2016 – A year of unexpected.

2016, a time of crafting, reflection and thing’s not always going the way we planned, however other things came about that were unexpected and we made a year that could have been tiresome into something just as beautiful.

Jan 2016 

We had different plans for 2016, we bought a house and that became our focus, spending the money we had to decorate it the best we could, we got creative with colour, wallpaper, tiles and boldness and made a house into our home. 

March 2016

The Hens came home, then they multiplied. We always knew we wanted our hens back, it was a jolt in us moving as the rented flat wouldn't allow us to have them, so when we started to be settled i spoke to Jill, a friend who was looking after them in Rothbury, she was moving and looking to re-home them so it worked a treat, Spring came and they arrived on the back of a truck, one had sadly passed due to a sore foot but Maisy and Mavis joined us again, these two have moved all over the UK, i was pleased to see them back where they belong. We decided to purchase a few more hens, so went for two hybrid layers and another two bantams. The coop got bigger and after a few teething problems they all become a flock and enjoyed being together. Sadly we lost Maisy just before Christmas, she must have been around 6 so had good innings for a hen, Sam found her passed at the back of the coop, with her mate Mavis (aka Tina Turner) watching over her. We have a new hen coming in the next week from my Aunty, Nicola the black rock, hopefully the girls will accept her and there wont be too much bullying.

Spring/Summer 2016

We took many a walk out in the country and coast, enjoying the Northumberland air, we took trips to some old haunts but also some new.

August 2016

We then decided to take a trip to Sri Lanka, however just before going we purchased Betty, we had always decided we wanted a campervan project, however didn't expect this to happen until 2017, an opportunity presented itself though and it was too good to miss, so a few days before flying we headed to Sheffield to pick her up and bring her home.

We took our travelling toes off again mid August, not thinking we would have the opportunity to this year, we found cheap flights and decided what the hell, why not. We booked 3wks off work and decided to explore a this enchanting country (i hope to write a blog about Sri Lanka, so watch this space). Sri Lanka was beautiful, really laid back and chilled out, tasty food, the most beautiful beaches and sights that were awe inspiring, my highlights were climbing Sigiriya and all the beaches, lots of relax, book reading, life planning and silliness with my love. 

October 2016

We came back to England and decided it was time for us to become 3, it wasn't happening any other way so why not this way. The decision to get a dog did not come lightly, i have wanted a dog for years however its just never felt right, my love of pugs moved and Sammy suggested we take home a retired greyhound, it's a dog i didn't know a lot about however Socks is perfect for us. Socks loves a good walk, but also a good rest, she is affectionate and loves a cuddle and her nature is just to die for. We have made many good decisions this year, but this one was one definitely beats the rest, we visited http://www.northumberlandgreyhoundrescue.org.uk/ up in Steele, luckily for us we had already seen Socks online and she was still there when we went to meet the dogs, from the moment we saw her we knew she was our girl. A few weeks later, home she came and we haven't looked back.

At the end of October i became an Aunty, my brother and his fiancee had a baby boy called Miles, blessing us with his gorgeous smile, cute face and delicious baby smell. I got my craft on and made him a mobile, i went down the safari animal play and got creative with my miniature knitted world books. 

November 2016

Winter came with a mix of feelings, we thought we would be ending the year with different news but sadly it hasn't happened for us yet, lots of tests and appointments and investigations so some good news and bad over the winter months, i will write about this more when the time comes but for now it is filled with a mix bag of emotions.

December 2016

December came with a new project in tow, something i am going to blog further about but i had decided to bring a living advent window to my local community, lots of planning, preparation and organising and the project came together, each day a new window was reveled in the community displaying an advent/Christmas/winter theme. On the 24 December, all 24 windows were open and the full advent trail could commence. The project was great with amazing participation, here's a sneak of our window, each window would have a short description with it so people could learn the story behind the design.

 Our window was based on my snowy walks with our wonderful greyhound. 

2017

2017 starts with difficulties but i have developed a mantra 'believe in the hope' to push me through any negatives that maybe trying to flood my mind. I have an operation coming up next week and i plan to stay as positive as i can, i have incredible support around me and being in the arms of those souls keeps me going on this challenging but wonderful journey called life. 

ps - here's to more blogging, its my constant, please feel free to leave comments, i love hearing folks feedback and stories. 

Claire x

Hello to 2015.

I am well aware we are in May now, so saying hello isn't that new but wow so much has happened and so many decisions were made that I wanted to share a few with you all.

I made a few NY Resolutions and so far things seem to be working out.

• Starting 2 business - Yoga and Counselling.

The Yoga side of this has actually become more developed, which at first I found a challenge as that wasn't the plan and I wanted my energy to be more focused on developing a women's only counselling service, however with funding the way it is I wasn't getting anywhere and have decided to work privately at home with 1-2 women a week which is a nice balance with my employed part of the week. I am still managing to connect with women, offer my skills but work in an empowerment way which was the prime focus, its not about how many I work with, working with 1-2 women allows my full energy to be present, so although things haven't worked how first imagined I guess that's business and I feel its working right for how it should be right now.

Yogabud is booming, I use Tuesday as my 'yoga day' and work with 3 women privately during the day and then teach a class on an evening in Gosforth. I carried out my first workshop this weekend which I hope to do every 6-8wks, the workshop sold out and was really successful, with a lot of great feedback coming back from it.

• Start a new job as a Children's Counsellor

I honestly have to pinch myself at times at how lucky I feel, I have literally walked into a perfect role, I work 3 days a week as a Children's Counsellor for children impacted by sexual and domestic violence. The role is challenging, heart breaking and difficult but I love the balance of being there 3 days and then have two days to do my own thing, yoga, create, learn. I work in an integrative way and bring in a lot of play therapeutic style which is incredible when working with children. I am 5 months into the role and already have planned my next training to go further in the role.

• Learn how to look after houseplants.

I decided when away I wanted to become more green fingered, so far so good, orchids are blooming, streptocarpus are flowering, spider plants are reproducing, its just the sneaky aloe vera that I haven't got to grips with yet.

• Use my day off on Fridays to be more creative.

So this hasn't happened as much as recently I have been back and forth to London, however now Sam is residing in the North I feel this is definitely a plan that will start soon, the knitting needles have been clicking on other nights though and lots of baby projects for friends in place.

• Spend more time exploring Northumberland.

This I have definitely been doing, beach walks at Newton by the Sea, walking Hadrian's Wall, exploring castles and going out to Kielder, I purchased two walking books with some Christmas money so lots more planned for 2015.

Christmas Merriment and Yurting joy.

For those of you who I have been around recently would have heard me say I can’t believe how quickly 2014 has come around, my last blog was about moving out and now we only have two weeks left at our friends and three weeks till our trip, so with that hasn't time flown by….

Christmas was beautiful, I read my blog from last Christmas this morning and it’s interesting to look at where I was there to where I am now, I was reapplying for university, living in our flat and making decisions for my future. I guess at least the latter is still true, decision making is always at the forefront of my mind and my friends know I am always planning and making changes to my life, I am not happy sitting content and I don’t know what that’s about but as a Counsellor I could definitely look for a deeper meaning, today I will just look at as an excitement for adventure and filling my life with goodness!

After the intensity of my most recent course it was nice to spend 2 weeks relaxing at Christmas, I love being in my family home, it makes me feel very happy and relaxed and the feeling of Christmas is so strong it’s like a magic in the air. The run up to Christmas was nice but without being in our own nest it didn't feel the same and I missed that Christmassy feel of decorating a tree, crafting decorations and hanging stockings, so to arrive in Newcastle to my Mum’s grotto was bliss and filled me with delight.

We always stay in on Christmas eve, I used to go out but feel being at home is special and important, we eat delicious food, swap a Christmas present, put our Christmas PJ’s on and watch something Christmassy, its beautiful and I know it will be a tradition I will carry on when I have kids. Sam and I spent Christmas apart (again) this year which was hard and didn't feel right but it was what we decided due to our trip, I missed sharing Christmas morning with him and speaking on the phone is never the same as being present together. After this year we agreed next year we would be together and the year after (fingers crossed) where in our own place and have agreed it would be spent in our home – together, yeah!

Sam arrived on the 27th and we went and spent two nights in a Yurt at Wild Northumbrian http://www.wildnorthumbrian.co.uk/ , it was a present I bought for Sam in November but I thought booking it over Christmas would be a delight and would be really magical, it certainly was that. We stayed in the Merle Yurt and agreed to have our Christmas here, we took our family dog – bowdog and spent two glorious nights with Wild Northumbrian in the beautiful Kielder Forest. For those of you who don’t know Kielder it’s another amazing part of Northumberland and recently won the best darkest skies (basically meaning there is no light pollution so the stars are incredible), the yurt had been decorated beautiful and when we arrived they had the log burner going and the candles on, we spent the evening drinking mulled wine and feasting on veggie stew, exchanging gifts and talking of our Christmas days, I felt so happy and blessed it was more than I could have asked for.

The next day we enjoyed breakfast, watched Bow running around (and under) the Yurt and enjoyed the beauty of the scenery around us, wild northumbrian is positioned in a beautiful area and it was just incredible to be out in December in the wonderful countryside. We found a nice walk to go on that day and walked a good 8 miles through Kielder national park, the dog loved it and enjoyed the freeness of the country air, we had our cameras out and got some lovely shots of our walk and the beaming sunshine surrounding us.

NYE was spent in with the family, eating delicious food and enjoying plenty of sparkle; it was nice to not be out and about and just enjoying family time.

A Celebration of Love and Unity

We received our invite to lovely Nick and Holly’s August celebration some time back and both smiled with excitement at what the weekend would entail. I loved the concept of what Nick and Holly were doing and how the invite explained the love and unity celebration was about them two and their love, but also the love and unity we all share as friends and how the weekend was a way of celebrating that all together as one community and one heart. As the months went by we received trickles of information and emails of organisation and a view of the weekend started to be born and the beauty it was to hold.

We arrived at the beautiful Featherstone Castle on the Friday afternoon, Sam and I had gone to the Cumberland earlier that week so had met a few of N&H friends prior to the weekend which was really lovely as since moving away I feel there are so many wonderful people I don’t know. An element of my love with my friends is getting them to meet one another and see the brilliance in each other to become friends together, I knew this would the case with all of N&H friends,  so I was really excited to spend a weekend with hopefully what would become new friends and fond memories. When we arrived there was a number of people outside, enjoying the sunshine and revelling in the weekends activities to come, it was great introducing, talking and finding out who was who and how everyone knew N&H, I enjoyed telling my stories of my memories of being young with Nick then meeting  again at WHQ, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride at our friendship and how over the years we have both grown into happier, more grounded people and both lucky enough to have two fantastic curlie’s by our side! 

There was a huge sense of community that felt so strong and reminded me of a good friend who has grown up in such a beautiful close community, her parents and their friends bought a terrace of mining houses after the mines closed and have all brought their children up on South Terrace, all the children are close friends and are now of all ages but the community has stayed strong and together. When I visit I have always talked of wanting to have a close knit group of friends that offer this support and friendship that feels so connected and supportive. I felt a great sense of that with N&H and their friends and it just felt great to be part of all this and see the community they have in the North East. 

Friday evening was spent socialising and eating amazing dahl, we then went to the blue room which was set out as I would describe a huge love bed with mattress, comfy sofa’s, blankets and warmth. We all gathered in, got snug and listened to the array of love and unity dedications from N&H friends and family, it was great listening to the way people dedicated their feelings and words and see the love and happiness in the room. 

Around 9pm Nick Hennessey story telling time started and wow, the room was blown away by his beauty and passion for telling the most amazing stories, the silence in the room was moving and you could tell everyone was entranced by his musical talent and endearing voice. The next few hours were just incredible and such a perfect way to start the weekend learning about the border reivers, nasty zaars and huntsman, so enchanting and beautiful it was incredible to hear the sounds of the harp and beats of the drum. 

The rest of the evening was spent playing ping pong (the most intense silly ping pong playing I have been part of it), drinking red wine, exploring the castle and dancing. As we walked back to our campsite, that night we were excited at what was to come the following day as if this is what the Friday night entailed we knew there would be a whole lot more delight and enchantment tomorrow. 

We woke Saturday morning with a spring in our step, we dressed, and put on our bindi’s and arranged our flowers in our hair ready for another day of smiles and adventures. When we arrived people had started to congregate outside the front of the castle ready for the procession, everyone was holding something to hang on the tree and I could feel a buzz of excitement in the air. Holly came down first and looked as stunning as ever, in a flowing natural looking dress and an amazing flower garland circling her curls she looked incredibly beautiful and at one. Nick arrived with a round of applause dressed in perfect Nick style; it was so beautiful to see the smiles of everyone, the love and unity crafts and the excitement of the beautiful Brown-Greenwood unity that was in full flow. 

We started the celebration by walking in a procession around part of the grounds of Featherstone Castle, standing back and watching the procession was so beautiful, the smiles and merriment of everyone followed through the procession and it was joyous to see everyone interacting with one another and new friendships forming. There was music and talking as the procession went along, enjoying circling the great trees and walking near the river that flows along the bottom of the castle, we ended the procession walk by entering the back gardens of Featherstone and walked to a beautiful striking tree where we hung our crafts of love and unity. Everyone had put so much effort into their craft and standing back and watching everyone was a picturesque and wonderful moment, it made my heart feel so happy the wonder of friendship and the strength of the friends and family celebrating the love of two wonderful people. 

We then all gathered together for the ceremony and stood in a circle listening to different readings from close friends, songs of importance and Nick and Holly’s commitment to each other, the love that shone through them both was enticing to watch and I felt so lucky to be part of their commitment of forever together. 

We spent the next few hours relaxing in the garden, flying kites, drinking elderflower pimm’s, taking (a lot) of photos and embracing in the afternoon of relaxed niceness and mesmerising fun. 

Lunch time came and we feasted on an array of delicious food throughout the afternoon and drank copious amounts of tasty wine, Sam being over excited at their being an ale pump in the craft room. It was blissful listening to the speeches that took place and the commitment of friends and family and the kind words they wished to share of their love and closeness to Nick and Holly. When hearing Joss’s speech it really moved me as I really feel there has been a solidarity in mine, Joss and Nick’s friendship and I feel we have all changed and grew but have remained so close, my move to London left so many close people behind but the friendship between has stayed strong if not stronger and I know they will be two friends who will always be part of my life. I just feel so blessed we have all found amazing husbands, wife’s, fiancées who are just as amazing and the fun we all have together as one group is so lucky, happy days with happy friends. 

Nick and Holly surprised us all with a bhangra dancer; everyone joined in, laughed, sweated and smiled trying to keep up with the dancer’s moves and rhythm. After all the dancing a dip was required and after much debating I participated in my first skinny dipping fun (and freezed my bits off in the cold lake), both myself and Holly lasted five minutes whilst the others enjoyed games, swimming, nakedness and a whole lot of laughter. 

Our evening meal was served and a delicious vegetarian chill was enjoyed, we danced till the early hours to the sounds of Diddly Squat with the night ending with a rave up in the ping pong room downstairs. We finally sulked off to bed at around 4am and positioned our head torches for the mile walk back to our campsite, tired, drunken, smiling and full of joy we walked and talked all the way home, remembering parts of the day, what stuck out in our own minds and smiled at the happiness the day had given us all.

Northern Times.

We always take a week each year to head back to the beloved North, last year it was in May but we decided to wait until August of this year due to a number of Northern events happening and felt it would fit snug in between our trip to Edinburgh and our friends celebration. As most of you know, I love the North, I talk about it all the time and feel very proud of my Northern routes, we at least visit once a month and I literally can’t wait until the day we head back to the beautiful Northern ways of living for good. 

My move to London occurred due to me feeling lost in who I was and unsure of the right road to turn down, the one I was taking was certainly not caring and fulfilling to me and I felt I was stuck in a bit of a black hole. After a lovely weekend in London with a good friend I decided f I wanted to move, this was August 2009 by January 2nd 2010 I was in London in a shared house with a group of strangers. My plan was to be in London for a year, further my experience in my work and really sort my confused head out, well 3.5yrs down I am still here, and married, a qualified counsellor and a chicken owner. I have always wanted to go back and have had some really low moments where I was about to leave London but reasons for (beautiful Curly) has stopped me from doing this and have encouraged me to carry on and see out the Southern ways. As I enter my 30’s though it has never been clearer to me how much the North means to me and how as I embrace a new part of my life I know my future lies back home in Newcastle with the Northumberland coast on my doorstep.  

The last two years we have been so lucky with our chosen week back home as the sun has shone and we have managed to do everything we want too. This year was just the same (bar the one day of constant rain); we visited a number of our favourite Northumberland castles, beaches and woods and really soaked in the fresh coastal air. This trip we spent an afternoon in Jesmond Dene, a place where I have spent many a Sunday with my Dad walking and enjoying the café, we met friends at Plessey Woods which is a Northumberland Country Park which again is soaked with beauty and an enjoyable walk around the woody forest. We also drove to Bamburgh and spent the afternoon on the beach with beautiful Bamburgh Castle bordering the coastal line. We also drove to Craster and walked from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle then on to Newton beach, the beach was beautiful and Sam stated it was his favourite beach in Northumberland, the sun was blazing and we enjoyed dipping in the sea, reading our books and playing with adorable bow dog digging and encouraging her to take a dip.

I always feel so relaxed and happy after a week back home, there feels no pressure to do things and being able to get away and enjoy the outdoors without it being a huge venture is such a privilege and I now understand how lucky I am to have been brought up in a city with a beautiful surrounding coast line. I know for me bringing children up with these same privileges and options is really important, the quality of life that can be had with such ease of access is paramount to a positive upbringing and I feel a good quality of upbringing is about having access to be away from the city and the bustle of crazy city life. To be away from it all and forget the stress of the materialistic society we live in is essential to a more complete being and better sense of what’s important, as I grow older I learn this more about myself and understand what’s important to me, it’s took some time but I finally feel I am more in touch with who I am and the connection I have to Northumberland has definitely provided me this new sense of happiness and connectedness to my core being. 

2013 A New Year with a challenging start.

2013 hasn’t been the start I had hoped and wished for, after a lovely Christmas with the family, it just feels January and February have been testing me as to what are the right choices ahead of me. I sometimes feel so contrived to achieve certain milestones in my educational attainment due to the constricted world we live in when applying for health related jobs. Everything is governed by professional registration at the moment and even being a qualified counselor (something I thought as a child was a brilliant career) is not even regarded now for statutory employment. I have always wanted to stay in the voluntary sector as believe more in the work voluntary agencies do but sadly even there getting stringent on professional qualification’s leaving me and my hard working background a little bit stuck. As I mentioned in my last blog I had decided to apply for midwifery and since doing so have had a few wobbles whether it’s the correct route and fear of the degree being too medical rather than the holistic way I have studied worked over the last 10yrs, I wondered if this was the best way to get my registration and if I could work with vulnerable pregnant women without a midwifery qualification but with my counseling and experience, sadly the jobs are so scarce right now it’s hard to even research this as there is  nothing to compare too. With all these thoughts and thinking I then received 2 unsuccessful from UCAS stating my GCSE grades did not meet the course requirements, even though I met L3 my L2 was not suffice, so I meet the higher grade but not the GCSE grade I sat 14yrs ago, madness. I resided myself to the fact Midwifery was out and maybe my reservations had been fate telling me there was different ways to enhance my career. I then received an invite to London South Bank for interview, after passing numeracy and literacy tests I then attended an interview, after a 4hr wait and a dehydration setting in, I entered the interview room and the first thing asked was ‘do you have 5 GCSE’s at grade A*-C’ I thought it was a joke and again had to explain my educational journey from school to now, another long tiring journey, with this I was told my application could be at jeopardy due to my not having these grades. I attempted to sell myself with my placement working with women exiting street prostitution, my current employment working with families with substance misuse problems and my extensive health studies course that covered English, Human Anatomy, Physiology, Maths but still they were not satisfied. They then interviewed me and I did the best I feel I could but sadly my grades from so long ago may impact if I gain a place on the course. I left disheveled and low but felt a discouragement from the University and a wonder in my mind if this was the University I wanted to study at and was all these negative signs someone telling me this was not the change I should be chasing.

In other news I was told I was facing redundancy and then two days later told I was not, another shock to the system and another time when I wondered ‘is this what life is about and is this the country I want to be living in right now’.

My mind keeps going back to my first thoughts of exploring, buying a one way ticket to India and making our way around the world, practicing yoga, gaining life experience, seeing family and friends, working and strengthening our minds. I keep questioning is this something I could do, is there fear in me that stops me and asking what is that fear – Letting others down? Feeling a failure? Missing an opportunity? Or is it just the general rule that I feel society puts on women and that at 29 (nearly 30) should I not be starting a family and getting a good career, but then the part of my personality that strives for excitement and fun, rebels against this concept and tells me to follow my dreams and take the adventure.  I have this underlying fear that keeps me in the safe comfortable reality but I can feel myself yearning for more and a main fear is one day it will be harder, it will never be too late but other obstacles will be in the way, whereas now there is nothing (apart from my chickens) if Sam and I wanted to take this opportunity we could, we could work away for some part and see where our traveling toes take us. Sadly it’s not just my fear I am fighting its Samuel’s too, the fear of the unknown can be the biggest cause of regret I feel, it’s just so hard that fear can control so much of our thoughts. Adventure to be or not to be, watch this space.

Our beautiful Murphy was killed by a fox, the day was a horrid and torturous one and I didn’t realise how much I loved my chickens, we put flowers with her as we said goodbye and hoped she had found her chicken heaven. Safe travels Danny Murphy, RIP.

One fun thing that has been happening is craft night aka knitting group, me and a few of my girlies have been getting together and learning the skill of knitting, it’s been so much fun and a brilliant way to get everyone together to craft and learn new skills. If people choose to carry it on that’s amazing, but if not it’s just been nice, having a natter and knitting along the way. So far my crafting has taught me how to make a patchwork blanket, 3 cushions and a mug hug.

Sammy bought me a new bike, a red Britannia Pashley, she is adorable and sometimes I find myself longingly looking at her, feel like a princess riding her and feel she has definitely brought a smile to the start of 2013.

My Mum and Ronnie’s dog Bow is definitely a delight to 2013 also, she is full of energy and puts a smile on my face every time I return home, her enthusiasm to play brings an electric feel to the room and when I am with her I forgot the stress of the ‘real world’ and enjoy silly Bow time world.

Spring is in the air and it feels delightful outside, roll on May for a month of birthday brilliance and Vietnam travels.

Wedded Bliss. How it came together.

English festivals are a huge part of our lives and both believe there is nothing better than the feeling of being outdoors with people you love. We both feel a strong sense to the freedom you feel outdoors and love nothing more than being in a field dancing the night away (normally in the rain).
Sam and I first met at Glastonbury festival and at that time we were both in very different times in our lives so nothing more than a smile occurred. A few years later that all changed when I had moved to London and chose to go out for some drinks with my brother and his friends, when I arrived Sam was there, fate pulled us back together and we have never looked back since. Glastonbury holds such great importance to us both (Sam informed me after he proposed he was going to propose at Glastonbury but was scared of losing the ring) therefore we knew it had to be part of the theme we chose when planning and organizing our wedding, traditional went out the window and Sam and Claire entered it.

Ruffled blog became an addiction for me (I even caught Sam taking sneaky looks) and got so much inspiration from the weddings featured on the site. We decided getting married outdoors was what we wanted, sadly we soon found out that you need to be married in a licensed venue in England, therefore that idea was out. It was important for us to get married in England and somewhere which means something to us. Newcastle upon Tyne is my home and we have both enjoyed visiting and heading to Northumberland on country walks and farmhouse cafes. We came across High House Farm Brewery on a whim and instantly decided we had to have part of our day here, after much consideration we chose the ‘after’ part would be held at this venue and the ceremony would beheld elsewhere.

My Mum works at Newcastle Civic Centre and took us there to look at the staircase, although it wasn’t outside we both fell in love with the grandness of it and both felt a feeling that it was the right place to say I do. With both venues chosen it was time to get designing.

Bunting had to be part of the decoration; I adore bunting and wanted a real vintage feel to the day. My Mum and Gran handmade 546 pennants for the bunting, they stitched and ironed each one to make sure it was perfect and would flow in the wind. When they were put up in the barn I felt a glow in my heart and could see how right it was to have the bunting, the barn looked amazing and so unbelievably pretty. Sam’s Mum found the hearts in a little garden centre shop, we felt they added an extra touch and loved the way they hung down giving the barn an extra decorative touch.

Our table names were again cut and stitched by my Mum and Gran (my stepdad cutting the luggage tags out). Our favours were acorns, when thinking of our favours we knew that they are meant to resemble growth and strength, we felt the acorn showed this and again was something involved in the outdoor world. We wrote a special verse attached to the acorn, so people could understand the meaning of why we felt the acorn should be our favour.

 ‘A little acorn has the ability to grow into a big oak tree, we hope you keep it safe and remember each year the strength the acorn has, just like the love we hold for each other’

My advice for all brides would be to plan early; I did not feel stressed leading up to the wedding more excited and enjoying planning such a fun day. I could see nearer the date if my planning had not been carried out early then the stress levels would have been high. Sam was actively involved in all the planning, he was a perfect help and made the whole thing easier by having an opinion and supporting me with ideas. It was our day and therefore I feel the most important thing is you plan it together, it has to be what you both want and a day you will both remember.

We wanted the whole day to be personal and related to us, with that I felt It was important not only Sam to do a speech that I did one too. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him and give thanks to people who had supported me in my life.

My best women also did a speech which meant so much, there two women I hold so close to me and hearing there kind words moved me and made me smile greatly.
My Mum gave me away, she is my life and my rock and there was no one else I would have rather had by my side.

Our save the date cards were taken in a photo booth in Budapest, we loved the idea of sending everyone a small reminder with some photos we loved. We also hired a photo booth for the evening, it went down a treat and everyone was in line waiting for their chance to take home another memory of the day.
Both our outfits were from high street shops, we decided that we didn’t feel the need to spend a lot of money when you can find such beautiful clothes without the expensive price tag. I knew I wanted something floaty and fitting but a dress that felt like me and not something I would feel uncomfortable in. A good friend, who designs wedding jewellery made my hair band; again I wanted it to be personal and everyone to be involved in the making of the day.

Our photographer Jack is a good friend who works in the photo industry, other weddings I have been too I have felt the camera to be intrusive and didn’t like the fact a stranger was taking such intimate photo’s. With some gentle persuasion Jack agreed and it was the best idea ever as he did a wonderful job and captured the day perfectly.

True Romance is my most favourite film and I believe the most romantic love story, Sam always says the main theme music from it makes him think of us, straight away I knew that was to be the music played as I walked into the civic centre.

We played Blur Tender for our signing the register song, we are both huge blur fans and love the words to the song, and we felt it apt for this part of day.

When Sam and I got together he informed me he had never watched Juno, it being one of my favourite films I made him watch it straight away, from there he fell in love with the soundtrack. We always talk of the main song from it being so beautiful and describing love in a very beautiful way, therefore with this we knew when we became man and wife we would leave to ‘All I want is you’. As we left and the song started playing all our guests started clapping, it was a really special moment.

First Dance: Albion - Babyshambles

We wrote our own vows and felt again it was so important for them to be personal to us:
Finally I have found a place into which I fit perfectly safely and securely with no doubts. No fears, no sadness, no tears, this place is filled with happiness and laughter, yet it is peaceful enough to allow me the freedom to live my life and be myself. This wonderful place which I never believed really existed I have found finally, inside your arms, inside your heart, inside your love.

And when we gave our rings to each other we added something important to us that we do for each other:
Samuel I give you this ring as a sign of my everlasting promise, I vow to cherish you, respect you, tame your curly hair, leave love letters in your lunch box and love you deeply till my body can love no more. May this ring remind us of this amazing day, this special moment and our forever together

Claire I give you this ring as a sign of my everlasting promise, I vow to cherish you, respect you, make you warm toasty fires on cold nights, always use the teapot when I make you a cup of and love you deeply till my body can love no more. May this ring remind us of this amazing day, this special moment and our forever together

Our rings were our both our grandma’s and my great grans wedding bands, we had them melted down and made into two new rings. We felt this meant so much as they are still with us and there rings being used to bound a new marriage.

The craspedia (billy ball) flower was one of the first things I decided on, found on ruffled I fell in love with this flower and needed it in my wedding day, with Sam agreeing he liked the flower I contacted my local florist and she made it her mission to track the yellow headed flower down. The poise’s and button holes were all made with the craspedia and Penny from Katherine’s did the most amazing job, when they arrived I was so happy with how they looked and were exactly how I wanted them to be.

I wanted my bridesmaids in a 50’s feel but also something they were comfortable and happy in, because both girls have different features I decided to put them in different colours. I think they both looked adorable and the petticoat finished the dress off.

Sam’s Mum made our muddy chocolate cake and surprised us with the top being us two in our tent.

Like every festival the night ended with camping in a muddy field, this way we could all be together and wake up with sore heads and big smiles together.

When Sam and I were married I became Mrs Claire Austin, as a gift Sam bought me a rose called Claire Austin, a perfect gift from my perfect husband.