Thorpe Park in the rain

As a reward for being a super-duper employee, Rich was given 2 tickets to Thorpe Park courtesy of his work. How amazing is that? Every business should reward employees with theme park tickets! Unfortunately, it was heaving down with rain, but did we let that stand in the way? Of course not!

We bought tacky ponchos and I was delighted to find they sold pink ones! Funnily enough, theme parks are usually best in the rain. They're a lot quieter and people tend to accumulate in the covered areas so the queues are much shorter. We went on Saw in the pouring rain and it was hilarious! I made the mistake of leaving my hood up and it flew right into my face so I could see absolutely nothing! At least I stayed dry! Rich was shouting "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" around the whole ride as the rain lashed his face and afterwards he looked like he'd just stepped out of the shower!

Caution: Cockroach photo ahead!

iPod photo binge

I'm one of those people who takes photos of everything, all the time. It drives people absolutely nuts but I can't help it. If I see something, and I like it, I have to snap a photo. The upside of this is that I have loads of great, fun images but, of course, nobody ever sees them. It seems a shame to keep them stored up on my devices for only my eyes, so I'm starting a new monthly series where I will share my favourite photos from the past month that haven't had a place elsewhere.

Since this is the first one, my photos are from the past 6 months or so, and I'm starting with my iPod. 

This sums up our daily life pretty well// I wish I'd bought this Primark visor. I kind of dig it.
Eating healthily with Marie and Leona// Roar! I'm a lion! 

Travelodge mirror shot// Queuing at Alton Towers
Marie aka Moreen// With my brother and sister

Myles' attempt at using chopsticks// Fish face train selfie
Look at all the arcade tickets Myles and I won!// Playing with wigs at 2000 Trees

England Wedding

On the morning of our English wedding, my beautiful bridesmaids (Marie, Leona and Laura) came to get ready with me, along with Chelsea and Marie's mum Grace, who had very sweetly made a whole load of cupcakes for the reception. 

As always, time seemed to be slipping away from me but, somehow, we managed to get ready perfectly on time and meet our guests at the pub where we had our meal. The food- a calamari starter followed by chicken roast dinner- went down really well and, after we'd all eaten, we headed down Winchester High Street to the Guildhall.

While I was getting ready, Rich and Matt had decorated the venue completely by themselves and they did such a good job. They'd hung bunting flags between the arches, sprinkled confetti on the tables and created adorable centrepieces. I could not have been prouder of them! Unfortunately, in all the hubbub, I didn't get a photo of the room before everybody came along, but this phone photo gives you a little idea of what it looked like. I had a minor meltdown over the chairs, which were supposed to be white, but once everyone was sitting down, we didn't even notice. 

While everyone arrived, Rich, Matt and Laura disappeared into a side room with my brother Jamie, who has a food and catering background, to make up our mini pavlova wedding cake. It was delicious! 

After a little while, we headed to the cathedral to take some more formal photos. 

This is one of my favourite photos because of the photobombers behind us. 

After taking the photos, we headed back to the venue for our first dance to The Beatles' When I'm Sixty Four.

Most people stayed sitting down and chatting. My family are pretty spread out so they don't often see each other and I think they appreciated the opportunity to catch up, rather than burning up the dance floor. It was ok though- My girls more than filled the floor with their funky moves!

It was really difficult talking to everybody. I have a huge, complicated family so I was whizzing around trying to speak to everyone, which I didn't quite manage.

There was a very posh, snooty wedding reception taking place in the huge hall upstairs. For a while I'd been wondering whether I would one day regret not having a full-on, traditional wedding. With the guests from upstairs walking past our room and looking down their noses while we blared Baby Got Back, I was hit with the realisation that our wedding was absolutely perfect. It may be tacky to talk about money, but our wedding reception cost under £2000, including room hire, catering for 40 and decorations. When we were packing up, I realised that, had I spent £30,000, the day would have been the same length of time and I would still end up going back home with my husband the next day. I can't imagine how anti-climactic it would have felt the next day if I had spent my entire life savings. 

Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. At least, they were too polite to tell us if they didn't! Afterwards, Laura and Matt stayed behind to help us clear up and we headed to our hotels. We met up the next morning, as well as Jamie and his girlfriend Lauren, to hang out in Winchester before heading home in the evening. It was so amazing to celebrate our wedding with all our family and friends in one place.

Florida Harry Potter Wedding

I've now been married for almost a month, so I think it's high time I shared my wedding photos. Those of you who have been following a while will know that we had two weddings: The actual wedding ceremony at Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida with two close friends, and a wedding reception back home in England a couple of weeks later. 

Our wedding day started with a trip to Walgreens, followed by lounging on the bed watching Shark Week. Not quite your usual wedding morning! That up there is Matt, Rich's best man and Bob the Shark. 

Since it was Florida in August, we'd checked the weather forecast and saw it was going to rain around 5, so decided to hold the ceremony at 4. At 2, Rich and Matt headed off so us girls could get ready. As I was doing so, Laura was in charge of the camera and snapping candid shots.

Yep, this is my eyeliner face! For my make up, I chose to stick with my usual routine (Benefit Hello Flawless foundation, MAC Studio Sculpt concealer, Topshop cream blush in Prime Time and my new CoverGirl eyeliner pen) with MAC's Pretty Please lipstick. 

Once my face was on, Laura and I worked as a team to create a hairstyle that would stay smooth and sleek even with the Floridian humidity. Halfway through, I looked like a happy porcupine. 

Before we left, I wrote my vows on special Hogwarts paper. I'm nothing if not last minute! It was so difficult to write them but once I got started, I ended up writing a whole sheet.

Unsurprisingly, we were running late, so we decided to get a taxi. I had originally wanted to get the trolley, because I loved the idea of travelling to my wedding on public transport, but we were conscious of the forecast rain. 

Finally we got there, and I was shaking in my Converse! We hadn't actually asked for permission to marry there, so I was terrified that we would be thrown out mid-ceremony, and I was suddenly very conscious of everybody watching me. We'd decided to hold the ceremony in the garden of the Three Broomsticks as it was quiet, away from staff and has a wonderful view of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the day we married was the day that the garden was filled with people. Laura had to coax me around the corner to walk up to Rich, to the sounds of Potter Waltz.

I was trembling during the ceremony. It seemed as though everybody had gone quiet and all eyes were on us. I couldn't look up as I was so anxious- Instead I stared at the buttons on Rich's shirt. After we'd said our vows, neither of which I remember, I said to Laura "There's no staff here, is there?" to which she replied "Yes there is... but it's ok, she's smiling". That just made me even more nervous. Any moment now, she was going to tap us on the shoulder and ask us to leave.

We'd decided to make Fluffy and George our ringbearers, using yellow ribbons because they would both be in Hufflepuff if they were alive. And human. And wizards. (What do you mean, you don't sort your cuddly toys?) I was so worried that the rings wouldn't go on due to our fingers swelling in the heat but luckily they slid right on. Rich was amazed by how much I was shaking.

After what felt like forever, Laura pronounced us husband and wife, and declared "You may now kiss the hippo-slash-manatee creature" (That's me and don't worry, it's an injoke. She's not just really rude!) Everybody in the garden applauded as we kissed, which was very sweet. Matt filmed the ceremony for us and I was shocked afterwards to discover that it was only 3 minutes long. 

As we were signing the register, the door to the Three Broomsticks opened and five members of staff came out. My heart sank as I realised we were going to be chucked out of the park. Then, to my astonishment, they revealed a tray with four frozen Butterbeers! I could not have been more grateful for their hospitality. 

All the staff were so friendly and seemed really pleased to be a part of our day. One of the women even took some photos for us, and a couple of staff couldn't resist getting involved!

What stars! 

My wedding dress wasn't exactly traditional, but it was certainly very me! I needed something practical, since I knew we would be going on rides, and this is pretty much just an extension of my everyday style. You can see from my OOTDs that I tend to wear fitted tops with skater skirts. I'm not an elegant, strapless lace bridal gown kind of girl! I chose a mint green tutu, not only because it's one of my favourite colours, but also as a subtle hint towards the Harry Potter theme: I would be in Slytherin. After a last minute nightmare with the original person I intended to buy my tutu through, Dark Pony Designs came to my rescue. Robyn rushed through my order and it arrived the day before we flew out to Florida. Perfect timing! My lace top is actually a Boohoo skater dress, as I figured I could whip off the tutu if it was too much hassle on the rides. Since I can't walk in high heels at all, I wasn't about to start now. These Converse-style shoes from Rainbow Club were actually bought brand new on eBay about 4 years ago, just waiting for my eventual wedding day. 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a clear photo of the back of my dress on either wedding day, but Laura did take this quick snap when we were about to leave the hotel. That girl is a whizz with bows! And, yep, a shark is trying to eat me. 

My bouquet was a joint effort between Rich and I. Made from coloured card and pages of Harry Potter, I chose yellow and green to represent our two houses (although Rich later decided he'd rather be a Ravenclaw!). At the last minute, I thought of putting little pearls in the centre of the flowers, which was a touch I'm really proud of. I also made yellow Hufflepuff buttonholes for the boys and a red and gold corsage for Laura, since she's Gryffindor. In the first photo of this post, you can see that I took Snape's "always" quote and put it inside a heart-shaped locket, complete with B and R charms. 

When the register had been signed, photos had been taken and Butterbeer drunk, we headed to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey for our official wedding photograph. 

Although it was unconventional, and a lot of people doubt the legality (I promise it was legal!), it was absolutely us: Quirky, informal and a lot of fun. I am so proud of ourselves for pulling it off!