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Alli Santmyer

Holiday

2020 Holiday Gift Guide: For Her, Him, & More!

November 25, 2020

Hi everyone and welcome to the holiday season! I wasn’t going to do gift guides this year with everything going on but I just love them so much. I thought why not put one big one together that’ll cover significant others, parents, friends and coworkers?! Let’s see what I was able to find…

Starting off with my “FOR HER” category, we’ve got some good ones this year!

1.Barefoot Dreams Robe (click here): This is the item that everyone wants but can’t justify buying for themselves which makes it the BEST gift idea! Everything Barefoot Dreams is amazing but a robe in their incredibly soft fabric would be to die for. $99 from Nordstrom

2.AirPods: Anyone can use these! Whether they work from home, like to work out, or are a podcast lover, these will definitely come in handy. $159 from Apple

3.Pura Fragrance Diffuser (click here): This is at the top of my list this year! I’m a HUGE candle lover but where we’re living right now, we can’t burn candles, so this is the perfect solution. You choose your scents (such as Volcano from capri BLUE a.k.a. the best scent in the world) and connect it to your phone so you can set custom scent schedules and turn it off when you aren’t home. Is there anything better?! $44 from Pura

4.Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment (click here): With quarantine this year, I think we’re all wearing less makeup on a day to day basis so gifting a product like this is awesome! It corrects redness and protects your skin from the sun so it’s a win-win for those days that you don’t want to put on any makeup for your Zoom calls! $52 from Sephora

5.Facial: I think we’re all struggling with a little bit of mask acne, “maskne” if you will, so the gift of a good facial is much appreciated these days. Whether it’s an at-home kit or a gift card to a nearby spa, this is an easy and perfect gift idea for the state the world is in right now!

Now, moving on to my “FOR HIM” category! Every year, this one is tricky for me. All the men in my life are very down-to-earth, “I don’t need anything” type of people so I try to start thinking of these ideas super early on in the year.

6.JBL CLIP3 Bluetooth Speaker (click here): This is for the outdoorsy man! This bluetooth speaker can clip onto just about anything – a backpack while hiking, a belt loop while biking, and so much more. It’s also waterproof so it’ll be okay if it gets splashed! $40 from Amazon

7.Beard Apron (click here): You’re probably thinking, “What?”, but trust me, this could be super useful! Luckily, my husband doesn’t make much of a mess when shaving but lots of people do – especially if they’re taking part in Movember and will have a ton of facial hair to shave off come the end of the month! This is a super cool bib that sticks to the mirror in the bathroom which allows for a quick cleanup afterwards. $20 from Amazon

8.Shoulder/Back Massager (click here): I have this and it’s incredible! Honestly, it’s worth double the price. It has arm straps so you can adjust the pressure to whatever you want it to be and it heats up – that’s the best part! By moving your arms, you can move it up and down your back and it’s the best thing ever. $50 from Amazon

9.An Away Suitcase (click here): Although leisure travel has been put on hold for a while, a lot of people still have fun trips planned for the future (like my husband and I’s honeymoon next Summer!) so maybe new suitcases are needed for more people than you think! $245 from Away

10.Graphic Image National Parks Book (click here): If your boyfriend, husband, or dad is someone who loves being outdoors and traveling, this is the perfect book for him! It has descriptions of each national park, travel tips, and other useful things to know like fees and dates that the parks are open/closed. $38 from Graphic Image

Last up are some ideas for your friends and coworkers!

11.Fuzzy Slippers (click here): Who wouldn’t want a new pair of slippers for the holidays? I got these slippers to wear while getting ready for my wedding and I haven’t stopped wearing them since! So snuggly and cozy and they have a sole so you can wear them even if you have to step outside for a second. $24 from Amazon

12.Etsy Illustration (click here): If someone you know is into having framed photos around the house, take one of their favorite ones and give it a little twist by having it redone in line illustration! It’s so cute and gives an old photo new life. $10 on Etsy

13.Magnolia Journal Subscription (click here): My mother-in-law got me a subscription for this magazine last year and it’s been the best gift! I love Chip and Joanna Gaines so getting their magazine every quarter has been awesome. It covers a ton of things – home, recipes, think pieces… it’s so good! $20 for 1 year

14.Homesick Candle (click here): With so many cancelled holiday plans this year, a candle with scents of your friend or coworkers’ home town would be so sweet! $34 from Homesick

15.Free People Pom Beanie (click here): I had to include this because it’s just so cute. I’m loving the knit, two-toned vibe! They’re saying we’re in for a cold winter so this hat will be perfect for the snow. $48 from Free People

That’s all for this year’s gift guide – I hope you got some good ideas for your family and friends! Although 2020 hasn’t been the year anyone expected, we can still try our best to enjoy the holiday season and have fun picking out gifts for those we love. Have a very merry holiday season!

Wedding

Our Wedding Day!

November 15, 2020

Our special day FINALLY came! After almost 6 years together and 10 months of wedding planning, October 25, 2020 arrived and it couldn’t have been any more perfect. I’ve been teasing everything about our wedding such as my dress and our incredible team of vendors for months and now I get to share it all with you! Keep reading to hear about our big day…

Sitting on 34 acres, our wedding venue was such a magical spot! At the venue itself, they have a few different location options for your ceremony and reception but as soon as we saw the greenhouse, the decision was made. It’s SO romantic and just what we were looking for – a dream! From the start, we were planning on a micro wedding with less than 25 guests so when COVID hit, we luckily didn’t have to make too many changes. That really ended up being the perfect amount of people for the space and we’re so happy that we kept it intimate!

On wedding day, the girls had a little cottage to get ready in and the boys had a separate space they called the “den”. It was awesome to have our own spaces right at the venue so we didn’t even have to worry about transportation! On our wedding day, it actually rained (poured at times!) so although we didn’t have a first look planned beforehand, we ended up doing one at the last minute because we had a little break in the rain before the ceremony. It was so special and helped us to be more in the moment during the ceremony!

For some detail, my dress was Willowby by Watters from BHLDN, Connor’s tie was from DAZI, my hair and makeup artist was Bona Fide Beauty Co., my florist was Blossom Bliss, and my photographer who all these incredible photos are by was Molly of xoxomollyjane.

The ceremony was short and sweet and exactly what we hoped for! Blossom Bliss absolutely knocked it out of the park with the florals and we had wonderful live violin and cello musicians from Vivace Live. The live music was the PERFECT touch for the dreamy setting! For the ceremony, we did rent a welcome mirror and a few extra wooden chairs from Price Rentals and Events and they were fabulous to work with! Our wedding day really wouldn’t have been the same without the superb team of vendors we had and we’re so grateful!

For dinner, we opted to have brunch! Even though our wedding was a bit later in the day, Connor and I LOVE brunch food so that’s what we wanted at our wedding. The caterer we went with was Simply from Scratch and they were marvelous! My plate was full of sugar raised waffles and hash brown potatoes while Connor’s was full of carved turkey and quiche and it couldn’t have been more delicious. To go along with the brunch food, our wedding cake was a cheesecake and we had banana cream pie and apple pie shooters along with mini cheesecakes for our guests.

Even though it rained, we still got to sneak outside at the end of the night and do our sparkler send-off which was so much fun! We truly had the wedding of our dreams and are incredibly thankful to our family and friends who were able to attend with everything going on.

Overall, my wedding planning advice is to have multiple backup plans for weather issues and to hire a day-of coordinator! There were so many little things to take care of on the wedding day that made it a pretty hectic morning which isn’t really what you imagine beforehand. But the problem is, once you realize you need a day-of coordinator, it’s too late. So please take my advice and hire one – your wedding day will run so smoothly and stress-free!

And that’s our wedding! We’re waiting until the summertime to take our honeymoon and we cannot wait. Fingers crossed COVID is just a memory by that point! If you have any questions about where something is from or anything specific about the day, leave a comment below. I’ll talk to you soon!

Wedding

Last Minute Wedding Details

October 23, 2020

Hey hey hey, happy wedding weekend! I cannot believe that it’s finally here. As you’re reading this, we’re prepping for our rehearsal dinner tomorrow and wedding on SUNDAY… ahh it’s finally happening! Since we’re so close, this post is going to cover all the little details that have happened in the weeks leading up to the wedding. Let’s get started!

To start off with a couple things I’ve been doing besides wedding planning, let’s talk about my diet and exercise leading up to the big day. I’m not a dieter and but I have made a huge change in my water intake. Up until a few months ago, I could go all day without drinking any water at all. In August, I did the Blogilates 30 day water challenge where you take your body weight and divide it in half and that’s how many ounces of water you drink everyday. I mostly stuck to it and continued the challenge for the next few months and I noticed I actually do feel a lot better when I drink the right amount of water… who would’ve thought?! Not only did it allow me to feel better but I noticed a difference in my skin too which was one of my main goals in doing the water challenge in the first place.

Another thing I started over the Summer was following a workout plan because I didn’t want to get to the wedding day and have my dress not fit… can you imagine?! I started the plan 4 months out. The first and second months, I did the monthly plan that Cassie from Blogilates offers on her website. In September, I switched to her Bridal Bootcamp monthly plan (which kicked my butt!) and then for the first three weeks of October, I did the 2020 Chloe Ting two week shred and I went for a run on the off days. After doing all that, I do feel a lot stronger and it was a nice way to keep my body moving without being able to go to the gym.

For the wedding, we do have a few items that we’re renting from an event rental company so yesterday, we picked them up. I also had my final dress fitting yesterday! The place I bought my dress from doesn’t do alterations so I found a separate company to do some custom alterations and additions to my dress. How they do it there is you have three appointments. One right after you purchase your dress, one about 4-6 weeks before the wedding, and the last one only a day or two before your wedding to ensure it’ll fit perfectly the day-of. During the wedding planning process, my fiancé’s mom hasn’t been able to have a huge hand in everything because they live down in Florida but she was in town for my last fitting and it was so special to have her there! I’d definitely recommend having a few special guests at your final fitting.

And today is my final prep day! This morning, I have a hair appointment to make sure my blonde is wedding ready and then I have a nail appointment in the afternoon. I just can’t believe the wedding is practically here! My next post will be all about our big day and I can’t wait to share! Any final guesses as to what venue and vendors we chose???

Travel

48 Hours in Arizona

October 16, 2020

Hi there, happy Friday! In the midst of all the wedding planning craziness, we took a little break to fly to Arizona for my uncle’s wedding last weekend. It was such a beautiful time – keep reading to hear all about it!

It was quite a whirlwind trip! We left for the airport around 3am on Saturday morning not quite knowing what to expect when we got to the airport. This was our first time flying, or using any type of mass transit, since COVID-19 so we didn’t know what we were walking into. Overall, I’d say the airport was exactly the same. Other than everyone wearing face masks and attempting to social distance, I didn’t notice it to be any less busy than any other time I’ve flown which did surprise me a little bit. Luckily, we flew on Southwest and they aren’t selling the middle seats right now so Connor and I had a whole row to ourselves on the way there and back. Our flights were the COVID-19 version of “full” (~60% capacity/93 people) though so people are definitely starting to travel again.

Once we landed, we picked up our rental car. Tip: If you’re under 25 years old (which Connor and I are) Hertz isn’t charging the young driver fee right now and it saved us a ton of money! Something else to look out for if you’re traveling during the pandemic is the rental car shuttle lines. At Phoenix Sky Harbor, there were literally about 300 people in line for the shuttle – I’d never seen it like that before. They can only let 10 people on each shuttle bus at a time so it got really backed up but they were super efficient with sending buses every couple minutes.

Once we got our rental car, we headed to get a late lunch. We went to the Hayden location of Butters Pancakes & Cafe (click here) in Scottsdale and it seriously was the best brunch we’ve ever had. I got the Belgian waffle with fresh banana on the top, Connor got the garden skillet, and we split a toasted plain bagel with cream cheese. I will admit that we were starving after the travel day we’d had but it was DELICIOUS. If you go, you have to get the orange juice. It tastes like you’re drinking right from a fresh orange and I wish I could have it everyday!

Before we made our way to Sedona, we made a few quick stops since we knew we weren’t going to get there until much later in the evening anyway. Our first stop was Papago Park. Papago Park is close to the airport and is a nice little park area where you can do a super easy and short hike and see some cacti. Next, we stopped at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa because I always see it all over Instagram and I wanted to see for myself! We only walked around for a few minutes but it’s so beautiful – I’d love to stay there someday. And pretty much every inch of it is an amazing photo opportunity! The last thing we did before we got to Sedona is stop at Montezuma Castle National Monument which is the perfect stop if you’re doing a Phoenix to Sedona road trip.

Once we made it to Sedona, we met up with the rest of my family at our Airbnb. We had a stunning view of the red rocks and the house was perfect! It was only about 10 minutes away from L’auberge de Sedona (click here), where the wedding was on Sunday afternoon. The venue was BEAUTIFUL and the wedding was such a success! It got me even more excited for our wedding next weekend(!!!).

On Monday morning, we left for the airport around 4am and flew home. Overall, it was a wonderful 48 hours in Arizona although I wish we could’ve stayed longer! My next post will be about all the last minute things I’m doing this week to prepare for the wedding. I’m so excited… talk to you then!

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Travel Wedding

My Bachelorette Weekend

October 9, 2020

Hi everyone, happy October a.k.a. our wedding month!!! I can’t believe after over almost a year of planning, we’re down to just a couple weeks until our big day. I’ve absolutely loved the wedding planning process and I’m getting so sad that it’s almost over! Going right along with the wedding theme of my recent posts, today’s is all about my Bachelorette party! Keep reading to find out where we went, where we stayed, and what we got up to…

Usually, the Maid of Honor throws the Bachelorette party but since we’re having a micro-wedding, I’m not having a typical bridal party so I got to have a big hand in planning a low-key, fun weekend with my best gals! We originally made our plans back in the Spring so COVID-19 was in full swing and while we were hoping it would be gone by September, we wanted to pick somewhere somewhat local so we decided to go to Philly for a night!

On Saturday afternoon, we all were coming from different directions so we met at Iron Hill Brewery in Wilmington, DE and had lunch. We got to sit outside on the riverfront and it was beautiful and delicious! It was so nice to chat and catch up with everyone. One of them I hadn’t seen since college graduation which was almost three years ago so it was extra special!

Once we made it to Philly, we headed to the hotel. We stayed at the most beautiful boutique hotel ever! It’s called the Lokal Hotel and they have two locations in Philly; we stayed in the Fishtown one. It’s contactless so they don’t have a lobby or a front desk or anything like that, you just put in a code at the door and walk right up to your room! We stayed in the room called the Big Jawn. Keep scrolling to look at the most beautiful 2-story boutique hotel “room” you’ve ever seen!

When I was upstairs unpacking, the girls set up the downstairs with photos of Connor and I, bride and engagement ring balloons, confetti poppers, and it was just perfect! We got there a little later on in the evening and wanted a pretty chill night, especially with being in a city during COVID-19 times so we took our relaxing night in to the next level. We watched Twitches 1 & 2 (hello spooky season!), DoorDashed cheesecake slices from The Cheesecake Factory, made bead bracelets, and I caught them up on all my wedding planning!

The next morning, we had to check out at 11am so before then, we headed out to get a quick bite to eat. We were SO SAD to leave! I seriously could’ve lived in that hotel room for a year and never gotten tired of it. Now we just need someone else in the group to get engaged so we can go back for another Bachelorette weekend there!

On the way home, one of my friends and I decided to make a last minute stop at Linvilla Orchards in Media, PA and holy moly, was that a good decision! If you live in the Delaware/southern Pennsylvania area, you probably know of Milburn Orchards… Linvilla is like Milburn times 100. It was awesome and totally got us in the Fall spirit (as if we needed any help!)! Pumpkins galore and they had a garden center and bakeshop where I could barely resist the apple cider donuts.

All in all, the weekend couldn’t have been any more perfect and I am so excited to see them all again at the wedding in just a couple weeks! In the meantime, make sure to check out my last post on our honeymoon destination options. Have a great week!

Travel Wedding

Our Top 5 Honeymoon Destinations

September 18, 2020

Hi there! Today’s post is one I’m super pumped for because who doesn’t like to talk about dream travel destinations? Although it does feel a little bit like torture considering we’re not really allowed to travel right now because of the pandemic but one can dream, right? Luckily, we planned from the beginning to take a delayed honeymoon because of work so although we’re getting married in October, we won’t go on our honeymoon until next Summer. It really worked out in terms of the travel restrictions!

Our first option is… Hawaii! Connor and I have both never been to Hawaii and we’re dying to go. Hawaii also just feels like a honeymoon location, you know? With it taking so long to get to from the East Coast, I don’t know if we’d ever make it there if we don’t go now so it’s definitely a top contender. Specifically Kauai! We’re looking for a pretty low-key and relaxed but adventurous honeymoon and Kauai seems like it’s exactly what we’re going for in terms of the landscape and activity options. And can you say STUNNING!? Everyone we talk to whose been there raves and raves about it and we want to see for ourselves!

Our next option is a California road trip. This is veryyy up our alley – we’re always down for a good road trip! A few years ago, we road tripped through New England all the way up to Maine and it was a blast so we can imagine this would be just as fun. We would probably fly into San Francisco and slowly make our way down the coast and it just seems like such a dream! If we do this, where should we stop along the way? Leave us your California road trip recommendations in the comments!

And for another tropical option, we’re thinking about the Bahamas! This is another location I’ve never been and it seems like I’m missing out. We could fly there, we could take a cruise there, so many possibilities! Have you been to the Bahamas? If so, leave us your recommendations below!

Next up… Canada! Canada has always been on our bucket list. Banff, Toronto, Vancouver – so many beautiful places! Canada is a great option because you can really go any time of the year. In Summer, it’s stunning, and in Winter, the snow just makes it even more magical! Even if we don’t go here for our honeymoon, I think it’s definitely going to be a trip we take in the next few years.

And lastly, an over-water hut! Is there anything that sounds more thrilling (and insanely expensive) than this? To be honest, this is the very first thing we looked into when we started planning our honeymoon. It just sounds so cool and there’s a ton of different places you could go to do the over-water hut or bungalow. It is unbelievably expensive though so I don’t think it’s going to happen for us now but it’s been nice to think about!

Those are all the ideas we threw around and I can happily say that we have our dream honeymoon booked! Where do you think we’re going? We’re super excited – now we just have to book our flights. I can’t wait to share our experience with you; it’s gonna be a blast!

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Wedding

The Story of Us & Our Enneagram Types

August 28, 2020

Hello hello, welcome back to my blog! I hope you have an awesome Labor Day weekend planned! Today’s wedding post is gonna be a fun one. We’re talking all about how Connor and I met, started dating, AND I’m even diving into our love languages and enneagram types so if you’re into that, this post is for you. Let’s get started!

Connor and I first met during our Freshman year of high school. We didn’t go to high school together but we both played at the same tennis club so we met that way. I wouldn’t say we were immediate best friends but over time, with being at the tennis club together a few times a week and traveling together to tennis tournaments in the summer, we became pretty close. He was such a cutie! Flash forward all the way to Freshman year of college and we were both off to different schools. Connor went to Messiah College in Pennsylvania and I went to James Madison University in Virginia – about a four hour drive from each other. During our first Fall semester, we started talking to each other more and more. I guess it took being away from one another to realize how much we missed the other one. At the start of Spring semester, we made pretty spontaneous plans for Connor to come and visit me at JMU. I was thinking he had a car on campus but little did I know that him visiting would entail him catching a ride to a train station, taking a train from PA to VA, catching a cab from the nearest train station (which is 30 minutes away) to JMU, and then a trek all the way across a huge campus he didn’t know at all to find my dorm. All in about 20 degree winter weather! It was so expensive, especially for a college student. Another funny part of the story is that when he finally did get to my dorm after a whole day of traveling, his phone died as he was walking up so he couldn’t even let me know that he was there. Poor guy!

But it was all worth it. We officially started dating that weekend and never looked back! We were long-distance all throughout college because even when we were home during breaks, we still lived about an hour from each other. I ended up graduating college a semester early so I moved back to a town very close to where I grew up and started my first corporate job and Connor finished college the following semester and moved back to a town very close to where he grew up and started his first job! About a year into that and over 4 years of being together, we finally moved in together and it’s been the best time ever. In my opinion, being able to live together before getting engaged or married is super helpful for a relationship. You get to see how someone lives and know if you’re compatible in that way before you take that next step. Last December, we got engaged and you guys know the rest! I can’t believe the wedding is NEXT MONTH… it’s so crazy!

Something fun and different for my blog that I also wanted to dive into is Connor and I’s love languages and enneagram types. He’s a type 7 (the Enthusiast) with his top love language being acts of service and I’m a type 3 (the Achiever) with my top love language being physical touch. Overall, our personality types are super complementary in a relationship. Both of us are very logical thinkers and luckily, we balance each other out in the ways we differ! For example, I’m super into planning and thinking about the future and Connor is very into living in the moment and appreciating each experience for what it is. Both of those things, being in the moment and thinking about the future, are super important so it’s awesome for our relationship that we help each other out in that way! With my personality type, I’m extremely goal oriented and focused on accomplishing things so I bring a lot of structure and drive to our relationship. Connor on the other hand is very adventurous and spontaneous so he brings a ton of fun and optimism into our life together. We’re a perfect match and I can’t wait to marry him!

That wraps up today’s blog post – I hope you enjoyed getting a little peek into Connor and I’s life together so far. I’ve been dying to write a post like this and I thought with us getting married soon it was the perfect time! I’ve left links to a few of my recent posts down below in case you missed those but my wedding series will continue in just a few weeks with a blog post all about our top honeymoon destinations… where do you think we’re headed? Talk to you then!

Click HERE for my post all about our wedding venue hunt!

Click HERE for my post on how to find the right wedding photographer!

Click HERE for my wedding registry post!

Wedding

Wedding Registry: How to Create One and What You Should Have On It

August 7, 2020

Hey hey hey everyone, happy August! The big questions of today’s wedding post are how the heck do I build my wedding registry and what do I need to have on it? There are so many options out there for where to have your registry and then once you decide, what are you supposed to include? I’m here to round everything up for you! Let’s get started…

When the topic of a wedding registry came up with my fiancé and I, our first question was should we even have one? We aren’t buying a house right after we get married so we didn’t really know what we’d put on it even if we did decide to do one. If you’re in the same boat, a couple other ideas you could do instead are ask your guests to donate to a charity or cause of your choice or make it honeymoon-related! Things like a massage at your honeymoon hotel or dinner at a local restaurant would be perfect experience-type gifts!

We eventually decided that we would create a traditional registry and put a handful of things that we really do need on there so our next question was where should we have it? Once you start looking into it, it seems like the options are endless which can be a little overwhelming. My advice would be to choose somewhere that you love to shop (or would love to shop) and choose the type of store that’s appropriate for the items you’re looking for. For example, if you’re asking for mostly decorative household things, you might want to choose somewhere like Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, or Wayfair that specializes in home items. If you’re asking for lots of tech-related items, a Best Buy registry might be for you. Did you know even Amazon has a wedding registry?

My fiancé and I fell somewhere in the middle as we’re asking for a variety of items so we decided to go with a registry at Target! I felt at Target, we could get kitchen items, decorative items, and other fun things all at the same place. Target also partners with a company called Honeyfund where you can ask for things for your honeymoon! Everything from money to put towards your travel or hotel to cooking lessons in the city you’re traveling to can be purchased through there. I think that’s pretty cool!

Now to get into what to have on your registry once it’s created. Our registry is pretty small because we’re having a micro-wedding so since we’ll have under 30 guests, we didn’t need to pick out a ton of stuff. A few key things we did include are a magic bullet, vacuum, and steamer! Not the most exciting things but definitely things you need around the house. I also included some things like new towels and baking sheets because you can never have enough of those!

It’s important to also think about the budget of your guests and the fact that they’re probably spending at least a couple hundred dollars even just coming to your wedding with maybe having to get a new outfit and spending the night in a hotel if it’s far from home. We have a range of prices for our registry gifts that goes from as low as $5 to as high as $300 with most of the items being around $30. Not that I think someone should get us a $300 gift but one of the things I love about the Target registry is that someone can put money towards a certain item without purchasing the whole thing. So 10 people could put $30 towards that item and it’s paid for. Pretty neat, I think!

That brings us to the end of today’s post! I feel like the world of wedding registries is a little bit hectic so I hope my experience with creating ours helped you. I am so excited for the next blog post in my wedding series! It’ll be coming out in just a few weeks and will be all about how my fiancé and I met, starting dating, and just our whole story of us. Stay tuned for that and in the meantime, the second post in my wedding series with The Styled Bride Blog went up a few weeks ago. Click here to read the rest of the Q&A!

Wedding

Wedding Vendors… Florals, Catering, Hair & Makeup, oh my!

July 3, 2020

Hi everyone, welcome back to another blog post in my wedding series and happy almost 4th of July! Today’s post is going to be all about the BIG vendors involved in a wedding. I’ve already touched on finding your wedding venue (click here) and finding your photographer (click here) in previous posts so today’s will be focused on finding your florist, caterer, and hair and makeup artist. As with my other wedding series posts, this is centered around planning a bohemian wedding in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, or Virginia so I’ll be sharing my favorite vendors I found within that area. Let’s get started!

FLORALS: Finding our florist was something I was sooo excited about. Overall, the vibe for our wedding is elegant bohemian so the florals are really going to make it come to life. Once you dive into just how many flowers you need, you might be shocked (as I was). There are so many possibilities about the things you can do so finding the perfect florist is super important! Here are the top florist options I found:

Splints & Daisies (Lancaster, PA): Tara from Splints & Daisies is amazing! Shortly after getting engaged, I actually got to work with her on an incredible styled shoot (click here) and it was soooo dreamy. She puts so much thought and energy into her work and it really shows! Click here for her website.

Blossom Bliss (York, PA): Kristin from Blossom Bliss is the sweetest (and she just had a baby!)! She’s so easy to talk to and you can tell she wants to capture what you want for your special day. Click here to pop over to her cute website!

Rosemary and Rust (Shrewsbury, PA): Meg and Shea of Rosemary and Rust are one of my favorites! They have such an eye for floral arrangements and they would make such a great wedding day partner. Click here for their website!

Winsome Floral (Princeton, NJ): Courtney of Winsome Floral has such a romantic, dreamy vibe! Her installations are absolutely incredible so if you’re looking for something bigger for your wedding day, she is the way to go. Click here for her website!

CATERING: To be honest, catering was one of the only things that wasn’t exciting to me about our wedding day. I’m not a foodie and I have a TON of food allergies so eating in general is not a fun activity for me. But once I recognized how important the food is to our guests, it was much more meaningful! I will say this was the hardest vendor to book for us. Since we have such a small guest count (less than 30 people), I think companies wanted to see if they could book a larger party before committing to us so that’s something to be conscious of if you’re having a micro-wedding! That aside, here are the top catering options I found:

Simply from Scratch (Lancaster, PA): This team is so nice! They offer a variety of menus and will personalize the menu to exactly what you’re looking for on your wedding day. They’re all about the presentation (as am I) and it really shows in their events! Click here for their website.

Ginger Babies Catering (York, PA): This company has wonderful reviews on every website and a lot of comments are how they “kept things running smoothly” which is exactly what you want on your special day. Click here for some reviews about them!

JDK Group (Camp Hill, PA): JDK Group really does it all! In addition to catering, they offer event planning, rentals, florals, and so much more so if you’re looking for a one stop shop, they could be for you. Click here for their website!

HAIR & MAKEUP: This vendor was so fun to look into! At first, I thought I’d have to have separate hair and makeup artists but a lot of the options I looked into do both which is super convenient. One thing to think about before reaching out to hair and makeup artists is how many people they will be working on. Will your bridesmaids all be getting their hair and makeup done? Does your mom, future mother-in-law, or grandmom want their hair and makeup done? Here are the top hair and makeup artist options I found:

Kate Face Beauty (Annapolis, MD): Kaytee from Kate Face Beauty is such a talented makeup artist! I worked with her on a fun photoshoot a couple years ago and ever since then, I’ve had her in the back of my mind for wedding day makeup. Click here to see her beautiful work!

Bonafide Beauty Co. (York, PA): Stefani from Bonafide Beauty Co. is a hair AND makeup artist so you can have everything done by her on your wedding day! Her makeup looks range from very natural to very bold and she’s absolutely wonderful at it all. She’s also fantastic at braids so if you’re going for a boho hair look on your wedding day, she’s the one for you! Click here for her website!

Vero Leigh Co. (Harrisburg, PA): This lady is amazing! I originally came across her because our wedding venue recommended her but she’s been featured in so many publications for her incredible work (The Knot, Brides Magazine, Wedding Wire, the list goes on and on!). She seems so fun to work with! Click here for her website.

MKUP The Beauty Studio (York, PA): This beauty team seems wonderful! They have fabulous reviews and their website is very detailed and easy to understand. They were one of the first people I reached out to! Click here for their website.

That’s all for today’s post on wedding vendors! I hope sharing all of my wedding vendor research has been helpful to you, whether it’s for now or in the future. The next post in my wedding series will be about building your wedding registry. What store to choose, what you should include, and what you might NOT want to include. Also, I’m doing a fun little wedding series with Philly’s The Styled Bride blog and the first Q&A style post just went up this week. Click here to read it! Talk to you soon!

Wedding

The Wedding Guest List: Figuring Out the Size of Your Wedding

June 8, 2020

Hey hey hey everyone, welcome back to my wedding series! In my first wedding-related post (click here), I shared all the bohemian wedding venues we looked into before booking “the one” – it was so fun to talk through them with you all. Which one do you think we chose? Since then, I’ve shared my wedding dress shopping experience (click here) and tips on how to find the best wedding photographer (click here) and in today’s post, I’m talking all about determining the size of your wedding and finding the right fit for you and your fiancé… let’s get started!

Large? Small? Medium? How do I know what’s the right fit for us? Those are some of the questions that were swirling in my head soon after I got engaged. Something we did right off the bat that I think really helped us was consider the bones of our relationship and what feels right to who we are as a couple and we imagined actually being at our wedding. Who could we not imagine getting married without and what feel did we want for our special day? This really helped us put things into perspective and start building the guest list.

Something else to consider right away is budget. Obviously, the bigger the wedding, the bigger the budget needs to be – the guest count is the biggest determining factor of the budget. For every person invited, there are many costs that go along with them. Even small things, like the difference in printing save the dates and invitations for 30 people vs. 250 people really adds up. With that being said, you only get married once so if you truly cannot imagine getting married without 250 of your closest friends and family there, then 250 people it should be!

Something controversial in the wedding world that I would say should not be considered is who you think you “need” to invite. It’s so hard to sit down and think through all your family, friends, co-workers, etc. and decide if they should “make the cut” or not but at the end of the day, it’s your wedding and you should be surrounded by those who love and support you and that you feel completely yourself around. If the thought of having hundreds of eyeballs staring at you walking down the aisle doesn’t feel right, then maybe a wedding on the smaller side is for you.

Speaking of a wedding on the smaller side, I also wanted to mention eloping! For a long time, I thought we would elope… it seems so wonderful! Eloping can look very different depending on the couple you ask. It can mean going down to the courthouse or epically flying across the world to a remote location… and just about anything in between! A fun idea if you do decide to elope is have a get together a few weeks or months afterwards with all the people that would’ve been invited to a traditional wedding to celebrate your marriage with them that way. How cute!?

For us, our relationship has been pretty low-key so we will be having what’s called a micro-wedding – it fits us perfectly! If you don’t know what a micro-wedding is, basically it’s just a smaller, more intimate celebration. Once you start talking about the size, you’ll know what feels right to you. We’re so excited for our day! Next in the wedding series, I’ll be writing about finding and booking all of our wedding vendors such as catering… woohoo! Talk to you then!