Hairdressers and House Hunting

Last weekend I decided to return to my natural roots of brunette and at the same time S and I are house hunting.

Being blonde was so much fun but it was time to return to my dark roots, I felt like the change would be as good as a vacation and get me out of the hair rut that I was in.

The impending move to Michigan which is 78 days away is fast approaching and S will be moving out of the house that he currently shares with his room mate and we will be starting married life in our first home together.

I could not be more excited about having a home with S and having a space that is ours and home (excuse the pun) for our marriage to grow.

To say that the process has been something is putting it lightly.  As I am still living in Long Island, I am constantly looking online (thank goodness for Zillow and Keller Williams Realty) and calling and then S is viewing the houses and reporting back.

We thought that we had found our home, we both loved the layout, location and the house in general. We put in an application and unfortunately another party was just ahead of us in the application process and so we were back at the search engines.

We will be looking at two more homes this week so please hold thumbs!

Here is a little peak at master bedroom inspo board.

Images from the internet.

Love

Bronwyn

Flowers, Flowers & More Flowers

Wedding plans are officially well underway as the venue and church are booked. 

Anyone planning a wedding knows that the flowers will make or break the entire day, I was luckily enough to be gifted my flowers from a fabulous company named Iluba. 

Iluba, "true beauty never fades", and the beauty of these stunning flowers do not easily fade. 

The flowers are no ordinary flower, the company has managed to master the art of preserving fresh flowers where they have a six-month vase life, require no maintenance or water but have the look of a fresh cut flower. Their products include but not limited to steams, rose heads, Proteas and foliage.  

One of my favorite elements of the flowers are the stunning colors which the flowers are available in from various shades of white, pink purple, blue, black, yellow, green to name a few. The complete list of colors can be found here.

International distribution of the flowers is available in Asia, Europe, South Africa and North America which ideal as our wedding will be in Michigan. 

I am so appreciate of the wonderful of the most spectacular flowers which I without a doubt will elevate our wedding and allow us to achieve the elegance that we crave for ourselves and our special day. 

Please visit their Facebook, Instagram and Official Website here.

Disclaimer: I received no remuneration for this post, however the company is a family business run by my extended family. 

Philly & Bridesmaids

The City of Brotherly Love served as the latest city on the adventure of S and B!

A 3 day weekend lends itself perfectly for an opportunity to take visit a new place (for S) and partake in our favorite activities - traveling!

Last year I was fortunate to visit Philadelphia to see Taylor Swift live which was a phenomenal trip and S has yet to travel to Philadelphia so it was a perfect option! 

Our hotel was located in Center City right near Logan Square and I could not say enough amazing things about Embassy Suites, definitely one of my favorite places we have stayed and we have stayed at a ton! 

We immersed ourselves as both locals and tourists from visiting The Mint, Besty Ross House, Liberty Bell, Logan Square and enjoying local cuisines (Philly Cheesesteaks!) at local recommendations. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip!

In wedding planning news two major elements have been checked off the list! 

S and I booked my mom's air ticket from Johannesburg to Detroit for our civil ceremony! 109 days and counting! I also asked my nearest and dearest girls to be my bridesmaids and I couldn't be more excited that I will have the best girls by my side when I marry my soul mate!

Love

Bronwyn

Strawberry & Banana Spring Smoothie

Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely love to cook so I decided to start a new series of my favorite recipes on my blog, I will share my personal favourites from smoothies to cupcakes to dinner date ideas that I love to make!

I made a yummy spring smoothie this week and thought I would share it with you all!

Strawberry & Banana Spring Smoothie:

3 Strawberries
1 Banana
1 cup of orange juice
1 cup of ice

Combine in the blender for approximately 2 minutes. 

It is yummy and filling!

Perfect for Spring!

Love

Bronwyn

Viewing Venues!

I am officially eating my words. 

A couple weeks ago I promised myself that I was going to enjoy being engaged and not stress about our upcoming nuptials which we have officially decided on a date for and now at the end of the month I will be looking at a potential wedding venue. 

Planning my wedding has and will be a different experience than most brides-to-be, it usually spent planning with your friends and family (read mom) but as my family and friends live in South Africa and I am getting married in Michigan, it is tricky. I am however super grateful for S and my wonderful future mother-in-law. 

Once the guest list was finalized after many cuts, negotiations and back and forths we settled on a perfect 125 guests for the wedding as I would like a more intimate affair and to know at least half the guests and to also be considerate to the fact that it may be harder for more of my friends and family to make the trip. 

Venue became the next topic!

The venue, which we are going to view in 2 weeks, is absolutely spectacular, and lush as described by my sister! I hope that all our plans fall into place and it will be the venue in which S and I have our wedding celebration. 

S and I decided to have our wedding ceremony at the Catholic Church in Allen Park, where he grew up going to (and still does), which is an element that I am still familiarizing myself with. We have been "penciled in" for our date  pending our meeting with the Pastor. 

My dream wedding may just come true! 

When deciding on a color scheme, that was probably the easiest decision. All white everything!

Below is one of my many inspiration boards! 

Images from the internet. 

Love

Bronwyn

Indianapolis

What an amazing weekend I just had! 

One of my favorite things to do is to travel, it's one of the main reasons I moved to the States. Thankfully my amazing fiancé loves to travel too. 

We have visited a number of states together and the latest one on our list was Indianapolis, Indiana. 

We were visiting a friend of Stephen's for his 30th birthday, traveling from New York started off with a delay due to terrible weather but I thankfully made it! It was so exciting to see Stephen cause after only 8 days I missed him terribly! 

We went to Charleston's for lunch which was divine! We spent the day catching up and officially meeting his friends.

The evening activities included a trip to a brewery which was definitely not my thing - I wish I liked beer but I don't! It got amazing praise from everyone else! Dinner was at a yummy Italian restaurant followed by drinks downtown. 

The trip ended with a 5 hour drive back to Michigan so that we could spend Mothers Day with my future Mother in law which was a treat! I also miss my mom a little extra on Mothers Day, as I not quite accustomed to missing them yet! 

It's safe to say wedding planning is officially underway! More on that soon! 

What another amazing weekend! 

Love

Bronwyn

Engaged... Now what?

Hello,

Well its true, being engaged is one of the best feelings in the world. My fiance and I got engaged a couple weeks ago and nothing had prepared me for the outpouring of support that we received. If you haven't read our Perfect Proposal, you can here Our Proposal 

Once all the congratulations and excitement died down all of a sudden we were being hit with questions about when it will take place, where, have I looked at dresses, thought about my hair, potential guests and the list went on and on.

I was so overwhelmed and shocked that people could possibly think we have discussed all of that within 2 days of getting engaged. So I flooded my poor fiance phone with all the questions and we were able to narrow down a few answers.I downloaded a ton of wedding planning apps and was starting to research venues when I decided to take a giant step back and stop.

Stephen and I just got engaged, I am still living in Long Island, he just started at his new job and we just want to enjoy that for the time being. I could not be more excited at the prospect of planning the most perfect wedding but I believe that it is definitely important to enjoy being engaged.

We just celebrated my birthday in Michigan, it was the most amazing time together. I spent time with my future mother in law doing what all girls love, getting our hair done and pedicures! We took in our first Detroit Tigers game together, had a family dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and just enjoyed spending time together which is our favorite thing.

I was able to extend my trip by two extra days which was sheer bliss!

I do know that I need to sit down and seriously start thinking about our wedding, South African guests expect "Saves the Dates" before you know it!

Love

Bronwyn