Who woulda thunk-eth? Who?

From the moment I stepped foot on the first dirt road lined by olive trees 🫒 on one side, majestical buildings made of stone on the other side and off in the distance rows and rows of perfectly lined grape vines as far as the eyes could see, I just knew. I knew, this was it for me. The heavens spoke at that very moment as I captured 📸 my surroundings with the flick of a button on that day, 2.5 yrs ago. Captioned in this photo, I would be speaking my destiny into existence.

It's so funny, when our engagement was first announced we got a slew of comments from our friends and family about the destination of our wedding. My favorite was from my fiancée cousin and I quote "Don't be all bougie and have the wedding in Maldives 🤣" To that I say, Of course not cousin, been there, done that. ☺

As I plan this wedding I've sat and thought about the hardest part for me. I mean this has been the only thing on my mind since the engagement so I’ve sat and mulled it over a lot. Without fail each and every time it comes back to the consideration of others. Questions like… Would this be acceptable to our families? Who would be able to come? Are we being fair? Kept replying in my mind with each decision I made.

My fiancée and I have had long conversations about what would be best. We even tabled the conversation a couple of times, because it can get very overwhelming, lol.

Considering family and friends is no small task, especially when your heart is already set on a particular idea. My heart bleeds like that tho, I care. I care a lot about my loved ones and being an inconvenience to anyone is very uncomfortable for me but I just can't seem to shake the idea of getting married in Tuscany! 🇮🇹

So, what did we do? We compromised, and here’s how we shared the news. 😊

We would have a big engagement party in Chicago for all our friends and family to attend and an intimate ceremony in Tuscany. 🥰

Also, keeping our loved ones in mind we revealed this to them more than a year in advance. So if they didn't have a passport they could get one, after all we have given them 14 months to prepare. Win-win!

All in all for the most part we’ve gotten unbelievably favorable reactions, which we are so grateful for!

So, who woulda thunk-eth? Who? Yea, me.

What's that saying? From your mouth to God's ears. 🗣 I'm getting married in Tuscany! 🍾

Here are a few pics from my tour of Italy. You can view my full experience on my Instagram. You’d have to scroll down a bit (03/2019) but it’s worth the look, especially if you plan on visiting Italy in the near future.

What has been some of the hardest decisions you've had to make while planning your wedding? I'd love to know.

Till next time. Later readers. 😊

Ronda