Things I'm looking forward to #January

Hello New Year!

1. This month last year saw me try and buy my wedding dress. This January (and whole entire year, in fact)  I'm really looking forward to a wedding planning free zone!

2. The Sales - last year I welcomed Helmut into my life and my wardrobe. I'm still committed to the leather sleeved jacket of beauty but I'm excited to see what else the sales will bring me this year.

3. Rich's birthday - after being my Toy Boy for a couple of months, this month sees Rich catch up and join me at the grand old age of 35.

4. Re-decorating our bedroom. It's the last room of the house to be done. We currently have a thick, mint green carpet (yep - tasty), mismatched curtains that used to be in the dining room and some baaad "plastering" where the previous owners ripped off the picture rail and in-filled the holes with Polyfiller but forgot to sand it down before painting.

5. New haircut. I've been growing my hair since September 2014 and it's time for a change. It roams free and slightly frizzy when I let it out of it's daily bun prison due to years of over processing with the GHD's and in the morning I have a tendency to look like Brian May.  Now past my shoulders, I have more options so I'm thinking a LOB with the option of curling it every now and again. It'll be a stark contrast to the sharp bob I used to previously sport but style is an evolution and when your hair and Brian May are involved, best to evolve sooner rather than later me thinks.


Stay happy

Til next time...x

The Wardrobe Angel

Face Style Part 2

Many moons ago in August 2014 I did a post about what went on my face to help me greet the world of a morning (click here for the original post). Eczema, acne, sensitivity - I've had the pleasure of it all so to say I'm careful with what I put on my face is an understatement. I was all about the Clarins foundation, waxing lyrical about it's oil absorbing qualities and how it saved me after a horrific allergic reaction to Clinique foundation. Then Natalie Willingham rocked my world by recommending Illamasqua Skin Base foundation for my wedding day.  Bless Natalie when her suggestion squared up to a big wall of make-up shaped resistance on my part...

"erm...yeah...so I'm really scared of a new foundation...sooooo....can't we just use what I've used for the past billion years and be done with it? Who said change was a good thing?" 

She, all business, dispenses a little tub of wedding foundation for me to try and off I pootled home. The next day it's fair to say my face-life changed. The foundation Natalie had given me was IMMENSE - no hardcore blending necessary, glided on and covered all my scarring. I actually took a photo of my FACE and sent it to her I was that pleased.

As well as committing to Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation I have also entered a monogamous relationship with Dermalogica - namely the Special Cleansing Gel and the Daily Microfoliant. I tried to commit to Liz Earle - I was seduced by her Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser - but it aggravated my skin. My right cheek looked rank - like I'd binged on dairy and it was coming back to say 'hello' in the form of massive spots. About 6 months before my wedding I re-purchased a Dermalogica set from my beautician and within a week my skin was back to normal.

As ever my lipstick remains the same - Maybelline 24hr Super Stay in 501. Now for a disturbing shot of me wearing said lipstick. You're welcome.

Til next time... x

The Wardrobe Angel

#WeddingWednesday - Reader, I married him

Mr & Mrs Brown 

Well reader, I am now officially Mrs Brown! October 3rd was such a special and memorable day. I am back at work today which is not so special and memorable in comparison! So with that in mind I've put together my top tips for brides & grooms for the immediate days after your wedding day:

Wear something really special the day after 

your wedding

The thought of pulling on jeans and a t-shirt the day after my wedding nearly brought me to tears. You've just worn what was potentially the most awesome outfit of your life and you are bookending it with jeans? No. Way. I wore my trusty H&M Trend Jumpsuit with my Jimmy Choo wedding shoes. Yes I was tired, yes I was emotional, yes my face wasn't nearly as awesome as when Natalie Willingham waved her bridal make-up wand over it the day before but my jumpsuit made me feel really glam and was a gentle step down rather than a gigantic lurch away from my wedding dress. Rich wore a vintage wool blazer and an awesome Zara shirt. Yep - natty dressers united! Team Brown!

Carry tissues at all times

The beach at Sheringham - there may or may not have been some joyful weeping standing on this beach

At risk of sounding like a right Nana this one has proved particularly useful. My emotions have been so close to the surface for the past month that my propensity for joyful weeping is at critical mass. I didn't weep on my wedding day until our first dance when Rich gallantly kissed away the torrent of tears coursing down my face. There's a really awkward photo of us at the end of our first dance where my face is stricken with panic - the thought running through my head was

"crap - I think I've ruined my make-up." 

We went to Norfolk for our mini-moon where I had many a moment of pure bliss including standing on the high street in Sheringham: the sun was shining, the sky was blue, I could see the sea, I had just bought a beautiful gift for my friend's new baby, Rich and I were hand-in-hand and BOOM: joyful weeping.  My weeping consists of those hot tears that just spill out of your eyes. I don't really make a sound but it can be quite unnerving for passers by so either use said tissues to mop up your tears or cover your face entirely, either way it's a bridal win.

Savour the magic and fairy dust 

The back of our wedding invites created by the wonderfully talented Becky Lord

Getting married, the lead up, rehearsal, ceremony and after-party is like being in a special bubble where you are buffeted by happiness and joy, carried along by smiles and hugs and wrapped in a big ole' blanket of love. Pretty much all this feeling is directed at you - people want to speak to you, they want to hug you, talk to you, share the love with you. I felt utterly blessed to have close friends and family surround us on our wedding day but the feeling of coming back to reality the week after was like waking up in a draining bath, cold and prune-like. Those special wedding day feelings are so immeasurably special because you don't feel them to that intensity everyday.  But you do still have some wedding day glitter, some sparkle, some marriage fairy dust at your disposal - you have the photos and more importantly, cherished memories. We started a memory box for our wedding - all the RSVP's, a copy of our invitation, the sweet bags we had printed, some of the bunting that my gorgeous sister-in-law kindly made for us, my headpiece and the pearls used to hand-tie my bouquet. Jeez - even writing this I'm fishing for a tissue!! Excuse me whilst I indulge in a joyful weeping moment ...

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - to Choo or not to Choo, that is the question

So I obviously Choo-ed

Searching for 'wedding shoes' has been a relatively easy process. Discounting all the satin ivory horror stories that showed up on my Google searches, I did spot a magnificently sparkling shoe on a blogger's feed on Instagram. A shoe from Dune that was part of the Autumn/Winter collection - I didn't let that put me off. I dropped an email to Dune customer services - when and where can I get said shoe? In September came the answer, and it won't be country wide, you can't pre-order and we can't send you the press office sample. 

Ok.

I left it a couple of weeks, headed off on some awesome family holidays (yes, there were 2) and when I came back I arranged a tea with my mate Laura. I said, "let's go and get my wedding shoes". Laura owns and runs Manor Drive, a pre-loved Dress Agency selling designer items and she has the best taste ever. She was HORRIFIED to think I was getting some satin ivory heels for my big day. 

After we finished our brews we headed for Selfridges, and the mecca that is Jimmy Choo. There was no contest, the battle of the wedding shoes was won fair and square by Jimmy. Sorry, Dune. These bad boys are super comfy (I'm pictured here wearing in my Choo shoe babies whilst in my pyjamas - they go with everything, right?!) and they look AWESOME. The idea of getting some super awesome (and yes, super expensive) wedding shoes had been rattling around my mind for a few months. These are shoes that I can keep and wear again and again, unlike my dress unless I run out of clothes one day and decide to go to Tesco in it. 

We had a final meeting about the flowers last night and I could picture Rich and I in the church, saying our vows, surrounded by friends and family, and a huge wave of joy rushed over me. 

I am so excited - my wedding outfit is coming together, loose ends are being tied as we speak. It all feels so, so real now.

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - #Hen Hen Hen Hen Hen Hen

What an awesome Hen Do day - afternoon tea, spa and a tasty meal. Having been teetotal for nearly 5 years it was a low key, chilled affair minus veils, willies, that Mr & Mrs quiz, and the dreaded L plates; I drank elderflower presse whilst my hens sipped Prosecco. My trademark red lips were the order of the day and most of my hens turned up to greet me with a slash of red lippie in my honour - go team Hen!

Most of my hen clan were school friends - The Halifax Girls - who I have known since the grand old age of 11 years old. We went to different universities, have lived in different cities and countries but have always stayed in touch. It's one of those friendships that's like slipping on an old jumper - it always works. Then there were 2 really good mates from my mid 20's in Manchester. I share memories of many nights out with them and a particularly awesome holiday to Ibiza, plus both their Hen Do's. My uni friend, Jen, who was my chief organiser and British Cheerleader during our year abroad. We spent a year at The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (yes, it's a real place) surviving a tornado, 9/11 and the lure of coming home with an American accent. My sister, Penny and my sister-in-law also made the trek up from London to enjoy all Manchester had to offer. And last but not least, my dear friend Dawn who was my 1st Wardrobe Angel client and my mate Joban (real name Emily) who I share a love of hysterical films with. Her nickname came about after watching I Love You Man. My nickname is Carlos from The Hangover - the 1st film we saw together.

A gleeful Joban after finding her "perfect" moustache.

Greeting my friends I was filled with mixed feelings; joy and anxiety. I was the only person in the room who knew everyone. All the threads of my life were right in front of me, so many shared histories, stories and experiences. Would everyone get on? But, in true northern style, the ice was well and truly broken when one of the first topics of conversation was waxing of the lady garden area. My favourite part of the day was when I was presented with a bag of gifts - one from each hen - but with no labels attached so I had to guess which gift was from which hen. The gift was something that reminded the hen of me. I was bowled over by the hilarity of some of the gifts (a picture of David Crystal springs to mind) and by the thought that had gone into some. The frame which two of the Halifax hens had collaborated on made me well up - it was an A-Z of Stephanie Ann Roper:

How utterly blessed I felt to be surrounded by this gang of immense, shiny, sparkly women who I am lucky enough to call friends. Friends who know me inside out, have stood by me, supported me, laughed with me (and at me), and for whom the door is always open . 

So with my Hen Do a funny and long lasting memory, Rich and I are on the "6 weeks to go" wedding home straight. We've finalised the seating plan, the Order of Service and dished out the usher's jobs. I have my wedding shoes and a clutch of appointments to get my dress altered and my head piece finalised. 

It's going to be here before I know it, isn't it?

My favourite bits off of the internet this week

I'm in a weird limbo between coming back from holiday, my busiest business month (hello September!) and the home stretch before my wedding (6 weeks to go!). I've been trotting around the world wide web looking for super cool stuff and found some super cool stuff to share:

1. I made a new friend recently. Her name is Lisa Clifford and her business as a transformational coach is extraordinary. Beg, borrow and steal, or just pay her, to come and do a workshop for you and your business.

2. I spent many-a-summer raving in Ibiza in my 20's. I love a good dance choon and if any one out there can tell me of a super cool place where a 34 year old woman can groove the night away listening to Cafe Del Mar tracks, I am all ears. In lieu of that information I urge you to listen to the Radio 1 Ibiza Proms - just stunning to here well worn dance tracks re-spun with classical instruments.

3. I first came across Amy Schumer on Comedians in Cars getting coffee; she was hilarious. Now she has written and starred in her own film, Trainwreck, and the trailer is AWESOME.

4. In July I filmed my TV Pilot. I know. HUGE DEAL. The date for the first pilot fell through, I had under a week to re-organise my guests, as well as packing for holiday and organising my wedding. Katie Portman from the wonderful blog Pouting in Heels agreed to come and get involved.

Please note - we had never met. 

I messaged her on Instagram, emailed her the show details and she shared her time and experience in spades for her interview. She went all-in and showed up in the pouring rain, gave some awesome chat and was beyond patient when the filming ran behind. THANK YOU Katie - you awesome woman, you. Check out her fantastic blog Pouting in Heels. 

5. I had my 4th business anniversary at the start of August. The Marketing Doctor sums up the effort which self-employment takes and the amazing rewards in this heart felt blog post.

6. My sister made me an auntie for a 3rd time earlier this year to a beautiful baby niece. Recently I have become more and more aware of the blue/pink clothing stereotyping in shops and it has really been getting me down. I found salvation on Instagram when I stumbled up No Pink Please - a unisex clothing brand for children which is beyond cool. Check out their It's a Baby vest - amazing!

7. For over 6 years I've been delving into the world of spirituality. Gabrielle Bernstein's vlogs are a dose of enlightenment which could make all the difference to your day.

8. My wedding is in 6 weeks. After getting engaged last November we have had less than a year to plan our nuptials but one of the 1st decisions we made was to hire Anna Hardy as our wedding photographer. I am so excited she'll be sharing our day with us.

9. And finally 2 Buzz Feed crackers. Love Harry Potter? See how this cartoonist reckons Dumbledore was less than responsible in this Headmaster role at Hogwarts.

10. How Posh was Your School? I scored 22. How did you do?


Have an immense rest of week!

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - The emotionless robot that is Royal Mail

With an arbitrary system of weights and measures, Royal Mail has made inviting people to our wedding a whole lot more difficult. After posting our invites on Tuesday 7th July I felt really giddy - like the wedding was really happening. At first we received a steady stream of texts saying "LOVE THE INVITES" and swift RSVP's (Auntie Libuff - you win the award for quickest RSVP for the Brown wedding) lulling us into thinking that all our invites had been happily received. 

Then I was made aware that a cousin in London hadn't received anything in the post. Then 2 friends. Then Rich's mum told Rich she'd had to pay extra postage for hers and had to collect it from the Post Office. Cringe. Extra postage?? Cripes we should've got them weighed before we posted them. That one is on us. But why oh why Royal Mail have you delivered some (postage was obviously fine) and not others? A few postcodes in London received their invites without issue, yet a postcode in Manchester has had to pay an extra £1.20 excess postage. I'm in awe of how arbitrary the system is, and how bureaucratic - each invite was 20p under postage but the admin fee for each to get delivered is £1. Talk about a self-serving industry. 

As it stands today half the invites have been delivered no problems, a quarter have had to pay excess postage (sorry ladies and gents!) and a quarter are still missing in action with the recipients receiving no invite and no letter of excess postage. Now this is where Royal Mail have been no help - I can happily give them the addresses and postcodes of these missing invites to locate them, but they won't consider them missing until 27th July. The thing is, we need all our RSVP's by the 31st July. 

I had a tiny glimmer of hope yesterday that the Royal Mail PR machine would swoop down and turn this thing around but alas my communication with them has been akin to communicating with an emotionless robot who has clearly never planned a wedding. 

Luckily friends and family have been awesome and incredibly understanding - we've received texts saying:

"It's ok; we know when we aren't wanted *winky smiley*"

"I'm sure I can find a quid down the back of the sofa to pay the postage"

"I think it's bloody genius you've essentially made us pay for an invite to your wedding"

to one friend "refusing" to come unless we reimburse him the £1.20 excess postage he's had to pay (Ben - you'll be reimbursed at the wedding). Rich pointed out, as I had a little weep over the invite list last night, we're lucky to be in a close network with everyone reachable by phone and Facebook. 

It seems this kind of pre-wedding mix up can happen to the best of us - just this morning at a networking event my friend Sarah said she'd managed to post a fistful of her wedding invitations without any stamps at all. Phew! Hearing that story made me giggle - I'm never been a bride for whom everything has to be "perfect" - so it's good to know that the path to a wedding can sometimes be bumpy.

So please taketh this lesson away from today's #WeddingWednesday blog post - 

always weigh your wedding invites before you post them

It will save you a heck load of trouble and if they do go missing, don't expect Royal Mail to do anything for you. 

Amen. 

#WeddingWednesday - Invitation Only

And so to our wedding invites. Ever since Rich proposed I had my heart set on ordering our wedding invites from Becky Lord Design. I've been following her on Instagram for ages, impressed by her visual aesthetic, use of colour and all round friendly tone. Her Fetti wedding stationary was one of the first pictures to make it on to my secret Wedding Pinterest board.

We ordered her stationary pack from Etsy so we could see the samples of her House Collection wedding stationary before we made a final decision. When it arrived I felt like I had been sent a gift: beautifully presented, the wedding stationary samples were wrapped in tissue paper and a free pencil with heart soaring inspirational wording was included to boot. How's that for business branding?!

With some wedding related decisions it's been instant: the church for instance, having fish & chips at our wedding breakfast was another swift choice. But other decisions have felt really hard to make - even though Fetti had been my original choice, we deliberated over Writer and Bodoni for 3 hours one Sunday morning. The hardest thing about organising our wedding has been keeping a fixed idea about what our wedding means to us - everyone has an opinion, is quick to tell you what they did, and in the nicest possible way tell you what you shouldn't do. So that's why I dithered from my original wedding invite decision: were we more of a Writer wedding? What would the Bodoni set say about our nuptials? Then at the bottom of the wedding stationary pack we uncovered The Huxley: a simple, rustic, come as you are kind of invite. Was that 'us'?

To clear my head I sat down one morning and did a moodboard for our wedding - pictures of what the venue will look like, swatches of material from Rich's suit and my dress, a picture of the wedding car I'll be transported to the service in. Nope - Fetti it was but with a change of colour palette. After what seemed like a gazillion emails from me starting in February and running into May, Becky, with endless patience, mocked up a Fetti invite and BOOM - it matched the feeling of our wedding:

chic and elegant yet informal and friendly

There is now less than 4 months until I become 'Mrs Brown' and I cannot wait to send out our invites when they arrive this Friday!! 

#WeddingWednesday - If your names not down, you're not coming in

Apologies for the lack of wedding related updates; I have been down to Telford, Bath, Bristol and Essex visiting new clients and sorting out many a wardrobe. Then there's the not so small matter of a TV show pilot in the pipeline. Wedding plans have been bubbling away in the background like a hearty stew on the stove nonetheless, and Rich & I sat down last weekend to write the final jobs "to do" list. The fact it is 5 sides of A4 has given me sweaty palms to say the least!

So what have we been doing? Our invites have been designed, ordered and printed. Penny, my sister and Maid of Honour, has her dress. I finally had a breakthrough with my flowers after what seemed like months of self-diagnosed "flower blindness" and our table centres have been crossed off the list with a huge sigh of relief. Searching for 10 vintage teapots in the land of Yorkshire where tea runs thicker than blood has been a tall task. We've managed it (albeit with a few broken lids and various expeltives along the way).

If you see any teapots like this on your travels let me know - better have too many than not enough.

Bar Christmas, I think we picked the worst time ever to register our Gift List with John Lewis: The Trafford Centre on Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Even the overflow car park was full as we queued to find a space amongst the off-roaded vehicles (or abandoned? Hard to tell) and the throng of shoppers. John Lewis know how to treat you right - they gave us a voucher for free tea and cake, set us up with a scanner and let us loose on their shopfloor. We scanned away amongst the throng of bank holiday shoppers. Dear God what a day! So. Many. People.

Wedding schizzle just got pretty real pretty quickly!!

When we moved in together it seemed like over the subsequent months we made endless trips to the charity shop to donate bedding, kitchenware, stuff. We are 2 adults in their 30's who have both set up homes and we have the material possessions to prove it so writing our wedding Gift List proved interesting: lots of things that would be lovely if we receive them but equally happy if we don't. Shopping for them was quite romantic, even though we shared it with what seemed like a gazillion other shoppers. It was also our 2 year anniversary that day so I was feeling the love as we picked out our matching toaster and kettle and some epic Cath Kidston mugs.

Finding my shoes has taken another huge weight off my mind and making some decisions about my make-up has set my mind at rest. There's less than 4 months to go and I alternate between "AAAAARGH!!!" and "I've got this."

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - what about the Groom?

With my dress sorted and my mum's Mother of The Bride outfit in the bag, attention has turned to Rich. As soon as we started planning our big day people kept asking about my dress, what I was wearing (probably spurred on by my outpourings around wedding blindness and general ignorance in the bridal arena on this here blog!) and saying things like "it's the bride's day." Erm....really? Last time I checked there were 2 of us getting married. I didn't see why I should have all the fun sartorially speaking so we stretched the budget and asked Micheal Pendlebury (he off of The Denim Doctor and the TV show This Old Thing) to make Rich a bespoke suit for our wedding day.

A bespoke suit bit of a "once in a lifetime" kind of experience but so is our wedding so we figured why the heck not? 

After an initial meeting where Rich had various fabric swatches draped around his neck he selected the fabric and lining and Micheal took his measurements. He has since been for his first fitting where all the pieces are coming together! Micheal was also kind enough to send us a swatch of the lining and the material so we can colour match the fabric for the usher's suits.

In other wedding news I now have my engagement ring! People automatically say "let's see the ring!" when you let them know you now have a betrothed and for months I've felt like a bit of a fraud as my ring finger has been stark naked. We visited a myriad of jewellers and even toyed with the idea of getting one designed when one day on a trip to the tip and charity shop (that's domestic bliss right there!) we parked outside the Kingston Diamond Merchants and gravitated towards the window.

The first ring I tried on I felt the same swell in my heart that I had felt when I tried on The Wedding Dress.

This ring will be gracing my hand for the rest of my days and that feeling told me this ring was the one. 

Since picking it up after having it resized I feel like I've been lost in a time vortex sitting staring at it; I feel like such a lady grown-up!  And yes, Rich re-proposed with the ring after we picked it up!

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - the Parents meet the Parents

Last Saturday my parents met Rich's parents for the first time. I was pretty calm in the lead up, even calm that morning when we did house stuff (tip, charity shop) then as soon as I got home to start cooking the tension I was feeling - my gawd - was so tense. All manner of questions were running through my mind - what happens if they didn't get on? Or the conversation dried up? Or they started bringing up embarrassing stories of stroppy teens (probably about me - my teens were not my finest hour). 

As I peeled and chopped what seemed like the entire contents of the fruit & veg section at Tesco my fear eyes were in full force. 

We had planned the menu far in advance - sweet potato and bacon soup, tasty bread, brie, pate and fresh fruit for pudding. Minimum menu fuss was the order of the day: no awkward things to cut, easy to digest, no-one caught with a great whopping piece of food in their teeth at that awkward stage between the asking of a question and the realisation that the recipient of said questions has a mouthful.  We served the food in an 80's buffet style so people could sit in the lounge and feel relaxed, rather than sit around a table and it feel forced. (Plus we didn't have enough chairs for the sitting around the dining room table!)

My Dad, Tom Roper (that's what I call him -  a relic left over from those not so fine teenage years), gave me a hug upon arrival and whispered, "You alright?" and I said, "I'm so nervous!" But when everyone had arrived my hands unclamped and I felt more relaxed - it was like a mass job interview where everyone was going to come away with a job. Just questions and answers and a happy ending. This was always going to be a daunting afternoon - so many different personalities in one room - but everyone just got along.

It was an awesome afternoon - plenty of chats about walking, teaching, the opportunities that retirement has brought, grandchildren, books, Wolf Hall, the wedding. And laughing - lots and lots of laughing. 

The wider implications weren't lost on me - my mum and dad are gaining a son-in-law and Rich's parents are gaining a daughter-in-law. Far beyond everyone turning up to see Rich and I get wed, these relationships will last a lifetime, 

Rich's family used to joke that the first time they would know he had a girlfriend was when they got a wedding invitation. to which Rich replied, "what makes you think you'd get an invite?" And I think my parents had really given up hope after I became self-employed and spent my Friday nights reading fashion blogs. So it was an especially heartwarming when Rich's Mum, Jennifer, said to my Mum

"We are very happy about this."

to which my Mum replied

"Yes, so are we." 

It's always nice to get the parental seal of approval! 

#WeddingWednesday - Fake tan and Mother of the Bride

I'm really getting into the swing of wedding planning now and enjoying it. Around Christmas it just felt like this huge mountain to climb but now I get to help people decide what to wear (I'm talking Mother-of-the-bride) I am loving my role as bride-to-be! In fact, the past week has been awesome! Mum (previously known as Catherine to me but that's for another blog entirely) and I hit the shops last Friday to get her kitted out for her impending role as MOB. It's early, I know, Rich and I aren't getting hitched until October, but this year there is a lot going on - my sister is due to give birth to her 3rd child in a couple of weeks and Rich's family are having an epic family reunion in Canada. Both events, though vastly different, require a lot of planning and commitment.

My brother David got married about 18months ago and Mum was clear she wanted something "different" to wear for my wedding than for what she'd worn for Davids but after a few uninspiring dresses were passed in and out of the fitting room in one shop we had an emergency MOB pow-wow in the car,

"I think we should keep looking - by the time we get to July there will be summer holidays and then we'll hit September and it'll be the wedding before you know it."

"I agree - let's go to Harrogate."

So peddle to the metal we zoomed off in Mum's little red fiat. About 2 minutes after entering the next shop Mum appeared around a corner clutching a dress with a grin as wide as the San Francisco bridge. That was that. She tried it on, looked phenomenal and we were back on our way to Halifax in no time. It was a truly special day - again, one that I hadn't anticipated. To have that day, just us, was wonderful. Another job has been crossed off the list and the visual image of my mum in the dress, the colour of the material and accessories, means that I can picture the wedding in my head in even clearer detail. Which for me being a visual person is heaven!

There's an old tradition that the MOB gets to pick the colour of her outfit first, then the Groom's mother picks her outfit colour. Navigating theses old traditions is weird - do they still matter? I've heard people say "It doesn't matter, wear whatever you want." But we all want to be individual and our clothes are our way of doing that. So with a few texts and conversations here and there the MOB and Jennifer, Rich's Mum, will be wearing different colours come October.

What else? We've done a mock-up of the seating plan and are going for a tasting session in a couple of weeks. I just want Fish and Chips - what happens either side of that I'm not bothered. And I'm still thinking of my general bridal get-up after someone looked at my pasty skin this week and said

"You are getting a spray tan for your wedding, aren't you?"

Me and spray tan, fake tan, indeed normal tanning have never really gotton on. After a summer working in a bar in Marbella during uni I was so brown when I came back I looked like a wooden sideboard. It might have had something to do with the carrot tanning oil I was using....After that I've never really been able to tan so pale and interesting it is. Sali Hughes' book "Pretty Honest" has a wonderful chapter on Bridal make-up. I love this paragraph:

"Ringlets on straightening-iron devotees, fake tan on pale skins, sickly pastels on those rarely seen without bold lips and dark sultry eyes. Padded bras on flatties, elaborate fake hairpieces on short hair. Enough! A wedding day is not the time to play at being a flaxen-haired virgin from a Disney fairytale. It's the time to look your most amazing."

And with that you have your answer to the tanning question.

Til next time...x

#WeddingWednesday - My wedding day hair which I am so excited about!

Wedmin this weekend: we went to order Rich's suit from the tailor and we had a meeting with our wedding planner Emma who works at the reception venue. Favourite thing I found out this weekend in wedding land? Emma decorates the reception room for us. I had visions of me and various friends up at the crack of the wedding day hanging bunting and sorting out the table centres but Lo! Emma does it for us. I'm calling her St. Emma from now on. Other wedmin tasks related to my bonce.

I've felt my image changing ever so slightly in the past 6 months: I'm ditching the red lipstick and trying a new pink shade come Spring, I've loved my red nails but want a colour change there too. And I want my crowning glory back:

I want to be able to sweep my hair up into a bun and forget about it. 

Since starting The Wardrobe Angel my hair has been cut into a severe bob followed by an even more severe bob. It's got shorter and shorter, the fringe more and more blunt. This has taken so much upkeep - bi-weekly fringe trims, monthly cuts, straightening nearly every day. I loved how the cut has become synonymous with my image. People have stopped me in the street to tell me they love my hair. I've been offered free haircuts; I have a 'box bob' which is a great haircut for training purposes (apparently). But last September as I sat in the hairdressers chair and she said, "Am I just taking off the regular amount?" I replied without thinking, "no, I'm growing it. Please can you just trim it?" And that was that.

So 6 months of growing have passed and it is neither up nor down, as the nursery rhyme goes.  The real volume has started to show; without straightening it looks like a mushroom from Super Mario Bros but fingers crossed by THE BIG DAY it will be a shoulder length bob of epically healthy proportions.

This is what I'm aiming for, mushroom hair allowing. 

I read that on your wedding day you should be the most beautiful version of yourself - well for nearly 4 years I have been a red lipstick wearing, short-cut severe bob owning Wardrobe Angel so now I feel all these awesome hair shaped possibilities are ahead: curls, waves, an up-do, a head shroud (?) I've been all over Pinterest like a well-meaning rash this week looking at all my options; you can tell I am thoroughly excited about this! I found a great post on Bridal Musings called 30 ways to style short hair for your wedding which these following pics are from:

Photo by Tyler Branch Photo via Green Wedding Shoes

Look at that VOLUME!! Mushroom head over here can definitely achieve this!  Photo via Sephora

Head Shroud. Erm.....Photo by  This Modern Romance via Green Wedding Shoes

Let's see what the next few months hold, hair-wise. Another Saint who has been an absolute gem in wedding land is Natalie Willingham - the lady who gets to make-up my face on the day. She's opened her contact book and recommended people and businesses left, right and centre so the wedding day can go as smoothly as possible. One such recommendation is  Louise Puchalka  - a bit of a wedding headpiece angel based in the Corn Exchange in Leeds. I am genuinely excited to see what she can come up with to stick in my long lustrous locks come wedding day.

Onwards....only 7 months to go...wedding!!!!

#WeddingWednesday - what do I wear in my hair?

We spent last weekend doing 'wedmin' - choosing our invites, finalising which baker gets to bake us a wheat free, dairy free cake, and sorting out our Gift Registry (thank John Lewis!) All the other elements of the wedding are coming together bit by bit so it has made me get 'the fear eyes' around the other elements of my outfits. I was greeted by a stress dream a few nights ago of what to put/wear in my hair on the BIG DAY. This lead to a freak out on Sunday afternoon followed by a frantic Pinterest session looking for inspiration and hoping for an answer, whilst Rich calmly and wisely exited stage left to make a lasagne.

What I'm finding very difficult is seeing how things fit together; I usually build an outfit from scratch by throwing laying items on my bed and adding and subtracting until the outfit feels 'done'. My wedding dress is currently being made, I don't have it to hand and so visualising what else to put with it has me in a panic ridden tailspin. To veil or not to veil, that is the question. Or is the question a tiny veil and a hat? Or no veil and a tiara? Or just a tiara? Or no tiara and a dead bird ala Carrie Bradshaw in her wedding outfit?

"I made the effort, I put a bird on my head."

I thought I was pretty set on having a veil after I tried one on when I went wedding dress shopping with my sister-in-law for her wedding dress a couple of years ago. In truth I was obsessed with the veil, I wanted to buy it and wear it then and there, parading around Reading in all my veiled glory. But when I was stood in my own gown (and the tears had subsided and the snotty tissues had been thrown away) they attached a veil to my head and

it looked a whole world of wrong. 

I didn't feel like me anymore; I felt swamped. like I was pretending to be something I wasn't.

So I need suggestions, help, advice, friendly comments about what my wedding head-gear should consist of. What did you wear? What didn't you wear and why? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

PS - 'the fear eyes' is a phenomenon my friend Emily noticed about me - when I don't like something or something scares me my eyes dilate uncontrollably, literally widening with fear. Hence, I get the fear eyes.

No Longer Shopping for my Wedding Dress

And now the end is here! And so I face the final curtain! Pop open that champers and charge your glasses because, by jove, I've done it!! OH MY DAYS who knew buying a wedding dress was such an emotional experience???

After 4 false starts lucky number 5 is the winner!! When I walked out of the fitting room I wasn't looking at myself in the mirror. I was looking down at the dress thinking - "a bit too long? I'm not sure about this..." My feet were lost in the train of material and to be honest, I wasn't really concentrating on the dress, more concentrating on keeping upright and not being dragged down by the swirls of fabric wrapping round my legs.

Then BOOM. I looked up. Time paused, a moment so slight passed that everything seemed suspended. In that moment a ground swell of emotion started deep in my stomach and rose up until I felt choked with the most incredibly happy feeling. I burst into tears. A thought popped into my head:

"This is the dress I'm going to marry Rich in."

And that was it - my Mum in floods, scrabbling for tissues, me sobbing whilst encased in white. I've never had such a raw emotional reaction to a piece of clothing: I've felt desire when looking at designer pieces that are out of my price range, I've felt a possessive urge for clothing when I'm grabbing something off a sale rack, knowing that it belongs to me and will be going to my wardrobe and not going home with the other sale shoppers around me. But I've never cried over a piece of clothing, not like this.

I'm not going to describe my dress or post pictures until after the big day. After a few messages showing my sister and sister-in-law I've had to delete all photos of it from my phone in case Rich walks in and sees me gazing in marvel at the dress shaped spectacle on the screen. I used to think about our wedding day; see all the guests in the congregation, imagine the food on the plates at the reception, hear the speeches and the laughter but I never imagined my dress. There was the huge gaping chasm in my imagination and for a while that really scared me,

So now a huge sigh of relief has been been sighed. Phew - that's that dealt with!! Now the shoes.....

Shopping for my Wedding Dress (Part Three)

So I went online this week to try and cure my wedding dress blindness and put together a coherent wedding Pinterest board to send to my wedding florist, Cate Wood who owns Flowers at 180. I had had a tweet from Oxfam who directed me to their second-hand wedding dress site after hearing about my wedding dress dilemmas. Initially, when we got engaged, I adamantly told people I would find my wedding dress in a charity shop and buy some designer shoes to go with it which I would wear again...and again...and again. Sustainable shopping is one of the pillars of The Wardrobe Angel and half my wardrobe is from charity shops so it just felt right to go down this route.

Then something happened:

My Mum very, very kindly offered to buy my wedding dress. 

She remembered shopping for her wedding dress with my Nana as a pivotal moment in their relationship. I'm only going to do this (get married) once: so this kind of enduring, wonderfully special memory, this mother/daughter experience of wedding dress shopping was something I realised I wanted too. As Rich and I planned the guest list and the congratulation cards rolled in late last year, I realised that I had just been going through wedding planning motions, I forgot (or didn't quite realise) how many other people were supporting us and loving us during this frankly awesome time. (And I wasn't about to start dragging my Mum round every Oxfam in the area - she would not have been into that at all!) So I put down my ideas of a thrifted dress and dove head first (albeit terrified) into the wedding dress experience.

Even though I'm committed to trying dresses on in person, feeling the garments, seeing how they looked on me rather than on a picture on a model online, I did find an immensely awesome, minimal stylish label called Houghton based in New York. I spent a good hour browsing the bridal collection wistfully imagining the slim fitting dresses pulling like an elastic band on my 28F chest, dragging miles of fabric behind me as I'm at least a whole person shorter than the models. This was my wake-up call - yes the Houghton dresses are awesome and wonderfully aspirational but they aren't me. Not on my wedding day. They look perfect for weddings in castles, sleek registry offices, cool swanky London bars and on boat trips down the Thames. But a church wedding in Halifax followed by Fish and Chips? Pull the other one.

This is another big realisation I've had in wedding land - I've got to be realistic. I'm 5'3" and my weight is 7 1/2 stone. Too much fabric and I'll be like Alice slipping down the rabbit hole; blink and you'll miss me. Our wedding location isn't high profile, it isn't fantastically glam, but it's our home. And I want a dress which fits our bill, not the bill certain dresses give license for.

So onwards.... I've had so many positive messages from people...

"Just keep an open mind."

"Focus on hair and make-up so all the focus isn't on the dress."

And a lovely message on my blog from a lady who works in a wedding dress shop:

"Everyone is uncomfortable the first time they try bridal dresses on and why wouldn't you be?! You probably have never done it before and hopefully never will again!"

Thanks for all your messages and for reading... it's fun writing these blogs! 

PS - here's s bridal horror story if ever I saw one - click the link ... Brides ordering online receive dresses which can barely be called dresses, and certainly aren't a patch on what they thought they were ordering. 

Shopping for my wedding dress (Part 2)

So last Friday was an experience I shall never forget. Wedding Dress shopping has surprised, delighted and scared me in equal measure. Why?

1. I've never been so closely aware of my physical form before. 

Head to foot in reams of fabric, suddenly I was acutely aware of my exact proportions, my waist, my chest, even my chin! Better than being naked, one of the dresses hugged my curves severely, announcing my hourglass shape. I looked wide-eyed in horror at my reflection as the words "I feel like Jessica Rabbit" left my mouth. There were my tits, my ass, my shape...so clearly defined....so damn sexy....and not in any way shape or form appropriate for a church wedding. I felt like sex was oozing from my pores, steaming off me in a hot sweat. That's the power of a dress right there.

2. My height (or lack thereof) was magnified tenfold. 

I always wear heels but in a height-off between me and the dresses, the dresses won hands-down. When I walked into the shop I immediately folded my arms and became increasingly defensive and cowed. I put my bag down and retreated to the corner of the room. The dresses, though hanging a safe distance away on rails, were already taller than me and I was wearing heels. This was intimidating no end.

3. I feel my inner princess has been unleashed. 

I was always a tomboy growing up - didn't like dresses, wore dungarees and when I got my hair cut short I marvelled in glee at the mounds of discarded hair on the floor. Even at uni I turned up at one of my hall formals wearing trousers and a top rather than a dress. Then I tried on a wedding dress and BOOM - I was parading around like Cinderella waiting for her pumpkin coach to arrive. It was magnificent!!! I got so into it - shoes, veil, headpiece - the works! Never thought that day would come but it did and I LOVED IT.

4. Wearing a wedding dress requires herculean strength.

I tried one dress on with a massive train, the weight of which was what I imagine dragging around a dead person is like. People talk about high heels impeding women's ability to walk. Well, I'd like to chuck certain designs of wedding dresses into that pot as well. I felt physically unable to lift this train of fabric up. I struggled out of the fitting room, made 2 hapless steps forward then had to be rescued by the assistant who said.

"this dress is really made for someone 5'8" tall and a good few sizes bigger than you." 

Kudos to Di for dragging that train that around!

This woman attached HER BABY to her train. There are no words.

She stripped the TRAIN OF TERROR dress me off and we went onto what looked like an awesome dress but again - OH MY DAYS HOW ON EARTH DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WALK IN THIS???? The dress had a wonderfully sparkly top half, was cinched in at the waist and then sprouted like a material fountain out from the waist a good few inches, with reams of fabric layers in the underskirt. Due to height issues (see point number 2) the top, supposed to be a modest V Neck, practically hit my navel so had the rather weird look of J-Lo circa the Puff Daddy Days...

Having never worn a floor length gown, especially one with so many layers, I ended up kind of simultaneously walking and kicking the underskirts of the dress to get around. Seriously NOT a good look. Plus massively heavy!!


All in all an eye opening and muscle toning experience. But, on a serious note, with each dress I got a stronger and stronger sense of what I wanted to wear on my wedding day and how I want our wedding to look and feel. The shop assistants could not have been more helpful and for that I am eternally grateful. So where next? Next stop on my wedding dress journey I am heading online....wish me luck. 

Shopping for my wedding dress (Part 1)

This is already hilarious for me. Much as I love clothes I have never dreamt of my dream wedding dress. You read that correctly. I have dreamt of Mulberry handbags and mid heeled court shoes, of wardrobes with magnificent sliding doors and clothes all neatly organise inside. I have dreamt of holidays in Ibiza, the ultimate red lipstick and of the perfect brew and the accompanying wheat free biscuit. But I have never dreamt of my dream wedding dress.

I'm a stylist and image consultant and love clothes, but this wedding dress malarkey is a whole new, terrifying, other worldly ball game for me. Here are some wedding dress shaped facts about The Wardrobe Angel:

• I have never tried on a wedding dress before. NEVER. NEVER EVER.
• I fell out with maxi dresses last year and have never worn a floor length gown so I don't know if I'll like that wedding dress material swishing around me.  
• I think I have wedding dress blindness - I bought a bridal magazine and after a few pages of flipping through I couldn't tell the difference between one dress and the next. 
• I'm scared of the weight of the dress; I'm hardly a body builder and carrying around all that tulle and lace for a whole day seems out of my bodily reach.

We've set the date, booked the church and the venue and now there is this HUGE gaping hole in the organisation of our wedding - my missing dress. And time is ticking. I get married in under 9 months. I rang the very wonderful Natalie Willingham to book her as my make-up artist on the day and she gave me some very sound advice,

"You've never tried on a wedding dress before and they are a different breed of clothing altogether so when you enter the shop take off your stylist hat and be guided by the shop assistants."

Except here we are - the first day of wedding dress shopping is tomorrow. I don't know what pants to wear, I am plucked, waxed and shaved within an inch of my life and I have NO IDEA what to try on first. I don't know what I like. I can feel a huge panic rise in my chest and it does not subside. My Mum is clearly loving this and I am trying my very best to go through the motions but I NO IDEA what I am doing.

And I am TERRIFIED.

Flowers at 180

What I've found since starting The Wardrobe Angel is that business moves pretty fast and relationships come and go. You will have an intense friendship with someone, collaborate, meld your businesses together, chat on the phone, email and text then you don't hear from each other for years. It's the relationships that come back around again that I've learned to take note of and Cate Wood is one. 

Many moons ago I wrote about Cate Wood and her awesome jewellery making skills after randomly going to see her house when she was thinking of selling it. Cate dropped me an email a few weeks casually mentioning she'd opened a flower shop. True to Cate the shop is a treasure to behold. Nestled on Mirfield High Street it is a work of Cate's passion for interiors, design, floristry, and above all style. 

I visited Flowers at 180 on the day of the end of Cate's first order pad. Like getting a hug when you walk through the door, Cate is vibrant, knowledgeable and personable. Even the wording she uses reflects her brand down to a tee - instead of funerals she says 'farewells'. Check out her Facebook page for daily inspiration: the beautiful bouquets she creates and the wonderful curated selection of ornaments and vases she sells. 

She's got Christmas sewn up!