The Wedding Planning Series #13 Honeymoon

Good morning lovely friends! I've got some exciting news from a few weeks back, we've booked our 'mini-moon'! A couple of days after we get married we'll be jetting off to the beautiful Barcelona! I couldn't be more excited for some sunshine, tapas and drool-worthy art and architecture. Every time we book a city break, I treat myself to a mini Lonely Planets guide. They're so worth the money and great to take along; including a little pull-out map, top places to eat and interesting facts and history behind the places it helps you find. I'd always recommend them. Now of course I'd love to hear all about any 'must see' places etc if you've got any in mind but it's not Barcelona that has brought me to seek your advice today. 

I'm really struggling with where we should go for our proper honeymoon? We've narrowed it down to three places and I'm hoping that one of you out there will be able to give me some advice as to where's best? 

Time Of Year: Late October- Early November
Destination: Long Haul- Caribbean, West Indies, South America
Budget: This is pretty flexible but approx. £3000 for us both
Length: 7-10 days
Wants: This is where is gets hard: Relaxation, Exploring, Adventure, Luxury.

1) St Lucia.

Beautiful beaches, total paradise, relaxation at the forefront; St Lucia has been somewhere we've considered since we first started thinking about where to go. Such a small place, we're quite conscious that we probably wouldn't get up to that much whilst there. Which in some ways is a blessing, but for such a long trip to make, we'd like to venture, learn and explore a little bit whilst away.

2) Cuba.

Cuba is probably the total opposite in what we're thinking of doing. There's so much history, culture and sight-seeing to do that I almost worry we won't stop and relax really much at all? I'm also not too sure that how long we're looking to go for would really be enough to feel like we'd really had the true experience? 

3) Costa Rica.

I'd loved the idea of going to Costa Rica when we first started thinking of where to go, but quickly ruled it out when it came to actually looking to book somewhere; it seemed pretty hard to find all inclusive packages that suited us. I feel that Costa Rica could be the perfect destination for us, beautiful scenery and nature adventures that offer that real once in a lifetime trip feeling. I still seem to be struggling to actually put it together though?

Have any of you been to any of these places? Maybe you have somewhere else to recommend? What booking sites do you use for the longer haul? If you have any and all recommendations I'd love to hear all the opinions!

*Catch up on the other plans for our wedding*

#1 Venue
#2 Bridesmaids
#3 Food
#4 The Groom
#5 Venue Visiting (Not the one we chose in the end but beautiful!)
#6 Wedding Fayres
#7 Invitations
#8 Honeymoon Choosing
#9 The Last Of The Wedding Fayres
#10 Miss/Mrs Ms 
#11 Marquees
#12 Minimoon: An Excuse to Holiday Twice
20 Things I've Realised Planning Our Wedding

Over & Out

Sophie.

The Wedding Planning Series #12 Minimoon An Excuse To Holiday Twice.

I come to you all with dilemmas and questions and many responses needed. So far and with a little less than seven months to go (eeeeek!) I've been pretty successful and stress free with planning our super duper wedding next year. There have been two main causes for confusion and both come in the forms of honeymoon destination. 

•All images Via Pinterest Click for source.

We'd decided when we first started planning that it'd be pretty sensible to have our honeymoon a few months after our wedding- more time to save up for that luxurious trip we both want to have. That was all fine until I came across a couple (who yes, quite frankly were rather wealthy) and they told me all about their mini-moon. Immediately mesmerised by the play on words and the general cuteness sounding of it all, was hooked on the idea and have decided we.must.have.one. 

The thought of going away somewhere in the UK for 3-4 nights for a little peaceful time just straight after the wedding just is too lovely to not indulge in don't you think?  Which brings me to my dilemma. We'd originally planned to go to the Lake District, Harps loves bike riding and I like generally wandering in nature; a little log cabin *insert Pinterest imagination getting carried away* and tranquility/ romance galore. I had it all mapped out...Until I looked at a map. It's pretty darn far away from Cornwall guys and we hadn't really considered the factor of actually getting there? So much so that we started debating about just going the whole hog and taking a trip to Scotland (I've always wanted to go) but then I can't help but think I'll want to squeeze 'doing' too much into our few days there? Now I've started debating Bath which I'm having the same debate with. It's hard to decide what to do when you want to force yourselves to slow down but you're both naturally exploring people.  


So now I'm weighing up between city break and all out forest excursion. I'm looking for your help (and yes I secretly would love it to be that extra bit special and luxurious)!

If you think all this is a bit crazy, don't even get me started on the actual honeymoon planning! Oi vey.

Oh and if you're keeping track, catch up with my other Wedding Planning Series posts below!

• #1 Venue
• #2 Bridesmaids
• #3 Food
• #4 The Groom
• #5 Venue Visiting (Not the one we chose in the end but beautiful!)
• #6 Wedding Fayres
• #7 Invitations
• #8 Honeymoon Choosing
• #9 The Last Of The Wedding Fayres
• #10 Miss/Mrs Ms 
• #11 Marquees
• 20 Things I've Realised Planning Our Wedding

Love Sophie Xx

20 Things I've Realised Planning Our Wedding.

We're progressing slowly but surely though the planning of our little 'big day' and after giving notice of intent to get married today (EEEEKKKKK!) I thought it'd be a good time to reflect on some of the things I've learned so far with the good intentions that it may either help you OR give you a chuckle. Either way!

1) Weddings are crazy expensive. Seriously consider elopement. Like seriously. It wasn't something we chose as Harps has quite a large family, but there have been times where we've both agreed it would have been much MUCH cheaper to disappear just the two of us.

2) Remember it's just one day of your lives! It is so easy to get carried away and before you know it you're demanding that you simply must hire 10 olive trees at a cost of over £250 for one day. You can live without olive trees if it means you can buy food for a month ok?

3) You simply cannot please everyone. And that's ok! Who cares if your distant relative that you've only ever seen at weddings and funerals isn't high up on your guest list! It's up to you if they're not even on it at all! Which brings me to...

4) There will be a lot of fluttering and influence from family and friends, make sure that the two of you do everything for you and not for keeping other people happy. They'll be happy if you are eventually!

5) Think carefully about the day of the week you're getting married. We just spent over £450 for a legal ceremony on a Saturday! 

6) Hen do's have become hen weekends and hen holidays and hen space trips (ok the last one's an exaggeration) I had no idea of this until I'd started planning.

7) Pinterest is of course a bride's best friend. I have board a plenty! 

8) If you're having a marquee, it isn't as simple as getting a tent (yes I thought it was!)

9) It's so important to get wedding insurance. I compared on MoneySuperMarket.com and got a great deal at Debenhams and a £20 voucher that I used for some bridesmaids shoes!

10) Some wedding dresses make you look all sorts of crazy shapes. It's them, not you and you don't need that kind of negativity in your life or your wedding.

11) If you're not getting married in a traditional venue and need to provide your own booze, it's pricey so think carefully about how to do it.

12) Your wedding dress/outfit should make you feel like a total babe. Fact.

13) Being interviewed to give notice of intent to get married is scary. It may make you doubt your own name and get a little bit quaky when they tell you about bigamacy even though you know you've never been married.

14) Treat yourself to a special book for all your list making needs! I am so pleased that I have everything in one place!

15) Confetti.co.uk knows my love for crafty additions.

16) There is so much choice for everything that planning a wedding is the best procrastination I've ever done. Spending a whole afternoon day looking at different types of table fabric is my idea of important Sunday work.

17) Most people that work in all types of the wedding industry are super nice. They want you to have the best day ever too! In my opinion, anyone at companies you want to get involved that aren't hugely helpful should be dumped. You can find another that you'll be much happier with in the long run!

18) Guest lists are probably the hardest, much more so when over time, people and relationships change.

19) Trying to train your stubborn house rabbit to any ounce of being able to be apart of the big day is impossible. Give up and watch Netflix. He's a rabbit, he can stay home.

20) Enjoy it all. It can be stressful and I've experienced ways why it can be, but at the end of the day, it's about the two of you and if you want pizza and swingball (yes we have both) then goddamit, have just that! It's one day of many wonderful and brilliant days ahead, don't panic!

Have any of you had any big lessons learnt in planning your wedding? Maybe some great advice from someone when you were?

Love Sophie Xx

*There is no affiliations with any of the brands listed, they're all just some I've used! 

Wedding Planning Series #11 Marquees.

It's most certainly time that we had a wedding catch up isn't it? With less than ten months to go until the big day, my plan of getting bits and bobs done as we go is working really rather great and something that was concerning me the most (as you know!) was the marquee. 


Well do I have a story for you!


At the beginning of this year, I entered Harps and I into a competition with a local marquee company, Absolute Canvas, to celebrate their ten year anniversary! The requirement was to write a little about yourselves and the type of wedding you're planning and I was so excited not only to save some hard earned dollar but this was one of the main companies I'd been stalking online as who I'd wanted to book.

We all know what I'm like and this little snippet of information that they'd asked for turned into the biggest, in depth essay with made up words like marquee-ey complete with a cheesy jazzy photo of us both (I included it at the end of this post for your amusement). And to be honest, after spending a little longer than expected writing the entry I pressed send and that was that. 

A few months passed (like actually more than three) and after one particularly awful Friday afternoon at work, I looked at my phone and saw that little annoying voicemail icon and a missed call. Being too lazy to actually listen to the voicemail, I just called the number back only to get the best surprise that we'd been chosen for the competition! A lovely lady called Jasmine has been the greatest person to have phoned me in a long time.

After the initial excitement and in depth marquee-ey conversations, we took a little trip to see Tonya at Absolute Canvas's offices and planned from start to finish exactly what we wanted. Tonya's creativity shines so brightly it's no wonder they've been in business for a decade!

I'm actually so goddamn excited about our marquee now that I've been fully transformed. What I love about Absolute Canvas is how much choice there is. I've included a few of my favourite photos from their website to show some of the differences in the ceiling options! There are so many!! The service has been incredible so far and I feel so relaxed knowing that they're taking care of such an important part of the day. 

Thanks again Absolute Canvas for reigniting my faith in marquees and of course for choosing us for your competition!! Happy ten years and only ten months until the big day!!



What do you think about marquees? Indoor or outdoor wedding? 



Look at this cheese <<<<

Love Sophie Xx

Miss/Mrs/Ms...

Last week it passed the 'one year until we get married' mark....That's a mark isn't it? Everyone knows how super fast a year goes once you get past the ages where you have trillions of holidays throughout the year and life seems to run away from you sometimes. So here we are- less than a year left and though lots has been sorted, now that the main parts have been organised it's time to start getting excited about the little details. I've spent days in the sunshine browsing for fabrics to make napkins (on this note, can anyone recommend a great *read cheap* fabric website?) Hours have gone by looking at types of invitation, paper type, font, designs and wording may seem stressful to most but it's bringing together little ideas that I really love about planning our big day! 

I've been thinking a lot about what our wedding day really means to me. Harps and I are pretty awesome as we are and after marriage I hope that not much really changes. My respect, love and heart grows for him every day as it is, I hope that continues. I hope we continue to belly laugh for the next sixty+ years together and when people have asked me 'what do you want from your wedding day?' It really is simple. I want a day that brings all our little groups of loved ones to one place altogether to relax, I want the day to be about all of those brilliant memories we have made already and all the ones we're sure to make in the future. I want Harps to feel just how important he is to me and how thankful I am to have him in his life. And I want him to feel the pride I have when I take his name, leaving my rather undesired maiden name behind.

It's becoming more and more frequent for ladies or gents to keep their own surname when they get married, others who insist on being Ms instead of Mrs- all of which I totally understand. I mean, you've had the same name for X amount of years and it forms your identity but I'm in a rather different situation...

On my wedding day there won't be one other person that holds my maiden name present. My mum has remarried, my 'father's family' and I aren't in contact. To finally hold the same surname as the person I call 'my family' brings me a sense of identity and release from my maiden name and the past. It's honestly the most exciting part of getting married for me.

To continue completely the same, just getting more awesome together. That'd be pretty pretty pretty good.

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #9 The Last of The Wedding Fairs.

Harps looks like he's on crack in the above photo (he's not honestly!) 

I'd advise anyone getting married to jump at the chance to go to a few wedding fairs. I've now attended four wedding fairs and yesterday I went to Wed Magazine's wedding fair at Boconnoc Estate and it was probably the best of the wedding fairs I've gone to in the last year. It certainly was the busiest and what made it such a lovely day is that Bimble and Harps came along with my mum and I; it's great to have Harps's input along the way with all this planning shebang. 

We arrived a little after 12 and it was jam packed! I was on a particular hunt for chatting to the marquee company that was there and also finding some selections of caterers and cutlery hire services. I feel like I've come away with a really great selection! I think this'll be the last wedding fair that I'll go to. It's easy to get wrapped up in all the selection and you could literally spend forever browsing and choosing that I don't really want to complicate too much for myself. 

Bimble had a great time too; munching goodies at the chocolate fountain, all I saw was my mum wiping 90% of his face afterwards- I wish I'd seen him go for it. He also blagged a ride on the horse and cart all by himself! It was even funnier when on the way back the horse stopped to let nature take its course. Bimble didn't know what was happening! 

The final adventure was trying to leave. We got so stuck in the mud that my mum thought we were going to have to get a taxi home! Luckily the horse and cart people saved the day and some lovely staff at the venue helped push the car to freedom! I wasn't much help (of course) but cheered them on from the sidelines and cracked inappropriate jokes as usual. 

Have any of you wedding planners been to any fairs? Did you find them helpful or just a bit overwhelming? 

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #8 Honeymoon Choosing.

You can see all sources via my Pinterest page here.

You'd think it'd be easy working out the one place you'd love to visit for your honeymoon? Well it really isn't as easy as it seems; over the last few weeks, winter has been vicious and it's taken me to Pinterest, longing for warm climates and paradise settings for our fanciest of all the fancy holidays. Your honeymoon is supposed to be the best trip ever isn't it? What with so many places I'm dying to visit, the choices are endless. So far Harps and I have agreed on three things: 1) It needs to be hot enough to tan- because that's part of the romance/loveliness of honeymoons. 2) It needs to have adventure- we're not the sort of people to lie on a beach for 2 weeks, we'd get too bored! We need things to learn about and sights to see and activities to look back on for years to come. 3) It needs to be beautiful- It's my damn honeymoon, it has to be fabulous looking right?

1) Portofino, Italy- I'd quite love to do a little tour around Italy, visiting Portofino, Florence, Pisa, Pompeii etc- Harps thinks we should be going further away-longer haul and a new continent.

2) Tulum, Mexico- Doesn't this pool look amazing? The pros of Mexico include amazing food and lots to do?

3) Finland- I will not go on a snowy honeymoon. I'm always pretty cold and it's just not my idea of honeymoon paradise. Harps loves this though.

4) Maldives- Pretty cliche but who can't be amazed by that glowing beach! How magical! 

5) Machu Picchu- A real adventure and something I'd love to do one day. I'm just not sure if I want to have to do training before my honeymoon? Maybe a little too much adventure?

6) Chile-  These marble caves look breathtaking- I HAVE to see them one day. Not so keen on the coldness of Chile though!

7) Costa Rica- This tree house resort looks AWESOME! There are monkeys and sloths and other animal friends right outside your door. It looks luxurious and original and beautiful and I'm seriously considering this as a location!

8) Bali- Bali seems to me to have the best of both worlds. Total paradise right? Also so much history and culture to soak up makes it a pretty perfect choice. The price tag makes me nervous...

9) Dominican Republic- Not somewhere I've looked into as much, though looking through some pinterestesque photos make it a bit of an dark horse?

Have any of you been to any of the places above? Do you have any tips from your honeymoons? As always, any and all feedback/help would be appreciated! 

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #7 Invitations.

All images found Via Pinterest. You can find the sources linked on my Pinterest board linked here.

The new year has arrived which means wedding planning can officially commence! I say that, if you've been reading for a while you'd have seen I haven't exactly not been thinking about what I want for the big day- but I'd promised myself that until we had enough to actually start purchasing and putting deposits down that I wouldn't get too carried away. I CAN NOW GET CARRIED AWAY! We are now on holiday for a week and with three potential venues booked to visit and the first venue we saw still hanging in there as a possibility, by the end of next week we will have a date set and a venue chosen. How exciting is that!? Which means getting onto the other bits- save the date cards and invitations. Because we're not having a colour theme, it's actually pretty hard to visualise what sort of invites we should have/colours/style etc... So here I am looking for all of your lovely advice and opinions as to what you think out of some of the options/styles I've been looking at. 

Any and all input as always would be greatly appreciated!

Love Sophie xX

The Wedding Planning Series #6 Wedding Fayres.

Ahhh wedding dreaming. I actually, genuinely spend the majority of my daydreaming time thinking about our wedding, wishing that I'd come across the money forrest and be able to help myself. It's easy to get carried away isn't it? Things that you'd never dream of spending money on suddenly tempt  you; like chocolate fountains! Who'd have thought something so garish would be so goddamn delicious, that whilst your face covered in pink dyed, white chocolate, you'd seriously consider theming your wedding around the neon lights that flash along with it? Anyway, yesterday, my darling (and newly engaged-Congratulations again!!) friend, Tracey and I went to a wedding fayre at the beautiful Alverton Hotel in Truro. I thought I'd share some of the businesses and goodies that were there! Are you planning your wedding? If so, tell me all your secrets!!!

My favourite business by far at the fayre was Loulabel Floral Designs, not only a lovely lady, but
the first time I've looked at wedding flowers and not been massively scared and confused! P.s. Arn't her
business cards lovely?!

Here's a terrible photo of some of Lou's work. Her website is much more beautiful than my
crappy phone camera, check it out here.

Lovely paper cutting examples-there were some really cute baubles with Mr & Mrs.

Some pretty jazzy waistcoats! I'd die with laughter at Harps in these!

Simple idea for table plans- this was made from an open suitcase and some string!
Really great cost efficient and adorable!

We tried out a photo-booth and I got REALLY into my costume of 'shark -hunter'. Luckily, Tracey
is a fabulous photographer, so I don't need to worry about such things!

Vintage ring cushions! See what I mean about all the extras!? It'd
be so easy to overspend!

The chocolate fountain of dreams.  Don't judge it until you've tried it!

All loved up and worn out!

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #5 Venue Visiting: Rosteague. A Hedgemaze Heavy Post.

I can't actually type eloquently enough to express how excited I was this morning. It's all well and good building Pinterest boards and writing to you all about my wedding, but actually visiting the place that I hope to hold my wedding and having proper grown up adult discussions about it, was the key to actually feeling like shouting in your faces; 'I'm going to get married you guys!' 

I wanted to look relatively put together- hair brushing aside. So I wore this pretty vintage tea dress that I got in a charity shop some years back. Due to this, I also only took my denim jacket. BIG MISTAKE.

Views from the Bridal Suite.

The most amazing bathtub in The Bridal Suite.

The main gardens. Hedgemaze extravaganza! 

Located between St Austell and Truro, Rosteague is only 17 miles from our house and takes roughly about half an hour to get there. Unfortunately for us, we got stuck behind an emmit (tourist) on the way which made us late! What a terrible first impression and I hate being late! Luckily, the lovely lady showing us around, Emily, was more than understanding as I flailed out of the car screeching 'I'm so sorry!'.  The private road taking us up to the main house, must be about half a mile, and even then I was already set that 'this is the place for us.' The Milton family are the owners of the estate and have kept it beautiful in the 10 years they've been there. Before them, it was in the family for 60 years! Imagine that! I'd never let this place go! Quite a private family, the main house is no longer available for events, but that suited us as we're planning a very much outdoor wedding, and as we were shown around the grounds, I absolutely fell in love with the french style gardens and features. Viewing the thatched summer house, it got the official Harps seal of approval, whilst I just lapped everything up- eyes glistening. The bridal suite is beautifully quaint, traditional English style and the views are just breathtaking. (Can you tell that I like it?)

The Main Gardens.

Views From The Croquet Lawn! (YES CROQUET LAWN!)

More hedgemaze love.

Just so pretty!

Amazing right? I think to me, this place is my perfect venue. It reminds me of a place crossed between Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden, both places of my dreams. Harps is pretty outdoorsy and he agreed it really does just have everything. As the weather started to cloud over, we finished our tour and Emily offered us a route to go and check out the three (YES THREE) private beaches. As we started to walk though this scenic meadow- the heavens opened. Like smashed our faces in, opened. I was still on a fancy garden high and proceeded to grin like a cheshire cat (see what I did there?) and proclaim that 'it's fine'...Whilst a sodden Harpy looked rather unsure.

Harps did offer me his jacket by the way, but I was too excited to care.

Excited to the absolute max.

So we waved goodbye to Rosteague, excited and nattering about weddings, weather and hedgemazes.  What do you all think?! Could you imagine me getting married here? All feedback will be appreciated greatly! 

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #4 The Groom.

All images and their sources can be found through my Pinterest page: /maybeonedaysoon.

Harps and I are OFFICIALLY on holiday! Which means a day of lazing around, browsing Pinterest and gathering wedding plans. We're off because it's his 26th birthday on Sunday! Tomorrow we have friends coming over for a night of board games and drinking (and fingers crossed, BBQ!) We also are off on Monday to visit a couple of wedding venues! How exciting! I can't wait to tell you all about it! Inspired by this, I've started to drag Harps into the wedding planning process and wanted to share with you all a few ideas we've had so far. Harps (pictured centre) is quite possibly the most laid back person I have ever known. My mum calls him horizontal Harpy because of his casual outlook on life. One of the many reasons that I can't wait to marry him. Our wedding discussions have discovered three things:
 1) Harps wants bright coloured high tops.
 2) He doesn't want to wear braces. 
 3) When else in life do you get to wear a bow tie without being a bit of a creep? 

So, what do you think of our budding ideas so far? Do you have an opinion of bow ties vs neck ties? Patterned shirt and plain neckwear? Or plain shirt and patterned neckwear? Or a crazy colour clash of both? Whereas I'd opt for the casual pastels and polka dot attire, Harps wants to smack everyone in the face with colour? We plan for a happy mix of the both.

Planning a wedding yourself? Tell me all about it and lets spread wedding cheer around the place!

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #3 Food.

All images courtesy of Pinterest- Check out the original links on there. P.s. I love the goldfish centrepieces but I'm not that mean to boil some fisheys on a lovely spring day!

http://www.pinterest.com/maybeonedaysoon/

Good day flower petals! The wedding planning is still very much in the early stages but it makes me so happy to piece things together and share them with you all (besides, I've had some great tips from you all!) So far we've looked at venues and bridesmaids and this time is a little look into the food that I want....Well actually Harp's (the massively picky eater- boo) will eat. 

Going along the whole picnic theme, I ideally want a lovely set of hampers and blankets strewn along the *insert venue here* that groups of people can have their pre-ordered, individual little picnic lunches. I really want a spring wedding (outdoors- I know, I'm actually insane!) which means lots of fresh foods and vibrant flavours. I plan for this to be like pretty much after we get married- I hate being hungry for hours at a wedding. We'll all settle down for picnic loveliness and then spend the afternoon playing lawn games and dancing to bands and generally having a blast. Then when evening comes, we all have a massive bbq and dance and prance a bit more. Perfect right? 

So, very much still in the planning stages, I know that I want these individual lovely, fancy picnics and I have totally fallen for cake-in-a-jar...Because that's a great idea of course. And I have absolutely and utterly fallen in love with Benny's Organic Ice Cream tandem bike. The ice cream is DELICIOUS. I want to arrange for this to come mid afternoon for a cooling treat for everyone before the bbq but amongst a big selection of cakes and cool beverages (lemonade, cherryade, fruity punches etc). 

So what do we think? Do you think people will be hungry? Do you think it's a good/bad idea? Share your wisdom with me! If your in the midst of planning your own wedding, let me know! I need tips and help and support. Haha.

Love Sophie Xx

Tracey Warbey Photoshoot- It Never Rains But It Pours & The Launch of Her Wedding Photography Website.

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! It's actually like two months ago that I started it, and then saved it, awaiting the editing of the final image before I posted all about it! How silly of me! It just got stuck under other posts and I totally forgot all about it until today! The always fabulous, Tracey (check out her blog) of Tracey Warbey Photography and I went on a little adventure to some heathlands just on the edge of St Austell. You can see the whole town from up here and it's beautiful (she always finds the coolest places.) I was excited to get my puffy skirt out again and I loved the concept of this shoot. didn't it end up looking great? Tracey's DIY cloud looks so perfect after editing!

She's also literally JUST launched her new wedding photography website and it's utterly amazing. Check it out and contact her for details and bookings!

Love Sophie xx