Life In May

So this week has been a pretty exciting week! As you read this, I will be a married woman! I married my partner of four years yesterday - I'm writing this in advance so I'm hoping it was a lovely day (I'm sure it will be!). At the start of the month I thought I was going to be writing about the happiest time of my life through May and, whilst getting married will be amazing, this month in it's entirety hasn't been a particularly great one for my family.

We had some very devastating news at the start of the month. My auntie went into hospital over the first bank holiday weekend and, after various tests and scans, was told that her baby would not survive, as her brain has not developed properly. It was such a shock and a terrible blow to everyone, but I cannot imagine how tough it must be for my auntie and uncle - it doesn't even bare thinking about. It's safe to say I was in a bit of a state for days and all thoughts of weddings went out of the window. As much as I wanted to be excited about our special day, something didn't feel quite right anymore and the thought of cancelling the entire thing crossed my mind. That was until I got a thorough telling off from my auntie - we all needed something to look forward to.

The doctors didn't want to put a time frame on it, as it was just a case of waiting for nature to take it's course, which of course is totally unpredictable, but two weeks later on 20th May, my baby cousin was stillborn. Again we were devastated, but in a way prepared for it because of the news we had already received. She was a tiny 3lbs, and a very beautiful little girl.

As much as you want to hide away and feel sorry for yourself when things like this happen, we had to push on and prepare for the wedding. I think having so much to do helped to distract us and stopped us feeling so negative. I'd be lying if I said all of the wedding prep has been fun and exciting, because it's been damn right stressful at times, especially when a few things don't go as you planned! So many people to pay and places to go, but we got through it - you just need to learn to breathe! - luckily it was nothing that couldn't be fixed. My mum have been so amazing, especially in the last few days when so many last minute things had to be done, I really couldn't have got it all together without them.

One of my work colleagues is getting married in a few weeks time, so we had a joint work's hen party a couple of weeks ago. We were made to walk around town in a couple of wedding dresses from our charity shops, which was pretty embarrassing. We got quite a few odd looks and comments but I just played along pretending I was a runaway bride! We had a great night, but our boss letting us leave work early meant we were drunk pretty early!

The next day my husband went on his stag do, which started off with a round of paintballing. With the risk of being covered in bruises two weeks before the wedding, I was a little worried, but he returned with very few injuries which was a relief. The following weekend was our niece's 8th birthday party. It was nice to see her enjoying herself with her friends, but being in a room full of screaming children is not something I'd like to repeat anytime soon! It was pretty exhausting for me so god only knows what it was like for my sister-in-law, who was in charge of it all!

Not a great deal else happened in our world during May - it's mostly been planning for our big day and the honeymoon - which of course meant quite a bit of shopping too! So now I have ten wonderful days in the sunshine to look forward to - as this post is published, I'll be on the plane! - and then a few extra days off work at home with my new husband. I have to admit, it felt so good on Wednesday to put my out of office on, saying I won't be back until 16th June!!!

I hope you have all had a great May. What did you get up to?