wedding

everything about my wedding!

2023, wedding

Hello!

It’s now been over three months since I got married and I’ve been thinking about doing a big post talking about everything that went into it, so now I’m finally doing it!

I set up a ‘joint’ Instagram account (that my husband never uses) when we got engaged to document the process of planning our wedding. Now I plan to use it for more general couple things – being soppy about him, if we can ever buy a house I want to document that, our life together etc. But just to conclude the wedding, I’ve spent the last week and a half making a bunch of posts about different aspects of the wedding so I thought I’d expand on them here!

Here’s everything you could possibly want to know about our wedding!

THE VENUE

Our venue was absolutely stunning, there’s a reason I didn’t feel the need to see any others after we saw it.

One of my favourite things about it wasn’t actually the suite where our wedding took place, but a suite in the main hotel called the Windsor Suite which is essentially a massive apartment with a kitchen, three bedrooms (one ensuite, one family bathroom) and a massive living room area – the night before our wedding we had all of Lucas’s family, my entire bridal party and his best man in there for dinner and drinks. The morning of they brought breakfast to the suite (so I didn’t cross paths with Lucas by accident!) and there was plenty of space for us all to get ready without feeling smothered by the photographer or videographer so they really could be flies on the wall. It was an incredible space and I feel very lucky to have been able to use it.

THE FLOWERS

My favourite thing about my flowers is that they look exactly the same to this day – in a beautiful vase in our living room with the cake topper popping out the top!

THE OUTFITS

I’m considering ways in which I can have my dress adapted to be more subtle so I can wear it again, but I honestly can’t describe the way that I felt like a proper princess – the hair, the veil, the dress; it was everything.

THE RINGS

Considering they’re arguably the biggest symbol of marriage, they were one of the easiest things to sort and I can honestly say my wedding ring is the most comfortable piece of jewellery I own.

THE ROOM DECOR AND DRESSING

Magical. It was all just magical.

THE CRAFTS

I couldn’t fit all the crafts into one post, so here is part 2!

Although stressful at the time, spending time making all of these things with my husband was an experience I will truly treasure. As well as making me learn skills I have already used since – my Cricut and I will go a long way together!

THE CEREMONY

Again, an aspect of the day that was often forgotten in my mind – definitely the shortest part of the day ringing in at about 30 minutes, but everything from our fabulous registrars, our wonderful witnesses and the readings and songs – perfect. I can’t describe it any other way.

THE CAKE

I wish I could eat it all over again.

THE MEDIA SUPPLIERS (I can’t think of a nicer way to word it lol)

And that’s everything I can think of! We got engaged two years and ten months before we got married. Luckily we never had to postpone because of COVID because we picked a date so far in advance. But we went through our own array of issues with our venue changing hands and being passed through several wedding coordinators, being told we couldn’t have fireworks then we could but we couldn’t afford it, then I lost my job and everything felt very bleak.

But everything came together perfectly, it was the best day of my life and I felt like I was on cloud 9 (pretty much) all day long. I wish I could do it all over again!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

3 Weddings Ideas That REALLY Worked!

2022, wedding

Hello!

Yes, I am going to be talking about my wedding for a quite a while (we just got the pro photos back and I. Am. Obsessed) and whilst the whole day was perfect from start to finish, here are three of my favourite parts that just made the day that little bit extra special. Two of which I’ve not seen anyone else do before and one of which is a popular wedding idea that is popular for a reason!

Bookcase Gifts

For our gift list, we didn’t want to make an online registry or anything and I hate the expectation that people would spend a lot of money on us, so we decided to ask our guests for a copy of their favourite book to make a library. I honestly had no idea how much of a conversation it would start but it really got people thinking!

Getting home on Sunday evening and opening all the books, reading people’s reasonings for their choices and all the cards was truly lovely – there was such an amazing variety and it was such a perfect way to have really personal gifts that didn’t cost loads. I even bought a little stamp that marks them all as part of our library and I cannot explain how lovely it was to see what everyone had chosen.

Plus, it made a lovely opportunity for a theme – we had table confetti which was from book pages, one of our ceremony readings was an extract from ‘The Amber Spyglass’ by Phillip Pullman, and our tables for the wedding breakfast were named after books from the Horrible Histories series. It was absolutely perfect.

Photobooth

A Photo Booth is definitely not an original idea, loads of weddings have them but they are such a brilliant way of getting really fun group photos with fun props and silly faces. Especially when one of those props is a pair of glasses with a penis for a nose… and the six year old gets hold of them…

But we got some nice ones too – I managed one whole set of photos with my husband!

Photo Frame Guest Book

I spent a long time thinking about a guestbook – I didn’t think a whole book would get filled and it would be awkward if it was half empty, I saw lots of different options on Etsy for wooden jenga pieces, puzzle pieces or leaves on a tree and none of them quite fit us. I’m not sure where the idea for a frame came from, but with an A1 frame from The Range, an A1 piece of paper from Hobbycraft with the middle cut out and an A4 print from Snapfish (from a Photo Booth at my cousins wedding!) – ta da! Some squiggles from my cousin’s two year old little boy and lots of lovely messages from our closest friends and family that we’ll put on the wall in our home.

It’s the perfect way to have messages from our favourite people in a way that we can always see them, we can swap out the picture in the middle for one from our wedding day and it’s a stunning keepsake.

I could spend all day every day talking about the wedding – it was the most beautiful day, I’ve been looking at the pictures for days and I will be spending a lot of the Christmas period figuring out which ones to put in scrapbooks and photo albums and the likes. There’ll definitely be a few more blog posts, that’s for sure!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

I’m back and I’m a WIFE!

2022, wedding

Hello there!

I was so optimistic about having a post scheduled for my wedding day and writing another one when we got back from our mini-moon when I should have just not bothered putting that much pressure on myself! I was in the mindset that I wasn’t too bothered anyway, but three weeks later I’m BACK and I’m a Mrs now!

(still feels surreal and simultaneously exactly the same, very odd)

The day was honestly perfect – the morning was relaxed and easy, the ceremony was absolutely perfect (the closest point I got to crying the whole day), all my favourite people were there and the reception was such a good party. It was perfect from the moment I woke up till the moment I fell asleep.

My mum was an absolute god send, taking care of things I didn’t even know needed to be taken care of throughout the day, making sure I was hydrated and fed, and looking absolutely gorgeous all the while – I cannot put into words how grateful I am to have such a wonderful mum. I didn’t have an official Maid of Honour, but mum was one anyway, not only helping me organise basically everything, attending consultations and meetings with me, but throwing me a surprise hen party when I’d come to terms with not having one. I love you so much mum (and I know you read these posts 💜).

I think my dad was really nervous bless him – I don’t think I’ve ever heard him be so quiet before, he’s normally full of stories and chatter! But he made me feel so special and his speech was so heartfelt and lovely. I was very lucky to sit between two brilliant men at our wedding breakfast (who both said such lovely things about me in their speeches).

Less sentimental, but I’m so proud of how I matched all the purples together – everything looked so good!

Then there was the ceremony – it was fantastic from beginning to end. Our registrars were incredible! They made us feel immediately at ease and spoke as if they’d known us all our lives. We had two readings from two wonderful women – my oldest friend Katy and our mad family friend Heather (who was my mum’s best friend at school) and I think we did pretty well with our personalised promises because lots of people told us they cried. It was so sweet and it’s the bit I’m most excited about reliving when we get to see our video.

And it was official – husband and wife! It was at this point I actually let myself look around the room at all the eyes staring at us and rather than feeling overwhelmed I felt like I was in that bit at the end of a movie where everyone comes together for the happy ending. People from all aspects of our lives – family and friends from all walks of life all in one room just for us. It was magical, so magical.

This was the weirdest part of the day – walking through a room while everyone claps and cheers for you was a surreal and unusual moment. If I’m being brutally honest, at this point of the day, all the adrenaline was catching up with me – I had a banging headache and I was borderline panicking. But during the meal, my mum took me outside for a bit and I had a moment and then I was fine. The strangest feeling was completely losing my appetite – throughout the whole day, I had a sausages sandwich and a croissant for lunch, I ended up having a piece of bread and a sticky toffee pudding during the breakfast and I had one slice of cake in the evening. As someone who very, very rarely looses their appetite, it was very strange!

Not that this put a dampner on the day in any way, but I just wanted to be honest! Every other woman I spoke to that day who had been a bride said they felt the exact same way and it was so reassuring that no one put any pressure on me to eat, but people kept checking in to see if I wanted anything. I have the best people 💜

Just before all the hoo-ha with the meal were the speeches – now all three of the guys were very nervous; my dad had learnt his speech by heart but later confessed he only managed about half of it (it was still wonderful), Lucas finished his the morning of but as you can see it did spill onto a second side of A4! He did a wonderful tribute to those who couldn’t be with us on the day and that was so touching. And his best man, our wonderful best friend Nick, made a fantastic speech with all the right in jokes and he brought his dummy’s guide to being a best man book, which kept him and my mum entertained for most of the breakfast!

I couldn’t not include a picture of the cake – it was so good and so ridiculously big, the entire middle layer is in our freezer and I just hope it’s as nice defrosted as it was on the day. I have no regrets having a chocolate fudge cake, regardless of how ‘untraditional’ it is.

Our first dance was simple – whilst I have been dancing since I was 3, Lucas has three left feet so we just swayed for the entire song. In that moment, I couldn’t see anyone else and I was very grateful I’d changed shoes (you can see a peak of Lucas’s converse, I had matching ones and they were so comfy). Our first dance was Never Seen Anything (Quite Like You) by the Script and it was perfect, I’m so glad we chose it.

And between dancing the night away, we got the whole party outside for sparklers – it was magical and I’m obsessed with this photo. I can’t wait to see the professional ones, but seeing the night through our guest’s perspective is just lovely.

And one last picture because it makes me giggle – we made our post box for cards look like the TARDIS from Doctor Who (because of course we did) (and when I say made, I mean used my cricut to precision cut all the lettering and the windows, which we are disgustingly proud of), so my bouquet went in the slot at the top and our cake topper balanced inside as a temporary home!

I bought a nice vase so now my flowers are in there, but I still thought this was too good not to take a photo for memory’s sake.

Even through just a few photos, I feel such a sense of joy in reliving the day – when we get the professional photos and videos I have absolutely no doubt I’ll be sharing those too.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

my wedding is next week!

2022, wedding

Hello!

From a random night in bed deciding our wedding date in January 2020… to seven days to go.

In six days I’ll be a wife. I’ll have a husband, I’ll have a new surname and I’ll be legally bound to spend the rest of my life with my best friend (and that bit I’m very excited about).

Overall, I’m way more nervous than I thought I’d be – everything’s coming together, it’s all organised, there’s a few little bits that need crafting and I need to double triple check everything’s packed but everything’s ready. My dress is hung in the spare room, I keep getting messages about how excited all our guests are and everything’s paid for (that bit was painful).

I feel like everything’s going to be different after the wedding, like it’s when everything really starts – finding a new job, getting back into weight loss, setting myself a proper routine with exercise, being a wife? What does ‘being a wife’ mean? I don’t think our married life is going to be that different to our life as a couple so far.

Our wedding day is also our seven year anniversary – seven years is a long time and I’m pretty sure people have been calling us an old married couple since just a couple of months after we started dating. We fell hard and fast – Lucas tried to tell me he loved me only a couple of weeks after we started dating, but around the one month mark we went to visit my dad for his birthday and the Christmas light switch on was happening in my home town, so we saw them flip the switch, browsed the festive market and momentarily thought the fake snow was real as he told me for the first time that he loved me.

When I first said it back, I wasn’t sure I meant it – he was my first ever relationship, I’d never been in love, I didn’t know what it felt like. But when I realised I meant it, I didn’t realise how much it could grow – I’m baffled every day but how much I can love and care about a human being and that qualifies me as the worst person to give relationship advice ever because I’m literally so lucky. Move into uni across the hall from someone else who doesn’t want to go clubbing and would rather stay in with fish and chips and watch Doctor Who? That was basically it – two months later we were dating and literally no one was surprised.

Weddings feel like such a big deal – it’s so much planning for what is essentially signing some paperwork and a party, but there isn’t much that’s really going to change for us. Eight days after the wedding, Lucas is off to Qatar for three weeks to work on the World Cup but then he’ll come back and we’ll still be the nerdy couple who will stay in to watch Doctor Who and get take out.

But we’ll share a name.

If I miss posting next week, I think you’ll know why!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

In 4 Weeks I’ll Be A Wife!!

2022, lifestyle, wedding

Hello!

If we flash back to January 2020, before we knew what social distancing was and knew what it was like to spend months away from our families, my boyfriend and I picked a wedding date in what was potentially the most anticlimactic (but most us) engagement ever and this moment felt a million years away.

Even now, I don’t think it’s properly settled into my brain that I’m going to be married and have a husband in just under a month. I’ll be the one wearing the gorgeous white dress, we’ll have said our vows and signed the paperwork! How mad is that??

With four weeks to go, all the planning is done, but there’s still a fair bit to do in terms of centre pieces, favours, name place cards, crafting signs and letterboxes, making sure everyone’s on the same page with where they need to be and when etc. It really is exciting and although it sounds worse than I intend it to, I’ll be so glad when the day comes so I won’t have to do anything else!

The main thing on my mind at the moment is the more exciting aspect of marrying my best friend – our wedding day is our seven year anniversary and I honestly can’t believe that 1) it’s been seven whole years we’ve been together and 2) it’s only been seven years, when I feel like I don’t really remember a time when he wasn’t there and we didn’t experience life together. I’m excited to read my vows to him (I’m really pleased with what I’ve written), I’m excited for our first dance and I can’t wait to see him in his suit and spend all day being sappy and no one rolling eyes at us!

I love our venue, I love the choices we’ve made in decor and clothing, I love the people we’ve chosen to be part of our day and although I’m still a little overwhelmed by how much there still is to do, I’m trying to focus on the part where I’m excited.

The pros of suddenly being unemployed mean I have plenty of time to get everything done (whilst the cons mean my mental health has taken a nose dive and I often don’t have the motivation to do anything… it’s a fun game). Even just glancing at my list of what still needs doing it’s predominantly really specific questions for our coordinator, lots of logistical organisation, and crafting, but I do have a habit of making my to do lists really detailed so even though it’s currently a very long list, it’s all actually very achievable.

Whilst he was at work the other day, my fiancé was given a work phone (he’s been banging on about wanting an iPhone for weeks, so it’s nice that he’s been able to scratch that itch, not that the hyper fixation has worn off!) and he was very proud to show me when he got home that he only set up one contact – he’d added me in with his surname and it was actually quite shocking, I didn’t recognise that it was me! The name thing still freaks me out a bit – it will definitely take some getting used to, but I’ve got the rest of my life to do that!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

I’m Getting Married in 4 Months!

2022, wedding

Hello!

If you’ve ever gotten married or know someone who has, you probably understand that it becomes all consuming, especially as the big day gets closer and closer!

In the last couple of weeks, my partner and I attended the wedding of one of his oldest friend’s and we then had a week off work together, in which I properly got my act together and made a lot of planning developments because attending a wedding had both inspired me and freaked me out a little. But after reviewing my to do lists and making some decisions, doing lots of research and making my partner actually get involved in some of the choices, I feel like the mental switch flipped and I’m really excited about it all now.

The biggest thing is the dress, always the dress, and since ordering it four months ago, I’ve been getting increasingly more excited about getting my own – the one I tried on was absolutely not my size and I chose a different colour so I just can’t wait to see it and wear it and feel like a princess. Although we’ve been engaged since January 2020, it hasn’t started to actually feel real until very recently and I think being in the dress will be the icing on the cake.

Speaking of which, I had a very in-depth and serious conversation with my mum about our wedding cake today as she is very kindly making it for us and we’ve come up with something that feels much more us than what is considered ‘traditional’ but fits all the right vibes perfectly and will no doubt be delicious.

It doesn’t have to be a wedding for me to be excited about cake.

And now that we’ve sent out the majority of our invites, we can properly get excited with other people and our friends and family are sharing their excitement with us and it’s honestly so lovely. There really is nothing like a wedding!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of coordination and planning and figuring out all the finances and seeing some of the quotes of anything wedding related can be mind blowing, but if you’ve ever read any of my posts before you’ll know I love a list, I love goal setting and I love planning so actually, whilst at surface level it feels stressful, it all just feels like one big problem solving exercise that I’m very much enjoying watching slot into place.

The thing that’s really hitting me at the moment is that I will have a different name by the end of the year. I’ll be a Mrs. I still feel too young to be living in a house with a ‘real adult’ let alone to be a Mrs! Honestly baffling.

Alongside important discussions about cake, mum and I planned things like getting our nails done, getting massages and buying gifts for my little bridesmaids (I say little because they’re 6, 9 and 10, not as a reference to their height 😂) and it’s been really lovely to feel everything fall into place.

Honestly, I feel a little bit emotional thinking about it all – I’m in such a wonderful place right now to be able to marry my best friend and have such wonderful support network of friends and family that are genuinely so excited for me and I feel incredibly grateful. Nothing’s perfect, but it’s pretty good.

Thank you for reading!

Sophie xx

6 years down, 365 days to go

2021, wedding

Hello!

November 5th is my anniversary with my partner – 2021 is six years since I literally said ‘fuck it’ at 5am after we’d stayed up all night together and kissed him. Then, on our first date a few days later, we ordered Chinese food, sat in a park too far away too watch the fireworks and then accidentally threw away our forks with the empty take out containers on our walk to the docks.

Six years feels like a lifetime ago – we’ve been through so much together since our first year in halls at uni. We’ve both graduated, we’ve learned to drive, we’ve both starting building on our careers and all the while we’ve had so much fun, vastly expanded our collection of cuddly toys and had probably too much fun leaving messages for each other with our letter fridge magnets.

But this year feels more significant, not only because it’s another anniversary but because it officially means it’s less than a year until our wedding. And we finally get to use these countdown cards that our lovely friend Beth got us for Christmas last year!

I should probably start actually dress shopping!

So I thought it would be nice to do one of those check in memory question things – like when people ask their kids on their first day of school what they want to be when they grow up and compare their answers every year.

How long have we been together? Six years!

What did we do for our anniversary? A trip back to Southampton, as we’ve not been here together since we graduated, and we watched the new Marvel Eternals movie that was released today.

What’s our favourite thing to do together? Snuggling in bed and watching a George Clarke property programme, always referring to it as ‘amazing spacies’ even though we finished all available series of Amazing Spaces and we’re currently watching Old House, New Home.

Where do we most want to travel to? Greece, probably Athens because we’re both history nerds (but I really want to go to Santorini)

Current favourite date night? An activity like bowling or going to an arcade (we have a favourite one in Bournemouth) and probably going for dinner, preferably somewhere Italian because carbs and cheese.

What are you watching on TV / what episode of Grey’s Anatomy are you on? We’ve just finished Season 4, Season 5 Episode 1 is ready to go. We’re also watching Battle Bots (an American ‘Robot Wars’) on Netflix and avidly watching ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and ‘Doctor Who’ every week.

What was the last concert/show we went to? Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical ‘Cinderella’ at the Gillian Lynne theatre in London.

Current go to bop for kitchen dance parties? Shivers, Ed Sheeran.

If we had a baby, what would we call them? Annabelle, shortened to Belle. But we have a list of silly names, like Dinah (short for Dinosaur), Mark (short for Marksman, Question Mark (the symbol) or Exclaimation Mark (the symbol)) or Anna or Tommy (either could be short for Anatomy).

We are clearly not ready for children.

What’s our biggest goal for the next year? Save for the wedding.

That was lovely! The real question is, will I remember that I wrote these questions when it comes to our anniversary next year? We will be getting married though, so I think it can be forgiven!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

Our Proposal Story

2021, wedding

Hello!

In a few blog posts now, I’ve mentioned my fiancé and wedding planning but I don’t think I’ve ever shared our proposal story – this is predominantly because it’s quite anticlimactic and not particularly romantic but it does come in three parts and anyone that knows Lucas and I knows it’s so painfully stereotypical of us, it’s almost funny.

So it starts last January…

Part 1 – Deciding the Date

We were lying in bed – I’d just spent the day in London with my oldest friend and we were talking about exciting things like getting married and having babies so it was on my mind. Lucas and I have talked about getting married on our anniversary 1) because we’re lazy and it would be less dates to remember and 2) our anniversary is bonfire night so it makes sense. So out of curiosity, I looked up when our anniversary next fell on a Saturday – and it was 2022.

This is the point where I started referring to us as engaged and calling him my fiancé – it was after this we told our parents we were getting married so this is kind of the ‘official’ proposal.

At this point it was early 2020 – nearly three years away – it felt like a million years. But my mum booked us to go to two wedding fairs and it was exciting to actually start planning… then the pandemic hit and it went on hold for a while.

But that’s how we ‘officially’ got engaged.

Part 2 – My Ring

Lucas made it relatively clear that he still wanted to ‘propose’ in the traditional sense – pre-pandemic he was scheduled to be working in London and Rome for the Euros in the summer and there was plans for me to meet him in Italy but obviously that never happened.

In the end I found a ring I really liked, I sent it to a friend who sent it to Lucas, he then ordered it but had to ask the same friend to pick it up from a store in a different town and he then gave it to me on my birthday.

But was it romantic and emotional? Absolutely not.

He stood up after giving me my presents and said ‘You know what’s next’. I had to ask him to actually make a thing out of it, and he said ‘I’m not creative’.

He did then get on one knee and say traditional romantic things after that but I don’t think he was planning to.

Part 3 – His Ring

I, on the other hand, am an expert in grand romantic gestures.

I planned a homemade advent calendar for Christmas, where each day had a clue to where a little present was hidden and each clue had one highlighted word that read as a hidden message. The hidden message was my proposal and while he was piecing it all together on Christmas day I got out the ring box I’d hidden days before and found out it was too big but then I bought him a replacement one and it was fine!

Now our wedding is less than two years away and it feels like we’re properly engaged! It’s been about a year since we first decided on the date that led to every decision since that we have made.

We’ve booked a venue, I have monthly goals set for the next (nearly) two years and we’re going to get married! It still feels too grown up, but it’s exciting and I love wearing my ring every day and being someone who can say ‘my fiancé’, however cliche it makes me.

And there’s our story! It’s not very exciting, but not many people have a proposal story in three parts.

I’ll almost certainly be documenting more of our wedding planning over the next 21 months and I have a new ‘joint’ instagram (that Lucas isn’t signed into) called mrandmrsrockett (Rockett is a joke surname we came up with because Roberts + Luckett = Rockett) where I’m documenting the wedding stuff! It’s quite sparse at the moment but I’m sure it’ll get busier as the date gets closer.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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how I’ve planned my wedding planning!

2021, organisation, wedding

Hello!

My partner and I have technically been engaged for a year now (we picked a date we wanted to get married this time last year but we didn’t ‘propose’ to each other until much later in the year, I could write a whole blog post about it…), and after two wedding fairs and a pandemic, I’m starting to think more seriously about planning.

I’d say ‘we’ but anyone who’s planned a wedding with a man knows they probably don’t have a lot of opinion. I know mine still doesn’t feel like it’s real because it’s nearly two years away. To clarify: this isn’t me saying he isn’t allowed an opinion, oh no no – he just is vastly indifferent to anything I try to talk to him about.

But now that we are inside of two years away from the day and we’ve paid the full deposit on our venue, it’s time to really start thinking about planning! I know nearly two years in advance is probably a bit eager, but surely the earlier I start the less stressful it’ll be right? Apparently wedding planning is super stressful and I’m sure I will get stressed and nervous the closer the date gets, but the more I can plan it advance the better, right?

So starting from the beginning, deciding what date we wanted to get married was a very casual decision, we told our parents over the next month or so and immediately my mum booked us tickets to a wedding fair in Birmingham and another local one near our home town and luckily we managed to go to them both in the two weekends before the first lockdown in the UK. Mum also treated me to a wedding planning folder which has been helpful! I found a venue I loved at the local wedding fair, then after showing it to my fiancé we booked a viewing tour thing in July and confirmed the contract with the final part of the deposit this month.

One of my 2021 goals was to make some progress on planning the wedding, so over the New Year I went through and made a long list of every step and every task I’d need to do to plan the wedding – not including payment deadlines and things like that because those are finer details that I’ll know more about closer to the time.

Knowing what I’m like I’ll make a spreadsheet of some sort because that’s who I am as I person.

I made my master list using the wedding planning folder I got from Paperchase and the recommendations from Bridebook which I’ve found really useful, but I’m not using every suggestion it makes (it’s been very useful for budgeting guidance though). I then split that up into tasks that can wait until 2022 and what I want to do (or at least start) this year and now I’ve got 10 tasks I want to start this year (and I’ve already ticked one off).

My 2022 list currently has 19 things on it but it makes sense that there’s more tasks in the year of the wedding right?

I still don’t know how the heck to plan a wedding. How are people ‘good’ at this, or do they just get wedding planners?

I’ve found having a longer list and knowing everything that I have to do in the long run makes it easier and feel less daunting. Wedding planning is daunting – it’s such an unknown and it’s not something you tend to get practice in, as well as being a huge financial commitment. And if you’ve been following any of my other posts, you know I love making a list more than anything!

I’m excited to start planning and for it all to feel more real as we get a bit closer, fingers crossed 2021 takes a different path to 2020.

Thank you for reading – I hope you and your loved ones are happy, healthy and staying safe!

Sophie xx

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Treasured In… July

2020, books, fashion, lifestyle, wedding

Hello!

Another month has passed, though I’m not entirely sure how because I’m pretty sure it was May yesterday but time has passed me by! More stuff has happened, I’ve bought things, reads things, watched things and I’m going to share it all!

Let’s jump right in, because otherwise another month will come and go without me noticing!

purchase:

Having had a couple of ‘no spend’ months, this isn’t a category I’ve included so far but I actually let myself by some things this month so I wanted to share. I wrote a whole blog post about the books I bought/acquired this month – I’d run out of physical books I hadn’t read in our house since we moved last year so I definitely made up for it at the beginning of the month. I’ve now had to stop letting myself by books because I’m never going to read them all at this rate!

Then there’s two items of clothing that I adore this month – what I’m calling my Explorer Shorts from Primark, they’re a khaki green stretchy denim short that give me Lara Croft vibes but they’re elasticated; big fan!

And then I picked up a lovely navy cardigan from M&Co in the sale that is super cosy, I’m almost disappointed when it’s really warm because I can’t wear it.

blog post:

Someone I went to school with shared this article about Lockdown Weight Gain and I found it really interesting reading about the emotional impact of weight gain, particularly in a pandemic that is encouraging discussion about the impact of lockdown on mental health (though I’m not sure how much is being done?).

recipe:

I’m not big on trying new things at the moment – eating food that I’m familiar with and recipes I already know how to do has been the only cooking I’ve really done, but last week I made brownies for the first time in years and it was so good.

I definitely undercooked it, but it means I’ve got a super gooey fudgey brownie so I wasn’t gutted about it. Whilst putting a whole pound of brown sugar into a bowl was something that made me consider not making brownie anymore, it’s really good and the recipe I used was the one my mum gave me when I moved to uni so I can’t link it but I could make a blog post about it if there’s interest?

music:

I’m about two months behind on watching my YouTube subscriptions, but I watched Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones from McFly, Olly Murrs, Niall Horan and James Arthur covering Shine a Light, an older McFly song, and I was blown away by how amazing the cover was. I’m a pretty big McFly fan, hence why I’m subscribed to Tom’s YouTube channel, but I’ve never paid too much attention to the other three artists, though I know most of their ‘super popular’ songs. I’m obsessed with Niall’s voice and I need to listen to his most recent album.

Seeing how musicians are adapting to not being able to continue working as usual and making the most of remotely collaborating is very exciting.

YouTube video:

As I mentioned, I’m about two months behind on watching YouTube videos but my favourite video this month was from Mykie / Glam and Gore doing Halloween costume hacks from a 5 minute craft video considering my boyfriend is currently going through a phase of watching 5 minute crafts in secret (to the degree that he was watching them after I’d fallen asleep one night and I woke up at 6am to strange voices in our bedroom because he’d fallen asleep with them on). Either way! The video Mykie made was really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

books I’ve read:

Where She Went (Gayle Forman) – after re-reading ‘if I stay’, ‘where she went’ was a pleasant enough unnecessary sequel. The first half was a whiney young man who couldn’t communicate his feelings and had an unhealthy relationship with medication and substances, then it actually starts to explore the relationship between the two main characters from the first book and the heart and poetic nature of the narrative returned.

The Memory Cage (Ruth Eatham) – I downloaded this book for free from Amazon with Prime Reading on my Kindle because I ran out of physical books and it was definitely meant for a more middle grade audience, but it was a nice heartfelt story about adoption, family and loss. I actually really enjoyed reading on my kindle so I’m definitely going to buy more books on there in the future.

Masha Regina (Vadim Leventhal) – I picked up this book for 50p and I was really excited about getting such a bargain, but it turned out to be 50p for a reason. There just wasn’t much of a story at all. I wrote a full review on instagram, but I wouldn’t recommend – the review is potentially more entertaining than the book.

Currently reading: Blame (Jeff Abbott) – I don’t often read crime and whilst this book was in the grown up fiction second, it feels very YA to me because it’s about a girl in college and I think that’s part of the reason I’m enjoying it more than I expected. When you’re reading a book you expect to be able to trust everything the protagonist experiences to be true, but the more that I read the more I’m not sure who is trustworthy and it’s really interesting. Keep an eye on my instagram for a full review when I finish it!

snack:

When visiting my boyfriend’s family earlier this month, we went to Tescos for a meal deal and spotted these ‘French style’ Madeleine cakes and whilst we were in Paris last year, we became obsessed with these cakes called ‘Quatre Quart’ (or something) and we think we’ve found it! We think it’s the same cake! So we’ve eaten a disproportionate amount of them (they’re so good).

tv / film / streaming / something to watch:

As with eating food I already know how to cook, I’m not really in the mood for watching anything new and not knowing how it’s going to play with my emoTIoNs but whilst we were on a little holiday at the beginning of the month we watched quite a bit of Escape to the Country and now I’m thinking about property a lot and I want to watch more trashy daytime TV.

wedding planning update:

We viewed a venue! The only placed we’ve viewed and I’m obsessed, it’s beautiful, it’s got everything we want, amazing accommodation and we could really see ourselves getting married there. The quote we received after the viewing was much higher than we thought it would be but for the venue that we love so much, we think we’re going to do some negotiations and work more to pay for it. There’s actually some wedding progress! Over two years in advance maybe a little premature but there’s still actual progress!

July has been mad and August is set to be much quieter, but who knows at this point!

Thank you for reading – I hope you and your loved ones are happy, healthy and staying safe!

Sophie xx

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