Some of Life's Defining Moments, in Pictures

Samuel is frustrated. Every time he comes home from work I have to listen to him complain about how someone at work nearly dropped dead on the floor when he told them he was married. According to all outsiders he looks young for his age and consequently, when he mentions he is married they either collapse on the floor or ask "wait, how old are you?" This happens a lot and as result I hear about it A LOT. "Do I look young Dominique", "Why do people think I look so young?", he will often say to me. Followed by, "Maybe if I could grow some facial hair...." As a result, Samuel has endured many attempts at growing a beard, but to be brutally honest it looks like he's trimmed some pubic hair and stuck it to his face in random patches. Needless to say, its not a good look and when we kiss it just feels like he is repeatedly sandpapering my face, hence less kisses for him. All in all not a winning combination.

There have been many people who have remarked on how we are young to get married in this day and age (I was 23 and Samuel 24), especially as none of our close friends are married. Many people have asked me out of curiosity why I wanted to get married young, and why I did not want to experience more first. Therefore, I think young marriage is a timely topic to discuss on my blog.

I know for many people marriage is just a piece of paper and that to commit to someone and give yourself whole heartedly you do not need a marriage certificate. I understand this and to a big extent I agree. But getting married for me meant more than that. It not only meant committing myself to the man I love and beginning the next chapter of my life, but also sharing this with the people who mean the world to me. I wanted that piece of paper, that wedding ring as a symbol of the certainty I felt for my future with Samuel. And very importantly, I wanted to be a bride and I wanted a dress!

Marriage has fulfilled so many facets of my life. I have the comfort and security of having that one person whom you truly love with you for everything you do and will do. And of course, there is something to be said for waking up to cuddles every morning accompanied by the gentle poking of his morning 'excitement'....there is comfort in that certainty, it shows I've still got it! Yes, there will be no more experiences of exciting dates, or the lust filled, butterfly inducing stages of an early relationship. But what I've got, true friendship, companionship, and love, well I wouldn't trade that for the world, whether I'm 23 or 43. Would you? I mean how lucky am I, I have a man who will stand in the supermarket queue with nothing but a box of Tampax just so I don't run out!

Of course, marriage is not always romantic and perfect; last night Samuel and I were engaged in a romantic embrace when he looked deep into my eyes and asked, "did you just eat a hob nob". Thus the embrace ended and we resumed cleaning up the flat. Combine this with the laundry, peeing with the door open, periods, stomach upsets, armpit hair, burping during dinner, spots on your face, ingrown hairs on your bikini line and arguments about housework and you have a bed of thorns not roses. But in the end it's worth every second.

I want to share with you some of the defining moments in my life thus far, together with the photos that tell the stories of those moments. I hope it will help to show what getting married meant to me. All of these photos were taken by our photographer Anna Rosell (quality reduced for the blog). The instances captured here were merely fleeting moments, gone within seconds, but when I look at these photos I am transported back in time and I remember every iota of emotion I felt in that moment. How amazing is that!

In my eyes, these two photos are a representation of what my wedding day meant to me; here I am being given away by my Dad, stood next to the two great men in my life, caught between my past and my future, making choices and commitments that will define the rest of my life. In that moment I felt true happiness and certainty. These photos reaffirm the wonderful storytelling abilities of great photos, and Anna has told that story perfectly.

And of course, here we are making that commitment to each other. I love the way Anna has composed this photo and her choice of black and white really draws you in. I aspire to capture moments in this way. You can see how much I love photography!

This photo shows those first few moments as man and wife. My father is proudly looking on in the background and all our family and friends look so happy. This is one of my favourite photos of our wedding day.

I hope some of my passion for photography has rubbed off on you. A big thank you must go to Anna for capturing these moments. She is a fantastic photographer, lovely person, and has been so helpful and encouraging with my photography. She was also extremely patient on our wedding day, and gracefully dealt with the nut jobs that make up my family. I owe her a big thank you. Anna has a real talent for capturing the true essence of people in her photos, and she makes everyone look beautiful. If you fancy indulging in some more photography, take a look at her blog: http://www.annarosell.com/blog/

And as for getting married young, the answer is simple. I got married when I did because I knew I had everything I could ever want, that I could never feel happier, and that I had something I would never give up. If you are lucky to have found that, then what else do you need, and what is there to wait for?

And so for the delightful dish of the day. I have chosen this dish for the simple reason that Samuel just loves it. . It's from Jamie Oliver and it's absolutely delicious while being really good for you, minus the fat in the sausages. The roasted tomatoes make such a great chunky sauce. The trick for this recipe is to use good quality sausages, as they will naturally have less fat and more flavour, compared to bangers with loads of flavourings and fake meat!

Sausage and Cherry Tomato Bake

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/sweet-cherry-tomato-and-sausage-bake

Serve with mashed potato, root vegetable mash or whatever takes your fancy!

Have a lovely weekend and thanks so much for all your support during my first blogging week. If you feel like leaving a comment, please do.

xxx