3 weeks to go. Status: in denial

One

Shoes have been purchased, £30 from Debenhams. I had tried to buy them online but they disappeared from the site. After a mentally scarring experience of the Oxford Circus branch's "Customer Service" I finally found them. My one gripe (sorry that should be one of my many gripes): Debenhams don't store the shoes in boxes, so they can get a little mucky in the store room.

 

Two

The rings have been collected from the Wedding Ring Workshop in Hatton Garden. They are fully hallmarked, engraved with the date and mine has been set with diamonds. Chris' silver wedding ring was left with a hammered and scuffed finish cos he's often a little hammered and scuffed himself. He certainly will be once the wedding speeches are out of the way.

 

 

 

Three

I bought these gorgeous book ends, from Achica of course. The brand is called Kare, a bonkers German homeware range.  Love 'em. 

 

 

Four

I'm turning the new series of Great British Bake Off into a drinking game. Drink one for every bright blue band-aid you spot the contestants collecting. Drink two whenever Mary Berry says "soggy bottoms". Drink three if Paul Hollywood gives someone an icy glare.  I recently found out that one of our nice neighbours works for Penguin and published Mary Berry's newest book. Apparently she lives not far from us. I would hunt her down only my quiche lorraine hasn't been up to scratch recently. And I wouldn't want Mary to say anything about soggy bottoms to me.

 

 

Five things that made me happy this week

One: Great ideas for wedding day pictures. I'm not mad about super tacky shots, but the odd silly one will look great in a photo book of formal pictures. My sis sent me this, Chris and his groomsmen will have to recreate it on the day with his hand-made wedding ring:

Two: These ceramic London brick vases from Rebel Rebel. £60 for roses, £50 for seasonal flowers.

Three: Perfectly ripe avocados. Unripe ones on my salad give me heartburn.

Four: Finding a bargain on wedding chair covers. Everywhere I've looked they're at least £2.50 not including any coloured sashes.  Princess Wedding Stationary was recommended to me by another bride when I went to visit my reception hotel a couple of weeks ago. For £2 a chair they provide white or ivory covers with sashes in your choice of colour (I'm going for dusky pink). They also take care of all the set-up with your reception and collecting them the next day. Otherwise you can collect, set-up and return them all yourself for a rock bottom £1 a chair. They also do stationary (the clue's in the name) and hire out beautiful centrepieces, birdcages and bay trees. She's got it all.

Five: BBQ Chicken Powches from Abocado. Nom.

If there's one thing I'm shoe of...

The fact that my last post was about drinking on a school night is very telling of how hectic life is at the moment.

But it's been a productive few weeks. We'd agreed that over the summer we'd ease off doing house DIY so that I could focus on the wedding (which is now next month) and Chris could make the most of the small gardening window our British summers afford us.



Amersham Old Town - War Memorial Gardens

 

We managed to make our way to the Amersham Old Town Italian Food Market last weekend. Amersham does have a good repertoire of town events and live music fixtures to benefit the local community. And we benefited from the freshly sliced parma ham, nougat wedges big enough to rob a bank with and elderflower gin refreshers.

 

I also finally got back my score from my latest open uni module, Creative Writing. I was pleased to see I got a better score for my final assignment (a 40 line poem which wasn't exactly a masterpiece) than I did for most of the smaller assignments throughout the module which were marked by who I can only describe as a hypercritical tutor with a penchant for nonconstructive and inaccurate feedback. 

 

Since starting this module I've gained even more respect for genuinely talented writers. I always thought that writing might be something I'd eventually do, but it is clear that I'll never have the natural flair, or attention span, for that to happen. I much prefer reading other peoples' clever wording and literary nuggets and remark at how talented they are than try to emulate that myself. Good writers have the ability to change the world, one word at a time, and if I can't do something really well then I'd rather not do it at all. But if I've gained anything from the study of Creative Writing, it's made me realise that perhaps my niche is more editorial or proofreading.

 

 

The wedding is just next month, so the voices in my head are all talking over each other at once. A colleague of mine has just had a baby so he outranks me on life-changing-panics which is the only reason I'm acting sane at work.

 

One thing that's getting left until quite late in the day is shoe shopping. I think many brides tend to see this as on-par with the importance of the dress and the cake. However I've been hunting for nice flat bridal shoes that aren't disproportionately pricey. I am getting a pair of small heels for the daytime but by the evening I know my knobbly narrow little feet will be murdering me, so I've been scouting high street websites:

 

BHS

The British Homeware Store has a really nice selection of bridal attire and accessories. In fact I nearly bought a wedding dress from here (check out the Lillian vintage dress, a steal at £395).

 

I've ordered the Nina slingbacks (on sale £13.50) to see if they're comfortable enough as a daytime shoe, I'm not usually one for diamantes but I think on these they might add just a touch of sparkle to look special rather than a plan design.

 

 

 

BHS do have a sweet flat shoe called the Ariel Brooch ballet pump (£22). But I've been trying to stay away from pearly accessories because then I feel you'd have to match it up with pearly jewellery.

 

 



 

Debenhams

Debenhams have a wide bridal range but the shoes I really wanted from there were out of stock. As was the handbag. Plus I find them really hard work to return unwanted items so I avoid ordering anything from there like the plague. But I could be swayed by these lovely simply pleated ivory pumps (£18),

 

 

 

or pointed toe knot pumps (on sale £7.50).

 

 

 

They also have a range of Jenny Packham shoes such as these diamante strap flat sandals (£44) but I think they'd made me feel like a child.

 

 

 

 

Barratts

One pair of ivory lace ballet pumps (on sale £10.75), done.

 

 

Dune

My sister sent me a link to a number of fancy pantsy high heeled wedding shoes on the Dune website. All of them beautiful, all of them far too high for me to walk around in all day. But they also have a couple of nice flats, such as the Mareena sequined pumps which are jazzy enough to wear on other occasions (£29).

 

 

 

Monsoon

Of course Monsoon have an abundance of bridal wear, although I have found their latest range of dresses to be quite plain. But lest we disregard these adorable pumps with floral pom poms on the front - the Hawaii Shoe (a steal on sale at £20). Don't forget to check out their jewellery, handbags and boleros, it's a one stop shop for all your ladies occasionwear needs.