Summer party dress decisions…

Wedding season is well and truly upon us. As brides up and down the country are counting down the days until their special day, wedding guests (particularly women) up and down the country are wondering what on earth to wear??

First of all what colour should you wear? White always seems like a no no, for starters most brides have the monopoly on white, plus there’s always the chance that the bride is wearing Ivory (as I did) and the last thing you want is for your crisp white dress to make the bride’s look dirty 🙁 Jewel colours are a favourite of mine and perfect for evening celebrations, but what if the service is starting at 12 or 1, will your colour choice hold up for both day and night?

Then there’s the style or cut, too short may not be decent for a wedding. Too long and you might be accused of pretending to be a bridesmaid. Too casual and you might look like you can’t be bothered, too formal and you’ve gone too far. It’s a minefield!

Or at least it is for me, I’ll admit that my habit of over thinking things is probably to blame. Especially considering that my own wedding was attended by those wearing the decidedly informal New Rock boots though to almost ball gowns and I was completely unfazed. I was more agreeably engaged with my own dress and how the church and reception venue was decorated 🙂

Just in case anyone else finds these kind of decisions as hard as I do, I thought I would share my current favourite wedding attendee dress choices. You could of course wear a skirt or indeed trousers, but weddings are a great excuse to go all out feminine and wear a dress so I usually do.

I think all of these dresses are gorgeous and perfect for taking you through from day to night (if you have the time to change though two dresses is always fun!) They are all from reiss, which has long been one of my favourite stores. They seem to bridge the gap between high street and designer perfectly and while some of my former favourites have wavered over the years (usually due to a change in design direction) Reiss has stayed right up there!

What are your wedding picks this year?

 

Country Walks and Zatchels!!

I’m about to be exceedingly British and talk about the weather, but it has been truly glorious the last few days.

I’m always conscious of living in a temperamental climate and any minute Spring/Summer might disappear for another year and we’ll have snow in August (I really hope that is an exaggeration!) So as soon as Mr Sun makes an appearance we try and get out into the countryside if we can.

I love to visit Canal paths, they’re usually flush with wildlife and yet developed enough to be an easy track to plod along.We visited one near Cromford in Derbyshire yesterday and had a wonderful day. Mr Dog enjoyed nearly getting into the water (I think he’s secretly a bit scared of getting wet).

It was also an excuse to show off my latest purchase, a gorgeous Purple Satchel Bag by Zatchels. I’ve lusted after this beauty for quite sometime and finally ordered one last month. Due to their birthday sale it did take quite a few weeks to arrive (all Zatchels are made to order to your specification). It was well worth the wait 🙂 the quality is second to none and I’m thoroughly pleased. The only problem is that now I’m drooling over all their other designs. This is the 11.5″ version which I think makes it the perfect size for a handbag. You can’t fit a huge amount in but I still managed a phone, wallet, keys and a camera with a little tetris style organisation 🙂

 

Summer Fun in Derbyshire!

We’ve been fortunate enough to have some lovely weather recently, good for the Olympics, great for the garden and even better if you like to venture out and about into the countryside!

Today I’m just sharing a few summer photos taken over the last few days.

First I’ll introduce you to this little chap (or chapette, I’m not sure how you tell the difference??). I first heard a few stones moving, instantly fearing some nefarious plot was afoot I ventured to find out the source. When I saw two green legs I was somewhat alarmed, although further investigation proved it was infact quite a sizeable frog. At this point my husband stepped in and scooped froggy up to show the kids. Froggy was then placed back in the garden where he (or she) spent a few minutes sitting by the dogs ball before leaping off to pastures new.

These next few photos were taken at Middleton Top, where the Spotty Crocodile watched over the children as they searched rocks for signs of fossils. We also encountered many bees, moths and bugs, who for the most part were happy to stay still while their portrait was taken.

The spotty crocodile also discovered an extreme fondness for long grass!

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer and managing to get out and about when the sunshine allows.