Mother of the Bride

Exactly one year ago, I had the idea of getting back to blogging and share all my thoughts as my life was making some good changes.  The changes came, and they were really good, but along those changes were also some of the toughest times I have had within my family.  

Over 7 months ago, just a few months before my wedding, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  The news were like an "ice bucket challenge" to everyone in my family. I live in Miami, my mom is in Virginia and our extended family is back in Costa Rica, distance was brutal.  You hear cancer and the worst comes to mind, I heard cancer and did not want to do anything else than being with my mom - but I was in the middle of planning my wedding... and did I mention that we are miles apart???

Some weeks were fine, other weeks were really hard. I was able to fly to VA a couple of times while she was going through this process and my mom's words were always present "I want you to enjoy your wedding planning process, I will be ok" We were both ok, just not at all times.  

My hopes and fears were walking hand on hand, there was no time or need to become "bridezilla" when surprisingly, planning my wedding was a therapy during those months - I see that now. 

God truly has a plan bigger than anything we can picture on our minds. I say this because even though I would have loved to be with her and my help could have been great, my patience and my faith were positively tested.

My mom is doing better now, she is still making herself healthier and she is still showing us how STRONG she is.  To have her with me the day of the wedding was everything I wanted and there she was, walking me down the aisle along with my dad.  I know she was in pain and not fully herself, but I will forever be thankful for her constant love and support! She had a smile on her face and I know both of our hearts were happy to share another memory.

 

Very Kelly

Here I am, eating my favorite ice cream out of the carton and thinking of the best word to describe my wedding dress, among other thoughts. I think I could probably use minimalist, classic, comfortable, simple or as my dad said when he saw it "this dress is very Kelly".

As I mentioned earlier on the blog, I had a pretty good idea of the dress I wanted and even saved pictures of the same dress on my phone, at different times of my life. Knowing what I liked was a relief, as I heard of many brides-to-be trying on multiple dresses and never finding the one.  I was lucky enough to find it on my first wedding dress appointment, so that saved me a lot of time and money.

I picked a David's Bridal Collection Pleated Strapless dress with Empire Waist, and it was everything I wanted, including dress pockets!!! The dress runs for less than $500.00 so you bet I loved the price as well.

The dress was a little bit on the heavy side, as the fabric was somewhat thick. Either way, it felt comfortable to move in and dance in on my wedding day. 

I got minor alterations done and added a small applique on the side. I found an elegant sash at a Miami Bridal Boutique and a seamstress added the detail directly to the dress - PERFECTION!

I was lucky enough to have a second bridal shoot in Miami Beach, so I got to wear my dress twice! Here is a picture from that shoot that gives me all the feels at how nice my dress looks.

Photo Credit: @Julliarte & @buchananfoto 2017

Wedding Vibes

January 14th, 2017! It happened, just  like that all the months of preparation and the anxiety are over. Dress fittings, vendor's agreements, food tastings, music selection, makeup and hairstyle trials, planning, planning and more planning are done. Bachelor and Bachelorette parties, bridal showers, RSVP's, seating charts and good-stress are a thing of the past.

Our wedding was amazing, it was even better than a dream! Our Costa Rican affair began three days before the wedding, we flew down on Wednesday Jan. 11th to do all last minute arrangements and welcome all our friends and family members who traveled for the event. 

In the middle of it all, we enjoyed some quality time showing our guests a little bit of Costa Rica. We planned a trip to Orosi Valley on Thursday. Even with all the commotion of planning a wedding, I felt the need to plan a trip of my home state and really welcome them to our Big Costa Rican Wedding-Weekend! 


Our rehearsal dinner was on Friday night, we choose to have it at "Mi Tierra" a restaurant serving traditional Costa Rican food. We invited our wedding party and close family members for a tranquil night before the big day!

It was really special to spend my last night as a single lady at my childhood home, we are lucky enough to still own the house so the idea of waking up there on my wedding day was fantastic.  I had my hair and makeup done at the house, my mom and sister also got ready with me. The day was already full of emotions and I had not left the house yet. One of the most precious moments of my day was receiving a blessing from my parents in what used to be my room as a kid. You bet I cried! Not on my wildest dream I could have seen myself ready to marry my love, in my Costa Rica!

Our ceremony was really special, we did our bows in each others first language, there were tears, laughs, hugs and overall love within us, our families and friends.  My groom looked amazing on his white tux, we used white baby breath flowers and touches of orange and teal in the bridesmaids and groomsmen attires. The babies of the family, our nieces and nephew, were part of the ceremony as well. Both of our parents gave us away in the middle of smiles and tears of joy.

The ceremony was followed by a rustic reception filled with happiness, music, drinks and even a carnival that made everyone get on their feet and dance the night away.  We could not have asked for a better day, it was a precious event for us and for everyone who joined us from near and far. 

 

Catholic Marriage Preparation... for a wedding ABROAD!

Planning your wedding ceremony is not an easy task, having a religious ceremony, Catholic in this case, will make you go a little bit more nuts! Then how about we involve two dioceses and two different parishes working together, oh things are getting fun around here!

Our wedding is less than 6 months away, we started our Catholic Wedding preparation about two months ago. First step was to schedule an appointment with the priest, different dioceses and priests will request various documents and classes so you are better of checking with them before going crazy looking for your Baptism or Confirmation Certificate... ours were in another country and in a church that is no longer open, so the digging was real.

Once we submitted all the documents and met with the priest once, we were given a "test" to see how much of a couple we were or where we needed to connect a little bit more. The priest mentioned 2 additional courses that were required in the preparation. One is to get you ready for marriage, the role of it on the church, the sacrament itself and a view of what marriage could be like, given by different couples (Pre-Cana or Convalidation). The second course will focus on family planning - Natural Family Planning or NFP - this one course is given on 3 different days through out 3 months.

Our first reaction, while we knew courses were required and were looking forward to them, was "how many courses and how many hours?" the second reaction was "how much??!!??" 

While getting married is totally free, we are required to pay for the preparation classes that are given by different groups or organizations approved by the parish. Luckily we were able to choose which class to attend, we compared locations, schedules and even fees, as we are trying to "stay on budget". Truth is, we did not have all these fees included in our budget, so be prepared to have some extras here and there for the ceremony/wedding preparation.

I am not going to lie, my stress level was a little bit high while looking and comparing the courses. When you are planning a wedding abroad, the timing for things is key! We should finish our preparation classes and remaining meetings with the priest 3 months before the wedding, when if we were having a local wedding, we could do the wedding preparation weeks before the big day.

The wedding will be at my hometown in Costa Rica, we have booked the church and the priest in Miami has all the details of where to send the documents once we are "approved" for marriage. So far, we have only taken one of the NFP classes. We really enjoyed learning and sharing with other couples who are also getting ready for this big step.

My final advice: do not forget about the ceremony and all the non crafty aspects of it. You can make your unity candle in one hour or less, getting ready for a sacrament takes longer than that. Time is everything when planning a wedding, time is all you have when planning a wedding abroad, be smart about it, keep a journal, a calendar and whatever else you need to make pre-wedding life easier.

Good luck!

Kelly

 

 
 

Bride in the Making

You know, there is a show about it... girls are supposed to fall in in love with a dress faster than it takes them to say "I love you" to their future husbands (when they were just dating, of course) Either way, a few google searches, Pinterest boards about weddings, magazines and maybe some past wedding experience will never help you decide on THE DRESS or how likable that mermaid shape looks on you - reality check - wait until you try everything on.

The truth is, sometimes it is possible to find the one that makes our insides move (sorry babe, not talking about you here) even after you try all the available shapes, colors and lengths.

I had a VERY successful wedding shopping experience, my only source of information was my "That Wedding Stuff" board on Pinterest (I swear they are not paying me for this). I decided visiting one bridal shop at a time, having more than one appointment seemed a little bit stressful for this "bride-to-be", I had about 3 styles in mind and various pictures to show my consultant I was an open minded girl..

I started with the less attractive ones (don't we all) it was actually pretty awesome to see myself in white, but I didn't see myself as a bride yet. I added a veil to the other dresses just to make it fair to those designers.  Then it was time to try THE DRESS!!! I'm not giving away any details but let's just say I had it on my board at least 4 times, same picture and all! Tried it with a veil and that was it, I knew that is how I wanted to look on our wedding day!

I will write another blog about who to bring, what to bring and how to feel when you go dress shopping, totally op-ed but it might be helpful.

For now, I will say that my bridal store was GREAT, my consultant was very helpful and my entourage was amazing - special shout out to my little niece "A" for making me feel like a princess!!!

Wedding dress shopping is a big deal, you will remember that day forever and if for some reason you don't want to remember it:  pictures, videos, family and life will remind you of it! I was lucky enough to "know" what I wanted and to like what I saw but even if you try on hundreds of dresses, I assure you THE ONE is somewhere out there waiting for you!

What to Wear

Saturday outfit: perfect day to brunch, run errands and sweat in beautiful Miami! I was trying not to wear my comfy jean shorts, then this dress reminded me how much I used to love it. 

J. Crew dress from a decade ago and Forever 21 sneakers.

Time to Post

I've had a blog for years, there are highs and lows when it comes to writing (lots of lows lately) but I'm back!

The main reason: I will be 30 in a week and 1 day... Because of that, I decided to start fresh, new blog with a new name, new adventures and everything else wondering on my head will end up here! You're welcome!

Some new things here and there, including that I AM PLANNING MY WEDDING! That's a big one, we had a civil wedding but the Catholic ceremony is coming up in less than a year. My blog will come in handy to release some of that so lovely wedding stress, not complaining.

So please, come in, enjoy, read and join me on this "Oh so 30 year-old life"

Kelly