elopement plans – Dawn. The Sparkle Diaries.

April was a busy month, there was finally a break in the weather and we had some fine days and some sunshine and I got out gardening at both my house and also at himself’s house. He’s ok to do the lawn and clear the weeds from the paths and driveway but it’s down to me to cultivate the flowers and I love to do that. It’s a little tough at the moment trying to keep two gardens tidy, up to scratch and get the flowers on the go but it’s a nice problem to have.

I made a start on the legal documentation for the wedding. There are quite a few steps to follow, a process of documents to obtain, complete, be notarised and then apostilled and the first of these steps is to obtain Certificates of Non-Impediment. Because we live under two separate council areas we had to apply for two of these documents.

I’m not even going to talk about the stress of trying to apply online to obtain an appointment with the registrar but after two days and numerous emails I eventually managed to get myself an appointment. There is a very tight timeframe for getting these documents completed and lodged in Sorrento Town Hall so I had to be on it, so to speak. I had a lovely time though, making the trip into Birmingham and strolling around The Mailbox https://mailboxlife.com/ I hadn’t been there for years. It’s a lovely place, right by the beautiful canals of the city and has countless shops, bars and restaurants. It was so nice to have a look around before my appointment.

It’s always nice here, especially on warm Summer days and nights when the place is alive with people enjoying the area in the sunshine. At Christmas it really is magical.

The 28 day wait came and went and my certificate arrived in the post. Himself had his appointment at his local register office and we collected his certificate last Friday and then visited a Notary to get our Bi-lingual Statutory Declarations signed and now they have gone off to be Apostilled. I’m almost there with the legal documents. Once they are all done I can relax and start wedding dress shopping. Amazing how life turns out, I really didn’t see any of this coming. God sure works in myserious ways.

With love and sparkles xxx

2026 has become a much busier year than I ever expected it to be. I didn’t see an engagement or wedding planning on the cards but we had been planning some renovation work and for me to move to his place and now suddenly we have got into gear on all fronts. I’m decluttering at my home, still finding lots of things belonging to my parents which I hadn’t yet dealt with and somehow you have to look at every single object, piece of paper or random birthday card you find. I have a couple of small storage boxes to keep the very special items in and people are right when they say, you can’t keep everything but nothing can take away the memories you hold in your heart.

My bathroom needs serious renovation. It’s the original bathroom from when the house was built in 1982 alongside some very quick and makeshift changes I had to make when I was caring for my parents. Now, it needs to be fully re-done and ready for whoever may live in the house next. After a couple of years deliberation (you can’t rush these things) I have finally chosen the items and the builders will be coming on 7th April to get started.

Over at himself’s house, a long overdue job is the small ensuite which has been out of action for a couple of years. That job is being started today…just think of the dust!!

We’ve had some long conversations about the wedding and what we would like to do. Himself is a quiet man, not one for being in the spotlight, not comfortable with being on show and no interest in social media whereas I love the few socials I’m on and I have got used to being up on stage. Neither of us were interested in a big formal wedding. I think we have waited so long to get to this point, we love the idea of just going off and getting married. An elopement wedding. Sounds very romantic doesn’t it? We have decided on Sorrento which is where we went on holiday for a week last year. How bizarre that I was there last year, walking around the area that I’m actually going to be getting married in this year. Life sure is strange at times.

We have chosen The Cloisters of Saint Francis for the ceremony, located in central Sorrento. It’s such a stunning setting and lends itself to both formal and informal marriage ceremonies. There is a lot to sort out and I have chosen Perfect Weddings Abroad to work with to get everything arranged. We have decided not to wait until next year until the kitchen renovations have been done. We have already waited a long time to get to this point so yes, let’s go for it. I will run everything past himself of course but the wedding planning is my project and the kitchen renovation is his project although as the woman of the house to be, I will be having a big say in what’s what in the new kitchen (of course).

Alongside all this, my open mic nights have taken off and I’m singing at least once, sometimes twice a week. So it’s all systems go on all fronts. A huge flurry of activity after such a different period of life. It certainly is a new era of me.