5 years

I can’t believe that this past weekend we celebrated 5 blissful years of married life.

If you follow along on Snapchat, you got a first hand look of the little slice of heaven where we spent a long weekend, The Four Season Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara.  

Also seen on Snapchat {username: navyandorange} you saw that I have been researching and booking bridal appointments for my brother’s finance and it made me take a trip down memory lane when picking my wedding dress. I wanted something classic and simple but that fit the venue. As my parents, at the time, where spending much of the year in Bora Bora and it is where some of my favorite childhood memories were, we thought about a destination wedding. Yet, we knew that we wanted to honeymoon in France, so it became a logistical issue having to fly the entire way around the world {yes, the air travel would have taken us 360 degrees around the world} and we really wanted our friends there. 

Once we realized that we really wanted a small, intimate affair at the church I have been going to since I was three, married by the pastor who is a personal family friend and did our premarital advising with the reception at the historical landmark The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, picking the dress was next. Something simple and classic with ladylike details was what I envisioned. The dress was very simple: sweetheart neckline, slight flared silhouette and covered buttons down the back, but something was missing…

After a trip of a lifetime to Barcelona with my fianace {where we rented an apartment} to celebrate the New Year’s of the year of our impending marriage, I found the perfect piece to puntucate my classic bridal look. As my husband’s family has Spanish lineage and Spain has a special place in our heart {our daughter’s name is Madrid, after all!}, it only made sense that my wedding day had a piece of the magical country that is so important to who we are. I found this vintage lace jacket, or “chamarra” without being able to try it on with my dress. 

On the day of our wedding, I still hadn’t decided if I was going to wear the chamarra or not. One of my favorite moments of our wedding video is me all dressed, and I slipped on the chamarra and all my bridesmaids gasped, with my oldest friend stating,  “that totally makes it!”

I love that I have a little something that I can pass onto my daughter from Spain and our wedding day, and I agree with my bridesmaids, it makes the look that much more classic and meaningful, the perfect wedding day detail!