Recently in Wedding... Category

Quick Catch Up

It's been a long time since Kev or I posted on here properly and a lot has happened!

The wedding went well - we had a wonderful day, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! And so now we are officially Mr and Mrs Arlott. Thanks again everyone who could make it and for all the lovely gifts we were given, they were all very thoughtful and have all been used!

About two weeks after the wedding, I got a call from a company I had an interview with in January offering me the job (they turned me down initially, but thankfully remembered me when some more work came up!) and so at the end of April Kev and I moved down to the outskirts of Southampton to a little flat, in the servants quarters of an old Victorian mansionette. Charlie (of course) made the journey with us, but his super-cage-tank was damaged in the move - he was a bit miffed at spending the next couple of weeks back in his travel cage.

The flat is quite small but it's more than big enough for the two of us. The main building is surrounded by much of its original gardens, including an old vegetable patch gone wild, manicures lawns and some wonderful old trees (including but not limited to the biggest horse chestnut I have ever seen, some interesting oak varieties, a larch, a fir and a mighty Scots Pine, but sadly no lofty flowering cherries and I'm not sure about the plucky little aspen). Being on the second floor and surrounded by trees it's often a little bit like being in a fully kitted out tree house. We have bird feeders on the windows and get regular visits from blue-, great- and coal-tits and even a family of nuthatches (and, on one occasion, a spotted woodpecker).

We finally got around to replacing Charlie's cage about a month after moving in, instead of the same size opting for one 5 inches longer. Charlie loved to be back in his log again and continued enjoying his adventures, especially when he started to explore the whole flat (although on multiple occasions, and quite by accident, not in his ball).

In my job (Marine Geophysicist, then Senior Geophysicist the following year) I enjoyed processing a range of geophysical data including magnetometer, sidescan sonar and sub-bottom data. Sub-bottom is definitely my favourite and something that never ceases to amaze me, despite it being something I have spent the majority of my time processing.

Kev was offered a job later in the year with a pretty big company based in Frimley - it means an hour long commute for him but he insists this isn't a problem!

Putting so many miles on the W reg Astra meant it had it's ups and downs and in September 2010 it failed it's MOT. We replaced it with...Another white Vauhall Astra estate, slightly newer! This one had a mere 88k on the clock, but this later turned out to be someone had clocked it (although the seller, a dealer, denied all knowledge of it) and we think it had somewhere in the region of 120k when we got it, which is annoying.

We both started playing badminton with some of my friends from work which turned into a twice-weekly habit. We're both getting pretty good now and it's definitely helped the two of us keep fit.

In late November my works had a Christmas Party, and we got the excuse to dress up and have some fun with our new friends.

Christmas 2010 was spent up in North Wales - for a second year heavy snow covered the whole country and we managed to get some fairly impressive photos of Kev snowboarding on the beach at Black Rock Sands.

We spent the weekend after our first anniversary in Florence. What a beautiful and inspiring city! I am also trying to learn Italian in my own time, but motivation issues are slowing me down.

Sadly we lost Charlie in early August 2011, and gained Winter two weeks later- I will post about that separately.

September saw Kev compete in the Euros at Hoylake, and our first package holiday to Isola di San Pietro, in Sardinia. It made a nice change to be able to swim comfortaby in the sea - I have never swum in a warm sea before! We did a load of snorkelling, and Kev enjoyed using his prescription mask and being able to see the multitude of fish.

That pretty much brings us to where we are now - so much for a "Quick Catch Up"!!

Two Months To Go...

Well today marks two months left until Kevin and I get married. Oh lord!

It's all action stations after Christmas. Before Christmas, I was the only one starting to panic about things not being done already - "Oh, it's ages away yet!" but since the start of the New Year everyone else seems to have switched to Wedding Mode and now most of the wedding party have organised their outfits!

My mum got the ball rolling with her outfit purchased in Birmingham - a tea-length dress in black and cream, with a faux-fur bolero to match. Sadly I don't have a "formal" picture of this, so you'll have to see it in the wedding photos!

Sarah continued the outfitting by buying her own dress from a shop in Chester, Always the Bridesmaid... - a gorgeous little D'Zage dress like the one in the middle here, but in a deep, rich teal - to match the swatch I got from another bridesmaid's dress a short while ago after falling in love with the colour. Jenny, stuck in London because of all the snow they've had, hasn't been able to get to a shop but, realising time is rapidly running out for ordering a dress, ordered one from a different shop in Chester - The Ivory Lounge. Jenny ordered a Belsoie dress in teal, pictured here, which I had originally intended to buy and "dress up a bit" as a wedding dress - but after trying on the larger bridal dresses felt the little bridesmaid dress to be a little humble, despite it's beauty.

The following Sunday, the Arlott gents went forth into Glasgow in search of an outfit for the groom and his attendents. Kev, Simon and Tom were all measured up at Geoffrey Tailor and kilted up and an order placed for three dashing outfits, in the style pictured here on the right, although Kev has opted for a plaid and brooch as well. The tartan Kev has chosen is Midnight Thistle, and should hopefully match nicely with the colours on the bridesmaids dresses and the ones chosen in the flowers.

Once the gents were organised it was time for Jane and I to hit the high streets of Glasgow - and hit them we did! We spent several hours shopping and Jane fell in love with a dress we first spotted in John Lewis - a Phase Eight Ophelia in navy with ivory and a deep cerise detailing, as opposed to the lilac colour pictured here. These colours should match the kilts, which also have a navy colour base.

This means my Dad and Ceri are the only ones left to find their outfit. Dad and I are going to have a look for something for him when I nip down to Chester for my Final Fitting at the end of January. Other than that it's just accessory shopping now for ways to keep warm - if this cold weather keeps up I will be wearing a wooly jumper!

Our invitations went out mostly before Christmas and a lot of our guests are returning their menu choices to me now - I'm hoping to have all of them in soon, so we can finalise the table plan and finish our place cards!

Table decoration wise, we are borrowing some fishbowls from Sarah's sister who is kindly lending them to us after her wedding back in November. These will be filled with sand (yes, a special kind of sand, yes, you can take the bride away from the ocean but you'll never take her sediment away from her!) and some pretty candles along with 100% British, responsibly sourced sea shells! Some of these Kev has been making into some fairly impressive little candles which I'll write about separately! Other beach miscellany will also be included, scattered on the tables including driftwood and tumbled sea glass.

Between now and March 15th everything has to be finallised, but now the important bits are done and we've (finally) given notice it's just tying up all the loose ends - the pressure is off but it's all go-go-go!


Giving Notice

Kev and I have finally given Notice for our wedding. We've had a load of problems because we're both living in Scotland but want to get married in England - apparently this isn't allowed, because it's classed as immigration! So to get around it we had to go and live with my Dad for a while. After much hoo-har with the Job Centre and various registrars we packed up, along with Charlie, and boogied on down to Derby for a while.

We got all sorts of stuff done - we had to make a special day trip to Chester for my first proper dress fitting, where I met up with Sarah and my Mum. I spoke to the florist and have pretty much all but settled on what flowers we're having, and we also got all our invitations handed out/posted.

We also added a load of miles to the Hamster Milometer:

Hamster Miles to Date: 1036.55 miles
Hamster Miles This Trip: 722.04 miles

TOTAL HAMSTER MILES:  1758.59 miles

But the main thing is that we managed to finally give notice, so, in about a week, we should legally be able to get married next March. One more thing struck from the ever growing list of things to do!

Handmade Things

Kev and I have spent a lot of time recently trying to find affordable but bespoke wedding rings, as the Date looms ever nearer.

Recently we stubled across Etsy. Etsy is a website devoted to the selling of handmade or vintage products, and there are some beautiful things available!

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Left to right; Harlequin and Gray Titanium Wedding Band Set - Zoe and Doyle, Iridized Titanium Tension Set Ring by robandlean, Copper Waves - Hand Hammered Adjustable Copper Ring by GenuineArticle.

So if you're looking for some inspiration for a sligtly different and almost certainly bespoke ring, look here!