Stepping Away and Moving On

Saying goodbye is never easy but life takes us in directions we can never imagine. I know that is the beauty of God having a plan! I wouldn't trade any experience for the world since it is what has made me who I am today. I haven't been posting here and I have been hard at work studying to finally take the Personal Training Certification Exam. With that comes A LOT of logging hours at the gym to look like a professional, and a lot of brainstorming and prepping for starting a business and running my new blog in a full time manner.

The motto of my new blog!

I have moved the direction of Wedding Pickle over the past year to primarily focus on God's work in our marriages and on love while putting it into a wedding related context. I'm still taking that focus on God's work in our marriages and on love and just moving it over to my next stage in life which puts it in a fitness related context which is the essence of my new blog, The STRONG Life. (I already have fun articles posted!) I announced my new blog in the past, but I just feel the need to really share my intentions with the future of Wedding Pickle.

What I love about my new direction is that it is all the stuff that comes after the vows are said and the cake is cut. My new dream is to guide and inspire others to head a direction in their own lives that allow them to be the best version of themselves. Not just to be a happier and healthier woman but to better serve our husbands and, most of all, our God.

I'm not completely shuttin' Wedding Pickle down since I have put a lot of work into the articles and inspiration I have shared. I'll keep this blog up forever!

I like to think of it as if I have done a name change and a url change, except that instead of changing Wedding Pickle completely, I've just moved elsewhere to continue. My blogging home is new but it is still the same ol' blogger that is me! I invite you to follow me to the new blog and Like my Facebook Page for The STRONG Life. Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram are still the same!

I am asking for your prayers and support in my new journey, I'm going to need a cheerleading team! In return, I will openly share my life journey and my new and expanding knowledge with you in the hopes to inspire you to not just be more fit and healthy, but to be STRONG emotionally and mentally!!

There is a lot of fun stuff in store for my new blog, especially come September! Here is a sampling:

• Continuation of Marriage Mondays in the form of The Wifely Life Series

• Inspiration quotes and scriptures that will sometimes come in the form of free printables

• Love Challenges! Not just on marriage but also focusing on loving yourself and God

• Pep Talks and Tips for motivation, inspiration and/or ideas to keep you on track of being STRONG

• Snippets of what I eat and collected recipes for getting on the clean eating track

• Workout plans for the gym, at home, and my own progress (did I mention that I want to compete someday?! Ahh!)

• DIYs around the home (decor and makeshift workout equipment)

• Sharing anything and everything I find that helps me learn and will help you learn too!

Please like The STRONG Life on Facebook to stay up to date and to stay connected with me! I would love it if you stopped by and said "Hi!" I'm terrified and can really use the smiley face support! Lol. :-) ;-)

So thank you for those of you who still listen when I speak! I feel like a whole new person and this just feels right. God is great!!!

This really is bitter sweet. Thank you to all my followers and supporters from the bottom of my heart. I am excited to share the next stage of my life with you all!

Many blessings,

Melina

7 Must-Reads on Bridesmaids

If you are around my Twitter and Facebook, you have seen that I have launched my new blog, The STRONG Life. This was a project I have wanted to start but never did. Now that I have, my blogging fire has been rekindled and better yet, the parts of this blog that I didn't want to stop, I have continued as a part of my new blog. (15 Day Love Boost Challenge going on now!) The blog is about fitness, love and faith and it is everything I strive to improve to make myself a better wife. It is my hope that the blog can be an inspiration to make others better for not only themselves but for God and their husbands!

I also encourage you to "Like" my new Facebook page since I will be posting more on there of inspiration, articles, blog posts from my blog and around the web as well as updates of my own fitness journey.

Of course that means that my posting here will be random and less often but then it hit me one day while seeing the hundreds of posts I have written in the past year and a half that there are many posts that can be helpful to you brides-to-be that you may not even know are in my archives! I worked hard on this blog and I realized why not bring back those posts that are sittin' away gathering dust!

So on a weekly basis I will be blowing the dust off of my old posts that I love and bring them to you. I'll round up a few related posts centered around a topic that I hope will be useful. So this week I thought I'd round up some of my posts that discuss Bridesmaids!

The Posts on Bridesmaids:

Short a Bridesmaid

The Bridal Party is Nationwide

Choosing Your Girls

Bridesmaid's Dress Discontinued

Bridesmaids' Fashion

The Jealous Bridesmaid

Bridal Party Garb

Stephanie & Juan Florida Wedding

I always feel such a connection when I get features that come from local photographers! And by local I mean from where I lived before or where I am living now. I had the pleasure of meeting Alexis from from Red Stone Photography in a networking event here in Pensacola and I'm so excited to feature this wedding from Lynn Haven today! The little details are just touching and the colors are uplifting. Even better is the joy that is captured. Oh and you gotta see the groom's cake, just darling! lol :-) Congrats to Stephanie and Juan!

Photography: Red Stone Photography via Two Bright Lights
Venue: Panama Country Club
Hair Stylist:  Luxe Hair Salon
Event Planner:  Bella Dia
Floral Designer:  Hallmark Flower Shoppe
Dress Store:  David's Bridal, Simply Elegant
Cake Designer:  Sunshine Sweets Bakery
DJ:  GTS Entertainment Group, Inc.
Makeup Artist:  Makeup By Savanna
Tuxedo and Mens Attire:  David's Bridal

Marriage Monday is Moving!

You know when something happens that suddenly becomes the straw that broke the camel's back? I recently went through that and I have a confession... one I'm terrified to share on a public platform for all the world to see...

Source: tumblr.com via Melina on Pinterest

I started seeing a counselor. Yes, I do believe that God is the end all, be all of the answer to all of our problems. But, think about it. People who have been given the gift of listening and guidance were given that gift for a reason. I can pray all the time and read my bible all day, but to be able to talk to a third party that can help me sift through my thoughts and inner battles of my mind?... Well, having that is simply an answer to my prayers.

In just 2 (really long) sessions, I've learned new ways of improving my attitude. To treat the voice inside me telling me negative things as a separate being (a.k.a. the Devil) who keeps me from reaching my full potential which God intended for me to live out His purpose. The other thing I learned is the act of questioning my negative thoughts. When a thought pops up in my mind I tell it "No!" But then I also question it by asking it "Why?" Why do I feel this way? What do I think is stopping me and what habits have I not realized I have been forming, but constantly live by?

I am tired of hindering myself and my own growth because of fear of failure, of guilt, or the fear of acceptance. I realize that I have to life my life for me. To allow myself to reach my full potential because I know I can never do what God intends for me if I keep listening to that negative voice that shoots me down all the time.

If you have been following me for a while, you have seen my struggle to keep posting, or to even be present not only on the blog but on social media. But now as I work on myself through this counseling experience, I have to apply what I learn.

Over time, the focus of the blog has shifted from a wedding inspiration blog to a Christian marriage blog. This comes from my belief that divorce in this nation can be eliminated if God is present in our marriages. Now that just makes all those wedding planning details and pretties and stresses all worth it just knowing that we are building stronger marriages when we strive for Christ!

As I have been shifting towards a career that is easier to move around, working towards being a fitness trainer, and as the focus of the blog shifted from wedding planning to planning for a stronger marriage, I have been fighting with myself for a long time to change the name of the blog. My fears have been that I'll lose followers but for those of you who follow me anyway, I know that it will be worth it.

Thanks to a third party opinion, I have made the decision to change and start anew on a new blog. I like to think that this blog has always been me, but I want to blog from a name that I can better grow with. I can never leave the blogging world, not only for the hard work I have put in the last year and a half, but also because of the messages I have received from readers that inspire me and keep me going. To those of you that keep up with me here in my little corner of the vast world wide web, I cannot leave. My name may change but I realize that perhaps God has given me an outlet, a way to reach out to others. To inspire others in leading them towards Him! Many of you have reacted positively to my Marriage Monday posts and to my Love Challenges. Right now I feel as if that is my calling. That even if I speak to one person, that even if one couple has a beautiful memory because of a challenge I put out there, that even if I lose the wedding planning followers but keep the followers who also want to build a strong marriage, well.... then it is all worth it!

I haven't bought a URL yet, and the site isn't even up to all the tweaks I want to make to it, but I decided to go ahead and move myself. I pray that those of you who follow me for your marriage will keep following me. I'm not leaving, I'm just moving. It is kind of like life when we move to a new neighborhood or new state right? But it is still me!

And to those of you that I lose, or have already lost due to my lack of posts lately, I pray for you always! I pray that while you are in the midst of your planning, that you are able to keep God in front. That while you are about to scream and punch everybody in the face for bugging you on wedding details that are Driving. You. Crazy! That you will still be able to keep that moment when you will say your vows, when you will say "I Do" in the front of your mind.

I pray that we never lose sight of what is truly important in the process of getting married. And then I pray that I can continue to provide a raw and open account of a woman who keeps trying. I'm flawed but the beauty is that God loves me anyway. It is my hope that you can feel not alone in certain feelings, to relate to the common issues we face as Christian women, yet may be too afraid to admit or feel! My new blog is me opening up the dialog for us to relate to each other and to support each other.

Allow me to introduce my new internet home:

thestronglifeblog.blogspot.com

It is about living strong in our marriage, in our homes, our bodies, and our faith. It's a bit of the chronicles of marriage (no marriage is perfect but the journey is the beauty!), fitness to make stronger, healthier bodies that bring stronger attitudes, and growing in Christ, the learning, the mistakes and the all around way that being a STRONG woman makes us better wives and better servants of God.

"She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." ~Proverbs 31:25

"I can do all this through Him who gives me strength" ~ Phillippians 4:13

P.S. Marriage Monday will be on the new blog as "The Wifely Life" and even better, the Love Challenges aren't leaving at all! They will continue on the new blog asap! I hope to see you there! Here is to living The Strong Life!

P.P.S. Does this mean Wedding Pickle is over? No way! I plan to put together guides that round up posts from my archives and some other ideas in the future. Wedding Pickle won't be full time anymore but it will still be around. Consider Wedding Pickle and The Strong Life to be sister blogs! Complementing each other. One for before your wedding and one for after! :-)

Source: sodahead.com via Melina on Pinterest

Whitney & Chris Hawaii Engagement

I really love when I get submissions with pictures that are Just. So. Pretty! The beauty of nature is beautifully captured and not to mention the love between this lovely couple! I also love that this shoot from Nate and Jenna Photography isn't what I typically think of when I think of Hawaii, which only shows more of the beauty that state has!

From the Photographer: A beautiful Texan girl and handsome English gentleman meet interning at a church in Maui, Hawaii and know they can't live without each other. They decided against a typical Hawaiian beach photo session and did their engagement session in the beautiful, secluded upcountry Maui with spectacular sweeping coastal views. The shoot looks more like somewhere in Europe than on a tropical island.

Photography: Nate and Jenna Photography via Two Bright Lights