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Beep beep!

NEW BLOG POST COMING SOON!!! 🤗

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Happy almost Valentine's Day! Lookie' what I made! A Unikitty Valentine's Day box! Better photos and tutorial coming soon. ❤

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Disney Day Planner Word Document!! :D

https://cloudup.com/cU2pKwJ6MbC

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The really great, Aztec temple Disney photo! A huge thank you to the cast members who helped capture this awesome Disneymoon memory! :D

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Tips and tricks for DISNEY trips!

Going to Disney World is no cheap endeavor. For most people its not something you can afford to do every other month. These tips and tricks are for all, but mostly those looking to get the most out of their time at Disney, and maybe, hopefully save a little money.

1)      Pin-Trading: DO IT!

Disney pin trading is awesome! It’s this thing you can do with the cast members. At the park. If you have official Disney pins, you can go up to Disney cast members who have lanyards with pins on them, and ask if they do pin trading (they do) and pick one of your pins to trade for one of theirs. The best part is since Disney gives the cast members their pins, they will trade any of theirs for ANY of yours! Why is this great? Wellll you can buy bulk pins online (for pretty cheap) and get trade some mediocre pins for awesome limited edition pins that the members have! There are so many Disney pins to collect it’s insane! You can even use the pins to make a cool memory box when you get home. Just take a shadow box picture frame, line the back with cork, print up a favorite trip photo to put in the center, then stick your favorite Disney pins from your trip all around the photo in the cork. Great souvenir!! And let me tell you, the pin trading is just plain fun for everyone. My husband was skeptical at first, but when we got there, he was more into pin trading than I was. If you want to get some awesome bulk pins, check out this etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LuckyFeetTrading?ref=l2-shopheader-name (Lucky Feet Trading). Amazing customer service and 100% satisfaction with the pins. We even ended up keeping half of them we liked them so much!

2)      Get the Disney World app.

It’s free. Download it. You can use it to pretty much plan your entire vacation. You make a profile, you link your fast passes to that profile. You can see all your reservations, all your “plans”, your hotel (if you’re staying on property), there are maps for all the parks! It works really well, it’s an easy to understand lay out and it’s definitely worth the effort it takes to download.

3)      Take the time to plan out, in detail, each day you will be at the park.

Why is this a good idea? Well, because the parks are huge. And if you have never been to Disney world before, you are going to want to at least try and see most of each park. AND this can really help with choosing restaurants, fast passing rides, and deciding what you want to cut. For me, having the whole trip at least relatively mapped out, makes the trip more enjoyable and less stressful. I don’t want to miss anything when I’m at Disney! I make sure I’ve fit everything in by just taking a few minutes to map out my days. For your convenience, I have created a “day planner” for Disney. Take a look! (it will be the document posted labeled Disney Day Planner).

4)      Check out a crowd calendar and plan your park days based on crowd size.

Here is the website I used to determine when we should visit and which parks to go to each day. As a general rule, Magic Kingdom is the most busy on Saturdays/Sundays, so choose to visit the most iconic park on a week day. Here is the calendar: https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/February-2017/

I also think this helps eliminate some people’s desire to spend the extra money on park hopper tickets. If you get to a park and it’s too busy, with park hopper you can just move along to another park. But I personally believe in the plan ahead method of seeing Disney, so you don’t spend the extra cash on the hopper passes, and fast passing really makes getting all your favorite rides in super easy and pain free.

5)      Chose at least one “relax” day where you can go visit Disney springs, swim in the pool at your hotel, visit the beach-something relaxing!

Why do I suggest this when Disney-ing? Well, because theme parks although fun and amazing and worth every dime, can be stressful. Crowds are stressful, getting to reservations on time…. Stressful! So it’s always a good idea to plan a more casual and relaxing day while visiting the happiest place on Earth. There are also some amazing shops and restaurants at Disney Springs. Our favorite? T-Rex! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the whole experience there! Which leads me to tip #6…

6)      Make your dining reservations WAY in advance.

With the Disney World app, this is super easy, but you just gotta do it. When I planned our honeymoon trip, I started reserving our restaurant stops almost 5 months in advance…. And there were STILL restaurants that were already booked solid! But also keep in mind that not all reservations for Disney’s restaurants are booked online. They allow about half the reservations to be made online, so if you don’t get into a restaurant you are dying to try or go to, you can always check the wait times when you are at the park. You can also check for updated reservations on the app! There was one restaurant we really wanted in at, so I just kept checking, and about 5 days before our trip, there was a spot that opened up and I snagged it!

7)      Get some friggin’ Mickey ears and spend a week letting your inner kid out!

There are so many amazing Mickey ears out there for sale! And some of them are just perfect! Find some, buy some and join in the fun of wearing Mickey ears for a week. I also highly suggest the more crafty of you to just make your own. 3 of the 4 day we were at Disney, I wore ears I had hand made and got a top of compliments. They are so simple to make, and really inexpensive. Most of the ears you find at Disney online or Etsy are at least $20, most going beyond that. So, maybe it’s time to let that inner craft goddess out for a spin.

8)      Oh please, please get memory maker!!

It is $150 and worth every penny!

Disney has photo pass people EVERYWHERE. Photo pass people will take anyone’s photo, but if you have memory maker, the pictures end up being cheaper. On our last trip, we ended up with 300+ photos and not a single one that I just hated. They were all good! And in key locations. A lot of the photo pass people are also in spots where they can get a shot of you (and your loved ones) posing in front of iconic Disney places with few people in the back ground. The photo pass people are also next to most of the characters you can meet, and will take several photos of you getting your autograph book signed, the characters hugging you, and several candide photos. They are willing to take your photo with your phone too, but they do not turn out as well. Totally worth it. It was also fun to seek out the photo pass people and see how many photos we could get at different locations. We got lot. :P

9)      Play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Because it looks awesome! I have not actually played this myself, and just recently learned about it. But it looks like something anyone going to Disney should at least look into. Here is the official Disney World page on it: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/magic-kingdom/sorcerers/

10)   Don’t be afraid to ask cast members to take photos of you and your party.

Some of our best photos are from cast members aside from the photo pass photographers. They are all more than happy to help you get a perfect shot and are super nice about it! While we were at the Aztec temple at Epcot, we ask a shop keeper to help take a photo of us beside the restaurant in the temple. When she wasn’t tall enough to get what she thought was a good shot, she asked another cast member, who helped her and who also made sure line ropes and people were out of the way! It was crazy! And made us feel so appreciated. I could not believe how accommodating they were! This was not the only instance that a cast member made some amazing, embarrassment feel photo dreams come to life, but it turned out to be one of my favorite photos. Definitely ask, they are more than happy to help! On a side note, also remember to be happy while at Disney World, you are at the happies place on EARTH and all the cast members are there to help make it the happiest days of your life. So, don’t get mad! Have a great time! And let your inner kid out. There were a few times someone got upset at a family member, or you could tell they weren’t happy, and it was so odd, it made everyone uncomfortable! I’ve never been on a vacation where it was more noticeable when someone was upset or angry.

 11) Get a fanny pack!!

Not a fanny pack from the 90′s, a super hip, super cute fanny pack! There are a lot of choices out there (including some fanny packs from some pretty high end retailers) but my favorite’s were found on Etsy. There are a lot of cute, relatively small fanny packs for sale and they come in fun designs and patterns. There are also some leather, sequin, shiny ones that are a lot more expensive but still very wearable and amazing and cute! There are literally fanny packs for everyone’s style and price range. Now, why should you have a fanny pack at Disney? Well, because it makes keeping your valuable money and cell phones safe. AND it makes taking photos so easy! Just slide the pack to your back and it’s out of sight, or do what I did and show it off because it’s super cute (see example in above photo!). They are also light weight, and can fit everything you really need at the parks. It also makes going through security much easier, and riding rides without power gripping your purse. My favorite fanny pack etsy site (where I got my panda fanny pack I used the last time I was at Disney!) is from Chiradesigns, link below. Check them out! Let me know what you think. Are fanny packs something you would try for Disney? 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Chiradesigns?ref=search_shop_redirect

I may have to add some more tips later, but these are the first 10 11 I could think of that everyone should follow! Hopefully the planner helps, and you get use out of the included sites! If this post helped you plan your vacation to Disney, share! And please let me know what you’re planning for your Disney vacation and if you have any advice for me! 

Thanks for sharing some coffee with me! Hope you enjoyed!

(Post edited January 23rd 2017- #11 added!)

-Kelly H. 

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Random decision of the night: People need to play more board games... And this one (Evolution by NorthStar Games) is most definitely where IT IS AT. Play it! This copy is on sale on their site for $37-and some change. Totally worth it. Beautiful art work, awesome game play and some interesting strategy. Nothing like you’ve played before. Highly recommend. 

Northstargames.com

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Resolutions 2017 and how to make them stick.

I’ve lived through a few New Years. And I have made countless New Year’s resolutions. They are all pretty much the same each year: Be happier, read more, exercise, improve my life in some capacity. But, I have never successfully completed a single New Year’s resolution. And I finally know why. You need to make smaller, more manageable and easily attainable goals towards your end rewards. This means mapping out smaller milestones each with very easily reached goals that you can check off a big check off list. It makes the monstrous (and vague as hell) resolution of ‘Being Happier’ much more realistic. Here are my Resolutions, goals, milestones and rewards for 2017:

Resolution: Be more fit. (What??? What does that even mean?? Exercise? Losing weight? Goals time!)

Goal 1: Sign up for a work out/exercise/dance class. (CHECK! On the 2nd day of the new year, I picked a pole dancing class and signed up. I’ve been wanting to take a pole dancing working out class for a few years now, but never end up signing up because no one ever wants to sign up with me! But this time, I just took the initiative and signed up. Later on, I asked friends to join me in the class (thankfully a few did!) but I didn’t wait, I just jumped right in and decided to STOP MAKING EXCUSES!)

Goal 2: Be work out ready. Get some work out cloths that fit and I love! (CHECK! Right after signing up for my class I went and bought some work out cloths that I felt comfortable in. Another excuse for the last few years has been that the work out cloths I have, don’t fit. And once I put on those ill fitting capris, I get down on myself and go eat some chocolate… but not this year! This year, I grabbed a XL pair of work out pants at Target first-too baggy-then went down to a large. I picked a top and sports bra to match that made me feel comfortable and confident. And bonus points because it was all on clearance. I also ended up purchasing a FitBit Charge 2. Totally worth it! Being able to see and track my exercise is really encouraging me to start working out and seeing the tables and graphs of my progress is a huge motivator to push forward each day! The FitBit was something I didn’t plan on getting, but so happy I did.)

Goal 3: Work out 4 times a week. (NOT COMPLETED-Yet. Right now, I am just starting to get into moving my body every day. The last few days I have been dancing and stretching and doing crunches. I am hoping to keep up the trend and get to my 4 days a week goal!)

Milestone 1: Lose 20 pounds by April 2017.

Goal 4: Sign up for more work out classes.

Goal 5: Learn a new type of dance. (I am leaning towards self-teaching myself to hula!)

Milestone 2: Lose 50 pounds by November 2017.

Reward: Being more confident and comfortable in my own skin. Being healthier.

Resolution 2: Finish writing a novel by the end of 2017. (Um, woah…. Never gonna happen self! What a ridiculous thing to pick! Now, how can I actually achieve this….?)

Goal 1: Begin writing a blog post every other day. (CHECK! Doesn’t seem to hard. It gets the creative juices flowing and helps give me a platform to express myself.)

Goal 2: Work on ‘the novel’ once a week for at least an hour. (NOT COMPLETE-Yet. Again, not too hard… seems easy enough.

Milestone 1: Have 5 chapters of ‘my novel’ finished by March 2017.

Goal 3: Begin working on ‘my novel’ for at least one hour every other day.

Goal 4: Finish 1 chapter a week.

Milestone 2: Have finished half the novel by July 2017.

Goal 5: Have gained 100 followers of the blog.

Goal 6: Keep writing one chapter a week! Have 200 followers of the blog!

Milestone 3: Finish writing my first novel by December 2017.

Reward: Work on getting ‘my novel’ published in 2018!!

Resolution 3: Be happier. (Gaw, again with the vague. No wonder no one ever accomplishes their goals. Well, except celebs and crazy workaholics…. Not the average New Year’s resolution Joe…)

Goal 1: STOP WATCHING SO MUCH TV!! (Working on… So, I have noticed that watching a ton of TV and a lower productivity are very correlative…. And I want to really get my TV watching down pretty low. I want 2017 to be a year of goal setting and finally achieving and watching TV just will not be conclusive to that. Mini-goal: Get my TV watching down to one episode or one movie a day.)

Goal 2: Eat all meals at the dinner table. (COMPLETE!! And I really like this. It has helped me cut out TV watching and I feel like I eat more quickly and less… Which I know is what they say the benefits are but I believe them now!)

Goal 3: Go on at least 2 “big” vacations a year, and 4 “mini-vacations”. (WORKING ON COMPLETING! To me, a big vacation is taking a full week off work. Even if the week off is spent in your home town wondering around. Within the year timeframe we have already gone to Disney, and we have a trip planned to go BACK to Disney in April (some honeymoon craziness made going back to Disney a great idea-read my 1st blog post for details… and good advice!). Mini-vacations are weekend get away’s, or day trips to somewhere new and exciting (or old and rarely visited). We have a few of these in the works too, but I want to get that count to 4 a year! Vacations really do help with stress and evaluation of ones life. Highly recommend.)

Goal 4: Learn something new. (This is in the works. But I will learn something new this year!)

Goal 5: Read more! (Something that has always, and probably will always, bring great joy to my life is reading. I love it. I don’t get to do it enough, but I want to work on that this year. I started a book club in December that so far has been just what I needed. Each month you receive a book and 4-5 wrapped presents. When you get to certain pages in the book you get to open a present, and that present will correspond with the situation that is happening in the book. It really brings the story to life! There is also a list of questions that come with each book that are discussed on the clubs Instagram and Facebook pages. This was something that I really wanted in a monthly book club because I really miss being able to discuss literature. One of my favorite things in college was the discussions of books. The club is called Once Upon a Book Club and I HIGHLY recommend it! If you join, let me know!)

Milestone 1: Feel more accomplished.

Reward: Becoming happier. Finding a new joy in life.

And that’s it! My 3 vague and ridiculous New Year’s resolutions now seem much more manageable and I’ve actually started working towards meeting them. It’s the 16th day of January. And on this day, I worked on 3 of my goals. So far, this year is panning out to be my most productive and enjoyable year yet!

What are your resolutions? Need help mapping out a goals/milestones/rewards list? Let me know!

Please share and subscribe if you liked this post! 

-Kelly H. 

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Random thought of the day: Monday.

Okay, so while I was on my way to work this morning, it dawned on me that those people who drive trucks are totally going to live through the zombie apocalypse! A lot of the time when I pass by a truck, or more realistically a truck passes me going 10-15 miles over the speed limit with huge puffs of black exhaust coming out the tail pipe because they just could not wait another two seconds to speed up (and then later on down the road we are at a stop light and again I’m in front of them because really speeding up on a non-highway road really doesn’t get you anywhere faster than going the speed limit)… wait…where was I going with this… OH! Yea! Zombies-rawr-munch, munch-survival. Yea, so the people who drive trucks are totally going to outlive all us car drivers! Why??? Because first of all, they are really ruthless! Secondly, they seem to always be going somewhere super important so clearly they ARE super important, so I bet even if they couldn’t out drive the zombie hoard, they would be picked up by some crazy important military vehicle  because really they are super important. And also because I swear they all have weapons in the back seat of their trucks just awaiting the zombie apocalypse to break out…

So today I got to thinking, if I notice that the zombie apocalypse is starting, I am following the nearest truck to wherever they are going. ‘Cause that guy (or girl) is going to outlive us all… That’s all. Just a random thought for the night.

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10 Things EVERY Bride (and post-Bride) needs to know.

I was recently married. And it was not everything I had been promised in online blogs and wedding magazines. It was not what the photos of instagram and facebook blasted me with before the big day. And, despite what everyone said to ensure me of the contrary, it was NOT perfect. It was not everything I had envisioned it to be, and that is okay. It was an amazing day. It was beautiful. It had its ups and downs, but at the end of the day, the best part was knowing that I was married to a man who loved me, who was going to take care of me, and who had been willing for the last 2 years to put up with wedding talk just to see me smiling and walking down the isle. It may have helped that we were heading to Disney World in the morning, at least on his part. After the two year ordeal that was my wedding planning, and ultimately, my wedding day, I have come to the conclusion that these ten things are all that a Bride and post Bride really need to know. So here we go.

1) YOU’RE WEDDING DAY IS NOT GOING TO BE PERFECT AND THAT’S OKAY BECAUSE IT’S YOUR DAY SO PLEASE ENJOY IT AND DON’T LET ANYTHING GET YOU DOWN!!!

It seems like I’m yelling, but I’m really not yelling, I just really want you to embrace this. Let me put this into context. On our wedding day a number of things went “wrong”. The most stressful, and disheartening, of these things was the guest count. We invited 100 guests. 60 RSVP’d they were coming, and about 30 (including our wedding party) actually showed. And of those, only the wedding party, and a few close family members, stayed til the very end to give us our send off. I was crushed. Absolutely breath-taken-from-body-in-sumo-wrestler-take-down CRUSHED! So much time and money was put into planning this most special of days, and our short guest list really only included close friends and family! But, to be honest, the people I see on a regular basis were there. The people we really love, and who really love us, were there. And I didn’t even notice the lack of people until the end of the night when I stopped dancing and saw all the extra food. So for Zeus’ sake, don’t let other people ruin this day. Don’t let tripping, or fumbling on words, or dropping your whole cake to floor with one huge gust of wind ruin your day! It will be hard, but just realize how amazing the day is, and how amazing the people celebrating with you are, and how amazing that new husband is (hopefully). C’est la vie. 

2) Hire a fabulous and amazing photographer! Spend the extra money on this. 

If you have to cancel the band, not have food, and forego a $3,000 wedding dress-FOREGO! This does not mean you have to break the bank on a photographer, but just make sure and hire a great photographer that you trust. The photos that you have from your wedding day will be adorning your married walls for (hopefully) many happy years to come. You may not remember what gift great aunt Lucy bought you, but you will remember the way you looked in that stunner of a white gown-IF YOU HIRE A FABULOUS WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER!

3) Do not feel obligated to hide away your wedding jewelry. Or crowns. Or bouquet. Or really anything from your wedding. 

You (or someone) just spend a lot of money on beautiful wedding things. The big ones that everyone “encouraged” me to tuck away were my wedding jewelry, my wedding bouquet and the gorgeous flower crown I wore all night. Some other things I was told I should hide away in my “wedding box” were our wedding shoes, our cake stand, our bridesmaids flowers. This will 100% not be happening, and I must say I am pretty embarrassed to admit that I found myself earlier this week googling if “you have to store away your wedding jewelry-is that normal?”. I do not want to do that. I love the beautiful pearl necklace my mother bought me, and the bangle my husband picked out because it matched my wedding band. They were expensive, and need to be worn. Taken care of, for sure, but worn! Why spend all the money just to hide something away for all eternity? I also have my wedding bouquet displayed on our dining room table, and our cake stand sitting catty corner to our kitchen-aid. Because they remind me of a very happy and memorable day. Anything that anyone bought you, anything that you bought, anything that you take home at the end of the night from your wedding is fair game to wear, use and enjoy again. There is really no reason to store that stuff away. We wore our matching wedding vans the whole time we were on our honeymoon. Because they are damn comfortable and just begging to be photographed side by side and posted to instagram. 

4) You don’t have to spend THOUSANDS on a wedding dress... but you can. 

If you find the perfect wedding dress, and it is exactly what you have always wanted, and the money is there, BUY IT. My wedding dress was from Davids Bridal. It was $350 with a $50 off coupon, and it was the 3rd dress I tried on. It was nothing like what I had always envisioned, but it fit so perfect, and I loved how I looked. The seamstress who later altered my dress told me that the simple style I had picked was her favorite. That it was timeless, and I would always look back at wedding photos and love them because the dress was simple and elegant. I agree with that. I feel like as beautiful and glamorous wedding dresses can be, it’s better to go with simple elegance. That is my style, so in this case I am sticking with my original advice: Whatever you see fit to spend on your dress is OKAY. (Have you caught on to what this post is really about? That pretty much whatever makes you happy and what you want is OKAY??? While planning a wedding you see a lot of “this is the norm”, “traditionally”, “$35,000 is normal”. But I want to enforce the idea that whatever is your happy place is the best and most okay-ist wedding you can have.)

5) Take a few seconds to breathe and be fully in the moment. 

This sounds like common sense, but previous brides really are not lying when they tell you that the whole day will fly by. There is so much crammed into one special day, one special moment, it will literally pass in the blink of an eye. When you finally get to take your couple photos, be fully in that moment. Don’t worry about if you’re running late, or if your make up is perfect (let your bridesmaid, or best friend, or photographer worry about that!) and just be completely present in that moment. You won’t regret it. The part of the day that I loved the most were when my husband and I took our couple photos, and got to spend 30 minutes outside, being photographed and forced to look into each others eyes. It really made me stop and appreciate the day. And the photos that came from those moments are some of my favorites. 

6) WEAR WHATEVER SHOES YOU WANT! 

You’re not a heel girl? Wear vans. It was something that ATE. ME. UP. for weeks. I bought some beautiful wedding shoes from a little place called Irregular Choice (look it up-the shoes are to die for!) and I LOVED THEM! They were comfortable, and glittery and perfect wedding shoes! But at my first fitting, standing on the platform, wearing my 3 inch platform shoes, I started to feel sick, and not comfortable and my feet were sweating because all i was thinking about was how I never wear heels, and how I might fall on my ass. So for about a week I went back and forth about wearing my reception vans the whole time. The decision? I wore my vans. I was comfortable in them, they matched my soon-to-be husbands wedding shoes (in vans style, not color) and I knew I wouldn’t trip down the isle. Luckily no one batted an eye, and no one said I should have worn heels, but I know that the “perfect wedding shoe” idea is heels for most women, and it was originally for me as well. So again I say, whatever makes you a happy bride is the right thing to do!

7) You don’t have to save the top tier of your wedding cake. 

Bam. I said it. It’s a tried and true wedding tradition, it “brings” good luck to the couple. Saving the top tier of your wedding cake for your 1 year wedding anniversary. But, you don’t have to do it. We aren’t! Not by choice, but we are not. Let me explain. My wonderful, amazing mother offered to wrap up and keep the top tier of our cake fresh since we were leaving for our honeymoon the day after our wedding. And she did just that. She wrapped it up nice, freezer burn proof, and put it in the old freezer in her garage. About a month later, she came out to the garage to find that the old, rarely used freezer had died (most likely days prior) and left a nasty, melted, glop of a wedding cake mess. Devastating. Or so I thought at first. Realistically, that cake probably would not have tasted that great after being in a freezer for a year. Realistically, a fresh special 1 year anniversary cake is just as special. So if you decide to forgo the tradition of the top tier, or the wedding cake altogether, GO FOR IT! This is your day!

8) COMPROMISE. COMPROMISE. COMPROMISE. And be a flowing, graceful river. 

What do I mean? There are things you should most definitely compromise on. If you have a budget, and you can’t have everything you ever dreamed of, you need to be okay with that. Weddings need to be about love, and the bond and connection you have to your future spouse. Not the materialistic backdrop. If your parents are paying for your wedding, and they want you to be as frugal as possible, be frugal. If you are paying for your wedding- don’t go into debt just to have a band play, or a $2,000 dress. It really is not worth it. My parents shelled out a ton of cash for my nuptials. A lot less than the average American wedding, but still way more than anyone should ever feel obligated to receive. So when my mom asked me to cut down on things, or find cheaper alternatives, or DIY something instead of outright purchasing it, I compromised. It was hard at first. This was my wedding day. I wanted it to be perfect. But about a week into planning I realized that the little changes, the little DIY’s we did together, would end up being some of my favorite things because they were special. It was almost fun sometimes trying to see how we could do my wedding ideas for less. And I don’t regret foregoing a single thing. I didn’t miss out on anything. Once I let go of the image I had in my head, and worked towards a more open idea, the wedding just fell into place. And it was amazing. 

9) Be present during your honeymoon. 

This is for the post Bride. And it is super, super important. When you leave to go on your first married adventure together, don’t let all the facebook, instagram, twitter, ### posts about your prior wedding become a distraction from what your wedding was really about: two becoming one. Focus on your husband! You’re married now! Listen to your favorite tunes together on the road trip of a life time. Or share some earbuds if you’re on a plane. But be there together! Talk about what your favorite parts of your wedding were. Find some road trip games and enjoy each others company. Don’t look at your phone for whole days at a time! Unless your caught in Florida during the first hurricane to hit land in 13 years.... Then look at your phone but try to stay clear of facebook. Everyone doesn’t need to know every little thing you do on your honeymoon right as you do it. We went to Disney. I made a sweet little post that we had made it there. I posted some of my absolute favorite photos from the parks after we left them, but for the most part-I ignored facebook. And I am glad for that. I saved almost all of my honeymoon photos for an album that I get to show family and friends when they ask. Our wedding, our honeymoon were special times, and I like the idea that all the photos and wonderful moments are not out there in the world for everyone to see. P.S Honeymoon albums are a great thing to have. If you go on a DisneyMoon, Disney Memory Maker is a MUST. The photo pass cast members are everywhere and willing to take some amazing photos. Completely worth the money. And it meant even less time looking at our phones. P.S.S Disney really is a magical, amazing honeymoon destination. 

10) ^^ Which brings me to my final wedding thought. YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE ROMANTIC FOR YOUR HONEYMOON! 

Not that Disney World Honeymoons aren’t romantic. My husband and I chose to go to Disney World because we had been together for pretty much 6 years by the time we were married. We had lived together for 2. We had spent a lot of time together. And we wanted our honeymoon to be more about a new adventure together and less about being as romantic as possible. We wanted to have fun! And we did! It was amazing! I didn’t want to relax, I wanted to enjoy and have experiences to talk about for years to come. We loved it so much we got back from our honeymoon and booked a trip to Disney 6 months down the road. We did get caught in a hurricane situation (Hurricane Matthew sent us fleeing to Pensacola for a few days. So we got some beach time, and learned that our relationship could withstand some pretty heavy winds and stress) but were able to make it back for some Disney World memories that we will never forget. So if you are the type who have already done the romance thing, it’s really okay, really-really okay, to just go on a honeymoon that brings you happiness and adventure. 

And there you have it. The 10 things I think every Bride (and post Bride) really need to know. The most important thing to take from this, is that whatever makes you happy, whatever is the right tradition for your new family, and adventure together, is the right- and perfect- choice. 

If you agree, share! If you don’t agree... share! And comment below with your favorites or suggestions. I know I missed a few that are important. But these are my tops and I’m stickin’ to um. 

Here’s to a good night, and great coffee. Hope you enjoyed.

--Kelly H.