Wedding Planning: The Venues.

When starting the process of wedding planning, the first major thing I wanted to think about was the venues. We are not religious, so we didn't want a big church wedding and thus the hunt for an alternative venue ensued.

The first idea was to have a barn or country style manor house set in the rolling hills of Yorkshire which was a great idea to start with, however the more places I saw online the more I realised that the venues were nice from the outside but quite dated on the inside. Not only was this not something I enjoyed but it usually means you can't decorate the interior either, due to the age of the buildings. So although it sounded great having somewhere that looked amazing from the outside, we'd be spending most of our time inside... so it didn't really make sense.

The next thing I did was hit up the Google search with 'alternative wedding venues' which came up with a couple of interesting options. I saw one couple had gotten married in a theatre in Sheffield and even in a museum however one that did peak my interest was the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield, it was central, different and quite modern. However the problem I had with this, is the exact opposite...it was so clean on the inside, so white...it almost had no character to it and I didn't want to spend a fortune decorating it.

I was starting to lose hope after hours and hours trawling the internet, when I looked back at a ceremony venue I had looked at before but spent a little more time studying the webpage, I had previously only looked at the barn hire for Wentworth Castle but I also noticed a 'Conservatory'. This sounded different and cool, I have a love for pretty flowers and the glass sounded like a good idea for plenty of sunlight. I then Google image searched my little heart out....it was beautiful. A beautiful newly renovated Victorian Conservatory set in the grounds of a beautiful stately home, with beautiful flowers and glass details on the inside, its in nice countryside and within Yorkshire...so I searched for the dreaded cost ...

Except it was the exact opposite of what I expected, it was cheap and you got to use the entire grounds for your photographs...SIGN ME UP. So I piled together some links and showed hubs to be fully expecting him to hate it...but he liked it. Hours of trawling through blogs, threads, websites, magazines and we'd finally found something very unique, pretty, cheap, local-ish and we both liked. winner.

Then came the task of doing it all again for reception options. As much as I liked our venue, after seeing the cost of hiring a marque, then with food costs on top, it was spiralling out of control with the budget and I wanted a cheaper separate venue.

As you can probably guess, my Google search went hours and hours deep and was unsuccessful for quite a while. I ended up crawling through Google images instead and came across this amazing building with a chimney and a married couple outside. I put my detective skills on (saved the image and scrolled in on the building text..ha!) and found the venue called The Chimney House. As soon as I saw the interior I was sold...it just happened to hold the right amount of guests, was cheap, very local oh and did I mention super cool?



So the next step was to contact both of the venues and see what dates they had available...guess what? They had exactly the dates we wanted. So we immediately booked appointments to go see the venues, because hey, I'm one of those crazy planner people that needs it all done and sorted ASAP so I can stop freaking out k?! k.

As I've been rambling for a lot longer than I thought I would.. I might split this post into 2 and talk about all the questions we asked when visiting the venues, as we were stumped really, because hey, I've never planned a wedding before!?

I hope this was interesting to some of you and gave you a little insight to behind the scene goings on. I literally had never even thought about a wedding until it actually started happening, so I had no real clue what I wanted, so this is all happening not that long before I'm telling you about it!

Watch out for part 2! or for those interested in my first wedding post, please click here :)

3 Disappointing moments from the Harry Potter series.

Last weekend Nick and I finally finished watching the Harry Potter series and as much as I friggin love it, there are some major things that disappoint me. As a point of reference Nick hadn't read all of the books or seen all of the films so we decided to watch through them all together. 

I guess I should put a spoiler warning here, but if you haven't watched Harry Potter by now you need a slap!

Firstly, it's a real shame that they never touch upon all the passion Hermione has for the welfare of house elves and magical creatures. This is quite a big thing for her character and actually becomes part of her job in the future and I think it's such a shame this isn't touched upon in the films. Could you imagine all the young kids learning about the welfare of animals and creatures through Harry Potter? I feel it's such a shame for the younger generation or none book readers to have missed out on.

Then next up is the heart wrenching moment you realise that Fred has died. At this point in the book I cried my little eyes out and was devastated that a Weasley had died, however in the film this moment doesn't get much air time at all. I was speaking to Nick about the film after it had finished to get his opinion on the ending and I mentioned how sad it was that Fred  had died and he said 'did he? I didn't even notice!'...my point exactly!! After thinking about it a little more, when Harry see's Fred's body it's kind of the defining moment that shit is real and he goes off to face Voldymort but it still feels like a really sad moment that has been skipped over drastically...besides the badass moment of course where Molly defeats Bellatrix Lestrange.

Then finally, my ultimate disappointment is the end scene or chapter of the book. It was kind of expected that we would want to find out what happened to the gang post Hogwarts, but for me, this last scene feels so rushed and cheesy. Firstly, the names that Harry & Ginny call their kids is just ridiculous and so predicable. Don't even get me started on the scene in the film where they are all meant to be 30+ and look about 16...they can animate amazing dragons but they can't make some kids look older?....I am disappoint. To me it feels like this bit was just tacked onto the end as a last thought and was done in the aim of pleasing the fans. I would rather have had something a little more in depth about their lives as something separate, but I guess one can always dream that another book had come out instead...

I still frikkin love Harry Potter despite it's flaws and I am very tempted to start watching through the films again already!

Let me know if anything about the films or books disappointed you! As I'd love to hear your thoughts.


If you enjoyed reading this post, why not check out my '8 Things I Learnt From Re-watching Sex and the City' post.

Nourish Spring Menu Event, Sheffield.

Last week I was invited along to an independent food place in Sheffield called Nourish. This is a super healthy restaurant that I've popped into before and I couldn't wait to taste their new spring menu!

Before I delve into the tasty stuff, I want to talk a little about how inspiring I found this event. David the owner spoke a little about the company and his aims after we tasted the food and his passion for nutrition, health and tasty food really left me inspired. So much so that I went home and bought a Spiralizer, Quinoa, Buckwheat and a new passion for cooking some healthy and tasty food.

I can't wait to share some new discovered recipes and tips with you :)

Right, so onto the good stuff! When we arrived we were greeted with two very tasty smoothies!
The first, pictured below is the Strawberry Rhubarb Pie smoothie which was very refreshing and light. Then next (which was my favourite) we were given the Berry Kombucha smoothie, this was much sweeter (I have a serious sweet tooth) and thicker with a little more flavour in it, I liked it so much I had two!

Strawberry and Rhubarb pie smoothie

Soon after the food courses started to arrive, we were given 3 cold and 3 hot dishes to try. I'm going to be honest here, although I love a good salad, I wasn't blown away by the choices. We had a nice duck salad but I wasn't keen on the sauce that came on the noodles and the salmon was lovely but nothing that blew my mind.



However out of the 3 hot dishes I liked pretty much all of them.The first one I really liked was a baked sweet potato with turkey meatballs, I'd never had turkey meatballs before but this dish was lovely and gave me reason to use the sweet potato's I had knocking around in the fridge at home!
I was too busy scoffing this one down I didn't take any photo's!

Then possibly my favourite dish was the chicken tagine with lentils and red pepper. I've never had tagine before but this was lovely, lots of veg and very tasty, I did have to scoop out the hot sauce though because I'm a wuss! I suspect this is quite easy to make at home so this is a recipe I need to write down on the list of healthy things to try!

After trying all of the dishes we had a little Q&A with the owner David, who spoke about all the work he is doing in the local community, how he uses and buys local produce so he is putting money back into the local areas, which personally I think is amazing.

We were given some goodie bags to go on our merry way, which included a voucher for a dessert, which I can't wait to go back in and try, when I've finally decided what I want! We also got given a very tasty cranberry drink that started lovely, an orange and a little bag of yogurt covered bit of fruit, which tastes amazing and help with my sweet tooth cravings!

I can't wait to go on my healthier eating adventure and share with you all how it goes, all thanks to this event!

If you've tried Nourish let me know what your favourite dish is? or your favourite healthy snack? As I'd love to hear about it!


'Tasty' word count: 5

My Week in Instagram.

I've been really getting into my Instragram recently and as I've been to some interesting places over the past week, I thought I'd do a little re-cap in Instragram form!

I'm going to talk about about the images like you were reading a book, which is how the layout works on Instrgram.

1. The first image is during my lunch time stroll around Sheffield and coming across a man drawing poems on the ground in chalk. He was actually back again the next day and was taking over a huge area but I thought it was something different to share.

2. This is a throwback Thursday image of myself and my friend Laura back in my uni days. I love my hair here, it's the perfect length and style, oh the days of having time to make my hair nice in the mornings...

3. This beautiful image is one of the multiple beautiful places we were shown as 'photo opportunities' at our wedding ceremony venue. We were so blown away with how beautiful it was and I can't wait to take loads of photos!

4. I was invited to an event at Nourish, which is a super healthy place in Sheffield to eat and this is one of the lovely salads they make! I'll be posting more about this next week, so keep an eye out for that!

5. This quote doesn't really need any explanation but it's true.

6. This is a gorgeous pink fountain with pink ducks at the Sheffield Train Station for valentines day! If only it wasn't so miserable weather this would look better!

7. The best fry up I've had in a long time*. This was in a lovely little cafe in Bath the morning after my lovely friends hen do.

8. Another photo from Bath, it's such a beautiful city and the spa we had just came out of was amazing! It had a rooftop swimming pool, it was freezing getting out but it was quite nice and warm whilst in it!

9. Another shot from the valentines theme at Sheffield Train Station, they had a lovely bright pink carpet leading up to it and I couldn't help snap a picture on the lovely bright pinkness!


I know this is a little different from my usual posts but I'm trying to mix it up and test the waters. I'm hoping this will encourage me to keep my instagram fun and interesting! If you'd like to follow me then you can find me via the search - Sweetalluree or you can follow the link here.

I'll see you on Tuesday!



*I haven't had a fry up in about a billion years, so it really is the best I've had in a long time.

Wedding Bells: The Beginnings.

This post series is starting much sooner than I anticipated but I am totally okay with that, because due to recent chats with family, it's looking like 2016 will be the year we get married and I become a wifey.

Of course I want to blog about it, why wouldn't I want to blog about possibly one of the most exciting things that have happened to me and I'm sure loads of you want a nosey, amiright? I wanted a place to write my thoughts and ideas and share some photo's.

Firstly I want you all to know that we really are not traditional people. We will not be getting married in a church, which was the first hurdle of trying to find interesting venues for the ceremony and the reception. We also want a very small and intimate wedding, I'm not a fan of big weddings. Then lastly for us having an autumn wedding was something we both wanted, I don't see the point of spending twice as much for the potential of sunshine in the summer, every single day has the chance of rain in the UK so why waste the £££. The one thing I do want to keep traditional though is bridesmaids, I need my besties around for my 'big day'.



Another thing I know I really wanted is Polaroid photography as part of my wedding day, it's just something I am super passionate about and I couldn't imagine not having it as part of our day. So I've been on the search for a photographer and I finally found one I liked, so I've already messaged them. Yep, not even official yet but I've already found a photographer, go me.

So, I know this is quite a ramble post, but I'm so excited and needed to get out all my thoughts and whatnot. I am seriously so excited. I can't wait to set the actual date and send out my save the dates/invites.

Things we've done so far are:

* Picked a date and location
*Organised all meetings to officially book and pay deposits

* Made a guest list
*Written all the 'Save the Dates' which are ready to send out when it's 'Official'.

* Bought Nicks suit.

* Decided on bridesmaids and best man/girl

* Decided on a photographer

We've already hit our first hurdle, we had plans to go earlier this week to pay the deposit for the ceremony venue however the lady was off sick and we're waiting on a call to re-arrange. It's very frustrating as we need to secure the place so we can confirm the reception & photographer. Hopefully this will get sorted ASAP so we can start the ball rolling properly!

I'll be sure to get back to you when the date is set and what things I need to start getting my bum into gear and sort out! I think I'm going to try and do an update every month.

4 Most Used Make-Up Brushes.

If you are like me, when you find things you like and that works for you, you tend to stick to them like glue. I put on make-up pretty much every day and I tend to use the same brushes and tools all the time, I find it hard to let something new in! So I thought I'd share with you the 4 make up brushes I use constantly.

The first brush I'll talk about is the Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush. I was recommended this brush from my friend Rosie over at ohrosie. I use this brush to buff in my foundation, the large flat head makes it really easy to cover a lot of your face. The handle is quite thick and easy to hold and gives you good purchase to really buff the make up into your face. I've had this brush for at least a year now (might even be 2!) and I still use it all the time and it hasn't lost it's shape or shed loads and it's pretty easy to clean with a good brush cleaner.

The next brush is the Powder Brush by Real Techniques, I use this for setting powder and bronzer. It's quite a large brush but I prefer a big brush so I can sweep the powder all over and not have to spend ages doing it. It's also handy for bronzer so I can just swish it around my face and be done with it.

The third brush I bought after seeing people on Youtube setting their under eye concealer with this brush instead of patting it with their finger and it intrigued me. So I bought the Real Techniques Setting Brush  to try it out and I have to say I haven't looked back since. It's really easy to just pop your concealer on then swirl and sweep this brush over it to blend it in, really quick and easy and saves you so much time! 

Then lastly, is a brush I use for my brows. This is the Revlon Double Ended Smokey Eye Brush, which is obviously for eye-shadow, but I find this is perfect for eyebrows. I use the slanted tip side to draw the tops and bottoms of the brow and to define the pointed side on the outer brow, then I use the small rounded tip to fill in my brow, as it's quicker and easier to fill them in. Perfect little brush, I don't think I could live without this brush now! It obviously has it's uses for a powder eye-liner or for putting a little eye-shadow under the bottom lash, basically a good all rounder! 

So those were the brushes I use on an almost daily basis. I've never felt the need to have any more in my routine right now, but that is because I really suck at make-up. What brushes do you use often? Do you have any to recommend?

Sunday Sit Down #5

It's been almost a month since the last update, time just runs away with you sometimes. The run up to Christmas felt like an eternity yet January has well and truly gone in the blink of an eye. It's the first week into February already and we've got so much going on, I can see this month flying by too!

The main things I'd like to talk about with you today is a little update on the realistic News years resolutions I set myself as I've already done two of them, yep, look at me go!

The first one I want to talk to you about is saving money and spending bans. I went on a spending ban as an experiment for January to see how I got on with not buying anything, it turns out, it was pretty easy for me, which shocked me. I gave up buying rubbish that I saw in a shop that caught my eye or splurging on the dreaded Internet and making impulse purchases and I managed to nip the urges in the bud. What I did find though is that I spent my money on better things, like holidays, trips, plans and more experiences rather than physically things, which I am really really happy about. We've already booked a trip to visit Nick's mum in Cyprus for 2 weeks in May, I've paid for and booked everything for my friends Hen do next weekend and just generally had more fun doing things rather than owning  things. This is something I am really going to try and take with me for the next month and beyond, Buzz Lightyear style. It's already a week into Feb and I haven't felt the need to buy anything, which is a really good sign.


This brings me onto the next big, huge, massive exciting moment that is picking our wedding venues, saving the date and all those exciting beginning things. We officially pay the deposits on everything on Tuesday, so although it isn't official yet, it kind of already is. We had already planned to get married in 2017 however  due to our amazing parents, we can now afford to do it this year, that's right, I'm becoming a wifey in 2016. This is pretty mind blowing and exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time, but the only reason we were putting it off until next year was down to cash flow, which has been reduced greatly by our amazing families, so why the hell shouldn't we do it this year?! As thing are already been put into motion, I will be writing about this more in another post in the next week, so I can share the journey more with you and the things you learn when planning a wedding. It's such an exciting time and I can't wait to share that with you! From the tears, the worries, the panics, the stress, the excitement, the fun stuff, the dress!! and everything else that comes with planning a wedding.


The last thing I want to talk to you all about is my blog, this little old slice of Internet pie. I decided this year I was going to take a step back from forced posted that I felt I needed to post to be consistent and write more about things I care about, what interests me and really try not to be as materialistic in life (a personal choice). I have to say I have found writing so much easier since deciding to do this and have found it's much easier to think of ideas and plans when it's things I care about and I'm thrilled to say you guys seem to be enjoying it too! So I'm glad to say this will be the direction my blog will be taking in the near future and I hope you'll stick along for the ride with me!


If you'd like to hear more about my wedding plans, my most used make up brushes and something valentines themed check back next week!

Well, I could do with a cup of tea now, who's putting the kettle on, me or you?

Entertainment of the Month: January 2016.

This past month or so I have binge watched a serious amount of TV. I thought I'd start a new series here on my blog, I mean, who doesn't love a good series right? I really enjoying watching TV and films, listening to podcasts, reading and a variety of things, so I thought I'd share the highlights each month.



This month has been particularly TV and film heavy even for me, but I'll throw in a pod-casts too that I listen to work.


Jessica Jones.

I don't know why I didn't start this series sooner, I guess when there is hype around things sometimes it puts you off? I have thoroughly enjoyed every second of watching this, it's slightly darker than your average superhero which is why this drew me in. It's set after The Avengers movies so there are cheeky little references to it, which I really enjoy but I kid you not, I binge watched about 10 hours in a row, I only stopped because it got to 4am and I needed sleep. I promptly finished it the next day and I am excited about where the next season is going to go.


Daredevil.

I watched the first episode of this when it originally came out and enjoyed it but for some reason didn't carry on watching it, however I immediately went back to it after finishing Jessica Jones. Again, thoroughly enjoyed this, it's visually and emotionally dark but addicting, it's definitely more action based compared to JJ which can get a little tedious, but I guess it's meant to impressive because he's blind, but I really enjoy the characters, I even started to like the bad guy a little. Very easy to binge watch and again, excited to see where this goes in the next season.



Making a Murderer.
Who hasn't watched this yet?! I LOVE real crime stuff, I've always been interested in dark morbid things and after hearing so much hype about it I started watching it to see what all the fuss is about. I'm not really sure where I stand on this programme, sure it's interesting and the story is one of a kind but it seems awfully bias, especially if you read about it all online after. I do really recommend you watch this but just enter into it with an open mind!



The Harry Potter Box Set.

I haven't watched the full set of films since I was much much younger and Nick has not seen all of them before, so we decided to watch through them together. I frikkin love these films, they totally stand the test of time, the magic is certainly still there and the cast so young is soo cute!!! I was so excited one night that we watched 2 films back to back and ended up going to bed very late but 1000% worth it. We only have 3 films left and this makes me super sad that they are going to be over soon. 

The History of Awesome - IGN Presents pod-cast.

Being a super nerd, I enjoy super nerd shit and if you are a super nerd then you'll enjoy this pod-cast. It starts way back when in 1977 and goes through all the awesome geeky things that happened year by year. They focus on video-games (obviously, it's IGN) films, TV shows, toys, gadgets etc. It's really interesting to re-cap all the cool stuff that happened, especially when it get through to the 90's where I could join in! 

~

So that was my best picks of the past month, hopefully this upcoming month brings more exciting entertainment. I'm about to start a new book and I'm in need of a new TV series to delve into!

Let me know what shows you lot have been enjoying, because I would seriously love to know, I'm a proper TV nerd.

Getting Crafty With Cross-stitch.

I apologise for the lack of post on Sunday, I was too busy having fun being crafty. Yep, I'm officially 85 years old. 

For as long as I can remember I've been a crafty person, mostly with textiles. I've been able to knit since I was old enough to hold the needles, so cross stitch and textiles followed suit. During my double A-level in Art and Design my projects always seemed to involve textiles.

I go through phases of really getting into experimenting and creating and then don't touch it for years at a time. The itch for doing something has been lingering  around for awhile now, I've recently been buying bits and bobs and scribbling down ideas until the moment finally hit on Saturday afternoon. 

I sat down and made a cross stitch pattern for 12 solid hours and I've been stitching ever since. I've got so many ideas wizzing around my head but my hands just can keep up!

I've decided I want to open an Etsy shop and fill it with all my pieces and see if the good people of the world want to buy them and hell, if not I've got some great new one off pieces for around the house. 

If you follow me on social media you will have already seen the photographs of the progress I've been sharing and thank you for all your kind and encouraging words, you lot seem to like them! I thought I'd share with you the 3 things I've got so far because sharing is caring. 

This last one is still in progress but it's so cute already!

I will hopefully be back on Thursday with a blog post about what entertainment I've been loving this past month, because I've watched a crazy amount of TV, so stay tuned.....ha.

Let me know what crafty things you love to do in your spare time in the comments below because I would love to know!!

Love,

Tarnya xx