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

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!

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

A Bridal Makeup Lesson at the Bobbi Brown Counter

In January I booked a makeup tutorial at the Bobbi Brown counter in Fenwicks, Canterbury for last week.
I'd always known I wanted to do my own makeup for my wedding, as I feel like I am reasonably good at doing it, I just needed to learn about how to create the best long lasting base, what looks good in photos etc.
I also think that I'd rather spend a few hundred pounds on decent products I can use again, than have someone I don't know come in on the morning of my wedding and maybe not get it right!

The look that I am trying to achieve would be quite glamourous, more attention paid to the eyes than lips, I'd say my eyes (and my hair) are probably my best features so I want to highlight that.
I love Bobbi Brown products and really don't have enough of them! My makeup artist Anna was super friendly and chatty, found out what I was looking for and really got me involved in the choosing of colours etc - which I thought was fab, not some know-it-all MUA doing whatever they like.

First off Anna used an oil cleanser and hydrating tonic on my skin to get rid of any makeup on my skin already. Then I had hydrating eye cream and the vitamin enriched face cream, it was super soft and smelt divine!
Then came the Bisque Correcter - a product I've read rave reviews on so was eager to see what it was like on my skin. It was great to even out my skin, and dark circles or patchy areas.

The foundation Anna used was the shade Warm Beige and advised me that anything with an SPF higher than a 15 is going to really wash me out in my wedding photos!

A light skin powder was then used with a powder brush to hold it all in place!
To add colour back to my face Anna used the Golden Light Bronzer in a 3 shape - from the centre of the forehead round under the eye to highlight the cheek, then over the jaw line (repeat on each side!)

The blusher Anna used on the apples of my cheeks was called Pink Sugar - it had shimmer in it which I prefer, I don't like to look too matte. To just add a further flush of colour, she added Pale Pink to make my cheeks really pop!

Now my favourite part - my EYES!
To cover the entire eye, the Long Wear Cream shadow in Shore was used as a base - this would also be perfect just as an eyeshadow on its own. Then Bone Eye Shadow was used to cover the lid, with Rich Brown on the lower lid and Smokey Quartz dabbed on with a fingertip.

Anna then used the Black Ink Gel Liner on the upper lids to bring extra glam to my eyes! This looked so easy to apply with the Eye Liner Brush, and that has been a real issue for me in the past - trying to get the right liquid liner is such a pain!
Lash Glamour Extreme Lengthening Mascara was used to give me long lushious lashes!
Sable Eyeshadow was used to fill in my brows to frame my face.

And finally for my lips, I usually just wear a clear or pale pink glass, but Anna explained that opting for something darker will make them stand out a bit more in my photos - however, Bobbi Brown's mantra  is that you should pick a colour close to your natural lip shade for the best look.
This is a rule I think that really works and Anna told me it also applies to blushers too!
Bikini Pink lipstick was used with a dash of Bright Pink gloss over the top for extra shine!

So what do you think? I love the eyeshadow colours and think they work really well with green eyes - my eyes seem to really stand out! It was also unbelievable how long it all lasted - it was applied at 11:30 and looked super fresh come 8pm that night - so I have huge confidence in these products.

Above is the summary sheet of all the products Anna used in my tutorial and I honestly wanted to buy them all!

Here I am after a few hours wear, out in the natural light to really see what it looked like - I love it!

You can buy all Bobbi Brown products here.

Are you a fan of Bobbi Brown? Or what are your go-to beauty brands? I'd love to know!

Chloe x

Our pre-wedding photoshoot

As you know I get married at the end of June, and an engagement shoot - or 'pre-wedding' shoot as they're also known, was included in our photography package.

Finding a photographer was quite easy really, I scoured wedding blogs such as www.rockmywedding.co.uk and www.lovemydress.net for recommendations. I knew I wanted natural, reportage style photgraphs, with an emphasis on couple shots, something soft and romantic that will also look timeless in years to come.

Hannah-May came up a few times and her clients gave her amazing reviews so I enquired and found her package prices to be extremely reasonable compared to some quotes we had received.
After a few emails back and forth with Hannah-May, I found her so friendly and totally understood what we were looking for. The Boy doesn't necessarily work well with a camera, so natural, non-intrusive shots were our priority. If someone puts a camera to his face, he goes all Chandler like (from Friends - you know the episode right?!) and he doesn't look like him in the photo. I know, it is funny.

Here are some of our pre-wedding shots we got back last week.

Hannah-May suggested we go to Capstone Country Park in Gillingham to meet her and have the photos done. I'd never been there before and was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the spot. Lots of open fields, pretty blossom trees, people taking their dogs for long strolls on Saturday mornings.

I was really happy with the outcome.

Hannah-May suggested that we stand in the blossom tree, as the flowers would be out of focus and it creates really great pictures, I completely agree with her. Plus, it was slightly unusual too, I liked that it may be something people haven't really seen before.

After meeting Hannah-May and then seeing these photos, it has really assured us that we have made the right choice and we wouldn't want anyone else to take on the task of capturing our special day. If you want to take a look at Hannah-May's work, or read her blog - its beautiful, then you can do so here. Who captured your wedding or who have you booked to do so?

I'd love to know what you think of the pictures!

Chloe x