PLAN AHEAD

The first tip I will give to you is plan ahead. Chuck and I knew back in January when we purchased our plane tickets that we would be gone for three weeks. One week in Colorado for the wedding and two weeks in France.

Together we decided to plan ahead and try to send some clothes to Colorado ahead of time for the wedding. Chuck’s tuxedo for the wedding, shoes, and formal wear was all rented from Men’s Wearhouse and instead of picking up his tuxedo here in Seattle, we opted for his outfit to be picked up in Colorado right next to where we would be getting married.

This got rid of worrying about wrinkling, losing, or potentially ripping Chuck’s tuxedo while traveling!

One of Chuck’s carry on’s was a garment bag. This was a HUGE help in allowing us to only check one bag. I put my wedding dress in the garment bag and Chuck hung up his button downs and bulkier items such as coats and a sweatshirt, that would take up a ton of space in our suitcase. This garment bag could easily fold into an overhead bin and won’t cost us anything at the airport. The garment bag also hangs perfectly overtop of the suitcase so when we wheel the suitcase around we don’t have to carry the garment bag (I totally clung onto that garment bag for dear life on the way to Colorado since my wedding dress was in there. Someone was going to have to fight me before I let anyone touch that bag!).

THE SEASONS MATTER

In the summer you don’t need as many layers and clothes are made of lighter, less thick material. This makes a HUGE difference when trying to pack all your things into one suitcase. Since getting married and going on a honeymoon and significant events in one’s life I did NOT pack lightly. I told myself this is the one time when packing lightly didn’t make sense and I should just go all out (does anyone else tell themselves these things?!). I literally packed almost every dress I owned. Not kidding.

If it were winter there is no way that Chuck and I were going to fit all of our clothes into one suitcase, but summer definitely helped us out!

ROLL YOUR CLOTHES BEFORE YOU PACK THEM

When Chuck and I first started packing Chuck put all his shirts and pants into the suitcase and said “We are going to need another bag to put our stuff in.” I took a look inside the suitcase and noticed he forgot to roll his clothes! You might be wondering what that is, but it’s VERY simple and SUPER effective! (my mom taught me this!)

To roll your clothes all you do is take your clothes that are already folded how you would put them into your drawers and simply roll them so they are more compact. Rolling your clothes allows you to double, and even tripled the amount of clothes you are packing into one suitcase since the items are taking up wayyyyy less space!

When Chuck first started packing he was barley able to fit all of his stuff in the suitcase but by rolling the clothes we were able to pack:

– 3x Chuck’s pants

– 5 x Chuck’s button downs

– 3x Chuck’s workout gear

– 7 x my dresses

-2 x skirts

– 5 pairs of my shoes

– 3 x purses

– 5 x swimsuits (both myself and Chuck’s suits are included in this number)

– undergarments (which we stuffed into my purses to take up less space)

– My entire makeup bag

I would say that by rolling our clothes we tripled the amount of space we had in our checked luggage bag!

WEAR YOUR BULKY ITEMS ON THE PLANE

You know those few items that take up ALL the space in your bag? The quick fix to this deliemma is to simply wear those items onto the plane with you!

I wore my jean jacket, which despite my many tries, could not roll into a small enough size to pack and Chuck wore his bulkiest sweatshirt! This freed up a TON of space in our bag to pack more of what we actually wanted to wear on our honeymoon!

I honestly thought packing was going to be a significant emotional event with this overwhelming feeling of having to carry too many bags through the airport and Chuck telling me that I was packing too much stuff. In fact, packing only took about an hour and I couldn’t believe how much stuff we brought with us on our honeymoon and didn’t have to compromise leaving outfits/items behind that we really wanted to bring!

What did you think of today’s post?! What is your biggest struggle when you pack for a vacation or small getaway?! Send me a message below and I would love to talk with you:)!

Follow me along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for daily style inspo and if you loved this post don’t forget to share with your friends:). Both your friends, and myself, will thank you!

Thank you SO much for stopping by Blush & Camo!

xx Julianna

SHOP MY LOOK

Romper- Similar here

Shoes- Chanel

Clutch- Clare V.

Hat- Forever 21

Lipstick- Sephora