My top tips for London

Things are really coming together for the wedding!  My lack of updates are a mix of wanting things to be a surprise and the crazy amount of crap I’ve been going through for my visa.  But hopefully things will sort themselves out on that end.

Maybe I’m biased, but London is one of the coolest and easiest cities to get around in.  The tube system is easy and gets you everywhere (when there isn’t a strike) and the buses are red and double decker.  Best seat? Top floor, first row.

I asked my friends to give some top tips for visiting London, and I’ll be honest, they mostly gave me prank advice.  “Oi tell your friends that you need to rap at least one song by Stormzy to enter the country” or “they have to say ‘pip pip’ whenever they need to take a wee.”  That’s guys, not helpful.

So here is a list of tips I came up with (with a little help from my semi-serious friends) to remember when you are walking around London.

 

1. Buy an Oyster card

This little blue card is available in most corner shops around the city.  For £5 – which you can get back when you leave and give the Oyster card in again at the end of your trip – you get this piece of plastic that is your ticket around London.  You use it on buses, trains, tube, everything. YOU CAN NOT PAY WITH CASH ON THE BUS ANYMORE. Like the metrocard, you tap it on the reader when you go in and out of any tube station.  You only tap once on the bus when you get on. You load the card with money (I recommend £20 to start) and then you go! You can ‘top up’ your card at any tube or train station as well as some shops that have a sign that says ‘Oyster Top Up.’  Make sure that you have this card always.

2. Don’t walk next to a main road with your phone out and not paying attention

I feel like this is a thing anywhere in a city, and I am NOT saying that London isn’t incredibly safe because it is, but don’t just stare at your phone next to a busy street, because someone might just try to nab it.  Not hugely likely, but it does happen. If your switching songs or checking directions, just step back from the road to a shop or something and take out your phone. Again, not hugely likely something will get grabbed, but just be smart about it.    

 

3. Use public transport

Use a bus, use the tube, use a train.  You can get ANYWHERE in London (for the most part) with public transport.  It’s crazy better than the Metro in DC.  I recommend downloading the app Citymapper or just using their website to map out exactly how to get where you need to go via tube, bus, train, tram, overground, and walking.  

Some people might overlook buses, but as of now, you can pay a single fare from your Oyster and ride unlimited buses in one hour.  So if you need to get somewhere and you need to take two buses as opposed to one tube, maybe take the bus instead. The bus is cheaper in general (£1.50 no matter how many stops you go) and even if you hop off one bus and hop onto another, you won’t have to pay again.  You do have to put your hand out for a bus to make sure it stops for you as well.

 

4. Walk

This kinda contradicts what I just said, but you would be surprised how easy it is to just walk nearly everywhere in London.  Just because there is one tube stop between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, it is 10000x easier to just walk that distance.  It’s like two roads away.

So make sure to check these signs as often as possible (they are everywhere) to see how long it would take you to actually get somewhere walking as opposed to taking public transport there.  

 

5. Stand on the right, walk on the left

Is this the same rule in the states?  I feel like it is. On an escalator, stand on the right, let people who are in a hurry go up/down on the left.

 

6. Look left (or right)

Easy to forget, and thankfully London is prepared for you to not remember to do this, but look Left when you are crossing the road as the roads are switched.  Don’t ask me why. This is nowhere else in Europe, just London.

 

 

7. If you don’t want to pay for a drink, ask for tap water

If you ask for water, sometimes they will bring you bottled water and charge you.  Tap water is free. No free refills on soda or anything sadly. If you aren’t sure what alcohol to get, try a cider or a local beer.  

8. Lastly, don’t be too disappointed if most English guys aren’t as dreamy as we all wished they were.

Most are great and some are attractive, but don’t be like that syndrome that people get after visiting Paris where it is supposed to be the most amazing thing in their head and then they get their and its not fantastic.  Most have great personalities, but they look less like this:

and more like this:

 

That’s pretty much it when I think about little things to remember about London.  You might get a bit lost at some point or end up somewhere you weren’t expecting, but its a cool city, so wherever you end up, you will for sure find something cool.  London is an expensive city though, so make sure you are prepared to roll your eyes at the price of some stuff. But it’s a super cool city. Keep me in the loop of things you are doing, as I want to join 🙂

Can’t wait to see you all, counting down the days.

Where to stay while you’re in London

I’ve been asked by many-a-friend where to stay while they are in jolly old London (how my mom and dad say it).  Where are the best places to party? Where can I grab some delicious spotted dick? Where is this Trump so-called “war-zone”?  Thankfully, none of you guys have asked that, as London is farthest thing from a war-zone and Donald Trump is a dumbass. BUT I digress.  To be honest, no one has asked about spotted dick either, which is good, because…it’s not that good, and you can go without.

So here is my two-pence on where to stay while you’re over here.  I’ve taken into account how close it is to the wedding venue, how close it is to cool things, and how much I know about the area.

East London (Shoreditch, Hackney, Tower Hamlets) – East London is great in terms of trends.  It is easily the “hippest” place with cool hole-in-the-wall burger joints popping up and cool unique museums (The Museum of Childhood, never been, but always wanted to go!).  Also very cool bars – including one with a ball pit – so there is no shortage of entertainment. The Tower of London is a place I highly recommend to see the crown jewels and hear the story of Anne Boleyn getting her head chopped off, and for food, head to Brick Lane Market.     

Notes:  Very gentrified.  This isn’t necessarily a negative, but be prepared to see like a MILLION vegan cafes with bearded flanneled men in them with a homeless guy across the street.  It’s a mixed bag, but it’s a cool place. I would stay away from some areas of North East London, but there isn’t really reason to be there anyway so you should be fine.

North London (Camden, City of London, Barking, Hammersmith) – North London is anything above the River Thames, which is the big river through London.  The City of London is actually a separate area of the city, as in, the Queen has no power there (though she has no REAL power anywhere). She even has to ask permission to cross through the City of London.  I love North London. Lots of things to do, it seems like nearly all the touristy things are technically North. Big Ben, the West End, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, yada yada. Not to say it’s better than South, but I would say if you’re planning to stay anywhere, North London is where you are going to end up most days.  

Note: This will probably be the most expensive area of London, just because it’s by all the touristy stuff.  BUT it is also closest to where the wedding will be, which is Epping. Just take the Central Line (the red one) up, up, up, train terminates in Epping.  We are still figuring out how we’ll get everyone to the venue from there, standby.

 

West London (Richmond, Kingston, Fulham, Kensington, Hyde Park) – I know a few of my friends are looking towards Notting Hill, which is in the lovely west London area.  West London is…posh. It’s green with lots of parks and cutesy tree lined drives, it’s where all the snooty English people live…and where I live so I can’t talk. I love West London.  It’s easy to walk everywhere, it has great links everywhere via Hammersmith, and you are usually right along the river. Don’t get me wrong, people aren’t mean or anything, it’s very friendly and happy with lots of markets and great food.  Keep your eyes out for some celebs, I’ve recently THOUGHT I saw Tom Hardy in Richmond – which is where he lives – but I wasn’t sure. I Instagram messaged him to ask, but he didn’t get back to me. Rude.

Note: Other notable celebs living West include the wonderful David Attenborough, Colin Firth, and Rick Astley (Of Rich-roll fame, NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP).  But honestly it’s my favorite area of London if that means anything. Oh and gonna mention Richmond Park, which is the biggest park in London. Lot’s of wild deer that stare at you and you can get pretty close.  Just…don’t let your dog off their leash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU

 

South London (Clapham, Brixton, Wandsworth, Greenwich) –  Cannot fault South London in the least. Again, I live in the SW area of the city, so it’s super easy to get from one place to the other.  If you are interested in the Aussies, go to Clapham, it is crawling with blokes and birds from down under. Brixton airs on the hipstery side, but not nearly as much as East London.  Greenwich is amazing! So cute, seems like a little village right outside the city. Only negative is it’s slightly a bitch to get to sometimes. I won’t go through all the details of places to visit and things to do while you’re over here, but South Bank is also great for a walk to see all the fabulous landmarks of London from the river.  South London features big stations like Waterloo, London Bridge, as well as The Shard and The London Eye. Whether you realize or not, you’ll be spending quite a bit of time in South London, and you won’t be mad about it.

Note:  South London will be the farthest from Gaynes Park, but again, with it being only a five minute drive from Epping station on the Central Line, it won’t be too hard to get there.  Central line (the red one) connects everywhere. The tube is your friend. It’s safe, fast, reliable, and easy to navigate.

Central London (Piccadilly, Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Westminster) – This isn’t exactly technically an area of London…but it is.  Central London is Big Ben and Trafalgar Square, the West End, London Bridge, etc. The photos you see of London, nearly always of these areas.  Incredibly close together, honestly you do NOT need to take the tube in Central London, you can walk easily from one place to another. There are signs all over the place that tell you how close different tube stations and landmarks are from five minutes away to 15 minutes away.  It’s a very easy city to navigate.

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So there you have it, my quick rundown of where to stay while you’re over here.  I will soon be putting up a short (maybe…it might be long) list of things to do while you’re over here and tips to get around efficiently.  You don’t have to do what I recommend, in fact, please get lost and find some awesome place in some corner of the city and tell me all about it, but as for my tips, I would give those a read in my next post.  

As for me, still need to speak with our potential photographer and start working on the centerpieces.  Also, I did want to mention that big hats are allowed and in fact encouraged.

Long time no write…

Sorry about the lack of activity.  Things have been heavy lately.  Wedding plans have been going on, but not as much as they were at the start.  We are mostly done with everything, save for the photographer (which is freaking expensive, more than I thought) and finalizing the cake.

Meanwhile the Visa is actually the most frustrating thing in the world.  I hired a lawyer for the whole process – shout out to Angela! – but without my passport (which I sent off to the home office to get another Bio metrics residence permit, don’t ask) we can’t book a registrar and finalize some of the details.  And Darcy and I are looking for a house that isn’t an hour an a half to get to my work.  So lots going on.

To update my readers, we have booked a DJ, a 40 something year old geezer named Travis who is awesome.  He’s been DJing since he was 13 and now he has his business with his wife and son.  My American friends are going to love him, he is so English.  His accent so so thick sometimes I even had some trouble understanding him completely.  He seems to know his stuff.

Photographer wise, I’ve spoken to a few people.  I have heard from everyone though that the second you put ‘Wedding’ on the start of a photography job, suddenly the price goes up tenfold.  What’s annoying about it all, some people are charging around 1,200 pounds for 8 hours, and what does that cover?  Say I want it to cover me getting ready with my bridesmaids all the way to the dancing and goofing off ten hours later, do I have to choose between those two things?  What’s crazy is that some people are charging 600 pounds for like a 4 hour interval.  Ridiculous.

I did find someone who was 1,500 pounds for the whole day, which…sounds good…but still holy shit I had no idea it was so expensive for a half a day of wedding photography.  And to be honest, I’m not super thrilled about taking an hour to pose for tons of photographs, I would rather do some candid’s.

Meanwhile, I finally decided some bridesmaids details.  I have decided to go with a palette of purples in whatever design or style my friends would want.  Is it rude though if I ask to approve the dress before they buy it?  I don’t think so.  I mean as long as it’s a certain color I don’t care for the most part, but I guess I don’t want everything to clash?  Whatever the case, I know all my gals will KILL IT!!!!

The tough job of cake tasting

I don’t think anyone is surprised, but cake tasting has been the best part of the wedding planning process so far.  And I only tried seven different flavors. Is that a lot?  Maybe.  Oh well!

My research had me looking at different bakeries around London.  There is one super posh shop on my street called Madeline’s or something, and while their cakes look nice, they are a bit snooty in there.  I want to get a cake from somewhere creative and interesting, with cool flavors.  Most of my friends expected me to look at the fabulous Hummingbird Bakery because I have their cookbook and I can always find an excuse to go there, but there are so many amazing places to try, I wanted to branch out.

I ran into a bakery called Crumbs and Doilies online and saw that their flavors were anything but ordinary.  They update their flavors everyday and post what they are serving that day.  Some interesting flavors include: PB and J, blueberry cheesecake, Raspberry bomb, Rolo, vanilla rose, and even Bounty.  They told me that they didn’t do any cake tastings (boo) so I had to take it into my own hands.

From the top left: PB and J (vegan), red velvet (vegan), Bounty, Earl Grey tea, Neapolitan and banana peanut. Not pictured: velvet volcano 

For this wonderful tasting, I went with my friend Beth to pick up one of every cupcake they had that day.  Then we went home and cut each cupcake into five pieces.  We knew we were going to each try one piece and rate it out of 10.

While I wont detail the whole night or everyone’s score, I will give a short summery of everyone’s thoughts.

PB and J:
Saskia – never had PB and J before, didn’t fancy it.
Beth –  really weird, very off combo.  Off putting.
Olive – (the only sensible one) likes the combo and enjoyed the cupcake
Darcy – doesn’t know why Americans love peanut butter
Me – Amazing!  Tastes like home

Red velvet:
Saskia – while usually a winner, it wasn’t great
Beth – never had before, but has a weird after taste
Olive – didn’t like the after taste at all
Darcy – doesn’t know why its vegan
Me – too dry

Bounty
Saskia – worst thing I’ve ever had
Beth – *kissing sound* delicious!
Olive – not a fan of coconut,
Darcy – never looked so unhappy in his life
Me – the problem with coconut, it tastes like lotion

Earl Grey tea:
Saskia – love it!  Very surprising
Beth – liked it, but doesn’t think its a good idea as a wedding cake
Olive – as an avid tea lover, she approves
Darcy – it tastes like tea. Doesn’t like tea
Me – never been a fan of Earl Grey, but surprisingly pleased

Neapolitan
Saskia – meh
Beth – doesn’t like sprinkles
Olive – tastes like ice cream but not in a good way
Darcy – tastes like ice cream in a good way
Me – meh 2.0

Banana peanut
Saskia – afraid of bananas
Beth – pass
Olive – says shes full
Darcy – laughs in my face
Me – not banana-y enough.

Velvet Volcano (red velvet with cookie dough and oreo frosting)
Saskia – wonderful
Beth – thought it would be too sickly, but wasn’t, loved it
Olive – ^ ditto
Darcy – the only one he was keen on
Me – yummy!  Easily the best

We rated everything out of ten and Velvet Volcano was easily the best flavor.  It does come as a wedding cake, so that is first on our list so far.  When I contacted C&D they told me they could do a Harry Potter themed cake, but Darcy kind of poo poo-ed that idea.  I get a golden snitch to put on it though, so that’s something.

This was absolutely the best part of this process so far, but it’s not over yet.  I plan to pop back to Crumbs and Doilies soon to try more flavors, though next time, I reckon I’ll check what they’re putting out before hand.  I don’t want to have to pray for a cookie dough cupcake.

 

 

My unrefined palette

The one part of this process I have been looking forward to the most was the food tasting.  That said, it was also the most confusing.

As fantastic and beautiful Gaynes Park is, Galloping Gourmet (their in house caterer that we have to use) only have food tastings twice a year.  TWICE A YEAR!??!?!  That seems slightly ridiculous.  What if we booked after the tasting for October?  I guess they would have just said to us “Yeah sorry, there are no other tastings.  But we promise our food is good.”  When we put down the deposit for the venue, we were told we needed to put the deposit for the food down almost directly after or we wouldn’t be allowed at the tasting.

“Okay, when is the next tasting?” we ask.  “November, so after your wedding.”  Great.

So after rushing to get the check for the food deposit in, we wait anxiously for our official invite telling us we can actually try the food before deciding what our guests will be eating.

But now…drum roll please…the food!  This was the part of this whole process Darcy and I were most excited for.  People serving us fancy food and pretending to know what we were talking about.

Unfortunately, we were an hour late to the tasting (thanks London traffic) and after panicking that we might be crashing a wedding, we went into the barn and sat with our fellow October weddings.  I couldn’t tell if we were the youngest couple, but we were for sure the most under dressed.  I’m sorry, since when do I have to look dolled up to taste food?

First on the menu: chicken and duck liver pate, apricot and thyme, grape and port chutney.  In an ice cream cone.  It was pretty good I guess, I mean super fancy and small, but its just a canape so I suppose it’s not meant to fill you up, but the whole thing in a sweet ice cream cone was slightly weird, and it was quite cold.  I’d rather have ice cream.

Comment from Darcy: “Did I eat that one?”

Score?  3/10

 

Next, A potential starter: Mushroom a la Grecque pickled fennel, herb cream and focaccia crouton.  It seems WordPress isn’t as high class as we would like as it keeps underlining these words and telling me I spelled them wrong.  While I would be inclined to agree, I am starring right at the menu so there!

The soup itself was served in a small ramican with a quail egg on top and a crouton.  It was warm and quite comforting, but again, tiny.  I want my guests to feel like they’ve had a meal.

Comment from Darcy:  “Is this the soup I said was fine?  I mean its soup, it’s not exciting really.”

Score: 6.5/10

Starter #2: I actually ate this one!  Even though it’s fish and I’m less than enthusiastic about fish.  Seared scallop and seabass, crisp pancetta, black pudding, pea veloute, Morsels and sorrel

I didn’t know what most of this was, except the scallop (which I didn’t like too much) and the seabass (which I didn’t mind too much!) and the black pudding (for my USA brethren, it’s a mostly Scottish dish that consists of pig blood fried in the shape of sausage).

Comment from Darcy: “It was better than expected actually wasn’t it?”

Score: 4/10

For the main meal: Grilled loin of English pork, ravioli of confit belly with vanilla spiced-apple, celeriac puree and roast shallot.  Now we are talking.  This was delicious.  Of course, there was only a single raviloi and a small log of pork, but the white sauce stuff was fantastic and more filling than expected.

Comment from Darcy: “It was ONE ravioli!”

Score: 7/10

 

 

Main meal #2: Roast fillet of beef, slow-braised smoked brisket, spiced sausage, liver and shallots, creamed savoy cabbage, salsa verde and shallot reduction.  Easily the best meal of the night.  So warm and comforting for a nice cold night.  I can for sure imagine eating it in October before it gets too too cold.  Again, beautifully presented, too beautiful for me to appriciate

Comment from Darcy: “It’s good.”

 

Score: 9/10

 

Trio of desserts!  This was what I was looking forward to, and if you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen the photo of these three desserts we were graced with.

On the left we have an Almond and Briotte cherry bakewell tart, in the middle is dark chocolate fudge cake with a brown butter toffee cookie and on the far right is an iced raspberry and vanilla mousse with raspberry popcorn.  Now, three of these are individual desserts but I assume they are bigger than shown here.  Let’s be real, if we are paying for this food, we don’t want it bite sized.

Comments from Darcy: “The cherry bake well was great!”

Score: 8/10, minus 2 points for the size.

Overall, the tasting was awesome.  We were easily the most noobish couple there and mostly kept to ourselves.  I tried to integrate with the other couples but they just seemed to know what the hell was going on.  I heard comments like “Oh the pate was just too under cooked” and “This isn’t nearly the fanciest food I’ve seen at a wedding.”

While we were surprising full by the end, we did end up saying to each other, “do you reckon Dominos caters?”

Up next: Darcy, Olive, Saskia, Beth and I rate cakes.

Venue? Booked! Dress? The journey continues…

So Gaynes Park is officially ours for Sunday October 7th, 2018.  I had some concerns about a Sunday because of…well…the money.  Especially since I don’t give a damn what say it is, but my parents were incredibly awesome and were insisting that people would find it easier to come if it was on a Sunday.  And I totally get that, but damn weddings are expensive, and this is coming from someone who originally wanted a town hall thing.

But anyways, we put down the deposit and the venue is officially booked.  It really is beautiful.  Outdoors enough so people can relax and grab some air, but inside enough that no one is drenched if its chucking it down.  Next step is to put down the food deposit so Darcy and I can try it before deciding what our guests are going to eat.  In the USA, you get a choice of two or three options.  Usually a fish, meat or vegetarian option.  Apparently in the UK, people are just given what they are given unless they are a veggie.  I imagine we’ll go with some sort of chicken for the main dish, as I know some people don’t eat beef.  But oh how I would love a roast dinner!  My American friends would be in love with the Sunday tradition, and why not?  Roast potatoes, beef, veggies, and a Yorkshire pudding?  How it hasn’t become a thing in the USA I’ll never know.

So anyways, we’ve got one thing down.

 

Darcy and I spent some of the weekend working on the invitations (which look awesome if I do say so myself).  We’ll probably be printing those off and sending them within the next week.  But anyways, once again, we headed to a small wedding dress shop to try on some dresses.  Chilham Bridal was about a ten minute drive from Darcy’s home in Canterbury and was filled with dresses for less than 1,000 pounds.  Woohoo!  That is awesome because I don’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a dress.  I found a dress I loved at another place, but it was too expensive.  I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but for 1,400?  I feel like there needs to be a REALLY good reason to spend that money on a dress.  So I decided to keep looking.

Chilham Bride sells sample dresses and pre-owned dresses, which basically means that you take the dress home right from the shop, as opposed to having it ordered for me and waiting weeks until it arrives.  This saves money, but it doesn’t let you personalize the dress at all.  If I see something I like but the train is too long or something, tough shit.  I did find one I really liked, but it wasn’t the one.  Ugh I kind of hate myself for saying that.  But oh well.  It was only 650 pounds which is so much more reasonable than 1,400.

I’ve decided to keep looking.  I’ve got tons of time and I have no doubt I’ll find something I love.  Until then, next Thursday we have a food tasting at Gaynes Park.  No doubt we’ll eat our weight in free food and mingle with other betrothed couples.  HA, maybe we’ll make up some awesome story about ourselves to tell everyone.

“Oh HELLOOOO Julie, my name is Corinna and I am a wealthy American heiress and governors daughter.  My FIANCEEEE is a Trafalgar, of the Trafalgar Square family ho ho ho ha ha haaaaaa.”

I am talking to a cake place about making our wedding cake as well.  It’s called Crumbs and Doilies.  Their flavors sound SO GOOD.  Trying cake flavors sound like the worst part of the wedding planning process to be honest.  But we must all make sacrifices I suppose…

Mayhaps a Barn I have found…

 

The Mill Barn

The Orangery

I visited Gaynes Park a few weeks ago (actually, now that I look at a calendar it was exactly a week ago today) and I think this might be the place!  Though here is what not to do before visiting a venue.

1. Lots of stuff – honestly I should have gone to Gaynes Park in the afternoon before doing anything else that day.  I had like eight different things to do last Thursday and visiting a venue was one of the things that took it out of me the most.  So I would suggest making that your ONE THING to do during the day, and then treating yourself to lunch after.
2. Bring someone – I went alone to Gaynes Park, which is another no no.  Obviously, it’s a Thursday and not many of my friends had the day off, and my fiance was at Uni, so again, I was alone.  I didn’t have anyone to bounce my “ER MAH GOD WE COULD TOTALLY DO THIS HERE” ideas off of.  The woman showing me around was nice and all, but I’m not sure how serious she took me.

3. Walking to the venue from the tube station – when it says two miles from Epping tube to Gaynes Park, take it seriously.  They told me if would be a five minute drive, but for some reason to me that meant I could walk.  Poor idea.  I went under a bridge, walked through busy streets without sidewalks and journeyed up HUGE hills.  I was practically panting as I entered the park, not to mention a bit sweaty.

Anyways, those are my three DO NOT DO’S before visiting a venue.  But despite all those things and mistakes, I believe I found the venue of my…dreams?  I confess I can’t exactly say I’ve had a concrete dream of my wedding since I was a baby.  It’s been more of a foggy, constantly altering imagine.  The groom has often changed, at one point it was Adam Brody, Ian Somerhalder, Garrett Hedlund, etc.  But now that it’s for sure Darcy (unless Chris Hemsworth wants to object?  No?  Okay…) this seems like a pretty amazing place to get married.  To double check, I’m bringing Darcy and his parents along on Saturday (after an empty morning) to see everything.  Will this be it?  Mayhaps it will.

Other than that, I continue to dress shop, which has proven to be absolutely a whale of a time, even though the one I slightly love is 1,400 pounds.  But alas, that seems a bit steep.

The hunt continues!

Hotels or barns or tipis?

Before Darcy even asked me to marry him, he nixed Disney.  I would have been THRILLED to do a little Epcot wedding and some awesome after-hours pictures in my wedding dress.  Yet, he was persistent, and I can’ t exactly force something onto him, though you can bet I tried.

So finding a venue is a freaking pain.  I’m not going to disclose how much my budget is, but holy crap, if I could just have a food truck or Grand Fusion to cater I 100% would.  But the thing is, very few places let you get your own food.  Who knew?  I mean, don’t get me wrong, that…oyster roll with cranberry sauce looks tasty but…no it doesn’t.

I think my friends can all agree as well, I’m not the best person to judge how good food is.  Honestly, if you put a Five Guys burger in front of me and a 50 pound burger from the meat of a cow raised in the biggest field with servants looking after him, I would eat both and not be able to tell which was more expensive.

But I digress.  Venues have been fun to look at, if  expensive to get to.  I started close by, only a bus away in Richmond Park at Pembroke Lodge.

Outside Pembroke Lodge

It was stunning.  Besides going the wrong way and hiking up a huge hill only to get there slightly sweaty, it was a beautiful place.  The building was this old white manor house on a hill that overlooked Surrey and had some killer views.  The majority of it was inside as well, because I’m NOT banking on good weather.  Preparing for rain.

I was easily fooled by Pembroke Lodge however, when they said the venue price for a week day in October would be less than a grand.  Didn’t take out my wallet just yet, as they then informed me that dinner per person was around 100 pounds each.  That shit adds up, and that doesn’t include like party favors etc.

So Pembroke Lodge, I walked away feeling productive and PRETTY sure I wasn’t going to go with you for my wedding.

Next, I took a look at this cute place I saw called The Gardens in Maidstone.  Darcy came with me to that one, due to the fact I was visiting him in Canterbury for the weekend and he has a car and there was no other way to get there.  It took about an hour to get to Maidstone, but we finally ended up at The Gardens.

The Gardens

This place was adorable, despite the shit weather that I imagine will be present on the day anyway.  It used to be this botanical gardens place that they turned into a wedding venue.  Good shout, it was beautiful.  You could either have your ceremony in the Gardens themselves (yes please) or in this…pretty boring room inside.  That sucked, because the rest of the place was awesome.  They had these cool tipi’s that the dinner would be in that had fire pits in the middle and – if it was warm enough – doors would be open for people to walk around the garden.

Inside the Tipi

Thing is, if I’m paying for a venue that has a beautiful outside and a meh inside, I want to guarantee it’s a nice day.  Of course, I’m not god, so that’s impossible.  I was also slightly concerned about the distance from London.  I mean, Maidstone is cute an all, but would it have the capacity (or the mental strength) to house a bunch of Americans for a day or two?  Doubtful.

The Gardens meh ceremony room

So my journey continues.  On Thursday I head to Essex to look at Gaynes Park.  It’s a barn with a nice outside but a rustic inside.  I think that’s kind of what I’m going for.  I’m getting slightly tired of these venue viewings if I’m honest.  Hopefully third time is the charm.

It’s either that or Disney.  Surely Darcy would agree to it by now…

 

 

The Engagment

Darcy proposed to me in Heathrow Airport.  Yes, I will love Love, Actually even more now than I did before.  We were in the Queens Terminal, and I looked…LIKE SHIT.

I mean, I had just been on a 7 hour plane ride.  I was in an aisle seat which was great, but I’m not eating that plane food.  I may sound like a snob, but my Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Washington DC in December 2016 ended with me barfing the last three hours and then again in traffic on the way home.  I love you Richard Branson, your planes are dope, but check that chicken.

I was in line for customs for AN HOUR (I timed it to make sure my complaining later was accurate.)  I had been watching The Great British Bake-Off downloaded on my kindle in line.  I hadn’t renewed my Frequent Flyer Boarder Jump Thing, so I had to stand in line with the “All other passports” people.  Anyways, it was a long flight and a long customs line.  But finally, I grab my bag and head out of the terminal, praying my phone will stay on long enough to grab me an Uber.

But I didn’t need one as it turns out!  I saw Darcy – and I had a small feeling he would be there.  A very small one.  He told me he was playing Magic: The Gathering that morning so I was pretty sure he wouldn’t miss it.  But alas, he held a sign with my name on it with two roses drawn on.  I did an awkward half-jog to him and kissed him on the lips.  I didn’t linger or anything, I had no idea how my breath was, but I can imagine it wasn’t fantastic.

As usual, I started talking.  I don’t remember what I said or anything, but Darcy got down on one knee.  Again, by this point, I kinda knew what was coming, it was exciting nonetheless.  Surprisingly, no one stopped or awed or anything, people just kept minding their business and walked right by us.  Even the people waiting for their family and friends couldn’t give a fuck.  But I didn’t need them to, honestly.  It was exciting enough for me.  If it was the USA, I do know that people would have like given us a round of applause or something.

I said yes, obviously, or this blog wouldn’t be happening.

It all comes down to this: I’ve been to ONE wedding in my life, it was amazing and so much fun (shout out to the Vistica family!) and I have no intention of copying that wedding at all.  Of course I’ll have the ceremony and party and all that, but I know that however I plan this shindig, it will be completely unique to me and Darcy.  That’s slightly cheesy (and maybe a bit self centered?) but whether things go wrong or right, I’m excited for every step of this damn thing.  My parents are across the ocean, I have very little idea what an English Wedding is like, and I wouldn’t consider myself a very feminine person.

With all this in mind, friends and family, let’s plan a wedding!