Wife Life: Set This Circus Down

 
 Another beauty living in the South (I think I'm getting the hint that I should move there....) although I wish she was still back in Cali! Kate is a darling newlywed who is days away from having her first baby!!

 

Q: How did your Hubby propose?

I was getting a bit restless at home so I planned a long weekend in one of our favorite spots, Napa Valley.

Little did I know that I was providing the perfect backdrop for our engagement.

We spent the 1st 2 days wine tasting and eating in downtown Napa.

We had visted Napa twice together prior to this trip and know what wineries are the best for us and which vineyards are the most picturesque.
Bryan and I LOVE to picnic -- you could say it's "our" thing.
Before we made the drive to Napa I had researched the best, most romantic vineyards to picnic at.
I decided on the Bartholomew Park Winery in Sonoma.
Bryan packed an adorable picnic basket,
We stopped in for a tasting...

Then we headed out to their grounds to scope out our spot.
I wanted a spot with a pretty view of the vineyards.
Bryan wanted a spot that was secluded... hmmm, wonder why?!
I walked around for a bit trying to find this "perfect" spot while Bryan went back to the car to grab our picnic basket full of goodies.... and THE RING!
We sat down on our blanket and got out our salami, cheese, crackers and wine.
I kept my camera out because I knew I wanted to take a picture of us at some point.
Well,
Bryan asked me if I wanted to take the photo really quick.
I said no because I was BEYOND ST-AR-VED!
Then I quickly changed my mind.
Why, you ask?
Because I knew that if I started to dig in to the snacks and vino, my lipstick would come off... and clearly I wanted lipstick on in the picture.
So here I go...
Putting the camera on a tree branch and setting the 10 second timer.
Within a millisecond of taking this picture Bryan was on his knee asking me to marry him.
Did I say yes?
Of course I did... but 1st I asked him if he asked my dad.
He did.
At Easter a few days earlier.
In person.
Ballsy and adorable and traditional and pure love.
After holding my face with both of MY hands... and saying "OH MY GOD" a few times... I said YES!
The most life changing YES of my life!
I'm marrying the love of my life!
And I love my ring :)
After we sat there in disbelief, laughing hysterically... at the fact we were really getting married, we enjoyed the rest of our picnic and headed off to our favorite winery, Artesia.
No joke, we continued laughing uncontrollably as we enjoyed our first flight as fiance's and then proceeded to drive back to our hotel to call our families and close friends.
Bryan had made reservations for dinner that night at Napa Valley's excellent Greystone Culinary Institute of America.
We ate, seriously, the best meal and sipped on some great champagne - Mumm, of course!
I will never forget April 16, 2009

Bryan was so smart to have let me plan the backdrop to our engagement because if he would have tried to do something different or special... I probably would have, in the back of my mind, thought "maybe today is the day Bryan proposes."
But I had no idea.
Smart man he is.
I couldn't have planned a more perfect engagement if I had tried!
I think I married a keeper...

Q: Was planning the wedding everything you thought it would be?

Yes!

I work in event planning, so planning my destination wedding in St. Thomas came so easily. 

I was involved in every detail and even went to the island to meet with vendors prior to our big day.

I'm not one to stress over much, and my wedding was no different.

I was always aware that the wedding was just a day... and the marriage would last a lifetime.

My main focus was on my future marriage.

Q: Did anything go wrong on the day of your wedding?

Of course something went wrong!

Does everything ever go right? Haha!!

When the bridemaid boutique's were delivered, my MOH counted them and we were missing 1.

Unfortunitely this was my error. I had to take responsibility and stay calm.

Thankfully my MOH and mom took over and the florist was able to deliver a matching boutique last minute.

Everything else went smooth and anything that didn't, I didn't care :)

Q: What is your favorite picture from the entire day?

 

Our wedding was too fun... I can't pick just one!

Q: After everything is over, you said your goodbyes, get up to the hotel room, what happens next:

We stayed at the Sand Dollar Estate for 8 nights and had our reception here on this gorgeous balcony.

I'll leave that to your imagination what happened after we said our goodbyes...

Q: Where did you honeymoon and what was the best part?

Bryan and I went all out!

Not only did we spend 8 days in St. Thomas - 6 days leading up to our wedding and 2 days after.

From there went headed over to a tiny British Virgin Island called Jost Van Dyke.

We stay in a hut on the beach for several days.

After heading home from the Caribbean, we re-packed our luggage, hopped on a plane and jetted to Italy.   

We spent 2 glorious weeks in Europe. 

The first week was spent backpacking through Italy, whereas the second week was on a cruise throughout the Adriatic Sea - Greece, Croatia, Turkey.

We were gone for a full month, celebrating "us" in the most memorable and magical of ways!

Q: What is your favorite part of being a wife?

There are so many reasons to why I love being a wife, but I must say, I wouldn't love it as much as I do had I not married the man I did.

He makes it so easy to be a wife *his wife* and has truly made marriage a dream come true.

I love him more than life itself and would do anything to ensure we last a lifetime.

In just a couple of weeks we'll be welcoming a little boy into this world.

I think my favorite part of being a wife is that I have the honor of giving him children.