One year anniversary - paper

It was mine and Irish's one year, or paper, wedding anniversary earlier this month. To mark the occasion we commissioned the fabulous Audrey Malo to create an illustration from one of our favourite wedding photos.

A really special piece that we can keep forever and enjoy everyday.


Audrey also created the logo for www.vintagebrighton.com - she's pretty damn good.

The Mad Men dress

I recently sold a whole load of clothes on eBay, meaning that I had £70 in my Paypal account to play with. As it costs to take money out of said Paypal account, of course it all went straight back into eBay - good set-up they've got there.

So the 'sorry you were out' cards, which now read 'something for you' - much more enticing - have been piling up over the last week and today I trekked up to the post depot to pick of my parcels of joy.

The item I was most excited about getting my hands on was an original 1960s gold threaded floral and paisley print dress. No one else had bid on it and I won for just £7.50 plus £3 P&P - a grand total of £10.50!

It looked gorgeous on the site, and I thought it'd be the perfect dress to wear to one of my good friend's weddings in the summer.

You can never be sure of the sizing when buying things through eBay, especially when they're vintage, so I was a little anxious that it wouldn't fit, but it does - perfectly!

The lining is silky, the material heavy, the gold thread catches the light beautifully and it hangs in a way that means it will swish and swoosh on the dance floor.

I really didn't want to take it off - June can't come soon enough.

Oh, and did I mention that it cost just £10.50? TEN POUNDS AND FIFTY PENCE! I have to win some kind of bargain-hunting award for this. Where do I pick it up?

The rules of engagement

Since I became engaged, the fact that I'm getting married seems to have become the most interesting thing about me. Or, more accurately, the thing at the top of the 'what do I know about Jo' list people mentally scroll through when initiating conversation.

But the problem is that it's not that interesting; in fact it's pretty boring and thus makes me boring when I have to talk about it all the time.

I know why people do ask, it's easy small talk, but I miss the old small talk. I long for a "what did you get up to at the weekend?" or a simple "are you going anywhere nice on holiday?" These may even prompt a response that's near engaging and enthusiastic, rather than irritable and jaded.

The thing is that we're having a long engagement, nearly two years long in fact, and as we don't have the budget to do anything extravagant, the planning part of the process isn't that involved. We booked the registry office and reception venue aaaages ago, and do you really want to hear about the buffet and seating plan? I think not.

It's bad enough when you have to have identical conversations with people you speak to regularly - I'm asked the same questions by the same people on a weekly basis, and there is very rarely anything new to tell - but at my other half's work people he doesn't even know ask him how the plans are going.

And then there's the wedding-obsessed types, the people who became addicted to the minutiae during the planning process of their own big day, and now need constant fixes of wedding porn to give them that buzz. I'm sorry to disappoint but there be no bridesmaid dresses or extravagant floral arrangements here.

And what have I got to look forward to after the big day? "How's married life?" I imagine exactly the same as co-habiting life. "It'll be babies next..." because marriage and babies, that's all women do right?

Suddenly shot-gun weddings and eloping scenarios don't seem so ridiculous after all...

IMAGE by Flickr user Son of Groucho