New Bride Blogger: Meet Cortni

Hi BSB! I’m Cortni! I am so thankful and excited to be joining the budget savvy bride community and have the chance to be a featured bride!

Currently, I am an Oenology (wine!) scientist and cider-maker. I’m also a part-time marine biologist, and I blog over at yakkafit.com. It’s a strange combination, I know. My fiancé, Adam is a systems engineer, aka computer nerd, and we live in Upstate New York (in a 33 foot airstream in a few weeks) with our crazy pup, Clementine. We recently sold our home, got rid of all of our excess junk, and are working on converting a 1984 airstream into our temporary house so that we can buy land and start our dream business; a farm market/herb stand/hard cider company where we can make and sell things we grow, ferment, and create.

My fiancé and I apparently met when we were wee little tots. Because, when I was two years old, he and my older brother were on the same t-ball team. (We just discovered this a few years ago!)

Keepin it real- Circa 1992

Fast forward just a few years…the first time I remember truly meeting him was as my best friends older brother. And I thought he was such a jerk because he and his annoying friends ate all of our fresh-from-the-oven mozzarella sticks! You see, Adam’s sister and I are best friends and we have been ever since we were on the same competitive gymnastics team when we were 8 years old. And now my best friend is going to be my sister!! How lucky is that!? Luckily, he (slightly) matured, we didn’t see each other for a few years while we both went away for college and when we met back up again… I didn’t think he was annoying anymore. 😉

Anyway, countless college visits, a trip to Australia, skydiving, caving, camping, hiking, road trips, and four years later he was visiting me in Costa Rica after I had finished my Divemaster certification. He dropped down on one knee and asked me to be his forever during a sunset stroll on the beach!

He proposed with a hand-carved wooden starfish box with the most gorgeous ring inside. I was so surprised! It was the most magical day of my life.

I’ve always had a love and fascination with the ocean and since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to get married on the beach. After researching almost every country in the Caribbean and Central America we decided on Mexico as the perfect place for our wedding. The two of us, and our closest friends and family will be renting a small eco-resort in Tulum, Mexico.

We’re hoping some rest and relaxation in the sunshine will be perfect for everyone, especially since February in New York is almost unbearably cold and we’ll need the escape… but more about all of that later! Then we are planning a reception back home in the Spring.

We have a pretty small budget for both the wedding and the home reception and have been finding all different ways to extend our money, (including tons of DIYs) I’m excited to share it with you all! For now, I’m so happy to be here and meeting all of you, and I hope you enjoy our crazy journey to our wedding day! Feel free to connect with me on social media using the links in my bio box below!

Follow along, I’d love to meet ya!