Monthly Round Ups

Monthly Round Up | August 2019

The beginning of a new school year has somehow rolled around again, and the Summer fun has reached its peak! It sounds like it could all be over, but September is actually one of my favourite months of the year; when we all settle back into our routines, return to enjoying precious family time in the evenings and at weekends (instead of the madness that has been descending throughout the week with endless “ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET?” chants coming from the back seats, toys strewn everywhere across the house, and eating me out of house and home!), and the weather starts to cool a little – it’s been unbearably hot this past couple of weeks, and just too much to be able to actually enjoy doing anything outside without sweating buckets…! I also have an exciting wedding coming up this month, and also a mini break with my husband to the South of France, which we’re both looking forward to (if the BA strikes allow!). Here’s a little of what I have been up to in August:

BUSINESS

The beautiful photographs from Jaime & Jameson’s wedding at the Bodleian Library and Blenheim Palace from June landed in my inbox earlier this month, and I couldn’t be happier with the results! I shared a selection in a blog post a few weeks ago, which you can see here. But I also wanted to share a few of my favourites here:

Photography: Imogen Xiana

A couple of weeks ago I arranged a mini branding shoot with Chloe Ely to update some of my branding imagery of myself – which was a little nerve-racking, but lots of fun! We met at Daylesford Organic in the Cotswolds; one of my favourite haunts – socially and for meeting with clients and suppliers, so it felt like the perfect backdrop for some new imagery!

I have also been working with Ben (The London Essentials) and Rachel (Rachel Simpson Shoes) in finalising their wedding plans, which all came together beautifully a couple of weeks ago. This was a particularly personal project for me, as I first met Ben and Rachel a year ago, in slightly surreal circumstances – they bought our previous house! We’ve since become friends, and it was such an honour to help them with their wedding celebrations, which they held in their garden at home. When Rachel told me they’d decided to host their wedding at home, I told her I wasn’t sure if I was more delighted that they were getting married, or that “our” (collective!) garden would be hosting its first ever wedding! It all looked just beautiful, and the brilliant blooms by Green & Gorgeous framed the garden wonderfully. Of course there were many pairs of gorgeous shoes adorning the lawn, and the music game for the day was impressively STRONG. The London Essentials rocked the Wedding Breakfast like no other, whilst guests enjoyed delicious sharing antipasti platters and paella dishes prepared by Sticky Fig Catering. Long into the night the cocktails were flowing, and legs were dancing – it was such a special day, and I couldn’t have been more honoured to have been asked by Ben & Rachel to help them.

Photography: Emma Case

FAMILY & HOME

I always feel like the school holidays just whizz by in the blink of an eye without really having done much at all. However, when I come to write these round up posts, I realise that actually we have done an awful lot and it’s lovely to look back at the photos in the process!

We started the month with a day out at Blenheim Palace for Countryfile Live, which we’ve never managed to go to in previous years as I’ve always had a wedding that weekend. This year we made it, and it was a wonderful day out with my parents-in-law. The weather was lovely, the kids were in a good mood (apart from one baby refusing to nap after lunch!), and there was so much to see and do. Bella was in her element with the abundance of fairground rides (my purse however, was not!), and the remote control cars at Jaguar Land Rover kept her entertained all afternoon! Unfortunately the event is moving location for next year from Blenheim Palace to Windsor Great Park, so it’s much further for us, but if you’re local to Windsor, I would highly recommend booking for next year as it’s a great family day out!

The following day my husband and I flew to Northern Ireland for the wedding weekend of my beautiful friend Juliana. We had the best time, and it was so refreshing to be a guest at a wedding! I was a Bridesmaid, and Juliana had chosen the most perfect Needle and Thread gowns for us all to wear – literally the dress of dreams! The sun shone in all the right places, Juliana looked phenomenal, and I felt so emotional to see one of my best friends marrying her love. All the heart eyes!

Photography: Simple Tapestry

We were home for a little while and then spent a few days away in North Yorkshire with friends, and their children. It was a busy week with 5 kids between us, but we all had the best time, and it was lovely to be by the beach and enjoy the fresh air, long walks (despite all the moaning from the children about these!), and lemon top ice creams – which I’d never discovered before! Leo also discovered ice cream for the first time ever – see pic below!

We’re currently in Dorset visiting my parents for a long weekend, and on route we stopped off at Wareham Forest for a mini family shoot with Imogen Xiana – watch this space for some sneak peeks of that soon…

Hope you have a fabulous September, and I’m currently writing a blog post to go live mid-month with my top tips for planning a wedding at home, so I’ll share that with you in a couple of weeks!

Jeni x