The Best Man

Now's the time to introduce the best man!

Ewoud, Marcel and Ramiro (aka tres hombres!) grew up together, so who better to be at Ewoud's side when I make an (even more brutally) honest man of him?

Marcel's going to be helping out with some usher duties while Ramiro steps up as the responsible one (no pressure there then?!) and safeguards the rings - and Ewoud's sanity - on the big day.

Introducing... Ramiro Fernandez!

Celebrations all round!

Ahhh. So Ewoud is in Venezuela this weekend, at Marcel and Jairam's wedding!! I've been getting regular updates and it all sounds gorgeous! Big big congratulations to the happy couple and here's a photo taken at our house a few weeks ago to celebrate!

Ewoud called me yesterday just after the signing of the register and I could hear the party in the background! He also said both the bride and groom looked amazing -not hard for this couple eh folks?!

So meet Mr and Mrs Marcel and Jairam Capell!

I'm sad I couldn't celebrate their big day with them but very happy that Ewoud represented! And I'm looking forward to them being in Barrow with us on our day!

Meet The Parents Too!

And this is Ewoud's parents, Willem and Ellie! This was taken last Saturday night when we had a gezellige avond toasting the engagement.

They've both made me feel very welcome in the Benoist family and have been very supportive of us, so we're both really grateful for that.

We're also hoping they'll teach us some rockabilly jive for the night do....c'mooooon Willem, pleeeeease?!

It'll be their first time visiting England, but I reckon they'll love Barrow and the Lakes.

Meet The Parents

Here's my dad and mam, Mike and Lesley!

They've been brilliant with helping out with the arrangements, booking venues and sorting out the Barrow side of things.

When we found out we had to do the residency in Barrow for a week we weren't too chuffed, as it meant taking time off work and spending money we wanted to save. But we had a great time staying with me folks and catching up with family and friends.

They're planning to come over in April/May to meet Ewoud's parents, so hopefully they'll also be able to meet the Amsterdammers that are invading Barrow next year!

Save The Date!

We're sending personal invitations to you after Christmas, but we wanted to let you know the date as soon as possible, in case you have to travel or want to arrange summer holidays around that time.

There'll be 42 guests at the wedding and reception to keep it as intimate as we are able to, with a party later on that night with everyone we were unable to include in the daytime.

The place: Chequers Hotel, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK.

The date: July 17th 2009, 2pm.

Here's a picture of where we'll be getting married. We went to visit it last week when we did our seven day residency in my home town and we both really love it! It's a gorgeous place, perfect for what we want and even has a little chapel area where we'll be having the service. Neither of us are religious so we didn't want anything churchy, but the "chapel" is a really nice place to exchange vows.

Check-ch-check-check-check-ch-check us out

Thought I'd shove a picture of us up on here! This was taken in Istanbul, where we took our first holiday, four months after we started seeing each other.

It's bizarre that we're actually putting some thought into planning our wedding after such a spontaneous start! I moved in a month after we started seeing each other and we booked this holiday a couple of weeks later. Marriage is not something to take lightly though... so I think a bit of planning for it isn't a bad idea, plus I bloody love it!

Hiya everyone!

As you know, we're getting married next July (cue cheers...wooohoo!!!) and I thought, as there will be people from Amsterdam and England meeting for the first time, this would be a good way for everyone involved in the wedding to get to know each other before the big day!

Over the coming months, I'll update this blog with pics and info to keep you (and us) up-to-date with arrangements and all that jazz.

Lots of love, us X