Back in December Rob and I decided on a date for our wedding and a destination, just the two of us. Things were looking great, we booked our photographer and our wedding coordinator within a short period of time, we were golden...or so we thought.
In February while on a buying trip I decided to make an appointment at BHLDN and try on some dresses. I tried about six on and didn't really have the A-HA moment. There was one dress I loved but the sample size was far too small for me to try on. This dress was the one I couldn't stop thinking about.
Sadly none of these were winners but close seconds.
In March pre covid a few girlfriends and I made a plan to go to Minneapolis in April to the BLHDN there (it's only in the states). I had called and they had "the dress" in a larger sample size and this way I could get a few more opinions. Needless to say that COVID-19 took over these plans. As the day got closer to when we should have been going to Minneapolis it became clearer that this wasn't going to happen. I had a cry as that's what I do when things don't go as planned. From there I picked up and moved on. I definitely wrote some panic emails to both our photographer and the wedding coordinator in the meantime. Thank goodness they are both level headed and reassured me that things were still on track.
The next biggest issue was that I needed to apply for an event permit with the National Park....have you ever applied for a permit during a pandemic? STRESSFUL! With the park being closed and not returning emails I thought this was the end of our wedding. What I learned from this process is persistence is key. I filled out the permit and knew I wouldn't hear back from anyone with the closure. What I did from there was email the office...multiple times. I did hear back from a lovely lady who let me know I filled out the paperwork properly and from there I just had to wait. This in itself was stressful as we didn't have an alternate plan. However with a little patience and the help of this gem of a lady, we were approved once the park reopened. We just have to promise to be respectful of social distancing and proper procedures.
I will admit it has been challenging to keep going on this planning journey for what we hope will be our September wedding. I have an optimistic fiancé, photographer and coordinator who have been doing an incredible job of lifting my spirits when needed. The biggest challenges have been ordering a wedding dress online without actually trying it on and knowing it won't arrive until mid July (still needing alterations). Rob and I thought we found a suit for him, ordered it and it turned out to be a nightmare (shipping it back now). I will say the rest has fairly easy. With a clear vision, a lot of free time on my hands, the all mighty Pinterest board and a great coordinator (Thanks, Gabrielle), I have no doubt that this will all come to life and be perfection.
A small glimpse at a portion of our Pinterest board.
Stay tuned to see if we actually get to have our dream wedding this September.
With love and grace,
Ashley
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