Paris in the Springtime

Dress: Byron Lars via Anthropologie | Sunglasses: Karen Walker | Bag: Jimmy Choo | Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Bracelets: David Yurman | Watch: Michele

If you've been following my Instagram feed, you already know that I spent the last couple weeks in France. My sweet fiancé and I decided to run off to Paris and elope! Well, sort of elope, in that it was just the two of us there, but our family and friends very much knew we were getting married and gave us their blessing. Plus, I had been doing some covert planning for a while (I'm sneaky like that).

We decided we wanted to rent an apartment in Paris to give us a little more space for wedding preparations and meals and such. We found the loveliest place through Airbnb, and for the same price as a much smaller hotel room, we had a one bedroom pied-à-terre on the Left Bank, just across the Seine from Notre Dame. It had a kitchen, a big living room, and a wraparound balcony with a perfectly Parisian view that made me swoon every time I glanced out the window.

{Our little neighborhood}

We had an abundance of sunny weather and warm temperatures throughout our trip--very atypical for Paris in the spring (it rained pretty much the whole time I was there in April two years ago), and a very pleasant surprise. We tried to walk as much as possible and to sit outside at cafés or on our balcony whenever we could. Mimosas and pastries from the renowned Maison Eric Kayser down the street were de rigeur for the mornings.

We were a stone's throw away from Notre Dame, so we wandered around Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis quite a bit. Upon walking over to the islands our first day out and about, I realized that the cherry trees were blooming by the cathedral and all over the city. I had never seen the cherry blossoms in Paris before, and I was hoping that they might be in bloom for our wedding. The pink petals everywhere made the whole trip seem that much more magical.

On one of our strolls, we went back to the spot pictured below--the love lock bridge right near Notre Dame, where two years ago we thought it might be sweet to get married on a bridge over the Seine (more on how that little idea turned out in future posts).

The outfit I'm wearing in this post is definitely not a sightseeing-friendly look, but it was perfect for a romantic "engagement" photoshoot we did with our Paris-based photographer the day before our wedding. Anthropologie has carried several iterations of this Byron Lars dress over the last year or so, and upon its arrival shortly before we left for Paris, I realized right away why it has been so popular. I truly can't say enough about the quality and level of detail on this piece. A 00P fit me well right out of the box. Currently available in three colors plus another version in a more eclectic mix of materials, a glance at the reviews on Anthro's page shows how well it works on a variety of different shapes and heights.

Stay tuned for more Paris posts later this week!

x, Tam

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