The Wedding Diaries 1: Picking Our Venue

Wedding Planning

With less than a year to go until I become a Mrs, I thought it was time to start documenting the whole wedding planning process, so I’ve started this little series I’m calling The Wedding Diaries, as a way to keep the memories preserved, but also to keep myself sane, because there’s a lot that no one tells you when you’re planning a wedding!

So, our first point of call was setting a date. For us, we knew we wanted to get married in the Spring, but what we didn’t know was that peak wedding season starts in April for some venues, so we’d pay as much for an April wedding as we would for an August wedding! Luckily, we’ve found a venue who’s prices didn’t jump up too much, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Venue Viewing and Wedding Fairs

Next came the viewings. We looked at a few places; some were very expensive, and some were lovely but not the one for us, but we did eventually pick one (though we did have to visit a few times to actually see it dressed as a wedding venue). A good tip is to decide whether what the venue includes is worth it for you. 

There were some venues that were gorgeous but didn’t include enough of what we wanted in the price. In the end I think we looked at 4 or 5 venues before picking ours.

One of the most fun things about getting married is wedding fairs. We’ve been to three and I loved them all; we actually found our cake provider and an extra vendor at wedding fairs, and one of the wedding fairs we went to actually gave us free cocktails!

Our venue includes a package, so it’s a huge weight off our shoulders, and we are really happy with it. Our next steps in terms of the venue now are speaking to the venue dresser, which is exciting as we will start to see our wedding come together.

And that’s all for now. I think I’ll make this into a monthly series, because there are a few things that we already have sorted, and we still have a few months before the next big things (read: the food) need to be done, so it’ll be a fun little catch-up to where we are up to.

Nic

xx

My First Time: Disneyland

The Happiest Place on Earth

In June 2022, Sam and I were on our big Walt Disney World holiday. We had booked everything way before, and we were also supposed to be going on our first ever Disney cruise on the Wish. However, the Wish had been delayed, meaning we had a spare few days. We could’ve spent these days at the WDW parks, but I had an idea: let’s fly to the other side of the USA and visit Disneyland for a few days! It was the most extra thing I’d ever done, and let me tell you, we didn’t regret it one bit.

It’s cliche to say, but Disneyland really does hold a special kind of magic that the other parks don’t; maybe it’s because it was the original, maybe it’s because it’s the only park Walt ever visited, it really was something else.

We flew to LAX and got an Uber to our hotel- a little hotel nearby that wasn’t really anything to write home about, where we stored our case and walked to the parks. The first thing on our list was food, so we went to Jolly Holiday Cafe, somewhere I knew I wanted to try. It was delicious and the perfect way to start three days of magic; where we rode some classic attractions, saw the Dapper Dans, met Redd from Pirates of the Caribbean (!), saw Avengers Campus and West Coast Batuu, and soaked up all the magic Disneyland had to offer. Oh, and we got our first ever ride evacuation, which, oddly, is on a lot of Disney adults bucket lists.

We also got to see Pixar Pier, both during the day and at night, and I finally saw Mickey’s Fun Wheel- something I’d been excited to see for an embarrassingly long time. 

Our one sit down reservation was at Lamplight Lounge, where we got cocktails and snacks, and Sam got a Pixar ball straw, which he was very happy about. 

The absolute highlight of the three days for me though was seeing Fantasmic. I absolutely adored this show in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but it hasn’t come back yet on our trip, so when I found out that the Disneyland version was up and running, I was so excited. And reader, it did not disappoint. I think I cried for the full 20 minutes, but they were tears of joy. I just really like Fantasmic ok?!

Some of our favourite food/drinks on the trip included the Mac & Cheese cone from Cars Land, the mint julep and beignets from New Orleans Square, and the ice creams from Pixar Pier. 

Overall, we had an amazing trip to Disneyland, and we will, without a doubt, be returning.

Nic

xx

Our Engagement Story

Main Street USA

It was the first day of our long-awaited trip to Walt Disney World, 9th June 2022. Jet lag had hit us hard so we got up at 5am and went for a walk around the resort we were staying in, Pop Century.

As we were staying in a Disney Resort, we got extra magic time in the parks, and we decided to head to Magic Kingdom after breakfast to see the castle decorated in its 50th best. So we got on the Disney bus to MK.

When we got to Main Street USA, my favourite part of the park, we saw a photopass photographer with a short wait. Because it wasn’t very busy in the park yet, Sam told me to go and have some photos by myself first, and because I never turn down a chance of getting good photos for Instagram, I went ahead and did so.

After I’d had a few pictures, Sam came to join me for a picture together, and that’s when he got down on one knee. I burst into tears and of course said yes straight away, whilst the photopass photographer snapped away and the other guests on Main Street cheered and congratulated us! 

Unbeknownst to me, Sam had also asked the family behind us to take pictures for us, and they also videoed the whole thing, so we had personal photos as well as the Disney ones, which made it even more special. We then went and took some more photos at the castle, got celebration buttons from the Emporium, and celebrated by going on the teacups.

This is the story of how Sam and I got engaged, and the fact that it happened on Main Street USA with the AM loop on in the background was perfect.

We spent the rest of our holiday (except the second day, which was all about Sam’s 30th) getting photopass engagement pictures in every park, and even got more celebration buttons from Disneyland to top it off.

Stay tuned for more wedding content over here, we have an exciting year ahead.

Nic

xx

Reflecting on 2022

As we head into the last few hours of 2022, and as many (if not all) people are doing their yearly round ups on blogs, TikTok and Instagram, I wanted to throw my round up hat into the ring. Because 2022 has been quite the year. 

January and February were much the same as any other year, where we all wait for the cold to end and hibernate. We took our annual trip to Chinatown for their Lunar New Year celebrations, and I read a lot. Then came the Spring. I spent the beginning of the Spring cherry blossom tree hunting as I always do, and we spent Easter with Sam’s parents, during which time we went to the seaside, which made me very happy indeed. Oh, and we went for afternoon tea for my birthday (and booked a Disney cruise for 2023).

Summer was where the year got exciting. We took our long-awaited holiday to Walt Disney World for Sam’s 30th, and on our first day there, Sam proposed to me on Main Street USA, which, if you know me, you’ll know that that was the perfect place at Disney to ask me, there’s just something about Main Street, y’know?

We spent Sam’s actual birthday in Galaxy’s Edge, and he built a lightsaber, which made him very happy, and we went on the Disney Skyliner, which made me very happy.

Also during this trip, we went to Disneyland for three days! My first time to California couldn’t have been more perfect, and it’s definitely a place we will be returning to.

After our USA jaunt, you’d think the rest of the Summer would’ve been quiet, but you’d be wrong. We had another Brighton day, this time with Cara & Tin, where we visited Artbox Cafe, which was Sanrio themed, and spent some much-needed quality time together. Then August came, and with it, the Pokémon World Championships in London. Sam and I decided about three days before that we were going to go, and we are glad we did so, as it was so much fun! 

Autumn was all-things wedding, with us attending two weddings, a hen do, numerous wedding fairs and venue viewings, and us booking our wedding!! I also went pumpkin picking with Sammy, Rachel and Jade which was a wholesome day, and we went to MCM Comic Con in London. We also took a trip to Cornwall for Megan and Simon’s wedding bash.

Then we arrived at the busiest month of the year, December. I had my work Christmas party, two secret Santa nights, and three Christmas days (one with my family, and two with Sam’s family). We finished off the year by browsing in the sales and booking a trip to Disneyland Paris for 2023.

So here’s to 2023, let’s hope it’ll be as good as this year has been.

Nic

xx

Returning to Blogging

Lately I have been feeling the pull to start blogging again, so I guess it’s time to give it a go.

So, what’s been going on since the last time we spoke? Well, on the big news front, I am now engaged! We’ve also been back to Walt Disney World and visited Disneyland Resort for the first time, attended a couple of Comic Cons, went to Pokémon Worlds, and had countless day trips!

I think one of the main reasons I want to start blogging again is to document the exciting period of wedding planning we have coming up over the next year and a half (we’re planning on hopefully getting married in Spring 2024) so after some catch-up posts, expect some full/blown wedding content on here.

Let me know if there is anything in particular you’d like me to blog about, I’m really out of the loop in terms of blogs nowadays, but writing is one of my biggest passions in life, so I want to get back to doing that for fun.

Also, yes I did buy this jumper because it looked like the jumper Rory wears in season 1, episode 1 of Gilmore Girls (if you know, you know)

So hopefully this will reignite my love of blogging, keep an eye out for new posts.

Nic

x

Welcoming Spring

Hello, long time no blog. 

As usual, I have been feeling uninspired lately. I guess it was the combination of Winter and never ending lockdown, but my favourite season is starting I’m going to try and be more active on here, starting with a throwback to 2019 Sakura season, back when we could actually go out and do things.

I thought I’d do a little list of things I want do do this Spring to get my mojo back again. So here we go.

1. Put together some cute Spring outfits

2. Go for a walk every day.

3. Do some seasonal baking. 

4. Go cherry blossom tree hunting.

5. Make an Easter cake.

6. Have as many Creme Egg McFlurrys as humanly possible.

7. Wear all the pastels.

8. (Hopefully) go to the library.

9. Have a big spring clean.

10. Enjoy my favourite season of the year as much as I can.

Nic

xx

Reading Through the Year

If the pandemic has done anything, it is reigniting a lot of people’s love for reading. I saw so many people reading 50, 75, even over 100 books last year, which is amazing. And as this situation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon, I think the same will be said for this year.

I have, as ever, set my Goodreads challenge at 50 this year, but this year, after having a huge reading slump in 2020, I’m changing up the way I read. In the past, I have been a nightmare for reading multiple books at once. Sometimes it has worked for me, but last year it led to a major book burnout. So this year I’m reading one book at a time to keep me more focused.

I’m also going to do some re-reads this year. I never normally do this, but I think we all need our comfort series, so I’ve changed my rule. I also want to read a few more non-fiction books this year (I think). 

And now on to my favourite subject; classics. I used to pour over classics, but I’ve lost my way with them a bit too recently. So I think I’m going to go for 2 classics a month, so I can spread them out a bit and learn to love them again.

I hope I manage to stick to my reading goals this year. Do you have any reading goals for 2021?

Nic

xx