I wish...

... that instead of driving husband to Taunton on Monday, so he could go to London, and I could go to ballet, that we had driven the other direction instead. That instead of work and scouts and more work that we could have spent the week on the beach, or picking and collecting wonderful ingredients, or sleeping in a yurt with a wood burning stove, or exploring harbours. Or just, you know, being on honeymoon. That would be nice.

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All photos by me (except the bottom one, which is by husband). Mousehole, St Ives, Charlestown, Kynance Cove. If you were wondering.

RIP AUX

It is a sad day in our house. AUX, our lovely trusty SAAB died. Husband and I were extremely fond of old AUX. He was the car we left for our honeymoon in, our first car, the first thing we properly owned together. We knew he was old. But we had hoped he would live on for a while yet. Things weren't right on Saturday. The oil light kept trying to come on. By Saturday afternoon we had left to drive the 4 hours to visit Husband's Granny. But AUX could make it no further. His oil light came on and stayed on. We poured in 4 litres of oil. To no avail. The engine started sounding funny. We pulled over at a layby and called the recovery services. They came and after checking the enormous piece of half roasted lamb that was in the boot would be ok, we watched the rescue man tow him backwards onto the truck. On Monday they came back and towed him to the nearest garage. By 3.30pm they had pronounced him DNR. Husband tried not to be too sad as he emptied AUX of his myriad possessions. We had a courtesy car for 24 hours whilst we tried to decide where he should have his final resting place. He will most likely be sold for parts by the garage, who will give us £150. The courtesy car is like driving a mini bus (which surprised me given that it is a Pergeout 307). I now will have to rely on the 8am bus and a series of taxis and begged lifts back to the village until we can buy a new car. RIP AUX. You will be missed.

(photos by family members of us leaving for our honeymoon. For obvious reasons I had not shared them before. I guess it doesn't matter now.)

I wish I was...

We didn't choose a far flung place for our honeymoon or use the occasion as a chance to visit foreign climes. We have the rest of our married life for that. After the three months prior to the wedding we needed fresh air, beautiful surrounding and time to be together. Simple living, dark skies, a fire to cook on, a space decorated with simple furniture and flowers plucked from the hedgerows.

We spent a week staying in a yurt on a farm in the countryside above Fowey in a field full of sheep, where all power & light came from the fire, solar powered batteries and a single ringed gas hob. We spent our days reading, painting, lying side by side on our backs on cushions in the field whilst listening to Wimbledon on a solar powered radio, eating nice fish and drinking some amazing wines. We went to the beach, to the Minack theatre, to small fishing pubs and horse riding. We talked of our dreams, our hopes, our fears. We sat and watched suns setting and revelled in being married. We planned our lives together and returned to London refreshed, tanned, freckled, together & married.

Now that the nights have really drawn in, the leaves have fallen & been taken away by the council in bags and I *still* don't have the job of my dreams, I look back on those two weeks when all cares were far away and thank Husband every day that we chose such a honeymoon.

Cornwall

On Friday we head to Cornwall for the bank holiday weekend (along with many others, I don't for one moment imagine that the train there & back is going to be any fun. I foresee drinking warm tins of beer sitting on our bags between the carriages). The wedding & honeymoon used up the remainder of Husband's leave, so this weekend is our last chance for a long weekend before Christmas.

We spent two glorious weeks in Cornwall on our honeymoon. I can't remember if I ever showed you any photos, and my Internet connection is so tediously slow today I can't face trying to check. pmt, mosquito bites & an unfulfilled need to see what the future holds makes for a rather grumpy Rachel. In any event, I leave you with a few snaps from the honeymoon & a promise for a less grumpy blogger on my return in September.

{Photos either by me or Husband}

Back to Reality

It is hot in London. I walk through the streets of Finsbury Park on my way to the job centre. It is early morning and I still have to stop to buy water. Finsbury Park is the nearest I have felt to Morocco in London: in the early morning the passersby are mainly women; by the time I re-visit the job centre mid afternoon, it is only men around, gathered in groups outside the cafes and shops.

London smells hot and dirty with the occasional high notes of rubbish, hamster bedding and exhaust fumes. The air is close and heavy by mid afternoon and is about as far from the Cornish air we breathed for two weeks as I can imagine. The sound of seagulls mewing and protecting their babies has been replaced by buses, by shouting, by the disconnected voice of the tube station as I pass the entrance.

Real life asserted itself at precisely 9.01am when I arrived at the job centre. I hate the f*ing job centre. No one seems to say the same thing, everyone treats me with the same practiced air of at once disinterest and patronisation, as if I am some kind of moron who may not be able to follow their imprecise instructions. In any other world I am more qualified than them. But today I am the idiot who dared to get married and needs to update her details.

I spend the afternoon alternating between washing, tidying, sorting out wedding presents and compiling lists of people who need to be thanked. In amongst it all, I watch the tennis. Listen to the tennis. And wish that if I can't be at Wimbledon, I could be back on the beach with my new husband, eating freshly caught fish with freshly picked vegetables and handpicked and handmade gooseberry compote, on vintage china in the evening sunshine.

{All images by me}

My Boy Writes: The Honeymoon

Easter weekend and we are away but click over here to see the original version of M's thoughts about our honeymoon...

"Of all the aspects of our wedding I have taken responsibility for, it is the honeymoon that I have thought about the most.

I started off thinking that I should surprise Rachel, whip her in a romantic whirlwind of indulgence and new experiences without preparing her for any of it. This kind of trip still really appeals to me but the trip itself ideally needs to be spontaneous, an event in itself.

I came to the conclusion that the honeymoon should be simple and relaxing (I’m sure we will need it after the big day) and focused on us and our history rather than new experiences. I also wanted Rach to be involved in the planning and knew she had plenty of ideas. So, we are off to our spiritual home, Cornwall to stay in a yurt and then in a cute whitewashed cottage in a small old fashioned fishing village. We will surf, paint, eat and drink incredibly well and just spend the time with each other.

As Rachel noted in her ‘Honeymoon Sneak Peak’ we were pretty wide ranging in our aspirations: Morocco, Thailand, Fiji, Greece, Northumberland and many other exotic locations were considered. The two key words were beauty and relaxation. We had an incredible visit to Morocco a couple of years ago and were blown away by the richness of the culture and the excitement of exploring Marrakesh, the Atlas Mountains, The Sahara and ultimately relaxing in ‘surfy’ Essaouira. We also met a great new friend out in the desert. We were very tempted to embrace the cliché of our generation and visit Thailand and Fiji, partying on the beach charged up on local “whisky”. Maybe we would discover a hidden beach or something! Greece really appealed in terms of lifestyle and almost guaranteed sun while Northumberland has always held a magic appeal for me, just look at those sunrises! The weather of course is not exactly guaranteed.

On reflection however, Cornwall seems such an obvious choice. We love the culture, the beauty, the variation, most of the people. There is great food, some local wine, surf, some really under-rated beaches and hopefully some sun. We will be able to visit our old haunts, included the little town in which we got engaged and eat and stay in all the places we couldn’t quite justify before. We have images of cooking fresh fish (which hopefully we have caught) on our barbecue on the beach. Most of all, we will be able to sit and watch 14 Cornish sunsets contemplating our life together."

Honeymoon Sneak Peek (Two)

{Image via Owners Direct}

After the wedding, a night in a hotel in our old University town where once we used to have drinks and attend the odd bash, at which we have always wanted to stay. And then a family brunch, before leaving for Cornwall.

And then two weeks, the first in this 'romantic' fisherman's cottage in a beautiful harbour; the second in a yurt in a meadow.

And it's only 9 weeks away.

Honeymoon: Sneak Peek

{Image Credits: Left column & Top Centre by Botelet;

All other images from Author's Personal Collection}

86 days until the wedding; 87 days until we get two weeks off and views like these. I cannot wait...

(See Elizabeth Anne Designs later today for further details)

A Going Away Outfit

Traditionally, the bride and groom leave the wedding for their honeymoon before the rest of the guests. The bride would change into her 'going away outfit' and the couple would say their goodbyes and depart (usually in a car decorated with Just Married written on it and with old boots and tin cans attached to the bumper) whilst the guests carried on the party.



We are having our own version of this tradition: we shall leave the reception in our vintage car - complete with an old boot and tin cans - just before the end and head to a secret destination (i.e. a hotel) for the wedding night, returning in the morning to have lunch with our families before departing for our honeymoon. I am going to have a going away outfit, which I shall change into on the Saturday evening to leave the reception and shall wear the next day for the brunch.



And yet again, I didn't want to buy anything new for the occasion, so I (well, T really) has been altering a dress which a friend bought in Whistles sale several years ago and never got round to having it altered. So, she very kindly gave it to me (thanks Jo, much appreciated) and T and I have been altering it to fit me. It was a size 14 and I am a size 8 so we have unpicked the band underneath the bust and undone all the seams. T has altered the outside to fit and I am in the process of making the seams in the lining match. We shall then cut some off the sides and re-do the seams and then attach the band again. We have also shortened the dress from a mid-calf length to mini-dress length. It is white, so I can wear it with my wedding shoes and headpiece and cardigan but it is more practical and comfortable than the wedding dress. I can also fit pretty underwear underneath so I have bought some ivory silk frilly knickers to change into as well (as I can only fit flesh coloured seamless ones under the wedding dress).



I should have taken a before picture, but I forgot, but I shall endeavour to take some progress and after photos and post them. And this dress at least is not a secret, as it has been hanging on our bedroom door since Christmas with half it's hem pinned up waiting for a free Saturday for T and I to begin work.



I was also deeply impressed by T's sewing ability. To be perfectly honest I would not have known where to begin with the dress, yet T pinned so quickly I had barely been in the dress a few moments before she was directing which seams to unpick and what needed altering. Literally in four hours we had eaten lunch and afternoon tea (complete with scones) and done the vast majority of the altering process.

Afternoon Tea on a sunny Saturday afternoon, originally uploaded by rachel-catherine.

(A glimpse of our sitting room. And yes, that is an upside-down Bentwood Chair in the fireplace. It's leg is wobbly and we didn't want a guest to come a-cropper if they tried to sit on it.)

Honeymoon Daydreams

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Image from US Vogue June 2008 via A Desert Fete via This is Glamorous

This is what I am hoping the first week of our honeymoon will look like...

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You & Your Wedding

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image by coxandcox.com

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I bought my first wedding magazine on Tuesday. It ended up sitting on the kitchen floor until this evening when I found myself at a loose end. It is the first night in that I have had for a very long time and I have spent it sitting on the sofa eyeing the wedding magazine whilst watching a DVD box set of All Creatures Great and Small which I borrowed from someone several months ago but haven't had a spare moment to watch.

The magazine is worse than any normal monthly female magazine. I know now why I only read Vogue with occasional dips into Tatler or Country Living. Apparently I need to make a 'mood board' so that I can condense my theme and ideas into viable options. So says sister-in-law-to-be, fashion designer and recent bride. So I have been cutting out images that I like for inspiration. I have managed 3 dresses (one of them being the Temperly one below) and the image above of a car in addition to an article on Moroccan Honeymoons which I didn't pull out as it didn't tell me anything I don't already know. Still, nice to see our destination in a magazine I suppose.

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Wedding Night Hotel thoughts

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image by priceline.com

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How fabulous does this sound: a roll top bath freestanding in the bedroom with a separate wet room bathroom, a king sized bed with Egyptian cotton sheets and towels. Continental breakfast in bed the next morning. Just wonderful for exhausted newly weds...

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