Mum & Dad's 30th Wedding Anniversary Surprise Party

2016 marks a MASSIVE year for G n T - the year in which they celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Despite Mum and Dad planning to celebrate just the two of them with a romantic (if a cycle tour counts) holiday in Sri Lanka, they weren't going to get away with it that easily. So Adrian and I decided to go big, with a surprise party. The planning started in January, a solid 11 months before the big day. However as is always the case, we definitely left the planning to the very last minute. The only thing we actually did before was send a couple of emails around requesting people to 'save the date' which were designed by Eden (look at some of her work here or you can buy her Missed Mothers book here) and send across old photos and their favourite memories.

After a trip to Costco, more than one to Lidl (for excellently priced Prosecco and non-branded pop), PoundWorld (plastic champagne glasses, and plastic cutlery and paper plates), Tiger (colourful bunting and congrats sign) and plenty of Amazon online purchases (balloons, helium machine) - the weekend had arrived.

Luck was on our side, with Mum and Dad heading off to a dinner dance on Friday night in London and Mark and Di doing the best friend duty and taking them off to the rugby (SA v ENG) on Saturday in Twickenham, so we had home all to ourselves to get all party prepped. I shipped in the event planners a.k.a Adrian, Eden and Nath. Friday night involved popping copious sponges in the oven, ready to ice in the morning. Saturday involved last minute dashes to the shops, putting helium in the balloons, decorating the house with banners and plenty of fairy lights and getting canapes ready.

We showered and got ready at 6pm with an hour to go before all the guests arrived.

I think the next moment has to be one of those to go down in history, as pretty much all the guests arrived at 7pm on the dot - go team!

Following a text with a 10 minute warning from Diane we made sure that all guests had a plastic glass of prosecco and a party popper in hand and we made our way outside and the car came into the drive and off the party poppers went!!

There were definitely a couple of tears in a few eyes and plenty of hugs and kisses and it was time to get the party started.

The Food
Terri's Veggie Lasagne
Steve's Famous Chilli and Guacamole
My Chorizo, Feta, Chilli and Veg Cous Cous
Tessa's Mini Quiches
Sandra and Jacqui's Salads

The Pud
Karen's Cheesecake
Alison's Pavlova
My 4-Tiered Chocolate and Vanilla Cake with Strawberries and Chocolate Cupcakes
Vicki's Gin and Tonic Cupcakes - Look at her Instagram page here 

The Drinks
Lidl Prosecco
Adrian's Homemade Punch
Dave's Kegs of Rebellian
& Whatever else was lying around

It was the best evening ever and it went on until the early hours of the morning, to be exact around 4am after plenty of cheesy hits including 'Oops Upside Your Head' and the 'Macarena'. Now I will let you enjoy the few select photos that were taken (thank you Bob) ...

Bring on the next 30 years of marriage Mum and Dad and we hope you are enjoying Sri Lanka!

xoxo

Quarter of a Century

24 is a strange number and a bit too even, so I didn't mind turning 25 as it seems to have a bit more purpose.

The day before my birthday I went out for a 'few' drinks after work with work friends. A few too many more like, safe to say I think I literally introduced Nath to pretty much everyone in the company. I was desperate not to ruin my birthday the following day but I think a hangover was inevitable. 

I woke up early desperately needing a shower and a large glass of water but despite a hangover it was my birthday so I didn't let it tamper with my big day.

Nathan told me the surprise plan for the day... Which I will tell you all later!

After smartening ourselves up we heading into London and made our way to Covent Garden for a spot of lunch. I introduced Nath to Homeslice pizza (which I wrote a blog about earlier this year) and he was impressed! Unfortunately it was rather noisy being a popular lunchtime spot on a Friday, but the food was great. We had chorizo, corn and coriander for one half and ricotta, mushroom, pumpkin seeds and chilli for the other half. We couldn't handle the whole pizza but it seemed to fix me up a treat, I felt back to normal! 

Then finally it was time for my surprise... 

Nath took me to see Book of Mormom and it exceeded every single one of my expectations! It was definitely controversial but hilarious at the same time. So if you want to see it and you're in the UK get tickets now as it ends this October!

We had a bit of time to kill before our friends were joining us for dinner so we walked through Carnaby St stopping to browse a few shops.

We were eating at Piccalinos Heddon St which was just off Regent St and we had a drink in a bar opposite whilst waiting for the others to join us.

Lychee martini for me yum!

Dinner was great- I shared oysters and prawns with Steph as a starter before indulging in truffle mushroom risotto for my main.

After a lovely meal we hit the tiles for a great night out where the boys had far too many shots and us girls were pretty sensible. It was another late night and we only hit the sack around 3.30am but if if its not for your birthday when can you do it!

Saturday was all about Ride London prep, blog post to follow...

Xoxo