it's official...

[noodle_nose]

hollins house is it. we booked them for february 20, 2010. we paid our deposit and we're settled. it's rather a large milestone, in the planning phase. this is where we'll have our entire wedding: ceremony and reception. i'm excited about it. it's a beautiful place and we love working with the events coordinator. she's awesome and so full of knowledge. she also provided us a pick of possible vendors who she KNOWS will give us discounted prices on their services because we're booked in february. one of the photographers she knows extremely well and says her relationship to him is like that of a son. that's very trusting and someone we really should meet with first. she also included in the list the florist and baker who will give us a good price and save us some money. we're not going all out on the cake, but having a small "for show and cutting" cake, but everyone's piece will come from a sheet cake in the back. this makes cutting the cake for the guests easier and it's much more cost effective for the baker to make one giant sheet cake rather than a tiered cake large enough to feed 90 people. :) i'm still unsure about the flowers and bouquets. i'm really counting on the expertise of the florist to provide prudent advice on which flowers to use and what combinations of flowers will look good with our colors. she also suggested we do our tasting this month, since what will be available now will most likely be available next year at this same time (stuff like types of fish available, fresh veggies, etc). we're looking into having our tasting the last saturday of this month. what's nice is that the catering is done by the restaurant. the head chef who manages their catering is a line cook at the restaurant. we tell the coordinator when we're coming, she makes sure that possible menu items for our wedding are available on the restaurant menu, so that we can actually taste how our food will be prepared. it's also on the house. we essentially get a free dinner (minus drinks and stuff, of course). :P

so, unless we want to pay my mom back the money she put down today, this is the place we're going to be married at a year from now. it's starting to feel more real. eek!