What I loved this month: September

Well hello dear friends and welcome to autumn! It’s been a glorious indian summer and I’ve barely had to crack out a more seasonal wardrobe yet. This month theres quite a lot of entertainment I’ve been loving – with weddings slimming down I’m beginning to have more time for me! So here comes what I’ve loved this month….

1. The Circle

I haven’t watched any ‘live’ television in forever (apart from Bake Off).. most of our TV preferences are box sets from Netflix. The concept of this show intrigued me and I’ve become hooked. Yes, its ultimately junk and is basically Big Brother for millennials, but its an entertaining watch!

2. American Horror Story: Cult 

I know there is an even newer series of AHS just out, but with me being behind thanks to Netflix I only watched Cult this month. It definitely wouldn’t be autumn without AHS! Its themed around what I keep referring to as a dystopia where Trump won the election.. but obviously he actually did ha! This takes he anger/mixed emotions from that election and made this series into a bit of a social commentary on politics, feminism and the state of America atm. Really interesting and a great direction for AHS to go in. I didn’t even finish the series before that because it was too gory, but this actually had a lot more thought around it. PS: just me that found Evan Peters with a blue top knot hot still?

3. The Indie Show with Jack Saunders

I feel like Radio 1 has been missing something since Zane Lowe left – I’ve rarely listened since he left, and been missing my fill of new indie. This month, R1 introduced the Indie Show with Jack Saunders and I have to say, its brilliant. Straight away my new music radar has got better and I’m feeling like my music collection has been refreshed. Each show has so many bangers, plus I’m loving the Thursday Night Indie Disco.. its basically a disco from my college/Uni days, which hands down was the best era for indie.

4. New Music 

The Indie Show has led me to some new fav music finds this month. To name but a few, I’m loving: Dream Wife, King Nun, Spring King and Ten Tonnes. Also big hello to supergroup Mini Mansions who are made up of QOTSA , Last Shadow Puppets and Arctic Monkeys members. What a roster. Fav new song of the month though goes to Yungblud:

It’s different, super playful and makes me immediately want to jump around.

5. Ending wedding season on a high

Zanna & Ben’s wedding was my last of 2018 and although it rained for the whole day it was a real high to end the season on. I loved hanging out with Zanna and her bridesmaids in the morning and capturing the rest of the day as they tied the knot. The whole thing was super relaxed and everyone was so friendly. I can’t tell you how gorgeous their venue and setup was .. absolutely stunning!!! The foliage, candles and chandeliers gave a grand but cosy feel to their day. More to come soon – I’m literally exporting their images as I write this!

6. Harry Potter Studios

This feels so long ago as it was right at the start of the month, but as a belated birthday present my OH took us to the Harry Potter Studios! I wrote a full blog post on it here, but will quickly say that is absolutely great. I can’t believe the amount of set that was truly built rather than done with CGI, and the sheer number of props/detail was incredibly impressive. Any fellow Harry Potter fans, get yourself down there!

7. Short/Spontaneous trips 

After shooting Zanna & Ben’s wedding I decided I would stay in the Cotswolds for the night and do a little road trip around them the next day. I woke up to a disgusting day with heavy rain and nearly drove home.. but so glad I didn’t! The weather did (eventually) clear and the villages of the Cotswolds were so picturesque and perfect it was just a great way to spend a Sunday. I’ll write a full blog on it soon!

The next day, I was up at 4.30am to fly to Vienna to direct a video and photography shoot there. It was an intense few days but fun all the same! We were staying at the Grand Hotel Wien, which looked like it was straight out of a Wes Anderson movie! Unbelievably, I got upgraded to an executive suite so I had a VERY jammy night in the biggest bed I’ve ever slept in.

Reading list this month:

1. You Are a Badass – Jen Sincero 3.5/5 – The fact that I’ve forgotten most of the main points of this book kind of says a lot I guess, but it was a motivational read! It definitely helped me make a leap I’ve been putting off for a while, so was good for that. (You’ll hear about the leap soon) 😉
2. Get Your Shit Together – Sarah Knight 2/5 – Sarah’s books have been catching my interest for a while and this one was on offer for Kindle so I delved in. I was kind of hoping for more time management tips but really this book offered nothing new to what I’ve read before.
3. Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig 4/5 – Written about Matt’s experience of depression, this is an insightful read and reminds you to be grateful for even the smallest things in life.
4. Buddhism for Beginners – Gabriel Shaw 2/5 – I’m an atheist but recently have been drawn to the principles of Buddhism as it seems like more of a way to live, rather than focused on the worship of a deity. I’m only giving it 2/5 as this book was not very well written, but the concepts were interesting and it definitely made me want to look into Buddhism more!

Let me know what you’ve been reading/generally loving this month. Have a good October all! If you are getting married, I am currently offering 10% off all 2019 weddings if booked before 31st Oct. Drop me a message now to save your date.

Caroline x