So this amazing bridal salon in Virginia Beach started a non profit to gift deserving teachers free wedding dresses. My two fellow Phoebus engaged teachers and I wrote our essays and sent them in and all three of us were selected. This is a big event and teachers from all over (even other states) applied and 50 of us were selected to choose our dream dress from a curated collection!! What a great day!  11-11 Veteran's Day and I found two pennies...blessings from my daddy!! My soul sister Dee Spruce came up and we had a magical day and I got a $4000 Justin Alexander Signature gown that is perfect! It checked all the boxes and fits like it was made for me!!! Oh my stars so grateful!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Ava Clara Couture Bridal!!!

You are never too old or too broken or too whatever to experience a fairy tale-everyone is deserving of love~Hailey Paige

Today's bridal appointment was a fairytale. I enjoyed the special time with my girls and Ursla. The dresses were all beautiful and I liked them all but I definitely narrowed down what I am looking for. I am a sparkle girl, the more bling the better. I like organic, light fabrics because movement and comfort are a priority. It has to be lightweight because of the outdoor tropical venue. It tried on everything Ursla wanted to see even if it didn’t check my boxes because why not it was fun and she had a great time too. This was a special day!!  I found my back up plan dress but I won’t need it because I’m gonna get that free dress!!

Ok so what do I want to wear? Now to look at a million dresses and figure out what speaks to me!! Silhouette, material, my style, my vision for the day, the venue...oh so much to consider. Good thing I have watched a million episodes of Say Yes to the Dress!! Gotta narrow my vision because I applied to get a gown for free. If I win I have to be ready to choose by November 11. I booked a consultation at a local bridal salon for November 2 to try on dresses I think I like to make sure they will work for me. I have invited my fellow Phoebus teacher brides and my future MIL. Enough for now I have got so many dresses to drool over.

Where else but the Mermaid Winery does a mermaid plan her wedding to her kahuna? I didn't actually have to ply him with alcohol to get him to sit still long enough to get some plans in place but it was close! It was dinner at his favorite restaurant Kappo Nara that did the trick. I love this winery and we got a lot of decisions made. We have AMAZING wedding planners in Hawaii, Rachel and Lauren are so great. So far we have an officiant, ceremony music (Canon in D on the ukulele is beautiful -youtube it!!) a photographer, a videographer and transportation from ship to ceremony site and second photo location site. Our FANTASTIC cruise planner Desiree is working on our first look plans, our dinner and reception plans. Our toasting wine will be Seaduxion. Dinner wine will be Siren's White. I love me some Poseidon's Red but we'll be on a boat so to avoid any stains on my dress white it is! Ralph will get his with Peach Beach for Dessert. Yes I know they have wines on the ship and yes we will have a bottle of Dom but I want a little taste of home with us. I also want to be able to conjure memories of our amazing day at home so it is a win win. Still lots to do but we are well underway!!!

We have been discussing how we want our life to be; we want our wedding to reflect that.  We want to keep our life simple, carefree, full of fun and adventure. We want to travel and enjoy each other. We want to keep our roots shallow, our footprint small and our baggage light. We want to come and go as we please and not be tied to the management and upkeep of stuff. The boys are over the moon about us getting married but have absolutely no interest in being part of a wedding. That made it easy, we need to elope to and honeymoon in exotic location! We have amassed quite a list of places we want to go and things we want to do. Top of that list was touring the south pacific. We found a perfect cruise to Hawaii, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Bora Bora, Australia and New Zealand; however, we could not make the dates work out. We did find one just to Hawaii over our winter break so neither of us need to take more than five days off. It felt like the perfect one, so we booked it!! We have to decide whether to use the cruise line planners or find one in Hawaii. We need to figure out a date between December 28-31 which are the days we will be on islands. We need to pick a location and we will have a date!! Whoo-hoo it is so beautiful how easy we navigate life together.