First Person: How One Rhode Islander Planned a Wedding and Bought a House All Within One Year

Edelinda and Bruno enjoyed the fruits of their labor during their September wedding at the Bradley Estate in Canton, Mass. Photography by Rhode Photo & Film

Last year, I was determined (read: crazy enough) to buy a house the same year as my wedding. I was testing my willpower to see how many plates I could spin without breaking any of them.

Many family members and friends advised my husband, Bruno, and I to stay at our parents’ houses until after the wedding. In the long run, that would have been a better financial decision. Mental health-wise, it certainly wasn’t. Being the youngest child in the family, my parents treated me as just that — a child. Not to mention the disagreements my mother and I were having about wedding planning. 

Having our own home would give us the space we needed and the respect we deserved from our parents as twenty-six-year-olds. Plus, decorating my own home had always been a dream of mine.

The two pose in front of their new home in Blackstone, Mass. Photo courtesy of Edelinda Baptista

Starting in December 2023, we toured houses in Pawtucket, Providence, North Providence, Cumberland and North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and even a foreclosed church in New Bedford. We toured some abodes that looked better on Zillow, as well as gorgeous ones that sold before we could put down an offer. In April 2024, we said “yes” to an address in Blackstone, Massachusetts, with the help of our realtor Justin Freitas, who was kind and patient during our search. 

Our first home by the Blackstone River (and the delicious Goodstuff Smokehouse) is a great first test drive of homeownership.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t go straight into giving our house the TLC it deserved. Being wrapped up in wedding prep took our attention away from our old Colonial-style home, but thankfully we had just enough energy to cook dinner. Sometimes.

We received plenty of hand-me-down furniture from family members to get us started on the interior. Unfortunately, we were either too busy with work or exhausted from our long days that we didn’t paint our upstairs bedroom until July. We got so used to our bed being in the living room that we forgot the house had an entire second floor.

One of the first home projects included painting the walls and ceiling of the living room, a.k.a. the couple’s bedroom for the first few months. Photo courtesy of Edelinda Baptista

We went into overdrive planning our September wedding, making sure every single detail was taken care of, from the photographer, deejay, florist and tailors. (Read about how our wedding turned out in this year’s Engaged magazine!) Some aspects were DIY, including the seating chart (thank you, Canva!) and my wedding day makeup. My sister and maid of honor Melinda has been doing my makeup since we were teenagers (sometimes against my will for practice purposes) and I trusted her to mimic the soft and natural look I had splattered across my Pinterest wedding board.

The newlyweds during golden hour. Photography by Rhode Photo & Film

To afford this new chapter of our lives, Bruno worked overtime and I took on a second job, trying my hand in the service industry (hint: “We’re all family here!”). I worked at Olive Garden long enough to pay off some wedding vendors and a few months of the mortgage — memorizing the entire soundtrack of the restaurant’s dinner playlist in the process. One silver lining was the free food: I brought home dinner for me and Bruno as often as I could. I even treated us to some dessert after any extra long weeks because we deserved it, but not too often — we did have wedding attire to fit into!

As the wedding date approached, it was only a matter of time before burnout affected my performance at both workplaces. Besides getting home late from my second job, I was also planning a wedding, which is another job in itself. After a much-needed evaluation to keep me centered, I minimized my hours at the restaurant before putting in my two weeks’ notice and resumed prioritizing my career and wedding planning.

Come Sept. 13, we reveled in the fruits of our labor. Our hard work radiated off the reception tablescapes and beaming guests, who told us how proud they were of our accomplishments. Our wedding was magical, but it made me realize why people say it goes by in a flash. After the ceremony, the rest of the night was a blur of food, dance, laughter and love. Any tiny decor details that I obsessed over didn’t matter one bit.

I’m grateful for our families, who helped carry the weight of planning a wedding, and appreciative of the Rhode Island Monthly team, who supported me during that whirlwind of a time. I got alarmingly close to breaking some of those spinning plates, but the community around me kept me grounded and focused.

Soon we’ll add one more plate to the mix: We’re expecting our first child in mid-September. Parenthood will be our greatest journey yet and knowing that our village of loved ones has our backs takes a lot of pressure off this balancing act.