A very special friend and some wedding advice

This past Saturday was very exciting because some very special friends came to visit. I have known Olivia for a long time and she has been like a second little sister to me. In fact, in the Junior Miss Scholarship pageant I participated in, she was my "little sister". So I was VERY happy that we would get to spend time together this past weekend.
Olivia and Chad got to come and spend the day with Tim and I in Richmond. We went to Maymont Park and it was GORGEOUS! If you have never been there, you should absolutely check it out. We didn't make it inside of the mansion, but we got to experience the amazing Japanese and Italian gardens. It felt like we walked the entire estate, but I'm sure we still missed a lot. You can learn more about Maymont here:
http://www.maymont.org/Page.aspx?pid=217
And we went to Station 2 in downtown Richmond for dinner! It was delicious!
http://station2richmond.com/
I want to really explain why this girl is SO special to me. Olivia is a wonderful listener, she is passionate about God and I always seem to have a smile on my face when I am around her. Olivia and Chad have been dating for a long time, just like me and Tim and they just recently got engaged!!! I am so excited for the both of them. I have have the pleasure of watching them grow in their relationship and am so thankful that they were both a part of our wedding and that we will be a part of theirs!
If you are wondering why did I choose today to blog about Olivia? Well, the reason is that she has asked me to be her bridesmaid and I am SUPER pumped to be in their wedding (and I just love her). She also asked if I would design her save the dates so I worked on these yesterday.

 Option 1

 Option 2

Option 3

Which one is your favorite design? Aren't they an adorable couple?

Now for some wedding advice!

How to start wedding planning if you are stuck!

1) Find inspiration: If you don't have a Pinterest account, get one! Pinterest has unlimited inspiration for all types of weddings, but once you have decided on a theme or overall picture for your wedding then back off of this site. If you don't, you will constantly change your mind. A great resource for me was The Knot magazine and Brides magazine. Before you go subscribing, ask your recently married friends if they still have old wedding mags they don't need anymore. I passed mine down (to Olivia). 

2) Set a budget:...and stick to it!!! It is hard to ask your parents or whoever is paying for the wedding, but once you do you can truly move forward. After you have an amount, break it down to each vendor and figure out what is most important to you (cake, food, dress, venue??) Make sure you find out what your fiances priorities are too!

3)Ask for help: Unless you are superwoman, you won't be able to plan your entire wedding alone. Ask your bridesmaids, mom, siblings, etc to go with you to bridal shows (very helpful to start planning), pick colors, find a venue, etc. These will most likely lead you in the right direction to plan the wedding of your dreams!

What is your wedding advice to the newly engaged couples??

I will leave you with some pics of me and my bestie, bridesmaid and lifelong friend!

 XO Samantha