I couldn’t be more excited to introduce myself as the newest BridalBud, Cotton Bud!  I’m happy to have been chosen to be a part of this fantastic community and to share the planning of our rustic, casual wedding in New Hampshire.

Who is this Cotton Bud?  I’m an adventuring vagabond ready to begin the next chapter of my life with the man who fills my heart with so much love, Cotton Cutie – aka CC, from here on out.  I’m originally from Boston’s Irish community, South Boston, and moved to central NH as a teen with my fantastic parents Cotton Mom1 and Cotton Mom2.  (Yup, that’s right – CC is getting TWO mother-in-laws in this package!)  After a few not-so-gracious teen years, I settled into the travel industry and began the incredible decade that was my 20s traveling in Europe and living/traveling in the Caribbean.  As much as I loved the free/cheap travel afforded me by working in the travel industry, I felt a pretty big hole inside and wanted to do more.  I wanted to give back somehow and be someone who made a difference.  I decided to leave the travel industry behind and return to college with the ultimate goal of becoming a teacher.  This is about the time I met CC and here we are – a couple of Cottons kickin’ it in Northern California living our dreams.

Photo by Cotton Bud

CC and I have the most incredible, supportive families any bud could ask for.  The Cotton Moms and CC Mom and CC Dad are such caring parents, if not extremely patient with us both.  We are also supported by my mentor/friend and his wife (Cotton Rog and Cotton Sue) and CC’s birth mother (CC Judi).  Unfortunately, we’re both from the East Coast (CC is originally from Philadelphia) and do not get to see our family as often as we’d like.  This has been a deciding factor for us with planning our wedding.  Although we both live in CA, we’re having our wedding in NH, in Cotton Moms 1 & 2′s rural town of Alexandria, to make it easier for our families to travel to.  This has naturally provided some interesting problems when it comes to this bud’s desire to DIY the heck out of the celebration!  I’ll definitely be talking about this more in the future.

Aside from traveling as much as I possibly can, I also love to craft, Craft, CRAFT!  Planning our wedding has been an amazing opportunity for me to express my creativity in ways I had no idea existed.  I enjoy photography, camping, reading, exploring national parks, road trips, bar-b-ques, Latin American culture, taking classes, and discovering the world around me too.

I’m very excited to have been given the honor of being a bud and look forward to sharing all of our wedding planning fun with you!