What Bridal Shower Dreams Are Made Of!

I could not have asked for a more beautiful and special bridal shower!

When S's aunt and cousin offered to host a bridal shower for us, I was so excited and overwhelmed! I knew that it was going to be everything that I could have dreamed of.

Everything was mostly kept a surprise (which I loved) but I did have a little input. I loved thinking of a theme that was reflective of me as a person but as well S and I as a couple!

Traveling is one of our favourite things to do and its how we met and ultimately fell in love. It was the theme and it could not be have been for more fitting or stunning!

We were spoiled beyond imagine and had the most amazing time with people who are so excited about our upcoming wedding celebration and future as a couple!

I thought I would include 5 tips when planning your shower:

1. Let someone close to you or your fiancé host it.
They know you and what you like which means that you can be super honest with them about what you want and don't want.

2. The guest list is super important.
Invite the ladies that you are planning on having at your wedding most importantly. also invite the ladies who live out of state so that they know that you want them there.

3. Be comfortable with the attention.
I personally hate being the centre of attention and being made a fuss of but the event is about the bride and the attention that was given was so thoughtful and special because everyone wanted to celebrate S and I.

4. Have your fiancé there or at least visit.
We originally didn't want S there as it was a ladies thing but in hindsight I am so glad that he was because it is a celebration for both of you and your upcoming wedding!

5. Say thank you!
I love saying thank you and showing gratitude in any way possible and it was super important to me to make the two super special ladies who went out of their way to host a shower for me special.

Here are some pics of the great day!

With Love from Brooklyn

A little flashback post to one of my favorite trips before I moved to Michigan to be with S.

My one year anniversary with S also coincided with our last weekend in Brooklyn and boy it was a good one.

We experienced the ultimate feeling of being tourists in a city that I lived in for over year and it was a blast.

We stayed in the at Sheraton Downtown, which has great views of downtown and is centrally located to all the activities that we had planned for the weekend.

We started with dinner at Rocco Taco's which is a great Mexican restaurant with possibly the best margarita I have had, it may have something to do with the fact that they come in pitchers but I don't know;).

Caught in the act!

S and I have spent so many fun weekend in the City but had not spent any time in Central Park, so we hopped on the subway and headed for the Park. We spent time watching the sailing boats followed by a divine class of rose and a beer for S.

It was a great Saturday in the Park. Dinner was as South African as it gets at my favorite restaurant in Brooklyn called Madiba's after the great Nelson Mandela. It is a South African influenced restaurant which serves up authentic meals, great local drinks and an ambiance that reminds me of home. Its safe to say that S and I ate till we could not longer and I may have had one too many Amarulas;).

The Brooklyn Bridge will always have a special space in my heart, besides it being one of the most spectacular bridges and iconic New York spots, its the place where I first looked at S and knew that he was something special and boy I was right.

Brooklyn will always have a place in our hearts and relationship, it where we spent a really big part of our relationship falling in love and exploring a place I called home for a period of time.

Love

Bronwyn

Save The Dates

A wedding project that I had so much fun working on was definitely our Save The Dates.

I looked at a ton of different ideas online and spoke to Mother in Law and together we decided that a magnet was definitely something that we were interested in. When the discussion of size came up, I thought that a small business card size would be best cause I am certain that no one wants a huge magnet of S and I on their fridge for 6 months! :)

We visited a local stationery shop here in Ferndale and discussed options and pick out our favorite one. The next step was the wording and picture that we wanted. We decided on Celebrate as it follows our theme of "Celebrating the Cargos" perfectly. I really like that there was an option to include a picture of the two of us and it was a no brainer! We both loved the black and white picture that we took at our ceremony last year under the umbrella so that was easy!

We didn't want to crowd the magnet with too many details as it would be too cluttered, so a magnet card was the perfect choice to just add the extra details.

Magnet Street was this great online company that I found that is a one stop shop for everything stationery. It was so easy and efficient to design the card with the colors of the wedding while not being to big and bulky. We were given a great stamp with our address on it so that was great and mad the assembly so much easier!

I did the labels myself and printed them at the local FedEx which was so easy and I was able to print 3 copies so we have them already done for the wedding invitations.

The Save the Date card has been described as the introduction to the wedding and provides the first taste for the guests. I hope that they create an excitement for the wedding cause I know that The Cargo's couldn't be more excited to celebrate our special day with everyone!!

Love

Bronwyn

Celebrating the Cargo's

Wedding planning is in full swing!

The celebration is just over 9 months away, S and I are so excited to be able to the opportunity to have a "second wedding".

The second wedding was always in the plan but I do not believe I was aware at how important it will be, not only for us but all those who love us. S and I had the most amazing day last year, it was exactly what we wanted and I will never ever forget it. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Back to the planning and the update.

To be honest, I had no idea how much work would go into planning a wedding and I am learning everyday.

I got a wonderful planner for Christmas which is one of the best things for me. It helps me to have everything in one place as well provide great information as to what is required.

Save the Dates have been printed and delivered and I am so excited to share them as we decided to go for something different from a collage of us printed on plain paper - as soon as they have been sent I will post a preview here.

The picture we chose. 

My wonderful S gifted me my wedding dress which I bought last year and it is exactly what I wanted. I must have visited at least 5 shops and tried on 20 dresses and it was the first dress that I had every single element that I wanted and I didn't want to change a single thing. When people say that you know when its the dress, you really do!

We have booked the entertainment for the wedding and I am so excited. My sweet mother in law arranged it for us and I am so glad that she did. It truly is going to be a fun night with tons of dancing!

We are currently in the process of meeting with photographers which is a lot more intense than I was aware but its so important! The photos that we have will be our constant reminder of our wedding and will make going down memory lane that much easier!

Snapshot at celebrating S's birthday. 

Love

Bronwyn

Mrs. Cargo

30th of September 2016 was officially the greatest day of my life.

When S and I got engaged we decided that we would have a intimate ceremony this year and then follow it with a bigger celebration next year so that guests from South Africa would have enough notice to plan.

 My mom had been in Michigan for a week at this point and one of my close friend who is currently studying at Harvard was able to fly into Michigan.

The day was nothing shy of perfect. S and I didn't see each other from Thursday night and he left early to spend the morning with his parents and get his hair cut. I had breakfast with my mom and then left to get my hair and make up done.

I had a great FaceTime with my sister back in South Africa who was able to calm my nerves and remind me not to cry too much cause my make up would be ruined. I was an emotional mess all day thinking about how excited I was to marry my best friend.

Five-thirty approached and it was time to jump in the limo and make my way over to Heritage Park in the pouring rain which was proving that it would not let up but it surprisingly did not matter!

Walking down the pathway to the gazebo and seeing S for the first time was truly spectacular and something I will forever cherish! We exchanged vows in the most intimate perfect way and we were then pronounced as husband and wife which is a surreal feeling which is I will never forget.

We ended the night with a great dinner downtown with the stunning views of Canada in the background.

We have been married for almost two weeks and my oh my it is officially the greatest feeling in the world.

My heart

Family 

Cargo Party of 4

The Cargo's!!

Love

Bronwyn

Update Time!

Things have been crazy busy since I last updated as I have been traveling back and forth to Michigan (and Indiana) and working and S is coming to visit this week. 

So many fun things have happened in the last three weeks, we celebrated 4th of July in Indiana, we found a home, I found a wedding dress and I have 50 days left on my contract. 

4th of July in Indiana was so much fun considering it started a day late with a cancelled flight and I could only get another one a day later! We met up with S's college friends and had a blast. Spent the weekend with his family eating and surviving the rain at Conner Prairie in the rain. 

The house hunt was so stressful and was resolved in the strangest but best way, S's room mate decided to move in with her boyfriend and S really loves the house so instead of her finding someone else to move in and us finding a home we decided that we would sign a lease agreement with her for approximately the next two years.

Since we found out I have been busy planing what I want every room to look like and on Sunday we hit Bed Bath & Beyond and Target and shopped like no ones business. We have bought almost everything for the bathroom and master bedroom which is a relief. Today we found a spare bed and will hopefully get that asap as my mom needs someone to stay when she arrives soon. 

Another exciting development involved our commitment ceremony for this year. Once we got engaged, we knew that we would not being able to plan the special wedding that we would want for friends and family from both South Africa and America so we decided to get married this year with our families present and then next year have the wedding in a church and reception for everyone. This year we will be getting married under a beautiful gazebo and I knew that I needed a dress to match. I was able to find one at Nordstrom from the Adrianna Papell brand and I cannot wait to wear it when I marry my best friend and soul mate. 

I tried on the navy but will wear the rose gold.

The last weekend was spent in Michigan, where I had the best time with S and the more and more I go the more it feels like home. One highlight of the weekend was that on Saturday night I made a South African Chicken Curry for S and my future in laws (recipe to follow soon).

Finally, I have just 50 days left on my contract so I am making the most of the time that I have left with the family and we will be travelling to Florida next week which should be a blast!!

Sorry for the long post. I hope you enjoyed reading! 

Love

Bronwyn

Fire Island Adventures

When I first moved to Long Island, the place that people kept mentioning that I should visit was the Fire Island Lighthouse and this weekend I finally did.

The weather on Saturday was perfect for a trip to the Lighthouse, it was an hour and some change drive from Garden City where we were staying and I am always down for a road trip whether it is an hour or five.

Pulling up to the lighthouse in the distance was a sight to savor, its right on the beach so you can hear the ocean and see all the people excited for a day at the beach and all I could think about was the beauty of the lighthouse.

We walked along a board walk towards the lighthouse with different vegetation including poison ivy on either side of us which is indigenous to Fire Island. Poison Ivy turns red and is believed to be on of the myths surrounding the origin of the name as in the distance it looked the island was on fire which was the changing of the color of the poison ivy.

We opted to climb up the 182 steps of the historic lighthouse which is the 7th highest in the country and highest in NY State. There are viewing spots on the way up and one of my favorite is that every spot has a completely different view.

I will allow the pictures to speak for themselves.

Once we were all done, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to one of our new favorite restaurants in Garden City called Seasons 52 which is farm to table restaurant which adapts its menu to the current season. The food is amazing with reasonable prices and a great vibe to compliment everything.

Love

Bronwyn