RECIPES FOR ENTERTAINING

I'm a bit gutted that I haven't managed to blog anything Christmas-y this year - these Christmas posts from blog years past are some of my favourite! I've worked with an interiors brand called Fishpools before on an inspiration post, and this season they're all about entertaining - having a big table and enough chairs to feed even a handful of friends can be a challenge; that's why I thought I would round up a few recipes for having friends over - recipes for finger food, when you can't get everyone squashed around the table and recipes for warming winter meals, when you're crammed elbow-to-elbow and bowl food is your best bet! p.s. here's hoping for this big dining table and a kitchen to fit it in from Father Christmas this year!

SUSHI MAKING IN TOKYO

Posting a little out of order here, but I wanted to squeeze in a little food post as it's been a while! Hands down the best thing we did on our 'second honeymoon' in Tokyo was go to a sushi making class. My friend's boyfriend booked the four of us into a class at the Tokyo Sushi Academy in Tsukiji and the school's close proximity to Tokyo's fish market (seeing this was the second best thing to happen that day) meant we had our pick of some of the world's freshest fish!

BUDGET WEDDING/BRIDESMAID DRESSES

This post is actually what sparked all of my other wedding round-ups. I wasn't going to blog that much about the ins and outs of wedding planning and such, but a conversation on Twitter reminded me how much research I did into wedding dresses and that my encyclopaedic knowledge (and experience!) of online shopping might actually be useful to someone other than me.

CHICKEN SATAY BURGERS

WEDDING DECORATIONS + DIYS

When you scour wedding blogs and Pinterest for ideas, everything starts to look the same. The more I looked, the more I simultaneously wanted to do all of the things and none of the things. In the end, I think we found a good middle ground. The pub was pretty enough that it really didn't need much in the way of decorations, just flowers and a bit of bunting. I was very chilled in the run-up to the wedding and then two weeks before I realised that I did want all of the things, and so began a round of frantic shopping, online ordering and quick DIYing.

THE VENUE: A LONDON PUB WEDDING

Darren and I knew we never wanted a big, fancy 'do for our wedding: the only prerequisites were good food, lots of booze and nice lighting...oh, and not paying a hire fee! Early on, we decided a pub would be the right venue for us; all the hard work of staffing, seating and so on would be done for us, if the decor was nice we wouldn't have to spend much on decorations and a readymade venue comes with its own atmosphere, so we knew everyone would feel relaxed on the day.

WEDDING MORNING IN AN AIRBNB

One thing that made me slightly sad about the location of our wedding was that it just wasn't close enough to my parents' house to get ready there - they have the most beautiful home and it would have been lovely getting ready together there, but the journey times just didn't work out and I'm 100% sure it would have been stressful af. The next best thing was renting an Airbnb; it felt like being at home, which I preferred over a hotel, and it was 5 minutes' drive from the Town Hall. To be honest, on the morning I didn't even give a second thought to getting ready there. Here are a few of my favourite moments!

JUST MARRIED

We're home from our honeymoon! If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen this snap already from our amazing wedding photographer (and friend!) Jo, but I wanted to share it here as well. Jo knew I really wanted a nice confetti shot so when she sent over this sneaky peek the day after the wedding I was sooo happy. We had the best day ever and we've just come back from 3 weeks away - being home is lovely...even if the dog did wake us up at 4:30! I think it will be a little while before I post much on the blog, but just wanted to drop in and share this little snippet of our day.