Hey y’all! We are moving into full-on wedding season and with 2020 being the year most weddings were pushed, 2021 is the year of the weddings! Personally, we have 4 already scheduled and I’m sure there will be a couple more to follow. As silly as it may sound, finding white looks for all the wedding events was one of the more stressful parts of planning for me. I wanted each look to be a moment and something I would look back at and remember exactly the event I wore it to. I got pretty lucky finding mostly affordable dresses for my events, but it took a lot of time and effort in terms of research to find the right ones.

That experience prompted me to put together the master white dress edit for all my brides-to-be! Ranging from shower dresses, jumpsuits and bachelorette party outfits there is something for any event you might need! If it isn’t here please fill me in and I will happily add a category for you and help you shop! I tried my best to keep things affordable, but when it comes to some events, especially if black tie or formal, there are a couple pieces here that are on the higher side. I’ve also included accessories and fun add on items at the bottom of the post.

Showers & Brunch Looks

Rehearsal Dinner

Honeymoon Looks

Bachelorette

Swimsuits & Coverups

ACCESSORIES & FUN ADD-ONS

All Looks

Well y’all, we’re married! The past month or so has been such a whirlwind and complete dream. Our wedding and honeymoon exceeded all of our expectations and I’m happy to share as many details or as little details as y’all would like me to regarding the planning, the day of, honeymoon, etc. I seemed to have great feedback from #TheWeddingEdit thus far and was going to continue if only for the reason to give my amazing team of vendors the credit they so deserve.

If there was one part of the process that I was so excited about, but was surprised how it all went down it was my dress. I had been in a few weddings prior to selecting my dress and witnessed brides going through the dress process so I thought I knew what to expect. I was never really the girl who envisioned her wedding from the time she was a little girl, but I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted. Growing up Catholic, many of visions I had of what I would be wearing included a train and long veil at the minimum, both of which I ended up with, but the path there was interesting.

My mom and I started dress shopping in September 2017, a few months after Kollin and I got engaged. We still hadn’t decided to get married in KY or Chicago yet, but since it was easier for us to travel to KY I started the process there. We went to a store on a Saturday morning and y’all - I hated white, I hated Ivory, I was not feeling the bridal fever. To be completely honest, it was discouraging to not like a lot of what I thought I would. What I learned was that just because it looks beautiful on Pinterest with mega editing and a gorgeous model doesn’t mean it will translate well to #RealLife. I initially envisioned myself in sleeves, lace and something with a touch of glam. As y’all now know, I didn’t go that route.

We ended up leaving that first appointment and I “liked” one of the dresses I tried on, but I also had the new found knowledge that I wasn’t loving bridal white. A few months passed and by that time we had decided that the wedding would be in Kentucky. I kept looking at KY bridal boutiques, but they weren’t carrying the designers I was hoping to try on. I also didn’t want to have a dress that so many other brides were getting (this became a thing when we were looking in Kentucky. Thankfully the sales women were very honest with me about that and let me know that some of the dresses I had on had been purchased 12 times that year already…). That’s when we decided to take the adventure to Chicago.

I made appointments at two bridal salons in Chicago the weekend of Kollin’s graduation from law school (eventful weekend lol) so that his mom and my mom could both attend. The first appointment we went to had some amazing dresses and both moms thought we found THE ONE. It was beautiful and pretty much everything I was looking for at that point, but for some reason I wasn’t as excited as they were. I thought maybe it was the nerves or the pressure of feeling like I needed to have their approval, but something was off. I didn’t feel like myself. I knew on your wedding day you looked probably the most “done up” you probably ever will, but the dress wasn’t making ME feel that way and if there was one thing I wanted to feel like on my wedding day, it’s myself. We headed to the next appointment at Bella Bianca Bridal Couture and started pulling dresses. We went through maybe 5-7 dresses, all couture and all gorgeous, but nothing was “the one.” My sales associate mentioned that the appointment was coming to a close and that we could book another appointment to keep looking another weekend. I felt pretty discouraged as we had made a whole weekend out of it and I didn’t find the one. As I was about to make my way back to the dressing room, another sales associate who had been working reception during my appointment (right next to where I was) and had overheard our conversations said, “I have your dress. I know exactly your dress.” So, obviously I said ok let’s try it on!

He said, “it arrived yesterday and hasn’t been tried on by anyone in Chicago yet.” My ears perked up and I couldn’t wait to see it. I went back to the dressing room and waited for them to bring the dress in. Still packed in it’s shipping garment bag, I was immediately intrigued. My sales associate pulled out the most gorgeous, iridescent, blush gown I have ever seen. Considered a ball gown, I was wondering how I would feel in it as I didn’t care for the other ball gowns I had tried on. I put it on, LOVED it, but no tears. This is the closest I felt to the one, but something was a little off. I walked out to the salon hoping my mom and Kollin’s would love it as much as I did. Their faces weren’t exactly faces of “omg that is your dress!” but they said they liked it. Tired from a long day, the price tag didn’t add to the excitement. In my mind, it was time to go home and call it a day.

My amazing sales associate could tell I loved the dress and was talking up all of the points I had mentioned in the dressing room (y’all she was amazing and so helpful). While we all came around to loving it, my mom had concerns about the U-shaped neckline. It was very unique, but didn’t fit my silhouette or style as much as we thought a V-neck would. With even more time running out of our appointment I said we could come back and try it on again another time. My sales associate wasn’t having it. She transitioned her next appointment to another sales girl and brought up alterations to discuss our options (see what I mean about her being awesome?)

After confirming we could change the neckline, I could tell my mom was coming around. My sales associate had one more trick up her sleeve to seal the deal and y’all it was the kicker. She said, “You have to see this dress in natural light and we have to add a veil.” We moved to the front of the store that had a bunch of windows and she put a veil on me. I definitely looked the part, but still no tears. Where are all these #YesToTheDress tear moments and why wasn’t I having one!? Maybe it wasn’t the one…

She slipped away for a minute and came back with a silk bouquet. I thought “wow such a small detail won’t matter.” Boy was I wrong. I took the bouquet and turned around to face the mirror and completely lost it. Like Kim K ugly cry lost it. It was the one. I envisioned myself marrying Kollin in that dress and then Kollin’s mom lost it when I said that so we all cried and knew we found it.

I ended up choosing a Lazaro gown in the color Sherbert. I went home to get ready for Kollin’s graduation party and wanted to show everyone, even Kollin but he wouldn’t let me of course. The more I looked at pictures and videos the more and more I loved the dress. Since Lazaro makes each dress to order, it would take 6-8 months for the dress to arrive in Chicago. With my neckline alterations, which still had to be approved by Lazaro himself (#NoPressure), it could take even longer. By that time we would only be 6 months prior to the wedding.

March 15th was the expected delivery and it came and went. April also came and went and we learned that the first time that the new bodice was completed Lazaro was unhappy with it so the entire thing had to be made again. Enter stress mode. My dress finally arrived from Italy in May and y’all it was a dream. Still too big and needing alterations, the bodice and my small chested frame weren’t getting a long. Everyone reassured me that it would be fine and that they have to order it larger to take it in and it would fit me perfectly after alterations. I wasn’t feeling super confident, but I put it out of my mind and waited until my alterations appointments in August.

If you are still here, bless you we are almost there!

August came and I could not wait to try my dress on again. I slipped it on and it fit much better, but it was still a lot of dress. We shortened it quite a bit, took the bodice in more, added cups and took the straps up again. At my second fitting, my mom tagged a long to see the major changes as she had only seen pictures at this point and the seamstress started pinning for bustling. With the dress still needing shortening and a lot of tulle to account for, the bustle looked kind of a mess to be totally honest. The seamstress reassured us that it was because the length and sizing were still not done and it would look completely different once finished. My mom wasn’t thrilled and realized that she wouldn’t see the dress again until the wedding. We went to dinner and she contemplated booking another flight up prior to the wedding to make sure it was perfect. I told her I could handle it and to just have faith that Bella Bianca would make it amazing. I came back for my final fitting and it was perfect. The bodice fit like a glove, the skirt was the perfect length and the bustle was significantly smaller than at the last appointment. All I needed to do was to have faith in the amazing dress and seamstresses that Bella Bianca provided and know it would work out.

With two weeks until wedding day, Kollin picked up the dress (LOL) - the Bella Bianca team FaceTimed me to show me the dress to ensure it was the same one and walk me through what they had done and then wrapped it so Kollin would have basically had to rip through the Fort Knox version of garment bags to see it. He didn’t even want to though! We left for Kentucky the following weekend and the dress took up basically the entire back of our car haha.

Once I put it all on again on wedding day everything came into place. I felt so much like myself, but the glittery, ball gown, bridal extravaganza version and am so thankful for the amazing experience I had with the Bella Bianca and Lazaro team. I’ll be sure to share more once our pictures come in, but wanted to share the BTS and process portion of finding the perfect dress!

Happy Thursday y’all! It has been a whirlwind summer getting ready for this wedding! Between meetings, planning and a million emails, we’re only 44 days away! I was so excited to head to my bachelorette party in Palm Coast, FL for some much needed relaxation with girlfriends!

My grandma was so kind to let us use their Florida home for the weekend and everything was booked and ready to go! Last week felt so long waiting for Thursday to arrive and when it finally did, bad news hit. My flight was delayed. A girlfriend who was going down a day earlier had been cancelled the night before and there were more storms headed for Chicago that morning, but so far there was only the hour delay. I woke up my friend Emily and we took off to the airport in what would become a pretty crazy storm. We made it to the airport and back to the gate pretty quickly where we waited for another girlfriend, Chelsea, to join us. She arrived about an hour later and we sat and talked about her recent engagement (yay, congrats Chelsea and Rob!), how much fun this weekend was going to be and you know, girl talk.

It was about 30 minutes before we were supposed to board and our plane still hadn’t arrived. All the sudden I start hearing people groan and complain about their flight being cancelled. I prayed it wasn’t our flight and checked my app. Everything was the same and only still delayed and then we heard someone over the intercom announcing that our flight had been cancelled and we needed to proceed to ticketing. We got to the ticketing counter along with about 300 other people and waited in line to try and get on another flight. After about 15 minutes I suppose the flight agents realized we all had the same problem and jumped on the counter to announce that our flight would not be leaving again until Sunday morning - when I was supposed to be flying home from the bachelorette.

I called my Maid of Honor, Lindsey, and told her the news. She arrived a few hours earlier and was already at the house thinking I’d be there in a couple hours. I told her we’d have to find another airline and I’d let her know. With everyone and their friends, moms, dogs, aunts and grandmas trying to get a flight out there was basically nothing left. I seriously started questioning if I was even going to make it down there that weekend without having to pay a million dollars for a flight. But, we ended up finding a flight that left Friday morning and it appeared to only have 6 seats left on the plane. We booked it to the ticketing counter of that airline and we were met with about 150 more people. I instantly became crushed because I knew if we waited in line then there was a chance that flight would sell out. I tried calling and ordering over the phone but the wait time was just as long.

There was a woman helping direct people in line and she came up asking what flight I was on previously. I explained that we hadn’t been on that airline and needed to book an entirely new trip. She looked confused hearing the sadness in my voice and I jumped on a limb and said, “it’s my bachelorette party and I really don’t want to miss it.” She said,” oh my gosh come with me!” and led us to a kiosk computer where she instantly booked us three seats on the Friday flight. I was a total weirdo and gave her the biggest hug and invited her on the trip. Lol she obviously declined, but we left her some great reviews for her amazing customer service!

So, we headed back to my condo, ordered pizza, drank champs and watched Harry Potter for the rest of the night. Bright and early the next day we headed out and finally made it to Florida. I was welcomed with my girlfriends, champagne, the cutest decorations and so much fun! We hung out in the pool the rest of the afternoon, had some dinner and then went out in St. Augustine that night.

I was so excited to wear some bathing suits I had found for the trip. I’ve really been into one pieces with unique touches recently and loved the Shein one I wore on Friday afternoon. Since i knew I would be wearing white all weekend I wanted something a little different and leopard was the perfect touch of boujee I needed.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday and headed out to Daytona to meet our boat captain for a day on the water. We spent the majority of the day driving around, hanging out on the beach and tubing. The company we used, Blue Diamond Boat Rentals, was so great. They were super professional, had the perfect sized boat and I think had just as much fun as we did!

I opted for another two piece for the boat and paired it with a very extra coverup I found on Amazon and a pair of heart shaped glasses. Lindsey got me a captains hat (my one true wish for the weekend, I didn’t even tell her and she killed it - duh), and I was loving every second of it. Full of sun, music and Whiteclaw, we headed back to the house and got ready for dinner. At dinner, everyone was exhausted from our long day and to be totally honest, I was pretty over going out and drinking so we headed back to the house and had the ultimate girls room night staying up late talking and telling stories. It was the perfect last night.

Some of the girls were heading out pretty early the next morning and I awoke to three of them in my room at 7AM looking very freaked out. I rolled over and said, “what’s going on?!” Lindsey then proceeded to tell me that a frog had found its way into her suitcase and she found it while packing. We then spent the next 30 minutes coming up with a plan to capture it and Emily saved the day getting it with a Solo cup and taking it outside. After #FrogFiasco2019, we all packed up, cleaned up and headed to the airport. My favorite part of the trip? All the girls ended up getting along great and becoming friends. It was so cool to see so many different people from different places hit it off and look forward to seeing each other again in September at the wedding. #BachAndBoujee was a total success minus the few mishaps and I couldn’t be more thankful for the best girlfriends ever.

If you made it this far, bless you. I’ve rounded up some other white bathing suits I was shopping and loving below if you’re a bride, love a crisp white look or just want to appear tanner (total plus of wearing white)! Thank you so much for reading and to all the girls who made #NavaSingleAgain happen, #prune.

For the past few months I have been on the hunt for all the bridal event dresses and to be honest, it was a bit of a struggle. Everything I was finding had felt like every girl I’d ever known to get married had the same dress or it was so expensive I couldn’t fathom spending that on a dress I would maybe wear again.

The biggest problem I was running into? So many white dresses are eyelet or have a beach vibe to them. While very cute and summery, I wanted something a little different. I want to look back at pictures and think what I had on was chic and classic, but had a fun pop of fashion to it. I couldn’t find this perfect combination until I remembered to look on a site I’ve been shopping on for a while, Red Dress Boutique!

I jumped on their dress page and filtered to the color white and immediately found so many dresses! I’ve linked my favorites (along with some other brands) below - dresses and jumpsuits (because why not mix it up?)

SHOP THE LOOK | WHITE DRESSES

SHOP THE LOOK | WHITE JUMPSUITS

I had my first bridal shower this past weekend and was so amazing! My life-long best friend, Lindsey, threw it with her mom and sisters and it was such a fun time! I always feel so special at events that are thrown in your honor because my friends and family nail capturing me in a party every time. She helped with my engagement party with our moms and had peonies, champagne and a wedding planner gift waiting for my arrival. I guess that’s what 26 years of friendship will get you!

Anyways, back to the shower! She didn’t disappoint again with peonies, my favorite donuts, a cake from my favorite bakery and lots of lots of Prosecco! 🥂 it was the perfect shower!

Next up on the wedding event train? The bachelorette party! I’m really excited to shop for this trip because we are headed somewhere warm (cannot wait to escape the still chilly Chicago weather) and that means all the white bathing suites, sandals, two piece sets and accessories. It’s going to be so fun! But, wearing all that white means I’m going to have to work on my tan… thanks so much for reading! xx

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!

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Photography has been a huge part of Kollin and I’s engagement since the beginning. He surprised me with a photographer when he proposed to capture the proposal and my reaction during the surprise party he planned after and they are some of my favorite pictures from the day as they captured the memories perfectly and took us straight back to those emotions we were feeling.

When looking for a wedding photographer I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I searched website after website, talked to friends and families about who they suggested and while everyone was very talented, there was something missing still. I started searching the hashtag #kentuckywedding on Instagram and came across Drake and Eliza Photography.

I immediately fell in love with their ability to capture the smallest moments and make them the focal point of their perspective for the entire shoot. Moments that some people may not even think to capture or pictures of people truly feeling and expressing an emotion purely. I knew we found what we were looking for and couldn’t wait to chat with them.

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After a few emails, we set up a Facetime (they are in KY) and met Drake. Drake and Eliza are a husband and wife team and we loved the fact that they experienced their wedding day and know exactly what couples are looking for since they’ve been in their shoes together. We talked about our vision for the day, how we met, what was important to us the day of and more about their perspective on photography.

Needless to say, we couldn’t agree more on everything and we set up our engagement shoot!

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I loved the idea of our engagement shoot taking place in Louisville, KY, where we are both from and met. We chose a park that I used to go to as a kid and thought it captured the southern feel we were looking for without it being too rustic. The shoot was so much fun and Eliza made us feel so comfortable. We laughed, jumped and tried our serious faces but ended up laughing even harder!  

After about 15 minutes Kollin and I got comfortable with “ignoring the camera” as Eliza would say and we just got cuddly for the rest of the shoot as she captured our special moments and giggles. 

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My best advice for engagement shoots and finding the right photographer? Think about emotion rather than a shot list. A lot of photographers asked us what shots we wanted to capture, the group photos we wanted and how their style reflected what most couples are looking for. What I loved about Drake and Eliza, was their intention and thought behind the shots and entire day. I think it is evident from our pictures that they truly capture the couple they are shooting and we could not be happier with the results!

When deciding what we wanted to wear I knew I wanted something classic that would necessarily show the year or decade if you will. Seeing wedding photos from the 80s makes me cringe thinking about what ours will look like 30 years from now! Given that, Kollin wanted to wear a suit, but chose to stick a bit more casual and go tieless. His only complaint was that it was so hot and all the layers was tough with the heat. For my dress, I found it on Lulu’s a few weeks before the shoot and loved the clean lines and low back. The color was neutral and the style was easy enough to match the vibe of the shoot, but still elegant enough to contrast the natural environment. I added some look a likes below and some other options I think would be great for a similar vibe of engagement shoot!

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This last picture was after the shoot and Kollin and I were walking back to the car when we realized we still had an hour until our dinner reservation. We walked by the swings and he ran toward them and hopped on. We then decided we wanted to act like 8 years olds and see who could swing the highest. Eliza was thoughtful as usual and captured the whole thing before heading out. When we saw the gallery of images we got so excited seeing that surprise at the end!

Happy weekend! We're only a couple weeks away from being able to say 365 days until our wedding!! This past year of engagement has flown by, but it has also made the planning process so much easier and care free since we have so much time to nail down the details. One thing I was so excited to start looking into was our paper goods - save the dates, invitations, menus, etc. As I was looking at different vendors I found myself either having to stay within the box in terms of their "collections" or either needing to go completely custom. I then received an email from Basic Invite wanting to collaborate and it was the perfect mix of already built templates and customization!

What I loved most about Basic Invite was that I could order custom samples of anything and see exactly what I was getting without having to commit to a full order. Kollin and I designed from a few templates, put our personal touches on them and ordered the samples to see them in person! It was so surreal seeing them in front of us and thinking about people receiving them next year. 

We stuck to the save the dates for most of the samples we ordered given that we will start there, but also included an invitation, some envelope options and even thank you cards.

We loved their foil options, the almost unlimited color options for envelopes and the option to preview your design in real time. One of their new collections is called the clear collection! I thought it was so unique that I had to order a sample and see it for myself. While we probably won't be using this for our actual save the dates, we definitely want to incorporate it into some paper good at the wedding - maybe menus?!

One of the best parts about this service is how fast the samples were made and shipped out to us. We designed, ordered and received everything within a week! Obviously, a full order could take some time longer, but everything was so fast and we were so happy working with the Basic Invite team! Planning a wedding can be so stressful and Basic Invite creates an easy, tangible process for their customers that was so helpful to us in making decisions for paper goods. I can't wait to keep collaborating with them and show you all the final save the dates later this year! 

Be sure to check out their site for any other paper good needs you have like a birthday party, baby/bridal shower, stationery or even their free wedding website service! Use code "15FF51" for 15% off your order!

Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend!

Thank you to Basic Invite for sponsoring this post, it's brands like yours that make The Creative Brief possible! All opinions are my own.

Hi Loves! It's been a minute since I've shared an update on wedding planning! We're two days away from the year anniversary of when Kollin got down on one knee and asked me the best question ever! When people see my ring or I mention something about my fiancé the next question is always, "when are you getting married?!" 

I follow up by saying September 2019 and there's always a surprised look on their face. "Oh wow, that's a long engagement" or "why are you waiting so long?!" It's a fair question, but it's the one thing (outside of saying yes!) that I'm so glad we decided to do. Our plan was to always get engaged near the end of law school and then married the year following graduation. If Kollin had stuck to that plan (guess he couldn't wait! hehe) then we would've had the "traditional" engagement of about a year and a half. 

The thing that people don't talk about? How expensive, time consuming and exhausting wedding planning is. Not to mention we are so young! My response is always the truth, "we wanted to wait until Kollin graduates law school (which he did in May!!) and passes the bar. Planning a wedding with a fiancé who actually wants to help (it's so cute, y'all) is tough when he is studying 9+ hours every single day for a test that determines the rest of his career! I personally don't think that's fair and also something I don't want deal with! #lawschoolprobs

So, here we are, a year into our engagement and about three things checked off our list! Woo!! In all seriousness, the reasoning behind that is pretty #reallife and comes down to two things: unexpected hiccups & money. 

THE VENUE

About 4 months after we got engaged we found our perfect venue and thought we were so ahead of the game. We didn't sign because #lawyer and we had plenty of time to get the details worked out around vendors and other details that would dictate some of the decisions regarding our venue. During that process, we kept finding reasons that this place wasn't the place. So, 7 months in we were back to square one trying to find a venue from almost 300 miles away.

To be honest with y'all it was pretty crushing to make that decision and it took a lot of wind out of planning process. There is a point when planning turns from giggles, excitement and all the amazing details to the harsh reality of a budget, pleasing people and basically adding a second job to the one you already have. 

But, today we finally booked our venue and I am so excited about it! It's the perfect mix of southern charm, big city glamour and classic elegance. With a huge decision out of the way, Kollin and I finally feel like the smaller, more frequent decisions will be so much easier! 

THE DRESS

Y'alllllllll, I dream about my dress every night! Just like every other wedding detail, finding that dress took time. I went to a total of three stores, one in Louisville and two in Chicago. On the last store, second to last dress I knew I found the one. I didn't think I would get emotional since I had the dress on for a while and there wasn't a single tear. My amazing stylist, Erin, put a veil on me and nope, still no tears. We walked to the front of the store to see the dress in natural light and she said, "is this the one?!" I said, "I think so!" 

She quickly replied, "well I know what will do the trick!" She disappeared for a minute and my mom, Kollin's mom and I were chatting about the dress. Erin came back with a bouquet and said here's a final touch. She handed me the bouquet and I turned to the mirror and immediately started bawling. Like Kim K ugly crying... it was kind of embarrassing honestly haha! I knew this was the dress I was supposed to wear!  

WHAT ELSE?

When I said three things I meant three things! The venue, dress and our photographer is all we have booked! But, after the venue I feel such a big weight lifted because now all the smaller details become so much easier. We know things like theme, color-scheme, bridal party and our church, but it's decisions like menu, tuxes, flowers, decor and stationary that are still on our list of to-do's! Post-Bar in July we will start making moves and I'll have more details to share! Thank you so much for reading! Any brides-to-be, wives, mother of the brides, grooms, etc. please share any advice or questions in the comments! I would appreciate any perspective so much! Have a fabulous weekend, y'all!