Then the two of us became three...

My fashion posts have been few and far between because I am having a baby.

Therefore I cannot be as fashion forward as I would perhaps like!

We found out at the end of July that we were expecting our first child, and shortly after this time, none of my clothes would fit around my expanding, well, everything. 

I've found some of the best maternity clothes on ASOS, so much choice and not too mumsy. Comfort is a big thing for me now being almost 6 months pregnant. 

I'll be posting my favourite maternity fashion picks and once baby is out, I can hopefully go back to my more stylish options!

Here is our little baby girl at 23 weeks sucking her thumb!

Any pregnancy and baby tips will be much appreciated!

Chloe x

The Most Amazing Day

Ok so I know I haven't blogged in ages (sorry) but married life has been keeping me busy!

I thought I'd show you some of our photos from the day, captured by the amazing Hannah-May, we can't recommend her enough!

My dress was by Essence of Australia from Bridal Gowns at Jodi's in Canterbury. I wore an embellished belt which I loved! I also had a cathedral length veil for the ceremony which was made from the softest tulle, I felt like I was wearing a cloud!

My mum lent me her Cartier watch too!

The ceremony was held at our local church Minster Abbey. 

This is one of my favourite shots from the day!

My two bridesmaids were my two younger sisters, and I think you'll agree they looked incredible! I adored their flower crowns and think they really pulled them off.

Their dresses were Debut at Debenhams.

Our bouquets were so colourful and pretty, I asked our florist for something summery and bright and she really delivered. We had peonies, roses, ranunculus, astilbe and gypsophila.

Our venue for the wedding breakfast and reception was The Barnyard in Upchurch. Essentially a giant marquee in beautiful farmland, we dressed it with handmade vintage/shabby chic decor to fit in with our theme.

Our cake was a three tier naked cake made by a local cake maker. We had so many comments on it, it tasted and looked superb! So simple yet so effective.

My handsome husband and our best man wore electric blue suits from Next. Their silk pocket ties were Ted Baker.

Are you planning your own big day? 

Have any thoughts on ours?

I would love to hear your comments!

Mrs Stephenson x

Beauty Buys

I just wanted to update you on some of my most recent beauty buys. These items I purchased the week of the my wedding in an almost panic that I wasn't happy with what I already had!

Base: I heard amazing things about Bobbi Brown's Skin Foundation and had tried a few testers and fell in love. It is super light and silky, a little goes a long way and gives great coverage. I wanted something that didn't feel too cake-y, and used Bare Minerals Mineral Veil over the top to set and take away any shine for the wedding photos!

Eyes: I purchased the top eyeshadow a few months back when I had a tutorial with Bobbi Brown in Canterbury. Then I had seen the two below on another shopping trip and fell in love. The first colour is Smokey Quartz, this goes well over light colours or blended to the outer corner of your eye and has a gorgeous glitter in it, best used with your finger not a brush.

The middle shade is Champagne Quartz which I used as my all over eyelid colour, this also has a nice sheen to it - I hardly ever use matte shadows. This can also be used as a lovely golden brow highlighter if you wanted to take the colour all the way up to really make your eyes pop and gives a gorgeous glow.

Finally the bottom colour is Ballet Pink which I used in the middle of my lid to emphasise the colour of my eyes, this also has a glitter to it which I lightly dabbed in the inner corner of my eye.

My mum has tried so many mascaras so I know her word to be true when she gives a recommendation! She has always trusted Lancôme hypnose and I've found their mascaras last, don't generally smudge or give you panda eyes at 3pm! 

I went for the Hypnose Drama Waterproof in case I cried! It lasted all day and didn't smudge - result!

Can you tell a trend to the brands I always buy?!

Finally, a purchase I've made since the wedding is the new Lancôme Vissionaire Cream. It says it is advanced multi correcting and feels almost like a serum because it is so light and silky. It was £59 at House of Fraser but I have to say it is money well spent! I use it morning and night, my skin feels more hydrated, has reduced redness and appears more plumped! Great!

Skincare products for me are so important, I see them as an investment and will hopefully mean I don't need Botox in later life!

What beauty purchases have you made recently?

Chloe x

Life Lately - July

So it has been a while since my last post, over a month now! Sorry! But as you know, I got married on Friday 27th June to my soul mate & best friend *cheese fest anyone?*

Life has been crazy busy in the few weeks leading up to our big day, then we were away on honeymoon which I will cover in a separate post.

I'd blogged about the anxiety I was feeling a month or so before the wedding and how no one really tells you that you may feel like that, but it is totally normal! You're planning the biggest day of your entire lives, it isn't all going to be plain sailing. However, let me say, every minute of stress, worry & nerves was so worth it, I cannot even put in to words how wonderful our day was. Everything ran smoothly, we had beautiful weather and had all of our best friends & family around us to celebrate.

I will do a full post with all details soon, but here is one of my favourite pictures taken by a friend outside our beautiful local church after the ceremony!

Birthday Purchases

Monday saw me turn the grand old age of 25! I had asked for money so I could finally put it towards a new purse.

I already have a Mulberry Mitzi Messenger bag in black that was bought for me 4 years ago on my 21st birthday, so knew I'd end up going to them again for my birthday purchase.

I'd been given the heads up that the sale was starting on Thursday 12th June, so I woke up early at 6:30 to nab a bargain. Well it didn't actually start until 8 so that was a little annoying!

I spotted the mint green envelope wallet and OMG.

I loved the colour, thought it'd be great for summer, so went ahead and checked out.

£8 for postage but it did arrive the next afternoon!

The packaging is enough to keep me happy!

And here she is! My mint green Mulberry envelope wallet.

Love the gold lock detail on it too!

The sales always come just after my birthday which is great for me, can always count on getting some good bargains with my birthday money!

Anyone bought anything in the sales yet?

Chloe x

Summer Wishlist: Pale Pinks, Denim & Mulberry

With my birthday coming up (9th June guys!) I am starting to think of items on my wishlist. There is no price limit on said list - just things I adore and are pretty to look at.

I decided to put together an outfit, perfect for wearing out for lunch on my birthday, if someone loved me enough to purchase all of the above - I'd be one happy lady!

Mulberry will forever be my go-to bag designer of choice, I had my first Mulberry bought for me on my 21st Birthday - a Mitzi Messenger in black that I use everyday. I know the Willow isn't the newest of designs but I still lust after this nude one every time I see it. I could do with a more summery shade, rather than using black constantly. You can purchase this Mulberry beauty here.

I am still all over the ripped jeans look for summer, and you simply can't go wrong paired with a beautiful white top/tee. My ASOS Brady ripped jeans now just feature gaping holes so I really need a new pair - right? The first pair can be found at www.intermixonline.com and the second are Topshop!

Sliders: OMG how amazing are these beauties? I am a total magpie, anything with gems/sequins/glitter and I cannot resist so these MSGM pool sliders are no exception. £435 - from Browns.

The loafers are Office and at £65 - a much more affordable present! Plus this really cute top is Topshop and only £23, which I may just have to treat myself to come payday!

What items are you lusting after on this drab, dreary friday?!

Chloe x

Wedding: The Fear



Minster Abbey Church where we get married on 27th June!

Ok, so I keep having some seriously scary dreams about my wedding! 

It is less than a month away now and I'm hitting panic mode - what haven't we done? Have we made the right music choices? Picked the right readings for the church?
I've made lists in every notebook I own, then more lists for the lists - there are a lot of lists!

Last nights dream was about the abismal weather we've seen over the past few days - it was raining so hard that the venues cancelled our wedding and couldn't rebook us as they were full! Terrifying!
Previous dreams include me being late, the Boy also being late, hating how I look etc etc. It goes on and on. I have been told this is completely normal from past & future brides, yet I can't get rid of this knot in my tummy. What if people think I look silly? Don't like my dress? There a thousand and one thoughts swimming around my little head...

It is so easy to get swept away in what chairs you want at the reception venue, if the napkins are the correct shade of white, am I using the right foundation for the photos?
However, I am trying to remember that what this is really all about is: us committing to each other with all of our family & friends beside us, a day just about us and love and happiness.

Source: Pinterest

I love this quote - it is exactly all the things I think a marriage should mean.
Besides all the little worries I am having right now, I am honestly really excited too...

Chloe x

The Slender Blend by Protein World

With our wedding only 5 weeks away now (aaaaaahhh!) I thought it was about time I started thinking about being more conscious of what I am eating.

My dress fits fine but I could do with losing a few pounds! 

Protein World had been on my radar for a while now, a few celebrities had been tweeting about it, friends of mine were posting photos in Instagram, so I thought I would see what all the hype was about.

They offer a weightloss programme called The Slender Blend, which includes the protein powder to make shakes and smoothies, fat melter supplements and multivitamins too. You also get two booklets, one that tells you all about the product, the other with recipe ideas.

I found the aesthetic of the products to be much more appealing to us ladies, some of the protein powders you see look so manly it is off putting, or they use fancy words that most of us just wouldn't understand!

I've been using The Slender Blend for just over a week and have lost 4 pounds already. I've been having a shake or smoothie for breakfast, a protein based meal for lunch and then another shake or smoothie for my dinner. Along with drinking lots of water, I feel great.

I don't feel hungry and don't get any cravings, I opted for vanilla flavoured powder as this would go with most fruits & veggies to make smoothies. It's quite sweet too which is great for me as I usually have such a sweet tooth! 

I'll keep you posted on my progress, so far so great!

Are there any other weightloss programmes you've tried and would recommend? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Chloe x

My Marbella Hen Do

Last week I got back from the most amazing 4 days on my hen do in Marbella. I had the best time and wish I could go back and do it all again! (Beware - this is a picture heavy post!)

I've been a few times before with my family, so we decided to go back as we knew the area has great restaurants and even better nightlife. When we used to go, we always stayed at the H10 Andalucia Plaza, but it recently underwent a huge refurbishment so it was great to see it updated. I would really recommend this hotel, it is adults only - which I thought may mean it was full of stag and hen parties - but this isn't the case. There was a real mixture of couples, older groups, golfers, young friends getting away for a mini-break so this made for a great atmosphere. We booked for bed & breakfast, and you really can't fault the selection of food on offer. Plus it is only a ten minute walk to Puerto Banus with the designer shops, super yachts and flash cars.

We arrived early Wednesday morning, so got straight on the sunbeds and started on the Mojitos!

Wearing my favourite Miu Miu sunglasses & new Accessorize straw trilby

My black kimono is H&M and the sliders are River Island at ASOS along with my Michael Kors watch!

That night we were booked in for Hard Rock Cafe - one of my favourite restaurants! We booked a few weeks before we left in case it was busy, but the restaurant was almost empty.

Here are all us girls outside the restaurant.

Me in Puerto Banus about to start a surprise bar crawl organised by my sisters - loved playing dress up too!

I wore a really nice jumpsuit that I'd bought the previous week from Next. I loved it as soon as I saw it on the mannequin in the window! You can purchase the same here for £42. My necklace is from Accessorize that I'd bought at the airport before we flew.

We ended up in Linekers bar where we had a booth & champagne and this really sweet banner hanging up!

My sisters & I plus Sam!

The next day we were up early for breakfast, more sunbathing and of course, more cocktails. 

Anneka & Sam paid for me to have a wash & blowdry at the hotel's hair salon, and it was incredible. I love a big curly blowdry and it was so nice to be pampered whilst I was away - thank you girlies!

We'd decided to eat at a gorgeous Moroccan restaurant called Mosaik then after that we had a booth booked at AqwaMist nightclub. We paid 500euros for the booth, which included a magnum of Belvedere vodka, 2 bottles of champagnes plus mixers. Split between ten of us it was really good value for money so I'd tell anyone to do this. The music was brilliant in there as well. 

Anneka & Me at the hotel bar before going to AqwaMist - Anneka looked so cool in a crop & knicker shorts with this long crochet top over!

My dress is from ASOS which I had purchased a few months ago for £17.50! Such a bargain and I had so many comments on it. I teamed it with my Topshop 'Ratchet' sandals, I got those in the sale too for £16! They go with everything as well, plus the heel is chunky so they are really easy to walk in.

Starting to look a bit worse for wear here! My clutch is New Look from last year.

My sisters & I, they are also my only bridesmaids at the wedding - I love this photo and both of the girls outfits!

I was one of 3 girls left standing - we left the club at 6am, then went back to our hotel room for a champagne & strawberry breakfast!

Sam looked gorgeous in this blue number

I spent the rest of that day in bed, which was fine as it was cloudy! Then for our last supper we had dinner booked at Infushia, and they put us on the guestlist for Tibu nightclub. After dinner and before the club we went to the strip to have some cheap cocktails, and met a group of (old!) golfers who ended up joining us for a dance at the club, it was hilarious!

Here are two of the golfing guys partying with us - we stole their high vis jackets!

My outfit on the last night was a pair of Topshop joggers which I had from last summer paired with a cami also from Topshop. I wore my sliders out that night because I adore them and are so comfortable, you can buy online now in silver here as the white has sold out!

I was really sad to leave Marbella, all the girls had made such an effort to make sure I had a wonderful time, I really can't thank them enough for giving me an amazing trip. My Mumma came with her friend Teresa too, and I felt bad that I didn't get much time to speak to them - but I love you : )

Would love to hear your comments!

Chloe xx