Lots of Little Pieces

For a day that was not originally going to involve wedding planning, I got a lot done! It all started with a trip to Alexandria. I love going there to walk along the water and poke in and out of shops. The old buildings and bright waterfront make it a welcoming and relaxing place to be (once you have found parking, anyway). So today I meandered down King Street, toured the Torpedo Factory, and stopped at Bread and Chocolate for lunch. I also went to one of my all time favorite stores, The Paper Source, and that is where the wedding stuff started happening.

For the most part, my Save-the-Dates are going to be sent out via email. I will post more about those at another time. For those family members who are not up to speed on email, I decided to put together some simple, paper save-the-date cards. And where better to brainstorm than the Paper Source. An hour later I walked out of the store with supplies for the save-the-dates, invitation ideas, and a seamstress!

While working my way through the walls of paper options, one of the seamstresses I had contacted called me back. Her name is Diana, but on her website she goes by Maryland Seamstress. She was really friendly on the phone and listed out her unbelievably good pricing. I had already read her reviews online and her previous brides were all very happy with her work. Another puzzle pieces is falling into place! My fittings won't start until April but she is already booking appointments for the spring, so I'll add mine to her list.

But back to the paper... The women working at the Paper Source were really helpful and pointed out papers that would be easy to print on in sizes that would be easy to mail. Picking out papers was a lot harder than I thought! Even though I am sending out just ten to fifteen save-the-date cards, I want them to look nice. After going through all the reds, oranges, yellows, and browns, I decided. I picked an orangey-red backing with an off-white floral printer paper. Plus I got recycled paper envelopes to add a touch of fun. The papers aren't exactly my wedding colors, but they compliment them enough that I can definitely use the extra paper in other wedding projects.

After so much success, I kept going on my wedding planning "high" at home. I added email addresses to my guest list, ordered my wedding shoes (there were only 2 pairs left!), and- well, I am blogging about it. So that's my surprisingly productive day!

Big Steps

I am happy to say Mike and I now have a photographer and a caterer signed and set!

Our photographer is Madeline Marshall. She takes great journalistic style shots and seems like a good person to work with.

For catering we are going with Putting on the Ritz. We attended a tasting with them not long after our tasting with Hunt Valley. The food was great and the staff seemed flexible and professional. We started the tasting with a hot artichoke dip that was divine and continued on through some interesting and yummy appetizers such as Asian Beef Salad in Phyllo Cups. The other really stand-out dishes were the Lacquered Salmon and Asiago Mashed Potatoes. Plus, when we had some questions and critiques for the pasta dish, the rep, Bobby, was very flexible and said we could even provide a recipe if we had one in mind! After a few weeks of deliberation and one other tasting we decided to go with them. We are still working out the fine details of the menu (and the pasta recipe) so perhaps there are more tastings to come!

My mom, who came to the tasting with us, reaches for a pear, brie and almond cup

So with the photographer, caterer, and even some of the decorations squared away it is time to focus on the band. Originally I had this whole scheme about seeing a band every month over the summer and getting a good feeling of who was out there and what I wanted. Yeah, that didn't happen. So now I am starting over. Let me know if you know any bands!! I am looking for blue grass and/or jazz. I will keep you posted on what I find!

First Taste

As I am writing this blog entry I am actually munching on some of the leftovers from last night's food tasting. That's right, Mike and I went to our first tasting with a caterer! It was not exactly what I expected, but it was definitely fun, informative, and tasty.

Our first tasting was with Hunt Valley Catering. Logically it was located in Hunt Valley, north of Baltimore. Mike and I braved the evening traffic and headed up there after work. The catering business is set up in the same building as a fire station, which made it a little hard to spot. However, it was a very cute place and the representative made us feel right at home. We chatted a little about details and then she started bringing out the food.

First came the appetizers. The spanakopita, sesame chicken skewers, and pot stickers were really yummy, as were a few of the other options. As the food was coming out though, Mike and I began to realize, this was not the food we had specifically asked about trying. I guess they have a standard spread they have people taste. I was a little disappointed since there were dishes we wanted to try and couldn't. Regardless, we plunged on through the appetizers to the main course. My hands-down favorite was the sweet potatoes with apple chutney. The picture above does not do justice. They were really excellent, as were the seasonal veggies and the Chicken Chesapeake (below).
After all the food was tasted, the representative sat down to talk with me the day of time-line, linens, and other details. All in all it was a good tasting, I am curious to compare it to other tastings as they happen. I will definitely know to be clear when requesting certain foods to taste next time. I also have a better idea of everything the caterer does on the day of the wedding. Mike and I are definitely looking forward to the other tastings coming up in early September. Stay tuned!

Catching up with Life

It has been months since I last wrote in my wedding blog. And I am sad to say, I have done very little for my wedding since getting my dress.

So what have I been doing with all my time?!

For those of you who don't know, I have changed careers. I spent most June and July preparing for and adjusting to my big switch. I am now working part time while I gain volunteer experience in my new field and prepare for graduate school.

Last week I had a bit of a wake up call. One of my bridesmaids came over to see the dress and we chatted about the wedding. She reminded me that I really needed to start thinking about caterers. So far, I have been so a head of the typical time-line that I never really worried. In the case of caterers though, she was right- it's time to start looking! Since Gramercy Mansion only allows you to use a caterer from their list, a lot of the work is done for me. At the moment, I am sorting through menus and pricing tables figuring it all out. I am definitely looking forward to going to tastings, though!

I was mostly too busy to plan, but in the past few months I did get my dress in the mail. It came in a surprisingly small box. I pulled it out and tried it on. It's going to need some adjusting, but its definitely the one I ordered! I'm so excited to have it in hand. I'll probably wait until April to do a fitting, though. That said- if you know a seamstress in the area, let me know!

I also have been on the hunt for a photographer. It was the one part of my wedding planning I could do easily from home. I spent hours combing online portfolios and lists of photographers... Hopefully I will have more news on that front soon.

So that is my mega life and wedding update! I will try to be better about posting, and I'm sure I'll have some fun updates after doing the tastings.

To end this post, here is a picture of yummy looking food. Enjoy!

Picture courtesy of http://blog.adhack.com/

No Lace?!

Friday I bought a wedding dress! I'm still a bit in shock, but it's a good kind of shock. I came up to New Jersey to see my parents and go dress shopping with my mom. We went first to a small store in NJ and then took the train into New York. Though the store in NJ was nice, there selection was limited. We left there with a favorite dress in mind, only to find it again at RK Bridal in New York.

RK Bridal on a week day was a totally different store from the chaos of my last visit (on a Saturday). There was a hand full of other brides going through the racks and trying on dresses. No place was it too crowded, and the women working there seemed happy and relaxed. I put my name on the list and there were only 4 names a head of mine. My mom and I had just enough time to search through the racks and pull 7 dresses to try on. Included in my 7 dresses was my favorite dress from the store in NJ (WToo Mariella). I also had the Dessy Destinations 1021 and 1016, from my previous visit to RK.

After trying on all of the dresses, it was clear that the dress I had found in NJ just didn't hold a candle to some of the others. We narrowed it down to three dresses, and then finally to two. But here's the kicker. Only one of the final two dresses had lace! One dress was the Dessy Destinations 1016 and the other was WToo' Carolina. My mom and I left the store and went across the street to Starbucks to ponder. While the 1016 has lace and is very form fitting, the Carolina is stellar dress. It has an interesting texture, a 1940's feel, and a great shape and flow to it.

Back in RK Bridal we looked at the two dresses side by side and it was pretty clear which one we both thought was the best. So we picked it up and headed over to the front desk. They took my measurements, let us take pictures, and put in the order. My dress will arrive in August!

In the end, I'm ok with not having any lace on the dress. The point of the lace was to have an interesting texture, the Carolina definitely delivers on that. Plus, it still has a vintage feel and a flattering shape, not to mention there was no other dress in the store quite like it. Now I need find a seamstress and a nice bright color for the sash! I am also going to take some of the train off and turn it into cap sleeves. I think it will be a light, fun, and classy dress for our garden wedding.

Here is a close up of the fabric.
Just a tease, though, you'll have to wait for the wedding to see the dress!

A Tip for the Photographer Search

For the couple of brides-to-be who read my blog, I have a great website to share with you! I recently ran across the Wedding Photojournalist Association while looking for photographers online. It's a great database that give clear pricing information and notes award winning photographers. It's nation wide and you can search by state. Enjoy!

9 Months of Bluegrass, 18 Months to Go

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last blog post! I wish I could say that there's lots wedding news to share, but there isn't. I have been busy with class, work, training for a 10 mile race, and just life in general.

This morning, however, there were two fun emails in my inbox. The first was from TheKnot.com congratulating me on 18 months to go! Our wedding is 18 Months from today! I don't know if that sounds like a lot or a little, but it definitely put me in a good mood.

image from wikimedia.org

The other email was a whole bunch of songs from a concert Mike and I went to last Saturday. But this story requires a little bit more explanation.

Mike and I would like to have a live band at our wedding, but its not going to be just your average wedding band. We are looking for a bluegrass band! And of course, the best way to judge a band is to see them play. So I've started scouring the Internet for bluegrass bands who have good music posted online, are in my price range, and are performing in the area. The Orrin Star Duo on Saturday night was our first concert.

At around 8 pm Mike and I wandered up to a house in a quiet neighborhood in Columbia for this "house concert." Neither of us really knew what to expect. Inside a whole bunch of bluegrass enthusiasts were jamming away and munching on food. At a little after 8pm we all crowded onto couches and folding chairs in the living room as Orrin Star and his guitarist, Daniel, were introduced. Orrin turned out to be a good humored guy with great guitar skills, a good voice, and fun stories. I had actually emailed with Orrin before the concert and he told me that the Saturday night concert would not be his usual wedding quartet fare. As Orrin had predicted, the music he and Daniel played was a little slower than I am looking for and he focused a lot of Irish music rather than bluegrass. That said, the second song he played was an Irish harp piece played on the guitar and it totally blew me away! It would be great to walk down the aisle to! Mike and I left the concert with a good feeling about Orrin, but knowing that we would definitely need to hear him with a bigger group before deciding. This morning's email was a bunch of songs recorded at the concert Saturday night, including the harp piece! I'm glad that I have it to hear again and share.

With 18 months until the wedding and about 9 months until I actually need to book a band, I am looking forward to months of bluegrass to come! I think this adventure will be one of my favorite parts of wedding planning!

The Definition of Girl Time

What better place to catch up with friends, be girly, and look for wedding dresses than New York City. Two of my bridesmaids, my future sister-in-law, and I did all of the above this Saturday and had a great time!

The day's meeting place was RK Bridal, a retail store in the famous NY Garment District. I had looked at their website, but my first real taste of RK was Dana's description over the phone. "It's crazy! There are so many dresses! It's crazy in here."

It wasn't just the dresses that made it crazy inside RK as I discovered when I arrived. When Selene and I got there, a couple minutes past 11 a.m., it was already packed with brides-to-be. Selene added my name to the list for a changing room and we were on the second page! And I thought we were getting there on the early side! We ended up waiting an hour and a half for our turn at a changing room, but the time was definitely not a waste. Ingrid, Dana, Selene, and I browsed bridesmaids dresses, and scoured the wracks for the 5 best dresses for me to try on. I have to say it was a huge help having three other people to look through dresses, hold stuff, and of course give their opinions. Since RK was so busy, I was only allowed 5 dresses to try on. We put together a good handful of lacy, affordable gowns and sat down to watch other brides and judge... I mean, watch and chat, of course!

I almost squealed with surprise and excitement when my name was finally called. All four of us headed to the dressing room to put down our coats and I climbed into the first dress (Dessy Destinations 1021): a sweat heart topped, flowy lace dress. It felt great on and surprisingly comfortable. Out in front of the mirror, we all took a close look. The ruching across the middle was popular with the girls, as was the flow of the lace in the skirt. However, the slanted seam the connecting the skirt to the bodice, was a slight sticking point. The dress very much fit my vision of what I was looking for, so the seam did not bother me so much.

The second, third and fourth dresses we not as exciting. Ingrid liked the second one (as did I) but it was a little too princess for me, the third one had sequins the made it itchy, and the fourth would have been near perfect if it wasn't so heavy! Plus it had a seam in the same spot as dress 1, but unlike the first dress, it constricted the movement of my legs.

The last dress was also by Dessy Destinations (number 1016). It felt great on! It was comfortable and easy to wear, but still had the support and shape I was looking for. What's more the lace was a unique pattern. The real sticking point, however, was how plain the cut of the dress was. The woman helping us, Nicole, got a brown sash to add to it, which helped a lot, but the front would have to be cut (to create a sweat heart neckline) and cap sleeves would have to be added (which was true of all the dresses I tried on). That said, the dress was so affordable, making those changes would be a definite possibility.

I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying on my two favorites again.

After the dress shopping, Selene, Dana, Ingrid, and I went for high tea and then went our own ways. Between, the dresses, the chatting, and the tea it was a perfect girly day!

Avocados and Hardware Stores

As most of you probably know, I love colors. I love wearing colors, being surrounded by colors, eating foods of many colors, the list goes on. So, it is no surprise that I started thinking about colors for my wedding as soon as I was engaged. Granted, this was long before I knew the big event's place or time of day. I did, however, show great self-restraint by waiting until my wedding venue, date, and time were squared away before making any official color decisions.

For me, picking colors is about visualizing them. When I wanted to paint a room yellow and green, I found a perfectly ripe avocado, cut it in half and took a picture before going to the paint store. I probably would have taken the avocado to the store with me to compare colors, but it would have been too messy. Though, a little strange perhaps, I believe my method was successful. The colors of the room are as creamy, smooth and inviting as I wanted them to be.

When thinking about colors for my wedding, I wanted an equally visual way of selecting not only colors, but tones and depth. So back to Home Depot I went. Leah (also known as Jack) came too, to look at colors for her wedding! You might laugh and ask how hard can it be to pick out a dark red, but there I was with five or six different dark reds trying to figure out which one was best.

Since getting engaged in September, I've know a couple key things about the wedding I was about to plan- It would be in the fall, it would be outside, and the colors would be earthy. Many of you know my love for blues and greens, but for this I really wanted warmer, natural tones. From the start I was thinking autumnal reds and oranges, but it wasn't until I was standing in Home Depot that the specifics really started to come together. Some colors were easy to find. I picked up a creamy yellow and deep chocolate brown almost right away. Others like the red and orange took a while. I wanted the colors to be rich, but not to bright. They were for bridesmaids dresses after all, and who would want to wear a bright orange dress?

After much thought, I left Home Depot with a solid set of colors. The colors are a deep, but true red (not too much pink or purple in it), a rusty orange (with nice shades of brown mixed in but not too flat), a warm and creamy yellow, and chocolate brown and forest green for accents. Gramercy Mansion is a wood building with a garden and lawn, so I figured the greens and browns would be everywhere anyway. I will tie them into my decorations in small ways. Leah got some good ideas out of it too. She had a couple different sets, not ready to pick one quite yet.

The last step was to see them in the setting. In between touring Gramercy Mansion and signing the rental agreement, I pulled out my colors and took a look. They fit well with mansion. With colors, place, day and time set, I can really begin to envision the other pieces of the puzzle. Now I've got to go out there and find them!

It's Set!

Today was a great day all around. I had a good run, had fun hanging out with my parents and Mike's parents.. and we BOOKED OUR WEDDING VENUE!

That's right, I now have date at Gramercy Mansion. Mike and I will get married on _______. We took my parents and Mike's parents to Gramercy to get a tour and see for themselves how pretty it is. Everyone loved it and we signed the rental agreement!! I'm really happy to have a date and a place set. Now I can relax and start to pull some of the other pieces together.

Pouring over the rental agreement... and signing it!

A Little Dash of Drama

Getting my first look at Gramercy Mansion back in November.

I know there's plenty of stress and drama when planning a wedding and I've gotten my first taste of it. This story has a happy ending, but now I definitely have an appreciation for how quickly plans can change.

This week I called Woodend Sanctuary to ask a couple more questions and see if they could pencil me in for a good date. Instead, I found out about their new 2011 rates... the price had gone up by $1,200!! I took a deep breath, thanked the event manager for her time and hung up. So needless to say, Woodend is now off my list.

To further complicate things, I was not 100% sure I could book Gramercy Mansion (my long standing 2nd choice). Over the weekend, I had begun to check into availability for Sundays (rather than Saturdays) and had discovered that the earliest wedding time on Sundays is 3 pm. Mike and I had wanted a morning wedding and a wedding from 3 to 7 just wouldn't do.

With the sudden disappearance of Woodend Sanctuary, it was time to give Gramercy one more try. I called to confirm that their prices weren't going up and to take one more stab at negotiating an earlier time on Sunday. Much to my surprise, the woman on the phone said Sunday weddings could start as early as noon. She also confirmed on the phone and via email that the rates would remain the same. Confused by the mixed answers I was getting about Sundays, I emailed to ask again. A long story short, in the four times that I asked about Sunday weddings I got four different answers.

So what is the happy ending to my story? The fourth time I talked to an event coordinator at Gramercy Mansion, the coordinator, the manager, and I discussed the time on Sunday and my reasons for wanting the wedding to be earlier. They agreed to move up the start to 2pm so that the wedding would end at 6, a good bit before sunset. In the end, I am more than satisfied with the venue. Plus, I'm happy to know that we'll be out in the gardens throwing Frisbees, dancing, and taking walks without having our fun curtailed by the setting sun.

I have made it through my first real wedding planning shock. With the venue straightened out I feel a whole lot better about all the other pieces and the many more surprises to come.

Stay tuned, a wedding date may be coming soon!