Church, City Hall or just a Back Yard wedding??

I’m not going to lie…this falls under the “things we had decided on before we were engaged” bit. To the tune of April before we got engaged in December. :)  As soon as we started talking about getting engaged you know Opal and myself went to planning (I mean, do you really need a ring if you know it's coming?) Maybe planning isn't the word we used back then - more like research, looking, browsing, getting ideas, unofficial planning, etc., you get the idea.

One of the first discussions Dave and I had was about where to get married and what was most important for us on that day.

Dave’s ideal wedding venue:

(no joke) 

My venue I had imagined when I was a young girl:

(the church my parents got married in and I attended until I went to college)

as a teenager, just like Melissa Joan Heart did…a week long trip to Italy

(clearly this was also when I was young and did not understand the concept of money or responsibilities of being a grown up)

Since Dave’s family is Catholic and my family is Baptist we decided it was very important for us to not have a church ceremony in an effort to make everyone feel comfortable. (PS – before your gears start turning, yes, Dave and I have had several discussions about this and we have a plan for raising our future children and incorporating both religions. Calm it down.) Now back to venue decisions…we toyed with the idea of having a nice destination wedding:

 (who couldn’t love that)

But decided that was not really for us. Hello, I hate being HOT and would not want to get sand on my dress!

One day Opal sent me a link to VRBO, which we had used for vacation rentals in the past. It was for "The Retreat," a 13,000 square foot house on Lake Oconnee that allowed weddings.

More wedding photos from the house are here. 

Dave and I immediately fell in love with it. It was perfect…casual, low-key, beautiful and we could stay the whole weekend with our bridal party/families and not be rushed. Plus it would allow any caterer, no police/bar tender for the bar, any setup we wanted for the wedding/reception, basically the place is ours to do what we want for the weekend. I talked to the owner, we made a trip out to see the venue, decided it was right for us, then waited to be officially engaged to put a deposit down.

So what do you think? Too nontraditional or smart for paying the same price for  an entire weekend as we would for a one day banquet room at a hotel?

First Look

One of the very first things Dave and I talked about when discussing our wedding ceremony was having a "first look." After seeing tons of pictures on weddingbee, I went back and forth on the idea, and Dave didn't have much of an opinion (no surprise there). that is until this one video changed both of our opinions


Meredith and Tommy from Monachetti on Vimeo.

The first look happens around 2:30, but you should watch the entire video. It is Ah, maze, ing!
We both cried while watching it (well I cried, Dave might have just teared up a little)...you can just see how much they love each other.

In addition to how great photos will be, it will also give us a few moments alone to gush all over each other and really take things in!  And I'm not going to lie, I'm about 102% sure that Dave is going to cry during the first look.  And if he can hold it all together during the ceremony, I will be shocked! While it is breaking tradition, I can't wait for him to see me in my pink wedding dress! :)

174 days before I DO!

Wow, I can’t believe that we only have 174 days before our wedding. The past few months have FLOWN by. I have a ton to catch you up on and I promise to be a better blogger over the next few months leading up to the wedding.

So here is what we’ve done over the last few months (and possibly before we were even engaged!) :)

· Venue – check

· Dress – check (spoiler alert - it’s not white!)

· Dave’s suit – check

· Wedding Shoes – check for Billie, check for Dave

· Wedding Website – half check (it is much more time consuming than one might think)

· Engagement Pictures – round one, check.

· Save The Dates – work in progress

· Guest List – the nightmare is finally over

· Bridal Party Dresses – Laura (MOH) check, Opal (Mom) check, Marianne (FMIL) check. Valerie and Deb’s dresses TBD

· Cake Topper – check

· Wedding cake – thank you Marietta Diner – check

· Photographer – check

· Officiant – check thank you Uncle Jerry

And that is about all. I’m sure the list of things we have left to do far outweigh the list of things complete…but I’m still waiting on my wedding fairy to show and take care of all the small details! That does happen, right?!

In addition to this being the craziest time of year at work for both Dave and myself, we have decided to start training for a half marathon. (No, not a joke, but amusing I’m sure!) So I’ll start reporting each week about training and how it is going.

Check back soon for more details of our crazy life! :)

xoxo

Future Mrs. Frys

Lola's Photo Shoots

In case you are wondering, Lola is my Engagement Ring. That's right...I gave her a name. I'm pretty sure that is normal for any girl who gets the ring of her dreams! She even has a cute little cupcake that she sleeps in at night. (that's normal too, right?!)

I won't go in to all the details about how we selected the ring, but I will show you how talented Jan and Matt are, plus how beautiful my ring is.

These are courtsey of my wonderful coworker and friend, Janet Crocker:

And here are a few from Matt Smith. He brought in a special lens, set up the tri-pod and all. It really became a group effort as Steve (my wedding day photographer ::more on this next week::) was a wonderful Art Director and supplied a desk right next to the window so we could get the best light.

These are pantones...not paint chips! ;)

If you are drooling (or tearing up like I did) and want to see more check out his website. Password is billie


I am so thankful to work with such great, wonderful, talented people! and I could not love my ring any more! Now the hard part...which is your favorite?!