Bride’s, I’m about to introduce you to your new best friend. Because not only is Chloe from Boxwood Avenue sweeter than Southern tea, but she’s our newest Blogger Bride-to-be! She’ll be sharing her journey down the aisle with us, and what better way to get things started than with her love story and pretty engagement pictures with Ian Holmes from Paris below!
From the beautiful Bride-to-be…Hi SMP readers, let me introduce myself! I am Chloe Legras (soon to be MacKintosh!) from Boxwood Avenue; a rural lifestyle blog that all girls can draw inspiration from. Style Me Pretty was one of the only blogs I read before becoming a blogger, so to say I’m honored to be here, is an understatement! I can’t wait to share my wedding planning experiences with you! Being rurally located, it was hard for me to know where to start in the planning process, but luckily, we’ve got SMP, so with the help of their Little Black Book, and of course, the Lookbook, I’ve been able to plan my upcoming Lake Tahoe wedding from afar!
Greg and I met right when I graduated from high school, and for a few years, we attended college together. While I spent most of my nights studying, he couldn’t have been less interested in school. So halfway through our college years, he decided to move two hours north of our hometown, to his family’s cattle ranch, and adopt the glamorous title of ‘Cowboy’. I opted to finish my degree, so during those years, he commuted as much as he could, and we lived in a somewhat long-distance relationship. Immediately after I graduated, I moved north to be with him, and it’s been a complete adventure (thank goodness for online shopping!).
The ranch is a working cattle operation situated on 167,000 acres of land in northern California. What’s a girl to do when she is living in the middle of nowhere? Start a blog, of course! I started Boxwood Avenue to share my story of rural living in the modern world. I love to cook and garden, but most of all – I love to DIY! When Greg and I got engaged, I knew from that very moment, I was going to be living in a DIY dreamland for the next year as we planned our wedding.
Speaking of our engagement, let me tell you the story! A week before we left for a vacation in Paris, my girlfriends invited Greg and I to an ‘end-of-the-summer’ dinner party in Lake Tahoe. As we drove up to the lake, for what I thought was a dinner party, Greg was acting very weird. He was upset because we were running late, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he was so shaken up by it! We pulled up to the restaurant right at sunset, and he hurriedly took my hand, and said, “I have something to show you.”
He was shaking, but I still had no clue what he was up to. As we walked towards the water, I realized what was happening. The beach was lined with candles in paper bags and fresh flowers (thanks to my bestie for helping him!). He got down on one knee, and asked me those magical words, “Will you marry me?”
After I said YES! I looked up to see all of our closest friends and family cheering for us from afar. Which turned our engagement into our engagement party, where we celebrated our love with great food and great friends. It was a magical night to say the least – followed by two beautiful weeks in Paris, where we had the opportunity to have our engagement photos taken by the talented Ian Holmes.
I look forward to sharing some of the ideas, and of course DIY projects, that I will be using in my own wedding, as well as tips for brides planning an out-of-town wedding. I’ve had so much fun being engaged, and hope to translate some of that joy to all of you brides out there!
Photography: Ian Holmes Photography | Venue: Paris France