsheets

Jam pack those photos everywhere!

Pretty bedside table complete with vintage teacup

I just thought this floral bin was cute hehe

My absolute pride and joy- the dressing table area

The perfume bottle was my frist every vintage find about 10 years ago

I got the vintage cup and saucer as a birthday present and my nan made the tissue cover

The dressing table was originally all plain wood. I painted it a lilac and replaced the original handles with these heart knobs.

I got these cute heart pegs from a little gift shop in Manchester

They inspired me to make my photo washing line!

Sunday catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0000

My favourite picture from New Years...pretty much summed up our night.

Happy new year everyone! We spent New Years with the boys friends, to be honest I was so tired and really wanting a night in with a takeaway or something but it turned out to be a really good night. We ended up going on a rather tipsy pub crawl and I emerged the next day with some lovely pics hehe.

Over the New Year we had a visitor to our new house, Ruby! She was a gorgeous labradoodle who belonged to a friend of my aunts and she was such a delight to have around. I have to admit that since she’s been gone I’ve missed having her around!

My little brother turned 21 as well; I can't believe he's so grown up! He went out to celebrate properly with his friends but we went out as a family for dinner too, just to Bella Italia.

Hope your 2013 started well!

Catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Christmas jumper love!

My last catch up of the year! I need to get a little better at these! I'm writing this on a lovely boxing day having a chill out with the boy watching our box sets and eating all our sweets in our pjs, that’s what Boxing Day is for right?

Yummy Christmas breakfast!

I had a lovely Christmas day even though I had to work! It was actually the first year that the boy and I have woken up on Christmas morning in the same bed, all our past Christmas’s we always wake up at our parent’s house so I got up, cooked us breakfast (bacon and brie croissants) and then opened all our presents. We went to mine for a lovely Christmas dinner and a game of family fortunes and then at 6pm I went off to work, it was a wonderful day though! The boy got me a new camera and a foot spa; I got hunter wellies from my parents and beauty treatments for the boy’s parents. We also got lots of dollars ready for our honeymoon!

Out on Xmas eve

Christmas Eve was lovely; I worked in the morning but then met one of my bridesmaids Alia for lunch. The boy and I then met some of my friends for drinks, it was a great night and I got to wear my Christmas jumper!

Santa is coming to town!

The cute elf!

Yummy brunch!

Manchester xmas market!

The weekend before I had gone to Manchester to see my Besty Beth. We made macarons, Beth cooked me a gorgeous dinner, we went out dressed up in Xmas hats for a very drunken night out, we visited all the Christmas markets and had an amazing brunch. It all made me feel very festive and I was so happy to spend some quality time with my Bethy!

More big news though, the boy graduated his masters! I was such a proud partner!!! His parents and I followed him up to Manchester for his graduation ceremony and we had a celebratory dinner afterwards.

So let’s hope I keep these catch ups a big more regular in the New Year!

My catch up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Our first Christmas tree!

I have been a super busy bee since my last catch up! We finally moved in! I'll be posting some pictures up soon I’m sure. It’s been really nice being able to see the boy every night when I get home from work and being able to relax together. We had some teething problems like our kitchen flooding due to the washing machine not being in problem but things are finally starting to feel like home, just in time for Christmas!

Maisie and I

My parents got a puppy! Now we're only living around the corner from my parents it means I get to see and play with Maisie, who is a mix between a bichon frieze and King Charles cavalier, every day if I want but with none of the training and poo picking up hehe. I've already encouraged bad habits because I carry her everywhere, soo cute!

Me and two of my bridesmaids Beth and Vicky!

I had my besty Beth come and stay for the weekend. On Saturday we went to frosts garden centre which was full of lovely Christmas decorations and they had an ice rink. We didn’t risk cold bums but we had lunch there and a potter around and I picked up a few Xmas pressies, I’m nearly done now!

We went out Saturday night with a group of my friends, a lovely night as always! On Sunday we went to 'Dickens of a Christmas' which is an annual event in Olney, a small village in Milton Keynes. I go every year, it’s my Christmas tradition. There are lots of craft fairs and lots of the locals dress up in Victorian dress, we ate lots!

The only downside to the weekend was we had a car accident! When we were waiting to go left at a junction someone smashed into us shunting us right out into the 70mph dual carriageway. We were in the boys car and the entire back of the car is dented, the boot doesn’t even open. We've all got backache and neck ache ever since but we're not registered at a doctors here yet so that’s top on our to do list right now!

Anyway I’ll try to get better at blogging haha
xx

My fave iphone apps!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

So I got an iphone last week and I have to say I’ve a total convert, still getting used to the keyboard (I hate touch screen!) but I thought I’d share a few of my favourite apps with you. I've got all the normal ones (facebook, the radio, ebay, instagram, twitter, whatsapp etc) but here are a few extras.

Camera +

The iphone camera is pretty fantastic anyway but this really takes the photo to another level! It has all kinds of shooting modes, a grid to line up photos, a brilliant zoom, it’s amazing!

Sleepcycle

I am someone who has a lot of sleep problems and I find this app so interesting. You place it on the side of your bed and it records your movements so in the morning you can see your sleep quality and it even wakes you up when you’re at the best stage in your rem cycle to wake. I love it!

My Gas

As someone who spends a lot on petrol this is just a really handy app, it tells you the nearest petrol station and what price they charge, it’s saved me a few pennies!

Zombie run

Since moving back to Milton Keynes I’ve been trying to get back into running and this app has helped a lot! You do missions, you can set the time limit, and then you run from the zombie’s haha. If you have music on your iphone you can play it during the missions as well.

Map my fitness

It’s just a great app for keeping track of nutrition and runs as well. When I play zombie run it will tell me my distance and then I can put it into this app and it tells me what calories have been burnt, very handy!

Real wedding diary: 15 weeks to go

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Oh my god time is flying too fast! So what have I been up too lately? Well I’ve been doing lots of boring but necessary things. We've paid the balance for the registrar now and little things like checking if the band or the photographer have dietary requirements as we're supplying a meal for them.

I really thought that all the nice creative things were over but I got to have some fun picking out photo booth signs recently! I'd seen some lovely bits on Etsy but some of the things I’ve picked in the past have had problems with custom charges and taking very long to arrive so I was a bit hesitant to buy anything. However Brooke from Little Retreats was very willing to supply some of her amazing photo booth signs for me as PDF's meaning I had nothing to worry about!

Another virtual Etsy buy was a cootie catcher PDF from Sarah at Darling Girl Paper. We're having them on the tables, they'll have questions and answers about the boy and I on them with the menu written underneath. Sarah's customer service was just fantastic, she even managed to match the font to the one used in our wedding invitations!

So just have to get those printed out now for some more decorative prettiness!

Catch up

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Hello all!

Yes I’m still alive haha. I have to say this past fortnight has been more than insane and that’s why I just haven’t had a second to blog anything! So 2 weeks ago was our moving weekend and we made the journey from Manchester to Milton Keynes with 2 packed cars of bits only to arrive at our new rental house and find that all the things that were meant to be done by the landlord...were not done. There were some pretty major problems that were meant to be rectified and weren't so it really threw the move into disarray. We've moved back in with our parents while it all gets sorted. At first we considered pulling out but by the time we got back our deposit, found a new place, got the furniture ordered to the new place and got moved in it could well be into February and I could well be having a breakdown so we decided to stick with what we have and we should be in by first week of December.

It has meant the last fortnight has been full of lots of work trying to get the place ready, all the furniture ordered, we practically live in IKEA now (believe me I’ve had my fair share of Dime cakes recently!). I just cannot wait to get it all sorted and to actually be in!

As part of the move I got transferred and I have to say my new job didn’t start very well. At first my hours resembled 6.30am- 12 noon and then a 4 hour break and then working from 4pm until midnight. I didn't see my family, I didn't see my friends and I didn't see the boy at all. I threw a bit of a hissy fit and they have eased on my hours a tad. I also had an incident with someone falling on me at work. I work in the care industry and I was dealing with someone with Parkinson’s when they fell on me, trapping me between them and a wardrobe. I ended up hurting my back, ribs and chest and I’m still in a lot of pain with it, not great! My luck didn’t go especially well when I got a puncture this week too!

Anyway enough of the moaning, I’ve managed to fit in some good things!

The hours I worked may be totally unsociable but it did mean I’ve managed to fit in 8 mile jogs everyday! I got a new iphone as well meaning its very easy now to take photos while I jog! We've had some lovely days (when it’s not been raining) and I’ve taken some lovely pictures, one of the plus sides of moving down to Milton Keynes I suppose!

I went to see Skyfall with the boy and his parents which I thought was brilliant. I've never considered myself a James Bond fan really but since Daniel Craig has been in the role I have found myself really enjoying them! We went to pizza express beforehand making it a lovely evening.

We had to dash up to Manchester to collect a few bits we couldn’t get down on our first trip and we managed to fit in a lunch with Beth and her partner Matt at Gorilla. We hadn't been there before but we all really enjoyed it. I had a peanut butter and jelly milkshake (I'm mad for peanut butter at the moment) and went for some waffles and bacon so I was in full American mode!

Yesterday I went to Living room for Sunday dinner with my bridesmaid Vicky. Living room may not be where you really think of for Sunday dinner but it was 3 courses for £17, bottles of wine for £10 and cocktails were 2 for 1 so it was amazing food and good value. I had pie and mash which was amazing!

Sunday catch up

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

My beautiful ladies!

Well my last week in Manchester was a very busy one! My last night was spent going to dinner and drinks with my two closest friends that I met at university and their partners. I didn't want the night to end! I'm very lucky that in the 4 years I’ve lived in Manchester I’ve managed to find friends that really are more like family.

Family

So let’s rewind a bit. Earlier on in the week I had dinner with Cissy, one of the old ladies I care for haha. She's become like my little adopted Nan so I wanted a proper goodbye, she was so cute, she made me soup and sandwich and then we had a good chat over tea and biscuits.

Yummy dinner!

On Wednesday I cooked a dinner for my besty Beth. Even though I would be seeing her Friday I felt like we needed a little private time before I went so I invited her around. For starters I just did a few nibbles and then a pesto casserole for mains. For dessert we had brownie and mint parfait and as we both had work in the morning we washed it down with raspberry lemonade! It was a lovely little night and made me appreciate every reason why she's my besty!

The boy and I saw two comedians this week, Jon Richardson and Chris Ramsey. Jon Richardson I’ve wanted to see for ages, especially since reading his book earlier on in the year. He was absolutely brilliant as expected. Chris Ramsey is someone we've seen about 6 or 7 times before but since appearing on Celebrity Juice a few times he's got more popular and this was the first time we've seen him in a larger audience but he was also brilliant as normal.

Leaving my job was something else I didn't want to do; I’ve grown so close to the many people that I care for as a social worker and I also work with some brilliant people. On Friday one of my colleagues Claire and I met up for lunch which was nice.

SOOOO Saturday came around and after madly dashing around and packing up our cars with a million and one boxes and bags we made the move from Manchester to Milton Keynes. We picked up the key and headed to our new rental home....and was very disappointed. In the last fortnight the landlord had promised to redo the kitchen and bathroom and get the house professionally cleaned. Well the bathroom had been done but the kitchen hadn't and there was definitely no cleaning going on! So now I’m back at my parents until it’s all sorted, oh joy. Let’s hope I have some good news by next week!