HOW TO TRANSITION TO FALL.

An easy way to transition from summer to fall.

Cleaning out the closet and putting away clothes can be easy but starting out for a new season is always challenging. I have noticed it myself that I tend to restock my closet with some clothes I’ve worn in previous summers but when it comes to fall and winter fashion never seems to be the same and that’s when I add most of new pieces. Today, I thought I’ll share my way of transitioning to fall that I find easy when it comes to a new season. Best part about it is that all items are budget friendly and are extremely easy to put together. Thanks to River Island for making this transition easy and fun! I’ve linked all the pieces at the bottom of the post so you ladies can shop some of my fall faves right away.

How to transition to fall:

• Right footwear. First pair of shoes to add into your wardrobe for fall should be a good, comfortable pair of suede boots. I love the over the knee look as it elevates the outfit and is easy to pair with dresses, oversized shirts or even leggings.


• Denim. We wear sooo much denim in the summer that it just seems like the most comfortable and natural piece to add when styling your outfit for a new season. My go-to is an oversized look – whether it’s a shirt or a lose dress is entirely up to you and comfortable in. I’ve linked a few different options of denim at the bottom of the post.


• Accessories. While summer is all about layering jewels etc. I find it more fashionable and “clean” to put away all the jewelry for the fall and stock up on some fashionable bags that will make the statement.

Thank you River Island for partnering with me on this post.

SHOP MY STYLE

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OUR SUMMER WEDDING IN SANTORINI, GREECE.

The day my Pinterest board came to life! Literally.

My interest in wedding industry started way before we got engaged, as the matter of fact I did an internship for a wedding planner years ago as I wanted to learn more about the business. So you can only image for how many years I have been building my wedding board, it’s been filled with some major inspo for when my big day came!

TEAM

When the big day was just around the corner it was time for my Pinterest board to come to life as well. With that being said I knew exactly what I wanted, the only problem was that I had to find a team that loves wedding, planning events and has the same attention to detail and has almost the same vision as me. I was told it was going to be impossible to have a destination wedding and not have something go wrong – I was told to be prepared and just make the most out of it, so not going to lie as much as I was looking forward to our big day I knew things will go wrong, why? Because everyone told me so. Well, let me tell YOU, if nothing went wrong with my wedding you can also make sure nothing goes wrong with yours. We didn’t just plan the wedding, we have planned a getaway for entire group of 30 people, including a boat day, transfers, post-wedding brunch, day trips to town and wedding itself. Having a team behind you is the most important part of your wedding.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Finding a photographer that knows my style and would know what I love was probably the hardest part. Me being a blogger didn’t make this situation any easier as I needed images to be that much better as I was going to share them online. I was beyond thankful and just that much more excited when I found a photographer that had a similar editing style and vision like me, it was refreshing to see a porfolio that had images who weren’t just pretty, they also told stories.

A few tips prior to wedding + during your wedding day for the photo shoot: 

• Organize. No matter how much time you think you’ll have that day once the day comes it will seem like you’re being rushed with everything – makeup, hair, photos etc. It’s extremely important to nail down your absolute favorite images to take because unless you do a two hour photo shoot before your wedding you will not have enough time to take all the images. I picked out 30 images total, including my shoes + my dress hanging + me and my mom + me and friends + Adam’s accessories.


• Share. If you keep the “secret” Pinterest board still a secret prior to your wedding, you will most likely forget to take some of the images. I shared the inspo with my photographers and Adam which helped for all to stay on track and on top of the schedule.


• Schedule. According to all I was supposed to start getting ready four hours before my wedding…pshh.. the schedule was quickly updated once it made it into my hands. I did not start getting ready until two hours before the wedding and left the last 40 mins to take all the photos I wanted and needed. Adam on the other side got ready at the same time as me (in a different place of couse), when photographer came she at first shot his photos and then came to me.

I hope that this posts will help all of you future brides to be once you begin to plan your big day! I will also be sharing more on my wedding dress & more advice on destination wedding shortly.

MY TEAM: 

Wedding planner: Stella and Mocha

Florist: Wedding Wish

Wedding photographer: Yuliya Tsvetkova and Svetlana Ryajentseva  (Editing by Tatyana Tsvetkova (). Tatyana has actually shot our engagement photo shoot in Greece as well!

Videographer: Ben Lioe

Thanks to Wedding Chicks for featuring our love story from beginning to the end. You can check out the latest one on HERE.

This special moment of my mom seeing my dress for the first time was everything!

The mini flower wall is an absolute must at a wedding or any event you may have. It not only is a great decor but also fills up an empty space and can sure make a great photo booth background!

Sort of wish I took this pretty book from this gentleman back home and turned into an album lol…but oh well..

My besties & many more that have traveled across the world to see us tie the knot.

Austin roses were our (mine lol) choice of flowers as it was the closest looking flowers to peonies.

Love these candid shots of our guests!

Florists did an amazing job with florals & i found these pretty table numbers on Etsy for under $5 each and brought them from US that ended up perfectly matching with MR & MRS signs they had.

My happily ever after <3

Sort of obsessed with the scenery of destination weddings, no matter where they’re at in the globe.

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MY WEDDING DRESS DIARY.

What I wore the day of the wedding and what influenced my decisions.

Those of you that have been with me on this wedding journey since the beginning probably know that I went wedding dress shopping by myself and when I did find the dress of my dreams my mom still didn’t see it until it was time. We wanted to do everything ourselves and not ask people for help, everyone has their own lives and their own things they deal with so why overwhelm them with help to plan your wedding? We didn’t see a point in that and it made wedding planning process that much more personal and fun when it was just me and my husband (still so weird saying it!!) planned as much as we could.

Story behind my wedding dress. All along I had a vision of myself wearing a strapless dress with a very long train and no veil – well…after the search started everything changed real quick. I soon realized this was one of the most important pieces of clothing of my life and I was trying out all sorts of styles to find what not only looked good but also fit right. Strapless dresses didn’t feel right and the ones that did were too dressy for Greece. It’s such a laid back island with beautiful scenery all around that I have decided to stick with my own daily style and go for what I love the most – low back, long sleeve, boho style dress. I was extremely happy when Island Tribe reached out to me and invited me to check out their store in Miami. I remember booking a weekend trip and heading out that way shortly after to try on the dresses they had in store and I’ve fallen in love with one of them immediately. My visit did not disappoint and shortly after I had my dress made, altered and in a box on the way to me in LA.

Budget. I will never understand why people aka brides think that it’s an absolute must to spend thousands on their bridal accessories, wedding dress and shoes. I was different, very different and wanted to spend all the money on flowers and decor. I wasn’t looking to spend $10k on a dress nor $2k on shoes for some picture I was going to take or just to call them my wedding shoe pair lol. To me, comfort and look were the main parts of everything when it came to the wedding.

Shoes: Schutz due to the comfort, look and duh they were under $200. They’re currently sold out so I’ve linked a few similar pairs at the bottom of the post by different Brands.

Wedding dress: $1500. Ladies, I highly recommend checking out Island Tribe as their dresses are beyond beautiful and are actually comfortable to where you can spend an entire night in it and beyond and oh did I mention it fits into a tiniest box ever so you don’t even need to hang it when traveling?! AHMAZING!

Veil: Earlier in the year I did social media for a phone case company and fashion district happened to be right next to us, one day when I was strolling down back to my car I saw a shop that sold veils and got mine for $20.

I also got “bride team” slippers, my custom hanger, parasols for the ceremony, table numbers and lots of other things on Etsy that I brought along to Greece with me.

Photography by: Yuliya Tsvetkova and Svetlana Ryajentseva  (Editing by Tatyana Tsvetkova )

Probably one of my all time favorite pictures, it’s captured moments like these that I live for.

Flowers by Wedding Wish. It consisted of Austin roses with a bit of greenery for a romantic look. We also chose these florals as peonies were out of the season and these beauties were closest thing to them.

If only every photo had a background like this!

Scored on this custom hanger on Etsy! One of my favorites purchases for the wedding and def a must for yours.

You know you have a good wedding dress when you don’t need help to put your shoes on or go to the bathroom lol.

Scenery in Santorini, Greece was just beautiful and every corner was picture worthy!

This was Adam’s idea of a photo lol. Him sitting on the edge because he loves sunsets that much haha.

It was beyond beautiful to watch the sunset while we did our wedding photos.

SHOP MY STYLE

Wedding dress: Island Tribe. Shop on HERE.

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TIPS FOR PLANNING A DESTINATION WEDDING.

Found a venue, now what?

If you have decided to have a destination wedding, picking a location will be a very important part of your wedding as that will determine a variety of different things. By planning a destination wedding you must be aware that you will have to entertain your guests most of the time, many of guests will not be able to go as it will be far and most importantly you will have to plan an activity to make sure guests get to know each other prior to the wedding so that it turns into a fun vacation/wedding for all. Pick a place that isn’t just a pretty place but also has activities and is somewhere relaxing where guests could actually go to and want to stay for at least few days. We chose Greece because they have the most romantic sunset in the world, it’s a great place for a vacation no matter what you like, everything is white and blue (my fave colors!) and most importantly it’s far enough to where only those people that want to be a part of your big day will come to. 

Found a destination, now what? 

• Venue. Visit the venue at least once before. I’ve heard of many couples booking the venue in a city they’ve never gone to with wedding planners they’ve never met. It’s extremely important to know the layout of the venue, distance between your hotel + venue.


• Hotel. Make sure to book a hotel that’s preferably walking distance from the wedding venue as it will avoid many things that could go wrong, such as you forgetting something and having to go back, traffic or car itself being late. Also, who wants to be stranded in a car before?


• Guests. Pick 3-5 hotels at different price points for your guests next to your venue. It will be easier to keep track of who’s where and you’ll be 100% sure everyone will know where the venue is as most likely it will be walking distance, they also won’t be late as they’ll be familiar with the area beforehand.


• Activities. If you’re having a destination wedding, most likely they’re all paying for their own flights, hotels and are putting breaks on their lives to take a week off and come support you on your big day. Make sure to plan at least one activity for all. Date of the activity is just as important as the activity itself. You want to make sure it’s an activity guests will not want to miss, picking an activity two days before the wedding is ideal. That way you know that all the guests have made it to the destination and there will be no incidents on delayed flights the day of the wedding etc.


• Wedding props. Take advantage of the fact that you can bring some things with you. We checked in quite a few luggages filled with 2 floaties for boat day, table numbers, parasols, napkins etc. for the wedding day. You’ll save money and sort of have an idea of what decor will look like the day of.


• RSVP’s. Do not tell the wedding venue the exact number of guests until the last day you have. Create a spreadsheet for yourself and keep track of who’s booked their flights and who still hasn’t booked a hotel. Hotels are usually non refundable so those that have booked flights and hotels are usually 100% in, while those who have not yet booked one out of the two are still deciding but most likely don’t want to tell you just yet.


• Group chat. The best ice breaker for a destination wedding is creating a group chat on whataspp. Texts lots of times do not go through outside country nor will you have energy or time to text every one of them same thing over and over. Group chat will give them a chance to introduce themselves, most likely they’ll be on same flights and you’ll only have to send itinerary once.


• Post-wedding brunch. Yes, you’ve already paid for an activity for all but post-wedding brunch is just as important. You want to make sure you show how thankful you are that all the guests have traveled the across the world for you so why not chat about the good times from the night before at the brunch?


• Wedding night. Staying at the hotel next to the venue is great but it’s extremely important to stay at a further hotel for the night of the wedding. That way you’re ensured no one crashes at your hotel on the night of your wedding as it’s extremely close to the wedding.


• Wedding guests. The less, the better – trust me. 30 is a magic number to where you can have an amazing time and chat with every one of them. We invited 50 and had 27 show up as 3 dropped out the week off.


• All things sentimental. I do not get attached to things easily which has made it extremely easy to leave almost everything behind in Greece. Only things we took back from the wedding were the flowers for the post-wedding brunch and the guest book. We even got luggage that we could leave behind and just throw it out once the wedding week was over, which by the way is a great idea as you do have to pay for any additional luggage when flying with local airlines no matter where you go.

Our wedding video

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THE IMPORTANCE OF WEDDING SCENT.

One of the most important parts of your big day.

Back when we got engaged I red all sorts of articles on wedding planning and came across an interesting article on the importance of a wedding scent. In the beginning I couldn’t understand why it was so important to have a wedding scent but now that I have gone through the process myself and had my own wedding scent I thought I’ll share the importance and some tips with you!

Everything you’ll need to know: 

• The importance. Importance of the wedding scent is just as important as the flowers you have picked out for your wedding. Once you have a theme picked out for your big day which can be anything from boho, romantic to a black tie you need to make sure the theme stays obvious all across. What I mean by that is if you have romantic flowers such as white roses and lose greenery in your bouquet you don’t want to have tight flower arrangements on the tables, not only that wouldn’t look right but it would also give away a different feel. You want to make sure everything is in “sync”. For our wedding we went with David Austin Roses and lose greenery to create a romantic, laid back feeling.


• “The One”. When looking for my wedding scent I came across CREED – unique, different scent that gave me a feeling of what my “big day” will be like. I originally had 5-7 different sampler sizes that I kept going back and forth to, a few days later I was able to narrow it down to two but was still struggling finding out which one was “THE ONE”. Due to my indecisiveness I dragged Adam into this as well and by spraying different scents on my arms asked him which one he liked better – it took him no time to point to the “White flowers” one – SCORE! Once I went along with the scent I realized that the reason why we both ended up liking it was because it reminded us both of our wedding flowers!

I highly suggest picking out your dress first as that will set the tone of the wedding. Once you know what you’ll be wearing the rest of the wedding decor etc. will be just accents to your beautiful gown. 

***If you do have a laid back feel of the wedding make sure to let your guests know as well. Giving them a hint on what to wear will make it easier on them and will help you have the photos that are consistent with your wedding theme.

• Be different. It’s your special day, make sure it’s different from every other day of your life. When going shopping for your wedding scent don’t go to your comfort zone and run straight to your favorite perfume stand – wander around and explore the new scents. CREED offers a variety of scents which I found all to be romantic and refreshing. You can visit a local Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth to try out their scents – ask for samples and spray it on different testers, bring it home and go back to it throughout the next few days.


• Price tag. Let’s talk about out the elephant in the room – the cost. We all know how expensive wedding can get and how important it is to not cut corners on the main parts of the wedding such as decor, flowers and a dress. When it comes to buying a perfume price and quality is just as important as your wedding dress and it also isn’t the item you can cut another corner on. You want your wedding scent to be a memory-tied and that will come with a price.

About CREED: Paris based scent laboratory/boutique that has carried through six generations.

My scent: White Flowers by CREED. Les Royales Exclusives Collection which is designed and made by hand in a gold-acented bottle. The collection is mainly focused on special occasions but is also perfect for an every-day scent afterwards to take you back to your special day.

First time impression: When I first smelled it, it gave me a rich scent of flowers

Fast forward to now: Every time I spray it on nowadays it takes me back to two moments from our special day – the first  being me spraying it all over my wedding dress and second one of me surrounded by my mom and my best friend as I spray it on and run out the door to walk down the isle to the man of my dreams.

Thank you House Of Creed for partnering with me on this post.

SHOP MY SCENT

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