Out of Office

The work out of office is on and now so is the blog one! 

The husband & I decided to book a last minute "we're depressed the honeymoon is over and winter is on its way" holiday and by the time you read this I'll hopefully be sat round the pool, reading a book cocktail in hand. I was hoping to have written enough posts for regular scheduling to continue but I've had the maddest week, a baby shower, a friend moving to Canada and subsequent leaving do, packing for holiday and work meant you'll just have to wait till I'm back!

See you in a week! x

The Wedding Diaries: The Flowers

All photographs from Perfect Circle Photography,

Mid summer nights dream definately inspired me when planning the wedding, I wanted there to be flowers every where and them be wild and lush with an abundance of peonies! We spent a chunk of the budget on the flowers as I knew they would be important in creating the feel I wanted and our florist Joanna from Twisted Willow Floristry was just amazing the photos really don't do justice to her amazing creations! 

The bouquets & button holes were all different shades of purple not as wild as the other arrangements and tied with purple ribbon. My grandma passed away a number of years ago and it broke my heart she couldn't be there on the day, so I had a picture of my grandma made into a charm hanging from my bouquet. She was my something old! I know it would of made her laugh to know that - after she called me a cheeky cow of course!

Myself and all the bridesmaids had flowers in our hair continuing on the mid summer night look, for our two flower girls I decided given they were only 4 and 5, any fresh flowers given to them would be wrecked by the time they even got to the church, to invest in some floral crowns from Monsoon and pomanders from BHS that didn't matter how much they were thrown around!

In the church along with the ivy garlands and lanterns with flower heads lining the aisle we had huge urns on pedestal either side of the end of the aisle overflowing with greenery & flowers with hanging candles covered in fairy lights. The glow of the candles in the lanterns and the fairy lights set such a lovely mood in the church and the dried purple petals looked amazing against the white confetti cones after the service and made for fun pictures!

To make the most of the decorations we then moved the pedestals to either side of the top table and the lanterns to the stairs of the reception venue. Which looked amazing next to all the other table decorations which were log slices of all different sizes, candles and individual vases and poses of flowers. On the top table each person had a log slice as a charger and purple flower head.

It was so amazing to see my vision come to life on the day, I just wish the flowers lasted forever so we could keep them!

Skin Saviours - Origins Face Masks

We all have those days where your skin just isn't feeling it - whether its dry as a bone, blackheads or pimples and when my skin is having a temper tantrum I always reach for my Origins skin masks. 

I originally bought the mini versions back in Christmas to test them out and I was instantly converted and bought the full sizes. 

Each mask tackles a different skin issue I face:

Clear Improvements: Active Charcoal Mask

This mask "acts like a magnet to drawn-out deep dwelling pore cloggers" great for clearing the blackheads that insist on living around my nose.

Drink Up-Intensive: Over Night Mask

This mask "quenches skins thirst" and helps smooth over my dry areas and plump up my cheeks. It can work in two ways over night allowing it to properly sink in or a quick pick me up and then wipe of access after 20 minutes if your skin is oily.

Out of Trouble: 10 Minute Mask

This mask "rescues skin in 10 minutes" and boy does it! This is my favourite mask and is perfect for problematic T-zones or for when you can feel a spot coming on or desperate for a spot to go!  

I often treat my skin to a little pick me up and use all three and Multi-Mask - is Multi-Mask the latest beauty fad I hear you ask? Well yes and no, its the latest beauty buzz word but anything that cuts down on my skincare routine is a winner in my book. 

source

Multi- masking is using more than one mask at the same time allowing you to tackle all your skin issues in one pamper session, I tend to smooth Out of Trouble on my chin and forehead, slather Drink Up on my cheeks and Clear Improvements on my nose finishing up with under eye patches to smooth over those fine lines and dark circles under my eyes and voila beautiful skin!

Origins minis are back on sale for only £15 at Boots! Let me know what you think of any of the other masks you try!

The Wedding Diaries: Bridesmaids, Groomsmen & The Awww Factor

All photographs from Perfect Circle Photography,

I've never been a fan of matchy matchy weddings - you know the ones where the chair covers match the bridesmaid dresses, which match the flowers which match the... well you get the idea. With the theme loosely based on mid summer nights dream I thought it would be nice to have them in different shades of my favourite colour purple but in the same dress so they still worked well together I also gifted the girls a brooch each that they could pin on their dresses bringing the looks together. 

I loved the Two birds dresses from the minute I saw them but they only had two shades of purple so I began the hunt for multi-way dresses in multi shades and after many (read nearly gave up hope) Google sessions came across Etsy shop The Dainty Yard which answered all my prays! If your planning on buying your bridesmaid dresses online always buy swatches first, the colour on screen always differs from the fabric and I thought I'd found the one several times only to then receive the swatches and the fabric was cheap and would either show through underwear or cling to every lump and bump.

The "princess dresses" according to my 5 year old niece were an amazing BHS find and a went down a storm with my niece and cousin who twirled the night away on the dance floor and brought the serious awww factor to the day. I don't rate the rest of the BHS wedding range but the flower girl options are beautiful, age appropriate and such good value for money that I struggled to find anywhere else.

My handsome husband (no idea when the novelty of calling him that will wear off!) and his dapper groomsmen rented their suits from Moss Bros, Brett & his best man Dave chose to wear a Ted Baker version in the same shade of Grey but it was more fitted and meant they stood out amongst the others.

Finally my wedding party wouldn't be complete without my gays! These boys are so dear to me and I couldn't not have them with me on my special day, though grey suits (read subtle) isn't really their style so instead I left the outfits up to them and made sure they had button holes in keeping with the other guys. I'm sure you'll agree they look fabulous - I mean Neil (the one in purple) even spray painted his shoes gold - thats dedication!

Up next... The flowers, favours, presents, stationary and cake!

Any requests just let me know!