Hi again folks...
Right then... we had seven bridesmaids and they were Laura my daughter, Sharon and Lynne my friends, Abi my neice, Hannah the bestwomans daughter, Leah Keiths neice and Rosie, our friends daughter, the friend whose wedding Keith and I met at last year.
Amazingly the sun actually shone on our wedding day, though there were a few fluffy clouds, generally it was fine and we had some lovely photographs taken in the beautiful gardens of the church. the whole party walked the short distance through the village from the Church to the reception, and the cars stopped to let us herd accross the road, which was nice, people were waving!
The photo's are - Sharon, Lynne and Abi receiving their gifts from Keith, he loved the day full of kisses given and received! The bridesmaid on the right of the photo behind table is my daughter Laura...blonde and pretty, nothing like me!
The yummy cake on the aforementioned bucket, complete with far to many sugar roses, all made by Keith and I and recently consumed by both of us at every cup of tea.... we did give tons away, but oh what a shame there was a little left!!!
The barbeque outside, the nearby restaurant Nosh put on a fabulous spread, continually stocked with all sorts of delicious food. The stone building in the background is an old mill, now used by a bespoke joinery firm, a really lovely building, shame you cant see the chimney in the photo.
The room we decorated in bunting, floral everything... my brother has some pre-bash photos of the room before we crammed in, so I will show one when I have them. This was quite early on, by the evening this room was too crammed for photo's...standing room only, probably breaking most health and safety laws....oops sorry!
And the last one here is my lovely bridesmaids -
from left to right we have - Abi, Leah, Rosie, Laura, Hannah, me, Sharon and Lynne.
Will add some more as we get them all back, my brother was our photographer and we are picking up the photo's on Friday so watch this space!
Bye for now,
Love Sue x
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Wedding Blog
WE DID IT!!!!!
Sorry for the ten day long absence, its been chaos of the most enjoyable kind. The wedding was fantastic, the sun shone (amazingly) and everyone came.
Well everyone, I am now officially married. Our country style wedding was a truly memorable day, with guests from afar, tears- so many tears, and laughter, dancing and love by the bucket load. I didn’t cry all the way through the service, my biggest worry, but did blubber through the speeches- my step dad doing a good job of choking the whole room with tears, followed by my husbands hilarious account of his previously minimal life being taken over with knotty pine, flea market finds and more flower than Holland. Then Keith best person Liz made everyone cry again by talking about Keiths dad, a proud man, known and liked by all, who died two years ago, and whom was obviously sharing the day with us, if not in person.
The church service was lovely, emotional, happy, funny in places, and the church was full. The barbeque was delicious, the ice creams went down a treat, and we partied day and night. When you invite your wedding guests, you think ‘not everyone will come’…. well, they did and it was packed to the rafters, the only down side being the whole day went far too quickly and I wish I could do it all again in slow motion, changing nothing.
Catch you later all, have some cake to polish off….
Sue xxx
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
A nervous pre-wedding blog from Almondbury
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the lack of blog, been mega busy with the wedding stuff, cant quite believe its only ten days away. The whole 'country/vintage' them is coming together nicely and I am almost boggled by the amount of floral pattern flashing before my eyes on a daily basis. The cake is made, three tiers, iced, with about a thousand hand made sugar roses in shades of pink and lemon ready to stick on it once assembled. I have also been busy producing forty tablecloths in vintage floral fabrics, and gingham, a zillion miles of bunting in the the same style, table favours in handmade pink rosey paper cones filled with flying saucers, dolly mixtures and pastel coloured sweeties, and too many girlie, flowery, ditsy, oldey worldey goodies to mention, poor Keith!!! I have almost finished my dress too, just the hem to do, and i am off to the flower wholesalers shortly to order a small parks-worth of roses for next friday. Phew, its all go.
We have the rehearsal on thursday evening, and I can honestly say I am a bit nervous. My main concern for the actual day is blubbering all the way through. I cry at other peoples weddings, so what am I going to be like at my own? A snivelling wreck. Cue the waterproof mascara and a hidden pocket in the fancy cream frock for some kleenex.
Really looking forward to having the whole family together, and we are having a barbeque at home on the friday before for everyone thats stopping up here for the two days. Mad though it might be the night before we get married, i love having the family round and its the first 'big bash' sinced we moved here.
So although I may not have much time to blog up to the big day, I will pop on for my nighty read. And will definately put some photo's on of the event itself! I will try to add a pic here today, its of the old coal bucket on which I am standing the wedding cake. I have countryfied it too, what a surprise!
Take care and see you all soon
Sue xxx
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Evening from Almondbury
Good evening everyone, I hope this finds you all well. I apologise for not blogging for a week or so, been here and there, doing this and that.
Must spend some time catching up on everyone’s blogs, its funny, when you don’t read them daily, you miss that snippet and find yourself wondering what friends are up to. I have been telling everyone about this virtual garden party, and all you lovely peeps.
Last week I had my first ‘date’ with a new friend, a very beautiful woman in many ways, whom I am sure will be someone that shares my tea and biccies as often as we can. I met her through a business link advisory service, she being a centre manager, and after our initial meeting, the formalities, we realised that we had more than just a few things in common. As some of you might remember my initial blog on CL was a sort of plea, for friends, as I had moved here last Autumn, but working from home meant my social circle was kind of small, and although Keith has loads of lovely friends, its not the same as meeting people yourself, who share the same interests. Needless to say, making many friends online has kept me happy and busy.
My new friend and I actually grew up just a few miles from each other and she has been in Yorkshire for many years, though still calls our home county ‘home’ and visits often. After picking my new friend up from here gorgeous cottagey home, we toured a nearby town, chatting, getting to know each other, scouring charity shops, haberdashers and visiting the tea rooms for the obligatory tea and cake. Back to hers for a tour of her pretty, inspiring garden, more tea and loads more chat, it was just heaven. Needless to say the day went toooo quickly, and I drove home with the hugest of smiles and a warm feeling inside.
The weekend brought a trip to Warwickshire, family visiting. Mums first thing Saturday for some serious wedding cake making, me, Mum and Keith all crammed in her tiny kitchen, with several hundred weight of ingredients, far too much brandy and more than one washing up bowl for the mixing. Once it was in the oven, we left mum to keep her expert eye on the three tiers and flew off on a whistle stop tour of friends and family.
The evening was spent at my uncle Daves 60th birthday party, cant believe he is 60, looks about 45 and acts about 20. Sunday was more visiting, and took in a reclaimation yard, where we purchased two old rusty train wheels to put in the garden, and back to mums to collect the perfectly cooked cake. Of course, the top tier was a little domed, so we had to shave a bit off, and try it of course, quality control. Hmmmm.
After 48 hours of tearing around, tea, chat, kisses and partying, we set off back to Yorkshire, and I have to admit, I had a few tears in the car. Its hard to drive away from everything you knew and everyone you love. Keith wasn’t immediately aware that I was blubbering, as I had sunglasses on but trying to wipe away my snotty nose while I was driving gave the game away. I love the life I have here, with my husband to be, new horizons, and I keep in touch with everyone big time, however on Sunday evening I shed several fluid ounces between junctions 21 and 28 of the M1.
My eldest two children are in Warwickshire, and they have busy lives. They come up to ‘ours’ often and ring daily, but at times I miss the ‘Waltons’ style house we had.
Monday was brighter mood wise, and the mist eventually cleared, leaving me with a glorious view over the fields at the back of ‘ours’. The garden is really coming on now, just 6 months and its been transformed from a bare patch to a colourful display, still in its infancy, but prettier by the day.
Keith spent the morning phoning me with words of lurve to keep me grinning, the sun shone and my new friend texted to say she was looking forward to our next get together.
Must spend some time catching up on everyone’s blogs, its funny, when you don’t read them daily, you miss that snippet and find yourself wondering what friends are up to. I have been telling everyone about this virtual garden party, and all you lovely peeps.
Last week I had my first ‘date’ with a new friend, a very beautiful woman in many ways, whom I am sure will be someone that shares my tea and biccies as often as we can. I met her through a business link advisory service, she being a centre manager, and after our initial meeting, the formalities, we realised that we had more than just a few things in common. As some of you might remember my initial blog on CL was a sort of plea, for friends, as I had moved here last Autumn, but working from home meant my social circle was kind of small, and although Keith has loads of lovely friends, its not the same as meeting people yourself, who share the same interests. Needless to say, making many friends online has kept me happy and busy.
My new friend and I actually grew up just a few miles from each other and she has been in Yorkshire for many years, though still calls our home county ‘home’ and visits often. After picking my new friend up from here gorgeous cottagey home, we toured a nearby town, chatting, getting to know each other, scouring charity shops, haberdashers and visiting the tea rooms for the obligatory tea and cake. Back to hers for a tour of her pretty, inspiring garden, more tea and loads more chat, it was just heaven. Needless to say the day went toooo quickly, and I drove home with the hugest of smiles and a warm feeling inside.
The weekend brought a trip to Warwickshire, family visiting. Mums first thing Saturday for some serious wedding cake making, me, Mum and Keith all crammed in her tiny kitchen, with several hundred weight of ingredients, far too much brandy and more than one washing up bowl for the mixing. Once it was in the oven, we left mum to keep her expert eye on the three tiers and flew off on a whistle stop tour of friends and family.
The evening was spent at my uncle Daves 60th birthday party, cant believe he is 60, looks about 45 and acts about 20. Sunday was more visiting, and took in a reclaimation yard, where we purchased two old rusty train wheels to put in the garden, and back to mums to collect the perfectly cooked cake. Of course, the top tier was a little domed, so we had to shave a bit off, and try it of course, quality control. Hmmmm.
After 48 hours of tearing around, tea, chat, kisses and partying, we set off back to Yorkshire, and I have to admit, I had a few tears in the car. Its hard to drive away from everything you knew and everyone you love. Keith wasn’t immediately aware that I was blubbering, as I had sunglasses on but trying to wipe away my snotty nose while I was driving gave the game away. I love the life I have here, with my husband to be, new horizons, and I keep in touch with everyone big time, however on Sunday evening I shed several fluid ounces between junctions 21 and 28 of the M1.
My eldest two children are in Warwickshire, and they have busy lives. They come up to ‘ours’ often and ring daily, but at times I miss the ‘Waltons’ style house we had.
Monday was brighter mood wise, and the mist eventually cleared, leaving me with a glorious view over the fields at the back of ‘ours’. The garden is really coming on now, just 6 months and its been transformed from a bare patch to a colourful display, still in its infancy, but prettier by the day.
Keith spent the morning phoning me with words of lurve to keep me grinning, the sun shone and my new friend texted to say she was looking forward to our next get together.
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Morning From Almondbury
Morning all,
Hope this finds you well. Sorry I have not blogged for a few days, had tons of stuff to do, no excuse though, naughty me I will take my punishment headmistress.
Well, its only six weeks to the wedding, and I have cake/flowers/decorations and wedding dress to make. Have an idea of the style in my head, no pattern and about 20 yards of cream embossed silky stuff with tiny floral pattern. Absolute bargain, end of roll, couldnt believe it when they said it was less than £2.00 per metre, as the edge was dusty from the roll being stood up. In total, with the zip, tulle, and boning the whole dress will be a snippette at around £60.
Have been furiously collecting vintage curtains to recycle into table cloths and bunting for the event, and my daughter has suggested offering the complete wedding/recycled/country-themed package as a service. We have made the invitations/order of service, and the rest will also eventually be produced by us, out of 'previously cherished' goodies. Will try to use as much organic ingredients in the wedding cake, and it is to be displayed in a battered coal scuttle, as opposed to a shiny chrome stand,...far to squeaky and new!
The vicar came to chat with us the other night, all the formalities sorted. I was trying to remember a piece of music for the organist to play during the 'signing of register', and hadnt a clue, so this morning I rang a music shop and hummed it down the phone...they knew instantly, how cool?! Its 'Bach' apparently, I really am ignorant when it comes to Classical music, I was bought up on T-Rex.
We did Weight Watchers again last night, and the scales were not kind. I wanted to insist on a recallibration, but Keith dragged me to my seat! I have gained a pound, despite skimmed lettuce being added to most meals. Perhaps its the pound and a half of pure cheddar thats flowing through my veins, it curiously arrived in my basket and then in my fridge, so I had to complete its life-cycle, didnt i?
On a more healthy note, all the veg I planted is coming along nicely, I am really pleased. Previously I had only ever grown raddishes and tomatoes, but now we have peppers, carrots, cucumbers, beetroot, onions, rocket, broccoli, sprouts and much more... all I need now is a chicken or two....does anyone know of any restrictions that may be in place on keeping chickens in an average back garden on a semi rural bog standard estate? And would they eat the veg?
Well, friends I better go and put the kettle on, warm the sewing machine up, turn the radio on in my little shedette and sew, stick, paint til dusk. Might even finish the 'purple' car seat covers I have started.
Bye for now
Sue x
PS Best Wishes to Faith X
Hope this finds you well. Sorry I have not blogged for a few days, had tons of stuff to do, no excuse though, naughty me I will take my punishment headmistress.
Well, its only six weeks to the wedding, and I have cake/flowers/decorations and wedding dress to make. Have an idea of the style in my head, no pattern and about 20 yards of cream embossed silky stuff with tiny floral pattern. Absolute bargain, end of roll, couldnt believe it when they said it was less than £2.00 per metre, as the edge was dusty from the roll being stood up. In total, with the zip, tulle, and boning the whole dress will be a snippette at around £60.
Have been furiously collecting vintage curtains to recycle into table cloths and bunting for the event, and my daughter has suggested offering the complete wedding/recycled/country-themed package as a service. We have made the invitations/order of service, and the rest will also eventually be produced by us, out of 'previously cherished' goodies. Will try to use as much organic ingredients in the wedding cake, and it is to be displayed in a battered coal scuttle, as opposed to a shiny chrome stand,...far to squeaky and new!
The vicar came to chat with us the other night, all the formalities sorted. I was trying to remember a piece of music for the organist to play during the 'signing of register', and hadnt a clue, so this morning I rang a music shop and hummed it down the phone...they knew instantly, how cool?! Its 'Bach' apparently, I really am ignorant when it comes to Classical music, I was bought up on T-Rex.
We did Weight Watchers again last night, and the scales were not kind. I wanted to insist on a recallibration, but Keith dragged me to my seat! I have gained a pound, despite skimmed lettuce being added to most meals. Perhaps its the pound and a half of pure cheddar thats flowing through my veins, it curiously arrived in my basket and then in my fridge, so I had to complete its life-cycle, didnt i?
On a more healthy note, all the veg I planted is coming along nicely, I am really pleased. Previously I had only ever grown raddishes and tomatoes, but now we have peppers, carrots, cucumbers, beetroot, onions, rocket, broccoli, sprouts and much more... all I need now is a chicken or two....does anyone know of any restrictions that may be in place on keeping chickens in an average back garden on a semi rural bog standard estate? And would they eat the veg?
Well, friends I better go and put the kettle on, warm the sewing machine up, turn the radio on in my little shedette and sew, stick, paint til dusk. Might even finish the 'purple' car seat covers I have started.
Bye for now
Sue x
PS Best Wishes to Faith X
Friday, 18 May 2007
Mushy Midnight Blog from Almondbury
Hello all,
Hope you are all well. Thanks for the lovely comments, its so nice to read them, I wish there was enough hours in the day to read and respond to everyones blogs! I have found myself allotting time to read them!
Talking about weight loss, its not easy as I am some mean cake eater. I have been what you would call chunky for most of my life, curvaceous, womanly.
Good for mixing cakes and cement, if required.
I blogged about Keith a little on CL, but here is how the story goes for those who don’t know.
I had been single for about five years, a few very part time things, but on and off and no one special. I had almost given up, happy to do my own DIY, scratch my own back and hog a double duvet to oneself, and then my friend met a nice chap from here in Almondbury.
When the inevitable wedding invitation came along, I attended with my children, and got chatting to Keith, whom I didn’t realise was someone my friend had previously talked about, ‘this real nice guy, bit big, but is losing weight, you’d love him, she said’. Not realising (til we had chatted each other up) who he was, I was stunned at his amazing weight loss, he had gone from 31 stone to about 19 stone. And being over 6 foot, he looked just gorgeous.
Well, Keith proved to be an absolute star, funny, loving, caring, all the things I honestly thought didn’t exist anymore. He’d had a life of caring for two ill parents, until they left this place for a more cloudy one, and being ‘Mr Huge Personality’ I feel like not many females had ever looked beyond his size. And here he was, wanting to date me, slimming furiously, single, coming with a massive fan club of men and women who had been his friends for years, saying ‘he’s a good one’.
Almost one year later, and I now live with Keith, and we are to be married this July. I take my inspiration from him, as he must have battled so hard to change his habits of a lifetime, and utterly turn his life around.
Sorry to bang on about him as if he was some super god, but to me he is, and I am sure you lovely lot have your ‘soul mates’ too. I would have laughed it off and been extremely sceptical if someone had told me a year ago that I would be living in Yorkshire, surrounded by rolling hills and dry stone walls, and marrying the man of my dreams. But I am, and I am loving every minute of it.
I used to do good things sometimes, nice things and then sometimes get bad things happen to me, and my mum used to say ‘what goes around comes around, and one day something really good will happen to you’.
Sounds a bit of a cliché but I think good old mum was right, as they so often are. I miss her and my family and friends who still live in Warwickshire, but phew, what a trade off.
Well, enough, enough mushy wishy washy stuff, I will have everyone reaching for the hankie, or the sick bucket…..back to reality, to shove another wash in before bed.
Night my very special friends
Love Sue xxx
Hope you are all well. Thanks for the lovely comments, its so nice to read them, I wish there was enough hours in the day to read and respond to everyones blogs! I have found myself allotting time to read them!
Talking about weight loss, its not easy as I am some mean cake eater. I have been what you would call chunky for most of my life, curvaceous, womanly.
Good for mixing cakes and cement, if required.
I blogged about Keith a little on CL, but here is how the story goes for those who don’t know.
I had been single for about five years, a few very part time things, but on and off and no one special. I had almost given up, happy to do my own DIY, scratch my own back and hog a double duvet to oneself, and then my friend met a nice chap from here in Almondbury.
When the inevitable wedding invitation came along, I attended with my children, and got chatting to Keith, whom I didn’t realise was someone my friend had previously talked about, ‘this real nice guy, bit big, but is losing weight, you’d love him, she said’. Not realising (til we had chatted each other up) who he was, I was stunned at his amazing weight loss, he had gone from 31 stone to about 19 stone. And being over 6 foot, he looked just gorgeous.
Well, Keith proved to be an absolute star, funny, loving, caring, all the things I honestly thought didn’t exist anymore. He’d had a life of caring for two ill parents, until they left this place for a more cloudy one, and being ‘Mr Huge Personality’ I feel like not many females had ever looked beyond his size. And here he was, wanting to date me, slimming furiously, single, coming with a massive fan club of men and women who had been his friends for years, saying ‘he’s a good one’.
Almost one year later, and I now live with Keith, and we are to be married this July. I take my inspiration from him, as he must have battled so hard to change his habits of a lifetime, and utterly turn his life around.
Sorry to bang on about him as if he was some super god, but to me he is, and I am sure you lovely lot have your ‘soul mates’ too. I would have laughed it off and been extremely sceptical if someone had told me a year ago that I would be living in Yorkshire, surrounded by rolling hills and dry stone walls, and marrying the man of my dreams. But I am, and I am loving every minute of it.
I used to do good things sometimes, nice things and then sometimes get bad things happen to me, and my mum used to say ‘what goes around comes around, and one day something really good will happen to you’.
Sounds a bit of a cliché but I think good old mum was right, as they so often are. I miss her and my family and friends who still live in Warwickshire, but phew, what a trade off.
Well, enough, enough mushy wishy washy stuff, I will have everyone reaching for the hankie, or the sick bucket…..back to reality, to shove another wash in before bed.
Night my very special friends
Love Sue xxx
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