Hey guys! You might’ve noticed that Mary & I have been MIA for the past few months (on both the blog and YouTube.) I’ve been in the depths of wedding planning and had been getting really stressed out & overwhelmed this past year. I thought I could keep up with my full-time job, planning Jeremy’s & my wedding, and running the blog business on the side, but it just became too much. I had way too much on my plate. So I decided something needed to drop off for a few months, otherwise, I was going to implode. I’ll get more into the details below, along with sharing some photos & catchup of the past few months, to get you guys back in the loop!
Why I took some time off
I’ll start off by looking back to the beginning… In April 2020, I decided to finally start the blog I’d been dreaming of for years. It’s something I always knew I wanted to do, but was too scared to actually do. I had major imposter syndrome. I followed bloggers that I thought were SO inspiring and amazing, and figured I could never compete with them. So I let my fears hold me back and put off starting my own blog for years.
When 2020 (and covid) hit, I realized I had no excuse not to start. We were quarantining and not doing really anything outside the house. If I didn’t start the blog then, I knew I never would. So I did. And I absolutely fell in love with it.
I’m starting off with this story to explain why the blog means so much to me now. From the beginning, I wanted to treat it like a full-time job (even while still working my 9-5 job full-time as well.) I knew that if I wanted to grow the blog and get it out to more people, I needed to put in the work. Consistently. So my mindset has been go, go, go, for the past 2.5 years.
I would take days off every once in a while, but I was working on Vitality Vixens in one way or another almost every day (sometimes for a good 6+ hours on weekend days.)
2021
Jeremy proposed in April 2021 and we’ve been planning our wedding ever since. If you’ve planned a wedding before, you know it’s A LOT of work and can be incredibly stressful at times.
2022
2022 has been the most time-consuming when it comes to wedding planning. We’ve also been able to see people again, go out and do more things, spend time with friends, travel, etc.
Planning the wedding back in Illinois also meant that anytime we had to plan anything in person, we had to fly back from FL to IL. Which is a whole other layer of time and stress.
By the summer of 2022, I realized I needed a break from something. With the wedding coming up in October, it needed to be my primary focus. After finally being honest with myself, I realized I didn’t have the bandwidth to make it my primary focus, the way I was currently structuring my life & schedule.
I had been using all of my free time (outside of seeing Jeremy, etc.) to work on the blog. And while I absolutely love what I do here, I knew it needed to take the back seat for a bit. That way, I could go all in on wedding planning.
I hadn’t been giving it my all, and I started to feel guilty for not focusing as much on the wedding as I should have been. I felt guilty for being stressed out 24/7 as well.
An important mindset shift
The great thing about the blog is that it’ll still be here in a few months, even if I stop working on it. I had to shift my mindset to realize that the blog isn’t going anywhere… My entire audience isn’t going to disappear if I take a couple of months off. I needed to put myself first, and let Vitality Vixens take the backseat for now.
So for the past few months, I haven’t touched the blog. Or YouTube. I haven’t checked comments anywhere, posted on any platform, handled admin/finances, or anything. I completely and wholeheartedly focused on wedding planning, and I’m so glad I did.
Our wedding was everything I could have asked for and more. It was truly the perfect day. I’ll get more into it and share some photos later on in this post. But to wrap this section up, I absolutely needed the time off. It re-energized me and inspired me to get back to VV now with a fresh perspective and excitement.
I’m SO excited to be back. I can’t wait to share more of my life with you guys (I’ll try to be better about doing recap posts, etc.) We also have so many product reviews that have been sitting on my computer waiting to be written or edited.
Taking time off made me remember why I love this blog so much. It’s truly my passion. But the way I’d been looking at it for the past year wasn’t a healthy mindset. I’d made it into more of a job, or just something to check off my to-do list.
Now, I’ve refocused my attention back on the parts that I love. Writing, taking photos, thinking of new ideas, letting my creativity flow, sharing my life, etc. I hope that this mindset shift will show through my work here, and make it way more enjoyable for you all to read!
A few wedding photos…
I was going to do a full recap of the past few months, but I realized this blog is getting longer than expected… I’ll save the full late-summer/early-fall recap for another blog, and get into a few wedding photos instead.
We don’t have any photos from the photographer yet, so these are random photos I’ve gotten from friends and family. I didn’t have my phone at all throughout the afternoon and night, so I have literally 0 photos of my own. Which definitely isn’t a bad thing! I enjoyed it much more that way and was able to be in the moment the whole time. (Knowing that the photographer would have a ton of beautiful photos for us later on.)
But for a sneak peek… Here are a few photos from the wedding day & night!
Mary, Jen, my mom & I got our nails done on Thursday. Mine turned out more natural than I expected (almost like a french manicure without the white tips), but I really liked them!
Rehearsal dinner the night before at Arlington’s!
It’s TOO EARLY and we were half asleep but here’s the morning of, heading to Appearance’s to get our hair done. Maybe shouldn’t have had those last few glasses of wine & cider the night before… ;’)
🎵 Nails done, hair done, everything did 🎵
Jen doing my makeup and everyone getting ready at the Gallagher’s!
Finally in the limo on our way to the venue! Feeling major nervous butterflies at this point.
Guess we were tired of smiling for pictures?
My cutie bridesmaids, Lauren, Meghan, and Annie!
Jen giving LOOKS behind her flowers. Getting out of the limo heading into the venue eeeee!
I don’t have many photos from the wedding itself AT ALL, but here’s one of us playing the shoe game. The DJ would ask a question like “who’s more likely to show up late to an event?” and we would hold up the shoe of who we think would (Jeremy vs. me). Definitely, some serious fights happening after that game 😂 but it was so fun/hilarious!
I’ll be sure to share more photos from the wedding once I get them from the photographer.
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this random explanation of the last few months and mini wedding day recap. I can’t wait to get back to sharing more regularly here and see what the future holds for VV. Talk with you guys SOON! 💛
