Venues

According to Mindy Weiss's "Wedding Planning Book", finding the venue and picking a date is one of the first steps to planning a wedding.  Luckily, I have parents who enthusiastically volunteered to step up to this task.  And, I am so grateful because they have saved me a ton of time.  Yesterday was the culmination of their searches as I visited 3 venues in one day.  When I do things, I do them and like to get it all over with all at once.  Nothing leisurely about me!

So, on a whirlwind Thursday of a day, my mom and I visited 3 venues in between work. The first venue we visited was very different from the other two.  Each place was more and more overwhelming as my wedding "stress tank" continues to fill up; there is just so much to plan. So many decisions need to be made when it comes to planing a wedding, and each time I speak to a wedding industry expert, I learn something new that I hadn't even thought of before. Of course, something new that I now have to do and couldn't live without!

Venue Option #1 
Villa Christina - the location is perfect. It's right by major transportation and a brand new hotel is opening in June 2014 that is going to be attached to the venue. It couldn't be more convenient for guests!  But, I've been to this venue a ton of times for other occasions, and it just doesn't feel like "the place". It's very hotel-y and doesn't have quite the Southern charm I'm looking for.  But, maybe convenience will outweigh that?

Venue Option #2
Roswell Founder's Hall - a beautiful historic home. This is actually where the first Veterinarian in all of Roswell lived, or something like that; I'm not good with details. There's even a built in bar for all to enjoy! This place has everything I'm looking for, the old historic charm, an outdoor ceremony spot, and more... 

Venue Option #3
Primrose Cottage- the first permanent residential home in Roswell, home to the King family.  Which is so funny because I happen to have a King family member IN my wedding!  It's just meant to be, right?  The wedding Gods are sending me signs, I must accept them!  This house is very similar to Founder's Hall, but with more options.  There's more outdoor space, multiple choices for ceremony set up, and 3 floors of fun where guests have free range throughout the entire event.

Not actual fireworks.

Primrose Cottage is my favorite and even Josh came by on a second tour and agreed.  Once he looked over the list for the cocktail and dinner meal options, he agreed even more.  The stomach really is the secret to any man's heart!

I'll guess we'll just wait and see where we end up!

The Dog in Two Lovebirds

Since today yesterday was National Dog Day, what better way to debut our little pup?

When Josh and I first started dating, I really wanted a dog. Like, really really.  I would run after dogs in the streets, yank them away from strangers and cuddle them endlessly as I baby talked sweet nothings, squeezing all my love into the defenseless little guy.  I was nuts for dogs!  For our first Christmas together, Josh, knowing how much I wanted a little dog, had a big surprise for me.  I was so excited! It had to be a dog, it was the only thing I ever really wanted! And, it was Christmas.  All dreams come true on Christmas!

Well, this dream did not come true. Instead of a real, live dog, Josh gifted me a book:  21 Things To Do With Your Dog.  The dog I didn't have. I had 21 things to do and no dog to do them with.  But, despite this hiccup, our relationship did still go on and just under a year my real present arrived!

Josh finally broke down and agreed we could get a dog, for my birthday.  After stalking Pet Finder online, I saw a little black and white dog with a big pink tongue named Harvey.  We drove an hour away and it was love at first site. Some money was exchanged, a quick haircut (and name change), and we were on our way home, now a complete family of 3.

Winston's first day at his forever home.

 

 

The various hair stylings 
of Winston

What to Wear

This question has come up a couple of times - Do you ever remove the ring? Josh is a firm believer that once the ring is on the finger, it never comes off, it's a permanent fixture.  I agree, for a man.  But, my sparkly bauble just can't stay on when I work out! After a hard day of working at the office, I like to come home and immediately remove all jewelry, put on some gross, nasty clothes and hit the gym.  I'm a little worried that prancersizing around the gym all bare fingered might give off the wrong signals.  I really don't want the millions of single guys up in the gym approaching me like I'm a single lady and ready to be hollered at!  Well either way, if won't be an issue, my "gym" is out of our apartment complex where no one is a regular and absolutely no one makes eye contact.  It's like an unwritten rule - that I love.

I've talked to a couple of friends about this in depth, some said yes remove the ring for all household chores, working out and sleeping, but then some never remove their ring.  What is right?

What are your thoughts?

Bridal Extravaganza

If I thought I felt overwhelmed before Sunday, I was wrong. So wrong.  I left the Bridal Extravaganza with a huge bag of pamphlets and magazines and a sore shoulder from carrying all that junk. My bridal magazine collection has doubled. And I have a growing stack of vacation literature for our dream honeymoon to Mexico, or Antigua, or St.Lucia, or wherever! I'm sure there is a brochure somewhere in this pile of dead trees that covers any picturesque tropical locale you pick. I went with my mom, the MOB, and Jennifer and we each left with an elephant sized satchel.

We made a visit to all of the booths, unfortunately, there wasn't a money machine.  I really shouldn't have factored this unrealistic expectation into the equation, but I did and the amount of disappointment I feel is insurmountable.  In fact, there weren't that many give-aways at all, or swag as we peeps in the biz call it.  This was highly disappointing because I thought I was going to run away with a fist full of cash and a free dress, cake, make-up, and honeymoon.  Jenn and I did get to sit in a Rolls Royce for free, that was nice. I also won a prize for "free" make-up and hair trial.  Well, to clarify, I won a "free" reimbursement of a make-up and hair trial after I book a day-of make-up and hair appointment for the low price of $425!  These wedding vendors sure are tricky! We also enjoyed a sampling of cake, a droplet of prime rib, chips and guac, and a thimble of delicious blueberry lemonade and then watched a fashion show. 

The event itself was enlightening. Hey, I'm getting married.

This whole wedding thing is too much work.  Getting the families to come together, researching venues, worrying about money, even just having time to do anything, nobodys got time for that!

Bridal Show

I'm attending my first bridal show this Sunday at Atlanta's Premiere Bridal Extravaganza.  I hope to sample delicious cakes and try products and win free things.  Supposedly, I'll be able to "visualize, touch, and even feel the excitement", we shall see.

 I'm really excited to get some ideas, talk to vendors and just start figuring things out.  As a person who plans out everything, I don't like not having things figured out, even if we've only been engaged for three weeks.  People keep asking so many questions, I just feel so behind!  I want everything to be all nice and neat and laid out and ready to go for the big day that is (unofficially because there's no date yet) a year away!

The Mrs. from last weekend's wedding went to a bridal show and got to jump into a money machine to win cash.  I think all her winnings got her discounts on tux rentals or something along those lines, but I want to be that girl in the money machine.

So many free give-a ways - I hope to win them all!

Mags

My wedding mag collection is growing quickly!  It's only been two weeks and I'm already developing quite the library of all things bridal. If this keeps up, there will be hundreds of fine mags littering the coffee table in no time. This leads me to another question, at what point is it no longer "me", but "we"?  Our wedding, of course, is about us, but are they my mags, or our mags? "What's mine is yours" is something we've always expressed throughout our relationship, but I just don't know that I would call these magazines ours.

Thoughts?

Do I really have to share everything?

Oh man, I have so much to learn...

Weekend Wedding

Over the weekend I joined Crystal at her side as she married Will. These crazy kids dated for over six years and are just one of those couples that you can't imagine them without one another. They're like beans and rice, peas in a pod, corn on the cob, and many other fine food related analogies. We all agreed that it felt like they were already married since they're so perfect together - it was just time to make the whole thang official! The wedding was filled with fun times and great friends. After college everyone has slowly crept across the country in new pursuits, but whenever there's a wedding we're reunited and it's like we never left each other. That's one of the best things about weddings, people from all over coming back together to celebrate love!

The maids before walking down the aisle.












The freshly married, happy couple.

And of course, my first (and only) choice wedding date since 2010.

Sometimes I have to hold him by the neck so his head doesn't fall off during the picture taking.  It's a tough job, but somebody has gotta do it!

The Engagement

Imagine this, clear blue skies, waves crashing below against the rocky shoreline of Puerto Rico as the sun sets off in the background. Sounds like a movie setting for a storyline proposal right? Right. I couldn't have planned it better myself. So, with the setting just right I led Meghan up to the edge of the cliff. What will happen next? Do I push her over? No. Just the opposite, in a stunning twist of fate I hit one knee and pour my soul into the universe as I gaze deeply into Meghan's sun lit eyes. The rest, my friends...Is history.

-Joshua

After dragging me through the streets as fast as he could, afraid we would miss our dinner reservations, we paused at the top of a little cliff overlooking the ocean. As we looked out into the clear, blue ocean, Josh turned to me, dropped down on one knee and popped the question. I immediately said YES! After hugs and kisses, and a couple of tears, we asked the nearest person to take a picture of us.  He must have been pretty scared of us because he would not come closer than 20 feet...

-Meghan

So it begins...

Just relaxing on the beaches of Puerto Rico, reality didn't really hit until the plane landed at Hartsfield-Jackson - We are engaged! It's so easy living in paradise and living moment to moment, pina colada to pina colada, but now it's time to start planning! What better way to chronicle this whole exciting experience than through a weblog for all our family and friends to see? I'll try and update throughout the year and keep an honest viewpoint of wedding planning, and, of course, leave a surprise here and there for the big day!