Andrew and I are getting married in almost a year, and we’ve been engaged for almost a year as well. We’ve had so much fun being engaged and getting some big wedding things done, and now it’s time to do all of the little things that engaged couples do at the beginning of their one year engagements. First on the list is to take engagement photos! We are going on vacation to California at the end of this month and we are going to have Andrew’s brother Ian take them. Now it’s time to collect some inspiration for what we want our photos to look like… we’ll discuss outfits later because I don’t even want to go there right now!

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I’ve been very overdue in giving you guys a wedding update, haven’t I? We are coming up on a year out from the wedding day and I can’t believe how time has flown! My Mom and I have been frequenting antique stores and Home Goods to make sure we pick up anything and everything that fits with the theme of this wedding (yesterday it was whitewashed boxes with chalkboard fronts). It’s going to be amazing to see everything come together on the actual day! So far, we’ve gotten a lot of big things accomplished but I was totally stuck on the invitations until I made an appointment for Friday at The Wedding Library. I met with Lauren in stationery and she was amazing. I spent two hours looking through books and books of invite options (it was an hour over my appointment time, eek) and found one that I really love. We ran through all of the options to customize and I left with tons of photos to show my fiancé. I’m so excited to place my order and work with Lauren and Smock Paper to make my invitations perfect. I’m not going to tell you which invite I’m going to be customizing, you’ll just have to wait… but here are some gorgeous invites that gave me inspiration.

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The Governors Ball was in New York over the weekend, and if you were anywhere near New York on Friday when a monsoon came through you know how much of a muddy mess it was.  There were a lot of ladies who took style chances despite the crazy weather and I salute them… I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to do the same! Check out some of my favorites from NY Mag. I’m obsessed with this floral blazer!

All photos via NY Mag

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I think you all know by now, but my wedding is going to be completely outside so lighting is of the upmost importance. It needs to be epic (yes, epic) and I need to get it right. I’m obsessed with twinkle lights, but what about chandeliers or hanging lanterns? Can’t help but think both of those would look totally gorg in the woods. If you guys were attending a wedding and eating outdoors, what would you prefer? Here are a few photos that are helping to inspire the lighting at our upcoming wedding.

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I’ll admit it, I’ve really been dropping the ball on the blog. Honestly, I’m feeling a bit lost and un-focused lately and I’ll put this out there and say I’m not sure where I want this blog to go next. Outfit posts lasted a whole two seconds considering my phobia of photographs of myself, and I find it hard to open up to you guys and get on a more personal level. Then I read a post on Kendi Everyday where she admitted she was feeling depressed and suffering from panic attacks. She has millions of readers and she went that deep, I have very few and I can’t even talk about my wedding without feeling like it’s “TMI”. Well guys, we’re going to take this to a new place… sometimes. In between the typical posts I’m going to make sure to inject some of my life, some of my real joys and some of my real problems. I hope this will take Glitter & Gold to a new level and allow you all into my life a little bit more.

First things first: my fear of photographs comes from a deeply rooted self-image problem. Lately, I’m finding myself leaning more and more towards jeans every morning when I search for something to wear. It’s been really hot, and I have a really long walk to work… I’m looking for no fuss. Lately, my jeans have been of the slouchy, ripped, and cuffed persuasion. Here are some of my favorite ways to style jeans. Not gonna lie, you have to switch up washes, mainly because you don’t want your co-workers to think you’re wearing the same pair of pants every. single. day. Switch flats for heels, silk tops for thin sweaters, and vintage tees for tailored blouses.

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In my opinion, there was more chaos than couture at the Met Gala last night. Maybe couture isn’t obviously sononomous with punk, but some people just completely missed the mark. Very few even knew one punk song, or band for that matter! When I think punk music I think The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Rancid, Misfits, Black Flag, and The Sex Pistols. When I think punk fashion I think flannel (you were right, SJP), mohawks, leather, studs, and an attitude like no other. Nothing mattered but the music. Last night, the fact that the Goo Goo Dolls and Avril Levigne were brought up in reference to punk made me cringe, but I digress. My best dressed this year are purely based on the interpretation of the theme. Last night wasn’t about who wore it best, it was about who wore it punk. Before I get started, here’s my vision of punk:

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 And now, here are the few people last night I think got it, sort of, right.

Images via Huffington Post

Now just a quick note on who got it wrong: Uma Thurman and Kate Upton… really? Green floor length gowns and updos? Where did you think you were going? Kim Kardashian didn’t get the memo to not wear skin tight small prints when you have curves (much less a preggo belly). Ugh. Heidi Klum got lost on the way to a white party and Kate Beckinsale was missing about 4 feet of dress.

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Not me, that’s for sure. As soon as we have a few good spring days here in New York, I know the summer weather isn’t far behind. Although I wish we could have a longer spring, it just hasn’t been in the cards the last few years and I doubt it will be this time! As other girls break out the short shorts, you can find me in cropped pants and dresses. Although I don’t typically have a problem with my no shorts rule, there are a few ladies out there who make me second guess myself. Are you a shorts girl or not?

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