The other day, I got all the photos back from our engagement session in Paris…and it brought back all the feels from the incredible trip! That feeling of being engaged and on top of the world is just unforgettable, and I’m excited to share more of those photos here today! I actually booked the session not knowing we’d be engaged, and just figuring it would be a great and romantic way to preserve some memories for the trip. Little did I know it would turn into our engagement shoot! Whenever I see these photos, it makes my heart smile, and I hope we can go back to Paris together someday and recreate these photos with the kids!

It made me start thinking about our wedding, and how excited we are to finally get married. I realized I haven’t given you all a little update on our wedding plans, so I figured I would share a bit about what we have planned so far. I will start off by saying that I am having WAY more fun planning a wedding this time around than I did in my twenties! I felt so overwhelmed then, Kyle and I were dealing with intense family drama, and overall I just felt something akin to imposter syndrome. Every decision I made or thing I thought I wanted, I second-guessed or wondered if it was a good choice. I really had so many people in mind that I was trying to please, and I wasn’t thinking much about preserving my own boundaries or exploring my own wishes for my wedding day. I had a great time at my wedding, and it was beautiful, but when I look back I remember a really stressful time and a lot of anxiety about how everything was turning out.

This time around, I’m so clear about the fact that I want this wedding to be about Me, Ian, and the kids– and that no choices made will be for anybody but us. I think everyone deserves that on their wedding day! As a result, what we’ve realized is that we want a really, really small wedding. We want to really be able to look around the room and feel like every person in it is intimately involved in our life. Or, is an immediate family member. LOL. Having a really small wedding also enables us to be very creative with the details, and to use our money wisely! My parents very generously paid for my last wedding. But they’re not going to pay for this one! HA! Since we’ll be hosting our own nuptials, we want to be able to do it in a way that’s beautiful but not overly costly. We are most interested in spending money on the location, the photos, and the food. And that’s what matters! I think I’m even going to do my own hair and makeup. Our wish is to have a 30-40 person intimate wedding, and then to have a larger celebration party with a larger group of friends, extended family, and colleagues at a later date, in a fun and casual way.

So where do we envision the big day? ITALY!!! I, as you know, have my heritage and roots in Italy…but when Ian and I visited together, he fell in love with it as well! When we think of our wedding, and committing to each other for life, we definitely want to do it someplace that holds that type of special significance for us. The idea of Italy was kind of a no-brainer! We are locking in a specific venue now, but we are thinking Italy, Summer 2024. I’m already starting to plan and scheme…and we’ve been asking the kids a lot about what they envision for the day, too! So far we know that we will have no bridal party (just the kids up there with us), that our ceremony will be non-denominational, and that we’ll write our own vows. Marlowe wants to stand up with Ian, and escort our niece down the aisle since she’ll be barely walking as our flower girl! Then, I know I want the boys to walk me down the aisle. There is something SO special to me about having the kids able to be there for this wedding, and I truly cannot wait for the experience of it all! For the record, the whole family agrees that Ian will be crying the most on the big day. So cuuuute! I have a wedding dress shopping appointment scheduled for next week, and I’m so excited to get the ball rolling on trying dresses! I know this time I want something very elegant and body conscious. Maybe cream or ivory instead of white? I’m not exactly sure, but I do remember from wedding dress shopping that you never know which one will become THE one, and you have to keep an open mind. Sometimes it’s the style you least expect!

Stay tuned for more details later this year and for wedding content on the blog and my social channels! I can’t wait to share!

Photographs by Katie Donnelly