THE WEDDING DIARIES: I said yes!

I’ve started a series on my blog called THE WEDDING DIARIES to document the process over the coming 18 months, from engagement to wedding. I will be blogging everything from wedding dress shopping, choosing a venue, sending out invitations, our wedding video and much more. I can’t wait to share this journey with you! Stay tuned….

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It’s now been two months since I got engaged and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a weird feeling that you don’t really understand till you’ve experienced it. I’ll be honest I’ve never really been bothered about marriage, despite having parents who have been together for over 30 years, and no reason to ever doubt the institution that is marriage. But something about the ownership, traditions and lack on control ever appealed to me. I had always said to Theo it’d be nice to get married, but this was only so our children would have parents with the same surname. And I always knew my wedding would be untraditional, alternative and a lot more like a holiday than a wedding.

But let’s take it back to where this whole journey began, August 2013. After a summer spent backpacking around Asia, I returned home with no more than £1 in my back pocket and souvenirs from all the amazing countries I had visited with two of my best friends Melissa and Amy. I came back to the UK and moved back in with my parents again, not really sure where my life was going to go, what career I wanted to pursue or where I wanted to live. I took it all in my stride, celebrated my 21st birthday and logged on to Tinder…

I would say the rest is history, and to an extent it is. Because as you can imagine life goes so incredibly quick and as  couple we have been through so many ups and downs, but they’ve all landed us right where we are now. And that’s exactly where I want to be. We’ve been together six years this year, and it’s been the best six years of my life with my best friend by my side. We’ve been on 67 flights together, multiple trains, boats, and road trips. We’ve explored 18 countries together over the past 6 years, travelling across Europe, through the UK and over to the Caribbean.

He’s adapted to my chaotic nature, and I’ve adapted to his more laid back way of life. We compliment each other in every way, adding so much to each others lives. But also living our own lives – both in our personal lives and careers. We spent 4 months apart when I went backpacking again to Australia, and despite the distance we learned so much about each other and how we felt about each other. Don’t get me wrong things haven’t been easy, but isn’t that all part of the journey?

And then on Sunday 30th December 2018, after a monumental year for both of us, we jumped on a plane and headed off on our last trip together in 2018 to Jersey in the Channel Islands. We headed straight to the beach as soon as we arrived in Jersey, grabbing some snacks from the local shop and headed for a walk on Beauport Beach. As we both wandered around the beach and stared out into the distance across the water, I turned around and Theo was on one knee.

Without a hunt of hesitation I said yes a thousand times – or I think I did in the haze of emotion. My heart skipped a few beats and after a few tears and a lot of shaking, we hugged it out before admiring the ring. Who knew after all these years, that we’d now be creating this life together, with Arabella and our future children.

We are now on this adventure together, and I truly can’t wait to see what the next 18 months has in store for us as we venture through wedding venues, dress shopping, invitation sending and finally getting married.

If you fancy seeing a sneak peek of the proposal —-> WATCH THIS VIDEO