Hey, hey, hey! I’m so excited about today’s post. My colleague, Charli Penn, is now an official blogger for BlackBridalBliss.com. (!!!) Charli is good people, uber-talented and scheduled to get hitched this fall. She’ll be dishing all about her journey to the altar on Triple B each and every Friday until she becomes a Mrs. Pretty cool, right? So….[insert drumroll, please] here’s Charli folks:

Diary of An (Ex)pert Bride

Hi, I’m Charli, and like many of you, I’m an excited bride-to-be. I’m getting married this fall, and with 90 days to go, it’s crunch time. Every bride is on some sort of mission. Mine is to throw a magical wedding day for my honey and I that reflects who we are but won’t leave us in major debt after everyone goes home. Luckily, I had experience to help me get there, thanks to my last job.

Before I myself was altar-bound, I spent my days devoted to helping millions of brides personalize and survive their own dream weddings and my nights scouring the Web looking for the next best thing in the bridal biz . For nearly three years I worked as an editor for TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com. It was my duty to know all the ins-and-outs and dos and don’ts of wedding planning, solutions to all those sticky situations brides might encounter and how to get more wedding style for less.

I saw thousands of real wedding photos, talked with hundreds of brides and met with all sorts of cool vendors. So, when my honey Gibran popped the question last Christmas Eve beneath our tree, I was convinced I’d have this whole planning thing in the bag. Boy was I wrong! Apparently there is such a thing as too much information, and as I began my planning process six months ago, I realized I couldn’t even get past the big first step: Determining my bridal style.

Sure it sounds easy enough, but when you’ve seen one-too-many wedding photos and read a few too many blog posts, it’s tough to decipher between an idea you just loved, and one that’s totally you. I got crafty in the beginning and built a giant inspiration board filled with my favorite elements from great weddings I’d seen before. When I was done, what I thought would be my masterpiece turned out to be a big old mess. How on earth could bridesmaids fully clad in vintage-era flapper dresses, a dog of honor in a wheelbarrow, and a picnic style reception beneath a giant cherry blossom tree all be part of the same wedding?

I was all over the place. I could commit to spending the rest of my life with someone, but not to a wedding style. I was lost in a sea of bridal inspiration! So I thought: What would a Charli and Gibran production really be like? Are we a fun-loving couple who’ll love nothing more than a backyard boogie fest with great food and good laughs? Or are we maybe more romantics at heart who’ll want a bling-filled fairytale with lots of pretty pinks? It took me weeks to realize that though I’m a huge fan of a perfectly executed beach soiree, complete with a barefoot bride and a peach sunset in the backdrop, we’re really more modern-day romantics looking for a chic event we’ll remember always. And there it was, my bridal style – found! On October 17^th we’ll become man and wife beneath the beautiful fall foliage on a stone terrace overlooking the mountains, then head on over to a tented jazz-themed cocktail hour and end the night by getting down to the tunes of a fusion deejay and percussionist in a two-story loft style venue surrounded by great friends and family. Now that’s a Charli and Gibran production.

What’s your inner bride style? How did you find it? Or have you always known what it would be? I want to hear about your discovery and how you committed to your concept!