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 :-)

T-9 Days

As I've mentioned, I'm in the process of moving to a new apartment. After my mini-internal freak out of

OMG I'm moving in two weeks and I want everything set up the weekend we move in but we haven't bought anything we need and we still need to pick out paint colors and pack and what about movers and ordering the uhaul and AHHHHHHH

Deep breath and back to reality. Things are coming along.

• We picked paint colors for our bedroom, the living room, the accent wall and the kitchen.We even purchased the paint for the accent wall and our bedroom!
• We have picked most of the furniture we still need to get.  We will probably order it this weekend or early next week so that delivery can be over the weekend.
• Both of our parents did an excellent job getting us various knickknacks that we will need around the house.Thanks Mom and Dad for our fabulously stocked kitchen!

In sum, things are moving along!  

T-9 days! YAY!

Accent Wall Color - Cherry Cobbler

 Bedroom Color - Caribbean Mist

The engagement

So i'm sure most of the people who are reading this blog at this point know the story. But for the record -

New Year's Eve 2009. Last minute we decided to stay in DC and do something local. Ben found a "Seven Deadly Sins" seven-course tasting menu. Lust was lobster mac and cheese. LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE?! I was sold. I didn't care what the other six courses were - I was sold.

We get to the restaurant, and the menu had changed. No more Lobster Mac and Cheese. The theme was changed to "Lucky Number Seven," with seven courses based on luck.

1. Oyster, a buckwheat noodle, and a pork spring roll
2. Garlic Curry Lentil Soup
3. Gingerbread donut with liver
4. Salmon, Brussels sprouts and black eye peas in a bacon vinaigrette
   
5. Passion fruit sorbet with beets
6. Venison steak
   
7. Chocolate lava cake

I ate all of it.  Even the liver. Lift your jaw off the ground. 

After dinner, Ben wanted to go to the monuments and the Mall.  Even though it was raining, I happily went along.  We first walked around the Jefferson, my favorite monument.  Even though it was dark and cloudy, the city looked beautiful.

As we walked back to the car, Ben asked me to head over to the George Mason Monument (monument?  memorial? Who knows) because he had something that sparkled.  With that he pulls 32 inch sparklers out of his car and I immediately go, "OMG THEY ARE ILLEGAL.  PUT THEM AWAY!"

Well, Ben did not put them away.  Instead he tried (unsuccessfully, but I GREATLY appreciated the effort) to light the sparklers.  When he finally gave up on getting the duds to light, he asked me if I could see the fireworks from our first kiss.  When I replied yes, he got down on one knee and proposed. 

And i guess the rest is history

:-)

Engaged!

I'm engaged!

Part of my New Year's resolution was to write and blog more. With moving into our new apartment, our first year living together, and planning a wedding, I think I'll have plenty to write about.

Basically, this blog will be a compilation of my thoughts, ideas, successes and challenges with planning my wedding. Oh and don't be surprised if this blog has more than its fair share of posts detailing the move and setting up the apartment. That is going to be a big part of my life for the next month or two.