WEDDING UPDATE: WE SET THE DATE!

We've been patiently waiting and quietly planning while making sure our finances were in order to be able to stay in NYC after we got married. Jeff and I are pleased to finally announce our wedding destination as well as our official wedding date!

The Fearrington Farms in Chapel Hill. 

It's only 20 minutes down the road from my parents house so it will be easy for everyone to attend. 

Even though the outside venue was beautiful, we decided it would be more suitable for pictures. We want an indoor area to avoid a rain plan and ruined hair. That NC humidity is a pain.

This is a view from the indoor venue, which will be exciting to decorate. All the other walls are just giant windows so it's a great outdoor feel with an indoor setting. Here is a photo from their Pinterest of another wedding in this location.

Here is our reception area at the barn.

We were greeted by swallows.. Although they were promised to be gone by October for our bird haters.

The very spacious interior of the reception venue, which again I'm very excited to decorate.

Testing out the chairs in the bridal party waiting area. I will confidently say that these chairs and floral patterns really sold it.

So, we are happy to announce that on Sunday, October 6th we will be getting married. 

We will be collecting addresses very soon to send out announcements and RSVPs.

We couldn't be more thrilled with the place we have chosen! Especially when we saw a wedding being set up today and the mother of the bride stopped us and asked if we were thinking about getting married here. She gave the place 5 stars in terms of them taking care of everything perfectly and how wonderful it's been to work with them. 

The place is stunning, everywhere you walk is picture perfect, and the only time you really smell cow poop is when you make a point to go find and be near the cows, so I hope everyone is able to attend.

---

In terms of the next steps we have to start booking odd end things like an officiant, and of course a photographer. Which brings me to the sneak peek of our next update.

We are looking to meet some new friends in NYC through Instagram. Believe it or not, I am horribly shy infront of the camera, especially for couple-y photos. It's awkward and just not us. 

So, we are wanting to meet some of our favorite and inspirational NYC based instagrammers (or those who will be visiting this summer) to meet up with us, get a free breakfast/lunch/or dinner, and just get to know each other and hopefully capture us completely naturally when ever the moment strikes. 

Really, let's just have a fun day of being new friends and remembering the moment.

More details soon! 

But if you are an Instagrammer and already know this is something you are interested in, email me at paige.e.hogan@gmail.com. 

I'd love to meet you!

Hope everyone has a lovely rest of the weekend, and if there any questions or comments about what's going on right now, don't hesitate!

xo,

Paige

PS: Happy Birthday to little cousin Sophie! 2 year old troubles now! :)

Casper

I am pale. Very pale.

The fact that my blonde hair, fair skin sister gloated that she was darker than me now is a problem.

This all became apparent when I was doing a quick shoot of myself for our May report for Third Wave Fashion. (Which, by the way, you can download April's issue for free here and see all my hard work.) Combining a big thug sweatshirt and pale skin makes for TERRIBLE fat kid photos. Glad Jeff was patient enough to make sure we positioned a few that made me look less pale and unusually large.

(Update as of Monday 29th, at 4:30: My thyroid doctor just called me and told me my Vitamin D levels were low. Good news is I don't have a thyroid problem, bad news is it has been clinically diagnosed that I am totally lacking sunlight. I get it already, enough!)

Snaps and a mock layout below.




So, now I have to reverse this pale problem. I don't know if maybe it's a NYC thing, or maybe a post grad you never see the sunlight any more with work thing, but I have to get back outside. Jeff and I decided to splurge on these $100 fixe bikes from target when we get our next paychecks, and my theory being that it will get us to go outside more. That, combined with some Jergens and outdoor running should do the trick.

I'm not going to be Casper for my wedding.

--

Speaking of the wedding I had my first minor/major melt down.

We are currently looking at a beautiful venue back in NC, but the weekend we wanted (October 26th) was already taken. Ugh. The one that was open was October 6. Yikes. Not only that, it is a Sunday and now I fear that people don't want to go. Saying things like "I can't miss ______ on Monday." My argument back is you can miss a Friday to travel but not a Monday? So, I'm hoping that my guest will understand when I send out Save the Dates and RSVP's very soon.

Other issue is the venue needs a $5,000 initial deposit to book it. Jeff wanted us to go and see it before we send that much money their way. Fair. The only thing was we were going home at the end of May, and I didn't think we could wait that long to see it because all the weekends would be booked by that point. I literally almost tore my hair out pricing out flights, looking at weekends, and considering all the options, but I finally broke down and let my boss know that I just had to go home and get this taken care of.

I am so lucky that I work in a place that I love and that they are totally understandable to the situation. Seriously. I go home this week to finalize a venue with Jeff and if this place doesn't work out I'm breaking down and just having it at my parents house. I think back to my proms and how I wanted my dress and everything to be so perfect, when I really should have said F- it and wore a short sequin dress and just focused on having fun. I don't want to look back on my wedding the same way.

So I'm taking a few deep breathes, and just going to go with it. I also just bought my wedding shoes, so that helps :)

Image and purchase via Shoedazzle.

More updates next weekend when we check out our venue and solidify things!

Hope everyone had a sunny weekend and didn't get stuck on a train for 2 hours trying to get out to Brooklyn!

xo,
Paige

WEDDING UPDATE: MEET MY MAIDS

I'm excited to finally announce my Maid(s) of Honor and my Bridesmaids! 

I packed and shipped out the invitations consisting of a note, hand made floral crown, a little notebook, and a tote bag. 

I asked if they would all shoot a selfie in their crown to confirm if they would be in my wedding and I'm thrilled to say that they all agreed!

Caitlin and Maigan are my sister's and my Maids of Honor. (Hailey, the youngest sister will be asked to be flower girl.. but we will get to that down the road.)

Danielle is Jeff's younger sister and my sister in SAI.

Joyce is my little sister in SAI.

Catch a theme here?

There were many candidates (in fact a whole sisterhood of lovely ladies!) and I would have loved to be able to ask them all.. but I decided to keep it very small and I hope everyone understands.

I can't wait to continue planning and keep updating.

The next chapter will be the Instagram Engagement Shot series.. Stay tuned!

Happy Wednesday!

xo,
Paige