In October last year, myself, my mum and my sister all got to be bridesmaids for a family friend on her wedding day. It was a coloured underskirt, black dress, coloured head scarf with matching coloured glittery converse styled shoes kind of vibe... Haha! Something different to say the least. The wedding took place at a venue called Houchins, here in Essex, England

Here's a visual...

Houchins is a listed farmhouse that sits on a beautifully landscaped garden. The bridal party stayed over in the farm house the night before and the night of the wedding (I went home the night of the wedding because quite simply, it was too expensive and I wanted my own bed). The farm house sleeps up to 14 guests and has a separate barn alongside the house which is for the bride and groom. It was stunning but very cold given the time of year lol, though the barn had a fireplace which was great, being the "healthy pyromaniac" that I am, I made a beeline for it straight away, haha!

This room was my favourite, I loved the colour palette (though not the one I stayed in).

The barn had 3 stories to it (if I remember correctly) which was great, especially to accommodate lots of guests, though the stairs were quite steep so I wouldn't recommend rooms at the top if you've had a drink, or just prone to falling upstairs, something I did as soon as we'd arrived just looking around! Lol

It definitely had its own charm to it, almost "Downton Abbey vibes" when sat in the lounge, just kidding 😅 Anyone seen that series? I thought it was brilliant! So I recommend that as well as Nashville ;)

This is where all of us bridesmaids and the bride sat and had breakfast the morning of the wedding. And of course, I have tea in my hand, milk no sugar please ;)

The kitchen, and once we had arrived we noticed that they'd stocked the baskets with lots of different breads, croissants, pain au chocolat (my favourite) jams, spreads etc so that was a treat.

This was the second lounge that had a TV, lots of movies, board games etc which was great, especially for the younger children.

And of course, the fire place... It didn't really kick out a lot of heat funnily enough, I'm sure my partner would tell me it's because of the design and it pulling the heat up and out the flue, rather than dispersing outward, haha! Anyway, psychologically it felt better being sat by the nice warm flames and I just had fun tending to it lol!

The barn itself is just a few steps away from the wedding reception area and right opposite where the actual wedding took place, outside under a marquee, which was lovely, and I'm sure a lot nicer in the summer months! You can see it from one of the rooms...

The dining area was lovely, we had a nice meal, followed by drinks, dancing and more food! The brides friend had hand drawn and pained each of the table place settings which was a nice touch and great for the bride and groom as it's obviously something they love.

It was at this wedding that I discovered a very nice cider, I'm not much of a drinker at all, so when I actually find something I like, I do enjoy the occasional drink. I didn't leave the dance floor after this... But that's just the norm for me 😂

Somewhere between the photos being taken and me not catching the brides bouquet of flowers, (I almost had it)! Haha! But I was happy with my own flowers, maybe next time lol ;)

Two days after the wedding, I had all my hair chopped off as I had been fundraising for a charity called The Little Princess Trust.

I had previously decided that I wanted to have my hair cut and perhaps go a lot shorter. I didn't just want to throw all my hair away in the bin when I already knew of this charity as my sister has donated her hair a few years ago, and so that's what I wanted to do. I organised a fundraising page and also put together my own raffles where people had the chance to win wine/chocolates etc. I thought I'd wait until after the wedding to have it cut as I knew we were having our hair in rollers, however, the hairdresser actually struggled to do my hair as I had too much of it - oops lol. I actually had to have some of it up in rollers and the rest down and curly as it just felt too heavy for my shoulders haha!

It's been a couple of months since I had it cut and each morning when I wake up I go to gather my hair and quickly realise there's not much to gather anymore haha! I love it, especially when washing/drying my hair, the process is so much quicker. That being said, I do miss my long hair and I think I'll just grow it a tiny bit more, perhaps to my shoulders and keep it that way. It does feel good to of had a nice big chop, and I love knowing that my hair will go toward making a wig for someone that will enjoy my hair and hopefully lift there spirits.