Our Engagement (when the rona hits)

When you first get engaged, you are in a pure blissful fog. You have never felt happier than that moment. It's so exciting to have someone choose you to spend the rest of their life with. If you're anything like me, I instantly pulled up my "wedding" Pinterest board! Deciding what theme I wanted to go with. Was I feeling more Boho or Classy? It changed day by day.

Tj proposed on May 31, 2019 in front of Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was such a hot day, I decided to wear shorts and an old tank top, not thinking I would be proposed to in a few hours. However, when I look back on our proposal photos, I don't see how hot it was or just how awful that outfit turned out to be. I see Tj smiling from ear to ear through my flooded tears.

If it's anything I've learned through my adult years, it is to book your wedding venue immediately! We both wanted to marry at the beach but thought it would be easier for family and friends to stay local. We didn't want a church or a barn, we were in search for a house. A big house. A mansion. We ended up booking The Belmont Mansion in Nashville, TN setting the date to May 31, 2020. One year to the date of our engagement and our 9 year anniversary.

Once the venue was picked out, our theme sort of created itself, simple and elegant. The Mansion is a museum during the day and a wedding venue at night, so the decorating was half done! Simple. The Mansion has statues and chandeliers everywhere. Elegant. We started planning our wedding full time after we set our date and booked our venue. We had about 9 months to pull this thing all together. My dress was purchased pretty early on. September 2020.

THE DRESS! I've always heard that "you never get the dress you think you will" and "the dress chooses you". THAT IS NOT WRONG INFORMATION! When I first saw my dress, I did not like it. It was a 2-piece. A long evening gown with a rather dramatic train attached. I was mocking the dress as I was slipping into it. But once I was in and zipped, I had this feeling that's indescribable. I knew it was the one. I just knew, and the train wasn't even on yet. I came out of my room and said "I think this is the one". I didn't need approval from anyone. I KNEW! Tequila (dress consultant, how awesome!) Tequila attaches the train, puts a belt around me for a pop of sparkle and hands me a faux bouquet. It instantly came together. People in the store were coming to me saying this dress is the one. Of course, after flaunting and doing laps around the entire store I went back to the dressing room to change. I instantly said a quick prayer, I asked God for a clear sign. About 10 seconds later I hear my mom say "she looks like Audrey Hepburn". I bawled my eyes out in the dressing room. It was THE DRESS.

March of 2020 rolls around. A bestie of mine was planning my Bachelorette and my sister-in-law was planning my Bridal Shower. The wedding invites arrived in the mail, just as beautiful as I had hoped. Tj and I were sorting through who belongs on the A-List and who was going to the B-List. We were planning to have our invites in the mail by the end of March when COVID-19 hit. What a weird, unsettling feeling. Our wedding plans instantly went up in the air. We didn't know what in the world to think of the traumatic change in the world. In the blink of an eye, the Bachelorette and the Bridal Shower were cancelled. Our wedding went from 110 guests to an elopement in a matter of days. What a shock. As weeks went by we really needed to buckle down on a plan. As you remember, we all thought the rona would be gone in a few months. Well, as the Wedding day was approaching and the rona was only getting worse we had two choices and a decision was needing to be made STAT! We either marry with parents only, or we push the wedding out. For us the date was everything being our anniversary. We opted to push out the wedding an entire year, May 31, 2021. Planning officially came to a sudden pause.

January 2021. A new year a new start! Mid-January we just assumed that our wedding would be back on to at least half capacity by May. So we started planning again, we starting looking for a caterer and confirming to our other vendors our date for 2021. We hit a major set back when my venue contacted me and said "as of today, weddings in Nashville are limited to 8 people". WHAT?! It's totally our fault that we jumped the gun on planning, but oh my gosh. Another shock. 8 people doesn't even cover our parents, bride/ groom and officiant. Once again our plans were up in the air, but we made the final decision to just elope. That was that.

As of March 1st, 2021 our governor announced that Nashville was back to 50% capacity! YAY! Our hearts were set on a wedding originally and the elopement was us settling, so we starting planning again. We had 3 months to pull an entire wedding together for a final guest count of 64 people. Thankfully, we had the majority of our plans aligned from our 2020 wedding and we just needed to finalize the small details that add up! The reception centerpieces, songs, a caterer and get my dress altered and the groom into a tux, and make sure everything matched up to our color of choice, rose gold. Three months to put an entire elegant/ classy wedding together is not a lot of time. What a rush! The most stressful months of my life. But with the good grace of the good Lord, we were able to make our dreams into a reality.

XO,

T & K