Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair, National Portrait Gallery, London

I went to the National Portrait Gallery in London initially to just see the Marilyn Monroe exhibition but stayed and took two and a half hours to have a walk around.

First the Marilyn exhibition - it doesn't include many photos but looks at her time filming and promoting The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier.

It has some beautiful photos taken by Cecil Beaton,  Larry Burrows and Jack Cardiff. I also found out that one of my favourite photos of Marilyn on a Geshia print blanket holding a rose was taken by Beaton.

It just shows her natural beauty and it is free.

If you have never been to the gallery I cannot recommend it enough. I really enjoyed walking around the portraits. Paintings range from The Tudors to the Victorians to modern day.

It was great to see a sketch of Jane Austen drawn by her sister Cassandra Austen. I nearly missed it a couple of times but found it eventually and I'm glad I did.

There are so many recognisable paintings of Queen Elizabeth I, King Charles I and Queen Victoria. However, one of her after her coronation is actually a replica as the original is in Buckingham Palace.

At the moment they also have photos of the current Royal family taken by Mario Testino. It includes the two engagement photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - Prince William and Kate Middleton.

There are paintings of Paul McCartney, photos of the Queen after her wedding and her coronation again taken by Cecil Beaton. 

I also paid £2 and saw the exhibition from Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 which has some beautiful photographs including one of Mo Farah and one of Victoria Pendleton. Worth the £2.

I went round a couple of times soaking up every painting and photograph. It also had the film of David Beckham sleeping done by Sam Taylor-Wood...
A beautiful museum and on the whole free. Well worth it.

Also I had a cup of tea and the most delicious walnut and chocolate brownie in the cafe down stairs, amazing!

Made to measure for your special wedding day...

On a girl's wedding day there are some things that are a-given 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue'. There is also the fact that every girl should feel like a princess on her special day.

I, myself, have yet to get married but in the past year I have seen two of my closest friends walk down the aisle and have two friends next year also tying the knot. So I know how important one particular part of the day is.... the dress. It has to be right, as the bride has to feel comfortable, special and one in a million.

When my best friend went wedding dress shopping she tried on a few dresses, but when she tried on 'her' dress we all knew it was the right one.

However, if you don't want off the peg and can afford something a little bit more unique. There is the option to have your dress made to measure the way you want it and to your exact measurements, so this isn't a dress that has been altered for you but made from scratch to your requirements.

In life not many of us get to have a dress from scratch designed especially for ourselves so if you are going to get one made it might as well be your wedding dress, as it is meant to be the best day of your life.

So for all your needs the place I would recommend, having been to a wedding where the bride and bridesmaids all had the dresses from there and been to the shop, is Brides by Ventrella in Manchester.

The shop has an Italian heritage, which explains the unique handiwork, there are not many places now a days where the dress is made on site to your requirements and measurements. A family business with techniques passed down from mother to daughters.

Each swarovski crystal is sown on by hand, the lace delicately placed by expert eyes.

Having started in 1987 they know what they are doing and the shop was making lace dresses long before Kate Middleton walked down the aisle in her McQueen.

Even if you don't live in Manchester, contact them as they maybe able to accommodate you in a quick time, surely it is worth it for that one in a million dress.

So for your special day check them out, you won't regret it, theses dresses are just beautiful, they also do prom dresses which are just as pretty and came make any girl feel special.

http://www.bridesbyventrella.co.uk/ or visit their Facebook page where people have posted images of their own wedding dresses. http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001780173503

'One day my Prince will come'

If you weren't aware the British public have recently celebrated a Royal Wedding. For weeks the country has been a hive of activity with souvenirs, shows and even a lame US movie.

We all waited with baited breath to see Kate's (or Princess Catherine's) wedding dress and the colour of the Queen's hat. For a wedding of two people who none of us commoners know but who the British public hold very dear to their heart, me included as you will already know if you had read 'All hail the Queen....right?' blog post.

Now the Queen chose yellow for her outfit. And Kate's dress was beautiful, lace bodice, long sleeves, very elegant and fitted and a small trail. Designed by Sarah Burton of McQueen just breath-taking. And Pippa Middleton was gorgeous also.

Very Grace Kelly when she married the Prince of Monaco.....

Princess Grace of Monaco was indeed a fairytale marriage also. Of course Catherine was a 'commoner' who met a Prince at University got together, broke up, got back together and now she is a Princess!

But all this talk of Royal Weddings and Princes & Princesses got me thinking about fairy tales. When I was younger I loved fairy tales and especially those of Disney.

When we are little we are given the idea that girls are a little helpless and that one day they will be swept off their feet by an amazing Prince, who you will meet once, fall madly in love with and marry pretty much the next day. And of course live Happily Ever After.

My favourite Disney Princesses were Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Only Ariel was an actual Princess before marriage. You grow up waiting for that fairy tale romance, the noble, dashing Prince to come and whisk you off your feet, most of the time this doesn't happen. But as Kate shows you can meet your Prince and fall in love and get married in front of millions... not sure if I would want that though to be honest, the marriage in front of millions, I'd love to be a Princess.

I am finding it very hard though to be cynical as I sit and watch the beautiful wedding of Prince William and Kate or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It is just refreshing to see a joyous occasion between two people in love rather than a load of doom and gloom. It was also nice to see Princess Victoria of Sweden who this time last year was preparing for her own wedding.

So join me in saying hip-hip hooray to the newlyweds!!

To end because I am an old romantic....

and of course the kiss

 

All hail the Queen... right?

Recently I read a piece in April's Company magazine about the Royal Family and if they were still relevant and if Miss Kate Middleton made their appeal go up at all, and it got me thinking, especially as the Royal Wedding is not far away.


I will admit outright now I am a Royalist and not just with our own Royal Family, who cannot love the Monaco Royal Family or the story of Princess Grace Kelly. I am a huge fan.


Last year I went to Stockholm with my boyfriend (it was out second time there, he was doing the marathon again) and I became a little obsessed as when we visited the city it was a hive of activity and was holding various street parties and free events celebrating the HRH Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to her fitness instructor Daniel. It was a fairytale romance much like that of Wills and Kate but the way they celebrated it was to hold free music events and street festivals for the week before the wedding, it was fantastic. This Royal Family seem very normal both the King and Princess Victoria married I suppose the term is 'commoners', also the fact that H.R.H. Prince Carl Philip is very good looking also makes this Royal Family appealing to me.... http://www.royalcourt.se/royalcourt/royalfamily/hrhprincecarlphilip.4.396160511584257f218000245.html


I love the romanticism linked to a Royal Family, it makes you think of Disney Princesses and fairy tale romances. The idea that a chance meeting could lead to a normal girl becoming a Princess, and although she may talk posh and went to posh schools that is what Kate Middleton is... a normal girl. She doesn't have a family tree filled with Lords and Ladies, Kings and Queens. Although I did see on an American programme that apparently she is somehow related to chat show host Ellen and one of the men that discovered American. The Americans seem more obsessed with our Royal Family than we are, trying desperately to have a little piece. I suppose this is due to the fact they don't have an equivalent, in the past they have tried to make their presidents into Kings and Queens, most notable the Kennedy's, although I'm sure their spin-doctors had much more to do with that than the American public.


During my journalism course we briefly studied the monarchy and the powers they have in Public Affairs, and the truth is they don't have much. The Queen's most important power I would say is to advise, warn and encourage, she does this in weekly meetings with the Prime Minister, it is believed that as she has been Queen for so long she has more knowledge than a newly elected PM, which I think is true. However, it does beg the question if William becomes King how much does he know to advise, warn and encourage.


I love the fact we have a Royal Family, I think it is integral to Britain. I think it adds to our tourism factor, many people probably visit the country to see the palaces and possible the Royal Family. Also the Queen acts a figurehead for the country and goes to visit foreign countries on behalf of the country, do we really want our politicians to do that instead? Surely they have more pressing things to do then flitting off around the world.


I think it would be a sad shame if we didn't have a Royal Family. It is just very British! People say it is outdated and is a glaring sign that the country is still divided by class boundaries, but then think the Government doesn't do this? Cameron is man of the people is he? I think people will be more accepting of the Royal Family when we have Prince William and Princess Catherine. Or King William and Queen Catherine, both of them seem very normal and have more of a connection to us normal people so who knows people may change their opinion when this happens.


The Royal Family may not do a lot that we know of but I love that we have one! I am a Royalist and think it would be a shame if they were ever to go, most of our history is entwined with the fact we have a Royal Family, Americans love we have one and know more than we do probably. I wish in schools children learnt a more varied and extensive history of our Royal Family, like the US do with Presidents rather then the Tudors, yes they were important but what about Queen Victoria, or King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, or even more about House of Windsor including out current Royal Family.


We should cherish our Royal Family and sing at the top of our voices God Save the Queen.