Hi Guys! I know that several of you have reached out to me wondering about my upcoming wedding, so I decided to do an mini "I Do" post today to talk about why we decided to do a destination wedding, and give you a glimpse into my soon to be big day!
The Location
If you've been reading my blog, you know by now that Adam & I are saying "I do" in Italy in a couple of weeks. It wasn't our initial intention to get married in Italy. We looked at several venues here in Miami but nothing felt like "us". We started playing around with the idea of having a destination wedding, and since Adam had proposed to me on my birthday in Italy, it just felt right. Once we committed to Italy, everything started to fall together. We'll be in a small region of Tuscany known as Val d'Orcia. Its famous for its beautiful rolling hills, sunflowers, Brunello wine, and sleepy Italian villages. Under the Tuscan Sun, The Gladiator, and The English Patient were all filmed in this small region. Its such a beautiful location and I'm so excited to share it with our 20 family & friends who will be making the trek from the US to Italy.
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| Sheep that roam on the property of the villa we rented |
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| Val d'Orcia, Toscana |
Our Attire
My wedding dress is Monique Lhuillier from her fall 2012 collection. I attended a Monique Lhuillier trunk show last April in Coral Gables with one of my girlfriends and eventually, after trying on several different styles, decided on an "A line" style dress. I wish that I could say that when I tried it on I got that feeling that it was The One, but the truth is that while all of the dresses were beautiful, I just felt that this flattered & fit my body the best. I would love to share a picture with you guys, but Adam hasn't seen it yet, and since he reads my blog I can't upload a picture. :)
I can, however, share with you the cutest rehearsal dinner dress that I found on ShopBop. I have been searching everywhere for the perfect dress and this classy little number fit the bill! It has all the perfect elements that I've been searching for; soft, romantic, and cream colored with lace detailing. Its by Alice + Olivia and I have to tell you that it looks so much better in person vs seeing it on the model. Let me know what you guys think....
Adams suit is a bespoke Tom Ford suit. We had so much fun deciding on the cut, and picking out the buttons, fabrics, etc. I haven't seen what it looks like on him, but I'm sure that he'll be one dapper groom!
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| This was the inspiration for Adams suit |
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| Selecting fabrics at Tom Ford |
We couldn't leave out our little bear! Ace will be making the trip to Italy with us and he'll be looking oh so stylish in a custom made dog tuxedo. I found a girl on Etsy that sews dog suits, and customizes them to whatever you want! This is sort of what his suit looks like, minus the dog hat because I'm sure he'd rip it off of his head and tear it to shreds in under 2 minutes....
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| You can view purchasing info by clicking here |
Our Photographer
I've talked before about how excited I am to be working with our photographer, Jose Villa. Everytime I see one of his images on Pinterest, I get a little giddy knowing that our wedding album will be filled with similar stunning images. My wedding planner suggested Jose along with a few other photographers after learning that I love soft, romantic, wedding pictures. Once she showed me his work, nothing else compared. His style is exactly what I love; soft images that feel romantic and dreamy. The way that he captures light is almost ethereal. Here are a few of his pictures that I've pinned to my Pinterest boards I Do, 2013 and Pretty:
See what I mean? The guy is ahh-mazing. To see more of his work that he shares on his blog click here.
The Little Details
There is so much that goes into planning a wedding and I couldn't have done it without the help of our amazing wedding planner, Jessica Masi of JCG Events. Aside from being insanely creative, she's one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. My props to all the girls out there that can plan out their wedding all by themselves, but I can not imagine this whole process going as smoothly as it has without a planner. If you're a bride in the Miami area, I would definitely recommend her!
Pinterest was a HUGE source of inspiration for
me while we were in the planning process. My wedding planner even created a board for me! Its so convenient to keep
everything that catches your eye in your little online album. I will admit
that in the beginning I became mildly obsessed with perusing the thousands of images
trying to figure out what color scheme we wanted (neutrals & gold),
hair & makeup inspiration, the cake design, flowers, wedding
jewelery, etc. It got to the point where I'd be wide awake on Pinterest
at 4 am. No bueno!
I also love scouring Etsy in search of all the little creative handmade pieces. You can spend a good amount of time on their wedding section, and everything has that homemade feel to it. That's where I found Aces dog tuxedo, accessories for our welcome baskets, and this adorable handmade rustic ring box:
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| View purchasing info here |
Its really easy to get carried away with the whole wedding planning process and lose track of what its really about. To me, its more important to be with the right guy and have the dream relationship rather than the dream wedding. It doesn't bother me that we'll only have 20 people at our wedding, or that we're choosing to forgo most of the wedding traditions such as a first dance, or bouquet toss. The people that are most important to us will be there to celebrate this huge life event and that's all that matters. I can't wait to stand in front on my closest friends and family and tell Adam how much I love him. At the end of the day, isn't that really what its all about?
I hope that you enjoyed this post! I can't wait to share more with you after our April 14 nuptials. Let me know if you have any questions regarding wedding stuff, and I would love to hear your feedback!
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