A Very Leicester Wedding

Our wedding in July was very much centred on the city Thomas and I call home. Because the vast majority of guests were from out of town, it was really important to us that we use the event to highlight the things about which we're most proud when it comes to Leicester, including its history, its diversity, and its incredible vegan food to name just three.

Ironically, considering how central a role the city ended up playing, our original plan was to have the wedding out of Leicester in a rural setting. When we quickly realised that a festival-style wedding was going to require a hell of a lot of work and money to create, we went back to the drawing board and decided on an urban wedding that celebrated our home town, instead.

As soon as we decided to host it here we knew what our first choice of reception venue was: our favourite pub, The Lansdowne. Only problem? They don't usually do private hire and had never hosted a wedding reception before. We decided to ask anyway, as the worst they could say was "No" and, lucky for us, they barely hesitated before agreeing to let us hire the whole place and cater a three course, mostly vegan menu, for 70 guests.

The Lansdowne is our favourite pub for three reasons: great food, fantastic and friendly staff, and incredible mid-century interiors. And those elements made it the perfect place to host a wedding reception. Sadly, we were all too busy having fun and scoffing the food to take pictures of it but rest assured it was amazing. Many guests, even those who aren't vegan or vegetarian, commented on how much they enjoyed the meal. Meanwhile, it meant so much to us that the staff were visibly enjoying themselves and happy for us; because it's our regular haunt, it felt completely different to having the reception at a faceless corporate venue. We know the staff well and it genuinely felt like they were part of our celebration.

Another favourite element of our wedding day was the walk we took through Leicester from our ceremony venue, the Guildhall, up to the Lansdowne. Although about a 20 minute journey on foot, most of the route follows the beautiful Georgian-era tree-lined, traffic-free pedestrian path known as New Walk. I especially am a big fan of urban walking and it was important to me that this was incorporated into the event.

After a week of solid rain, and fretting that we'd have to find alternative transport, our wedding day dawned bright and sunny and the walk was on! From a chant of "F*ck the police" begun by Thomas' friends (see photo above - they said walking in a big group reminded them of being on protest marches), to dancing bridesmaids, to passing well wishers greeting us, it was such a special part of the day and the photographs are some of my favourites.

Aside from the wedding itself, we'd also planned a number of other events so we'd get a proper chance to hang out with guests. On the morning of the ceremony we hosted a brunch for family members, which was a lovely way to ensure we spent some quality time with family - all of whom had travelled from out of town, most from out of England - before the actual wedding later in the afternoon. And on the previous evening we invited friends and family who were staying in local hotels to join us for pizza at our favourite joint, Oscar & Rosie's. This turned out to be a really calming and fun way to spend the night before the wedding, and it helped people to meet each other in a more relaxed environment (my uncle from Canada and Thomas' dad especially seemed to hit it off and chatted a lot the next day).

We also put together a little mini-zine telling people about our favourite places in Leicester to visit - from museums to galleries to the best place to get gelato - and had so much fun chatting to friends who'd followed our suggestions and hearing what they thought. Considering we had guests from some of the most incredible places in the world - New York and Cape Town among them - I think we did a reasonable job of introducing people to our little city. I am so glad we decided to have the wedding here, because now when I walk around town I have some incredible new memories to accompany places I've been familiar with for years. Seeing the people we care about most come to the place we've both grown to love was indescribably special: if you're considering an urban, home town wedding, I'd thoroughly recommend it.

My other wedding posts:

Our Feminist, Humanist Ceremony

A Great Excuse For A Party

Planning An Anxiety-Friendly Wedding

All photographs by James Mottram Photography

Eat: Oscar & Rosie's Pizza

Oscar & Rosie's has long been one of my favourite dinner destinations in Nottingham, so I was excited to discover they were opening a location in Leicester. So excited, in fact, that Thomas and I visited within 24 hours of them opening their doors last Friday.

Why all the excitement over pizza? I hear you ask. Well, although Oscar & Rosie's isn't the first independent serving decent pizza to open in Leicester, it is the first to offer vegan cheese and a huge range of vegan meats. It makes such a huge difference to eating out together when neither Thomas nor I have to compromise; when he can have great vegan food and I, well, don't have to have vegan food! 

The Leicester venue is smaller than their Nottingham branch, but offers the same mid-century-cum-junk shop style of shared seating along long wooden tables, and the same extensive menu of pizzas and both soft drinks and beer from small producers (although, at the time of our visit, no cider yet - unfortunately for me). From a menu boasting options as diverse as the beetroot, goat's cheese, & pesto Frenchman, to the Hamster (ham hock, mushrooms and ricotta), it felt a bit lazy to go for the Margherita, but with top-notch ingredients it was anything but boring.

Like all the best indie businesses, there's a slightly ramshackle feel to Oscar & Rosie's which is entirely its appeal; there's no slick corporate marketing needed when the pizza's as good as this. If you're local to Leicester - or even if you're not - I can heartily recommend you paying them a visit at Market Place, just off Hotel Street.

Note: this is not a sponsored post and  - more's the pity - I didn't get free pizza for writing about Oscar & Rosie's. I just really love the place!

Photo An Hour: Saturday 18th March

Another month, another Photo An Hour day, organised by Jane & Louisa (thanks guys!).  My day was a fairly typical Saturday of pottering at home, reading, a bit of shopping, and hanging out with the cat, before ending the day with a glass of fizz.

8.30am:
One of my favourite things about participating in Photo An Hour is seeing what other people get up to, and I especially enjoy it when our photographs all synchronise. This month, it was a rare first photo that wasn't of a book in bed.

9.30am:
Leftover pancakes from yesterday for breakfast, together with banana and raspberries in an attempt to claim it as a healthy meal. I mean, that's two of my five/seven/ten/whatever they're going to claim next a day, right?

10.30am:
Shower time. It's like hammer time but with more water. And considerably fewer baggy trousers.

11.30am:
Reading through the first submissions for the two zines I'm currently working on. Laura and I are making a compzine about 90s nostalgia called Mixtape, and I'm also editing a zine about virginity called Cherry. I'm still seeking submissions for both zines, so let me know if you want to write or make something!

12.30pm: 

I only wear stripes on days that end in a -y.

1.30pm:
A vintage warehouse has opened up not far from where I live and I went to have a browse to see if I could find a chair for our kitchen: sadly I didn't find anything suitable, but there were lots of interesting bits to look at nevertheless.

2.30pm:
Time for tea and cake in Clarendon Park. I was feeling a little delicate after an evening in the pub on Friday and hoped that mint tea will settle my stomach.

3.30pm:

Home, via the bike shop where Thomas splashed out on a new ride (after being told that his old bike needed repairs that would cost 5 times what it was worth), and a chance to hang out with Missy cat. This photograph doesn't properly reflect how lovely and affectionate she was being: lots of of head boops and nose kisses.

4.30pm:

My pins and badges had been scattered across the mantlepiece in our bedroom - I found a scrap of linen fabric in my stash and 5 minutes of pinning later, had a much neater storage solution for part of the collection.

5.30pm:
For the past 6 weeks we've been in bathroom renovation hell, having tiles (and bits of wall) ripped off, walls replastered, new tiles put on and finally, applying coats of paint. Now it's onto the fun bit: Thomas had just put up the new wire shelving so I got busy styling it with vintage Penguin paperbacks, pretty toiletries, and a plant.

6.30pm:
Onto outfit two of the day (I was freezing and felt the need for a big cardi), ready to go round to my friend Leanne's for the evening.

7.30pm:
Doing Saturday night right with pizza and Prosecco. It's also where I abandoned the photos, as I didn't much move for the next four hours!

What did you get up to this weekend?

Weekend Scenes

Thomas is working away a lot at the moment, so what time we do have together we are trying to make the most of. And it's been brilliant, actually, at shaking us out of our weekend rut - our tendency to mooch around the house doing jobs that yes, need doing, but no, aren't terribly exciting or relaxing.

This weekend, after a Saturday spent working (him) and sewing and hanging out with the cat (me), we had a rare Sunday together.

Homemade soup for lunch.

A walk into town, discussing various job opportunities for Thomas (his contract runs out in March, because academia sucks for finding permanent employment, so he's back on the job application treadmill).

A visit to the 13th Century Newarke Gateway, open rarely as part of Leicester Council's Heritage Sundays, where I was terrified of the stone spiral staircase but much taken with the view from the mullioned windows.

A visit to the Guildhall Christmas market, where we picked up some lovely stocking fillers and admired the gorgeous Christmas tree in their courtyard (and difficult to wrap our heads around the idea that in eight months we'll be drinking post-wedding Prosecco in that same courtyard!).

A mooch around the shops in the city centre, before we got sick of the Black Friday-on-Sunday crowds and walked up the hill out of the city to the Lansdowne, for restorative cider and a vegan roast dinner for Thomas and a decidedly un-vegan Brie and bacon melt for me.

It was one of the nicest Sundays we've had in ages, and my not-quite-new-years-yet-resolution is to have many more the same. After all, those boring jobs at home can wait, surely?