LIFE: We're married!

Firstly, I'd like to say sorry for the blog content being a bit sparse recently, it's been an incredibly busy month! The most important, and exciting, part of the last month was the moment Tom and I became husband and wife. Our wedding day was overwhelming, memorable and eventful - everything we hoped for and so much more. I wish I could sit here and write every little detail of our wedding day, after all you have all been part of the run up, but it was such a blur. I think if you ask any Bride and Groom to tell you about their wedding day they'll say how much of an overwhelming blur it is. In the space of 12 hours you feel every emotion going, you smile until your cheeks hurt, you say 'thank you for coming' more times than you care to remember, you are overwhelmed by everyone's love and generosity, you can't believe everyone has come from far and wide just for you two and you just can't believe that all of those plans have come together to create such a lovely wedding day. I'm telling you, all of that in 12 hours is exhausting!

After our magical wedding day the whirlwind didn't stop, we then jetted off on our honeymoon. We went to New York and Mexico over a two week period, which was just incredible! If these past three weeks have taught me anything, it's just how lucky I am. How lucky I am to have my family and friends, how lucky I am to have my husband by my side, how lucky I am to be able to have the wedding of our dreams, how lucky I am to go on such an amazing honeymoon. I really am so grateful for all of this.

We haven't met with our wedding photographer yet but I have a couple of photo's from the guests that I thought I'd share with you...

I will be back blogging regularly soon, just after we sorted out all of the 'jobs' we left behind when we went on our honeymoon.

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATION: Finer Details Edition.

This is the eighth and final edition in the 'photography inspiration' series and it's concentrating on the finer details. Carefully thought out decorations really make a difference to a wedding, so it's important they are captured by a lens too.

The Finer Details Edition...

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Are the finer details important to you too?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATION: Flowers Edition.

This is the seventh edition in the 'photography inspiration' series and this post is focusing on the stunning flowers at weddings. Not only are there some beautiful flower displays below but also the sheer range of flowers is incredible. I love having fresh flowers, there's just something about the smell of fresh flowers paired with the summer that just makes me happy. 

The Flower Edition...

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Which are your favourite flowers?

Feel free to leave a comment :)

RECIPE: Chicken Jambalaya

Now that I'm on holiday I really wanted to start cooking again, long days at work just mean it's impossible to cook complicated dishes. We have freshly cooked meals most evenings but nothing too complicated, so I was looking forward to cooking more. Having said this, Chicken Jambalaya isn't actually all that complicated and it was a 'oh we have chicken that needs using up' meal. As a vegetarian, I clearly didn't eat this meal but I don't mind (too much) cooking the meat for Tom. I just try not to touch it! Tom has assured me that this was really tasty (and a nice change from pasta!)

Most chicken jambalaya recipes have chorizo in too but as I didn't think (I say think because I searched the fridge, couldn't find any, then Tom came home and found some - doh!) we had any chorizo I increased the amount of paprika to get that flavour. You could of course add 70g chorizo to this recipe and reduce the paprika to 1 tsp.

 

What you'll need:

1x Can of Chopped Tomatoes

2 Garlic Gloves, crushed (I used Very Lazy Crushed Garlic)

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into chunks (I use scissors to do this)

1 Red Onion, sliced

1 Red Pepper, sliced

1tbsp Olive Oil

250g Long Grain Rice

350ml Chicken Stock

2-3 heaped teaspoons of Smoked Paprika

Black Pepper

Pinch of Dried Chilli Flakes

What to do:

1) Heat the oil in a frying pan (with a lid) and brown the chicken breast pieces for around 8 minutes. Remove from the saucepan and set aside.

2) Add the onion to the already hot frying pan and cook until partially softened. Add the red pepper, paprika, black pepper, chilli flakes and cook for a further 8 minutes or until the peppers are mostly cooked.

3) Add the chicken back into the onion/pepper mix, stir in the rice, chopped tomatoes and chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or when the rice is cooked.

5) Serve with crusty bread or just by itself.

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x