The Blair Wife Project: Introductions

Ah!  Ok I am SO excited about this one guys.  "The Blair Wife Project" is a new blog series that we're going to do a little differently - Cate is going to guest blog her own wedding planning adventures for you here!!  I LOVE her, for being her and for so graciously allowing me to be involved in this exciting time in her life.  All posts will be from her point of view, but I will throw my 2 cents in every once and awhile!  One of my favorite things about weddings and the bridal industry is how unique every bride is, and I LOVE that this will allow you to see an entirely different point of view than the one I share with you regularly.  So without further adieu ....here's Cate!

Hello! I’m Cate and I am the cousin-to-be Rachel mentioned recently got engaged. When Rachel began (aggressively) suggesting I document details of my engagement and wedding for this blog, I all but jumped at the opportunity to ask if I could be somewhat of guest blogger. The other shoreline bride, if you will.  Rachel and I have been planning this wedding for years so it just seems fitting we stick together in the blog department, right?

Rachel and I have been dance partners since Cody’s (my fiancé) brother’s wedding in October 2011. In addition to introducing me to Instagram, Rachel and I – I feel- forged a real bond when, in our wine-induced haze, we took each other up and started slow dancing. One moment we were giggling over nothing and then both of us looked at each other and in the same exact moment realized “oh sh*t, we are next!”  Little did we know how real that moment was!

(Rachel interrupting here - this is a picture from Keith & Sabrina's wedding of us with the bride!)

So- introductions. Relationship stats.  Cody and I met with college in 2009. We were both hired as Resident Assistants and went through training together.  Cody, affectionately a bit of a hoarder, still has the ice -breaker activity thing where he took copious notes to try and remember everyone’s names in the group and next to mine wrote “dark hair –(hot)”.

 Seven years later we are engaged. We were friends for about a year before we started dating February 28^th, 2010 and we got engaged on February 26^th, 2016 in Portland, ME.  I would say we are a bit goofy. We are both avid runners. He’s a car guy, I’m a bookworm. We have two cats, Frank and Bandit, and you might think we have a dog by the number of pictures I have of a silly hound-mutt on my phone but we don’t. That’s Cody’s brother’s dog.  I have a slight obsession. 

Cody and I are both CT born and hoping to get married fall 2017. I, personally, would love to just go and elope somewhere beautiful like Hawaii or New Zealand but I don’t think either of our families would have that. Plus despite my non-traditional-I-won’t-wear-white-because-you-say-so heart, a big part of me is excited for the journey. 

If I had to pick a phrase to describe our ideal wedding theme/style, it would be industrial-minimalist. So far, we both love the look of hardwood and metal interiors and are of the philosophy less is more. As a bride I don’t care too much about tradition or spectacle. I actually get pretty anxious at parties with more than 6 people. I don't want crazy up-lighting. I don’t want fireworks or a seven-tier cake. I just want to marry my best friend and have some fun doing it with the people we love most. 

The month of April is dedicated to the venue search. We have tours booked at about seven places so far and I will be sure to take notes and detail for Rachel to share with you! 

Check back soon for more updates on their venue search!!!

xoxo

West Coast Road Trip: Rental Car

When Ant and I were planning our west coast road trip, we knew that the rental car was going to be a relatively large expense.  Unfortunately, rental car companies tack on a HUGE additional fee for "one way" rentals...where you do not drop the car off at the same place you pick it up.  I took a tip from Emily @ emformarvelous, and after we booked our initial reservation, I kept an eye out for lower prices!  Read the fine print, but MANY car rentals have very easy cancellation policies....I think we cancelled and rebooked 3 or 4 times as we found lower prices leading up to the day of our trip!

One area we originally intended to save, that didn't pan out, was in the type of rental car.  We agreed to go low key with a standard four door sedan - it was a good 200+ dollars cheaper....but the day we arrived in San Fran, the man at the counter QUICKLY up-sold my husband (he knew his audience!)  Vacations are all about compromises, and I'd made my fair share of demands, so I was happy to oblige Ant's wish.....and it became one of the better decisions we made!  Our rental was a beautiful new Jeep.  The four wheel drive became handy when we found ourselves off roading in the redwood forests....and the extra space that I had sworn we wouldn't need, ending up making our two weeks of constant hotel hopping SO much easier to manage!  We left our large suitcases in the trunk, and at each hotel would unpack the day or two's worth of clothes we needed into a duffel that we would actually bring into our hotel/airbnb with us!  We never had to lug around excess luggage - major win!  The backseat also became our extra closet, holding all the various layers we found ourselves taking on and off as we traveled up the west coast!

Vineyard bound!!

There was an iron at our first AirBNB, so we ironed a bunch of our clothes once and laid them out in our backseat "closet" for the rest of the trip!

Another thing to note: at the San Francisco airport, one of the things they pushed pretty hard was the pass for the bridges.  I don't remember all of the costs involved, but we ultimately turned them down.  This ended up being the right decision - in all the times we drove in and out of the city, we were only charged one toll.  The online app is very user friendly, so it was not a big deal to just pay as we drove through!

Don't worry - the jeep could still fit through the chandelier tree!!!

That's one happy boy after successfully off roading to this awesome spot - he could be the next Jeep commercial, no?

Do you have any car rental tips?  We're renting again when we head to Iceland in September!

Wedding Dress Inspiration

FINALLY.

Ant's cousin popped the question - and this girl's got someone planning a REAL wedding to talk to again in her life.  Don't get me wrong, I can daydream with the best of them...but it is way more fun when I can talk to an actual bride to be about her big day!

For the longest time, Cate and I have shot wedding dress inspiration back and forth, on Instagram and I can't wait to see what she actually chooses to wear on her wedding day.  Her style has been so much fun to "window shop" for!!!  

Some of my favorite recent inspiration:

Where do you go for all of your wedding day inspiration?  Point me in the direction of something new and pretty, please!

xoxo