![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagement-Photos-7.jpg\")
\nWell, A LOT has happened planning-wise in the last month and we are officially in full steam ahead mode. I can’t believe it! We kind of went from 0 to 100… Alrighty so since my last update<\/a> here’s what we’ve checked off our to-do list (everything bolded<\/strong> is new) and the things we’re working on now:<\/p>\n \u2713 Decided on a venue \u2713 Finalize guest list Phew! Just reading both lists makes me feel exhausted, though not enough to take away any of my excitement. Now that the planning process has transitioned to in-person meetings and actual visuals, it all feels soooo much more real.<\/p>\n I’m not going to go into details on everything we’ve done over the last few weeks (this post would be as long as a novel) but I thought it’d be fun to share a little more about two of the things I’ve been getting asked about most frequently: 1) Our engagement photos and 2) How I asked my bridesmaids!<\/p>\n Over Thanksgiving we finally got to meet our photographer Sarah Smith<\/a>! She’s actually based in Atlanta, which conveniently isn’t too terribly far (about 2.5 hours) from where my mom and stepdad just moved in Aiken, South Carolina. It was really important to us that we take photos with our photographer before our wedding (just to get comfortable and align on aesthetics\/editing style) so I proposed finding a spot where we could meet in the middle and use the opportunity to do our engagement shoot.<\/p>\n Luckily Sarah was available on Black Friday so instead of sitting at home and online shopping, Nick and I spent the day prancing through forests and laying in fields somewhere in rural Georgia. It was kinda awesome and Sarah was such a gem! I’m really really<\/em> glad we made this work because now we’re going to feel so much more comfortable shooting pictures on our actual wedding day.<\/p>\n So I haven’t received the full gallery of photos yet, but Sarah did send me a few initial sneak peeks which you can see here. Ugh so obsessed! We went a little crazy and ended up shooting four different outfits, some with props involved… Blame the blogger in me! I’ll save the details and explain more once I share the rest of the photos, but in the meantime these are a few of my favorites \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Another really exciting thing that happened recently is I ASKED MY BRIDESMAIDS! I’m having six bridesmaids, five of whom don’t live local (story of my life) so sadly asking them in person wasn’t going to be an option. Calling or texting felt really lame and impersonal and I was left struggling to figure out another way I could ask them that still felt special.<\/p>\n Solution? Bridesmaid Proposal Boxes! I was so pumped when the LaLa Confetti<\/a> team reached out to me with info on their products for bridal parties, specifically the personalized bridesmaid boxes. They were kind enough to send me a box<\/a> for each of my girls. I chose the Spa Edition Box<\/a> which includes a bath bomb, candle, hair ties, champagne-flavored jelly beans, matching card (so you can write your own note) and a personalized tumblr (you get to choose the colors+font!)<\/p>\n Aren’t these so cute? PS I purchased the wine cans separately and added them to each box. The wedding may not be for a few months, but figured why not get the party started now? \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n Alright I think I’ll leave you guys here! I could go on and on now that we’re really in the thick of planning, but I’ll save the rest of our updates for a future post—- ahh! In the immediate definitely keep a lookout for a post on our engagement photos. That should be coming in the next week or two! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n WEDDING Q&A<\/strong><\/a> Wow, has it really been almost three months since my last wedding update? The last few weeks have flown by and as of October we are now less than a year from the big day! It still doesn’t even feel real. Since we got so much planning work done almost immediately after getting engaged, we were in a bit of a holding period for most of the summer and early fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[1211,1485,1562],"tags":[1498,840,1496,1472],"yoast_head":"\nWEDDING PLANNING CHECKLIST<\/h2>\n
\n\u2713 Confirmed the date\u00a0(October 2019!!!)<\/em>
\n\u2713 Created a budget spreadsheet
\n\u2713 Found our wedding planner
\n\u2713 Confirmed photographer
\n\u2713 Confirmed videographer
\n\u2713 Confirmed band
\n\u2713 Confirmed caterer
\n\u2713 Booked room blocks at local hotels
\n\u2713 Got over my fear of trying on wedding dresses
\n\u2713 Created our wedding website on Wedding Wire<\/strong>
\n\u2713 Did a venue visit + walk through with planner to map out flow of the day<\/strong>
\n\u2713 Worked on our wedding moodboard with our planner<\/strong>
\n\u2713 Met with our caterer for a Q&A + scheduled December tasting <\/strong>
\n\u2713 Confirmed florist + did an in-person meeting to go over initial ideas<\/strong>
\n\u2713 Asked all my favorite gals to be my bridesmaids \ud83d\ude42<\/strong>
\n\u2713 Shot our engagement photos<\/strong><\/p>\nDECEMBER TO-DO LIST<\/h2>\n
\n\u2713 Design and send out save the dates (we plan on using Minted<\/a>)
\n\u2713 Do our menu tasting
\n\u2713 Confirm rehearsal dinner catering (we’re thinking a food truck!)
\n\u2713 Continue working on moodboard\/decor with our planner
\n\u2713 Confirm hair and makeup team for wedding day
\n\u2713 Stop being indecisive about my wedding dress
\n\u2713 Put together my bridal shower invite list for my aunt
\n\u2713 Start thinking about our registry<\/p>\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagment-Photos-1.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagement-Photos-6.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagment-Photos.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagement-Photos-3.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagement-Photos-4.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagment-Photos-2.jpg\")
\n![\"Katies](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Katies-Bliss-Engagement-Photos-5-1.jpg\")
\n![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-4.jpg\")
\n![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-7.jpg\")
\n![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box.jpg\")
<\/div>![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-9.jpg\")
<\/div><\/p>\n![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-5.jpg\")
\n![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-8.jpg\")
<\/div>![\"Bridesmaid](\"https:\/\/katiesbliss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Bridesmaid-Proposal-Box-6.jpg\")
<\/div><\/p>\n
\nWEDDING PLANNING UPDATE #1\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>
\nWEDDING PLANNING UPDATE #2<\/strong><\/a>
\nOUR PROPOSAL STORY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"