135 Days: Happy New Year & An Apology!

I believe I'm officially the worst blogger ever! But... I have an excuse... honest!

Work has been very busy over the last 2 months.  Our parties started at the end of November and in the lead up to that, I was busy in the office. The week before we spent lots of long days setting up on site. Our first party was on the 22nd November and I've been working most nights in December, with a short (but lovely) break home for Christmas.

Arty Shot from bar area

Final set up in restaurant

 

Rare Night off - Jim & I got to enjoy a night at our Zulu Sundance Party

I love being busy and have had lots of fun with the team this year but when I got home late my brain barely functioned enough to brush my teeth let alone write anything semi-interesting for my blog.

Because I've been so busy, major wedding planning decisions have been put on hold 'til now, although we have done some little bits and pieces which I thought I'd write a short update about.

Hair - It took 10 months, once I'd moved to Leicester, for me to muster up the courage to try a hairdresser here.  The result ,unfortunately, was very far from what I'd hoped and since then I've flown back to Northern Ireland as I only trust Andrew/Sheena and Lizzy at Andrew Mulvenna's Hair Spa to cut and colour my hair.  I started getting my hair cut and coloured in Andrew Mulvenna's in 2007 and I think they have some of the best stylist and colourists around.  I have asked if Sheena will style my hair on our wedding day. I'm really excited to chat with her over next few weeks. I've been growing it as long as I can while trying to keep it in good condition.  I love this Charles Worthington Moisture Seal Intense Rescue Melting Balm (which is regularly on 3 for 2 in Boots! I definitely recommend checking it out if you have mid-long length hair).

Picture sourced from Boots Website

Make up - When I lived in Belfast I was fortunate enough to help backstage at some Style Academy fashion shows and see first-hand the work of some of Northern Ireland's top Make-up Artists.  I've decided not to attempt my own make up on our wedding day and after much research and a recommendation from the fabulous Sara O'Neill I have asked Ashley Morhej do my make-up, and make-up for my mum and bridesmaids. This is another appointment I'm looking forward to attending in January/February.  I know I want something soft and pretty, and I generally don't wear a lot of make up.  Hopefully Ashley can transform me into a swan for one day :).  As well as eating well and drinking lots of water I've been using this Michael Todd Pumpkin Face Mask every couple of weeks. I purchased this after watching Skincare: My Holy Grail Products, Routine and Haul video posted by Fleur de Force.  I love this mask. After using it my skin feels really nourished.

Picture sourced from Michael Todd Website

Bridesmaid Dresses - The hunt continues. I've got an idea of a colour I'd like but we're yet to find the perfect dresses. It's been so difficult being far away from the girls as I have to fly to N.Ireland if we want to go dress shopping, and little trips home haven't been possibly recently.  We have done lots of online research, imessaging each other the nicest dresses we've found and luckily we all have a similar idea on the dresses. We are off to Ti Amo in Limavady on Monday to try some dresses and hopefully we'll find something soon as some dresses take 6-8 weeks to be made!

Invitations - Randomly I got the idea for our invitation in a lift in the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. We are going to make the invites ourselves and thankfully our provisional design doesn't have too many fiddly bits.  Finding the perfect wording is next on our list but we're taking inspiration from some of our favourite books and songs.  Jim knows of a great screen printer who we're going to ask to print some bits and pieces and I'm exciting for the cutting and sticking! (I may be less enthusiastic by invite number 50!!)

Food - Food is Jim's favourite part of any day so we've spent a long time trying to come up with an ideal menu.  All the food on the day will be vegan and we're excited to show our friends and family just how varied and extremely tasty a vegan diet can be.  I will have a full post on our menu once we've finalised the little details, but we're having lots of fun testing recipes!

Running Order - As our wedding will be state and god free, we've got the opportunity to be really creative with the running order for the day.  One of our best friends has agreed to do some co-ordinating for us on the day introducing bits and pieces and we're hoping some of our extremely talented friends will lend of themselves that day to entertain the guests. We are working on a skeleton running order for the ceremony and event plan that I can hand  to all suppliers and the venue to make sure our day runs as we'd like.

Lots of these aspects of our wedding deserve their own post and I am looking forward to getting back to writing now the New Year is here! That will be my top New Years resolution - Don't neglect my Blog! :)

I hope you've had a wonderful festive season and I wish lots of love and laughter for 2014!!

Amy
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