Wedding | Planning like a boss

Ha, I jest, I am in no way a 'boss' of wedding planning and in fact the current wedding planning state of affairs is rather all over the place: magazines strewn across the floor, scrapbook bursting with random cut outs, a million web pages open covering everything from veils to shoes to cakes to invitations... But I have picked up a thing or two along the way and so I thought I'd put together my top tips for wedding planning (the 'like a boss' part basically serves as an affirmation to spur you on. You go girl! Etc, etc). 

Make a list. Make another list. The another. You're going to be the queen of list making by the time your wedding rolls around. 

Start with a HUGE list of absolutely everything you can think of that your wedding requires. Don't panic if you're certain you're forgetting things, just brainstorm away and see what comes up. There's a lot to plan, right?! Even a small wedding requires a certain degree of planning and preparation. Next you'll make little lists branching off from your bigger one, with headings such as 'bridesmaids', 'wedding cake suppliers', 'possible venue options'. Planning a wedding is a list makers dream! And you're about to become a pro. 

Grab a calculator and get budgeting 

I hear the word 'budget' and my eyes glaze over but boy oh boy is setting a clear budget essential from the get go. We're very fortunate in that we're receiving help from family to cover some of the costs of the wedding (thank you guys, we love you!) so we've incorporated that into our budget alongside the money we're saving too. It doesn't matter if your budget is teeny tiny or mighty monstrous, whipping up an excel spreadsheet and getting your figures straight makes it much easier to decide on potential suppliers and services. 

Prioritise and compromise

Sit down with your fiance and discuss the elements of your wedding that matter the most to each of you. Is it important to you that you write your own vows? Has your fiance always dreamed of an amazing cake or live band? Maybe you're determined to have the best photography money can buy? Lay your cards on the table and be prepared to compromise if necessary. Luckily Chris and I have similar opinions; for example we couldn't care less about the wedding cake provided a) it tastes nice and b) it's easy on the eye. No Cake Boss experience for us! Similarly we'd prefer a DJ to a live band as there are so many songs we want to be able to play throughout the night, and Chris's Dad is a DJ with great contacts. I did have to explain why Save the Dates are necessary (we're marrying on a Friday in winter and people may need to book the day off work far in advance) and why wedding photography is so expensive, but once I'd presented my arguments Chris was firmly in agreement. 

The best fridge magnet, ever. 

Now grab a Pritt Stick

Possibly my favourite part of wedding planning, I highly recommend starting a scrapbook and filling it up with pictures of things you feel are a good fit for your wedding. Mine is chockablock with photos torn from magazines, of dresses, hairstyles, suits, cakes, shoes, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, table centerpieces  decorations... Scrapbooking is fun, which is reason enough to dive right in, but you need an extra push I promise you it will make your planning journey run a lot more smoothly. Whenever I panic about not having ticked something off of the list, such as booking the florist (which we have done now, thankfully!) I flip through my scrapbook and am able to picture exactly what I'd like. Having a vision is very motivating. Did I mention scrapbooking is also really fun?!

Accept your artistic limitations

'Oh I think we'll arrange our own flowers and make all our decorations' I confidently told Alice soon after getting engaged. To which her expression was quite clearly one of 'what the actual FUDGE have you been smoking?' I've never been particularly crafty. Although I did once manage to get an A on an art project involving an old bandana, a lip liner, toilet roll and some spare brace elastics. Hmm. Truth be told, I don't seem to have an artistic bone in my body and the plausibility of me decorating my venue with wonderful home made items is, well, low to say the least. Wedding magazines love to tell you about new trends and the homemade wedding is certainly up there as a major one at the moment. Which is absolutely brilliant if you're willing and able, but if you're willing and not so able? It might be best to get some experts on board. Budget permitting, this might sound difficult but shop bought decorations don't have to break the bank and they don't have to mean a wedding void of personality or personal touches. 

I've decided to stick to a few decoration ground rules to help me with my shopping: a glass item, a silver item, a white item at each table. I'm thinking little photo frames, candle holders, trinkets that I can then customise effortlessly with photos, printed poems, lace and what not. I've planned special areas of our wedding reception to make sure it feels very much like 'our' unique wedding. I don't want to say too much as I'd like it to be a surprise... but you definitely can have an intimate and personal wedding without having to hand make everything yourself! We've also found an absolutely wonderful florist who is sorting all our arrangements, bouquets etc for the grand total of £500, which is cheap in terms of wedding flowers! I'm absolutely thrilled, as I'm not exactly a natural at flower arranging. Phew!

Similarly, as much as I love makeup and all things beauty (hence being a beauty blogger and all) I am in no way looking to do my own makeup or hairstyling on my big day. Not only would I be a nervous wreck, I can barely pull of a contoured eye without looking like I've been punched, so I'm more than happy to hand over control to a professional! 

I can't even manage to hold a makeup bag properly
for a photo let alone take charge of
applying the contents on the big day! Crazy eyes =
wedding planning frenzy

This is so not what I was looking for 

You're going to see a lot of options when planning your wedding. Some you'll love, some you'll hate. Don't be afraid to strike a supplier off the list if their style is quite clearly not what you're looking for. When searching for a florist I stumbled across quite a few websites featuring portfolios stuffed full of extremely structured floral arrangements adorned with all sorts of crystals and pearls. Lovely as they were, they were not what I was looking for at all and so I simply clicked 'x' and continued my search. This is where scrapbooking comes in handy, as you can remind yourself of the look you're going for, making it easier to spot potential suppliers who share your vision. I knew we'd found our dream florist when I viewed wedding pictures on her website and instantly recognised the natural, less structured arrangements featured in her work. We met and it turned out we had the exact same idea of what would work; we 'clicked' and I'm confident that she'll do an absolutely fantastic job. 

Call in the favours

Weddings are expensive, there's no doubt about it. Our budget is relatively small but things seem to be adding up fast and certain services are seriously costly. Most wedding photography in London is on average around the £1,000 mark and a basic wedding cake from a high street retailer such as Waitrose comes in at almost £250. It's time to make another list! Think of any possible contacts you have that could be of help, provided they're willing, of course. Perhaps your aunt is a wedding cake designer, or your cousin is a makeup artist? Maybe you know someone who runs a catering business, or a wedding dress shop? There's no harm in asking for mates rates or even, cough cough, an early wedding gift! 

Would you do me the honour of becoming my maid of, erm, honour?

Choosing your wedding party is pretty darn fun, especially if it's something you've spoken to your friends about before. I always knew Alice would be my maid of honour as she's the greatest friend in the whole wide world, and my oldest friend at that, but choosing bridesmaids was a little trickier. Not because I wasn't sure about our friendships, I hasten to add! But because I figured I'd either have lots of maids and not leave anyone else, or have only a few. I'm not super popular by the way, haha, this isn't a humble bag! I decided to have two bridesmaids in addition to my maid of honour as if I'd chosen seven or eight I'd probably be left with an embarrassingly bare congregation... On a serious note, I decided to have a best friend from school and a best friend from uni, with Alice being my best friend from childhood. I like having a friend from each chunk of my life so far and I know they'll be awesome at keeping me calm on the day! Plus they're all good at crafts which is handy because I'm really, really not... 

Don't forget to have fun!

I was convinced I'd never become one of those awful bridezillas, crying over minor wedding related details such as finding the perfect chair cover sash or shade of lipstick. I'd like to think I haven't quite undergone a horrendous transformation, but there's no doubt that sometimes wedding planning gets the better of me and before you can say 'confetti' I've gone and boarded the crazy train. Today I managed to track down the veil I've been obsessed with finding since I got engaged a year and a half ago. It's beautiful and I fell instantly in love, but I couldn't find it anywhere and I had almost given up when randomly I located it online at a major high street retailer  I'm pretty sure I'd checked the same website a million times before, but hallelujah there it was! I promptly burst into tears and sat at my computer weeping tears of joy/relief. Actual tears. Over a veil! 

Sometimes the idea of having to organise so many little things by one fast approaching deadline can be very overwhelming, so make sure you take some time to simply daydream about your big day and how awesome it's going to be. Hello, you're marrying your best friend, your soulmate, your perfect match! And all that jazz. It's a time for celebration and the run up to the wedding is a special time for you and your other half. Have a date night and indulge yourselves in talking about married life and all the great things you're looking forward to as husband and wife. These are the best moments of wedding planning, hearing your partner tell you how excited they are about your marriage and sharing your joy and excitement (and nerves!) with each other. It makes tackling the nitty gritty details seem a lot less scary. Don't sweat the small stuff! The key thing is you're marrying the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with. 

There you have it. If you follow the above steps you'll be a wedding planning boss in next to no time... Or at least you'll hopefully feel a little more prepared! And if not, don't beat yourself up about it. You've got the hen do to look forward to; willy straws and pink sashes at the ready!

Baci e abbracci, 

     

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Life | Happy new year!

Well... Sort of! September always feels more like New Year to me than January, what with having either attended or worked in a school environment pretty much non-stop since I was three years old! I went from sitting exams to taking a position as a Learning Support Assistant for four years and so September has always signified fresh starts and clean slates. I also feel much more connected to nature and the world around me during Autumn. I love heading outside with blankets and candles, setting up little meditation spots in the garden under the moon on crisp Autumn evenings, and I find myself drawn to my tarot cards a lot more as the days get shorter and the nights grow longer.

This Autumn will be the first time I won't be returning to the classroom *gulp* I'm no longer a Learning Support Assistant; instead I'm striking out and figuring out a different path for myself. It feels both strange and sort of exhilarating to realise that I don't have a term time job ready and waiting for me to step back into; I won't be helping my students settle into Year 11 or be supporting them in preparing for their GCSEs. I've got a blank slate full of unlimited potential and while it's exciting plotting and planning my next steps, it's also quite scary! 

I thought I'd write a little post featuring my aims and 'occupations' this 'new year', as although I'm not working at the moment I do have lots of ventures I'd like to begin to monetise this Autumn and Winter! Plus, there are lots of fun things going on in my life at the moment and so there's really no need for me to feel frightened or alarmed at not having a school to return to this week. I can still treat September as a fresh start and a brand new beginning. What a blessing to have such an unwritten and open opportunity in my palms!  

The first week of October marks the beginning of the final module of my undergraduate degree. I'm so excited to get cracking and finish up, finally! For the past few years I've stalled a little as I've been so worried about what to do next and haven't felt able to take the final step. Now that I'm getting a hold on anxiety and have lots of CBT tools at hand, I feel truly ready to get going again and reach the finish line. I study with The Open University via distance learning, and my final course is a Shakespeare module. I've always enjoyed Shakespeare so this seems the perfect conclusion to my English Literature degree. Plus, it's a great excuse to visit The Globe theatre as many times as possible! I'll be sitting my final exam in May/June and then... Well, I'll be a graduate! 

I'm determined to design a website for tarot readings as this is something I'm aiming  to turn into a career. I'd like to offer readings via Skype and email, and in person locally, as well as attend events and parties to read for groups. I'm also planning on qualifying as a Reiki Healer during 2014 and can't wait to be able to offer Reiki healing as well as tarot. In addition to tarot and Reiki I'm determined to learn to read the runes! I purchased the beautiful Amethyst runes pictured from Pagan Dreams and they're so stunning it would be a real shame to not teach myself how to use them properly. I do have a loose grasp of the different symbols and corresponding meanings but I'd like to get to know the stones inside out, and offer rune readings at some point in the future. The smaller cards in the top left hand corner are Lenormand cards, another divination system I'd like to get to grips with this year. 

The main area of excitement for me at the moment is my upcoming wedding! I'm getting hitched in January and although the planning has proven to be a little stressful at times I'm trying my best to soak it all up and enjoy the moment. I really want to appreciate this magical time! One of the first things I did upon getting engaged was order a wedding planning folder, and Mindy Weiss' one is by far the best one. It's HUGE! It has pockets and dividers for absolutely everything and I'm always using it to store ideas and plans. We picked January for our wedding date as it will be our 7th anniversary, and I've always dreamed of a winter wedding as I'm such a huge fan of all things wintry  It's such a cosy and romantic season! I'm hoping it will be a crisp, clear day with only a dusting of snow... But of course it might rain instead! That's OK though; as long as I marry my best friend, the most amazing man in the whole wide world, then everything else is fine by me!

Of course, I will be doing a whole lot of blogging alongside the above! I'm thoroughly enjoying reviewing beauty products, writing up lifestyle posts and composing my weekly Anxiety Diaries series. I'm so glad I decided to revamp my blog during the summer as it feels much more 'me' now and I'm enjoying having everything in one place, rather than spread across three blogs! I've found the blogging community to be extremely supportive and encouraging, and I've met some truly wonderful people over the past year or so. I'm addicted to the #fblchat, #bbloggers and #lbloggers chats and love browsing through Bloglovin' while drinking my morning cup of tea. I've really come out of my shell and am far less shy about commenting on posts and starting conversations with fellow bloggers, although I'm yet to attend a blogger meet-up and do find the idea a little scary! Perhaps this year will be the year I meet some bloggers in person? 

I find the process of writing and editing extremely therapeutic and blogging has given me a great focus, especially over the past few months. I'm learning all sorts of things to add to my CV, which is always a nice bonus! Including dabbling in the worlds of HTML and photo editing, although taking photos is still my number one blogging bug bear as my house seems to have the worst lighting in the whole world *sigh* I'm going to carry on writing from the heart and see where it takes me... who knows? I've come so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the Bluebird & the Robin takes me next!

There are a million other things I love about Autumn: steaming mugs of frothy hot chocolate,  wrapping up in thick knitted jumpers, snuggling up on the sofa and watching countless movies on Netflix, celebrating my birthday in October, lighting scrummy cinnamon and spice scented candles, preparing for Yule and Christmas... The list goes on! This time last year was when everything started to go wrong anxiety-wise, but a year later I'm making a fresh start and walking my very own path. Liberating, scary, exciting all at once!

What do you like about Autumn? Does September feel like a fresh start to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Baci e abbracci,

                                                        

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Disappointing Products | Skincare

I rather enjoyed writing my Disappointing Products | Makeup post so thought I'd write a skincare post to go with it. First things first, though. Skincare is extremely personal and individual, and I'm in no way suggesting that the products that didn't work for me won't work for you. By all means go ahead and give them a go, experiment, find out what works for you! I have particularly tricky skin that acts all sorts of crazy on a daily basis so this post is very much based on my personal experiences. I have a rather marvelous blend of acne, dermatitis, shine, and sensitivity to deal with, so it's probably no wonder I can't use some of the products others seem to love! *violins* 

L'Oreal Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution £4.99

The micellar craze is still going strong it seems! Until picking up L'Oreal's Micellar Solution I'd been using B's offering available at Superdrug which I really liked. I thought I'd give L'Oreal's offering a go, seeing as it claims to 'act as a purifying magnet on skin's surface to capture and draw out excess oil and impurities'. Sounds good, right? I have quite a few blemishes most days so I like anything that helps unclog my pores and freshen my skin. I'm a big fan of double cleansing, so I usually use a water followed by a hot cloth cleanser. 

While L'Oreal Micellar Solution did make my skin feel soft and cleansed, and therefore worked well initially as a pre-cleanser, it brought me out in even more spots. As in, a sudden face full of spots, all over, that refused to budge. The horror! I gave the bottle the benefit of the doubt and used it again a couple of times but the same thing happened. I noticed on Twitter that someone mentioned this might contain mineral oil and that this could be the culprit? Either way I've relegated this to eye makeup removal only as it was doing more harm than good!

Super Facialist by Una Brennan Tea Flower Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask £8.99

It seems this mask is something of a favourite among other bloggers BUT I just couldn't get on board with it, mainly because it smells like hair removal cream. You know, the stuff you smother all over your legs to defuzz... It starts off smelling OK but after a few minutes the scent becomes unbearable and I just couldn't get used to it no matter how many times I tried (about four, in case you're super curious!) Maybe I have a super sensitive nose?! I haven't heard anyone else complain about this so it could be that my sense of smell is a little cray cray. I just couldn't stomach the stench. 

Pore Purifying Clay Mask contains Salicylic Acid and Dead Sea mud for deep cleansing and oil absorbing, as well as soothing Avocado and Acacia Honey to rebalance and refresh the skin. Unfortunately though, I didn't really find this did much for my complexion. My chin still looked pretty congested afterwards and my skin didn't really feel soothed or 'rebalanced'. I feel a little confused writing this review as I know so many other people love it! Sadly it just didn't work for me. 

Elemis Freshskin Skin Clear Purifying Face Wash (£11.99) & Mattifying Moisturiser (£19.99)

I'm always on the lookout for products that promise to tackle problem skin as it seems as soon as I've successfully blitzed one blemish another one appears! I spotted these lovely blue and white goodies in Superdrug and finally picked them up when they were on offer as I can't resist a bargain! The Purifying Face Wash contains 'Vitamin A, zinc and botanical actives from iris and white willow bark', which aim to 'balance and purify'. It has a really pleasant minty citrus scent which I instantly loved, but unfortunately my skin proved a little too sensitive for this. I didn't really find it to be very 'creamy' and unfortunately it left my skin looking quite dull and dry. The Mattifying Moisturiser also has a nice refreshing scent and it applies very smoothly, sinking in quickly. Unfortunately, though, my skin felt quite sensitive afterwards and dry patches in particular appeared quite red and irritated. 

I felt quite deflated with these purchases, especially considering the price tag... BUT all is not lost! My fiance absolutely loves these and uses them all the time (maybe it's the blue packaging?!) He doesn't have sensitive skin and he finds both products give a great clean feeling without stripping the skin of moisture. I was very fortunate in that Elemis contacted me to ask for feedback after I had tweeted about my experiences, and they offered to send me some products better suited to my sensitive skin which I'm in the process of testing out. So far, so very, very good! I guess this is a lesson to really take your skin type into account when shopping for skincare products. I probably should have gone for something slightly gentler and aimed at sensitive skin, but it's so tempting when you have blemishes to reach for the strongest products available! 

Garnier 5 Sec Perfect Blur £12.99

I purchased this during my 'when I am ever going to find a decent primer?' phase (concluded by the discovery of Revlon Photoready primer, which is brilliant!) and instantly regretted it. I know this little pink tube has a legion of fans, but it really didn't work on my sensitive, oily, combination skin. Firstly, it felt quite silicone-y and I detest primers that feel like plastic... Which is unfortunate as most of the high street ones tend to. I didn't see a difference in the appearance of my skin at all once applied other than a slight mattifying effect, but this didn't last long and my makeup slid off my face after only a few hours. Majorly disappointed in this *sad face* Perhaps it's just not suited to my skin type, and it does seem that anti-aging is it's main angle so alas I may have simply picked something inappropriate for my needs. It's quite expensive at £12.99 so definitely give it a good swatch if you can before purchasing, just to be sure it works for your skin type. 

Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips 

These are admittedly really fun to use! You simply dampen your nose and stick one of the pore strips on, wait for the paper to dry and peel off gently after ten minutes or so. They have a refreshing medicinal tea tree scent that I love, but when I peeled off the first strip absolutely nothing had been removed from my nose. Not one single dot of dirt. My pores still looked clogged and there wasn't a reduction in blackheads. Major fail. I figured I might have somehow gone through the steps incorrectly, so I tried again a week later... But still, nothing. While these are fun to use and while they smell great, they did pretty much nothing at all for my skin. For £7.99 I expected a lot more and while I'll use up my pack just for the fun of walking around with a huge pore strip on my nose (only me?!) I won't be repurchasing anytime soon.

I'm penning a special skincare tag post this week so have no fear, a positive skincare haul is on its way soon! It's not all doom and gloom ;) 

Have you tried any of the above products? Have you used certain skincare products only to be disappointed? I'd love to hear your stories! 

Baci e abbracci, 
        

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