Hi friends,

So it’s been a while–how are ya?! Things here have been moving along at a crazy pace this year–jobs and wedding planning and pets and travel … you know how it goes.

Speaking of wedding planning, there’s been a slight change in ours. And now that we’ve updated all of our friends and family, I can go ahead and share here, as well. So the deal is this–Chris and I have decided to get married, just the two of us, by ourselves. Most likely here in New York City, the place where it all began.

Then, we’ll go ahead and have some parties with our individual families. The way we see it, it just gives us more chances to celebrate. (And more chances for me to wear my dress. And less stress. So basically good things all around.)

Now that our plans have changed, though, I feel the need to share the information I have about the place we visited back in Palm Springs. The cancellation of this wedding had absolutely nothing to do with our visit to this place because, let me tell you, we adored this place. We loved this place. If we were going to have a fancy, full-on wedding, this would have been the place.

So here’s the deal. The place that I found was called The O’Donnell House (even looking at this site brings a pang to my heart…how beautiful!).

There are so many reasons that I loved this place. Let me see: It’s on the smaller side, so our guest list would have had to have been capped at 125 (which, as amazing as a smaller wedding sounded to us, it turned out to be stressful when it came to actually planning the guest list); it’s outdoors, surrounded by mountains and cacti and natural beauty; The O’Donnell House itself is this old, quaint hotel, with tons of charm and old-world feel; Laurie, the event planner for The O’Donnell House, is an angel. Honestly. When I wrote her to tell her that we actually would not be signing the contract, on the day it was due, after I had asked her to keep that date open for me (yup, I was that nightmare bride), she was nothing but professional. And when I told her that I was so sorry, and that I felt so conflicted about it, she proceeded to share a very personal, very lovely story with me about her daughter, which really did make me feel better.

I thought I’d share a few more photos of our weekend here now, in case they might be inspirational for any of you brides (or soon-to-be-brides!) looking for a destination wedding location. Check it out:

So that, my friends, was our trip (and our wedding!) in a nutshell. Like I said, if you’re looking for a place for a potential destination wedding, I’d highly suggest checking out Palm Springs and the O’Donnell House. It’s the stuff that wedding dreams are made of.

On another travel note, I have some very exciting trips coming up. Something came up last minute for the end of August and, despite the expense of it!, I just had to do it. Now I can’t share all the details of that here just yet, because part of it is a surprise, but let’s just say it’s a trip of a lifetime, and I am so, so blessed to be able to be a part of it. I can’t wait to share more about it here!

Then, Chris and I have finally finalized everything for our Europe trip in September. While we originally thought we’d have time to head to Cinque Terra, unfortunately that just wasn’t in the cards, so instead we’ll be doing Berlin (for the marathon), Munich (for Oktoberfest), renting a car and dropping Chris’s parents off in Salzburg before heading to Venice for a night, then it’s off to Rome for three days.

I can’t wait!! Having travel to look forward to really does make everything in life worth it, doesn’t it?

Bis bald, friends! Hope your summer’s are going swimmingly!