This. Sucks. Ass.

Hello everyone, 

Waking up that morning, sunlight just peeking through the blinds I was not looking forward to the day. There was so much to take in and so many new things and experiences it was all a bit much. Dressing in something more presentable than leggings and donning a bra for the first time in like six months, I was as prepared as I was ever going to be. Packing up my lunch, Slimming World books for the after-work entertainment and swimming costume for the Aquafit class after that I was nervous for all that Tuesday had to bring. 

Arriving at the office, feeling like my Mom had dropped me off for my first day of school and hearing Mr Warehouse pull away in the car I knew this was it, but walking through the gates I met a couple of friendly faces and slowly my fear and anxiety started to melt away. It took most of the day though and it felt ever so clunky being back at a desk I haven't been crafting and sticking stuff to. Struggling through my first week being half-and-half-back in the office and at home has been a struggle, but I have enjoyed seeing peoples faces again and missed the human interaction one normal has in an office environment.  

But regardless of the safety measures and socially distanced desks, the virus is still haunting my life and figures from the BBC released today (Monday 14 September 2020) confirm that the number of new cases of coronavirus is continuing to rise fears over a second spike are real. Whilst the figures do not suggest an upward turn for the pandemic, the figures are certainly damning when you look at where we are now and base it on the last six-months, figures for new COVID-19 cases are about the same levels as they were in late-March/early April this year. With coronavirus related deaths in the last 24-hour period were only recorded at just nine, a huge improvement to where we have been as a nation,  Boris Johnson announced that from today the Government’s advice would be changing and that "There are three simple actions we must all do to keep on protecting each other" - Wash hands, wear a mask and keep 2-metres apart. Hands. Face. Space. 

The rules around socialising and meeting up with friends and loved ones have also changed. Now, when seeing friends and family you must not meet in a group of more than 6, indoors or outdoors. This is something which is now against the law and the police will have the powers to enforce these legal limits which could include issuing fines of £100, doubling for further breaches and flouting of rules up to a maximum of £3,200. However, there are exceptions to this where groups can be larger than 6 people including for work, childcare, education, wedding and civil partnership ceremonies and receptions (not that it will benefit us as still up to 30 people including the bridal party) and public place funerals. So it seems for now at least, Mr. Warehouse can breathe easy as I cannot plan any sort of party or social gathering without facing the prospect of a fine. Halloween? Cancelled. My birthday? Semi-Cancelled.  Christmas Dinner? Who fucking knows at this rate but Christmas parties and New Years Eve celebrations are all up for the chop. 

This sucks. All of it sucks ass. So much fucking ass. I hate it. I hate what it has done to my plans and preparations and has put a massive fucking dampener on life and all future bloody plans. I thought, with less than 3-weeks before my planned wedding day I would at least have something to look forward to. A beach holiday somewhere hot where I can complain about the sand in-between my toes and indulge on one too many cocktails made by Alejandro the barman as I look at the clock and wonder where me and my groom and my wedding dress would be doing. 

But no. It looks as though Corona has fucked that one for me too as quarantine rules change so fast now, Mr Warehouse is worried about having to be off work if the rules change whilst we are away. Rules stipulate at the moment that "You will need to self-isolate if you visited or made a transit stop in a country or territory that is not on the travel corridor list in the 14 days before you arrive in England" says Gov.uk. So I suppose I can kiss goodbye to dreamy Greek islands or lush Italian breaks. I'm not going anywhere!

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

The Bride Bible

Afternoon All, 

Lying in the sun on my newly purchased sun lounger I was enjoying my garden far more than I ever thought was possible. Obviously, I knew from living in a top floor penthouse apartment I would relish having a garden of any sorts. Then, when I moved downstairs to my ground floor flat I excitedly planned parties and patio barbecues on my new outside space. Soon however I grew tired of the Courtyard garden I had and longed for some grass and maybe a shed. Now I have it I wonder where and what I will want for next, however as I spent my long Easter bank holiday in the sun, Pooch by my side and with the noise of Mr Warehouse's gaming in the background I delved deeper into wedding magazines and planning books. 

Following on from last weeks blog post, I have taken great joy in trawling the wedding planning website "Hitched.co.uk". This got me thinking and after some more research found tonnes of wedding websites dedicated to giving the best advice possible to a successful big day! Scrolling through the websites, blog posts and articles online (in-between cocktails and trips indoors to make said cocktails) I came across some more helpful tips and tricks from "Brides.com". 

Top advice from "Brides.com" comes in the form of crafting. They say that it is essential to remember that you’re not in this alone! After all, a wedding is the coming together of two people and their friends and families so take your bridal party, family members and maybe even your fiancé and ask for their help. Be sure to delegate some tasks to take some of the load off of you. Have you got a friend with flare, a crafty cousin or a baking bestie? If yes then rope 'em in too and get your address book to be your vendor list. I can almost guarantee as in our case you will have someone who knows someone and no doubt they will be able to give you not only a genuine quotation but also maybe make a little more of an effort or even do you a freebie if you're lucky! People love to help and in my experience as soon as I started discussing wedding planning, friends, family and associates were throwing themselves at me to offer up services or names of people that could help. 

I would summarise that most people nowadays be the cost of a wedding and probably keel over from a heart attack. If however, they have not succumbed to the shock then I would imagine they would think that the DIY could be a cost-effective way of creating your dream day on a budget. Doing it yourself can add some nice personal touches too, just don’t go overboard or you’ll end up with more work than you know what to do with. Feel free to go the DIY route with things that can be done well in advance, like favours, table numbers, etc. For things like flowers or food that need to be done close to the wedding date, professional help is best, however, I have decided myself to cut down on costs entirely and make all of my bridal parties flowers and arrangements myself. I have chosen to do this on the basis that the boutonnieres for the groomsmen and best men and the bouquets for the bridesmaids and maid of honour can be kept as a gifts. I also happen to have a bunch of faux flowers that I have picked up along my way through wedding buying, most of them fairly inexpensively on ye olde Facebook Marketplace. 

Another interesting take on modern wedding etiquette that certainly didn't happen in either mine nor Mr. Warehouses parents time was that of social media. Whether you want to broadcast your wedding to the world or have an unplugged wedding, the strategy is important. Hashtags, signage and photo booths are a great way to get guests posting on social. If you’re more private, include signage about an unplugged ceremony or have the officiant make a quick announcement before proceedings begin. Mr Warehouse and I have yet to have the discussion as to whether we would like people to hold off posting until we have, although I am almost certain that he will tell me I would be a major bridezilla by asking people not to post before I do. I love the idea of having our wedding just for those that are there in the moment and not having mobile phones in your face, just like so many generations before us. However, that being said I also enjoy the attention and the fact that my wedding would be broadcast to my following on social media including old school friends that I no longer speak to, ex-boyfriends that could have been and maybe a few enemies along the way would fill me with great joy. 


It seems that organisation is key when planning your own wedding, and I think that this will be especially true, if, like us, someone is on a shoestring. There are so many balls up in the air at once, you need a way to keep track of everything. My advice - Spreadsheets. One of the many wedding planning management apps or programs out there can help and places like "Hitched.co.uk" and "Brides.com" both have helpful budgeting tools. I suppose though that I will just remember that even with the most meticulous planning and organisation system, there is bound to be some chaos from time to time. 

Whatever happens, the control freak inside me says I should probably try my best to plan ahead and not be too hard on myself when the inevitable happens on the big day. however, we've still so much left to plan and the plenty of time to do it in a very much doubt that there will anything left till last minute.

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx 

White, Lacy Condom Dress and Others

Hello everyone!

Swiftly moving on from the debacle that was last weekend's stuck-in-the-mud fiasco before a wedding fair that turned out to be really good, I was happy to hear some good news that I had won a afternoon tea experience in a bridal dress shop up the road in Northampton. And of course who else would I take but my trusty Maid of Honour herself Miss Tweedle-Dee. 

Most of the last few weeks since Christmas has been heavily occupied with Wedding Planning, to such an extent that I think Mr Warehouse would say is borderline obsessive and "Bridezilla" however I have to remind him that unfortunately we are not in a position financially in order to afford a holiday this year it would seem and so all of my focus and energy is being put into planning our dream wedding on what is becoming quite a tight budget. Finally we have booked a venue, a beautiful 'T-shaped' converted old school in a small village (smaller than the one I live in now) near to the Church we plan to marry, Mr. Warehouse's family church that everyone in his family all bar a handful have declared they're vows. In all fairness it would have been nice to have it in my family church, you know since I am the one christened and all, however with Mr. Warehouse referring to it as "The Asylum" and its less than perfect track record of my parents divorce, I struggled to find its importance to have it there, especially with the 1970's styled outside - See here! After we booked the venue the most important things come next. The Bar - Booked and we have even been able to book a free drink for everyone on arrival and even better; No charge for hiring! I suppose Mr. Warehouse and I now need to clothe ourselves, feed our guests and give them something to dance too! 

With still so much left to plan and organise, I was certainly glad of trying to get Mr Warehouse enthused about photographers, flowers, catering or transport. Leaving him at I'm on the sofa with football playing in the background Miss Tweedle-Dee and I headed to A Brides World in Northampton for my first ever experience of trying on wedding dresses. It was certainly a lot to take in with not only rails and rails of dresses hanging in there clear body bags for all to see but also a whole other floor. Now it is bad luck for a bride to be seen in her down before her big day and I also feel as though I should not be talking about it either as I see it almost as the same. With this in mind however I can tell you a few details about some of the beautiful gowns that I tried on. 

The first few we picked out, in fact I would go as far as to say that the majority of the dresses were all down to one type - Princessy! My very first outfit was the "Venus Bridal Wedding Dress" described online as a elegant sleek ball gown style wedding dress, perfectly crafted using gorgeous Mikado fabric and has a deep V neck line (although not deep enough for my slutty ass) to highlight the frame beautifully and finished with a delicate beading around the waist and full buttoned train detail. Now I must say that when I tried on this dress it was extremely hard to see myself standing there looking back at myself wearing white as firstly it is not a colour that I normally choose to wear as I am extremely clumsy and will drop sauce or spill coffee down myself. Secondly though, and I suppose more important so people tell me, was that despite the owner and my Maid of Honour telling me that I looked beautiful and stunning in it, I just wasn't feeling it although it was a absolutely stunning dress. I was asked the question if I felt as though I could walk down the aisle in it and truth be told I could but I just didn't feel like the real me, moreover a posher, more elegant me - Which is nice, but not the real A.Lou! All things considered though, As beautiful as the buttons and glittery belt were, it just wasn't for me; A very elegant, classic dress as I am sure you can see from the photos I have tagged, but for me it is something far too tame for my liking or my wedding.

My second choice was much more up my street. The glittering Stella York gown just spoke to me as soon as I saw it, and despite not fitting quite right, I felt like a dream! Again, described online as the perfect mix of romantic and just a little bit sexy, this designer wedding dress is a glittery gem! Available with long lace sleeves, this A-line wedding dress is composed of layered beaded lace and tulle and was the most comfiest thing I have probably ever worn, next to PJ's. I need a dress that is going to tell a story about me and how unique and funny and different I am. I need it to embrace my curves and show off my incredible parts and hide those that I don't like so much. I need something that says "That is so her". And boy does this pack a punch, but at over £1000.00 it was waaay out of my budget to even consider this as a contender, even if I wasn't ready to buy!

In between second and fourth, I tried on what can only be described as a white lacy version of a sheath condom. Literally felt as though I was a white tube with a glittery belt around the middle. It was not pretty, hence no picture! Consoling ourselves with some very delicious mini sandwiches and cakes all washed down with a good helping of Prosecco and tea it was soon back to the changing room and we had saved the biggest till last! 

Dress Number Four! The dream. At least so far and very much on par with The glittering Stella York gown. The huge white, LQ Designs dress was in budget at under £700, maybe even under £600, this fabulous ballgown from LQ designs is fit for a princess. The fitted lace bodice is delicately finished with classy off the shoulder style straps. The full skirt hangs beautifully with the horsehair ribbon edging for a royal look. And best of all it fit like a glove. With only minor altering to the hem of the dress to make it a lot shorter (needing a good six or seven inches off) I could have quite literally walked out of that place with a wedding dress under £700. Nevertheless I stuck to my guns as I had said to myself prior to even walking in through the doors that I would not be purchasing my wedding gown so far in advance as my mood and thoughts change with every moment that passes. 

Despite trying on some incredible and beautiful gowns and dresses on Saturday afternoon I think I have not found the one yet. And so the hunt continues and I am sure to be booking in a few more sessions with different bridal suppliers to find out what types of dresses really benefit and suit me. I need a dress that says me without me even wearing it and as yet, whilst they are all amazing beyond belief and very enticingly priced, I have yet to find her - The dress of dreams

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx