When Jonathan proposed to me two years ago, amongst the many thoughts I had and things I was excited for, I remember thinking how I couldn’t wait to blog about our wedding day. Life has been a whirlwind since I said yes to marry my best friend, it’s gone by so fast and it’s been filled with so much love and support from our family and friends. Being engaged and planning the wedding of my dreams was the most exciting time of my life. I’ve always said how Jonathan has treated me like a princess since day one, and of course that didn’t change, but I felt like a princess in so many other ways, to so many other people, and that was a really special feeling. If I could sum up that period of our lives in one word it would undoubtedly be this one: love. Pure, endless, and immeasurable love. Our wedding day was the best, most special day of our lives. It was indescribable, beautiful in every way, and much more magical than I could have ever imagined or planned for. It truly felt like a fairytale and I’m so excited to share that with all of you.
Photography: Tony Spinelli Photography
Since there’s so much that I want to share about our wedding day, I will be posting more than one blog post and breaking them up into different segments. This first one will be focused on the getting ready portion of the day where I’ll share all of the details of my dress, shoes, jewelry, etc. So keep reading and scrolling for those details and more!
Hair Stylist: Leia Gossett @bohemianhairflow
Makeup Artist: My best friend Jessica!
Robe: BHLDN
Chemise: BHLDN
The lovely human who did my hair was actually my hair stylist for about 5 years! Leia is so talented and just the sweetest person. I talked to her about Jonathan and then our engagement every time I would go in for a hair appointment, so asking her to do my hair for our wedding was one of the easiest decisions I had to make. I knew she would do an amazing job, but she really exceeded my expectations. For the hair trial I just sat in her chair like I normally would and essentially said “do your thing.” I showed her some pictures on Pinterest to give her a vision of what I liked, and then she just started playing around with my hair, and we ended up with this really beautiful look.
At first I thought I wanted my hair to be mostly down, but with my dress (which I will talk more about in a bit) it couldn’t be all down because it would hide a lot of the beautiful details on the back. Since I didn’t want an updo because I don’t like how my face looks with my hair completely pulled away from it, but I also didn’t want it completely down, Leia created the perfect look that was in between both. She kept it loose with many pieces down and in front of my face, and it was the prettiest “boho chic” hairstyle.
As far as makeup goes, I did do a makeup trial with a professional makeup artist during my search for one, but honestly wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. My best friend is so talented with makeup and when I didn’t love my experience with a professional, I decided to ask her to do it for me, and she was honored. We’ve been best friends since we were 5 years old and she’s always been there for me in every way, but this was one of the most special things she’s ever done for me. I’m very picky with my makeup, so it was such a relief to have someone who I’m so comfortable with to do it for my wedding day. She also did it for my bridal shower and in both cases she did an amazing job! I’ve never felt more beautiful, and I could never thank her enough for everything she did to make me feel and look that way.
Dress Designer: Calla Blanche
Okay….let’s finally talk about MY DRESS! I won’t even try to put into words how I felt when I first put it on and when I said yes to the dress. It was the most intimate and precious moment between my mom and I. My mom was there for me every step of the way during the wedding planning process and she did everything she possibly could to support me and make sure I had everything I wanted. I was so happy that my mom loved the dress just as much as I did. Since it was her gift to me and I was the first of my siblings to get married, I wanted to make sure that the experience was just as special for her as it was for me.
Wedding dress shopping was such a magical experience and one of the funnest parts about wedding planning. Maybe I’ll write more about it in a separate post someday, but what I can tell you right now is that this dress is nothing like what I thought I would choose when I first started looking at wedding dresses. I was looking at all lace, slim fitting dresses. I didn’t think I would even try on a ball gown since it’s not at all what I thought I wanted, but boy was this dress a pleasant surprise! It absolutely took my breath away. When I put it on it made me feel like Jonathan’s bride, and my daddy’s princess. That’s how I knew it was the one.
The dress sparkled from head to toe and every detail was stunning, especially the long train! The back was my favorite part and it’s also what changed my mind about how I wanted my hair to look. I always thought my hair would’ve been all down, but I couldn’t hide the beautiful details on the back of this dress, so that quickly changed too. It’s funny how many ideas you have in your head about what you want for something big in your life, and then the moment comes and certain things take you completely by surprise and are even better than anything you ever imagined.
The way my dad looked at me during our first look and the way Jonathan looked at me walking down the aisle in this dress was something I’ll never forget. Everyone commented on how much this dress was “so me“, and that meant so much to me. Throughout the process of planning our wedding one of my number one priorities was staying true to who Jonathan and I are as a couple, and as individuals. I’m happy to say that we did stay true to ourselves, and I think that this dress was one of the first indications of that.
Shoes: Manolo Blahnik
Choosing my wedding shoes was actually a pretty easy decision for two reasons. For one, I knew I didn’t want a pair of heels that I would likely never wear again. Instead, I wanted a pair of heels that I could wear again a hundred times, knowing that every time I put them on I’ll think back on the best day of my life, and I’ll walk differently because of it. And secondly, because I wanted to be practical with as much as I could. I didn’t want to pay a lot of money for a pair of shoes that I couldn’t easily style with other outfits. Which is why these classic, white leather Manolo’s were the perfect choice. The pointed closed toe makes it a shoe that can be worn all year long, and white matches with everything, so it was a no brainer to choose these beauties.
Perfume: Dior
Earrings: Olive + Piper
Necklace: Olive + Piper
Bracelet: Kate Spade
Hair Vine: Etsy
Nail Color: Funny Bunny by OPI
Having my mom and sister help me get ready by putting my dress, shoes, and jewelry on was such a surreal part of the day. It was in moments like these that my heart was so full and I’ll cherish the memories forever.
If you couldn’t already tell from my dress, I love all the sparkle and bling! So it was no surprise that I chose jewelry that sparkled in a big way too. With the neckline of this dress being so open, I wanted to wear a statement necklace that would go well with my dress without taking away from it. This necklace from Olive + Piper was the perfect piece, and the earrings paired well with it too. My bracelet was actually my something borrowed from my matron of honor, she wore it on her wedding day! And of course, I couldn’t let the bling stop there; I had to add some of it to my hair with the gorgeous hair vine I purchased on Etsy.
Bouquet: Forever in Bloom
Last but certainly not least, my absolute favorite accessory of them all…my bouquet! It was the bouquet of my dreams! I knew from the very beginning that I wanted a cascading bouquet. It was made of white phalaenopsis orchids, and they were absolutely breathtaking! My florist did such a wonderful job.
I picked this bouquet before I had my dress, so during the final meeting with my florist I started to doubt if I should still go with it after knowing what my dress looked like. I felt like it might not go well with my sparkly dress, so my florist started to show me different options, but nothing compared to my first choice. My wedding planner finally asked me what I truly wanted, and I told her it was this bouquet, so she told me to go with my gut and not worry about what it would look like with my dress. I’m so glad that she said that to me because it was the most unique and stunning bouquet and I actually loved the way it looked with my dress. So many people commented on it too and they even asked if the flowers were fake because that’s how beautiful they were!
These last few pictures were taken after I was done getting ready and I opened the letter and gift from Jonathan. One of my favorite parts of the day. There are just not enough words to describe the emotions running through me during this time….
That’s all for now, friends! Stay tuned for the next blog post of wedding photos covering the first look with my dad and bridesmaids, which will include details of the bridesmaids’ looks (dresses, jewelry, etc).
Check out my blog post about my bridal shower here.