Feeling clucky?

One week to go eeeeeek! The last month has gone so quickly and is a bit of a blur. We have started getting wedding cards arriving at home and notifications of gifts being bought for us from our wedding list which is extremely exciting. Mister B went on his stag weekend which I am sure he will love to tell you about soon. Let’s just say his weekend involved a lot of water, fun, a fire alarm, some gorges, an inflatable sheep and tiredness.

As it was incredibly difficult to get a a suitable activity and time for everyone together for a hen weekend, I decided against it. It would have been lovely but was proving to be a headache to organise and I must admit the last few months I have been fairly exhausted. So at the last minute I invited a few ladies from work for a for some pizza and drinks. I had a lovely time and it was great to do something nice for me instead of worrying about the wedding. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and treated me to rather intoxicating beverages. Hic! A special thanks to Cath who I share an office with at work, who had arranged lots of willie themed goodies and contacted Mister B about a ‘Mr and Mrs’ question and answer session for me. I had no idea it was going to take place and was cringing as I thought I wouldn’t get any of the questions right. I was rather relieved that in the end I actually knew a lot of rather random and obscure stuff about Mister B. Phew that is a relief! I am waiting for the right moment however to do my forfeit involving a hairy chested man. Ewwww.

Really enjoyed myself even if I felt a little tired the next day. THANKS EVERYONE! xx

The hens

Loving the hen bindi

Hmm interesting cookies these will make

I look like a fraggle

Pizzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

My what interesting dough balls Pizza Express have

Caption please?!

Wedding cake update..yes again!

I am sorry to say that I have decided to change the wedding cake….we are not having carrot and chocolate cake as the two top layers. I am capable of making them but as time draws on, I don’t think I will have enough time to bake them and ice them before heading up to Shropshire. So the decision was made to make three layers of fruit cake instead. So if you dislike fruit cake and cheese well you are a bit stuffed I guess!

We ventured into Swansea to get everything, for this rather big task. We had to time everything by six to fill the three tins, which as it turns out is a lot of ingredients. One mistake I will never make again is going into Swansea on a Saturday afternoon. It was hell. I am not exaggerating when I say this. I could feel my blood pressure increase as I entered the supermarket. I was stood picking up some butter when a lady decided to grab a load of lard from the shelf above. Next thing I know the whole lot came crashing down and narrowly missing my head.

“oh sorry luv, did it hit eww?’ she said

“No, it didn’t thankfully” I said as I stepped back to help pick the stuff up from the floor. Just as I stepped back her friend decided to ram her shopping trolley into my back.

Looking at her friend laughing the woman said ” There’s me nearly braining her with stuff and uwww are now trying to take her out with a shopping trolley”

Let’s just say I walked away with a rather fixed smile on my face and the urge to kill someone. Never ever again.

Back at the safety of home, and after a cup of tea, I set upon making the first tier. I hunted round for the biggest pot to put all the ingredients in and thankfully I had a stock pot just the right size. After mixing together the butter, sugar, brandy, vanilla extract, chocolate and fruit, we added nine eggs, flour, ground almonds and cocoa. I thought my wooden spoon would break, as there was such a lot to mix together. I must admit it took a bit of huffing and puffing to get it all mixed. Great workout for your arms though. After lining the cake tin on the in and outside, the cake was popped in the oven for 3 and a bit hours to cook.

Today I finished the other two tiers after spending the morning with a horrible migraine. Thankfully they came out ok and are now going to be fed each day with a good glug of brandy. Just need to add the marzipan, icing and decoration closer to the wedding.

If you would like the recipe it can be found here.

Let’s drive some miles

Eeek! We now have less than 3 weeks to go and things are starting to pick up pace. Last weekend we drove miles to get a few more items ticked off the list. Firstly Mister B and I went to Oswestry and the Ring Workshop to pick up the wedding rings that we’d had made.  Thank you to Mark and the team there who were really very helpful. Rings are sorted-CHECK!

We then headed over to Shrewsbury to meet up with my mum and Kev, to get the men measured up for their suits at Moss Bros.  Both Mister B and Kev paraded around in various getups until the right ones were found.  Suits are sorted-CHECK!

This is what trying on suits does to you…

Mum and I

We had a quick walk round Shrewsbury to look for some earrings for me to wear for the wedding and had a wander round one of the Antique shops in Belmont. As always we got up to mischief and Mister B had to try on a rather big fireman’s helmet. Ooooh missus. Makes you feel old when you realise that some of the antique toys were ones you remember playing with when you were a child!

Shrewsbury silliness

We then popped round to see my gran, Ann before bedding down for the night to get up bright and early for the last of our banns being read at Rushbury Church the next morning. There were more people there than I expected and all very friendly. I think we caused a bit of panic though with the name of where we live, as there was a frantic chat about how to pronounce it. The service was lovely and I don’t know if it was intentional or not but the last hymn that was chosen, is actually the first hymn of our wedding. Another weird thing happened too. For once the bank holiday weather was actually quite nice and during the service a ray of sunshine came through one of the church windows straight onto my hymn book. It shone no where else in the church. I looked up and on the stained glass it said St Paul. Strangely enough that is my dad’s name! Well obviously not the Saint bit! Strange coincidence but brought a smile to my face nevertheless.

Running a tad late (sorry Ffion!) we then drove back to Shrewsbury for Sunday lunch at the Armoury with my matron of honor and her family which was a good end to a hectic weekend. A few glasses of wine and a tasty salad left me feeling rather sloshed! I noticed as well that my salad was smiling back at me too…or was I imagining it? Thank you Ffion, Rich, Thomas and Ben for lunch and laughter! xx

Since then we have been printing off the Order of Service and Menu’s. You would think that this would be a simple task but it has caused a few headaches. Note to anyone who is doing this themselves, check that the thickness of card will go through your printer before you purchase it. I didn’t and as a result Mister B and I spent a few hours sweating buckets and using rather fruity language at printers. We got there in the end and they are looking good.

One month

It’s one month to go people. Hold onto your britches and brace yourself!
I can see you wandering round in your PJ’s. Come on get your glad rags at the ready, it s drawing closer to a party!

Feeling flowery

After scouring the internet and dabbling with flowers in the past, I have decided that we are going to do our own flowers for the wedding. Some brides or florists may read this and shake their heads. But seriously, I just cannot justify the inflated prices that are out there. I spoke and emailed a lot of florists for quotes and was amazed. Now I know that you are paying for a florists time and expertise but seriously one florist wanted to charge me £20.00 for filling a jam jar with flowers and I was providing the jam jar. What the ???? I am not being tight but I could buy a big bunch of flowers for that.

I looked for recommendations on Money Saving Expert and lots of people recommended Triangle nurseries who are wholesalers. I went through their helpful flower guide, compiled a list of flowers/foliage that I liked and went on Pinterest and created a board of flower arrangements in the colours that we had chosen. I spoke with a lovely lady called Mary at Triangle who helped to create a detailed list of all the flowers we needed for our arrangements, button holes, bouquets etc within our budget. After a few changes, that was it-SORTED!  It was that simple. The flowers for the wedding will be arriving on the Thursday before the wedding and then the Flower Committee will be getting together on the Friday morning to get it all done. For some reason I think we need headscarves for this. Don’t ask, I have no idea why.   I am hoping that with music, bubbles and patience we will prevail. I am not guaranteeing anything like Ikebana but it will look fab.

We have had all our Banns read at St Cynog’s now and we are going to go to the last one at St Peter’s in Rushbury next weekend. Amazing how quickly they go.

I have been making some more bits and bobs for the day. My father gave me an old cutlery box of my grandmothers and I thought that I would try and upcycle it to include it in the day. Sounds daft and a bit sentimental but I feel by having it there, I am including my gran in the day. I have decided to use it for wedding cards and have decorated it. I have also been drying flowers and herbs for the confetti. Last Summer I cut all the lavender from the garden and dried it and have been adding rose petals, carnations,  rosemary, forget-me-nots and camillia. They are not perfect as they have browned a little but will do the job I am sure.  I have also made some confetti cones and popped them in an old basket I bought a while ago. The cones were very easy to make, by cutting squares, rolling and using good old Pritt stick. Here is a sneak peak…

Sneak peak

More makes

I have been umming and arring about making bunting. I tried making some fabric ones a while ago and I found it a faff. I am sure for people who are good at textiles it is very very easy but I found cutting , pinning etc just left me frustrated and bored. I was just about to cheat and buy some when I came across this wonderful article  on The Sweetest Digs blog which shows how to make easy hessian/burlap bunting. As it is only going to be used for one day, it does not have to be industrial strength. No sewing and easy-genius!!!

Using some left over hessian, I set about making triangles, and then using some left over paint I painted on the letters. After drying for a while, I made some holes in each corner and threaded on some string. They may be a little bit rough around the ages and a bit wonky but that is the joy of homemade stuff, it isn’t perfect!

Say cheese

A few weekends ago we ventured with Mister B’s mother to the wonderful The Cheese Shop in Chester to order some cheeses for an alternative to the wedding cake. We realised after we invited Mrs B that she actually dislikes uncooked cheese and this was possibly her idea of hell. Oh dear!
As Mister B and I are huge cheese lovers we thought it would be nice to have some at the wedding for everyone to nibble on.Walking into the shop was like heaven, the smell was amazing. The Cheese shop has so many different types of cheese it is difficult to know where to start. We tried a few cheeses hard and soft which were all lovely. Some nutty, some sweet, some salty, some garlicky. The first layer will be a lovely Garlic Yarg, which is quite subtle and is wrapped in wild garlic leaves. Next will be a Barkham Blue, a lovely creamy blue, followed by a Wigmore Brie for the top. As I am a vegetarian, I have made sure that they are all suitable for us veggies.

When Mister B cut up the tree trunk we had an extra board so this will be perfect for the cheese. We will look to cut this as the wedding breakfast finishes and the evening guests arrive. Mister B’s Aunty Ruth has kindly agreed to make some of her award winning chutneys to go with the cheese which is jolly nice! I have visions of the cheese not making the reception…. we MUST not eat the cheese before then.

After all the trauma of the cheese shop for Mrs B, we headed to get coffee and cake and then strolled around Chester walls. It has been ages since I walked the walls and the city centre. I must admit it was nice to get back and see it all again.

Is that a muffin Mister B?

From one cheese to another. We would like everyone to say cheese on the day for the rather talented photographer Naomi Bullivant. I know, I know that was a shocking link. Honestly I have never worked in local radio and have no ambition to. Anyway back to saying cheese.

Naomi will be capturing the preparations the night before and mingling with everyone on the day/evening. Mister B and I will miss out on a lot as we will be too busy messing up our vows, making our faces ache with smiling and trying to negotiate using the toilet with a wedding dress on (that is only me I am hoping). So photographs will give us something to look back on and smile. So if you see a lady with a lens then smile, gurn or give a wave-Mister B and I will love you all forever if you do.

Welcome to our party Naomi!

The four B’s

Last weekend involved the four B’s.

1. BREAD

dough monster

Firstly Mister B and I decided in our wisdom to start making bread at gone midnight (Friday/early Saturday).

Why?  No seriously why would we do that?

I blame Mister Hollywood.Yes that man off tv who has twinkly eyes and thinks it is cool to slap the hell out of dough at every given opportunity. A few hormonal women around the country wish he could get physical with their…oh never mind. Anyhow I blame him.

I always have considered making bread quite a cathartic experience. Whilst kneading the dough I normally stare of the window and watch the birds in the garden, or zone out and think about inane stuff. This wasn’t the case when Mister B was next to me. Instead it turned into a competition of who could make their dough the most stretchy like Mr Hollywood. There was much slapping and gritting of teeth. Before you call the police I am referring to the dough and not domestic violence. Even though it pains me to say it,  Mister B was better at it. We left the dough to rise overnight with the bowls sitting on the underfloor heating (genius idea).  Next morning bright and early I rushed down to have a look. The dough was bubbling away BUT they both looked the same.

This is where it got silly and I come to:

2: BARNEY

After knocking back the dough we then set about making the bloomers. Now get your mind out the gutter, I am of course referring to bread and not Queen Victoria’s gussets. This is where it got technical and Mister B and I had a bit of a barney. It was crazy and consisted of my loaf going in and out of the oven many many times. Fnarr fnarr! Seriously it is not worth going into detail, as it was stupid. Both Mister B and I had little diva strops. I think I won on this one though. I would like to thank Kath and Kim for diffusing the situation.

“Birty, looook at meeeeeeeeeee, loooook at moi”

3. BOYCE

On Saturday night Mrs B joined us and we went to see the legend that is Max Boyce at the local Miners Welfare hall. I have never seen or knew so many people existed in the village that we live in. The night consisted of talking about Rugby, the difference between North and South Wales-Pardon? and singing lots and lots of songs. Where the Boyce gets his energy from I will never know, as he just didn’t stop. Good night all round.

4. BANNS

Daffs

Bleary eyed,  we rose early on the Sunday and toasted our bloomers, had some tea and then headed to St Cynogs in the Village to hear the first of our Banns being read. It was lovely to see some daffs on the way in. Has Spring finally sprung?

We were welcomed into the church by a lovely lady called Wendy who made sure all the details were correct for the Banns. We took a pew and then waited. The Banns were read at the beginning of the service and I admit that I gripped hold of Mister B’s hand tight.  Lump in throat.

We are GETTING MARRIED!!!! I know we have known for a while but it is starting to sink in now. I keep having these moments where I keep shouting out those four words or Oh sh*t!.  I sometimes do a little jig like a need a wee too. So if you see me do this just IGNORE me and pretend you don’t know me, it will pass. If you see a puddle on the floor, you know I did actually need the toilet and have made a bit of a mess.

St Cynogs, Ystradgynlais

Despite Wendy writing our names down, the vicar still managed to say Mister B’s surname wrong which made us both giggle. Brit, Brid, Bridtiwhistle. I am sure I heard him curse under his breath.

The holy communion was the longest I have ever been to. I thought the vicar was going to ask us to camp over for the night, the sermon was so long. I knew it was a bad sign when he leant on the lectern and made himself at home with a newspaper article. I even caught a lady in the choir having forty winks. I was occasionally caught off guard when we had to stand for hymns, of which there were five. YES FIVE. All we had never heard of. So all of three of us were like this:

Frantic flick flick flick of pages

“Do you know this one?” -Whisper 1

” Nope, do you?” -Whisper 2

“Er no, oh bugger”-Whisper 1

“What did you say?” Whisper 3

Mumble mumble mumble, squeak, 1, 2 , 3 verses.

All three of us learn the tune and then belt out the last verse like we had known it all our lives.

Luckily we got home at a reasonable time and I managed to cook  some roast beef and yorkshires before Mrs B went home. Phew, what a long weekend of B’s!!!

Our wedding gift list is active!

For those who have asked, our wedding list has now gone live, so if you would like to have a browse, the website to go to is:

John Lewis gift list

The giftlist number is: 524042

There is no password

The website will also allow guests to buy gift vouchers to put towards the more expensive items.

Any problems then please let us know-Thanks!

Hair raising?

As many of you who know me I am not a ‘girly’girl. Pink makes my toes curl. I don’t have a beauty regime and I don’t care about leaving the house without make on. For me I feel like I am in fancy dress if I don a dress, get my hair done or wear make up. It just isn’t a natural thing to me. I have no idea why. When I read ‘girls’ mags I must admit I feel a bit of a freak not wanting to go out and go mad with a credit card. So in an attempt to make an effort for the wedding, I booked in for a hair and make up trial to see what I liked.
The make up trial went ok but afterwards my skin felt irritated and a bit caked. I must admit it was too much for someone who never wears make up. I know that I am old but I thought it made me look totally knackered.I am now considering cancelling my make up and doing it myself so I know the products don’t irritate my skin. Feel bad doing that but may save me from itching skin all day.

Later on in the day I met up with my mum, my matron of honour, Ffion and her mum to have my hair done. We all piled into the Amber room in Church Stretton and after looking through some styles I had seen, Clara set to with heated rollers. I have been growing my hair for the wedding for a while and I think this is the longest I have ever had it. I have been tempted to have it chopped as it seems to shed everywhere. Seriously I think Mister B thinks I am turning into a yeti.
I have lots of hair but it is fine so Clara wanted to create some volume by giving me some barrel curls. After the rollers were popped in, conversation consisted of the grand national, pregnancy ,mahoosive babies (I was sat crossing my legs!) and of course the wedding. Photo opportunity.

I think I totally rock rollers don’t you? Nora Batty eat your heart out

After a few minutes , the rollers were removed and I was left with lovely curls. Next Clara started to pin and spray my hair. As my hair is normally poker straight this was no mean feat. Next the grand national was put on the radio and we were listening intently hoping for a win. Sadly my horse came fourth. After nearly a can of hairspray and a few hours Clara showed me her masterpiece. Lots of ooohs and ah’s from everyone. I think all of the emotion, sudden realisation I am getting married and tiredness hit me and I blubbed. The bottom lip wobbled and I broke. Poor Clara though she had done it all wrong but I was thrilled. Honest I was. I may smell and taste Elnett hairspray for months (and so may the others) but it was a success.
Woooooohooo.

Won’t reveal what my hair looked like but I think people may be a little surprised. Maybe I do scrub up ok after all. Later that night I removed the pins and ruffled my hair. I looked like I had stepped out of the 1980′s, all I needed was a power suit.

Was lovely to get everyone together as well for a good old natter. Been so difficult trying to juggle work and sorting a wedding from afar.
Thanks to Clara at the Amber Room, mum, Ffion and her mum for a lovely day xxx

Keep on running

To tie in with the theme, we purchased some hessian and made some table runners. I realised during making the runner that:

1. Hessian smells and sheds fibres like hell which can leave you looking like you have lived with a very hairy dog for a very long time.
2. Long pieces of material can be a headache to measure and this leads you to move a lot of living room furniture around.
3. My sewing machine is temperamental and has the occasional urge to munch hessian.
4. Sewing long strips of material can be incredibly dull
5. Dress pins hurt when you stand on them and they bury deep into your foot
6. Sewing machines make me swear a lot

The runners are done, and I hope with all my will that they will be long enough. If they aren’t, then they will be quirky…OK??!!

 

keep on running

all sewed up