THE TO GO LIST

Calling all Columbus, OH brides – this post is for you! My best friend got married to the love of her live on June 23rd in #Columbus, and I couldn’t have been happier to stand by her side as a bridesmaid.

The trip: An easy (and boring) three-hour drive from Indy.

The digs: We stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott about 10 minutes from the venue. I will almost always book an AirBnB over a hotel these days, but I couldn’t find anything in a convenient location to everywhere we needed to be all weekend. The property was nice – clean, super friendly staff, and we were able to check in at noon instead of 3pm, which was a huge benefit since I had to basically go straight to the rehearsal after we arrived.

Rehearsal dinner: La Scala. From the road, this place looks like it should be in Beverly Hills, and don’t get me wrong, it’s extremely nice – but not stuffy. The food was really good, and the groom’s mom put together the cutest goody bags full of custom-made candies and cookies with the bride and groom’s names/wedding date on them! Bravo, Tiff! 🙂

Ceremony + Reception: Both parts of the wedding took place at Watersedge Event and Conference Center. As a former wedding planner, I highly, highly highly recommend having your ceremony and reception in the same location to avoid any confusion or weird time gap between the two, if at all possible. The venue is beautiful, especially the outdoor garden where the ceremony took place, and the deck, which was open for the cocktail hour + reception.

Hair & Makeup: The Spa at River Ridge. Until now, I’ve never had my hair and makeup professionally done for an event. I was pretty relaxed about it all, and talked to my hairdresser at home about how to arrive to the salon. She advised me to arrive with clean-ish (can be day 2) DRY hair. I hate washing my hair, so I was super glad she told me that it’s actually easier to style hair that’s a little dirty. The girls who did my hair and makeup for the wedding were beyond sweet and gave me the exact updo and makeup I’d been dreaming of.

Photography: Michelle Joy Photography

Extras: Since we had wedding activities going on the whole weekend, we didn’t do much exploring Columbus, but I’ve been here several times before and there are definitely some cute areas to check out.

The Short North down by the OSU campus is very trendy and more upscale than you would guess for a college neighborhood. Amenities include several bars, Urban Outfitters, ETC

Dublin: Corn + Bunny Statues: Okay, this might sound weird, but there’s this park in Dublin (a suburb of Columbus), which houses a ton of bunny and corn statues. It’s actually super cute, and would be fun for special occasion photos like prom or a baby announcement, or to just go and have a picnic…and be surrounded by giant corn. That’s normal, right? #midwestisbest

Jeni’s Ice Cream: Now making it’s way into grocery stores, Jeni’s is super yummy. The lavender ice cream is unique and refreshing, and the shop is adorable!