The most beautiful photos!

I knew that I would want a ton of photos of our wedding - specifically of Josh and I. I have browsed Pintrest way too much to not have had a million and one ideas! So my photographer and I arranged to have all the photos taken before the wedding ceremony, rather than during the cocktail hour, so that we would have more time! So, we had a first look - where I got to see Josh all dressed up in his tux! He looked so handsome! As soon as I saw him, I felt so much better, so much less nervous!

So we a chance to walk around the back of the Powell Crosley - and see all the hard work that everyone had put in. It was so beautiful - we could see all the beautiful tables and all the seats ready for people. We walked around with our photographers and had a whole bunch of beautiful photos taken - when I got them back I loved every single, single one of them! They are all beautiful! And I am so glad we had the time to do all these beautiful photos before the ceremony - so we could see our friends and family during the cocktail hour!

The day begins!

It seems like it was forever ago that Josh asked me to marry him....way back in December 2012 - it was actually years and years ago. We planned so much. Mummy called people and sorted everything. There were caterers, and hairdressers and table settings to sort out - it was just a bit crazy. But she planned it all, and the day was finally upon us! It seemed so odd to think that. But in the morning, we got up at this big house and waited for the hair and makeup people to arrive.

We all had a really relaxing time in the morning, eating tons of coffee cake ( I actually think I ate the whole cake) because I finally could eat like crazy! We all got our hair done a little differently and all our makeup done. It was nice to be dolled up - I loved how my hair was! Then we headed over to the Powell Crosley en mass!

Rehersal Dinner time!

Josh's Mum and Dad threw us a rehersal dinner the night before our wedding. I knew it was going to be travel themed, and held at the Selby Botanical Gardens, where we got engaged, way back in 2012. It was super cute - with each table named after different cities and all purple!

It was a good time - as people arrived, we were so pleased to see everyone that we had invited - all of them were people who were near and dear to our heart and had travelled so far to see us! It was so great to see everyone, and we took some adorable pictures too!

To Florida! And Shoogie Boogies!

We did very little in March - mainly trying to get ourselves all packed and ready to go back to Florida and get married! We left one week before the wedding, and headed to Sarasota. Mummy and Daddy had rented a whole house, and we were able to stay there with my Aunt and Uncle, Shelby and Rachel,and Kerstin all together. We got to go shopping, sort out all sorts of things for the wedding, do wedding crafts and sit by the pool! It was a really great time, and actually quite relaxing! As part of the week of the wedding festivities,

we had a little Shower at this cute little tea room called Shoogie Boogies. It was so nice to have lots of family friends there and Kerstin and Mary and Rachel and Josh's sisters too. It was a really cute little tea house, all decorated nice and with outdoor tables and a pretty conservatory. We had a lovely

time, especially with all the cute tumblers I had ordered and hillarious sunglasses Shelby had bought at Primark! Afterwards, all the bridesmaids came and we got our toes and nails done. I was so, so picky with my nails. I got really fussy with them, which is very unlike me, but they were beautiful! And, they stayed perfect for six whole weeks!

The world famous Opera House

Our last day in Budapest was really quite lazy - we played some games in the apartment, and just wandered around the city, because it was pretty rainy. In the end, we went to this cute little restaurant near our air B and B for some cheesy knoodles and then headed over to the Opera House. We had nice seats, and there was a really great guest violinist too. We were enjoying it, but decided it wasn't really for us - and we would head home in the first interval. We assumed there was only one intermission - but when we went to get our coats, they told us there was lots more - so....in the end we missed almost the whole rest of the performance (it wasn't an opera but an orchestra....) but at least we got a taste of it!

Thermal Baths and Hero Square

After coming back from the Synagogue, we decided to try out the thermal baths which Hungary has tons of. We were told the best one was up near Hero's Square. I am SO glad Steph came with us so her and I could figure it out together, but it was really hard as we didn't speak Hungarian, had to buy

towels and had to sort out the changing rooms (which were like individual rooms instead). To say it was a really odd experience is an understatement! But we did really enjoy the outside thermal bath - although getting outside was cold - it was good fun! We all agreed afterwards that thermal spas are best left to Asia - and we had all been a little spoilt by our onsen experiences in Asia! After dinner, we decided again to walk the long way home, via the cool part of the river ice rink, and through the beautiful Hero's Square!

The Dohany Street Synagogue

We have this incredible nack of turning up to Jewish themed attractions on Shabbat, Saturday, when everything is closed. It happened before in Vienna, we couldn't find the synagogue in Rome, and we turned up at this one on Saturday. It meant that all the shops and everything around it selling Judaica stuff was all closed too.

So, while we had to come back the next day, we got there right in the morning to see it. It was really pretty on the inside - very ornate, and very different than Prague. I guess synagogues can be very different! We got to listen to the tour guide a little bit and found out that this synagogue is the largest in Europe -

which is really pretty impressive! There was the main synagogue and then also a museum attached to it. At the back was this garden of rememberance, with these interesting metal trees with all the names of Holocaust victims engraved on them. It was a very moving place, and it meant a lot to Josh to go visit there. We even managed to get a postcard and a magnet for his mum there! Afterwards, we went across the street so that Josh could

get his pastrami sandwhich which was advertised - we were quite a bit early for the lunch shift, but the guy let us in early - so we had the whole place to ourselves! We used it to warm up before going out to explore the Jewish quarter a bit, and see which Judaica shops were open to cater for tourists! We even tried to find some Challah bread, but sadly no joy!