Even though we are getting married back at home, it was important for us to have a little touch of California in our wedding. We have started a life out here, adopted a dog here, were engaged here – and it seemed only right that we gave it a little of the recognition it deserved.

I did a few hours of research (mainly using the suggested vendors from theknot.com) to find the perfect photographer and finally decided on hiring the adorable Jordana from Hazelnut Photography. We liked her work for so many reasons, but all of her pictures picked up on lots of natural light, didn’t include too many kitschy props, and she fit the budget. She had a great spot in mind to serve as a our backdrop and so off we went to  El Matador Beach in Malibu, California on one windy, Saturday afternoon.

I had spent weeks picking out my outfits, trying to brighten my teeth, and making all of the necessary beauty appointments. It gave me a glimpse of how crazy I am going to be when my actual wedding gets closer, but the anticipation of the whole event was so fun.

When “the” Saturday got here, I took a long run in the morning to clear my nerves, and had a few mimosa’s while we got ready so that I didn’t feel like an enormous dweeb during the photoshoot.

It took me about 15 minutes to loosen up with a camera in front of my face, but Jordana was patient and kind — and two and a half hours later, she had collected enough pictures and we were on a merry way.

I haven’t gotten the disk of the 800 pictures that she took just yet, but I thought you may enjoy seeing a sneak preview of some of the goods…

Diane Von Furstenberg dress, Tory Burch Shoes, Tiffany Co. & David Yurman jewels

Banana Republic wrap sweater, Gap tee, Paige Jeans, Tory Burch sandals, David Yurman jewels

Pretty fancy, huh?!

Last week while I was home  in Chicago I had the much-anticipated task of wedding dress shopping.

For weeks, I had been nervous about these appointments. I didn’t have a clear idea in my head of what I was going to look like on my wedding day, so I went into these appointments blind.

My first appointment was at a boutique in Lincoln Park, Chicago called Weddings 826. The set-up was perfect for our first appointment since it is a huge room filled with bags and bags of dresses that we were able to pull right off the rack.

My mom and sister Hannah (my other sister Nellie was already back at school in Kentucky) came with and served as my panel of judges. We were told we had exactly one hour in the dressing room and so as soon as the timer started the three of us went crazy grabbing dozens and dozens of bagged dresses.

What I hadn’t really thought through was the fact that I had to undress with the dress attendant in the room. (So word to the wise, wear some good underwear.) It was a little awkward just standing there basically in the buff while she took each dress out of the bag — but after the first five dresses, I finally got used to it.

With every dress that I tried on we started to started to get an idea of what looked good and what did not. We quickly determined a few things that were not going to be a part of the winning dress:

A dropped waist:

Feathers:

Straps:

With all of the “no’s,” we were led to the ingredients that did work: strapless, sweetheart neckline, A-line, a long train, slight ruching, and an off-white color.

After three dozen dresses, I finally put on one that worked. It met all of my criteria and looked good. It needed a few additional alterations to make it the dress that I wanted, but I felt great in it. The attendant took my measurements, but I just wasn’t ready to bite the bullet after one round of tryouts, so we left for lunch and decided to sleep on it.

I wasn’t looking forward to Round Two of shopping the very next day. I felt like I had picked the winner and didn’t want to go through the entire ordeal again, but thankfully my mom pushed me to give it one more shot and so off to Volle’s in Lake Zurich we went.

We got to our room and unlike Weddings 826, the attendant picked the dresses for me after I told her what I had liked from the previous day.

The first dress I put on made us all certain that we were in for a tough decision. The dress was perfect. It was everything about the dress from the day before, but more. And it felt like me.  As I told my mom, “If I were a wedding dress, this is what I would look like”.

The attendant forced me out of the dress and into a few more, but after about six others I really wanted to put the first dress back on.

She clipped me in and told me to get comfortable in it. As my sister tried on bridesmaids dresses, I sat in my dress. I could move, dance, twirl — and I didn’t want to stop looking at the mirror. The dress is simple but classic, and is everything I didn’t know I wanted in my wedding dress.

I even got a little teary eyed as I stood on the pedestal looking at myself as a real bride. It was the first time since I’ve been engaged that I was truly overcome with the fact that I will be the one walking down the aisle on June 22, 2013 — and I’ll be doing it in this dress.

In my opinion, there are only a few justifiable reasons for not buying a gift off the registry. Here’s when and why I deviate from the registry:

1. When I’m not invited to their wedding shower
2. When I’m not invited to their wedding
3. When I have a personal, thoughtful reason for purchasing your gift for the newly married couple
4. When the couple’s registry is completely sold out

For my close friends who were married last weekend in Chicago, my fiancé and I decided to gift them something a little bit different. My justifications for doing so were Rule # 1 and # 4. Doubly justified!

Joel and I are huge winos (hence my blogger name) — and this particular couple appreciates their wine too. So we wanted to incorporate that into our wedding gift.

Just regular old wine bottles wouldn’t cut it so we added a special touch and I’m so pleased with the way they turned out.

Each of the three bottles will be opened on a significant moment in their lives and they’ll always be reminded of our friendship every time they pop a cork.

Plus, I have no fear that this will be a repeat gift!

After the honeymoon period of being engaged ended, and my hand went back to feeling normal, Joel and I decided to have the dreaded money talk.

We dated for five years before getting engaged and lived together for a little over two. When Joel accepted his current job here in Los Angeles, we packed up our apartment in California and started making some legitimate “together” purchases – like hiring a moving company for a mere four thousand bucks. We were no strangers to dealing with “together” money.

We had a fair system of splitting bills, trading off who pays for dinner, and going in together on unexpected charges – like investing in a new TV. Our financial situation was pretty organized. He had his. I had mine. And we were happy to split everything 50/50.

That is, until we got engaged.

I was tiring of writing a monthly check to Joel for rent and bills – and then getting one in return for groceries and gas. Plus, we anticipated many more joint expenses on the horizon so we knew we needed to come up with a solution.

For us, that was creating a mutual account.

This may be an ancient way of thinking, but as a woman, I was hesitant to put all of my money into one giant pot. This was not because I didn’t trust Joel. In fact, he is much more financially savvy than I am, and in many ways it may have been smarter for us both to dump all of our cash into one account. We would have made more interest and wouldn’t have had six accounts to manage – but we ultimately decided that for now, that was the best choice.

What we did decide to do was set up a joint checking and savings account – separate from our own personal accounts. 75% of our paychecks get dumped into the joint checking every pay check and our joint savings account is set up primarily for the honeymoon. The last quarter our money goes to our personal accounts. That way, I can get as many manicures as I want without any sense of guilt. Anything that I do on my own – like happy hours, shopping, or barre classes – is paid out of my personal account. And the same goes for Joel – although he isn’t a big ballet dancer. And, we can both use our personal savings accounts for big-ticket items that we are lusting after (a Louis for me, and a new bike for him) without affecting our together money.

Any spending that has to do with us – like groceries, pet expenses, or travel comes out of the joint.

Since we are both in comfortable jobs, we feel like this is an equal set up for now. Who knows what will happen when we get married and have kids, but for now it’s working.

And we still like each other.

What have you found that works best for you and yours?

I figured there is no better way to start my blogging journey than by telling my favorite story in the world: How I got engaged.

On Saturday, June sixth my fiance Joel left our Los Angeles apartment to run errands. Not thinking much of it, I yelled for him to remember his dry cleaning ticket and said goodbye. No more than ten minutes later I had a knock on our front door from our friend Juli. She told me she was instructed to take me to The W Hotel for an overnight “staycation”.

When she dropped me off in front of the hotel, I had a feeling this was it. It had to be it. My heart started to beat out of my chest and as I made the elevator ride to room 1518. I expierenced ever feeling in that elevator ride possible, but mainly, I just thought I was going to throw up.

I walked slowly into the room, expecting to be over taken with a scene of candles and rose petals, maybe a harpist and lots of cold champagne…but what I found was Joel lounging on the couch watching soccer – in sweats no less.

It took me a full two minutes to come to terms with the reality of the situation. An engagement clearly was not going down here so I gave him a look and started buzzing with questions.

a. ) What are we doing here?

b.) Why did you reserve such a gigantic suite

c.) What are we doing here?

d.) What are we doing here?

e.) What are we doing here

He told me his company had upgraded us at the hotel and that we were going to have a special date night of just the two of us. He wanted to treat me.

He’s a keeper, right?

It was the sweetest gesture, and I was excited, so I fully of gave up on the idea that this was going to be the day that I was getting engaged. And there was no way I was going to let him think, that I was thinking that this was “the” day.

He had booked a manicure for me at the spa and then told me to meet him by the pool and before a fun dinner in West Hollywood.

Again, I can deal with this.

I marched my happy self down to the spa, put my headphones in and zoned out to Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

When I headed back up to room 1518 to change into my swimsuit things started to fall into place.

Joel had changed into a suit coat, grabbed my hand, and led me into a room where he had flowers, two flutes of champagne, and a ring box.

He grabbed my hand, got down on one knee, and proposed.

We spent the rest of the day sipping champagne in a cabana at the pool and then finished the day off with a gluttonous meal at The Everleigh in West Hollywood followed by drinks at the hotel bar.

I loved that I had some sense of surprise in my engagement, and even after 6 years of dating him, nothing could have prepared me for how special that day was.  A day I will never forgot. The day I became a bride to be.