Wedding Update - Venue Pick, Wedding Planners, Picking a Date and more!

We are finally home from Florida and back in New York City, unpacking from months away from the city. It feels so good to be back in NYC - I've missed it.

After Dan and I got engaged, I wanted to enjoy being engaged for awhile before planning, but my Mom started to get worried with all the 2020 weddings postponed until next year. While in Florida, I started to get worried too, and we began the wedding planning process together virtually. Many of you reach out via Instagram asking for wedding planning updates, so I thought it would be fun to share the progress on wedding planning on my blog, and what our vision is so far!

Venue - We're having an AT HOME WEDDING!

We started looking at venues online, but kept playing with the idea of hosting the wedding reception at home in Massachusetts. The idea of having a wedding in the backyard felt magical. For those who may not know, I grew up in a small town outside of Boston, and lived in my childhood home until I was 18! My first steps, words, and so many more memories happened in this home. My parents still live there and haven't pulled the trigger to sell it.

After much deliberation, we decided WHY NOT! It was the "venue" we were the most genuinely excited about! Right away, we realized we needed help on creating the most magical wedding. We are essentially building a venue from scratch in the backyard. So after talking with MANY wedding planners, we finally picked our "dream" planner.

Wedding Planner - Our Dream Wedding by KMEvents

We connected through Instagram and I fell in love with all the photos of previous events KMEvents has thrown. Within the first 15 minutes of our planning consultation, I knew Kristie was PERFECT for what we needed to throw the most beautiful, elegant backyard wedding. I love the amount of detail and magic that goes into her events, and love her work ethic. I have already been working with her (almost) daily, and we are finalizing some of the "big vendors" we need still: photographer, band and catering!

Also, she sent me the most gorgeous gift basket of goodies filled with bridal gifts :) I'm obsessed! Here is a picture of some of the goodies in the basket! So thoughtful ♥️

Wedding Date - We Picked a Date!

We knew we wanted to get married during the summer because it made sense for the backyard wedding and get the best weather possible. Since we weren't competing with others to secure a vendor (luckily, Mom & Dad didn't require a deposit, ha!), we could pick any weekend date we wanted! We did some research on the longest summer days (for the most sun before bugs arrive at the reception) and played with the idea of a long holiday weekend. Our final two options were June 26 and Labor Day Weekend. Something about June 26 felt right, and ended up picking June 26, 2021! (Also, sharing the date with doughnuts felt right too ☺ )

Food, food....FOOD!

For the catering vendor, I want to keep the food theme a surprise! It is going to be something traditional in the New England area, but items we have LOVED to indulge on while dating. We picked out a vendor my parent's have used for their previous events, and I'm so excited to taste-test with them!

Photographer - Finalizing the Details NOW

Picking a photographer was MUCH harder than I expected. I think if I didn't have my blog, it would be easier because I wouldn't be so used to taking photos all the time. I have become more and more picky with photography personally and professionally! After many meetings with photographers, learning about price points and options, we are finalizing the details with our DREAM photographer! Really excited to sign the contract and begin planning our engagement shoot!

Would love to hear any wedding planning tips! Leave a comment below :)