Wild We Travel: August 2018

Also, I'll put the highlight video I made of our whole time in the UK at the beginning of each post that includes Edinburgh, Alnwick, London and the Harry Potter Studio tour!!

After we were done in Paris we found a cheap flight to London so we could spend some time sight-seeing. Unfortunately we didn't have too much time to actually see the city because we booked a tour to go to the Warner Brothers Studios outside of the city to see where all the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Which has been on my bucket list since they opened the tours!! Also, we were in London ON THE SAME DAY AS THE ROYAL WEDDING!! Thank GOODNESS Harry+Megan got married at Windsor Castle because I don't think we could have even gotten down to Buckingham palace if that's where everyone was that day. But we DID get to walk down to Buckingham Palace and sit on the steps and take in the scenery for a while. We walked up and down the streets and eventually headed back to the train station to get on our bus for the tour!

Ok. Now. THEE HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR! What a freaking life event you guys. Friends come and go but Harry Potter has been there for me since 2nd grade hahahaha! I know every single line of the first movie by heart and most from the other movies as well. I've read the entire series about 4-5 times and the first book 6-7 times. You bet your BOTTOM I was at every movie premier at midnight dressed in my best Hogwarts attire. And I counted the days until each and every new book came out and read each one in a week if not in A DAY. I especially have a special memory of my Grandpa and I reading either the 6th or 7th book while we were both on vacation in Laguna Beach and literally devouring the story. I also remember being a very sad 2nd or 3rd grader, bawling my eyes out because I found out Hogwarts wasn't real, I wasn't getting a Hogwarts letter when I turned 11, and that magic wasn't real at all. Literal tears and heartache you guys. Tough stuff. BUT LET ME TELL YOU. This entire experience was the most magical thing I've ever experience in my life... wait... no it was more than magical, it was spiritual you guys. A spiritual experience filled with tears, chills and goosebumps.

What you have to understand is. This is the ACTUAL set. These are the ACTUAL props. And these are the ACTUAL costumes used in the movies. They had to destroy many of the sets that were made during the years that they filmed but they kept A TON of the sets to remain here forever for us potter heads to enjoy and pass out over. Also, the way you actually ENTER and START the studio tour was so incredibly emotional I was shook to the very core. I won't ruin it for you just in case you get the chance to come here I want it to be just as indescribable as it was for me. So here are some (ok a lot so sorry) of my fave photos from the tour!

(The entrance to the great hall. I touched it.)

(The smallest set during the entire series was the cupboard under the stairs.)

(Portrait of the fat lady omg)

(The invisibility cloak you guyyyyys)

(Dumbledores office)

(The mirror of Erised, which is "Desire" spelled backwards if you didn't already know that)

(All of the HORCRUXES)

(The mermaid egg from the 4th movie)

(TONS of little props including the sorcerer's stone, the time turner, the remembrall, the deluminator, the golden snitch, Rita Skeeter's journal, and so much more...)

(Snape's costume, RIP Alan Rickman)

(Hermione's Yule Ball Gown are you actually kidding me??)

(The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets)

(Enemies of the Heir Beware)

One of the most amazing things was walking into the last room and seeing the GIGANTIC model of Hogwarts that was used for tons of shots. They had the dramatic finale music playing from the movies and it was so emotional. It was so cool! I HIGHLY recommend this tour if you are a Harry Potter fan. It's something I will remember and obsess about for the rest of my life.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR EDINBURGH SCOTLAND POST

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR PARIS FRANCE POST

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR ALNWICK ENGLAND POST

(Where I shot the wedding I was flown out to do!)

I decided to split up our UK/Paris trip into multiple posts because I have SO many pictures and they won't load if there are too many photos in one post! Links to the other posts are at the bottom of the page. So here is part one about our time in ALNWICK ENGLAND

Also, I'll put the highlight video I made of our whole time in the UK at the beginning of each post that includes Edinburgh, Alnwick, London and the Harry Potter Studio tour!!

The town of Alnwick, aka the cutest most incredible little village Tyler and I have ever seen. Granted, this was Tyler and I's first time to the UK/Europe so we haven't seen too much in our years ha ha but OH MY GOODNESS. This little town has our hearts forever. Tyler said multiple times during our stay here that he would love to come back again and again. It's the perfect place to unwind and really soak in some much needed peace and quiet.

The drive from Edinburgh to Alnwick was exactly how I pictured the English countryside to look. Rolling green hills filled with sheep. Flower fields and black cliffs with the ocean below them. Everything looked like it was straight out of a postcard and Tyler and I kept shaking our heads and freaking out about how beautiful everything was. And it was SO GREEN. Spring was definitely the perfect time to visit. I also had to drive on the RIGHT side of the car in the LEFT lane for the first time in my life. It was horrifying and my knuckles were white the entire time. Not to mention that the guy at the rental car place liked us so much that he ended up upgrading us to a MERCEDES BENZ!!! Which in any other situation would be a good thing but NOT THIS TIME! I was so scared to tell him I've never driven on the other side of the road before because I was afraid they wouldn't let me rent a car or something so we just accepted the freaking upgrade and I had mini-panic attacks the entire time ha ha ha ha!! I actually did way better than I thought I would at driving on the other side of the road. And I didn't get in any accidents in the benz so that's a relief. Turning that car in at the end of our trip was seriously the biggest relief of my life though.

Much like Edinburgh, the houses, buildings and streets are all made of various stone with colorful little doorways and flower boxes scattered throughout the village. The people were very friendly to us here and gave us lots of recommendations for what to do and see. Especially the owners of our little bed and breakfast which was INCREDIBLE. Our room was decorated beautifully with the perfect view of the main street. Our hosts were SO friendly and made us a HUGE english breakfast each morning. I'm talking about the entire spread: Sausage, eggs, toast, tomatoes, beans, bacon (which is more like a canadian bacon/ham over there) and much more including black pudding. I already knew what black pudding was so I convinced Tyler to try it since he didn't know what it was and he ate the WHOLE thing. He actually didn't mind it at all! I tried it, but I didn't like the taste of it too much (Black pudding is a type of blood sausage originating in Great Britain and Ireland. It is made from pork blood, pork fat or beef suet and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats or barley groats) But I have a motto that you can't diss something until you try it. You have to try things at least once because you never know what you'll be missing!!

We spent the first day there exploring the town and eating the best ice-cream EVER that was made out of caramel and actual pieces of honeycomb. We explored GIANT bookstore that used to be the train station but was transformed into the coolest bookstore I have ever seen that went on and on and on. Rows of books and reading areas with tons of quotes, a cafe and hundreds of first edition copies and books that looked so old I was scared to get too close. We ate at the local pub and I ate THE BEST FISH AND CHIPS. It was so good I wish I could eat it right now as I'm writing this. The bartender knew everyone that walked into the pub and you could tell it was a place where everyone knew everyone else.

THE WEDDING!!

So the entire reason we flew out to the UK was to shoot a wedding! My bride's family was from there and had also lived in the Scottish highlands. All the men in the wedding party wore full blown Scottish attire down to the kilts and daggers that were held in their socks. It was a two-day event and we started off the first day heading to the oldest little church out in the country for the actual ceremony. It was incredible because her parents, grand-parents and great grandparents had all gotten married at this church and now it was their turn! So much history and sentimental memories! One of my favorite things about this church was the fact that the grounds were pretty much a gigantic cemetery with old headstones and the greenest grass and trees. Inside of the church was small but beautiful with light pouring in from the windows. It was a perfect ceremony and we all rode back afterwards to the cottage they were getting ready at in the morning.

The following day was the reception at ALNWICK CASTLE. THE ACTUAL CASLTE THAT PARTS OF THE FIRST TWO HARRY POTTER FILMS WERE SHOT AT. You know those quidditch and flying lesson scenes? HERE. You know those scenes where the three of them are running to chat with Hagrid? HERE. I have never nerded out so much in my life (except for the actual Harry Potter Studio tour but that's a whole other post ha ha ha). It was such a gorgeous castle with grounds that stretched for miles. Beautiful towers, drawbridges, gates, archways, and more! It was everything and anything I could have dreamed of. There were views of rolling green hills filled with flowers, trees and sheep. A beautiful river and blossoming trees. It was an absolute dream! Photographing my couple around the grounds and later their reception in the reception hall filled with windows next to a pretty courtyard was once again... MAGICAL. Also, the ENTIRE wedding party did a "Broomstick flying lesson" with professors dressed up and everything! It was hysterical and seriously so much fun! We partied it up with the live band and when Tyler and I were walking back to our bed and breakfast after the wedding, I shed a few tears because of how incredible the whole experience was.