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

Now that my wedding ceremony and family party are done I can share what I wore! I didn't want a regular wedding so it made sense to not wear a regular wedding dress. I still wanted something feminine and pretty so I had Needle & Thread in mind. I've always loved their lace and beaded dresses but never had an occasion to buy one. My wedding seemed like the perfect time! Another stipulation I had was I didn't want to spend thousands on a dress. Enter - the Net-a-Porter sale, my favorite sale of the Summer!

Once the sale started I began checking religiously to see if any dresses popped up in my price range that I liked. I saved a bunch to my wishlist and patiently waited for further reductions. I ended up finding a really pretty dress by Needle & Thread for 40% off retail! The photos showed it as being really light pink but the description said lilac. A lighter shade of my favorite color seemed appropriate so I bought it with advertising money that was just deposited to my PayPal account. Totally meant to be!

(I almost chose this longer dress but feared it would be way too long on me because I'm not model height. Good thing I didn't because the dress I bought was supposed to hit at the knee and went all the way down to mid-calf.)


Next up, shoes. My main searches were on The Real Real and the Net-a-Porter sale. I was hoping to find a purple shoe to go with the dress but none of them really screamed wedding. I wanted a less expensive pair of shoes but I just kept coming back to a pair of Kirkwood sandals that were a little over what I wanted to pay. They were so much fun and I loved that they were unique. Definitely special enough for a wedding. Plus, 50% off is still a pretty great score, right?

Nicholas Kirkwood Lola embellished Lurex sandals (Net-a-Porter)

For my something old I wore opal earrings that belonged to my late Grandmother on my Dad's side and were passed down to me. Opals are my birthstone, hence why there is an opal on my engagement ring. When it came to my something blue I chose a topaz necklace that my other Grandmother passed down to me a few years ago. It was a nice surprise for her to see I wore it! This way I had an heirloom from both of them on my special day. Finally, my mother lent me my something borrowed - an opal bracelet that was passed down to her from my Dad's mom (which was part of a set with the earrings that I wore.)  I'll go into my engagement ring and wedding band in a different post so this doesn't become a mile long.

Something Old: Opal and gold earrings that belonged to my paternal Grandmother

Something Borrowed: Opal & Gold bracelet from Mom that was my paternal Grandmother's

Something Blue: Topaz and diamond necklace passed down from my maternal Grandmother

I didn't do anything with my hair because Christian likes it straight and I did my own makeup, very simply. My Mom got me a beautiful purple-themed bouquet even though I originally wasn't going to have one.  She pointed out that it would give me something to hold during the ceremony to make me feel less awkward. So true!

Bridal bouquet from City Line Florist

My husband (AHH! So weird saying that) wore some nice blue pants, a lilac button down and blue tie for the ceremony and party. I think we make a pretty stylish couple, don't you?


Thank you so much to the lovely Lydia for taking all these photos for us on our special day!!

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!)

I was able to behave this month and nothing new has been added to my closet. But you will notice I finally updated the information for my wedding dress, wedding shoes and wedding band! I got married in a super small ceremony last Saturday. We're having a party for our family and friends tomorrow. I'll share photos in my wedding look next week.



THE (modified) RULES

1. Be mindful of purchases 
2. Quality over quantity
3. Basics are best

MY PROGRESS 

Clothes:

1. J. Crew 'Harlow' cardigan sweater in star print ($15, $90 retail, used gift card)
2. Robert Rodriguez tonal paisley chiffon dress via Roundabout ($16.80, $348 retail) 
3. Mickey Baseball Tee via Disney Character Warehouse ($14.99, used gift card)
4. Mickey Metallic Tank via Disney Character Warehouse ($7.99, used gift card) 
5. Wedding Dress - Needle & Thread Mirage tiered embellished tulle dress via Net-a-Porter ($206, retail $405, used ad money) 

Basics:

1. nothing yet

Shoes:

1. Franco Sarto 'Dolly' mule in navy via DSW ($20, $80 retail)
2. Wedding Shoes - Nicholas Kirkwood Lola embellished Lurex sandals via  Net-a-Porter ($326, retail $815) 

Bags:

1. Dooney & Bourke 2017 Sorcerer Mickey Disney Shopper Tote via eBay ($200, used ad money & work bonus)

Accessories:

1. Wedding Band Sofia Zakia Altair Ring via Catbird ($562)

Gifted from Brands:

1. Azaggi Jewelry Round Crescent Moon necklace w/ CZs
2. Azaggi Jewelry Tiny Owl necklace

Total spent in September: $0

Total spent in 2018:  $36.80
(not counting wedding shoes + band)

A simple outfit for a day where I didn't want to get dressed or make myself presentable. This outfit actually looks better in the throwback version. Probably because I tucked it in...whoops! What can I say, cloudy/rainy days make me extra lazy. For my re-wear I wore the same color tee from Everlane but opted to wear the one with the pocket.

Tee: Everlane, Skirt: Made by Mom, Sandals: Steve Madden (Marshalls), Necklace: Francesca's



The Original: 

Notice something odd about this outfit? If you're saying the pink top - correct! If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you will have noticed I don't wear light colors often. But I bought tee from Everlane a couple years ago because you never know when you'll need a light pink tee. It went perfectly with the flowers on these cherry blossom printed pants but I still feel odd in it. Give me dark colors any day!

Tee: Everlane 'The Cotton V' in rose, Cherry Blossom Print "Ryan" Pant c/o Banana Republic Factory (Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets), Heels: Simply Vera Wang c/o Kohl's, Belt: Kenneth Cole Reaction (Marshalls), Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Perfect Purse ostrich-effect PVC' (Net-a-Porter), Sunglasses: Chanel