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Venue:
Justin and I looked at a few venues, including a golf course with an awesome manager and a vineyard with a view of some trailer homes. Most of the places were discovered by Justin while he was researching online. He's been very involved, more than me at the beginning. We reserved the golf course before abandoning it for our actual venue. On a random Sunday, we drove out to Milton, KY and stopped in at Richwood Plantation Inn. It used to be a bed and breakfast, but I guess they got tired of making everyone waffles and eggs. The manager, Sam, and the groundskeeper were busy picking up after the last wedding and getting ready for a bridge retreat. They couldn't take us on a tour so we just wandered around by ourselves and completely fell in love with the place. Sam put us in the computer for October 26th and gave us the basic paperwork before we left. We tried to stop by the next Sunday for a tour, but no one was there and Justin remembered a mention that the wedding for that weekend had cancelled. I sent Sam an email mentioning that we had stopped by and asked when we should come by for a tour. The email I got in response had a very annoyed tone and did not sound like the same person I had met previously. It stated that he DID NOT have me down for the 26th and that my mother was supposed to get back with him about a tour and never did. I responded that my mother lives in Florida and is in no way in charge of our wedding. I didn't get a response right away so I called him and once he realized he had me confused with another bride, he said he would talk to some people and get things figured out. We also set up a tour appointment. The next day was the 26th, a year to the actual wedding date, and I wasn't able to enjoy it (partially because of the cold rain outside) because I didn't know if we had the venue. That weekend, we were able to finally take a tour and get reassurance that we were still down for the right date.
Now the venue has been reserved for our date, October 26 2013, and the deposit has been paid. We're having everything, the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and brunch on Sunday, at the venue. We get the property for the entire weekend, from Friday at 3:00 until Sunday at 12:00, and there are thirteen guest rooms on the property for us to use. The ceremony will (hopefully) be outside and there is a reception space in the main building. If the weather is anything like the Saturdays this October, we'll have the ceremony in the reception space as well. The manager of the property is allowing us to have the dogs with us all weekend as long as they are in a crate at night. I'm not sure who gets the honor of dog duty during the ceremony, but I'm putting money on my dad.
Colors:
After a rather fun romp through Jo-Ann Fabrics, Justin and I decided on wedding colors of mustard yellow, dark grey, and a neutral tan/oatmeal. We bought pieces of material in the colors and snagged some swatches of patterns that had the colors in them. Back at home I found two pillows on Etsy that are exactly our wedding colors and pinned them on Pinterest for inspiration. Having the colors picked out has really helped us look for items that will work for our wedding. We originally wanted a theme, but the main one we liked was Moonrise Kingdom and we didn't think most people would "get it". But I have decided that gnomes will somehow be incorporated. Still trying to figure that part out...
Dress:
I originally wanted a short, pink dress, but that is definitely not an easy find. And after the cold October we experience, I decided short was not a good idea. The desire for a pink dress remained, partially because it goes again the white of a religious ceremony outfit and partially because it seemed fun.
My first dress shopping experience was with Justin at Bridal Warehouse. I hadn't intended on dragging him along for the first trip, but we were in the area and I had the impulse. I tried on a bunch of different styles to get a feel for what I liked. I never really worried about what I would look like in a wedding dress because I knew I have the body frame that will look good in most type of dresses. It was more a matter of figuring out what I could deal with wearing for an entire day. Some of the dresses were so heavy I could barely make it out to the "runway" for Justin to see. The short dress I tried on felt amazing in comparison, but was boring.
My next dress adventure involved meeting Amanda and Justin's sister, Amy, at David's Bridal. The sales associate was horrible. She didn't use clips to tighten the dresses that were too big, which was all of them, until the last dress when I asked her if she even had clips. She started pulling dresses on her own and handing them to me to try on before I had even tried on the ones I had picked out. I eventually had to stop and go through the dresses that were pulled so I coud take her picks out and get to the dresses I had actually liked. There was one dress with big flowers on the bottom that was cute, but it wasn't pink and they didn't have my exact size. The shopping experience was finished off with dinner at Cumberland Brews.
Next, I met Amy at a consignment dress shop. The dresses had been altered so even if the tag was the right size, the dress didn't fit right once it was on. Most of them were also too short (surprise). The owner seemed convinced that I would find a dress and it was hard to get out the door once I decided there wasn't anything for me. We then headed down the road to Rebecca's Boutique and I actually found two dresses that were awesome. Both were Watters dresses and had price tags around $1,400. The first one was oatmeal with spaghetti straps and lace details. The structure of it was unique and the oatmeal color was still different from the norm. The other dress had a sweetheart neckline and was fitted through the hips before flaring out slightly with pink tulle. The top portion was also pink with lots of beading. It looked great, was pink, and wasn't overly big, but I was worried about how it would look in my actual size. Both dresses looked good on, but I wasn't ready to shell out that much money for a dress that may not look good once it came in in my size. The dresses were, however, my top contenders for a while and I showed picture to quite a few coworkers to get their opinions.
On a rather cold day, Justin and I had intended on walking in the highlands, but ended up driving around instead. We stopped at a red light next to a wedding jewelry store and circled the block to go inside. The store is mostly filled with wedding accessories and custom designed pieces, but there was also a room of sample dresses. The very first dress I noticed when I went into the room was a light blush dress on a display. It had a sweetheart neckline and was fitted through the hips, lower on one hip than the other giving it an asymmetry that I love. The fabric was organza and it was pleated at the top. The bottom had an asymmetric poof to it and under the poof were flowers made of the same material. It wasn't overly big and felt relatively light weight. I looked through the racks, but didn't see anything else I liked as much as the display dress. The dress happened to be an 8, which was fine since I had been trying on mostly size 6 dresses and dresses can be easily altered by one size. I had the owner take it off the display and I tried it on, still wearing the boots I had on when I came in. The back was a corset, which meant the owner had to lace me up. This was time consuming, but the corset also meant that the dress could be tightened down to my size. The only part that was a little loose was the hips. The length was prefect and I could walk without having to alter my steps to kick the dress out of the way. There's a train, but that can be easily removed and the extra material can be used for something else. Overall, the dress looked and felt awesome. Justin loved it and the owner was throwing ideas out left and right about what veil/sash/necklace would look good with it. It was a sample dress that was originally marked $1,200, but was reduced to $600. A nice little bonus. The owner also gave me the number for someone that does alterations. I purchased the dress and it is now hanging in our living room. It's funny how I spent so much time researching dresses only to impulsively buy a dress at a jewelry store. Seems fitting of me though. I'm indecisive until something grabs me and I can't imagine being happy with anything else.
Sidekicks:
The decisions about bridesmaids, or sidekicks as we are calling them, is still up in the air. I've only officially asked Allie and Stephanie to be sidekicks and it is assuming that my sister is one. Beyond that I'm still up in the air. This is the issue with living in multiple cities and having circles of friends from each city.
Things are slowly coming together...
Justin and I looked at a few venues, including a golf course with an awesome manager and a vineyard with a view of some trailer homes. Most of the places were discovered by Justin while he was researching online. He's been very involved, more than me at the beginning. We reserved the golf course before abandoning it for our actual venue. On a random Sunday, we drove out to Milton, KY and stopped in at Richwood Plantation Inn. It used to be a bed and breakfast, but I guess they got tired of making everyone waffles and eggs. The manager, Sam, and the groundskeeper were busy picking up after the last wedding and getting ready for a bridge retreat. They couldn't take us on a tour so we just wandered around by ourselves and completely fell in love with the place. Sam put us in the computer for October 26th and gave us the basic paperwork before we left. We tried to stop by the next Sunday for a tour, but no one was there and Justin remembered a mention that the wedding for that weekend had cancelled. I sent Sam an email mentioning that we had stopped by and asked when we should come by for a tour. The email I got in response had a very annoyed tone and did not sound like the same person I had met previously. It stated that he DID NOT have me down for the 26th and that my mother was supposed to get back with him about a tour and never did. I responded that my mother lives in Florida and is in no way in charge of our wedding. I didn't get a response right away so I called him and once he realized he had me confused with another bride, he said he would talk to some people and get things figured out. We also set up a tour appointment. The next day was the 26th, a year to the actual wedding date, and I wasn't able to enjoy it (partially because of the cold rain outside) because I didn't know if we had the venue. That weekend, we were able to finally take a tour and get reassurance that we were still down for the right date.
Now the venue has been reserved for our date, October 26 2013, and the deposit has been paid. We're having everything, the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and brunch on Sunday, at the venue. We get the property for the entire weekend, from Friday at 3:00 until Sunday at 12:00, and there are thirteen guest rooms on the property for us to use. The ceremony will (hopefully) be outside and there is a reception space in the main building. If the weather is anything like the Saturdays this October, we'll have the ceremony in the reception space as well. The manager of the property is allowing us to have the dogs with us all weekend as long as they are in a crate at night. I'm not sure who gets the honor of dog duty during the ceremony, but I'm putting money on my dad.
Colors:
After a rather fun romp through Jo-Ann Fabrics, Justin and I decided on wedding colors of mustard yellow, dark grey, and a neutral tan/oatmeal. We bought pieces of material in the colors and snagged some swatches of patterns that had the colors in them. Back at home I found two pillows on Etsy that are exactly our wedding colors and pinned them on Pinterest for inspiration. Having the colors picked out has really helped us look for items that will work for our wedding. We originally wanted a theme, but the main one we liked was Moonrise Kingdom and we didn't think most people would "get it". But I have decided that gnomes will somehow be incorporated. Still trying to figure that part out...
Dress:
I originally wanted a short, pink dress, but that is definitely not an easy find. And after the cold October we experience, I decided short was not a good idea. The desire for a pink dress remained, partially because it goes again the white of a religious ceremony outfit and partially because it seemed fun.
My first dress shopping experience was with Justin at Bridal Warehouse. I hadn't intended on dragging him along for the first trip, but we were in the area and I had the impulse. I tried on a bunch of different styles to get a feel for what I liked. I never really worried about what I would look like in a wedding dress because I knew I have the body frame that will look good in most type of dresses. It was more a matter of figuring out what I could deal with wearing for an entire day. Some of the dresses were so heavy I could barely make it out to the "runway" for Justin to see. The short dress I tried on felt amazing in comparison, but was boring.
My next dress adventure involved meeting Amanda and Justin's sister, Amy, at David's Bridal. The sales associate was horrible. She didn't use clips to tighten the dresses that were too big, which was all of them, until the last dress when I asked her if she even had clips. She started pulling dresses on her own and handing them to me to try on before I had even tried on the ones I had picked out. I eventually had to stop and go through the dresses that were pulled so I coud take her picks out and get to the dresses I had actually liked. There was one dress with big flowers on the bottom that was cute, but it wasn't pink and they didn't have my exact size. The shopping experience was finished off with dinner at Cumberland Brews.
Next, I met Amy at a consignment dress shop. The dresses had been altered so even if the tag was the right size, the dress didn't fit right once it was on. Most of them were also too short (surprise). The owner seemed convinced that I would find a dress and it was hard to get out the door once I decided there wasn't anything for me. We then headed down the road to Rebecca's Boutique and I actually found two dresses that were awesome. Both were Watters dresses and had price tags around $1,400. The first one was oatmeal with spaghetti straps and lace details. The structure of it was unique and the oatmeal color was still different from the norm. The other dress had a sweetheart neckline and was fitted through the hips before flaring out slightly with pink tulle. The top portion was also pink with lots of beading. It looked great, was pink, and wasn't overly big, but I was worried about how it would look in my actual size. Both dresses looked good on, but I wasn't ready to shell out that much money for a dress that may not look good once it came in in my size. The dresses were, however, my top contenders for a while and I showed picture to quite a few coworkers to get their opinions.
On a rather cold day, Justin and I had intended on walking in the highlands, but ended up driving around instead. We stopped at a red light next to a wedding jewelry store and circled the block to go inside. The store is mostly filled with wedding accessories and custom designed pieces, but there was also a room of sample dresses. The very first dress I noticed when I went into the room was a light blush dress on a display. It had a sweetheart neckline and was fitted through the hips, lower on one hip than the other giving it an asymmetry that I love. The fabric was organza and it was pleated at the top. The bottom had an asymmetric poof to it and under the poof were flowers made of the same material. It wasn't overly big and felt relatively light weight. I looked through the racks, but didn't see anything else I liked as much as the display dress. The dress happened to be an 8, which was fine since I had been trying on mostly size 6 dresses and dresses can be easily altered by one size. I had the owner take it off the display and I tried it on, still wearing the boots I had on when I came in. The back was a corset, which meant the owner had to lace me up. This was time consuming, but the corset also meant that the dress could be tightened down to my size. The only part that was a little loose was the hips. The length was prefect and I could walk without having to alter my steps to kick the dress out of the way. There's a train, but that can be easily removed and the extra material can be used for something else. Overall, the dress looked and felt awesome. Justin loved it and the owner was throwing ideas out left and right about what veil/sash/necklace would look good with it. It was a sample dress that was originally marked $1,200, but was reduced to $600. A nice little bonus. The owner also gave me the number for someone that does alterations. I purchased the dress and it is now hanging in our living room. It's funny how I spent so much time researching dresses only to impulsively buy a dress at a jewelry store. Seems fitting of me though. I'm indecisive until something grabs me and I can't imagine being happy with anything else.
Sidekicks:
The decisions about bridesmaids, or sidekicks as we are calling them, is still up in the air. I've only officially asked Allie and Stephanie to be sidekicks and it is assuming that my sister is one. Beyond that I'm still up in the air. This is the issue with living in multiple cities and having circles of friends from each city.
Things are slowly coming together...