Sometimes we forget about what love really means.

Today we had a sad reason for getting together with our family but during the church service, Brenda asked for this beautiful reading rather than any traditional ones.

Many people have this read during their wedding ceremony and is rarely heard at a funeral.

She wanted us all to reflect on her life which was filled to the brim with love! Love in it’s many shapes and forms.

It reminds us of our wedding day where Dan – our very rock ‘n’ roll Brother in Law recited this and had us all appreciating again what love really means…

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

¹²We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

This weekend I had the pleasure of catching up with one of my previous brides – the gorgeous Fiona Connolly.

The gorgeous Fiona with her Groom Neil

We had such a great time finding the wedding dress of her dreams that now, after their wedding her lovely Husband, Neil treated her to a day full of treating herself to a fab new look!

Because of my background in fashion, they asked me to help with the wardrobe update – Yippee! A whole day of shopping – and that’s exactly what we did. Shopped until we (almost) dropped!

We started the day by going through her existing wardrobe to see what patterns she follows when choosing her clothes – for Fiona it was cap sleeves. She also had very separate looks for work and leisure – and surprisingly they were totally different looks altogether. She really wanted to start showing her personality through her clothes rather than wearing things because she thought they were appropriate for the office – she needed to inject some ‘Fiona’ back into her work life! I believe it is very easy to get into a ‘uniform’ state of mind, and especially for her as she is incredibly successful in her field. She felt that because she knew her role inside out she almost went onto auto pilot – including when she got dressed for work. First impressions were established, her reputation was great and therefore did as we all do – got comfortable & stopped trying as hard to please herself in order to make herself feel good.

It was funny being an outsider looking in to someone elses wardrobe, trying to appreciate their thought processes when they get ready. We also discovered that when she had an item from some time ago she held onto it regardless of whether the style was still right, or didn’t fit anymore. I guess it really is hard to throw something away that you’ve loved and felt good in – even if it doesn’t give you that ‘feel good’ factor anymore. I just loved her ruthlessness when throwing things on the ‘get rid’ pile!

We then discovered her ultimate favourites, her feel good outfits, fat day clothes, skinny day clothes – what fun! Oh, and the most gorgeous Paul Smith shirt I’ve seen! This lady has style! I realised all we had to do was release her inner fox back into the world! Yeah!

Then it was time to hit the shops! Off to the Bullring in Birmingham where we were in and out of fitting rooms and stores like women on a mission! Fiona was the best to go shopping with! Instant decisions, an easy sense of how to bring the look from her head onto the girl in the fitting room mirror. Fab! She was comfortable enough to try on many different looks, even ones where she wasn’t entirely sure she would like the result.

I think she did realise that she liked what she saw in the mirror once she was in the right cuts and the right dress size. Like a lot of women out there she was inclined to buy clothes too big as she thought she was bigger than she really is. Fiona discovered that she is a perfect size 12 and has a figure a lot of us would dream of having.

Then it was time for lunch – 2 & 1/2 hours and a bottle of white later (thank you Fee!) we emerged ready to hit the shoe shops! She was wowed in the end by the Kurt Geiger department in Selfridges where the fabulous Richard looked after us. If you’re ever in the area, you simply must stop by and let him talk you into treating yourself. He’s so good at making you be bad! I love that he really listens to what your needs are and can advise on the value for money side of their brands. I have been talked into being naughty in the Louboutin section by him before now though!

After this it was time to hit the make-up counters and we saw the incredibly talented Grahame on the YSL counter. He is amazing at enhancing your best bits and I think I might be a little bit in love – with his lip-gloss collection.

It was a great day and we reluctantly got on our train home at 7.30pm after having found the most perfect red lips to pout, laughed a lot and shopped our way through the best Saturday!

As a wedding planner I never dreamed I would be asked to do a stylist service but I am so glad I was – I loved it!

Thank you Neil and Fiona for such a fab day! xx

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the ladies of the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners for organising such a lovely event last night!

I was lucky enough to have met some fabby wedding planners both new and established from in and around the London area.

It was so great to meet friendly like-minded professionals and of course, enjoy some bubbly! The fact that we were just off Sloane Street was also fabulous – although I am wishing the shops were still open. I spied with my little eye something beginning with Gucci…..

A big hello to the lovely Penny from Tigerlily Weddings, Lester from No 10, Peggie from Vow Perfections, and Erika from Flutterfly Events. It was exciting to meet you all and thanks for such a giggly evening!

I look forward to the next get together!xx