Introducing New Featured Bride Blogger - Heather W

When we picked June 4, 2010, as our wedding date back in May, I felt like I had all the time in the world to navigate the new, crazy world of long-distance wedding planning. Today, we just passed the six-month mark, the planning is in full swing, and I couldn’t be having more fun!

With each passing month, I’ve discovered more of a passion for everything about weddings – planning them, reading about them, writing about them in my blog, “Bicoastal Bride,” and everything in between. Always on the hunt for fun ideas and inspiration, I’ve loved reading Weddzilla Blog , and am thrilled to join this creative group as a featured bride blogger! As much as I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you, I'm just as excited to hear your feedback, ideas and suggestions. Are you planning a long-distance or destination wedding? What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced? What topics are you interested in hearing more about?

But, first things first. To get the ball rolling, here are a few fun facts about me, my fiancé and, of course, the wedding.

A Bicoastal Bride & Groom

Ours is a story of left-brained engineer (him) meets right-brained writer (me). Stephen and I originally met briefly through a friend while we were going to college in California, where we both grew up. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember the meeting!

We "officially" met a year later, coincidentally through the same friend, after we were living in Washington, D.C. Enticed by my charms (and surely the delicious free food that always abounds at Capitol Hill receptions), Stephen came with me to a meet-and-greet, and then out to dinner the following week.

Three years later, we’re still having fun, and love traveling, most recently to Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama, plus wine tasting, trying new restaurants and running. Since we're both still Californians at heart, with the majority of our relatives and friends out there, we're heading back to Southern California to tie the knot.

Our Catholic ceremony will take place in the church I went to as a kid, and will be followed by a reception at a beautiful nearby golf club. Since our top goals are to make the wedding unique and fun for our 80-100 guests, we’re working to add as many personalized touches as we can within our “Best of California” theme. So far, we’re planning to serve Mexican food, feature a signature sangria, create DIY wine-cork place-card holders, and use postcards from our favorite California cities as escort cards. I could keep going on, but then I’d have nothing to blog about later! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more.