Wedding Wednesday: Our Wedding - Getting Ready

      I'm so excited to finally start recapping my wedding day here on the blog! For my wedding day recaps, I want to kind of let the photos speak for themselves to tell the story, and not add too much writing to these posts. (Not my norm! 😉) 

    Ryan and I got married on November 16th, 2024 in Virginia Beach! Ryan, his dad and the groomsmen spent the morning hanging out and getting ready at his parents' house. 

      Myself and the bridesmaids spent the night before and the wedding day morning most beautiful beach rental home, Bayberry House by Transcendent Stays. I had the hairstylist come to Bayberry to do everyone's hair, and my mom and Ryan's mom came over as well for their hair appointments. Everyone did their own makeup, which I was so pleased with! My mom and I then got a few photos together in my dress, and then I did first looks with my bridal party and my dad. (Only my mom and Ryan's mom had seen my dress prior to the wedding day.)

     Without further ado- here are the photos of getting ready and first looks (with my bridal party and my dad)!

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: March 2025.

March 2025:

Travel Diary: A Quick Winter Trip to South Florida 🌴

       This trip already happened about a month ago, but I wanted to share a recap on the blog before it gets too much further out. I had a wonderful and much needed quick trip to the Sunshine State in late February! My good friend Gentry from Girl Meets Bow had an exciting last-minute opportunity to attend an event for influencers in Miami with LTK, which is the main affiliate link platform that most bloggers use. She was able to bring a plus-one, and kindly invited me! The stars aligned perfectly for me to get off work, and use flight credits that I already had for a free flight! I also extended my trip on the front end a bit, and all-in-all it was a great time. 

Women's Outfit Ideas For The Masters ⛳️

     Since starting my own journey of learning to golf in 2022, I have quickly become obsessed with watching professional golf as well. The pinnacle of all professional golf events of course is The Masters! Held annually at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA,  this is also one of the most exclusive and hard-to-attend sporting events in the world, thanks to the extremely selective Masters ticket lottery.

     I hope and pray that Ryan and I can someday be lucky enough to score Masters tickets in the lottery and be there in-person. Until then, I'll continue to get more obsessed each year while watching at home. This year I am also planning to host my first-ever ladies' Masters viewing party on the Saturday of Masters weekend, and I'm so excited for that! 

      Since I am hosting a Masters themed party this year, Masters style for women has been on my mind a lot as of late. I've found so many great picks, and wanted to round them up! Whether you were lucky enough to get tickets this year to be in Augusta, are also planning to host or attend a Masters party, or perhaps have another professional golf tournament to attend later this year and need outfit inspiration for that, I hope you enjoy these picks! ⛳️   You can also find these collages and more on my LTK page (I'm miss_alk on the LTK app!)

Wedding Wednesday: My Wedding Dress(es)

       Before I start sharing the photo recaps of our wedding ceremony and reception,  I thought that my wedding dress deserved a detailed blog post of its own! I first wrote about my wedding dress shortly after I purchased it last winter. But that entire post was written without any photos of the dress, since the wedding hadn't happened yet! And then a second dress (reception dress) came into the picture as well. Basically, I have a lot to catch you up on dress-wise, and it seemed right to do that before starting wedding day recaps! 😊

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: February 2025

 February 2025:

Apartment Bar Cabinet Reveal + Styling 🍸

      Ryan and I recently finished my favorite home decor project to date: our bar cabinet area! This is such a glow-up from how this area of space in our apartment used to look before. I shared all the details on my Instagram last week, but I wanted to share here on the blog as well.

Spring 2025 Shopping Wishlist Picks 🌸

      Something I have been doing well at since 2025 began? Trying to save more money. Something I have not been doing as well at? Fun shopping purchases for myself.

      I haven't been doing a designated "shopping fast" or been forbidding myself from making personal purchases, but it simply hasn't been as much of a priority to me as of late. I've shared this in other recent posts, but 2024 was a rough year for Ryan and I financially, between unexpectedly losing my radio job (and its salary) and our wedding. To end 2024 with even more of a financial bang, Christmas and its gifting obligations also immediately followed our wedding and honeymoon! It's been such a good thing to cut back on a lot of unnecessary expenses so far in 2025, and to actually be able to put money back into savings once again with each paycheck, instead of just pulling savings frequently. 

     With all that to say, I do feel like some personal purchases for the spring season will very soon be on my horizon! There's so many cute styles out right now. But for the meantime, I've had my share of fun doing online window-shopping and curating some wishlists. I love the pieces that I've been finding, so I wanted to share them with you today. They feature beautiful flowy dresses from various retailers, spring shoes from Target and swimwear from Old Navy.  Check out everything below! 

Wedding Wednesday: Our Rehearsal + Welcome Party

      Welcome back to Wedding Wednesday! Before I get into sharing photo recap posts of the wedding day itself, I wanted to recap the day before the wedding with you. 

     Truth be told, this was actually my favorite day of the wedding weekend! Yes, I really did enjoy the day before my wedding just a little more than my wedding day. I know that probably sounds crazy! But let me tell you, there was just something so exciting and electric about the great anticipation I had for my wedding day on the day before. It felt like my childhood excitement and anticipation on Christmas Eve for Santa to arrive... except times 100 on the excitement scale. 😊 Truly a certain type of anticipatory high that I've never experienced before, and I'm not sure I ever will again! 

     And as far as my favorite part of the day before our wedding, that would definitely go to our wedding welcome party on Friday evening! If anything, I hope this blog post might convince any brides-to-be reading that wedding welcome parties are the best, and every couple should have one if they're able to!

     Now without further ado, let's get into recapping Friday, November 15th, 2024: the day before our wedding! 

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: January 2025

 January 2025:

The Best Books I Read in 2024.

     2024 wasn't my best year for reading, but I did still manage to read seven books that managed to get a five-star rating from me!! Each year on my blog, I enjoy sharing the very best of the best (five-star rated) books that I read the previous year. Let's get into my favorites from last year!

2025 Blog Reader Survey.

       I would so appreciate a couple minutes of  your help and participation in today's blog post! I am well overdue for sharing a blog reader survey to get your direct feedback on my blog and social media content, but better late than never right? 

Wedding Wednesday: Transcendent Stays Beach Rental House for Wedding Weekend

       I'm so excited to share all the info about the beautiful beach rental home that myself and my bridal party got to stay in for my wedding weekend! It was an honor to continue a partnership with local short-term property rental group Transcendent Stays. If you have any upcoming travel plans to the Virginia Beach area, or you yourself are a fellow bride getting married in the area, you'll want all the info about this beautiful beach rental home, which is available to rent year-round!

     Shout-out to my five bridal party memories who joined in for the photos in today's blog post, as well as my dear blogging friend Gentry! She came to Virginia Beach for our wedding, and it was a joy to have her join in for this fun photoshoot the day before the wedding. 😊

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: December 2024

 December 2024: