Couples Q&A / Get to Know us: Relationships, Cottage Life, Autism, Upcoming Wedding, Instagram etc.

Okay welcome, we thought we'd make a Q&A so you can get to know us a bit better now that we're doing some more video content so we've put a question sticker on Instagram and I'm basically just going to read out the ones that I think are interesting or like unusual things you might not know but also like just so you can get to know us from scratch so I'll go through some basic stuff as well and like we'll both answer so let's see what we've got. So this has only been up for a couple of hours this question box, there's like I'd say like 20-30 questions. So the first one, not sure if you already said this but I would like to know how you two met. You want to take the lead? We both met when we were quite young. Yeah. So I was 17 and you were 16. I was 15. Oh so I was 16, you were 15. I remember you having your 16th birthday So we met when we were both quite young. Yeah. And there was an old social media account which I think was mainly popular in the UK called Bebo. Yeah. And you added me on Bebo. Yeah. And I was acting all cool and nonchalant. Yeah. Do I know you? Yeah. And I remember fondly you saying you do now. Oh god good thing I remembered that. My brain just. And then yeah we just started chatting from then. Yeah. Childhood sweethearts I guess and we've changed quite a lot since then but together which has been really nice and like growing into our adult selves and kind of like we've gotten to know each other more as we've got to know ourselves as well which I think it's been a good thing of like being together for such a long time and it's funny I think like we were both emos back then and I added him because I liked his hair and if we then could look at what we're doing now we'd probably be quite shocked wouldn't we I think we'd be like what that's not me. That's almost the same same thing. Yeah. Taking pictures. Taking pictures and dressing up kind of is the same but it looks different like I think when you're looking at it from the outside perspective it looks quite different so yeah. You happy with that answer? Yeah. I'm just gonna let the dogs out. Okay. They're gonna keep barking. I'll um answer a question that doesn't need you. These are all um couples questions there's one okay what are your top 10 dress brands um oh meet the dogs good dog hi Silas hi I just got to the dress question so oh yeah you coming up right okay top 10 dress brands um I don't actually buy that that many new dresses most of mine are secondhand and vintage um in terms of like new brands um I like uh little women how do you say this word it's a French word it's like atelier someone correct me I'm sorry um that might have just been like really crap pronunciation but they're called little women whatever that word is and they make really nice dresses that are inspired by little women the um storybook and they're just quite like classic and pretty and nice um cotton materials um but in terms of vintage dresses I collect Laura Ashley dresses from the 70s and they are always my favorite like I would always pick Laura Ashley over anything else I don't so much care for the model ones I think it uh the brand died when Laura Ashley died basically they shouldn't have carried on um apart from their sofas their sofa's good but their dresses are crap um as like a secondary to that question yeah what do you kind of look for in dresses um if you were to buy like new that's a good question I only wear like natural fabrics so like cotton and linen I'd say um and like I like micro prints rather than big bold prints so like this is a good example like lots of little flowers and old fabrics I love like liberty print stuff um and the thing I like about Laura Ashley is like she took a lot of her inspiration from National Trust wallpapers and things that were actually antique and she kind of like updated it and made it fashion um and I think that's what I liked about it so things that are inspired by antiques I guess and micro print prints and like floral patterns and big heavy fabric as well I could go on I should make a different video about this because some people won't care um next question do you plan on having any more dogs well two is more than enough we will have more dogs yeah probably different breeds but we're never gonna have more than two and I think we'll probably let these two ride out yeah so when these two cross over the rainbow bridge to the happy place then we'll get more dogs and I think we've decided next time um we'll probably try a different breed won't we yeah these two were Mona's choices because you met you met um the Cocoa Little Star yeah on a beach somewhere and I fell in love with the breed but you we were also looking at uh Salukis oh I love Salukis and Russian Wolfhounds whereas I kind of like traditional gundogs or spaniels and I want something between some of some of their like big dogs yeah I think we'll probably go next get one big dog I don't know how we're going to meet in the middle though because like a gundog is quite different to a Saluki I want like a little skinny wippy thing and you want like a big energetic loyal fierce maybe we'll get one of each if we're gonna have to they might get on what colors have you dyed your hair you want to start first you've got a shorter list than me oh me black when I was younger I had had it black with blonde bangs is that bangs it's different in America I think it's the side bits here were blonde I dyed my hair red and blue and that's about it and mine's pretty much every color apart from like green have I had green hair before yeah no you haven't no I don't I think that's probably it I think I've done every other color I think when I decide to um grow up and cut my hair yeah I probably do a Hail Mary go blonde like Australian kind of surfer blonde because you can risk the damage yeah then just cut it off when it doesn't work have you always lived in the country or have you ever been urbanites I'd say you pretty much grew up in the city really and I've never I lived in the city for like six months and I just couldn't cope with it so I moved back out again it's just too noisy and fast-paced and I don't like it at all I just don't cope in that environment I think you you can enjoy it can't you yeah but like for me it's absolutely essential to not be there it's just too overstimulating um so that's that what was one significant thing that made you fall for each other that's a really good question um you can go first okay um I don't know how to phrase it without being mean um when I met Aaron he had broken arm or your arm was in a sling I broke all my knuckles yeah um and when I first saw him he was in a shop and he turned around and knocked a big display of belts over with his cast and then you just looked at it and you just walked off and I just really loved that I feel like that was quite weird but I don't know it was just and like I thought you just I think you were like sort of looking at it like did anyone see that and nobody did and you just like edged away and you didn't think anyone was looking while I was looking and I think Mona always you still do you have these little bursts of energy which I've always really liked they're kind of like cute and bashful yeah and um just that you're quite into things you go into you know I mean like you're really passionate about this thing yeah like how you could have kept going on about what Ashley dresses thank you I feel like that's really meaningful and I was just like you had a broken arm and you fell over oh yeah but there's the other time when um we were walking down corn street and you were with your friend and I was with my friend and we walked past each other and what did you say um you don't remember we walked past each other we didn't know oh really you said something to me like I remember for ages I was kind of fell in love with you you I did a Forrest Gump quote once and I didn't know where the I didn't actually know where it was from and you thought I'd seen Forrest Gump I never had and I just used to go run Forrest Run all the time what was it you said so it's just like a silly yeah noughties meme and maybe you went like I was like she's the one yeah that was the thing actually like when we started going out when we were 15 we used to do that to each other all the time definitely don't do that anymore um what editing app do you use for your stories and pictures VSCO and Lightroom probably for both of us yeah I some yeah yeah no just VSCO and Lightroom yeah I love VSCO and actually if I'm using Lightroom I'll use the VSCO filters on there like try and imitate VSCO as much as I can I think we both pay for VSCO as well yeah so you can use it on video do you take inspiration from any particular historical period in your visits and style it's a really big question yes well it's kind of self-fulfilling right because we go to lots of old places yeah which are characteristic of certain areas yeah I think I really like medieval cottages and the cottage gardens that were for like um using um what's the right word um like they were essential to getting food and herbs and they weren't built to be pretty they were built to be utility yeah utilitarian like medieval cottages and gardens um I think I like basically any time period but I don't actually really like the Georgian era of like really big grand houses so um I don't like like Stourhead for example and I don't like really really big displays of wealth that are just about showing off I like small quirky um something that looks like lived in and used and fun and like it's maybe like hand-painted and just a bit like a reflection of the person who lives there not their money if that makes sense um so I'd say like probably medieval is my favourite in terms of houses in terms of clothes I like the 70s Victoriana revival best I would say um because I think like Victorian clothes themselves are a bit like you know like cinched in at the waist and like tight necks and quite restrictive but then in the 70s they were more like happy and free-flowing but with little bits of influence um so I'd say that's the fashion I like gothic yeah I like St. Tinsford has a gothic wall good answer um but in the whatever gothic architecture we've been to yeah not much apart from Tinsfield but like that like infamously I don't like thatched houses yeah Aaron hates thatched houses which is a shame because I really like them yeah they're nice I just don't like them yeah they're nice I just don't like them that's fair that's a fair comment I think that's a good answer but yeah like so get a normal roof yeah and on that note um what's something I should know about you as a new follower you go first they didn't follow me probably if you follow me follow me follow Aaron and then he'll give an answer to this why should they follow me or something interesting about you you're just a nice person I think there aren't many nice people Aaron is a genuinely nice person uh I think I tried to something I always tried to do for ages I was trying to get pictures that looked like paintings and we went we had a year we went to loads of museums yeah I remember just like really staring at the paintings and trying to get like a painting I don't think I ever really succeeded I think the first few of my pictures that I still have showing were like I saved the precepts and light room I was painting one yeah maybe you can go and tell me if you think this works but I'm now I'm trying to get like a kind of a dark aesthetic yeah um kind of atmospheric and kind of like you don't really know what's going on you kind of have to look deep into it in a word goth in a word and your Aaron's answer to everything is like yeah yeah maybe gothic we did a test run before this and I was like what's your favorite color and he was like black and for me something I should know about you um you've been to every good looking place or house in literally the south of England and a bit north so you're like an encyclopedia of every place I'm an encyclopedia of national trust houses I've been to every ridiculously good looking national trust house and even the ones you don't know yeah um I don't know I love gardening I like dogs uh oh god this is a hard question it's like the simple ones are always the most difficult it's the opposite of occam's razor or whatever it was um have you always been a good gardener no I don't I don't think you I've never saw you do anything garden related until we moved here yeah I think because I we had quite a big garden in the house that I grew up in but it was my mum's and then after my mum died we my dad had someone else look after the garden so I never really um did anything I don't know I just didn't have an entryway into it I guess and I don't think I ever expected to like gardening and then when we looked around this house I saw the garden and it all sort of made sense in my head I was like wow I could be into gardening and then I was and that's that do you both garden is another question I want to I want to do a bit more but I don't with my energy spikes I never seem to be able to get out at the same time as Mona and she I need to learn a lot from you yeah you you appreciate them though don't you like you like flowers yeah I can be a critic yeah there we go but um I do I do a bit of the building stuff and like planning that stuff out yeah and you help me with the heavy duty stuff but I can't build a polytunnel so Aaron does that for me I get into it we're looking to get an allotment plot here yeah and um that would be mine I'll just plant whatever I like yeah and learn maybe I just do all my learning in the allotment yeah to be fair I probably do gatekeep the garden quite a bit because I like things done a certain way well you were saying it's full there's nothing else yeah there's not much space now it's just weeding and maintenance and uh we need to move to like a big plot of land and make a new garden from scratch yeah go for it wherever you got to I'm just sort of there I'm not picking out the ones that I'm good to chat about oh I feel anxious without reading no carry on no I want to I want to feel anxious no it's okay you can do it I start with an easy one are you getting married this summer yes September we are next how is the cottage renovation going it's this is probably another video yeah I'd say we've just run out of money quite simply we've done downstairs and upstairs the things that we want to do are expensive so I don't think we'll do it because there's another question here that says how did you get to this point do you have money from previous current job it or is cottagecore lifestyle cheaper than I expected and it's kind of like that's a big question isn't it I mean I work yeah we both work full-time yeah let's not answer that because I think it's silly yeah let's go back to the it's not silly it's good question it's just it's how do you how do you describe that I mean it's like a mix of privilege and working and we're not super well off and the house was not I think it was quite an average priced house it's just because it was in a cheaper area that it's a bit bigger but yeah how's the cottage renovation going um yeah so we want to do the bathroom um but it's kind of like the person who decorated the cottage they did it quite recently maybe like seven years ago and they used a really high budget but the stuff they put in was super modern so it feels like if we make it how we want to we're tearing out like built-in kitchens and a really expensive bathroom just to put in something that's cobbled together and I can't make myself do it because I'm like this probably isn't our forever home and it's just not worth the investment so like we're kind of just painting and making it look more close to what we want but we don't want to be wasteful and because like let's be honest if we leave whoever moves here next is probably going to completely change anything everything anyway um but downstairs I know you don't really like it so much but I'm really really happy downstairs and I feel like when I come down the stairs I'm like ah this house is an extension of myself and I'm happy and I love this floor and I love the natural materials and the colors there's lots of little things we need to do like we need to do skirting all the way around the bottom where we've taken the floor away down to flagstones we've got like a six inch five inch gap where we need to just lower everything again like do some plastering and putting some skirting boards which we just haven't got around to doing or like having a lot of the money to do so yeah we still have lots of that to do yeah are you still doing the questions oh you can do it all right that lasted long didn't it um thanks for spreading info about autism I found out that I was autistic because of you that's so nice oh I really really love that thanks for sharing that yeah well done and actually that's a good point because I found out that I would need to stick through following other people as well and eventually getting diagnosed so I think it's really good when people talk about it and actually there's quite a lot of questions about autism I know um I will probably do another video on that one day um but we can touch lightly on it now um quickly though how long have you two been together uh since 2009 that's a good answer and you don't need to remember like how long it is I don't remember I gotta offload that math what year are we now 2021 it was January 2009 as well yeah a long time 13 years something like that what would you eat for breakfast on a Sunday when you've got time that's such a great question I love that question uh like a fry up a vegan fry up or I don't mind an egg like a vegetarian fry up like some corn sausages hash browns beans egg and now we've got we've got ducks we'll start laying in what 18 weeks no two weeks two weeks time yeah we'll have eggs from them soon yeah I love a fry up every I think I have a fry up every week at least on normal days we just have cereal you have a very strict breakfast routine oh my god yeah I eat the same thing every day if I did like a what I eat in a day video you could probably tell them like in advance what porridge in like an s shape you forgot the flax seeds and the flax seeds yeah two teaspoons of date syrup two teaspoons of flax seeds a handful of oats oat milk maybe a bit of cinnamon if I'm feeling adventurous not usually um and my phase before that was like peanut butter and um banana on toast but then I ate one banana that was like a little bit too firm and then I just never ate them again I was like this is my awful life this banana is like solid it's not soft what about you what's your breakfast at the moment I'm having country crisp yeah good old country and uh yeah some oat milk yeah or yeah when when we get the duck eggs I might have omelets again use up some of the veg you want to go whatever we end up with in the house at the time yeah but yeah I'm just more of a cereal cereal and coffee yeah Aaron doesn't like really toasted toast like if he has toast it has to be quite it's literally it's literally warm bread yeah and I'm the opposite if I have toast it has to be like almost burnt and then you have to wait for it to cool down before you put the butter on because I don't like melted butter I didn't just have a massive toast phase then you did because we got we got salted butter and I'd never had salt you had a lot of toast yeah favorite thing about being autistic that's a lovely question thank you um I think it's just like um it's kind of like thinking outside the box or not being afraid to like question norms so to put that in an example maybe like getting married is a good one so we were both like I personally don't really care much about having a wedding um and then we like we decided we compromise and have a small wedding and not do any traditions and stuff but I think that's easier when you're autistic you don't necessarily like care so much about doing the traditions um I guess yeah outside of the box thinking I expect I might be on the spectrum I don't know how to talk to my GP about it how did great question um I would make a list so like like as an autistic person you've probably done a lot of research which would be really helpful make a list on your phone of like things especially through childhood because they need a bit of evidence from childhood um so like traits that are indicators of autism and if you when you go to get diagnosed um if you're in England I don't know where you're from but there is a long waiting list so you might find that going private is easier but also like in the autistic community in the like neurodiversity movement people are very accepting of self-diagnosis and if that is a pathway that you can utilize I think that's a really good thing too and if anyone disagrees with you like that's on them so be yourself tell them about yourself and link it to what you know about autism and if anyone disagrees with you if you're sure about it just you can get a second opinion and you can make sure you're seeing someone who's actually listening to you because there's a lot of bias um and I would say as well like don't be afraid to join support groups on Facebook um or Instagram because nobody knows autistic people more than autistic people themselves and they're the ones that will help you feel supported in your journey who will look after your ducks if you go on vacation you want to answer I've limelight for a bit yeah probably our neighbor give you a really simple question we're looking after their greenhouse because they've been camping for the week and their chickens just they'll just pop over and their little boys will love the ducks anyway yeah they'll be into it I need to refresh this because we've run out there we go more questions would you like to have a cat I've had cats my whole life in my parents house and frankly no I would not like to forget how many how many cats have you had we've literally always had four cats for 24 years I lived there yeah so hold on eric abby jemima jinch no daisy that's the that's the original four yeah then we got jinch jasmine billy molly mindy that's all of them but yeah we've had those yeah I don't want any more cats cats are you know I'm enjoying having dogs so I'm having my dog face I hate cats I've had cats as well so I'm allowed to say that I think I like I always judge people when they're like yeah I hate dogs but they've never had one but I'm speaking from experience I just hate cats could you do this with a story about your dogs and how they came into your life I did quickly that but you can tell that whole story oh well it was just that I saw a dog like this on the beach and I I never normally talked to people and I was like I need to ask these people where that dog's from and in the end I asked my friend to do it because I was too shy and I don't like talking to people um so she went up and like asked some questions and I wrote it down and then found a local breeder we had to wait a little a little while she doesn't breed too many of them um and epi was like because our family dog passed away um and I was just like really grieving having a dog because I was um I think I was living on my own at that point like Chiara and dad had moved out and I didn't have a dog and you still lived at home and so I was just like I need I need this animal this one here just needed the noise it was yeah it's so quiet without a dog and and they get you out house and like they're just that they make you I was just talking about how good dogs are and Silas is just doing a poo under the camera oh Silas I'm so ashamed of you I'm not really I love him but he does poo a lot um yeah that's probably a sufficient answer isn't it epi was our first dog um and she is like very leave it leave it don't don't make this situation any worse my children are completely fine we're like yeah dogs are way superior to cats would a cat do that would a cat do that have you always lived in um in this village we live in now but I think there's an interesting story because of how you oh yeah pulled up yeah we we've always lived in like towns and villages like around Bristol and Bath um right now we're about we're about 20 minutes away from where I grew up yeah 40 minutes from where you grew up yeah um and the only reason that I know this place is because once um when I bought my Morris Minor I was quite anxious to drive it and I had to somewhere like nearby but doable um and sorry the dog's really distracting um I chose this place and I drove the car and parked it in the first place that I could find somewhere to park and I took photos of it and posted them on Instagram and then five years later maybe and we bought the house that I parked outside so in a roundabout way it kind of works doesn't it yeah like without thinking about it it's just we kind of realized that yeah when we when we came to view this house I was like oh my god it's the one that I parked outside of and uh it all worked out yeah a couple of people um firstly like would a duck get a pond probably not ducks are probably gonna have um a big bucket so that we can empty the water quickly enough because they're quite dirty so also like another question is what's the next garden project yeah I think so we have two ponds we have a pond right there yeah and the pond right at the top of the garden um the ducks will be able to go up and down the garden when we let them out yeah so they would be able to get to that top pond but the fence the fence isn't complete all the way up and down Silas right he's going inside in all right now the dog's back in we're gonna wrap up with a few questions starting with what do you love about Aaron the most um I love your kindness and your willingness to learn if someone like if someone talks to you about um a problem instead of just shutting down and being like no that's not a problem you'll take it on board and learn about it and then educate other I think that's rare in men to be honest how how and when do you know that the other person was the one well we did that is when I walked past her on quarantine I can't remember what you said so I guess I don't remember anymore yeah god you're so covered in I know Effie's definitely molting I need to brush her again um there's some really lovely questions thank you um and just nice comments as well um let's wrap up with I don't know wedding plan update you want to do that because that's kind of coming up how much are we saying don't reveal the location but anything else is fine and not the date either because it's a secret this is the suit I'm wearing yeah I'm trying it on now because I need to get pictures it's quite well yeah um you've got your dress sorted out I have yeah I don't know when it's arriving um but I need to take it to the seamstress but it is I've chosen it and it is on its way we've got flowers sorted out flowers we've got food we've got some um my friend's got a vegan afternoon tea business and she makes like she makes lunches and like um like pasties and oh she makes everything like good snacks and kind of yeah afternoon tea she's cool ah I can see her logo and her truck's called like daisy what's her what's her business called her name's kay and you can put a little card on I think maybe in the video okay live free kitchen and she's based like near bridgewater and she's got a pop-up a pop-up food van so if you're ever in like bridgewater area look for live free kitchen it's incredible she's doing food um we've not got many many guests have we like 16 guests yeah I found my family's really small it's just me my mum and my brother yeah and some of my family but not everyone can make it um and we don't know if there's like wedding restrictions of I think you're only allowed 30 at the moment I think it's up to 40 now but we're only having like 23 yeah I think I couldn't invite that many people if I wanted to like I just don't know that many um where we're getting married is really cool it's amazing it's maybe not what you'd expect yeah and the year it was built yeah is only three digits it's old it's really old was it 300 or was it 800 I can't remember one of those but yeah you is uh only three digits long not four digits like it's like um like ancient history isn't it you just don't think about those kind of numbers um and what else is there to say it's quite casual and quite informal and it's family only and basically what I wanted was for it to not give me a meltdown because every wedding I've been to I've had a meltdown so it needs to be like calm sensory friendly lots of outside time lots of breaks I'm probably not going to drink but you might drink but there's not going to be like a party afterwards not I don't think we'll have loud music we might just have a bit on in the background but it's like very casual it's kind of just like having the ceremony and then almost like having a picnic with our family in a really nice place which I think is really lovely because how often do you do a day out with your family where you spend like a few thousand because it's for in terms of wedding costs it's like not a lot but in terms of the day out with the family it is um so I think it would just be a really nice like kind of like celebration of us and our families and like just the essential like the core stuff no no frills you know yeah which is kind of like and we also kind of went in with it without we didn't really want it to be too focused on us if you could say like what's it well we didn't really want to have to entertain people yeah so basically entirely focused yeah that's why it's family only so we wanted it to be like you're coming to see us get married but then where we are means that the place is entertaining anyway so we don't have to do any extra labour in that sense so people will get entry to the place and be able to go off and enjoy themselves what I feel like describing it like that makes it sound like it's like Thorpe Park or something to be fair Thorpe Park would be a really nice place to get married they have really good gardens I wonder if it would probably cost a bomb though wouldn't it and it's not Thorpe Park but I that would be so fun if we were on don't tell the bride you could have done Thorpe Park we did actually apply to go on don't tell the bride at one point just because like the wedding isn't a massive deal to me and I'm quite happy with you choosing stuff I'm quite happy I'd be like I don't want it to be like sensory sensory overload and then I'd be like yeah Thorpe Park we're supposed to be wrapping this up yeah we're wrapping this up thanks for watching and thanks for your lovely questions it was very nice to talk to you and hopefully we'll do another one of these again soon and we'll give you more time to ask questions ciao for now thank you like comment and subscribe and everything bye