Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, it's hard to believe we're in the middle of January now. In a bid for a new year, new me I've just started a new job and although that's taken up a large chunk of my time, wedding plans are slowly coming together.

We spent Christmas in Liverpool primarily to spend time with Andrew's family but also as it's the only time we could give notice. Not living in Liverpool we had to prove that we had stayed in the city for eight consecutive days before being able to register. Seems silly and bureaucratic but rules is rules. Way back at the beginning of October I tried to make an appointment with the registry office in Liverpool for December 30 ^th and was advised they had already filled all of their slots and to call back on Christmas Eve when the next wave of appointments for the 30 ^th were to open.

So Christmas Eve rolls round and I manage to hold myself back from phoning the council until a mere fifteen minutes before they open only to be told that we were given false information. Cue heart palpitations and visions of our legal wedding ceremony drifting down the toilet. Thankfully we managed to be put through to one of the lovely registrars who sorted everything out for us and reassured me approximately 16 times that we were in fact booked in for the day before we were due to fly home. Although I tend not to think of myself as a bridezilla, Andrew remarked after the whole ordeal was over and our appointment was safely in the council's big book of appointments that; 'Christmas would not have been worth living with you had we not been allowed to give notice.' Hmmm charming.

But not to worry, on the 30 ^th we trotted down to the registry office clutching a letter from Andrew's mum to say we had in fact stayed in her house for the last eight days and pinky promised, crossed our hearts and hoped to die that we were not already married and/or related to each other. However, if you think this is not the case you have until the end of the month to take it up with Liverpool City Council.

Also whilst in Liverpool we found beautiful rose-gold sequin bridesmaid tops, booked a band and went to visit the Liverpool Cheese Company where we will be sourcing our cheese wedding cake from- I can already tell that cheese tasting will be one of my favourite aspects of wedding planning!

And in even bigger news I managed to fit in an appointment with a dress designer and have decided on a dress! Unfortunately, the journey getting to this point has had its highs and lows which perhaps is a (much longer) blog for another day....

Beth xx