So how is life as a two-month wife? Pretty good is the answer! We've been waiting for this struggle that everyone talks about happening - that "the first year is the hardest" thing, but it just hasn't happened. Of course we've had moments - whether it be exhaustion, work stress, PMS, there have been moments where we've snapped at each other, but we did that occasionally before we were married! But we're definitely both feeling the overwhelming love; whenever people ask how married life is, I tell them that in actuality, nothing has changed, but it feels so different! In a good way, I just feel so much more positive all the time and almost anything will remind me of Anthony. Giddy is probably the word I'd use!
In terms of life, it's pretty much same old. Both still working full time, both busy outside of work too; Anthony has thrown himself into projects for our flat, and I'm just waiting for my cousin's baby to arrive and then I'm planning to spend any and all free time I have with her - I can't wait to meet little one and watch Amy flourish as a mum! (Good luck Amy, you'll be so sick of me!). We've also pretty much booked our honeymoon but still planning what we're going to do when we're there, how we're getting to and from the airport etc. We're both very excited - only 39 days to go now!
We've surprisingly not actually had that many questions about when we're planning to have babies! Which is very uncommon for a newlywed couple; I think it must be partly because we're still so young. But to address any queries, we are planning a family, but in the future! We're planning to live relatively selfishly as a couple over the next few years - we want to buy a house, go back to Florida, and spend some time focused on each other; we don't currently have the space, money or time for a baby. But we're so excited for baby Addison to arrive; I'm hoping that little one will satisfy the broodiness in me, but it may well go the other way!
I don't feel that there is much else to say about married life currently - as I said earlier, nothing has changed but it feels different. We're both loving it and are very happy! So for the rest of this blog, I've decided to make a list of the vendors that we used for the wedding, some of which I've already spoken about but others that I haven't and they deserve some recognition. So without further ado, the list is below:
VENUE - I know I've talked about our venue a lot in other blogs, so I'll keep this brief. It was Milton Hill House, a beautiful hotel on the edge of Didcot (Anthony's hometown). It was only 10 minutes from our church, and was absolutely perfect. I've also spoken a lot about Fiona, who again, was phenomenal. I cannot recommend Milton Hill highly enough, and would not hesitate to book another event there. 
DRESS - my dress and the bridesmaid dresses came from The Wedding Gallery in St Albans. That shop has so many beautiful dresses, but the service was better than anything I've experienced. A lot of people don't consider how invasive it can feel when you get into a changing room with a stranger, have to strip down to your underwear and squeeze into dresses. I was so conscious of if I got even slightly sweaty, or if any fat rolls were on show, and I know that the dressers didn't care, but I did! But Alice was different to the other shops - she left me fully clothed in the changing room with the dress, and only came in to help me into it if I asked her to. She was very respectful about my insecurities, picking dresses that she thought would make me most comfortable. She was also very complimentary, but also very honest! And on top of all of that, she was very professional whilst we were trying to pick bridesmaid dresses; we'd told her that Amy was trying for a baby so would hopefully be pregnant when we bought the bridesmaid dresses, and she didn't assume either way when we went back (Amy was pregnant but not obviously showing). She was also very respectful of Amy's concerns with a maternity dress while she was still in very early stages of pregnancy, which is obviously a worrisome time. Overall, she was just lovely and I'm very glad that she was a part of my wedding story. And obviously my dress is lovely too!
SUITS - Anthony's and the groomsmen's suits were all from Moss Bros. Obviously I wasn't there for many of the fittings they had, but I was there when Anthony got his shoes and shirts, and the service was amazing! I also know that they were very accommodating with the fact that some party members wanted to hire and some wanted to buy, so they found perfect matches for both. They all looked so smart and so handsome, and it was worth every penny we spent there!
PHOTOGRAPHER - this one is a tricky one. Julia Evans Photography was the vendor that we hired, and we paid for both photographers (they are a husband and wife team). However, we never met Julia, and we were told 4 days before the wedding that she wouldn't be there and someone else would be stepping in (apparently she'd had Carpel Tunnel issues since Christmas, but for some reason they couldn't tell us before early Feb... equally when I called them and Julia answered, she didn't seem to know she was meant to be there on our day. I definitely think they double booked) . They were almost impossible to get hold of (there are still four emails that haven't been responded to), and they actually made the period before and after the wedding far more stressful than it needed to be. I will happily admit that our photos are beautiful, but I would definitely advise against booking them. However, Carol Elizabeth Photography (the woman who stepped in) was amazing!
FLOWERS - our florist was Bloomin Chic, a small independent boutique on Iffley Road in Oxford. Though they weren't always amazing at responding to emails, they were always very apologetic and explained what the delay was caused by. And the flowers on the day were just phenomenal - so much better than I ever could have imagined; they even incorporated the hidden Mickey that I asked for! I wasn't really bothered by flowers at all when we started planning the wedding, but they ended up being one of my highlights of the day!
CAKE - our cake was made by my super talented mother-in-law. She went so above and beyond, and made us a full trial cake prior to the wedding too (I think the happiest person about that was father-in-law, who must have been eating cake for every meal for a week!). The cake on the day looked incredible, tasted incredible and even though she made the equivalent of two full three-tiered wedding cakes (an extra one for the evening as we cut and served the proper one in the drinks reception), it was still all eaten! And if anyone wants any lemon, raspberry or chocolate icing, there is a tonne of each in Kate's freezer so let me know! 
TRANSPORT - we initially booked a 1966 London Routemaster double-decker bus and a 1978 London Taxi FX4 from Nostalgia Travel. They were really good at dealing with our enquiries and we booked very quickly. Unfortunately, 4 days before the wedding (same day as the photographer debarcle!), we got a call from them to say that due to the extreme weather conditions (lots of snow!), the taxi was not safe to drive on our wedding day. They were so apologetic and accommodating, offering us a 1955 Bentley R Type instead (almost double the cost!) or a full refund if that was unsuitable. The Bentley was lovely, but we desperately wanted a London Taxi! I had sent a crisis message to my Bridal Party WhatsApp group who were all incredible and jumped right onto the case, and in the end my mum managed to find a London Taxi from London Oxford Taxis. They were amazing; considering that we booked them with 4 days notice, they knocked off the travel charge and went out of their way to get ivory ribbons rather than white! They could clearly sense a bride-in-distress and went out of their way to help us.
DJ - we booked Visually Sound Events as our DJ as he was recommended by the venue, but this was not what sold us in the end. I'd made it clear from my first enquiry that I wasn't sure that we even wanted a DJ, and he didn't put any pressure on at all. When we finally decided to get a DJ, I told him he was slightly out of my price range and he instantly knocked off a load of money! He also asked for a list of do-plays and don't-plays, but quite frankly, we didn't need to give any. The music that he played was phenomenal - the dance floor was full literally all night! I'd book him again in a heartbeat.
RINGS - we got our rings (including my engagement ring) from Newey's, a store in Birmingham's jewellery quarter. Everything about it was amazing, and I would say that it's one of the only parts of the wedding hype that hasn't died down; every time I catch sight of my rings I can't help but stare at them!
HAIR AND MAKE-UP - my incredibly talented sister, Melissa Hair and Make-Up did all the beauty stuff for me, the Bridesmaids and my Mum. Obviously I'm biased, but she genuinely was amazing. Before the day, she let me run with my ideas and told me which ones she didn't think would work, she then adapted them to create the perfect look for me! She also kept me calm all morning, she tweaked any parts of my look that I didn't like, and was just perfect!
STATIONARY - we did all of the stationary things ourselves! Apart from thank you cards, they were from Optimal Prints. But we designed and printed our own save the dates, made our own invitations and did our own Tasting Guides for our favours (which we also made ourselves)! As much as I would definitely recommend making your own stuff where you can, it's worth considering the time it takes - it was so time consuming!
That's all I've got for now, but I've also decided to upload some of the wedding pictures to an album on my facebook page; there are so many beautiful pictures of people in the drinks reception/evening/any time of the day! It seems a shame that they're sat on my laptop but no one has seen them. So watch this space!
I don't know what the next post will be about, but I'm sure there will be one at some point!
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