Wedding planning was never my favorite thing. I didn't have tons and tons of pins on my pinterest boards. I just kind of winged it. So when the parts that came around that didn't require anything from me, i.e. Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party, I was in heaven.

Today I am going to recap my Bridal Shower. The shower was the first week of August, and a hot day to say the least. It was held back in my hometown in Pennsylvania in a beautiful church hall.

My friends and family put on a beautiful shower with homemade food and games. I'lllet the photos do the talking. Photo credit goes to my lovely friend Kellie!









There you have it. My cute Bridal Shower. There was great food, great laughs, and great friends. Okay there may of also been some lingerie and chocolate syrup..

Don't forget to catch my recap up to the shower here, and come back next week, same place, same time for a recap of my Bachelorette party which may or may not include a Sublime cover band and a contact high..

Now that it's FINALLY starting to feel like Fall around here (I swear the Powers That Be were listening when I prayed every night for Fall weather on my wedding day 2 weeks ago (It was perfect by the way.) I figured I would make a real bucket list of things I want to do this time around.


I always seem to write down everything I want to do and forget and then it ends up Winter and I'm like.. "wow I sure dropped the ball on those fun ideas". So let's not let that happen again this year.

• Attend a college football game - I have only attended high school football games at this point and since my hubby enjoys his college ball, and has gotten me into it, I really want to go to one.

• Star gaze: Fall is the time of year where we get crisp skies. Perfect time to check out the sky and the stars. The next meteor showers are the Orionids which peak on the night of October 21st.

• Apple picking: I went for the first time 2 years ago and I loved it. For some reason we did not make it last year, but I am making sure it happens this Fall! 

• Fall photos: Me and R just got married, and I want to start doing regular photos. I will be doing them myself, so this will be cost effective and fun all at the same time. 

• Hike: Summer is fun to hike, but it gets REALLY hot. Fall is one of my favorite times to hike. You get exercise AND get to take in the Fall scenery without suffering from heat stroke. 

•  Eat all the Fall foods: I love comfort food. I can't wait to make all the soups and chilis. Also pumpkin and apple everything makes my little heart flutter. Maybe I'll share some of my recipes this time around. Also Cider. That is all. 

• Halloween: No list is complete in my book without Halloween being mentioned. It has always been my favorite holiday. I can't wait to get out all my decor and plan a costume of sorts. I am planning to attend my local Wizarding Weekend. So many great things come from Halloween! 

So much magic there. I'm makes me super nostalgic.

What's on your list?

For those of you who are new to the page, or missed my wedding posts during the planning process, this post is for you. I am highlighting everything from my engagement up until right before my bridal shower.  This may be a little lengthy, but please bare with me! I wanted to make sure I get everything linked for your reading pleasure.

Here we go..


We were engaged on August 12, 2015 (My moms birthday!)  and quickly started looking into places to hold our wedding (I even blogged about first impressions of being engaged here). We live in the Finger Lake region of New York, AKA wine country. We knew we wanted to have a wedding that everyone would enjoy, but without breaking the bank.

We looked at a number of barns (You can see one of them here!), but none of them seemed to fit what we were looking for. We were having a small wedding, so a place fit for hundreds of people, just was not our style. I had booked marked a list of wineries in the area that hosted weddings.

A winery seemed like a great idea. We love wine. Our friends love wine. So why not. We looked at 2 places that responded to our request. R really wanted a wedding with a lake view. One of the wineries fulfilled that want, but the rest of the place was not working for us.

We decided on Knapp Winery. They had 2 dates left in the time frame we were looking for. Labor Day weekend or September 24th. We wanted Fall, so the 24th seemed like a no brainer. We booked and were set.

October came and I had an appointment with David's Bridal and a local boutique. My mom came into town and we had at it. You may remember I wrote about my experience with both here. I bought my dress a lot quicker than I anticipated, but it was love for sure.

Once the dress was bought and the venue was picked, I kind of stopped planning. We had engagement photos taken and I sent out cards to the ladies I wanted in my bridal party and everything kind of stood still til the Spring.

When March hit, I jumped into full on panic mode. So much to plan, so little time. I am a pretty thrifty person, so keeping costs down was very important to me. Our location was very pretty on it's own, so not much went into decor. I booked a photographer and a DJ and we chose our bakery. Everything was set.

We had planned to get married in front of a famous waterfall in the Ithaca area, however due to an extreme draught, there was no water. In August I changed the location of the ceremony. It was pretty risky, so close to the date, but I made it work and we had a plan.  

The first weekend of August was my bridal shower. I will be sharing that with you all next week on the 12th.

September 10th was my Bachelorette Party. That will be posted on 10/19.

You can expect the post on my wedding day on 10/26.

I can't wait to get into this mini series, sharing with you my wedding festivities.

Well here we are again. Another new month with more goals to be had. At this point my goals are really more like themes. I have goals, they just spread further than one month at a time.



In September I decided to have a mic drop moment. Just go with the flow. Stop letting things eat me up. Just have fun.

I think I did okay.. Let's have a good at September:

I saved my brother for the last time. Sad story, but his life is so toxic right now, I can't have it anymore interfering with my own life.

I had my Bachelorette party. That equals fun. And I needed it so bad.

I went to the Great New York Fair for the first time and I ate all the fried things!

And.. I got married!

I think I did well for the month. Mostly going with the flow. Having some fun aND having the best day ever for my wedding.

Now for October. I want to live Fall to its fullest. Leggings. Hoodies. Smores. Wine. Halloween.

This is a magical time and I intend to live it up. My goal/theme will be being the best wife I can be while enjoying the magic in the air.

I'm expecting more blogging. Wedding series. Life recaps and updates. Projects. Cat pictures and stories. And possibly the return of my tea swap!

What are you looking forward to this month?