Wow! I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already since Dustin and I got engaged! Where the hell has the time gone?! I know they say it flies by, but damn! In my last post about getting engaged, I told you I’d take you along for the ride, and even though it doesn’t feel like a lot has happened, it has!! So, let’s get into it!

We Officially Set A Date!

We decided to keep things simple and chose July 17th 2021. July 17th was already our dating anniversary and the date we got engaged, AND it conveniently fell on a Saturday, so it was a no-brainer!

I Booked My Venue!

This was literally the first thing I did, and I did it within a month of getting engaged. I booked The Stables At Windy Point – duh! I’ve shot SO many weddings there already so I am super familiar with the place, I LOVE Dorie the coordinator, and the convenience of having the ceremony and reception there is key!

Greg Got Ordained & Will Officiate

Greg officially got ordained online & he will officiate the wedding! I always knew I wanted to incorporate him into my wedding day somehow and we always joked about him officiating – but now it’s for real! I love sentimental shit, and I’m SO glad to have one of the most important factors of the wedding day be done by someone so close to me!! And thankfully I won’t have to worry about him not stepping aside for the first kiss shot!!! LOL!

I Picked Out My Flowers – And My Mom Is GROWING Them!

This is one of the things I’m MOST excited for! My mom has the green thumb of God and can literally grow anything. Both of us realized that growing flowers for the wedding was kind of a crapshoot, so we decided to do a trial run to make sure we can get the bloom timing spot on! I ordered 100 Ranunculus bulbs and each bulb is said to produce 6-12 flowers each. My mom set up her “grow house” in the basement where she can monitor the light, humidity and temps. If it doesn’t work out, totally fine but it’s been such a fun project so far! If we can get the flowers to bloom, we’ll do the same thing next year for the actual wedding flowers. Either way, I’ll have Waddington Blooms take the flowers and create the bouquets and whatnot with them. If this turns out to be a total bust, I’ll just order the flowers directly from Waddington Blooms and carry on! 🙂

I Selected My Bridal Party

This was by far the easiest wedding planning decision, so here’s my lineup! What’s funny is that I’ve never actually hung out with all of these people together at once, so I am SERIOUSLY looking forward to that on the wedding day!!

Jake Woods – Man of Honor

Rileigh Stebbins – Junior Maid of Honor

Rachel Draper – Maid of Honor

Nicole Fenner – Bridemaid

Brooke Pitcher – Bridesmaid

Kelly Clemmer – Bridesmaid

Of course, Dustin has yet to finalize his side. Haha!

I Tried On Wedding Dresses

I made an apt with Delaney at Eternity Bridal in Potsdam and absolutely LOVED my time there!! I found 2 dresses that I was totally torn on. One I loved the design and look of, the other I loved the color. No, I will not be in a pure white dress, and the one dress I absolutely loved only came in white-white! So, back to the drawing board for now. I didn’t officially say “yes” to a dress yet, but I found a few more very similar dresses (which come in the color i’d like) on the website, so we’re waiting for the company to send in those sample dresses to the store! But you know me, I wanted to take a photo anyway just to celebrate and remember our time there!! Didn’t officially say yes yet, but I will soon! 🙂

I Picked My Color

LOL if you know me on Instagram, you know that I have ONE nail polish color that I wear constantly…..and I literally picked out my wedding color to match this color. It’s called Blushing Pink from AZAZIE (bridesmaids dress company)

I Picked Out My Decor Rental Stuff

Back in the fall I met with Pretty Little Vintage Co. to design and pick out all of the decor for my wedding. I love me a good DIY, but not when it comes to my wedding. I’ve worked with PLV on a few weddings and just LOVE Bri and how organized and meticulous she is with everything she does. Girl after my own heart, and I knew whatever they did would look absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Surprisingly, I’ve given over the reigns on this one! I handed over a Pinterest board and basically said, make it pretty! I still need to officially finalize all of this, and I need to give myself a kick in the ass and get this all set soon because I know once wedding season is back up and running, my brain will be elsewhere!!

I Booked My Hair & Makeup Artists

These vendors were booked within the week of getting engaged. Seriously! LOL! I booked The Painted Pair for makeup and my long-time friend and hair dresser, Melissa for my hair! I plan on changing my hair a wee bit before reception, so having Melissa there as a guest and a vendor is perfect!!

I Finished The Guest List

YES. What a relief! Dustin and I sat down last week and finished up the first draft of our guest list. I always said I’ve wanted a smaller wedding, and right now we’re just under 150. Which, doesn’t seem that small, but it’s about average. This number will probably decrease (lol if we’re being honest) but I wanted to have a starting number for when we start meeting with caterers this week!

Yes, I Always Wanted A Long Engagement

I’ve had quite a few people ask me why we were waiting 2 full years to actually get married. Here’s the thing, Dustin and I have been together for over 7 years now. We share a mortgage, heath insurance (thank god for common-law) bills, and life all around. I hate to say it but, what’s the rush? We’ve always been on the same page as far as knowing and wanting to pay for our wedding 100% by ourselves, and let’s be honest, weddings are expensive AF. I’ve been to enough weddings to know what I want and what I definitely don’t want. It was worth it to both of us to wait, have time to save and plan and actually have the wedding that we REALLY want without having to take out a loan or eat ramen for the next year. I also wanted an ample amount of time to actually plan my wedding without stressing. My summers are consumed with photographing other weddings, which I love, and I didn’t want either to take away from the other. I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to accommodate both my job and my wedding – and still enjoy both! I also wanted to ensure that all of my must-have vendors were available, and since there’s not a whole lot of people booking 2 years in advance, I haven’t run into any issue yet, and I’ve been able to secure my vendors!

Yes, We Are Doing First Look

Lol, you’re crazy if you think this is even a question! Dustin and I will do a first look on our wedding day and we will complete ALL wedding party photos prior to the ceremony.

Yes, I’m Back To Work Right After

LOL if this doesn’t show you that I do actually really love what I do, then idk what will!! Haha! We have a wedding scheduled for the weekend prior to our wedding, and we have weddings scheduled for the weekends immediately following our wedding. We’re waiting to go on our honeymoon until the winter and we’re thinking St. Lucia! Over this upcoming summer, once our 2021 schedule is a little more final, I’ll start to look at dates to block off for bachelorette/bridal shower stuff! One of the BEST things about CFP is that my brides are booking me and their other vendors way out, and so our schedules are pretty much set a year out, so that definitely helps me plan for my own wedding!

What’s Next

It feels good to have so much of this in place, but of course, there’s still a lot that needs to be done! Next up, we’re meeting with a caterer tomorrow which I’m pretty excited about! It’s one that I’ve worked with a few times at weddings and I’ve loved their food! Dustin has never tried their food before, so this should be interesting! I’m going to wait until I’ve officially booked to let you know who it is, but if you’ve followed along, you can probably already guess 🙂

Wow! Lots of updates!! I actually feel a little better looking at all of the things that I’ve managed to get done in 6 months! I really have enjoyed this entire process and time so far, and I love keeping you updated!! Till next time!!

-Cristina