Another check off the bucket list....

I am going to ENGLAND!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I am excited about this? My husband's best friend Jacques lives in England and is getting married in May of next year. The wedding is being held in Kent, England at Sophie's  (the future bride) parent's estate (I need to be specific because they have other estates in other countries too). I am so excited! If you know me, you know what a HUGE Anglophile I am. How I am obsessed with the Royals and just about everything British. How I have been dying to go to England for years now. I was supposed to go in college but lame friends who didn't make the effort to save for the trip made those plans fall through. Then, before the last deployment we had decided to go to England for two weeks, one to visit in London and one week in the Cotswolds (Jacques offered to rent us a place there for a week, who are we to say no?). We planned to go for R&R. A week later however we found out that we were expecting Mr. Henry and spent R&R having a baby instead (well, actually he came 12 days  early and R&R was spend in a madness of getting used to a newborn and none of plans going as well, planned, but we wouldn't change it for anything).  Now I will finally get to go. And not just for any little touristy trip. Oh no. I will be going to England for a Traditional British Wedding. And you know that means:

Wedding Hats! This had been a secret fantasy/wish of mine for so long and I thought I would never get the chance to wear a crazy hat concoction to a wedding (well, at least not to one where no one would think I was crazy for doing so). I have been assured (and will get more details this weekend when we meet the bride to be and Jacques when they come and visit) that it will be a very British wedding. Rumour has it (from the groom's mom) that the guys in the wedding (which I think Christopher will be a part of-they promised to be each other's best man back in like, 7th grade. Jacques was Christopher's best man, we will see how this weekend goes, or if he will just be a groomsman or what) will be wearing-wait for it-TOP HATS and TAILS! Yep. Another fantasy of mine to check off my list. I am getting excited just thinking about my handsome husband in tails. Mmmmm....

Ahem. Of course there are lots of other details to think about like.....what kind of hat am I going to wear? My mother in law has already called the top hat maker in Baltimore (she makes all those fabulous hats for the horse races over here-the kentucky Derby, stuff like that) and she needs a month to do do them so I have been searching for ideas. Of course, I need a dress first so I know what kind of hat I going to have. Or if I will go with a fascinator. Of course Pinterest has been a huge help in finding ideas for what I want.
For example, something like this:



Or like this (gotta ask "What would Kate do?") :






Or maybe even this:



But definitely not like this (ha):

I cannot wait! We are going to make it a second honeymoon type trip for us and spend a week and half or two weeks over there and do some sightseeing. There is the possibility of getting tickets to the Globe Theater, afternoon tea in a posh hotel in London, visiting Stonehenge, the Tower of London, seeing those palace guards, maybe (if my stepdad is to be believed and it's true) to stay in a castle for a night! I am so excited for this adventure. More details to come!