2017 has been super crazy. So sorry for the lack of posting on my behalf. I thought I would do some filling in on what’s been happening. Firstly on the big news front… after a beautiful whirlwind of meeting and talking, laughing and falling more and more in love every day, Ollie proposed… and we got engaged!! To be MARRIED!!!! (If you can’t tell I am VERY excited!) It was a precious moment of lovely words and the question asked in a very sweet understated way. I cried like a baby and got a perfect ring, I feel so crazy blessed to have Oliver and get to be his wife:)

Subsequently, the last two months have been filled with an engagement celebration and planning for the future. As it turns out organising a wedding isn’t as difficult as people would expect, after a couple of afternoons making phone calls and sending emails, we managed to organise the venue with catering; church, registrar, pastor, photographer, wedding car, bridesmaids dresses, cake and band. As a couple of designers our invitation designing was a breeze. I hand painted some foliage and laid out simple fonts in the centre, Ollie printed it with a company called Solopress. One thing which quickly became evident and is the main negative about preparations is that–weddings are expensive!! As a result, we have been looking for ways to keep costs down. In a dramatic bid to save money, I decided to undertake the dress making myself! I will write a post detailing the process after the big day, but I will say–the results are not too shabby, a lot of enjoyable hours went into making it. The style of the dress is elegant and simple with the personal handmade touches and very much not perfect but saved a lot of money.

The second bit of news from our lives of late is that we had a Ghanaian engagement party. It was so much fun with lots of theatrics, vibrant colours and laughter. Ollie is currently writing a post on the occasion so I will leave the explanation to him. The pictures are a lot of fun!

THIRD big piece of news… (I know there’s more!) Ollie and I have bought our first home!!! This is exciting but super nerve wracking and feels like a big decision to make but after lots of prayer and God placing peace in our hearts our bid was accepted and we have bought a tiny flat in south east London! We could have got more for our money moving a little further outside of London but felt like being here at this time is where we are supposed to be. It’s handy for our church which is an 8-minute tube ride away, we have friends walking distance and it isn’t far to visit Ollie’s family. It’s also going to cut down both of our work commutes which is such a lovely bonus. I’m excited about the challenge of making such a small place a home for us and can’t wait until we are married and will share it together.

Hannah