The Cars, The Clothes and The Cameras

Heyy, 

It has been a while now hasn't it? You know since we indulged in all things wedding-y. And so I thought I should update you, at least since the weekend Mr Warehouse and I had was fairly plain in comparison to others that have come before it, what with Krakow and scare mazes and Halloween parties and spa days. 

So throughout the summer, I decided to let wedding planning sit on the back burner, what with holidays to Malaga and a family wedding, I thought best to enjoy summer as next year I will probably be stressed to my eyeballs. That being said however I had made some crucial bookings and purchases, and, with the help of a magical fairy Godmother AKA my Irish Auntie I was able to book in hair and make-up, as well as our dream wedding car - a full-on Cruella De Vil, crossed with a Brum Lookalike! The beautiful Regent Landaulette Tourer will be ours for the day, ferrying us from my home as I leave for the church on my last ever journey as a Miss and onto our wedding Venue through the lush Bedfordshire countryside with my new Husband. The website explains how the gorgeous white car with black roof and ivory leather interior can seat more than just the Bride and Groom with space for Seven bottoms. And the most special part - The rear section of the roof can be taken down to have a semi convertible like royalty have, something I cant wait to see in the photos. Perfect for hopefully the warmer summer weather and yet prepared for a chilly winter wedding, this car has it all. 

Although I was taking a back seat to wedding planning and prep, I still kept my eyes peeled for a bargain and have even been able to find the skeleton to the dress of my wildest thoughts and daydreams. As I sat scrolling through eBay, I noticed that one of my watched items had ended. Checking it, thinking it was most probably a dog costume or something cute for my newest addition to the family, I was surprised to see it was a dress. Intrigued I clicked through and saw a stunning gown for sale, but it had ended already, and with no bids as well. Disappointed to have lost out I messaged the seller, "VampGirl3000" or something odd like that. The lady explained that it was her Daughters and after buying it from a posh and expensive boutique bridal wear shop in a village locally, she had changed her mind and decided to get married abroad and therefore changed her dress. I knew the shop well and they catered for the plus-size lady and after trying on some dresses there with Mrs. Tweedle-Dumb when she was over in the Spring, I knew it was a steal at the already listed £250. Cheekily I asked if she would £150. She said no. But she did say that if I was interested she would take £200. I pushed my luck and said if she would take £175 I could collect that very week. Shockingly she accepted, and, sure as my word I rolled up at just coming up to 6pm, Miss Tweedle-Dee by my side. I was nervous as we waited by the door. 

"What happens if I don't like it? What happens if I all of a sudden want a different style of dress? What happens if ..." I flapped. 
"Shut the fuck up. I have been to several bridal shops with you now and every time you have tried this style of dress on and it suits you and you look beautiful in them. The others either don't suit you or are not wedding-y enough, so quit your whining. Besides, if you change your mind, it's £175, you know you could sell it for double" Miss Tweedle-Dee soothed. Soon the door was opened and we were shown upstairs and allowed some time to try it on. It fit well, and with some minor altering (to take it in and up once I lose all this fat) plus some added and minus extras it will be perfect. Almost running downstairs, my Maid of Honour barely able to catch me up, holding the dress, I squealed to the lady that I loved it and wanted to take it home. And so that day I came home with my beautiful gown, hung it up and showed my puppies. 

The next thing I think on my list that I booked and organized was the DJ and Disco. Certainly the most difficult job of the day I think. Mr Warehouse and I love music and our tastes cover everything from post-world-war bops to current day and cheesey pops with everything in between. Thinking we might be able to help the man out, Mr. Warehouse and I made an evening of listening to the music channels and YouTube Wedding Playlists and selecting our top tunes. But the Top of the Pops it was not as several hours later we had not even tipped the iceberg that was anything by Sean Da Paul or Queen and we were already at four and a half hours worth of music and disco jams. This guy certainly had his work cut out and when he kindly met up with us in a local pub for a drink and a chat he certainly put us both at ease. Awkward at first, like a weird first date we talked about how Mr. Warehouse and I first met, some anecdotes on wedding planning and our lives together and a little bit about his background and type of work he does. I was settled to learn he does this most weekends and knows when to turn up the cheese and when to take it down a notch or two. 

The videographer has been booked and nearly all paid for, something Mr. Warehouse fully detested, although I feel is slightly warming to the idea now. As explained all those many moons ago in my blog "Seeking out our Scorsese", when I first thought about my wedding planning journey, even as far back as college and the heady Mr. Workaholic days I realised that I would want some sort of video footage. I suppose ever since doing Media Production and Media Studies as a student I knew the importance and deep-rooted connection that you can have to a video in accompaniment with sound and vision as opposed to just a still image. The way I see it is that you cannot put a price on your memoirs and 

I wanted something to start not with the preparation of the Bridal party at home but at the church just simply watching as everyone arrives, greeting familiar faces and watching people mingle before becoming forever entwined. This, in my head at least, would transition through to the moments at home as the wedding car arrives and sneak peeks of everyone's reaction to that wonderful gown before the final journeys of the bridal party to the church. Continuing to roll, the camera would capture the moment I see my groom for the first time and that all-important first glimpse, just before we become husband and wife. I am sure though that a good videographer will capture everything from the heartfelt vows through to the giggles in the speeches, flowing nicely the cutting of the cake, our very first dance as a married couple and ending with some candid shots of the Dance floor as people start to let the alcohol take control. 

When I look back on my wedding video in years to come, be it after an argument, with the kids, with the grandkids even or just us, I want to be transported back to that magical day and remember all the little things that happened that I may have missed and that my eyes didn't catch. I want to listen to people give me advice and laugh at everyone's antics. I want to look back and see the faces and movements and words, listening to their voice as I remember that they are maybe no longer with us. In all of that, chances are, no matter how sharp mine or my new Hubbies memory is, we won’t remember every single detail of it off by heart and it is for this additional reasoning, as well as the emotional side why nowadays couples like me (and Mr. Warehouse) are opting to have wedding videography. 

Suffice to say that with less than a year to go (in fact with ten months, four weeks and one day) to go, I am more excited than ever and cannot wait to become Mrs. Warehouse!

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

Seeking out our Scorsese

Evening Ya'll

So after fulfilling my weekends ambition of having a matching Pyjamas day on the sofa under plenty of blankets watching back-to-back episodes of Say Yes To The Dress UK and Teen Mom UK, I had to move from my pit, if anything to the glass desk and my emails that awaited. On sifting through copious amounts of free this and buy that were multiple wedding admin to work through. My quest for wedding suppliers continues and on the agenda most recently along with the long list of caterers and others is trying to find a videographer that Mr Warehouse is, at the very least, grinning and bearing with. 

When I first thought about my wedding planning journey I realised that I would want some sort of video footage, and that was long for Mr Warehouse stepped on the scene. I suppose ever since doing Media Production and Media Studies at college as a student I realised the importance and deep-rooted connection that you can have to a video with sound and vision as opposed to just a still image. Having said that, I have already booked a photographer whose work is incredible, albeit just starting out she still commanded a £575.00 price tag. But the way I see it is that you cannot put a price on your memoirs and with her approach and "look" certainly far from the in your face and staged posing that my fiance was expecting following his interactions with wedding photographers in the past. Mr Warehouse has pretty much stated right at the beginning of our wedding planning journey and knowing that I already wanted something on film that he does not want a videographer at all, let alone one that will be in everyone's face like a fresh-faced news reporter asking for guests current opinion on the dress and what marriage advice they could give to the bride and groom. 

But alas he is so ill-informed as there are plenty of different styles and ways you can have a wedding video nowadays. There are some companies who will simply edit together a video compiled of your own footage coupled with your guests. There are several other companies that will lend you there cameras and equipment so that you can film a high spec video yourself, only to then send back the cameras along with the footage and they will edit it into a feature length or highlights reel. And I suppose that the real top-dog of videography packages would be someone coming to shoot your whole day, starting with the preparation of the Bridal party at home with me and the girls, transitioning through to the moments at the church and just before we become husband and wife. Continuing through a good videographer will capture everything from the heartfelt vows through to the giggles in the speeches, flowing nicely the cutting of the cake, our very first dance as a married couple and ending with some candid shots of the Dance floor as people start to let the alcohol take control. 

When I look back on my wedding video in years to come, be it after an argument, with the kids, with the grandkids even or just us, I want to be transported back to that magical day and remember all the little things that happened and that my eyes didn't catch. I want to listen to people give me advise and laugh at everyone's antics. I want to look back and see the face and movement and words, listening to their voice as I remember that they are no longer with us. In all of that, chances are, no matter how sharp mine or my new Hubbies memory is, we won’t remember every single detail of it off by heart and it is for this additional reasoning, as well as the emotional side why nowadays couples like me (and Mr Warehouse) are opting to have wedding videography. 

Forget the out of focus and wobbly videos your Uncle Joe may have filmed in years gone by, cutting off heads and filming the floor when he was meant to be filming your entrance; The new breed of wedding videographers are producing high quality and imaginative wedding day films using digital camera, up-to-date technology and editing techniques to create a variety of filming styles, all with a timeless touch!

We have looked into different methods such as edit only or DIY-shooting and then sending it off to a company to edit together. Companies like Shoot It Yourself have put a spin on wedding videography where they provide the video cameras and its the happy couple's friends and family who film and shoot the video. Afterwards, the cameras are returned for the Shoot It Yourself techies to edit into a beautiful film. Whilst this is low cost and very much a DIY and home-video feel, it is not something Mr Warehouse feels comfortable doing the whole "vlogger for a day" thing! 

As we are finding through our (mainly my) searches, you pay for what you get so some thorough research is needed before we even commit to a company or person. A high-quality wedding film can involve one or two cameramen on the day and an editor, if not the cameraman themselves for the best part of a week, so we must expect all this to be reflected in the price. However that being said, I have reached out to a few friends and old acquaintances and have had a few reasonable quotes back, however, my latest venture to the college for my catering may also prove lucrative in terms of using the media students as well as those from the food tech department. Either way I am sure we will find our Spielberg somewhere!

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx 

A Crime-Scene in My Pants

Evening one and all, 

So after a long and stressful week I was certainly looking forward to the weekend and a much deserved bottle or two. Settling into the drivers seat outside TESCO as I prepared for the journey home, snacking on some ham since I had been hungry since missing my lunch that day. Suddenly walking past the front of my little Viv I noticed my Dad, and, clocking one another I was certainly glad for what ensued. Several hours later we had touched on many a subject including marriage, travelling and home buying, something until only recently I had sought some professional advice about. I think that everything last week had seemed like a challenge and that I wasn't going anywhere and that getting to where I wanted to be, especially on the property ladder, seemed out and out so un-achievable unless I came into a great deal of money or spent the next decade saving. Seeing Dad was lovely and the heart to heart conversations was what I severely missed in my relationship with him. Pop's probably doesn't even realise it but our meeting was really cathartic and meant a great deal to me, even if it was unplanned. 

Seeing Family over the weekend also cheered me up no end, especially my cousins. Aged eleven and twelve, both boys are starting to learn about the world and how it works, and during the course of Saturday I was taught the difference between all the difference levels of Cannabis on the spectrum of hallucinogenics and how these days, schools tend not to bother with the whole banana and condom trick. Oh no! Kids nower days are given full blown Dildo's (And yes my cousin did shout the word dildo several times in the middle of Costa Coffee) and made to put a condom on. The world has come a long way since 2001 I thought. 

Back in the day the lad's and ladies were separated in order to learn about their bodies, but we were never shown or taught what the other had to endure. Ergo, we had the era of the period jokes and a crude fascination with the opposite sex. I would have loved to be a fly on a wall in that room, hearing all about inappropriate boners and what semen contains. I suppose as a boy is may have been equally interesting listening into tits and fannies for half hour every Thursday afternoon. 

In this time frame all the girls were handed a booklet about our body and how it changes in preparation for periods and the eventuality of childbirth. This was my actual nightmare beginning. I hated,  and still do, talking about periods openly. It is something private and whilst every women aged fifteen to fifty does it I still feel a twinge of cringe when I open up about bleeding 'downstairs'. I don't laugh and period puns and can hardly stand it buying tampons or pads, forcing them through the self-scan at TESCO like some strange lady with a weird body function to hide. Its embarrassing - Both being so ashamed of it and actually having to put up with altering your life for however many days in the month. I am lucky in a way that I never suffered at the hands of cramping or major mood swings like some of my friends in the playground, however I think every girl will admit to remembering those dark days when you didn't know how to manage it. Spills, accidents and leaks were something I loathed but in a way I was grateful because it meant that someday I could have my own children and in  way I have now come to accept that it is something natural and normal. 

I will still try to hide away when someone reminds me of that scene in a Rom-Com somewhere, I think its called 'No Strings Attached' (which is ironically funny when I tell you where this is going). Ashton Kutcher (love of my life) makes a period mix-tape and brings round cupcakes for all his Bae's friends, including one friend who describes her period as "A Crime-Scene in My Pants". On this mix-tape including old favourites such as Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, Red Red Wine by UB40 and The Tide Is High by Atomic Kitten (or Blondie, if your so inclined). As cringe as that was it does go on and the full track listing can be found online. Cute, cringe and bile-inducing all at the same time is hard, but somehow Ashton nails it ... And me if he is in Bedford any time soon!

Back in the classroom the time soon comes when both the classes were combined, adding to the social awkwardness, both for students and teachers alike. Settling an unruly class is one thing, but trying in-vain to teach them about the birds and the bees was another, and so most teachers at my small town Middle School chose to simple put in a VHS they had recorded from a teachers Satellite channel in the late, late hours (Yes I did just say VHS). 

But I must confess that in the whole history of me being in school, both middle and high, the majority if not all of the things I learnt and picked up weren't from phallic shaped fruits or dodgy home-recorded videos, It was from friends (Miss Tweedle-Dee deserves a shut out here as my main provider of such material and knowledge), late night babe channels and sadly porn. I think that teaching kids younger about what is right and wrong in relationships is and can only be a good thing. Starting them off young, telling them about the Pant Rule and showing them about how good relationships work is crucial in bringing down the number of Rapes, teen and unwanted pregnancies as well as STI's and non-abusive relationships. It can only get better and as on the continent shows that good things come from starting them off early with preventative education and serious chats about well-being. 

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

Pretty As A Picture

Hello, 

After missing the turning twice already, Mr. Warehouse and I pulled into the driveway of the photographers studio once more and the gates opened, I wondered as to where that ponsy family went and how their wonderful Swarovski encrusted lives had got to. Nevertheless as Mr. Warehouse anxiously waffled on about what our budget was for photos was and if we needed a safe word for when we were in the viewing room (Anyone would have thought we were arranging some sort of BDSM relationship with our slightly-camp photographer) I parked my little Vivienne and took the short gravel path to the studio's. 

Sitting down in the viewing room I got ready for the hard sell and eye-watering prices. Watching the initial video of our little pooch and us. Music with an upbeat tempo and the seventy or so images that were taken during our shoot. Settling into the comfy sofa's with our lattes and cappuccino's the video ended and Mr. Warehouse and I were left to whittle down the photo's into the yes, no and maybe piles. Nearly forty-minutes in and we had binned more than half and were left with sixteen images we were struggling to pick off. With Mr. Warehouse looking to me for my advice I simply didn't know what to say and maybe a safe word at this point would have been a good thing. 

Silence breaking we listened to the photographer as he asked us what our budget was. We had not even really planned to be asked such a question and as silly as that sounds we really hadn't thought about how much we had or wanted to spend. I responded with a polite but reasonable offer of up to £400.00 since it was on the run up to Christmas and all that it brings we wouldn't be able to stretch much farther than that. In all fairness if I could get a package for half of that then I would be walking out of those doors a happy lady, but I had to remember that for me it was just flicking through pictures of Golden Labrador Retrievers but for Mr. Warehouse that was his baby. His furry, excitable, traffic-detesting, tennis-ball loving, scratch-my-bum-please and constantly hungry baby. 

Since the moment the bundle of fur arrived they were inseparable, firstly being bought by his brother but being unable to keep her in his rented accommodation he palmed the pup off to his mom and teenage brother, the pre-teen Mr. Warehouse. Plonking this little Andrex-puppy-lookalike down into his lap, Mr. Warehouse raised her through puppy-hood to an adult and what I can only describe as the most happy-go-lucky dog I think I have ever met and that not to mention her perfect temperament and ability to respond brilliantly to any situation be it children, fireworks, loud noise's, different transportation and new places. She is the best step-pooch I could have ever asked for and for the majority of the time she is very well behaved apart from maybe that time she stole my pizza slice. Oh and that time she got tangled up in the doggy-boot protector whilst I'm hitting seventy on the motorway when I look in my rear-view mirror only to see her swaddled like a newborn. Or that time she tried to steal the KFC from the builders in York. Yes.  Other than these moments she was a very good dog. 

So now was crunch time. Money. I feel that its a dirty subject to talk about and in all fairness I think rather vulgar in any situation to discuss finances or wealth or money.  Now its not like I own a yacht in the South of France, but equally I and not rummaging thought the bins to find something remotely edible to have for dinner. I am a JAM - Just About Managing. I have enough money to spend it on nice things for me and other people, but also enough to go out to dinner once a week or just go for a drive because I'm bored. I think sometimes money is a subject left to those in jobs whereby it is necessary and for me that is not the case. 

Anyways, there we were in the photographer viewing room looking at sixteen beautifully remastered images of Mr. Warehouse, the dog and I, with some of the snaps just her by herself. Looking at one another again in a hope some money might just fall out of the sky at this point in time, the photographer broke the ice by stating that he could do us a deal with the sixteen images on screen and the full feature-length video included for £300.00. Totting it up in my headed it worked out to be a good deal, and so it should be - We had to be mucked about for some wanky posho's to have their snotty brats photographed. I mean in all fairness there wasn't much cheaper we could get it for with the video being £100.00 alone and the photo's including copyright laws were working out to be about £12.50 each I thought it was a cracking deal. 

Shaking on it, Mr. Warehouse pulled out his card and we paid in full, leaving very happy customers and even more anxious and buzzing to see the results. I felt like new parents and that we had all this news and photos to show off to everyone and I just couldn't wait. Late last week they arrived and I am overjoyed with the prints and images. The video is just as good as Mr. Warehouse and I remember it and I am pleased we will soon have some wonderful prints and canvases to adorn our walls with. I don't have any reason to use the photographer any time soon unfortunately but certainly when life's big events conclude I will think of no-where else but his studios and lens. Maybe now I can have my own photogenic pup!?

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx