Rustic Wedding | The Fashion Minx

When planning a wedding, the two most important elements have to be the venue, and the wedding dress! In my blog series about my wedding, I saved the best for last! I am finishing this post on New Years Eve, which I think is fitting since it was the most significant event of the year for me!

Our Wedding was at the most magical place we could ever imagine… The Foundry in Long Island City. Once we saw it in person, we knew we had to get married there.

The lush green setting, with ivy covered walls, and flowers everywhere was a magical dream, set against the urban background of Queens, NYC…with the Queensboro Bridge in the background. Located right next to the water, The Foundry feels like an oasis set in the midst of the city. It was perfect. We worked with Lindsey Hamma and Angela Ortiz, and they could not have been more helpful in helping us chose our vendors and setting up our floor plan. I could not praise them enough!!!

Since The Foundry is a raw space, we were able to design the entire setup ourselves. We opted for long, rustic, banquet style tables and chairs. We wanted the dinner to be outside, and we worked with Ivie Joy Flowers to design the perfect floral centerpieces to flow down the center of the tables, and match the gorgeous surroundings.

We worked with Corinne’s Concepts in Catering for all the food and drinks, as well as the tables and chairs! Corinne and her staff were INCREDIBLE! They helped bring our vision to life, not only renting all the tables and chairs, but setting everything up from start to finish! They also set up our cocktail tables, and The Greenhouse for our ceremony!

It had rained every single day that week, but on the day of our wedding, we got the perfect, gorgeous sunny day, with the most beautiful clear blue sky! We knew someone up there had to be looking out for us.

Next: My Wedding Dress

When I began my search for the perfect wedding dress, I knew I had to go to Kleinfeld’s. The store is iconic, and the epitome of NYC class and style. To be honest, I was nervous going there the first time, I had read mixed reviews about people’s experiences there, from rude sales people, to a snobby atmosphere. But, I have to say that my experience was nothing like that at all. The staff could not be nicer and more helpful. They made me feel right at home from the beginning, bringing me dresses in multiple styles for me to try on.

(The Kleinfeld showroom is as elegant in person as it is on TV)

They had such a large selection of wedding dresses that I was sure I’d be unable to make a final decision. But once I told the incredible sales girls the look I was going for, which was a very ornate ballgown type dress, they brought me the perfect selection to chose from.

I chose this gorgeous dress by Eve of Milady. The moment I saw the beading and sparkle on the bodice, I knew it was the perfect dress for me.

What sold me most about this dress was the gorgeous flowing bottom, with a layer of sequin tulle underneath. It truly looked like a dress that Cinderella would wear. It had just the right amount of magic to match the gorgeous setting.

(Photos when I first tried on the dress at Kleinfeld’s!)

I tried the dress on, and it was perfect. I was bold at the time, and since we were 5 months out from the wedding, I ordered the dress in a size smaller than what I measured at the time, since I was planning on hitting my goal of losing 30 lbs by July 29th. With the help of my amazing husband to be, we both went on the Keto diet and the results were incredible! Chris lost 60 lbs by the wedding, and I lost 33! Not only did I fit into the smaller dress when it arrived, but it had to be taken in another size! So I dropped two sizes in 5 months! We never felt so amazing, but mentally and physically!

Check out Chris’s Instagram for our Keto lifestyle HERE, he posts new recipes every week!

I am so grateful to Akila at Kleinfeld’s for her incredible job altering and fixing the dress so that it was PERFECT!!! She’s literally the best and I had to give her a special shout out for all the work she did!

Thank you for following my 5 part series on our wedding! Happy New Year to everyone! May 2019 bring joy, peace, happiness, and good fortune to everyone! xoxo

Julie Rose

There’s a quote about friendship that I love: “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”- Eleanor Roosevelt. 🌹 I count myself very lucky to have such incredible, supportive, positive, and beautiful friends in my life. One of them is my cherished friend, Yokairy Tavarez. Yokairy and I have been friends since high school, and I won’t say here exactly how long that is, but trust me, it’s LONG! 😆 Yokairy is a talented writer, (check out her website HERE, and you can also buy her books HERE), incredible mother, loving wife, and amazing friend. She’s the type of friend that you wish for, and that you’re lucky to find in this lifetime. She’s always been so supportive, encouraging, and selfless when it comes to being there for her friends, and I couldn’t have been more grateful that she agreed to be in my bridal party, and to stand by me on this important day.

I asked her to write a guest post for my blog, talking about the wedding from her perspective. She was more than happy to oblige, and sent me her draft within one day. I am so happy to share that with you now, and I am honored and grateful for the chance to showcase such a talented writer, and beautiful soul. 🌟

FLOWERS by Ivie Joy Flowers, BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES by Jenny Yoo.

You know that saying: always a bridesmaid, never a bride? Well, I’ve never been a bridesmaid. Ever. None of my close friends have had big weddings, and the ones that have, I was not asked to be a bridesmaid. When my friend Julie asked me, I was genuinely floored. Millions of questions ran through my head: What do I do? Do I have to order strippers for a bachelorette party? Do you have to keep the bride and groom apart the night before? What does all this mean?

Luckily, not only were my questions unfounded and ridiculous, they were unnecessary. Julie knew what she wanted to do, and set out to make it happen. It definitely helped that her maid-of-honor, Debbie, could run the universe if given the chance.

Julie allowed myself and the other bridesmaids to give our input on every step, from the dress choice, to our hairstyles. We planned and had an amazing bachelorette trip to Disney World, had a beautiful and intimate shower, and even stayed at a hotel the night before in preparation of the wedding.

(HOTEL- The Ravel Hotel, Photo by Glenmar Studio)

The morning of was quite the experience. A full itinerary- that an obsessive compulsive scheduling addicted Virgo like myself loves- kicked off the day, with hair and makeup in our hotel room. Primped and prepped, we made our grand entrance ahead of the beautiful blushing bride and danced the night away under a sea of green at The Foundry in Long Island City.

As a reserved and quiet person, who only really comes out of my mean-looking shell with my close friends, I was afraid at first, if I’m being honest, of meeting new girls and being thrust into dress shopping and lunches and travel and sleepovers. It was a bit overwhelming.

But I realized something as I got to know these amazing women and became actual friends with them. It’s easy to forget sometimes that the things that make you care for and remain friends with another person are also the traits they see in others as well. So wouldn’t it then make sense that their friends can also become your friends?

My first experience as a bridesmaid was eye-opening in more ways than one. I learned what bustling means, and that one must absolutely try a makeup plan before the wedding. I tasted dinges for the first time so that alone was pretty awesome.

And unbelievably enough, I made some new friends along the way.