To continue with my December Wardrobe Update I thought I would share my favorite purchases on 2018! I only added 14 new pieces (plus 5 gifted jewelry items) to my closet this year so it's slim pickings compared to past years.

Needle & Thread 'Mirage' tiered embellished tulle dress  - The Wedding Look

If my wedding dress didn't make my top purchases list, we'd have a problem.  I never imagined myself in a white or traditional wedding dress so this sequined lilac dress was perfect for me.

Nicholas Kirkwood 'Lola' embellished Lurex sandals    - The Wedding Look

The same goes for my wedding shoes! I wanted these to be super special and unique so I splurged quite a bit!

I've only worn the dress and shoes for the wedding ceremony and party so far but I will definitely break out the shoes again in the future. I'm sure I'll find another occasion for the dress as well.

Sofia Zakia 'Altair' Ring - The Wedding Rings

Another no-brainer favorite is my wedding band. I love my wedding rings because they're so unique. The shape of the band fits perfectly with the engagement ring - it was designed that way - and I couldn't imagine a better piece of jewelry to wear for the rest of my life.

Franco Sarto "Dolly" mules

You can't beat $20 for a pretty pair of suede mules, can you? I almost didn't buy these because I was trying to "behave" and not buy new clothes. So glad I broke my no spending rule to add these to my closet in January. They're such a great color and go with everything I own.

Dooney & Bourke 2017 Sorcerer Mickey Disney Shopper Tote - First Seen Here

This purchase was a long time coming. I had wanted it in 2017 when I went to Disney and didn't buy it and then spent the next nine months hunting for one on eBay. It may not be worn often but I'm still super happy with the purchase. It's as much a part of my Disney collection as it is in my wardrobe so I'll be happy as a clam to see it sitting with my Disney items until it gets worn again.
 

Vince Camuto 'Davilla' Ankle Boot

Technically I haven't worn the ones I bought yet, but I bought a replacement pair of boots for when these eventually get too gross to wear. Seeing as I've been looking for a couple years I'd say this is a great buy! You can see these are all nice and scuffed. Can't wait to break out the new clean ones!

I'm not into the whole huge wedding say your vows in front of everyone thing. I enjoy going to weddings but I don't personally want to be the center of attention - thanks social anxiety. Luckily Christian wasn't big on the idea of a large wedding either so we opted for a small ceremony in the park where we go for our daily walks with just my parents and my grandparents in attendance. His immediate family decided to come for the party instead of the ceremony since they're a 20 hour drive away.

The following week we had a party for family and friends in my parents backyard.  I let my mom do most of the planning because she has great taste and I knew it would be easier that way. I had made a Pinterest board with a few things I liked and we went off of that. Christian's brother also hand carved an amazing Lord of the Rings sign for us as a wedding gift so we brought it to the party since it was on-theme (see photo above.)

We decided on a color palette and chose a bunch of hanging lanterns as well as string lights. After that I pretty much took a back seat and approved or vetoed her decisions. (aka always approved because she's great at planning and decorating.) The only thing we disagreed on was tables. I wanted rectangle instead of circles because it looks less formal that way.



Rather than cooking food ourselves we chose a caterer that had more than just the basic Italian food options, The Executive Chef. We had a great menu planned with appetizers and a dinner buffet. My mom took care of the desserts - she's an amazing baker - and we both made a ton of french macarons to give out as party favors.  My mom also created a really cute candy bar for the dessert table with purple treats! She thinks of everything. Unfortunately we were all so caught up in the day we forgot photos of the dinner buffet! GAH!


Update: The caterer posted photos of the buffet! YAY! And a few close-ups of the appetizers.





A family friend generously offered to make the cake for us so my Mom would have one less thing to do. We wanted a super simple cake (chocolate with white frosting) and decided to be cheeky and put our Wall-E and Eve figures on the top instead of a bride and groom. What can I say, we're weird.  I did indulge our guests with the traditional cutting of the cake. Note my excitement in the photos below, haha.



Photos by me, my Dad, a couple other relatives and Lydia!

I guess I should also share our engagement story during what I'm now dubbing "wedding week" on the blog. I had Christian write up the story for you all to enjoy:

Proposals are no easy task.  People have romantic dinners, the Eiffel tower is in the distance, and a soothing quartet has to be nearby. Except none of this happened.  While camping in Vermont, Megan showed Christian the Overlook after a 1 mile hike.  The view was wide open and full of trees down below.  After spending the rest of the day enjoying various camping activities, Christian discussed his desire of capturing the sunset on camera from the Overlook.  Of course Megan would support him, but it seemed a couple others, her brother and cousin, wanted to join in this venture!  Panic started filling his mind as to what to do now.  Fortunately, they were very willing to skip this evening after he had a quick talk with them.  The time came and off they went.  Saying the mosquitoes were doing their best to muster the troops to attack us would be an understatement.  The second hike in one day was much harder than the first, as well.  Sweaty, aching, and covered in itching bumps, we finally reached the top.  Christian decided to take his time setting up and risk losing sunlight in order to give them time to get their breath back.  After carefully setting up the camera to capture the orange sunlight spilling across the hills and trees in the distance, Christian asked Megan to check on some other equipment across from him at the edge of the cliff.  A few moments passed, and Megan turned once she heard him start to speak.  The camera captured everything.  The sunset was only one part of Christian trying to secretly capture the moment.  Surprisingly, she said Yes, and here we are.

After I said yes, we sat up on the cliff together for a bit soaking in the view. Then we called our parents to tell them the good news before going back down to the campsite to see our vacation buddies. My 2 brothers, aunt, uncle and cousin were all there and were very excited when we shared the news.

We were actually supposed to go camping alone for the 4th of July (our anniversary week) but changed it when we had a family reunion to go to that same weekend. It just so happened that there were campsites open when my aunt and uncle were going on their yearly trip so we decided merge our trips. My extended family on my Dad's side used to camp here every Summer when I was younger and then I continued the tradition with my 2 best friends.

Normally I skip posts on Wednesday but I figured today could be a hodgepodge of photos that I didn't post the rest of the week! So here are some "getting ready" and other pictures I like from our special day.  (I had to narrow everything down from 699 pictures Lydia took, yowza! And that's just the wedding day, not the party!)

Wedding Dress: Needle & Thread Mirage tiered embellished tulle dress (Net-a-Porter), Wedding Shoes: Nicholas Kirkwood Lola embellished Lurex sandals (Net-a-Porter),  Wedding Band: Sofia Zakia Altair Ring (Catbird), Engagement Ring: Custom Sofia Zakia Wandering Star  Ring, Opal

Men's Button Down: Ryan Seacrest Ultimate Slim Fit,  Pants: Apt. 9 Slim Fit Twill Suit in Dusty Blue (we scored the pants only for $15 on the clearance rack at Kohl's!)

Wall-E and Eve Ring Box

Growing up I never pictured myself with a big diamond engagement ring. I wanted something more unique if I was ever going to get married - which I thought was a very small possibility because I was far too shy to talk to boys. My parents would joke to the rest of the family that I would be the one taking care of them in their old age because I would be alone. Then Christian came into the picture and the rest is history. We knew fairly quickly that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together so we started researching rings.

Quick backstory - The first "date" we ever had was watching Wall-E one night during the Game of Thrones convention we met at. It's one of his favorite movies and we all know how much I love Disney/Pixar. Needless to say, we're very into space representing our relationship.

We came upon Sofia Zakia while browsing Catbird for ideas, not thinking I'd find a ring there.  I didn't want Christian to have to spend a lot on my ring but we both fell in love with her Wandering Star ring featuring an opal (my birthstone!) It's an opal surrounded by diamonds (as the stars) and 2 crescent moons on either side. On Catbird it only came in regular gold and rose gold but I wanted white gold so we set off to find something else. Here is an early inspiration image I made. Notice how large the Sofia Zakia Wandering Star ring is featured ;)



In the end, Christian found her website and saw that she did white gold versions of her rings. He also customized the ring by trading out some of the diamonds for sapphires, his birthstone. It was such a wonderful surprise to see the ring of my dreams when he opened up the adorable Wall-E & Eve box he ordered to put it in. It's the perfect ring to represent us and our story.

Sofia Zakia makes special wedding bands that fit around the interesting shape of the Wandering Star ring. We had a few to choose from but thought the Altair was the prettiest and most complimentary.  I insisted on buying my band because it was a lot pricier than we would have spent with any other ring. Luckily Catbird offers a 10% discount when signing up for their newsletter so I was able to save a bit of cash that way.

For Christian's ring, he wanted something a bit more unique and in a darker metal. Originally he wanted something with meteorite or a textured metal but decided that would be too fragile to wear every day based on research. He went with a dark gray ceramic ring with a blue inlay so it would sort of match the sapphires in my ring.

We used the ring box Christian proposed with to hold our wedding bands on the day.

Wedding Band: Sofia Zakia Altair Ring (Catbird), Engagement Ring: Custom Sofia Zakia Wandering Star Ring, Opal

Sofia Zakia Altair Ring, Custom Sofia Zakia Wandering Star Ring, Opal

Dark Gray Ceramic Wedding Band with Blue Inlay, Sofia Zakia Altair Ring, Custom Sofia Zakia Wandering Star Ring with Opal, Diamonds and Sapphires

Wall-E & Eve with Custom Sofia Zakia Wandering Star Ring, Opal