I Run Like A Girl

I have a very memorable event to share with you all today. Over the weekend, Joe and I had our engagement party! Our group of friends planned an amazing party for us that turned out to be a day I’ll cherish forever.

A couple of weeks ago, Matilda told me she was planning a surprise for me and Joe to celebrate our engagement. Rene and Chrit also recently had their civil ceremony before their wedding next month in Portugal (which we are so excited for!), so this served as a double celebration for us two couples.

This was a semi-surprise party, as all we knew was to show up at an address wearing a hippie outfit. When we arrived, we were greeted by a yellow school bus with all of our closest friends! Alas, this was the start of an epic day. I was beyond happy to see everyone show up for us fully committed to the hippie theme.

Matilda is always keeping track of everyone’s birthdays/milestones and planning such fun, thoughtful events. The theme was so on point as I’ve always loved the 60’s hippie movement, so much so that Joe and I chose to live in the iconic hippie neighborhood of San Francisco. This party also happened to take place on 4/20… 😉

We settled into the bus, opened drinks, and played music. The inside of the bus was like a renovated, upscale school bus – plenty of space to spread out and enjoy the beautiful views of SF. We found out the bus was taking us to popular spots around the city over the next few hours. 🙂

We made it to our first stop — the Palace of Fine Arts. At that point, Matilda revealed the ultimate surprise of the day…our friends hired a professional photographer for an engagement photoshoot!!! I almost burst into tears. I couldn’t believe our friends would do this for us! Joe and I really wanted engagement photos, but we’ve been so busy with other wedding things that we ended up taking it out of our plans. Our friends really nailed it, and this just meant so much to me. ❤

Needless to say, I switched gears to model-mode over the next few hours as we drove to different spots and took photos. Our photographer made it super easy and told us exactly how to pose, which I appreciated. We stopped at Alamo Square, the Conservatory of Flowers, and the Golden Gate Bridge. In between shoots, we had time to relax and hang with the group. I can’t wait to see the professional photos and share them with you all, but in the meantime, I’ll share what I took on my phone. 🙂

Even for SF standards, our group attracted a lot of attention pulling up to various stops in our yellow school bus. A few strangers came up and congratulated me…I was giving major bridal vibes with my white dress and bouquet.

The school bus got more lit as the evening went on. Lots of drinks were pass around, and friends even prepared toasts for us. *Cry.* There were great vibes on the bus as we jammed to some favorite nostalgic party songs.

The last stop was the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Such a beautiful place to end the bus tour.

Our engagement party was beyond what I could have imagined. I cannot wait to see our enagement photos, and best of all, they will be tied to this epic memory with our friends. This day made me even more excited for the actual wedding, knowing we have an amazing community that will be a part of it. ❤