black bachelorette

I SAID “YES” TO MY DRESS!!!!!!!

Soooooooo after trying on over 30 dresses at 4 different bridal shops; I found my dress!!! I planned a bridesmaids trip to NYC a couple weekends ago; I did not intend on finding a dress, but low and behold, I did.

Initially, dress shopping was fun! I was excited to finally play dress up. I knew early on which style of dress I preferred, so that narrowed my options fairly quickly.

Before Sam proposed, I fell in love with Pronovias’ design. A bride that I followed chose a Pronovias gown for her big day and when I saw it on her, I had to have it. I ended up trying it on, but it wasn’t the one. But, I found the one at the Pronovias flagship store in New York. The stylist, Sam, (what a coincidence!) was super sweet and patient. The appointment ran over by about 30-ish minutes, because I couldn’t take the dress off!! Ughhhh I’m obsessed. STILL.

After multiple trips I learned a few things that every bride should consider.

1. Research the bridal salons to determine the style of dresses they carry and if its compatible with what you want. Every salon has a list of designers they carry which aligns with their price range and style. Research each salon’s social media and website prior to booking your appointment.

2. Book an appointment and book it early. 99% of salons are appointment only and each appointment is about 1.5 hours. Book as far in advance as you can.

3. Limit who you go shopping with: others’ opinions—especially their preferences —will sway your decision. My friends loved a dress similar to this one! Its more of their style, not mine, so I knew it wasn’t the dress for me.

4. Don’t rely on other peoples’ views of a dress to determine whether you like it.

5. Your reaction to your dress will differ from others! Just because other brides cry, doesn’t mean you will, and thats OK!

6. Be confident in what you like and what you don’t like. This goes back to my first point. If your friends like a style that you don’t, don’t cave because the dress might look great on you.

7. Its OK to “sleep on it.” I didn’t buy my dress right away, but I still knew that it was the one for me.

Enjoy it! This is supposed to be a fun time. This moment was bittersweet for many reasons, so I wasn’t 100% happy the entire time. But I was extremely happy when I tried on my dress and decided that its the one! AHHHHHH

Can’t wait to share pictures of the dress!

Whats happened since our engagement, six months ago

Sam proposed on April 11, 2019 in Venice, Italy. I was on a high the first few months—I didn’t really accept the fact that we were getting married until we hired our wedding planner. Now that we’re in the midst of planning, I figured I’d give a quick update on what we’ve done, and what we still have left to accomplish.

What we’ve done:

Hired a planner
Picked a date and booked our venue
Hired a photographer
Chosen our bridal party
Finalized our wedding colors

What we still have left to do:

Everything else.

Seriously, though—there is still SO MUCH LEFT to do. We’re getting married in Florida, so we’re planning from a far. Every trip home must be intentional, and we haven’t had a chance to take another visit since our last in September. We’ve done the “major things” so everything else will fall into place over time. Thankfully our planner has a time line for us and we’re keeping on track. I still feel like something missing. That just my nature though, I’m always worried about something.Heres what we plan to accomplish between now and January.

Take engagement photos (scheduled for Christmas break!)Publish our wedding websiteSend out save-the-datesBuy my wedding dress

I’m trying not to stress out over the process; but I genuinely feel like we’re running out of time. Deadlines are coming up quicker than expected and life in general is moving hella fast. Whew chillay. I’m still in awe that we’re planning a wedding and that I get to spend forever with my person. I’m forever grateful. Any of you who are in the process of planning a wedding or have planned your own! I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Proposal in Venice, Italy

I’m a pretty private person, so I debated on what I’d include in this post. I decided to keep it simple, and include a brief story and my favorite pictures from our proposal.

My Fiancé Sam and I decided to go to Italy for our annual spring trip. We spent five days traveling between Rome, Florence and Venice. Five days was not enough time, so we definitely plan to go back.

Everyone swore up and down that Sam would propose in Italy. I was convinced he would after we got back to Philly. I was wrong!