Food

btw - two postings in one week.  I'm surprised/shocked/proud of myself

Wedding planning is moving forward.  While we have not made a decision about the church, we talked about it and we have a game plan.  sorta.  Don't ask.

But, we did make some progress with menu.  In planning this wedding, I've determined I have no idea how to plan a menu.  I mean, for the first 22 years of my life planning a menu revolved around finding the 5 (generally white in color) things that I ate and making a meal out of it.  Now I'm trying to create a classy, tasteful meal for people's whose tastebuds are more experienced than my own.   I want to enjoy my wedding dinner, so I tend to pick things I like.  But at the same time I think I have mashed potatoes and asparagus all the time.  Do I really want it at my wedding?  Shouldn't it be something more special?

So here is my first call for advice:  how do I plan a nice, classy meal that is special, but still caters to my and my guests' taste? 

Meet the Parents

What a whirlwind of a weekend.

After being super super busy at work on Friday, I headed back to my apartment to pick up my luggage and headed to the airport for Tim and Nancy come to Charleston Weekend.

I left my apartment and headed to the airport. My apartment door to my gate= 20 minutes. I kid you not. 20 minutes. I was shocked. But that bit of information is more me bragging than really relevant to my weekend.

Arrived in Charleston late late Friday night and headed directly to bed. I had a big weekend ahead of me.

Saturday morning, Ben, Momma B, Poppa B and I drove into Charleston to meet my parents at their hotel downtown. I have to say, it was BEAUTIFUL in Charleston.

After dropping off my parents car, and quickly introducing the two families, we climbed into the van that Ben's parents so nicely rented so we could travel together. First stop: Hibernian Hall.

Well, my parents seemed to love the reception hall. My Dad twitched a bit (it hosted the Democratic convention back in the 1800s), but ultimately came around to like the place. They both thought it was lovely and were happy with Ben and my decision. Yay, I'm glad they liked it.

After Hibernian, we traveled to look at one of the churches Ben and I are considering for the ceremony.  After looking at the church, Ben's parents gave us a quick tour of Charleston and we grabbed lunch down by the marina. 

Then we loaded back into the van and traveled out to Middleton Place, the location for the Rehearsal Dinner.  I'm really excited how pretty the location is going to be next April when all the flowers are in bloom.  We also realized that since the dinner is after the garden's hours, we will have the whole garden to ourselves.

We then headed back to Ben's parents for dinner.  We had some awesome guac (thanks Ben) and Mrs. B. made a fabulous dinner of shrimp and grits, chicken, roasted potatoes, tomato betty and string beans.  The two families really seemed to get along and I think everyone had a great time.

The next morning my parents and I visited two additional churches for the ceremony, and then attended mass at the cathedral downtown.  After mass is started to pour, so we headed back up to Myrtle Beach to visit my aunt and uncle. We spent the next day or so relaxing and catching up.  My aunt and uncle gave us a beautiful cake knife and server!  Its pretty and its got pearls.  What more can a girl ask for?


Well, now I'm back in DC.  Can't say my parents had the same fortune.  Their flight got canceled last night, and they are stuck in Myrtle Beach until Wednesday.  Gee what a terrible place to be stuck.  Enjoy the extended vaca Mom and Dad!

Dresses and Dresses and Dresses

So last weekend, I officially ordered my dress!! I'm not going to put pictures up - I'd like it to be a surprise (oh and Ben's not allowed to see it ;-) ) Just know that its really pretty and very Anna.

I was pretty shocked how quickly I found it. It was at the very first place I went to look. Three weeks ago I went home to Jersey and visited a dress store in my hometown (Tesi). I fell in love with two dresses there. The following week I went home again and visited a second dress shop, Wedding Bells. I found myself comparing every dress I tried on at Wedding Bells to the two I had fallen in love with at Tesi. We went back to Tesi the next day and once I tried it on again; I just knew I had found my dress!

Last weekend when Jane was in town we started to look at bridesmaid dresses. Hey, I had one in town; I had to take advantage of that. We found two dresses that we liked. I really liked one because it would coordinate with my dress really well. Not completely sold on it yet, but I think I'm starting to form an idea of what the bridesmaid dresses will look like.

WE BOOKED A VENUE!

Ok, I really need to get better at this blogging thing.

So I guess it was about a week ago, I'm walking into the elevator of my building talking on the phone when I notice a beep through from my soon-to-be mother in law. Weird I think; Why is she calling me? Mental note: Call Mrs. B as soon as you get into the apartment.

I walk into the apartment still chatting away and Ben's on the phone with his mom. He hangs up and looks at me chatting away. "We have something we need to deal with right now."

Someone approached Hibernian Hall wanted to reserve the space for April 30, 2011. They were giving us until noon the next day to either book to location or give it up to the other couple.

But...but... my parents haven't seen it yet. I didn't really like the hall at first, but we have chalked it up to the terrible tour person who didn't even turn on the lights. But then I found beautiful pictures of weddings there and got my hopes up. But I don't know if I'm ready to make a decision. BUT MY PARENTS HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET!

About a 1,000 phone calls and tons of tears stemming from my inability to make a decision, Ben and I went to bed with no decision. But we did have a list of questions to ask the hall when we call in the morning.

And the next morning, at about 11:00am we decided to pull the trigger - we reserved the space! They are sending the contract to us to sign. We will have our beautiful reception at Hibernian Hall in downtown Charleston. YAY!

Once we booked the space, a wave of calm came over me. Definitely made the right decision. I was so happy it was done. YAY WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A RECEPTION.

Centerpiece ideas have been floating in my head ever since. But that's another blog posting.

Venues - the debrief

So despite the snow (and many many discussions back and forth on if we would actually travel), Ben and I made our way down to Charleston to look at wedding venues this evening.

We saw a TON of possible reception and rehersal dinner locations. Some we liked, some we didn't. But that is the way the cookie crumbles.

At this point, based on first impressions, I really like the Historic Rice Mill, The Francis Marion Hotel and Hiberian Hall. They are three very different locations, and each has things I really really like.

The woman we met with at the Historic Rice Mill was absolutely fabulous; She could sell snow to penguins. She also talked about a lot of really cool ideas to personalize our event. Even if we don't use the space, we may be able to incorporate a lot of her great ideas.

We also found two places that we really like for the rehersal dinner. The first is Planters Inn - a great little hotel in downtown Charleston. It has a beautiful courtyard that would be a perfect spot for a cocktail hour. The second place, which is probably the place Benjamin and I liked best, was Middleton Inn. Middleton is a huge old plot of land that has been transformed into wonderful gardens. The restaurant had a great feel and beautiful views of the Ashley river and the gardens.

So the next step is to look at a few more places online and try and get places to pencil us in. I don't want to truly book anything or put money down until my Mom has a chance to get down here and look at everything too. I wouldn't want to do anything until I had her opinion too!

Ok i'm exhausted from my weekend, but I wanted to update everyone on the weekend. We are leaving very early tomorrow morning - so good night all!

Venues

Snow storm permitting, Ben and I are supposed to go to Charleston this weekend, so I've been setting up appointments of venues to visit for the wedding. We are looking at a variety of places that have both outdoor and indoor locations. I'm terrified of getting my heart set on a beautiful outdoor location, and then being disappointed when it rains. I know we can move it inside.

Once I get appointments made, I'll post links.

Bloggin - Back in Action!

Ok so I fell off my blogging wagon.  But it’s been a busy couple of weeks. 

Ben and I moved into our new apartment a week and a half ago.  You know those paint colors I blogged about pre-move. 

We hated them all.  EPIC FAIL. 

We have all our furniture and everything set up.  We just need to finish unpacking all of our clothes and find new paint colors.  Our bedroom currently resembled Joseph’s Technicolor Dream Coat right now with all the colors we have thrown up to see if we like.  

But overall, I LOVE our apartment.  Pictures will be put up as soon as it is painted – but I am really really happy with it. 

And wedding planning is slowly getting underway.  I’ve started perusing through bridal magazines and really started to figure out what exactly I want in my wedding. 

But for now, everyone keep the end of April open :-)