Harry's Blog

Sunday saw Jo and I hit a milestone, though not one that Hallmark makes a card for. November 18th marked our relationship as five months old, yes just five months since our first nervous date in The Porcupine near Leicester Square.

Just seven weeks after that we got engaged. That took an awful lot of patience on our part - for everyone it must have seem imprudently swift, for us it had taken weeks of holding off.

At the time it didn't seem too quick, but when we were talking about it the other day we both laughed about how quick it was. What a pair of mad impetuous things we are.

I was just talking to Alex about this today and I asked him if he was worried about me when Jo and I got engaged. He said he was but wasn't now. What made the difference, I asked? "Four and a half months," he replied.

It could have all gone horribly wrong. Instead though it's gone wonderfully right. Here we are five months after our first date and already we've formed a wonderfully happy family unit. We're learning to be parents together - both from the same time really.

For our friends and family it is five months, but for Jo and I it seems a whole lot longer. Not only were we blessed with each other, but we were blessed with the feeling that time has stood still for us and allowed us to experience what seems like years in each other's company while everyone else thinks it is a short space of time.

The next week or so sees us hit a few more important dates along the way. Tomorrow Jo is going to collect her wedding dress, the dress that makes her feel like the beautiful princess I see for myself every day. Next week her brother gets married and we get to go to a wedding together for the first time.

And a few days before that we celebrate a birthday for the first time together - mine. Poor Jo, she had the bad luck to meet me a week or so after her birthday and I've been trying to make it up to her with flowers and little presents ever since.

Soon we've got our first Christmas together, well at least our first Christmas as a couple. Marrying into the clergy means you can't ever expect a real Christmas together, but at least we're getting a week's holiday to put things right afterwards.

Following Christmas I think we'll feel like we're on the drop of a rollercoaster having spent these past few months climbing that first hill. By the time of my sister's birthday on the epiphany it will be just less than three months until our wedding day.

The preparations at this stage remain remarkably stress free. Some things are on hold for the moment - we want to see the photography and flowers at Jo's brother's wedding to give us some ideas. But I need to sort out the music for the reception and we're still undecided about the alcohol arrangements for the reception too.

We booked the honeymoon this week though. Two whole weeks in a gorgeous little cottage in North Cornwall. One week without the munchkins and the second week with them. And before then a couple of luxurious nights in a swanky London hotel - which reminds me I should really get on and book that.

I suppose this is a post without any real point other than to say that I'm rather blissfully happy thanks. How could I be any different? I have the love of the most amazing girl, we have two beautiful happy children and I've been welcomed with open arms into a wonderful new family - what a great way to end the year.