The Venue Saga: The Big Reveal Part 1

As promised, I have TONS of pictures to show you guys of our beautiful venue.  This first picture is from the door to the reception area, looking back towards the big red barn I mentioned in the previous post.  The ceremony site is to my right as I take this picture.

See, it's not what you were thinking!  I personally think that the barn is super cute and I love the photos I've seen from weddings in the barn.  But you can see, even from this picture, that the grass is pretty dead.  Hopefully it will be much nicer in October than it was in December.  Here's the beginning of the ceremony aisle.  I'm not a huge fan of the "kissing balls" so we won't be using them.

And some more...

Don't you just love that tree??  It's gorgeous!  So in love with this place.

All of the chairs will be set up here along each side.  We'll have rose petals down the sides of the aisle.  So you just have to imagine what it will look like.  But we are so excited about the ceremony space.  Now for the inside.  When our guests walk inside to the reception, here's the scene that will greet them.  Please ignore the color scheme, ours will be much different! 

The buffet area: 

The doorway in the back left of the photo leads to the indoor bar.  So let's head there now. 

The room where the bar is, is the original building.  They've since built on everything else, but this room was once a little farmhouse.  Off of the bar is the bride's room where me and the girls will be getting ready.  They really treat the bride well here, I have to say.  Here's some photos:

To the left is the "secret garden" and I'll show pictures of that in a moment.  To the right, is this:

Lots of space for us to pretty ourselves up.  Now to the "secret garden"!  There are so many gorgeous areas to take photos at this venue, I'm so excited to see how they turn out! 

To the right is the backside of the outdoor bar.  We have our own little window where we can get champagne, wine or beer served to us apart from everyone else.  Isn't this little area so pretty? 



The guys room isn't nearly as exciting, and to tell the truth, I was bad and didn't even take pictures of it!  The guys are in a small room back by the red barn when you first came in.  Next time we're there, I'll try to take some pics to share with you all. 

More photos to come, including pictures of the reception area, so stay tuned! 









The Venue Saga: The Big Reveal Teaser!

I guess I've left you waiting long enough.  I've walked you through the North Georgia wedding venues that helped us decide we wanted to be closer to home, the gorgeous Piedmont Park venues that we had to give up on, and our "if-we-don't-find-anything-else-this-is-our-venue" venue.  Lucky for us (and you!) the story doesn't end there.  We found this wedding venue online called Che'ne Rouge which just looked perfect.  But, pictures don't always tell the full story.  We signed up for the Open House and set out to go check it out in person.  We pulled up to the site and immediately saw the big red barn.  Now, stay with me guys.  I know I might lose some of you when I say barn, but trust me.


So here's the view from just inside the property.  No barn in this picture, but they're coming.  I promise.

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Of course, we didn't crash a wedding to get this picture, it's from their website.  But isn't it gorgeous?  Here's some more for your viewing pleasure. We were there a bit later in the year so the leaves were mostly off the tree, but it should look more like the pictures I have here in October.  We hope! 

Here's another gorgeous picture of the outside of the venue from their website with a sneak peak of the reception area.

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Isn't it lovely?  We're so excited about the giant tree we get to get married under.  It's inspired a lot of wedding details!  For those of you who aren't up on your French, Che'ne Rouge means Red Oak.  It's named that because on the other side of the property (by the outdoor bar!  Whoo!) there is a 200 year old Red Oak tree that is just gorgeous.  There's a lot of history in this little building.  Or, in part of it at least.  So stay tuned for more fabulous photos and more details about our awesome venue! 



Wedding Lingo

When I first started reading wedding blogs and message boards, I was disturbed.  There were a number of people that took the TMI, that's too much information for those who aren't "in the know", to a whole new level.  Before long, I realized that these BM's and STD's that were causing so much trouble for these brides-to-be were not bowel movements or sexually transmitted diseases.  Imagine my relief to learn that they are, instead, acronyms for bridesmaid and save-the-dates.  Whew!  So, after my STD blog post, I decided that you all should be as equally educated on these topics as I am so there can be no confusion that when I talk about my BM Brooke, that I did not just name a... well, you get the picture.

So, without further adieu, I give you the wedding website lingo!

FI - Fiance
FH - Future Husband
DH - Dear Husband
MIL - Mother in law
FIL - Father in law
SIL - Sister in law
BIL - Brother in law
FMIL - Future Mother-in-law
FSIL  -Future Sister in law
FFIL - Future Father in Law
FBIL - Future Brother in Law
IL - In-Law
MOB - Mother of Bride
MOH - Maid of Honor
BM - Bridesmaid
BP - Bridal Party
GM - Groomsman
FG - Flower girl
RB - Ringbearer
DOC - Day of Coordinator
CP - Centerpiece
STD - Save the Date
OOT - Out of Town
E-pics - Engagement Pics
E-ring - Engagement Ring
E-party - Engagement Party
RD - Rehearsal Dinner
WW - Weight Watchers  (I find this funny that this is on a wedding website as an acronym.  But I get it.)
NWR - Not Wedding Related
SWR - Somewhat Wedding Related
HM - Honeymoon
GTG - Get-Together
DW - Destination Wedding
RP - Repost
TIA - Thanks in Advance
IMO - In My Opinion
IMHO - In My Honest Opinion
HTH - Hope That Helps
JOP - Justice of the Peace
LDR - Long Distance Relationship
WB - Weddingbee

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So, now you can all lurk on all of the messageboards over at theknot.com and weddingbee.com.  You know you want to!

Save-the-Dates

Oh the STD's, gotta love the inappropriate acronym.  K and I have discussed these for awhile and have found quite a few that we like.  We've been on the fence about doing a photo or non-photo STD.  We finally booked our photographer (yay!) and are planning on doing an engagement session with him, since it's included in our package.  If you're wondering who we chose, if you guessed Christopher Helm, then you are the proud owner of these shiny new..

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bragging rights.  Yes, I know.  I'm so generous! 

We absolutely LOVED Chris when we met him and loved his work.  I'm super excited to see how the photos turn out for both the engagement session and the wedding.  Just take a look at his website!  Anyway, enough gushing about Chris, back to the topic at hand, our STD's!  (hee hee) 

We decided that we really wanted to go with magnet Save-the-Dates because they're just super cute and really convenient to just stick them on your fridge.  There are a lot of sites out there that sell these magnets at reasonable prices.  My personal favorite that I've found is http://www.magnetstreet.com/.  I've heard good things about http://www.vistaprint.com/ but I just haven't found a lot there that I've liked. But here are some of the non-photo STD's we really like from magnetstreet.  

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I should also probably mention that we can change the color scheme on any of these.  I'm not a fan of the yellow-orange background in the second STD, but I love the tree.  Since our wedding is in October, I think it goes so well for the fall. 

I have to admit, these next few were never serious contenders, but they're just too funny to not share with you all. 

And my personal favorite: 

Gotta love the sense of humor.  But seriously, some of the others I actually liked are:

I love the idea that we're "counting down" the days until we get married.  Because, we are!  I can't wait to marry my best friend.  October can't come soon enough.  (275 days!)



I just really like the font in this one and the background.  It's so pretty! 

I also don't think we would have actually done the love birds, but I just think it's so cute I had to share. 

We have since decided to wait until our engagement session to send out STD's so we can include some of the pictures of the two of us in the Save-the-Date.  They're so much fun and I like that we'd actually get some use out of the pictures.  See what I mean? 

Super cute.  Not sure that this will be the one we use, but you get the idea.  What do you think??  Do you like the photo or non-photo save the dates better? 





The Venue Saga: Part Three

Well, let's see, where were we?  Oh yes, first there were the North GA venues that weren't.  Then, I let go of the dream to have a wedding at Piedmont Park.  I know you're all asking, is this the Big Reveal??  Well, no.  Sorry to disappoint, but I'm still going to keep you in suspense for a bit longer while I tell you about Pristine Chapel Lakeside in Jonesboro, GA.  Let me tell you that this venue is GORGEOUS!  This was the first place we visitied and everywhere we went, we just kept comparing back to this place.  So, without further adieu, here is some "venue porn" (I just love that expression that I stole from Weddingbee!) of Pristine Chapel.  All pics were taken by yours truly.

First up, the outdoor ceremony site.  Love. it.  I could really imagine us standing here in front of the beautiful lake with the fountain and music over the outdoor speakers.  Or maybe even a little string quartet?  Ohh, I love the outside of this place. 

Next up, the "back-up" chapel, at least it would be that for us.  This was probably the best rain plan option out of all the venues we saw.  The indoor chapel was just beautiful.  We were there with a TON of other people for an open house, but you can see they had it set up with some simple decor on one side and a little more elaborate on the other. 

Like I said, gorgeous.  Now we move on to the reception area.  It's attached to the chapel, and in my opinion, not a whole lot to get excited about.  Blank walls, and like the chapel, they have it set up with simple decorations on one side and more elaborate decorations on the other.  Take a look. 

Yup, that's me you see dancing my way across the floor back to the mister.  So, this place was our "if we don't find anything else we're getting married here" venue.  Oh!  I almost forgot!  One of the best things about this place.  It comes with a Rolls Royce!  Fantastic! 

Oh yes, and we did get to have some weird pineapple spritzer drink, which was just awful, and some of their more popular cake flavors.  I've gotta say, the free tastings are awesome!  I want to keep going to venues just for the free delicious cake! 



Now you've seen them all.  All of the venues that weren't.  And while I still LOVE the ceremony site at Pristine Chapel, the place we've chosen is just so, us.  It's perfect!  I know you all hate me for keeping you in suspense but I hope you're enjoying the ride and I just want to ask you to hang on a bit longer.  The wait will be well worth it, I assure you.  

What (Not) to Wear: Part Deux

Last we left off with the dress search, I was ready to give up on the hunt.  I had yet to find anything that remotely flattered my body.  But, not to be discouraged, our happy little wedding planning crew (consisting of myself, my mother, and my grandmother) set out early on Saturday morning to continue the dress hunt.  Our second appointment was at David's Bridal.  I had high hopes about this appointment as well.  The same day we were going to an open house at a prospective venue, so I dressed myself up all pretty with hopes that it would make me feel better about how I felt in the dresses.  I brought with me a handful of dress selections from magazines and online, which I highly recommend! It makes the process a lot easier, even if you hate the dresses they bring out.  So, here are the highlights.

 

I loved this dress in pictures.  I actually really liked it on too, but it wasn't the one.  But it was a serious contender.  I wasn't a huge fan of the back of the dress which was a priority.  Everyone will be looking at the back of me during the whole ceremony so I want them to enjoy the view.  :)

I liked the neckline on this, and I'd put it in my top 3 from David's Bridal.  But still, we weren't quite there yet. 



Let me start off by saying, ignore the veil.  I hate it.  Seriously.  Oh, and I hate the dress too, so you can ignore that too.  Moving on...

So this one I really liked because I feel like it makes me look tall.  But, it doesn't give me a whole lot of shape.  But I'm a much bigger fan of the headpiece than I was the veil.  So, the next dress was my favorite at David's Bridal and would have been the one had I not found it at our 3rd and final dress shop.  

I loved the neckline of this dress.  This will forever be "the cupcake dress" as my mom likes to call it.  I think it looks more like one of those soft-serve ice cream cones, but potato-patato.  (I realize that expression doesn't work so much in print, but you get the point.) 

I will say that the dress saga does have a happy ending, but you'll have to wait to hear about how we found the one.  Next up, the next part of the search for the perfect venue.  Will it be the big reveal?  You'll just have to tune in to find out! 

 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand

Well, actually, a lot more than that.  As it turns out, photographers are quite pricey.  I feel so uneducated when it comes to all of this wedding stuff but everything is SO expensive!  What is with that?  I really think these vendors hear "wedding" and jack up the cost.  But I digress... 

We quickly realized that if we wanted good pictures, we were going to have to move some things around in our budget.  A good photographer was a priority when we started planning the wedding.  Our priorities were fourfold:  1) a good photographer; 2) an outdoor venue; 3) open bar; 4) easy access for OOT guests.  That's it.  Everything else was important, but not as important as these three things.  So, with a little bit of budget adjusting, we had a few photographers in mind whose work we liked.  To be honest, our venue package includes a photographer.  His style just wasn't exactly what we were looking for.  But, good news!  Since we are not using their photographer, we do get a slight (and I do mean slight!) discount on our package.  The photographer is worth... (drumroll please!).... 

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$400.  Yes.  That's two zeros.  You can't get a photographer who has actually shot a wedding before for $400.  But alas, we have no choice so we'll take what we can get.  So we set out on a search for a photographer who was creative, did a mixture of candid/photojournalistic work and posed shots, and wasn't going to break the bank.  After a thorough search of Weddingbee (I'm addicted to the bee!), the knot, atlantabridal, amongst many other sites, we narrowed our search down to three photographers.  We were hoping to find someone who had shot at our location before and were somewhat successful in that endeavor.  However, that wasn't a priority.  We found 3 that we liked that were in our price range and I contacted them all to request more information and a larger selection of their work.  A lot of photographers have a good selection of pictures on their website, but typically they are a selection of their favorite and best shots and don't represent the majority of their work.  I wanted to see more of what a real couple would see after their wedding.  What does the slideshow of images look like that I get to choose from for my album? 

From these emails, we narrowed it down to two that we wanted to meet with.  Both of the photographers had really good work that fit our criteria and were prompt to respond.  Bonus!  They also had good reviews, and I couldn't find a single bad review on either of them.

So, off to meet with our potential photographers.  With my "The Book of Bride's Lists" in hand (a gift from my fabulous Maid of Honor whom I love to death!), I was completely prepared.  The first photographer we met with was Shannon Wright.  She was super sweet and we really liked her.  She seemed really passionate about photography and clearly loves what she does.  And it showed because her work was great.  Just take a look at some of these pictures and you'll see why we fell in love.  You can see many more on her blog and her website.  But, seriously, she's fantastic!  And her pricing is really competitive. 

  

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The second photographer we met with was Christopher Helm.  He, also, was fantastic.  We loved his work online and couldn't wait to see some of his albums.  When we met him at Starbucks (he must have sensed the coffee-lover in me!), he was very down-to-earth and laid back.  We looked through a couple of his albums and were wow'd by his work.  He is so creative and clearly loves his work.  His albums were amazing!  We weren't planning on getting albums, but looking through his made us rethink that decision.  We decided that if we went with Chris, we would probably want an album.  He's that good.  Oh, and just for a bonus: he's shot at our venue before.  Just take a look at some of his work. 

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Which photographer would you choose?  Incidentally, some of the pictures above, taken by Chris Helm, are from the venue we've chosen.  Want to venture a guess at which ones they are?  I know, I know, I haven't told you about our venue yet.  It's coming, so stay tuned!