Happy Wednesday, y’all! I’m so excited to be writing the second part of the wedding planning Q&A! Y’all sent in so many great questions and also decided you wanted to hear more about our flowers and that process. So, let’s start there!

WHAT WAS THE FLORAL PROCESS LIKE & WHAT DID YOU DECIDE ON?

While I don’t want to share our exact choices, I’ve added some inspiration pictures we used when planning with our florist! The wedding’s theme is “garden party.” We initially wanted to have an outdoor wedding and truly be in a garden, but through several decisions and factors we changed our venue indoors and I’m so glad we did! Once we had decided on indoors, we had to come up with a way to bring the garden inside. See some of the pictures below!

The overall process was amazing! We met with a few florists and some of them just couldn’t capture my vision and bring it to life. Everything was beautiful, but wasn’t quite right. We then met with Wayne (I’ll be sharing vendors and everything after the wedding!) and he instantly knew what I wanted and made it even better! First, we chatted about color scheme (we’re doing mainly white flowers with greenery and touches of navy and gold), and Wayne helped identify the flowers that fit this scheme and then the shape we were looking for. I am so excited about what we picked out and how it is all going to come together!

Hot tip: some of the flowers I chose don’t do the best in warm weather and can start to wilt pretty quickly. Wayne suggested using some silk flowers of those species so they would last all day. Y’all, I couldn’t even tell they weren’t real. And this is a good way to save on the budget since silk flowers can be much cheaper than real!

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST STRESS SO FAR?

I think the hardest thing so far is planning from afar. We’ve been traveling to Kentucky every so often to get details planned, meet with vendors and get everything accomplished. While the planning itself hasn’t been to bad (blessed for my mother and mother in law for helping so much in Louisville), whenever we go to Louisville it has been wedding. wedding. wedding. Our weekends there are jam packed with meetings and planning that we’ve been missing out on family time and honestly, just relaxing. We then head back to Chicago and get back into work mode so there hasn’t been much down time.

Other than that I would say just keeping track of all your vendors and details. Cannot recommend a planner and wedding binder enough. Two of my bridesmaids were kind enough to gift me those when we got engaged and they’ve been so helpful!

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO FIND YOUR DRESS?

Not too long! I first went shopping in Louisville and found a dress I liked, but wanted to shop in Chicago since the selection here is so much larger. We made a day of it and my mom and Kollin’s mom came up for a weekend. We started out at the first appointment and found a dress that we all loved, but for some reason I just didn’t feel like me. The dress was beautiful and honestly exactly what I had described that I wanted, but something felt off. We had another appointment later that day at Bella Bianca Bridal Couture so I thought maybe we’ll find something else there.

We were nearing the end of the second appointment and I had tried on some beautiful dresses, but the saying of you’ll know when you know couldn’t be more true. At this point I had probably tried on 12-15 dresses total. One of the sales associates had been listening to me describe what I was looking for and with only 10 minutes left in our appointment (they were busy!) he said, “I know the dress!” He disappeared for a few minutes and came back with the most beautiful dress.

I tried it on and went out to show my mom and Kollin’s mom. Inside I knew this was the one, but my mom had a few reservations about the top. We talked through alterations with the associates and they could do the changes we wanted and I thought, ok this is the one! Since we didn’t have much time left, I said we’d think it over and come back. The associate said, “Just one more thing! Come over here,” and led me to the front of the salon. She came back with a bouquet and veil. As soon as I turned around and looked into the mirror the tears started flowing from everyone and we knew we found it. It was such a special moment!

ARE YOU DOING A FIRST LOOK?

We are! At first, Kollin wanted to see me for the first time at the church as I walked down the aisle and the more we talked about it with our photographers and family, the more we wanted to do one. Not only is it such a special moment to capture on camera, but every bride I’ve talked to has said to find time to spend with your husband that day. We both can get pretty emotional and know we will be on that day, so we knew that we wanted that private moment.

This also helps get so many pictures out of the way ahead of the wedding so we can truly enjoy our time with family and guests.

FAVORITE PART OF THE PROCESS SO FAR?

Tough question! It’s been fun and stressful and a lot of other adjectives, but I’d say the cake tasting was one of my favorite experiences! Even though it was one of the simpler meetings we’ve been in, Kollin was so excited for it and that made me so excited. He LOVES food and the menu and cake were some of the only things he requested to be particular about. We met with the bakery and they created the cutest little tier of cakes and frosting for us to try. We sat there with our moms and just talked about flavors, laughed and completely enjoyed the moment.

I think every bride thinks about their favorite part of planning and there are the material things of the dress or shoes or flowers, but it has been the experience for us. Our entire family is SO EXCITED about this (we are both the first of our siblings to get married) and sharing those moments has been amazing.

WHAT DID YOU REGISTER FOR AND WHERE?

Kollin and I have lived together for four years now so we have accumulated a lot since moving in together. Most of our registry is for updating what we already have or finding pieces that will last us for years to come. We registered at Crate and Barrel, Williams & Sonoma, Bed Bath and Beyond and Pampered Chef. I personally loved registering and building the aesthetic and list of items we wanted! I’d say the majority of our items are kitchen, dining and bedding / bath products.

ARE YOU TAKING A HONEYMOON?

Yes! Kollin and I are so excited to be heading somewhere in Europe a few days after the wedding! I’ll share once we get there, but it is a place that we have both wanted to travel for so long!

Hot tip: if you can use a travel agent! This made our planning so much easier! We did some research on our own of what cities and towns we wanted to travel to and what sites we wanted to see and then shared that with the travel agent. She then put together an itinerary for us with all the travel and lodging details. Happy to share our agent if you’re looking, just send me an email!

WHAT DO YOU HAVE LEFT TO DO?

We are 108 days out (ahhh!) and we have pretty much everything accomplished! All of the big details regarding the venue, catering, rentals and vendors is done and we are just planning some smaller details. We’re finalizing our DJ, transportation, day of timeline and sending out invitations in the next few weeks. From there, we are meeting with our coordinator and vendors for a walk through of the venue and to tie up and loose ends. I then have my bridal fittings, bachelorette and bachelor parties, showers, and hair and makeup trials. Typing it out sounds like a lot haha, but my list of to-dos is definitely decreasing!

Thank y’all so much for sending in questions and sharing this journey with us! If you have further questions or are a bride wanting to chat, I’d be happy to help!