Category Archives: Hallmark Movie Reviews

Stranded in Paradise

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This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like sweet romance movies like Stranded in Paradise then you MUST read ROCKY ROAD DREAMS by CECELIA DOWDY. In Rocky Road Dreams Melanie and Kyle are briefly stranded due to a massive snowstorm. While stuck together, romance brews amidst the cold winter days. Both Kyle and Melanie do some deep soul searching as they struggle to make their relationship work! Read Rocky Road Dreams today and tell a friend by sharing this blog post. You may find Rocky Road Dreams at ceceliadowdy.com/books – or simply click on the link at the end of this blog post! Now, let’s talk about the Hallmark movie Stranded in Paradise!

Have you ever been stranded somewhere?

Well, Tess is stranded and unemployed at the same time! After her she’s fired from her job (as head of Human Resources Dept.) she decides to do what she must in order to find a job. She’s been scheduled to attend a Human Resources conference in Puerto Rico! So, after a bunch of mishaps (lost phone, lost shoes) she discovers that her cabin-mate is Carter.

Carter is on his way to Puerto Rico, too, but, he’s trying to raise money to bring clean water to impoverished people. I thought it was a bit of overkill how Carter and Tess “coincidentally” run into each other while in Puerto Rico. Both of them have lost luggage and then the hotel which they are staying is under renovations.

Then, Tess discovers that her mean, dirty boss has cancelled her conference registration. Both Carter and Tess are stranded because of a hurricane. When Tess discovers she can no longer stay in the hotel, Carter finds shelter for both of them from a local.

I really liked this movie. It’s not one of my faves, but, I liked it more than the average Hallmark movie. I liked Tess’s spunk. Even though she was unemployed, she did what she could to find a job. I also really liked Carter. He cared about helping people, and he was a really great listener, too. This was a perfect beach movie, complete with a romantic kissing scene at the end!

So, have you ever been stranded? If so, where? How long were you stranded?

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you like sweet romance movies like Stranded in Paradise then you MUST read ROCKY ROAD DREAMS by CECELIA DOWDY. In Rocky Road Dreams Melanie and Kyle are briefly stranded due to a massive snowstorm. While stuck together, romance brews amidst the cold winter days. Both Kyle and Melanie do some deep soul searching as they struggle to make their relationship work! Read Rocky Road Dreams today and tell a friend by sharing this blog post. You may find Rocky Road Dreams at ceceliadowdy.com/books – or simply click on the link at the end of this blog post!

https://ceceliadowdy.com/rocky-road-dreams-lp/

ROCKY ROAD DREAMS BOOK LINK

Bottled With Love

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This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy movies such as Bottled with Love then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

In Rocky Road Dreams, Melanie writes Kyle a letter, telling him how she feels about him. You must read this wonderfully engaging story! It’s a perfect beach-themed Christmas story that you’ll enjoy each year! Be sure to tell your friends by sharing this link, or, by sharing this blog post. The purchase link is also at the end of this blog post.

Now, let’s talk about Bottled With Love.

When was the last time you wrote a letter?

I’m not talking about an e-mail, but, a real, honest-to-goodness letter where you have real paper and a real pen and you actually WRITE the words directly onto the page?

Well, Abby, is writing a letter, a letter about all of her wonderful qualities, and her deep thoughts and desires. After she’s dumped by her boyfriend, right before a wedding, her Aunt suggests she write the letter to herself – so Abby does this. She then tosses the bottle into the sea.

Then, the bottle is found by Nick – who coincidentally is the son of Abby’s boss. Abby’s employer is seeking a new business acquisition and Nick, the estranged son, has been convinced to come home, temporarily. He’s going to assist Abby to search for a new company to acquire for his father’s business.

I thought this movie was cute and sweet, but, it was not phenomenal or anything like that. Hallmark had been advertising this movie like crazy, making it appear as if it would be the best movie of the year! I liked the movie, but, I didn’t LOVE it.

Abby and Nick have some problems getting along in the first part of the movie (which is typical of lots of Hallmark films) but, they do learn to work together, which is nice. I also enjoyed seeing them texting, not knowing the identity of one another.

One of my main problems with the film was – I just found it a bit….unbelievable and TOO coincidental that Nick happened to find Abby’s bottle, in another state, and just HAPPENED to find the bottle accidentally in his suitcase after he came to Boston. Then he just happened to be paired up to work with (Abby) the girl who wrote the letter. The letter that Nick had found in ANOTHER STATE!

Whew, that was a mouthful. I guess I would’ve liked it better if…well…if he’d found her letter and then they got to know one another online before meeting. Not sure how I’d work that out in the story, but, there were too many coincidences – yes, the way the events played out was possible, just didn’t sound very plausible.

I thought both of them did a nice acting job and I especially loved seeing them work together at the cider orchard. Oh, this just my personal opinion, but, I thought Abby’s glasses seemed a bit out-dated or something! I thought she looked prettier without those large-framed glasses on her face! 🙂

So, overall, a nice, sweet movie, that’s likable, but, not lovable.

This movie made me think of a nice book that I read A LONG time ago! It’s called Echoes and it’s about a woman and a man who meet online. The details are kind of sketchy since I read it several years ago. But, I’d thought how the characters in this book interacted and met seemed realistic and plausible. You should read it if you like clean, sweet stories!

So, when was the last time you wrote a letter? To whom did you write the letter?

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy movies such as Bottled with Love then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

In Rocky Road Dreams, Melanie writes Kyle a letter, telling him how she feels about him. You must read this wonderfully engaging story! It’s a perfect beach-themed Christmas story that you’ll enjoy each year! Be sure to tell your friends by sharing this link, or, by sharing this blog post. The purchase link is also at the end of this blog post.

ROCKY ROAD DREAMS BOOK LINK

Home by Spring

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Are you ready for spring?

I’d noticed that Hallmark has been showing Home By Spring recently. They’re gearing up for the spring season! Doesn’t that sound like fun? Almost one year ago, I was a guest on The Bubbly Sesh. We had a great discussion about the movie, Home By Spring.

Come listen to the podcast to learn my opinion about Home By Spring. It was a giggly, fun, and lively discussion! They even let me plug my Christmas novella, Loving Luke – which is now available as a paperback!

Love Under The Rainbow

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Love Under the Rainbow PODCAST

 

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy movies such as Love Under the Rainbow then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

Will Melanie give him a chance?

 

 

Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.

 

Have you ever seen a rainbow?

 

This movie starts with Lucy (the female lead character) hanging out with her pregnant sister. As is classic of a lot of Hallmark Movies, her sister is nagging her about getting married/dating. Of course, as in most Hallmark movies, the “nagger” is always a female that has a close relationship with the leading lady.

 

Another classic Hallmark move – when Lucy encounters Jack at a coffee shop, she accidentally spills coffee on him. Ouch!

 

Turns out that the man on whom she’s spilled the coffee shows up at her classroom with his daughter, Sophie. Jack is a widower and he’s recently relocated to town with a new job.

 

Sophie misses her mom and she wants to do a science fair project about rainbows. Her mom was a rainbow fanatic and Sophie feels closer to her mother by working on this project.

 

Of course you know what happens. Jack is still somewhat grieving over his deceased wife as he gets to know Lucy. They keep running into each other and having impromptu dates.

 

I loved the rainbow park where Lucy takes her school kids on their field trip. Does such a park exist? I’ve never heard the term “chasing rainbows” until I saw this movie.

 

Overall, a cute, sweet, film. You even get to see Lucy’s sister have her baby, too. Seeing a newborn baby is always nice in a film! I also loved all of the rainbow effects throughout the movie. Sophie has a rainbow set of drawers. Folks had rainbow socks, rainbow headbands, shirts, etc. When I was a teenager, I remember that folks would dress up in white, three-quarter-sleeved shirts with a rainbow splashed across the front. A LOT of the teenaged girls were wearing these shirts when I was in high school.

 

At the end of the movie, they showed a moonbow.

Have you ever seen a moonbow? Had you heard of a moonbow before you saw this film?

Honestly, I’d never heard of a moonbow, so I researched it. Reason why I’d not heard of it is because it’s rare. The bow is formed by moonlight reflecting off of moisture instead of sunlight. Also, on a moonbow, you usually can’t see the colors since the light is so dim. Moonbows are usually white.

I’ve always been fascinated with rainbows. It’s probably because I’ve not been able to see them very often. If I’m driving and happen to spot a rainbow, I’ve pulled over to the side of the road just to stop and look at it.

Another fascinating bow is called a sundog. An author friend of mine told me about them some years ago. Sundogs are formed by light reflecting off of ice crystals. It’s so PRETTY, don’t you agree?

So, when was the last time you saw a rainbow?

Genesis 9:13-16

 

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

 

Enjoy this blog post? Subscribe to CECELIA DOWDY’S Hallmark Movie Blog!

 

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy movies such as Love Under the Rainbow then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

Will Melanie give him a chance?

 

 

Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.

 

Rocky Road Dreams

October Kiss

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Did you celebrate Halloween when you were a kid?

Poppy is confused…well, not really confused, but, she just seems a bit unfocused. At the beginning of the movie, she’s teaching a yoga class…she unexpectedly discovers that one of her elderly pupils does a better job of teaching yoga than she – so, she hands the class over to her pupil, making her the new teacher.

Poppy seems to not really know what she wants…almost as if she’s searching, trying to find herself. Her sister wants her to find somebody to date and get married (I notice this convention used in Hallmark Movies and romance novels quite a lot. The female lead has a mom, sister, or some other female relative or friend to hound her about dating somebody nice and getting married. Do you think female folks bother their friends about their non-dating status as much as they do in Hallmark Movies and romance  novels?)

Poppy’s sister is able to find the “perfect” job for Poppy, as a nanny. Widower and workaholic Ryan needs a nanny for his kids. He hires Poppy. After one day with his irritating kids, she’s ready to quit, but, he convinces her to stay on. Of course you know what happens – they fall for each other, in spite of Ryan’s dating his attractive co-worker.

It took me a long time to warm up to this movie. I didn’t really like the first half. The second half was much better. I think it was just hard for me to like Ryan’s kids – I couldn’t stand them, actually. They were rude, irritating and just…not very nice. They had no manners, either. They were over-the-top nasty, irritating children and that’s why I almost changed the channel.

Once they became endeared to Poppy, things did get better for me (as far as my movie entertainment went).

I really liked all of the autumn and Halloween scenery. Seeing this film made me think about my younger days, when I was around the age of Ryan’s children. We didn’t celebrate Halloween (I was allowed to pass out candy, though). It never bothered me about not celebrating – dressing up never appealed to me. I guess I’d have liked to go out trick or treating just because my friends were doing it. I was more interested in celebrating Christmas instead of Halloween. We didn’t celebrate Christmas in our house either.

Have you ever known anyone who decorated his/her home for Halloween?

Poppy and the kids went all out on the Halloween decorations and costumes, didn’t they? It was a nice bonding tool between for her and Ryan’s kids.

So, did you celebrate Halloween as a child? If so, what did you do to celebrate? Did you enjoy it?

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Finding Santa

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Do you like your job?

Both Grace and Ben are both grappling with the issues of their employment. Neither of them have regular office jobs, either. Both of them have occupations that are really neat! Grace is excited about the big Christmas event coming to her town. The local news will be there and Santa, a really great Santa, will be there too!

The news anchor person comes and visits Grace’s Christmas shop, getting some footage before the big event which will occur in a week. Grace inherited her Christmas shop from her parents, who are deceased. She celebrates Christmas every day of the year and she keeps her shop open because it makes people happy…but, what about Grace? Doesn’t she deserve to be happy?

Have you ever done something, long term, to make somebody else happy, sacrificing your own happiness?

When Santa takes a drastic fall, literally, the town is left without a Santa. But, Santa trains other Santas…that’s part of his business and he wants his son, Ben, to return to town – Ben would make the perfect Santa.

So…Grace makes the long-distance journey and is able to finagle Ben to return home. Ben is a writer (to which I can definitely relate)! He writes novels and he has no time to play Santa, but, Grace pleads with him. The town needs the publicity…can’t he return and be Santa?

I loved seeing Grace and Ben interact with each other. When they attempt to return to Ben’s town (so that Grace can get her car) they run into a snowstorm. I thought the snowstorm was SO FABRICATED! Yes, there was snow, but it was not like a blizzard or anything.

Grace and Ben stay with Grace’s friends overnight since they are stranded in the snowstorm. I could even see sunlight spilling through the windows amidst the “big snowstorm”!

I loved how Ben really had to struggle with his decision about being Santa in the parade. He felt he was not able to make all of the choices in his life – he wants to do what makes him happy and he encourages Grace to do the same.

I loved seeing Grace and Ben (Eric Winter was SO CUTE in this movie…perfect Santa and perfect boyfriend material, BTW) decorating the cookies during the Christmas stroll as well as going to the ugly Christmas sweater party.

BTW, do you have an ugly Christmas sweater?

Being an author myself, I simply LOVED THE ENDING! He wrote a children’s book and she did the illustrations! I loved seeing his endearing propsal – he called her the future Mrs. Claus in the dedication! How cute!

So, do you like your job? Have you ever done something daily and you only did it to please somebody else?

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Just Add Romance

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Have you ever participated in a competition?

Carly and Jason meet at a cooking class. Jason suddenly leaves the class, before he’s finished with it. Carly has no idea as to why Jason left – she’s a bit disappointed and wonders what happened…

Fast forward 3 years and both Carly and Jason are working as chefs in restaurants. Both of them want to own their own restaurant. But, it’s tough to just open up your own restaurant…know what I mean? You need start-up capital and such. Anyway, both of them see that they can enter this cooking competition – grand prize is your own restaurant!

So, both of them, as well as some other folks, are chosen for the competition! The competition takes place in a few cities and after each round, someone gets eliminated.

Carly has big shoes to fill – her dad is a renowned chef and she wants to be a chef on her own, without being compared to him. Her dad doesn’t approve of her competing, but, he does show up to support her anyway.

I thought that Jason was cute as could be! Oh, my, Luke Macfarlane is one of the cutest Hallmark actors!

I also loved Carly’s support system. Her next-door-neighbor/best friend and her best friend’s daughter were wonderful supporting characters for this film.

The competition. Reminded me of a Food Network Competition, the dialog, the description of the food, all of it.

Have any of you ever watched a Food Network Competition?

Overall this was a cute, sweet, movie, not one of my faves, but, enjoyable nonetheless!

So, have you ever competed in a competition?

Love on the Menu

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Have you ever had romantic feelings towards a coworker?

Well, Maggie is not really Hank’s coworker, per se, but, they do work together closely in this cute, sweet Hallmark Movie. I’ll admit, although this movie was cute and sweet, it’s not one of my Hallmark faves.

Hank, a widower, is stubborn when it comes to his cooking. A perfectionist, he wakes up early in the morning to make elaborate meals for his daughter’s breakfast. His daughter flip flops, not able to make up her mind, about being a vegan. She doesn’t always eat his food, which annoys me – who wakes up early to make all that food with nobody to eat it? I believe once in the movie, Hank had mentioned that he took the leftovers to the staff at his restaurant.

Hank’s restaurant – it’s failing! His brother-in-law (Bernie) used to be the bartender in the restaurant. After Bernie’s sister (Hank’s wife) died, Bernie stepped up to manage the restaurant, but, he’s a terrible manager! I’ll admit that Hank is a terrible business owner! Neither of them know how to account for their earnings and they even have an employee who was stealing cases of wine, and they had no knowledge of this until Maggie stepped in!

Maggie wants chef Hank to work with her company to create a gourmet line of frozen foods. Hank reluctantly agrees since he needs the money. Bernie admits that they have over-due bills. (BTW, I HATED Bernie’s tie clip! It looked so DORKY! I know that they wanted to portray Bernie as a business man, but, he needed to ditch the tie clip!)

Maggie agrees to help Hank make his restaurant profitable if he agrees to do the gourmet food line for her employer. While Maggie helps Hank save his business, she bonds with his daughter. They go shopping and Hank’s daughter admits that Maggie reminds her of her mom.

It was terrible when Maggie’s boss, Andrea, tells her that they won’t pay Hank any more money. After he’s given them their recipes for the frozen food line, Andrea refuses to pay him for more, and threatens to fire Maggie if she continued to work with Hank in his restaurant.

When Maggie tells Hank that she has to leave and go in search of another chef to create yet another line of frozen foods, Hank gets mad. Maggie’s boss, Andrea, was supposed to pay Hank more money and she’s not holding up her end of the deal. Maggie tells Hank that it’s not her fault – Andrea is the one who controls this whole project. Hank tells Maggie to leave his restaurant and he also says that she should’ve quit her job.

Really Hank? He’s so dumb. Such a goofball! I know if I’d been in that position, I couldn’t just up and quit my job – I’d have needed the money. I have my own bills to pay – the most I could’ve done was to seek out other employment while working for my current boss. (Although it does come up later that Maggie has a comfortable savings).

Hank finally admits that he’s wrong and asks Maggie to come back to his restaurant. Maggie swoops in and saves the day and becomes an investor in Hank’s restaurant and quits her job!

I loved seeing the food that Hank makes.

Do you like Italian food?

I love it! I make my own spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes and I also make homemade pizza using my sourdough starter for the crust! Yummy!

I loved seeing those homemade pizzas and pasta that Hank created! They looked so good! If Hank wasn’t so pig-headed, it wouldn’t have taken him so long to realize that he needed to update his menu. Just because a menu is classic, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be updated, just a little bit! Especially when profits were dropping!

I would’ve loved to have seen a recipe for Hank’s homemade pizza on Hallmark’s website!

So, have you ever had romantic feelings towards someone that you’ve worked with? What happened? Did you ever date?

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The Perfect Bride

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Have you ever stressed about having the PERFECT wedding?

When Molly (a wedding boot camp instructor) meets Nick (a wedding photographer) she’s instantly, deeply, attracted to him. But, unbeknownst to Molly, Nick is engaged! The cute banter they exchanged was only small talk on Nick’s part.

I really enjoyed this movie. It’s one of my Hallmark favorites. I’ve watched it over and over again and I never grow tired of seeing it!

Did you think any part of the movie was unrealistic?

Janna, Nick’s fiancée, is determined to have the perfect wedding. She’s jealous of her sister Karen. Her sister Karen’s wedding was perfect, and Janna wants folks to remember her wedding as being perfect. Yes, I can see someone being jealous of a sibling – so jealous that they do unscrupulous things to be perfect.

I thought it was unrealistic that Janna actually had a store mannequin in her house. Using devious ways, she “buys” Lisa’s (Molly’s sister) wedding dress and prominently displays it in her living room on the mannequin! That girl is crazy!

Janna reminds me a of Raven, a character in my novel, Raspberry Kisses. In Raspberry Kisses, Raven is desperate to get married. She actually buys a wedding dress and hoards it in her closet, hoping to find the perfect groom. She’s desperate to get married, but, she’s got other problems that she needs to address before she can even consider marriage.

I thought it was totally realistic that Molly fell for Nick when she first meets him at the wedding. From her perspective, I could understand why she thought he was flirting with her, especially when he said they should get together to swap wedding bride clients. I think Nick kind of liked Molly, too, initially, but, could not admit those feelings to himself since he was engaged to Janna.

Before this movie, had you ever heard of a bridal boot camp?

I’d never heard of it before I saw this movie. I Googled it and found that it really does exist! Molly was hurting from her broken engagement. She’d already purchased a wedding dress and everything, but, came to the conclusion that her and her potential groom were not ready to get married. So, she’d gorged on cookies, candies, sweets, etc. and she worked out to get rid of the extra weight she’d gained. Her experience compelled her to start her bridal boot camp.

I’m not sure if I could survive bridal boot camp! Besides, I love cookies!

I could really relate to Nick being a photographer. No, I’m not a photographer, but, I’m a writer. Being a writer is hard work and it’s difficult to make enough money to pay your bills by writing. Nick had a similar problem with his photography – which was why he started doing wedding pics – he needed the money to pay his bills!

One of a kind wedding dress shop?

Had you ever heard of that before this movie? I hadn’t! I Googled and found that such shops really do exist! One shop even touted that you don’t have to pay a high price for a one-of-a-kind dress! I also found some one-of-a-kind dresses that were over twenty thousand dollars!

I purchased my wedding dress, almost fifteen years ago, from a bridal boutique in Virginia. The boutique (Hannelore’s) has now closed! They had some amazing dresses there and I chose my dress from a bridal magazine. This is me – in my wedding dress!!

I was so glad that Janna and Nick broke up! It was no surprise since this is a Hallmark movie and it’s obvious that Nick was in the picture as Molly’s love interest!

So, tell me, have you ever been like Janna and stressed about having the perfect wedding?

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