Can we talk about how cute this stoop was at Stowe Mountain Lodge?! The whole hotel was outfitted in mums, pumpkins and all things fall. So we immediately knew we were going to use it as a picture opportunity! Basic? Maybe. But I'm not apologizing for it. The color of this sweater gives me all the fall feels, ya'll! I have a serious thing for deep Burgundy's and Bordeaux's during the autumn months, so when I came across this sweater it immediately caught my eye! It was super chilly in Vermont, and much cooler than their normal temperatures at this time of year. So, layers were key! I bought this blanket scarf during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale a few months ago, and unfortunately it's sold out! Good news is that blanket scarves are everywhere this time of year and you can usually find something very similar! I've also had tons of questions from Instagram Stories about my statement ring. This is a new arrival for the season, and comes in a few different stone colors as well. Highly reccommend it!
This was such a fun weekend for Bailey and I! We didn't want to leave. However, all good things must come to an end at some point, right? Speaking of traveling, Shane and I are headed to New York tomorrow to spend some time with his family. They are hosting a shower for us on Saturday, and I hear the fall foliage is nearing it's prime! Perfect timing.
87 days, 13 hours, 57 minutes, and 35 seconds until we say "I do"! Where has the time gone?! As we head into the last quarter of our engagement, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on what we accomplished in Q3.
This phase was filled full of lots of ups and downs, and honestly felt somewhat like an emotional rollercoaster for me. At the very end of June, I was forced to make a decision regarding my wedding party that I honestly never thought I was going to have to make. Everybody hears stories about bridesmaid drama, and after talking to several brides past and present - it's almost inevitable. Bridesmaids are typically like family to you, and families fight. With that being said, this situation wasn't exactly an ordinary situation where you can choose your battles wisely, I'll spare you the not-so glamorous details, but it severed the relationship between my bestfriend and I for good. (Click here for a great article by Wedding Wire on how to avoid bridesmaid drama)
Time heals everything. It took me awhile to overcome the wealth of emotions that came along with this ordeal before I got back on track with planning. So, the months of July and August felt like we really didn't do much towards planning this thing. However, I think anyone who has a year or longer engagement experienes this "lull"(outside of my personal debacle) where you feel like you should be doing something, but you're not. You've planned all the important stuff like the venue, photographer, save the dates etc. but it's not time to send invitations or start working on little details yet (click here for 10 ways to make the best of a wedding planning lull). With that being said, September rolled around and we went 0 to 60 overnight. Here's what we accomplished:
THE HONEYMOON
We are super excited to spend two weeks on our honeymoon in Hawaii! We will spend 5 days at the Four Seasons, and then move on to a Marriott property. While we have booked our flights, and our hotel, we haven't booked anything in terms of excursions, spa treatments, food etc. So if you have any reccommendations, please leave them below as we need all the reccommendations we can get! (Click here for helpful Honeymoon Tips & Ideas)
ORDERED INVITATIONS
Like our Save The Dates, we ordered our invitations through Minted as well! This was actually a really overwhelming process for me. I feel like this isn't dubbed a "stressful" part of planning by most, but my head was spinning in all different directions trying to make sure I picked a cohesive suite. I didn't want our entire suite to match perfectly, I liked the idea of picking designs from different designers that looked nice next to each other when all laid out together, but not "matchy matchy." This proved to be more difficult than I anticipated, but I'm really happy with the end result. Because our wedding is black-tie invited, we chose a white invitation, with black lettering, and gold foil. All three pieces are also wrapped by Minted's new Belly Band option to keep them put inside the envelope! I loved the idea of adding a Belly Band because it gave the white invitations a nice pop of color as well! We plan to send these out in the next two weeks.
BRIDAL SHOWER
I wasn't kidding when I said we went 0 to 60 this month! My MOH (my sister), and my mom threw my bridal shower in September! We chose to have the bridal shower at my house instead of renting a venue or having it at a restaurant. The theme was brunch and bubbly, and it was everything I wanted! If you know me, you know brunch is my favorite meal of the day so this was only appropriate and I ate my little heart out. Nothing like moms cooking!
REFINING THE BUDGET
We have spent a good portion of September looking at our budget and refiing our wants vs. needs. I've learned that this can be a really discouraging process! We are paying for most of the wedding ourselves, and we do not want to enter our marriage with debt attached to our names, so keeping all of our wants within the budget has been testing. I think my biggest piece of advice here would be to remember that your wedding day is soley about you and your groom. You are celebrating the unity of two people becoming one, and that can be done sans all the bells and whistles. We asked all of our married friends for one thing they couldn't have lived without on their wedding day, and one thing they could've lived without. Almost everybody said they couldn't have lived without the videographer, and that they could've lived without the wealth of flowers and minute details they didn't even notice. This was an interesting excercise that I highly reccommend trying if you're planning your own wedding! (Click here for 10 ways to avoid going over your budget)
"GETAWAY" TRANSPORTATION
Everything about our wedding is classic and elegant. Being that it's on New Years Eve, I invisioned a vintage getaway car. With that being said, we chose an old school Rolls Royce as our exit vehicle from AWC Limo in Charleston. (Click here to find transportation vendors reccommended in your area).
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I am so pumped to share this outfit with ya'll! Most of you know by now that I am getting married in three months, and if you follow me on social media you are also probably aware that I recently had my bridal shower! About a month before the shower, I still didn't have an idea of what I wanted to wear. But lucky for me, a little boutique by the name of Morning Lavender happened to reach out to chat about their brand and The Cheeky Been! I'm an online shopper, I hate crowds and the mall gives me anxiety, so anytime I can find a boutique online that fits my style its a good day!
With that being said, I hopped around their website for a little bit and just completely fell in love with this ensemble for my shower! If I wasn't getting married, and didn't have the shower on my mind, I still would've fell in love with the outfit but for a different purpose. The timing just happened to be perfect with the bridal shower coming up! The lace crop top is see-through, so I chose to wear this Free People bralette underneath it. I wanted the top to look elegant, but still keep its "sultry" side with the lace, so a bralette worked out perfectly. I'm wearing a small in it, and it fits true to size! It also comes in a few different colors which you can find here. I'm also a sucker for anything maxi length, my legs aren't my favorite attribute so a maxi length skirt or dress is flattering and practical. I absolutely loved the blush color skirt paired with the white top for a soft "bridal" look, but like the top the skirt also comes in a few color options here. The other thing about this outfit that's worth mentioning is that it's affordable! I like to call that a win win.
Hope everyone had a great weekend! Quick personal update. I am beginning to feel extremely overwhelmed between work, wedding planning, working out 5 days a week, blogging, and all things outside of that! I know I've been MIA a little here, but bare with me as I walk through this crazy last few months! And if ya'll have any advice on how to juggle all these things, or organize/prioritize these last few months of wedding planning - please send me a message and let me know! I'm all ears.
I'm sitting here watching a benefit for Hurricane relief on television, and I can't help but reminisce on my days in Florida! I know that feeling all too well, and I pray for peace, comfort, and solice for those affected.
It's really starting to feel like fall around Charlotte! The temperatures have been in the 50's and 60's the last few days, PSL's are back in season, and football is wide open! Give me all the fall feels, please. Anyway, I threw this outfit on to run errands around town in last weekend and it was perfect for the cooler air. Green is my favorite color, so anytime an item comes in that color options you can bet that's the one I'm buying! However, this $49 comes in four colors and my jeans are from last season, but still available here for $88. I swear by these jeans, and honestly refuse to buy another pair until these become unavailable because they're just that good. The distressing on them is perfect, they have lycra in them, and they fit like a glove! What more do you need in a pair of white jeans?
We have a busy week this week! I started a 10 week challenge with Hilliard Studio Method in Charlotte, and need to take 40 classes over the course of that timeframe along with not eating sugar! This has proven to be more difficult than anticipated, so I'll keep you guys posted on how that's going along the way! Outside of that, my mom is coming to town tomorrow for my bridal shower! I'm looking forward to seeing all my favorite girls in one place this weekend.
With the start of football season on the horizon, I knew it was time to keep my eyes peeled for some good Clemson colored outfits. If you've ever been to a game there, you know a jersey is not acceptable. So this is where I set out to wear this outfit too, until we planned a last minute Asheville trip and I needed something to wear, oops.
How dreamy is the color of this romper though? It screams fall to me! If plum just isn't your jam, it also comes in black here. I traditionally gravitate towards wrap dresses, but this is my first wrap romper and I'm a fan! It fits true to size, I ordered up a size to a Medium for added length - but it actually ended up being a little big so I would've been fine with a small. I also really like the ruffle sleeves and scalloped shorts, it just adds a little touch of femininity. Not to mention, you can't beat the quality for under $50! My clutch is a knockoff of a designer version, but it replicates it almost identically and is only $36! I highly reccommend this as a staple item for fall!
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend! We just got back from Charleston where we rented a house on the beach with a few other couples. We finally got to bring Titan on vacation with us which was fun! It was his first time ever on a beach, too! Things just keep getting busier for us from here. We have lots of exciting celebrations coming up, and while I'm looking forward to all the festivities, I'm also feeling a little overwhelmed with life!
27 days, 1 hour, and 24 minutes till... fall ya'll!! But whose counting? Haha. I'm over the heat, and enjoying the cooler mornings we are having here this weekend! I've got my fall colors lined up and this silk camisole is giving me all the feels! We went out to dinner last week and I wore this top and jeans for the occasion. I talked about my jeans in my previous blogpost, you can find it here if you missed it, but they are a "must-have" in the denim department. I've had a few people ask me about styling certain staple items different ways, and these are easily styled a million times over again! I actually think my Instagram feed is 50% these jeans at the moment, haha. My top is perfect for transitioning into fall! I love the color of it, and am contemplating buying the burgundy one too. In my opinion, you can never have too many pretty camis to layer underneath things. I also just picked up this one, (size up one size), the silk/lace trend is really catching my eye right now!
I spent the morning bridesmaid dress shopping with my girlfriend, Alex! She's getting married in Charleston as well! Other than that, this weekend consists of running errands, cleaning up the house, and as always - football for the hubby to be.
