As I have mentioned on Monday, I had engagement photos done over the weekend with R. I do not have the photos back yet but I did take a few photos of my own. I wanted to share a quick sneak peak of the location as it was so beautiful and was taken in my hometown!

Enjoy!

The train came through!

Playing around with the mini pumpkin and my ring.

Sooo... My weekend was so full of wedding related stuff and I didn't even plan it! I had mentioned that I had engagement photos planned for Saturday. Me and R headed back to my hometown in Pennsylvania to meet with a dear friend. It all was perfect, except for the fact that it was 47 degrees outside! Of course it picked this weekend to decide to be fall on the borderline of winter. Good news is the scenery was beautiful and the sky was blue. We sucked it up and got some pretty great shots!

Between shots.. It was SO cold! And the wind was fierce!

Saturday morning I woke up to a text from R who was downstairs. The text contained a photo of what it looked like outside. Let's just say I am not one of those people who appreciated this..

Okay enough about that white stuff that makes me cold. One of my best friends and bridesmaids came up for the day on Sunday. We headed out to the wedding venue for lunch. I was so excited to be able to share it with someone else. We enjoyed some lunch and participated in some wine tasting both at the venue and another on the wine trail. We had so much fun and tasted some pretty amazing wines! I want to leave you all with a little teaser of the ceremony site as well as the reception site..

Not bad for a ceremony backdrop right?!

Wine barrels and lights!

Happy Monday!

Whew! We made it! I am going to try something new today, and hopefully every Friday moving forward. I am going to post a snapshot of my week here. This would include links I loved, links I posted, and weekly updates that I feel shaped me and this blog. So what do you say? Give this a shot with me? Also the winner is announced for my first giveaway! She has been emailed but I will announce it at the bottom of this post!

In case you missed it

Currently: Struggle Bus Edition
Wedding Wedneday: Inspiration
Blogging: How I'm Making Small Changes for Big Results

Updates this week

I made a few updates on the blog appearance. In case you haven't noticed, my sidebar photo is new and I also updated my 'About Me' page. Run on over and check that out!

I have really upped my game when it comes to photos. I really enjoy photography but have really slacked when it came to taking quality photos. Between using my DSLR and stock photos, I have cleaned up my images. This makes me smile. 

I am toying around with posting 4-5 days a week. I am ending this week with 4 posts. I am feeling confident that I can do this now and put out quality content. Please forgive me if I miss a day.

Coming up next week

This weekend R and I will be having our engagement photos. I expect I will have some commentary on that come my Wedding Wednesday post.

I am working on a few new ideas to work into my blogging rotation. One being this particular series. I want to be able to share favorites links from other bloggers along with products and such I am into. I may even start a 'Favorites' post incorporating all the things that make up this blog: Fitness, Thrity, and all round life things.

I vowed to work on posting more photos of myself. I have taken a few photos for a post that I am planning to share this week on simple wedding makeup, even when your face is breaking out.  I am excited for this. I hope you all enjoy it.

My first newsletter goes live! Have you subscribed yet?

WINNER

The winner of my first giveaway is:

Katherine C from Katherine's Corner! Congrats!

Thank you to everyone who participated! Thank you all for the support! This place means so much to me and having you all here makes it that much better! Happy weekend!

I've officially been blogging for 20 months. Yes I'm going the month route. Kinda like a baby. In reality this space is like my baby. It demands attention. It needs to be fed, changed, and encouraged. It's not going to walk on its own. It a not going to talk on its own.

The reality of it is each and every blog needs a village (or community) to grow. Bloggers need to take the steps to interact with other bloggers and their readers. Research them. Find out what they want to see. Sounds a little daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing.

To bad there isn't a 'What to Expect when you're Growing a Blog' book out there. Because there is no official book that tells you exactly what to do, I am going to share the little changes I have been making lately to see big results.

Follow other bloggers

You may be thinking 'I already do that'. That's great but, what I've been focusing on is 3 specific bloggers. I've picked 3 bloggers who have different blogging styles and are still attracting readers who comment. This is great research. You can see what they are doing to keep readers coming back.

Update your photos

Over the weekend I crashed my friends wedding... sorta. I made the 6 hour trip with a mutual friend to help celebrate her wedding day. Even though I went to celebrate her and her husband I couldn't help but take notice to all of the little details. Details I am looking at now to plan my own wedding.


She got married in a church. A beautiful Greek Orthodox church. I have never been in such a beautiful place. The detail in the murals and the sparkle in the chandelier was like nothing I have experienced before. I started to compare it to my ceremony. I am getting married at a winery. I will be surrounded by beautiful scenery brought to me by nature. The detail I will see will come from the flowers and the trees. The sparkle will come from the sun shining down on me.

The ceremony was beautiful. I learned so much, as I have never attended a Greek ceremony before. I really loved the traditions and how it all flowed in a way that I never felt bored, or ready for it to be over. 45 minutes sounded like a long time, but it flew by so quickly. I now think about the ceremony I will have. I haven't even thought about who would officiate my special day. Me and R are both baptized Catholic but neither of us are apart of a church. Things to think about as we move forward.

After the bride and groom excused us from the church, we headed to the reception space. A party in a banquet room of a casino. An idea I would have never come up with as my own. It made perfect sense to me. The casino had a hotel, restaurant, and spa. Everything you could need was found in this space. My reception will be hosted at a winery. Dinner will be served in the in house restaurant and the party will take place surrounded by beautifully decorated wine barrels. I can offer my guests a night of dancing, socializing, and good local wine.

During dinner guests were encouraged to get up and make toasts to the bride and groom. I really loved this idea. It takes the pressure off of the maid of honor and best man. Anyone could make a speech and that to me makes more sense. Everyone has well wishes for you and your new life. Why not let them spoil you with them in front of your guests?

The whole day was perfect. I was really excited to be apart of their special day, and left with all sorts of new ideas for my own wedding. It reminds me how all weddings are beautiful not matter how they go down. We all have our own traditions and visions, to make our day, us. We want to show our friends and family a good time, but we also want it to symbolize us as a couple. I can't wait to continue to share this journey with all of you.

Where do/did you get inspiration for your wedding?